StarZero All shows Try the podcast clipper →

Jun 12, 2016 · 19m · top-founders

How Miss Nevada Used Alcohol Cupcakes To Make $1MM, EP 281: Michael Mogill

Nathan Latka · 9m spoken Lisa Song Sutton · 8m spoken
0:00 / 0:00

gold bands on the timeline = statements, start to end. Hover to read, click to jump. CC turns on captions

In this episode of The Top, host Nathan Latka interviews entrepreneur and former Miss Nevada Lisa Song Sutton to break down the operational models, profit margins, and media strategies behind her real estate firm and $1 million alcohol-infused cupcake business.

How this conversation actually went

Every chapter scored 0–10 on four independent dynamics. Hover any point for the reasoning behind the score. Nathan holds 54.6% of the talking time here. How this is scored →

Nathan as informed peer 4.0 Guest teaching 1.3 Guest disagreement 0.5 Nathan pushing back 2.0
05100:0010:003:09–6:36 · Nathan as informed peer 5/10 Real Estate Operations with Sutton & Chase Nathan quickly runs the numbers on commissions generated from Sutton & Chase's $7 million in volume, asking directly how the partners draw cash. Lisa collaboratively details their referral-only luxury real estate structure.6:37–11:50 · Nathan as informed peer 6/10 Sin City Cupcakes Scaling, Operations, and Financials Nathan interrogates Sin City Cupcakes' financials, actively correcting Lisa's confusion between net and gross margins. He breaks down the unit economics to deduce an 80% gross margin from a 90-cent cost on a $5 item.11:50–14:43 · Nathan as informed peer 3/10 Hosting 'Live with Lisa' and Brand Building Lisa explains her cable television partnership with Cox and how she monetizes commercial spots. Nathan probes the strategic brand value and cross-promotional opportunities.14:43–18:31 · Nathan as informed peer 2/10 Sponsor Highlights: FreshBooks and HostGator Nathan executes sponsor reads for FreshBooks and HostGator before smoothly running Lisa through the standard Famous Five rapid-fire questions.3:09–6:36 · Guest teaching 1/10 Real Estate Operations with Sutton & Chase Nathan quickly runs the numbers on commissions generated from Sutton & Chase's $7 million in volume, asking directly how the partners draw cash. Lisa collaboratively details their referral-only luxury real estate structure.6:37–11:50 · Guest teaching 2/10 Sin City Cupcakes Scaling, Operations, and Financials Nathan interrogates Sin City Cupcakes' financials, actively correcting Lisa's confusion between net and gross margins. He breaks down the unit economics to deduce an 80% gross margin from a 90-cent cost on a $5 item.11:50–14:43 · Guest teaching 2/10 Hosting 'Live with Lisa' and Brand Building Lisa explains her cable television partnership with Cox and how she monetizes commercial spots. Nathan probes the strategic brand value and cross-promotional opportunities.14:43–18:31 · Guest teaching 0/10 Sponsor Highlights: FreshBooks and HostGator Nathan executes sponsor reads for FreshBooks and HostGator before smoothly running Lisa through the standard Famous Five rapid-fire questions.3:09–6:36 · Guest disagreement 0/10 Real Estate Operations with Sutton & Chase Nathan quickly runs the numbers on commissions generated from Sutton & Chase's $7 million in volume, asking directly how the partners draw cash. Lisa collaboratively details their referral-only luxury real estate structure.6:37–11:50 · Guest disagreement 1/10 Sin City Cupcakes Scaling, Operations, and Financials Nathan interrogates Sin City Cupcakes' financials, actively correcting Lisa's confusion between net and gross margins. He breaks down the unit economics to deduce an 80% gross margin from a 90-cent cost on a $5 item.11:50–14:43 · Guest disagreement 0/10 Hosting 'Live with Lisa' and Brand Building Lisa explains her cable television partnership with Cox and how she monetizes commercial spots. Nathan probes the strategic brand value and cross-promotional opportunities.14:43–18:31 · Guest disagreement 1/10 Sponsor Highlights: FreshBooks and HostGator Nathan executes sponsor reads for FreshBooks and HostGator before smoothly running Lisa through the standard Famous Five rapid-fire questions.3:09–6:36 · Nathan pushing back 2/10 Real Estate Operations with Sutton & Chase Nathan quickly runs the numbers on commissions generated from Sutton & Chase's $7 million in volume, asking directly how the partners draw cash. Lisa collaboratively details their referral-only luxury real estate structure.6:37–11:50 · Nathan pushing back 4/10 Sin City Cupcakes Scaling, Operations, and Financials Nathan interrogates Sin City Cupcakes' financials, actively correcting Lisa's confusion between net and gross margins. He breaks down the unit economics to deduce an 80% gross margin from a 90-cent cost on a $5 item.11:50–14:43 · Nathan pushing back 1/10 Hosting 'Live with Lisa' and Brand Building Lisa explains her cable television partnership with Cox and how she monetizes commercial spots. Nathan probes the strategic brand value and cross-promotional opportunities.14:43–18:31 · Nathan pushing back 1/10 Sponsor Highlights: FreshBooks and HostGator Nathan executes sponsor reads for FreshBooks and HostGator before smoothly running Lisa through the standard Famous Five rapid-fire questions.

speaking balance: gold is Nathan, purple is the guest (3 minute bins)

0:00 · Nathan 90.3% · guest 9.7%0:00 · Nathan 90.3% · guest 9.7%3:00 · Nathan 34.2% · guest 65.8%3:00 · Nathan 34.2% · guest 65.8%6:00 · Nathan 31.2% · guest 68.8%6:00 · Nathan 31.2% · guest 68.8%9:00 · Nathan 41.4% · guest 58.6%9:00 · Nathan 41.4% · guest 58.6%12:00 · Nathan 26.5% · guest 73.5%12:00 · Nathan 26.5% · guest 73.5%15:00 · Nathan 83.2% · guest 16.8%15:00 · Nathan 83.2% · guest 16.8%18:00 · Nathan 94% · guest 6%18:00 · Nathan 94% · guest 6%
Sharpest disagreement ▶ 16:41 Banter regarding pageant pressure

Lisa playfully reacts to not knowing what segment is coming, prompting Nathan to tease her about handling pressure from pageants.

 Hardest push from Nathan ▶ 10:36 Host pushes for exact gross margin definition

When Lisa attempts to equate gross and net margin, Nathan immediately halts her to clarify that gross margin only factors in direct COGS.

 Biggest teaching moment ▶ 9:15 Lisa breaks down swap meet sales volume

Lisa educates Nathan on the surprising economics of the Broad Acres Swap Meet, citing national churro benchmark metrics.

 Nathan holds their own ▶ 11:20 Nathan computes 80% gross margin from unit cost

Nathan demonstrates financial mastery by calculating the exact gross margin percentage based on Lisa's 90-cent cost and $5 selling price.
the scores for every segment, with the reasoning behind each
ChapterTopicNathan as informed peerGuest teachingGuest disagreementNathan pushing backWhy
Real Estate Operations with Sutton & Chase 5102 Nathan quickly runs the numbers on commissions generated from Sutton & Chase's $7 million in volume, asking directly how the partners draw cash. Lisa collaboratively details their referral-only luxury real estate structure.
Sin City Cupcakes Scaling, Operations, and Financials 6214 Nathan interrogates Sin City Cupcakes' financials, actively correcting Lisa's confusion between net and gross margins. He breaks down the unit economics to deduce an 80% gross margin from a 90-cent cost on a $5 item.
Hosting 'Live with Lisa' and Brand Building 3201 Lisa explains her cable television partnership with Cox and how she monetizes commercial spots. Nathan probes the strategic brand value and cross-promotional opportunities.
Sponsor Highlights: FreshBooks and HostGator 2011 Nathan executes sponsor reads for FreshBooks and HostGator before smoothly running Lisa through the standard Famous Five rapid-fire questions.

Statements from this episode (6)

Assertion Not checkable as stated
Sutton: Sutton & Chase sold $7M in inventory over 11 months
“We just sold seven million in inventory in the last 11 months.”
Lisa Song Sutton Jun 12, 2016 ▶ 3:22
Disclosure
Sutton: Over 90% of Sutton & Chase business is referral-based
“Over 90% of our business is all just based on referrals. We don't do any advertising”
Lisa Song Sutton Jun 12, 2016 ▶ 5:33
Disclosure
Sutton: Sin City Cupcakes generated just under $1M in 2015 revenue
“Just under a million.”
Lisa Song Sutton Jun 12, 2016 ▶ 8:01
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Sutton: Broad Acres Swap Meet is second to Disneyland in churro sales
“They have the number two churro sales in the nation behind Disneyland.”
Lisa Song Sutton Jun 12, 2016 ▶ 9:56
Disclosure
Sutton: Sin City Cupcakes operates at roughly a 40% net margin
“We run at like a 40% margin.”
Lisa Song Sutton Jun 12, 2016 ▶ 10:49
Disclosure
Sutton: Sin City's alcohol-infused cupcakes cost $0.90 each to produce
“I mean, it costs us 90 cents to make a cupcake with the alcohol.”
Lisa Song Sutton Jun 12, 2016 ▶ 11:32
Made with StarZero

Turn any episode into a week of clips.

This entire site, over 2,600 episodes transcribed, diarized, checked and made playable, runs on the StarZero media pipeline. Drop in your own episode and the podcast clipper finds the moments worth sharing, cuts them, captions them, and reframes them for every feed.

Try the podcast clipper Learn more