Travis Chappell is the CEO of Guestio.com, the highest quality guest and show booking marketplace in the podcast industry. He’s also the host of his own hit podcast “Travis Makes Friends” and has interviewed Shaquille O’Neal, Grant Cardone, Patrick Bet David, mindfulness icon Lori Harder, and hundreds more. In this podcast episode, he talks about his relentless entrepreneurship, his ability to connect with anyone, and the mentality you need to thrive in life.
The one trait all high achievers have in common:
“It’s the ability to handle rejection. I knew that conceptually before going into this just because I was a door-to-door salesman for so long – five or six years – which is obviously nothing but rejection, almost exclusively, except for when you don’t get rejected and you make a little bit of money. And so, when I was coming into this space I just kind of took that idea with me. But I was not expecting it to be the core common denominator between all successful people that I ever talked to. Every single one of them. … The number one thing they all share is that they all have this innate ability to overcome rejection.”
Travis lived a very sheltered childhood:
“I got my degree – a double major in bible and church ministries – from the Baptist college that my church was located on. That’s why I say I grew up in a bubble because I graduated kindergarten on the same campus that I graduated college from, which is also where my church was. So, (I was there) pretty much seven days a week from kindergarten all the way through. We had church on Sundays, ‘Soul Winning Saturdays,’ and school Monday through Friday just like everybody else. So, everything was the same. All my teachers, all my friends, athletics, it was all done on this one campus.”
He has a chip on his shoulder, which helps him thrive:
“When you know there’s a bunch of people rooting against you, and you’re a competitive person, it just gives you this deep drive that makes you say, ‘Yeah, rejection, who cares.’”
His number one bucket list dream interview:
“Joe Rogan’s on the top of my list, right now. I just love the guy. I know that’s kind of expected, and maybe overused, but he’s like the king of podcasting and there’s just so much I respect about him. That he never wavered from his initial goal of the podcast. Regardless of how popular it’s gotten; regardless of the fact that Spotify a few years ago gave him $100 million deal and now they gave him a quarter of a billion-dollar renewal to keep him on Spotify, and he’s expanding back to Apple Podcasts and Spotify. I love that he never wavered. … He has made the careers of probably dozens of people at this point. … He didn’t fall for any of the B.S., so I’d just love to have a conversation with Rogan. I think he’s a fascinating dude.”
On how he gets his podcast guests to open up to him:
“I think that is the skill that’s the most underrated out of all of them as a podcast host. And I think that a lot of people just take their natural communication skills, and they think that’s just going to be enough. But you can always tell who really puts in the work to provide a really good conversation and so I try to do my best to do that. Getting a really busy person to say ‘yes’ to give you their time is difficult enough. If you get that time, and you use it poorly, nothing will happen after that interaction.”