How Travis Became A Millionaire Working 3 Hours A Day

Travis Johnson: I bought the worst house ever, but here I am. It it it is what it is. Biggest failure was it took about a $180,000 of money and almost put us in bankruptcy. And we ended up adding a half million dollar addition onto the house, but we paid cash for it. I get feedback from the consumer and they said, I can trust you even though I haven't seen you before.

Because you're on TV, they don't just let anyone on TV. And I just politely wanna say, all you need is a checkbook and not be a criminal, essentially, and you can be on TV. Biggest struggle, not having enough friends that have a lifestyle like I have now.

Steve Trang: Welcome and thank you for joining us for today's episode Disruptors, where millionaires are made. Today, we have Travis Johnson with Minnesota Nice Home Buyers. And Travis flew in from Monticello, Minnesota to talk about how he's become a millionaire and working just three hours a day. I think a lot of people will want to find out more about that. Guys, I'm gonna mention you create millionaires.

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You ready?

Travis: I am ready.

Steve: Alright. So we started this with a massive claim. Right? Mhmm. Became a millionaire, and you're working just three hours a day.

Mhmm.

Travis: But

Steve: you probably didn't start there.

Travis: I wish. I wish. Yes. Yeah. No.

Definitely didn't start there.

Steve: Okay. So what was your life like before you got into real estate?

Travis: Sure. I like to bring it all the way back to kinda my childhood because I think it kinda leads to a a better picture for people. They kinda know I went through the working class channels and then eventually into real estate and got my success. You're look like similar age to me. Yeah.

Do you remember Carlton Sheets?

Steve: I learned about him much later.

Travis: Okay. But you know of him? He was kind of a source.

Steve: One of the original No money. Actors in the space. Yes.

Travis: Yeah. Well, I was captivated. He ran infomercials on all the local channels that I got out in the country. He regrew up poor, so he only had four stations. Uh-huh.

And he would run them all the time on the weekends, and I'd just be watching. I was fascinated. I didn't know any better not to trust it in the sense of, like, well, if they say it's true, it's gotta be true. Right? I didn't know any better.

So I

Steve: was like, you know, it was on Internet, and that has to be true. Yeah.

Travis: Yeah. Exactly. So I was kinda surprised. I was like, man, these people are making a ton of money. Some are renting them.

Some are flipping them. I was like, why does my parents go ahead and rehab houses and do stuff like that? And, you know, but I never put two and two together that way. But I got to the point where I'm like, like, I really wanna do this. So I remember going to my mom and saying, I think the course was about $99, around a $100 for the no money down course, if you went to buy it off the infomercial.

And I said, I'll forgive all my Christmas gifts if I could just have this course. We just didn't have the money, so she didn't buy it. I was disappointed, but that's how much I wanted to get into real estate. And I think at that time, I was probably a teenager, just turned in but I was just fascinated enough with it. Well, go through it and graduate high school.

I decided to go off to college, and play basketball. And I was like, I don't know what I wanna do with my life. You know, everyone's supposed to know what they're supposed to do at 18. Do you really? I mean, you have ideas, but if you never get to do what you think you wanna do, it never really works out the way you think it's gonna work in that field.

So I did back then, they were quarters of colleges, not semesters. So I just did a quarter of college, played basketball, season got done, and there was no scholarship. I had to pay out of my own pocket. It was $800, which now I would gladly pay. But $800 is, like, $80,000 on your shoulders when you don't have the money.

So I was like, I'm gonna drop out and get a job, just start to pay off this debt because I don't wanna be in debt. Because I saw my parents always in debt and they were poor, so I associated debt as bad, you know, so I wanted to get out of it. So I was dating a, a girl at the time and her uncle had a low voltage, company which basically is phone and computer wiring. Mhmm. So I got a job working there.

I thought, alright, that'll be temporary. Well, here roughly eighteen years later, I went from running low voltage wiring, installing business phone systems, and worked up into, warehouse manager in ordering product and eventually operations manager. And the company size was about 25 employees.

Steve: All the same company?

Travis: Well, through buyouts. I would say yes, but through buyouts. So I was like, okay. You know, I'm right beneath the owner. I made it.

This is as high as I can get. This is the goal. This is great. Office politics came into play. I didn't see that coming at all, to be honest.

And it drove me nuts with the office politics. And I went to the owner and said, hey. There's two people that are kinda driving me nuts. If we don't change this stuff, I'm gonna leave. And I know you don't like confrontation, so here's my two weeks, essentially.

Because I already knew the answer. And sure enough, he accepted my two weeks even though he wanted me to stay, but he also wasn't gonna correct the issue. And I was just like, I'm not gonna deal with this.

Steve: What's an example that was driving you crazy?

Travis: It was, what happened is is the sales manager that was selling product to consumers that would say, hey. These three or four features of the system will solve what you're looking for in your business. However, I knew that was the weakest part of that product. So I felt like you were misleading the client and just say, hey. We're gonna solve that problem when I already know you're really gonna hate it a lot.

So I would have to deal with the backlash from the customer when they're like, hey. This doesn't work the way we really thought it was gonna work. Well, I'm like, well, I'm not the one that sold it. So go to the sales manager. Well, unfortunately, the owner said, no.

You gotta deal with it. Well, I'm tired of I already know the results. People are gonna be pissed rightfully so. If I bought a system and it did exactly what it did to me and to you, you would be mad if it didn't solve your needs. So I ultimately quit.

I had a general idea what I wanted to do. I wanted to be in real estate. Already had my real estate real estate agent license because I did invest occasionally house hacking. I live in a house every two years. Right?

Then you sell it, move into another one, then the crash happened, and it's like, well, I'm stuck in this house because I bought it at too high of a price.

Steve: Which crash?

Travis: Well, the 2008 crash. I would say. Okay. So I, end up buying some bank foreclosures and now actually rehabbing a house that I didn't live in. But I was like, hey, I bought it for 40,000.

You know, it shouldn't be that bad. It was a lot more work than I ever thought. You know? I almost got divorced over it because it was a year and a half weekends only working at the house nonstop, but I learned so much from that house that it ultimately gave me the confidence to when I went out on my own, I could rely on that specific scenario over and over in my head. Like, hey.

Can't be any worse than that one house because I bought the worst house ever, but here I am. It it it is what it is. I Yeah. I I would phrase it, but where this ties back is, alright. I should I be an agent?

Should I not? I'll I was like, you know, I I just wanna invest in real estate.

Steve: So you quit your job Yes. And you don't and you don't have just other jobs lined up?

Travis: Nope. Just savings. I was stubborn. I was one of those it was more of, like, out of spite eventually. Like, nope.

I'm gonna quit.

Steve: Okay. So no set plan. And then now that we've quit, okay, what should we do?

Travis: Exactly.

Steve: Alright. So you are a jump out of the plane and build it on the way down.

Travis: It's the parachute is somewhat tied to my back, I think, you know, and let's hope it deploys. But I did check with my wife if that helps, you know. It's like, hey, can I quit? And she says, yes. It's not worth the stress and all that.

And we both had good paying jobs, so we're figuring, well, why not, you know, we have savings, I'll find, you know, I'm ambitious, I'll find something else to do. So did the real estate agent stuff for about three, four months, and I was like, this isn't for me. You know, I I I wanna get into flipping. So I didn't know how to break in, so I bought it.

Steve: What about the agent thing did not work out for you?

Travis: Well, the agent thing I didn't really like is I didn't like listing the properties. You know, I like being the buyer agent, but for me, it seemed like I was attracting more listing appointments than buyer's appointments.

Steve: Well, particularly that time was not a good time to be a listing agent.

Travis: Yeah. So Yeah. That becomes kind of a a problem. Now the fast forward the story, this is also '20 I quit the last day of 2015. So fast forward for, be independent.

But the market was still slow. It was still recovering coming out from the I would say about 2013 is when the wheels on the bus started going back on. I was saying it tightened down. Yeah. Where I found struggles was how do I break into investing in real estate, like, marketing wise?

You know? Because it's like, I I feel like I know how to work on the house, but how do I attract a seller? I was buying bank, REO properties, you know, and that was fine. But 2017, 1819, they started drying up. Right?

Yeah. So I was like, I should look into We Buy ugly houses, you know. So I locked in a associate franchise in 2016 was, I think, $18,000.

Steve: 18,000?

Travis: Yep. For associate franchise, but you had to pay a huge royalty per property.

Steve: What were you paying?

Travis: I it was 5% of the the gross. It doesn't matter if you're profitable or not. Whatever it sells for, they get 5% of that, plus they get, they're also an ad agency on the back end.

Steve: Yeah.

Travis: So they they get a cut of out of all the marketing dollars that you send down to them.

Steve: So Oh, I'm asking because, like, I almost became a franchisee. Right? I wanna say this is around 2013. Like, they only had two left. Right?

Like, it was only two left in Phoenix. And they had, like, a whole bunch, but they only had, like, two left, because everyone else went out of business

Travis: Mhmm. As

Steve: a result of the crash. And I was gonna do it because I was buying houses at that time. Yeah. And, when I was talking to the the person selling their franchise, I was like, well, is this gonna affect every other deal I do? Because I'm already buying houses.

Yeah. And they're like, yes. I was like, but I'm already doing the business.

Travis: Yeah. I

Steve: don't wanna pay you royalty.

Travis: Yeah. I'm gonna give you free money. It feels like.

Steve: Yeah. And so that's where we got the the hang up. And then for me, I think it was, like, 6%.

Travis: Oh, okay.

Steve: It was, like, 35,000 to start. It was 70,000 for the franchise. It was 35,000 to start. And, then after that, like, paying royalties, like, this doesn't pencil out Yeah. Anyone whatsoever.

Looking back, I feel like I was mistaken. But at the time, my ego was like Yeah. We're not doing this.

Travis: We're not gonna do it. Yeah. Yeah. And I would say for for me, I didn't know how the like I said, marketing and they pressed heavily. Of course, like anything, they're gonna find whatever your weaknesses and they're gonna say, we can solve it.

Steve: So Of course.

Travis: They didn't trick me into anything. I'll full disclaimer there, but I will admit that they're like, hey. We got the marketing channels. We know how to do it. And this is a big brand.

You know, I like the name of it, but it quickly became kind of on a style where they wanted to use the Homevestor name more than the We Buy Agedley House because the We Buy Agedley House advertisements, like, if you put them in the mailbox, We Buy Agedley House's direct mail, people definitely get offended in our state. But I would say in any state, yeah, because it says we buy ugly houses. So then they had to do the corporate brand of HomeVestors, which is okay. But is that the branded power that everyone knows? No.

But the billboard or commercial that says we buy ugly houses, that doesn't offend anyone because you're not implying their house. But when the mail goes to their house, you're implying even though I see. As you know, we're not, but it's gonna be sent that way.

Steve: Like Yeah.

Travis: What what do you mean my house is ugly? You know? So I bought a franchise, and two years in, it started off slow, but it was just trying to figure out how to do the sales technique because, again, I didn't negotiate with banks. I never dealt with sellers directly. That was, like, mind boggling to me.

Like, you think way different than, like, what a bank would or an agent would, you know, type of thing. And Yeah. So I had to go through those struggles. And then my second year, I started figuring out, hey. I know what's kinda working, how it's gonna benefit me.

I was like, hey. Let's buy another franchise because we have another territory near where we live. Like, in Monticello, there's a place called Saint Cloud as a metropolitan area, and then there's the Twin Cities. Well, I had the franchise rights to the Twin Cities along with almost everyone else that had one, but no one had Saint Cloud. And I'm like,

Steve: oh, well,

Travis: I'll get exclusive leads until someone buys. Yeah. So on another franchise, same price. They they grandfather in the price, but the same royalty also comes with it. And we were actually doing better out of that one because we got all the leads.

So naturally, why wouldn't you? But four years in total, it stopped kinda working because they sold so many franchises in the Twin Cities. It diluted like, they couldn't produce more leads. It's odd. Like, they you send down let's say you were doing a $100,000 worth of marketing dollars, sending down the corporate Yep.

Spend for your your area. And now you get five more franchise and let's say they're 10,000 a month each, now it's 150. They produced, like, the same 130 leads. So guess what? Your lead cost went up.

And a lead in, we buy the house worlds is if they call and say take me off your list, that's a lead. It's not they don't go by screening the quality of the lead. It's just did a did a phone number and a address make it to you? If the answer is yes, that's a lead in their world. I will admit more times than not, it was a lead, but there are times it's not.

So when you were getting less and less leads and they're getting more expensive I mean, if you're gonna Yeah. Piss away $1,700 on a on something, would you wanna on a hang up call of take me off your list or when there be some gadget at home that you would love to buy if you're gonna piss away $1,700 at

Steve: that time? So I think there's some important points here, because not everyone understands how the franchise world works. Right. Because like a lot of people that are listening are gonna be independent. Right?

Like, if you're a wholesaler, you're a flipper, generally, you're independent. Yep. Right? And so, that's the whole deal with the ad council, and the franchisee. So, in in the Twin Cities, how many franchises how many franchisees or franchises were there?

Travis: When I joined, I think I was number seven that was still active. There's a way when I left, I thought it was 16 or 17.

Steve: Okay. So we went from seven to 17 approximately. Yep. And your Aspen was about the same or

Travis: No. When it went up, it it doubled basically.

Steve: So you doubled so you doubled Aspen. Mhmm. So, so then your cost per lead is going up?

Travis: Yes. Because, unfortunately, you'd think spending more would get you more leads. But as an example, if you spent $70,000, you got 80 leads. Well, they spent a 150,000 and all of a sudden it went to a 100 leads. Well, yeah.

You got a little bit more, but It was diminishing returns. Very diluted. Yeah.

Steve: Yeah. And so what you're dealing with, again, not that it really matters, but, you know, for people that are curious

Travis: Mhmm.

Steve: When you have more franchises in an area that can only support x number

Travis: Exactly.

Steve: The you you have to do the round robin. You're rotating and sharing those leads with everybody, and your costs goes cost per lead goes up because we've we've we've exceeded diminishing returns.

Travis: Yes.

Steve: Yep. And you felt that?

Travis: Oh, felt it big time. And, you know, corporate, they're supposed to do their market share and how many can get, but I think every franchise, it could even be doesn't matter if you sell subs or anything. I think they're like, I think we can make one more work. Right? They can fit in there.

Yeah. But, unfortunately, the owners was like, hey. We don't need one more. You know, I want them to come to my location. I wanna give them five other ones in that two mile radius to hit along the way.

But, yes, that's it got very diluted. The back of the story a little bit, when I bought the second franchise, my wife, I told her, I said I have to hire someone or you have to quit your job and join me. I don't care which one, or which one do you wanna do. She chose to want to come on board. So now we are all eggs in one basket.

No income other than from strictly the franchise business.

Steve: And those two franchise locations.

Travis: Correct. Yep. Gotcha. Okay. So we did that again for a couple more years and then returns

Steve: So did you sell one or do you sell both?

Travis: Actually, one of them we sold. But the way corporate does it, they get the biggest chunk of the pie out of the sale. Oh. You know, because they're giving up if if someone's buying my franchise, they can't sell them a new franchise. Mhmm.

So how are they gonna make money? Of course, my brain thinks, well, you're gonna make it off the advertising. Right? And the royalties? Yeah.

And royalties. No. It's they got a huge chunk of my, transaction. I think I sold mine somewhere in the $40,000 range. It wasn't a a ton, but it had four years worth of lead history that was selling with them.

And as you know, in a CRM, they can produce, so there's some value there. But I think I had to pay a $15,000 transfer through corporate, and then I had to pay their sales rep that connected me with the salesperson. I think that was another six or seven. I think I walked away with, like, $22,000 on that Twin Cities franchise location. And after knowing how bad that one felt, we chose let's just close the other one so we can take those leads with us.

That those leads

Steve: were more

Travis: valuable because I'm like I imagine I can get about the same up there when we get a buyer, but I was like, no. All it takes is one lead out of that CRM to convert Mhmm. And that 20 some thousand dollars more than likely is a drop in the bucket. Yeah. So learned the hard way.

So we just like, don't we'll close that one down. We'll pull the leads, and we'll just start marketing under our new brand name to all the existing one. And as we kind of found out, people didn't really remember what company contact them. They're they're like, oh, yeah. I think we did talk to you before.

It's like, well, you did from our name. My my wife's name's Leah and my name's Travis. So it was like, yeah. I think I remember that, but they didn't remember we were we buy ugly houses.

Steve: Well, what's interesting is, the part about people being offended when you send them direct mail.

Travis: Mhmm.

Steve: Because you're saying, like, the brand doesn't matter. Like, I've always been in the opinion, this on the outside looking in

Travis: Okay.

Steve: That the We Buy Other Houses franchise forget the business part. Just the branding side.

Travis: Sure.

Steve: The branding side is great. And the reason why I liked it was that for you as a homeowner to call

Travis: Mhmm.

Steve: The number, you readily admitted that your house

Travis: Yeah. You raised your hand.

Steve: Is that right? A lot of love. Yep. And by default, you're already willing to take less

Travis: Yes.

Steve: Versus the generic marketing we have where they think, well, my house is beautiful, and you should pay basically full retail.

Travis: Retail or more.

Steve: Yeah. So, like, I like the part where it was self selecting.

Travis: Mhmm.

Steve: That's the part I liked about it. Now, everything else, like the fees and everything, right, don't go for that. Or the the the being subject to, maximizing the the budget and and all other

Travis: fun stuff.

Steve: Don't care about don't don't care for that part. But I do love the the negative self admittance you have to go through Yep. And identify that my house is ugly and and I'm gonna sell it for dirt cheap. Yeah. Alright.

Because when you say that your lead quality in We Buy Your Lead Houses when they weren't yelling at you to take you off take them off the list were were a different quality? Or is that am I just completely special. No.

Travis: I would say just shy of three years worth. Again, if they didn't sell more franchises, there's a chance I could still own a franchise, to be honest, or the both locations. But because it got diluted Right. It wasn't worth it there. But, the lead quality was definitely there.

Steve: Yes. Yeah. Okay. So we shut down both franchises. Yep.

Wife's all in now. When was this?

Travis: 2018, she was, all in. And then in 2021, both of those were gone, and we started up Minnesota with nice home buyers.

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Travis: Because everyone that visits our state, it's kind of been a coin phrase, hey, you're Minnesota nice. You know, just people. Like, it's nice. And I would say for the most part, you would get that vibe, but it's really passive aggressive people. But, you know, if you don't wanna go into the weeds, it's Minnesota nice.

They're nice people. So we thought, well, coming up with a name, let's go with something that's already, like, branded, but it wouldn't be branded for us, like home buyers. But what's already branded in our state or their local area that maybe you're famous for, and then you could throw the word home buyer behind it. So then when you start marketing it, subconsciously, someone's like, well, I think I heard that name before. And it's like, well, it was just never for home buying.

It was just a play on something that was already pre marketed. So plus we figured, hey, I try and analyze from a marketing standpoint, driving by a billboard. And they get your domain name in six to eight seconds that you're probably staring at that billboard if you choose to stare at it. You have that long to get a domain name or phone number or both memorized if someone wanted to write it down. So we came up with mnnice.com was available.

It was nice and short, and I was like, oh, mnnice.com. How can you Really? Yeah. How could you not memorize that name? And then we just did a nice clean phone number.

When we say clean, it's like (612) 930-2000. Something nice and simple.

Steve: Easy to remember.

Travis: Yes. Exactly. So we think, well, if it has that and we just throw the word home buyer behind it, why not give that a a run? And then we came up, my wife had some friends that came up with some local designs and went to some trial and error. Not saying it's the fanciest, but Mhmm.

I think we paid, like, $80 for a guy that designed our logo. And we're like, hey. This is pretty pretty cool. So we just went with it. And then we ultimately we had some people in our market start, stealing off our name, using our phrase type of thing.

So we then we had to trademark it. And I started trademarking right when COVID hit. It did not go fast at all. And I couldn't get we were sending cease and desist, and basically, I was getting the middle finger from one of the competitors. Oh, yeah.

It's not trademarked. So I was like but once it got trademarked, he still wasn't gonna take it down, but Google wouldn't listen to me then. Because if you have a trademark, that's when Google will actually put some light into it. Yeah. But if you don't, like, I hate to say it, they kinda give you the middle finger.

Steve: Yeah. Yeah. Well, I remember my experience. We're talking about we buy ugly houses. Because that was my experience with Google.

Travis: Okay.

Steve: Because even though I didn't buy the franchise, I knew the brand. And other people knew the brand.

Travis: And they

Steve: were spending a lot of money on marketing.

Travis: Yep.

Steve: And so I was going after like, I could do the Google search we buy ugly houses. Yep. Right? I just couldn't have that expression or that phrase in my ad.

Travis: Yep. Right? You can have it in the keywords behind the scenes. Yep. But But

Steve: not in the ads. Yep. So I all my ads were we buy ugly homes.

Travis: Sure.

Steve: Right? Right. That was our way around the trademark. We had no problems with that. No no no crazy cease and desist, but that's what we had to deal with.

That's it was no big deal. Right? But it was just funny, like, the ad wasn't even running yet and Google was, like, trademarked.

Travis: Yep. Well, they being behind the scenes, you know, dealing with lawyers because they encourage you when you own a franchise, they turn everyone in.

Steve: Oh, you gotta you gotta go after everybody.

Travis: Yeah. So if something popped up, I'd be snippeting on the computer, sending it down. Yep. We're gonna go after. And so it was kinda nice from that standpoint, but then now I got a little bit on the receiving end, but I never stole their name Mhmm.

Ever on theirs. But when someone else didn't mind, they would go ahead and just say Minnesota nice. And then they started adding Minnesota nice and then home buyers right in the at the actual I'm like, that's my whole domain. That's my whole business. I was like, you can't just say, well, it's a keyword.

It's not. It's it's a misrepren yeah. It's I can go down a rabbit hole of frustration on that, but, you know, eventually, I realized that I started building up a brand. But when I got started with a brand new brand, I was like, alright. I think it'll take about 90,000.

Again, corporate we sent all our money down to corporate, so they did all the marketing at We Buy Great Houses, you know. So I knew the channels. Right? The billboard, direct mail, SEO, pay per click, and, TV commercials. That's where their core marketing channels.

I was like, alright. If I know the channels, I should be able to kinda figure it out. Set aside, I thought, alright. $90,000 for six months worth of marketing, it'll make it work well. End up being a $180,000, and we were on the verge of bankruptcy.

We were all in.

Steve: What was a 180,000?

Travis: That's how long it took us to figure out the right marketing channels and, the channels and how to spend the money and where to spend it on each channel.

Steve: A 180,000 in marketing spend.

Travis: Yep. But now, this is now over I would say, thirteen months it took us. Wow. We went all in and it's just like, we gotta make it work and then it just money just kept going out and out and, you know, whatever you made on a deal, it just went back out. There was times when wife and I, we weren't taking paychecks.

And even if you didn't, it felt like thirty days later, you're writing a check right back to the business so you can close on another property. And it just like, oh, is this gonna work? And it's like, man, we went all in, but that's all bad. She didn't wanna go back to a job. And I admit, I didn't wanna go back to a job either, but I also was like, man, this has gotta work.

And why are we not figuring out? And I joined when I gave up the franchises, I joined InvestorFuel right away and started

Steve: Hang on. So before we talk about that Sure. So this you said this is 2021?

Travis: 2021. Yep.

Steve: And then this is just you and your wife? Yes. There's no employees?

Travis: Nope. Not at the time.

Steve: Okay. Got it. Alright. So it's not working. And he and he's like, alright.

We gotta join a mastermind.

Travis: Mastermind. And we went with Investor Fuel as the one just because, like, kept plastering every franchise owner.

Steve: Mhmm.

Travis: So I I knew of it that way.

Steve: Well, that makes sense.

Travis: Because he used to have because he used to

Steve: be a big franchise, seller.

Travis: Yep. So I was just like, okay. Well, let's check it out. And I'm actually glad I I went there because I kinda needed it.

Steve: For the record, that's Mike Hembritt. Yeah. He's the he's the one that likes to go and just, he he he knows the the franchise model very, very well.

Travis: Yes.

Steve: Alright. So go ahead.

Travis: So we we joined that, and we're trying to figure out our marketing channels at the same time, you know. And we're gonna, you know, how these mastermind works, you kinda bring all your problems in the group, and then the group tries to give feedback. And, alright, we're trying direct mail. Alright, we're gonna do SEO. We're gonna do pay per click.

We're gonna do pay per lead. You know, we're just trying to anything and everything that would stick. Well

Steve: Spray and pray.

Travis: Hate to say it, but that's kinda what it was. It's like, are we getting any kind of traction? And I remember at one of the events in Nashville, Tony from ten x was had a booth outside doing TV. And I was like, what is it about? Ask some questions.

And and he's like, yeah. It'll work. And I was like, well, there's one of my competitors been in my market for a long time on TV. Must be working to some point. So I go back to the wife and I said, well, you know, there's a enrollment fee and then a a good chunk per month.

Absolutely not. We're not spending more money. We are on the verge of bankruptcy.

Steve: Yeah.

Travis: I was like, yeah. I think this one's gonna work. This one just feels right. I said, absolutely not. So I do the right thing and I did it anyways.

Steve: Oh. When you say it just feels right, like

Travis: My gut it just felt because I had more faith, like, hey, I see it in the market. A couple of my competitors are on TV and they've been doing it for years on end. And we buying houses would only occasionally run TV, but not a lot. And I'm like, well, there must be something to this. I don't I don't get it.

But my gut it just felt it's hard to ever explain, but my gut just says this one feels like it's gonna work. I don't know how good. It just felt right. So And

Steve: so you you you made an executive decision.

Travis: Yep. Went into dog house for a while with How

Steve: long was that while?

Travis: You would probably about three months once it's Three months. Seeing the results.

Steve: Yeah. So dog house for three months.

Travis: Yes. You know? But sometimes you have to do what you gotta do. Right? You know?

Steve: Well, there's gonna be yeah. There's there's a cost benefit analysis. Yeah. Alright? It's like, hey.

I do this. What's the upside? Yep. What's the downside? Yep.

I live with a downside. And then you pour sugar.

Travis: Yeah. And I was like, this is this is gonna work. So we we decided. We in we enrolled and did the TV commercial, decided to do a husband wife type commercial.

Steve: At least she was still talking to you.

Travis: Yes. For just that, you know, for the public eye. And we ran the commercial. I will admit, for us, the first thirty days, we didn't have a big budget that we went in, but we had about 70 leads that came in. And that was massive for us, 70.

But I only been out of the in the first month at 70, I'd say 25 of them were painters, plumbers, hard money people. Because they haven't seen you before and they're like, hey. Can you use my service?

Steve: Oh, because you're a lead for them.

Travis: Yes. So and so we kept getting those, but I was like, hey. I still got about 40 good leads. Some were still retail. You're always gonna get that in your marketing.

You never can get them all out of the the system. But then they were all sounding promising, and I was like, alright. Tony's like, man, people are getting it first week, second week, third weeks. You know, they're all. I was like, man, we're getting a lot of positive results, but no one's yet said yes.

But it felt right because, again, these were the best warmest leads we've ever gotten. And eventually, when it went into the sixth week, marketing started the results were consistent, but now someone said yes and then another yes and then another yes. And then we were starting to run out of money with heart we we had private individuals that loaned on our deals. Mhmm. Well, we were only doing with We Buy The Houses.

The most we ever did in a year was 20 houses. Otherwise, we're about 14 houses total in a year with them. Even though I own two locations, that's the the most I we ever did. And it's mainly a problem because we didn't have a huge marketing budget in all honesty. So I was

Steve: to share that marketing budget.

Travis: Yeah. Well, yeah. That's true. So I'm trying to think where are we gonna get extra money? You know?

Because we get all these deals, and I was like, I haven't done a ton of assignments in the wholesales. You know? I took everything down and rehabbed it. So it's like, well, something's gotta give because people are saying yes and we're not used to all this. So like anything, you grow through pains, but we as we did it, we didn't wanna touch the marketing budget too much.

But three months in, I remember, going to back to the back of the TV is Drew and Heather. They kinda are the back end people that helps you do the medium buying. Mhmm. Well, they do all this stuff. I shouldn't say I shouldn't say help.

They really do it all. But, I went to one and said, we're we're getting way too good of results. I was like, can we pause this? Because I said, we're gonna run out of money and we ain't gonna be able to pay our bills, you know. Not from the bankruptcy version of it.

Now if things are going well, but, you know, it takes a lot of money if you're gonna close on all the deals.

Steve: Taking properties out is not cheap.

Travis: Yeah. So it's like, well, I see them now the new problem coming down. So and they agreed to lower the budget big time so the leads slowed down. And all it took us was, I think, another forty five days, and we were able to fill the void and we found out, like, hey. This is how we get rid of these properties, started assigning them, wholesaling them, and then we got it turned back up, and then we just kept putting money.

Basically, you just kept reinvesting your profits, back into, the TV budget as we call it in that case.

Steve: Gotcha. Okay. So I mean, you look at, like, every Hollywood story. Right? Like, what is it?

The the hero's journey. You got the adventure the cold adventure and this and that. You kinda have, like, this, like, all hope is lost Mhmm. Moment. Like, we don't know what's gonna do.

What what what are we gonna do? Yep. And then you sign up for 10 TV.

Travis: Mhmm.

Steve: And that was the the thing that got you out of, the hole you were in.

Travis: Yes.

Steve: You said six weeks before you got your your before you got a yes?

Travis: For for us. Yep. There was others that, you know, in other markets, they were getting them right away. We're like, maybe we're doing something wrong. But again, the leads felt so good that they just people just took a while to say yes, you know.

For us, it was.

Steve: So, like, I know when I talked to Tony before, like, in Phoenix, he was like, you gotta have at least 10 to play with Mhmm. In Phoenix. Right? Like, it's probably gonna be a lot more. But, like, if you don't have 10, like, don't start.

Travis: Yeah.

Steve: Did you start Monticello, Minneapolis, Saint Cloud?

Travis: No. It was Twin Cities. And now you're gonna think of TV marketing traditionally. There's normally one or two dominant TV stations for your state. Would that be fair in Phoenix?

Is or is there a three? Is it Yeah.

Steve: Three or four.

Travis: Yeah. Okay. For the Twin Cities, there's a Duluth TV station, Minneapolis, Saint Paul, and then down by Rochester. So we just did the Twin Cities, but it's called the antenna TV. So wherever free TV goes with the antenna that picks it up, and in our state that goes pretty wide, type of thing.

But I do call it shotgun marketing because Yeah. You put it on there, you don't know who's gonna receive that message and call. So we get plenty of rural ones, and we also get most of them are from our metropolitan area. That's where the bulk of the population is. But we do get plenty that do fall outside of it, but I'm able to capitalize on those two.

So that doesn't bother me. But, if you're like, hey, I wanna really dial in, like, direct mail. I wanna know this list that they're on, these pain points and dial in. TV is not gonna do that, but it's such a big broad brush. It gives you implied endorsement.

Yeah. Because a lot of people feel like if you're on TV, the consumer, I'll say this, but like from my first appointments when I went on there, I get feedback from the consumer and they said, well, I can trust you even though I haven't seen you before because you're on TV. They don't just let anyone on TV, and I just play they wanna say, all you need is a checkbook and not be a criminal, essentially, and you can be on TV. So

Steve: I didn't know that.

Travis: Yeah. So

Steve: Interesting. Interesting in psychology. Yeah. So, so you you you advertise in Twin Cities, but you're saying you go statewide.

Travis: The majority of the state.

Steve: Yep. So you don't have to also advertise in Saint Cloud.

Travis: Correct. No. The TV already goes there.

Steve: Okay. Yeah. Because it's it's, we did TV in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

Travis: Okay.

Steve: And we had no idea that when we were in Albuquerque, New Mexico, like, literally everyone in Nevada everyone in Nevada Got Alright.

Travis: Sorry. Everyone in New Mexico. Sorry. Everyone in New Mexico. Okay.

Steve: Everyone in Mexico.

Travis: Got the channels from that channel.

Steve: Gets it. So, like, we were, like, getting leads, like, right at the northern border.

Travis: Mhmm. We were

Steve: getting leads in the southern border. It was

Travis: just Yeah. Crazy. Because we get Western Wisconsin because it bleeds into there. So it's no different. But it's one of those, can you capitalize?

At first, maybe it's like, I don't wanna buy there. Right? But now it's more like, let's analyze that deal before I say no. You know, more likely that it's a no because I don't wanna buy out in that small town or another state. But if there's a lot of meat on that bone, you will find a way to take that deal down.

Steve: Yeah. So let's talk about it. Because, you know, there's a we have a lot of, friends, right, that do nationwide wholesaling. Yep. And part of doing nationwide wholesaling is you run into a lot of rural properties.

Yep. Even when I was doing I was, using Leadsolo for a bit and we were getting properties like, where is this place?

Travis: I get that a lot. I have to literally Google, like, I've never heard of this town before. Yep.

Steve: So we got those. And we had David Olds. He was here, a couple months ago. And he was saying, like, one of the worst things you can do is contract rural properties because, like, there's, like, a sixty or seventy percent chance of, like, dying.

Travis: I would say that's a fair way to look at it. Yeah.

Steve: Yeah. But you figure out a way to monetize Yes. And do well rural. And also add, like, you know, I've coached a lot of people and the greatest challenge is consistently rural.

Travis: Yes.

Steve: Right? So what, what's working for you in rural, that other people haven't figured out?

Travis: Well, one, I get the benefit of bleed over from TV. Right? Because the antenna goes over. So I wanna encourage someone honestly to do, like, direct mail to a small town. Yeah.

You know? But if you were doing anything that's a wide you know, it probably would have to be radio, TV, anything that's more broadcasted. Mhmm. You could do, obviously, Internet, SEO leads, paper click, paper, and PPL. Even though you maybe wanna direct yourself to the major metropolitans, you're gonna get some of those small towns.

Steve: Complete over. Yeah.

Travis: Yep. Now the town I grew up in was population of just a little over 900. So

Steve: On you grew up in. Yep. Nine hundred nine hundred is a small number. Yes. I don't think I know anyone.

Travis: So with it being small town, everything was always bigger wherever I went. Right? Because, like, if you start small, then everything else is bigger no matter where you go. So to me, going to another town is, like, population 1,200, population 1,800, you know. We just bought one this past year.

The population was 208. I mean, normally, you should run. Right? You're thinking of Wellers Store. It's like, well, it's a farm community, but where's the next closest biggest city that you can maybe feel like the employment that would pay for someone that lives there, that would be willing to commute.

When I look in there, there's all I can always tie myself to another community and say, ah, there's something there. Now if it's totally depressed, like, you know, if it was a mining town and now all of a sudden mining dried up, I wouldn't buy in that rural area. You gotta be smarter about that. But if it's like, no, it's like a farming community, a blue collar stone, just people working, but they travel to a major city more than likely. Or now because of COVID, if you have good Internet, you could literally work in that small city, you know, because it's a lot more cost effective.

Well, I get these properties and I would basically, I'm just telling the homeowners direct. I said, there's good news and bad news. The good news is I'll buy a property out here, but there isn't too many investors that I know that are like me that are actually willing to go into a small town and risk buying a property, fixing it up, and then finding out who will buy it from us and on what timeline. We're all about predictability as investors. But I'm willing to do that, but the down downside for you is I'm not gonna pay anywhere close to what I think is a fair price for you.

So I encourage you that if you want a fair price or a really good price in your mind to go ahead and list it with a realtor. But if you just wanna be done with it, let's further the conversation. I would say out of 20, I would say fifteen, sixteen would say I'm gonna go the real route. Don't know what they do, but that's what they'll say. The other five will say, let's go down this path.

And out of that five, I'll buy one. And a lot of times, I'm buying it for 50¢ on the dollar or less minus repairs and updates. But now when you buy it so low, you go to the MLS and find out, like, well, what's the cheapest house that ever sold in that small town? And if you're buying it for way less than that number, you know you can at least unload it on the MLS. Yeah.

But what I did is I reached out to local agents when and you get it to find out who advertises the most. You can kinda go on Zillow and find out who's buying most of the leads in those small towns. And then I just kinda interview those agents. And, of course, I have MLS access. I'm a licensed realtor, so I can pull that data too.

And I look on the background and say, hey. You know, you listed seven properties, and it looks like you helped nine people buy in a year. Small town, that's a lot of activity, right, for that agent. So you're a player, but I need a couple because our personalities might not line up. Because as soon as they hear I'm a licensed agent, why why would you hire me?

It's like, because you're three hours away, and I don't I've never heard of this town until this person called me. So I was like, you're gonna know someone that I don't know, and that that someone that you know is not gonna be looking on the MLS for their next deal. That's normally the the farmer that takes on another rental or just someone else trying to build up a portfolio and waits for the sweet old lady realtor. Says, hey. I got this property investor.

He wants to unload this property at x y z price, and and they normally hear it's a good price. And I normally sell my small town properties, sell faster than my metropolitan properties.

Steve: Really? Yes.

Travis: But it's all about the connections with those realtors.

Steve: Yeah. So interesting. We still have the scarcity mindset from the realtors. Like, why are you talking to me? You can just do it yourself.

Travis: Mhmm.

Steve: But in reaching out to them, you also bring on the point that they know someone

Travis: Mhmm.

Steve: In their database. So not necessarily, like, hey, you have a buyer right now. But, like, hey, you might know someone who Right. Would be interested in adding another property to your portfolio.

Travis: Yeah.

Steve: That's a pretty simple

Travis: Yep.

Steve: Assumption. What are you typically and you're saying, like, 50% or less. Yep. So you're buying these properties and then you're flipping to these other, investors. Like, what are they paying generally?

Travis: So because it's small towns, a lot of times I'm paying well under $50,000 for these properties. And if people say, those don't exist. If you go into small town communities, they exist. Yeah. There's a reason they're in a small town.

But as an example, like I said, when I looked up the data on most of them, they normally bottom out in the upper twenties or low thirties, and they're normally really beat up. And it's like, well, if they sell on that, I always make sure I'm being beneath those prices. So it's not uncommon for 10,000, 20,000 is the most I'm paying for a house, in these small communities. But then just think if you're selling it for 30 or 40 with that agent, even if you pay them $1,500 commission, which is well above even 6% at this. But you gotta give them something.

Right? It's otherwise, you're doing nothing. But just think of it. It's like it's like an assignment fee. Yeah.

I had to close on it, but, you know, that type of money, most people can kinda scrape that together. And then those agents just just go to town. You just you have to make sure you're with the busybody agents. You can't just go with just someone because they're advertising. You have to know that they're a player, and you just gotta look for their activity.

Now you can just interview them. You can go on Zillow and say, how many properties have you sold in this area? You can take this small town and three other small towns around it to be fair and say, how many have you listed and how many have you helped buy? I like to always verify the data so someone can't skew it Yeah. To what they want it to be.

But But if you don't have it, kinda go with your gut. If it sounds like they're talking the right way to you with the data that they're giving back, it's probably factual. Well, then go ahead and say, I like your personality. I'm gonna wanna list it with you.

Steve: So key is to find realtors in the area who know somebody. And when you say busybody, you mean just like the volume of sales?

Travis: Yeah. They're they're always doing something. Yep. Because otherwise, it feels like isn't there some national stat that, you know, hardly any agents even do one deal a year?

Steve: Yeah. I think it's, the average realtor and I may I might have to update this because it's been pretty bloody, the last couple of years. I think the historically, it's always been the average realtor. It's just three or four deals a year. And then the, typically, four.

And then the other one we always see is, like, 60% do one or zero. 40 do zero. 60% do one or zero. And then the other 40% do at least two transactions a year. And then really, like, there's that eighty twenty rule, but Mhmm.

In the realtor, it's what we found is about ninety three and seven.

Travis: Okay. Seven percent of the real estate is gonna do that in the business.

Steve: That's what we found.

Travis: Sounds real, to be honest, you know, because it seems like, oh, I've heard that guy before or that gal before. Yeah.

Steve: And then you see the same names over and over again.

Travis: Yep. So you're like, those are players as I call it. Right. But in a small town, a player is obviously gonna be way more reduced, but they're definitely gonna do more than four if they're a player even in a small town.

Steve: Right. Okay. So, how far because it so you're for people that don't know, Monticello. Mhmm.

Travis: Right?

Steve: Because you even had to correct me because I hadn't heard that city before.

Travis: That's alright.

Steve: So Monticello, where does this sit on the map, like, in in in the grand scheme of things?

Travis: It's about forty five minutes Northwest of Minneapolis Mhmm. Is a better way to put it, which puts me closer to Central Minnesota.

Steve: Closer to Central Minnesota. Okay. And then so you're advertising through Twin Cities. You're hitting the whole state.

Travis: Majority of the state.

Steve: Yep. And then when you do when we're talking about doing rural, are you doing the whole state?

Travis: It's wherever because TV goes by wherever the next TV provider is because their signal can only blast out so far. Right? Because otherwise, then the other TV provider, they can't hit the market they're supposed to hit. Right. So it's kinda odd.

Like, I can get leads up in International Falls. And if you don't know where that is for most people, that's Canada, essentially, Minnesota. Well, our TV goes all the way up there even though Duluth is closer to International Falls, but their TV signal, for whatever reason, doesn't stretch all the way up there or at least it's not strong enough. And then people get to get to say it, the Twin Cities. They get the TV station from the Twin Cities all the way up there and then they're thinking, well, I gotta sell a house.

So they fill out a form or they give a call.

Steve: Gotcha. So there's been quite a bit of, like, turbulence in in Minnesota.

Travis: You heard about it,

Steve: Yeah. It's been on the news. How did that impact your business?

Travis: It, it slowed down. Not necessary. The retail side slowed down the more, you know, where I'm trying to sell the property on the retail market after it's been fixed up and flipped. I think it just was kind of a shock to the market, you know, like I

Steve: don't think it was just the market that was shocked.

Travis: Where it's like, hey. All this stuff is going. So, you know, a a lot of people, hey. If I don't know what to do, the best thing to do is do nothing. Right?

Right. That's the safest thing to always do. So that slowed down. The leads in the metro, metro to me is Twin Cities, that kinda slowed down, but I would say Central Minnesota, Southern Minnesota, the rural areas, those leads still kept coming in, regardless. But I wouldn't say it was only about a forty five day blimp, you know, on our radar.

So which is good. I mean, I didn't want it to last longer.

Steve: Right.

Travis: You know? I I gotta move properties. That's how I make money.

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Steve: So, alright. So you signed up for 10 x TV. You started getting leads statewide. Yep. What was the next challenge now that you got TV figured out?

Travis: Okay. So, we had TV figured out. We added an employee, to take calls, you know, because obviously they came in. So we ultimately had the one, so then we went to two because we're like, hey. If they call in sick or have a day off, you're like everything came back to the wife and I, and we're like, hey.

We kinda wanna move out of that phase a little bit if we could. So we had two employees then that basically answer the phone, start the triaging of the calls is what we call it type of thing. And then as that grew a little bit more, then we only added one more. He's kind of a part time agent. It kinda just worked out that he's like, hey.

I don't need steady hours, but is there anything in your business that I can help you out with? And I'm like, well, I do our acquisition stuff a little bit different. I do a hybrid version of acquisition. We used to do belly to belly to start off with. That means if it's qualified lead, I was driving out to that appointment and literally, talking with the seller, making the offer, trying to get it signed.

How far would you drive? Oh, I'd drive wherever wherever I had to go if the deal made sense. On average, it was always one hour, one way, always. It was no matter what I got, it fracked up a ton of miles.

Steve: Was there ever a three hour drive?

Travis: There was occasionally. Yeah. But I would say it wouldn't be uncommon for an hour and forty five minutes.

Steve: Okay.

Travis: Yeah. One way. But my prior job when I did the low voltage wiring, I wasn't a work fan. So I drove the metro all the time for my job. So I probably got desensitized that.

And I'm like, well, I'm always an hour to just wherever I'm going. So it's like, well, anything over two, it's starting to be like, hey. This is starting to take a long time. And I know a lot of other people say no, but it's like, hey. I just go where the paycheck is.

Steve: Well, I asked this because, like, we get, acquisition managers to complain, like, it's forty five minutes away. And it's like, really?

Travis: Yeah. No. That's that's my backyard as what I'd call it. Yeah. But because of the amount of leads now we increased as you get success on things, you normally put more money behind things that work.

Right? That's just logical. You're like, hey, if this is working, let's put a lot of more money behind it. And so when we added the more money, more leads kept coming in, it's like, I can't be everywhere. I had another former, franchise owner that wanted to get rid of his franchise, and he says, hey, can I kinda join up with you in a way to do something?

And it's like, yeah, let's see. You know, you have some construction people and that. So he came on board for about a year and a half, and then his, his father had a, a severe stroke, and he was kinda at a life event. And he's like, hey, I'm just gonna go do the family thing. And that was fine, you know.

But where I was like, man, I gotta do all these appointments, and I'm gonna get burned out, you know. Well, I shouldn't say going. I was starting to feel burned out, you know, always doing it. So, I did Josh and Tiff Hines, training and they were really good at systems and processes. Yep.

So, we we basically took that into our business. Now they want everything just to be done at your office. Right? We wanted kind of a hybrid version of it. Like, hey, there's sometimes the older community just wants to see the whites of your eyes and your belly to belly to do business.

If the deal sounds good, I'm going on the appointment. I'm gonna go ahead and work the deal in person. But I rarely have to do that now, just probably because we've been on TV for over four years.

Steve: Yeah. A lot

Travis: of them don't expect myself to show up on the appointment. They're expecting an employee to do it all, which I'm glad, they they think that way. That's great. Yeah. So, we decided to say, hey.

All comes calls come into our two main acquisition people, now we call them. They triage it. If it sounds like a deal, they're gonna send out, my part time employee. He's gonna go out and do a Matterport. So he'll go to the property, spend about forty five minutes, and do a Matterport camera of the whole interior, and then take some still photos of the outside.

And then I have a little checklist of, does it smell like cat urine or smoking? Because, you know, camera's not gonna pick up bad stuff. You know? Does it slope, that type? So I once he gets done that, he uploads everything from the iPad from the the job site as we call it.

We normally get it back within an hour, and we can already start triaging it. So then what we'll do is then my gals will go ahead and get all the file stuff ready and have it right in front of me, and they'll just send me a task in my CRM to go ahead and say make an offer. Since I did most of the rehabbing on all these properties, that's where one of my superpowers, I would say, is. So I can you know, on a Matterport, you can look at the ceiling, the floor. I mean, it does a lot, but it also helps you with the flow of the house.

The flow of the house has huge impact on value. Sure. You can have the same square footage, the same amount of bedrooms, but what good is if it flows like crap? It's not gonna sell it at the same price. So we go off of that, and then I'll come up with a number.

And normally, I can do that in about nine, ten minutes at most. And that's where normally the three hours a day and most is is I spend about an hour making offers because I would say we're averaging, I feel like we're around four to seven offers coming down the pipeline. And an offer might come back and say, we can't make an offer at a price I'm like, we'll have to pass because the math doesn't add up. I don't like the layout type of thing. But But I would say, on average, I would say four in a day is one.

It doesn't sound like a lot, but you gotta think it. You got thirty days. Mhmm. I had a well, not really. I suppose weekends if you take it out.

But, essentially, a decent amount of leads that you have to process. But I if I can get them to ten minutes or under, and we're pretty accurate on it, and if they say yes, our gals will sign them over the phone. If they wanna do a wet signature in person, we'll send the same guy, the Matterport guy out there to go ahead and get the signature Mhmm. So I don't have to be involved. And if it's a digital one, then I get involved, but that just pops in my email.

And it's super simple. And, then once they say yes, then I'll actually that's when I do go out to the property and verify that it's everything that we thought it was.

Steve: Oh, so after they say yes

Travis: and get the contract Yep.

Steve: You will still go out and do the due diligence?

Travis: Yep. I'll go out and do the due diligence. We call it owner approval. It is an inspection phase, but I I don't like retrade. That is just not something that's my superpower I like to do.

So I we either say, we messed up, you can cancel the contract, or this is what the new price has to be. Since 2016, I only had to do that five times. So I'm then accurate about what I do. And if I'm off by $34,000, that's a learning lesson for me. That's not for the consumer to go ahead and say, hey.

I missed these few things. It's like, no. That's just a learning lesson in that case.

Steve: And then do you do more if you say hybrid, so virtual face to face Mhmm. Do you do more, wholesale or you're still taking a lot of properties down?

Travis: It's fifty fifty. So, 50% is either assignment or wholesale depending on how we're getting rid of the property and the timing. And then the other is rehab and hoteling. So on the other 50%, I would say 40% of the the retail stuff is hotel, and then the other is actual little more lengthier rehab.

Steve: Gotcha. And then so and I'm bringing this up. I think it's important. So, you're spending how much in marketing?

Travis: Right now, we're at, just shy of 55,000 a month.

Steve: 55,000 a month. And then you're bringing home, consistently around

Travis: Like, last year, I made just shy of three quarters a mil take home.

Steve: Take home. Yep. Yeah. So gross, I know it's not as important of a number. But gross, how much do you do you bring in to the

Travis: Just shy of 2,000,000 is the gross number.

Steve: So just shy of 2,000,000 Mhmm. Kept $7.50

Travis: Mhmm. Which there

Steve: are not a lot of people that do that. Right?

Travis: No. Well, I don't think so. And it's not because I think I'm better than others, but when other people are like, I gotta buy a 100 house, 150, I'm like, my lifestyle is sitting real good right now. Like, this is Alright. Really good money for what I think is very little effort because the systems and processes are in place.

Steve: Yeah.

Travis: So I'm like, I'm even if I had a half million dollar a year, I'm okay with that.

Steve: Yeah. So that's what I wanna dive into. Right? So, just shy of two

Travis: Mhmm.

Steve: Turns in a $7.50 after marketing overhead, everything else. But only doing three hours a day. I think that is the question that people wanna have answers to. Right? So what are you doing in those three hours a day?

And then what did you do to get to the point where it's three hours a day?

Travis: Sure. It really comes down to, do you want all the money in your bank account so you feel good like I made a million dollars? Or would you say my lifestyle wouldn't change from $7.50 or a mil? Mhmm. Most people, honestly, your lifestyle doesn't change between those two numbers.

You know? Yeah. Doesn't mean you're forever independently wealthy. It just means you're very comfortable between those two numbers. So delegate, delegate, delegate.

Who can you hire? What can you install?

Steve: And I've heard, like, it's pretty hard to spend $250,000 a year. Right? Like, you have to go out

Travis: of your way. Well, my wife's doing a pretty Yeah. But I would agree with you. Yes.

Steve: Like but you have to, like, intentionally spend. Right? Like, like, you have to surround yourself in a really bad place. Like, you're only, like, you're only hanging out at the mall.

Travis: Yeah. Right? No.

Steve: But generally speaking, living day to day Yep. 250, like, there's some great vacations in there.

Travis: All there. All there. Yeah.

Steve: Right? So at 500, you're living pretty good.

Travis: Yeah.

Steve: And the difference between $507.50 in a mil, not really noticeable.

Travis: Yeah. It's just just really how

Steve: much you're saving at that point.

Travis: Yeah. That's exactly how can you reinvest it? Or do you wanna hard money it? Do you wanna keep in your business? Exactly.

That's really what it is.

Steve: Yeah. So I I'm just bringing that up because you're saying, like, you gotta ask yourself, like, is it really worth? What are you willing to do to go from $7.50 to 300 to to mill? And you're saying, like, instead of doing that, like, I'm already doing good. How do I just

Travis: Yes. Delegate? Yeah. Because that's what I looked. It was like, alright.

I could have more money, but I have to do more stuff. And I was like, I wanna free up more and more of my time. So how do we do it? And my wife in the winter months, she'll work six hours, typically on her work day at most. And then when summer comes around, she's normally from, like, nine to noon.

She joins me at about the three hour, except we're I'm always doing something different, but she's in the summer months, she's about three hours, and then winter is six. I I will admit, there's probably some days I would work four or five because winters in Minnesota, you if you got nothing going on, Not exciting. It's cold out, so then you look for something to do because you get bored, you know, in that case. But systems and processes in place. Document all your systems that you that you need along with the process.

Because if you have a turnover on employee, you don't wanna restart it all over again. You already have to retrain them. But if you already have those systems in place, it's already ready to teach that new person. Yeah. There's gonna be some hand holding, but you're not starting from scratch when you do that.

But and then it's just finding out who does something better. Like, hey. Let's talk about bookkeeping. We don't need to, you know, do that in house. That takes a lot of time.

Let's sub that part out. And and then if it's, like, on my end, I was going to the appointments. Right? I didn't want to go to those appointments. Again, it makes it sound like they don't like people.

It's like, I think I do really well talking with the consumer in person, but I also, like, I wanna have a life. So it's like, how could I get around it? It's like, I invested in a Matterport camera, and then an employee luckily, when we were looking for someone, someone raised their hand. Confident there's someone out there that would wanna do something like that. So it's like, okay.

I'm investing in some technology just to cover me not going to the job site. We have processes in place of when the calls come in, how do we triage it? You know, how do we funnel it through our CRM? And then get it ready for the next step that has to happen. You know, a has to go to b, b has to go to c, you know, those type of things.

It's it just it it fits like clockwork because you just delegate whatever you don't want on your plate. Mhmm. But, you know, delegating does sometime take away from your pocketbook. Now I try and think sometimes I'm like, what if I just buy one more deal? Maybe it's another $30,000 deal.

It's like, well, I can easily afford to delegate this to that person. Yeah. So that's I try and think of it on that level, but I never wanna be big. My wife just joined a, it was kind of a woman's group, but she hired a a mentor that did a lot of acquisitions. And she was like, hey, let's grow.

And she came into our office this year and says, what are these your guys' plans? How do we get you guys to grow the next level? Who do we have to acquire and all that? And I looked at my wife and I said, I don't wanna do any of that stuff. I said, we have a really good lifestyle.

I was like, I'm here to support you, but it's like we have a very comfortable lifestyle. I was like, more employees, I'd say it does lead typically to more headaches, you know, that that go and play. And then if the market turns on you, you got more stresses financially, responsibility because we do think about providing for people. Their their livelihood is in your hands.

Steve: They rely on us.

Travis: Yeah. So it's like, if you don't think that you don't stress over that, you know, well, you're not either a good business owner or you're clueless. Right? But it's like, hey. If we stay kind of frugal and it's like, alright.

We got two full time employees, one part time employee, and one VA, and then my wife and I. It's like, to do that type of revenue, I think it's fantastic. Yeah. And it allows us to have very minimal hours involved.

Steve: So I wanna say it's overly simple. Like, it's anticlimactic. Right? It's like I know. It's like, how do I

Travis: The back end story is sizzling, but then it's like, boy, that sounded pretty generic. You just have to have some processes in place. Right.

Steve: It's

Travis: like, but very important processes that you gotta go in place.

Steve: So, and I'm not, like, belittling it. Like, the the the secrets of success is is it's out there. It's not like it's, like, kept in some private Yeah. Area. Right?

Like, it's it's there. It's just that you had to go do it. So Take action. Would you say that you're wired to be a process oriented person?

Travis: I'd like to think so because my brain keeps thinking, like, if a doesn't connect with b and then it goes to c, I don't care about the a and b didn't connect. So my mind keeps rebooting. It's gotta make sense to go. So I do think I'm a process thinker. Mhmm.

But I also think I suffer from ADD at the same time. You know, like, shiny object over there. Like, hey. What's this? But, overall, I would say, yes.

It has to follow. And

Steve: I think

Travis: that's where probably it gives me a little leg up because I'm always thinking what's the next step. We do this, we gotta document this, and then this goes into here. So then it feels like you're not leaving

Steve: So you're naturally, processing wired that way.

Travis: Yes.

Steve: And so, I was because I was gonna ask, like, if you weren't wired that way, what'd you do to to overcome that? So so you're already wired that way. What were some of the greatest challenges in creating these these these process

Travis: and procedures? Trying to make sure that the process has made sense no matter who you put in that seed. Uh-huh. Because at first, you started creating the process and then you match it to the personality of the employee that was there. But then if the employee left, well, guess what?

Now it's kinda tailored to that personality. And now the next one is typically a totally different personality. So it's like so learning to to try and think on a level, like, how do I make it a little bit more generic so it's not unique to that individual, but enough that someone can come in and follow each step line by line what you want them to do next. So Yeah. That would be one of our bigger challenges that we would say on the processes in place other than, like I said, always going to all all the appointments.

That was just doing the Matterport thing, you know. I don't remember who I got that from. I I believe I got it from one of my competitors in my market where they sent me a wholesale deal, and I thought it was the coolest thing. I was like, I can go through the whole house. I didn't have luck at it.

And and I first looked up Matterport, I was like, alright. Software is about $60 a month for, let's say, 15 houses that you can store. But But then I was like, man, the camera's like $5,000. But then I found out that they sell, like, an Amazon version. There's two different ones that you can get for, like, $400.

Steve: Yeah.

Travis: So I bought the $400 one, and then we went a year and a half, and then we started getting some software glitches. We're like, hey. We're already all in. So I didn't buy their $5,000 one. I bought their first version, which was still, like, a $2,400 camera.

Steve: Yeah.

Travis: But it was well worth it in this case because we went all in. And now a lot of our dispel happens because of that Matterport.

Steve: So you said that one of the greatest challenges was, like, how how to design your processes from different personality types.

Travis: Yep. So

Steve: how did you resolve that?

Travis: It was trial and error. It's just because I looked at it as like, alright. I I designed the process. This is how I think it flow. Send it to my wife.

Do you know what I'm trying to do in this case? And then she would do the same thing. Like, here's a process I read through and say, hey. I think it's missing a step because I don't know what to do next year. Really, it was just actually run it by other people so you didn't get the tunnel vision of saying, hey.

Nope. I know I covered everything. When in all reality, you probably covered 98% of it. But still that 2% is very crucial if it's missing a very important step. So it was more of the round robin of our small employees in our office office that we hadn't just got feedback.

Steve: So we're not gonna sell processes because that's not the sexiest thing. We're gonna sell three hour workdays through processes.

Travis: Yes. I don't know. That's that's a good way to put it.

Steve: Yeah. Because that's I can say, like, you know, what you're talking about here, it's, you know, Michael Gerber with the entrepreneurial myth or the e myth.

Travis: Mhmm. Right?

Steve: Like, how do you how do you design a business like McDonald's where a pimple faced teenager can't screw it up?

Travis: Yep. Right? You have it so dumbed down.

Steve: Right. Yep. And that's what you've done. And, the reason I mean, I could say I have challenges with it. Right?

Mhmm. Is that I'm not a process or a procedure person.

Travis: Okay.

Steve: I'm more like, well, I hired you. Like, go figure it out.

Travis: Yeah. I'm the big vision. I want this to happen, figure out all the steps involved, but I bet you want it done in, let's say, about four days.

Steve: Yeah. Yeah. Well, I want it done already. Why is it not done yet? Yeah.

And so and so I had to learn and and completely modify how I'm naturally wired

Travis: Mhmm.

Steve: To embrace processes. And now, like, I am one of, like, the biggest ambassadors of processes in in our organization because, like, when we don't, things break.

Travis: Yeah. No. It definitely does.

Steve: Like, it for us, like, processes weren't really necessary when there's, like, two of us, three of us. Right? Like, I could shout down the hall.

Travis: Yeah. We did some winging or you just wrote it. And now it's on a notepad in my office.

Steve: Yeah. It's like two or three people I could shout I could scream down the hall. Right. And it works. But now that we have people, like, all over the country and, you know, really outside our country working together, like, it doesn't work

Speaker: if we're not all

Steve: No. I'm not even the same playbook.

Travis: And especially in real estate too, the process is documented, but you need a CRM. You know, if you're gonna be doing real estate flipping of any capacity, if it's wholesaling or signing, you need a CRM because everything's in your database. And we have so many deals that have come back to life. We just closed on one, month and a half ago. It was a $70,000 assignment fee, which was really nice.

Mhmm. And that was about two and a half years old. Everything is just working the leads. And it's obviously, you send out text blast, emails. We still send postcards.

We do handwritten ones and when we change in up cycles because you don't know which way they're gonna wanna respond. Right? So

Steve: Yeah. Everybody responds differently.

Travis: So it's like, let's just give them all the option. It's like, but we haven't heard from them. If they haven't sold their property, we're gonna still market to them because it's like more than likely their problem didn't go away. It just got delayed. Because I would like to say the people we normally buy from, I call them professional procrastinators.

Steve: Yes. They are.

Travis: They do it on steroids and it's like sometimes you wanna pull your hair out, you're like, come on. Let's do something. But if you didn't have these procrastinators, I wanna have a business model that works well because they'd be using more of their logical side of the brain and the logical typically leads towards you to list it with a realtor. Right? Right.

So I need that class of people that are just a little bit dysfunction on how they think and process and literally kick the can down the road.

Steve: Until they need your help. Absolutely. Absolutely. Yes. Yeah.

Okay. So right now, the biggest bulk of your day then, it sounds like underwriting.

Travis: Yes. Underwriting. Yep.

Steve: Anything else?

Travis: No. I I I have Pete as my CRM software. That has made a world of difference because it just well, I think a lot of them are coming in with AI, you know, into it. We're now starting to unleash AI within our CRM, and I know that you have your variation of what you guys are doing. It's probably gonna take over some of my underwriting to a point.

You know, it'll just give me more data points a lot faster, but it's the underwriting of the deal, sending it back. Occasionally, team will have a question. We can if you're very small, I just say just go ahead and call me. But, normally, I'm I'm doing something. I just bought a, is it Teamu?

Is that how you say that works? Yeah. I just bought their version of a Segway. Yeah. If you see the Band Aid and I got some bruises here, let's just say, that was a fun experience.

Steve: Was it because it was a TV version of Segway or was it Operator. Operator error?

Travis: I did a truss fall forward. That was we have a incline, in our driveway on a hill, and I was, like, showing off to the wife. Hey. Look. I can just go fast, you know, and I lean forward.

And I lean too far forward, and I didn't realize how far is too far forward until

Steve: Oh, you don't know the limits until you push it.

Travis: Exactly. And then back to me, then I biffed it down there and, you know, it's just like a little road rash and I was like, well but I'm messing around. I'm I'm always doing sometimes stupid stuff. So, you know, team calls and I just got the AirPods in. Hey.

What do you need? And it's like, what are you doing right now? Well, I'm kinda being Paul Blart right now in my yard doing but it's that or I'm on a four wheeler. I'm I'm doing a lot of fun things now because life has created that opportunity. Yeah.

And it didn't come without all the headaches along the way, but I'm capitalizing. But I still have to stay fresh on, you know, just plugged into the real estate market. Because you're gonna say, hey, three hours, you just show up every day underwrite, nothing will change in real estate. Mhmm. Well, things change, you know.

I think there's a foreclosure wave coming. I don't know how big, but I feel like the uptick is gonna be here. And then short sales, I think, are gonna be another big ticket item that are gonna be because we get tons of leads from the 2021, twenty twenty two's. Obviously, there is an equity in those houses anymore. Mhmm.

Or if it is, once you pay a real estate commission, it pretty much there's nothing there, so they can't get rid of it. So short sales are gonna come. So we're changing our marketing tune, like, I'm staying consistent. That's one thing on TV. I spend the same amount every single month.

It's, you know, it's predictable is what I'm saying. But now I'm coming up with other marketing channels. So that's kinda in my dead time of underwriting is, like, kinda thinking what other lead channels because that's lifeline of our business is leads. You gotta get the leads in, you gotta know how to convert them, and then if you do that, normally everything else takes care of the rest.

Steve: So I guess another question is how do you I mean, you say, like, it's simple for you. Right? Like, well, my life's pretty good. We don't really need to do more. But for a lot of people that are listening, watching

Travis: Mhmm.

Steve: That's easier said than done.

Travis: True.

Steve: Right? Because, like, even have I have friends who's like, you know what? This is the year I'm gonna take time off. I'm not time off. I'm gonna slow down.

Yep. Be intentional with my family.

Travis: Okay.

Steve: Right? I'm not gonna go as hard. Right? And then you look and there's

Travis: That's right.

Steve: That was a phase for, like, a week. Yeah. Right? Yep. How do you stay plugged in and stay tuned to not trying to chase more?

Travis: Well, again, for us, income allows us not to need to chase that extra dollar, but I wouldn't say it's the commitment of what you want to get done in your personal life just becomes a higher priority. So you're like, alright, I can go and do two or three extra deals, make some extra money, but now I don't have time to coach my son's basketball team. Or I can't go and watch my my daughter play volleyball. I have young kids, you know, and I have four young kids, and I want to be able to attend all their sporting events, any of their school plays, anything that they want you there for, I never want to miss. Mhmm.

So I intentionally say I will never work more than an eight hour day. I wanna keep it in that limit. But at the same time, I want it to weigh less and hence why it's about three hours a day is all I what I'm putting in because I'm intentionally prioritizing my family because that's the most important to me. Not saying it's it's probably for most people, but it's like when you say, well, it's easier said than done. It's like, well, think about it.

What are you doing intentionally to make sure you're making the change? Because I had a day job. I I rehab houses on the side on the weekends of that. Now does that take time out of your your personal schedule? Yeah.

No. Short term, you can't say, I gotta prioritize my family, but I wanna start a flipping business. You can't have your cake and eat it too. You're gonna say, unfortunately, sit down with the family. I'm probably gonna be away a little bit longer than what I want, but I wanna get enough income from flipping real estate of whatever fashion you wanna do, but then I can quit my job, which then will give me more time to build this business.

And then that business, if if it's done correctly, will yield me free time to hopefully then wanna spend with your family. Right.

Steve: So to summarize, you went from we buy the houses. Franchise system. Yep. Franchise system. Washed that kinda get saturated.

Travis: Mhmm.

Steve: Sold one. Shut the other one down. Right. And a 180 k into this journey of, like, what are we doing?

Travis: Yep.

Steve: Wise to say, hey, let's join a mastermind.

Travis: Mhmm.

Steve: Hang out with some other people.

Travis: Exactly. Like minded.

Steve: Like minded that have figured it out. Exactly. And then from there, you found ten x TV. Yep. And that was, like, the pivotal moment that changed everything.

Travis: For me, it did. Yep.

Steve: Gotcha. Yeah. I think that's that's a great, great story. So looking at your business now. Right?

I mean, like, we already touched on this already, but, like, what is like, why do you keep going today? Like, what what what what pushes you today when you could you could slow down even more. Right? Like, you could Sure. If you wanted to.

So what's pushing you, like, right now? Like, what's your what what's your epic life goal?

Travis: I like to have toys and nice things. I was fortunate to remodel our house, and we ended up adding a half million dollar addition onto the house, but we paid cash for it.

Steve: Mhmm.

Travis: That was super nice to be able to do that. Out of that, I still am not done doing what I wanna do there. I built a three car garage attached to my house, but underneath that, it's spancrete. And beneath it, half of it is a movie theater room. Another half of the other half is gonna be a golf simulator area, and then the other half is like a pool table.

So it's kinda like a man cave underneath there. So Underneath the three car garage. Underneath the three car garage that no one knows exists because from the outside, you can't tell because it looks like just a three car garage, but it's like the biggest bomb buster ever.

Steve: Spancrete?

Travis: Spancrete. So basically what parking ramps use, you know, when you At the airport? Yep. When you kinda live. I'll call it similar to that, Spancrete.

It just allows a heavy vehicle to park on top without crashing through.

Steve: So Got it. Okay.

Travis: It's just a cement floor essentially, but it's engineered cement floor that gets, what is it, craned in. They come in, like, three feet wide by whatever the length it needs to span and then they just kinda I had

Steve: no idea this existed. Yeah. Especially for residential.

Travis: Yeah. Well, it does when you spend some money, I suppose. Right?

Steve: So golf simulator. So you like to golf? Yes. How's the golf in Minnesota?

Travis: To be honest, it's probably busier than anywhere else nationwide during the summer months. Because I think the last time I read up on it, I thought Minnesota had one of the most amount of golf courses nationwide. I had no idea. And you wouldn't think so because you're like, well, it's cold all the time. But think for the five months out of the year that we can actually probably feel our fingers, People that are passionate about, you know, sports, and if golf is one of them, they're always at the golf course.

So the golf courses are normally extremely busy because it's all or nothing. Here, it's like yeah. It's like, well, it's the heat probably is what restricts you from wanting to be on the course is out here. Right?

Steve: You wanted to go down some? Or The heat is what allows the, lesser, well doing golfers to play.

Travis: Oh, okay.

Steve: Like, when I was a struggling realtor

Travis: Mhmm.

Steve: That's when I would golf. Okay.

Travis: Right? Give me something to do. Yeah.

Steve: Like, when you're doing well, you golf in the morning or whatever. But, like, yeah, if you're struggling financially

Travis: Go out there.

Steve: You're golfing afternoons.

Travis: Okay. Well, that's fair enough. Yeah. I used to be pretty decent at it, but I gave up all that part of building my business. There's plenty of times I wanted to go out and golf.

I used to when I had my day job, I would probably golf sixty, seventy times in a year. Mhmm. And, of course, in a five month span, and I'm out golfing all the time. I purposely put myself kinda on time out and say, I think for the first five years, I think the most I did it was three times each year Uh-huh. When I was golfing because I wanted to make it.

I need to succeed at this. You know, I gave up my steady income. Now the wife joined me in the business. Everything's gotta work. So I put myself on time out for the longest time.

And now in the last, I would say, three years, I'm nowhere near where I used to be because now I got four young kids. It's one of those things where it's like, well, I wanna go, but do I have enough time to sneak around a golf van and then get back in time for the kid activity? Typically, the answer is no because I'm still like I said, three hours a day still takes a little bit of time, but, you know, in an eight hour day, three hours go with at least five, and that's normally a round of golf and and is in my backyard. No. So I was like, hey.

If I put a golf simulator, one, I can golf in the winter months. And two, I can I know it's not the same, but it's gonna be a whole lot more than what I do have going on in my life?

Steve: So Jesse Burrell with Vash Data, he was on this show. So I went to his office because he had a golf simulator.

Travis: Okay.

Steve: Those things are pretty crazy. Yes. The like, say, like, you're on this course and you hit the ball over here and then you stand on it and, like, the the

Travis: The mat is moving? Yeah. Yeah. It's nuts. Because you're like, hey, the slope changed.

Well, that's what it would be in a golf course.

Steve: That's what it would be on a real golf course. Yeah. So, yeah, that was that was I didn't know that technology existed.

Travis: Well, it doesn't on the cheaper ones. I'm not trying to bash anyone, but they do get very expensive. But the more you spend, the fancier they get.

Steve: Right. What's your biggest struggle today?

Travis: The biggest struggle, not having enough friends that have a lifestyle like I have now Mhmm. Because they're always working. So you don't get to always kind of, hey, I'm gonna go hang out with my buddy. He's working. I'm gonna go hang out.

Oh, he's working. So, you know, like, oh, poor me. But I would say that that would be one of my struggles is like, hey, I never thought that would kinda happen because, you know, I was always working, they're always working. But now that I got more free time, they're still working, I'm not. So struggle is just trying to reoccupy my time to keep myself busy because my mind's always going.

And then it's like, alright. Do I think business stuff wrong? Do I wanna add on the house? Do I wanna remodel? Things like that.

I mean, again, not trying to say poor me, but that's kinda where I'm at.

Steve: Well, there's there's a I mean, there's the principle that, you know, like, being an entrepreneur can be one of the loneliest roads. Yeah. But then also, like, you hear about these guys that sell their companies, right, their the exits. Yeah. And they sell their company for tens of millions or 100,000,000.

And they're like but then they're like, I have no one to hang out with.

Travis: Yeah. Because no one else is at your at your level. And then it's like, you wouldn't think that would be a problem, but it becomes a problem.

Steve: Yeah.

Travis: And the only way you ever do it is once you're in it, you know, because you honestly, most people don't think about it because you don't ever think that you're all those problems. Yes. But you don't think normally, like, well, that'd be a good problem to have. But then once you have the problem, you're like, well, it's good for a first few days, maybe a couple weeks. But then after that, it's like, this is not much fun.

Hence, why you go out and get road rashes. Yeah. Because it's like, oh, I gotta occupy my time with something.

Steve: Yeah. I heard, I was talking well, not talking. I was, listening to a guy speak and, he sold his company I I think he was in his, like, mid twenties. He sold his company for 8 figures. Right?

And, like, his first day, he bought a Ferrari. Right? Right? Like, he got same day. Yep.

Right? Got a Ferrari, paid full price, you know. Yep. And he's, like, just depressed. Like, that was the first thing.

He was, like

Travis: Well, I hit my pinnacle, you know, and now it's on. It's like, now what else do I do?

Steve: Yeah. You peaked him at my mid twenties.

Travis: Yeah. Good problem to have. Right? That's all we're trying to say.

Steve: Good problem to have. Well, he he did find purpose, which was good. Okay. So what is your superpower?

Travis: I think my superpower is just dealing with the average seller, like, mindset. So, like, when I train my acquisition people, you know, I've done various trainings and it's always worth seeing other people how they do their stuff, but I like to think that my superpower is just being blunt and honest with a seller. Mhmm. You know, where they feel relaxed and comfortable with saying, hey. I think you're you're not BSing me.

I think you're telling me the truth. You're down to earth. And it's like, that's who I am. So my superpower is just being real and true. And I think a lot of people kind of put on a a fake front in this business.

Mhmm. I I would say, you know, like the end of last year, I lost $50,000 on one house. The market turned. I had ton of things go wrong. But, obviously, I still had a fantastic year.

You know, you just have to have way more right than wrong. But Yeah. I'm not saying that I don't have bad things that can happen. It's just minimized. But my superpower is, obviously, just dealing with people.

Yeah. You know how to read them.

Steve: What would you say is the biggest failure that you you you learn from?

Travis: Biggest failure. You think it would be the money thing. It's the the biggest failure is not having the systems in place fast enough and also the marketing channels proven enough when you when you went all in on stuff. I mean, you heard the success out of it, but, I wouldn't say the biggest failure is, like, I thought it was gonna be easier. I didn't have it as detailed.

I just knew the broad and, like, hey. I'm gonna do the direct mail. I'm gonna do the PPL. I'm gonna do PPC. I'm gonna get all this stuff.

And and it's just gonna work because that's all you have to do is put money behind it and Yeah. And the biggest failure was it took about a $180,000, money and almost put us in bankruptcy Yeah. For it. So I would say it's a failure, but in a way a good failure because it turned out. I don't know if that's It worked

Steve: out well. Yeah. Yeah. Well, you learned from it. And I think the I guess this is the part where I was surprised that you are a process oriented person, because of this and also quitting your job without no plan.

Travis: Well, I kinda had a plan, you know, but I'm I'm kind of a confident person even if I don't have all the pieces. Mhmm. But I also normally don't start a lot of things unless I have enough of the pieces in place before I wanna go down that path. Right. But I also learned take action.

Don't do analysis paralysis. You'll never get off the sideline. Mhmm. Just start doing it. You're like, what if I make a mistake?

You will.

Steve: Oh. That's the only guarantee.

Travis: Yeah. And it's like, well, I don't wanna make a mistake. Well, you you do you make a mistake at your job? Yeah. Well, making a mistake if you go on your own, you're gonna do it.

It's all about learning and what you get from that failure that makes you into who you are and how you can change for the better. Right. But most people don't take that action. They take fear is a big, big thing that holds people back.

Steve: That's the problem. Is there a book you've gifted more than any other? I'm sorry? Is there a book you've gifted more than any other?

Travis: No. To be honest, I don't read a ton of books. Not because it's not good. It's I think the attention span, I'll I'll read, like, three, four pages, and then next minute I realized I turned five pages, but yet I don't know what I read even though I know I went through all the words because my mind already took off. Because I've become the idea of whatever's in the book.

I'm either applying it to my life or how could I turn that into the business. So, wish I could offer something on that, but I just know that my attention span never got me there.

Steve: How are you getting better if you're not consuming books?

Travis: Mine is strictly, networking with other investors in my market. Always just pick up the phone, and a lot of times, you just shoot the shit with them. But it's also, like, my mastermind that I go to is investor fuel. There's other ones out there, but plugging into it. So I just don't miss those.

I go there every quarter. Mhmm. And I just go religiously. And, of course, now I met so many friends, you know, you look forward it that way. But Mhmm.

You stay plugged in by going to those type of things. So Yeah.

Steve: It makes a lot of sense. I'll let you think about some last thoughts I wanna leave all the listeners with. Guys, if you have value today, please make sure you hit that subscribe button. Comment. That way, we can reach more people, help me accomplish my goal of creating millionaires.

Any particular last thoughts I'll leave all the listeners with?

Travis: Analysis, paralysis, stop doing it. Don't let fear keep you on the sideline. Just take action because you'll be so rewarded for the the feeling of taking action in the right direction that it'll probably motivate you more than what you think it does because you're like, hey. I'm finally doing what I wanna do. But you probably have a lot of negative people in your life, unfortunately, that you're gonna wanna knock you down.

You just have to try and listen to your podcast, you know, listen to other success stories. They're out there. Stay motivated, you know. And that those are the things like, when I'm starting to do in my market as just as a a goodwill, good karma type thing, Veterans, if you're a veteran or if you're a single mom or dad and you wanna get into real estate investing and you've done some and failed or you haven't started at all and you want some advice, I tell people just reach out to me and I'll help you get started any which way. Long as you take the steps, you know, you the first step is reaching out to me.

The next step is actually doing it, and I don't charge anyone for this. This is just the good karma. Like, hey, if you're willing to do it. So

Steve: That's huge. Someone wanted to connect with you. What's the best way for them to do that?

Travis: They can probably just call my office. I'll leave my email address also, but my office is (612) 930-2000 is the phone number. You can always go to mnnice.com if you need to relook up the phone number. Otherwise, my email address is travis, that's travis,@mnnice.com.

Steve: Simple enough. Easy. Thank you so much. Appreciate it.

Travis: Appreciate you having me on.

Steve: Thank you guys for watching. We'll see you guys next time.

Travis: Steve train. Jump on the Steve train. Disrupt us.