Valeria Lipovetsky: They Called Me A 'Trophy Wife' (Here Is How I Proved Them Wrong!)

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Visit northwestregisteredagent.com slash HSR free and start using free resources to build something amazing. Get more with Northwest Registered Agent. Northwest Registered Agent at northwestregisteredagent.com slash HSR free. You were just compared in the New York Times to being the Tony Robbins of influencing. Does that feel like a lot of pressure? No. Valeria Lipovetsky, are you ready to get hot smart rich? I am so ready. With YouTube, I really took the time to learn and I started picking up $200 here, here, here. One day, my husband is like, we got this deposit into our account for $10,000. I showed him my YouTube channel. He just looks at me and he's like, this is the future of media. You're going to be the Oprah of our generation. I want to talk about your relationship a little bit. Yeah. Can you quickly just give some context to the prenup process and how you felt as a 20-year-old negotiating with a 38-year-old that was already successful? The prenup was an interesting conversation because the creator economy right now is worth $250 billion. And then in 2027, it's going to double that and be worth over $400 billion. I want to guide the next, wave of creators to become their own entities. This is how creator method really was born. I wanted to empower people to learn everything that they need to learn. This isn't all teachable, but there has to be those like standout superstars. What is it about someone where you're just like, you have the thing? The people that I thought they just like, don't have it naturally today are superstars. I could have been so much further along than I'm at today. I disagree. Really? I disagree. And I'll tell you why. In case you missed it, you're allowed to be hot, smart, and rich. So let's get into it. Valeria Lipovetsky, I feel like you are one of the few hallmark names in the fashion and lifestyle influencer space. My first question is, how did you get into the fashion and lifestyle space? Actually stems from what you have in your Instagram bio. You quietly reach 150 million people a month. Yes. But for someone that's hearing about you for the first time, how do you contextualize what it is that you're doing? Back in the day, I used to try to put it in buckets like I'm doing fashion and self-development and family. And at some point, I kind of decided to move away from that. And if I had to give context to everything that I do, because I don't want to be too specific, just kind of documenting my own journey. How did you learn confidence? I think it comes with age. I'm always blown away by the fact that I found myself on this career path because growing up, I was the most insecure, the most like gray mouse syndrome. It's like I craved attention, but I was so scared of it. Even, you know, my mother, I can imagine how it feels for her to watch me do what I do today because it was so far away. And I was like, I'm not going to be so far off who I was as a child. She was always so worried. That's why she always pushed me to like go and dance, go and sing, go model, go do something because I had this debilitating fear for attention and such insecurity. Very different than who I am today. Where do you think that stemmed from? Like this want of attention, but then afraid to go and get it? Maybe just the way life unraveled, you know, being raised by a very dominant, very colorful, loud mother. We were immigrants. I went to first grade in Israel. I didn't speak the language. There were so many different moments where I just feel like I don't belong. So I was just trying to stay unnoticed. So I don't have to deal with that. I first heard about you because you kind of made a name for yourself in Toronto, Canada, where you live for a period of time. But going way back, you said you lived in Israel, but you actually were born in Russia. So how did you go from Russia to Israel to Toronto? And then obviously now to Miami. I was born in Russia and we left with my mother. She was 21 at a time. So a 21 year old and a two year old leaving to Israel. It was a beautiful thing for me to watch because I grew up watching a woman that went after everything and more. When I was 16, she figured out a plan. She moved to Canada with my little brother. At that point, I decided to stay in Israel because I was already working. I started my modeling career. She signed me up to a modeling company. And I was like, I want to do this. I want to do this. I want to do this. I want to do this. I want to do this. I want to do this. I want to do this. I want to do this. I want to do this. I want to do this. I want to do this. I want that contest. And that's kind of how it started unraveling. I found myself in this world, not because I was so eager to be part of it, but because my mother kind of didn't give me a choice. She said, do you want to see a different kind of world? Do you want to find out what you're capable of? It was a very like pushing me into the deep end. So for three, four years, I was kind of on my own. And then I was like, I need to be close to my mom. And that's what made me move to Canada. Talk to me about who Valeria was. I was really lost. The opportunities that modeling brought to me that I was able to leave home, travel, see a different kind of world because I grew up in a small city and you know what you know, but I didn't know what the world out there can offer. I didn't know who I could be. Given all those opportunities, I was so eager to learn where I fit in. And I picked up from every person that I met, from every job that I did, from every note that I got. But it was a lot of like research and a lot of self-inquiry because I truly just did not know where I'm going, what I'm doing. Didn't think about tomorrow. Went to Tokyo for two months with 10 bucks. You know what I mean? Like complete, beautiful, ignorant, you know, young girl. But I don't think I was too hard on myself about that. I was just like, okay, let me, I'm doing my research. But I think my mother just like, you'll figure it out. We got to a point where now she has the utmost respect for me. I earned it. So it's been beautiful. You were married at 20? Correct. And your husband was 38 at the time? Yes. Talk to me about what headspace you were in at that time. So I met Gary, I was 19, but I had a boyfriend. And then I broke up with a boyfriend, moved to New York, came back to visit my mom in Toronto. And this is where kind of we got connected. And then he just followed me to New York, was there every weekend. And he straight up two weeks in was like, you're going to be my wife. I don't know, just putting it out there for you to think. I know you're very young, but sit with this. And I'm like, haha, okay, whatever. I did not plan to get married. I did not care to get married. But there was something with Gary that just touched, I think, the younger Valeria. I, you know, I have my own or carried my own kind of shoes and not having a stable man in my life. And all of a sudden when Gary showed up, and he was able to create this environment, not necessarily physically, but like emotionally, when you feel like you're held by someone and supported, that was just this into intuitive thing for me where I was like, yeah, let's let's go. You know, when you meet somebody, and that person makes you want to be better and makes you believe that you can reach heights you didn't think you're capable of. That is such a blessing. To me, he was that person. So, you know, along with being aligned on values, along with, you know, having this connection and that feeling of home, it was a no brainer. When you started dating, were you still modeling? Were you working at all? Did you have the aspiration of reaching 150 million people a month? No, when we started dating, he told me this one thing that really stuck with me. Because he asked me, like, is there anything you're interested in? Like, what do you what do you want to do? Because I did feel like modeling a kind of, I reached the point where I said, this can cannot go any further. I wasn't like a supermodel was making good money. I was doing catalogs, all these things. But I'm like, okay, I'm done. You know, I'm going to start a family, I want to settle down with this man. I just remember I had all these things. I'm like, maybe I want to design clothes, or I want to do this, or I want to do that. I want to learn business. And he's like, he told me your life is your art. It sounded so silly then. I'm like, what does that even mean? But it's hilarious, because this is my, my life is my art. And I made your your whole thing of like, what, what are you doing? Or what's your mission? It's to make art. Exactly. Based on, you know, sharing my life, because I treat my life like that. So he kind of, you know, gave me a vision to follow in a way. I went through kind of different phases where, you know, it was the maiden era where I was sitting at home. And I was, you know, I was building this like home environment for us. And he was working, so I got pregnant right away. And I didn't really care to figure out what it is that I wanted to do. And I just kind of got to a point where I'm like, I know I have more in me and I need to actualize myself somehow. And that's when I started to ask questions and be like, OK, what am I interested in? And, you know, one thing led me to another. But I did not walk into that relationship being like, I want to do business. I want to do this. I want to do that. I really he was kind of doing his own thing and I was just figuring it out. And that's a privilege. And I'm so thankful for him. That he also gave me, again, that like comfort and space to be like, you take your time. You don't need to know what you're doing. So now you've been at this for over a decade creating content or nine years, almost a decade. Almost nine years. Yeah. I watched a TikTok that talked about kind of the initial start of this. And it was when $10,000 hit your bank account and it was your husband that was like, this is a business. Can you take us back to that moment? Yeah. So I started with my YouTube channel without really Gary. No. He had his own business going, so he had his exit, then he started a new business. He was so deep into like building something new, so he wasn't really paying attention. So I had two kids at a time, Jake and Ben, and they were like two and three. I decided that I'm going to take my holistic nutrition, which is what I went to learn. I was curious about it. I picked it up and then that's kind of what I started sharing first on social media and I decided to move to YouTube. So with YouTube, I really took the time to learn. I was editing, I was filming when the kids were either in daycare or sleeping and I was just figuring it out. And then I started picking up sponsors, like small little deals, $200 here, here, here. He didn't know about any of it. And then one day he comes home and he's like, hey, we got this deposit into our account for $10,000. I called all our bankers. I called everybody. No one knows what this is. Do you know what this is? I'm like, yeah, it's my the payment for this deal that I made. He's like. He's like, where, what are you doing? So I showed him my YouTube channel and he just looks at me and he's like, do you know what this is? Like, this is the future. This is the future of media. And I looked at him and I was like, no, that's just me making recipes and like showing clothes and, you know, doing some vlogs. He's like, no, this can be something really big. Do you want to take it seriously? Like, are you serious about this? And if you are, can I be part of it? And it took me a second to. Kind of take that and ask myself the question of, am I going to bet on myself because my natural response, my first response would have been, no, don't worry about it's just something fun that I'm doing. Why? Because I didn't know how talented I am or like, I didn't realize how much value I can bring. That is the, that's what it is. I didn't know. How much value I could bring to me. I was just kind of like, oh, this is like a silly little thing, but I had Gary beside me that looked at me straight up and he's like, you're going to be the Oprah of our generation. Like, I'm literally just, I showed him a video of zucchini muffins. I'm like, what are you talking about? So having someone like that by your side that can truly foresee what it could be and then start talking about it. And I started buying into it. I started buying into the version of. That he saw, but I couldn't see. Is it right away that you were like, I now believe this or it took time? No, it took so long. It took so long. And I actually think that a lot of our challenges with building that business was me not understanding or realizing how capable I am, you know, and how much value this has. So it was constantly him being like, here's the business case. Here's the data. Here's the reality. You need to look at all of that and get out of your own head. Which is very emotional and you need to break through these walls. So it was a lot of coaching, honestly. And was it a lot of therapy as well? Well, the people that were watching me were my therapist because at some point, yes, you talk to people and you're building community, but you're also working in asylum. And I was sitting with myself and catching myself getting hurt by comments or getting defensive or getting irritated and triggered. And at some point I'm like, Hey, why does this bother me? Once you start looking at social media and at your community as your therapist, you actually learn a lot about yourself because it's easy to be like, Oh, they're just haters or they're jealous or they're this. No, there's a lot of really interesting points, even from people that are trying to bring you down. A lot of interesting points that I picked up and took with me and kind of started looking into and did kind of my own analysis. So it was actually my relationship with my community. Um, has been very healing for me. What do the best creators do that build that type of a bond with their community? It's vulnerability, but I think that it also is, uh, self-awareness. I think a lot of creators sometimes use vulnerability as a commodity and you kind of lose touch with how powerful it can be. Vulnerability doesn't mean that you need to show up online and cry. Vulnerability doesn't mean that you have to share every aspect of your life. You know, for me, vulnerability meant that I need to first sort through shit on my own before I bring it out to my community. This is how I process. So I had to learn that. But yeah, like that at the end of the day is to show your humanity and your kind of ups and downs. And we talk a lot about it in our, you know, with our creator method members, right? Our platform for creators where you need to show some like raw version of yourself so somebody can look at you. Look at it and be like, I've, I feel this, you know, I've experienced it or I've seen someone I love experience this. And there's some kind of a connection. So building those bridges are extremely important. But yeah, I would say vulnerability, self-awareness and humility as well. I think that's super important for creators. You don't have to be the expert. You don't have to. I know sometimes when we go on stages, whether it's figuratively or, you know, physically, we're just, we get our ego gets this like boost and you feel like now you are. You know, the poster child for something. And we start acting in a misalignment sometimes because we believe that this is how we need to represent ourself to other people. And I think that this is where you start breaking those bridges and those connections, you know? When did you start identifying not just as a creator, but as an entrepreneur? I have to tell you the truth. Recently. It took you nine years. It took me. Seven years to be like, I'm an entrepreneur. Why do you think that is? First of all, because I felt like everybody were chasing this entrepreneurship title. Like it's like the hot term. I didn't really care to be part of that club. I didn't feel like I earned it. You know, even though we build this amazing infrastructure and everything. I just didn't feel comfortable. I didn't feel comfortable with it. I didn't really know how to speak on it and I was more comfortable in being like the creative, you know, mind behind everything that we do and that's it. So you had Valeria Inc., which is like the master holding company of everything that you've done. Yeah. But you've also mastered this art of the pivot, which actually reminds me a lot of the Kardashians because you think about all of their businesses that didn't end up working out. Dash, their failed beauty brand. I feel like 80% of their businesses did it. Maybe more. It didn't work out. Yeah. But their personal brand grew at such a rate, so much higher than these businesses. You've experienced something similar. So to kind of take it back, because even though you didn't identify with being an entrepreneur, you were in entrepreneurial pursuits of things. Yeah. The first business that you started, it was 2019. Like the first business, not the holding company. Yeah. And that was sunglasses and accessories. Yeah. Which then evolved again. Mm-hmm. When does someone know when it is the time to pivot and when it is the time to just pivot? To just keep going because you're right on the brink of something actually happening. It's so funny that you're mentioning this because the company that we started was First Leia, which is my Hebrew name, which was the accessories. And then we got it into jewelry. Then we changed it into Varee once we started doing ready-to-wear. And then we changed it to Valeria. It was this constantly changes that were happening. I think for me, the moment that I realized it was time to pivot is after about two. Two, three years where I sat down with myself and I asked the question, did I do everything that I could in order to try to make it work? The answer was yes. The answer was that I got on a plane. I went to check our factories. I was doing so many things. We changed so many people. We tried different ways to make it work. And then the question was, do I want it? What is my future? Do I want to be known as a designer? No, I don't. I don't want to be known as a designer. That was actually the first question that I asked myself. Do I want to be a fashion designer, accessory designer? The answer was no. Then the thing was, did I do everything in my power to try to make this work? Yes. And at some point, I had to look at the reality of things and realize that my strength, my talent is media. That's what I want to do. That's what makes me inspired, excited, and the most amount of opportunity and success we see there. So at some point, you look at the numbers. You're like. Yes, this was doing well. We weren't failing. but I'm not gonna give 10 years of my life to make this work. Do you know what I mean? Totally. Like there's so many other things I wanna touch and do and I'm not willing to give those up in order to make this accessory company work. Did the reason you wanted to start the businesses in the first place stem from the fact that you no longer wanted to rely on brand deals and you wanted to have ownership and equity in something or where did it even like the initial, I wanna start a clothing brand or something in the accessories realm come from? Honestly, it came very organically because my community was asking for it. The sunglasses and stuff that we started was an answer to my community being like, I love this, but it's so expensive. Is there something similar? And I'm like, no, but we can make it. So it was very much of supply and demand. And then I got really interested in jewelry and I kind of tapped into that, but it wasn't from a place of like initially, like let's build something that will take the weight off the brand partnerships. So it started very organically. At some point we're like, okay, this need to be a standalone business. It needs to move. That needs to have its own life. And it's just, we couldn't get there. It was constantly had to be fueled by my media, but then I wasn't able to be 100% with content creation because I was trying to get this off the ground. So I was like, this does not make sense. So you posted a video in 2023, popping champagne and celebrating the fact that you failed publicly. I will never forget seeing that video. So was that the first time that you had failed publicly like that? Yes. So I want to give credit to the whole failure champagne thing because that's something that I heard a friend and the founder of NYX, Joanna NYX. Love her. She kind of mentioned the idea of like, why are we popping champagne only when it's a celebration? Like, isn't this, isn't failing and learning something as a celebration? I was like, huh. And I actually carried it with me for, a year or two. And then when this happened and I had to come to terms with it, I was like, I can do what most people do and just kind of have this like really nice, beautiful announcement of being like, you know, I love this, but it's time for me to focus on other things. Or I can make a statement. I can also break another fear that I had of failing publicly because whether I liked it or not, I haven't really had a public fail. I had a pretty good, smooth, slow, but like a smooth grow, growth with the media business. So I was like, oh, this is an opportunity to really unlock something within me, but also give permission for other people to do it for themselves. So that felt so good. That champagne is the best champagne bottle pop I'll probably ever have in my life. It's so powerful. What did you learn about yourself once you actually pressed post and you saw, everyone's comments? I was really proud of myself. I was proud of myself for the level of vulnerability that I was willing to put out there. I was really proud of myself for the self-awareness for not being scared. Like it was kind of like another chain of other people's opinions kind of got released. Because once you do it yourself and you start taking these moments and putting them publicly, they just, they don't mean as much. You just realize that it's like, this is such a silly thing. Yeah. Like how did that scare me before? So you are in this place where you're like, I'm so happy I can be myself. You're putting everything you have back into Valeria Inc., which now at that time you have a CEO for, correct? Yeah. You and your husband are both co-creators of this holding company. What do you do next? Well, for me, now that my schedule freed up from all the responsibilities that that company took, I then moved back full, forced into content. I was like, okay, now I need to, it doesn't mean that I'm actually slowing down or taking my time. Now it's like, I need to double down on what we're doing on the media side. I started to get more creative. I started to film more. I decided that, you know, we're going to start thinking about a podcast, like all the things. It's also was during a time where we moved to Miami. So I'm like, now I need to take time to build relationships here. So I really went deep into this one focus. I think, what's so fascinating to me about you and why I think you are such a hallmark legacy creator that has like, is going to leave a legacy on this world when so many creators will be forgotten is because there feels to me like there is a deeper purpose than just like making your life art. Like that is why I have felt connected to you as a creator. And like, it's like the failure video of your business or like, I remember when you had just had a baby and you posted in a bathing suit with like a role. And I was like, wow. Is there something deeper that I think fuels you other than just like making your life art? Well, it's interesting that you keep going back to art. So what does art mean to you? I think art means creativity. It means expression. It means freedom. Okay. So I agree. Something that I love about the concept of art is that it leaves something with everyone, whether you think it's stupid or you don't connect or you're like, I can do this or you're like inspired or it makes you see different things. Or life in a different way. So to me, that's art. And that art pushes me to push myself constantly to my limits and learning more about myself and then share it with the world so they can see another angle of how they can learn about themselves. The purpose is exactly that. The purpose is to be a mirror, be somebody that people, like the fact that you remember these videos so vividly means that I've done my job. I want, you know, three, four years when you're going to have your kids, you're going to sit and you're going to feel shitty about yourself and you're going to close your eyes and you're going to remember Valeria with that video of just giving birth and it's going to like spark something in you. To me, I made my, this is my purpose. My purpose is for just like constantly be a reminder through content of how important or not important or silly or empowering, you know, these human experiences. When I created, create my content, I create it for myself. Honestly, I don't create it for other people because if I create it for other people, then I lose myself in the process and I'm not able to communicate the way that I want to. And I asked myself, what would I want to see? What would I want to feel? Because the thing that I've learned through social media is that although we all come from different walks of life, we all go through the same thing, the same seasons. And you just need this like one lifeline or one example to kind of just bring you back to yourself. And I do that for myself. Like I am that example. I am that person for myself. And thankfully, it resonates with other people and they see that in my content as well. No, I don't take any of these things seriously. Wait, have you been to Tony Robbins summit? No. So he does have a huge influence of people. And I think that is kind of what you're doing with the creator method. Can you tell us a little bit about that? I mean, can you speak a little bit about how that came to be after you dove back into content? You're like, but now I'm getting the itch again and I want to build something in media. Yes. So first of all, thank you so much for the Tony Robbins remark. But in terms of what I kind of sought to build with creator method. So once we were done with the e-commerce, my focus went back to the media. But of course, we're constantly looking for opportunities to continue developing that holding, building company and to create more businesses out of it. So we already at that point started investing in different companies, becoming like strategic partners in different things. And what we ran into is this kind of world of seeing the creator economy growing really, really fast. But there was nobody that was guiding those creators. There was no one out there that beside the kind of cheap, like, let me show you how to go viral type of kind of teachers. There was nothing else. So Gary was the one who started talking about, let's create some classes. You know, we have all this experience. We build a team of 20 people. We've learned like we were building the plane while flying it. We have so much experience that a lot of my peers that are had been around for much longer and had much bigger audiences. They weren't making the kind of money that I was making. They would come to us, be like, how do I, how do I monetize? This? How do I do this properly? How do I build a team? They were all belong to an agency that they're one of, you know, 10,000 people talents that they were presenting. So we kind of identify that there was a missing guiding kind of educational platform out there. So it started with just let's film a bunch of kind of tutorials, classes, workshops, and just put it out there. Whoever wants it wants it. But what I wanted to do, and it actually happened in the middle of us filming, those classes. I looked at Gary and Rachel, our CEO, and I was like, we need to shift gears. I don't want to just build something where it's just this monetary exchange where here's a class you learn, whatever. I want a community. I want to guide the next version, the next kind of wave of creators to become their own entities, because that to me is what's missing. People that are creative, they usually don't know how to run a business. If you are in an expert, you're a dentist or whatever, but you don't know how to be a creative. There's this constantly, lack of, you know, doing both and not understanding how to navigate that. And I wanted to empower people to learn everything that they need to learn. So this is how Creator Method really was born. It's been amazing to see the autonomy that people are getting over their own careers and their own lives. And, you know, I mentioned that we have experts, we have plastic surgeons, we have real estate agents, we have people that own different businesses. We have, you know, the stay at home moms that are trying to leave their nine to five because they want to be home. We have all these different cohorts of people that have their own needs and wants. And where are the people that they come to where we can both be the emotional support, but also the business support. Let me show you how to read a contract. Let me show you how to negotiate. Let me show you how to get brands to come to you. How much should you charge? How do you continue to be creative? How do you tell your story when you're in a business of, you know, selling cars? Yeah, there's just so much out there. It really created this whole other mission for us to empower people to kind of take advantage of this growing economy and to build their own mini empires. Yeah, no, it's crazy. I saw that the creator economy right now is worth 250 billion. And then in 2027, it's going to double that and be worth over 400 billion. Yeah, you guys have I'm so interested because I know you probably can't pick favorite children, but you are someone that sees a lot of creators, whether it's like in your personal life or with creator method. It was really interesting to see in the New York Times article, Gary had kind of said something like this is it's all teachable, but there has to be those like standout superstars for people listening. Like, what is it about someone where you're just like, you have the thing? You see, this is crazy because I see creators that we've had in the program. I mean, the program is almost like a little bit over a year. So we're still piloting, still building it. We're building our faculty. Like there's a lot of things that we see happening with this. But with the creators that joined the first kind of wave, the people that I thought they just like don't have it naturally today are superstars. Because what I'm, I've learned on my own that it's more of like this self-discovery journey. It's how much you're able to open up. It's not about what kind of story you have. It's how you tell the story. It's the emotional connection. It's all these things that are just like layers that you have to peel. So it's very hard to understand if that person has it naturally or not, because it depends on the person that you're talking to. And I think it depends on where they're at in their lives and their own kind of, you know, peeling the onion journey. Yeah. Some of them I meet, they come to us, they're ready, they're open and they're flowing and they know how to like engage people. But others are completely closed, insecure, like I was when I started. And through months, I see how slowly they're like becoming more and more of themselves. And they're more interesting to me. And I'm just like, oh my God, all of this was in there. You know? And it takes people a lifetime to come to a point where they're like, this is who I am. Yeah. And say it out loud. Do you think that the people that are good online that aren't as good in person will struggle with the future of where the creator economy is going? Because we are focusing on these like in-person events. Yes. Carrying a room and like the Tony Robbins, right? Like, can you teach that element of it? I don't know. I don't know either. I don't know. It's going to be interesting because I get so disappointed. I don't know if you're like this, but when I love something, I'm like, oh, I'm going to do this. I'm going to do this. And then I meet them and they just are flat. I'm like, well, I find that a lot of people, it happens to them because most creators have social anxiety. I don't know if you do. I have crazy social. Okay. So it's very difficult for them to translate who they are in their room with a camera to who they are outside with people. It took me time to break through that as well. So again, you never know. People surprise you. I surprised myself. Like, I feel comfortable going out on stage and talking and I feel comfortable making jokes. I feel comfortable to say, I don't know. I feel comfortable doing a lot of things that before I tried to cover and that kind of made me fearful of any kind of exposure. But it was this kind of unlearning that I needed to do. And again, getting comfortable with myself. So I don't know. We'll see. If you want a place in 2026 where you don't have to worry about the algorithm or the charts, but you still want a profitable place to make money, then we need to talk about Beehive. It's a platform I've been using since 2023 that lets you start a newsletter, grow your audience, and make money through a native ad network, paid subscriptions, and digital products, all with a zero take on earnings. And that's where I went to turn my silly little TikToks into the beginning of my media empire. Beehive is now a sponsor of HotSmartRich. What started as a simple way to share my ideas, became the place where I am my most vulnerable with my community, all of you, which combined with Beehive's built-in growth tools like boosts, recommendations, and referrals has helped me grow 100% year over year, all while staying insanely engaged and connected to my angels. It's free to start, has preset templates, and an AI website builder to get your newsletter and website up and running so fast. If you want to give it a try, head to beehive.com slash HSR, for 30% off your first three months. But make sure you enter the code HSR30 at checkout. That's B-E-E-H-I-I-V dot com slash HSR with code HSR30. I feel like one of the things that you're an expert at is starting over and over and over again. Do you have a framework that you follow to like, start your life over? I just follow my fears. So whatever scares me, I do. I want to get to a point where I feel limitless. And you can only, feel it when you kind of grab into the things that feel limiting to you. I got a message from an HSR angel. I called them last night and she's like, I've had the same idea for 10 years and I've never done it. Like, how do you just do it? And I feel like I've watched you for so long to know that you just start. Yeah. What would you tell that person that's in that same position? That's just like, I am so afraid. I don't know what to do to just start. Sit down and envision yourself in five years. Is that fear going to, feel as big as it feels right now? Are you going to look back and ask yourself the question of should I have done it? Like all these things to me, regret is the worst thing in the world. Like something that you could have done, but you didn't do because failure is whatever. It's just a lesson. I always kind of trying to project forward and be like the future version of me. She's going to be proud of the choices that I made. Yes or no. It's very simple. And I think that helps me a lot through those, you know, fears. Is there something that you regret in your life that you wish you, you did and you didn't? Absolutely nothing. Really? Do you? Actually, can I be honest? Yeah. You actually helped me get through this. I wasted so much of my twenties caring what people thought about me. And I regret not putting myself online earlier and showing my true personality. And I feel like I am just coming into that. And I hate to say this because I was confident before my husband, but my husband gives me, the confidence to go and take risks I never would have. And like, I do not care what people think about me, but I do actually regret in my twenties. Like I could have been so much further along than where I'm at. I disagree. Really? I disagree. In our twenties, we operate under the impression of the world is out there to tell me who to be. And it doesn't matter how, you know, wise you are or smart you are. Or advanced this is like, we're constantly getting that feedback. That's for what twenties is for. This is why I always talk about like, there are no mistakes. You go, you fuck it up. You sleep with people. You have to learn you gathering information. I started social media. I was 26, 27. I already had two kids. I had a husband that was like my biggest supporter. I had a very strong foundation. So. Trust me that every little comment I would run to Gary be like, oh my God, I can't do this anymore. Like, this is so hurtful and he would literally had to sit me down and be like, this is the reality. Look what we're building. Look what you're doing. Look, what's happening in our lives. And I'm like, oh, right. Yeah. If I did not have that, I, it would have ruined me because I did continuously gotten this negative feedback where people seeing somebody with courage, coming out, sharing themselves, that triggers something in them. So they're out there to get you because you making them feel uncomfortable. Totally. So putting yourself out. They're online when you don't have a person like your husband today to remind you of who you are, right. To open yourself up to millions of people. That's a scary thing to do. A lot of people. I see a lot of people get lost in that because the twenties is that period. So I actually think that your twenties were a time. I loved how I'm analyzing you right now, uh, if your twenties was a time to figure out yourself Yeah. How you were able to get out of that. Yeah. And I think that's a really good point. I think that's a really good point. you walked in your 20s. Yeah. It sounds like your husband has been there for you, like no matter what has happened in the business, in your personal life. Yeah. A 14-year age gap. You were 20. Yeah. He was 38. Yes. Talk to me a little bit about your dynamic with your husband today. Well, today it's different. Today, I feel like an equal. I am okay and very comfortable when I have a different opinion. When we disagree, I learn how to stand kind of on my own and also learn how to communicate with him in a way that works for me and him because we have very different communication styles. It's very different today. Today, I also don't take things personally. I became a better entrepreneur, and I know how to navigate difficult conversations, I didn't have that when I was in my 20s. So a lot has changed. I feel like we're in a good place. But also this week, it's the week before my cycle. So I mean, I'm ready to burn the house down. So I don't know if this is a good time to talk about. I'm the exact same way. By the way, like my skin is breaking out. I'm like, okay, it's coming. But I feel that. I feel like what's so interesting about hearing that is not that many marriages can become stronger or survive when there is such a big, power dynamic shift and evolution. Well, the thing is, that's very interesting to note with the age gap, something that happens. And I don't think a lot of men take that into consideration. Maybe they do. I don't know. But when you marry somebody that her that is in her early 20s, you're going to experience three different people in a span of like 10 years, because the shift from 20 to your early 30s or mid, 30s is you've changed 100 times. So a lot of men, they don't know how to be patient and how to sit and kind of watch from the sidelines and run in when it's time to kind of hold you or give you a hug. A lot of men are trying to be like, I've done this. Let me show you how it's done so we can like wrap it up. So that's a big thing, a big credit that I give Gary that the man has the patience of a saint because he had to accept. He had to accept the fact that he was a saint and that he had to accept the fact that he was a saint. And it doesn't matter what he says. It doesn't matter his advice. I need to experience it on my own. So that can, you know, mess up certain ideas that people have about a relationship. But this is where it's important, where the values are aligned. And, you know, the foundation is strong. You can kind of withstand all these changes. But it's interesting because even taking a moment to acknowledge like his patience with you and the way that you've been with him, you know, you've been with him for a long time, you know, you've been with him for a long time. And I think that he's probably lived the same patterns twice now, right? And not stepped in. Your relationship and Gary specifically has always been the center of criticism. Why? We live in a society that loves labels like we're very simple animals and we need to. This is good. This is bad. He's this. She's that, you know, and I've kind of got used to it because it first started when we got together and it was in our community. That people were saying different things. And then it obviously went online. And then you have the world saying different things. But I just I give people the benefit of the doubt. You know, before it was important for me to kind of prove myself. And now I don't like I actually. Love the traditional structure that we have at home. He leads. I want him to lead. I don't need to leave him before I wanted to lead. And we had a lot of clashes because I needed to understand. My ego and where what am I trying to prove into who now I'm like, you do your thing like you're them. I want you to feel empowered to make those decisions. And then in business, it's like it's a little bit different. Like the, you know, every day I can lead or he leads depends on what we're kind of covering. But this is where working together can be, you know, very interesting dance. Well, it's interesting. Even the language that you chose at the beginning when we were talking when he. Saw the $10,000 in the bank account and asked for permission to join. Right. And that sounds like one of the first parts of your relationship or times in your relationship where it's like you now suddenly hold power that like you get to choose what the involvement will be. Yeah. What is the dynamic of decision making and like what's in your marriage from 14 years. Yeah. To where it is today. Now that like you are equally as important to the business, if not more than Garrett. Well, I think from the get go, something that was very important for Gary is to make sure that there is no resentment that is being built, built because again, he comes in with a man mind action. Like, how do we make this happen where the product is me, right? So it's very interesting dynamic in general to be part of, because I started, there were times where I was like, you're pushing me too much, but it didn't come from a place of, and by the way, that was also criticism. Like he constantly, he. He makes her work and he makes her this, and he just wants money. But he also saw that I am cracking, you know, like that, that pressure is creating like a diamond. And I'm so grateful that it didn't back down. And he knew when to like push a little harder and knew how to support me when I was going through hard times. But he didn't say like, okay, you know what? This is too much for you. Don't worry about it. Because to me, that would have changed the trajectory of who. I became and our life today. So first of all, huge, like, thank you for that. And that's something that a man truly needs to feel comfortable in the relationship and really knowing their partner to be able to do that, you know, but the dynamic today of decision-making is again, like, I think we got to a point where he respects me. I've kind of shown my entrepreneurial kind of mind and spirit that I built up through the years of honestly watching him. He taught me so much. And now I feel like we're. He has more experience, but we, I do have a vision that I see he really appreciates and we depends on what it is that we're touching or doing. He knows his role. I know my role. And when he, when I need his opinion, I'll come to him and ask for his opinion. But he knows if I don't ask, you don't need to be involved. Yeah. And the same thing goes, you know, for him. So it's very much more like structured now. And we make the big decisions we make together strategic decisions, but there's also a lot of trust and respect. And I know that this decision, the decisions that he makes is for a goal that we're both aligned on. Yeah. What I love about your guys is dynamic. And I think it's almost like unwarranted hate is you guys will have disagreements almost like on your podcast. Yeah. And you then open yourself up to a lot of that. Is that intentional or are you just like people are going to learn from this? So I want people to learn from it because you're going to. You're going to meet different people in your life. You might marry somebody that is a different communicator and Gary and I are the perfect example. We are so different in the way we see life and the way we communicate about it. But I respect his way because I learn a lot from it about him and about myself. And I think he respects my way. The thing is that people don't have capacity to look beyond the, you know, we're in a society of like red flag. Red flag, diagnosis, label. So it's very difficult for people to sit in and just kind of like, oh, this is interesting. Like he has a very old school mindset, but I can respect, you know, certain things there disagree with others. People don't do that anymore. There's no like nuance. There's no. It's interesting because I've seen recently how some people are like, oh, they're doing this on purpose. They're just trying to trigger us. No, this is how we communicate. No. And I honestly love it because I think so. My favorite podcaster, Stephen. Yeah. He has been very vocal about not picking a side when it relates to politics and being able to have really interesting discussions with both people. And I don't know if you feel this from being in Canada for so long, but like it wasn't like that in Canada and it wasn't so extreme. And I think like to your point, we're in this society where it's like pick a side. There's no nuance anymore. It's black or it's white. But now it's the same in Canada. I just think it's in general like it's just the world everywhere. Yes. But I think what is so interesting about your and Gary's dynamic is it's like. It feels like it's fluid and it goes whether it's in work or it's at the home. And I have the same thing with my sister. I get this question all the time. How do you work with your family? It is so interesting. Like we have unspoken rules of our relationship. We're like on the weekend when I want to see her son on FaceTime. I know to call on FaceTime and not on WhatsApp call because she's going to know this is not a work call. This is like to see her son. So it's like there's these unspoken rules that make it work or she would decline my call if she's like, why are you calling me on a Saturday? I'm with my son. What are some of the unspoken rules of yours? Your and Gary's relationship that like allow you to have built such a profitable business and a marriage that has survived criticism evolution the way that you have over the last 14 years. It's a great question. I don't think we have unspoken rules. I think the only kind of thing is we go back to each other. Like again, we have this mission. Our mission is to build something that we're proud of that gives us purpose and to model this to our children. Right. So it all. goes back to that and that's our North star and that's it. And whatever needs to be done in order to be aligned with that is what needs to be done. Okay. I am so excited to have someone in this chair. I just see myself in you so much. But so I just went through my prenup process and I think like it's interesting because, you know, I definitely, I entered into this with like a ton of IP and a ton of potential. And like, we do have an age gap where like, I see what I can do in the next 14 years. Right. And it's massive. I'm so interested to hear from you because I know that you guys have talked openly about having a prenup. Can you quickly just give some context to this of like the prenup process and how you felt as a 20 year old negotiating with a 38 year old that was already successful? Yeah. So the prenup was an interesting conversation because it was at a time where we still lived under this idea that prenup means that he doesn't love you or prenup means that he sees this or that you're a gold digger or that you're a gold digger. We also met at a time. And we're engaged, about to get married at a time where Gary sold a piece of his company and that was a big deal. So he also had the board, the VC being like, hey, you need a prenup because you're still like the majority shareholder of this company. So he kind of came to me. I remember like we sat down for dinner and he has this like sad puppy dog eyes and he's like, I really need to talk to you about something, but I really want you to like not get emotional about it. And I was like, okay, I don't want to talk to you about this. with it at all but this is something that I need and then he was talking to me about prenup and I kind of looked at him and I'm just like okay sure whatever like I'll sign whatever you need to sign because I don't I didn't think about I was 21 I'm like I'm in love this is great this is a man a provider, like all good. Didn't think, didn't know what I'm going to be doing. And he said, listen, I understand that maybe you don't really realize the power of it. So I want you to get a lawyer. I want you to go to that lawyer. You talk to them, ask all the questions. I need you to be very clear on what it is that you're signing and what it means. And I'm like, okay. And I just remember i went to this lawyer and i just i was educated like she schooled me yeah and it felt so empowering and i was extremely aligned with everything and i just remember walking out of that office being like i don't understand why this is such a dirty word like why spring up this like big scary thing i felt like it was actually an insurance policy for me you know so that was that I mean, we signed a prenup and we went along. I saw this TikTok that was like, a prenup will make you feel more safe and secure with the right man. The wrong man will make you feel insecure and like you're being taken advantage of. Amen. I feel the exact same way, but I'm so interested because I'm manifesting that like my husband and my dynamic also evolves, right? Like he, in our current dynamic, not that he ever makes me feel this way, but like has more experience, has more resources. you know it was even evident as we were going through our process like the amount of people that were helping him and going to him and yeah I had no one right I had my lawyer and like so I'm more asking from like a personal interest perspective but like have you guys ever talked about like your prenup 14 years later has it evolved like where is that mentality for you now that you've done such a big thing since you signed that as a 21 year old girl I actually did bring it up a couple of months ago and he's like why are you talking about this he right away is like alarmed I'm like no I'm just curious but you know what I mean since then everything like the properties that we own the businesses that we part of like my name is everywhere right so that's something that is I pay attention to we are co-owners of everything yeah he came in with his own kind of assets but at this point like we so outgrew the prenup that we had initially that I don't even know if it's still valid yeah I don't think it's valid I actually think he should ask me about revisiting the prenup be like hey let's see what's going on there but I actually yeah that's what it was he just and and he told me it's like I really don't think it's relevant anymore so if you want to check it out if we need to update anything I was like yeah whatever and I kind of moved along but yeah I'm curious I think it's interesting so even in my prenup and I never really tell people what's in it but I think this is actually a really interesting point that I am happy to share there is a number if my net worth gets passed that like the prenup does actually become invalid and like there is something new that gets put together I actually wanted a clause in my prenup that it would be revisited every five years based on what I believe I will be able to do in the next five and 10 years. My husband actually said no, because he was like, it was a challenging process for us. Ours was a little different than yours. It sounds like yours was. And he said, for the sake of our marriage, I do not want to have to revisit this every five or 10 years because it just brings up you. It's like therapy. You have to go through it. And it's like, you just feel things that aren't what you always want to feel. I'm so grateful I went through it. I feel so empowered I went through it. But I don't know if I would necessarily want to revisit it every five or 10 years now. I mean, I love where you were going with it. I understand the logic, but I agree that five to 10 years is not something you want to do. I do think you need to revisit your marriage contract, not prenup, the unspoken contract of like how your marriage is. This is, you know, an older friend of mine taught me that. what is that renegotiate the marriage contract so the marriage contract is basically again the way you start today and your expectations and your needs they change and what happens a lot of the times is that people don't communicate those changes so it's like something big has to happen in order for them to either break it off or sit down and be like okay how do we save ourselves now from this crisis that we're having so kind of renegotiating the expectations and putting everything on the table every like five to seven years is very healthy of like a stupid example i said years ago to gary i'm like don't buy me flowers i hate flowers like what a waste of time and recently it was valentine's day and i didn't get any flowers and i was just like really upset all day and he came to me he's like what's going on and i literally was like why didn't you buy me flowers it's not a big request and he's like what are you talking about you told me you don't appreciate flowers why would i do something you don't care for and i was like no it changed i want flowers now he's like please let me know like please yeah they can't read your mind you i can't read your mind so it's kind of like the same premise obviously on a bigger scale but that's something that should happen every like five to seven years okay but with the prenup i agree i think that um i think that a number is a better kind of place to do it where it's like we hit this. Let's revisit this. I actually love the way that he thought about it from before. I obviously watch all your podcasts. Everyone listened to Not Alone, where he was talking about it was always your money. Yeah, there was always one bank account. But you kind of came from like a capital T of like being actually, I never thought it was my money. Do you now have the frame of mind where it's like this is our money no matter where it comes from yes I still carry a little pocket of like trauma based on witnessing my mother going through her relationships you know being married twice or three times now where she thought that man is someone that she can rely on and you know it was like a house of cards to me that will always be in the back of my mind and I think it also is the reason why it took me so long to truly open up to Gary, even though we've been married for 14 years. I feel like I let go a lot of the things I was holding on to as kind of like a shield in the past probably two years. So that will always be there. But I'm aware of it. And I do very much feel like it absolutely is our money. Like it doesn't keep me up at night. Yeah, well, I think it's like it goes back to ostriching, right? It's like you don't want to deal with the things that you don't want to deal with. So you just ignore it. Yeah. And that's why like one of my biggest financial and I am not a personal finance expert. I am like a startup girl that has like bet everything on big risks. So I try not to give like too much personal finance advice. But the one thing that I really talk about is like looking at your bank account every single day. Like where did you spend money? What is going on? What is coming in? What is going out? And I think the same thing with relationships and marriages. Like if you are not wanting to deal with it but then you want to go and spend like if you have no idea what's going on you're putting undue stress onto the dynamic so i totally agree with you you know what i have a funny story about that so we kind of got to a point especially when we moved to miami was a big like oh shit life is so expensive here we have three kids like it's a pricey time to be alive you know and we kind of sat down and we were making a lot of investments back into the business and just the math was like like alarming. And we decided to like, okay, let's track what we're spending because something is not, you know, aligned. And we did this exercise for maybe a couple of months. And then we both kind of looked at each other and Gary's like, I don't want to do this anymore. Let's just make more money. Like I can't, I'm spending so much energy and time and brain capacity to tracking what's going out I want to take all of that and focus on what to bring in and I'm like you know what yeah that's more aligned with how we operate and did you guys go do that absolutely absolutely i love that absolutely um okay valeria i could talk to you forever there's like five different themes i didn't get to talk to you about but we do need to finish with some rapid fire what is the last thing you put on your credit card i just booked a trip to mexico city with my girlfriends you do a lot of girl trips yeah i love that yeah we're in an era where my husband is like leading the you know raising the kids now so i'm kind of a supporting role so i'm a supporting actress so i'm taking this opportunity to just fill my own cup i love that what would you rather more followers or a higher engagement rate more followers because i like the challenge of learning how to tell a story that's more engaging love it okay you can only pick one medium for the rest of your life instagram youtube or podcast i can't i'm sorry i can't pick because i change every like few months yeah that's why i think i'm on so many different platforms because i'm like okay i feel like i'm on my instagram era and now i'm going back to youtube which is by the way the thing i'm like i want to go back to vlogging and then podcast like the vlogs i love the playing around with it okay but so you can't pick one i can't pick okay how many photos do you have on your phone 10 500 that's it yeah well i i just got a new phone okay okay well how many photos did you have on your last phone i don't know i didn't check but listen i'm paying the most that google gives me google drive or whatever i have 200 000 i didn't know you can reach those do you want to hear the saddest thing this is how you'll see i have i've had problems putting myself out there you have over 7 000 photos that you've posted on instagram correct i have 278 that is shameful yeah you got a long way to go yeah so i have this i'm gonna make that's like this is the ratio of how much you can't care about what people think about you which is how many photos that you've actually posted compared to how many photos you have on your iphone well actually one of the things that gary covered in a recent creator method summit was this idea of like as a creator that thing that you need to be the least concerned about is the following what you need to be concerned about is the number to the left which is the amount of content you posted because that you can control and that's also your portfolio so when you have 200 posts and you're like why am i not there and there and there think about it and you know that way where it's like you just you you didn't do the walk like there's a 10 look at it as 10 000 hours right to master anything you need to get there yeah no you honestly are giving me confidence like today i posted with my i have a breakout i posted like full bare skin and i was like what would valeria lip of s you do um i love that okay two more this is gonna be easy for you canada or the u.s the u.s but i love canada i'm grateful for what it gave me if you had to title this season of your life what would it be called i would call it joy this is a very joyful period of my life i love it thank you for sharing your joy with us thank you i had the best time valeria lipovetsky where can people find you and how can we help you right now girl where do we begin um okay where can you find me first of all thank you this was so fun you can do this for another two hours um you can find me at valeria lipovetsky anywhere and then my podcast not alone which is available on all the podcast platforms how can you help me nothing we're friends now so i'll hit you up unity help me help you i don't know let me think about it but i like that question i think that it's something that as women we need to be comfortable and like walk the walk that's the thing like i might be embarrassed of my instagram and like what people think about me but why this show has grown so much is like i have had such invisible reputation with people of helping people and so now like the return has been there without even needing to ask and so i really do want you to come back to me before your email comes out how can hsr help you let us know i will let you know valeria lipovetsky thank you so much you are one of my favorites and i can't wait to see you again soon thank you thanks guys so so helpful they're a one-stop shop for founders who want to launch and legitimize their business without turning it into a giant admin spiral they help you form an llc or a corporation act as your registered agent and give you tools like a business address operating agreement website phone number professional email and free guides they also have real corporate guides who know your local laws visit northwest registered agent.com slash hsr free and start using free 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