Shadowing Practice: A 58 Year Old Self-Made Millionaire Shares Her Best Life Advice - Learn English Speaking with Video
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- What has been a big mistake or a failure?
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I lost millions on that one deal.
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I was on the Joe Rogan podcast.
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People were saying like, I want her dead.
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Can somebody kill her, please?
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I want her dead.
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Or they said everything.
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People say like, what's the secret?
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What's your happiness?
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Figure it out for yourself.
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This summer, I interviewed...
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58 year old Janet who has started over 12 successful businesses.
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Janet for a lot of reasons has figured life out but at the same time
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is still someone who's trying to navigate it.
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My husband passed away nine months ago.
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It still feels rather traumatic for me to even talk about.
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We interviewed Janet and posted short snippets of her videos on Instagram, and those videos have gone millions of views worldwide.
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So today we are sharing the extended version of Janet's greatest life lessons
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and experiences that I guarantee will change the way you look at your life.
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How old are you?
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I'm 58.
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What does it feel like to be 58?
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It feels better than I thought it would feel.
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It's all where you are in life, and I thought at 58 I wouldn't be active.
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I didn't know what 58 was, but I feel good, I feel happy, I feel like I have a lot of energy.
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I play tennis almost every day.
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I feel strong.
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What would you say is a big change you made in your life that drastically improved the quality of it?
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Not caring what other people think.
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When did that come?
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Well, I didn't live a typical life.
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When I was 18, I moved to Italy on my own.
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I just kind of led my own life to my own rules.
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And I had a lot of feedback that I should fit in society's rules.
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Never got a high school diploma.
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But then I went on to go to university.
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So I just did things in my way.
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And sometimes I cared about what people said to me.
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You're not going to make everyone happy.
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So why bother?
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And you have to be true to yourself.
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What do you do for a living?
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I own restaurants.
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10 restaurants or 12, sorry, 12 restaurants in Toronto.
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It's good when you lose count of how many businesses you have.
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12 restaurants in Toronto and two restaurants in LA.
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Amazing.
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So you're talking about, you know, people want you to go down this conventional path.
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Did you ever end up doing that?
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I mean, going to university was pretty conventional
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and I got the message from society because I was a high school dropout that I needed that.
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And so I was figuring out kind of like, okay, society, parents, You want me to go to university?
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I'm going to do this.
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And I went later in life and ended up being a straight A student and valedictorian.
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And then I went on to do my master's degree in business.
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So I, I, I fell into that, but I thought it was a little bit you know, of a joke that I had to do this.
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Read some books, take a test, and now society is going to praise you.
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I thought like, I figured out the biggest secret on the planet to make people happy.
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You know, at the end of the day, Do you really need university when you look at the Bill Gates of the world or You know,
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maybe we don't so we don't need to fall into what society has taught us.
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I finished university kind of around when I was 30 and I opened right into the restaurant business.
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Wow.
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I'm passionate about restaurants and I travel all over the world to experience restaurants.
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I'm doing two of my passions: business and restaurants and food.
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I feel very lucky I mean, some people never discover what their passions are.
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And generally, it's been successful, and I've been really happy doing it.
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I think that's the greatest success, if you're happy doing it.
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attitude towards risk.
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There's a lot of people who want to make changes in their life.
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but the, so to speak, risk of doing that risk of failure, of fear, perception from others, How do you approach that?
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When I opened my first restaurant, When I was 30, I had a lot of people, a lot of people have a lot of advice when you start off in something new and you haven't done it before.
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Everyone's an expert.
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Unless it's coming from someone who has walked in your shoes or have done it, the experience.
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People just randomly giving you advice when you pay, they don't, they don't trust that you know what you're doing.
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Now nobody can say anything to me, I'm 28 years in the business, but for people starting off, a lot of people, you know,
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giving their opinions, but one opinion that I had pushed my way was, This is too risky.
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and you're going to lose everything.
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And what I had to say to everyone was, "I have nothing.
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There is nothing here to lose." I had a bit of money that I rolled into this.
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restaurant.
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And I was like, it's not that much.
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And if I lose it, I'm going to start over again.
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It depends on what do you have to lose?
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What stage of your life are you at?
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I think there's times to take bigger risks.
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Other times, You know, you want to put the kids through college, maybe it's not time to start rolling some dice.
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I think it's a stage of life.
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And you have to ask that question to yourself.
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Are you okay with risk?
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Do you want risk?
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How risk -averse are you?
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It's such an individual journey.
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- Right.
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- But in the beginning, when you start something, What do you have to lose?
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Nothing.
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Yeah, even to that point, I find that's a limiting way of thinking.
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What do I have to lose?
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Meaning money, this or that.
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Well, okay, what do you have to lose by not taking that risk.
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People often think, "What do I have to lose by taking the risk?" What do you have to lose by not taking it?
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That pressure that you now have inside your head, that dissatisfaction with yourself, all the regrets, all the what if.
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That's a lot to bear.
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And a lot of the time we don't think about that.
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We think about what happens if I take the risk and it doesn't work.
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What happens if you don't take it?
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Life is gonna be over like that.
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You cannot believe how fast time goes by.
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People will not believe it and it's like, You're going to snap your fingers.
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Your life is going to be over.
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Live your best life.
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and what your life is.
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I don't know what's going to make you happy.
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And you may not know what's going to make you happy until you do your work.
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Do your work, get clear, what do you want in this fabulous life?
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that we get to make a choice every single day.
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You better figure out your own life, and no one's going to help you no you know no
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one's out there gonna serve you your life in a on a platter.
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I think just like simplifying these things, I think we overcomplicate a lot of the whole figuring my life out business.
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I agree.
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And if you can simplify it down to, what do I do in the morning?
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What do I do during the day, in the afternoon, at night?
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that really gives you a lot of clarity.
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If you are someone in a situation like this, but you want to be doing things like this, this and this, I highly recommend you grab a copy of our goal setting journal.
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In just three parts, this journal will help you figure out your ideal life, turn that into specific, measurable and achievable goals,
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and then build the discipline and structure you need to achieve all of your biggest dreams in just six months.
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Now, because it's the holiday season, we are giving away over $1 ,500
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of free bonuses for the first 100 people who click the link below and grab one.
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So if you're someone who wants to take the next step to upgrading your life, just like Janet has been able to do, click the link below.
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28 years in the business, Kit.
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You, today, knowing everything you know, if you were to go back in time to your 30 -year -old self
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when you just got into this business and gave her advice to get where you are faster, what would that advice be?
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I would say there's no need to go faster.
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Build that foundation.
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I think people move too quickly.
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And I've seen a lot of people blow up because of that and lose everything.
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made sacrifices in my life.
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I moved back home.
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I left home when I was 18.
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As a 30 -year -old, I moved back into my parents' home to save money
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so I could save money
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and make bigger moves in life to then kind of have a bigger life later when you kind of want it.
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Build strong foundations.
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I've seen too many people start expanding.
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you expand too quickly and you don't have the resources it's a recipe for a disaster.
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Can you understand when a business will do, a restaurant business will do well and when it won't.
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Like, can you identify certain factors immediately when you walk into a restaurant?
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Sometimes I can, sometimes You know, I have certain sayings like, "Never mistake a busy restaurant for a successful restaurant." Meaning,
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"Are you making money?" I like doing this business, I also like making money.
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So I can walk into a small restaurant, I can see an army in the kitchen, I can see high labor, I can see high food costs.
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I see a busy restaurant and people will say, "They're killing it, look at them, they're so busy." And I will say,
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"They will be done in one year." And I've been good at picking out the restaurants that I kind of analyze it.
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I walk in, I see locations, I see what they're doing.
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I'm good at calling how long restaurants will be around, I think.
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I'm fascinated with the way you're talking about everything.
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You haven't mentioned once the food.
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Oh god, no!
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I know the food's obviously great.
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No, no, I know it's obviously great.
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But I feel like in terms of succeeding, and that's such an important life lesson or business lesson, it's oftentimes not about what you would think it is, right?
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I'd go to a restaurant and I'd think food.
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but what actually makes me like this restaurant?
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One, where is it?
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Two, you know, who's the chef?
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Three, the vibe.
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This and that.
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Yeah.
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You really focus on a lot of things beyond that.
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A restaurant is not just the food, not just the service.
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And when you watch a movie, it's not going to be just like, who's the director?
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Who are the actors?
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It's going to be the lighting, like the costumes, the makeup.
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So again, I equate it to a film.
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Everything has to work for the vision of that.
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You know, every time I'm to a restaurant, I approach it like a movie.
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How do you apply that, generally speaking, as a business advice?
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It's not a one -size -fits -all situation in life.
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And that's why it's almost hard to say, do I have a formula?
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I don't have a formula.
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There's not a formula.
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Project by project.
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Is a lot of gut feeling too, or it's more planned out?
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No, huge gut and opportunity, luck, right time, right place.
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I wouldn't be in the restaurant business had I not walked by in Yorkville.
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Be our partner.
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You guys joking?
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We're serious.
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Let me think about it.
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Two weeks later, I'm in the restaurant business.
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And are you open for the opportunities and also, you know, you work a lot with your gut, but your gut has to be clear.
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Meaning, do you know what you want?
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I mean, sometimes you think you want things.
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But until you do your inner work and you get clear, you're not going to know what's right for you.
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People might say like, "I want to be a lawyer, I want to be a lawyer," because their parents have told them that.
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They get there and they're like, "This is not what I want.
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Who are you living for?" Sometimes you think that, "Oh, I want money.
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Oh, you know, money's gonna make me happy." Things from the outside are gonna make you happy.
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And then once you get all the money in the world, that's when you realize that's not it.
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You'll see a lot of billionaires give these talks.
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People that don't have money, they don't believe it.
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They're like, "If I had money, I know I'd be happy." But I know quite a few billionaires and they were chasing to be rich.
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When they got rich, they're like, "I'm not happy." Then they went and they did their inner work.
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Now they can enjoy their money, but it's not until I think you have to live an examined life.
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I think that's the important thing.
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You have to do your inner work and we all have trauma to different degrees.
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And until you deal with your own trauma, then.
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get clear so something speaks to your gut is actually true.
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Yeah, so one thing I've learned is that as much as you can focus on being successful, being happy and being successful are parallel.
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So as much as you can put effort into being good at what you do, you also need to put effort into being happy.
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and living in the moment and enjoying life.
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There are two different things.
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If you put all your eggs in one basket and focus on success, it doesn't mean that you focused at all on your happiness, and they don't directly translate.
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I completely agree.
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And I think there's a key to life and that's being present.
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Be present every moment of your life.
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Everything's easier said than done and depending on you know, your privileges really.
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very privileged I was born in Canada. And...
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They don't.
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And I think that if you, you know, you have to remind yourself of that.
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We live where we have too many choices maybe.
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And you're born in another place where you have to just feed your kids.
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You don't have the problems that we have.
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We have privilege.
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I think we have too much choice.
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And I think we have too many wants.
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And I think also another key to happiness is want less.
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Want less.
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What has been a big mistake or a failure?
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Ah.
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You were waiting for that one.
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Oh, ow.
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It hurts, it actually physically hurts.
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I had a big, huge failure.
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- Yeah.
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- Tell me.
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Tom.
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This one project in downtown LA I'd invested some money, $800 ,000 at that point,
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and then COVID hit, I.. did not listen to my gut.
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My gut was shut it down
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and then I had a lot of people come my way whether it was the landlord saying, "We'll fund it.
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We're going to give you money." and I went against my my inner gut, my inner gut telling me to pull the plug.
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It was the worst decision that I ever made in my mind.
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I will tell you this.
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I will never listen to any, like at the end of the day when it's my money involved, You cannot listen to other people.
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And I listened to a lot of people say, "We can do this.
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We're getting money."
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all this
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feedback if we can do it when every step of the way I said this is our time to pull
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Pulled the plug.
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And, um, It was a huge loss for me and we opened for six months and then we closed it down.
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And at the end of the day, my partners who were the landlords, they came and they sued me for the full lease.
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And so I lost millions.
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- Wow.
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- Not one deal.
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What's the takeaway that you learned there?
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My choice to pull the plug on that project was the right decision to make and I went against my own
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inner knowledge and I don't blame anybody I blame myself.
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I started to listen to outside voices, "We can do this." "No, I mean we're getting money and all these things and we should do this." You know,
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somebody handing you money and it still feels rather traumatic for me to even talk about.
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It still hurts that failure.
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When it's your own money, your own, you know and you feel it, you've got to go with that.
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I knew better.
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And I paid dearly for that.
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I'm still paying for it.
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That's why I feel it.
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Is your appetite for, not appetite for failure, but your attitude towards it different?
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now that you're no longer perfect?
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Well, I want to go back to being perfect.
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Being perfect is so much better.
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Understandable.
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What is one thing that when you were younger you put a lot of importance on
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and as you've gone older you realized wasn't actually that important?
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It's always going to be what people think about you.
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Nobody's actually thinking about you.
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Nobody really cares.
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And if they do, You cannot pay attention to it.
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Like, I was on the Joe Rogan podcast, and then my sister, said to me, "Do not read the comments." And there were thousands of comments.
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and People were saying like, I want her dead, like me.
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I'm talking about the restaurant business and "Can somebody kill her please?
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I want her dead." They said everything.
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And they said, "Oh, I love her.
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I hate her." And everything in between.
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And I laughed at it.
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This is ridiculous.
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I was really straight talking about business and the restaurant business and people want me dead.
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And they have a lot of opinions.
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Good, bad and the ugly.
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But Joe Rogan will say this.
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You don't see LeBron James in the comments section.
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who's making comments.
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Let me see your life.
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Put your name to your comment.
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And also people are thinking about themselves.
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Most people are self -centered and so worried about themselves.
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People aren't really giving you that much thought.
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It's not actually happening.
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- - If you could give someone your age or younger one piece of advice to live a good life.
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What would that be?
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- You never know when it's your last day, your last minute, your last second.
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And I think that
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The best choice you can make every morning is to wake up in a good mood and just know
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This may be it, this may be, you never know when your last day is going to happen.
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You know, you have dreams in your life, you have goals just Do it all.
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Do whatever you want.
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People say like, what's the secret to, what's your happiness?
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Figure it out for yourself.
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That's what I got.
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- Oh my god.
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- I wonder if you...
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Thank you so much.
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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson
This B2 speaking lesson is built on the video “A 58 Year Old Self-Made Millionaire Shares Her Best Life Advice”. This video has 309 sentences and 3222 words to shadow. The speech runs for 16:13. The speaker talks fast, about 199 words per minute, so expect linked and reduced sounds. 87% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English, so the vocabulary is easy to follow.
Key vocabulary in this video
The 15 most advanced words in the video, with pronunciation and meaning:
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| plug noun | /plʌɡ/ | A pronged connecting device which fits into a mating socket, especially an electrical one. |
| privilege noun | /ˈpɹɪv.(ɪ.)lɪd͡ʒ/ | A particular benefit, advantage, or favor; a right or immunity enjoyed by some but not others; a prerogative, preferential treatment. |
| simplify verb | /ˈsɪmplɪfaɪ/ | To make simpler, either by reducing in complexity, reducing to component parts, or making easier to understand. |
| billionaire noun | /ˌbɪl.jəˈnɛɚ/ | Somebody whose wealth is at least one billion (10⁹) currency units (usually understood to exclude holders of hyperinflated currencies). |
| traumatic adjective | /tɹɔˈmætɪk/ | Of, caused by, or causing trauma. |
| appetite noun | /ˈæp.əˌtaɪt/ | A desire to eat food or consume drinks. |
| landlord noun | /ˈlæn(d).lɔɹd/ | A person that leases real property; a lessor. |
| trauma noun | /ˈtɹɔm.ə/ | Any injury to the body of a living thing. |
| podcast noun | /ˈpɑdˌkæst/ | A program, especially an audio program, produced on a regular basis, delivered over the Internet in a compressed digital format and designed for playback on… |
| depend verb | /dɪˈpɛnd/ | To be contingent or conditioned; to have something as a necessary condition |
| achievable adjective | /əˈt͡ʃivəbəl/ | Capable of being achieved, which either means possible or probable. |
| averse adjective | /əˈvɜː(ɹ)s/ | Having a repugnance or opposition of mind. |
| dearly adverb | /ˈdɪɹli/ | In a dear or precious manner. |
| dissatisfaction noun | /dɪsˌsætɪsˈfækʃən/ | Unhappiness or discontent. |
| dropout noun | Someone who has left an educational institution without completing the course |
Phrasal verbs you will hear
| Word | Meaning |
|---|---|
| figure out verb | To come to understand; to discover or find a solution; to deduce. |
| end up verb | To bring to a conclusion. |
| start over verb | to begin again; to return to the beginning |
| blow up verb | To explode or be destroyed by explosion. |
| go back to verb | To stem from; to originate in. |
| go down verb | To descend; to move from a higher place to a lower one. |
| move back verb | To reschedule (something) to a later date or time. |
| pass away verb | To die. |
Sentences worth repeating
Short, complete lines from the video that you can reuse in everyday conversation:
- What do you do for a living?
- Did you ever end up doing that?
- What happens if you don't take it?
- Two, you know, who's the chef?
- What's the takeaway that you learned there?
Grammar in this video
The structures the speaker uses most, with the exact words from the video:
| Structure | In the video |
|---|---|
| Present perfect have/has + past participle — a past action that still matters now | has been · has started · has figured |
| Relative clauses who / which + clause — extra information about a person or thing | people who want · someone who has · people who click |
| Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it | will be done · was born · was shut |
Pronunciation to watch
The speaker uses 78 contractions and reduced forms, such as don't, I'm, you're. Say them the short way, as you hear them.
- The “sh” and “zh” sounds: dissatisfaction /dɪsˌsætɪsˈfækʃən/, measurable /ˈmɛʒəɹəbəl/, passionate /ˈpæʃənɪt/, perception /pɚˈsɛpʃ(ə)n/
- Long words — get the stress right: achievable /əˈt͡ʃivəbəl/, dissatisfaction /dɪsˌsætɪsˈfækʃən/, measurable /ˈmɛʒəɹəbəl/, valedictorian /ˌvæl.ə.dɪkˈtoɹ.i.ən/
How to practise with this video
- Listen to the whole video once without speaking and note the words you do not know.
- Start at 0.75× speed, shadow it sentence by sentence, then go back to normal speed once it feels easy.
- Record yourself and compare with the original, paying attention to words like plug, privilege, simplify.
What is the Shadowing Technique?
Shadowing is a science-backed language learning technique originally developed for professional interpreter training and popularized by polyglot Dr. Alexander Arguelles. The method is simple but powerful: you listen to native English audio and immediately repeat it out loud — like a shadow following the speaker with just a 1–2 second delay. Unlike passive listening or grammar drills, shadowing forces your brain and mouth muscles to simultaneously process and reproduce real speech patterns. Research shows it significantly improves pronunciation accuracy, intonation, rhythm, connected speech, listening comprehension, and speaking fluency — making it one of the most effective methods for IELTS Speaking preparation and real-world English communication.