 Can I just get to this next question because it's a really good one. Court move says, how much money are you projected to earn this? Yeah. First and foremost, can I say Courtney, which a nosy ass Courtney is one of the six women that I worked with in the game of desire. Many of you guys know her by now. She's really such a superstar and that is exactly why she would ask this breeze and ask question. How much money am I projected to make this year? Can I embarrassingly tell you I'm actually not sure? I have a middle class mentality when it comes to money. I come from a middle class family, so I don't carry debt and I make sure that all my bills are paid. But I'm not good at investing. I'm not good at tracking. For me, I just know that I can always pay my bills and I know that I'm not carrying any balances and so I don't really like pay attention to the number as much as I should. All that to say in February, I think was my best month of the year. I made close to a... Hi there, lovers and friends. It is my joy to be hosting Mrs. Shannon Brady here today to go into a deep dive into how her business works. These questions are going to be invasive, inappropriate, and at times downright rude. Are you ready? I think so. Good. That's all I'm going to need to know. So, before we go any further, I want to first and foremost say as many of you know who watch this channel, we have a partnership with Squarespace. I mean, I use Squarespace. You use Squarespace, right? Yes. I'm looking into the camera right over there and just saying it very clearly. Thank you. Yes. This is absolutely 100% true. See? We all use Squarespace. It's an incredible tool and if you don't know, you better find out. From websites and online stores to marketing tools and analytics, Squarespace is an all-in-one platform to build a fire online presence and run your online business. Squarespace is where Shan hosts and designs her websites, including your personal site and TheGameOfDesire.com. Go to squarespace.com slash Shanboody to start playing around for free. And when you're ready to launch, go to squarespace.com slash Shanboody to save 10% off your first purchase of a website or a domain. All of these questions were submitted by viewers via Instagram. We asked them if they had any TMI questions about your business and here's what we came up with. Paola asks, can you give a breakdown of how you make the shmoney, like line by line? All right. I got to answer this question to the best of my abilities. It's a little tough because I am project to project. There are very few consistencies in my career and my life. If I showed you guys my calendars from the past three months, that would give you a snapshot of what my day-to-days look like. And there is no Tuesday that I'm always doing X or no Wednesday that I'm consistently somewhere else. And so here is like white just off the top pie chart. I'm going to say 40% of my income is based on selling my expertise. And by that I mean selling my expertise via writing a book or selling my expertise via contributing to a TV show or hosting a TV show. I would say 40% more is brand deals and brand collaborations, but that's just exactly what we're doing right now. I have a brand collaboration, I make content, and then I look for ways to organically talk about somebody else's product or idea. And then I'd say 5% is speaking engagements, 15% would be brand consultations, working as a consultant, whether that is the job that I did in the bold type where I wrote behind the scenes, not as myself, but like I contributed behind the scenes, or I worked with American Sexual Health Association in the military to make a project with them, or I've worked for pharmaceuticals more as a consultant. So yeah, 40, selling myself as a persona, 40% to brand integrations, 15% to consulting, and then 5% to speaking. That sounds right. No, I like it. I like that answer. Third World Wave says, did you always know it would happen big for you? This is a big question. I mean, not just know, but hell no, absolutely. I don't think so. I think when I very first began, I'm 34 years old right now, and I started in the space at 19, I think at 19 years old, I thought I would make it big and this would be an easy venture to some extent. I looked at it, the reason I got into this space to begin with is one, I've always had a natural fascination with the human body, with touch, with love in general. And number two, I saw a hole that needed to be filled, pun intended. When you go to a new city in 1800s, you're like, oh, they've got a welder, oh, they've got a blacksmith, they have a baker, they have a librarian, oh, they don't have a butcher? I could be a butcher and I like meat. So that's just kind of how I looked at it at 19 years old. I went to school for journalism and day one, they say, write what you know. And I'm like, okay, what do I know? What is it that I can contribute better than the rest of my classmates, even using this as a litmus test, just to look around at the other 30 people who were in that room with me at that time? Okay, there's one person who's hella great at politics, they got that covered. There's one person who's an entertainment junkie, I'm really not that. So what is my spin? What is the thing that I am sharing, the stories that I am amplifying that I'm actually really good at and very passionate at? And sex is just what came to mind. And so that is how I got into the space to begin with. And when I did, because it was so niche and no one else was doing it, I thought that meant wow, I'm going to make a break for it. Like there's nobody else occupying this space, so I'm going to just skyrocket forward. But the truth of the matter is nobody else is occupying this space because there really isn't an industry for it. There really isn't a clear cut path for it. You can't list 10 other people who have worked in this space. Everybody who watches this channel could because we, I could list 10 people, but we're not the average person. So because I think that that was a mistake that I made in assuming that this field being wide open meant that there would be rapid growth for me. And it's been the exact opposite. This field is wide open because it's very hard. This field is wide open because there isn't conditioned preference in the world and there isn't a clear cut lane. Majority of people don't think that they need education in this space. Majority of people don't think that they have to add any more attention than the two weeks they got in school. And so I'm having to recondition people. So I think I'm a part of a school of people who are trying to make an industry. And I think there's so many like when I put this call out out there for questions like a third of them were people saying, I want to get into this field, you know, how do I fall in your footsteps? That is so encouraging to me. That is the best comment you could possibly give. The fact that there are more people means that there is now a viable industry. And so this is not the question that was originally asked when we get back on track. I think that because it's been so hard for me, I have stopped looking at me as the person who's going to make it big. I look at me as the person who is going to help inspire the person who's going to make it big or help make it easier for whoever is going to come behind me and make it really big. I think sometimes that thinking maybe has stunted me because I always half expect that things won't work out because that's been my story for so long. I did a video years and years ago just saying, I don't believe I'm an extraordinary person. And I wasn't saying it in like a self depreciating way. It was just saying matter of fact that there are people who have these undeniable extraordinary talents and as a result, they don't have to work as hard or convince people as much. And for me, I feel like I'm an average person with a not so average ambition, with a not so average field. And so I don't know that that big word is something that gives me cause for pause because I've let go of it. And letting go of it has been okay for me and I've come to peace with that. I worry less about being big and more about being impactful. And I'd like to think that my work has been impactful. So that's big enough for me. Hey Ali M asks, are you doing online classes and are you excited to go back to school as you have announced? You are continuing your education this fall. Are ya hype, Miss Lady? This is a tough question. So I am going to a state university in New York doing an online degree for human development. I am not excited about it and I don't know who is excited for school. I'm excited to learn, of course, and I think that it's fascinating and I like the work that I do. But I learned regardless. I learned through my audience. I learned through reading. I'm constantly listening to audiobooks. I am constantly listening and talking or going to seminars. I immersed myself with other experts in the space and so do I think I need school to be better at my job? No. I mean this doesn't hurt but ultimately I'm going to school to play the game. I recognize the way that the world works and how much people value an educational background over individual learning and so I want, again, to be the person who excites more people to get invested in their learning about their intimate selves and I have to gain their trust and a lot of you guys have graciously given me your trust because you've listened, you've paid attention and you've liked the message but the average person isn't going to do that. They're going to look for reasons to discredit me because I am showing up in a space that they're not comfortable with and I am a person of color and a woman of color at that. So there's a lot of reasons, I think, to not want to give me a soapbox. There's a lot of reasons to want to discredit me and I have to continue to chip away at those reasons if I want to be as impactful as I possibly can. So I'm not excited about going back to school because do I want to pay the money and do I want to invest the time and do I want to spend a lot of time doing general education requirements that are not related to my course, to my field of study at all? No, but I'm excited to continue to play the game and to get better and I'm excited to give haters less reason to hate. That's what's exciting to me and yes, the learning part. I am hyped to learn always. Now would be a good time for a quick break when we come back. Has jealousy over money in my relationship caused an issue? Do I try to avoid paying taxes and finally have I been embarrassed by some of the press that I've gotten? All right, so you all know Squarespace has stunning templates so you can design your dream site but here's some things you might not know about. Simultaneous posting, auto post your content to Twitter, Facebook or Tumblr. Traffic overview. Main insights into the top traffic sources, products, device types, browsers and operating systems. Basically, Squarespace gives you in-depth analytics so you know where to focus your marketing at. Subscriptions. Easily sell subscriptions to products and services on a weekly or monthly basis to generate recurring revenue and build customer loyalty. Email campaigns. Stand out in any inbox with Squarespace email campaigns. Date management. Squarespace blog lets you manage blog comments and entries on the go. I mean if you listen this far, go check it out for yourself at Squarespace.com for a free trial. And when you're ready to launch, go to Squarespace.com slash Shambutti to save 10% off your first purchase of a website or a domain. All right, we're going to switch gears just a little bit. This is a very good question. I'm excited to see how you're going to answer this one. Edgar asks, as a freelancer, how do you file your taxes for optimal savings? As a freelancer, once again, going back to that quote of sell your strengths and buy your weaknesses, I'm really not good at money. I can say that a billion times over, that's not my strong area, so I have an accountant that I pay. It's taken me a long time to figure out the accountant piece of my business. And they're not very aggressive in saving. And I don't want to be aggressive in saving. My goal with taxes is not to get audited. My goal with taxes is I have to constantly be aware I'm not a citizen in this country. It's a privilege for me to be here. It is not a right for me to be here. And I have to contribute to this country fairly. And if I don't, I'm at risk of being deported. So I don't play games with the law. I don't play games with the IRS. I don't play games of Homeland Security. I play their game, and I try to play it as cleanly as possible. So no, I'm not focused on saving as much money. Also too, I don't look at paying taxes as a negative thing. My family is from the West Indies. My dad is from Guyana. And when you go to those countries where people with money try to keep as much as possible, you see how that just impacts everyone's way of life. Of course, the poor are extremely poor because there's not enough government aid for them because the rich are not reinvesting back into the government. And also too, the rich have to pay for security. And they have to walk with gunmen because the poor don't have enough and they get desperate. So it's when you pay and you contribute to society, everyone's quality of life gets better. So I believe in the system. I believe in welfare. I believe in helping people who haven't figured out the financial piece yet. And I believe, I find, I find joy in being a contributor to that. So paying taxes sucks. And like I said, there's a big difference as a freelancer between the money that you think you have and the money you actually have. And I'm shocked every year with how much taxes I have to pay. But I also am at peace with it. So yeah, I don't like give it away, but I definitely don't make it a goal to try to keep as much as possible. All right. Getting a little juicy up and sure. Angie says, does your success impact your partner's confidence? Is their competition in the relationship? Does your partner find your success intimidating? These are great questions, Angie. I don't think so. I think I chose a partner whom was not intimidated by what I do or how much I make off the top. I mean, mind you, when Jared and I first met, I was in a very different financial position. Jared met me when I was incapable of working because of immigration reasons. And so I was actually struggling to make rent in my studio apartment when Jared and I first got together. He had more money than I did. He had a full-time job. But as I started to grow and as my finances started to change, I didn't see a change in him at all. And I was mindful of that. And I think that, I don't know, I often get asked that question about like, oh, you know, how do you, how do you handle people being intimidated or men being intimidated by you talking about sex for a living that you're trying to date? And I was like, I would never date somebody who was intimidated by what I do for a living. It would show up in our initial conversations. It would show up in how they interact with me. I constantly meet people who are trying to posture themselves or I can tell or are trying to overcompensate. And it's not sexy to me. So I don't think I would ever get to the place of being romantically involved or attracted to somebody who exhibited those qualities. And I don't come from the school of thought that I think people are great actors. I think there's very few good actors in this world. The majority of people really do show you who they are very early on. I have made it a point to make myself a master at reading people and I read books and I obsess over it and, you know, connection is my expertise. And so I think I'm in a good position to be a good judge of character and I definitely picked well with Jared. So I've never once felt like he has felt belittled, minimized, threatened or in competition with me in that way. I've always felt support and praise and joy and real pure joy, like not fake joy. So this question doesn't really apply to me because I made sure it wouldn't have to apply to me. I think that is a good answer. And that leads us into our next question, which is from Good Intentions. How do you become comfortable revealing embarrassing, and I do mean embarrassing, private details about yourself? I would also love to get more credit in this area. I think that a lot of people, because I've been, you know, I've had a lot of media moments, I would say that. And I think people think that I am like a victim of the media moments. I am the architect of these media moments. The most recent one, of course, being vabbing and or using your vaginal fluids as perfume. And that in the book, we talk about very plainly and say, if you read the book, you know where it came. It is not a core principle. It is not a fundamental belief of mine. It is something that we did as a group experiment where the entire goal really was just to get them out of their comfort zone. It didn't really matter. We did four experiments in that chapter. That was just one of them. And it wasn't like, here's the secret to finding a mate. It was just put yourself out there, see if this works, and allow this to be your motivator to get closer to individuals, to gauge their reaction. So anyhow, I knew when I did that experiment that it was going to get attention. I knew that when I wrote the book, that would be a news peg. As a matter of fact, when we were sending out the books to different publications or to influencers, I would highlight that page for people to read because I purposefully knew that it's a conversation starter. So what actually ended up happening is that Refinery29 said, oh, this is interesting. Can we run this as an excerpt on the site? And I was like, of course, and when they ran it, it kind of ran away by itself. And then it got republished in so many different places. I think people looked at it like I should have been embarrassed, but I'm like, why do you think that I did that? I think that I don't get enough credit for being a good marketer and a good publicist. And so, yeah, that is a fundamental part of I think a lot of my success because I again, acknowledge the fact that naturally people are not going to pay attention to my subject matter. Naturally, we haven't been conditioned to create space to learn about sex and relationships. And so if I want to create space in people's minds, I have to go a bit more extreme. I wish it were another way. I think if we again, naturally had that space carved out, other things that I did would get attention, but we don't. So it's the more salacious, the more extreme. And a lot of people only know me for those things. Like that's okay. Again, I refer to myself as the Walmart greeter of intimacy. My job is to get people comfortable in the space. My job is to invite people in. And then once you're in the store now, I've done my job. Once you're now in the store and you have a cart, maybe you never see me again, but I am the person who brought you there. And so my purpose has been fulfilled. 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