Travis Makes Money

In this episode, Travis and his producer Eric riff on one of the hottest debates in modern city life: are reservations and curated nights out killing “real” experiences, or are they the only sane way to survive places like Las Vegas? Using a viral Subway Takes clip as a jumping-off point, they break down why lines get engineered, why chaos is overrated, and how to actually plan a great Vegas trip without burning cash (or patience) on bad clubs and hour-long waits.

On this episode we talk about:

The “no more reserved seats” hot take and why Travis and Eric think it’s one of the worst opinions on going out

How engineered lines and scarcity at places like With Love Always shape perception and demand

Why wandering around for 45 minutes “exploring the neighborhood” sounds romantic online but is awful in real life—especially with kids

Eric and Travis’s case for reservations, predictable tables, and reducing unnecessary chaos in already chaotic lives

Vegas tips: overrated experiences (nightclubs, certain hyped dining spots) versus underrated ones (off-strip restaurants, comedy clubs, and Cirque shows)

Specific recommendations for steakhouses and nicer dinners: Del Frisco’s, STK, Bavette’s, Mastro’s, and local gem Black Sheep

Why national chains often underperform in Vegas compared to chef-driven, off-strip concepts

Top show picks: Mad Apple, Mystère, Absinthe, O, and why comedy clubs like Brad Garrett’s are such a great bet

A frank breakdown of why most nightclubs are “eternal pits of money,” bottle service psychology, and how to avoid a five-figure hangover

Top 3 Takeaways

Convenience tools like reservations aren’t killing spontaneity; for most people they’re protecting sanity, time, and the ability to actually enjoy a night out.

In Vegas, the best value often comes from off-strip or less-hyped spots—chef-led restaurants, comedy clubs, and thoughtfully chosen shows can beat loud clubs and generic chains.

Nightclubs are designed as high-margin, high-temptation environments; if you go, treat it like a pre-planned expense, not a place where attention from staff equals real connection.

Notable Quotes

"When I go to eat is when I'm like, life's been chaotic. I want to go to my table."

"Any night club is an overrated experience—it's an eternal pit of money where you can't hear anything."

"Have fun, be cautious, and don’t buy into the thought that these bottle service girls really love you—it’s all a hustle designed to get all the money out of your bank."

Connect with Travis:

Instagram: https://instagram.com/travischappell

Other: https://travischappell.com

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Cheryl Strauss Einhorn is the creator of the AREA Method, a structured decision-making system used by individuals, companies, and nonprofits to solve complex problems. She’s the founder of Decisive, an adjunct professor at Cornell and the University of Miami, and the author of multiple books on decision-making, including Problem Solved and her latest, The Human Edge. Cheryl combines deep research expertise with practical frameworks to help people think more clearly and make smarter choices—especially in a world increasingly shaped by AI.

On this episode we talk about:

How Cheryl built a career around decision-making, research, and storytelling

Why defining the right problem is the most overlooked step in making money and business decisions

The hidden downside of AI: outsourcing your thinking and losing your “human edge”

The eight-step AREA Method for making smarter, more personalized decisions

How to use AI effectively—without blindly trusting its outputs

Top 3 Takeaways

The quality of your decisions depends on how well you define the problem—not just the solution you choose.

AI is a powerful tool for research, but it requires human judgment to guide, validate, and apply it correctly.

Your unique perspective, context, and imperfections are assets—not flaws to be polished away by AI.

Notable Quotes

"AI is asking for our cognitive load—and that changes everything."

"Nobody is going to believe in you unless you believe in you."

"Any time saved with AI must be reinvested to verify and refine the result."

Connect with Cheryl Strauss Einhorn:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cheryl-strauss-einhorn-57353823/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/areamethod/

Other: https://areamethod.com

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This solo episode features Travis continuing his deep dive on failure, following up on his “failure resume” from the previous show. He shares a practical three-part framework—debrief, connect, and act—for processing big setbacks, protecting your mindset, and getting back into motion after deals go bad, investments flop, or businesses collapse.

On this episode we talk about:

Why most of Travis’s 17–18 ventures didn’t meet his expectations, even when they technically “worked”

The Grant Cardone idea of “never take advice from a quitter” and how setbacks can shrink your vision if you let them

The importance of doing a formal debrief right after a failure to extract lessons while everything is still fresh

The psychological cost of loneliness, shame, and negative self-talk when you try to shoulder failure on your own

How talking with successful friends and podcast guests about their much bigger failures reframed Travis’s own losses

Why losing other people’s money felt “a thousand times worse” than losing his own and what those conversations taught him

Reconnecting with family, friends, and community to restore a sense of usefulness and purpose after a setback

The “debrief, connect, act” framework and small actions that rebuild momentum when you’d rather hide in your shell

Top 3 Takeaways

Big failures are inevitable if you’re playing a meaningful game; what matters is refusing to let one painful hit permanently shrink your dreams.

A structured debrief plus honest conversations with people who truly want you to win can turn a brutal loss into hard-earned wisdom instead of lingering shame.

The way out of a failure spiral is action—any action that restores your sense of usefulness and value—rather than isolation and self-criticism.

Notable Quotes

"Never take advice from a quitter."

"As soon as you realize that things did not go as planned, debrief the plan."

"You don't get a medal for doing this alone. The only way out of the spiral is to take a step."

Connect with Travis:

Instagram: https://instagram.com/travischappell

Other: https://travischappell.com

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This is a conversation between Travis and his producer Eric, who brings a mix of comedy, real-world consumer insight, and behind-the-scenes perspective from the show itself. Eric’s storytelling about fitness, Starbucks chai, and Panera “hacks” sets up a broader conversation with Travis about pricing, perceived value, and how brands like Starbucks, Chipotle, and Everbowl think about experience versus cost. Together, they break down what “premium experience” really means at the register and in the store.

On this episode we talk about:

Eric’s “skinny king” fitness journey, daily 10,000-step habit, and walking across the Vegas strip

How Starbucks changed its chai recipe and accidentally revealed just how much sugar is in a custom drink

The idea of Starbucks as an expensive “affordable luxury” and what a “$9 premium experience” actually buys you

How corporate executives can “fail up” between roles at Chipotle and Starbucks and still shape consumer experience

Travis’s Everbowl store, square footage strategy, and why designing space around how customers really behave matters

The changing design of Starbucks stores, from comfy third place to “get in, get out” layouts and fewer outlets

Panera’s Sip Club “abuse,” PS5s in cafés, and how line length and perceived busyness can be engineered

Rising costs of labor and goods and why that pushes prices higher in any food or quick-service business

Online outrage vs actual numbers: why Starbucks can be trending for the wrong reasons while revenue and foot traffic grow

Top 3 Takeaways

A “premium” price only works if the experience matches it; when brands charge $9 for coffee, store design, barista interaction, and comfort have to feel elevated, not hollow.

Food and beverage pricing is driven heavily by rising labor and ingredient costs, which forces operators to get extremely intentional about space, square footage, and what actually brings customers in.

Online outrage doesn’t always match real-world behavior; customers may complain about prices and corporate quotes yet still show up and drive revenue and foot traffic higher.

Notable Quotes

"The worst thing is when you're getting like a steak burrito and they're skimping the steak… an appropriate amount of steak will suffice."

"Starbucks used to be goated to work in… now it feels like they design the space to make you get out of there."

"If people will pay it, then charge it — but if you're going to claim it's about the experience, then you actually have to build that experience into the store."

Connect with Travis:

Instagram: https://instagram.com/travischappell

Other: https://travischappell.com

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Mark Divine is a retired U.S. Navy SEAL commander, entrepreneur, and founder of SEALFIT and Unbeatable Mind. After 20 years leading elite special operations teams, he transitioned into entrepreneurship, building multiple businesses and training top executives in leadership, resilience, and peak performance. A New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestselling author, Mark blends military discipline with mindfulness practices to help others unlock their full potential.

On this episode we talk about:

Why entrepreneurship—not corporate life—was the natural path after the Navy SEALs

The hard lessons from building and losing businesses (including a 90% revenue drop in 2008)

How following passion (not just profit) led to building SEALFIT and a global platform

Why building an audience and authentic relationships is critical for monetization today

The importance of hiring the right operators so founders can step out of the day-to-day

Top 3 Takeaways

Building a strong foundation—skills, character, and experience—is more important than chasing fast success.

If you want to make money from a personal brand, focus on engagement and trust before trying to scale.

Founders must eventually get out of their own way and bring in the right people to grow the business.

Notable Quotes

"If you don't have a platform, you don't have anything."

"That instant success comes after years of building the foundation."

"If you give 90% value and ask for 10% in return, people will support you."

Connect with Mark Divine:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/markdivine/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/markdivineofficial/

Other: https://markdivine.com | https://unbeatablemind.com

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On this solo episode, Travis shares candid stories from his own entrepreneurial journey, walking through more than a dozen ventures that didn’t work out the way he hoped before his podcasting business took off. From childhood side hustles and landscaping to MLMs, door-to-door sales, and water purification, he breaks down how repeated “failures” created the skills, resilience, and opportunities that ultimately built his income today.

On this episode we talk about:

Why fear of failure and fear of embarrassment keep people from even taking the first swing at their goals

How our social wiring, threat detection, and negativity bias make us over-index on what others might think

The difference between temporary failure and the only real failure: quitting and pulling yourself out of the game

Travis’s long list of experiments: landscaping, college side hustles, multiple MLMs, door-to-door solar, alarms, water machines, and more

How just 3–4 of roughly 17 different ventures produced about 90% of his income over the last decade

The transition from sales and MLM into podcasting, masterminds, courses, and live events

Why leveraging other people’s time (hiring help) was a key early lesson in building leverage instead of just trading hours

What the entrepreneurial path actually looks like emotionally: ups, downs, and the necessity of stepping back up to the plate

Top 3 Takeaways

The fear of other people’s reactions to your failure is often more paralyzing than the failure itself, and it’s usually based on imaginary scenarios that have never happened.

Entrepreneurship is inherently experimental; most attempts won’t be home runs, but a small percentage of ventures can drive the majority of your long-term income.

A failure only becomes permanent when it causes you to quit — as long as you keep getting back in the game, each “loss” becomes data, skill-building, and positioning for the next win.

Notable Quotes

"A failure is not a failure at all unless it causes you to quit. The only version of failure that's permanent is the one that pulls you out of the game."

"You're creating a situation in your mind that has never happened and then reacting to the reactions of other people about a situation that has never happened."

"Out of those 17 things, probably three or four of them are responsible for 90% of the income that I've made in the last decade."

Connect with Travis:

Instagram: https://instagram.com/travischappell

Other: https://travischappell.com

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Host Travis and producer Eric dive into an in-depth discussion about Tony Hawk's legendary decision to turn down a $500,000 buyout from Activision in favor of royalties on the Tony Hawk Pro Skater video game franchise. They explore the financial wisdom behind knowing when to bet on yourself versus taking guaranteed money, and how keeping your lifestyle expenses low creates the flexibility to take calculated risks.

On this episode we talk about:

Tony Hawk's decision to reject a $500,000 buyout from Activision before the launch of Tony Hawk Pro Skater in 1999

How the franchise went on to generate over $1.4 billion in sales and earned Hawk royalties in the eight-figure range

The importance of keeping lifestyle expenses and burn rate low to maintain financial flexibility

Why financial stability allows you to take bigger risks on opportunities that could have outsized rewards

The challenge of determining when to bet on yourself versus taking guaranteed money upfront

Top 3 Takeaways

Keep your lifestyle burn low to maintain flexibility. Tony Hawk was able to turn down $500,000 because he had manageable expenses, good endorsements, and a profitable skate company. Low expenses give you the freedom to take calculated risks without being handcuffed by financial constraints.

Ask yourself: "If this fails, will I still be okay?" The decision to bet on yourself should depend on whether you can survive the worst-case scenario. If failure means losing everything, take the guaranteed money. If you can weather a downturn, the upside may be worth the risk.

Focus on whether you'll regret not taking the risk. Rather than trying to predict the future, consider whether you'll regret passing on the opportunity. Make the best decision you can with the information available, then accept the results and move forward without second-guessing yourself.

Notable Quotes

"I'm going to take a risk because I'm doing okay and I don't need that money right now... that was definitely the best financial decision of my life." - Tony Hawk (from audio clip)

"The beauty of making smart financial decisions over a longer period of time is that you have the flexibility. You can stay nimble." - Travis

"When you're looking at a decision of whether or not to bet big on yourself, the decision's going to come down to how much pain am I currently in? And if the answer is not a lot, then you can make those bigger bets and take the bigger risks." - Travis

Connect with Travis:

Instagram: @Travis Chappell

Website: https://travischappell.com

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Owen Barrett is the founder of a solar company that has generated over $50 million in revenue in just three years. Before building his solar empire, Owen spent a decade in the energy efficiency space, eventually discovering a massive gap in the multifamily real estate market: operators were ignoring solar as a value-add strategy. After trying and failing to convince syndicators to adopt solar, Owen bought his own apartment buildings, proved the model worked, built proprietary software to eliminate complexity, and then sold the solution back to the industry.

On this episode we talk about:

Owen's journey from failed businesses (recycling, nonprofit soccer equipment) to building a multi-million dollar lighting company

How he identified a major blind spot in multifamily real estate investing: solar as an untapped value-add strategy

Why decreasing operating expenses by $100K can increase property value by $2 million in multifamily

The technical challenge of installing and monitoring 300 individual solar systems on a single apartment building

Building proprietary software to automate billing, monitoring, and maintenance for tenant-meter solar installations

Top 3 Takeaways

Find problems you've experienced firsthand and solve them. Owen's most successful businesses came from identifying inefficiencies he encountered personally—whether it was wasted soccer equipment in college, unused grant money in California schools, or ignored energy costs in multifamily real estate.

For every dollar you increase net operating income (NOI) in multifamily, you increase property value by roughly $20. Solar installations can slash operating expenses by $100K+, creating $2M+ in instant equity without the headache of traditional unit renovations.

If you can't convince people, prove it yourself first. When multifamily operators wouldn't listen to Owen's solar pitch, he partnered with a real estate company, bought 650 units worth $75M, installed solar himself, and showed the industry it worked—then built software to scale the solution.

Notable Quotes

"I noticed nobody was going after the smaller school districts or charter schools where they still had like $500K, a million dollars, $2 million... so we just set out on this campaign to get in touch with as many small school districts and charter schools as humanly possible."

"If you're in that 1% where you feel like you're a change agent and you can get shit done, it's kind of selfish to not do anything."

"You guys are pulling out your hair renovating units, dealing with subcontractors, like all this stuff that just annoys everyone. And meanwhile, you're leaving probably the easiest value-add strategy on the table."

Connect with Owen Barrett:

LinkedIn: Owen Barrett

Shine: https://www.getshine.com/about

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This episode features an in-studio conversation with Travis's producer, who brings a unique perspective on financial decisions and lifestyle choices. The producer shares personal stories about weight loss, childhood experiences with "husky" uniforms, and honeymoon budgeting, creating an authentic dialogue about money management at different life stages.

On this episode we talk about:

The trade-off between buying luxury items versus investing in appreciating assets like real estate

How frugal parenting and early financial lessons shape long-term money habits

Logan Paul's strategy of making massive purchases as motivation to keep earning

Why self-awareness is crucial when deciding whether to make big purchases

The importance of keeping lifestyle expenses low to maintain career flexibility and pursue passion projects

Top 3 Takeaways

Keep purchases reversible and within cash-payment capability - Only finance something if you could theoretically afford to pay cash for it, ensuring financial security if circumstances change unexpectedly.

Big purchase motivation only works if you love what you do - Using expensive purchases as accountability partners can be effective for creators and commission-based workers who control their income, but it's dangerous if you're stuck in a job you dislike with fixed income.

Prioritize experiences over things, but stay within parameters - While material items rarely provide lasting satisfaction, meaningful experiences contribute to a good life—just ensure they don't compromise your financial flexibility or future opportunities.

Notable Quotes

"I just can't bring myself to buy a car for 40,000 when I know I could go buy a house for 40,000." 

"I think it's important to reward yourself... but not to the degree where you are limiting your own potential to be able to reward yourself further later on."

"Money only solves your money problems. Priorities will solve the rest of your problems when you got money in the bank."

Connect with Travis:

Website: travischappell.com

Instagram: @Travis Chappell 

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Yasmin Cheyenne is a three-time HarperOne author and Today Show wellness expert who has guided hundreds of thousands of people back to their authentic selves through her writing, workshops, and teachings. After serving five years in the Air Force and working in the JAG (legal) department, Yasmin spent nearly a decade balancing a government job with her growing coaching and writing business before making the leap to full-time entrepreneurship in 2021—just days before the Today Show reached out for her first major media appearance.

On this episode we talk about:

The strategic decision-making process behind leaving a stable nine-to-five job to pursue entrepreneurship full-time

Why seeing a financial advisor before quitting your job is essential, even if you think you can't afford one

The difference between setting healthy boundaries and becoming unreasonably selfish

How reconnecting with your inner child can help you rediscover what you truly want from life

The concept of the "comeback era" and why midlife discomfort is actually a gift, not a crisis

Top 3 Takeaways

Do the human work before making the leap - Consult a financial advisor (many banks offer this free), calculate all expenses including taxes and health insurance, and ensure your business income can sustain your entire family's needs—not just your current bills. Don't make major career decisions from overwhelm or sleep deprivation.

Consider whether your passion can handle the pressure of paying bills - Some people love their creative work but don't want it to be the thing they rely on financially, as it changes the relationship with their gift. Be honest with yourself about whether you can emotionally handle your passion becoming your primary income source.

Learn from children's natural boundaries - Kids have no problem saying no to things they don't want to do, even when it would help someone else. While adults can't be completely unreasonable, reconnecting with that willingness to disappoint others occasionally helps you identify where you've been people-pleasing at your own expense.

Notable Quotes

"I knew that I was not going to take on hundreds of thousands of dollars of debt in an economy where people were not being hired. And so that's where entrepreneurship kind of became the only option for me. It felt like if there's so much of a risk here, then I might as well take the risk on myself."

"I want you to follow those things [like gut feelings and dreams], but I also want you to do your human work, which is the numbers. And so we have to make decisions from both places."

"To feel that discomfort is actually a gift and it's an opportunity to explore how you can make the changes that you want. I think it's actually an opportunity for a comeback."

Connect with Yasmin Cheyenne:

Instagram: @yasmincheyenne

Website: https://yasminecheyenne.com/

Book: The Comeback Era pre-order now for May 18th!

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