Travis Brown, Podcaster, Mentor, Entrepreneur

00:00
Just remember that the only person standing in your own way is that little guy in your head telling you that it's got to be some expectation. So I'm giving you the permission slip that says blank, put your name in there. You have the freedom to create with reckless abandon without perfection and without expectation, but you have to start to create.

00:30
Welcome to another edition of Chewing the Fat. I am your host, Big Robb. Thank you so much for following, liking all the messages that I'm getting on the Instagram at Chewing the Fat BR. Thank you so much for that. All the folks that have bought me a coffee, thank you so much for that. At Pink Biker Ralph. I appreciate the coffee. Also Travis, thank you so much for the coffee. Speaking of Travis, as a matter of fact, my guest today, he's a friend, a mentor.

00:59
an entrepreneur, a musician, an artist, he's multi-talented. And I'm very proud to know him. He's also one of my mentors for the podcast as well. You know, all things being fair. Please welcome Travis Brown. Robb, it's so good to be on your show. I'm a huge fan of Chewing the Fat with Big Robb. So just, it's so nice to be here with you, man. Thank you, I appreciate that. I was a...

01:25
I was actually kind of surprised when you filled out the intake form because as my mentor, I was just like, hey, does this look okay? And you filled it out and I was like, are you actually scheduling time to be on the show or were you just checking it out too? And you're like, no, man, I'm being on the show. I was like, okay, all right. So thank you.

01:49
to just walk myself right into the podcast door there and I just booked myself on without really asking permission, so. No, no, you're fine. I mean, it's an honor to have you on. I know you're very busy with all of the multitude of things that you do have going on, as well as being a dad and a husband, a family man. So having a few moments with you on weekend, when I know that's probably the time that you spend most with your family, is really an honor and I really appreciate it. So thank you so much for that. It's my pleasure.

02:19
So, let's give folks some background who may not be familiar, even though I say your name every episode, because I have been a fan of yours since, gosh, I wanna say it's almost two years now. I know we kind of really connected about a year ago when I started having the idea for this podcast, but prior to that, in the myriad of all of the stuff I was doing while I was really trying to figure out what this podcast might could be,

02:49
I think I ordered your full set of your pod decks, which are the cards that I use for the Fast Five, which we'll get to that later in the show here. But what really stood out to me with you in particular, Travis, was your heart for creators and that you weren't just some guy schlocking some stuff, just trying to make a buck, that you were really invested in

03:18
the growth of the people that were invested in your product in Pod Decks, and then people that were interested in what you had to say, and that has grown into the app, the Pod Decks app, but also the podcast builder club, and even the mastermind group, which also I am a member of, all things being honest and true in front of everybody. And it has really helped me to, as I said, hit the big red button.

03:46
So thank you for that and for your heart and your genuineness in wanting to see people succeed. I tell folks all the time that your attitude that I really enjoy, there's room for everyone at the table and everyone eats. It's not a, this is my stuff and no, I don't want you, or you really are welcoming to that community you've created. Yeah, community is probably one of the most important things. So something that I really struggled with over the last.

04:13
decade was I've been working with podcasts for a long time and I couldn't figure out how to make it easy to get into the podcasting world without giving you all this technical information. And so when Pod Decks came about, you've probably heard the story, but it was a complete accident. So I was running a podcast editing agency. I ran out of slots. I sold all the time. That's what happens when you sell your time. So I said to myself, how could I help somebody

04:43
do this on their own, knowing everything that I know. So I'm like, I'll make a course, right? That's what every guru says. You need to make a course, so while you sleep. So I spent like six weeks building out this incredible podcasting course, and price did it five or $600. And I wanted to give people something that they could have in their pocket, because not everybody's an extrovert. I consider you an extroverted person, I'm an extroverted person. But there's people that would really rather be in the coffin.

05:12
than giving the eulogy. So I wanted to empower those people. And so I just came up with this deck of cards. I thought it was sort of a goof. I thought it was just the free gift. And it turned out that people didn't want my course, but they wanted the cards. And so that just opened up a huge door because it made me, I guess, a little more accessible to the podcasting world. You know, I had the knowledge, I had the skills, but I couldn't reach the person that was maybe

05:41
I don't want to say intimidated, but like just not ready to talk to somebody about the extra stuff you have to do when you podcast. And so when I went into PodDex, I thought about all the things that I liked as a consumer, like getting a tracking number, special packaging, all these things. And I just really invited people to like, come hang out with me. And I met like, specifically you, so many people that I'm now like friends with in my community that I can...

06:10
get hands on with and help them grow. And the world's been waiting for this podcast for a long time. And now I get to revel, this is better than any paycheck, dollar amount, download number. I'm here on a podcast that I wanted to see happen and I feel like I had some hand in that. So that's where it all really comes full circle. Yeah, and you absolutely did have a hand in it. You had a foot in it too. I mean, that was... I mean, I think it was in our first meeting in the mastermind group.

06:40
You know, it was kind of like, all right, you're here. Do the thing. Don't be here and not be a podcaster. That's a waste of, you know, it's a waste of time. It's a waste of money. It's a waste of resources. So if you're gonna be here, be here as a podcaster. So that's what it took for me to record the trailer and then get the first few episodes together. Here's the funny thing is that you came in without a podcast and you're now one of our most successful members. I'm sure that down the road you'll end up being

07:08
one of the mentors of like what we do, you know, because you already had the skill set and this booming voice and this amazing personality and a passion. And a lot of times when we're in these mastermind calls, I'm just going to tell the audience like Rob jumps in and is giving as much advice as I am. So we love having you as a member and I'm really excited about your success. And I appreciate that.

07:32
I appreciate that. And I think that's one of those things that people just need sometime. They need that unbiased voice. It's not like you or my friends or family, they were like, yeah, you do it, but I understand that you're waiting and you wanna get this right. And you know, or friends from the radio industry, they were like, yeah, and are you gonna have this and this? And then, you know, and all this kind of self pressure I'd put on myself. But you were the lone voice kind of out there. They're like, yeah, that'd be cool. Do it. Just do it. I don't understand why you're not doing it. Just do it.

08:00
So, I mean, so thank you for that. And I'm not the only one you've done that with. There's several folks in the podcast builder group on Facebook that you do the same thing with. And it's that same type of care. And that feeling that I get that you are invested in me, I think everybody has that. And I think that's something special to be able to bring to anything that we want to be involved in, whether it be something altruistic or something creative, but to feel like you're talking to a

08:30
one person and that they're the most important person at the time that you're talking to them. 100%. What you can do if you're out there and you're trying to help people, just remember, I don't think of people as a transaction. The transaction is just a byproduct of our relationship. And transactions are nice, but it doesn't end when you put your credit card in. It just begins. And so if you can take that...

08:56
mentality into everything you do. Like a transaction can be someone buys something from you. A transaction can be someone buys into you. A transaction can be having a new friend that you, you know, become an acquaintance with or you think that you are aligned on certain things with. So, you know, when you think about every single thing we do in life, are you treating it as a transaction or are you treating it as like an investment? Right. And that's, that's sort of how I feel about

09:23
That's where I think a lot of people miss on the internet, is I think that they are programmed to automate everything and scale everything, and it really, you can do all that stuff, but you can also be a human being and help other human beings. Absolutely, and I think that's one of the most important things as humans that we should strive to do, is to help each other, because we're all kind of in this together. Invest in each other, in your hometown, in a podcast.

09:53
in a society, that's what, I think that's just what we're all called to do really. Yeah, I do this thing in my head. I don't always say it out loud, but when I'm talking to somebody who, you know, maybe they're working through something or they need advice or they're just not sure about something, sometimes I'll just straight up ask them like, would you like comfort?

10:13
Or would you like a solution? Because sometimes we just want somebody to comfort us. We don't actually... We maybe know what the next step is, and we know we're avoiding it. But if you just jam solutions down people's throats, you're not really listening. And it's like... So sometimes people just want to let a little steam off. So it's always a great way when you're communicating with someone and they seem distressed or you think you could help them. Do you want comfort? Or would you like a solution? And then they can choose their adventure.

10:41
and you make this huge impact on that person. Absolutely, I say that to my wife all the time. It's like, do you want me to feel this or do you want me to fix it? Because that's- Oh, that's great. Because that's two different, I'm here for either one. But as me, as a person, if you tell me something, I instantly am gonna go to fixed mode. And fixed mode is not always what is required and being just a big dumb guy.

11:06
I need you to tell me that I need to be in feel mode, you know? Because otherwise, I'm going to do the person a disservice because I'm trying to fix as opposed to, to feel what's going on, so, absolutely. So you got started with Poddex as a goof because you were helping other folks with podcasting.

11:28
What drew you to podcasting? I know you were a musician. Did it did it? Was it part of your audio background? Possibly that that kind of drew you into that realm? Yeah, I mean, I think it was just a perfect storm for me. So I was a gypsy who traveled the country playing for playing rock and roll for people. I love the attention. I'm an extrovert. I love being creative. And so at some point in time I had to grow up and say, okay, like,

11:55
I could do this forever, but I'm never gonna have health insurance or any money in the bank. It was a lot of fun. But in through that process, I ended up commuting to a job, just some cubicle just to make money, be an adult, be quote normal. And then during that time, podcasting was just sort of poking through the zeitgeist a little bit. And I ended up landing on some podcasts because I'm a lifelong learner. Lifelong learners are the people who want to...

12:21
listen to podcasts. So I was like, oh, I could learn all these new things. I could turn my car into a mobile classroom. And so I'd listen to these podcasts and they sounded terrible. And I was like, this, a podcast should be something that's easily recorded. And obviously I had an audio engineering background. So to me, it was like, Oh, but I thought, okay, well, how can I help people? So maybe I could take the load off of them and do something I like to do. And then they could do the fun part. And that's how I started my editing agency. So to me, when somebody told me that I could plug in a microphone,

12:51
and talk to the world. I was like, sign me up. Where do I go? Where's the account to sign up, right? So I think it's the most incredible medium that still hasn't even seen its full potential because people used to go to jail for this. People used to go to jail for having pirate radio stations, right? So like, we have the ability to reach anyone we want, specifically using our words.

13:19
and our voice and our stories to create connections. So I'm all in. Yeah, and I mean, it's different than having, you know, 100,000 watt radio tower that's broadcasting out your signal, but the access is the same because we're able to do this, and it's all about somebody either tuning in the dial, but in our realm, it's doing a search to find it, whether it be on.

13:49
Apple Podcasts or Spotify or Google or just doing a Google search to see, hey, what good podcasts are out there for. And they can be even more specific than radio stations could because it can be, what are good mental health podcasts? What are good cooking podcasts? What are good podcasting podcasts? Because I have a story to tell and I want to know how to do this. And I think everybody does have a story to tell. So it's about, again, creating those connections between people, whether it's...

14:17
creating a connection around this common theme of how do I now tell my story to someone else or around that shared experience Absolutely. Yeah, I mean storytelling has been with us for thousands of years, right? We we pass down information that way we pass down lessons that way we sat around fires and told stories To entertain ourselves under the stars before there was you know, any even glimpse of electricity, right? So it's it's

14:46
It's native to us in a way that I don't think will ever go away. And something that I'm really fascinated with is, I think that humans are right now in this kind of foraging for information mindset. So it's like, we don't have to forage for food. We don't really have to start fires to stay warm. But as human beings, we long for this foraging mentality. And so I think with podcasts, we've just got this like,

15:15
catalog of information that we can forage through to learn more or to avoid something and and I think that's part of why it's So magnetic again as people we all kind of have that Something inside either something stirring inspirationally or something Oppressive or something that we are, you know a hole that you're trying to fill so finding finding your your tribe finding your people via

15:45
podcasts, especially if you're an introverted type person where you're not gonna go out and join a theatrical group or join a band and travel to see, you know what I mean? To be able to find a tribe. I know so many friends that are just avid avid readers. That's their tribe, those book people are their tribe. I read but I would not consider myself an avid, just I read five books this week, that's just not me.

16:13
But there are people that do have tribes like that and having something like this where the podcast you can find other tribes as well. Yeah, and then you have a seat at the table. I mean, whoever's listening to this right now, I would consider you.

16:26
a part of this conversation, you just don't have the mic turned on, right? You're sitting with us at the table and we're talking about some things. And you might shout out in the car or wherever you're at, like, yeah, I totally agree with that. Right. But you're here with us, which is different in my opinion than a video or a blog or, you know, all the other kinds of content. Like you really can. I think that's what's so cool is when a celebrity has a podcast, like I can just like, we've always said, if I could be a fly on the wall in that room and now you are.

16:55
Yeah, so it's an incredibly powerful medium. And for introverts, even better, where do you podcast from home? Do you have to be around anyone? No. Like, great. Like just plug it in and press and go. Right. Now, I mean, I enjoy interviewing people. I enjoy talking to people and making that type of connection. But I mean, obviously there are hundreds of podcasts that are out there that are solo podcasts that someone is just either telling a story or doing research about some,

17:25
closed, cold case. Murder Mystery podcasts are huge. There's a huge realm of whatever you're wanting to do. I have a friend, Jonathan, that does radio theater podcasts. He takes his plays and creates these theatrical, theater of the mind type situations and creates them with soundscaping. That's something, again, a throwback to radio.

17:54
when that used to be the entertainment, there were no pictures. There were only those words and how did you create that environment? And that's kind of what this is. You can make it and do whatever you want to with it. Absolutely, there's no end to what a podcast can be. And I love the throwback to like the Buck Rogers or whoever it was when you turned on it Saturday night and it was like a story and you had to play it out in your mind. Like what a powerful thing to.

18:22
have every single person listening interpret it in the colors and the shapes in their own head, right? As opposed to just staring at a screen and being fed information. So yeah, it could be anything. There's a podcast I was listening to pretty religiously, where it was just a guy who would go for a hike in the woods. And it was just the crunching of the leaves and the birds chirping. He never said a word. But I was like on this hike with this guy. And just, you know, from an ASMR,

18:50
maybe like a comfort level or maybe even me just wanting to be in nature. I was able to do that. But like if somebody, if he pitched that idea to a guru or an expert, they'd be like, what? No, you have to talk. You have to have a call to action. You have to do this, this and this. And then that person might've said like, well, wait, is that what all podcasts are? But it's really not the truth. It's anything that you can do with audio, anything. And I think, you know, like myself, there might be people out there.

19:19
that are putting technology in their way from beginning. You can record your podcast on the audio recorder on your phone and upload it, and that's your podcast. Do you have to do a podcast every week or every day? No. Do you do one every month? Okay. You wanna do one every quarter? You wanna do once a year and make it a big thing? Do that. There, again.

19:46
there's a space for you, there's a place for you. You can do whatever you want in this type of medium. And it's just there waiting for you to tell your story. Most people have creative handcuffs and I wanna give everybody, I wanna give everybody a permission slip. Like you don't have to paint a masterpiece in order to paint. You don't have to have a top ranked podcast in order to podcast. You don't have to have...

20:14
a trophy to ride a bike. People basically do this thing where unless it's going to be the biggest thing ever, they don't want to do it because it's not going to be perfect. So I want to give everybody listening. Whatever it is, if it's podcasting, if it's art, if it's music, if it's writing your own book, just remember that the only person standing in your own way is that little guy in your head telling you that it's got to be something, some expectation.

20:42
So I'm giving you the permission slip that says, blank, put your name in there. You have the freedom to create with reckless abandon, without perfection and without expectation, but you have to start to create. You gotta hit the big red button. Whatever that big red button is in your life, whether it's picking up the paintbrush, going to the art supply store, picking up a pen and a piece of paper, picking up your guitar, you know.

21:11
whatever it is, dancing, get up off the couch, whatever that big red button is, you've gotta hit it. You've gotta start somewhere. And I will say, I don't regret it. I regret more the time that I took the year leading up to hitting that button, that I could have already been doing this. You know, it's something I look forward to now. They say everything unfolds perfectly for you. So maybe it was just, it was always meant to be that time.

21:40
Yeah, I'll take that. I'll take that. Travis, if you had to give, well, I would say if you had to give somebody one tip, you just gave an amazing tip to anyone for any type of anything that they wanted to do, really, you know, create with reckless abandon. You have permission. Don't stand in your way. I think what may be stopping most people, and this is just a thought that I have, is that everything we do now is expected to be on the internet.

22:09
So if you paint a crappy picture of a plant, you're programmed to have to post a picture of it on the Internet. And if you don't really love it, if you're not super proud of it, then you're concerned about that. So you don't want to do it anymore. Imagine that here's the big tip. Imagine that everything you do does not have to be shared with the world. I think it's cool if you do. But if that's the thing that's stopping you from doing something, just posting it on Instagram,

22:39
just do it and don't post it on Instagram. Right. But you have to do like action equals results in any capacity. So start with one thing, one step, and don't worry about broadcasting it to the world. Just do it for the actual enjoyment. Mm-hmm, mm-hmm. And I think that's one of the things I love about like some of your art. I know you posted that you were gonna be doing your skull creating.

23:08
this past weekend, which is a cool concept to begin with, but it's not like you posted a million different pieces of this art, even though they were all individual, but I think sometimes it's okay to create art for art's sake, for your own sake, to create stuff like that. But the fact that you're out there and you're like, hey, here's this thing, come do this, when you absolutely could have easily slammed promos and all this other stuff on it.

23:38
I mean, you're just inviting people to come hang out and do something cool and creative, which you want. You want, you want to hear something awesome about that? Yeah. You know how many people showed up to this event to come make a one of a kind piece of art with me? Hmm. How many? Well, one person. Really? Okay. Now most people would look at that as a huge failure. Okay. But I look at it as I got to a make art for two hours. Okay.

24:07
which I love. Two, I got to share some of the processes and things I learned with somebody and make a connection with a person. So through this process, I sat across the table, we chatted, we talked about art. At least 10 times she mentioned, God, I should really do this more at home. I said, you absolutely can. Take any of these supplies you want with you home so you can start doing this at home. I had a great time. Did it make money? No. Was it a waste of time? No. But...

24:37
I tried it and someone asked me, would you do this again? I said, absolutely. I mean, this was so much fun. So it's all in the perspective of like this machine that you're supposed to be this successful six figure, whatever, right? Yeah. Who cares? Yeah, I think there is something to be said for putting money in the joy bank as opposed to putting money in the physical bank.

25:05
You know, there are things that you should do because they truly bring joy to your life. And yes, I know there's a million people that, you know, they're doing podcasts for money, or they're doing their art and they wanna sell it. You know, sure. Because that helps you be able to do other things. You know, if I didn't have to worry about a house payment, that would allow me more time to do other things, to do other podcasts or whatever. But I do not fault.

25:34
what I am doing to provide for my family and this time that I have to invest in the Joy Bank in being able to do this, have great conversations with people, make connections. Yeah, I don't think that it always has to be some sort of monetization scheme. It doesn't always have to put physical cash in your pocket. There are plenty of other pockets that can be filled by doing those types of things. That's why I volunteer.

26:03
Like with community theater, I don't get paid to be on stage and to go to these, the auditions and the rehearsals and the performances. I do it for the love of that. And as it's a gift to give back to someone too, it's like, Hey, here, we all worked on this thing. We hope you enjoy this because it brings me joy to perform. You know, man, you don't see, you don't see any you hauls behind hearses. Like you, let's say you, let's say you amass the millions of dollars that everyone's convinced you need.

26:32
And then something happens. A piano falls on you from the sky. A you get into a car accident. But you didn't have any joy during the time that you built this, all these millions of dollars, you don't even like, you don't even get to keep it. Yeah. You like what you get to keep was your life experience. So I think what you said, if I could like break down a golden nugget of an episode, that little chunk that you just let out there was a huge philosophical question.

27:01
to ask yourself as you're listening, am I only focused on putting money in the Chase bank or am I actually investing in my Joy Bank? And I think that that's a really great way to just make an analogy about it.

27:21
So Travis, during this part of the show, we'd like to dive a little bit deeper. And so what I wanna know is, how do you stay positive? You've done all these things. You've had, I'm sure, sleepless nights, but how do you stay positive and keep the dark at bay? Yeah, so I've had a pretty crazy life. I had some trauma as a child, which led me into...

27:48
Drugs and alcohol and addiction. I'm coming up here Thursday will be my my two-year sobriety anniversary congratulations and Thank you so much. Yeah, so You know, I used to look at myself as a victim I had I lived in an abusive household and I had this sort of like I would wear this kind of like outfit that was Like yeah, I had a really tough life and that's what made me say that Oh, well, I need to escape this these feelings through drugs or alcohol, right?

28:18
And so at some point I figured out that in looking back, that the life that I had in comparison to other people's lives was not a hard life. It was just, you know, it was, there was some unfortunate events. So, but it also made me who I am. And I think creativity was something that I used as a child to escape before I had access to alcohol and drugs. And I think that I spent a lot of time being creative and that as an adult now,

28:47
I have this wonderful thing that people try to buy courses to learn and they wish that they were more of. And it's just intuitive to me based on if I didn't have this trauma, I probably there's a chance I wouldn't be me. So I look at it as it's unfortunate. There's nothing I can do, but there's also some gratitude events that happen in that story, right? My origin story. And so

29:16
I've been on a quest for at least, I don't know, five or six years to try to like, quote, fix myself. So I do therapy. Once a month I go talk to a therapist, which I think is if I could run for president, I would straight up make therapy free. I would take all as much money as I could from every program and make it not mandatory, but accessible for anybody to go do this. Because I think there's a stigma around.

29:46
Like I'm going to a therapist that makes you quote broken or a bat shit crazy. I don't know if you could swear on here, but that kind of mentality, which is not true. And I think that with therapy, what you're able to do is talk to somebody who's educated around the human psychology. That's third party that can guide you or correct your trajectory on the human condition. Right. So therapy has been a big thing for me now.

30:16
I'll go back to the escapism. So I consider myself the Houdini of feelings. If I have a feeling, my initial reaction is how can I escape? Is it through alcohol? Is it through drugs? Is it through masturbation? Is it through distracting myself through an idea, a TV show? And so what I've learned over the past few years is that the human condition really is two things. It's joy and suffering.

30:44
And there's no way around it because the suffering makes the joy so much better and the joy would only be able to be seen with the suffering. So unless you can actually look at suffering in the face, and this is this is comes from sort of a Buddhism background, like I'm not a man of faith. I'm not heavily invested in religion, but I do. I am invested in like the human condition. So just.

31:14
acknowledging your pain sometimes is actually enough for you to move on to the next moment where there may be an opportunity for joy. So how I deal with the dark times is I have frustrations and angers and everything just like everybody else. But I've learned through not escaping from being Houdini. And I'll catch myself trying to escape whether it's like a candy bar.

31:39
I mean, you can escape through so many different avenues, but I'll catch myself. And noticing these things is part of learning to live with them. Now, obviously, there's different levels of suffering, but I'm talking about the suffering of like, it could be as little as like, I don't have any friends, or I feel lonely, or, and like, so when you have those thoughts, you need to like look at them and say, you know, like, I feel lonely.

32:08
What's what's underneath that? What's behind that? Like, is it that someone hasn't reached out to me? Is it that I don't feel seen and like look at it for a minute? And that's really, I think, the only way you can go through this thing, because there's always going to be a new tragedy, new story thing that happens to you. But like it's all about how you handle it. So those are a couple of things that really helped me kind of navigate and like

32:38
just really like, I mean, positivity can be annoying when you when you meet somebody who's like too positive, you're just like, shut up, like, just stop. Like my wife is the great optimist. Anything that happens, she will give me the positive spin. And sometimes I just want comfort. I want her to go, Yeah, that's stupid. And and then I move on. Right. So those are two things that I've done. And then the third that I'll kind of just open up the

33:09
back to back to back, like just self help book after self help book. And I do think that there is a point where you spend too much time working on yourself and not enough time being yourself. So can I lose weight? Can I, can I meditate more? Can I do this? This is how this person does. And you're reading all these books and you know, all you're doing is you're telling yourself constantly, I'm not enough. I need to read this book and apply this. I need to do this. I need to fix this. I'm in like really in reality, like

33:39
We are enough as we are. If you're not hurting anybody and you're generally a good person, you are absolutely enough for the world. And so focusing on what you're not is also a way, I don't even do it anymore. I don't read the self-help books. I'm just like, I'll read a book about strategy or something, but like no more self-help for me because what's happened has happened. I can't change it. I can look at it as like it was a gift.

34:06
given to me. I know now not how to treat my children. I know that it gave me creativity. I know that it made me weird and I like being weird. I know that it made me very, very emotional, which I think is actually underrated. And I just look at it as a gift. And if you can look at some of these things as a gift, and I know not all trauma has that aspect to it, but if you can find those little nuggets, it does help when you face them.

34:35
because you can remind yourself, this happened to me, but is no longer happening to me. And I am happening to me. Yeah, and I've said that before, that as soon as you start to name it, name the thing, you take the power away from it. You know, I did that, you know, as a fat guy. I claim that title as a fat guy, because it doesn't hurt me.

35:03
because there were people that tried to use that term to hurt me. Well, I took the power away from him and I own it. So when you can, like you said, those traumas, those things, if you can name it and take the power away from it, it can't hurt you. And use that to then build strength upon. Because then you realize it is whatever it was and the damage that it was trying to do, and you realize you're more than just that.

35:32
or that word or that thing that happened. You are so much more than whatever the trauma was. Absolutely. And I do also think that comparison is a big thing that people struggle with that creates feeling less than. And like everyone puts their highlight reel on the internet. So everyone looks like they're the happiest person on earth. And then you compare your life to their highlight reel and then you feel lack. Or let's use another example.

36:02
You know, you go to the grocery store and there's all these magazines of all these people that have six pack abs and like, but the truth of the matter is in order to get in that condition, you actually have to go through some stages that are very unhealthy. And so we see these comparisons that make us think like, well, I'm not that so I'm not good enough. And it's like, you know, I don't know how many years ago, but hundreds of years ago, if you were like, let's say fat quote fat.

36:27
you were actually rich because you had enough food where you could eat all the time. And the people that were poor were had six pack abs. And it was actually the opposite view culturally on the proportion of your body. Right? So I think if you can stop comparing yourself, because let's be honest, like no one's had the life you've had, no one's had the life I've had, unless you have an identical twin.

36:52
It's more successful than you are Then there's really nobody to compare yourself to and that can really unlock the whole You know, I'm not enough Category which I think causes a lot of anxiety and depression Because like you said you you are enough because you're the only you that there ever will be I've had this discussion It's funny, you know, there are also all these other people in the world

37:20
they have created a version of you in their mind that is not you. You know the only true 100% you. I call it the you prime because you're the only one that knows every, you're the only one that's been there with everything that you've gone through. So, Travis, your version of me is different than some of the other members of the...

37:48
The mastermind of me, you know, your version of me is different than Mojo's version of me. This different than Craig's version, different than John's version of me. Different than my friend's version of me. Working in retail, it's different than any customer's version of me because, you know, I may be the asshole that didn't give them 10% off of whatever they wanted to buy because I couldn't. And so that's another version of Rob that's out in that person's mind that exists only there.

38:18
But to my friends, I may be the Rob that is funny that tells the joke. You know, I'm the Rob that, you know, can suck spaghetti up his nose and pull it out his mouth. You know, those are the other Robs that exist in the multiverse, you know? And there's a multiverse of Travis's that are out there. But we are the only ones that know ourselves. We are the only primes that there are. And knowing that you are that prime,

38:48
you know you're enough and you shouldn't let those other versions of yourself taint your prime self. Yeah, I have a credo I live by is someone's opinion of me is not in my business. I live by the fact that I think I'm a good man. I'm a good father. I'm a good friend. I'm doing things that I believe are good in the world. And if somebody wants to troll me or send me a nasty email,

39:15
I know that people that hurt are hurting. And so that person is probably hurting more than I am hurting them. I am just sort of the backsplash upon which their anger or resentment or whatever is capturing. So I think I really do think that being a human in 2021 is really difficult and it's really hard to navigate. And there's so many.

39:45
elements of things you could do or you should do or you could be. And we miss a lot of what's happening around us based on the future or the past. And I just think that if you can do a few things in your life, which is find something you love to do for money, right? I'm not talking about like find something that makes you millions and millions of dollars, but find something that you actually love to do. To, you know, stop

40:14
like focusing so much on what you're not and focus on what you are. And then three, just find the little joys in life. You know, like I go to this sushi place and they have this like these little mints. They're just free. They're just free mints. Like you take when you pay your bill. And I love them so much. And every time I eat them, I'm like, man, like, I just love these mints. I should like buy these mints. But like I never do. But every time I have that moment, I'm just like, this is just a little moment of joy that I can focus on.

40:44
And everything doesn't have to be like orgasmic joy. Like you don't have to be like, I won the lottery. I just would like you if you can start to find the little things that make you happy. Life becomes a lot more vibrant. Right. Like I got to go shower today with hot water. You know, people don't have hot water on demand yet. Like this is nice. Right. Like I can press a button on my phone and anything in the world I want will be delivered to my doorstep in two days.

41:12
That's pretty cool. Like I didn't have to go to the store and wait in line and find the aisle. These are just little micro joys that add up over time. So stop chasing these big, crazy, unattainable things and just focus on the little things like a piece of gum and a meme that makes you laugh like a belly laugh where you're just rolling over and just focus on those. It makes

41:41
this whole thing a lot easier.

41:47
Alright Travis, it's time for the Fast Five. Fast Five, Fast Five, Fast Five. Sorry, I don't have theme song, I'm still working on it. I gotta get with my music guy. But that is the, that's Travis' version of this. Travis, I'm not sure if you knew this, but Fast Five is powered by Poddax. It's a great app that you created that I use in the segment every time. So.

42:14
So thank you, first of all. And have you ever actually had people ask you your questions before? I have. So I get a lot of requests for interviews and people love to ask me the questions, which I tell them, I already know all the answers. No, I'm just kidding. The cool thing about, the cool thing about PODX is that the question may be the same, but the answers are typically very unique. So I love answering them. Like, listen, I want to go back to a couple things we talked about real quick before we do this.

42:44
You know, we talked about what you can do. We talked about the permissions slip of making things. I just make things that I want to see, hear, or use. And if you take that into your, your ecosphere of as a creator, like just like I made PodDex because it was something that I actually used. And I thought other people could use this too. And it turned out that people did want to use it. So I love PodDex and I would love to answer some questions. Awesome.

43:12
Well, what I want to do is I want to ask you five questions. Again, there are no wrong answers. Some people think there are wrong answers, but like you said, there are no wrong answers. There are no wrong answers to these questions. All right, I'm gonna hit the randomizer here and let's see what question number one is gonna be.

43:28
Have you ever been in a food fight? Yes, every day with my children is a food fight. I often make a joke that I should have six pack abs for how many times I bend over a day to pick off food off the floor, milk. And so, you know, it's right now we're in the five and three year old stage where we're not fully unclumsied yet, which is OK. I'm not mad at them about it. But boy, there's a lot of I would say we've spilled more milk than we've drank.

43:58
My house as long as you're crying over it, then that's fine. Yes. No, no crying. No crying alone Alright question number two

44:10
This is a good one considering last year. What goals did you set at the beginning of last year that you achieved or made progress on? Because 2020, not a whole lot happened. Everybody kind of shut down. Yeah. But did you have some goals that you made prior to all of that that you've really made some progress on or achieved? Yeah. I mean, I think the app would be part of that, like building the app and getting people to use it. I think we've had a million.

44:37
card swipes in the app, which is pretty cool. Like just to think of that, we moved a million thumbs. A couple of my goals were really just to not work as much. So to, I am, this could be part of my escapism mind, but I do think that like, I like working. I enjoy working on things, but there's a lot of times that I just need to like not work. And so that's been one of my goals. So I've been playing more. So art, my kids.

45:04
riding bikes, doing yoga, sitting in the sauna, things like that. So I think I'm getting closer to achieving more play in my life. That's a great way to level up. That's awesome. That's awesome. All right. Question number three.

45:22
If you could be reincarnated as an animal, what animal would you choose? Hmm. This is a really good question because there's kind of two ways you can go. You can go with like the pampered animal or you could go with like the ferocious animal, right? Like so it's really quite interesting. I think.

45:45
I think I might want to go with like a jellyfish or something that's just like crazy. Like whatever's the deepest animal in the ocean, just like so far down into the water. Just kind of blobbing around like no real purpose. You know, what is a jellyfish's purpose? Do you know? I have no idea. Distinguished people. I don't know. We're going to have to look. We're going to have to look that up. But just like just as blobbed, just kind of like.

46:11
floating around and the whatever way the water takes me I go and I probably eat a little this and that that's that's my Life, so I'm gonna go with jellyfish. Very cool. It's funny. My my animal is actually aquatic as well I have always said I would want to come back as a whale shark because a whale shark is is is not Shark in the genuine sense of the term, but it is the largest animal in the world that has no

46:41
whatsoever. So there's, so that's, I've always wanted to, if I were to come back, I'd want to be a whale shark. I think that fits with your personality. I can't think of anybody who would not like big Rob. Probably a few out there. All right. Number four.

47:00
What was your first job? My first job was when I was 14 years old. I got my workers permit and I worked at a company called Turnabout Pizza. And I was a little pizza maker guy. And I quickly, this is funny, this plays into my life. I quickly figured out that I could cut all the yards in my neighborhood and make like five times as much money.

47:23
And then I was making a turnabout, which I think at the time was like whatever minimum wage was like 425 or like it was, you know, something. So I quit pretty quick to start my own business when I was 14. And I did that for two years straight. And I cut every yard in my neighborhood and I ended up buying a car when I was 15 and a half, getting ready to be 16. So I think I've been an entrepreneur forever. What was your first job, Rob? My first.

47:50
paying job, I worked Saturday mornings at a radio station, two and a half hours away from home. So it was a Saturday morning shift from 6 a.m. until noon, and it paid 4.25 an hour, which was basically enough to pay for the gas for me to get there and to get back once a week. So that was my- Look how that story unfolded though, right? Like, come on.

48:14
And I got that job because the station actually had come to my town to do a remote for a concert or whatever. And one of the disc jockeys put me on the air because I was doing a Wolfman Jack impersonation. So it wasn't even my voice on the air. I got hired because I could do a Wolfman Jack impersonation. But that was the first actual money paid that I ever made. Makes a lot of sense. All right, here's our fifth question.

48:47
Who is your favorite movie hero? My favorite movie hero. I see. I don't really watch a lot of TV or movies. So this is going to take me a second. I'm going to go with. Let's see, does it have to be like, is it just the hero of the story? Yeah, I would think it could be the hero of the story. It doesn't have to be some sort of superhero or anything like that. We the hero of the story. All right. I'm going to go with Andy Dufresne from Shawshank.

49:16
redemption. Yes, yes. So that is my favorite movie. First of all, I think, yeah, that's probably if it's not my favorite movie, it's got to be in the top three. And just like that hero's journey is such a great story. And then, like, for some reason, I don't know about you, but like, I am fascinated with like these prison shows where they show like how people like make toilet wine and the in the.

49:43
the culture and I don't know why. Like if I'm afraid I'm gonna end up there and I need to know how to behave, but it kind of plays into all of my, all of my, I guess, categories of what I look at for content. Yeah, yeah, my gosh, what a great movie. Yeah, definitely a great hero in that movie. In the, also the influence that he made like on Red's life for him, you know, because Red asked that question.

50:11
You got to get busy living or get busy dying. You know, you got to choose. So, yeah. So I think that's a great place for us to go out. Thank you, Travis. That's it. That's the show. Thank you so much. Well, so what I want to ask your audience, can I ask your audience to do something for me? Absolutely. Absolutely. Yeah. So I would like you to do me a favor. I would love for you to pause this show right now and go into whatever app you're in and if they let you write a review.

50:37
Go give Rob a five star review because he is putting out amazing content, reaching out, sharing these amazing stories. And it's pretty much the easiest way. If you don't want to buy him a coffee, which you should anyway, you can just go do that. And it's really just going to help reinforce what he's doing with the show. And we all get notified as podcasters when we get a review. And it's really, it's just a really heartwarming little moment of joy. So just pause the show, give him a review.

51:05
Make sure it's five stars and we'll all be having the best day ever. I appreciate that Travis. Thank you so much. And thank you so much for for kind of agreeing to be here Shanghai me and to actually get working your way into the show. I was it was very unexpected and very appreciated and I appreciate everything that you've done for me in this this path of creation and giving me that permission to create with Reckless Abandoned. If folks want to find you.

51:33
I've got your links in the show notes, but at pod decks, P O D D E C K S is usually what you're pretty much everywhere on all of the social media and stuff like that. Correct? Yeah. If you want podcasting tips, hit me up on Instagram. I spend most of my time there. And thank you, Rob. I'm a big fan of what you do. I'm a big fan of you as a person, you as a personality. And I can't wait to tell everybody on the internet how I tricked you into letting me be on your podcast.

52:03
Yeah, well, I appreciate it. And again, if you would like to support this podcast, please buy me a coffee at chewing the fat BR.com. You can find me on all the socials at chewing the fat BR. Thank you once again, uh, Travis. Thank you for listening and we'll see you next time. We set a spell and chew the fat.