Placeholder Image

Subtitles section Play video

  • What has been a big mistake or a failure?

  • I lost millions on that one deal.

  • I was on the Joe Rogan podcast, people were saying like, I want her dead.

  • Can somebody kill her please?

  • I want her dead or they said everything.

  • People say like, what's the secret?

  • What's your happiness?

  • Figure it out for yourself.

  • This summer, I interviewed 58 year old Janet who has started over 12 successful businesses.

  • Janet for a lot of reasons has figured life out.

  • But at the same time, is still someone who's My husband passed away nine months ago, it still feels rather traumatic for me to even talk about.

  • We interviewed Janet and posted short snippets of her videos on Instagram.

  • And those videos have gone millions of views worldwide.

  • So today we are sharing the extended version of Janet's greatest life lessons and experiences that I guarantee will change the way you look at your life.

  • How old are you?

  • I'm 58.

  • What does it feel like to be 58?

  • It feels better than I thought it would feel.

  • It's all where you are in life.

  • And I thought at 58, I wouldn't be active.

  • I you know, I didn't know what 58 was.

  • But I feel good.

  • I feel happy.

  • I feel like I have a lot of energy.

  • I play tennis almost every day.

  • I feel strong.

  • What would you say is a big change you made in your life that drastically improved the quality of it?

  • Not caring what other people think.

  • When did that come?

  • Well, I you know, I didn't live a typical life when I was 18.

  • I moved to Italy on my own.

  • You know, I just kind of led my own life to my own rules.

  • And I had a lot of feedback that I should, you know, fit in society's rules, never got a high school diploma.

  • But then I went on to go to university.

  • So I just did things in my way.

  • And sometimes I cared about what people said to me, you know, you're not gonna make everyone happy.

  • So why bother and you have to be true to yourself.

  • What do you do for a living?

  • I own restaurants, 10 restaurants or 12.

  • Sorry, 12 restaurants in Toronto.

  • It's good when you lose count of how many businesses you have 12 restaurants in Toronto and two restaurants in LA.

  • Amazing.

  • So you're talking about, you know, people want you to go down this conventional path.

  • Did you ever end up doing that?

  • I mean, going to university was was pretty conventional.

  • And I got the message from society because I was a high school dropout, that I needed that.

  • And so I was figuring out kind of like, okay, society, parents, you want me to go to university, you know, I'm going to do this.

  • And I went later in life and ended up being a straight A student and valedictorian.

  • And then I went on to do my master's degree in business.

  • So I, I fell into that.

  • But I thought it was a little bit, you know, of a joke that I had to do this, read some books, take a test, and now society is going to praise you.

  • Yeah, I thought like, right, I figured out the biggest secret on the planet to make people happy.

  • You know, at the at the end of the day, I do really need university when you look at the Bill Gates of the world, or, you know, we don't.

  • So we don't need to fall into what society has taught us.

  • I finished university kind of around when I was 30.

  • And I'm open right into the restaurant business.

  • I'm passionate about restaurants.

  • And I travel all over the world to experience restaurants.

  • I'm, I'm doing two of my passions, business, and restaurants and food, I feel very lucky.

  • I mean, some people never discover what their passions are.

  • And generally, you know, it's been it's been successful.

  • And I've been really happy doing it.

  • I think that's the greatest success if you're, if you're happy doing it.

  • What's your attitude towards risk?

  • There's a lot of people who want to make changes in their life.

  • But the so to speak risk of doing that risk of failure of fear perception from others.

  • How do you approach that?

  • When I opened my first restaurant, when I was 30, I had a lot of people, a lot of people have a lot of advice when you start off in something new, and you haven't done it before.

  • Everyone's an expert.

  • Yeah, unless it's coming from someone who has walked in your shoes or have done it, the experience, but people just randomly giving you advice when you pay, they don't, they don't trust that you know what you're doing.

  • Now nobody can say anything to me.

  • I'm 28 years in the business.

  • But for people starting off a lot of people, you know, giving their opinions.

  • But one opinion that I had pushed my way was, this is too risky, and you're going to lose everything.

  • And what I had to say to everyone was, I have nothing.

  • There's nothing here to lose.

  • I had a bit of money that I rolled into this restaurant.

  • Yeah.

  • And I was like, it's not that much.

  • And if I lose it, I'm going to start over again.

  • When it depends on how what do you have to lose?

  • What stage of your life are you at?

  • Yeah, I think there's times to take bigger risks.

  • Other times, you know, you want to put the kids through college, maybe it's not time to start rolling some dice.

  • I think it's a stage of life.

  • And you have to add, you have to ask that question to yourself.

  • Are you okay with risk?

  • You want risk?

  • How risk averse are you?

  • It's such an individual journey, right?

  • But in the beginning, when you start something, what do you have to lose?

  • Nothing.

  • Yeah, even to that point, I find that's a limiting way of thinking, what do I have to lose being meaning money, this or that?

  • Well, okay, what do you have to lose by not taking that risk?

  • People often think, what do I have to lose by taking the risk?

  • What do you have to lose by not taking it that pressure that you now have inside your head that dissatisfaction with yourself that all the regrets all the what if that's a lot to bear.

  • And a lot of the time we don't think about that.

  • We think about what happens if I take the risk and it doesn't work.

  • What happens if you don't take it?

  • Life is going to be over like that.

  • You cannot believe how fast time goes by.

  • People will not believe it.

  • And it's like, you're going to snap your fingers, your life is going to be over, live your best life.

  • And what what what your life is, I don't know what's going to make you happy.

  • And you may not know what's going to make you happy until you do your work, do your work, get clear, what do you want in this, you know, fabulous life, that we get to make a choice every single day, you better figure out your own life, no, and no one's going to help you.

  • No, you know, no one's out there going to serve you your life in a on a platter.

  • I think just like simplifying these things, I think we overcomplicate a lot of the whole figuring my life out I agree.

  • And if you can simplify it down to what do I do in the morning?

  • What do I do during the day in the afternoon at night?

  • That really gives you a lot of clarity.

  • Yeah.

  • If you are someone in a situation like this, but you want to be doing things like this, this and this, I highly recommend you grab a copy of our goal setting journal.

  • In just three parts, this journal will help you figure out your ideal life, turn that into specific measurable and achievable goals, and then build the discipline and structure you need to achieve all of your biggest dreams in just six months.

  • Now because it's the holiday season, we are giving away over $1,500 of free bonuses for the first hundred people who click the link below and grab one.

  • So if you're someone who wants to take the next step to upgrading your life, just like Janet has been able to do click the link below 28 years in the business kit you today knowing everything you know, if you were to go back in time to your 30 year old self when you just got into this business and gave her advice to get where you are faster, what would that advice be?

  • I would say there's no need to go faster and build that foundation.

  • I think people move too quickly.

  • And I've seen a lot of people blow up because of that and lose everything.

  • I made sacrifices in my life, I moved back home, I left home when I was 18.

  • As a 30 year old and move back into my parents home to save money.

  • So I could save money and make bigger moves in life to then kind of have a bigger life later when you kind of want it build strong foundations.

  • I've seen too many people start expanding, you expand too quickly and you don't have the resources.

  • It's a recipe for a disaster.

  • Can you understand when a business will do a restaurant business will do well and when it won't like can you identify certain factors immediately when you walk into a restaurant?

  • Sometimes I can sometimes, you know, I will I have certain sayings like never mistake a busy restaurant for a successful restaurant meaning are you making money?

  • I like doing this business.

  • I also like making money.

  • So I can walk into a small restaurant, I can see an army in the kitchen, I can see high labor, I can see high food costs.

  • I see a busy restaurant and people say, they're killing it.

  • Look at them.

  • They're so busy.

  • And I will say they will be they'll be done in one year.

  • And I've been good.

  • I've been good at picking out the restaurants that I kind of analyze that I walk in, I see locations, I see what they're doing.

  • I'm good at calling how long restaurants will will be around, I think.

  • But I'm fascinated to the way you're talking about everything you haven't mentioned once the food.

  • Oh, God, no, I know the food's obviously great.

  • No, no, I know.

  • It's obviously great.

  • But I feel like in terms of succeeding, and that's such an important life lesson or business lesson.

  • It's oftentimes not about like what you would think it is, right?

  • I go to restaurant, I think food.

  • But what actually makes me like this restaurant one, where is it to, you know, who's the chef three, the vibe, this and that, like, yeah, you really focus on a lot of things beyond that.

  • A restaurant is not just the food, not just the service.

  • And when you watch a movie, it's not going to be just like, who's the director, who are the actors, it's going to be the lighting, like the costumes and makeup.

  • So again, I equate it to a film, everything has to work for the vision of that, you know, every time I'm to a restaurant, I approach it like a movie.

  • How do you apply that, generally speaking, as a business advice?

  • It's not a one size fits all situation in life.

  • And that's why it's almost hard to say, do I have a formula, I don't have a formula.

  • There's there's not a formula is a lot of project by feeling to or it's more planned out.

  • No huge gut and opportunity luck, right time, right place.

  • I wouldn't be in the restaurant business had had I not walked by in Yorkville, be our partner.

  • You guys joking, we're serious.

  • Let me think about it.

  • Two weeks later, I'm in the restaurant business life happens.

  • And are you open for the opportunities?

  • And also, right, you know, that you know, you work a lot with your gut, but your gut has to be clear, meaning do you know what you want?

  • I mean, sometimes you you think you want things.

  • But until you do your inner work, and you get clear, you're not gonna know what's right for you.

  • Some people might say, like, I want to be a lawyer, I want to be a lawyer, because their parents have told them that they get there.

  • And they're like, this is not what I want.

  • Who are you living for?

  • You sometimes you think that, oh, I'm just wondering, I want money.

  • Oh, you know, I know money's gonna make me happy.

  • Things from the outside are gonna make you happy.

  • And then once you get all the money in the world, that's when you realize that's not it.

  • You'll see a lot of billionaires give these talks, people that don't have money, they're like, they don't believe it.

  • They're like, if I had money, I know I'd be happy.

  • But I know I know quite a few billionaires, and they were chasing to be to be rich.

  • When they got rich, they're like, I'm not happy.

  • Then they went and they did their inner work.

  • And now they can enjoy their money.

  • But it's not until I think you have to live and examine life.

  • I think that's the important thing.

  • You have to do your inner work.

  • And we all have trauma to different degrees.

  • And until you deal with your own trauma, then get clear.

  • So something speaks to your gut is actually true.

  • Yeah.

  • So one thing I've learned is that as much as you can focus on being successful, being happy and being successful are parallel.

  • So as much as you can put effort into being good at what you do, you also need to put effort into being happy, and living in the moment and enjoying life.

  • There are two different things.

  • If you put all your eggs in one basket and focus on success, it doesn't mean that you focused at all on your happiness, and they don't directly translate.

  • I, I completely agree.

  • And I think there's a key to life.

  • And that's being present.

  • And be be present every moment of your life.

  • Everything's easier said than done.

  • And depending on, you know, your privileges, really, I feel very privileged.

  • I was born in Canada.

  • And most people don't realize that.

  • They don't.

  • And I think that if you you know, you have to remind yourself of that.

  • We live where we have too many choices, maybe.

  • And you know, you're you're born in another place where you have to just feed your kids.

  • You don't have the problems that we have.

  • We have privilege.

  • I think we have too much choice.

  • And I think we have too many wants.

  • And I think also another key to happiness is want less, want less.

  • What has been a big mistake or a failure?

  • You're waiting for that one.

  • It hurts.

  • It actually physically hurts.

  • I had a big, big, huge failure.

  • What?

  • Yeah, tell me.

  • Yeah, this one project in downtown LA, I'd invested some money. $800,000 at that point.

  • And then COVID hit, I did not listen to my gut.

  • My gut was shut it down.

  • And then I had a lot of people come my way, whether it was the landlord saying we'll fund it, we're gonna give you money.

  • And I went against my, my inner gut, my inner gut telling me to pull the plug.

  • It was the worst decision that I ever made in my mind.

  • I will tell you this, I will never listen to it.

  • Like at the end of the day, when it's my money involved, you cannot listen to other people.

  • And I listened to a lot of people say we can do this, we're getting money, and all this feedback of we can do it when every step of the way I said this is our time to pull, pull the plug.

  • And it was a huge loss for me.

  • And we opened for six months, and then we closed it down.

  • And at the end of the day, my partners who are the landlords, they came and they sued me for the full lease.

  • And so I lost I lost millions on that one deal.

  • What's the takeaway that you learned there?

  • My choice to pull the plug on that project was the right decision to make.

  • And I went against my my own inner knowledge.

  • And I don't blame anybody, I blame myself.

  • I started to listen to outside voices, we can do this.

  • No, I mean, we're getting money and all these things.

  • And we should do this.

  • We're, you know, that somebody handing you money, and it, it still feels rather traumatic for me to even talk about, it still hurts that failure, when it's your own money, your own, you know, when you feel it, you got to go, you got to go with that, you know, and I, I knew better.

  • And I paid dearly for that.

  • I'm still paying for it.

  • That's why I feel it.

  • Is your appetite for not appetite for failure, but your attitude towards it different?

  • Now that you're no longer perfect?

  • Well, I want to go back to being perfect.

  • Being perfect is so much better.

  • Understandable.

  • What is one thing that when you were younger, you put a lot of importance on and as you've gone older, you realized wasn't actually that important.

  • It's always going to be what people think about you.

  • Nobody's actually thinking about you.

  • Nobody really cares.

  • And if they do, you cannot pay attention to it.

  • Like I was on the Joe Rogan podcast, and then my sister said to me, do not read the comments.

  • And there were 1000s of comments.

  • And people were saying, like, I want her dead, like me, I'm talking about the restaurant business.

  • And can somebody kill her, please?

  • I want her dead.

  • Or they said everything.

  • And they said, Oh, I love her.

  • I hate her and everything in between.

  • And I laughed at it.

  • I said, this is ridiculous.

  • I was really straight talking about business and the restaurant business and people want me dead.

  • And they have a lot of opinions, good, bad and the ugly.

  • But Joe Rogan will say this.

  • You don't see LeBron James in the comment section.

  • Who's making comments?

  • Let me see your life.

  • Put your name to your comment.

  • And also people are thinking about themselves.

  • Most people are self centered and so worried about themselves.

  • People aren't really giving you that much thought.

  • It's not actually happening.

  • You could give someone your age or younger one piece of advice to live a good life.

  • What would that be?

  • You never know when it's your last day, your last minute, your last second.

  • And I think that the best choice you can make every morning is to wake up in a good mood and just know, this may be it.

  • This may be you never know when your last day is going to happen.

  • You know, you have you have dreams in your life, you have goals, just do it all do whatever you do, do whatever you want.

  • People say like, what's the secret?

  • What's your happiness?

  • Figure it out for yourself.

  • That's what I got.

  • I'll be glad.

  • Wonderful.

  • Thank you so much.

What has been a big mistake or a failure?

Subtitles and vocabulary

Click the word to look it up Click the word to find further inforamtion about it