Giuliana and Bill Rancic Are Power Couple Goals: Here Are Their 7 Tips On Finding Financial Success With Your Partner

Entrepreneur power couple Bill and Giuliana Rancic have found success in yet another business endeavor together: pasta sauce! The homemade sauce (based on her mother’s homemade recipe) quickly became a hit after it was served at the Italian restaurant they own. Wanting to share the wonderful flavors with the world, they decide to bottle and sell the sauce under the line Mama DePandi’s. Now it’s available both online and in thousands of retail stores across the U.S., making the authentic Italian sauce accessible and affordable for countless Americans.

Contributing to the Rancics’ continued success in the business world is their impressive teamwork as a couple. In Episode 1 of Woman’s World’s new “Happy Money” video podcast, hosted by Digital Director Julia Dennison, the pair shares their tips for making a relationship around money, plus their must-know secrets to finding success in your own moneymaking endeavors. 

1. Enlist each other’s help

Joining up with a spouse (or even family member or friend) to pursue a financial goal can help make it a reality—especially if you both bring something different to the table. The key, however, is allowing each person to focus on what they’re really good at. 

“You have to recognize your strengths and the other person’s strengths,” advises Giuliana. “What are my strengths and what are Bill’s strengths? And let us own those and really shine.”

Another reason collaboration is key in money-making endeavors? You’ll get the best output possible because everyone has their own unique skills—one person doesn’t have to do it all.

“I always say, you know, in business, you have to think like the conductor of an orchestra,” adds Bill. “And the conductor of the orchestra doesn’t play every instrument himself or herself, but finds the best people he can to play those instruments. And that’s kind of how you do a business.”

2. Allow for the occasional “splurge”

Spending wisely can lead to a return on your investment down the road, but know that not every purchase has to be made with the idea that you’ll make a profit on it someday. It’s okay sometimes to just focus on your own happiness rather than worrying about whether of not it will be worth something down the road.

That was the case for a boat that Bill recently purchased.

“I think you do have to enjoy life too,” he says. “You know, I think that if you buy it right…”

Waiting a bit before splurging means you’ll still get to appreciate your purchase without taking as much of a financial hit. Giuliana adds that Bill has never been one to overpay, just to be first in line for the newest release. 

“He’s not like that,” she adds. “You’re patient.”

3. Learn to be comfortable with not taking the lead

Talking through finances is a relationship must, but it doesn’t mean that both people need to dedicate the same level of attention to them. Though Giuliana and Bill both meet with their financial adviser together, he focuses on more of the day-to-day issues so she can think big-picture. 

“I just feel like he’s so good at keeping track of everything, and for me, it allows me to just keep dreaming,”  she shares. 

Bill and Giuliana’s tips for money-making success

Whether you’re currently starting up your own business or looking for extra ways to bring in more cash, check out the couple’s best advice about making it happen at any age!

1. Don’t let time be an obstacle

The older you get, the more intimidating it can be to dive into a new money-making endeavor. But it’s more than possible to find success even in your golden years! 

“It’s never too late,” says Bill. “Don’t tell yourself you can’t do it because of your age, or, you know, don’t make excuses. Just go and do it.”

Rancic’s mother, Anna,  is proof of that—her beloved sauce recipe is now the star of the Mama DePandi’s brand. 

“It’s inspiring, because at 82, you know, she’s now getting one of her dreams fulfilled,” adds Bill. 

2. Test the waters on social media

When you share homemade dishes with those in your community, you’re sure to receive helpful compliments and suggestions from eager taste testers. The most valuable feedback, however, will be found online—you just have to be willing to give it a try.

“Social media obviously is a great way to really get your dishes out there, get your recipes out there,” says Giuliana. “And that’s a really good way to try something out to see if it is a potential business.”

Though it can take some time and patience to attract potential customers, it’s an incredible tool that makes it possible for anyone to get a business off the ground. 

“Small business owners and startups can play with the big brands, because they can utilize social media to get to a nationwide audience, whereas 20 years ago, you couldn’t do that,” emphasizes Bill.

3. Give the people what they want

Loyal customers are a must for any business, and it’s their needs and wants that can drive everything from sales to promotion. That’s why building up a following (especially on social media) is so crucial.

“You’ve got to find people that are going to get behind it and support it,” suggests Bill. “And you have to over-deliver for your customers, right? That’s the most important thing.”

In other words, make them feel like they’re being heard!

4. Allow yourself to take risks

The next time you have a brilliant idea, start figuring out ways to put it into action! Though it may seem impossible at first, you never know what may happen. 

“No dream is too big,” assures Giuliana. “Half the battle is feeling like I have this idea and I’m going to do everything I can to make it happen. Oftentimes it’s, ‘I have this idea, but there’s no way I’m ever going to make it happen,’ right? And I don’t ever have that attitude at all.”

Even if you don’t achieve exactly what you set out to accomplish, there’s still plenty to be learned along the way. 

“There have been times where I’ve tried, I’ve tried, I’ve tried, and it hasn’t happened, and that’s okay, but at least I tried, right?” she adds. 

Read the full transcript below:

Julia Dennison: Welcome to “Happy Money.” I am Julia Dennison. I’m your host with Woman’s World Magazine. And we are here with TV’s power couple, Juliana and Bill Rancic. And you are here to talk about Mama DePandi’s sauces. Yes, yes, which is, tell me a little bit about the back story there and how it launched, and what the idea was, and where you got to where you are today. 

Giuliana Rancic: So I was born in Naples, Italy, and my family moved here when I was a little girl, and my mom has always been known as like that mom who makes the best Italian food, right? Because it’s like authentic Italian food. In fact, I remember I used to come home from school, and friends would come home with me after school, and my mom would have big bowls of pasta waiting for us on the table, like 3:30 and everyone’s like, Wait, is it dinner? What is this lunch? Dinner? And I’m like, It’s my mom just feeding us, you know, 10 times a day. But, you know, so basically, Bill and I got married, and then in Chicago, we opened an Italian restaurant about 15 years ago called RPM Italian, okay, which we now have several of them. It took off, but the number one best seller every night, nothing’s ever beat it is Mama DePandi’s bucatini Pomodoro, which is my mom’s signature dish. 

Julia: I love bucatini. That sounds delicious. Absolute favorite. 

Bill Rancic: We’re in 3,000 stores. So we’re in the Kroger chain nationwide, in the Murray’s Cheese shops. We’re in Ralph’s on the West Coast, Harris Teeter, Fred Meyer Marianos in Chicago. So we’re, I mean, we launched it a month ago. Crazy. So really excited that we get to bring it to people, and they can go to their local grocery store and get it. 

Julia: That’s amazing. And you really focus on, like, under $20.20 minutes, dinner on the table, get it there fast and cheaply. 

Giuliana: One hundred percent that’s what we do. 

Bill: You know, I think we first focused on the quality. And, you know, as we did with the nine restaurants we own, it was always about making sure we use the best ingredients possible, and our sauce is different than anything else on the shelf. We don’t add sugar, we don’t add preservatives. We use real chunks of garlic. We use hand-torn basil, vine-ripened tomatoes. We’re not using the cheap stuff in there, and we’re bringing you to at an affordable price, because we’ve got such great distribution now, you know, we’ve made we’ve been able to use the volume and bring the savings to the people at home. So on the shelf, it’s $7.99, which is comparable with all the other big-name brands and blind taste tests, we win every time. 

Julia: It is really hard to find tomato sauce that doesn’t have sugar in it. And a lot of that’s a concern for a lot of our readers, too, is trying to find, you know that, like blood sugar-friendly foods and like tomato sauces…

Bill: It’s hard when we want to feed our son, you know, good, clean, wholesome food. And someone was just asking me, Is this like the sauce when I go to Italy? Because when I go to Italy, I eat pasta and I don’t gain weight. And I’m like, Yeah, we don’t put the preservatives and all the junk in there, right? It’s literally five ingredients. 

Julia: Wow, at an affordable price, that is so great. Can you talk to me a little bit about your journey to becoming sort of sauce entrepreneurs, so to speak? Do you have any tips for anyone who’s like, maybe they have a family recipe that they think that the world would love to taste also, is there anything that you would have done differently? 

Bill: Well, I think my first bit of advice is, it’s never too late. You know, we brought Giuliana‘s mom into this, and she’s 82 years old. 

Julia: Your mom was so cute. I really wish she were here to meet her. 

Bill: But it’s, it’s inspiring, because at 82, you know, she’s now getting one of her dreams fulfilled. So I think, you know, don’t, don’t tell yourself you can’t do it because of your age, or, you know, don’t make excuses. Just go and do it. 

Giuliana: I think now, you know, with Bill and I, we never meant to get into the restaurant business. It was an opportunity that came up from a passion that I had always had for my mom. You know, it was a dream that I wanted to realize for my mom, like having people try her incredible dishes that I grew up on and my friends grew up on. So I think, like, whether you’re trying to start kind of smelling your community and making food for people, like, for neighbors, or, you know, doing it that way. Or even now, social media obviously, is a great way to really, like, get, you know, your dishes out there, get your recipes out there. And that’s a really good way to try something out to see if it is a potential business. 

Bill: Social media levels the playing field a little bit, you know. So, you know, small business owners and startups can play with the big brands, because they can utilize social media to get to a nationwide audience, where 20 years ago, you couldn’t do that.

Julia: So it seems like the affordability of the sauce was really important for you, and just ensuring that families can put dinner on the table for an affordable price and without spending too much. Do you have any advice on you know, obviously, your son, Duke, is 13. You’re, you know, you’re a family. You’re putting food on the table, and you were also creating this product. Do you have any advice or tips around making dinner more affordable, or any hacks that people can do with the tomato sauce?

Giuliana: Yeah. I mean, I have to be honest with you, we probably have Mama DePandi’s. sauce. I’m not kidding you, at least three times a week, because. We’re very busy people. Our son’s busy too, right? He has sports after school, clubs after school. He comes home and it’s like, What can I have that’s quick? And instead of resorting to something that’s not healthy and clean, we find that making a nice, big bowl of pasta for him from fresh ingredients and it’s quick and affordable is the way to go. I always say it’s like, you really look at our sauce, and you go and our dry pastas, and you go, wow, it’s 20 minutes, $20 feeds four people. I mean, that’s unheard of these days. You can’t get fast food anymore for $5 a person. You used to be able to go to get…

Bill: An apple in the store. It’s $1 more than $1. 

Julia: Right?  Was there anything frustrating or surprising about bringing a family recipe to a national market, or did you hit any roadblocks that you would wish that you’d done differently if you did it again? 

Bill: I think, you know, we serve this at our restaurants, the restaurant chain, and to get it from restaurant quality into a jar, it took us about a year and a half. So I think that was a little bit challenging, because we didn’t want people to buy this at the store and be disappointed, right? You know what I mean? So we just took our time, and we said, if we can’t do it, we’re not going to do it like if it can’t, if we can’t replicate what you can have at one of the RPM restaurants in the jar, we’re not going to do it. So we really took our time with it. We had to get our chefs involved, you know, and really make sure that what you’re getting is what you could get in a restaurant, and that’s hard to find on a store shelf. 

Julia: That’s fantastic. Congrats, you guys. So shifting gears slightly, because we are a money podcast, and we talk a lot about money and relationships, and obviously you guys are married and also business partners. With business, I can imagine there are a lot of blurred lines there, boundaries. How do you kind of navigate those roles between a relationship and business? 

Giuliana: I mean, I’ll tell you. So Bill and I have restaurants together. I mean, we have a few different businesses. Oh yes, we have a perception together, but with the sauce, I think that I took like the initial I was, I guess, to just break it down, I was more of the creative and Bill’s more of the business when it comes to the sauce. Okay, because I had never had experience in the grocery world, you know, in that whole business, I really didn’t know much about it. But what I did know was how to get my mom’s sauce to be my mom’s sauce in a jar, right? The exact sauce, and also the design, you know, just everything, just like, really, you know, which products My mom wanted to spotlight, like, what she really wanted to create for everyone. And so I would say I did kind of like the first half, those were where my strengths were. And then Bill is so amazing at like, but he’s very good at like. Like, for instance, when we were talking about the price, it’s unheard of for, you know, a new brand to come out at a price that’s already as competitive as brands that have been around for years and years that are already huge, right? And for us, we took so much time and like, Okay, we strategize, like, how do we launch this line at a time and strategically that we can then pass the savings on to the customer and be already at a really strong price point? Do you know what I mean?  And so we had to kind of work behind the scenes of making sure that, like when we launched, we would be in a lot of stores quickly, because that volume is the name of the game, right? Volume is the name of the game. I have a line on Home Shopping Network, on HSN, and I’ve had it for 13 years that I know volume is the name of the game. That’s why I’m able to sell premium denim at $49, right? And if I was in a boutique or department store, they’d be $149, $249 so like, Bill actually has was like such a great to be honest. He was a great teacher to me, of that he’s an amazing business person. He has a great business mind, and he knows I’m not kidding. 

Julia: You won The Apprentice, though you’re the business guy. 

Giuliana: Yeah, he’s the business guy. So, you know, I think the answer to your question is you have to recognize your strengths and the other person’s strengths, not necessarily like your weakness, but more like, what are my strengths and what are Bill’s strengths, and let us, like, own those and really shine. 

Bill: Yeah, I always say, you know, in business, you have to think like the conductor of an orchestra. And the conductor of the orchestra doesn’t play every instrument himself or herself, but finds the best violinist and saxophone, trombone, whatever the hell heck is in an orchestra. He finds the best people he can to play those instruments. And that’s kind of how you do a business. So for us, with the mama to pandies, you know, we got a great distributor, Gourmet Foods International. They’re based in Atlanta. Brian Scott, the president of the company. He’s amazing, very supportive. And then you get great partnerships with retailers. The whole Kroger team has been great, you know, we’re going to be in Central Market in Texas, right? Which is owned by H. E. B., we’re working with Target now in Minneapolis. So you know, you got to find people that are going to get behind it and support it. Yep, and you have to over-deliver for your customers, right? That’s the most important thing. 

Julia: Well, that tees me up perfectly for the next segment, which we call Happy Money, Happy Couple who made the last big purchase, and what was it?

Bill: I bought a boat. 

Giuliana: Speaking of things that go down in value.” 

Bill: Yeah, no, that was not my finest and I don’t advocate

Julia: In your own happiness. Self-care.

Giuliana: He buys things that go up in value. 

Bill: I think you do have to enjoy life, too. You know, I think that if you buy it, right, you know, you buy stuff, right?

Julia: Okay, yeah, you got the best deal you could possibly get.

Bill: Yeah, I like to think I did.

Giuliana: Yes. He is like that. He definitely buys things, right? He does not like, just go, Oh, like this, new things coming out next year. I want to be first in line for overpay. He’s not like that. So he’s right, he’s right. You’re patient.  You had said he’s a boater. He actually builds first business. One of his first businesses when he was a teenager was a boat wax and wash business. He’s always been around these beautiful boats. Dreamt of having, oh, now, yeah, I love that, because it’s incredible. 

Bill: You wanted it too. You’re making it sound like this philanthropic effort that you’re you know, 

Giuliana: He’s right. I enjoy it. 

Julia: Who orders the most stuff online?

Bill: Giuliana and a lot of it’s her own stuff from Home Shopping Network, which is weird, like G by Giuliana packages are coming to our house. 

Giuliana: So, can I tell you why? Though it is. He’s always like, I don’t understand why. Like, you buy all this stuff online you like, for full price. Okay? Stuff. I’m like, well, Bill, let me explain. So I get one of each piece of clothing. Okay? But sometimes I just love things so much, and I get worried because I wear them so much that I think, Oh, well, that great t-shirt. I need another one of that one. So like this, for instance, this little faux suede top, yeah, this might be something I might buy in another color. I might buy it again just because I’m like, Well, what if, like, it gets dirty? I don’t know

Julia: Classic fear of selling out, like you’re worried about selling out. 

Giuliana: And this has happened to me where, like, I love something and I wear it so much in that or, you know, I just want, like, yeah, you just wear it a lot, yeah, and you just want. And also, by the way, my stuff is so affordable, like the tops, like, $49, right? So it’s, like, if I love it that much, and I know I’m gonna get a lot of use out of it, yeah, most of my online shopping is not clothing, though, okay, I’m gonna be honest. 

Julia: All right, yeah, what kind of thing? 

Giuliana: It’s a lot of, like knick-knacks, knick-knacks

Julia: What kind of knick-knacks? 

Giuliana: Just stuff for the house. 

Bill: She’s a hoarder.  

Julia: Amazon. Are we talking Amazon? 

Giuliana: Yes, okay, Amazon. You know, so I’ve now, I know four dogs. We now have four dogs. 

Julia: Okay, wow. 

Giuliana: And so stop. He loves them. You love them, though, so much,

Julia: Just as much as you love his boat. 

Giuliana: Yes, it’s like boat, dogs. All I was gonna say is anything that is served to me on Instagram or TikTok that has to do with a dog or sort of like a dog sleighing, dog treats, dog collar. But I’m like, you got me. A lot of dog stuff is coming to the house. 

Julia: Who was the last one to have the wildest business idea? And what was it?

Bill: Probably Giuliana. Okay, you come up with some wacky stuff. You had some pillow you wanted to come out with. 

Giuliana: I’m working on that 

Bill: Built-in pillow, eye shade thing, I don’t even know. 

Giuliana: Don’t tell my ideas.

Bill: There are some very interesting ideas that she’s come up with. 

Giuliana: There’s a lot. So here’s what I’m going to say, though. So and Bill has said this about me, and I take this as a big compliment. He’s always like, I have never met anyone who can dream so big, who just comes up with these ideas and can dream so big, and and for me, like I feel like, for anyone out there, right? Like, No dream is too big. Like, I think that’s so important, that’s half the battle, is feeling like I have this idea and I’m going to do everything I can to make it happen, because oftentimes it’s I have this idea, but like, there’s no way I’m ever going to make it happen, right? And I don’t ever have that attitude at all. There have been times where I’ve tried, I’ve tried, I’ve tried, and it hasn’t happened, and that’s okay, but at least I tried, right? 

Julia: And how do you kind of navigate that as a couple? Like, in terms of, do you believe in having separate bank accounts or combining all your money? And, like, what if you have, like, one of you would want something that’s like, a really big dream, and the other doesn’t necessarily agree?

Bill: We started out separate, and then it just kind of.. 20 years in now. 

Julia: So do you have, like, date night, how do you kind of handle your finances as a couple, do you get together to talk about it? 

Bill: I try to get together with her. She falls asleep. It’s like, we get, like, our financial people, and they kind of meet with us, and she’ll stay for five minutes and be like, I gotta get on a call. Like, because if something happens to me, you need to know, right? 

Giuliana: Like, I kid you not. Our guy is he called the financial man. I see, I don’t even know this stuff. What’s he, which is one of our, like, a financial advisor. He’s lovely. You love him, Joe. And Joe, literally, like, once a year we’ll meet him at RPM, at one of our restaurants, and we sit in the booth, and, like, literally, Joe has looked over at me, and he’s like, are you awake? Like, I literally care less. I literally fall sick. Because, can I tell you what it is? And he knows this, what am I going to say about me and money and like, all that stuff, how I met? Like, well, I don’t do it. I…there is no part of me ever since even day one, my first day on E! or before my first job at 16. I love work. I love like, I love the hustle. I love work.  

Bill: Yeah, you have a very weird relationship with money. Okay? No bill. We don’t want to get into that, no, but because, like, for little things, it’ll dry. Like, ‘I’m not spending $999 on this,’ I really. But yet, if it’s a $5,000 handbag, it’s not a problem. Like, I this is the most. 

Julia: I’m sorry, what were you saying about a boat? 

Bill: No, that was a team. Yeah, you guys are really, You guys are getting up on me. This is…I get it I’m living in a woman’s world. I have three older sisters, so 

Giuliana: He does have three.

Bill: But I think your relationship with money is a little skewed, like you will. You will worry about the small things and not you won’t sit through a meeting with your financial…

Giuliana: I’ve got him. I know what it is. You’re right. I have this sense of security with Bill, that is true, because I know that you Bill is like the most trusting, honest person. Everyone who knows that knows that about Bill, he is, like, cut from the best cloth of when it comes to, like, loyal. He’s very loyal. He’s very honest. Like, he can’t sleep at night if he thinks maybe you misunderstood something he said. That’s how much he, like, wants everything to be so transparent, so I never have to worry with Bill. So I just feel like he’s so good at, like, keeping track of everything, and for me, it allows me to just, yeah, keep dreaming. Yeah, keep dreaming. Keep thinking of pillows that incorporate face masks. I’m telling you. I’ll send you. I’m on a prototype right now. It’s really cool idea. 

Bill: No, like you. Here’s another example. Don’t get the Uber Black. Get the Uber compass. And then hold on. She, on the flip side, she wanted to buy a 34-acre home with a polo field to create a dog shelter. Perfect. So I’m like, wait a minute. I want me to obviously go no Uber Black, but you’re going to buy this retired polo farm with all these beautiful horse stalls were nicer than most people’s apartment.

Giuliana: I was going to create a dog sanctuary. So I wanted a place, and I’m still doing this, by the way, so I owe some I’m gonna get there somehow. But basically, it’s a place where dogs who are urgent at the shelter until we find them a foster or someone to adopt them, would come to my sanctuary, right? We could save them. 

Julia: I like that. 

Giuliana: They come to my sanctuary. 

Bill: But I’m gonna take Uber X instead of Uber Black. 

Julia: You know what? It’s a balance, yes, and so. 

Bill: Obviously, I’m not gonna win anyway. 

Giuliana: I don’t even take Uber comfort. I take Uber and I took Lyft this morning. Thank you, because I saved $10.

Julia: Every day is a new day to make financial decisions. Last question: I have a nine-year-old Duke is 13? How do you kind of like? First of all, I think 13 is still Gen Alpha. Gen Alpha is like the Amazon shopping generation, like they want to buy, buy, buy, buy, stuff, stuff, stuff. How do you kind of like, pass along that, sort of like, your money advice to Duke, or can you, or do you have any tips? 

Giuliana: I think a lot of it is by example. We’re just gonna have to do it by example. Yeah, he does see he knows how I am for sure that I’m not a spender. So I’m just hoping that eventually teaching him to save yes, because right now, it’s not like that. These kids think that money grows on trees, right? And I guess I thought we thought, we all thought that, I guess, when you’re a kid, but now, especially, 

Bill: But it’s, it also has to do with when your kids go to school. Yeah, it’s the other kids and their parents. So like, you’re trying to instill values, but like, you know when an eighth grader’s wearing a Rolex. 

Julia: I know, like, what’s up with this generation? I don’t know. We can have a whole other podcast. I’m still trying to figure it out every day. 

Bill: You know, we don’t do that.

Julia: All right, so, Mama DePandi’s. Yes, tell us, like you were saying, where we could find it. 

Bill: Kroger stores nationwide, in the Maurice T section, so perimeter, Ralph’s on the West Coast, Harris Teeter, King Super in Colorado. Central markets coming soon.

Julia: Online also?

Bill: MamaDepandi.com.

Giuliana: Yeah, so MamaDepandi.com  will also have a store locator, okay, so you can see the different stores. Yeah, we’re super size.

Julia: So exciting. And then what’s next for you? Do you have anything on the horizon, I guess, like pillows?

Giuliana: Oh my gosh, it will be coming out soon, and my dog sanctuary fully. All jokes aside, I would love that that’s like my passion right now is, is just rescuing dogs and just encouraging people. 

Bill: We are working on a pickleball game, too. We are somewhat semi-pro pickleball.

Julia: Giuliana and Bill, thank you so much for coming on money. It’s been so wonderful to have you. 

Giuliana: Thank you for having us. 

Bill: Bye, guys.