July 16, 2025 • 27 mins
Let's talk about being ready to rethink the relationship with money, success, and self-worth.
Michael Farino is a former high-level corporate executive who spent 35 years navigating the world of big law firms, leading multi-million dollar budgets, initiatives and mastering the ins and outs of business finance, strategy, and growth.
After decades of budgeting and managing finances for others, he made the ultimate investment in himself as he traded in boardrooms and balance sheets for stove tops and storytelling, launching Pudding on the Rice!—a dessert company inspired by his father, Papa Nick, and his legendary rice pudding recipe. His only rule? "Don’t mess with it." Michael honored that, while adding a Broadway twist that blends tradition with innovation.
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Follow Marci Talks Money (and Life) wherever you get your podcasts to get the episodes as they post.
Visit MoneyMarci.com to check out other financial literacy resources.
Michael Farino is a former high-level corporate executive who spent 35 years navigating the world of big law firms, leading multi-million dollar budgets, initiatives and mastering the ins and outs of business finance, strategy, and growth.
After decades of budgeting and managing finances for others, he made the ultimate investment in himself as he traded in boardrooms and balance sheets for stove tops and storytelling, launching Pudding on the Rice!—a dessert company inspired by his father, Papa Nick, and his legendary rice pudding recipe. His only rule? "Don’t mess with it." Michael honored that, while adding a Broadway twist that blends tradition with innovation.
.
Follow Marci Talks Money (and Life) wherever you get your podcasts to get the episodes as they post.
Visit MoneyMarci.com to check out other financial literacy resources.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:02):
Powered by Riverside.
Speaker 2 (00:03):
F m Hello, welcome to Marcie talks Money in Life.
I'm Money, Marcy. I'm so pleased to welcome Michael Farino.
Michael Farino is a former high level corporate executive who
spent thirty five years navigating the world of big law firms,
hitting multimillion dollar budgets, initiatives, and mastering the ins and
(00:23):
outs of business finance, strategy, and growth. After decades of
budgeting and managing finances for others, he made the ultimate
investment in himself as he traded in boardrooms and balance
sheets for stovetops and storytelling. Launching Putting on the Rice,
a dessert company inspired by his father, Papa Nick and
(00:45):
his legendary rice pudding recipe. His only rule, don't mess
with it. Michael honored that while adding a Broadway twist
that blends tradition with innovation, This episode is geared toward
anyone ready to rethink their relationship with money, success, and
self worth. Welcome Michael, Good morning, Marcy.
Speaker 1 (01:04):
Thank you so much for that beautiful introduction.
Speaker 2 (01:07):
Well, you know I love a good rice pudding, so
we'll start there, and I do want to talk about
your business and what you're doing now, But I want
to start with how you got from where you were
to hear, because that had to be some big financial
decisions and life decisions that you and your husband made
(01:27):
to move this business forward.
Speaker 1 (01:30):
Yes, so, as you stated, I spent a long career
working for attorneys, large law firms here in New York.
I started working in high school. I was part of
the cooperative education program where I went to school one
week and I worked one week, and I started gaining
experience at law firms and I just liked the people
and went on a trajectory from there. I went on
(01:52):
to manage groups of people offices, and I worked for
five major law firms throughout my career. And after all
of that time of working for others and managing their
money and budgeting for them and cutting corners, you know,
we went through recessions, We went through cutbacks. You know,
lawyers used to spend a lot of money, right They
(02:14):
used to get cabs for everything. They didn't think about
the money they spent until there was a downturn in
the economy and then we had to shift gears. So
it really taught me a lesson about money and watching
what I was spending because I didn't always have the
healthiest relationship with my money. So for me, I just
decided it was time I worked long enough. I felt
(02:37):
that the landscape of corporate America was changing. I don't
want to say I didn't want to be part of
it anymore, but I grew tired very recently, maybe a
little over a year ago, when I left my job
to then turn my dad's rice putting recipe into my
own business and start working for myself. So, yes, it
(02:59):
was a leap, but I took that leap, and so far,
fingers crossed, it's working out. Well.
Speaker 2 (03:04):
Well, I want to back up a second and say, okay,
so you're making a big financial decision which is going
to impact the lives of both you and your husband.
I assume you guys did a lot of talking. You
didn't just walk in one day and say, oh, by
the way, I'm going to do this. You guys had conversations,
made plans, worked together, and communicated together in this process.
Speaker 1 (03:27):
So I had been saving for quite a while and
putting Monny aside for this type of decision that I
was hoping to come to and make in my life. Yes,
we spoke several times, but it happened rather quickly. I
made the decision and I ripped the band aid off
pretty quickly, and we talked about it maybe for a
couple of months, very short months, and then I decided
(03:50):
it's time to do this. I probably would have been
smarter to do this during the pandemic when I was
working from home. I could have started this business working
from home, but I didn't think about it until I
grew tired of corporate America. So there we're out there
we are. But yeah, we did speak about it, but
not at great length. It was a couple of months
(04:11):
worth of conversations of should we do this, shouldn't we
do this? And we both decided it was time.
Speaker 2 (04:17):
So entrepreneurship after fifty, you're coming in with obviously a
lot more knowledge than you would have at a younger age,
and hopefully some financial stability that you wouldn't have necessarily
had at a younger age. On the flip side, you
don't have necessarily as much of a time horizon to
make it work, or maybe you already have the savings
(04:38):
you need, so if it doesn't work as well as
you'd like, you still are in a good position. How
do you make these decisions to become an entrepreneur.
Speaker 1 (04:47):
Well, I'd certainly liked for it to be successful tomorrow
and be rich tomorrow, obviously, wouldn't we all? But I
think you know, for me, I knew it was going
to take some time to grab our grounding and our
footing in this business. There's lots of competition for desserts
and home baked goods and things like that. So we
decided to start out from home instead of investing in
(05:11):
real estate and getting a putting shops, so to speak,
which eventually I'd love to have. But yes, I decided
that it was time to put the money aside to
make sure I had enough to pay my bills for
a while. And it really wasn't a hard decision. I
just decided that it was time to take the leap
because I am over fifty and I don't want to
(05:34):
spend the next fifty years trying to be successful. So
I figured, before I get too late and my mind
gets too feeble, I better start doing this now.
Speaker 2 (05:43):
Fair enough, would you say that you've reached financial independence,
that you could make this or that still is your
guiding lightest to get to financial independence? Where where are
your strategies and how that impacted the decision making.
Speaker 1 (05:58):
So I think for me, I didn't reach full financial success.
Like I said, I had a very poor relationship with
money for many years. I spent most of my money.
I'm a huge theater fan. Our business is theater Broadway theme.
I've been going to Broadway shows for thirty five years,
so I've spent a lot of money on Broadway shows
(06:18):
where I could have, you know, chosen a more economical,
you know, choice of entertainment. For me, I just felt
like it was time, So I wasn't fully prepared. I
can't live forever. I don't have enough money to live
forever without income. But I did save enough so that
I would have at least two years to fund this
(06:39):
and make this possible.
Speaker 2 (06:40):
Okay, well, two years is a pretty good investment in
yourself to do it. It's a realistic investment. And I
liked that you didn't start by saying, Okay, I'm going
to get a storefront.
Speaker 1 (06:51):
I would love that. I mean, you know, that's the
ultimate dream and goal. But I live in Jersey City,
which is outside of Manhattan, and for me, the rent
is much cheaper here. But our business is Broadway themes.
So my dream is to eventually have a putting shop
in the Broadway area, you know, where I would attract
the right customers for our business and our niche. But
(07:13):
I couldn't afford that. I was never going to be
able to save enough money to invest in a brick
and mortar store. So that's why we started out at
home because here in Jersey we're allowed to have an
LLC for home business as we do.
Speaker 2 (07:28):
Okay, what about getting one of those carts. I see
the pretzel carts and the hot dog carts. Could there
be a rice pudding cart?
Speaker 1 (07:34):
There will definitely be rice putting carts. We're looking into
signing up to doing local fares, local events. We would
love to be able. There's a traveling block. I call
it a block party, but it's a traveling shopping They
shut down like five or six blocks in the city
all throughout the summer and they go from neighborhood to neighborhood,
(07:55):
and I would love to be a vendor at that.
I would love to eventually maybe have a cart at
different events. They have wedding events so you can go
and pitch yourself for different types of things. So yes,
a cart is something we would definitely eventually like to do.
Speaker 2 (08:12):
So it sounds like you've got a business plan in
your head. Did you write down a business plan and
go through the whole process of that or is it
more head based.
Speaker 1 (08:22):
Well, I wrote down general ideas. I haven't fully investigated everything.
I just wrote down topics of things that I'd like
to accomplish during this process. And what I do is
every couple of days, I do my research. I go online.
I meet with other business owners to find out how
they became successful. I've done some seminars. I'm going to
(08:44):
be taking some classes at Baruq about small business. Even
though this isn't my first business, I did have, or
I should say, I was partnered with someone when marriage
equality became legal here in New York. My friend and
I started a business call over the Rainbow Productions. And
I had been working for law firms for many years
(09:06):
and I've been planning their events internally, their holiday parties
from fifty to a thousand people. So when marriage became
legal here in New York, we started our own event
planning business. She was in the food catering industry and
I was an event planner for corporate and we started
doing events on the side, so it was on the
(09:27):
side I kept my corporate job at the time. Definitely
tired me out because doing both was very hard, which
led me to this decision where I decided I can't
do both again. In retrospect, it would have been great
if I would have come to this realization during the
pandemic when I had the time. But I've always been
a little late to every party, so you know, I've
(09:50):
always missed a little bit of you could have gotten
rich doing this, or you could have you know, lost
all your money had you done this. So I've always
been a lot little late to every trend or party.
But that's just me.
Speaker 2 (10:04):
So don't think of it as being a little late.
Think of it as making an entrance.
Speaker 1 (10:09):
I like that, and I'm going to steal that.
Speaker 2 (10:11):
Thank you, No stealing, it's a gift.
Speaker 1 (10:15):
Thank you.
Speaker 2 (10:17):
What does it take if people were looking behind the veil,
how much you're willing to share unfiltered, what it takes
to build a business from scratch, the financial the creativity,
the you know what are the things that you had
to say, Okay, these are what I have to know
going in. These are what I have to find out
along the way.
Speaker 1 (10:38):
I think the creativity of the business itself came very
easy because again I'm a huge Broadway lover and are
Rice putting his Broadway theme, which we'll talk about eventually.
But for me, the creativity was easy learning the business
world and the new business world of today, not the
business world that I knew ten years ago, which is
(10:58):
very different now with social media and the way people
advertise and TikTok being such a big influence in how
you express yourself online and gain customers. So for me,
it was a learning process. Like I said, I would
take every couple of days I would go online and
learn something new. It really took a good year for
(11:19):
me to learn, Okay, this is what I'm going to
need to do. It's going to take time to hit
and be successful. But I needed to learn how do
I incorporate, how do I LLC? How do I get insurance?
Where how much capital do I have to invest? Originally,
we started our business. By the way, I forgot to mention,
(11:40):
we started our business and six months later we had
a house fire, which was unrelated to the business, but
we had to shut down for a few months, which
was really disappointing because we were making small headway and
then we had to scale it back. We are back
up and running now, but it took about six months
worth of construction, so that was also unexpected. These are
(12:02):
things that happen in business, right. Things break, you have
to replace them. So it took a while because we
didn't have electric. I didn't probably in my freezers and
my refrigerators. So some of the things you learn as
you go, and a lot of the things I tried
to prepare by taking classes and researching and speaking with
other business owners before.
Speaker 2 (12:22):
So are you part of a lot of networking groups?
Are those in person or online?
Speaker 1 (12:26):
They are mostly online. I do have two that I
join in person and they have networking events that I
can go to. One is through the Rutgers University. The
woman there that I personally know, she's an old friend
of mine. She's the one that helped me incorporate and
I took some classes through them online, so I've gone
(12:49):
to some of their networking events as well.
Speaker 2 (12:51):
Networking is huge whether you are working at building an
existing business or creating a new business. I've been a
part of different networking groups and the opportunities that they
create for that community, for that support for the things
where you don't have to reinvent the wheel because someone's
already done it and are usually so willing to share
(13:11):
that information, even if it's just this is what I did, Boy,
it was wrong, don't do it this way.
Speaker 1 (13:18):
I do find that people are very giving and open
and helpful, and I think it's wonderful. Really. I'm sure
there are things I don't know. Obviously, I don't know
everything about running a massive corporation or business for myself,
but working for corporate law firms, I definitely understand the
value of budgeting, making sure that we're not overspending, making
(13:41):
sure that we allocate funds properly to different operating expenses.
You know, there's the website, there's upgrades to that. There
is product that you have to buy. With all the
prices going up right now, we have to be very
careful about where we buy those products so that we
don't have to raise prices on what we're selling. So
that's a lot of what I'm learning now. A lot
(14:02):
of the contexts that I've made are struggling through rise
and costs and how to keep their cost down so
that we can continue to make a profit without having
to raise prices.
Speaker 2 (14:13):
That's a hard thing for any business right now, with
prices going all over the place for various items, whether
it's food or hard goods or whatever else. And certainly
as a business, you want to make sure you always
have the ingredients on hand for those orders that come in, right.
Speaker 1 (14:30):
Yeah, some things we could buy in bulk, right, And
there are things like heavy cream, which is almost doubled
in price over the last couple of years, that we
can't stock up on. We can only buy that when
we're ready to make the pudding each week because it
has a shelf life and it goes bad. So some
things we're able to stock up on, like boxes and
(14:50):
packing material and those things we have here. But there
are other products that are just freshly made products that
we can't buy, like milk and heavy cream. Week. We
have to deal with what the market fluctuations are.
Speaker 2 (15:03):
But you're keeping to the recipe, you're following the rules,
and you're using the quality ingredients, yes, so that you
don't mess with the basis because you don't want what
was it Papa Nick?
Speaker 1 (15:14):
Yes, So my dad was Papa Nick. He passed away
a few years ago. He gave me this recipe for
his rice pudding, which was family favors for many years.
Everyone in the family loved it, and my father was
sort of required to make it for every holiday. In
every event, he made one flavor, which was plain rice pudding.
He tried putting raisins in it once, but I wouldn't
(15:35):
have it, so that stopped. But when he gave me
the recipe, he said, don't play with it, And of
course he knew that that was going to be the
first thing that I was going to do. So I
started out easy with making it with chocolate milk, just
to see what chocolate rice pudding with taste like. And
then I said, well, if I could do this, I
could try other things, and slowly, but truly, I built
(15:55):
up a recipe. I have about sixteen different flavors that
we circula, and they all start with the same core recipe,
the same ingredients, but different recipes get different additives, so
to speak, different flavorings, different purees, different fruit. It depends.
We make a blueberry cobbler and I have to make
(16:16):
crumbs for the tops. My great grandmother taught me that
recipe because she was a child of the depression and
she hated wasting food. And when I was a kid,
I used to eat the crumbs off the entimen's crumb
cake and I never ate the cake. And she used
to yell at me, and she used to say, that's
the same, what are you doing. You don't throw away food.
So I would eat the crumbs and she would eat
(16:37):
the cake. And she got tired of eating all the
leftover cake, so she taught me how to make crumbs.
So again, some of these recipes I've sort of adapted
from my family and incorporated in my business.
Speaker 2 (16:49):
Well, I'm I'm a purist at heart. I love a
good rice pudding. Raisins are fine, cinnamon is fine. So
I don't know your issue with raisins, but I won't
fight about it. I won't yuck your yum.
Speaker 1 (17:00):
They go well in bagels for me. But that's about it.
Speaker 2 (17:03):
Oh see, you know, and it's fine in bagels, but
I'd rather have a good everything bagel with you know,
the onion, the garlic, the everything, the everything. But you know, again,
can't yuck your yum. Everyone gets to choose their own
their own tastes. So let's talk a little bit about
your company. I've seen the website, I've seen those flavors
you created, tell me how that's going.
Speaker 1 (17:25):
So I'm always thinking of new flavors. So that's a
problem because I get in my own way instead of
focusing on the flavors that we have. I'm always looking
forward to what can I create for the fall? What
can I create for next winter? Because we do have
a holiday flavor called Cookito in the Heights. So I'm
always thinking about what am I gonna do six months
(17:45):
from now? Because I've already established the flavors that I've made,
and like I said, that took about I would say
anywhere from two to five years. I've been playing with
the flavors and the recipes. What happened when I left
my job operate job. I decided to incorporate this business.
Putting on the Rice is a playoff putting on the Ritz.
(18:06):
Judy Garland made that song famous with a few others,
but she's one of my favorites, and I just felt
like it fit. I don't know, it just it struck
me as fun and interesting, and I went online and
I started doing research. I looked for my playbills to
get inspiration from different shows. And it started with the
(18:27):
Green Tea. It started with Wicked, so for me, defying
gravity was very trendy for many years. Obviously the movie
has made it more popular these days, but before that,
I was thinking what can I do? Where can I
incorporate my two loves for baking because I do love
(18:47):
to bake and Broadway. So for me, it just connected
very quickly, and then the ideas started flowing, the flavors
started coming. The flavors aren't the hard part. It's theming
them to a show that sometimes can be very tricky
because I've seen so many shows right there are shows
like Wicked that have been out there for twenty years,
(19:08):
but some of my greatest experiences at the theater have
been shows that have only lasted for six months and
I got to see them. I got to see the performers,
I got to meet the performers or whatever the experience was.
So for me, I don't want to pick one of
those shows to theme at Rice putting against because people
don't really know the lesser known shows that don't live
(19:28):
a long life on Broadway, and nowadays it's so hard
for shows to last, so it's it definitely becomes a
challenge because I could pick a show like Lame Is
which I do have a flavored rice putting it called
one Day s'mores, right, But not everybody knows Lame is
today because it hasn't been out there recently, even though
(19:49):
it was on Broadway for over twenty years. So I
have to navigate who I'm marketing to and my marketing
to an audience that knows a Broadway show from years ago,
or am I looking to find a new show so
to speak to feme my rice pudding. So that's part
of the process as well. But again for me, joining
my two loves was easy.
Speaker 2 (20:11):
So which comes first? The show or the song or
the title of the rice pudding or the flavor?
Speaker 1 (20:19):
The flavor? The flavor comes first because I need to
know that I can make the flavor and that it
tastes well and that people like it, you know. I
try to ask friends more than family to try our
rice pudding because my family's very supportive and everything to
them taste great, and I'm looking for more constructive feedback.
(20:40):
Does it need more milk, does it need more sugar?
What does it need? You know? So for me, I
found a group of taste testers, let's call them, and
I love to experiment and try different things. So when
I'm making a rice pudding, I might be making an
order for someone today, I will actually put up two
(21:00):
and I'll try a new flavor. I won't do that
every time I cook, because again, I can't have ninety
different flavors at this point because I don't have a storefront.
But eventually to have those recipes in the bag and
have them ready to go or circulate through the years
would be great. So the flavor comes first, and then
the name and the titles sort of work in tandem
(21:23):
because I have to think about a show, right, so
I think about what show fits. So Blueberry and the
Beast is very easy, a very easy title to come
up with, right, so it just flows off your tongue.
It's very easy. But then there are other ones, like
one day s'mores. I was like, how am I going
to title s'mores? I know s'mores doesn't meet lay Miz specifically,
(21:45):
but the song lends to the s'mores flowing, so that's
why it's themed that way. But some of them are
themed specifically for the show, like Green Tea with Wicked
became very popular, so it just depends everything's coming up.
Peanut butter Cup is another flavor, and it's the first
flavor that we specifically themed for a Broadway star. Audre
(22:07):
McDonald notoriously loves Reese's Peanut butter Cups, and she's starring
in the most recent revival of Gypsy. So for me,
Gypsy is one of my favorite shows. I've seen every
Mama Rose since Tyn Daily in the nineties, So for me,
it was very easy to come up with that idea.
And it's the first time that we've actually dedicated a
flavor not only to a show, but to the person
(22:29):
starring in it. So that's my hope in the future
is to be able to make those connections. But again,
it depends on the flavor. I start with the flavor.
Speaker 2 (22:37):
Okay, now I've been to your site. I've seen the
flavors and the titles and everything, but I didn't see
a sampler pack. So you can only buy the pint.
You can't buy a sampler pack with three or four flavors.
Speaker 1 (22:51):
No, But that's a great idea, and I'm going to
look into adding that. Again, no one's requested that yet,
but now that I have a request, I will gladly
look and see how I can incorporate that into our site.
That's a great idea.
Speaker 2 (23:06):
Okay, well I want to title after me for that.
Speaker 1 (23:09):
Okay, sounds good.
Speaker 2 (23:12):
I just need to turn my book into a musical exactly. So,
you've turned this passion into a business, and you're working
at turning it into a profitable business. How are you
holding onto all of the chaos that comes with creating
a business, and certainly a passion project you have to
You're investing yourself and your emotions your money. So it's
(23:36):
a balance between oh my god, I want to do X,
y Z and saying, you know what, I've got to
do this more intentionally because cash flow and finding the
balance in that. How do you find the balance?
Speaker 1 (23:48):
Well, in some ways I wish there was more chaos
because when I was working for law firms, I was
going twenty four to seven. I was busy all the time.
Managing law off keeps you operating at night when people,
because you know they're a twenty four hour business, people
are working all the time. For me, now, I can
(24:08):
literally not need to do anything today. If I've already
made all my orders for the week and everything's ready,
all I have to do is pack them and ship
them out. So I wish. In some ways, it was
a little more chaotic because I thrive on being busy,
and for me, I think being in that corporate chain
of you know, just chugging along for so many years,
(24:31):
this felt more like a retirement project in the beginning,
because again, it's not a profitable, successful business. I'm not
making thousands of pints of rice putting a week, not yet. Anyway,
Slowing down, so to speak, was a big challenge for
me because I was used to being busy all the time.
My mind was always working. That's why now I'm always
(24:53):
doing research and I'm always looking up things and classes.
I can take, things I could learn, networking events that
I I could attend because I like to keep my
mind occupied. Otherwise, like I said, if my orders are
fulfilled for now, there's not much I could do but
use social media to promote my business.
Speaker 2 (25:11):
That makes sense. Before we wrap up, have you got
anything you would like to share about your business, about
the process, about your life, the decisions that brought you
to hear.
Speaker 1 (25:22):
I think, you know, I think it's really important for
other people to recognize that it's never too late if
you have a passion to do something and you prepare
yourself properly. You should go for it because the only
thing stopping you in this life is you. There's nothing
else stopping you from achieving your goals and achieving your dream.
(25:43):
So for me, even though I feel like I might
have been a little late to the party again, now
I'm looking at it more as an invitation and a
celebration thanks to you. But for me, I really feel
like it's important to step into your own power take
control of yourself. But I also feel there are a
(26:03):
lot of mistakes I made right through the years. I
venture to say I could probably be filthy rich today
if I didn't spend all the money that I've spent.
But at the end of the day, I also lived
a great life so far, I have much more to live.
In the past, I've done everything I wanted to do.
I traveled the world. I've been to thirty two countries.
Like I said, I've seen over a thousand Broadway shows.
(26:26):
So I'm not a thrifty person. I don't have sharp
expensive clothes, but I do like to enjoy myself with entertainment,
and my grandfather taught me that going to see concerts,
and he was a gambler, so we would go to
Atlantic City and Vegas a lot, and he really loved
that whole Let me be entertained for a little while.
(26:46):
He taught me music helps take you out of depression.
You can't be depressed when you're listening to music. So again,
it's part of why I wanted to incorporate my love
for Broadway music and the Broadway world into this business.
I think that people just need to think about what
they're doing, set themselves up for success, learn what they
need to learn, and just sometimes you have to rip
(27:09):
the band aid off because no one else is going
to do that for you but you.
Speaker 2 (27:13):
That is wise advice. And I am so thrilled that
you were able to come and join me on this episode. Michael,
your business. I am so excited to see whe're putting
on the Rice Goes. I will be sharing the link
to your website in the show notes for those listening,
I am so glad you stopped by to catch this podcast.
(27:35):
This is Money Marcy saying thanks for listening to Marcy
Talks Money in Life.
Speaker 1 (27:42):
Thank you have a wonderful day.
Speaker 2 (27:44):
Thank you Michael, you got this. See yeah
Powered by Riverside.
Speaker 2 (00:03):
F m Hello, welcome to Marcie talks Money in Life.
I'm Money, Marcy. I'm so pleased to welcome Michael Farino.
Michael Farino is a former high level corporate executive who
spent thirty five years navigating the world of big law firms,
hitting multimillion dollar budgets, initiatives, and mastering the ins and
(00:23):
outs of business finance, strategy, and growth. After decades of
budgeting and managing finances for others, he made the ultimate
investment in himself as he traded in boardrooms and balance
sheets for stovetops and storytelling. Launching Putting on the Rice,
a dessert company inspired by his father, Papa Nick and
(00:45):
his legendary rice pudding recipe. His only rule, don't mess
with it. Michael honored that while adding a Broadway twist
that blends tradition with innovation, This episode is geared toward
anyone ready to rethink their relationship with money, success, and
self worth. Welcome Michael, Good morning, Marcy.
Speaker 1 (01:04):
Thank you so much for that beautiful introduction.
Speaker 2 (01:07):
Well, you know I love a good rice pudding, so
we'll start there, and I do want to talk about
your business and what you're doing now, But I want
to start with how you got from where you were
to hear, because that had to be some big financial
decisions and life decisions that you and your husband made
(01:27):
to move this business forward.
Speaker 1 (01:30):
Yes, so, as you stated, I spent a long career
working for attorneys, large law firms here in New York.
I started working in high school. I was part of
the cooperative education program where I went to school one
week and I worked one week, and I started gaining
experience at law firms and I just liked the people
and went on a trajectory from there. I went on
(01:52):
to manage groups of people offices, and I worked for
five major law firms throughout my career. And after all
of that time of working for others and managing their
money and budgeting for them and cutting corners, you know,
we went through recessions, We went through cutbacks. You know,
lawyers used to spend a lot of money, right They
(02:14):
used to get cabs for everything. They didn't think about
the money they spent until there was a downturn in
the economy and then we had to shift gears. So
it really taught me a lesson about money and watching
what I was spending because I didn't always have the
healthiest relationship with my money. So for me, I just
decided it was time I worked long enough. I felt
(02:37):
that the landscape of corporate America was changing. I don't
want to say I didn't want to be part of
it anymore, but I grew tired very recently, maybe a
little over a year ago, when I left my job
to then turn my dad's rice putting recipe into my
own business and start working for myself. So, yes, it
(02:59):
was a leap, but I took that leap, and so far,
fingers crossed, it's working out. Well.
Speaker 2 (03:04):
Well, I want to back up a second and say, okay,
so you're making a big financial decision which is going
to impact the lives of both you and your husband.
I assume you guys did a lot of talking. You
didn't just walk in one day and say, oh, by
the way, I'm going to do this. You guys had conversations,
made plans, worked together, and communicated together in this process.
Speaker 1 (03:27):
So I had been saving for quite a while and
putting Monny aside for this type of decision that I
was hoping to come to and make in my life. Yes,
we spoke several times, but it happened rather quickly. I
made the decision and I ripped the band aid off
pretty quickly, and we talked about it maybe for a
couple of months, very short months, and then I decided
(03:50):
it's time to do this. I probably would have been
smarter to do this during the pandemic when I was
working from home. I could have started this business working
from home, but I didn't think about it until I
grew tired of corporate America. So there we're out there
we are. But yeah, we did speak about it, but
not at great length. It was a couple of months
(04:11):
worth of conversations of should we do this, shouldn't we
do this? And we both decided it was time.
Speaker 2 (04:17):
So entrepreneurship after fifty, you're coming in with obviously a
lot more knowledge than you would have at a younger age,
and hopefully some financial stability that you wouldn't have necessarily
had at a younger age. On the flip side, you
don't have necessarily as much of a time horizon to
make it work, or maybe you already have the savings
(04:38):
you need, so if it doesn't work as well as
you'd like, you still are in a good position. How
do you make these decisions to become an entrepreneur.
Speaker 1 (04:47):
Well, I'd certainly liked for it to be successful tomorrow
and be rich tomorrow, obviously, wouldn't we all? But I
think you know, for me, I knew it was going
to take some time to grab our grounding and our
footing in this business. There's lots of competition for desserts
and home baked goods and things like that. So we
decided to start out from home instead of investing in
(05:11):
real estate and getting a putting shops, so to speak,
which eventually I'd love to have. But yes, I decided
that it was time to put the money aside to
make sure I had enough to pay my bills for
a while. And it really wasn't a hard decision. I
just decided that it was time to take the leap
because I am over fifty and I don't want to
(05:34):
spend the next fifty years trying to be successful. So
I figured, before I get too late and my mind
gets too feeble, I better start doing this now.
Speaker 2 (05:43):
Fair enough, would you say that you've reached financial independence,
that you could make this or that still is your
guiding lightest to get to financial independence? Where where are
your strategies and how that impacted the decision making.
Speaker 1 (05:58):
So I think for me, I didn't reach full financial success.
Like I said, I had a very poor relationship with
money for many years. I spent most of my money.
I'm a huge theater fan. Our business is theater Broadway theme.
I've been going to Broadway shows for thirty five years,
so I've spent a lot of money on Broadway shows
(06:18):
where I could have, you know, chosen a more economical,
you know, choice of entertainment. For me, I just felt
like it was time, So I wasn't fully prepared. I
can't live forever. I don't have enough money to live
forever without income. But I did save enough so that
I would have at least two years to fund this
(06:39):
and make this possible.
Speaker 2 (06:40):
Okay, well, two years is a pretty good investment in
yourself to do it. It's a realistic investment. And I
liked that you didn't start by saying, Okay, I'm going
to get a storefront.
Speaker 1 (06:51):
I would love that. I mean, you know, that's the
ultimate dream and goal. But I live in Jersey City,
which is outside of Manhattan, and for me, the rent
is much cheaper here. But our business is Broadway themes.
So my dream is to eventually have a putting shop
in the Broadway area, you know, where I would attract
the right customers for our business and our niche. But
(07:13):
I couldn't afford that. I was never going to be
able to save enough money to invest in a brick
and mortar store. So that's why we started out at
home because here in Jersey we're allowed to have an
LLC for home business as we do.
Speaker 2 (07:28):
Okay, what about getting one of those carts. I see
the pretzel carts and the hot dog carts. Could there
be a rice pudding cart?
Speaker 1 (07:34):
There will definitely be rice putting carts. We're looking into
signing up to doing local fares, local events. We would
love to be able. There's a traveling block. I call
it a block party, but it's a traveling shopping They
shut down like five or six blocks in the city
all throughout the summer and they go from neighborhood to neighborhood,
(07:55):
and I would love to be a vendor at that.
I would love to eventually maybe have a cart at
different events. They have wedding events so you can go
and pitch yourself for different types of things. So yes,
a cart is something we would definitely eventually like to do.
Speaker 2 (08:12):
So it sounds like you've got a business plan in
your head. Did you write down a business plan and
go through the whole process of that or is it
more head based.
Speaker 1 (08:22):
Well, I wrote down general ideas. I haven't fully investigated everything.
I just wrote down topics of things that I'd like
to accomplish during this process. And what I do is
every couple of days, I do my research. I go online.
I meet with other business owners to find out how
they became successful. I've done some seminars. I'm going to
(08:44):
be taking some classes at Baruq about small business. Even
though this isn't my first business, I did have, or
I should say, I was partnered with someone when marriage
equality became legal here in New York. My friend and
I started a business call over the Rainbow Productions. And
I had been working for law firms for many years
(09:06):
and I've been planning their events internally, their holiday parties
from fifty to a thousand people. So when marriage became
legal here in New York, we started our own event
planning business. She was in the food catering industry and
I was an event planner for corporate and we started
doing events on the side, so it was on the
(09:27):
side I kept my corporate job at the time. Definitely
tired me out because doing both was very hard, which
led me to this decision where I decided I can't
do both again. In retrospect, it would have been great
if I would have come to this realization during the
pandemic when I had the time. But I've always been
a little late to every party, so you know, I've
(09:50):
always missed a little bit of you could have gotten
rich doing this, or you could have you know, lost
all your money had you done this. So I've always
been a lot little late to every trend or party.
But that's just me.
Speaker 2 (10:04):
So don't think of it as being a little late.
Think of it as making an entrance.
Speaker 1 (10:09):
I like that, and I'm going to steal that.
Speaker 2 (10:11):
Thank you, No stealing, it's a gift.
Speaker 1 (10:15):
Thank you.
Speaker 2 (10:17):
What does it take if people were looking behind the veil,
how much you're willing to share unfiltered, what it takes
to build a business from scratch, the financial the creativity,
the you know what are the things that you had
to say, Okay, these are what I have to know
going in. These are what I have to find out
along the way.
Speaker 1 (10:38):
I think the creativity of the business itself came very
easy because again I'm a huge Broadway lover and are
Rice putting his Broadway theme, which we'll talk about eventually.
But for me, the creativity was easy learning the business
world and the new business world of today, not the
business world that I knew ten years ago, which is
(10:58):
very different now with social media and the way people
advertise and TikTok being such a big influence in how
you express yourself online and gain customers. So for me,
it was a learning process. Like I said, I would
take every couple of days I would go online and
learn something new. It really took a good year for
(11:19):
me to learn, Okay, this is what I'm going to
need to do. It's going to take time to hit
and be successful. But I needed to learn how do
I incorporate, how do I LLC? How do I get insurance?
Where how much capital do I have to invest? Originally,
we started our business. By the way, I forgot to mention,
(11:40):
we started our business and six months later we had
a house fire, which was unrelated to the business, but
we had to shut down for a few months, which
was really disappointing because we were making small headway and
then we had to scale it back. We are back
up and running now, but it took about six months
worth of construction, so that was also unexpected. These are
(12:02):
things that happen in business, right. Things break, you have
to replace them. So it took a while because we
didn't have electric. I didn't probably in my freezers and
my refrigerators. So some of the things you learn as
you go, and a lot of the things I tried
to prepare by taking classes and researching and speaking with
other business owners before.
Speaker 2 (12:22):
So are you part of a lot of networking groups?
Are those in person or online?
Speaker 1 (12:26):
They are mostly online. I do have two that I
join in person and they have networking events that I
can go to. One is through the Rutgers University. The
woman there that I personally know, she's an old friend
of mine. She's the one that helped me incorporate and
I took some classes through them online, so I've gone
(12:49):
to some of their networking events as well.
Speaker 2 (12:51):
Networking is huge whether you are working at building an
existing business or creating a new business. I've been a
part of different networking groups and the opportunities that they
create for that community, for that support for the things
where you don't have to reinvent the wheel because someone's
already done it and are usually so willing to share
(13:11):
that information, even if it's just this is what I did, Boy,
it was wrong, don't do it this way.
Speaker 1 (13:18):
I do find that people are very giving and open
and helpful, and I think it's wonderful. Really. I'm sure
there are things I don't know. Obviously, I don't know
everything about running a massive corporation or business for myself,
but working for corporate law firms, I definitely understand the
value of budgeting, making sure that we're not overspending, making
(13:41):
sure that we allocate funds properly to different operating expenses.
You know, there's the website, there's upgrades to that. There
is product that you have to buy. With all the
prices going up right now, we have to be very
careful about where we buy those products so that we
don't have to raise prices on what we're selling. So
that's a lot of what I'm learning now. A lot
(14:02):
of the contexts that I've made are struggling through rise
and costs and how to keep their cost down so
that we can continue to make a profit without having
to raise prices.
Speaker 2 (14:13):
That's a hard thing for any business right now, with
prices going all over the place for various items, whether
it's food or hard goods or whatever else. And certainly
as a business, you want to make sure you always
have the ingredients on hand for those orders that come in, right.
Speaker 1 (14:30):
Yeah, some things we could buy in bulk, right, And
there are things like heavy cream, which is almost doubled
in price over the last couple of years, that we
can't stock up on. We can only buy that when
we're ready to make the pudding each week because it
has a shelf life and it goes bad. So some
things we're able to stock up on, like boxes and
(14:50):
packing material and those things we have here. But there
are other products that are just freshly made products that
we can't buy, like milk and heavy cream. Week. We
have to deal with what the market fluctuations are.
Speaker 2 (15:03):
But you're keeping to the recipe, you're following the rules,
and you're using the quality ingredients, yes, so that you
don't mess with the basis because you don't want what
was it Papa Nick?
Speaker 1 (15:14):
Yes, So my dad was Papa Nick. He passed away
a few years ago. He gave me this recipe for
his rice pudding, which was family favors for many years.
Everyone in the family loved it, and my father was
sort of required to make it for every holiday. In
every event, he made one flavor, which was plain rice pudding.
He tried putting raisins in it once, but I wouldn't
(15:35):
have it, so that stopped. But when he gave me
the recipe, he said, don't play with it, And of
course he knew that that was going to be the
first thing that I was going to do. So I
started out easy with making it with chocolate milk, just
to see what chocolate rice pudding with taste like. And
then I said, well, if I could do this, I
could try other things, and slowly, but truly, I built
(15:55):
up a recipe. I have about sixteen different flavors that
we circula, and they all start with the same core recipe,
the same ingredients, but different recipes get different additives, so
to speak, different flavorings, different purees, different fruit. It depends.
We make a blueberry cobbler and I have to make
(16:16):
crumbs for the tops. My great grandmother taught me that
recipe because she was a child of the depression and
she hated wasting food. And when I was a kid,
I used to eat the crumbs off the entimen's crumb
cake and I never ate the cake. And she used
to yell at me, and she used to say, that's
the same, what are you doing. You don't throw away food.
So I would eat the crumbs and she would eat
(16:37):
the cake. And she got tired of eating all the
leftover cake, so she taught me how to make crumbs.
So again, some of these recipes I've sort of adapted
from my family and incorporated in my business.
Speaker 2 (16:49):
Well, I'm I'm a purist at heart. I love a
good rice pudding. Raisins are fine, cinnamon is fine. So
I don't know your issue with raisins, but I won't
fight about it. I won't yuck your yum.
Speaker 1 (17:00):
They go well in bagels for me. But that's about it.
Speaker 2 (17:03):
Oh see, you know, and it's fine in bagels, but
I'd rather have a good everything bagel with you know,
the onion, the garlic, the everything, the everything. But you know, again,
can't yuck your yum. Everyone gets to choose their own
their own tastes. So let's talk a little bit about
your company. I've seen the website, I've seen those flavors
you created, tell me how that's going.
Speaker 1 (17:25):
So I'm always thinking of new flavors. So that's a
problem because I get in my own way instead of
focusing on the flavors that we have. I'm always looking
forward to what can I create for the fall? What
can I create for next winter? Because we do have
a holiday flavor called Cookito in the Heights. So I'm
always thinking about what am I gonna do six months
(17:45):
from now? Because I've already established the flavors that I've made,
and like I said, that took about I would say
anywhere from two to five years. I've been playing with
the flavors and the recipes. What happened when I left
my job operate job. I decided to incorporate this business.
Putting on the Rice is a playoff putting on the Ritz.
(18:06):
Judy Garland made that song famous with a few others,
but she's one of my favorites, and I just felt
like it fit. I don't know, it just it struck
me as fun and interesting, and I went online and
I started doing research. I looked for my playbills to
get inspiration from different shows. And it started with the
(18:27):
Green Tea. It started with Wicked, so for me, defying
gravity was very trendy for many years. Obviously the movie
has made it more popular these days, but before that,
I was thinking what can I do? Where can I
incorporate my two loves for baking because I do love
(18:47):
to bake and Broadway. So for me, it just connected
very quickly, and then the ideas started flowing, the flavors
started coming. The flavors aren't the hard part. It's theming
them to a show that sometimes can be very tricky
because I've seen so many shows right there are shows
like Wicked that have been out there for twenty years,
(19:08):
but some of my greatest experiences at the theater have
been shows that have only lasted for six months and
I got to see them. I got to see the performers,
I got to meet the performers or whatever the experience was.
So for me, I don't want to pick one of
those shows to theme at Rice putting against because people
don't really know the lesser known shows that don't live
(19:28):
a long life on Broadway, and nowadays it's so hard
for shows to last, so it's it definitely becomes a
challenge because I could pick a show like Lame Is
which I do have a flavored rice putting it called
one Day s'mores, right, But not everybody knows Lame is
today because it hasn't been out there recently, even though
(19:49):
it was on Broadway for over twenty years. So I
have to navigate who I'm marketing to and my marketing
to an audience that knows a Broadway show from years ago,
or am I looking to find a new show so
to speak to feme my rice pudding. So that's part
of the process as well. But again for me, joining
my two loves was easy.
Speaker 2 (20:11):
So which comes first? The show or the song or
the title of the rice pudding or the flavor?
Speaker 1 (20:19):
The flavor? The flavor comes first because I need to
know that I can make the flavor and that it
tastes well and that people like it, you know. I
try to ask friends more than family to try our
rice pudding because my family's very supportive and everything to
them taste great, and I'm looking for more constructive feedback.
(20:40):
Does it need more milk, does it need more sugar?
What does it need? You know? So for me, I
found a group of taste testers, let's call them, and
I love to experiment and try different things. So when
I'm making a rice pudding, I might be making an
order for someone today, I will actually put up two
(21:00):
and I'll try a new flavor. I won't do that
every time I cook, because again, I can't have ninety
different flavors at this point because I don't have a storefront.
But eventually to have those recipes in the bag and
have them ready to go or circulate through the years
would be great. So the flavor comes first, and then
the name and the titles sort of work in tandem
(21:23):
because I have to think about a show, right, so
I think about what show fits. So Blueberry and the
Beast is very easy, a very easy title to come
up with, right, so it just flows off your tongue.
It's very easy. But then there are other ones, like
one day s'mores. I was like, how am I going
to title s'mores? I know s'mores doesn't meet lay Miz specifically,
(21:45):
but the song lends to the s'mores flowing, so that's
why it's themed that way. But some of them are
themed specifically for the show, like Green Tea with Wicked
became very popular, so it just depends everything's coming up.
Peanut butter Cup is another flavor, and it's the first
flavor that we specifically themed for a Broadway star. Audre
(22:07):
McDonald notoriously loves Reese's Peanut butter Cups, and she's starring
in the most recent revival of Gypsy. So for me,
Gypsy is one of my favorite shows. I've seen every
Mama Rose since Tyn Daily in the nineties, So for me,
it was very easy to come up with that idea.
And it's the first time that we've actually dedicated a
flavor not only to a show, but to the person
(22:29):
starring in it. So that's my hope in the future
is to be able to make those connections. But again,
it depends on the flavor. I start with the flavor.
Speaker 2 (22:37):
Okay, now I've been to your site. I've seen the
flavors and the titles and everything, but I didn't see
a sampler pack. So you can only buy the pint.
You can't buy a sampler pack with three or four flavors.
Speaker 1 (22:51):
No, But that's a great idea, and I'm going to
look into adding that. Again, no one's requested that yet,
but now that I have a request, I will gladly
look and see how I can incorporate that into our site.
That's a great idea.
Speaker 2 (23:06):
Okay, well I want to title after me for that.
Speaker 1 (23:09):
Okay, sounds good.
Speaker 2 (23:12):
I just need to turn my book into a musical exactly. So,
you've turned this passion into a business, and you're working
at turning it into a profitable business. How are you
holding onto all of the chaos that comes with creating
a business, and certainly a passion project you have to
You're investing yourself and your emotions your money. So it's
(23:36):
a balance between oh my god, I want to do X,
y Z and saying, you know what, I've got to
do this more intentionally because cash flow and finding the
balance in that. How do you find the balance?
Speaker 1 (23:48):
Well, in some ways I wish there was more chaos
because when I was working for law firms, I was
going twenty four to seven. I was busy all the time.
Managing law off keeps you operating at night when people,
because you know they're a twenty four hour business, people
are working all the time. For me, now, I can
(24:08):
literally not need to do anything today. If I've already
made all my orders for the week and everything's ready,
all I have to do is pack them and ship
them out. So I wish. In some ways, it was
a little more chaotic because I thrive on being busy,
and for me, I think being in that corporate chain
of you know, just chugging along for so many years,
(24:31):
this felt more like a retirement project in the beginning,
because again, it's not a profitable, successful business. I'm not
making thousands of pints of rice putting a week, not yet. Anyway,
Slowing down, so to speak, was a big challenge for
me because I was used to being busy all the time.
My mind was always working. That's why now I'm always
(24:53):
doing research and I'm always looking up things and classes.
I can take, things I could learn, networking events that
I I could attend because I like to keep my
mind occupied. Otherwise, like I said, if my orders are
fulfilled for now, there's not much I could do but
use social media to promote my business.
Speaker 2 (25:11):
That makes sense. Before we wrap up, have you got
anything you would like to share about your business, about
the process, about your life, the decisions that brought you
to hear.
Speaker 1 (25:22):
I think, you know, I think it's really important for
other people to recognize that it's never too late if
you have a passion to do something and you prepare
yourself properly. You should go for it because the only
thing stopping you in this life is you. There's nothing
else stopping you from achieving your goals and achieving your dream.
(25:43):
So for me, even though I feel like I might
have been a little late to the party again, now
I'm looking at it more as an invitation and a
celebration thanks to you. But for me, I really feel
like it's important to step into your own power take
control of yourself. But I also feel there are a
(26:03):
lot of mistakes I made right through the years. I
venture to say I could probably be filthy rich today
if I didn't spend all the money that I've spent.
But at the end of the day, I also lived
a great life so far, I have much more to live.
In the past, I've done everything I wanted to do.
I traveled the world. I've been to thirty two countries.
Like I said, I've seen over a thousand Broadway shows.
(26:26):
So I'm not a thrifty person. I don't have sharp
expensive clothes, but I do like to enjoy myself with entertainment,
and my grandfather taught me that going to see concerts,
and he was a gambler, so we would go to
Atlantic City and Vegas a lot, and he really loved
that whole Let me be entertained for a little while.
(26:46):
He taught me music helps take you out of depression.
You can't be depressed when you're listening to music. So again,
it's part of why I wanted to incorporate my love
for Broadway music and the Broadway world into this business.
I think that people just need to think about what
they're doing, set themselves up for success, learn what they
need to learn, and just sometimes you have to rip
(27:09):
the band aid off because no one else is going
to do that for you but you.
Speaker 2 (27:13):
That is wise advice. And I am so thrilled that
you were able to come and join me on this episode. Michael,
your business. I am so excited to see whe're putting
on the Rice Goes. I will be sharing the link
to your website in the show notes for those listening,
I am so glad you stopped by to catch this podcast.
(27:35):
This is Money Marcy saying thanks for listening to Marcy
Talks Money in Life.
Speaker 1 (27:42):
Thank you have a wonderful day.
Speaker 2 (27:44):
Thank you Michael, you got this. See yeah
Host
Marci Grossman
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If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Law & Order: Criminal Justice System - Season 1 & Season 2
Season Two Out Now! Law & Order: Criminal Justice System tells the real stories behind the landmark cases that have shaped how the most dangerous and influential criminals in America are prosecuted. In its second season, the series tackles the threat of terrorism in the United States. From the rise of extremist political groups in the 60s to domestic lone wolves in the modern day, we explore how organizations like the FBI and Joint Terrorism Take Force have evolved to fight back against a multitude of terrorist threats.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com