This Is the Investing Strategy That Made Bethenny Frankel a $100 Million Beverage Brand Mogul

That Bethenny Frankel is a brilliant investor will come as no surprise to regular viewers of The Real Housewives of New York City — nor even to casual observers aware that she sold her Skinnygirl beverage brand for a reported $100 million back in 2011. But how did Bethenny go from an $8,000 bank balance to a nine-figure net worth in just 10 years' time?

Bethenny sat down with Adweek for a lengthy profile that sheds more light on her trajectory — which she shaped using a mix of brains, unrelenting hard work, and pure intuition.

As a teenager, Bethenny had a job at a bakery and also threw house parties to make cash. Later, she applied that same roll-up-her-sleeves, do-it-herself attitude — which she calls, according to Adweek, being “in the grit" — to bigger projects. She stays close to the details of all of her projects — and continually engages with her fans on social media, to the tune of 3.5 million combined followers. 

Perhaps most of all, Bethenny applies an investing strategy that comes from her natural intuition. 

“I see a void that can be filled,” she told Adweek, “and I go with my gut. I don’t look at what everyone else is doing. Then I wouldn’t be able to have my own original thoughts.”

That's not to say that she's casual or willynilly when it comes to investing — not at all.

“She’s taking risks, but they’re calculated — she’s not shooting from the hip,” Jack Gross, who is a partner in one of her apparel brands, told Adweek. “She moves fast, and yet her decisions are thoughtful. She wants to make sure she hits the target.”

Jarrod Moses, the C.E.O. of United Entertainment Group who works closely with Bethenny, told Adweek that Bethenny, "comes from the school of hard knocks and common sense. She draws on her personality and perseverance."