CO-HOST | Make Money by Working for Free (Strategically)

Summary

Podcast Summary – Travis Makes Money

Episode Title: CO-HOST | Make Money by Working for Free (Strategically)
Host: Travis Chappell
Co-Host / Producer: Eric
Release Date: May 26, 2026

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Episode Overview

In this engaging and practical episode, Travis Chappell and his producer Eric dive into the controversial topic of “working for free,” especially when starting out in a new industry or building a portfolio. They challenge conventional narratives around unpaid work, focusing on how strategic, free labor can unlock opportunities, accelerate skill-building, and lead to greater long-term financial gains. The conversation, while rooted in the photography and creative industries, offers broad advice relevant to anyone aiming to break into a new field or advance their career.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Stigma Around Free Work in Creative Fields

[01:06 - 03:58]

• Eric describes common heated debates in photography and videography online groups regarding unpaid work.
• Many in the community equate accepting free gigs to devaluing the entire industry (“You're the problem. This is why our industry is getting just devalued!” – Travis, 02:13).
• The most vocal critics are often weekend warriors, not high-earning professionals.
• Quote:
  “Photographers that are hobbyist photographers are the most annoying people in the world... when you get around people that are doing six figures, doing weddings all year, they could care less.” – Eric [03:19]

2. The Value of Working for Free: Mindset & Strategy

[04:01 - 08:56]

• Travis distinguishes exploitative requests for free labor (like minimum wage employees “volunteering” at big chains) from proactive, strategic free work that builds careers.
• The right scenario to work for free: gaining access to high-value opportunities when you’re inexperienced or switching fields.
• Quote:
  "A correct use of working for free is to get your foot in the door of an opportunity that you would pay money to get into... you're using the other value lever you have at your disposal, which is time, to prove that you're somebody who should be given money." – Travis [04:26]
• Both Travis and Eric agree this applies to anyone regardless of age or stage: 18-year-olds trying to start a career, or 35-year-olds pivoting to a new industry.
• Doing the job before you have the official title can unlock promotions and recognition (“Sometimes you gotta be willing to do the job of the person that you don't have yet, in order to get the job.” – Travis, 07:43).

3. Free Work as a Differentiator & Portfolio Builder

[08:56 - 11:03]

• Travis shares how freelancers who proactively send samples using his own content stand out and get hired.
• Action and initiative are key differentiators: “...of the 40 freelancers that hit me up every week, I only give the opportunities to the ones who I actually see their work.” – Travis [09:32]
• Eric notes that offering free work removes friction and risk for the client, making it easier to build trust.

4. Notable Quote from a Photographer (External Clip)

[10:42]

• “Doing free shoots is a great way to enhance your skills, try new techniques, and even get brands' attention. I have gotten some of my best clients from doing free shoots... Don’t listen to [the critics].” – Photographer Guest [10:42]

5. Long-Term Perspective & Career Upside

[11:04 - 13:14]

• Successful professionals typically start with free or very low-paid gigs; those condemning free work often aren’t at the top themselves.
• “There should be more of a priority on learning rather than earning so you can set yourself up for later in life...” – Travis [12:36]
• The earnings trajectory over decades often rewards those who focus on learning and networking early on.

6. Rules of Thumb: When and How to Work for Free

[13:14 - 16:01]

• Two community opinions:
  • It’s okay to shoot for free if you’re the one offering; questionable if others ask you for unpaid work, especially on revenue-generating gigs.
  • Best advice: “I don’t always need to get paid, but everything I do needs to be a net positive for me...even after more than a decade, I still shoot free work...attracts the clients that pay me the big bucks.”
    – Anonymous Photographer, read by Eric [14:55]
  • “Net positive doesn’t have to be money... could be creative expression, experience, or just doing something nice for someone.” [15:42]

7. Additional Insights and Practical Scenarios

[16:01 - 18:16]

• Travis underscores the importance of value exchange: if someone wants a discount, offer less, not the same for less money.
• “I’m not going to devalue myself for you… Ever.” – Eric [18:15]
• Know your worth, create tiered offerings, but don’t undercut your own value just to win clients.

8. Tangential: Life Lessons from a Steakhouse (Light-hearted Close)

[18:33 - 23:54]

• The conversation closes with a humorous riff on sending steaks back at restaurants—linking it back to discussions of value, standards, and knowing when to stand your ground.
• Eric highlights his generosity and attitude toward customer service, tying it back to themes of knowing your worth and the importance of mutual respect in exchanges.

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Key Timestamps for Reference

• [01:06] – Eric introduces the controversy around working for free in photography groups
• [04:26] – Travis's principle: work for free to “pay” for opportunities you can’t buy into yet
• [07:43] – “Do the job before you get the job” (Travis’s career advice)
• [09:32] – How freelancers win by sending tailored, free samples
• [10:42] – Photographer guest on the positive impact of free shoots
• [12:36] – Prioritize learning early; don’t obsess over immediate earnings
• [14:55] – “Everything I do needs to be a net positive for me” – anonymous photographer
• [18:15] – Eric’s affirmation: “I’m not going to devalue myself for you… Ever.”
• [23:54] – Episode wrap and closing message from Travis

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Notable Quotes

• "You're using the other value lever you have at your disposal, which is time, to prove that you're somebody who should be given money."
  – Travis [04:26]
• "You only get the opportunity once you prove that you’re willing to do the thing first."
  – Travis [throughout, esp. 07:43]
• "I don’t always need to get paid, but everything I do needs to be a net positive for me."
  – read by Eric, anonymous photographer [14:55]
• "I'm not going to devalue myself for you...Ever."
  – Eric [18:15]
• "There should be more of a priority on learning rather than earning so you can set yourself up for later in life."
  – Travis [12:36]
• "Don’t wish it were easier, wish you were better."
  – Travis (paraphrasing Jim Rohn) [11:57]

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Main Takeaways

• Don’t vilify unpaid work: Strategic, voluntary free work can be a smart investment in your own future.
• Value exchange matters: Make sure everything you do—paid or unpaid—is a net positive, whether in learning, experience, or building relationships.
• Initiative stands out: Go above and beyond with tailored work samples and show, not just tell, what you can do.
• Learning before earning pays off: A focus on growth and skill-building in your early career or pivot phase will set you up for bigger gains later.
• Know your worth: Never let others dictate your value; adjust offerings, but don’t undercut your standards or self-respect.

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This episode provides a motivational yet highly practical framework for anyone looking to break into a new industry, build a business, or simply rethink their approach to value and earning.

Transcript

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[Eric]

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[Travis]

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 more money on this episode of the show. My producer Eric is in studio. What's up Eric?

[Eric]

Hey, Travis.

[Travis]

We're really bringing down the energy, huh? Right from the get go.

[Eric]

Yes. I literally just right before your chord said, okay, last one, let's make it count.

[Travis]

Yeah. And then you brought in not make it count energy.

[Eric]

Here's a thing I wanted to talk about today. Working for free. Travis, I don't know if I've ever talked to you about this, but one of my biggest pet peeves on the planet is when you're in. I used to be in a ton of photography Facebook groups and videography Facebook groups.

[Travis]

Just gotta build your portfolio, man.

[Eric]

I'd get in those groups and from day one there'd be people in the groups. Travis.

[Travis]

It's okay, Eric. You're not in the groups anymore.

[Eric]

You know what they would say? They would get in there and someone would say if one of two things would happen. One, someone would just go in there and be like, I'm starting my photography journey and someone asked me to do free photos and I'm disgusted. I'm disgusted that they would expect me to work for free. You don't ask a plumber, you don't ask a handyman, you don't ask an architect, you don't ask whoever to work for free. But they just feel like entitled to ask a photographer to do this for free. The other thing I would see is a photographer that would say they just did a free shoot for somebody and photographers would go apeshit in the comments.

[Travis]

You're the problem.

[Eric]

This is why our industry is getting just devalued. This is why everybody thinks photography should be free, that you're ruining photography gear ban for admins admins, get this person, kick them out of the Facebook group. They're damaging my entire reputation as a photographer. And I'm going to say from day one, because I used to be more of a photographer, videographer, I did a lot of stuff for free to build up my portfolio. And I was curious and I would say in every realm of life, in every industry I've been in, I've done a lot of things for free for people. And it's always been a good thing. But I'm curious what your take is on working for free. Yeah, this is the Travis Makes Money podcast.

[Travis]

I like working.

[Eric]

So do you like making no money?

[Travis]

Yeah, sometimes.

[Eric]

Sometimes.

[Travis]

Yeah, sometimes it's what's required.

[Eric]

Are you familiar with what I'm talking about with photographers?

[Travis]

Oh, yeah, totally. Yeah. Yeah, for sure.

[Eric]

Literally, people would get like irate.

[Travis]

Yeah.

[Eric]

Just fear, like, you stupid slob, why are you taking free pictures?

[Travis]

Right. Yeah.

[Eric]

And I would always be like, it's okay.

[Travis]

And there's some industries that are like way worse and that's absolutely photograph.

[Eric]

Okay. And I. Photographers that are not very. Photographers that are hobbyist photographers are the most annoying people in the world. Because then when you get around people that are like doing six figures, doing weddings all year, they could care less. It's the people that are like, I don't want to gender it, but it's literally a demographic of like, it's the stay at home mom that's doing photography on the weekends, or it's the guy that's like, you know, I do graphic design, but occasionally I'll get my camera out and I'll go take some pictures. Those people have so many feelings about what you should and shouldn't do.

[Travis]

Yeah. Well, it just goes into the broader conversation of entitlement.

[Eric]

Yep.

[Travis]

I had this conversation actually recently with a guy who does like, he's an attorney for workers.

[Eric]

Yeah.

[Travis]

And he mentioned something about that in the episode and I didn't correct him because in the context of what he was talking about, I was on his side. But I did feel myself like pushing back against it when he brought it up because he was talking about how people want people to work for free and how terrible that is and whatever. And there's clearly contexts where that is the case. And there was one that he was talking about where it was like a really big franchise that was encouraging their like, you know, 15 year old minimum wage employees to come in and volunteer on Saturdays for extra shifts and not get paid for it type of thing. Like those things are like, okay, well there's no reason to work for free in that instance. Like to. For what? To get your 40 cent an hour raise like that. That's not, that's not a correct use of working for free. A correct use of working for free is to get your foot in the door of an opportunity that you would pay money to get into. You know what I'm saying? Like you're essentially, you're paying for the opportunity. Before you have money to pay for the opportunity. You're using the other value lever that you have at your disposal, which is time to prove that you're somebod who should be given money. And that to me is totally fine and even really good for a lot of people. If I were like doing it all over again and I were 18 years old, that's what I would be doing. I would go find somebody doing the thing that I wanted to do and just offer to do whatever I possibly could. Like if you're wanting to be a director or something like that, well then go volunteer to be the production assistant's assistant. You know what I mean? Like, do whatever you possibly like. It's, it's already real. There's so many gatekeepers in that world. Like, it's already really difficult to get onto a good set for a solid film project or TV show or something like that. So do whatever you can to get your foot in the door, in the door, in that world. And then do whatever role that you're given to the best of your ability and do it better than everybody else. And people will see the effort that you're putting in. If they don't see the efforts you're putting in, then you can move to a different opportunity. But you will leave that opportunity with a bunch of experience, a bunch of knowledge, some, some connections of people who might be able to connect you with another opportunity or another project. But they're absolutely not going to make that recommendation if you are just an entitled, lazy piece of shit the whole time who's basically like, I do you know what film school I graduated from? Like, I should, you should be begging me to work here. And it's like, it's just a wild misunderstanding of the economics of the labor sector, which is that like, there's so many people that are willing to do this job. So if you want to stand out from all those people, then just be willing to do it for less than they are. Sometimes that means working for free. And that is a okay, like this is applies if you're 18 and never had a job before. But it also applies to someone that's 35 that's trying to get into a wildly different space than they've ever been in before. If you're pivoting and you're starting from the bottom, then be willing to start from the bottom and get a better, more clear picture of how this thing actually works. And I think, I think that's, I think that's very underrated. And I think that there's a sen entitlement with every generation of young people. It's not just millennials or Gen Z or whatever. It's every generation of young people. It's just that arrogance that you have as a young person that you know more than you actually do know, and then you think you're entitled to getting a certain amount. It's like having a, having a job is a privilege. Like, it's not something that you deserve to have for being alive. Like, you are exchanging a skill, bringing value into the workplace and then expecting that employer to take some of their profit in the business and give it to you in exchange. So prove that you're worth getting the money in exchange and you'll get it at some point. And there's been like several times in my life where it's like I had to do the job of the thing before I got the opportunity to do the thing right. You know, like my first ever door to door job, I was wanting to become a team leader and I knew there was a couple opportunities available and basically my manager told me that he was like, well, if you want to be a team leader, then start doing the work of that right now. Like, start helping out guys that, that you don't make overrides on and just be helpful in the organization. And it's like, it works over time. Like, it's not just the person that's supervising you that sees you taking advantage of the opportunity, it's also that the other people in the company want to see you be successful. They want, like the guys that I was working with wanted me to be a team leader. They wanted me to make money off of their production because I helped them with their production. You know what I'm saying? So like, you sometimes got to be willing to do the job of the, of the, of the person that you do the job that you don't have yet in order to be able to get the job type of the thing right? And so especially if you're trying to get good at a skill, whether it's marketing or advertising or it's film production or it's Sales or whatever. Like, just be willing to get your. The problem is getting your foot in the door. That's what most people can't do. So do whatever you can to get your foot in the door. And being willing to work for free is a differentiator right off the bat.

[Eric]

Right.

[Travis]

And because I get. I get, like, freelancers hitting me up all the time. The only time I've ever hired and paid money to freelancers for whatever, clipping podcast episodes is when they send me samples of their work with my stuff. Like, they didn't just go like, here's an example of what we could do for you. They downloaded my YouTube video and they cut five clips and they sent it to me and they said, hey, do you like these? If you do, I can do more. And it was like, okay, great. They were willing to work for free, and they did the work before they even brought it to my attention. But out of the 40 freelancers that hit me up every week, I only give the opportunities to the ones who I actually see their work. And it's not a matter of, like, me being like, oh, you got to meet me halfway, or I'm up here and you're down here. It's not that at all. Is that it's additional homework.

[Eric]

Yeah.

[Travis]

If somebody. If there's a freelancer's hitting me up and I don't have a clear example of what it's going to look like for my stuff specifically, then I then have to go do additional research and be like, okay, well, and if I was researching freelancers, I would be doing that all day because I have so many inbound people trying to do it that it becomes impossible for me to have a clear picture of whether or not this is going to work out if I pay the money.

[Eric]

Well, it takes away the question mark of, like, what would this look like applied to me?

[Travis]

Exactly.

[Eric]

You know, it removes friction. Even. Even though you kind of could guess, it just goes like, oh, that's mine. I know exactly what they're going to do. Yeah, the other thing, too. It's a good clip. I'll play really quick. But, like, it also takes away the stakes on certain projects. Like, the first time you're branching into something you've never done, like doing a full photo shoot or doing. Doing a video edit or whatever. Like, I love doing the first version of that free because I'm learning, and it's costing them nothing. So worst case scenario, they got like, an okay video, but, like, they're not out anything. Right. And that's what this guy talks about this photographer talking about this or do free shoots.

[Photographer Guest]

Now that's just a bunch of baloney. Doing free shoots is a great way to enhance your skills, try new techniques and even get brands attention. I have gotten some of my best clients from doing free shoots. It gives you an opportunity to expand your creativity and take it to the next level with really nothing on the line. So anybody out there that's saying don't do a free shift, free shoe, don't listen to them.

[Eric]

That's right, boy.

[Travis]

Yeah. And it's always the people who are saying don't do it are the people who are not successful.

[Eric]

Yeah.

[Travis]

You know what I'm saying? It's never, it's never somebody who's wildly successful at that thing. Because anybody who's wildly successful at that thing, it's also did it for free at first.

[Eric]

It's the people who think they're not getting hired because everyone else is doing it for free. And they think that's the barrier. And the reality is like you can find now more than ever you can find people to shoot videos and clip stuff and take pictures and do for very, very cheap or. And people still get paid every single day.

[Travis]

Yeah.

[Eric]

To do those things.

[Travis]

It's like, it's like in the real estate space.

[Eric]

Yeah.

[Travis]

It's like, well, my aunt does real estate, so I'm just gonna have her and she's giving and she's gonna take the listing fee from 6% down to 3 and a half percent and give 2 and a half percent to the buy side. And she's only going to take a half a percent so I'm just going to go with her type of a thing. And you have agents that are like, oh, that's the problem with the industry. That's why, you know, people are balking at my prices. It's like, no, you just need to get better at your job. Like you need to get better at. There's plenty of examples of agents who are still charging full rates for their listings because they're just really good at the thing. It's not a highlight of somebody else's downfall, it's a highlight of your own downfall. Like you have to just get better at it versus pointing the finger and saying like, oh, all of you people, or that's the reason why I can't support my family being a real estate agent or being a photographer or being a fill in the blank. Just it's not everybody else's fault, it's your fault. It's the whole Jim Rohn thing of like, don't wish it were easier, wish you were better, because that's the only solution. Solution. It's always, there's always going to be reasons why it's not going to work and you have to find the reason that it is going to work, which largely falls within your control and your ability to go out and get better at the thing that you do. So don't vilify other people and be willing to work for free. Man. I think there's huge value in that, especially if you're younger. Like, there should be more of our priority on learning rather than earning so you can set yourself up for later in life when you're really in your big earning window. It's like you like the total earnings over 20 years will be skewed in favor of the person who didn't get paid a lot the first few years and order to learn a bunch because they're going to make wildly more during the like maximum earning phase than the person who went directly into earning who just gets their like 10% salary bump every year or whatever.

[Eric]

Yeah. I found two opinions on this from photographers that I think are good rules of thumb. Someone said, because someone asked, when should you or when can you do free photos? And someone said, and I think this is applicable again in a bunch of different arenas, but just extrapolate photography into something else if that's what you do. But someone said, I think my view on it is this. It's okay to shoot for free if it's you approaching whatever you want to shoot and offering to shoot for free. It's not okay when others approach you, which is quite common, especially with photography. That's super common. And asking you to work for free, especially if it's a paid gig that could put bread on someone's table. I do think that's a piece is like you're cutting it. Like you're not going to a company. They're going like, do like a bunch of work for us and then we'll decide, yeah, well.

[Travis]

And it also implies a certain, like that advice implies a certain level of experience where it's like you're, if you're, if people are approaching you, then that implies that you've been doing it for at least a long enough period of time that people know that this is something that you do versus when you're first getting started. You have to be reaching out to people and of course they're going to ask if you'll do it for free because they didn't seek you out. You know what I'm saying? So at some. At some, like, you're not always going to work for free. Yeah, is my point. It's usually just like the first five to 15 clients. Yeah, exactly.

[Eric]

Oh, and then this one I thought was the best. This is the best. This is the best advice ever. I wasn't even a full Trump. At the end of the day, it was just Trump. Sleepy Trump. Sleepy Trump. They used to say Sleepy Joe Biden, but now it's Sleepy Trump. Rockabye baby in the treetop when the wind blows the cradle will rock. That's a nursery run. All right. This is a great one. As a professional, I summarize it like this. I don't always need to get paid, but everything I do needs to be a net positive for me. If it's not, I'm wasting time that can be spent on other projects. Even after more than a decade of being pro and working for major brands and magazines, I still shoot free work because I enjoy it and because the work I shoot that way attracts the clients that pay me the big bucks. That's a net positive for me, even if I have to invest some money in the shoots. That said that I never get clients that ask me to shoot for free. If I did, I'd say no. You can't tell me that you have enough money to get a whole clothing line designed and manufactured, but you don't have a few grand to pay for photography. I do get a lot of yes, Queen. I do get a lot of requests from models and people who'd like to work with me. If they're a fit for what I want to do, I say yes. If not, I say no. It's really that simple. And then they said, oh, and net positive doesn't have to be money down the line. It could just be in fun, creative expression, experience, or doing something nice for someone.

[Travis]

True. I like that a lot.

[Eric]

Boom. Got it. I said that literally, I did a wedding for $1,000. I will not do it again. Don't ask me.

[Travis]

But I was gonna say, don't be careful about putting that out.

[Eric]

But I did it because when a friend asked me to do it and I had to go to Cabo. Yeah, that's the point, though.

[Travis]

There's other value levers besides just money.

[Eric]

And then they had me film from 1pm to 1am and I was very mad.

[Travis]

Yeah, well, there's a. There's a scenario recently where I was trying to get this guy to sponsor an episode of a show, and it was a. It was for this big production that we put on. And so I was charging a good amount of money for it. And then he basically came back and was like, hey, this isn't worth that much, so can we work something else out? And then I basically went back to him and said, you're not worth that much, like, because he was like trying to get it for like nothing. And so I was like, I know I'm asking for a lot, but also there's a ton of value to be gained here on your side. If I'm going to let somebody in at that price point, it's going to be somebody who can actually affect the outcome of this greater than you can. So it's like you're willing to be honest with me about, like, you don't view this being valuable from monetary perspective, but it's like, I don't view your participation in this as being valuable from a project perspective. So the only real value lever that you can pull with me is the financial side. And if that's not part of it, then there's no deal to be at here. You know what I'm saying?

[Eric]

You gave me the best advice ever on that. Objection. Nevermind. I'm not going to say it now. So it meant too much to you because one time I said, oh, somebody asked me if they could do it for less. And your thing was, yeah, we could do it for less. I'm going to do less stuff. And I always like that. Now it was a good reframe where it's like they want a discount on my photography services. I'm delivering less photos. I'm going to be there less time. I'm gonna not color grade them. I'm gonna add pimples and wrinkles. I almost said freckles. As someone with freckles. I'm not saying that's a. It was a misspeaking moment.

[Travis]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. No, but that, that is, that is what your downsell should look like. It's not a different I will do less package. It's like, sure, if you want to. If your budget does not allow you to exceed this number, that's fine. I can work with that number. It's just like we're going to subtract this.

[Eric]

I'm not going to devalue myself.

[Travis]

Exactly.

[Eric]

For you.

[Travis]

Exactly.

[Eric]

Ever. And I'm telling you right now, I'm sick of debasing myself on the show, devaluing myself for you. From now on, I'm going to be. I'm going to get what I deserve. That's how I sound? Sending food back at restaurants. This is going to work for me. Take it back.

[Travis]

You know what? Nevermind.

[Eric]

I'll just eat it. No, I'll eat that next time.

[Travis]

Next time.

[Eric]

Oh, the steak is perfect. Thanks. I mimed taking a bite of a crunchy steak.

[Travis]

Yeah.

[Eric]

Is steak scrunchie. I'm sending it back.

[Travis]

Are you?

[Eric]

No, I'm going to eat it anyway.

[Travis]

Well, you know, what would have to be. What would have to be the scenario for you to send it?

[Eric]

Honestly, I was very close to sending back that one steak that they did take back because I wanted medium rare. I like it to be cool, pink center and some blood. Like. Like it's just above raw red. Sorry. Yeah, red, almost pink blood still comes out of it when I cut it. That's perfect. I don't like when it's like icy cold.

[Travis]

When it's purple in the middle.

[Eric]

Yeah, I don't like that because it's just not good. But it came to me like, above, like, very well done. Like, to where it's like where it

[Travis]

was like, yeah, I'll definitely send it back.

[Eric]

But that situation, I literally was telling Tara, I was like, I should send it back. And they overheard me and then they were like, we'll get you a new one. Here's a free drink.

[Travis]

Most of the time I'm really amicable about that. The only time where I will send it back is it depends to me on the price of the steak or the level of the steakhouse that I'm in. Can I ask you, like, if I'm going to pay 120 bucks for a steak?

[Eric]

I was at a steakhouse or like a fancy steak. I was at King's Fish House, but that's still a decently priced steak.

[Travis]

Yeah, but I'm saying, like, when I go somewhere and I'm like, looking forward to the experience, like, oh, I can't wait to eat this steak.

[Eric]

I mean, if you go to Fleming.

[Travis]

Yeah. And it's like.

[Eric]

Or Capital Grill, well done.

[Travis]

It's like, okay.

[Eric]

Or this Or Outback. Like, you want quality.

[Travis]

No. Through Outback in the same conversation as Fleming's. Yeah, I will send it back in that scenario.

[Eric]

You know what I did do, though? And then I was like, I should have taken the dub because life hands you moments sometimes where, like, they replace the steak for free. It was so bad. Here's how you know that I was being serious is that they said, you can. Do you want to keep this one and just take it home? And I said, no.

[Travis]

What am I going to do with it?

[Eric]

But also, I was like, if I said yes, they're going to doubt that I actually didn't like it.

[Travis]

I would have said yes just to take it home to Sadie. That's a good. Sadie would have loved it.

[Eric]

Sorry. I should have kept it for my dog. My shitsu would have gone crazy.

[Travis]

That's like a week's worth of food for you, dude.

[Eric]

My dog loves steak. Yeah. Like, when we're making steak, she'll literally just say, like, she bark. She never barks. But, like, steak, she'll stand right next to your leg while it's being cooked. Like, it's not cooked yet.

[Travis]

Oh, Sadie does the same thing.

[Eric]

She goes crazy for.

[Travis]

She's big and annoying about it.

[Eric]

Mine's little and annoying about.

[Travis]

Makes me trip all over myself in the kitchen because she'll just lay right next to my feet, but quietly. Yeah. So I'll just, like, go to grab the butter, and it's like, fall on my face.

[Eric]

Oh. But anyway, so they. They gave me the. They offered me the steak for free. I was like, no, I don't want that. They gave me the other steak for free. They took off the bill, and the manager came, and she's like, I'm so sorry. Here's a free drink. Do you want a drink? It's on me. And I was like, yeah, okay, I'll take a drink, you know? And then. But then I felt like they handled everything so well. So I tipped what the steak would have cost to the waitress, and then I left. I was like, stupid. I should have just taken the dub. I could have got a free steak. But then I also thought she overheard me and took the initiative to ask me and take it back. So she deserved. But I felt, like, so good. And then I was also like, dang it, I could have got a great display.

[Travis]

It's about the price. It's about the price.

[Eric]

I was willing to pay the price when I went in, but I did also feel like I should have taken the dub. But I will say, well, you should

[Travis]

at least tip on the price of the steak as if it was added to the bill.

[Eric]

That's what I did.

[Travis]

No, but you're saying you tipped the full amount of what the steak was. So, like, if it was a 40 steak, you added $40 onto the bill. What I'm saying is, like, when you remove a big price item like that, it lowers the overall bill. So if you tip on the. On that amount.

[Eric]

Yeah. So I still paid less than I would have with the tip.

[Travis]

Yeah, yeah.

[Eric]

For the full bill. But she got like a. I think it was like.

[Travis]

Which she should have, if that's good service.

[Eric]

It was like 55 or 60 bucks. It was expensive. Oh, and the drink. I tipped the drink and the steak. I tipped it all. Just gave it all away because I'm a nice, generous human being. But I will say so. I had already decided to do that, and I almost changed my mind. This made me mad. This was, like, the only customer service snafu when they brought the bill back or when they brought the bill back to give to me after I already decided to do that. And I still did it. I still did it. I'm still great. They brought me the bill, and they highlighted that. They took it off and drew something like, we took this off, basically telling

[Travis]

me, implying that you and I already

[Eric]

knew they did it. And that kind of made me upset because I just like. We know it's.

[Travis]

Let me be generous on my own.

[Eric]

We know what's going on here. It's like when they say, like, do you want to give to St. Jude's no.

[Travis]

Yeah.

[Eric]

Just kidding. I always do. I always do. I've never been to Penn Express. If you. If anyone out there is questioning my character as a. As a person who cares about others, as a giver, as, like, one of the great philanthropists of our time, I've never once been at Panda Express and not round up for. What do they do? Kids and stuff. Health.

[Travis]

I think that's what you're looking for.

[Eric]

Was it hospitals? I don't even know what the charity is, but I always. And they ring the bell and they all go, thank you.

[Travis]

How long times I've been dependent.

[Eric]

And I go, you're welcome. So I'm a good person. I don't care what they say about me online. I am a good person. And you know what?

[Travis]

If you say it enough, it's true.

[Eric]

It's an affirmation. I wake up and I say, you are a good person.

[Travis]

They are lucky to have you, despite all the evidence.

[Eric]

Okay. Despite what they say. People said some mean things about me, but I will say this. Panda loves to see me coming. So shout out. Let's close it out.

[Travis]

Well, 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. There here on the Travis Makes Money podcast. Thanks for tuning in. Catch you guys next time. Peace.