← The Money Mondays
The Money Mondays
Turning Setbacks Into Millions: Tim Storey & Natasha Graziano On Making, Multiplying & Giving Money
00:48:41
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- [00:00]
Tim Storey
Foreign.
- [00:06]
Dan
Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to a very, very, very special edition of the Money Mondays podcast. We are here inside of a Hubble studio just completing a multi day event where our next guest was the keynote speaker. The grand finale of the three day mastermind by Greg Kimball. Now, as you guys know, we cover three core topics. How to make money, how to invest money, how to give it away to charity. This gentleman has done all of the above and a sprinkle on top for decades now, on television, on tour and everything between. So here's the thing. On these podcasts, as you're consuming the content, it's not just for you. It could be for someone from your past, your present or your future. You might hear from real estate agents, celebrities, rappers, athletes, business moguls from Gary Vee to Dr. Gary Breck and everyone in between. You're learning different types of information that night be for you, it might be for someone else in your life that you don't even realize it. So take in this information and listen to our next guest. He's going to give a quick 2 minute bio so we can get straight to the money. Mr. Tim Storey.
- [01:03]
Tim Storey
Good to see you.
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Dan
It's always good to be seen.
- [01:06]
Tim Storey
So my bio is born in Los Angeles, mother worked at Winchell's Donut Shop. Have you ever been there before?
- [01:15]
Dan
I grew up next to it in Long beach where they did a snoop dogg video 1 what's my name video. Yeah, I live right there.
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Tim Storey
And then dad worked at Beth Lamb Steel, was a steel worker and but one of the things that was cool Dan is that I am the the youngest of five children. So my three older sisters always made sure I did my homework. So even though we were like lower income, I remember my mother saying we might be lower income but we're not lower class. Nice because we had seven people in a two bedroom apartment. But I was really into school and I wasn't trying to be the person that the teachers liked, but the teachers liked me.
- [01:56]
Dan
Sure.
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Tim Storey
So I had a likable personality. I had a lot of humor and loved school and just started taking off. Ended up going to seminary because I wanted to be a cool Mother Teresa. So the way you give out toys and all the humanitarian work you've been doing all these years, that's what I gave my life to.
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Dan
Wow.
- [02:16]
Tim Storey
So starting at 18, I was in seminary and had already started like programs for inner city kids to think big in small places. That was the whole course. That's what it was called, thinking big in small places. And then I'M like you, I'm a bit creative. So I went and got some NFL players to start coming into inner city neighborhoods with me. And a couple of the stars said, hey, how old are you? I said, 18. They said, what the heck? And one guy who became a Hall of Famer, he said, I've got money, you got a skill set. Let's go.
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Dan
I love it.
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Tim Storey
So since I was 18 years of age, this is what I do.
- [02:59]
Dan
So what's the turning point when you turn it into a business? When you become Tim Storey? When is it? Was it Oprah that made that happen? Was it you going to your first stages? What was the turning point that made you. From little Timmy, tell Tim story?
- [03:11]
Tim Storey
So I think in life, some things you decide and some things you discover. So I never decided I was going to be a businessman and own many, many businesses and be part of a lot of businesses as I am now. I never made that decision early. I discovered it. And the way. The way I discovered it is that by helping people. So if I was with these NFL players or NBA guys, I'd hear them talking business. And because I like to read a lot, so it goes back to this education component. I would then say, so, okay, what are you going to do with this? Or how come that, or wouldn't it be a good idea to do this? And they started to pick up on, man, this guy, he's quick. He's quick. So I started picking up on the business side of things from the very people that were helping me to help inner city kids.
- [04:12]
Dan
Was there one stage you first remember? Was there like one moment like, whoa, I'm Tim's story?
- [04:18]
Tim Storey
Yeah, like 100%. It was when Nelson Mandela came to see me. So it had been talked about that for real, Mandela thinks you're awesome, and he's. His people are really talking you up to him that you got that Mandela vibe. There's a humility about you, a texture to you that, you know, you. You're a revolutionary person, and he's going to come and see you. And at that time, I was only 31 years of age. I was speaking to 10,000 people. I remember when he rolled up, I was probably like eight minutes into my talk, and I went like, oh, my goodness. It was like a shift. Yeah, it was that. It was that. It was that shift of like, this. This. This is for real. Yeah.
- [05:11]
Dan
So for someone out there listening that might be. Want to become a professional speaker, when's the turning point when you go from speaking at events for free to now you're commanding 50,000, 75,000, 100,000, sometimes six figures more to go international. Like, yes. What's the turning points? Actually get paid for the first time, Whether it's a thousand bucks or five grand that first time to actually get paid.
- [05:31]
Tim Storey
I think you would agree with this. I think that motive is a thing that has made me. That my motives were always good where I wanted to just help people. And based on that motive, I just kept getting invited. Like companies would, would invite me. And this is like when I was really young and they're going to. And they would say, and by the way, we're going to pay you $15,000. And I said, for how long? No, for an hour, buddy. And that just blew my mind. Like, what the heck? And so then they would say, and we have other friends that we can hook you up to. So I think the motive is so important that to me it was not about monetizing at first. It was about the motive and creating what I call a signature message. And my signature message to start with was how to turn your setbacks to a comeback. And who hasn't had a setback? We all have. So. So Dan, what happened is that I started getting invited all these places, but because I'm almost too nice, I needed my lawyer to make the deal interesting. So I brought on, brought in an outside source to negotiate because I was, I was too nice.
- [06:52]
Dan
So if you're listening and you can't afford that, you can become that by just changing your name and changing email address so you can become Jennifer the assistant. You could be Robert the assistant and you could email on the behalf of you, the speaker.
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Tim Storey
So good actually, because at first, who.
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Dan
Can afford it when you're first getting started? But it adds this level of credibility to have an assistant to go back and forth. And you're doing it to actually get paid. You're doing it to be, to turn into a business because you got to pay your rent.
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Tim Storey
Yeah.
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Dan
Also, fun fact, the highest paid profession in the planet per hour is speaking.
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Tim Storey
Yeah.
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Dan
Nothing's even close. No athletes, which is amazing.
- [07:28]
Tim Storey
And as you know, even as much as me or more than me. That's why some of the biggest entertainers in the world are trying to get in this space for sure. Literally the biggest they want in this space.
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Dan
We're booking household name speakers for other people's events all the time. Obviously we're booking an Aspire tour together all the time with these celebrities and athletes because it is how you're going to get 100 grand 200 grand. 300 grand to speak for an hour. And the company's marketing you?
- [07:55]
Tim Storey
Yes. Right.
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Dan
An Aspire tour, for example, they're spending six figures, mid six figures or more per month promoting their event with the flyer of Tim Story, me, the celebrity, the athlete, etc. So they're getting marketing during this time, you know, leading up to the event as well.
- [08:10]
Tim Storey
And let me just say thank you to, to you about things like that. So one of the things you've always been to me, because we're friends first and we love each other as brothers, but you've always looked out for me like, man, Tim would fit in here. Tim would fit in here. And then Tim should stay here. Because even like at Aspire, there's a lot of people that have come and gone, but I've been rolling with that group for now for two and a half years. And a lot of that is because of you secretly having my back all the time. But tell me why you chose to have my back in some of these things.
- [08:49]
Dan
You're the one. You fit into that thing. It's not like I'm doing a favor. You are that guy. A lot of people come and go. A lot of speakers come and go. We've seen it happen over and over and over. They think that they can handle being on tour 12 months a year. They can't. They have family, life, friends, situations. You've been there every single time for 28 shows, 29 shows in a row.
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Tim Storey
Yeah.
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Dan
People can't do that. They're not built like you.
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Tim Storey
And I'm there early. It starts at 8. I'm there early. I stay to the damn end. You see me all around, everywhere, just talking to people. But again, that's my upbringing.
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Dan
But what else? Most of the speakers, they land at 10:40am they speak at 12:00pm, they're done at 1:00pm and they're back on a plane by 2. 22.
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Tim Storey
Yes, yes.
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Dan
And like, they have to be like. It's like, as if they couldn't stay for another hour or two.
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Tim Storey
No, that makes sense. So that monetizing side, I like what you, what you just said that they could do that through another email. So I would use my attorney, he would, he would make the deal, then I would come in. And then I started to realize that, man, I'm more liked than I'm giving myself credit for. And it wasn't like low self esteem. It's almost like we were just taught that we had to be humble. We should be humble. That's just how my mother Taught us about life. And so, again, I needed outside people to say, hey, Tim, you're worth that. You should be on that stage with those people. Because I almost, for a while, had imposter syndrome. Like, how come this stuff is happening to me at such a big level?
- [10:37]
Dan
Yeah. So again, on the making money side, you get bombarded by events now.
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Tim Storey
Yes.
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Dan
Right. For years. Obviously, how you choose. Right. If you're booked to be in South Africa, then you're in Malaysia, then you're back to L. A, then you're off to Dallas, Texas, and they want you in Dubai, then they want you in New York. Like, that's a lot travel. But in between there, people are offering you 50 grand, 100 grand, however much it is. How do you say no?
- [11:02]
Tim Storey
Okay. So that. That became a tough one for me. So I would say from age like 27, for about 20 years, I was too busy. I was just moving too fast.
- [11:18]
Dan
Everything.
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Tim Storey
Yes to everything. Because pro golfers have told you and me, it's just hard to say no when they're giving you literally, like, a car. Mostly when you were raised like us, right? They're like, dude, we're paying you a car. I remember this one guy in Ghana was trying to get me. He says, I don't think you're getting what I just told you. I'm going to give you $80,000.
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Dan
Right. Plus travel.
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Tim Storey
Plus travel. And the size of the diamond ring he wanted to give me for a woman. He says, who's your woman right now? I will get her the greatest diamond ring. Yeah. And he was. He was sincere about it, too. And then did you go, it happened?
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Dan
Yeah, but.
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Tim Storey
Yeah, but for that period of time, I was. I was moving too fast. But again, this is some wisdom that I learned from the older guys. Put the right team around me, because I remember Lee Iacocca, he said, you teach me about life, I'll teach you about money. And Iacocca was the man, as you know, of course. And so I learned to always have a good team around me to help me with my investing, what I was doing, what companies I was letting use my name. Because a lot of those things I didn't know. And then I started learning more and more about that in my 30s.
- [12:41]
Dan
So let's talk about the investing side of the world. Why is it important for people to invest into themselves? Why should they be reading books, watching courses, going to masterminds, going to live events? Like, why should they be investing into themselves?
- [12:54]
Tim Storey
I think that it is the most important thing because we are like, A walking gold mine. And when you look at somebody like, you know, a prince, the singer, had he not invested in himself to see how many instruments he could play and how he could make that sound, be that sound, then people began to discover that. But he had to invest in himself through the practice and the mentorship. So I began to invest in myself and pay money. I started going to see a therapist who taught at USC. She was very well known, named Dr. Helen Mendez, African American lady. And I pay her her fee and more. And I would say, I want to do this thing called life coaching. Because life coaching really didn't start getting popular until later. So this is in the 80s. And she says, tim, I'm telling you, you could be like a forerunner, mostly amongst our people. And so I invested in her. I used to give her extra gifts and I invested in other people to come into my life because I knew that I was building up wealth inside of me that I could then therefore release to others.
- [14:23]
Dan
So over the course of your career, as you're making 50 grand, 100 grand a night, and sometimes you're doing it week after week or three, four times in the same week.
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Tim Storey
Yes.
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Dan
What are you doing with the capital? Was there ever times you're investing into companies, investing in real estate, like, how are you deciding what to invest into?
- [14:37]
Tim Storey
Yeah, again, this was very powerful men in Beverly Hills that were much older than me. One of them was my friend Marvin. Marvin is very, very wealthy. And he'd say, tim, I love you like a son. You could run this by your guys. But this is what I would do. I take this amount, I put it here. I take this amount, I put it here. I take this amount, I put it here. But then I would question Marvin so I could then learn. So everybody needs a Marvin, right? Because Marvin's motives were good. Marvin never said, and when you make this much money, I want this percentage. And Marvin saw my money start to go, cha ching, cha ching, cha ching, cha ching, cha ching, cha ching. It got a little crazy and in a beautiful way. And I think that's another time where I had to get a mind shift, change that this is your life now, Tim. This is, this is supposed to be your life. This is not just happening and it's going to go away in two years. This is your life. And it has been my life since I was 20 years of age.
- [15:51]
Dan
So to me, most speakers unfortunately aren't very good at social media. You've taken it on to a whole new level. Your live Instagram stories, posting from the events Getting photos with the other speakers, posting that, doing behind the scenes funny stuff, serious stuff, and everything between. Did you learn from someone? Does this evolve? Or you just watched the evolution of time of why you need to be involved in social media?
- [16:16]
Tim Storey
Well, I do listen to people like you and I feel like our conversations have really helped about really posting about things that authentic to me, like what is, what is my brand? So I think my, my brand is joy, my brand is goodness, my brand is next level. And I did see my social media just literally explode when I just started posting about what I'm about, which is life. And, and I love the fact this thing about social media is so wild that you know how it is, we could roll through even like a CVS and people come up to you and say all these things and you think, oh, you may have seen me just now on the NBC Today show or just, you know, last week I was on Nightline on ABC. But it's not that social media, Facebook and TikTok, they know you all about social media and they feel very connected that way.
- [17:23]
Dan
So a lot of events they are monetizing from sales from stage.
- [17:28]
Tim Storey
Yeah.
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Dan
Where they sell something that they believe in or a package or a course or a one year program, but then they bring you in.
- [17:34]
Tim Storey
Yes.
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Dan
And it's typically right before the main speaker or the main cell from stage, which is how they monetize their event, which is, you know, keeps the lights on. It's very expensive to throw live events. Especially the events you speak at are 2,000, 3,000 people, for example.
- [17:47]
Tim Storey
Yes.
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Dan
Why you? What do you think it is that makes it so that someone is more encouraged or more, more eyes wide open to want to make a purchase to better their life?
- [17:57]
Tim Storey
Yeah. I think, I think one of the gifts that I have is to talk to people's hearts and really locate them of where they are and then speak to them of where they can go to so I can help them take inventory. Like right now, I may be in a challenging time, but if you take these steps and you walk with us here at this company, we could take you from dimension to dimension to dimension. So I feel that people trust me because you're right, that's a role that I am usually in.
- [18:39]
Dan
So talk to me about investing into relationships. You spend time, again, you're staying at these events backstage all day long when it'd be very easy for you to fly out like the other speakers. Why are you spending the money, time and energy to build these relationships?
- [18:51]
Tim Storey
Okay, so like, you notice that I text you Just to say thank you out of nowhere, we may not have even been at an event. I just, I'm just saying, hey, love you. And then you send me some kind of really cool emoji that you get somewhere from your phone. Okay, so, so what that is about to me is, is, is gratitude, but extended. So not that I just say good things behind Dan's back, but I want to say it to your face. So every single day of my life, every single day of my life, I text 10 people.
- [19:34]
Dan
Wow, that's great.
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Tim Storey
Every day of my life, 4,000 people. I text 10 people and I tell them I think you're, you're awesome. You know, I know you've been through that, but it's. You're going to get out of it or congratulations on your baby. You guys just had a baby, 10 people every single day.
- [19:57]
Dan
So when you hear the quote, your network, it's relevant to your net worth.
- [20:02]
Tim Storey
Yeah.
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Dan
What are your thoughts about that?
- [20:03]
Tim Storey
Well, I think in, in, in your case, in my case it is, it is working. Again, it's motive. Like for instance, I was minding my own business and then I would meet a director who then would say, I'm working on a Will Smith film. Maybe I want you to work with me and Will on that film. I wasn't looking for that. So it wasn't like I saw that guy. I remember being with Steven Soderbergh who did oceans 11, 12, 13. And we, it was at a party and he was just kind of by himself and we just started talking about life. Okay. But I never thought it's Steven Soderbergh. I wonder what I could get out of this Sunday. But it's so interesting on how a lot of my relationships that I sowed seed into years ago, they just started coming back to me in friendships, connections, or he's the guy. So even like right now, you know, I'm working on a talk show. And so we have interests from all the big networks. CBS, ABC, Fox, Telepictures. Because Dr. Phil is not doing it the same way. And I think we will do it in the right time again. When I'm walking in these guys offices, I'm not selling anything. They're liking me because they're like, dude, I've been following you for 20 years. You encouraged me one time. You even life coached me and wouldn't take my money. So that's pretty wild I think.
- [21:44]
Dan
Why do celebrities, athletes and business moguls come to you as a life coach or in bad situations?
- [21:51]
Tim Storey
Okay, so a lot of People will come to me, people in the addiction space, people that are in trouble financially. But I became known in the spaces that you're talking about by starting with a few Beverly Hills moguls that did well, and I had the right answers for them. But, Dan, part of the reason I had the right answers is I study. So I study two hours a day. So already today, I studied two hours today. So whether I'm reading Think and Grow Rich or Atomic Habits or I'm watching a Kobe Bryant interview when he was alive on YouTube or I'm watching one of your shows, I'm studying two hours a day to grow myself out. So I think that I started to get a skill set to where I made a table stay quiet and then listen up. That's what started blowing me away when I started sitting with the James Kahns and sitting with the Elliot Ghouls and these powerful guys at the Pole Lounge and. And the James Kahn would go, hey, hey, hey, hey. Don't say a word. Tim, what do you think of this? That's when I thought, man, I'm on to something. It wasn't just charisma. It was. It was. I was dropping. I was dropping knowledge.
- [23:21]
Dan
So let's talk about the charity side of things on the Money Mondays. Why do you think it's important for us as humans? Let's say I run a family household.
- [23:29]
Tim Storey
Yeah.
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Dan
Why inside of my family household should I have some type of charity around my wife, husband, children, parents, etc.
- [23:36]
Tim Storey
So there's something about reaping what you sow. And there's something about this idea of when I let something go, somehow God or the universe brings it back to you. And I really believe this with all my heart, that what I make happen for someone else, life will make happen for me. And I remember my mother, even though we. She worked at Winchell's. She's raising the kids after my father passes when I'm only 10. She's got five kids.
- [24:13]
Dan
How.
- [24:13]
Tim Storey
We would go to church, and she would give to the church, and. And she stayed faithful in her giving. But I look at her now, she's, like, going to be 95 soon. Her houses are paid off. You know, her kids do well, and we've always taken care of her. So you reap what you sow. So I don't give out of the idea of getting back. I give because I care, just like you. And I want to make somebody's life more beautiful and better, but doggone it. It comes back. It'll come back to you.
- [24:59]
Dan
So, similar question, but someone that's listening, that owns a company, they've got 35 employees, they're building up their business. Why should they incorporate philanthropy and charity into their business with their staff?
- [25:10]
Tim Storey
I actually think that it's a must, it's essential. It's where the world is. So right now, we have a world that is not just living in the mundane. The mundane is we're just doing things regular. We're not just living in the messy, where things are disheveled. We're living in the madness. There's a lot of madness in this world, for sure. And the healers were the healers. So it's common guys like us who life has chosen us to do uncommon things. So if you have been blessed with a business and you can get in the middle of all this chaos and bring healing, even if it's toys at Christmas or backpacks for back to school or feeding people, because we do it all, man. You're changing somebody's life, and who knows who that person's going to change?
- [26:18]
Dan
Wow. So there's only one question that I ask on every single episode, and I've never gotten the same answer once. So many, many years from now, after you amassed this wealth.
- [26:29]
Tim Storey
Yeah.
- [26:29]
Dan
And unfortunately, at some time, hopefully it's many, many years, 50, 100 years from now, time for Tim to pass away.
- [26:35]
Tim Storey
Yeah.
- [26:35]
Dan
What percentage of that massive net worth do you leave to your children?
- [26:40]
Tim Storey
Yeah. So I know that some of the, the, the, the powerful men don't leave that much to their children. I'm going to leave a lot to my children.
- [26:50]
Dan
I love it.
- [26:51]
Tim Storey
Yeah. And the reason I'm going to do that is because I've been teaching them responsibility along the way. So I, I really will tell them, like, you got this Xbox, it was not easy to get, and boom, boom, boom, boom, boom. Or when the Power Rangers were hot and my son wanted them when he was a little, little kid. And I said, let me tell you something, Hardly anybody can get the Red Ranger. I found it in Denver. It wasn't easy. Just know what I've done, man. I sacrificed my life. So there's usually a lesson with a gift. But I'm going to leave a lot to my children, no doubt about it, because I'm into leaving a legacy and wealth and wealth. And wealth. So, Dan, we don't have to start like we started, you know, By God's grace, we will never go back to where we were. Not even close.
- [27:54]
Dan
All right. Where can people find you on social media? Where can they check out Anything you've been up to in particular?
- [27:58]
Tim Storey
Yes.
- [27:59]
Dan
Podcasts, books, live events, what's going on in your world? Tell them.
- [28:02]
Tim Storey
Yeah. So, Tim story.com so Tim and then S-T O R-E-Y.com and Dan in front of everybody, thank you again for loving me, having my back and caring about people.
- [28:17]
Dan
Thank you. All right, guys, you're listening to the Money Mondays, where we cover our three core topics about making money, investing money, and giving away to charity. But this is what's truly important. The reason the podcast has done so well is because of your support, liking commenting, subscribing, etc. So as you guys are going through life, you've got to have blunt discussions with your friends, family and followers. We grew up thinking it's rude to talk about money. I think that's ridiculous. You've got to be able to talk about loans, salaries, accounts, taxes. What do you do with your bank? What happens if you borrowed 500 bucks? How do you get it back? These are real life things that go on in your life. You got to feel comfortable talking about it with people in your world so we can make this a better financial society. So I appreciate you guys. Check out Tim's story across social media and timstory.com and we'll see you guys next Monday on themoney Mondays.com. ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the Money Mondays podcast where we cover three core topics. How to make money, how to invest money, how to give away to charity. This next guest has done all of those things all over the planet on the biggest stages. You've seen her on social media, you've seen her at, I don't know, 10, 20, 30, 40, 50 events a year, year after year after year, spreading her positivity message, which is super important to me because I like uplifting people. And she's been doing that at the highest level across the planet. Sometimes at events together, sometimes events. I've seen her in some amazing events all around the world. Give it up for Ms. Natasha Graziano.
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Natasha Graziano
What an intro. I love that. Thank you so much for having me.
- [29:42]
Dan
Pleasure. So, as you guys know, we cover these three core topics. What I need from you, Natasha, is to do a quick two minute bio so we get straight to the money.
- [29:49]
Natasha Graziano
Love it. Okay, so he pretty much did it so well to a T. I started about eight years ago. At this point, 2019 was really when my rock bottom happened. That was when I found myself at my lowest. That was the point where everything came crashing down around me. And in that moment, I was broke and in hundreds of thousands of debt. I was unwell, and I was trying to overcome life and get back on my feet. I was a single mom. Something shifted in my mind. Something in that moment told me, you're going to be a motivational speaker. And I didn't know what it was, but I knew there was something greater for me out there. And so I decided to commit to a different goal. Something that wasn't about my current reality, that was something else. And from there, I built. I started a podcast, I started creating a business, I started creating a coaching business. And then the ripple effect, us selling books, et cetera, et cetera, to where we are today.
- [30:41]
Dan
We're going to talk about the et cetera, et cetera. So we're not leaving out any details today. So tell us, on the make money side of this podcast, you go from wanting to be a speaker. A lot of times people go speak at events or they DJ at a party for free at first to get their name, get their connections. When was the first time you asked for money? When you're like, you know what? I want to get paid 1,000 bucks, five grand. Not what you're getting now. 50k, 100k. Talk about the times when you're trying to get 1,000. 5,000.
- [31:04]
Natasha Graziano
Wow. So I actually decided to build a lot of value first. Like, I was not going to go out there off the rip and be like, okay, I want to be paid. Because it doesn't work like that. You have to build your name, build your credibility, build your validation, build who you are by being what you talk about and taught me, actually very well. Being omnipresent, you have to be everywhere so that you create hype, you create fomo, you create value, literally like fireworks. So how do I get to that place? So the first time I ever charged was probably the 10th time I went on a stage. I didn't charge for so many at first because I would say massiveness. That was a year because I was building my name, building the rapport, getting to know other big speakers and building who I was. So that when I then go in, was saying, okay, you know what? I'm going to charge 5,000. This first time, it was a slam dunk. Yes. And then, you know, okay, that was cool. And we do 10, right. And then you do corporate, goes up to 50, then it keeps growing, you.
- [32:03]
Dan
Know, what do you think on the making money side? What do you think holds people back from making money? There's a huge mental block, it seems like, in our society where people feel like, they're capped. They make 30 grand a year or 40 grand a year, 50 grand a year. And they don't think that they can do more because of xyz. What do you think is holding them back?
- [32:19]
Natasha Graziano
The limitations in their own mind. We look around us as though I'm never going to be as good as them. Like, I'm never going to be like them. So we start to put these limitations and blocks which are the walls of our own mind. That's all they are. Usually it's down to imposter syndrome. So we have this little voice that sits there and tells you, you're never going to do it. Give up now. You're never going to have a voice like him. Give up now. Oh, you're never going to earn money like her. Give up now. And so we stop achieving at our highest level. We stop believing in ourselves and we start to listen to the little voice that is just imposter syndrome. And what is on the other side of that imposter syndrome is success. It was like when they were digging for the diamonds and they gave up right before. It's a very famous story. We all know it. And those people who originally were funny and they gave up 1 meter, 1 meter before they found the diamonds. What does that say about life? It's the same thing. Imposter syndrome happens to tell you you are in the right place. You are meant to be there because you are about to feel success. You are about to find the diamonds who are about to become the diamonds.
- [33:26]
Dan
So there's a famous book that she's referencing by Greg Reed called Three Feet From Gold. And in this book, it explains and it shows a picture kind of what she's describing, where they're just. They're spiking, spiking, spiking, digging, digging, digging, and they stop. And then if you look at the other side of the meme, they kept digging. And right behind there was the diamonds and gold. All right, on the social media influencer side, even though you built up 13 million followers and growing when you first got to the 100,000 and then 200,000, 500,000, when do you start? Decide I'm going to start charging money to do brand deals.
- [33:57]
Natasha Graziano
I mean, as soon as I had 500,000 followers, I would have charged before that, but I didn't get savvy enough to think about it. I would have charged at 100,000. Anybody who has an influence of 100,000 followers and more should be making money on social media. I think, to be honest, you can Even make money at 10,000 followers. But I think the truth is just deciding I'm worthy of this. And I'm using my platform to help people. I want to make money. I deserve to make money. So I'm going to. And then I started to reach out to people and my questions were phrased when I would email them. Perhaps an assistant would do it. Or I'd email as an assistant and say this is where I was starting. So I'd have a va, you know, at some point have a va. But before the va, I remember emailing myself and saying I was test running it. Hey, Natasha, would be interested in promoting your brand. What's the budget for your campaign? So immediately I'm asking you what your budget is, so you tell me. Well, we have this much to pay you. That was fantastic. That changed my life because I was able. In fact, that was how I got out of being broke. Originally, I was in a charity store, which you call a thrift store, and I was in London. I had no money, and my little baby was with me in the store. And I put him on the floor and he was playing with the toys. And I said to the girls, can you watch him while I go in the street and just get a stranger to take a picture on my phone wearing one of your outfits? And they were like, sure. They were so nice to me. Like, I made friends with these girls. They had nothing. I could never afford these clothes. At the time. I couldn't even. I was wearing a thrift store. I couldn't even afford the thrift store clothes. They gave me an outfit. And I remember it was this brand called Ax Paris. And I put the outfit on and I walked into the street and I literally was on this beautiful corner. And I said to anybody passing, oh, they look like they both. Take a picture. Take a picture. So I stood and I took a picture. And that was when everything changed because I posted that first picture online. I tagged the brand. The brand dmed me. Natasha, we absolutely love this, but we'd actually like to send you some of our current season and pay you and that first 150 or 250, whatever it was at the time dollars was pounds turned into the empire I have today.
- [36:05]
Dan
Wow. So what do you think holds someone back from doing what you just said? Like, what do you think holds someone back from making some content and doing what your book is called, be it till you become it.
- [36:15]
Natasha Graziano
Well, I think that they decide that they cannot do it. They put the word cannot where they should put can. I do not Believe in fear. Fear is just false evidence appearing real. So people get caught in their fears. They don't fly because of it. They don't do so many things because of their fears. You know, you have to get on the other side of your fears and say, no, I'm not going to let this hold me back. Here's my end goal. And here's the big reason that most people fail and quit way before they even began. Because they don't have a big enough why they don't have a reason that they are doing it for. When I go and do anything, whether I'm doing brand deals, why am I doing those brand deals? Okay, they're on a much larger scale now. We're in multiple six, seven figures for some of the things I do and why do I do them? For my children, for my future children, for my future grandbabies, and for the children in the charity that I support. So I do it because there is something greater inside of me that needs to fulfill that for them. I'm not doing this for Natasha's little outfits anymore or Natasha's lifestyle. That is an offset of what I have. The fact that I get to live a lavish lifestyle and travel and be the way that I do is amazing. But I'm doing this for the greater good. So I connect my why to my will, which gives you purpose.
- [37:45]
Dan
So someone's out there and they got their first 10, 20,000 followers and they're ready to message to a brand. What should they say? Like, how do they say? Like drum up the courage to finally say, hey AX Paris fashion brand, Pay me.
- [37:57]
Natasha Graziano
Okay, Chat GBT is amazing. Go on Chat GPT, it will write it for you, but I'll tell you how to prompt it and then I'll tell you how to write it. If you don't use chat GPT, if you don't need chatgpt, you're going to say something like, hey brand, absolutely love your pieces and would love to collaborate with you. I have the 200000 followers I have here on Instagram. I also have on Tick Tock X and on Facebook X and whatever, go through the places that you have value. Might be an email list, whatever it is and then say I would absolutely love to promote your products to my audience. Love name or from name warmly name whatever you want. Now if you want to prompt ChatGPT, you got to get amazing at prompt. So I would say something to ChatGPT. Write me an email that is going to be persuasive using nlp that is going to want the brand to work with me. And this is the name of the brand and this is the campaign that I want to do with them. And then it will write it for you.
- [38:50]
Dan
I love it. So my social media agency for the last 14 years, we've done over 110,000 paid posts with those influencers. The biggest thing is the ones that actually reach out to the brands, get the deals. So many influencers are waiting around for the brands to DM them.
- [39:07]
Natasha Graziano
Yeah.
- [39:07]
Dan
And by the way, a lot of brands do DM you and you don't see it because you get hundreds of messages a day. So a lot of times brands do message you and you don't see it, or they do email you and you don't see it, or they message your manager, your agent or someone, and you don't hear about it. And so being proactive is what I've seen over and over and over how influencers make money, or not even just influencers. Single mom, three kids, makes money to do YouTube videos about cooking.
- [39:32]
Natasha Graziano
Right.
- [39:32]
Dan
Because she proactively reached out to brands, and because of that, the brand posted her. And now her and her three kids have huge following because the brand actually promoted them.
- [39:41]
Natasha Graziano
Yes.
- [39:41]
Dan
They're reposting their content.
- [39:42]
Natasha Graziano
Yes.
- [39:44]
Dan
All right, so let's go to the investing side. You've invested a lot of time, money, energy into yourself, into your personal brand. Why is it important for someone to build up their personal brand?
- [39:54]
Natasha Graziano
Your personal brand is your passport and it is your business card. It is everything. Your personal brand walks in the room before you. Your personal brand. Like, you have the strongest personal brand. Everybody knows damn placement. There are so many things that go into that for somebody who doesn't have a personal brand. They're not getting on the stages, they're wondering why they're not getting on podcasts, they're wondering why they're not doing anything and collaborating with amazing people. The people who are collaborating have the most incredible personal brands. Gary Vee, we could start there. One of the top personal branding experts in America. So when you look at people who really invest in their social media, in themselves, in their team and everything around them, they will build a strong personal brand because that will go in the door before them. It's walked me into red carpet events, huge award ceremonies. It's got me awards. It's gotten me where I am. Because when people think of Natasha Garciano, I may not have, like a branding color theme. Some people do like Virgin, Amazon, you think red, orange. They have mass branding colors that's a really great way to do a personal brand as well. But I've invested in me exponentially where my voice just carries that weight. My outfits carry that weight. The way that I dress, the way I speak, combined with the way that I just say it in such an outrageous way. I can think of many people like that who I don't even really know their name, but I know their brand. Like, I'd be able to find them based on that.
- [41:19]
Dan
So sometimes people get a scarcity mindset. You went through really tough financial times, but now you're starting to make money. How do you get past that to finally invest into a real estate deal or a company or a product or even like higher PR and spend money and like, oh, I'm going to spend 5,000, 10,000. Because I know for me, I have, I get, I want to spend money, but I still think about being broke back my mind.
- [41:42]
Natasha Graziano
Yeah.
- [41:42]
Dan
So talk to me about how do you get.
- [41:43]
Natasha Graziano
I used to have that same thing. It's a. It's a broken mindset versus a growth mindset. We get caught in this. Oh, my God. If I spend money, I'm not going to make more. Here's the really interesting thing. I every couple of years will I rent my home that I live in. I buy my assets that I rent out because I want to live in the freaking most luxurious, amazing place. But I want to make money while I'm sleeping from my assets which are being rented out. And there's multiple of them. So you know that this is my way of thinking. So I decided I push myself to buy rent, sorry, an even bigger place or more abundant, more expensive, essentially every two years so that I am forced to make more money. And then because of that, I go and invest it. So some people like, you're wasting money on rent. No, I'm living how I want to, but what I'm doing is I'm forcing myself to make more money. It's a mindset. If I know I've got to make that amount every single year, I'm going to make triple it. But. And you just do you keep making more money as you level up. So getting out the broken mindset is as simple as deciding how much do I need to put aside to be able to invest in that property or to invest in myself. If you do not invest in you, nobody else is going to invest in you. Whether you're buying properties, real estate, or investing in pr, whatever you are doing, you want to do it because you know it's going to move you Forward, it's moving the needle forwards, having money coming in while you sleep, a passive income, building your name online, whatever it is, it is so important to create that abundance for yourself, that asset for yourself. And if you constantly sit with, I'm not going to do it, I can't do it. Guess what? You attract more to you. More of the I'm never going to get it stuff. And then you don't make more money. In fact, you stay exactly where you are. If not, you go down. So you have to be willing to take a risk so that you can invest and get something good in return.
- [43:45]
Dan
So walk us through the book. Whole concept of the be it before you become it. Walk us through that.
- [43:51]
Natasha Graziano
Okay, so be it till you become it is my favorite way of saying fake it till you make it. I hate fake till you make it. Because at school when I was young, I was called fake and I hated it. And it really, it really, like, pierced my heart. I was like, why do they think I'm fake? Because I'm so nice all the time and bubbly and super like, hey, how are you? Like, what's happening in your they. Where I was from in the uk, very reserved and like, you know, you tell them, how are you? Fine. It's not, I'm amazing. I was just super grateful and it wasn't received in the right way. And because of that, I decided, well, I want to be who I am, but I want to be a millionaire. How do I be here? And as we started, you know, into these later years, I decided I want to be the version of me before I get there. So if I want to be a multimillionaire, then I have to be her. Now, if I want to be an amazing wife, I don't wait till I'm married to be an amazing wife. I be her. Now, if I want to be a super successful business owner, I have to be them. Now you have to be the version of you you want to become in five to 10 years today. Decide, how do they think, how do they feel, how do they act? Because all of this becomes your character, which is who you are.
- [45:04]
Dan
So let's talk about the charity side of things. Why do you think it's important for people to involve charity into their households, like with themselves, their family and their friends?
- [45:12]
Natasha Graziano
Well, whatever you believe in, whatever text, whatever books you believe in, they always say giving to charity, you know, whether it's 10%, whatever it is, is so important for you as a growth, you know, in your own growth, in your own way. I Believe charity is one of the most important things we ever do. Because it's, again, going back to what I talked about earlier, your why. It's why you're doing everything in your life. It's why you're showing up. It's like, why am I playing at this level? It's not only for my immediate family. It's for the families that I want to feed. It's for the children I want to serve or whatever that is. To you, it could be a horse charity that you support. Beautiful. It could be a dog charity that you support. It could be whatever it might be. You find the thing that means something to you, and that's where you donate every month, every week, whatever it is that you can. That feels good. So some people do hundreds of millions of dollars. You're one of these people who does enormous things with philanthropy, and you're very known for it. And you know the feeling it gives you, that amazing wow. Like, I really. I feel good about myself doing it, but you do it for others. But the reward is so nice. You just know, like, wow, I'm really. I'm putting my heart in the right place. And we don't even need to scream about half the stuff we do. Some of it you want to. The reason we talk about charity is so we get other people to join in with you. But there are certain things that, you know, when I donate to certain things, I don't talk about it, but we do it because we're helping others. And you will see so much abundance in your life as you give, you receive. It's just the flow of life.
- [46:46]
Dan
So there's only one question that I ask on every single episode, and I've never gotten the same answer before. So, Natasha, over the course of time, you're going to hopefully amount hundreds of millions of dollars, maybe become a billionaire one day from all the things that you do with your business and your career. But unfortunately, at some point, you have to pass away, right? What percentage of that net worth of those hundreds of millions of dollars do you leave to your children?
- [47:09]
Natasha Graziano
I would leave 75% to my children, and 25% I would give to an array of different charities.
- [47:18]
Dan
I love it. All right, so where can people find you on social? Where can they check out your books, podcasts, and everything you got going on?
- [47:24]
Natasha Graziano
Amazing. Okay, guys, so you can find. Find me on Natasha Graziano everywhere, every single platform and DM me. I love it. I love going into my DMs personally. Reach out to me if I can ever help you. In any way. It'd be a pleasure. I love connecting with my people, with my fans. My podcast is super fun. Go find it from here. It's easy. It's called Law of Attraction Secrets and it's right there.
- [47:49]
Dan
So, as you guys know, on the Money Mondays, we cover these three core topics about making money, investing money, giveaway to charity. The reason for this podcast, we're number 37 in the world because of you guys. Liking, commenting, subscribing, you, sharing it is what helps us so much. But it's really more important to me that you have these discussions with your friends, family and followers. We grew up thinking it's rude to talk about money. I think that's ridiculous. We have to talk about money. Loans, taxes, banks, situations, borrowing money. Should I lease? Should I buy? Should I rent? We don't get to talk about it because we think it's rude to talk about it. It's not rude. That's the whole point of this podcast. We have to have discussions with people in your household, people in your office, people in your school, everywhere. You got to be able to have blunt discussions because it's part of your normal life. It's part of your daily life. So check out Natasha Graziano across social media. Visit us here@themoneymondays.com and we'll see you guys next Monday.