Travis Plumb Shares His Story of Success Through Hardwork and Right Partnership

Kevin Harrington
Hi, I’m Kevin Harrington, an original shark from the hit television show Shark Tank and you’re listening to the underdog podcast.

Pamela Bardhi
Hello everyone and welcome to the underdog Podcast. Today I am honoured to have you here with me. Travis Plumb. How Are you, my friend?

Travis Plumb
Thank you. I’m doing great. Thanks for having me today. I’m excited to chat with you.

Pamela Bardhi
Oh my I’m so excited to have you. First off. I’m in your space. That’s number one. We’re out here in Dallas, Texas, just enjoying the vibe and just having a great time here. But honestly, like I met you, and I was like, Man, he’s that dude. You had a upside down pineapple shirt on at the build 22 event. And it was so freakin awesome. And I was like, I gotta know this guy like your vibe your energy that everything. I was like, You guys are unbelievable. You and Levi like I saw you both and I was like, I just got to know them. Especially you because the pineapple shirt like I just couldn’t

Travis Plumb
Do we want to give him a rundown on the pineapple shirt. Yeah, I’m gonna He’s gonna give you that one who knew this? Not me. It was definitely not me. They say that have an upside down pineapple means that you’re a swinger. So I didn’t know that. You know what I mean? So I’m definitely not. So if you’re watching, I’m not

Pamela Bardhi
I was not privy to this information that came directly from you. You were the source.

Travis Plumb
So it was so funny because like someone like in the crowd had like, just came up to me and be like. Hey, do you actually know what that means? You have upside down pineapples? On your T shirt. I was like, I have upside down pineapples on my T shirt. She’s like, No, that means you’re a swinger. I was like, Well, I’m not so good out here.

Pamela Bardhi
You had some uninvited guests there. It sounds like but man, I met you. And I was like, your vibe, your energy or everything. You were telling me a little bit about your story. Like, what you guys were up to here in the real estate game. And I was like, dang, first off, like, love his energy. Second off, like they’re making some big, big moves. It’s literally just scratching the surface. I’m just trying to get, man now we’re all elevating you all elevating? Yeah. But like, it was just amazing to me. I was like, You know what travellers like, I really want to learn more about you.

Like who you are, and like, what you’re about where you came from, and all the things right. Because I’m sure that you know, you and levi, I pretty much leave I was on stage. So a lot of people got a bit of a feel of what you guys have been up to within the last year. And I’m like, I want to learn your story. So I’ll bring it back for you. And I’m gonna ask you my favourite question to start, which is what inspired you on your journey to where you are today?

Travis Plumb
I think like, as time has gone on, like, different things have inspired me. But definitely the most inspiring moment for me, was the moment that I saw my daughter get rolled out, when she was born. I mean, from that moment on things really, they really changed for me. You know, it used to be whenever I got to the military. It was like it was just money. I was super, super money driven. And I thought that that was going to be the answer to everything. It just I’ll never forget, you know, like Sam was really sick in the hospital. She was in there for like multiple days on IVs.

And she was having a bunch of problems with the pregnancy. Then we thought that she was getting better. And they rolled us up to a whole nother room and another floor. We’re like, okay, cool, are good here. All of a sudden, like 20 doctors came running into the room. We’re like, we got to deliver this baby like right now. So we yeah, we had like no idea like, this is gonna happen so quickly.

You know, my daughter was born, you know, four pounds, 10 ounces, super tiny. They rushed her into the ER. So I wasn’t even able to be there for that entire process. But I’ll just never forget, I was like outside, it was so fast. They rolled around in this little car. I’ll just never forget seeing this tiny little peanut get rolled out. And I was like, I gotta go harder. And so that was like one of the life changing moments for me. That really motivates me every single day. Now I have two kids. So I constantly stay motivated. Every time I see their little faces. I’m like I can do more, I can do better.

Pamela Bardhi
That’s amazing. Thank you so much for sharing that. I mean, that you mentioned something that was really interesting. Which has been driven by money for a long time. But before we get to that, I really want to bring it back. Let’s peel it all the way back. Let’s peel Jaws all the way back. Before this I was asked how do you pronounce your last name? Is it? Is it plumbers at plume?

Travis Plumb
If you’re really fancy and enrich its plume,

Pamela Bardhi 
Always, you’re gonna do that’s it. You’re gonna say from now on, I’m gonna be like, Who the hell is this guy?

Travis Plumb
Hopefully people will start calling me that then I’ll be like I made it funny. Because like in the car business, you know, I was like, I would sit there and I would make calls all the time. And they’re like, how do I know, how do you spell your last name? And I was like, well, it’s plumb. Like a plumber without the ER. Then when people meet me, they’re like, man, I was expecting some super fat plumber with his butt crack hanging out. You know, I was like, you know, maybe I shouldn’t say that anymore. So now just try to spell it out.

Pamela Bardhi
I love that. So you mentioned you were in car sales. So now I want to ask you like, what did you want to be when you grew up as a kid?

Travis Plumb
I mean, I wanted to chase tornadoes. And then I was like, you know, I don’t want to die like that. So maybe that’s not necessarily the right thing and then. I think a really powerful moment for me in my life was 911. You know, my father’s a veteran, my grandfather’s a veteran come from a long line of veterans. And when 911 happened, you know, I really was like, I’m gonna go to war. I want to fight for my country, I want to fight for this, you know what I’m saying? Because I just like tore me up, I’ll never forget the moment I was walking into my math class in ninth grade.

When that happened, and I really wanted to go into the military, I really wanted to become a Navy SEAL. But you know, that didn’t work. For me, I had really bad eyesight, like, I cannot see I couldn’t even read the Big E like on that. That little sheet that they have you read when you go get your eyes tested. So I ended up you know, going into the Navy. Got on the special teams and did two combat tours in Iraq as a machine gunner. And that was about as close as I ever got to getting into seal programme. So not very close, but it was honourable and felt good. You know,

Pamela Bardhi
My goodness, God bless you. And thank you for your service, first and foremost. But like, holy cow, so you just took that as motivation. So you walked into your classroom in ninth grade? And that was it. I was just

Travis Plumb
Saying like, yeah, it was like, so enraged. I was like, You’re not coming into my country. And you know, I just, I really, I love being an American. I think we live in the greatest place in the entire world. You know, whenever that happened, I was just like, Yeah, I mean, I wanted to do my heart. And joining the military and fighting for our country and did five years and then got out, got directly into sales.

Pamela Bardhi
That’s amazing. Travis, thanks so much for sharing that. So you mentioned that you come from a line of veterans, which is even more amazing. So thank you to your family, as well in your generation who brought you into all of this. But who was like your biggest motivation growing up, like the most inspiring person or people, if you will,

Travis Plumb
You know, I would have to say that one of the most inspiring people was my dad. I was adopted and I always knew that I was adopted. And I kind of got in a little bit of trouble. When I was a teenager from the time I was like, 15, to like, 17 18. When I graduated, but, you know, always really looked up to my dad. He was a super hard worker. I had no clue that I would ever have been the most successful person in my entire family like that was never really the goal.
My goal is to just get an education, get to work, you know, go to the military to pay for college. And kind of just work really hard my dad, you know, he made you know, six figures. And until he fell and he just had a freak accident where he felt like he was fishing, slipped, broke his neck and, you know, lost pretty much everything from there. But I really looked up to him while I was a kid, I just wanted to be a good man be a good father.

You know, one day and, you know, that was who I mainly looked up to until I got older. And then I had different goals and different dreams and knew that different things were possible. Instead of just working that regular nine to five, right? He worked himself to death. I mean, that dude was like, constantly travelling, constantly work. And so yeah, that wasn’t for me, you know,

Pamela Bardhi
I mean, that’s what this society really teaches us right? To go through this. I don’t want to say mindless, but it kind of is kind of right. Like, you want to know, like, the biggest observation that I came up with. When it came to COVID was how much people realise like, What the hell am I doing? Yeah. Right. Like, for the

Travis Plumb
Some people realise it quick, you know, and some people still haven’t realised. But I mean, it was I’m, you know, I don’t know how much you want to dive into my philosophies and theories on that stuff. But you can go right ahead. I mean, yeah, I just like I realised very, very, very quickly that it was just not, there’s just no way. I mean, like, because, you know, we follow all these different doctors on YouTube. And like, people that we know, in our own, you know, sphere of influence. People are like, serious, and like, these masks don’t even work. You know what I mean?

And then you would see, you know, people in Congress or whatever, they were just, they were doing their own thing all the time. Never wear a mask. It was just, it was just all for show. And I mean, I realised, I think I wore a mask for like, two weeks. I’m in Dallas, Texas, it is obviously like, way more way more chill here. I wore a mask for a little while, because at first I was like, Oh, yeah. This is going down right now. You know, then very, very quickly. I was like, I don’t know about all this stuff. But people are, you know, brainwashed by the media. It’s easy. Yes, education systems and all that stuff. You know? Well, it’s

Pamela Bardhi
A crazy thing. Because like, for the very first time, people were shaken up by their routines. Yeah, right. And like how this comes into play is huge, because for the first time, people were broken out of there. We’re working Monday through Friday, we drop off the kids and we go to work, and then we go home. And then we have to fly and cook dinner, and then you know, help the kids put them to bed and then have maybe an hour for yourself. Go to bed and then restart over and over and over and over again. A lot of people have become mindless in that process. Right?

Because unless you’re aware of what you’re doing. Like unless you know where you’re at, how are you? How do you know where you’re going? Yeah, you gotta have a plan. You gotta have a strategy. So I think that’s how the world got, like shaken up by upside down. Because people are home and they’re like, What have I been doing this whole time? I know people who quit jobs, because they’re like, You know what, my time with? My family is way more precious. Oh, for sure. Right. And it’s like, you

Travis Plumb
I remember when it first happened, you know, like, my kids have been in private schools since they were two. So like, we pulled them out of school and a lot of the teachers, you know, quit and all this other stuff. Because they didn’t need the staff. So I actually hired one of my daughter’s teachers to just come teach her at the house. But in the meantime, I just remember going on walks with my kids all the time. Like super close to my two little girls, like very close, I spend a lot. Oh, for sure. If I could have three more girls, I’d be cool with that. I won’t have a whole secure

Pamela Bardhi
If your wife is listening. Yeah, I hope you’re listening. And I happen

Travis Plumb
To tell her all the time, she doesn’t have some more. Yeah, go for it. But I mean, I think COVID was a blessing, you know, in disguise, not not for everybody. I think everyone got hit with it differently. But for me, I thought it was like a good time to kind of just slow things down and really spend time with my family. I never believed any of the hype. I mean, for like I said, maybe a couple of weeks. Other than that, I was like, I don’t, I don’t think this is the problem. This is the most deadly virus in the entire world. We’re just supposed to go take a test. And then we’re just gonna just go quarantine for a few days, and everything’s all good. Like, come on, I decide on that. Yeah,

Pamela Bardhi
I’ve always been the rebel when it came to all this stuff. But the one thing that I saw the silver lining with is like, man, so much change has happened from there. Like, I’ve seen so much involved in business. It’s like a whole evolution at this point in time, because our parents age, right. Like, they knew that’s what they knew. They knew that nine to five, they knew this, like believing in the corporate structures and all this stuff. And here we are, in a world where things are kind of collapsing. Yep. When it comes to that.

And it’s like you now you have to build something for yourself, build your different streams of revenue for yourself. Which is where you’ve navigated to, in the real estate space, which is amazing. It’s just really interesting to see how that programming has kind of slipped in through the generations and even affected you at a young age. You’re just kind of like, oh, yeah, this is not my thing. But you knew at a young age that you’re like, I don’t know about all this, right? Yeah,

Travis Plumb
For sure. A lot of people disbelieve, you know, what they’re told, they don’t, you know, do the research, they don’t look into things. And I think that’s what you have to do in order to become successful. You have to first seek that information, right. And then once you get that information you can do with it what you will. But if you’re not out there looking for it, that’s the thing is like. When I was in the military, I kind of started realising like, my whole life. I never liked being told what to do for one, but like in the military

Pamela Bardhi
Entrepreneur, entrepreneurial Trait number one, number one, don’t like to be told what to do.

Travis Plumb
In the military, you know, you’re like, you have no control. And I had a Senior Chief, he was like, he was a super racist guy. Like, he would just like, did not like any white people, you know what I’m saying? Like, it was really like, kind of crazy. Like, he would just treat people so poorly. And I was like, man, like, I’m going to be stuck in this forever if I don’t get out now in five years.

Then, you know, I got into the car business and kind of had a couple little mentors in the car business. And I was like, this is the hack, hire coaches, hire mentors, read books, shortcut that. That long term play, like what may take someone 30 40 50 years to make that kind of money. I started learning, you know, in my 20s that I could just read and hire mentors. And I could literally buy time and that’s what I started doing.

Pamela Bardhi
That’s amazing. Well, because that’s like a new thing now that I think people are starting to get plugged into. But how did you get exposed to it like that early on? Because like,

Travis Plumb
I got lucky. You know, my first mentor in the car business was fortunes O’Neill. I love that guy. We’re still super cool. But I mean, he would always walk around. And he would always just say, you know, crazy things like Travis saying nothing funny, but a pocket full of money in the car. They’re like ruthless over there. He’s like, What are you laughing at? You know, because they nothing funny, but a pocket full of money. And like, he would just say all these like, like things. I just I really got close to him. And yeah, teach me some game. And then what I saw was the owner would pull in mentors.

One of the guys that he pulled in, he would, he would come and he would like, pump up the whole team. And he would like to coach us on mindset. And he’s like, every time you’re with a client, it’s showtime. So whenever we would get out of that meeting, and we would go into the showroom floor. He would be he would scream at the top of his lungs show time. And he would just turn into like, because like, back in the back, he’s like going hard on us. But then as soon as he came out, it was Showtime.

So he would just say Showtime and like all the clients would look at him. He would just go out there and he would just start closing deals. I’m like, Okay, well this guy, he obviously knows how to do something. And then you know, we hired Grant Cardone in the car business. So we started going through his training. Then I was the youngest finance manager that they had ever had in the car dealership in 18 years. And so when I got moved into finance there they sent us to go to meet this guy Alan ram me and my buddy Josh vancura. One of my best friends godfather to my daughters.

And you know, we went saw Alan RAM. I was like, Man, these people are super smart. They make a lot of money . I can really use this information to you know, Excel. But you know, when I started going to these mentors. I was like, I’m getting out of the car business. I’m gonna go do my own thing. One You know, I’m saying because like, I was working 767 days a week in the car business.

And it was just, you know, you’re, you’re working bell to bell, and you’re working from eight o’clock. When you’re in finance, you’re the last person to leave. So I was there until 11 o’clock sometimes until 11: 30 just waiting on someone who may or may not even buy a car because they wanted to stroll in at 859. You know, so I learned a lot and, you know, slowly started getting into entrepreneurship. And you know, here we are.

Pamela Bardhi
That’s amazing, Travis Well, I mean, it’s fascinating how you were able to kind of model their success, right. And I think that’s one of the things that really helps people. Like, find somebody that inspires you watch what they do, and model them

Travis Plumb
100% Why recreate the wheel? I don’t think that you should, in some form or fashion. Yeah, your own way. Everything. Like you’re not going to copy something like word for word or do exactly, you’re going to have your own spin on it naturally. I believe but yeah, I mean, I got out of the car business. And, you know, just started doing my own thing. But it was, it was hard. You know, I mean, I just four years ago, you know, I lost everything. I lost my house, I lost my boat, I lost my truck. I mean, I lost everything.

That was just like a few short years ago, I was literally living in a house in Frisco. Which is a really nice neighbourhood in the Dallas metroplex. And I ended up having to move into this 1100 square foot apartment. It was horrible, I was willing to risk everything, you know what I’m saying to like, be my own boss. I knew, like, I just knew, I always I’ve always had faith. And I just knew that one day, I would make it.

So it was like one of those things like, I knew that it was a very, high probability that something like that could happen. And I mean, I made it for a few years, you know, after the car business, just kind of living paycheck to paycheck. Basically, with everything that I was selling. And then, you know, had a bad business partner who was embezzling all the money from the company. I know that kind of told you about that a little bit.

Pamela Bardhi
Yeah, let’s dive into that. Because I know there’s some people listening right now that may be in a partnership. Or affiliated with people that they shouldn’t be in kind of like warning signs to look out for. And in your experience, and how to really get out of that. Because you just mentioned you lost your house, car, boat, everything, everything. Yeah. And it’s like, right, for a short period for a short period of time, right? And so like, Guy bouncing back from that. So let’s dig into that.

Travis Plumb
Yeah, well, I think when it comes to business partners, I definitely believe that you cannot do everything by yourself. There’s just no one who’s just self made, where it was just them without a team or anything like that, helping them out. And like, you know, by the grace of God, I have a great business partner right now. And thank God for him, you know, I mean, working with him has definitely, you know, changed my life. Because I finally had someone who could run with me and wasn’t going to just steal from me all the time, like you said, those red flags. I knew, even when I was part, when I partner with this guy.

There were red flags, like my daughter wouldn’t even want him. Like, say hi, or he was just like, you know, a really creepy kind of guy. But he was supposed to be really good at marketing. So basically, when I got out of the car business. I worked with some of the top internet influencers and I worked for a guy named Ryan stoom, and good buddy of mine. And he taught me how to build funnels and how to do marketing. And, you know, he was another mentor. So I learned how to do all these things. And I decided to stop working with him. This was when I really went out on my own.

And so, you know, I started bringing in all these clients, and I’m good at sales, no problem for me. I started bringing on all the sales, and then I was so busy that I can no longer do the work by myself, and service clients and make all the money. So I needed a partner. And so I actually met this guy at a mastermind that was $30,000 a year. So I didn’t do any, like vetting my own to see who this guy was. I ended up partnering with him, we were only in business for about four months. But that was enough to get behind on my credit card enough to get behind and have my first late payment.

I had an 800 credit score, you know what I’m saying? So that hit and then everything, just like I cut it off with him very, very quickly, that year for Christmas. I mean, I could even put Christmas presents under the tree. So like, if you see those red flags, I really think that you need to take a moment to pause before you get too deep. And really make sure that you’re you know, you’re going down the right path with the right person. And that we never really like me and Levi. We are our goals are the same.

Like we’re on the same page. We’re very, very similar when it comes to core values and things that we believe. Were me and this other gentleman, we were just not but I was so desperate at the time, because I needed that help. And I needed that help very, very quickly, right that I made that partnership without really like taking the time to vet it. Or just, you know, slowing things down a little bit. But it was also one of the biggest blessings in my entire life. Because I learned what not to do. Right? You know, so

Pamela Bardhi
And those are sometimes the greatest lessons that have no really price point on them. Like the value that you’re gonna get from that. Like, you almost view it like okay, well, I took this L right here. Yeah. And now I just made it a huge W right.

Travis Plumb
So it’s all good, but Well,

Pamela Bardhi
It’s a crazy thing, right? Because sometimes, like you’re so focused on the dream and you’re so focused on your vision and all this stuff. And like there’s things that happen in entrepreneurship like we don’t, we’re not an overnight success story. Like I was telling you earlier about my story. Yeah. People like, oh, yeah, Forbes and time and all this stuff by 27. But like, didn’t see all this other stuff that happened, you know, five years of hard work, right? And so like, it was the same thing for you and like, you were part of that mastermind.

So you didn’t think to vet that person. But like, you need to vet your partner’s like, it’s nobody’s business. Number one thing is to feel their energy. I always say this, I’m like, you do this with clients. And you do this with partners. You do this with everybody. You’re around, like, the energy’s got a vibe, the minute that you’re in the room with this person. Like you, you need to be able to feel them and I’m gonna swear right now.

Because I think this is such an important, important phrase, but if it’s not a fuck, yes, yeah, then it’s a fuck now. Hey, I like that. Like, there is no in between in business. It’s like you either vibe with me or you don’t? Yeah, that’s like, and I learned that phrase. And I was like, that is the greatest. Like, it’s so accurate. Because anytime I’m in between, like, oh, I don’t know, then I know what that means. Yep.

Travis Plumb
100% I really liked that. You said that, because it’s so true. Like, I just knew that those red flags were there. And like, you know, me and you vibe the whole time. Like we both love Harry Potter, we both love pizza, like, come on, like, you know, I’m saying. It’s just funny because like there’s a really good energy there, even from the moment that I met you. And like other people I’ve learned now since then, like, I’m very friendly.

I try to be nice and respectful to everybody. But it doesn’t mean that you have to let them into your circle or let them into your business or anything like that. If there’s the vibes off, the energy’s off, there’s red flags. I would just say run, you know, run as fast as you possibly can. And take your time to find the right person that you want to partner with and go down that journey with.

Pamela Bardhi
Yeah, and remember that phrase that I said to like, if you’re in between, it just means that’s a no

Travis Plumb
100% It should be a no brainer. Like when I met Levi, and we started talking about it. We were like, Yeah, this is definitely gonna work. We work dated for a little while, you know, and I’m saying, you know, we work together really hard for a few months. And we’re like, man, let’s just partner up, let’s let’s tackle this. Let’s take it together. And, you know, kind of take over Dallas in the real estate market. You know, we’ve done all right there, I suppose. And that

Pamela Bardhi
Was the kingpin move. That was it. Now, how did you pull yourself out of that situation? Because that’s not an easy place to be. With a wife and two kids and like, kind of like pulling out. Because there could be someone listening right now that might be in the same situation that can’t get their head out? Yeah, from underneath them, you know, so what would be your advice and kind of what helped you get through that?

Travis Plumb
Well, it’s, you know, like I said, it’s different for everyone. For me, you know, I had one daughter at the time. We were in this really small apartment. It was just, it was just miserable. And I was like, there was like a really small period of time. Like, for me, the reason I got off Instagram and social media for a couple years. I used to have a tonne of followers there. And I just got off because I was, I was too busy. Like, at the beginning, when this really kind of first happened.

I was like, so busy back on Instagram, and like, I would see people that I knew they were having more success. So it would appear that they were having more success, or I was kind of getting depressed. I was getting more and more and more depressed. And, you know, I just started, like, having like, these really bad thoughts. Like am I going to be is my family gonna be better off with me or without me. I’ll never forget, like one day, you know, the night before I was having these really, really bad thoughts. Things just weren’t really going well for me. And I was like, I couldn’t put up with Christmas I couldn’t do anything.

And like, I’m a giver. I like buying Christmas presents for people, my family and friends. All these things, you know, bills were mounting up. We were fighting over the money. We had to borrow money from her dad, you know, at one point in time, and like, everything was just so stressful. She had another kid on the way, you know, one day I just rolled over. I saw my daughter laying right there. And I was like, What the fuck? Are you thinking, Travis, get your ass up right now. Get over this shit and get to work. Right. That’s what I did.

And like, for me, that was one of the most defining moments in my entire life. Because I still remember it to this day, just rolling over. She was sleeping in my bed, you know, because we didn’t have another room really, for her to sleep in. So, you know, she was just there just looking so cute. And I was having like, I was like, it’s just not me, you know what I’m saying? Like I was having all these like moments where I was like, Man, this is not who I am. I don’t want to live like this. Then just to see her out there. I just, you know, I just was like, I can do this, you know, I know I can do this, like get back up. So I restarted another marketing agency and did pretty well there.
You know what I mean? For me, you know, my motivation was like, not internally. I think a lot of things that are going on right now. Like in the social media space, you got to spend time on just you. And like, I think that’s what people miss. You know, I think they’re people are missing a community and to do things, not only for yourself. Because like if things don’t work out for yourself, what do you do. Then you fall back, you have all these things it’s like. But like if you do it for other people, I really think that’s like the most powerful thing I think that you that.

We as human beings need community and need love and need to be able to look at other things to be like, hey, look, I need to do this for other people. And it’s the same thing like you were saying earlier. It’s like you’ve made it to the top you’ve done crazy amazing things. But it’s like, well, how can I give to the community, right? Like, that’s your number one goal. That’s why you do this is to be able to give to the community and inspire and give other people hope. And that was what it was, for me it was it was my daughter.

And then it was Sam and I knew I had another baby. Now we have a big team, you know, we got Alex and everybody, like, it’s a lot of pressure. But like to continue to make money, you pay salaries, do all these other things. But it’s easy for me now, because I look at all these different people and their families. And it’s like, they’re relying on me, you know what I mean, to help them to motivate them. So it’s just always been like a combination of things to work towards.

It was always been about other people. I think that helped me out the most was not being selfish. And just getting over myself and putting in the work and hard work. Like that’s what it takes, like, there is no shortcut to success. If you’re getting, if you believe that, I mean, you may be a trust fund baby or something along those lines, you know. But for us average folks, it takes a lot of hard work and determination. And I mean, we are nonstop.

Pamela Bardhi
Absolutely no, thank you so much for sharing that. But I got chills, like the whole time he was talking like that was wild. Thank you so much for sharing that. But what I love about you, and that day, and your defining moment that you described, you made a decision that day. I’m just not going to be this person anymore. You know, I’m gonna choose differently, I’m gonna get to work on your personal work harder. And you went out and you just made it happen. Because you realise you became aware of where you were at? Yep. And you just said no more. It’s not where I want to be. Yeah, so let’s roll. Yep.

Travis Plumb
100%. And I just think that like, for anyone watching, you always are listening. Like, you always have two choices to make. You can stay where you’re at and complain about it. Yeah. Or you can do something different and level up. And you and it’s never too late to do that. You know, I mean, just four years ago, I had nothing. Now you know, we’re doing, you know, multiple, seven figures a year and selling real estate and all these other things. And that was amazing. It goes by so quick.
You know, I mean, it just goes by so quick. And, you know, we’ll continue to grow. And hopefully we’ll have eight figures next year. You know, we’re just trying to you know, we’re trying to grow and build and just do better. But it can just happen so fast, like amazing. I was eating tuna packets, you know what I’m saying? Like, it was crazy. It was crazy. Like

Pamela Bardhi
the Biggie Smalls on eating sardines for dinner.

Travis Plumb
Exactly. In like, that was just like, crazy. It was like just yesterday. And so for us. It’s not like that, it was not this for years this Christmas. Wow. Yeah. Oh, my it was crazy.

Pamela Bardhi
The fact like your elevation though. It blows my mind. Yeah, absolutely blows my mind. And like I respect and admire that about you so much. Because it takes a lot to get to that point. And now to like, move forward and get to this level, where you guys are impacting lives. You’re helping people like you’re doing all this amazing stuff. I’m just mind boggled. Like for anyone who’s listening who’s getting themselves out of a hole or is working on getting themselves out of a hole. To start something up again, what would be your best piece of advice to an entrepreneur. Who’s maybe going through this right now about to reset,

Travis Plumb
Look, trying to reset? Yeah, I think, you know, my number one piece of advice is you can never give up. Like, there’s nothing wrong with going back to working nine to five. Like that is for some people, you have to look within yourself and decide. I could have come back to the car business. And I was making a quarter million a year. No problem. That’s why I had a boat. That’s why I had a choice because I was making good money in the car business. But I just wanted more freedom. You know, I just wanted more, right? I just knew I see people with these nice cars.

And like, that was what it was at first. But now it’s like, I can put my kids in the best school. I can live in a nice house, I can travel anytime I want. My kids get to go with me. And like all these things, you know, involve money and having money and having success and making sure that you do that. So the number one thing is like you got to take time for yourself to figure it out. Is this the journey that you really want to be on? Get asked those questions. But if this is the journey that you really want to be on, then you have got to never give up no matter how hard it is.

Because like I mean, it was very, very hard. But I was never I never wanted to go back to the car business or do any other job. So my number one is just always just keep going. Never give up and look for help. Like you said earlier. Right? Like, yeah, who are you aspiring to be like, alignment? And then and then like, if it’s Elon Musk or whatever, like, how did he ever get there? You know, if it’s Bezos or whoever, these really ultra successful people are like, how did they get there. And you need to model your life and your style and hiring mentors along the way.
Like when I had nothing, I joined $100,000 A year mastermind. I spent all my money to join this one mastermind like when I had nothing right. And I had to make payments on that. You know, I didn’t pay for that. I actually, you know, it’s crazy. Actually, I asked my mom if she would give me a 20 Give me a $25,000 credit card. You know what I’m saying? Yeah, oh percent. So she filled it out. I paid my first payment of 25,000. To her to go to this master. I literally had no money in my bank. And I was like, Mom, I swear on everything, I will pay you back and I did.

Pamela Bardhi
She’s a G for that. Oh, my shout out The mom

Travis Plumb
And dad, but she gave me that and I paid that down and I went out there and I networked. I just like put myself into where I knew that I would be like. I may not have been one of my one of my great mentors Marshall silver. He’s like, you’re already a millionaire, Travis your money just hasn’t hit your bank account yet. Amen. And so I went out there and I just had a great time. Networked with everybody told him, you know, where I’d been and what I was planning to do.

And from there, because I had, I had started a new marketing agency. At this point, I met all my clients at this event. So some of them were paying me 7500 bucks a month, $10,000 a month to do all this marketing for them. So that money that I had made, I was able to pay all that back through the clients that I invested in. You know what I’m saying to do that when I didn’t have any money whatsoever. And so if you’re in a dark place right now find help find Hill leverage. Leverage mentors, people that you can really look up to and just never quit, never give up.

Pamela Bardhi
I love that choice and really just watching who you’re around. Because if you add any you mean, you invest in the mastermind, which puts you around the right people are big players. Yeah. Which is amazing. Like, that’s amazing.

Travis Plumb
It was $100 million mastermind. So all there was like 25 mentors, like everyone there had either made over $100 million a year, had over 100 million subscribers or views. So everyone there had to have like serious qualifications to be a coach. You know, like Jordan Belfort was one of them. You know what I mean? The Wolf of Wall Street like Billie Jean, like we were partying at Dan Bilzerian mansion. Oh my Yeah.

It was cool. He when He wasn’t there, which is probably for the best. But you know, to say that he brings some friends. Because I would definitely be singled out to get in so much trouble that even if I did anything. Just being around that, kid, you’re so so but it was cool. Like Travis Scott, the rapper was there like, it was sick. We had this rap show like on top we played poker, you know? So it was super cool. Why? But you know, just I just believe you gotta always invest in yourself and never give up. Oh, like,

What Would Travis Older elf Tell Hi Younger Self

Pamela Bardhi
Oh my god. Well, it was sick, man. Yeah, that sounds absolutely amazing. I want to ask you my favourite question. What would your older self tell your younger self based on what you know now?

Travis Plumb
Ooh, that’s a great question. My older self like the me now telling 21 year old Travis what to

Pamela Bardhi
Do whatever age Travis never comes to you.

Travis Plumb
I probably tell myself now knowing what I know now. Just get into real estate right away. Like, seriously, like, like, so many people tried to get me into real estate for so long. And I guess I had a little fear factor. Like, I would definitely tell myself probably Seriously, though, get into real estate. Also like, on a personal level. I did some psychedelics a couple years back, right. And it really changed my life. It showed me that love was the answer to everything. It truly is like opening up your heart to being more loving.

And I think that’s a really important piece that I didn’t have when I was younger. Now granted, like, when I was in the military, they train you to kind of be like, cold hearted. And like, always have your guard up and never trust anyone. You know, true to an extent, but I was so hard headed in my 20s. I would just be like, Hey, man, like, here’s the path, hire these mentor. Instead of going and spending $3,000 at the club, on a bottle which I would do in car because I was single.

You know, I was my money, I was like, Let’s go show out, I’ll take my boys like. You know, events is one of my best friends long time. We would go out to the club, we would drop 1000s of dollars. And instead of doing that, you know it reinvest that money into yourself. Like that’s the most important thing that anyone can possibly do is set aside. Even while we’re making all this money in the real estate game, we have a salary, and I live off of that salary. Like I didn’t need to, you know, spend $20,000 a month. I didn’t really need to have all those things like. What I’m saying I would have been much more well protected.

If I had just taken the money that I’d been making. No matter how big or small it is, you can go to events for $500 and pick up one nugget that could change your life or $1,000. So I would say go back and be like, hey, get your ass in real estate, and hire these different mentors and then chill. Like, don’t go spend all that money and don’t do certain things that I did in my 20s.

Like, yeah, I just think mentors are the hack. It’s like biohackers I know but for your mind and your business. Yeah, absolutely. No. and hiring these different mentors really takes things to the next level. Because like they’re like, you know, time is a very valuable asset. But I believe you can definitely buy time by, you know, investing in learning information for sure. Absolutely. You gotta work hard.

Pamela Bardhi
Yeah, you gotta you gotta that’s the hardest part, right? A lot of people talk and they do all these things. And then sorry, it’s uh, where’s the execution at the end of the day, right for sure. You know, and so in your world, like what’s happening in the next like six to 12 months what’s happening in your world job as well? What’s going on?

Travis Plumb
No, we’re still growing our team here in the local market for real estate. So for those y’all who don’t know, we have a team here in Dallas. So we work, you know, on the residential side. And we actually are our client, our original claim to fame. Because I just got into real estate about a year and a half ago, well to be two years this December. Everything that we did was on YouTube, like we were really looking for, you know, a new strategy. We didn’t want to cold call, we didn’t want a door knocker? Yeah, all these different things. And, you know, when I did my marketing, I focused a lot of that in the real estate space.

So I knew what the conversions look like on Facebook and Instagram and Google and how much it cost. How much work I would have, you know, text message automations and email automations. And I have a full blown call centre, calling these leads on Facebook and like it works, but it converts like 1% to 3%. So when we got into real estate, I actually launched the channel first. And I saw he had about 30 subscribers at the time, and I’m like, Hey, man, I like your flow. I kind of like what’s up, I’m gonna do Fort Worth, you know, because he was doing Dallas.

So instead of doing two different channels, we ended up long story short partnering. But you know, since then, our last deal, or the first deal that we ever closed was last April. Maybe 15-16 months ago, and we’ve sold over $130 million, with the real estate. Got all from YouTube, free, no ads, no knocking doors, it’s all inbound. So you know, I’d say the goal over the next six to 12 months is personally for me to just step out of production, right. And just because we have so much business coming in, I can give that to my team. Yeah, I’ll make a little bit less on the real estate side.

But we also have a YouTube course. And we have agents all over the world that are inside of our organisation. So we make money through that way as well. And a couple other different things we’re building in Belize. We’re working on building our first big Airbnb in Belize. So I think over the next six to 12 months,really focusing on stepping out of production and then putting out more and more and more video content.

Building a bigger real estate portfolio more Airbnbs you know, we were talking about tiny homes. I love that, yeah, just go buy some land and put a bunch of little tiny homes on there. So definitely going to dive into you know, the investing side a little bit more. And then the big goal is obviously agent attraction for us. You know, how many people can we help? We want to help 10,000 agents start a YouTube channel and change their life, it changed my life forever. You know, I went from paycheck to paycheck for years to, I don’t even have to worry about that anymore. All our bills are paid, we’re eating good, you know, and like. I want to be able to help other people because we did that bootstrapped.

We shot all of our first like 150-200 videos on an iPhone. So people are like, well, I don’t have time to do YouTube or I don’t have any money to hire a videographer. Like now we have a full time videographer and not cheap. But at the beginning you know we did everything on iPhone. We just bought a little mic off of Amazon and stuck it in there and bought a little selfie stick and we just started eliminating. That was how we did it and it worked out really really well and it made us a lot of money in a short period of time.

But now we got to now we’re trying other strategies you know. I’m working on filming you know for reals and Tik Tok trying other strategies. You know Pay Per Click getting back into Google Pay Per Click. Because now we have a team we want to grow that team here locally you know much bigger. So we need to make sure that we can scale accordingly. So you know, working on agent attraction, getting into more investing and buying more properties. And just continue to help the team and then the number one goal is you know, faith and family you know. Just work on being a better man being a better family guy spending more time on my kiddos. And just being a good role model for them and everyone around me

Pamela Bardhi
Travis that’s amazing. Oh my god, I can’t wait to see where you’re at like in six months. So I was like it’s gonna be insane but like you’ve got to let everyone know where to find you where to contact you. Like where can we find I know living in Dallas the YouTube channel for

Travis Plumb
Sure. Yeah, if you want to find out if you want to find me on Instagram it’s just Travis plumb without ER. And if you’re a fancy and wealthy plumb you can find me on Instagram. I’m not I haven’t even started my Tik Tok yet so I’ve been bats and all that content. So I don’t have tiktok yet. But like I wanted to, you know batch record a bunch of content. So when I launch I’m prepared to go out there and you know, do two or three a day.

So just to hit me up on Instagram if you want to follow me. Like what’s your story the next tick tock star right here Travis play maybe so maybe so. I was gonna try to shoot for being the RIP realtor but I got a long ways to do that one just yet. I can be the RIP realtor and like, get out of these pools have my shirt off and I like don’t have that good. Well, we’re gonna work on getting

Pamela Bardhi
It’s been a true privilege and an honour to hear your story today. Thank you so so much for being on the underdog podcast. Like this was a blast and you’re amazing and I can’t wait to see the elevation man. Let’s get it to the moon. We go. Let’s go. Thank you. So that’s it for today’s episode of underdog. Catch us next week, always dropping on Thursdays. And remember, if you’re interested in real estate. Or want to learn how to create more money and magic in your life. Check out meet with pamela.com and let’s chat. Sending you so much love.