CO-HOST | Make Money Like Shannon Elizabeth—$1.2M in 7 Days on OnlyFans

Summary

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Travis Makes Money – Episode Summary

Episode Overview

Title: CO-HOST | Make Money Like Shannon Elizabeth—$1.2M in 7 Days on OnlyFans
Date: May 9, 2026
Host: Travis Chappell with producer Eric
Theme:
This episode dives deep into the extraordinary case of actress Shannon Elizabeth making $1.2 million in just seven days after launching her OnlyFans account. Travis and Eric discuss the implications of creator-controlled platforms, celebrity earning potential outside traditional media, and the realities of making money online. The conversation spans fan access, the shifting dynamics in media gatekeeping, and the truth behind average creator earnings.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

Who is Shannon Elizabeth?

• Context Provided: Best known for her roles in American Pie and Scary Movie. The hosts humorously recount her filmography, with Eric admitting he's never seen American Pie (00:36-00:55).
• Clip Played: Classic scene of Shannon Elizabeth from Scary Movie (01:24-02:11).

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Shannon Elizabeth’s OnlyFans Windfall

• Main Stat:
  • Shannon launched her OnlyFans on April 16, 2026, grossing $1.2 million in her first week (02:31).
• Eric’s Reaction:
  • “She just made $1.2 million in seven days. Not from a movie, not from a brand deal.” (02:25)
  • Travis: “No way.” (02:25)
• Direct Fan Engagement:
  • Half of Shannon’s earnings came from direct messaging (DMs), akin to the Cameo model (05:19).
• Scale of Earnings:
  • Eric notes, “She added 40% of her lifetime net worth in a week,” referencing her projected net worth of $2.5M (05:36).

Shannon’s Perspective

• Quote:
  • “For decades, other people controlled the narrative and outcome of my career. This allows me to connect directly with my audience, create my own terms and just be. I really do think this is the future.” (08:21, paraphrased by Eric)
• Quote (clip):
  • “My fans have really shown up for me in a way... I am so grateful for it.” (03:21)
  • “You’ve now made more than American Pie, Scary Movie, Love Actually... all of them combined.” (04:27)
  • “For me, it was just all about sharing and connecting with the fans. I never expected this to happen.” (04:31)

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The Creator Economy: Control & Monetization

• Direct Earnings Comparison:
  • OnlyFans takes a 20% cut, creators keep 80%. “Which is better than YouTube, which takes a 45% cut,” Eric explains. (08:53)
• Net Takeaway:
  • Shannon’s $1.2M gross = $960K net, pre-taxes (08:52-08:54).
• Ownership of Content:
  • Travis: “You own everything yourself... The ball is completely in your court.” (08:10)
  • Eric: “There’s a lot of value to be gained there. Literal financial value for her.” (08:21)
• No More Gatekeepers:
  • Travis: “For decades, other people controlled the narrative… This allows me to connect directly.” (Paraphrased by Eric, 08:21)

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Celebrity vs. Average Creator Reality

• Poker Side Hustle:
  • Shannon also amassed $247K in poker tournament earnings, indicating diversified income sources (08:26).
• The Disparity in Creator Earnings:
  • Average OnlyFans creator earns $131 a month, median likely under $50, with most earning $24/mo outside the top 5% (12:04-12:26).
  • Quote, Eric: “Median is likely under $50 a month. Below the top 5%, most make $24 a month.” (12:23)
  • Quote, Travis: “The top 1% averages $146,881 a month.” (12:59)
• Exception vs. Rule:
  • Notable outliers: Sophie Rain ($101 million lifetime, paid $30 million in taxes); Bad Baby (made $1 million in six hours on her 18th birthday) (13:14, 13:54-13:59).
• Drea De Matteo’s Story:
  • Sopranos star started OnlyFans in desperation: “She had $10 in her bank account when she started. She made $75,000 in 75 minutes and saved her home from foreclosure.” (14:54-14:59)
  • Drea: “OnlyFans saved my life 100%. I can’t believe I’m saying that. But it really did.”

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Broader Reflections on Access and Platform Power

• Changing Fan Interactions:
  • Travis: “It’s wild... we’ve moved from people watching that movie in theaters... to now, you can pay to DM directly.” (15:40)
  • Eric: “It’s selling access. There’s a real economy behind just connecting people together.” (16:23)
• Host’s Observations on Celebrity Appearances:
  • Paying for celebrity guests/events rarely guarantees success or huge returns (16:56–19:25).
  • Travis: “It should be somewhat personally meaningful to you... it does not guarantee the episode’s going to do really well or that it’s going to propel you into superstardom.” (20:47-21:31)

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Memorable Quotes & Moments

• Shannon Elizabeth (on her massive launch):
  “You’ve now made more than American Pie, Scary Movie, Love Actually… all of them combined. I’m so humbled by it.” (04:27)
• Eric (on the average creator earnings):
  “The average OnlyFans creator earns $131 a month. The median is likely under $50 a month.” (12:04)
• Travis (on creator control):
  “You own everything yourself. The ball is completely in your court.” (08:10)
• Eric (on platform gatekeepers):
  “All those gatekeepers… a kid watching American Pie now can pay to DM their crush directly.” (15:43)

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Notable Segment Timestamps

• [02:31] – Shannon’s $1.2M OnlyFans launch explained
• [03:21] – Clip: Shannon’s gratitude towards her fans
• [04:07] – Clip: Shannon on earning more from OnlyFans than her movies
• [08:53] – Breakdown of OnlyFans vs. traditional media take rates
• [12:04] – Real stats: Average OnlyFans earnings
• [13:14] – Top creators: Sophie Rain, Bad Baby
• [14:54] – Drea De Matteo: Desperation to salvation via OnlyFans
• [15:40] – The shift in fan access: Then vs. now
• [16:56-19:25] – Travis on the ROI (or lack thereof) from paying for celebrity appearances

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Final Thoughts

• The episode highlights the seismic shift in media, where creators and celebrities can now monetize direct relationships with their fans—sometimes eclipsing what they made in traditional media over decades.
• Shannon Elizabeth’s rapid earnings demonstrate the power of a strong personal brand and direct fan engagement, but the hosts caution that such results are rare and not the norm.
• Both Travis and Eric emphasize that owning your platform is liberating, but also stress the average creator’s reality is much less glamorous than the outlier cases.
• The real take-away: The creator economy offers vast opportunity, but true, lasting success still requires unique personal branding, prior audience building, and a willingness to take risks—just having access to a platform is not enough.

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Original Tone and Style
The conversation is equal parts light-hearted banter and practical, reality-anchored finance talk. The hosts’ camaraderie and frequent tangents add an authentic and relatable flavor as they discuss the realities and winnings of modern creators.

Transcript

[Travis Chappell]

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 our mission to help you make some more money. Today on the show, my producer Eric is in studio. What's up?

[Eric (Producer)]

How are you, Travis?

[Travis Chappell]

I'm good.

[Eric (Producer)]

Good.

[Travis Chappell]

Glad to hear it, Mrs. Doubtfire. Oh, how are you, Travis?

[Eric (Producer)]

I've never watched it. So, do you know who Shannon Elizabeth is?

[Travis Chappell]

Nope.

[Eric (Producer)]

She's known for her roles in movies like American Pie.

[Travis Chappell]

Okay.

[Eric (Producer)]

Have you seen that movie?

[Travis Chappell]

I have.

[Eric (Producer)]

You have?

[Travis Chappell]

Yeah.

[Eric (Producer)]

Oh, I've never seen American Pie. Really? Do you recommend that?

[Travis Chappell]

It's one of those time capsules.

[Eric (Producer)]

Yeah, exactly. I'm sure it's aged very well in all regards.

[Travis Chappell]

Oh, yeah, totally.

[Eric (Producer)]

If you're someone like me, you probably know Shannon Elizabeth from hi.

[Travis Chappell]

My Mother. Is that my. Thinking of the same girl?

[Eric (Producer)]

No, Scary Movie.

[Travis Chappell]

Oh, okay.

[Eric (Producer)]

You're thinking of Allison Hannigan.

[Travis Chappell]

Oh, yeah, yeah. But she's also American Pie. No.

[Eric (Producer)]

Yeah, but I'm talking about Scary Movie. And we're not talking about Allison Hannigan, okay? We're talking about Shannon Elizabeth, known for Scary Movie and American Pie. Here's a clip from Scary Movie so you can understand who this is.

[Shannon Elizabeth (Interview Clip)]

I'll be doing a dramatic reading.

[Travis Chappell]

Just her name.

[Shannon Elizabeth (Interview Clip)]

Cow. Greg, look behind you. Get down and sit down. Oh, my God. Somebody do something. Somebody do something.

[Eric (Producer)]

That's good.

[Travis Chappell]

It's really good. Must be an original piece. That's fantastic.

[Shannon Elizabeth (Interview Clip)]

Wonderful. That's my. Fantastic.

[Eric (Producer)]

So that's her from Scary Movie. Shout out to Scary Movie for sponsoring this episode.

[Travis Chappell]

They're coming out with another one, right?

[Eric (Producer)]

Yeah, they are, buddy. And I'll be there. So she just made $1.2 million in seven days.

[Travis Chappell]

No way.

[Eric (Producer)]

Not from a movie, not from a brand deal. What do you think it's from?

[Travis Chappell]

Not from OnlyFans.

[Eric (Producer)]

It was from OnlyFans.

[Travis Chappell]

Oh, okay.

[Eric (Producer)]

So she started an OnlyFans on April 16, 2026. In the first seven days, she made $1.2 million gross. So she talks about this here. I pulled up a clip of her being interviewed by. I want to say.

[Travis Chappell]

Oh, it was Graham Stephan at a guy's coffee hour.

[Eric (Producer)]

No. But probably soon. That guy gets everybody. I literally was watching the other day. There was the streamer. Vitaly, like, has been doing these predator catching streams and he wrongly got a dude and accused him of being a predator on livestream and, like, ruined his life. And so. And then, like, the next day, Graham had him on his show. And I was like, what is Graham's booking process? He's like, this guy's life just got ruined by a streamer because he was called a pedophile. What was the financial cost of that to you? I'm really curious about that. Anyway, so here's what she had to say about it.

[Shannon Elizabeth (Interview Clip)]

Really responsive and really, really grateful. My fans have really shown up for me in a way that's. It's.

[Travis Chappell]

She showed up for them.

[Shannon Elizabeth (Interview Clip)]

I never expected what's been happening, and my fans have been absolutely incredible and supportive, and I am so grateful for it. Has the interest.

[Eric (Producer)]

Wait a minute.

[Travis Chappell]

Shocked you?

[Eric (Producer)]

This isn't the right timestamp. This isn't the right timestamp.

[Travis Chappell]

That's pretty wild. Even the title of the video is pretty crazy.

[Eric (Producer)]

I'm trying. Well, that's what I was trying to show you. Don't pretend you didn't see that.

[Travis Chappell]

I didn't see that. You guys didn't hear me say anything about it.

[Eric (Producer)]

Hold on. Okay, okay, okay, here we go. Oh, I put. I'm so dumb. I put the wrong time command.

[Travis Chappell]

That's what I agree on. Okay, finally said something.

[Eric (Producer)]

All right, here we go.

[Shannon Elizabeth (Interview Clip)]

Chatting with them. I just had no idea. But it's super exciting, and it's just the beginning. My manager the other day had a quote where he said he's very good with math, and I'm going to have to remember which ones did he say, you've now made more than American Pie. Scary Movie Love. Actually all of them combined. So. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I don't even know what to say. I'm so humbled by it. And for me, it was just all about, like, sharing and connecting with the fans. I never expected this to happen. So.

[Travis Chappell]

Wow.

[Shannon Elizabeth (Interview Clip)]

It's just. Go get that camera, girl.

[Eric (Producer)]

So. Yeah, so that's kind of nutso. And also just, like, is like, Denise Richards has, like, imagine also at the peak of, like, when American Pie came out.

[Travis Chappell]

Right.

[Eric (Producer)]

What that number would be.

[Travis Chappell]

Yeah.

[Eric (Producer)]

Be like, probably more probably 2 million. But anyway, yeah. So pretty crazy. 1.2 million celebrity net worth, which is a very reputable site that always is 100% accurate, people. It put her net worth at about 2.5 million, which I was like, if she managed money well, that's probably. That seems like one of the more accurate than when it's like, Rainn Wilson, $1 billion. I don't think he made that much money. Dwight probably made 999 million. But so if she made this and that's what she was worth, she. She added 40% of her lifetime net worth in a week, which is kind of crazy. Half of this money is from dm. So it's not just subscriber revenue. It's people like chatting like Cameo. You can chat and send a message or whatever. It's kind of crazy. And when you hear stuff like that, to me, obviously, like it's a celebrity, but also it is one of those things where you go.

[Travis Chappell]

This episode of the show is brought to you by Fanview. Fanview is a creator monetization platform that enables individuals to build, grow and monetize their own digital content businesses. You guys know talk about this all the time here on the show. And so I was excited to do this partnership with Fanview because it's a great platform. They have the ability to share exclusive content with your subscribers over there. You can build direct relationships with your audience through their platform, generate recurring income through fan support. So if you are somebody who has, has a creator channel or you are thinking about starting a creator channel, you're not sure exactly how to monetize it. Well, Fan View is a great platform to do that through. It's super accessible for beginners. You make it feel extremely personal to you and to your audience. The connection that you can gain no matter what niche you're in. You can use Fanview as your platform so you can monetize your content. You can earn as much as you possibly can. It's super low barrier to entry to entry. So it's really easy to get started and there's no experience or audience needed in order to be able to get started making money on the platform. Not to mention it's crazy, crazy scalable. So you guys know we talk about side hustles on the show all the time. The couple of the parameters that I look for is is it really easy to start, low barrier to entry to start, and if it starts going well, is it something that's potentially scalable beyond what your full time job is capable of earning you? And Fanview definitely has those potential things there. So if you're already creator or you're thinking about becoming creator, you're not exactly sure how to monetize the platform that you're building that then go check out FanView, visit www.FanView.com today and launch your creator career. That's Fanview. F A n v u e.com fanview.com.

[Eric (Producer)]

like, the amount of money to be made by owning your own, like, channel versus, like, think about all the movies you have to do to make that same amount of money.

[Travis Chappell]

Like, well, and the permission. It's all gated.

[Eric (Producer)]

Right.

[Travis Chappell]

Like, she hasn't done anything since those movies.

[Eric (Producer)]

You have to audition. Yeah. She's not in the new scary Movie, which I thought was dumb.

[Travis Chappell]

Oh, really?

[Eric (Producer)]

I'd love to see her go. Go back to those movies. But anyway, yeah, I mean, you get.

[Travis Chappell]

You own everything yourself. You decide it's the ball is completely in your court. Like, you can. You can do whatever you want, which there's a lot of value to be gained there. Obviously. Literal financial value for her.

[Eric (Producer)]

Yeah, well, that's what she said. She told people before launch. For decades, other people controlled the narrative and outcome of my career. This allows me to connect directly with my audience, create my own terms and just be. I really do think this is the future. In addition to this, this is the other thing that I thought was really interesting. She's also a working professional poker player. So she has 247,000 in lifetime tournament earnings. She won third place at the 2007 NBC Heads Up Championship for $125,000. So already raking in a good amount of money.

[Travis Chappell]

Well, so just give her more poker money.

[Eric (Producer)]

Right. To get Graham Stephan on you. To give you the breakdown here, I'm curious, how much of that does she get to keep? OnlyFans takes 20%. Creators keep 80%, which is better than YouTube, which takes a 45% cut, TikTok creator rewards or app stores. So if she grossed 1.2 million, she nets 960,000 before taxes. Compare that to a streaming film deal where actors see a tiny fraction and really nothing on the. On the back end. And then I can give you some only fans stats in general, but pretty, pretty wild. And I think you should be shifting business models.

[Travis Chappell]

Yeah, I'm not sure my launch on OnlyFans would be quite as successful.

[Eric (Producer)]

I don't think so.

[Travis Chappell]

But, you know, I will say that

[Eric (Producer)]

I think I always tell people, I say Travis is a real male. Shannon Elizabeth.

[Travis Chappell]

Yeah, no, that's what most people know me as. No, you don't think so.

[Eric (Producer)]

You're a male. You're like a male man. You give postal worker energy. Yeah, take that, bro. I'm just kidding.

[Travis Chappell]

No, you're not.

[Eric (Producer)]

I'm trying to think of your female equivalent, actually. Let's play this game.

[Travis Chappell]

I don't like this game.

[Eric (Producer)]

Who's the old lady that Curses. Lindsay Loman in Drag me to hell. And then her dentures come out. That's like you.

[Travis Chappell]

I think you know that. I don't know the answer to that.

[Eric (Producer)]

No. Just kidding. Anyway, yeah.

[Travis Chappell]

So, yeah, I will say that I like the arc better when it's somebody like her in her position. That's not like, versus, like a 19 year old or 18 year old being like, oh, quick cash grab. Let me do a bunch of stuff that's gonna compromise what I actually really want to be. And then now I gotta clean up the pieces.

[Eric (Producer)]

And years from now, maybe that's a good transition. Yeah. Where there's freedom to make the decision instead of it being from a place of, like, desperation is always better.

[Travis Chappell]

Right.

[Eric (Producer)]

I think this is kind of the.

[Travis Chappell]

And she's older, she knows what she wants.

[Eric (Producer)]

She's like. And she's been through the public awareness and all that stuff. Yeah. I mean, shout out. That's. I wish I had one point. Yeah. I think this is a good time to pivot into the actual stats because I think people hear these stories. I think, like, onlyfans, if I had to guess, loves these stories because seeing Shannon, who, like, obviously she has to do very little to bring in that much money. You know what I'm saying? Like, there's tons of people are like, oh, my God, my crush from American Pie. Right.

[Travis Chappell]

But just do little. You're saying like, on the platform.

[Eric (Producer)]

Yeah, I'm saying, like, she can really pick and choose what she wants. She could literally just be like, here's a. Here's a picture of me at the beach. You know what I mean?

[Travis Chappell]

Bikini shot from a shoot that I did 20 years ago.

[Eric (Producer)]

Right at the print. Yeah. And she even talks about in one of the interviews, like, you know, I can just be me and I have to do makeup. I don't have to do all this stuff. I can just like. It feels like a very chill thing. Yeah. And I think like a platform like onlyfans depends on stories like this to get the young, you know, the young dumb kid that's like, yeah, let me sign up and see what I can do. Which is why it's a good time to remind people the average Only fans creator earns how much a month?

[Travis Chappell]

It can't be much.

[Eric (Producer)]

$69 a month.

[Travis Chappell]

I would say, like less than five grand a year. So what is that, 200 bucks a month?

[Eric (Producer)]

Yeah. The average Only Fans creator earns $131 a month. The median is likely under $50 a month. If you don't know what the Median is when you're on the highway. There's that little divider in the center. That's the median. You don't want to hit that. So that'll end any career you have very quickly.

[Travis Chappell]

Good one.

[Eric (Producer)]

Thank you. That would be funny to do financial advice, but just give the wrong, like, incorrect evidence. This is your gross money. Ooh, put that away. Anyway, what I was talking about, the median is likely under $50 a month. Below the top 5%, most make $24 a month. The top 1% of creators, and we've talked about this before, this is like every platform. The top 1% of creators take home 33% of all platform revenue. The top 1% averages $146,881 a month.

[Travis Chappell]

Top 0.1%.

[Eric (Producer)]

Yeah. So even if you're in that top 1%, you're making a little over six figures.

[Travis Chappell]

Wow.

[Eric (Producer)]

Now, celebrity, obviously, there's unicorns here. Sophie Rain is one of the top. Did we just do an episode talking about her?

[Travis Chappell]

We commented on something because she was talking about her financial management.

[Eric (Producer)]

Oh. On Graham Stephan on Iced Coffee Hour. Go watch the Iced Coffee Hour. It's a great show. So Sophie said she earned $101 million lifetime, but disclosed she paid $30 million in taxes and warned aspiring creators her success. Yeah, she's very atypical. But obviously, if you already have celebrity, something like this, where you're connecting directly is going to fair you pretty well. Any thoughts?

[Travis Chappell]

Yeah, just the. It still comes back to the personal brand side, you know, and speaks to, like. Yeah, it speaks to still the power of Hollywood.

[Eric (Producer)]

Yeah.

[Travis Chappell]

You know what I'm saying? Like, even I always forget what her name is. But the girl that was Dr. Phil segment.

[Eric (Producer)]

Oh, bad baby.

[Travis Chappell]

Bad baby.

[Eric (Producer)]

Yeah. Made a million dollars in her first six hours when she joined at age 18.

[Travis Chappell]

Yeah. See, that's crazy.

[Eric (Producer)]

And there's a disturbing understory to that.

[Travis Chappell]

Yeah.

[Eric (Producer)]

People joining at 18 until she turned 18 and then making a million bucks. That's. That's the version I don't recommend of jumping into.

[Travis Chappell]

But even that one was, like, she was only made famous because of Hollywood.

[Eric (Producer)]

Yeah.

[Travis Chappell]

You know what I mean? Because she had this crazy segment on Dr. Phil when she was, like, 13 years old.

[Eric (Producer)]

I do not know how to pronounce her name, but from the Sopranos, Drea De Mateo, I want to say is how you say it. She was on Sopranos for, like, the entire run of the show and did financially struggle, which is crazy. It's always crazy when you hear a Story of like, someone was on the Office, or they were on the Sopranos or they were on Friends, and it's like Drake and Josh. Now they're struggling. Yeah. And she. She did start out of, like, kind of last ditch desperation. She launched her only fans in August 2023 at $15 a month. She had $10 in her bank account when she started.

[Travis Chappell]

Wow.

[Eric (Producer)]

And she disclosed publicly she made $75,000 in 75 minutes and saved her home

[Travis Chappell]

from foreclosure with the platform.

[Eric (Producer)]

Yeah. And she said, only fan saved my life 100%. I can't believe I'm saying that. But it really did save us. And it gave me enough money to start up and finance my streetwear brand. And there's. Yeah, so there's unique stories like that as well. But again, listening to the story was like, it was crazy to me because obviously there's a lot of people that have, like, very aggressive thoughts about the thing. And, you know, that's a whole nother conversation. But I think in terms of the story, to me, it was just going like. It's crazy that all those gatekeepers of her being able to just go like, you know, a kid. When did American pie come out? 2000, early 2000s.

[Travis Chappell]

Yeah, like over 20 years ago that

[Eric (Producer)]

we've moved from people watching that movie in theaters and having to wait till it comes out as a video rental and like, hopefully meet their. Whoever their crush is from this movie at a convention can now, like, pay to DM directly. Like, and there's not 9,000 PR pieces in the way. Like, it's like, it's like Cameo. It's like, it's pretty wild that, like, you can go on Cameo and say, oh, I love this show. The Boys. Is there somebody from the Boys on Cameo? And I can get them to answer a question. It's a really funny to my friend

[Travis Chappell]

who we watch the show religiously together, right?

[Eric (Producer)]

Yeah.

[Travis Chappell]

Yeah. But it's selling access. There's a real economy behind just connecting people together, which is pretty crazy to think about.

[Eric (Producer)]

Let me ask you this. You very rarely pay to access celebrities yourself. Has there ever been a time where you see someone's coming through a convention where you see someone's going to be available to talk to, where you're like, yeah, I would cough up some money to make that connection happen versus organically going, someday I'll get him on my podcast or I'll meet him somewhere at this gathering. When does that ever cross your mind?

[Travis Chappell]

It just depends on who the person is, because the. The misconception is that just because you had a really big person on your podcast, whatever, or you had them at your event, it's going to instantly make you successful. And that is just not true. And actually one of the reasons why I wanted to do Dinner Party was that I wanted to create a really unique piece of content that sort of had that celebrity esque vibe but then filled the room with other people. Because I. Cause like I've seen, there's a specific example that I'm thinking of. I won't say the guy's name exactly, but launched a show. He has, he's almost, he's basically a billion dollar net worth. He's almost a billionaire. Probably in the next 12 months we'll reach that, that threshold. So he's got some money to play with and he launched a show and basically paid for his first, you know, dozen guests and got like Charlie Sheen and Magic Johnson and got, and then Tom Brady and people like this. And I don't know exactly how much he paid for Tom Brady, but it's a pretty penny because I know Tom Brady doesn't get out, get out of bed for anything tiny. Like I. There's even a friend of mine who had Tom Brady booked as a speaker for his event. It was a million dollars cash for the speaking spot. He had already wired him the money and then three, four days or something like within a week of the event, Tom Brady was like, I had this other thing come up. So nevermind, they just wired the million dollars back and it was just like a million bucks wasn't even enough to get him to show up in this other state to be on stage for an hour. He like, that's a million bucks.

[Eric (Producer)]

If someone wants to pay you a million dollars to speak, would you accept?

[Travis Chappell]

I would accept.

[Eric (Producer)]

Okay.

[Travis Chappell]

Yes. Email me travis travischappel.com if you want to pay me a million dollars to come speak.

[Eric (Producer)]

You're going to get so many spam emails that are like trying to steal

[Travis Chappell]

your information who are talking about the Nigerian prince who needs some funding. Yeah, the. So I don't know exactly how much paid for Tom Brady, but it wasn't a small amount for sure. And so he pro. I don't know how I would, I would guess he's probably north of a half a million dollars just in like paying spe to guests for his first round of episodes. It's like, did the show do much better than it would have had he not done that? Yes, of course. But it did not give them, I think personally the result that they were probably hoping for sure when they did it. And so it. It basically kind of taught me, like, it's not just about the celebrity that's in the room. It's also about the draw of the person that's asking the questions.

[Eric (Producer)]

What do you do when the celebrity's there?

[Travis Chappell]

Yeah, yeah. And then. Which is why we ended up doing the Dinner party episode, because it was like, well, we're gonna. We're gonna. We're going to. I'm going to use some past connections and to get Shaq out here. And I already had him on my show to begin with, so that made it a lot easier. And then once he's there now, we can bring in other people who are also really great at what they do, and then that is going to make it more uniquely interesting, because a lot of those other people are going to want to show it to their audience. You know what I mean? So that's the gamble that we took on that. But that's such a unique scenario. So it's hard to say, you know, and it's more like, to me, it's more like, is this personally meaningful to me versus, like, is that a big name that will move the needle on the show? Because those are two different things. And if you're just doing it to move the needle on the show, then you have to be willing to let go of that money without the result having happened, because it does not guarantee that the episode's going to do really well or that it's going to propel you into superstardom, which is annoying because it sometimes does. Like, you look at someone like Bobby Altoff, like, she went big on this first one. Yeah, she. I think her second episode, she got Drake, and then that episode blew up and then turned her into one of the most famous podcasters on the planet in, like, 30 days. So, like, can that happen? Yes. Is it a guarantee? Absolutely not. So you might just be spending a bunch of money to get around to get access to this person. And that's why I say, like, it should be somewhat personally meaningful to you. So there's another guy that when. When we were running Gustio, we would help people book celebrities for events or for their podcast or whatever. And that. That was what it was for. This other guy, he, again, was running a company that was doing multiple nine figures in revenue and had some money to spend on this. And then it was basically all the guests that he was paying for were people that were like, that he loved watch. That he loved watching growing up. You know, they were his like, boxing heroes or, like, his favorite actor or whatever. So it's like that. That, to me, feels more just like a personal accomplishment rather than, like, I hope this is the thing that, like, blows us up and turns us into the next big, you know, in the next Joe Rogan or whatever. It's like. It's just not. It's not going to have that effect.

[Eric (Producer)]

Yeah.

[Travis Chappell]

So be willing to let go of the money without that happening, if that's what the goal is.

[Eric (Producer)]

Yeah. Well, just right now, it's okay. I'm just going to close. Well, I always say, why pay to meet your favorite celebrity when I get paid to work with my favorite celebrity every day?

[Travis Chappell]

Is that me?

[Eric (Producer)]

No, I actually have a new client that's a celebrity. No, I'm just saying it's you. Also, we can book not Tom Cruise on cameo for only 109. 135 bucks.

[Travis Chappell]

Oh, nice. Perfect.

[Eric (Producer)]

I'm going to do that, and you close this out there.

[Travis Chappell]

Thanks so much for tuning in. Remember, money only solves your money problems, but it's easier to solve the rest of your problems. Money in the bank. So let's start there. Here on the Travis Makes Money podcast. Catch you next time. Peace.