WEBVTT - Developing My Mom’s First Perfume in China 0:00:03.240 --> 0:00:07.880 Hello, everyone, Welcome in, Welcome back to this week's episode 0:00:07.920 --> 0:00:10.840 of Cheeky's and Chill. Today, I'm going to take you 0:00:10.920 --> 0:00:14.840 down memory lane all the way back to two thousand 0:00:14.880 --> 0:00:18.840 and nine, I was twenty three years old. But we'll 0:00:18.840 --> 0:00:20.720 get all into the nitty gritty right now. But this 0:00:20.760 --> 0:00:22.680 story might sound familiar to those of you who have 0:00:22.800 --> 0:00:25.319 read my books, but I want to expand on the 0:00:25.360 --> 0:00:28.440 story even more. Today. We're going to talk about the 0:00:28.520 --> 0:00:31.920 time my mom had me develop her first perfume. We're 0:00:31.960 --> 0:00:34.360 also going to get into the argument we got into 0:00:34.400 --> 0:00:37.680 before I left, and some things I learned while I 0:00:37.720 --> 0:00:42.800 was in China. So buckle up, here we go. You 0:00:42.840 --> 0:00:45.320 know what's crazy? For the past I want to say 0:00:46.120 --> 0:00:48.839 two months three months, I have felt so close to 0:00:48.880 --> 0:00:54.880 my mom. I feel like we've entered this new like 0:00:55.440 --> 0:00:58.120 era or new season of our relationship. I know it 0:00:58.160 --> 0:01:00.720 sounds weird because she's been gone physically for twelve years, 0:01:00.720 --> 0:01:04.320 but I've been connecting with her on a different level lately. 0:01:04.920 --> 0:01:07.120 So I also wanted to do this episode to kind 0:01:07.120 --> 0:01:11.320 of just remind myself of everything we went through and 0:01:11.760 --> 0:01:15.360 what a beautiful relationship we had, no matter how ugly 0:01:15.360 --> 0:01:18.759 it was at the end right before she passed, and 0:01:19.520 --> 0:01:22.280 how close we were in age, which caused a lot 0:01:22.319 --> 0:01:25.319 of friction. We were so alike in so many different 0:01:25.319 --> 0:01:29.840 ways and so different as well that it also caused bickering. 0:01:29.920 --> 0:01:33.920 But the love was real and we accomplished so much together, guys, 0:01:34.280 --> 0:01:36.399 and I should be proud of that. And I think 0:01:36.480 --> 0:01:39.560 because for so long I was focused on my career 0:01:39.640 --> 0:01:45.280 and focused on wanting to be seen as Cheeky's as 0:01:45.360 --> 0:01:49.160 my own person, I kind of put her to the 0:01:49.200 --> 0:01:52.000 side a little bit because I felt I needed to, 0:01:52.120 --> 0:01:54.400 and it got me through everything that I was doing. 0:01:54.440 --> 0:01:57.520 And again, I feel like I had been in her 0:01:57.560 --> 0:02:00.120 shadow a lot, and I kind of wanted to just 0:02:00.520 --> 0:02:02.560 show the world, Hey, I can do this, you know, 0:02:02.840 --> 0:02:04.400 and I'm not gonna lie. I've told you guys a 0:02:04.400 --> 0:02:06.120 lot here on the podcast. For a long time, I 0:02:06.160 --> 0:02:08.560 was upset with my mom because of how things ended 0:02:08.600 --> 0:02:11.280 between her and I, and I was disappointed in a 0:02:11.320 --> 0:02:17.280 lot of things. And every year it's a different feeling, 0:02:17.800 --> 0:02:20.840 and the more and more that I do things like 0:02:20.880 --> 0:02:24.640 this like this episode, it makes me just fall in 0:02:24.639 --> 0:02:28.440 love with her all over again. And I don't know, 0:02:28.480 --> 0:02:29.920 I feel like this is going to heal my heart 0:02:30.080 --> 0:02:33.800 and hopefully inspire you, guys. Because when I went to China, guys, 0:02:34.280 --> 0:02:38.320 I was twenty three years old and I had never 0:02:38.360 --> 0:02:44.120 gone to another country besides Mexico, right. I hadn't traveled 0:02:44.160 --> 0:02:46.040 a lot. And I was very busy back then with 0:02:46.080 --> 0:02:48.960 my mom, with the kids, with the house, with our businesses, 0:02:49.800 --> 0:02:53.560 and by then I had already helped my mom develop 0:02:53.880 --> 0:02:57.280 her skincare and her makeup line. We were like the Fionettas, 0:02:57.320 --> 0:03:00.680 the pioneers when it came to this whole influence and 0:03:00.760 --> 0:03:02.839 having your own business and everything. My mom and I 0:03:03.040 --> 0:03:05.160 we were a freaking a power team. Guys. My mom 0:03:05.160 --> 0:03:07.160 would tell me I want this, and I would execute it. 0:03:07.200 --> 0:03:08.680 I don't even know how I would do it half 0:03:08.720 --> 0:03:10.880 of the time because I was so young. I didn't 0:03:10.880 --> 0:03:13.560 go to college. I always figured things out because that's 0:03:13.560 --> 0:03:16.200 the way she taught me. And I'm so grateful that 0:03:16.280 --> 0:03:18.480 she kind of would just throw me in like kind 0:03:18.480 --> 0:03:20.080 of like a child that doesn't know how to swim, 0:03:20.080 --> 0:03:21.239 and she just kind of just throws you in the 0:03:21.280 --> 0:03:24.400 pool and then you have no other choice but to swim. 0:03:24.639 --> 0:03:28.560 It was like that, literally anyway, I had never been 0:03:28.639 --> 0:03:32.839 to another country besides Mexico, and I had only gone 0:03:32.880 --> 0:03:37.840 to Mexico a handful of times then, So going all 0:03:37.880 --> 0:03:41.120 the way to China, guys across the freaking globe, it 0:03:41.240 --> 0:03:43.760 was insane. Sometimes I think about it, I'm like, how 0:03:43.840 --> 0:03:46.360 did I do that? And I went by myself. I 0:03:46.440 --> 0:03:50.120 went alone, and her and I were in a huge argument. 0:03:50.720 --> 0:03:53.680 I don't even remember exactly what it was, but I 0:03:53.800 --> 0:03:56.400 know that it was a pretty big argument and she 0:03:56.520 --> 0:03:59.800 was pissed at me. So this trip was already planned, 0:04:00.240 --> 0:04:04.280 I'm sure, like a few weeks before, or maybe even 0:04:04.280 --> 0:04:08.240 a month, but we had gotten an argument and I 0:04:08.240 --> 0:04:10.280 don't remember again, I don't remember why, but it was 0:04:10.320 --> 0:04:13.920 pretty bad and we weren't talking, and I remember getting 0:04:13.960 --> 0:04:18.560 on that plane crying. I was crying because I was nervous, 0:04:18.640 --> 0:04:22.039 obviously that I was going to a different country where 0:04:22.040 --> 0:04:25.039 I don't know the language, I don't know anyone. I 0:04:25.080 --> 0:04:30.200 found someone online and I didn't even know what this 0:04:30.240 --> 0:04:32.000 person looked like. I just knew their name and they 0:04:32.000 --> 0:04:34.480 were going to have a little paper with my name 0:04:34.520 --> 0:04:37.760 on it. But dude, so mavine. I've always been a 0:04:37.800 --> 0:04:39.360 risk taker. I said, Okay, I'm going to figure this out. 0:04:39.400 --> 0:04:41.200 My mom wants to perfume. She gave me a budget. 0:04:41.240 --> 0:04:45.039 I can't get it done for that budget sixty thousand 0:04:45.080 --> 0:04:48.279 dollars in the States, I had looked and everything was 0:04:48.400 --> 0:04:51.000 crazy expensive. So I said, I have no other choice 0:04:51.000 --> 0:04:53.480 but to go to China. And again I did all 0:04:53.480 --> 0:04:56.520 my research, I figured it out. I met this lady. 0:04:56.920 --> 0:04:59.400 How we figured things out, I have no idea because 0:04:59.400 --> 0:05:04.039 she was barely learning English and I didn't know a 0:05:04.120 --> 0:05:09.480 lick of Chinese, of course. So it was an amazing experience. 0:05:09.560 --> 0:05:14.680 Three weeks in China by myself and I sit at 0:05:14.680 --> 0:05:18.920 a hotel alone. I visited so many different karaoke bars 0:05:18.960 --> 0:05:24.039 because Asians, especially in China, they love karaoke. So I 0:05:24.080 --> 0:05:27.200 did visit a lot of karaoke bars. I ate a 0:05:27.240 --> 0:05:31.719 lot of food, but the food in China, guys. I 0:05:31.760 --> 0:05:33.839 was in Guangzhou, so I was in the south of China, 0:05:34.640 --> 0:05:38.080 and it's more like the industrial side of China. So 0:05:38.080 --> 0:05:42.640 I was where all you know, imagine La downtown, La 0:05:42.839 --> 0:05:48.400 times ten, huge, a lot of people everywhere. It was 0:05:48.640 --> 0:05:51.960 very congested, but very beautiful. And of course I get 0:05:51.960 --> 0:05:54.320 there and I'm like, okay, well, where's the beef, broccoli 0:05:54.400 --> 0:05:57.480 and the orange chicken, and that does not exist over there. 0:05:57.520 --> 0:06:00.960 The Chinese food that we have here nothing like the 0:06:01.080 --> 0:06:05.679 Chinese food in China, like at all. It tastes very different. 0:06:05.720 --> 0:06:07.919 I had no idea what I was eating. I would 0:06:07.960 --> 0:06:10.320 just order or let the people that I had met 0:06:10.320 --> 0:06:13.000 there because we were doing business together. I would just 0:06:13.080 --> 0:06:16.719 let them order and I ate everything, and it was delicious, 0:06:16.760 --> 0:06:18.120 so I have to this day, I don't even know 0:06:18.160 --> 0:06:19.520 what I ate. I don't know if it was chicken 0:06:19.600 --> 0:06:22.719 or beef for pig or I don't know. It was 0:06:22.800 --> 0:06:25.920 just good. But they did not have any of the 0:06:26.000 --> 0:06:29.240 Chinese food that I was accustomed to. Also, another thing 0:06:29.279 --> 0:06:32.560 that I learned there was they don't really eat any 0:06:32.600 --> 0:06:36.760 ice cream, nothing cold, no ice water, no salads. Everything 0:06:36.839 --> 0:06:41.880 is warm. There is hot tea before, during, and after eating. 0:06:42.640 --> 0:06:44.880 Everything was warm. That's when I lost I feel like 0:06:44.920 --> 0:06:46.920 I lost so much weight out while I was out there, 0:06:46.960 --> 0:06:49.279 because I mean, I had no other choice but to 0:06:49.320 --> 0:06:51.960 eat the way that the people that I was eating ate. 0:06:52.160 --> 0:06:55.440 And I learned a lot, especially about the digestive system. 0:06:55.440 --> 0:06:57.880 And of course throughout the years I started forgetting everything. 0:06:58.279 --> 0:07:00.560 Because when I came back, I was very inspired and 0:07:00.560 --> 0:07:02.320 I'm like Okay, all I'm going to do is drink 0:07:02.360 --> 0:07:04.680 tea and no more cold stuff and all this. But 0:07:05.360 --> 0:07:07.279 life goes on and life happens, and I was young, 0:07:07.360 --> 0:07:09.520 and of course I forgot all about that until like now, 0:07:09.520 --> 0:07:12.240 where I'm like, oh my gosh. You know, there's like 0:07:12.280 --> 0:07:15.320 this crazy connection that I have with China because of 0:07:15.360 --> 0:07:18.440 that trip, but also because I always say I feel 0:07:18.440 --> 0:07:20.640 like I was Asian in a past life. I just 0:07:20.720 --> 0:07:23.640 love the culture. I love everything about the Asian culture. 0:07:30.320 --> 0:07:34.360 So AnyWho, my whole thing was develop this perfume. My 0:07:34.440 --> 0:07:37.320 mom and I weren't talking, but it also gave me 0:07:38.520 --> 0:07:43.160 that fire within me to show her. I am going 0:07:43.200 --> 0:07:46.040 to make her so proud. I'm going to kill this project. 0:07:46.120 --> 0:07:50.160 I'm going to freaking show her, and I did. I 0:07:50.200 --> 0:07:52.680 told her I needed to stay out there a little 0:07:52.760 --> 0:07:55.560 longer because I that's another thing. I didn't even know 0:07:55.600 --> 0:07:57.720 how long I was going to be out there. I 0:07:57.880 --> 0:08:00.720 just got a one way ticket because I wanted to 0:08:00.760 --> 0:08:04.200 come home with the finished product. So even before I 0:08:04.200 --> 0:08:07.960 get into the nitty gritty of how I developed the 0:08:08.000 --> 0:08:11.760 fragrance and the whole process, I was wondering because my 0:08:11.760 --> 0:08:13.880 mom and I think for like a week while I 0:08:13.960 --> 0:08:16.880 was out there, didn't really talk. It was just very business. 0:08:17.080 --> 0:08:19.640 She was still kind of upset with me for whatever reason. 0:08:19.680 --> 0:08:23.960 I wish I remembered, but AnyWho, I would handle everything. 0:08:24.360 --> 0:08:25.960 So the fact that I was gone for three weeks 0:08:26.080 --> 0:08:28.800 was a pretty big deal in my household, especially with Johnny. 0:08:28.880 --> 0:08:31.560 Johnny was eight years old, and I'm pretty sure he 0:08:31.600 --> 0:08:33.840 told me when I got back home. I mean, because 0:08:34.360 --> 0:08:37.120 him and I have always been so so close, he 0:08:37.200 --> 0:08:40.120 was probably freaking out without me. But of course, my mother, 0:08:40.240 --> 0:08:43.760 being a woman that's you know, in control, was never 0:08:43.760 --> 0:08:45.280 going to tell me that she needed me. But I'm 0:08:45.360 --> 0:08:48.040 pretty sure everything was kind of falling apart while I 0:08:48.080 --> 0:08:52.559 was gone. But I was so determined to show her 0:08:52.600 --> 0:08:54.880 that I could do this, and I was so proud 0:08:54.920 --> 0:08:58.280 of myself, so proud of myself, So getting into the 0:08:58.320 --> 0:09:03.560 whole production thing, I went to a chemist first. I 0:09:03.600 --> 0:09:06.960 wanted to get the sent down because I was super important. 0:09:07.360 --> 0:09:09.960 My mom was a huge fan of Trousaur, so that 0:09:10.160 --> 0:09:13.920 was the perfume that she wore every single day, and 0:09:14.000 --> 0:09:16.400 she wanted something very different from that because that's very 0:09:16.400 --> 0:09:20.840 The perfume that she wore was very warm, and you know, vanilla, 0:09:21.200 --> 0:09:23.679 so she wanted a little bit something, a little more daytime. 0:09:24.280 --> 0:09:26.160 So I just had that. I just knew what she wanted. 0:09:26.160 --> 0:09:28.559 She wanted a daytime perfume. She wanted a little citrusy, 0:09:29.120 --> 0:09:32.280 a little sweet, but more citrusy. Mind you had. There 0:09:32.320 --> 0:09:33.840 was no way that I was going to show her 0:09:34.360 --> 0:09:37.360 the set. I just needed to follow my intuition and 0:09:37.880 --> 0:09:40.560 her instructions and what she wanted and go with it. 0:09:40.640 --> 0:09:44.920 Because even sending it, like through airshipping or whatever you 0:09:44.960 --> 0:09:46.839 call it, it was going to take days. There was 0:09:46.920 --> 0:09:49.640 We had no time for that. So I developed it. 0:09:49.679 --> 0:09:52.040 That was the first thing. I went to a manufacturer 0:09:52.040 --> 0:09:53.840 and we got the oils, and I spilled so many 0:09:53.880 --> 0:09:56.920 different oils I think I went to three different factories 0:09:57.240 --> 0:10:01.200 and manufacturers for the actual fragrance until I found it. 0:10:01.280 --> 0:10:03.559 I mixed things together with the chemists and I said, 0:10:03.679 --> 0:10:05.760 this is what we want. We let it sit for 0:10:05.800 --> 0:10:10.320 a few days, and then we had the fragrance, which 0:10:10.400 --> 0:10:13.200 was the most important part. Then I went to a 0:10:13.200 --> 0:10:16.440 different manufacturer to find the bottle and the cap. And 0:10:16.559 --> 0:10:20.080 because again the budget wasn't a lot, I couldn't get 0:10:20.080 --> 0:10:24.360 like a specific mold made because at first she wanted 0:10:24.400 --> 0:10:26.960 like a whole, like her body and her silhouette. I 0:10:27.000 --> 0:10:28.480 was like, Mom, you got to chill a little bit 0:10:28.480 --> 0:10:31.640 because that's expensive. Just the mold. To make a mold, 0:10:32.880 --> 0:10:35.839 it's ten thousand dollars, okay. So I kind of got 0:10:35.840 --> 0:10:38.440 her off that and I went with a generic bottle 0:10:38.520 --> 0:10:41.360 and a generic cap. I was like, okay, I gotta 0:10:41.400 --> 0:10:44.360 make this look nice. The most important thing is making 0:10:44.360 --> 0:10:48.240 sure that the scent was top tier, and it absolutely was. 0:10:48.280 --> 0:10:51.240 Till this day. It is still the number one fragrance 0:10:51.320 --> 0:10:53.760 that is sold. It was the very first one, and 0:10:53.800 --> 0:10:56.079 that's the one people love the most. Of course, the 0:10:56.120 --> 0:10:59.360 other ones are great, but there's something special about that one, obviously, 0:10:59.640 --> 0:11:01.680 but it does sell very well still to this day. 0:11:02.320 --> 0:11:05.319 So that was that I got a generic bottle, something 0:11:05.360 --> 0:11:08.280 that they already had in stock because there was no time, 0:11:09.200 --> 0:11:14.320 and I wanted something very simple, and the name was 0:11:14.360 --> 0:11:15.920 just going to be her logo, and that's what it 0:11:15.960 --> 0:11:18.079 is to this day as well. It's just the logo 0:11:18.120 --> 0:11:20.800 that her and I developed together, which are her initials JR. 0:11:20.840 --> 0:11:24.320 And her little butterfly that I have tattooed on my foot, 0:11:24.880 --> 0:11:27.480 and that was it. It was very simple, and I 0:11:27.559 --> 0:11:31.360 wanted it to be not just a fragrance, but I 0:11:31.440 --> 0:11:33.960 put like a little gift set together. So it was 0:11:34.360 --> 0:11:38.800 the perfume and a lip gloss that had like little 0:11:38.800 --> 0:11:42.319 sparkles in it, and also a hand lotion because my 0:11:42.360 --> 0:11:44.680 mom loved the hand lotion and putting it in her purse. 0:11:44.720 --> 0:11:47.760 So I did the whole thing and it was the 0:11:47.760 --> 0:11:50.320 same scent the hand lotion. And I only made one 0:11:50.360 --> 0:11:53.120 thousand units and that was it because that's all we 0:11:53.120 --> 0:11:55.880 could afford. She gave me a sixty thousand dollars budget 0:11:56.320 --> 0:11:59.640 to make everything. You know, it adds up. So we 0:11:59.679 --> 0:12:04.440 did a thousand, remember a thousand units, and everything took time, 0:12:04.480 --> 0:12:06.360 so I had to wait for everything to be filled. 0:12:06.360 --> 0:12:08.760 I had to wait for the logos to be screen 0:12:08.800 --> 0:12:13.200 printed on the actual components. It was just a mission, 0:12:13.280 --> 0:12:15.560 which is why it took me three weeks, because I wanted. 0:12:15.600 --> 0:12:18.319 I said, I need to leave China with the finished 0:12:18.320 --> 0:12:20.880 product to show my mother exactly what it looks like, 0:12:20.960 --> 0:12:23.000 the sizes, how much it's going to weigh, so that 0:12:23.040 --> 0:12:24.640 we know how much we're going to spend on shipping. 0:12:25.160 --> 0:12:27.720 How I knew this at twenty three, I have no idea. 0:12:28.160 --> 0:12:30.320 Sometimes I feel like maybe because I had a little 0:12:30.320 --> 0:12:36.600 bit more space. Mentally, things just stuck and now I 0:12:36.640 --> 0:12:38.680 forget all these things. I'm like, oh my gosh, I 0:12:38.720 --> 0:12:41.840 did so much, and how honestly it was the grace 0:12:41.880 --> 0:12:44.240 of God. So what did I do? Because I think 0:12:44.240 --> 0:12:46.880 it's important you guys didn't know what I did while 0:12:46.880 --> 0:12:49.600 I was waiting. Once I got all the hard work 0:12:49.679 --> 0:12:54.240 and all like the footwork done with the fragrance, with 0:12:54.320 --> 0:12:56.880 the bottles, the components of packaging, all that stuff. While 0:12:56.920 --> 0:12:59.000 they were doing their thing putting it together, I had 0:12:59.000 --> 0:13:01.280 a lot of free time. So I was going again 0:13:01.800 --> 0:13:04.840 to the karaoke bars with my new Chinese friends that 0:13:04.880 --> 0:13:06.960 I met at the manufacturers, because they all knew I 0:13:07.000 --> 0:13:09.120 was there by myself. I stated, a very nice hotel. 0:13:09.120 --> 0:13:10.719 That's one thing. I was like, Mom, if I'm going 0:13:10.720 --> 0:13:13.120 over there by myself and you're sending me coach, because 0:13:13.160 --> 0:13:16.000 I was coach on the way there in the middle 0:13:16.040 --> 0:13:20.199 seat and I was sad, crying. I left La crying 0:13:20.240 --> 0:13:23.440 and I got to China crying. Fourteen hour flight. Guys, 0:13:24.400 --> 0:13:27.760 in the middle seat, it was insane. I will tell 0:13:27.760 --> 0:13:32.520 you this. I love garlic, but oh my gosh, smelling 0:13:32.559 --> 0:13:37.480 garlic the entire way there was crazy. I mean, it 0:13:37.520 --> 0:13:40.440 was insane, very tough. But I'm like, okay. So I 0:13:40.440 --> 0:13:42.520 told my mom. I said, one thing, fine, you're sending 0:13:42.559 --> 0:13:44.880 me coach, totally fine, mother, But I'm going to have 0:13:44.960 --> 0:13:48.200 a nice hotel room. And it was very inexpensive, but 0:13:48.320 --> 0:13:51.640 very nice. It was a beautiful hotel. And on television, 0:13:52.559 --> 0:13:56.160 everything was in Chinese. So what I did was I 0:13:56.280 --> 0:13:59.040 took all six seasons of Sex and the City with 0:13:59.120 --> 0:14:03.280 me on DVDs, and that's what I watched the entire 0:14:03.320 --> 0:14:06.120 time I was there. I watched all six seasons guys 0:14:06.200 --> 0:14:07.800 of Sex in the City. That's when I fell in 0:14:07.840 --> 0:14:12.600 love with Carrie and Samantha and just I was so 0:14:12.720 --> 0:14:15.800 into like Sex and the City. Oh. Also, I would 0:14:15.800 --> 0:14:17.959 go to the mall and I'm like, okay, well, I'm 0:14:18.000 --> 0:14:19.480 just going to walk around and go to the mall. 0:14:20.280 --> 0:14:24.600 And I remember this one time the lady she was 0:14:24.600 --> 0:14:27.160 trying to sell me something, some type of diet pill, 0:14:27.600 --> 0:14:29.080 and I remember her telling me that I needed to 0:14:29.120 --> 0:14:31.160 be smaller. She's like, you need a smaller smaller. She 0:14:31.280 --> 0:14:33.120 just kept telling me. And they would tell me you 0:14:33.120 --> 0:14:35.240 have such a pretty face, but you need to be thinner, 0:14:35.760 --> 0:14:37.640 like they would like, you know, you need to lose weight. 0:14:37.680 --> 0:14:39.280 So they were always trying to sell me something to 0:14:39.320 --> 0:14:43.040 lose weight, either a tea, a pill. It was just 0:14:43.080 --> 0:14:45.880 insane the amount of times that I got hit up to, 0:14:46.000 --> 0:14:48.240 like for me to lose weight, because I mean, I 0:14:48.320 --> 0:14:51.600 was a thick ass girl in China. Everyone's very small 0:14:51.680 --> 0:14:55.400 and here I am, you know, this thick girl walking 0:14:55.440 --> 0:15:00.080 around by myself. And that time I was at the 0:15:01.000 --> 0:15:03.080 and someone came up to me and they just said, 0:15:03.080 --> 0:15:04.920 you know, oh my god, we love your face, you know, 0:15:05.000 --> 0:15:08.720 and we want to take pictures. So I don't even 0:15:08.800 --> 0:15:10.960 know how and why I trusted these people because they 0:15:11.000 --> 0:15:13.880 could have taken me anywhere and I wouldn't be here. 0:15:14.160 --> 0:15:17.240 But everyone was so nice and I trusted and I 0:15:17.320 --> 0:15:19.400 went with this person. It was a guy and a girl, 0:15:20.080 --> 0:15:23.000 and I went to their studio and I took pictures. 0:15:23.080 --> 0:15:24.960 I have those pictures till this day. I was just 0:15:25.000 --> 0:15:27.280 looking at the album the other day and they put 0:15:27.320 --> 0:15:30.000 me in like one, two, three, like four different outfits. 0:15:31.200 --> 0:15:35.000 Didn't pay me anything. They fed me and I took 0:15:35.000 --> 0:15:37.160 the pictures because I didn't have anything else to do. 0:15:37.320 --> 0:15:38.880 And I'm like, okay, well just give me an album. 0:15:38.880 --> 0:15:42.320 They gave me this whole album to bring home. But 0:15:42.400 --> 0:15:46.240 they used those pictures guys in China. One was for 0:15:46.360 --> 0:15:50.120 like a skincare company, and of course I didn't know 0:15:50.160 --> 0:15:51.400 what I mean, I didn't know they were going to 0:15:51.440 --> 0:15:53.320 use them. I didn't know until like after like okay, 0:15:53.360 --> 0:15:55.280 you know I signed something. Of course, it was like, hey, 0:15:55.280 --> 0:15:58.480 we're going to use it for you know, a skincare 0:15:58.480 --> 0:16:00.840 and then they were going to sell the pictures. I know, 0:16:00.880 --> 0:16:03.200 it sounds crazy now, that would never happen to me 0:16:03.280 --> 0:16:06.600 now I know that side of the business. But it 0:16:06.680 --> 0:16:09.040 was fun. And I remember showing my mom the pictures 0:16:09.080 --> 0:16:10.920 when we got back and she's like, this is what 0:16:10.960 --> 0:16:13.120 you were doing, what you were out there? Like she 0:16:13.240 --> 0:16:14.920 kind of wanted to be mad at me, but I'm like, dude, 0:16:14.920 --> 0:16:16.480 I was waiting for like a week and a half 0:16:16.520 --> 0:16:19.400 to get the finished product. I needed to do something. 0:16:20.040 --> 0:16:22.120 So I learned a song out there too, the shingle 0:16:22.200 --> 0:16:24.560 Ing a ling song, that's what I call it. It 0:16:24.640 --> 0:16:27.280 was like the biggest hit in China. I heard it 0:16:27.320 --> 0:16:29.520 everywhere at the grocery store, I heard it at the mall, 0:16:29.640 --> 0:16:31.800 I heard it people were singing at the karaoke bar, 0:16:31.920 --> 0:16:35.120 like all the time. Anyway, so I learned the song 0:16:35.160 --> 0:16:37.080 out there. I do want to sing you, guys, a 0:16:37.080 --> 0:16:39.880 little piece of the song that I learned. And people 0:16:40.680 --> 0:16:43.840 have said now with TikTok and stuff, that it's not 0:16:43.880 --> 0:16:46.680 true that this song does not exist. But I promise you, guys, 0:16:46.680 --> 0:16:48.800 I was at the new shop one day and the 0:16:48.960 --> 0:16:51.400 song came on. And then I was at a full 0:16:51.480 --> 0:16:54.000 place and the song came on. Guys, like I'm not 0:16:54.160 --> 0:16:56.680 I swear to you, I'm not lying. The song exists, 0:16:56.800 --> 0:16:58.320 and I learned it because I was there for three 0:16:58.360 --> 0:17:00.720 weeks and it was the most popin song. So anyway, 0:17:00.720 --> 0:17:03.760 the song goes a little like this. It's a shingle 0:17:03.880 --> 0:17:10.880 ling gulling. It's a shing young young young. And again 0:17:10.920 --> 0:17:12.520 I don't even know if I'm saying anything, if I'm 0:17:12.520 --> 0:17:16.360 even singing Chinese, And it's in no way to disrespect anybody, 0:17:16.440 --> 0:17:19.560 because again I love the Asian culture so much, but 0:17:19.760 --> 0:17:22.200 I swear to you, I remember the chorus. That was 0:17:22.240 --> 0:17:24.840 the chorus, and again I'm probably not even singing anything 0:17:24.880 --> 0:17:28.480 in Chinese, but I remember it going like that. Everyone 0:17:28.680 --> 0:17:31.280 was on this song, guys. Everyone in the karaoke bar. 0:17:31.400 --> 0:17:33.120 Everyone wanted to sing the damn song, and I had 0:17:33.160 --> 0:17:36.440 to sing it a couple times, so I remember, next 0:17:36.440 --> 0:17:38.439 time I hear it somewhere, I promise you, I'm going 0:17:38.480 --> 0:17:40.159 to record it. I'm going to show you, guys, because 0:17:40.320 --> 0:17:42.800 I would not lie about something like that, and that's 0:17:42.800 --> 0:17:44.320 what I did. I just hung out. I went to 0:17:44.320 --> 0:17:46.399 the spot, I got massages, I ate a lot of 0:17:46.400 --> 0:17:48.280 cool food, and then I would just come home and 0:17:48.280 --> 0:17:50.280 get in the bathtub and watch Sex in the City 0:17:50.560 --> 0:17:59.600 for three weeks. Now moving forward to when I got 0:17:59.600 --> 0:18:02.280 back home and I had a finished product. I was 0:18:02.280 --> 0:18:04.000 so proud of myself when I got the finished product 0:18:04.000 --> 0:18:06.600 that I told my mom. I said, Mother, just FYI, 0:18:06.680 --> 0:18:09.560 I'm using the business card and I'm buying myself a 0:18:09.600 --> 0:18:13.199 first class ticket back. I feel I deserve it and 0:18:13.240 --> 0:18:15.119 I'm just going to do it. I just told her. 0:18:15.160 --> 0:18:17.600 I didn't even ask her permission. That was the first 0:18:17.640 --> 0:18:20.560 time I experienced first class, and I haven't been the 0:18:20.560 --> 0:18:24.680 same since they give me slippers. It was a laid 0:18:24.680 --> 0:18:27.760 down bed, Oh my god, night and day experience, guys, 0:18:27.840 --> 0:18:32.000 from going coach in the middle seat. It was a lot. 0:18:32.480 --> 0:18:34.400 I spent like an extra I don't know how much, 0:18:35.000 --> 0:18:38.160 over one thousand dollars on top of what I had 0:18:38.160 --> 0:18:41.320 already paid. Well, not me and my mom. So that's 0:18:41.359 --> 0:18:44.639 that I get home. My mom, by this time was 0:18:44.680 --> 0:18:47.040 a little happier with me. It took her like two 0:18:47.040 --> 0:18:49.760 weeks while I was out there to just warm up, 0:18:49.800 --> 0:18:51.720 and you know, I was kind of getting her excited 0:18:52.160 --> 0:18:54.920 with everything that I was doing. She was really happy. 0:18:55.080 --> 0:18:57.760 I remember walking into her office and she was sitting 0:18:57.760 --> 0:18:59.720 on her chair and I said, Mom, I'm back. Hi. 0:19:00.000 --> 0:19:01.399 She was very happy to see me. I was very 0:19:01.400 --> 0:19:03.520 happy to see her, and she's said, well, show me, 0:19:04.200 --> 0:19:06.919 show me what you brought. And I remember pulling it 0:19:06.920 --> 0:19:12.120 out and her face. Guys, the look on her face priceless. 0:19:12.359 --> 0:19:16.760 I lived lived to make my mom proud. Anytime I 0:19:16.800 --> 0:19:19.639 saw that face and then just that sparkle in her eye, 0:19:20.800 --> 0:19:24.040 it was just everything to me. And I'm getting emotional 0:19:24.080 --> 0:19:28.399 because I remember. I remember the day and she was 0:19:28.440 --> 0:19:31.919 so happy and so excited that she had her finished product. 0:19:32.080 --> 0:19:34.560 And it worked beautifully because it was going to take 0:19:34.680 --> 0:19:38.080 months before we got the shipment, you know, because everything 0:19:38.119 --> 0:19:40.280 was going to come by sea. So the fact that 0:19:40.320 --> 0:19:42.600 I stayed there to get a few made, because they 0:19:42.600 --> 0:19:44.200 didn't just make me one, they made me like ten. 0:19:44.280 --> 0:19:46.960 So we could take pictures and we can also show 0:19:47.000 --> 0:19:51.640 it to different stores, and WSS actually picked it up 0:19:52.240 --> 0:19:55.040 and we sold all the units to them, and we 0:19:55.040 --> 0:19:57.280 were selling it online. So it did very very well 0:19:57.960 --> 0:20:00.280 and that made me so happy. That was great. We 0:20:00.280 --> 0:20:06.639 were fine. But then a few weeks later comes the 0:20:06.680 --> 0:20:09.240 phone bill, and this is where it gets a little sticky, 0:20:10.000 --> 0:20:12.640 because I didn't turn off my data or data or 0:20:12.640 --> 0:20:18.560 whatever the roaming. Okay, guys, the phone bill that came 0:20:20.080 --> 0:20:25.760 was insane, six thousand dollars phone bill. My mom wanted 0:20:25.960 --> 0:20:30.639 to kill me. It was such an expensive trip. And 0:20:30.680 --> 0:20:34.720 I'm like, oh my god, I didn't know. I didn't 0:20:34.760 --> 0:20:38.560 I never turned off the roaming. I'm like, Mom, I'm sorry. 0:20:38.560 --> 0:20:40.359 We were on different time zones, like I needed to 0:20:40.359 --> 0:20:43.000 send a lot of emails, I mean, back and forth 0:20:43.040 --> 0:20:46.320 with the manufacturers with just everyone with her, and I 0:20:46.359 --> 0:20:47.960 was on a lot of phone calls, you know, and 0:20:47.960 --> 0:20:49.639 then I was talking to someone back then. So of 0:20:49.680 --> 0:20:51.399