All Episodes

April 21, 2023 14 mins

Welcome to Housewives University where Bethenny breaks down the harsh reality of how Real Housewives handled the business of fame. It may not always be flattering, it may not always be nice…but you can bet it’s gonna be the truth. 

Today’s case study is Ramona Singer of the RHONY.  The lesson begins…now!

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Mark as Played
Transcript

Episode Transcript

Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:13):
We're going to start something called Housewives University, because for
every one hundred housewives that have launched a business, I
could give you ninety eight where the business has failed.
So we can learn from successes and we can learn
from failures. I've learned way more from my failures in
business and other people's failures then I have other people's
successes because everything looks easy, and when someone else succeeds,

(00:35):
it looks easy. Let's think about what has worked and
what hasn't worked overall. Candy Burris has been on the
Housewives for years. She's a musician and she has stuck
to her music career. It's a business. It's not a product.
It's not an invention. It's not something where she really

(00:56):
makes It is something where she can make money when
she's not in the room, because if she has a
that she's published, then she can still make residual income
on it. But it's something that she's doing that she
can always rely on and she can always get paid
to do it. Has Candy Burr's had any businesses where
it's a product that you can still buy, meaning she's
a business person that I respect because she's stuck to

(01:18):
her roots. In singing. She hasn't like become a chef
on the show, although she does own restaurants. Oh, Candy
owns restaurants, so she's gone into the restaurant business. Have
those remained successful? Has there been a product line that's
come out of that? Where's the residual success? The true
success of someone in business is when they're making money

(01:38):
when they're not in the room. So how is Candy
Burris making money when she's not in the room. Does
she have a product line for those restaurants? Does she
have a food product line that has come from those restaurants?
Are those restaurants all still open and are they all
making money? Because that would be the true test. So

(02:01):
Housewives University is going to be a business class based
on housewives errors in business and their successes. So each
week we're going to start with a different housewife and
talk about how they've thrived and how they've failed and why.

(02:33):
Ramona Singer she had made over a million dollars by
the time she was thirty. She purchased her own Housewives house.
It probably costs less than a million dollars and it
is now worth probably five to six million dollars. Realistically,
five to six million dollars in the Hampton's. So she
was on the show in the beginning. She was one
of the early people that actually had a business in
the beginning, and it was her husband's business that did

(02:55):
religious articles, and she quickly jumped in and was doing
religious jewelry crosses and it was called True Faith Jewelry
with an E. And she went to HSN a couple
of times. I think she did okay, but HSN is very,
very tricky, and you get caught inside a pyramid and

(03:15):
you can't get out, and just because you sell, then
you order more shit and you want to go back
on and you're stuck with the inventory, and it's not
It can be a model for some people like Isaac
Musrahi or Lori Goldstein her name is, or certain people,
but it's a world and you have to live there.
And Isaac was on is on KVC. But you have
to live there, dedicate your whole life to it. Be

(03:36):
at at four o'clock in the morning and it's fucking crazy.
And I left because I it was not for me.
I hated it, I really did. It just wasn't for
my personality. It's soul crushing, so she did that a
little and then she was trying to sell and it
was before e commerce and online, and like, I can't
really give you a big mistake. It was just she
didn't nail it. She didn't land it, you know. And

(04:00):
the name was good because they started in religious articles,
but then she made it into fashion. So now you've
got like a religious adjacent name with fashion, costume, jewelry.
And she wasn't that famous then, and she had no
place to sell it. It just didn't land. She didn't
have good distribution. She didn't have good distribution. And doesn't
matter how good your ideas or how good your product is,

(04:21):
because the product was fine, you need good distribution. You
just saying it's a great idea and having good marketing
and a publicist will not move the needle. Little shitty
press articles will not move the needle. You have to
kill yourself on it. And also she didn't have good distribution.
And that was in two thousand and five. The world
has changed drastically since then, but the principle of distribution

(04:41):
has not changed. You need good distribution. The distribution platforms
have changed. So now if you have amazing viral stuff
on TikTok, doesn't matter. Where are they buying it, Where
is it being distributing, Where is it being distributed? Do
you have a good website? How are they buying it?
So many times I have things that are so amazing,
it doesn't matter. They like it, they love the idea,

(05:03):
they want it. Now, where's the distribution? I have a
wine right now. I've promoted it because something got out
in the paparazzi in Europe. But like I'm annoyed because
people are engaging in my posts, but it doesn't The
distribution is just getting up. Now, in a month we'll
have amazing distribution. Distribution matters way more than your idea.
So then Ramona launches years later Ageless by Ramona. These

(05:29):
are all businesses that have happened since they've been housewives.
I don't need to discuss her liquidation business when she
was thirty. Romona's in her sixties, so she late years later.
We hear Ramona talk about Ageless in twenty eighteen. She's
in her sixties, she's launching. She's launching a beauty line.
She looks good, She's had many treatments. She looks good.
It's just not the demo like who she's speaking to

(05:52):
women in their sixties. Everybody wants to get the twenty
five year old, the thirty five year old, the eighteen
to forty nine year old. Like the sweet spot is
the mom. She drives, an explorer, she buys ovens, she cooks,
she cleans. That's who the advertisers want. They don't want
the sixty five year old. They'll take the viewers. But
it's not even counted in the demo. Advertisers don't even
pay for that woman. So Ramona's in her sixties, and yes,

(06:16):
people have different ages watch her, but for her to
be ageless and you know, skew like she's got it,
she doesn't have that young audience. And so that's why
it's gonna be hard for her to do a skincare line.
And I know she struggled with it, so that I'm
gonna say has failed because that just it didn't. It didn't.
It didn't Land. I've never heard of it. I've never

(06:37):
seen it. It could be a secret society that buys it,
but it definitely didn't Land. It definitely didn't make her
any money. So True Faith Jewelry didn't make her any money.
Ageless buy Ramona didn't make her any money after Truth
Faith Jewelry, before Pino Grigio, that she had Ramona singer
Pino Grigio. She had True Renewal, a skincare line that

(06:58):
I saw at her house. She showed me the packaging.
I'm sure all the products were great. Doesn't matter. If
the product's great, doesn't matter, if the name is great,
doesn't matter, if if the idea is great. She showed
me the products on the heels of True Faith Jewelry.
She comes out with True Renewal skincare, and it doesn't

(07:20):
even spell the True the same. There's no link to
these brands. And now I know they're jewelry and skincare
and they're different. But like, she's not a well known
person in either of these spaces. So she's gonna launch
two brands. She's launching this one when the other one
hasn't succeeded or launched, and now she's launching this one
with True spelled differently, and it's confusing. It's a confusion
in the marketplace. Wait a minute, you did True Faith
doesn't have anything to do with that, but it's True Renewal,

(07:42):
but it's spelled differently. The logos doing like should you
connect to them. Should it have been True Faith and
True Renewal and at least they're spelled similar the logo similer.
Should her whole overall over arching brand have been True
and then it's True Faith Jewelry, True Faith skincare Like
both brands failed. It doesn't matter, but like it wasn't

(08:03):
even a good attempt at branding and at a person
like saying to you, I have multiple brands, so where
does this live? And I'm telling you guys. We talked
about her lack of distribution. She had also a lack
of fluid marketing. It was confusion if I start, you know,
that's why I have Rewives and under Rewives that one umbrella,

(08:28):
we're gonna have Housewives University. It makes sense. It's about
housewives and we have rerants because it's under Rewives. I
have just Be unders Be, I have just Be Rants.
I'm coming out with just Be Influenced, which is a
podcast about, you know, deinfluencing effectively like things have to

(08:49):
there's thought in that. Why didn't I throw Housewives reviewing
under just Be because it'd be confusing. It's a different brand.
It's not about just Be. It's not me just talking
about topics. It's like I'm talking about housewift. So let's
create a new world. Branding is critical and marketing is critical.
I am I have an NBA in marketing. Okay, I'm
just telling you I don't have an MBA. I didn't

(09:10):
go to I am an expert at this. I just
it's I'm a savant at this the way someone else
is a savant at miles Travel Miles or you know,
fucking quen Wa or whatever that I am a savant
at this. Ramona had no marketing fluidity. It was all
over the place. It was slapping your name and coming
up with something different. So those failed. She's very smart.

(09:31):
She's made money, she's been smart in certain things, and
she's called herself a man of all things. She is
not a mavan of all things. She's succeeded by her
thirties in her liquidation business because she's a business person
and she's a fucking hustler. And you want to ask
her about your life insurance, you want to ask her
about your four oh one K. She's great at that.
She's better at that than I am. She's better at
things that I am. But I have people that work

(09:53):
with me that are better than that that I am.
But Ramona is not good at fluidity in the brand
marketing distribution. She just throw it up and thinks it's
a good idea because the Housewives made people feel the
need to do that. You don't have to be time
to flush it out because you're worried because Bethani was
on the cover of Forbes magazine. Why didn't I grab
my bag? I need to grab a business and some
dummy person partner. That sounded good in the meeting that

(10:16):
they told me they were gonna gave me some guarantee.
I did the deal. Why it's better than not having
a deal. I forgot to tell you. Ramona also started
a restaurant with some guy. So she started a restaurant
with some random guy. And then Dorinda said it was
supposed to be they approach Direnda, who cares. None of
you want any of it. It's a fucking dog. We
shot a scene at the restaurant. It never happened again,

(10:38):
and she didn't really own part of the restaurant. It
was probably a place that said you can say that
to get us awareness and we'll give you a piece,
And there was no piece because that's the housewives. Let's
pretend we own something to all fucking grab whatever you
could say you own because you need storyline and you
want a chance to make some money and promote something.
So this is all thrown together and it's not well

(10:59):
thought out, and overall, I give Ramona's business acumen as
a human being a solid B. I give her business
acumen as a housewife with new ideas flushing it through
a D. This is a D. I finally land on
Ramona singer pino Grigio, which at one point when I
had them mentioned it all. See with her she was

(11:19):
doing five hundred cases, less than five hundred cas, like
four hundred cases in a year, and she can blame
her partner. Probably was her fucking partner. Doesn't matter. No
one bought it. They didn't have good distribution. She probably
didn't have a good partner. She slapped her name on
it didn't have authenticity. You don't believe that she Just
because you drink a lot of pino grigio doesn't mean
you really understand the space and being an on a

(11:40):
phile and are with a good wine maker and that
this is a good idea and you don't want your
name as a housewife when people are fucking ripping wigs
off and flipping tables. You don't want your own name
on this wine. It's like a liability. It's stupid, and
you shouldn't name a wine after like a person. People
want to think it's some gorgeous, beautiful, esoteric vineyard some
life we're gonna buy into some Napa valley, weird name

(12:04):
that you've never heard of. You know, Jordan Winery is
a family name. You're picturing wealth, you're picturing grapes, you're
picturing you know, people that were in downt Nabby the
drank White, not Ramona Singer, fucking Pino Griggio. It's just
the worst idea. The whole thing gets a D minus.
I can't even give it a D. It gets a
D minus. The whole thing is just actually, I'm gonna

(12:24):
give it a D because true faith jewelry was connected
to something that existed with her husband who had good
probably manufacturing. And no, the whole thing gets a D minus.
It's a D minus in the Housewives University class. My
producers they're they're like viewers, thinking that certain things are
successful when they don't realize they're not successful. One of
them on here that is successful. It was Zaren Fabrics

(12:46):
and Jill Zaren. She's got a successful business, but she
didn't even really use the show. We're gonna get into it.
We're gonna get knee deep into Housewives University and who
succeeded and who failed, and you're gonna learn a lot,
a lot more than you think. And because you have
a website that has pictures of jewelry that you could
buy one necklace that someone goes to order in China,
where someone goes and buys stuff on Ali Baba and

(13:08):
slaps a Sonia label in it, that's not a thriving,
successful business necessarily. So we're gonna get knee deep into it.
And the Housewives are the ultimate scammers of fake businesses.
I have been on television and had to have real
business conversations with people, and it's a fucking fake business.
I'm sorry, not sorry, it's a fake business. I know
it's a fake business. It's a storyline business. And the

(13:28):
list will go on and on, and I'm gonna be
fucking harsh because business is relentless and I'm not gonna
fuck around here and play ah. But it's really cute
and it was a cute, and there's no cute. You
make money, you don't. It's successful, you don't. There's no
cute in Housewives University. There's you have a successful business
or you don't. What you do and what you don't do,
And this I can speak on. I have businesses that

(13:50):
have distribution worldwide and in a year, those small tiny businesses,
I'll maybe make fifty thousand dollars. And that's not a
say it's it's not a successful business. It's a it's
a business. It's a thing. It's part of my licensing
business overall, which is successful. And some of those things
make a you know, provide a million dollars for me
a year. But something that's throwing off fifty thousand dollars,

(14:11):
which is more successful than Ramona's Sonia or any of
those businesses a year, is not a successful business. Like
we're going to define a successful business that like you
could you could support yourself on it. It's a real functioning,
thriving business. Most of these businesses are not successful. So
we're going to learn a lot about what not to
do in Housewives University and what to do
Advertise With Us

Host

Bethenny Frankel

Bethenny Frankel

Popular Podcasts

Las Culturistas with Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang

Las Culturistas with Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang

Ding dong! Join your culture consultants, Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang, on an unforgettable journey into the beating heart of CULTURE. Alongside sizzling special guests, they GET INTO the hottest pop-culture moments of the day and the formative cultural experiences that turned them into Culturistas. Produced by the Big Money Players Network and iHeartRadio.

40s and Free Agents: NFL Draft Season

40s and Free Agents: NFL Draft Season

Daniel Jeremiah of Move the Sticks and Gregg Rosenthal of NFL Daily join forces to break down every team's needs this offseason.

Crime Junkie

Crime Junkie

Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.

Music, radio and podcasts, all free. Listen online or download the iHeart App.

Connect

© 2025 iHeartMedia, Inc.