The Determined Society with Shawn French

How Taja Abitbol Built Businesses by Trusting Her Instincts

77 min
Feb 6, 20262 months ago
Listen to Episode
Summary

Taja Abitbol, entrepreneur and star of Netflix's Members Only Palm Beach, discusses her unconventional approach to building multiple successful businesses without formal business plans, emphasizing intuition, manifestation, and the importance of taking action despite fear. She shares insights on her journey from real estate and restaurants to wellness entrepreneurship, while exploring themes of family legacy, personal integrity, and the role of energy and presence in achieving success.

Insights
  • Action without a complete plan is often more effective than endless preparation; successful entrepreneurs focus on the destination and allow the 'hows' to reveal themselves through execution
  • Manifestation requires both visualization and action—feeling the emotions of attainment combined with enthusiastic effort is what transforms vision into reality
  • Personal wellness and optimization directly impact business performance and decision-making; entrepreneurs who neglect their health sacrifice their competitive edge
  • Authenticity and consistent energy (on and off camera) builds trust and attracts aligned opportunities; faking it creates internal friction that sabotages success
  • Removing mental energy from things you cannot control (gossip, others' opinions, external drama) frees capacity for strategic focus on what matters
Trends
Wellness and longevity services integrated into luxury hospitality as a differentiator for high-net-worth travelersRise of 'biohacking' and preventative health optimization among entrepreneurs and high-performers seeking competitive advantageStreaming platforms (Netflix) becoming preferred vehicle for reality content over traditional cable networks like BravoHuman Design and astrology gaining mainstream adoption among entrepreneurs as decision-making and team-building frameworksRejection reframing: failed auditions/casting calls viewed as redirection toward better-fit opportunities rather than failureManifestation and law of attraction moving from fringe spirituality into mainstream business philosophy and entrepreneurial educationMulti-generational wealth building through real estate and hospitality remaining core wealth-creation strategy for family-oriented entrepreneursPresence over balance: high-performers prioritizing quality attention in specific moments over equal time distribution across life domains
Topics
Entrepreneurship without business plansManifestation and law of attraction in businessReal estate investment and commercial property salesRestaurant ownership and hospitality managementWellness and longevity servicesIV therapy and biohackingPersonal branding and reality televisionFamily legacy and intergenerational wealthHuman Design and astrological frameworksEnergy management and emotional intelligenceRejection and resilience in entrepreneurshipAuthenticity in personal brandingParenting teenagers and life balanceTravel and cultural experiencesIntegrity and ethical business practices
Companies
Netflix
Platform for Members Only Palm Beach series featuring Taja as a cast member and primary subject
Therabody
Recovery technology sponsor; founder Dr. Jason Wurzlin created Theragun based on percussive therapy for pain relief
Taja Drip
Taja's wellness and longevity business offering IV therapy, NAD, red light, and recovery treatments in luxury hotel s...
Taja RX
Taja's product line of liquid vitamin and mineral formulas designed for superior absorption versus capsule supplements
Faina Hotel
Five-star luxury hotel where Taja Drip wellness center is located, pioneering wellness services in hotel space
Laura Scudder's
Chip delivery company where Shawn's grandfather worked as a route driver, mentioned in personal family background
Bravo
Traditional cable network behind Real Housewives franchise; Taja auditioned multiple times but was not cast
People
Taja Abitbol
Entrepreneur, restaurateur, real estate broker, wellness business owner, and Netflix series cast member; primary guest
Shawn French
Host of The Determined Society podcast; shares personal parallels with Taja regarding single-parent upbringing and en...
Matt
Co-host of The Determined Society; mentioned as long-time collaborator wanting to interview Taja
Skip Bertman
LSU baseball coach credited with famous quote about visualization and action; won five national championships in 10 y...
Marcus Aurelius
Stoic philosopher; Taja references his quote about the path appearing when you commit to a destination
John Huffman
Friend of Shawn's credited with originating 'jump out of the plane and build a parachute on the way down' metaphor
Dr. Jason Wurzlin
Founder of Therabody; created first Theragun prototype from a Makita drill after personal injury and pain experience
Chantel
Friend and business contact who advised Shawn to listen to MFCEO Project and remove his emotional mask
Quotes
"People are always like, where's your business plan? I'm like, um, I don't have one."
Taja AbitbolEarly in episode
"Jump out of the plane and build a parachute on the way down."
Shawn French (crediting John Huffman)Mid-episode
"Once I want something, the universe shows me all the hows. They bring them to me."
Taja AbitbolEarly discussion
"Anything you can vividly imagine, ardently desire and enthusiastically act upon must, absolutely must come to pass."
Skip Bertman (via Shawn French)Mid-episode
"The truth always comes out. And, you know, karma is a bitch. Oh, a fickle one."
Taja Abitbol and Shawn FrenchLate episode
"I'm a manifesting generator. We don't have time to think. We just do. We just make things happen."
Taja AbitbolMid-episode
Full Transcript
People are always like, where's your business plan? I'm like, um, I don't have one. Are we twins? Maybe. God almighty. Jump out of the plane and build a parachute on the way down. Exactly. How do I start something if I don't know what I'm doing and if I don't have a plan and I don't know the how? Well, the first thing is to have no fear. Don't worry so much about the hows. I'm a manifesting generator. We don't have time to think. We just do. We just make things happen. Once I want something, the universe shows me all the hows. They bring them to me. I have goosebumps right now. That's what manifesting means. Members only, Palm Beach. The one thing that I've really enjoyed learning about you is that you always stand for what is right. But it could be also a very lonely position. You call it how it is. And if something is happening, you speak up. I guess so. I mean, I've been getting in trouble for it lately, so I think I better shut my mouth right now. Yeah, you do. Define trouble, though. Mouth tape. The truth always comes out. And, you know, karma is a bitch. Oh, a fickle one. What's up, guys? We're back today. We have Taja Abitball with us. She's a successful entrepreneur, businesswoman, an author, and standout star of the Netflix new series, Members Only Palm Beach. Welcome to the show. Thank you. Thank you for having me. Absolutely. So nice to have you. Matt and I have been talking about getting together with you for a little while now. So it's just a pleasure having you here in Naples in our studio and getting ready to have an amazing conversation. I'm happy to be here. Yeah, it's good to have you. Like I said, you know, the one thing that impresses me about you is for a long time, you've done some amazing things as a, as an entrepreneur and providing for your family. and a lot of times when people want to go into tv or reality and be a part of this bigger message and visibility a lot of times it's about them but it's been published that you wanted to do this for your family so you can take care of them and i just think that's such an admirable mission i'm the same way so i picked up on that can you talk to us a little bit about your mindset and where that came from and why that is so important to you. So as the viewers or, you know, fans saw on the show, my parents were on the journey with me. I grew up with a single mom. My parents got divorced when I was two. And my mom was really young when she had me, like she's still young, you know, so it was like, she and I on our own. And we were kind of like sisters. So like, I just always had the, I don't know. I just always felt like I wanted to help her and, you know, like be like more of like a partner than a child to her. I don't know. It's just my personality, I guess, because it's not like she really needed my help because she's very independent and self-sufficient. But it's just something about myself that I like to take care of people. Yeah. And, you know, I like to provide. So that's I've always, you know, worked really hard since I'm very young and contribute, contributed to my household. You know, I mean, now in my you know, once I. Became, you know, like a mother and I, you know, with my significant other, he is the provider, like I am no longer the provider, but I still help my family and he helps my family, too. So, you know, this is a lot about your heart and your soul. And I really appreciate that. And I think I read somewhere that your grandparents had a heavy influence on you as you're growing up as well. Yeah. I mean, I used to, my mother worked a lot, you know, she had a full-time job and I would stay with my grandparents a lot in Palm Beach, you know, because I mean, I didn't grow up in Palm Beach, but they were snowbirds. And yeah, I spent a lot of time with my grandparents and they also were, you know, business people had a lot of businesses. So I guess all of that influenced me my whole life, like seeing my mother work very hard, seeing my grandparents run their businesses because I used to go with them to collect checks from their, you know, buildings. They were landlords and they were in real estate and stock market and, you know, they owned hotels. And, you know, so, yes, I really got influenced by by them. You know, it's awesome because I picked up on that because when I was little, my mom and dad got divorced when I was two as well. Wow. Yes. So there's a, there's a massive alignment there and some synergy and just overall understanding of what that means. And in fact, my biological father, after that, I maybe saw him two or three times the rest of my life. I don't have any contact with him now. Now, gratefully that my mom remarried when I was, I think, nine. And my dad, I call him, he's my dad, right? And he played a massive part in my life. But I can really relate to that because early on when I was growing up, my mom always had to work because she was a single mother and was not around a lot during the day. So my days were spent with my grandma. And, you know, when my grandfather would come home, he was a route driver for Laura Scudder's truck, chips. So he would go and deliver all the chips to the stores and come home. And I would be over there a lot. And to the point where when I was little on the weekends, all I wanted to do was go spend the night at my grandma's house. And she passed away in 1997 from pancreatic cancer. And to this day, it crushes me. It must have been devastating. Yeah. It was hard. It was that time frame where I was going from high school to college. Right. She died August 6th, 1997. So I was going into my freshman year of college. and I really couldn't imagine my life without my grandma. And today it's still so hard. And I, a lot of times I, I look back on it and I go, man, she's been long. She's been gone longer than I had her with me. It's just, it's crazy. You know, it is just grandparents are important. So if there's grandparents listening, you play a bigger role than you really think, because without my grandma in my life, I don't know where I would have ended up. Right. And, and some random babysitter, right. and, you know, not have someone that truly cared for me, care for me. Right. So that was, that was big for me. So I, I read that about you and I instantaneously knew I wanted to bring that up because that's a big part of your life and what you've learned as an entrepreneur. And, you know, because of that, you went into hospitality, right? You, you owned an amazing restaurant that was known for Serenity and in the Upper East Side. Right. And you also did some real estate up there as a broker, correct? Yes. Why don't you talk about those experiences? Because I want the audience to know the full you before we get into what you're doing now and we get into your book and all that other stuff. So my mother, like I said, I come from a real estate background. Her parents were landlords in New York, a little bit in Florida too. But she had me get my license, my real estate license when I was 18. and but even before that I used to like work for her because she still owns a big real estate company and um she would send me to do like her open houses when I was you know a teenager before I was even licensed just to like you know greet people and show them the properties and so I I knew what I was doing like I knew real estate because I would hear her my whole life doing deals over the phone like all day long and her parents because that's who I spent time with So I got my license when I was 18 and I started doing commercial real estate back then. I was selling like income producing properties and I was only 18. Like, and you didn't even have to show the, those properties at that time. All I would do was send, it was called a setup. like really no longer exists, but you just sent a setup, which was a paper, like we would fax it to the potential investor. And yes. And it just had all the stats of the property. And, um, and if they were interested, they just would like come and check the boiler, the roof, you know? And so I was selling deals like that, like left and right. And I had, I had, I made some cash. I was only like, you know, my early twenties. And I always wanted to open a restaurant because my father's side of the family are in the restaurant business. My father's a chef and his whole family owns restaurants in Paris. Wow. And like a lot of restaurants, really great restaurants, like Michelin rated. Some of them are like institutions, been there forever in Paris. So I had a passion for both always. And when I got a little cash, I said, I want to open a restaurant. And everybody's like, are you sure you're going to open a restaurant? Like you were never a waitress or a hostess or even like a coat check girl. Like, what do you know about restaurants? But I did work in my father's restaurants a little actually. And in fact, in one of them, I had to like run it a little because, you know, his wife got sick and they were like, not around. So like, I kind of took it over. So I did have a little experience. But it is a tough business. Like, but that's how I am in business. Like I just do it. I don't do a business plan or get a, you know, people are always like, where's your business plan? I'm like, um, I don't have one. Are we twins? Maybe. God almighty. Maybe. So I just like jump into it. And then like you learn as you go. And I, I, you know, thank goodness. Like I didn't fail. I succeeded. Um, and I opened my first restaurant in New York city. And then I later opened a couple more. I had one in Vegas in a hotel and I always loved hotels. Cause like, who doesn't, like I always wanted to live in a hotel because who wouldn't want to live in a hotel? Like you could get room service all the time. You can see people cause I'm very social. I'm a people person. I love people. You know, you see new people every day, walking in, checking in, checking out. You know, you have restaurants, you know, nightlife. There's always something to do because I need stimulation. So like I always was like, I'm going to live in a hotel one day. So, but my businesses are in hotels and, you know, hopefully I'll start my own hotel brand soon. I don't know about hopefully. I'm feeling that you will. Definitely. I can tell it's already set in your intention and that's the biggest part of it. Yeah. I want to touch on something because you said something very important there that I want the audience to be able to go back to and really think about in their own lives of what they're trying to build, whether it's a business or a relationship or their body, you said you just jump in and figure it out. I have this thing that I always like to say. Actually, I think I got it from my friend, John Huffman. I want to credit him because it's not mine, but jump out of the plane and build a parachute on the way down. And I think that's exactly what I did here. I didn't have a business plan. I just had this thought and this passion of what I wanted to do. And I started slow and I just kept coming and kept coming. And then eventually it took off, right? But it can be a lonely road for the people that are listening that they can understand that concept, but don't really understand how to take action on that, right? Like of how to really, okay, how do I start something if I don't know what I'm doing? And if I don't have a plan and I don't know the how, walk them through how they can get through those small fear-based ideologies that they have to push forward and just take action? Well, the first thing is to have no fear. Because when I want something, like I don't have any fear about it. I'm just, I want it so bad that I don't have time to fear anything. So that's first of all, like try to get rid of the fear. If that comes into your mind or your body somehow, just kick it out. Second of all is don't worry so much about the hows, you know, like, how am I going to get that? How am I going to make that? How am I going to get there? You know, like when you book a flight to go to, you know, like from, let's say New York to LA or something, you don't worry about how you're going to get there. You don't worry about like the route the pilot is going to take, you You know, you just worry about where you want to go, the destination. So you just keep focusing on the destination and the hows will figure themselves out. They will appear, you know, like when I forgot who said it, maybe Marcus Aurelius or, but when you say like, you know, the path will appear, you know, you have to just believe that always, because I'd like, I know my next moves, but I don't know exactly how I'm going to get there because how could I know if you, if you're spiritual and you believe in the laws of the universe, then you know that because in my experience, I know that once I want something, the universe shows me all the house. They bring them to me. I love this. Hey guys, we're gonna take a quick break and we're going to slide into our recovery segment brought to you by Therabody. What an amazing technology that Therabody has. And it was founded on a really cool story by Dr. Jason Wurzlin. It was founded on pain. He got into an accident and had this extreme pain in his arm and found that percussive therapy really helped. So he created the very first version of the Theragun with a Makita drill, just to pilot and test to see if his pain could be relieved by percussive therapy overall. And surely it was. So now Birth to the Theragun and now Therabody, who has a multitude of products to help you recover emotionally and physically. And some of the products even help with stress, meditation, and better sleep, and just overall better wellness. And when I had Dr. J on the show earlier in 2025, it really spoke to me because his platform was founded out of physical pain and the Determined Society was founded out of emotional pain. And so it felt natural for us to partner up. So here we are, an official partnership with Therabody. And I want to talk to you about some of the products today that I've been enjoying that I think you need to understand and know more about so you could potentially implement them into your life. And I'm not going to get into a big deep dive of the actual science and everything like that. I'm just going to give you some anecdotal information based on the products that I'm using and that my wife is actually using too that is helping us out a great deal at home. Because the great thing about these products, guys, is you can use them anywhere. You can use them in the gym. You can use them at home, in your bed, in your living room. Hell, you can even drive with the TheraGun Pro Plus in your car and use it on your quads, use it on your arms, whatever that is. The first thing I want to talk about is the TheraGun Pro Plus. I bring that in my gym bag every day to the gym. And when I'm warming up, I use it to warm up. I put it on my arms, whatever body part I'm using that day, I activate those muscles. And what I find is I'm able to move my body a lot quicker. And I'm a lot stronger on those days that I do actually bring it and utilize it. I just think it's a great way to understand your body and the connection between your strength and your muscles and being warm and being able to perform. Because it's one thing to go work out, but it's another thing to perform while you're doing it. And the Theragun Pro Plus helps me do that. Another thing that I really truly enjoy is the Jet Boots Pro Plus. These things are wire-free. There's no hassle. There's no cords. There's infrared LED light. There's that compression therapy. And I've been having bad pains in my ankles, both of them actually, for about a year. And I don't understand where it's coming from. But when I started using the boots, religiously after a leg day or after a cardio session, I throw those boots on and I find myself a lot looser afterwards. I find myself lighter. And then the next day, there's no pain in my lower extremity, like my feet. The other thing that I really enjoy is that product really helps me recover a lot quicker. And let's face it, that's the most important thing when we're trying to move our bodies or we're trying to succeed in life is we want quick recovery emotionally and physically. And these products help me do that. And they can help you do that as well. One of the other things that I really want to go into because it's helping my wife out a ton with headaches and being able to distract from the noise in her mind. And honestly, it helps me with that too, is a smart goggles. Whenever we feel a slight headache coming on or things are getting really heavy just in our minds, just thinking about all the stressors, all the things out there that we can't control. We throw the goggles on, get in a quiet place and there's different cycles on there and different intensities of vibrations and massaging that you can either turn it up or turn it down. And what I really enjoy is it allows me to focus on what's going on with just me and I think about things and the massaging with the smart goggles relieves either headaches and it relaxes me and relaxes my wife to a point where we can fall asleep better. We are preparing to kind of downshift and shut down and slow down for the evening. So I heavily recommend them. The other thing it's really good for is just creating a peaceful time in your day. And what I found since using the smart goggles and then the other products is it works for me. It works for my family and I know it can work for you too. So I want you guys to think about things that you are struggling with. If it's lower back pain or you wake up in the morning, your neck is tight. I'm going to tell you the Theragun Pro Plus will help that out. They have cold therapy on it, hot therapy. I mean, think about that. When I opened that box and realized that I could have heat therapy and cold therapy and a Theragun changed everything for me and also really made the thing that I hate doing the most is warm-up. Made that very easy for me just by applying it to the muscle group that I'm going to use before I do it and in between sets, which promotes quicker recovery between sets. So if you looking to go high volume or to lift heavy weights I strongly consider that All these products are there to help you move along in your day with less pain and recover quicker So go check it out because now, like I said, the official partnership has begun. And from now until the end of March, in your first order, you get 15% off your first order, not every order. So if you're going to buy some stuff, load up there in that cart for that first time and you get 15% off. Go to therabody.com and at checkout, the code is determined. So let me know how you guys like it until then, stay determined. I'm going to say a quote right now. It is not original from my LSU baseball coach, Skip Burtman. Somebody else generated the quote or made the quote, but he made it famous. He was legendary, won five national championships in 10 years. And here's the quote, anything you can vividly imagine, ardently desire and enthusiastically act upon must, absolutely must come to pass. I have goosebumps right now thinking about that because what we're talking about is law of attraction manifesting things. But a lot of people stop at 50% and just think, oh, I'm going to think about it. And then it's just going to appear in my driveway or it's going to, the success is going to appear in my life. and they're forgetting all the action that comes with it and all the work. But most importantly, when you visualize something like you have in your life, I would imagine you just don't see it. You feel how it feels upon attainment. Exactly. I can give an example of the first restaurant I opened and I was like my early twenties in New York City, you know, like New York City. That's impressive. Yeah. Like on the hottest block on restaurant row. And it's crazy because that's when I was, you know, first really learning about what it means to manifest and the law of attraction. I was walking on this block where later my restaurant opened on, but I didn't know at the time that that's where I was going to open my restaurant. And there was a restaurant on that block that was really popular, but it was new. So like we didn't, I didn't intentionally go there and do this. So like I was walking on this block and I thought in my head, like, wow, I would love to have a rest. This is a perfect place for me to open a restaurant. And then we went into a restaurant that was already on that block. But the rest of the block was, you know, just like residential. And I just had the feeling like, wow, this is where my restaurant is going to be. And it's going to have like this type of vibe. been, you know, I felt the emotions. And then years later, I opened a restaurant on that block with the same vibe of that restaurant with the same workers, even because those like, you know, the hostess was no longer working there. So she came to work for me. So like, it all happened. Yeah. And then I later realized that, wait a minute, I manifested that. That's what manifesting means. It's a true gift. You know, I, I've been like that for such a long time. My wife always says, you're such a visionary, right? You, you can, you're a dreamer, you can dream things, you can see things. And, you know, I had to implement a ton of other skills in order for those things to actually come true that she helped me with. So I credit a lot of what's going on here to her because she's been the biggest supporter. So it's so important to have a supportive life partner like that, that, you know, incredible can help you, you know, make your visions become a reality. Yeah. But I've always been one of those people that see something so big and I, if it doesn't scare me a little bit, I won't do it because I want there to be some skin in the game. I want there to be some risk and what's going on right now. I saw two, three years ago. Right. And, and I continue to put things I talk to Matt about all the time and everybody that's involved in my company and all the support that I have, even, you know, any production, this is where we're going. This, this is what's happening. And I only bring that out or communicate it if I've already gone through the whole process and seeing it and feeling it. And I just think the feeling part, you know, people a lot of times say you shouldn't chase feelings. You should go on, you know, What makes sense? And I don't believe in that whatsoever. I don't even know how, like. I don't even know what that means. Yeah, me too. What sign are you, do you know your human design? Because my human design, I'm a manifesting generator. Oh. It's a real thing. Like there are manifestors, manifesting generators. There are. Wow. It's a human design thing. How do I figure that out? Later, I'll help you do that. Yeah, do that. You probably are a manifesting generator. Yeah, the only thing I know about. Because I'm also into astrology and into all of this stuff. Well, I'm a Scorpio. Oh, okay. Well, that makes sense because you're ruled by Mars. Like myself, I'm an Aries and now I'm ruled by Mars and that's the most fast moving planet. And, you know, so like we don't have time to think. We just do, you know, we just make things happen because we're ruled by Mars. We're both ruled by Mars. Yes. And we can't even get there yet, but we might already be there. Maybe. My wife does say something. I think you're from Mars. I'm like, well, you might be right now. Now I know. Now I know. That's pretty cool. Yeah. I didn't know that about myself. Yeah. Yeah. I think that, you know, when you look at and you talk about Mars being the most fat, the fastest moving planet, I move very fast. Yes. And a lot of times I'm being told, Hey, slow down a little bit. And it's usually by a Virgo. My wife's a Virgo. Okay. My significant other is a earth sign too. He's a, he's a, yeah, he's Capricorn. Yeah. My youngest daughter's a Capricorn. She's January 5th. He's January 2nd. I love Capricorns. Yeah. They're great. So yeah, he keeps me a little grounded. I don't know. I might be even more crazy and like fiery if you know, it wasn't for him, but yeah, like we're total opposites. Yeah. And that's what works too. It's like, it's nice to have that other piece for the grounding part of it. And, and I mean, balance, I guess you would say, I don't know how much I believe in that word, but you know, for her to balance me out and get more strategy, it was really the main component. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. I'm still not that great at that, but I don't need to be because I'm a manifesting generator. Like, you know, he always tells me write down lists, organize, get, or I can't. It's not within me. That freaks me out. Me too. It gives me anxiety. I'm like, I don't want to write a list. I can't, I don't know. Yeah. No, I just, I feel it and I go like, this is where we're going. Right. Everybody's different. Yeah. I'm probably going to bounce off the walls before I get there, you know, and take a couple wrong turns and break down, but eventually I'll get back on the road and I'll get there. Right. Cause I know what it looks like. I know the end game, right. I called it two years ago. Um, that that's interesting though. That's pretty cool. I didn't know that about you. So dynamic, so dynamic. Love it. You, you know, when going through life, I always find that there's a certain amount of adversity that a person must go through to make them stronger, to put them on the path to success. So that way, when they finally achieve that success, they know how to handle it. Right. I think rejection is a big part of my life. Um, and it always has been, uh, prior to members only Palm beach, you tried out for, um, housewives of New York, right. Twice. Oh no, more than that. Yeah. Like they could think, I think I've gotten calls from casting directors and production companies, um, um, you know, every season from a different city, you know, like I've gotten calls from many different cities. I'm like, but I don't live there. Like I don't live in New Jersey. Well, would you move? I'm like, no. So, you know, like, I've gotten calls from, you know, but like there's, there's production companies, there's casting directors. It's not the network that, you know, it's like you get calls from people trying to, you know, do a new cast or, you know, produce a new season. I don't know exactly how it works, but yes, I've gotten calls a lot. And I did interview many times. I never got cast on, obviously, any of the Housewives show. But I don't know why. I don't know either. They probably regret it now. but I guess I was meant to be on Netflix. Who knows? You know, I mean, it's a different type of network. It's streaming. It's a huge, much bigger platform. And, you know, I guess that wasn't meant to be. That's what I mean. Like I always trust the process. Yeah. That's the thing is like when you trust the process, then things come to you faster, you know? Yeah. And I think that too, the way it happened, you know, with members only Palm Beach, you have, you have had ties to Palm Beach since you were a child. Yes. So to me, it's fitting. What's that experience been like for you? Well, you know, I've been living here for a while now in Florida. I'm from New York and, but been coming here my whole life. And I've always loved the tropical weather and the palm trees and the ocean. And, you know, sometimes I feel that it's easier to manifest in this environment. I think so too. Like in New York when everything is gray and it gets dark early and I love New York. Don't get me wrong. Like it's all action. Like, you know, you need both. I need both. I can never give up New York. But I feel sometimes it's a better, it's a really magical way to manifest when you're in the palm trees, the weather, the ocean. It's just like, you know, I wake up so happy when I see the sunshine and the ocean. It's like, it's good for manifesting. Yeah, I agree with that. And the experience has been, it's been great so far, you know, it really has been great. um it's very exciting uh who knows what's to come you know only the universe knows if we're gonna have a second season at this point or you know i would assume right based on who knows i don't assume anything anymore you know i just i think uh because of the splash that it's created that there would be a season two we hope so let's hope we hope so yeah let's hope the one thing that I've really enjoyed learning about you and things that I've read and, and, you know, some of the clips from the show is that you always stand for what is right. That is a very hard thing to do. I myself do the same thing. And so does my wife. We're always about what's right and what's just, and if it's not right, we don't do it. And if it's not right, we call it out, but it could be also a very lonely position, right? Because the world is conditioned to kind to sweep things under the rug and just be a part of the pack and whatever the pack is doing, they do, but you stand out. You, you call it how it is. And if something is happening, you know, um, whether it's at Mar-a-Lago or anywhere else, and it's not right to you, you speak up. I guess so. I mean, I've been getting in trouble for it lately, so I think I better shut my mouth right now. But, um, yeah, I guess I do. I mean, listen, I'm from New York. So like you have to speak up when you're from New York. Yeah. Yeah. You do. Um, the fine trouble though, they, um, you know, just like, yeah, don't say that. Yeah. Yeah. That happens. Right. But also think it's too, because when someone's voice becomes so powerful and peep in, and it doesn't fit a certain agenda, those voices can at times, and I'm not saying that's with you and you don't have to comment on that. But my opinion is they like to temper those voices because then the full agenda can't be carried out. But it's so nice to see somebody in your position on camera calling out what's right and what's wrong. Yeah. I mean, you know, I just can't help myself, but you know, there's a lot of rumors. I don't know what's true, what's not true. Like I can only say my opinion And that's that. Everybody's entitled to their opinion. I always say it's nobody, it's none of my business what people think about me and what they perceive about me and what they believe is true. My job is to live who I am. And if there's some things that I need to clean up, then I need to be very self-aware and hold myself very accountable with extreme accountability and move forward and fix it. But, you know, it just, to me, my job is not to worry about what everybody thinks about me. Exactly. Because I've been down that road. I've been down that road and it torpedoes me. It puts me into occasional depressions, massive bouts of anxiety, and I don't work well under those conditions. So I've learned over the years to kind of be like, okay, thank you for the information. None of my business. Now, if I'm hurting somebody in the process, I'll look at it. But a lot of times it's, it's nothing like that. It's just what people think I should do or be like, and Hey, God created me the way I am. And I'm executing the hell out of it as much as best as I can. Of course you're a Scorpio. I know. Right. We marched there the beat of our own drums. That's for sure. That's for sure. But, um, you know, you also, you have a book, you have a book. Is it already out? No, no, no. It's not out yet. Um, um, I, I just, uh, started the process of, yes, My book is called Life Unscripted. Yeah. I love that word. I love unscripted. That's really cool. So are you able to give any teasers about, you know, what life is unscripted is going to be about or? It's just the real story of, you know, just for, um, to get to know me better and, you know, the real truths about certain things in my life and my businesses, my past, my personal, my family, you know, it's like a, not really a memoir, but like a personal story to get to know me better. I love that. It's cathartic, right? Like when I wrote my book, it's coming out in 2027 as well. It's called blood type determined how to implement determination blueprint into your life to achieve what you want to achieve. And when I wrote the book, it was so healing in so many ways, because some of the chapters I talk about things that I've never talked about in public. I talk about my divorce from my first wife. I talk about my ex-girlfriend who I was best friends with dying of the same cancer my grandma died of, pancreatic cancer, right? But here's the crazy part. I was with her when my grandma died of cancer. And then years later, she ended up getting the same cancer and dying when she was like 30 or 31. Oh, it's wild. So I talk about those things in the book and it healed me massively to talk about it and to get it out. And like, I'm not holding that anymore. And so, you know, as you go through and write this book, you're going to, you're going to come across things that you get out and that's just going to feel so freeing for you. I love that. I love that. When's it coming out? Probably this time next year, maybe a little sooner. That's cool. That's really cool. I like when people write books about their life, you know, and it accounts for everything because it gives somebody the blueprint to move forward in their life. Have you thought about how this book is going to help other people? Well, mine is the pink print. What do you? instead of the blue friends of pink friends. I love it. I love it. How it would help. Yeah. It would, it's just, you know, aspirational, inspirational to never give up and to stay true to yourself. I love that. You know, never giving up. It's something that, you know, people talk about a lot, like I'm never going to give up, but a lot of times people do give up right before it hits. Like, have you ever had any, I mean, cause listen, I, I'm, I'm very resilient, but there's times where in my life where I've sat there and I'm like, yeah, I don't know if this is for me. Like I should probably back off. But then once I say that in my mind and I go, wait, what? I'm not going to back off. I'm going to go harder. I'm going to put my face in this. Like, have there been any times in your life through, you know, your restaurants, your, your commercial real estate and doing what you're doing now, have you ever felt like, I don't know if this is for me and how'd you deal with that? Oh my goodness. So many times, like, that's just how life is, you know, it's up and down and you go, especially being an entrepreneur. I mean, you have to be, you have to be a little crazy to be an entrepreneur. You have to be, you know, very resilient, you know, delusional sometimes, you know, there's, there's, take certain personality type, especially in, you know, New York or the types of businesses that I was in highly competitive and, you know, and I ate a big in all of them. So, you know, restaurant, real estate, et cetera. Um, of course, it's just that every time you, you know, get back up again from, uh, something that takes you down. Cause you know, happens all the time. You just become stronger each time. And that's just how life works. You know, you just get more life experience, more, you know, resilience under your belt. And that's just how it is. You just keep on going. And each time you have to keep on going, you become stronger and stronger so that the next time you have to pick yourself back up again, it becomes easier. if i had a hundred thousand dollars for every time someone called me delusional i would be i would be on a my own island somewhere right i i truly do believe being having some degree of delusion is important because this is hard i don't care what you're building i don't care if you're building a t-shirt print shop i don't care if you're you know building a show uh or whatever it is a construction business i don't care you have to be willing to fail a little bit because that word failure is so important in a journey. And a lot of times people look at failure, like I, I just don't want to fail. It's embarrassing. Well, failure is part of it. It builds resistance. And that's what you were going through and talking about right now is as you fall down, you learn, right? You learn how to move forward and you might have better strategy moving forward thereafter. But the failure is just To me, I seek it in everything I do. Like how can I fail as quickly as possible so I can learn and I can grow and become callous to that certain mistake So that way I don have to deal with that one again Well that interesting I definitely don seek failure but but you know I learned from I've learned from it, you know, and, and since you say you were an athlete, like athletes are the best at that because like, if they have a, if they lose a game, like they just move forward so quickly that they don't have time to think about their failure. They just move forward so quickly. Like you don't look back, right? Just keep moving forward. Yeah. That's really key. That's really key. It's just to keep moving forward. I want to clear. Yeah. I want to clarify. I don't, I don't seek out the big failures. Right. I, I see, I want to push so hard that if there's a micro failure, then I know how to correct. Right. I know how to course correct from there on. Right. So I'm like, Hey, let's, I want to go as hard as I can to see if this podcast fails. Like, no, I want to hit that pain point as quickly as possible, I guess is what I'm saying. It's like, I hit a pain point, like, okay, how do I get through this? Like what, what's the way through it? And then that way I'm building and I can help other people get through those same sticking points. And I found that I get a lot of messages about that. How do you, how did you move through this? Right. How, how can I move through it? Because recently, you know, I grew up my whole life and I was overweight, like very overweight. I mean, I'm not like 300 pounds, but like 230 pounds and I'm 5'11", right? And I started thinking like everything that I have in my life right now, or I don't have is because of this one thing, this one thing that I'm struggling with. And I have to go through this transformation because I want to be healthy. I want to be around for my wife and my kids for a very long time. But I also want to display this type of determination and discipline that everybody else can see. So that way it inspires them. And I, I tell you what, every day I get multiple DMs, like, how do I get out of my own way? And I go, you have to identify that one thing, that one thing that you think about constantly, that's what you attack. And it may be unrelated to business. It may be unrelated to anything that you're doing, but it's funny how, if you take care of that one aspect, everything else falls into place because you're vibrating on a higher frequency is there anything in your life that you thought of like constantly like you know what I should probably work on this and then once you did everything else just kind of fall into place yeah I mean you know it's like you said before like don't you can't waste time thinking about things that don't matter so you know that's something that we all get better at as we you know, experience more in life, you know, but definitely things that don't matter to not even think about them, you know, like what people think of you or what, you know, uh, somebody is saying about you or what, uh, you know, like, just like things that don't matter, just don't think about them. That's it. I mean, that's the one thing that could help you get to where you're going faster, like to not think about things that don't matter. That is more gossip. Yes. You know, because a lot of, you know, I get caught up in that sometimes with, you know, especially cast members. And, you know, like there's a lot of that going around. There's a lot of that drama. Yeah. A lot of that drama. And it's just like, you know, move, move past that. You know, I don't like, you know, they, they, I mean, it's, it's something that is, uh, you know, like funny for a show, entertaining and all of that. But like in real life, that really doesn't, you know, interest me to think about what he said, she said, he said that she was, she was wearing, he was doing it. She wasn't there. She wasn't invited. He like, I don't care. Yeah. I don't care. I don't care. You're like, look, that's more powerful than you think though, right? If it doesn't matter, don't fret. And I always say this, and I learned this in sports, control the controllables. That's what it is. If you don't have control over it, then don't think about it. So that's something that I have been working on with the help of David, because like, that's like, you know, a true champion's mindset and he's the true champion. So like, I learned a lot from him. Five times over. Five times over. So, you know, that's how you got to think like a champion. You do. And it's so funny because when you allow this, when you allow to clear your space, when you allow yourself to clear your space like that, you can focus on what does matter. But if we get stuck in worrying about the shit that doesn't matter and that we can't control, it, it pushes us down. And then you attract more of that crap. Right. You know, and like, and, and, and if, you know, what did you call it? A manifest, what was the? Manifesting generator? Manifesting generator. Yeah. So people like us can manifest anything we want, but what are we going to manifest, right? If we're focused on things that we don't have any control over and we fret over every little detail, right, that's happening or what someone says, we just, we bring more of that to us. And for me, that weighs on me a ton. Right. Everything is energy, you know? Yeah. So I try and bring the good energy. Yeah, you do. I mean, I, you know, it's like inside of you, you know, so you can feel when somebody has good energy or not. Like it's hard to fake it. Even if you, you know, keep a happy face on all the time. If you're not, you know, vibrating on the same inside, it's obvious. What you say and what you're giving out is two completely different things. And I've been on the other side of that as well. You know, I've been in times where like, hey, everything's great. And I got the smile on my face. And I remember sitting down with somebody, a friend of my name, Chantel, and she goes, take the mask off. I'm like, what are you talking about? And this is when I was selling payroll. And it was my first meeting with her, like to sign her up for payroll. And we were at a Starbucks on Pine Island Road in Cape Coral, Florida. And that was, she was a catalyst in this whole thing because she goes, you need to listen to the MFCEO projects. Andy Purcell is old, you know, podcast. They just brought it back, but he talks about mindset, talks about building business, talks about all this stuff. And it wasn't until that point that I realized that I'm faking this. I'm faking being happy. And it was super important to me to fix that. Now you're not going to have any question where I'm at. Like if I'm in a bad mood, that's where I'm at. If I'm in a great mood and I'm, I'm vibrating high, there's no faking it because people can feel that when they, yeah, I can't fake it. I'm the same way. Like I can't, you can tell right away if I can't, you know, if I don't like you, you could tell I can't fake it. I'm just not like, you know, like I can't, I can't do it. I just, it's not who I am. Yeah. I find like I'm always cordial, but there's certain energies that I just won't fuck. Well, yeah. Like I know how to be polite and cordial, but, or maybe sometimes I don't, maybe not. I don't know. Maybe not, but But, you know, I'm definitely not fake. I don't know how to be fake. I can't. I sometimes want to be, but I can't. Yeah. It's crazy because everything I've seen of you and read of you, you showed up with the same energy, right? And I appreciate that. And I think a lot of times in this business, right, and what we do, it's very public, right? So when I meet people, they go, wow, you have the same energy. you're the same person on camera as you are in person. I'm like, well, yeah, because it's me. Like if we're not being ourselves and we're not showing people who we are. And then if you run into somebody, you don't mirror that same energy. It's very confusing to people. And you, and you lose a lot of, I guess, fans, or you lose a lot of people that respect you because like, wow, you're not who you say you are. It's a gift. It's a heavy one too though. Right. Because you're always on, right? You're always, you're always, I don't know. Cause it's just who I am. Like I, like I said, I don't, I don't even know how to be fake, you know? So heavy or not. I don't know. I just, it's who I am. I get, sometimes I'll get tired, right? At the end of the day, if it's, it's more tiring to fake. Yeah. It could be fake it. Like, no, that'll, that'll destroy you. Yeah. I don't even know how to do that. That's a different type of tired. Yeah. That's a different type of tired, you know, but being on camera, being on the microphone all the time and fielding calls and always having that same energy. And it is me, it's, it's, it's not an act, but you know, there's times where I sit there and in some days I just need to just to be by myself. Do you ever have to be by yourself? Yeah. It's very, it's very important to, um, you know, um, recharge and, And, you know, like I just came back from a back-to-back trip. So yesterday I just spent a day, you know, like recharging, you know, like at home. Like, yeah. You definitely need that. What do you like to do to recharge? Just, you know, like cook. That's healing for me. Get my house together, my things together. You know, just like home things, like wholesome things. you know, spend time with my family, um, and just, you know, stay away from the phone a little bit, stay away from Instagram, you know, just like recharge, regroup. Um, you know, you, you have to like shut off or, and I don't need to do that for too, so long in order to like, you know, get recharged. But even if it's just a couple of hours, like you definitely need to, you know, regroup. It's, it's very important for sure. Yeah. I found myself, if I can spend, you know, four to five hours, just recharging, I'm good. And I can do that when my kids are at school, my wife is at work, you know, I can just be right, you know, and that'll, there'll, there'll be times like, you know, someone calls and, you know, if it's a partner or someone important in the business, like, Hey, I'm taking, I'm taking a day. I'll get back to you tomorrow. And it took me so long to draw that boundary because I always felt compelled or responsible to, I've got to respond right away. That was one of the things that my wife always coached me through. She's like, you don't have to respond to everything right away. You can take your time. And learning that has allowed me to recharge so much quicker. So by the time the most important thing in my life, which is my wife and my kids walk through the door, daddy's ready. You know, I'm ready to cook that, that dinner. I love going out there and grilling. My daughters always go, can I help you? And I'm like, well, you know, I'm grilling so you can come out, but I don't want you near the grill. But, uh, it was, it was really funny because the other day, my little one, she's seven, I was making, um, mashed sweet potatoes and she wanted to help. And, you know, she's got, I told her, yes. I was like, but I'm going to hold the pot. So, And you stir, she got so damn excited. She got out of her little baker's outfit. She put her hat on. She put her little mittens on and her apron. And she was in there with me just cooking. And then my oldest daughter came in. Can I help too? Yes. Can you set the table? Can you make the salad? And just those moments with them, even though I was actively doing something, that also recharged me because they got so much joy out of it. Right. That human connection also fuels you. And you're a mom. Right. Yeah. You know, how can you relate to that when, when you see your, your kids light up and, and enjoy that they're helping or doing something with you? What does that do for you? Well, I have one son and we have, we have been, um, that used to be now he's 14, but you know, so teenagers, they don't want to do so much with you anymore, but no, but he's a mommy's boy. So he loves being with me. But when he was younger, we used to do that all the time. Like he knows how to cook because he could make a whole meal if, you know, if I asked him to, because he, you know, was in the kitchen. I love to cook. Of course I was in the restaurant business. My father's a chef, you know, so cooking is a big part of our life. Um, but he knows how to cook a whole meal. Like he can make you a full dinner. That's awesome. He could make your whole family a full dinner in like, you know, no time. At 14, I was just playing baseball. I didn't even know how to turn on the, the washing machine. Yeah, no, he knows how to do everything. I'm not saying he does it like we do, but like he knows how to do it. Yeah. He knows how to, you know, do laundry, clean his room, make his bed, cook dinner, you know, all of it. Yeah. Something that we used to connect, you know, together doing at home is like cooking meals together. Cause he loved it. That's so awesome. Those are skills that when he's older and a woman comes into their life, you're going to know that he's going to be able to handle shit. Exactly. They'll appreciate that. His friends know, like all his friends are, he has a lot of friends who are females and, and he takes care of them. Like he's the gentleman around, he'll make them food. He make like, you know, the other day he made like ramen, but like homemade, a homemade ramen, you know? You, my friend, if you're watching, you're a, You're a gem because I remember driving around. I parked my car in a parking spot a long time ago. And that's when Melissa was still alive. And she goes, I worry about you when you go to college. It's like, why? She goes, because you can't take care of yourself. And I said, I'll figure it out. And now I'm very domesticated. I'm very self-sufficient. I cook, I clean, I contribute. It's easy for me. but those are learning that at an early age is so important. And I have my son's 12. So I'm approaching the teenage years very quickly. And, and I'm great with teenagers. I used to coach, but how has that been, you know, having a teenager and, and navigating those things because the worries change, I think, right. As they get older and they're doing more things, they're out of the house. What have, how has that been for you guys? yeah like it changes really quick like overnight you know like literally the minute they turn from 12 to 13 you know the minute they become a teenager things change they just you know want their independence more so you know you have to give it to them and I'm and that's you know a healthy thing but but luckily like he's you know he is a mommy's boy he always will be and that's another healthy thing, you know, that he loves his mom. And we do love to be together. Um, we love spending time together. Like we love traveling together. Um, we love, you know, our activities together. Like we love going ice skating or to restaurants, trying different restaurants or being with his friends. Like I'm, Oh, his friends love me. So we're, you know, like, so that's good. So thank goodness. Cause I'm not like, I'm not like that cringe for them that they don't want to be with me. Cause that's what happens when they become teenagers. It's like, everything is like, that's so cringe. Like they don't want to take pictures with you anymore. Like we're together a lot, but like my followers on Instagram, like they, they're like, where's Sam? Where's your son? Cause he doesn't want to take pictures with me anymore. And he used to not mind that, you know, he used to like that. But now he's like, do not post that. Don't put that up. You know, it's like, everything is cringe. He doesn't want to be public. He doesn't want to. No, just not with me. you know, like, but, you know, like I said, thank God I'm not that cringe because I still get to be around them. Like, you know, they like, like they think I'm going to, they, they say I'm a baddie. So, you know, yeah. Yeah. It was, oh, that's funny. No, listen to this. So, so my wife up until this, this past, this semester that just started, she was teaching upper school Spanish, right? So high school, she was in prep school. And one day she came home and said, what does baddie mean? I'm like, it depends. Like who's calling you that? She goes, well, you know, some of the girls and some of the boys call me a baddie. I'm like, Ooh, I got, I got, I mean, that means that that means something. And she goes, they don't look at me like that. I'm like, no, but I mean, you are a baddie, you know, you, you know, you're cool. Like it can mean so many different things, but that word, man, it's so funny. Cause, um, it mortified her. Right. And she's like, Oh no, what's it mean? It's like, I'm like their, I'm like their mom. I'm like their school, I'm like their school mom. I'm like, well, you know, boys will be boys, babe. Boys will be boys. You mentioned going on trips. What's the favorite trip you've taken with your son? I don't have just one favorite, but you know, like all of them are the best. Each place we, you know, venture to is a new experience. But so I just, I love going to new places and seeing it through his eyes, you know, with him. So every place we go to is, is, uh, you guys travel out of the country and we love to travel. So what's been your favorite trip for you so far? Like just, just the area. I don't have, I don't have a favorite. No, mine was everywhere. Everywhere. I like, every time I go somewhere, I'm like, oh my God, this is so amazing. I think this is my favorite trip. Then the next trip I go to, I should say, no, this is amazing. This is my favorite. So it's not, I can't, it's not just one, like every new experience and, you know, that's cool yeah it's like i don't know i can't i can't compare like every place is different and we just love traveling and experiencing new places cultures people you know we uh we went to my wife's home country in uh july where's that ecuador oh okay she's from quito ecuador and um we had never been and you know because sometimes it's not safe there right and but it was, it was a period of time where everything was calm. It was chill. So we went, I didn't want to come home. Wow. Like volcanoes, you know, we went to these volcanic baths where we sat in these different pools. Wow. Each pool was hotter because it was closer to the volcano. And I'm sitting there just looking up in this, the Andes mountains and it's over like all the fog and the clouds were sitting on the volcanoes and it was drizzling. It was the most incredible experience of my life. It was, it was the best. The only thing I didn't like about it was that it takes forever to get anywhere. Oh, it's like, you're constantly bumping. Cause the roads are this. So I was like passed out half the time of the car rides, the altitude, really the altitude. Like I couldn't sleep while I was there. Wow. I would sleep for in two hour spurts and then I was up and then I would fall back asleep. But then I was up So I never been there So I can say but yeah it very beautiful Yeah It beautiful Um I want to go back soon One of the craziest things is when you landing you coming into the Andes mountains It's the most terrifying thing. I'm like, what the hell's going on? Is this guy good? Like, you think we're good? Like, is this normal? She goes, yeah, I hear all the time. This is normal. I'm like, man, like all the, it just, these, these mountains are massive. I mean, they're huge. It's beautiful. It's beautiful. Didn't go to the rainforest though. she wouldn't go she had a tarantula uh or a massive spider like fall on her when she was a kid oh wow she was just like traumatized yeah i'm not going back to the amazon oh wow i am not going there but we want to do the galapagos i think this summer because we didn't we didn't try we didn't go there so that would be a fun trip nice yeah yeah so what what's coming for you you know like you know i know that we don't know if a season two is coming but what are you looking forward to most? You know, everything. I just like, I look forward to everything. Um, especially, you know, like travel plans, although we haven't made them yet for the summer cause we're kind of last minute, but you know, there's, there's always something to look forward to. Like every next thing is something to look forward to, whether it's in my family life, my business life, my, you know, professional life. It's there's, you know, I look forward to it all. Yeah. You know, that's a good, that's a good thing to have, right? Because then you're always present. I think being present is so much more important than balance, right? Everybody talks, I wish I had more balance. I'm like, well, wait a second here. Balance, balance means you can do multiple things, the equal amount of time during the day. So you're telling me you can work for eight hours, you can work out for eight hours, you can spend eight hours with your family, you can work, you know, and do all these other things. Like there's only 24 hours in a day. So I seek presence. If I can be present in a moment and truly enjoy what's going on, then I'm good, right? Especially with kids. They don't want time. They want your attention. And that's something that you've given your son. You guys cook together. You go on trips together. You do fun activities together. That is so enriching to a child because there are a lot of parents out there, and I witness it all the time. The kids do not exist. They do their thing. Here's the iPad. And the iPad or the screen raises that child. And they always are searching for that attention that they really want, which is from the parents. Right? So you've done that for your child. Right? You've given them experience. You've given them the gift of you being present. But also when you talk about your outlook on life, it's like, I'm excited for it all. And I think that is truly something that people are searching for. What kind of advice would you give the audience about how to slowly work towards that? Because some people it's built in, right? It's just your perspective. It's how you've been raised, all your life experiences. But, you know, there's a subset of people that don't know how to do that. What would you tell them? No, I definitely had to train myself. It's not, I was not born like that, you know. but once again, it's like, you got to just focus on the positive. Cause when everything is energy, you know, the more you focus on the positive, the more positive you will get, attract, you know, become, uh, if you focus on things that don't matter or the negative or what he said, she said this, you know, it's just, that's, you're going to get more of that too. Yeah. So focusing on the things that really matter and staying positive is is definitely it's like a workout. You know what I mean? You have to you have to keep working at it. It's not something that has come to me naturally my whole life. I mean, I'm naturally like an upbeat, positive, happy person. But there's a lot of things that can get me down in life, you know, a lot of things. And you just have to, you know, try not to let anything or anyone get you down. Are you open to sharing maybe one thing that gets you down? I mean, just, you know, there's so many things like just like stress in your business, like, oh, this one didn't show up today. Or, you know, something that's going on with the cast, the cast member. Or, you know, it's just like you got to keep it moving, like not focus on the negative, you know. Yeah. Just like not, you know, come up with solutions and don't focus on problems. But that is not something that I, you know, always was a master at, you know, you have to master that. But it's, it's important to master that in, in life. I agree completely. You know, and just like stay real, you know, like because the truth always comes out and, you know, karma is a bitch. Oh, a fickle one. So, you know, like we, you know, like if you're gonna tell lies or go after someone for no reason or whatever it is, you know, like that's going to come back to you. You know, like I don't, I don't, I'm, I'm a good supportive friend and you know, that's, that's who I am. That's awesome. I always say what you do in the dark always comes to light. Right. It will come out and it'll burn you. So you better be living right. I always believe in keeping my side of the street clean. And there's always things that I can clean up. Right. But, you know, I try to live my life full of integrity and to be truthful and to be honest. So that way I never have to have those types of hard conversations because those are bad conversations to have if you've been dishonest and it comes out. You lose trust in people. You know, it could implode your businesses. It can change so much in your life by not being truthful. So I enjoy that about you. It's a good quality. Very good quality. so question this show was built on the backbone of determination and discipline right when i began this show i wanted to wake up in a society where people woke up determined to chase their dreams no matter how they felt emotionally at that time because our emotions don't care they're a liar we have to if you are going to build something you need to build it regardless of how you feel because you said you were going to do this activity you said you were going to do this In your words, how do you define determination? It's like, it's like a, you know, like a fire that's in you, you know, like I have, you know, like I'm constantly on fire for something that I want to, to do, you know? So it's not, it's not like I wake up and say, oh, I'm going to be determined today. Like I just am, like I wake up and I'm, I'm very energetic. I like to get things done. I do get things done. I'm a doer and I just make shit happen. That's it. That's it. It's just my personality. You know, at the beginning, I thought determination was this loud roaring thing, the hustle culture. It's really not that to me. It's the quiet moments, right? It's the quiet moments where you make a decision to follow through for yourself. Because at the end of the day, if you break your word to yourself, that's when you lose confidence. That's when you lose your power. And so every single day I check in with me, are you doing what you said you were going to do? To me, it's not loud. It's not sexy. It's the monotonous things that you master. Me getting in shape, me looking the part of determination and discipline. Those are the things that I, every day I have to make sure that I follow. Am I eating the right things? How's my wellness going? right? Am I, am I emotionally set? Am I physically set? I'm nowhere near where I want to be because it's a, it's a never ending journey, but you're also big into wellness and you want, you run one of the biggest wellness companies out there. Talk to me about that. Yeah. I, I, um, I've always been into wellness and longevity, uh, because I think it started when I was, you know, very young. It's Just like, you know, growing up in New York and, you know, like the hard lifestyle, I would need to kind of like recover to get my energy back. You know what I mean? Like I would have to do, you know, like sauna and like I started sauna, cold plunging, red light, all of that, like before anybody knew what it was. Like IV therapy, like, you know, I don't even remember how old I was when I started doing this. but like very young and people didn't even know about this stuff, but I would find, you know, places in like, you know, Queens and Brooklyn, like European, like these Russian places that did like, you know, uh, you know, chelation and like, I don't know. I was always attracted, um, to wellness because it just makes you feel good. Like I like to feel good. I like to look good. I like to have energy and, you know, especially in the winter, maybe I needed more help or, you know, being in the restaurant business and, you know, you work all night and you have a busy night and you're, you know, running around all night long until four or five o'clock in the morning. And then I had to be back at work at 12 noon, you know, so I would go into the sauna for two hours, get IVs and then go back to work. And I would be great. And people would always be like, how are you like still here at five in the morning counting your money at the ends of the night? And like, you know, so I started my wellness journey long, long, long ago. And then when I moved to Florida, I couldn't really find, you know, good places that, that I trusted to get all these therapies that I need to get. So I said, well, I'm just going to open my own place. And that's what I did. What's it called? What's your business called? Taja Drip. Taja Drip. Yes. And Taja RX because my product lines are Taja RX and my actual brick and mortar is located in the Faina Hotel, which is a five star hotel. And I, you know, pioneered this wellness and longevity, you know, business in within the five star luxury hotel space, because it's also ideal for travelers. You know, like if I, I, I want to, when I travel, the first thing I want is to get an IV, lymphatic drainage, red light, oxygen. And then like, you don't jet lag. I don't, I never get jet lag because I get all of these things. And I never, you know, I travel with people and they're like, I can't move. I need two days to recover. And I'm like, my God, you're wasting my time here. Like, you know, you need, you need to like get up. So like, I don't get jet lagged. I don't, you know, like I, I really know that these treatments work, you know, NAD that I've been taking and no bowel forever since before anybody knew what it was. I've been doing it and people are like, what's NAD? What's NAD? You know, I've been doing this for a long time. All the vitamins, minerals, amino acids, antioxidants that the body gets, you know, deficient of, it's very important to replenish and it works. Like you can tell the difference, you know? So I have a medical director, I have all nurse practitioners, registered nurses that, you know, handle my business and, um, we have a great thing going on. What I love about this is you'll have to come visit. I'm in, I'm in Matt's taking me. you use these things as you were, you know, 20 years old and into your entrepreneurial journey to help you, you know, keep moving at the pace that you needed to. And then years later, you took that recipe and then you made something out of it. And I always say those things always work because you have the experience level. You know what it does. You've tested it on yourself for many, many years, that is the long game. And that is one of the biggest reasons why it's super successful. And in a five-star hotel, right? People have to realize that tapping into who they were before and what helped them, that's usually the gift that they can go and give to other people. And that's exactly what you're doing. That's pretty darn cool. That's really cool. And I started it, you know, way before it was popular. Like, like I said, like nobody knew what nad was exactly i'm a biohacker yeah i am a biohacker but it didn't you know i started it before it before it had a term you know before there was a name for it i started it so like i didn't ride the wave like i started the wave you know yeah i i um heard i don't know if you do you know who tito ortiz is he was a ufc fighter you know a lot of them as clients right so he was at this conference and he was asked to speak at this biohacking conference. He's like, biohacking, like, what's that? Right. Like he's been doing it for so long in his training to recover. So just like you. Well, that's what I say all the time. Like the original biohackers are athletes, of course. And since I've been around a lot of athletes my whole life, like, you know, they're the original biohackers. Well, they have to feel good. They have to perform, right? Being able to play the sport or, you know, be active in the sport isn't the goal. It's the performance. And if you don't recover, and if you're not putting good things in your body, then you can't have that level of performance. I don't care what you do, whether you're an athlete or an entrepreneur or a teacher, you need to be optimized. And there's so many people walking around right now, Taja, I'm tired. I don't have time to get in the gym. I can't get in the gym because by the time I get home, I am done. Like your company in your services, help people with that. Cause you're giving them the nutrients and the minerals that they need and the recovery that they need. I mean, absolutely. I mean, you can ask anyone I know you, like anyone that knows me, like, do I ever get sick? No, I mean, knock on wood, like knock on wood, like knock on wood, like I never, like, you know, Like, do I, am I ever like not functioning at my best? I'm always optimized. Yeah. Thank God. You know, it's important. You know, it's funny because. But I work at it, you know, because I get all the treatments that I, that I swear by and believe in. And, you know, meanwhile, everybody else, oh, I can't, I'm sick today or I'm that today. And I'm not saying like, I've never gotten sick, but you know, it's like every, you know, like, I don't know, every like 10 years or something. I mean, it's like, I, I, it's like, yeah. Well, it's funny because prior to me taking responsibility for my own health, I would get sick a lot. You know, I'd get in the gym and then I'd release all those toxins from working out and I would get sick immediately. But the moment I started taking care of myself, I've been sick one time. Right. Don't you see a difference? It was low grade. When your immune system is, you know, functioning properly, then you just don't get sick as much. Yeah. Like everybody was worried about, you know, cause the flu has been nasty this year. And people are getting sick and they're throwing up. They're like, you haven't got anything. I'm like, nah, I don't even think about it. I know. Everybody's been sick. And I got like a little, you know, like I had a little like maybe congestion, but I snapped it out. I went right away, went and got some NAD, IV, you know, some oxygen, red light and boom, it was out of my system. Out of your system. when I feel like that, right. I still stay on my normal routine and then I'll hop in the sauna after my lift and my cardio and I'll go sit there for a half an hour sweat. And that rest of the day, I'm very tired, but the moment I go to sleep and wake up, I'm fine. And it's, I can feel things come on. I'm like, okay, like I'm going to get through this. I'm not, this isn't going to get me now. Wake up the next day and I'm fine. Well, you probably need some more IV therapy, vitamins, It's mineral. You probably need more of that in your system. Probably. Yeah. I mean, you know, I do take vitamins, but the, the, the IV drips are so important. There's so much more. It's, you know, it's concentrated right into your bloodstream. Exactly. And it's really hard to get like absorption from supplements, like actual pills, like, you know, they might have good ingredients, but it's, you don't, you know, they don't absorb into your system, you know? So like my formulas are liquid, liquid absorb much better than capsules. Well, definitely come over. Definitely come over soon. Soon. It's on him. Will you get me over there? I'll definitely do it. Well, maybe we'll do some stuff over there and promote it a little bit. It'd be really cool. But thank you so much for coming on and, you know, giving the audience more substance of who you are and what you're up to and can't wait for the pink print to come out. You know, that's going to be really, really cool. Thank you so much again. I I really enjoyed this. And for everybody watching, please go follow Taja on Instagram. The handle is, what's your handle again? Taja Lucky is my personal. Okay. And Taja Drip. And the reason why it's Taja Lucky, I didn't give myself that name, but everyone says whenever they hang out with me, like they get lucky. So I got that. That was like a nickname that I was named, Taja Lucky. Like my luck runs, rubs off on them. Okay. So that's how that became my handle. That's really cool. And my business is Taja Drip and Taja RX. But if you go to my Taja Lucky page, you can see all my other outlets there. I definitely follow you. I just couldn't remember the actual handle. Okay. And for all of you out there listening, I might get lucky tonight because I hung out with Taja today. So Jackie, Jackie, you be ready. You be ready, baby. Daddy's coming home. Now he's coming home. Please, guys, if you've enjoyed this episode, first and foremost, go check out Members Only Palm Beach. Watch Taja. Share the show with all your friends. And dive in. You got to binge watch it, though. You have to watch every episode because we need it. We need like the completion rate. So completion. It's also hard to stop watching. So just like watch all eight episodes. It goes by fast. Yes. Hey, dive into it, guys. Share this episode with some, you know, love and trust. And go follow Taja. If you're over on the East Coast, go visit her and get some treatment. Complete the show. Binge watch it. And until next time, guys, stay determined.