← Travis Makes Money
Travis Makes Money
INTERVIEW | Make Money with Direct Marketing and a Millionaire Mindset with Kevin Trudeau
00:27:00
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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.
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What's going on, everybody? Welcome back to the Travis Makes Money podcast where it's our mission to help
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you all make some more money.
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Today on the show, I have a new friend, Kevin Trudeau. Kevin is a multi billion dollar businessman, number one New York Times best selling author, marketing genius, health expert, former insider and master of energy and spiritual enlighten. He's been called the greatest success coach in the world and the world's best mentor. And his books have sold an estimated 100 million copies worldwide. I think he might have figured out a thing or two about how to make a little bit of extra money in life. So, Kevin, what's up man? Welcome to the show.
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Yeah, it's all luck, you know, I just kind of fell into it. I didn't do anything. We never worked hard.
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Overnight success. Yeah, yeah, yeah, that's. Those are the common denominators of this. Most successful and wealthy people, I think. Yeah, just lucked into it. No hard work overnight. Yeah, all the, all those things. Well, I appreciate you taking the. Kevin, let's jump into the, the beginning of the story here if we can. Tell me the first time that you ever made a dollar that was exciting to you where you were just like, I cannot believe somebody just paid me money to do this.
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C
Well, when I was very young, I understood my dad was a welder, my mom was a full time homemaker. We lived in a very blue collar community. 1200 square foot house for four of us. We had one bathroom in the house and this was normal. All the other houses on the same street were the same size. You had the plumber, the welder, the electrician, the postman. You know, these were normal blue collar workers. And that's how I grew up. Everybody worked a job. You wanted to get into the union. Ideally you wanted to work for the government. The joke was then you didn't have to do anything and you couldn't be fired and you had a pension for the rest of your life. You could retire very early. But what I learned very early on was in order to achieve financial freedom and financial independence, you had to work for yourself. You had to be your own boss. And I went to the library and I started reading books from people that became very successful. They used to be called Horatio Alger stories. You ever hear a Horatio Alger. Travis.
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No, no.
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See, nobody ever heard of this. Horatio Alger was a great author back in the Depression, and he wrote true stories, rags to riches stories. They were inspirational stories. They were stories of people who started off in rags and ended up with riches. Rags to riches. True stories of normal people and what they did and how they did it to go from rags to riches. They were called Horatio Alger stories, and they were designed to inspire and motivate people. And when I read all those, it was always the same thing. People went into a business of their own. But before they went into a business of their own, they worked for somebody who was very successful. They learned from someone who was very successful. They were effectively an apprentice. Then they had a mentor. They watched success in action and learned. And the other thing that was common was they did more than they were paid to do. The axiom was, do more than you're paid, and soon you'll be paid more for what you do. They went the extra mile. These were very common denominators, but they loved what they did. They had enthusiasm, and they also had a big dream, and they believed in themselves. There was all these common denominators, and that motivated me. So I thought, what can I do? What business can I get into? I was walking down the street in the wintertime. It was during a blizzard in the 70s, and everybody was struggling because of all the snow. And I was, you know, a young guy, but I was stronger than the old lady over here was trying to dig herself out of her. Of her house. And I said that that poor woman is. Is. Is going to have a heart attack. So I ran over and I said, let me help you. So I said, do you have an extra shovel? I grabbed the shovel and I started helping her. All I wanted to do was help her. It was a neighbor, old woman, and I helped her. And I actually kind of liked it. It was fun in the snow. It was cool. It was, you know, kind of exciting. And I helped her. And then she says, let me give you some money. And I said, no, I didn't do this for money. I did this to help you. She goes, absolutely not. And she paid me a bunch of money. And I thought, oh, my God.
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Yeah.
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So I started, I. And I said, can I borrow your shovel? And I said, yes. And I said, and I walked up and down the street and knocked on doors. Do you want me to shovel? Yes. And I'm telling you, for the whole weekend, I was a shoveling machine. And I made more money that weekend than My dad did for the whole week. Wow. And that was the beginning. And I thought, entrepreneurship, baby. Work for yourself. Work hard. Offer something that people need. Remember the Sales 101 axiom? Find a need and fill it. And that's what I did. And so that was really the beginning.
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Is that the richest? 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 and 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 if you're especially, especially, especially if you're gonna 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 for you. So it's time to turn those what ifs into with Shopify today. Sign up for your $1 per month trial today at shopify.com TMM or go to shopify.com TMM that's shopify.com TMM. This episode of the show is brought to you by wayfair It's Wayday. At Wayfair from April 25th through the 27th, you can score the best deals in home, like up to 80% off. With free shipping on everything, Wayfair makes it easy to find exactly what fits your style and needs from furniture and decor to home improvement and outdoor essentials. And it's all on sale during weigh day. Best part, everything ships fast and free during Wayday. Plus you can shop with Wayfair Verified, AKA your shortcut to the good stuff. So their team of product specialists vets everything by hand using a 10 point quality inspection so you know that you're actually getting a quality piece no matter what your budget is. Look, I we basically have redecorated our home with Wayfair in the last few months and at every time we use the site, I'm always blown away by how easy it is to use the the platform itself. Also to find like the craziest stuff. Like if you think for a second that there's something that's not on Wayfair that you could put inside of your home for something, just test me out on this. Go to Wayfair and search for it. I promise you you're going to find it. It's crazy whether regardless of your aesthetic, if it's mid century modern or farmhouse or contemporary or eclectic, or you're looking for outdoor furniture or home upgrades or you want to upgrade the kids room or you need a new shoe rack, whatever it is, Wayfair has it. They make it simple to narrow down to exactly what works for your style and for your budget. Plus they have great reviews, filters, visual tools to help you make sure that it's the right fit and then you know, installation and assembly could be available depending on what you buy. It makes the process easier. Their shipping always blows my mind because you can get some like a literal Our dining room table that we just got came from Wayfair and they shipped it to our house fast and completely for free. So they have thousands and thousands of five star reviews to help you shop with confidence and find things that fit perfectly into your home and lifestyle. Wayday is the sale to shop the best deals in home. We're talking up to 80% off with fast and free shipping on everything. So head to Wayfair. Com April 25th through the 27th to shop Wayday. That's Wayfair.com w a y f a I r dot com Wayfair Every style,
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every home you've ever felt and if not, what is the richest you've Ever felt.
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Well, I can tell you that I learned a long time ago to always be mentally broke. So in answer to your question, that was the richest I ever felt. Because feeling, yeah, I had no debt. I had all this money. I didn't know how to spend it, where to spend it, what to do with it. This was out of control. It was real cash, cash money in your hand. And I started reading books like Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill. The Law of success in 16 lessons. The art of money getting by P.T. barnum back in the 1800s. Charles O', Neill, the master Key to Riches. I read all these old books back from the 60s. The original Psycho Cybernetics by Dr. Maxwell Maltz in 59, I think it was written. The original the Magic of Believing. These were old books, but I also read some interesting books by OG Mandino and some others, such as the Richest man in Babylon. And in there talked about saving it. Talked about being mentally broke, having a dream, being hungry, having a burning desire for what you want, not. Not resting on your laurels. And so I started learning about the mental mindset that a person needs to become successful. One of the things I did and learned very early on was you have to associate with successful people. You have to be in the physical space of other successful people. You actually pick up their energy and vibration. You watch and observe them, you listen to them and you find out how they think, what they say, how they speak and how they act, because it's different. And I thought, where can I find wealthy people? I know a couple towns away. I grew up in Lynn, Massachusetts, was a blue collar town. There was Marblehead in Swampscott. That was the rich area. I said, there's a country club there, Tedesco Country Club. I'm going to become a caddy because the only people that are members are rich. So I became a caddy and I started hanging around all these rich guys. And I thought, they talk differently than my father and all his friends. They think differently than my father and all his friends. And they walk and talk and they walk and act differently. They have this aura about them. But I also realize they're a normal human being, just like my dad. It's really the difference is how they think and how they talk, which reflects in how they act and how they see themselves. And that was very critical to me. When I saw that, it's like, I can do this too. If they can do it, I can do it too.
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Was there a version of your life that would have played out differently or were you all in on entrepreneurship. At that point, were you thinking, I'm going to go to college, I'm going to get this degree and then I'm going to go do this thing, I'm going to work for some people or what? Did you catch the bug already that early on?
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Well, interestingly enough, I didn't know how to become successful, so I started looking at successful people and I started analyzing and I started reading books and I started going to some seminars. Back then you didn't have YouTube, you had to go to seminars. So I go, where can I get some motivation or inspiration? And then it was a multi level marketing company in the 70s that I heard about called Amway. A buddy of mine in high school became a distributor and they gave me a book called the Possible dream by Rich DeVos, who was the president of Amway Corporation. And I read it and I thought, I want to hang around these guys. They can teach me how to become successful. Not that I wanted to become successful in the Amway business or multi level marketing, but I wanted to associate with motivated, positive, inspired people and learn about success. Because these guys were driving Cadillacs and Rolls Royces. They had private jets when nobody had private jets. They had private jets and they lived in mansions and all this stuff. And I thought they know something I don't know. So I started learning from them. And one of the things that they were very adamant about is you have to have a big dream, but you can't live in a dream world. You have to dream big, but you can't be delusional. Have to dream big though. But then you kind of have to come back to today and say, what is the next logical step on the path toward that dream and go to work. They were very focused about the two aspects of success. Thinking or your attitude. As Zig Ziglar said, it's your attitude, not your aptitude that determines your altitude in life. So they were very big on attitude. But most importantly, you have to then put forth action. You have to do something.
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Yeah.
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So you have to combine those two. And that's like taking two chemicals and putting it into a beaker and it explodes. Yeah, right. Attitude with action. Motivated, inspired action. You're going to get great results. Yeah.
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You can't just be the dream junkie where you, where people almost, they, they almost get the dopamine hit of success because they think about it so much, yet they never actually do the action that's required in order to be able to achieve those dreams. So what did that look like for you? At first. What was like the first thing, the first venture that you felt like, I'm doing well with this. And this is actually leading you.
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Interestingly, this is before the word manifesting was a big thing and before the word law of attraction was a big thing. You know, we said how to set a goal and attain it. Yeah, right. That's what we said.
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Right. Simple terms. Yeah, exactly.
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Yeah. You had Dennis Waitley, the Psychology of Winning, published by Nightingale Conan Corporation. You had Brian Tracy, Zig Ziglar, Ed Foreman, you know, gurus, Nito Cobain. You had all these motivational. Jim. Jim Rohn. You know, Jim Rohn trained Tony Robbins. Yeah, so these were. These were the old guys back in the 60s and the 70s. And so one of the things that they taught me, because I didn't know anything, I didn't, you know, I thought, you know, dream big. But they said, no, no. Number one, Jim Rohn said it best. He said the most powerful emotion is not gratitude. It's not positivity, it's not happiness, it's not joy, it's not bliss, it's disgust. This is Jim Rohn talking. He says the most powerful emotion that you can tap into is disgust. When you get disgusted with your current situation, that's when you'll be motivated to move. You have to be in enough pain to get you to move. There's a story about these two guys sitting on a porch, and there's this old hound dog laying there. It's an old wooden porch, you know, bunch of wooden planks, and this old hound dog sitting there. And every once in a while, the hound dog would just kind of moan and go, oh. A few minutes later, he'd do it again. Never move. Just moan. And the guy says, what's wrong with your dog? He goes, oh, he's sleeping on a nail. Guy goes, well, why won't he get up and move? He goes, well, it doesn't hurt him that much.
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Yeah, exactly.
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And that's what people are like. They don't like their house, they don't like their car. They don't like the fact they're in debt. They don't like the fact that they're unable to buy the things in life they want. Pay for their college education or whatever. They don't like that. But it doesn't hurt them that much. It doesn't motivate them that much. Until you get discussed. Until you get some type of pain that'll motivate you. Until you get sick and tired of being sick and tired, you're not going to be motivated. That's why the whole idea of being in gratitude and appreciation all day long and being happy. Hey, if you get in your crappy 15 year old rust bucket car and go, I'm so thankful and grateful and appreciative for this rusty rust bucket car. Thank you, God. Oh, thank you, universe. Why would the universe give you something different? You have to be in gratitude and appreciation. Yes, but that's only one ingredient in the formula. It isn't the entire formula. You have to start with something being disgusted with and then move from that moment of disgust. Then you have to say, what exactly do I want? And as Napoleon Hill said, you have to define specifically what you want, define your dream, and then get a burning desire for its achievement. It's gotta be something you need and absolutely have to have. Okay.
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Yeah, it's interesting. Yeah. Sorry to cut you off. Yeah, just you. You kind of have to ride that line a little bit.
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B
you want to be grateful for the things that you have so that you're not constantly driving yourself insane. But also you have to have this, you know, healthy disgust for the things that you don't like about what your life looks like to motivate you to go do more work. Because people, human beings in general, and just this is just how we're biologically hardwired from, you know, tens of thousands of years of existing on this planet, is that we are massively more motivated by avoiding pain than we are to seek reward. So if you absolutely point, if you feel like you already have achieved all the reward, then there's nothing that's going to propel you to get out and go shoot for the next thing right now.
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Give you a story. I was in Southern California at a place called the Golden Door Spa. It's a world famous spa, very expensive to go to, been around for a long time. It's women only most of the time, six weeks a year. It's men only. And these guys are the titans of industry. I was there one week, for example, we had the founder of one of the Largest hedge funds in the world. The total net worth is in the billions and billions and billions of dollars with all the guys that are there. So these are titans of industry. And when you listen to them about how they think, how they get motivated, how they act all day, it's completely different than when I hang around everybody who's, you know, we'll call them the hippies who are sitting there going, you have to just, you know, think about what you want and the universe will just manifest it for you. And, you know, that's how it works. No, that's not how it works. Your income is zero over here in this group of 20, 30 people. And the income and the net worth of the guys over here are in, you know, $500 billion. Why is that? Why is your average income 80,000 and the average income here is 10 million a year, the minimum income. What's the difference? Yes, the rich people have gratitude and appreciation. Absolutely, 100%. But they don't live there all day long. They go through the dance. So what's the disgust? Where is the pain? What is it in your life that you're absolutely not going to tolerate anymore? And from that point, you don't live there either. God. Because you're going to get more of it. But you visit that little painful land and use it so that you can clarify exactly what you do want, then focus on what you want, and then really get obsessed with it. There's a book called Magnificent Obsession which talks about that. Or as Napoleon Hill says, get a burning desire for its achievement. See yourself in possession of it. And as you see yourself in possession of it, feel now as if you would feel as if you actually had it. Then release attachment to the outcome and say, but you know something? If it never happens, that's perfectly okay, because I love my life and I love being me. And now this is the point where you're in gratitude and appreciation. After you go through the dance, you can't live there. You have to visit these places and then go back to work. Focus on the next logical step, and you'll do it from a place of joy because you understand that the journey is the reward.
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What is it that you figured out that you wanted?
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Early on, I looked at my dad and all the people that were in my neighborhood, and everybody had a job and they couldn't go fishing because they had to go to work. And I asked them, why do you have to go to work? Because we have bills to pay. Well, why do you have bills to pay? Because we need a place to live, we need a car. And those cost money. So I didn't understand the concept so early on. I thought financial freedom and financial independence is the ultimate goal. And what that really means is. And I started researching it. Back in the old days, when somebody was a millionaire, they had a million dollars, not in assets, they had a million dollars either in stocks or bonds that paid them 10% interest a year. This was back in the 20s and the 30s. So a millionaire back then had an income of $100,000 a year that they didn't have to do anything for. But let's put it in perspective. Back in the 20s, if you were a millionaire today, that means you worth $100 million. So let's put it in perspective today. Imagine you have $100 million in stock or bonds giving interest or dividends at, let's just say 8% a year. That's $8 million a year income. And you do not have to work or do anything.
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Anything.
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That's financial freedom. That's financial independence. That was the goal. So when I looked at that and I thought, that's where I want to be. I want money working for me instead of me working for money. And I want to do things because I love to do it and because they're fun, not because I have to pay the bills. Yeah, that was the objective. That was the dream. Right? That was the dream. What was I doing that dream? Driving the Ferraris and the Rolls Royces and the Porsches and having the private jets and. And the mansions all over the world and the butler and the chefs. And I dreamed that. And having a private jeweler come in manual and make, you know, jewelry for you and having all the Rolex watches and having the Clue shoes, you know, alligator shoes, custom made for you to your foot. Having custom made. That was the dream. Well, you know what's exciting? Everything I just mentioned, that's what I live. The dream is now a reality. But. But I feel exactly the same now as when I did when I was first dreaming about it and didn't have it. Yeah, and that's the trick. You have to feel now as if you would feel and will feel if you actually had it before you get it. Not thinking, when I get this, then I'll feel good.
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B
I'll finally feel better.
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C
You're not going to manifest anything, right.
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And then if you do go get it, you're going to just be as empty as you were before you had it anyway.
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You're exactly right.
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It's not going to be the thing that's going to solve the other bad parts of that. What was. What was the first vehicle that you decided like, real estate sales? Like what. What was the first vehicle that really felt where you really felt like, I think I'm. I think I'm on the path here. I think I can achieve this.
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I saw an ad in a newspaper back in the 70s, and the title was There Are Seven Steps to Freedom, how to escape the American Rat Race. I thought, that's it, dad. Dad, read this. This is how to escape the American Rat Race. This guy's selling a book. It's called Seven Steps to Freedom. How to Escape the American Rat Race. A guy's name was Ben Suarez, and he was. I didn't. Didn't say what it was, but it says that he found a way to escape the American Rat race. He drove around the country in a motorhome with his family. He didn't have to work. He was his own boss. He slept till the crack of noon if he wanted to. He worked only because he loved to. He was traveling around. He had tons of money, and money was just pouring into his bank accounts as if by magic. And I thought, I want this book. And I got it. And it talked about direct mail. This is the precursor to TV infomercials, radio advertising, TV advertising, print advertising, and now the ads. Yeah, it was the beginning of direct response marketing. So I read that and I thought, I'm going to try this. So I got into direct mail, and I made over a million dollars before I was 18 years old. And this was the vehicle. I had a knack for copywriting. That's why the Wall Street Journal called me America's marketing guru and the greatest marketing guy in the. Of the. Of the. In the last hundred years, et cetera, et cetera, you know, and people know me for TV infomercials and radio ads and print ads and a whole host of other direct marketing that I've done around the globe. But direct mail was the first one, and it was exciting to go and have the. Actually have the mailman come to your house with a mailbag. And I'm talking a big mailbag, right? The biggest one. And you're. And I have to get. Recruit some of my friends from school to sit there and open up all the envelopes and there's cash in them and money orders, because back then, people didn't use credit cards, right? Imagine you're sitting there opening up all these envelopes, and there's 20. $20. $20. $20. My product I sold for 20 bucks. This is back in the 70s. It's like 100 bucks today. And there's one after the other. We're stacking up the cash, and we got money orders. I mean, it was just like, you see in the movies, where we're taking all the money and we're throwing it in the air going, we're rich.
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B
We're rich.
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C
You know, it was so great.
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B
If somebody's listening right now and they want to work on the skill set of marketing, are there any resources or materials that you would recommend to them in order to get started learning that skill set?
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C
Well, you know, the great news is this. With YouTube, I mean, anything you want to learn is there. Yeah, you can go to my website, kevintrudeau.com and I got my. I got my new book. You know, your wish is your command. Certainly you can get that. It's at Amazon. You can go to kevintrudeau.com I got training there. I got the infomercial secrets. But, yeah, you can buy that. And I think it's some of the best stuff out there, if not the best. But you can go on YouTube. You can learn about copywriting and marketing. I can tell you this, Travis, and you probably know this better than anybody today because of the Internet. It's easier to make money than at any time in my life, and I think any time in history, because when I started, it was hard. You had to, you know, actually do a layout on a. On a big. On a big pad and actually do. And do the layout for the ad. You actually do all this printing and offset, and then you have to bring it to the printer and print it. You had to place ads, and it would take weeks before the ad actually ran. Then you have to mail it out and pay for all the postage in advance and mail it and wait for the mail to come back. And then it was a big pain in the neck. Now it's all digital online, and you can start with, like 50 bucks, right? Back then, it was, you know, a lot of money to actually put at risk to get into direct mail or if you wanted to run a print ad, it was even worse. You know, $30,000 back in the 70s for a full paid ad, and you had to put up the money. You had to wait six weeks before it hit the newsstands, and then you prayed that it worked.
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B
Yeah, right.
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C
You lost your money.
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B
I love it, man. I appreciate you taking the time to come on the show, Kevin. I know you're a busy guy, so I don't take that for granted. Kevintrudeau.com that's t r u d e a u kevintrudeau.com go check out some of the stuff that Kevin's been putting out and in his new book, you Wish.
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C
Travis, One last thing. I just want everybody to know this. I would just say dream big dreams and don't let anyone steal your dreams.
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B
Love it. Thank you so much for, for the, for the final thoughts there and the book your Wish Is yous Command that Kevin just came out with Be Scope people, copy of that one. And thank me later for that. Kevin. Appreciate you again. Everybody else listening, Remember, money only solves your money problems, but it's easier to solve the rest of your problems. We got money in the bank, so let's start there here on the Travis Makes Money podcast. Thanks for tuning in, everybody. Catch you next time. Peace.