what has been a big mistake or a failure H 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 trying to navigate it my husband passed away and
I'm 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 um 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 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 um 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 going to make everyone happy so why bother and you have to be true to yourself what do you do for a living uh I own restaurants 10 restaurants or 12 sorry 12 restaurants in Toronto it's it's good when you lose count of
how many businesses you have uh 12 restaurants in Toronto and two restaurants in La amazing so you're were 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 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
I ended up being a straight A student and valid dictorian and then I went on to do my master's degree in business so I I I fell into to 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 I figured out the biggest secret um on the planet to make people happy you know at the at the end of the day do you really need University when you look
at the Bill Gates of the world or you know maybe 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 um opened right into the restaurant business wow 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 um when I was 30 uh 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 they don't they don't trust that you know what you're doing now nobody can say anything to Mez I'm 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 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 I think there's times to take bigger risks other times you you know you you want to put the kids through college maybe it's not time to start rolling some dice I think it's a a stage of life and you have to you have to ask that question to yourself
are you okay with risk do 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 the 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 but 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 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 one 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 over complicate
a lot of the the whole figuring my life out business I agree and as 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 were 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 6 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 gave her advice to get where you are faster what would that advice be I would say there's no need to go faster 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 I moved 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 you 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 you know 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 will 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 I I kind of analyze it I walk in I see locations I see
what they're doing I'm good at calling how 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 often times 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 two
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 who's the director who are the actors it's going to be the lighting like the costumes the makeup so again I equated to a film every thing 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-sized 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 project by project gut feeling too 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 uh you guys joking we're serious uh let me think about it um 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 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 uh you're not going to know what's right for you some people might say like I 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 just want I want money oh you know you know money is going to make me happy things from the outside are going to 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 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 an examined 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 you know 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 uh 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 we live where we have too many choices maybe and you know if you're born in another place where you have to just feed your kids you don't don't have the problems that we have we we have privilege I think we have too much choice and
I think we have too many wants and I think the also another key to happiness is want less want less what has been a big mistake or a failure H you're waiting for that one oh ow it hurts it actually physically hurts I had a big had a big huge failure what tell me tell me uh yeah this one project in Downtown LA I'd invested some money um $800,000 at that point and then Co 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 going to give you money um and uh 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 any like at the end of the day when it's my money involved you cannot listen to other people and I listen to a lot of people say we can do this we're getting money we 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 yeah and um it was a huge loss for me and we opened for 6 months and then we closed it down and at the end of the day my partners who were the landlords they came and they sued me for the full lease and uh so I lost I lost million 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 the somebody handing you money and uh it 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 and you feel it you got to go you got to go with that you know and I I knew
better and um I I paid dearly for that I'm still paying for it that's why I feel it is your appetite for I'm 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 okay what is one thing that when you were younger you put a lot of import on and as you've gotten older you realized wasn't actually that important it's always going to be what people think about you and 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 thousands 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 debt 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 comments section who's making comments let 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 um people aren't really giving you that much thought it's not actually happening if 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 and your life you have goals just do it all do whatever you do do whatever you want people say like what's the secret to what's your happiness figure it out for yourself that's what
I got that wonderful thank you so much