
Loading summary
Sponsor Voice
This episode is brought to you by indeed. Stop waiting around for the perfect candidate. Instead, use Indeed sponsored Jobs to find the right people with the right skills fast. It's a simple way to make sure your listing is the first candidate. C. According to Indeed data, sponsored jobs have four times more applicants than non sponsored jobs. So go build your dream team today with Indeed. Get a $75 sponsored job credit at Indeed.com podcast terms and conditions apply.
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 our mission to help you make more money. Today on the show, I'm talking to a new friend, Sean Nelson. Sean is the founder and CEO of LoveSack, one of America's fastest growing furniture brands and a publicly traded company nearing $1 billion in annual sales. He started by hand making beanbags in college, then scaled through smart retail expansion. Now with over 300 locations, product innovation like the Sactionals that have become really popular and well known in a patent portfolio of 50 plus inventions. Richard Branson investment, a design masters from Parsons and a focus on durable sustainable products helped fuel growth. He now teaches entrepreneurship through his book and podcast. Let me save you 25 years. Mentoring others, building wealth through innovation and resilience. Sean, what's up man? Welcome to the show.
Sean Nelson
Great to be here. Thanks for having me.
Travis
Yes, sir. You know what, I have been, I have been jumping on Lovesac beanbags in retail stores since I was like 7 years old. So it's been a, it's been a little while since you've been running this company, right? How long has it been now?
Sean Nelson
Look, Love Sack started as a side hustle in college. So I made a big beanbag when I was 18 and founded the company 1998. And it was just like a side hustle and, you know, opened our first store in 2001. We've had our ups and downs, but somewhere along the way invented the coolest couch ever invented called Sactionals. It can grow with you, be with you and change, wash it, rearrange it forever. You can have it the rest of your life if you want to. And that's propelled us to the size we're at and still going.
Travis
So the Lovesac, you initially just handmade it?
Sean Nelson
Yeah, yeah. The first one was like, had this dumb idea turned off the tv, drove down to the fabric store, bought some fabric, rolled it out of my parents, you know, living room floor, cut it out, began sewing it up, jam my mom's sewing machine. So my neighbor, seamstress lady finished it for me and then spent three weeks stuffing it. Originally beanbag beads, but couldn't find enough. So packing peanuts, old blankets, camping mattresses that I cut up on a paper cutter. And that was the key. The made it soft and squishy like you've experienced. And yeah, that's, you know, been our hallmark.
Travis
Why did you make it just for fun or, like, I miss having a bean bag that I can sink into, like I did when I was a kid type of thing?
Sean Nelson
No, it was just something stupid to do.
Travis
Wow.
Sean Nelson
You know, I had this idea, like, how funny would it be to have a beanbag like me to the tv, the whole floor. And I think the difference in all things is taking action. You know, my book that tells the whole story. Let me save you 25 years. Chapter one. Just do something. And in my case, I turn off the tv, bought the fabric, you know, did the thing, and who would have known that people would, would love it, want me to make them one? And it's led to all this.
Travis
Did this derail any sort of career plans that you had? Like, what were you going to school for?
Sean Nelson
Well, truth is, even in the first few years of Love Sack, because this was like my side hustle in college. I was slinging cell phones, making money to pay my way through school. I became a waiter to actually make money because the little company just kind of took all my money. You know, you got to fix the van, fix the shredder, buy more fabric. And as I was graduating university, I had job offers, I had, you know, I was, I was taking interviews even as I was kind of building this factory to, to complete a large order that we got for LoveSac right at the end of college from a trade show we attended. And. And so you just kind of got to go where it takes you. And I share all of that in the book. It's such a saga, you know, Love Sack. The subtitle is Mistakes, Miracles and Lessons from the Lovesack Story. And I try to be really candid about, you know, all the mistakes I made because they were everywhere and the lessons I learned from that.
Travis
So you eventually just didn't take any of those jobs and kept pushing lovesac?
Sean Nelson
Yeah, there. There came that point where it's like, do I take this job that's full time, suit wearing, you know, real deal or do I stick around this beanbag factory and complete this order? And anyway, I had to abandon that job route and go for it. And, you know, it would be years ultimately before I. I actually made a profit and made money. We just kind of broke even for a long time, barely paid the bills. It was when we opened the first store.
Travis
This episode of the show is brought to you by Chime. Chime is not just another banking app. They unlock smarter banking for everyday people with products like MyPay giving you access to up to $500 of your paycheck anytime and getting paid up to two days early with direct deposit. Some old banks still don't do this, so forget overdraft fees, minimum balance fees, monthly fees. Chime turns everyday spending into real rewards and progress. Plus, they have this new credit card, which I'm a big fan of, this Chime Card. It's the new way to build credit history with your own money and actually get rewarded every single day. So a lot of cards like this, they require you to put some sort of money down and then they will give you a credit card based on the money that you put down. But when they do that, because it basically is working off of the cash that you have down as collateral for the credit line, you don't get rewards on it. Well, Chime changed the game with their new credit card as well. There's no annual fees, there's no interest, no strings attached. And when you get qualifying direct deposits, you get 1.5% cash back on eligible Chime card purchases. Chime is not just smarter banking. It is the most rewarding way to bank. So join the millions who are already banking fee free today. My younger self would have benefited from this, and I know you will too. It just takes a few minutes to sign up. Head to chime.com travis that is chime.com travis. This episode of the show is brought to you by Shopify. Starting something new isn't just hard, it is terrifying. So much work goes into this thing that you're just not entirely sure that's gonna work out. It'd be hard to make that leap of faith. Trust me, I know. When I started this podcast, when I've started several of my businesses, I just wasn't even sure what I was doing. Like, what if nobody listens to the show? What if I make a fool of myself? What if I embarrass myself? Nobody buys my stuff. Now I know that I was right in believing in myself and launching my podcast and several of my businesses. Despite all the fears and hesitations. But it also helps when you have an amazing partner like Shopify on your side to help. Shopify is the commerce platform behind millions of businesses around the world. And 10% of all E commerce in the US is using Shopify. Like this is the place that hosts all of your favorite products and services. So if you are considering this, then Shopify is a must especially, especially, especially if you're going to launch some sort of an e. Comm product. So get started with your own design studio. With hundreds of ready to use templates, Shopify helps you build a beautiful online store that actually matches your brand's style. But Travis, what if I get stuck? Well, Shopify is always around to share advice with their award winning 247 customer support. Which is very, very important to people like me who are still some for some reason like caught in the 1980s and I want to talk to somebody when I actually have a problem and instead of just relying on an AI system. And did I mention that the iconic purple shop pay button that's used by millions of businesses around the world, that's from Shopify. It's why Shopify has the best converting checkout on the planet. Helps boost conversions, meaning less carts going abandoned and more sales going to for you. So it's time to turn those wh ifs into with Shopify today. Sign up for your $1 per month trial today at shopify.com TMM go to shopify.com TMM that's shopify.com TMM
Sean Nelson
three years later that it finally started to go. And so, you know, every kind of up and down and challenge and you know, tough decision along the way.
Travis
What were the people in your life
saying at this point?
Was it a lot of, what are you doing, man? You have this job, do the job.
Sean Nelson
You know, it was a mix. You know, at one point I did choose to go the other way. And I told everyone, you know, hey, I gotta shut love sack down. It's not making any money. This is right at the end of school. And everyone who had one was like, no way, man. You can't close loves. Like, I love my love sack, my neighbor. Like, everyone wants a love. What are you doing? And this is just local, right? Yeah. So that's where we gave it one last try, went to that trade show and got that big order. Meanwhile, you know, my mom would come downstairs, I was living in the basement and she caught me cutting out fabric and I was sitting on my butt with scissors in my hands cutting out 10 yards of vinyl. She knows, like I'm, I'm graduating with a degree in business. I speak Mandarin Chinese. That's a whole other story. I'm an honors student. She's like, she, and she wasn't being judgmental. She just looked at me and said, is this what you want to do? As I'm sitting there on the floor with scissors in my hand and I remember, you know, I thought, I thought about it for a second and I just said, I don't know, I said, but I feel like I should keep going. And I would say to you, here I am, you know, 27 years in, we're doing hundreds of millions annually. It still feels the same way. Like there's always, you know, tariffs. I paid more in tariffs last year than our net profits in the company, you know, that we didn't plan on. Wow. You know what I'm saying? Like, it's just painful. Like the meteorites that are hucked at you by the world in growing a business. So it's like you could, you could think you've made, like, at what point do you make it? Like, I, I, I, I, I remember moments at, you know, $70,000, $7 million, $70 million, $700 million, still feeling vulnerable, still feeling, you know, nervous and afraid and, and, and all the, all of the things that, you know, just different scales and somehow I feel like I should keep going. And so we do that.
Travis
It seems, it seems to me that it is a journey worth taking or else you probably would have hung it up a while ago then 100%.
Sean Nelson
And in fact, for me, and look, this isn't advice for everyone because everyone's in a different situation, different timing, different, you know, industries, everything. But when, more recently, like in the last number of years when I made the decision to like, first, first, I know what my ambition is. Like our ambition for Love Sock is to build it into a Nike, to build it into a brand that's here for a hundred years. And we've got a lot of ways that we think we can do that. And I know that sounds ridiculous coming from a company that makes like two products, but we have a lot of love out there for this brand and for this company. We've done a lot of things well. And when I made the decision more recently to just like, I will go as long as it takes, like, I'm not interested in retirement, I'm not interested in a big financial sell up, you know, we're already a public company. So when I made that mental decision, it then kind of like freed me to just like okay, so a fourth year of tariffs and rough. Go for the home category. Post Covid while go five. I'll go six. I'll go seven. Who cares? You know, and I don't mean to sound flippant, it's just that it really frees you when, when you, you know, you take the time bound aspect off of it. Yeah.
Travis
When there's, there's ironically, freedom in commitment. It's like commitment seems like shackles, but ultimately it also is the thing that basically it takes options off the table. You know, if you're just like, I'm fully committed to doing this thing for an extended period of time, regardless of what comes, then it doesn't matter when an obstacle comes in your way. It's. It's just, okay, well, what do we do about this? It's not. Maybe we should hang it up. Maybe we, maybe I should quit. Maybe I should retire, Maybe I should sell. Maybe we should take it private again. Like, it's just like we're going to keep sailing this ship regardless of which storms come across the waters, you know?
Sean Nelson
Yeah. Yeah.
Travis
What, what, what were some of the, the, I guess, failures or, or big obstacles that you felt, that you felt were turning points for you in the business where you decided to double down and just say, we're, we're, we're keeping this going. Even though a lot of people might have been like, nah, I think I'll just sell this thing.
Sean Nelson
I mean, so many, I mean, the most dramatic, of course, look, I, we had to take. Well, we raised private equity very early. Sorry, venture capital. We raised venture capital very early. And this was in the early days of consumer focused venture capital investments. Like, it wasn't always a thing. It was in tech, but not in consumer. And so, yeah, in the early 2000s, we took money and their first move was to look at our menagerie of 40 stores at the time, spread out across the western United States, mostly franchises, and say, look, we think we need to start over. You know, you guys made a lot of good decisions and bad decisions as 20 somethings. Let's, let's bankrupt the company, take it through chapter 11, hopefully survive that and emerge with just a dozen stores and start over. That's, you know, terrifying. Not something that I would have chosen myself. There's different ways we could have operated, but that was kind of thrust upon us and humiliating. You know, go through that at the same time. You know, over time it did work out. We were able to reorganize the company and start over and kind of rebuild it. So, you know, we've made every mistake in the book. I've tried to be really transparent about that in the book. And it's. But it's from those mistakes that you really learn. Like. Like, you really want to see how contracts work out. You know, all these clauses that we skip over or read or whatever. You know, take your company through a complete reorganization. Every contract, every lease, every invoice, every debtor, it all comes to bear, and you get to see it play out. So now my knowledge as to what those things actually mean, how these things actually stack up, what the risk actually is, is far greater than had. I never lived through something like that as an example. Right. So there are. That's one of the coolest things about business. There's a thousand lessons, there's 10,000 lessons to learn. And I don't know that you could have so many opportunities to learn, grow. And it's dynamic. Like, it's very different today, in 2026, than it was in. In 2006.
Travis
Yeah.
Sean Nelson
When we lived through that. And, and so you're just constantly. It's like, learn or die, evolve or die, adapt or die. The competition will eat you. You know, it's like living in. In the land of dinosaurs. Everything, everything's out to. To kind of kill you, whether it's the federal government, things you don't predict, like tariffs and whatnot, or whether it's competition. So you have. It's just a cool medium.
Travis
Yeah.
This episode of the show is brought to you by Chime. Chime is not just another banking app. They unlock smarter banking for everyday people with products like MyPay giving you access to up to 500 of your paycheck anytime and getting paid up to 2 days early with direct deposit. Some old banks still don't do this. So forget overdraft fees, minimum balance fees, monthly fees. Chime turns everyday spending into real rewards and progress. Plus, they have this new credit card, which I'm a big fan of, this Chime card. It's the new way to build credit history with your own money and actually get rewarded every single day. So a lot of cards like this, they require you to put some sort of money down, and then they will give you a credit card based on the money that you put down. But when they do that, because it basically is working off of the cash that you have down as collateral for the credit line, you don't get rewards on it. Well, Chime changed the game with their new credit card as well. There's no annual fees, there's no interest, no strings attached. And when you get qualifying direct deposits, you get 1.5% cash back on eligible Chime card purchases. Chime is not just smarter banking. It is the most rewarding way to bank. So join the millions who are already banking fee free today. My younger self would have benefited from this, and I know you will too. It just takes a few minutes to sign up. Had to chime to.com travis that is chime.com travis this episode of the show is brought to you by Factor. Look, everybody who's listening to the show is busy. I get it. There's kids, there's distractions, there's businesses, there's side hustles, there's podcasts, there's everything to prevent you from eating good quality food all the time. So for me, eating healthy isn't necessarily a willpower problem, it's just more of a setup problem. It's just easier to pick the processed food because I know I can just grab it and eat it really quick. Well, enter Factor with Factor. I'm hitting my nutrition goals this season. Without the planning, the grocery runs or even the cooking, they have meals built around your goals, whether that's weight loss, overall nutrition, more protein or GLP1 support for strength and workout recovery. Check out Factor's Muscle Pro collection. Every meal is crafted with functional ingredients. Lean proteins, colorful veggies, whole foods, healthy fats. In fact, they ban 175 plus ingredients so no artificial colors or sweeteners, no high fructose corn syrup, no refined seed oils. Just nutrient dense food. It's fresh, never frozen and they have over 100 rotating weekly meals including globally inspired flavors like Mediterranean and Asian. Mediterranean is my favorite, so there's always something new to look forward to. Try the newly launched Ready to Eat salads with vibrant ingredients like elote corn and miso edamame. Plus there's over 70 add ons to round out your your nutrition from like all the snacks and stuff that you grab throughout the day, from green juices to you know, peanut butter, energy bites, things like that. It's ready in two minutes. Factor shops, preps, cooks and delivers straight to your door so you have more time for everything that you love. This spring I use this and you should too. Head over to factor meals.com TMM50OFF and use code TMM50OFF to get 50 off 550 not 1550 off and 3 daily greens per box with new subscription only while supplies last until 9-27-2026. That's FactorMeals.com TMM50OFF and use code TMM50OFF to get 50. 50 off and free daily greens per box factor meals.com TMM50OFF makes you strong.
Or the, the. The market crash of 08. You know, I'm assuming during that time there's not a lot of people that are forking out a bunch of cash for a oversized beanbag chair in their living room.
Sean Nelson
Lived through all of it. You know, the 8, 9, 10. Covid. I mean, Covid, you know, know we're a public company, saw our stock go from, you know, 20 bucks to 4 bucks to 90 bucks in the space of 90 days and in that trough. Okay, so wow, that's amazing. Whatever as a stock. But think about what that really means. Like in those first few weeks where we had to. So imagine this. Imagine if you were running a business where 80% of your sales came through your stores. You had 200 of them, and you were told by the government basically that you had to close them all tomorrow. All of them. But you have to keep paying the leases. You have to. I mean, maybe you can get rid of all the people, but that still costs money and is also problematic on many fronts, like the amount of fear and fast operations in order to survive something like that. Only to find out in a few weeks that it would be the biggest boom for the home category ever. Because the federal government started mailing everybody checks and they were buying everything from Airbnbs to giant beanbags to couches to grills, which should not have been a financial boom, but for the fact the government was just printing money and people were at home spending it. Yeah. And so we know we find ourselves in a really weird place in 2026. For the last four years since COVID have been even worse than 2008, 9, 10. And my only point being, you get to live through all this, you get to adapt through all this, or you get to be killed by it. And that's where it is. A bit like being a dinosaur walking the earth. You have to be on guard for every predator and meteorite.
Travis
Yeah, my wife and I were talking about this the other day. We're talking about just like stress and anxiety. And it's so strange because we live in objectively probably the best time to have ever been born in the history of the planet, you know, compared to 99.999 of people who've ever been alive. Like, we all have pretty solid lives. Yet mental health, stress, anxiety is at an all time high. And what I've found is that the people that I've talked to on the show because now we're nine, almost nine years in 1500 episodes. We've talked to billionaires and authors and
comedians and everybody in between.
And it seems to me that the stress level or anxiety level that you can undertake without allowing it to collapse, your ability to judge whether or not a scenario is still a good one or a bad one, it seems like that is almost like this hidden superpower that I think a lot of high performers have, because I know people who are seemingly more stressed than. Than the way that you're depicting some of these scenarios to me or from some of my other, you know, successful founder friends, yet they don't have any responsibility. Like, they don't have kids, they don't have a spouse, they don't have a, you know, they have, like, a job, but it's just a job. But those are like, some of the most stressed people that I know. It seems like stress is just like, it's, it's, it's something that's guaranteed, yet the outcomes are not guaranteed. So how do you. What's your relationship to stress and anxiety at this point?
Sean Nelson
It's a great call out. I think your capacity to cope is ultimately correlated to your capacity to earn. And life is like this great graphic equalizer. You know, I picture like a recording booth with a, you know, a hundred sliders. And, you know, you might think your problems are difficult over here, but somebody else has got, you know, cancer. You know, you talk about stress with, with four kids or who knows, whatever it is. I mean, like, life is going to get you one way or another. I actually kind of feel like, because I'm thrusting myself into the challenge, the chaos, the risk, I'm perhaps mitigating the universe's need to thrust that upon me.
Travis
I see.
Yeah, okay. I see what you're saying.
Sean Nelson
At least I'm choosing.
Travis
Yeah, right.
Sean Nelson
Which slider to have at 10. And that to me is more satisfying. Even though, of course, I experience a tremendous amount of stress and pressure. And the thing that I think is often unsaid. It's something I talk about in my book, Embrace Uncertainty. Entrepreneurs can be very different. Different categories, different types. Some are dropouts, some are, you know, Harvard grads. I think the one through line is the ability to thrive and cope in uncertainty and uncertainty. Most people, Most people would rather know they have cancer than to, you know, be waiting for that phone call after a test. Like, uncertainty is what crushes us and paralyzes us. And if we can not be paralyzed by it, if we can Cope with it, and in fact find a way to thrive in it. Then we have a shot at outsized reward, whatever that means.
Travis
What's the process for you? Like, so let's say, you know, it's a random Tuesday, you get a call from somebody in your company, a board member, whatever, there's a massive fire that needs to be put out. What's your immediate response? And then what's your solution based response? Like, is there a time period that lapses? Do you do some breath work? Do you, like, sit there and think about it for a second? You turn on some music, like, what do you, like? How do you. How do you shift yourself from going like, the world is burning around me to I need to come up with a solution to solve this problem without losing my shit because a lot of people are depending on me right now.
Sean Nelson
Again, the. The little shaunism that I go to from the book, Stay cool and be Kind. So I've tried to develop muscle memory for those moments. Whether. And you know, it's hard, even harder, I think, in a family situation than it is in a work situation. But whatever the situation, you know, when your kid. Because your kid's problems hurt worse than your own, you want to fix those, you want to remove them, or your kid's behavior, whatever it is. But I've tried to really coax myself. In fact, I've tried to make it like a challenge. Like the minute that I sense something coming in like that, like a grenade and coming from my kid, from. It's kind of like, okay, here we go. I want to recognize that, like, this is going to be a moment, an issue, a thing. And I want to challenge myself to like, how cool can I be, how unrattled can I be, how kind can I be through whatever's. You know, even as it's coming in, I'm thinking this, and I'm not perfect at it, but I embrace it. But I've developed. I have at least developed that radar where it's like when I. When I feel like I'm getting information that's bad or scary or whatever, it's like my first reaction is to like, okay, first challenge myself, right? And can I stay cool? Can I be kind? And then, and you know, my thoughts go to something. I try and remind myself all the time, this is why they pay you the big bucks. Like entrepreneurs, leaders. You have a chance to be on a pedestal. You have the chance to get praise, you have the chance to make money, often in an outsized way. This is what it's for. Is for your ability to show up and not melt down in those moments. And so I really try to, you know, kind of like challenge myself in those moments to behave well and then go to, go to go to work, you know, and have confidence. Like I'm a problem solver man. This is what I do. It's like, put me in, put me in, coach. Like I'm like, this is, this is what I'm built for. This is what I'm paid for. This is what people expect of me. And, and then just go to work.
Travis
Is there, is there a state, an emotional state or maybe not an emotional state? Maybe it's getting out of the emotional state. Is there, is there something that, that, that we can do to work on this more effectively? And sometimes, sometimes the universe throws conversations in my path. I got some news this morning. I was going to say bad news, but I'm only reading it as bad news because I didn't want it to happen. And it's like this, we're taking a big risk on an internal project and I got some news this morning that's just that I've been trying to process for the last couple of hours. Yeah, we're here talking about this exact thing on a call in the middle of talking through this. And I'm doing my best to process it and try to come out on the other side with the solutions oriented approach rather than just, you know, get down on myself and take another lick of rejection on the, you know, on the chin. Is there, is there like an subjective internal state that you try to get to before you jump back on a call and get back in solutions mode first?
Sean Nelson
I hope it's ongoing. So for me, look, I have a, a pretty simple morning routine that I really try hard not to skip through. And I do, I mess up, I miss, I, I'm lazy. But we have to be on guard in our life. And the best part is there's always another day. But we have to kind of keep shoring up that wall, you know, that protects us from ourselves, from self destructive behavior, self destructive thoughts, losing it with someone, losing it with ourselves. You know, there's nothing more deleterious than our own negative self talk. They've proven this like in fact positive, you know, the positive affirmations, all that's like fine and good. It is, it is a fraction of efficacy compared to negative self talk. And so we have to just like purge the negativity from our minds even, even though it exists, even acknowledging that it's there and just really have discipline Around. And so, for instance, one of the things that. That I try and do is this little morning mantra I have where I have all kinds of different things I say to myself. Not just positive affirmations, but things like, I will not operate from a place of fear. I say this to myself every morning. I operate from a place of love, from a place of opportunity, and. And. And a place of adventure. So, like, without trying to be pedantic, because, look, man, like, I don't know what you're going through. We're all. We're all fighting battles. This is your life's adventure happening to you. It's not an adventure if. If, like, it's boring. No one wants to go on a roller coaster that just goes in a straight line. So you asked for this. So, like, just, like, ride it. This is. This is literally what you asked for. And I don't mean to diminish whatever it is you're wrangling.
Travis
I.
Sean Nelson
We are, but, like, I'm saying these. This is what I try to remind myself of. Yeah. And when you flip it like that, then it's kind of, like, fun. Like, it's kind of like. I know it sounds like sadistic. Masochistic is probably the right word. Yeah. But, like, you know what I mean? Yeah. You could have just had a J, O, B.
Travis
That's right.
Yeah.
Sean Nelson
And so I operate from a place of adventure.
Travis
Yeah. Perfect. Reframe, man. I appreciate you being willing to share some of these things on the show. Your book Let me save you 25 years, as well as an accompanying podcast, Let me save you 25 years for those that are listening. You love listening to podcasts, obviously. It's why I listen to this one. Go check out Let Me Save youe 25 Years from Sean Nelson. Sean, I appreciate you taking the time, man. I know you're a really busy guy. I don't take for granted. Where else can people go to learn more from you? Get more from what you're working on.
Sean Nelson
Thanks. Yeah, the podcast is the best. Every week, same title, Let me save 25 years. The book, LoveSac. You know, we make the coolest stuff, really proud of it, and we'll do big things. You'll see. So keep an eye on us and Sean of Lovesack on every social media channel. Slide my DMs. Happy to chat with anyone.
Travis
Shawn of Lovesack. That's S H A W N. Shawn of Lovesack, over on Instagram and on socials. Sean, dude, again, thanks so much for taking the time. Appreciate the work that you do. In the world, and the example that you're setting of resiliency and continuing to get back up on the horse whenever you get knocked down means a lot to me and to everybody listening. If you're tuning in, remember, money only solves your money problems. But it's easier to solve the rest of your problems when you got money in the bank. So let's solve that one for first here on the Travis Makes Money podcast. Thanks for tuning in. We'll catch you guys next time. Peace.
Sean Nelson
Daily commute doesn't have to be boring. TikTok brings podcasts, news, highlights, mini learning clips. 10 minutes. One new idea turn traffic time into upgrade time. Download TikTok now.
Host: Travis Chappell
Guest: Shawn Nelson, Founder & CEO of Lovesac
Date: April 4, 2026
In this episode, Travis Chappell sits down with Shawn Nelson, the founder and CEO of Lovesac, a once side-hustle turned furniture empire with nearly $1 billion in annual sales. The conversation dives deep into Shawn’s multi-decade journey—from hand-making an oversized beanbag in his parents’ living room to leading a publicly-traded company known for durable, sustainable products and design innovation. The focus is on the power of resilience, taking action, thriving amidst uncertainty, and long-haul commitment as the true engines for entrepreneurial and financial success.
[01:49 – 03:51]
[03:56 – 09:10]
[09:10 – 12:52]
[11:31 – 12:52]
[13:29 – 16:35]
[20:12 – 22:19]
[22:19 – 28:59]
[26:02 – 32:24]
This episode delivers a raw and practical blueprint on how resilience—not luck or instant wins—ultimately builds lasting financial and business success. If you’re looking for real entrepreneurial grit, this conversation is a master class.