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Narrator/Advertiser
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Travis
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Narrator/Advertiser
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Eric
You're listening to the Travis Makes Money podcast presented by GoHighLevel.com for a free 30 day trial of the best all in one digital marketing software tool on the planet, just go to gohighlevel.com travis. What's going on, everybody? Welcome back to the Travis Makes Money podcast where it's a mission to help you make some more money. In this episode of the show, my producer Eric is here in studio with me. What's up, Eric?
Travis
Travis, do you like value?
Eric
I do like value.
Travis
Do you like being tamed?
Eric
Did you say tainted?
Travis
You like being tame?
Eric
Oh, entertained, yeah.
Travis
Do you like being entertained?
Eric
I do like being.
Travis
Do you like being. Getting value from the entertainment you watch?
Eric
You know what? I like being value tained.
Travis
You like being value tame. Well, you're about to get value tained as hell.
Eric
Hell yeah, brother.
Travis
No, there's a really good clip and it just happens to have Patrick in it.
Unidentified Speaker 1
Okay.
Travis
But it has nothing. He contributes nothing to the video. But the video, I mean, I'm just saying a fact. I'm not saying it negatively.
Eric
I see.
Travis
I'm just saying in the context. It doesn't matter who's there. I see. Because it's the interview clip.
Eric
Okay.
Travis
So it's just.
Eric
So why don't we just watch the
Travis
clip and I'll figure it out. Let me tell you in detail how what the clip is.
Eric
They say a video is worth 10,000 words.
Travis
Yeah. So what I'm gonna do is I'm gonna show you a clip. No, this is pretty good. This is the Rock. Are you familiar with the Rock?
Eric
Yes.
Travis
Have you been following his career since he was a pebble? All right. I thought this was a really cool story. I've never heard this before. And I've heard all of rock's rock. You know, me and rock all rock.
Eric
I've heard.
Travis
I've heard all the rock stories. I feel like, like, because he tells a lot of the same, like, you know, stuff and talks about the same things and all that. And this was when I was like, I've never Heard this story, and this is so cool. And even Patrick was like, whoa, that was a good impression. You're going to see in a second. Oh, wait, let me connect it. Do you guys want to hear it?
Narrator/Advertiser
Yeah.
Travis
Did you raise your hand if you want to hear the video? All right, I see that hand.
Eric
I see that hand.
Travis
All right, here we go. Oh, you know what? I did say in my interview, in my interview with Andrew Bowser, that who does Onyx? He was talking about. He was talking about. Oh, oh. He was talking about music. He's like, you know, and they were doing, like, more secular music. And I was like, secular?
Unidentified Speaker 2
Yeah.
Travis
It's like, that's something. I said. So. Music.
Commercial Voice
Yeah.
Travis
He's like, also known as music. Yeah, Music. Here we go.
Interviewee/Storyteller
And I said, who's the highest paid? If you don't mind me asking, this
Travis
is when he's in that context. This is in the wwe. Okay. He was asking, he's like, who's the highest paid in the world? Here we go.
Interviewee/Storyteller
And I said, who's the highest paid? If you don't mind me asking, between us, who's the highest paid on the roster? He said, stone cold Steve Austin. I said, okay. I said, if you don't mind me asking, what's his guarantee? He said, a million dollars. Okay, I want two.
Travis
So you like that?
Eric
He said, I'm a numbers guy.
Interviewee/Storyteller
2 million. I said, yes. Guaranteed, yes. He said, I'm just curious, where do you get that from? Like, what? What. What are you figuring out in your mind? And I said, well, I love Steve.
Travis
Hey, editors.
Unidentified Speaker 2
Yeah.
Travis
When you put music on a clip, make it as loud as possible.
Eric
This is the new.
Travis
This drives me crazy every time. I was watching it earlier and I felt like that. But anyway, respect him.
Interviewee/Storyteller
But if he's getting a million dollars, where I see myself going is past a million dollars, I think it should be two. And he went, okay, I understand that logic, and here's what I want you to do. I'm gonna put you in contact with one of our executives, and I need you to take a couple of months, if it takes that long, because I was on the road. He goes, I need you to understand the business. I need you to understand the business, this side of the business, from top to bottom, all the economics. Wow. I want you to understand that. I want you to understand our cost, overhead, great thing to do. Yes. I want you to take the time and put in the work that you say you're committed to in the ring. Yes. I expect that from you. But now I want you to learn the business. Once you learn this business, then you come back to me. What the overhead costs are, what the costs are every venue we go into, what the cost of the venue is, what the state tax is. I didn't take three months. I mean, maybe it was just two weeks. And it was baptism by fire. And I learned to absorb as much as I could about the business. I went back to Vince and I thanked him. I gave him a big hug. I said, I understand now I'd like to match it at a million dollars, what Steve is getting. Thank you for taking me through. He said, how much do you think you're going to make this year? I said, well, my guarantee is a million. I've been going averaging about 50% over my guarantee, so maybe 1.5. Okay, now.
Travis
Hey, editors.
Eric
Yeah, Seriously, make it getting worse the whole time.
Travis
So, so getting louder. Here's the great pan.
Interviewee/Storyteller
Okay yourself through that. Now you understand the business and you're going to make $15 million.
Travis
Are you 15 million bucks?
Interviewee/Storyteller
No, but he already did the math. He could see where it goes.
Narrator/Advertiser
Wow.
Interviewee/Storyteller
Make 50 million life change. What was your reaction when he says that? Holy. That's like, I mean, from what, 50 a year million. That's 100x in income. That was crazy.
Eric
Yeah, good, good clip.
Travis
Is that 100? Is that 100x income?
Eric
Well, I think he wasn't, he wasn't talking about what the new one point. I think what that was coming from a probably a prior part of the conversation.
Travis
Okay.
Eric
Because like what I'm getting from that is like he was renegotiating.
Travis
I'm not a numbers guy, but I
Eric
don't think that, that I'm assuming he went from being like one of the lower paid guys who was on the come up, you know what I mean? And then was like, hey, I'm doing really well. Time to renegotiate my contract. And then was going to be Adam at 1.5 million estimated, which would be 10x. But I think he's probably getting paid, you know, a lot less than that.
Travis
Someone said, stone Cold, some are watching us thinking I was making 25 million. And then John Cena at that time, you guys are getting paid. Someone said, shout out to Scott Doyle, 1990. He's always dropping good comments. He said, try turning the music up louder. We can still hear him talking. Someone says, what a nice music. Watching Dwayne Johnson talk in the background is awesome too. From someone said, oh, someone said, what? I said, they said, from 1 million to 15 million. That's 100x so someone cannot math. Yeah, that's. Yeah, that's wrong. Yeah, it is wrong if that's the context.
Eric
But I would believe the context would be what he got paid before his salary renegotiation.
Travis
The Rock, if you don't mind me asking, between us also, the Rock tells everybody on an online podcast. But I thought it was a really cool story. Cause I'd never heard it. I don't know if you ever heard that story, but I thought it was a cool story of like, I think a lot of times there's always, obviously there's always the WNBA discussions. There's always athlete pay discussions and stuff. And I thought that it was cool that the approach. I'm assuming this would be Vince McMahon that's doing this was like, here, I want you to not just worry about how many butts you're getting in seats, but I want you to know how much it costs for us to serve each person. How much money you're actually worth based
Eric
on this is extremely relevant. I encourage anybody who's getting paid from an employer to think about those.
Travis
You know, I was hoping you would feel that way and give some practical advice about that. I had a feeling you would like that. Yeah.
Eric
Because like that, that's the idea of going to your employer and demanding more money just because you want more money is never going to be something that pans out for you. But if you come into the conversation with. Of some form of empathy for the business owner, and this is what sort of drives me crazy about people that are like anti entrepreneurship, is that they look at it like, well, they can afford it, they own the business or whatever. And it's like, that tells me you've never owned a business. Because that's not true. Like, there's so many other costs that are associated with this.
Interviewee/Storyteller
Yeah.
Eric
So if you want to get a good idea of what value you're going to bring to the organization, then you should probably get a good idea of what the bottom line looks like about what it means when we sell a cheeseburger? And exactly how much do we expect to make on that cheeseburger versus our fries versus the shake versus the Dr. And then figure out, well, what am I doing to contribute to this bottom line? And how can I help the business capture more value such that I can take a percentage of that value and be able to justify an increase in my pay versus just being like, I demand that you pay me more because I want a new TV and I can't afford that right now.
Travis
Can I tell you a story about a tv?
Eric
Sure.
Travis
So when I was working for an. I have two auto group stories, and one is relevant to what you're talking about. And this one just grinds my gear, so I want to share it. Really?
Commercial Voice
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Unidentified Speaker 2
And we're live from the living room as Doug eyes up the match. Say spread. He's reaching for the buffalo wing. Perfect. Hang on. What's this? Oh, he's gone for a can of Pepsi too. Incredible. What a finish. Sensational combination. Look at the delight on his face. There's no doubt about it. It just tastes better. Match days deserve Pepsi. Food deserves Pepsi. Grab a pack of Pepsi. Zero sugar for today's match. It's poetry in motion.
Travis
There was a guy, and this is relevant. This is business. So we had a marketing team. So it was me. Are you tired? He started yawning before I even started the story. So we had a marketing team. We had a marketing director. We had me, who was like, you know, the best one on the team. And then we had my friend who's a graphic designer, you know, and she would do graphic design, believe it or not.
Eric
And then we brought in on the graphic designer. Did graphic design.
Travis
Yep, yep, yep. Crazy, huh?
Eric
That's interesting.
Travis
And then we brought in this other guy to help with marketing. And I don't think we ever knew what he was doing. And we would. I started saying, hey, we should do monthly themes. Really big outside the box. Think I was like, we should do monthly sales.
Eric
Like Memorial Day shows.
Travis
Better. No, we did some really cool ones. Like, we had like a feeling lucky sales campaign for St. Patrick's Day. And we did these old pins with like little four leaf clovers, little cute stuff like that. Anyway, but I would always sit down and then me and the marketing director would work on the scripts. He was good at writing, like, radio scripts and stuff. And so we'd be sitting there brainstorming and all this guy would ever contribute, and I say that word very loosely, is we'd all sit there and I'd be like, oh, it's basketball time. Let's do this. Or the marketing director would be like, well, it's this month. We should focus on this. And then, you know, the Graphic designer would be like, oh, yeah, well, we could do this. This would probably look coolest if we did this. And he would always. We'd get to him and he would go, we just need to tell a story. But he would never know what the story. And my marketing director, it's like, okay, I'm on board. My marketing director was always super blunt, which I appreciated once I was on the other side of it and of the bluntness. And we could team up and be blunt with someone else, but. But he'd always be like, what? Great? What is it? Yeah, and he'd be like, it's just gotta be a story. And that was literally. We go back and forth. And so then eventually we would start.
Eric
That's somebody who got a degree in marketing.
Travis
And I don't know what he did, but anyway. And then we would. It got to a point that like, me and the marketing director would go to lunch or something and he'd be like, we just gotta tell a story. And so anyway, so all this to say, so he was not contributing anything. And then he was also like. He was constantly like one of those guys that's working on his business in his cubicle. Like, I look over and he's like, x is out, you know, and. Or he'd be watching online courses and just sitting there and I'm like, hey, let's do something. And I did that on my lunch break. But anyway, so he eventually quits, but he waited to quit till after the company Christmas party because they, you know, it's a free Christmas party and they give away stuff and he left. And then he won a giant, like massive, massive flat screen TV at the Christmas party. Yeah. And I just looked at the marketing director and we both were like, nobody deserves this less than you. So it was terrible. So there's that story, but also at the same auto group, to the point of what you were just saying, that was exactly when I asked for a raise. Was literally I got hired to do just basically post on Facebook. That was kind of the job description. It was like a $12 an hour job position, which I don't even think. I don't know what minimum wage is in California now, but it's. It was not a lot.
Eric
It was probably minimum wage at that
Travis
time, but they found out after I worked there that I could do video. I was taking pictures, I was bringing in gear. So like, by the time that I was there for a couple weeks, I basically created a position and then was able to go in and say, well, I didn't I got to go to the cool thing about a bigger company. I got to go to my boss, like, hey, can you ask him if I can have a raise? Yeah. And so he went in, Boom, raise, started doing a couple more things. Boom. Got another rate. Like, but it was always because you did. You hired me. My pitch was literally, you hired me to do Facebook and you got a full time videographer that's bringing his own gear.
Eric
Right.
Travis
And then eventually they gave me like 15 grand to buy gear for the thing.
Eric
Oh, nice.
Unidentified Speaker 2
And then.
Travis
And then I left and I said, good luck with all that gear you don't know how to use, you knuckleheads anyway. But it was pretty cool. But anyway, that's exactly it though, is like, what can you do? And I think that's where people jump too quickly. Either direction is like, they go ask before they've created a position for themselves, or they create this position and they're doing all this extra work and they go ask and they get told no, and they still hang in there. And I think that's like, if I had gone in that first time and they'd been like, no, we're not going to, I would have been like, well, I'm going to go somewhere else where they're going to.
Eric
I'm only going to do the thing you want.
Travis
Yeah. Or I'm going to not bring my camera in anymore and I'm not going to do anything. And ultimately that was what made me leave was because when I got my second raise, it was like a couple months later and my manager's like, yeah, that'll probably be your last raise for a while. And her reasoning, which I don't. Maybe I should have pushed more into this. But she's like, so you're almost making more than I am.
Eric
Oh, no.
Travis
So I think that, you know, it was like the Michael Scott situation, maybe add some value.
Unidentified Speaker 2
Yeah.
Travis
No, I'm just kidding. She's a very nice lady and we're still friends, so. But. But anyway, that, that's. That comes to mind. But I really love this story just for that purpose of like, yeah, he didn't just say like, oh, put more butts in seats.
Unidentified Speaker 2
Yeah.
Eric
It's not just like arbitrarily throwing numbers out there and going like, yeah, I deserve this. Totally.
Travis
One people assume. I think people equate business owner with rich.
Eric
Exactly.
Travis
Like, I think, like, I think if you asked your Everbowl employees, they'd be like, oh, you know, like, they would think like, oh, we should be making more because you know, they're probably pocketing all the money that's coming from all the cash.
Interviewee/Storyteller
Yeah.
Travis
You guys get big cash flow in the acai bowl business.
Eric
Yeah, not that much.
Unidentified Speaker 2
Yeah.
Travis
You're going to get a yacht soon.
Narrator/Advertiser
Yeah.
Eric
From our ever bowl money.
Travis
Yeah, that's.
Eric
But that is the problem. Just because you own something does not mean that, like, the business has unlimited funds to be able to direct.
Travis
Well, I know now, like, when I go into a restaurant, like, I know how small the margins are.
Eric
Oh, totally, dude. I think that about restaurants.
Travis
I feel bad. I was at a restaurant. It doesn't matter at all. Let me try to figure out the exact date.
Eric
Recently.
Travis
It was June 2, 2026. I was at a restaurant. No. And they brought out. My daughter ordered three fish tacos or three shrimp tacos. And they brought out two shrimp and one fish. And they're like, oh, we can remake the. I was like, you don't need to remake the whole thing.
Eric
Yeah, just.
Travis
That's not gonna be good for the margins.
Eric
And I'll throw that on there.
Travis
Yeah. I was also like, it's not that big a deal, but I did think it was humorous. Tell me if this is funny, because Tara didn't think it was funny. But I said, it's funny to me that it's a fish taco. Like, they still got the area it's supposed to come from. Right. It's kind of funny. It wasn't like beef. It was just like two shrimp and a fish. I thought it was humorous.
Eric
That is humorous.
Travis
I was tickled by that.
Eric
That's silly.
Travis
You know what else I did? This was a fun one. When we sat down, we were looking at the drink menu, and one of the drinks was called a hot mamacita. And I didn't want that. I wanted a spicy margarita. But I say, that sounds like a spicy margarita. No, it wasn't. It was something else. Anyway, but I ordered and I. I pointed on the thing to the waitress and I said, well, I was going to get a hot mamacita, but as you can see, I brought one with me.
Eric
Totally. That is such a dad move.
Travis
But what's funny? But what's funny? And then I was like, no, I just want a spicy margarita.
Eric
Nah, just kidding.
Travis
But what's funny is. What's funny is, like, you know, when I think of something and I smile, but I just tough it away.
Eric
Right.
Travis
But I did that. I was looking at the menu and Tara's like, what's so funny? And I was just like, you just wait Till that waitress gets here.
Commercial Voice
She's.
Travis
This one's gonna kill. And it did. It did.
Eric
Did the waitress give you a compliment?
Unidentified Speaker 2
She smiled.
Travis
Yeah. She smiled.
Unidentified Speaker 2
Yeah. Yeah.
Travis
But I felt good about that.
Eric
That's good.
Travis
But anyway. But when they did your daughter laugh is the question. I didn't gauge a response. I was mainly worried about Tara's response and the waitress's response. Because I was like, this could go south with these two directions.
Interviewee/Storyteller
Where is Daredevil a miner? Don't miss the return of Marvel Television's Daredevil Born Again.
Travis
So what's next? I've been liberated.
Eric
We're gonna take this city back over
Interviewee/Storyteller
medicated in an all new season. Now streaming only on Disney plus.
Travis
They're hunting us. It's time we started hunting them.
Commercial Voice
I can work with them.
Eric
This should be tons of fun.
Interviewee/Storyteller
Marvel Television's Daredevil Born Again now streaming only on Disney plus.
Unidentified Speaker 1
Ryan Reynolds here from Mint Mobile with a message for everyone. Paying big wireless way too much. Please, for the love of everything good in this world, stop with Mint. You can get premium wireless for just $15 a month. Of course, if you enjoy overpaying. No judgments. But that's weird. Okay, one judgment anyway. Give it a try. @mintmobile.com Switch upfront payment of $45 for
Eric
3 month plan equivalent to $15 per month required intro rate first 3 months only. Then full price plan options available, taxes and fees extra. See full terms@mintmobile.com but anyway, I was
Travis
going to say I feel like even in restaurants we're like, we'll just remake the whole thing. And I'm always like, oh yeah, can you feel bad?
Eric
Can you do that?
Narrator/Advertiser
Yeah.
Travis
But also too, I did the same thing. They didn't charge us for it. And then I just added it to the tip and I'm like, I gotta just start taking the dubs. I keep having these things happen.
Eric
I know.
Travis
But it also feels like I planned on spending more.
Eric
Exactly. So I'm actually spending and I can be helpful.
Travis
But I'm also spending less.
Unidentified Speaker 2
Yeah.
Travis
Cause like you're not paying for the item and then a tip on top of it. So if you tip the item cost.
Eric
Exactly.
Travis
I don't know.
Eric
I agree.
Travis
I'm just generous is what my main point is.
Eric
That's my thing is like if it's good service and you can be helpful and a blessing to somebody, why not do it? But yeah, I do think that about restaurants specifically all the time. Because those are the ones. Especially in Vegas. You see, there's so Much turnover.
Travis
Yeah.
Eric
Like, you get comfortable or familiar with going to a certain spot and seeing restaurants there, and then you're just like, oh, another one bites the dust. I mean, it's just like, hey, hey, tough business to make work.
Travis
Another one buys the dust.
Narrator/Advertiser
But.
Eric
But there's a lot of businesses that are tough to make work and there's not unlimited funds. That's the, the misconception is.
Travis
Yeah.
Eric
Just because you're a business owner, you must have all the money.
Travis
Yeah.
Eric
It's like, well, probably they have more money than you do, but sometimes that might not even be true. You don't know, like, how they begged, borrowed, and stole to, like, try to figure out how to secure a loan to be able to get this thing off the ground and get started. Like, you just don't have an idea. So, like, don't come in with this entitlement mentality of like, well, look at my degree and look at my experience. Like, I deserve this much. And I'm not saying that you shouldn't fight for good wages. That's not what I'm saying. But if you're going to go in with the expectation that you can get more money, which you should, then you have to look at it from the perspective of the person. It's like any sales conversation, you have to ask the question, what's in it for them? Not what's in it for me? And so if you are thinking about that from a business perspective, then that means you have to think about what the customer wants and then give them what they want. But if you're looking at it from the job perspective, then you have to think about what the employer wants and then try to figure out a way to make that work. And like you said, not, it doesn't work out all the time because sometimes you can. Maybe it's just a culture that isn't rewarding people like that, and that's probably not a place that you want to be long term. So you go do all these other things and you pick up, you, you. You add more value here and there, and then they're not recognizing that financially.
Travis
Yeah.
Eric
Then there comes a point where you just have to go, okay, great, well, thank you for the experience. And then you can take the skills that you developed while you weren't getting paid to do that skill, but you learned the skill, and now the next job that you get, you can start off at a higher dollar amount. Because now I don't just do Facebook posts. Now I know how to cut and edit reels for Instagram and TikTok. And now I. Now I know how to do these other things because I was doing them essentially for free at this other job, because that's not what they hired me. And they didn't see the value. They didn't pay me. When you go into the next position, you can start at a higher threshold because you have more skills to bring to the table, which enables them to make more money, which means there's more money to get paid to you. Yeah, but just like, going. I just. The entitlement thing is just what really. It's what grinds my gears. You know what I mean? Just.
Travis
Just really burns your cookies.
Eric
Just really burns my cookies.
Travis
But why are you. Why are you peeing on my charcoal? All right, go ahead and close out.
Eric
Great story from the Rock, though.
Travis
Yeah, I thought it was a good one.
Eric
Yeah. And. And from Vince McMahon. I mean, there's a reason why the WWE's as successful as it is.
Travis
Oh, is it? It's still around.
Eric
It does. It does some revenue. There's some numbers here and there. Although it's not owned by them anymore, WME bought it, which is wild. Like, it's. You wouldn't think that it would go hand in hand, but I guess. Guess it does, because they bought UFC and WWE after the massive merger of William Morris and Endeavor. So, anyway, crazy. That's it for this episode of the show. Remember, money only solves your money problems, but it's easier to solve the rest of your problems when you got some money in the bank. So let's start there, here on the Travis Makes Money podcast. Thanks for tuning in. Catch you next time. Peace.
This episode centers on the power of understanding business value—both as an employee and entrepreneur—framed through an inspiring story about Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson’s contract negotiation in the WWE. Travis Chappell and co-host Eric break down how leveraging knowledge of business economics can multiply your earning potential, offering actionable advice on how to create money opportunities at work by thinking beyond your job description.
Notable Quote:
"I'm gonna put you in contact with one of our executives... I need you to understand the business, this side of the business, from top to bottom, all the economics." – The Rock relaying Vince McMahon’s advice (04:02)
Memorable Moment:
"Now you understand the business and you're going to make $15 million." (05:36)
Notable Quote:
"If you want to get a good idea of what value you're going to bring to the organization, then you should probably get a good idea of what the bottom line looks like..." – Eric (08:38)
Notable Quote:
"You hired me to do Facebook and you got a full time videographer that's bringing his own gear." – Travis (14:17)
Notable Quote:
"Just because you own something does not mean that, like, the business has unlimited funds to be able to direct." – Eric (16:13)
Notable Quote:
"...the entitlement thing is just what really...grinds my gears." – Eric (22:29)
Conversational, candid, humorous, and practical—Travis and Eric use personal stories, relatable metaphors, and a touch of dad-humor to make financial empowerment both informative and entertaining.
This episode is a must-listen for anyone looking to move beyond “saving” their way to wealth—and ready to earn more by knowing (and growing) their true value.