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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 what's going on, everybody? Welcome back to the show. On this episode, it's just me, you, and the mic, and we are talking about the conversations that you are avoiding on this episode. I would love to issue a challenge to those of you who are watching or listening right now. This is sort of based on my own anecdotal experience, but I've also seen some really great research which we will also go over in this episode to help support some of these things. And so I figured, you know what, maybe this isn't just my anecdotal experience. Maybe this is something that other people can replicate, something that will actually be helpful for them. So here's, here's the idea behind this. I want you to do a. I want you to do 30 interviews. Okay? If you've ever struggled with confidence in communication, confidence in walking up to strangers, issues when it comes to overcoming rejection, if you have, if you, if you struggle with lower self esteem, if you just don't know what you're doing with your life, you're lacking purpose right now and you're not sure what direction you should take. Maybe you have a difficult decision to make and you don't know what you should do about that decision making, this challenge will, in my opinion, literally change the course of your life. So my challenge to you is to interview 30 people over the next 30, let's call it 45 days. Okay? Because sometimes there's a lagging on scheduling here. But we're, I'm going to the specifics here in a little bit, but first I want to kind of go through some of the data and why I feel this is something that we should be doing. Your life is limited by the conversations that you are avoiding. You are one conversation away from a great idea, from a great business partner, from a new piece of information that could change the way that you live your life, but you're not having any of the conversations. You're using social media for the media side, but you forgot to use it for the social side, forgot to use it as a tool to reach out to people who are much further along the line than you are and be able to have a conversation with them. You are actively avoiding the thing that could be the most helpful thing in your life when it comes to your health, your relationships, your financial health. Every single thing in your life can be improved by just increasing the quality of the people that you can spend time with. But these things don't happen by accident. They're called the 1% for a reason. If you want to become part of the 1%, part of the top 5% or 10% of whatever, of health, of quality relationships, of making money, then the path to doing so is by meeting people who are in that top 10, top 5 or top 1%. The problem is, is that it's difficult to accidentally run into these people because it's such a small segment of the population. Now obviously you go to different places, you know, you hang out in the hotel bar at a Ritz Carlton, you're probably more likely to run into a higher saturation of those people than at a Walmart in Oklahoma City or something like that. No offense. Oklahoma City, that was just a city that I thought about. Okay, so there's ways to do it, but also it's just because of stuff like social media, it's never been easier to find a group of those people all hanging out in the same place. It's pretty, it's as simple as like going to a popular hashtag of an, of a niche that you're trying to be successful in, finding all the people in that world that are creating content around it and shooting a dm. It's really not that complicated. So the, the there, there is a hidden cost here to not doing this type of thing that can prevent you, prevent you from getting to the place that you want to be in life as quickly as you want to get there. Because most people do not lack access to high quality people because nobody would talk to them. They lack access because they assume that nobody would talk to them. So they just never ask to begin with. Like you're constantly playing this waiting game of. But when I, when I have something valuable to say, or when I have buil company to this type of revenue, or when I finally have the six pack, then I'll feel comfortable, then I'll be able to bring some value to the conversation. I just don't want to be, you know, this, this time, suck on, on people. And I, I, I, I, I'll, I'll just wait. The problem is, the more you put off those high level connections and high quality conversations with people who've been there, done that, bought the T shirt twice before you, is that you're actively making it more difficult on yourself to go achieve that outcome. So you gotta, you gotta take the action of the person that you want to become before you become that person. And that's the most uncomfortable part of growth. It's, it's when you are, it's. And that's when people get sucked into this. Like, you know, fake it till you make it vortex. I'm not a, I'm not a fake it till you make it guy, but I do like, I do like the, the idea of the phrase, the concept of the phrase. The problem with it, I think, is that it encourages people to be deceitful. And that's not at all what I'm talking about here. It's, it's, that's why I like the phrase be it, be it until you become it a little bit better than fake it till you make it. Because the word fake just implies that you can lie. And that is never a good strategy. So I've, I've literally gotten into rooms before, rooms that I've paid to be in, by the way, and paid a good chunk of change to be in it. There's one mastermind specifically that I, I invested 100k a year, 2 years in a row to be in that, in that room. And even in the context of that room, I led with humility and I led with the truth. And sometimes I would even say it to people like, look, I'm the brokest person here, or like, I am the least successful person in this room. What can I do to be better? Because I was not there. I did not pay 100 grand a year to prove how awesome I was to the group of people that was in that, that was in that room. I was paying a hundred grand a year to become a better version of myself. So part of becoming a better version of myself was being aware of the stage that I was at in that situation and being willing to humbly share that with other people from a perspective of I'm here to learn and if there's anything that I can help with, I am more than happy to help with. And turns out there were plenty of people that needed my help, because in that specific room, there weren't A ton of people who knew about the things that I knew about, which was podcasting and getting touch with high level guests and building a brand from that perspective. And so I was able to, I sort of became like the podcast guy in that space. And people always sent me people when they were talking in rooms about, about podcasting and content creation. And so I was actually able, contrary to what I was thinking going into it, I was actually able to bring a lot of value to the conversations. But I did not come in with this, this, this sense of like pompous, you know, arrogance that said, let me prove to everybody why I deserve to be here. That wasn't, that was how I came into it. It was more like, let me tell you what I am here for. And I think a lot of people in those rooms respected the transparency that I and, and it helped with, it helped with other people in the room becoming more transparent after I was willing to be transparent as well. Like give people the gift of going second. Allow, allow other people to, to then, then be willing to share from their vulnerable situation if you're the one to lead and be vulnerable yourself. So it's just, there's, there's this invisible wall that you've created in your mind. People create these imaginary hierarchies in, in their heads. And they assume that successful people are just too busy, they're too important, or they're too annoyed to respond. And you have to be willing to take down that invisible wall. And then there's a real cost to silence. Not sending the message does not just does not protect you from rejection, it protects you from opportunity. So if you don't want opportunity, then don't speak up, don't say anything. So there's a, there's to being silent and not doing this. The. And then the world only gets smaller if you don't do this. Your world will. If you only talk to your peers, if you only talk to people who have the same mindset as you, the same standards, same strategies, same beliefs, then you are just making your world smaller and smaller, which means by definition, you don't have as much information to be able to act on. So if you, if the world gets smaller when you decide not to do this, then when you decide to do this, your world will get bigger through the contacts that you create, through the conversations that you have. And one conversation can collapse years of bad decisions and bad assumptions. So just get used to the idea, okay? Don't worry about that invisible wall. Just bring that down and think about what you're missing out on by not reaching out to the people that you really want to get in touch with. So who is one person you respect that you have not reached out because you already decided they said no? Who, who's 10 people that you have already decided would say no? Do you never reached out to because you just didn't have anything to say? And start thinking about some of those people because we're going to list them out here in a second. So this was, again, I, this was my anecdotal experience doing this for myself. But then I was doing a bunch of research on this recently about asking questions and, and interviewing people who've been there, done that, and if there's any real, you know, science behind this. So it turns out there was a. There was a study done by a guy named Kanar C K A N A R in 2023, and it tested informational interviewing with university students. In study one, students who completed a virtual informational interview with a business professional reported higher networking self efficacy afterward than students in a comparison condition. In study two, students again reported higher networking self efficacy after, in, after an informational interview. And learning during the conversation was an important factor in terms of how much their confidence increased. The study was not about becoming a millionaire, getting a mentor, landing a job from one conversation. It was just about self efficacy. It was just about their belief in their ability to go out and network with people that should not have been talking to them by all, by all, you know, assumptions that they had previously made. Which basically means just the confidence in your ability to perform a specific behavior. And in this case, the behavior was networking was, was, was building a really good qual. So confidence is not a mindset problem sometimes, and most of the time it's really just an evidence problem. Your brain does not believe that you can do something because you've not given it enough proof that you can do that thing yet. So plenty of data that has gone now behind this, that, that, that simply the act of reaching out will actually increase your own confidence and your ability to reach out, which means you will do it more often, which means you will gain more confidence, which means you'll do it more often. It's just this sort of this, this loop of that you'll gain from this. So why does this work? Why, why does, why do conversations with successful people actually change you? Well, the conversation gives you three things all at the same time. First one is exposure. Reaching out repeatedly teaches your nervous system that rejection is survivable. The first few messages feel personal, but after enough reps the listener realizes that silence is often just silence. It's not a verdict on their worth. If there is one common denominator between all of the successful people that I've talked to, and there are several, but let's just assume that there's only one and I can only give you one, the one that I would go back to more often than any other ones is, is successful people's ability to overcome rejection. They just have this innate ability to be able to move from rejection to, to rejection without loss of enthusiasm. And the, the science behind why rejection hurts people to the extent that they're not willing to keep asking always comes back to their confidence level. It's because rejection is evidence that you're not good at what you do. Rejection is, it's perceived evidence anyway. It's not actual evidence that you can't do what you say you're going to do. It's just perceived. So a lot of times what happens is you think about one person, then you reach out to that one person, that one person says no or just ignores you. So you just go, ah, well, you know, makes sense. They shouldn't. I'm not worth spending time with. And then you allow yourself to just buy into that version of the story. So exposure, it's like, it's like exposure exposure therapy. It's rejection therapy when you just start constantly putting into your daily routine to reach out to people who, quote, unquote, should not be giving you the time of day. So exposure is the first benefit. Information. Successful people often compress years of lessons into a 20 minute conversation. They can tell you what mattered, what didn't matter, what they would do differently, what mistakes to avoid, and what assumptions the beginners get wrong. So you get rejection exposure therapy, essentially. And then you also get a bunch of great information. And I've talked to so many people and I think We've done over 1700 episodes of the show now. And I've talked to a bunch of people about this thing in particular. And, and I've asked a bunch of really successful people what they gained from podcasting specifically. And, and, and this is not me telling you to start a podcast, by the way. You can turn these interviews into a podcast if you want to. This is, but nobody even has to see these. Or you could turn it into a newsletter, or you could turn it into a blog. You can turn it into just like short form vertical videos on Instagram or something, but with takeaways from this interview that you did with this person or whatever. But if you, if you can learn all this information from somebody who's been doing the thing that you want to be successful at for 30 years. If you can get 20 minutes of their time. The volume of information that you can gain from that is more readily accessible to you to take action on because you're the one who gained the information. It's a little bit different in my experience than like even reading it in a book or something like that, because if there's, there's something personally meaningful to you when you have a human to human connection with the person who's offering you the advice or the content. So it's information, yes, but it also is more actionable information. And it's more actionable as well because you get to ask it from the frame of your problem. So it's not just generic information that you can find on their website. It's also like, okay, well, inside of the interview, you can ask them a question based on a situation that you're actually experiencing, which allows you to have a shorter time between receiving the information and your ability to actually act on the information that you've been given. So exposure, information, and then lastly, proximity. People become less mythical when you talk to them. And that matters because intimidation kills initiative. Intimidation kills initiative. So once you've spoken to 10 people that you used to admire from far, your sense of what is possible starts to expand. Hey guys, Travis here. Just letting you know that sometimes on the show I go a little bit longer. I try to keep these things, these solo shows, pretty short, like 10 to 15 minutes. But sometimes when I get going, I just can't stop, if you know what I mean. So this, if you're listening to this message, that means that this episode is being put into two parts and the first part is now coming to a close. So be sure to tune into the next solo show to hear part two of this episode. Thanks for tuning in. Catch you next time.
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Episode: SOLO | Make Money by Having the Conversations You’re Avoiding
Host: Travis Chappell
Date: May 17, 2026
This solo episode features host Travis Chappell diving deep into a mindset and action-based challenge: making more money and progressing in life by having the conversations you’re currently avoiding. Travis shares personal anecdotes, research findings, and a step-by-step challenge to push listeners out of their comfort zones. The central argument: your life is limited not by what you know or do, but by the conversations you avoid.
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This episode is a motivating and practical invitation to push through social discomfort, build self-efficacy, and unlock new opportunities through the simple—even if daunting—act of having real conversations. Travis’s message is honest, transparent, and actionable: overcoming the fear of rejection and reaching out, especially to those ahead of you, is the fastest way to personal and financial growth.
Next Episode: Travis notes the episode runs long and promises a part two to continue the discussion.