The Formula For NEVER Losing Followers | Travis Mills

0:00I've been a product of the internet since I was 15, right? I have a lot of followers and friends and all of these things on these different platforms. When I was about 27, [music] all of that started going down. I just sat down with the one and only Travis, who has been exploding in recent months. We've talked [music] about everything from his personal development that's come as a byproduct of content creation. And he's actually somebody that has been known that has had these experiences. [music] He just never knew

0:24how to turn that into engaging content. My career was straight downhill. People were buying less tickets. No one really cared about the music. When you're seeing those Yeah, those numbers go down, it's hard not [music] to feel bad about yourself. How are you able to create content about these really dark moments of your life, [music] but actually make it empowering

0:41to the people watching it? It forces me to be creative every day. I wake up and I'm like, "Okay, well, what am I going to make a video about today?" The individuals that start with their stories, not only do they grow the fastest, but they build [music] the strongest community connection. I feel as though a lot of people come in with the idea of monetization as their sole priority. And those are the individuals

0:59that tend to burn out quicker. Does it ever get easier for a creator to talk about their stories? Hey Travis, before we do anything else, I just want to literally thank you to your face cuz you've in the last month and a half as I've been watching your content unfold and evolve, you've like personally touched me. And there's been so many of your content posts that now I've shared to a lot of my friends and my family. And you've made a difference in my life and you've made a difference in their lives. And I know you're actually making differences across millions of people's lives. So, first

1:30and foremost, just thank you for what you're doing. No, thank you. And I I got to give you your flowers because I wouldn't have had this this push or this inspiration or even just know what I'm doing. I'm still learning. I don't know what I'm doing yet. But if it wasn't for you and the fact that I stumbled across your content and, you know, join Creator College and got to meet all of the people that you

1:48work with. I mean, talk about an infrastructure and like a familial environment that really supports and encourages creators. You're doing something that no one else is. Oh man, I appreciate you. Cuz I feel as though often a lot of creators think about the vanity metrics and the quantitative successes, but there is something internal that also progresses. And for me, I've always said that personal branding has been the best personal development journey that I've ever been a part of. It's forced me to be introspective. My entire life I

2:18wasn't aware of my feelings. Yeah. And it sounds crazy to say, but I just wasn't. And I didn't understand where my weaknesses were. I didn't understand where my strengths were. I was so insecure in many different ways. And consecration took me to that world and actually forced me to learn. And what you've been able to do in the last month and a half, being able to create content as consistently as you have with the type of content telling your story, what type of impact has that made for you that you didn't necessarily

2:41expect? I talked about this the other day in a video I made, but I think for the last 6 years of my life, I hated opening the app. Mhm. Right? Because every time I did, I felt insecure. I felt less than. I felt worthless. I felt like my time was over it because I experienced a big amount of virality when I was 19 or 20 years old. I've been a product of the internet since I was 15, right? Like I had a MySpace page. I was downloading music. I feel like I was like

3:14wave like internet one wave. Um and from a young age I had a lot of followers and friends and all of these things on these different platforms like MySpace and you know, OG Twitter and when I first made an Instagram, I think when I was about 26, 27, all of that started going down. And I attached so much of my self-worth to analytics and to numbers, and I wasn't even looking at things, but when you go from getting 150,000 likes on a photo of you to then getting 2,000 likes on a photo of you, it's really tough to feel like you're not forgotten about. Um and this

3:55whole journey of me just getting vulnerable and telling my story and seeing it resonate with so many people, I mean, it's it's completely changed the way that I I I view this. It's It's not like, "Oh, I have to get on and make something to post." It's like, "I get to make something to post." And talking about like vanity metrics, on a video that maybe gets 30 to 50,000 views, the conversations that are happening in the DM, it's more than a video that's getting 2 million views, right? And it's these these messages and these reconnections from people um yo, you saved my life. Or hey, I'm

4:31going through this similar thing. Hey, I want to get sober. Where do I start? And I'm getting to point people in all these directions that worked for me [gasps] on a video that I make. It's crazy. Is there a message that stands out to you in the last 50 days that you've been posting daily? There's honestly so many. I I This has happened with a couple people, but I made a video about my journey with

4:55sobriety. And I got a a DM from someone, um and it was like a voice a voice message, and it was probably 5 minutes long. His mom has brain cancer. She's in remission, but there's a chance that it could be coming back. He was sober off certain things for the last 5 years, but now he's relapsed, and he pretty much said like, "If my mom's cancer diagnosis comes back, I don't know how much longer I'll be

5:23here." And I opened up the DM and I I listened to it and I I mean, it was tough not to get emotional. Like, my eyes are watering and I just started recording, and I didn't know what I was going to say, but I just started talking to him for like 2 and 1/2 minutes. And I ended up connecting him to one of my friends who's a huge advocate in recovery, and I said, "Just call this person and keep me posted on the journey and he's followed up with me since then. So look fingers crossed, you know, everything everything goes great and he gets the help that he needs and I'm praying for

5:57his mom, but it's stuff like that where 3 months ago I wouldn't be having those conversations. Anytime that I talk about the community that content creation has given me, it does make me emotional. When I first started creating content geared towards my parents and them divorcing and the struggles that I had to go through for 10 years being abandoned, I never could have imagined myself posting that, but the type of commentary that came from it completely changed my life. It made me understand what responsibility I actually hold and it stopped being meaningless content and ultimately content that serves a purpose. And for us and and I know that

6:34this is something that we share because we've talked about this, but ideas of being labeled as something and not necessarily feeling aligned to that is really really hard to battle internally. So when people look at me, they would think biomedical engineer, they would think Asian, they would think this immigrant story. They had a title, a stereotype for who I was supposed to be. Now for you, you've been able to achieve a lot. You called yourself a product of the internet. You've been a musician, you're a podcast host, you've been an agent, like you've done all these things. But now when you're thinking about the fact that after a

7:02long period of time you get sick and tired of those labels, right? You want to be something differently. Uh for you, when did you start to realize that those labels and those boxes were not something that you want to hold yourself to only? Mhm. I think I wouldn't have my my radio show if I hadn't completely abandoned my idea of who I wanted the world to see me as. I call it my ego death. It's my ego death moment because I had this

7:29incredible opportunity on a platter. This is 2016. Um I had the show, but my ego wouldn't let me fully lean into it because I was like, well I can't host this show, this radio show, and have other artists come on and talk about their music to me because then people are going to think I'm a failed

7:45artist. Mhm. I don't want to be the failed artist guy. And so I did it for 6 months and was like, I quit. I'm going to go on tour. I'm going to go do this. Behind the scenes, like my career was straight downhill. People were buying less tickets. No one really cared about the music. And so I kind of self-sabotaged this incredible

8:05opportunity. Thankfully, it ended up coming back around at the end of 2017, beginning of 2018. And I fully leaned into it. I said, "Hey, this is a blessing. I got to be grateful for this. And what's the worst that could happen? Like who cares what people think?" And it has turned out to be one of the biggest gifts of my entire life because I'm able to sit down with people that I've had relationships with, you know, for the last almost 20 years, artists that I'm a fan of, people that I would never have the chance to meet on a

8:36normal Monday. And it's given me some of the like greatest relationships in my life. Um not to mention just the fact that I can sit down and have conversations with people and learn things that I can then go and integrate into my own music, into my own content, into my own life. [gasps] It's something that people don't really, you know, get the opportunity to do. And the irony is that some of the biggest artists that I've had on my show will pull me up like will pull me to the side afterwards be like, "How do I Hey, how do I get one of these? Like how do I

9:06do this?" I really want to. And I'm like, I'm looking at them like I want to do what you do. And then they're looking at me like I want to do what you do. It's it's ironic. Yeah. I feel like we always think that the grass is greener on the other side. I always feel that way. And it's this idea of the girl in the red dress, it's the eye candy, it's the thing of, "Oh, that opportunity looks really cool. I want to be that because it'll make me feel a certain way." But there is a challenge especially when your identity behind the scenes is really tough to

9:32navigate. For you in that moment, when you're thinking about your career, and like, "This is the cool thing to do. I want to go ahead and I want to go on tour and what but then internally you're seeing all of the numbers go down, right? And I've been in moments like that, especially from my content side where people are like, oh, you have it all figured out. I'm like, oh, actually no, not necessarily. My metrics are going down and it's really tough, especially when you've been accustomed to a level of success. Take me back to that low moment and and how were you

9:56able to navigate it mentally? Yeah, well, I got signed when I was 20 years old. Um I signed a deal to Columbia Records and it was amazing. I had ended up I'd gotten sued by like my best friend who took, you know, hundreds of thousands of dollars from me when I got this record deal. So what was supposed to be one of the greatest moments of my life was filled with you know, resentment, anger, um I was depressed, but on the surface this is an amazing opportunity and you know, I kind of I don't want to say I wasted it because it was it was really incredible in a lot

10:32of ways and I got to do some life-changing things, you know, for a few years and toured all around the world and had this amazing fan base and made some music, but I still I still wasn't fulfilled and it it was like moments in hotel rooms where like I'd get off stage after playing a sold-out show and

10:52I would be upset. Mhm. You know, I wasn't able to be present and really enjoy those moments and then you know, you keep kind of following that path and it just stopped being aligned with what I wanted to do and then yeah, you have these moments where it's like, oh, hey, I've poured my whole heart and soul into this thing. I've I've poured my identity into this thing

11:11and now it's not working anymore. What does that say about me and and what am I going to do? And I've been able to adapt and you know, get things like like my Apple Music show and and that's been incredible, but I think when you're seeing those yeah, those numbers go down, it's hard not to feel bad about yourself. And it's like, what am I doing wrong? Or I I blew up this whole opportunity. I you know, I let my my family down. I let my friends down. I let my manager and all of these other people. And I think that's a that's a tough situation to be in when you're a

11:44kid as well. Mhm. You know, 21 years old like that's that's a lot of pressure. And I'm so grateful that I've been able to maintain a career for you know, the last 20 years. But it's taken a lot of reinvention. It's taken a lot of ego death and adaptability because yeah, I I don't think I would be here if I wasn't able to kind of see I wasn't able to detach my self-worth from like external outcomes and

12:10circumstances. You mentioned that you would be on stage, you'd come back and the lack of fulfillment was quite evident for you that the alignment started to fall out. Why do you think that that started happening? That's a good question. I talked to a lot of people about that. I think when you attach a certain outcome to your happiness

12:32Mhm. you're going to you're you'll realize once you get it that it can't make you happy. And that's why you see people say like money can't buy happiness. It can buy you things that make your life more comfortable, but if your outcome is to make a lot of money, well once you make a lot of money, you're still going to feel empty. You look at pro athletes, right? Like when they break their foot or their their ankle and they can't play anymore, they

12:58don't know who they are. And yeah, they lose their identity in what they do. And so for me, I mean it's taken it's taken a lot of work on myself, a lot of introspection, a lot of loss, a lot of grief to come out on the other side and be like, "Hey, I don't need to attach my happiness and my self-worth to these things." Um and it sounds so cliché, but it's like fall in love with with the process mhm

13:23rather than than the outcome. And I've tried very hard to do that. Um I'm not perfect. I still, you know, there's things that I want, but I think yeah, once you you get certain things, you'll realize they're not going to make you happy. I'm sure you've experienced that. 100% and the reason why I'm asking you this is actually it's one of the most common DMs that I get and it's been there ever since I started creating content about a completely different topic that I'm creating about today, but that is a human feeling. The idea of losing purpose, losing impact or intention behind your work. And a lot of

13:57times it's not even losing it, it's realizing you never had it in the first place. It's realizing that you pursued something that wasn't necessarily intentional in the first place and you've woken up to that reality now you try to wrestle with it. You're trying to figure it out in real time. So for those individuals that are tuning into this and are in that spot for themselves where potentially they've woken up to this reality that they're not pursuing something meaningful or let's say that they've had a different intention behind their work, but now they want to transfer into something more meaningful, what's a good first step for them to try

14:25and actively do? I think figuring out your why. Mhm. Why are you doing this? If you can answer the why, I think it'll put a lot of other things in place. It can't come from a selfish place. Mhm. I want to go buy this. It's a lot more powerful if your why is like I want to help them be able to do

14:49this. Is that the why that you have today? I think so. Yeah, I think I mean for content specifically the more vulnerable I get and the more I share the things that scare me to share, the more connection I feel. And it's ironic, right? Because so many people on social media, they're showing the highlight reel. They're showing the best and the brightest and the coolest things that they could do. I look at that stuff now and I'm like uh, okay,

15:20like but what's underneath that, dude? Because I know we all have nights where we're sitting in bed and we're crying and we're stressed out and we feel like we're not going to be able to make it. Show me that because then I can see the human inside of you. Mhm. And I think that reinforces the why. That's actually something that I very much believe in. It's so cool to see you embody this. I've always believed that the human common denominator is struggle, it's pain. It's not the fancy cars, the luxury watches, the lavish vacations. And ultimately, if you're creating content about that, you are losing connection. You're putting on a

15:54facade and the risk is that people don't know who you are. And it's fascinating because then I get the other side of people where they say, "June, but I don't want to tell my story because it feels as though it's a sob story. June, I feel like if I tell this story over and over again, it's not going to be impactful to other people." When I watch your content, I feel inspired coming out of it. Although you're talking about very real and hard things that you've overcome. You've talked about mental health, you've talked about addiction, you've talked about even depression of your own kind and how that's evolved

16:20over time. How are you able to create content about these really dark moments of your life, but actually make it empowering to the people watching it? I think I'm still learning. I'm learning how to do it and vulnerability would never be a thing that I thought people who follow me would relate to. And it's been the strongest thing that's inspired

16:41connection. And you know, it's a funny story that has nothing to do with content, but I think day one of day two of me getting sober. I made a decision 4 years ago. I was like, I'm cutting everything out of my life. I'm going to I'm going to be sober. And I had a mentor who took me to a meeting and we went to the my first meeting at night and he's like, "Tomorrow morning, meet me at this one." So, we went and got coffee before and we're walking around and I was like, "I don't know if I deserve

17:10to be here." Mhm. He was like, "What do you mean?" I was like, "Well, I'm sitting in these rooms and you know, there's people who have been in prison for addiction, there's people who have, you know, gotten DUIs and, you know, they've been responsible for the death of loved ones and all of these really heavy,

17:26intense things. And like I don't know if I am I don't know if I'm like equipped enough to be labeled that. Like I don't know if I've earned it. You know, and he's like, "Okay, well, what is the most addict or alcoholic thing you've ever done?" And this might take a little bit of a turn, but I was like, "Well, I smoked

17:49heroin when I was 18." And he took a a beat and he's like, "Travis, I don't think there's many non-addicts or alcoholics who have smoked heroin." [laughter] I was like, "You're right. I deserve to be here." And I think a lot of people feel like their story maybe isn't good enough or like their story isn't heavy enough or they don't want to be the person complaining on social media, but you're not complaining. You're sharing the things that you've struggled with and the things that you've overcome to help other people who are currently struggling with those things. And it's

18:20the same thing with music. When I was 15 and I was depressed or I got my heartbroken for the first time, I would put on these records and I would feel like I wasn't alone. There was a group of people in a garage writing these songs that were going through the exact same thing that I was. And I idolized them. I'd save up my money to go buy records, to buy t-shirts, to buy concert tickets, and I would be there and I would know every word and these records changed my life and it was because I I didn't feel

18:50alone. And I think that's what we're able to do with content. Mhm. Why do you think it took so long for you to do it on the content side when you've been doing it for so long with the music side? Yeah, I think because of that feeling of every time I would open this app and I look, comparison is the thief of joy, right? You You log on, you see someone killing it, and they're just effortlessly getting a million views, they have 10 million followers, and they're raking in the brand deals, and you look at yourself, and you're like,

19:24well, I'm not that. Mhm. I'm a loser. Why does anyone want to follow me? Brands aren't hitting me up, people aren't commenting how incredible I am. What am I going to share this incredibly vulnerable story about how I almost went bankrupt 7 years ago? What are people going to think about me? Everyone thought that I was doing great. It's I mean, it's so intimidating. I I I mean, even my first time like posting in the last like 2 months, the first really like vulnerable thing that I posted, I posted it, and I didn't want to look at

19:55it. I just like uploaded it. I was like, I'm not going to look at the comments. And then it was like, oh my god, I'm going through this Oh, hey, I went through the same thing. My heart breaks for you because the whole time I didn't know that this was going on. Mhm. And once again, it goes back to like,

20:11wow, I feel like I'm not alone. That's exactly why consecration exists, in my belief. People have to realize that you can throw a rock and hit somebody neighboring you that was going through exactly what you feels though is so unique to your own experience. I've learned that the hard way, where I really thought that the fashion and fitness stuff that I was creating early on was the cool thing to do, and I thought like, this will make me feel accepted by society. And when I first even got into studying lead content, I could have never imagined that there were other people that were struggling with studies. Now, looking back, it's so

20:46obvious that of course there are people out there that are going through that exact same circumstance. But similarly, when I'm thinking about personal branding, I'm like, are there really other creators and entrepreneurs and experts that want to go and develop this online brand of theirs? In every single step of the way, I've doubted whether or not there were actual people out there to receive my work. And that's what people forget. It's not about trying to find the thing that

21:08society is talking about at the moment. It's about internally, are you okay enough and vulnerable enough to say, "This is the thing that I care about. Let me bring it to the world." Cuz you'll find your people. And the impact that that starts to leave is transformational. Now, when I think about content, it's exactly what you're talking about. It's this idea of storytelling. It's this idea that that the thing that people are going to recognize the most is that and when people can find themselves in your shoes, it's interesting. They start rooting for your transformation. So, you know oftentimes where if someone is flexing their lifestyle, you look at

21:39them and you're like, "Ah, this seems like a facade. You're like, ah, I'm just going to scroll away." But, when you start talking about your struggles, something big happens. People look at your story and like, "I want to see this guy win because I see myself in him." And that's where the deepest connection audience building actually resides. And you have to separate that from the metrics. And so, that's how I think about it. And obviously, you've been with Creator College, so you get it. But, the idea of attract, nurture, position, and convert, it's like they're all having different intention and purposes behind it. We don't always care about the views. We

22:06care about the impact. And if that connection can remain steadfast, that's all you need to care about. And I have had to go through multiple stints of my life where I lost a lot of followers. So, the most recent version of this was when we were at about 5.4 million on Instagram, I sat down with my co-founder and we're thinking to ourselves, "If we do make this transition into trying to support people with their personal brands, it's a much smaller group of people than let's say if we're going to target students, which are billions of people in the world." And we had this conversation internally of, "Are you

22:34okay with going down to 3.3 million? Like, are you okay losing that as long as the impact remains the same?" And I had to wrestle with that for days. And I thought to myself, exactly your thing, which is so cool, which is the why. It's like, "Why do I actually want to do this

22:46transition? Is it for a selfish reason?" And that's exactly what you're talking about. Or is it a selfless motive? And once I could understand the impact that I hope to make, that's when the decision ultimately came to be. Is that a reason why you are now addicted to this process? I mean, you've been posting

22:59every single day for 15 months. want to talk about losing followers? I've been losing followers every day for the last 6 years. Up until up until 2 weeks ago, it has been the only time in the last 6 years where my follower account has gone up. That's what I'm talking about. Like like literally consistently. Um and I think that's another thing that takes a toll, right? On your It's you're like, "Oh, hey, I'm putting so much effort into this and I'm posting and I'm showing up and I'm Like yeah, people are following me, but more people are unfollowing me. And it's tough not to take it personally, but you

23:32got to just push through it. And that was one thing when I started Creator College, you said something on a call. Hit me. You said, "For the next 4 weeks, I don't want you to think about, you know, being a perfectionist. I don't want you to think analytically. I just want you to be a creator."

23:48Mhm. And it took me back to when I was in hair school. Um I was in hair school. I do have my cosmetology license, so. [laughter] Um and people used to come in and if if you go get your hair cut at a cosmetology school, it's very cheap. It's like $10 because students are learning how to cut

24:08hair on you. And I remember when I was there, I wasn't nervous. Like I would go and I'd do people's haircuts and I would mess some people up. Like people would leave [laughter] and it would be really bad. I didn't feel bad about myself because I was like, "Well, they came into a hair school to get a haircut. They knew what they were walking into. I need to learn. The only way I'm going to learn is by doing." When you said that to me, I was like, I still hadn't been posting. I would post maybe once every

24:34like 2 months. And I was in Creator College for like a week and I hadn't posted anything yet. And I was like, that just kept playing in my head and I was like, "Hey man, at a certain point, you got to start cutting people's hair, you know?" And so I literally made a post that day and and threw it up and and since then I've been posting every single day. But you just Yeah, you just got to you just got to do it. And so when I stopped thinking like a perfectionist and how I wanted people to see me and just started thinking like a creator, it became a really fun game

25:02and and and a challenge to be like, "Okay, well, what can I make today? How do I tell this kind of story today?" I know that the people that are watching or tuning into this, they're going to go back to Instagram and I hope they do. I hope they go and scroll down because the transition is so evident immediately because your content prior was music or it was you doing the podcast and it was a shared interest. People might have come in for the guests versus coming in for Travis. And now it's like you behind

25:28the brand. It is you fundamentally. Every piece of your content is your perspective, opinion, belief, value. And that's powerful. So, even now the individuals that are coming in, they're not going to leave because they're coming in for you. And they've built this rapport and connection and trust. How does that feel now that this attention, this brand that you're

25:45building is actually personal? It feels great, but it also feels like a responsibility. Like I I I owe people the respect of telling my story very authentically and sharing things that I've overcome and and how I've overcome them. And there's a lot of things that I still I don't have an answer for. Like I'm still figuring out. Um and I hope I can expand on that more. There's a lot of stories that I haven't told yet that I still want to tell. I'll be driving now and I'm like, "Oh yeah, that happened to

26:16me." How have I never I've never even thought about that since it since it happened? Like, "Okay, well, how do I tell this authentically and like how can I tell it in a way that maybe someone out there is struggling with?" So, it's just completely rewired my brain. Um and by the way, I'm still figuring things out. Like I'll post things and I'll look at it 2 weeks later

26:37and I'm like, "That That wasn't great. Like I could do better than that." Or "Oh, that's pretty cringe." But now every video I post, I learn something that I can incorporate into the next one. Or I'm like, "Wait, why did I start it like that? I Oh, this is so much better." But you learn by doing. You don't just learn by watching. If If you could learn by just watching and consuming things, I would have been an expert 4 years ago because [laughter] I bought books, I watched all the podcasts, I watched the YouTube videos on like how to create content, but you

27:06you literally learn by doing. Yeah, and I I feel though as that skill evolves, you start to find formats that you would adhere to because after you experiment, you realize one, what am I aligned to and two, what physically works. What does my audience engage with? Now that you've been posting consistently, have you found a format that you really enjoy making and that

27:24you're really trying to optimize? Yeah, I think silent film storytelling is it's really powerful. Um and just getting to kind of go back and find photos of myself. It makes me smile. It also makes me sad because I look at, you know, 19-year-old Travis and what he was going through. And like some photos where it looks like I should be having the time of my life, I can just kind of see behind my eyes and just like how out of it I was, how depressed I was, how low, everything

27:58else that was going on around me. Um but then I'll scroll back to like this year and to see this version of myself having the time of his life and I really feel like I got a second chance at things, which I know isn't isn't that common. And so, just trying to not make the same mistakes that I made when I was younger and really

28:20appreciated this time around. So, silent film storytelling has been really fun cuz I get to go back and you know, reframe things, right? Because the world saw it one way. People who followed me for a long time saw it one way, but they didn't know what was really what was really going on. I think that's what we love about documentaries as well. Like when you watch a good documentary and you see like that that footage and then you find out like what was going on with with the baseball team before they won the World Series and all the Michael Jordan having the flu like before you know, before he won the

28:54championship ring. Those are the things that people really latch onto. Owning your story, the way that you've just said that it's better described than I could have ever said aloud, but you're totally right. Because when I started telling the story of what I experienced growing up and the hardships that I've experienced seeing the mental health struggles in my family, it made me own the story in a way that I didn't realize back then. As in when you experience that circumstance, you have

29:18other people's opinions on that thing. And my friends thought of it in one way. My parents thought of it in another way. My siblings thought of it in another way. And I never really asked myself the way that I would own that experience. But when you're forced actually tell the story, you're sitting there and what people don't realize is that it's an intimate process. You're looking at the

29:34photos. You're looking at the text. You're looking at the actual arc and you're thinking, is this the story that I own? And the more you do it, you're realizing, yes. And for me, it's giving that experience a lot of meaning. I know this sounds weird to say, but back then, I really thought that God hated me. Like there's a lot of moments in my life that I thought, why do I feel so empty and alone? Like why isn't God there? And I And I was a believer at that time. I was like, why has God left me to suffer alone? And I pointed fingers at everyone else. It's

30:05because I didn't understand anything about my reality and I started making these assumptions and I just went ahead and pursued the next step. Now, owning that story and going back to it, it's given it a lot of meaning. Especially the fact that other people are resonating with it and they're like, "Oh my goodness, June, I'm in that exact circumstance now and to see you on the other side of it gives me hope that I can actually figure this out myself." Do

30:26you resonate with that? Yeah. Do you feel like it's like meditating? I believe so. In many different ways. Because you're having to sit there and go through I mean, you know how long making a video can take, right? And you're having to watch this thing over and over and it's forcing you to reevaluate the things that have happened to you and really think on it to where maybe you're taking a shower and you think back to this one conversation you had with a person but then you got to get out of the shower cuz you got to go to a meeting get you can't really sit in

30:50that moment. When you're looking at this thing over and over, it's forcing you to really come face to face with your past and be like, wait, why did I respond like that to this instance? And then, oh wait, well, what happened after this? Oh, this was only a year after this. Oh, it's a chain reaction here. Maybe this is why this relationship ended or this relationship started or I met this

31:14person or this opportunity went away. You're really being forced to sit with your decisions and your experiences and in a way that's meditative to me. I've always thought of it as therapeutic. Meditative is is another form of it where it's interesting cuz you've probably felt this now in the last 50 days and I bet you're going to feel it more. But there are certain stories in our lives

31:37that we look at as transformations. But there are many angles that you can tackle on that specific moment in and of itself. So, I talk about the fact that my parents got divorced. It's one element to tell it in that regard, but it's another to talk about the fact that I went from very secure in my upbringing to then all of a sudden not having any stability. That's another transformation. Then I think about it as in I used to feel very fitting of the surroundings and the people around in my friend groups, but after that divorce happened, I actually felt like an outcast. Like I felt like nobody really

32:08understood the things that I was going through. Every one of those transformations has different angles that you can tackle it on and it really forces you to understand who you are and that's why I think it's therapeutic. It's not just the one or two posts, but especially like you that's constantly doing it, you're looking at that circumstance. You might post in one way and you're thinking yourself, wait, no, no, there was a different angle to that experience. And I bet as you start creating more of these contents and you're going to start to see like, oh my goodness, and especially the comments and people will tell you, I see it and I

32:34interpret it a different way that you might have posted it. Like there's times where I post up my story and people are leaving me a comment and I'm like, "That wasn't even my intention, but it's beautiful." It's like, "Oh my gosh, we as all human beings have these lived experiences, we feel certain ways, but it again boils down to this idea that pain is our common denominator. And how can we really become human and

32:52empathetic to our experiences?" What I have learned over and over and over again is that the only way to become a better human, I don't even mean just a better creator, is to be hyper aware of your own circumstance. It's to know your faults. It's to know your weaknesses. It's to know your strengths. And consecration has been one of those mediums. Now, what I'm curious to ask you is because most people can't get to 50 posts consistently. Like that's not a very common approach. Most people post a few

33:19times and they'll get out of it. What have you learned about telling your story multiple times now and doing it so consistently in this period of time in terms of how much you have to dig into you to go and extrapolate those stories? Or are you now at this point where you know the specific segments of your life that you do want to talk about and it's easier for you? Does it ever get easier for a creator to talk about their

33:40stories? It does get easier. I'm still figuring things out every day. I wish I could tell you like, "Oh, I have the next 7 days plan." I'll get there one day. I'll get there one day. But I think what's exciting for me is the inspiration. It forces me to be creative Mhm. every day. I wake up and I'm like, "Okay, well, what am I going to make a video about today?" It's like, "I shared this part

34:04of my journey yesterday. I don't want to And it worked. It got 4 million views. I don't want to just do the thing that works. So like, how can I challenge myself today?" Well, well, another thing is like, "I lost 60 lb. How did I do it? Oh, I started weighing my food and I learned what macros were. Oh, I invested in a food

34:23scale so that I could, you know, use it. Well, why don't I make a video about this? Or like, I love ice cream, but can't eat ice cream and like, you know, get like lose 60 lb. So, I bought a Ninja Creami and like now I'm going to make these recipes for myself. And I'm like, okay, cool. I'll make five

34:40things that help me lose 60 lb. And that was another video where I was like, I'm not a food creator. I'm not like a you know, fitness influencer. And I just was like, yeah, but this is my story. Like here's a before photo of what I looked like. Here's an after photo of what I looked like. And these are the things that helped me get there. And it's not saying you got to go do 100 push-ups and 100 jumping jacks every day. It's like these are

35:09little changes that compound over time. And I'll send you the list. Like comment kitchen. And the amount of people like It was so cool. And look, it's not a million view video, you know, but like 100,000 people watched it and are like I got a comment saying, I never I never understood why there were numbers on the

35:31back of food packages. 100 calories, you know, 5 g of fat, 20 g of carbs. Like you just Now I know what it means. I'm like, that's awesome, you know. Oh, how do you weigh your food? I didn't even know I could do that. That's awesome. A lot of people think that their lived experiences or their expertise is too mundane and you forget that there are a lot of people out there in the world that have no idea that I felt like that for so because here's the thing, I don't have a course. I don't have a product. I don't have a I'm not a CEO of some company that I'm

36:04building in public. I'm like for so long. I mean, literally up in like in creator college, right? It's like, well, here's how to like scale your online digital product and here's how to like create an offer. I don't have an offer. I don't have anything like that. And I was like, well, maybe I'm my story isn't cool enough or like I don't have a product worth selling or making content about. I'm like, "Oh wait, what if I just make content about my life? People aren't going to want to watch that. That's

36:33going to be weird." It's like, "Well, no, you've been through some some cool things. You've been through some hard things. Like, let's just kind of talk about all of it." I believe it's the most genuine way that you can approach content. I feel as though a lot of people come in with the idea of monetization as their sole

36:48priority. And those are the individuals that tend to burn out quicker. I feel as though it's the the individuals that start with their stories, not only do they grow the fastest, but they build the strongest community connection. Once you have that, your audience will tell you what is it that they want more support with. And if you develop a brand deal, where you develop a digital product to solve that specific problem, then great. Then you can monetize as well. Now, I'm I'm I'm going to put this on air right now because I think you're

37:12going to grow to millions of followers. Like, I think you are the type of individual that will completely take over the industry. I think the type of person that you are and from what I've known of you, obviously in person, you're exactly who you are that you portray online. But the story that you have, it's not just the story, but it's the perspective that you have on the story that's so meaningful to other people. And the fact that I can send that video, those videos that you post to eight different friends of mine that have gone through eight different completely different lives, and they all enjoy your story, is a big sign that you

37:40have a ginormous audience that's waiting for you. I'm just curious, what would you do with this that if you do start to build this connection rapport, I know you're not really thinking about monetization as your priority, but what do you want to ultimately do with this content and growth? Mhm. I think I just

37:57I honestly, I want to help people. Mhm. I don't know what that looks like yet. I just want to I want to help people. Whether that comes to that comes down to sobriety or mental health or making things like I've been championing all of my friends where I'm like, "You got to post. You got to You know?" And they're like, "Well, well, how do I start?" And I've been kind of like just trying to give them like, you know, the the first domino to like let it One of my friends is is a hairdresser. Uh he's an incredible hairstyle, so I don't want to call him a hairdresser. He's cuts

38:32hair and he owns a product company and he doesn't post. And I'm like, dude, you are way too talented to not be sharing this with the world. He's like, well, people don't want to see like these I'm like, yes, they do. And I showed him seven other creators who are cutting people's hair every day, getting hundreds of thousands of views. And he's like, yeah, but if I post every day, people are going to get sick of me. I'm

38:53like, wrong. I'm like, you got to show up and remind people. And so, he's been posting every single day. Oh, that's crazy. Right? And I'm like, I just want to take all this information that I've learned in the last like 50 days and I want to just give it to as many people as I can. And yeah, let people know like your stories matter. Like, don't Sure, show the cool stuff that you're doing, but like what did it take to get

39:19there? You know, because you know how it is. Like, if you just started, you know, how incredible you are in this creator college that you built, like I don't think it would have the same impact. People would be like, oh, it's another person trying to sell this that, you know, but like you're living proof. You've lived it, you've done it, and now you're helping other people do it. And I it goes back

39:39to like, what's your why? Mhm. If people are out there right now listening to this and they're thinking about how By the way, I'm so proud of you in so many different ways, but what you've just talked about this idea of finding empowerment in your own stories actually really difficult transition to make and I know that. So, everyone's going to watch your content and I guarantee the first thing that they'll say is, of course he made it. Of course he's going to keep blowing up. Of course he's going to keep growing because his story is so powerful. Everyone says that about my story, but when I looked at my

40:07content and my story back then, in no world did I think that my story was powerful or meaningful. In no world did I think that I was going to post it and it was going to go viral. In no world did I have the confidence to share it. So for those people that listening to this right now that again still feel this lack of confidence or potentially it's more of a fear of judgment or fear

40:24of visibility. What are you telling them? What are you How are you convincing them the way that you've convinced that hair stylist to start sharing their story? I think the one thing that all of us have in common is we've all been through something. And we've heard it from, you know, from when we were little kids like you

40:42never know what someone's going through. Let people know. Let people know what you're going through. You can't judge a book by its by by its cover. We've we've heard that since we were kids. It's like open the book. Read us the chapters. Start at chapter one. Take us through to where you are now

41:01because the book is still being written. You know, and and I mean those are we always root for like you watch a movie, you root for for the underdog. You know, all of us have that underdog in them. No one's life is perfect. It doesn't matter like what family you were born into. It doesn't matter where you grew up. It doesn't matter like what you have. There are things that you've had

41:25to overcome in your life. And you should talk about those things. Cuz I felt like that, too. I felt like I don't have anything to talk about like I've been I mean I've been pretty lucky like you know, I'm I've worked really hard. I've worked really hard. And oh yeah, I was depressed when I was 15. Oh yeah, I had debilitating panic attacks and I couldn't drive for 2 year

41:48Wait. Oh, there's No, I don't want to share that. That's too painful. That's what you should share. My heart is racing cuz it's exactly the way that I think about my own story. Every time that I go through those moments, I always say it's not worth sharing. I always think that in my No matter how long I've been creating content for, no matter the successes that I've derived from, I think it's a human conditioning as in we don't think it's valuable. We don't think it's worth sharing. But you're right, it's actually those moments that I've thought to myself it's not worth it. I'm not going to do it that actually turn out to be

42:19like the best performing content. Not even just from the metric or view standpoint, but from the connection the rapport that that you're building within our communities. Travis, I have this one final question for you. Okay. And this is one that has been healing for me to think about often. And I want to ask of it in this regard. Let's say that you have the 19-year-old version of you that's sitting right across from you at the moment. And that 19-year-old version has no idea about the fact that his story, about the fact that his experience and the journey that he's about to undergo is going to empower a lot of people. Now it's going

42:50to be very difficult in that process. If you had an opportunity to speak to that 19-year-old version of you, what are you telling him? Mhm. That's heavy. I'm just going to say the first thing that came to my head because I vividly remember this. And and I told I told someone this when I was 19. Someone was like, "Well, if you know, your dream doesn't work out. Like, you know, don't be surprised." And I said like, "No, if it doesn't work out, I'll kill

43:16myself." Mhm. Like, it just popped into my head. My dream did not work out the way that I thought it would when I was 19. It's so much better. I did not get everything that I wanted or that I thought I should get when I was 19. My life is so much richer. And I'm so grateful that it didn't work out

43:37like that. And I'm I'm still here. And if that is how it's been the last 18 years and how it's unfolded, not to say there hasn't been bumps and trials and tribulations and a lot of loss and grief. There's been a lot of smiles. There's been a lot of happiness, a lot of incredible opportunities and people that I've got

43:55to, you know, meet along the way. But yeah, I'm just excited to see what happens next. And I would just tell myself at 19 like, "Slow down." Mhm. [sighs] Travis, I I respect you not just as a creator and musician and talent, but as a man. Again, the last month and a half as I've been watching you evolve from this person that didn't even know if their story was worth sharing to now impacting millions of people. You're getting millions of views on these things, dude. Like millions and millions

44:25of people are watching your stuff. You're getting tens of thousands of comments. People telling you that you've literally been the source of inspiration that has been the source for them to stop their evil or negative thoughts and been able to transform their own respective ways. There's no better feeling, no better mission or purpose than the one that you're serving. And again, I just want to thank you for your

44:43time. Thank you for this conversation. And I am just about to say it right now once more, you are going to blow up in ways that we have both can't imagine. Dude, thank you so much. I mean, I said it when when I walked in here, but I literally would not be on this path if it wasn't for you. Like, you need your flowers right here and right now. What you've built and the way that you were able to communicate what you've been through and then how to apply to others. Like, you are literally sharing right? The the recipe. You're sharing the the recipe on how others can do the

45:17same thing. There's no gatekeeping with you. Um and yeah, you've put together an incredible team of of great humans who really care. And that's like the number one thing. People care. And yeah, man, I I wouldn't be doing this if it wasn't for you. Thank you so much, Travis. Yeah. This is Creator Unplugged.