Latest / Nightmare Success In and Out / Hedge Fund Manager, Prison, to Prison Education Czar - Travis Richey

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Hedge Fund Manager, Prison, to Prison Education Czar - Travis Richey · Nightmare Success In and Out

0:01
What happens when your worst fear becomes your reality?
0:04
Hi. I'm Brent Cassidy.
0:05
Welcome to the nightmare success.
0:07
And Now podcast but we explore a how to overcome your fears and
0:11
Nightmares is set yourself free. We're going to be exploring this
0:14
topic with guys that was in Leavenworth with and others who
0:17
survived their own nightmare. These stories can be inspiring.
0:21
Sometimes sad, there's some humor but hopefully you can come
0:25
away with a nugget of something that will help you knock down
0:28
some of the prisons you built. It up in your own mind.
0:36
Okay, folks, we are back live more success in our listeners.
0:40
I am very excited with my guests that I have today.
0:44
I think you could actually called Travis Richey, the
0:48
prisons are of Education. I have looked at all the
0:52
different things that he's doing, but he is The Man Behind
0:55
accomplish Ventures, the largest prison content provider in the
0:58
United States. It basically just, I mean what
1:03
it does is what we need. You know, that That we talked
1:06
about on this show is what happens when your worst fear
1:10
becomes your reality, how do you adapt?
1:13
How do you survive? How do you overcome and Travis,
1:16
has done all that and what he's doing is he's putting life
1:20
skills, education, job skills, entrepreneurial skills, and
1:24
financial literacy and giving inmates.
1:27
Hope they're in the prisons right?
1:29
As we speak, hope that provides them a chance to get their lives
1:35
fixed up to get back. Into society with more than they
1:38
came in with. And he's got 750,000 tablets
1:43
that are out in the prison world and it's loaded with this
1:46
curriculum and it is just fantastic.
1:49
And I, when he said he could come on, Travis has helped me
1:55
hopefully here in the next couple of weeks.
1:57
Get into this tablet system with nightmares success, which I'm
2:00
really excited about Travis. Welcome.
2:03
And Happy to be here brother. Yeah and I'm excited for you to
2:08
get the nightmare except alongside, you know, my content
2:12
and you know, whole bunch of other really enriching content,
2:15
there's not enough positive real world, you know, conversation
2:20
and solution, a lot of the guys and gals on bar.
2:22
So I'm excited for you. That one of them is path with
2:25
us. What I think is really
2:26
incredible about your story is and we're going to get into
2:29
this. But you know, you did a couple
2:31
of years running a hedge fund, you get into that regulatory.
2:35
Old. And, you know, you fall into a
2:38
deep hole and there you are. But when you went into that
2:41
world, you saw things and said, oh my God, this needs to be
2:45
better. And this started this hasn't
2:48
even been a decade yet for you and you are the man on the Move.
2:53
Walk me back a little bit Travis.
2:55
Like I know you came from the east coast and the Boston world.
3:01
What was life like for you? Growing up as a kid man, I had
3:07
The Tale of Two Cities growing up as a kid.
3:10
My was, I was raised in a religious and spiritual
3:14
household and had a mother that have she still alive have a
3:20
mother that really raised us with an incredible work ethic
3:25
and wanted us to be proud of where we came from.
3:28
And, and to look nice when we left the home and to open doors
3:32
for women and At the same time, I went to bed on most night with
3:39
a father that was high on heroin many nights by dad was kind of
3:44
loom at the doorway. We had a basement home and my
3:48
father would stand in the doorway with a loaded 357
3:50
revolver in front of my sister's room and you know, we had
3:54
trundle beds and we would sleep in there together just out of
3:57
fear. So growing up, it was, it was an
4:01
interesting dichotomy. Trying to figure out Out what a
4:04
dad really is supposed to be what he supposed to offer to
4:07
you. Well, in the same time, we have
4:09
a mom that couldn't be more perfect, you know, on the
4:12
straight and narrow path. Really doing her best working
4:15
multiple jobs, once they separated, the really make sure
4:18
they're us, kids had everything. So, I would say that my
4:22
childhood was fantastic, as I look back on it, my childhood
4:25
caught me a bunch of stuff. My, my example that I had in my,
4:31
in my father, taught me what I didn't want to be, As a dad,
4:36
interesting. So you had a sister, was it a
4:38
younger sister? I have three sisters, three
4:41
sisters. So you, wow.
4:44
Where do you fall into that? Light that light of have one
4:47
older and one older, and two younger.
4:50
And it's actually, that's the same makeup that my wife.
4:53
And I have my wife, and I have one son, his name's Brock, and
4:57
then we have three daughters, Kennedy, Addison and Paisley.
5:00
Okay? So you guys figured that I have
5:02
three daughters and I never did figure out the boy think.
5:05
So I did get two grandsons all at once twins.
5:10
My oldest daughter here about four months ago.
5:12
So yeah, I'm now going to now. I'm getting into this Travis.
5:16
Yeah it's good fun. Let's get indeed that's fun.
5:21
So in that in that world that you were living that seems like
5:26
a lot for a kid to take on. Was your mom with your dad in
5:32
the situation that he was in? Did she try to cover that up?
5:37
Or was it just I'm? This is what I hand.
5:40
I've been dealt and kids I'm going to take care of
5:42
everything. Or what how did that all work in
5:44
the household? Yeah.
5:46
You know, I think my mom did the best that she had with the
5:50
resources that she had at the time.
5:52
Yeah, like we all do. And, you know, when my mom, my
5:56
mom tried to hide it, tried to cover it up.
5:58
I don't think anybody really wants to be proud, you know,
6:01
especially going back, you know, 20, 25 years.
6:04
Nobody wants to be proud about, you know, a drug addict as a, as
6:07
a spouse. And it was also an era thing,
6:10
you know, my mom's generation. And I spoke with a lot of my
6:14
friends, my mom's generation. One that really didn't talk
6:18
about problem therapy, you know, kind of a four-letter word, and
6:24
I think that a lot of that contributed to her lack of
6:27
resourcefulness. I think that there may have been
6:30
more people in today's world that might be more apt to help
6:34
her, you know, even from a church, you know, or religious
6:37
perspective. But, you know, going back, 20,
6:40
25 years, it was a time where everything was not everything,
6:43
that's an exaggeration. But a lot of things were really
6:45
swept under the rug. Shrug and not spoken about in
6:47
public. So, what were your school years?
6:49
Like, where they was at an escape for you?
6:51
Or because I know you're a smart guy and you did, you did, I
6:56
think you maybe even went on a scholarship to college?
6:58
So, how did how did your school yours work?
7:01
Yeah, school was definitely an escape.
7:04
It was a, it was a time that I could excel in something.
7:06
It was a place that I could feel belonged.
7:10
You know, I was, I was heavily involved in extracurricular
7:14
activity, you know, from a young age, you know, boxing and hockey
7:18
and football and all the usual, you know, that come with like, a
7:21
really fun child. But, but, you know, we would go
7:25
home to very like, a ton of chaos, a lot of uncertainty, you
7:29
know, it was a very Physically and emotionally and substance
7:35
abuse household. And it was, as anybody knows who
7:40
lives with an addict, a drug addict of that capacity or that
7:43
caliber, you know, when it's good, it's really good because
7:47
they're usually really remorseful.
7:49
Yeah. And when it's bad, it is some of
7:52
the ugliest times either ever seen.
7:53
And, and so, I really grew up and I tell people now, you know,
7:56
my father was one of the most violent individuals I've ever
7:59
met my life ever. Towards you or just really come
8:03
with a general or towards me and towards everybody in general.
8:07
Yeah, I thought my father get violent with at the drop of
8:10
many. Many hats on the turnpike's in
8:13
Boston. In the middle of a Circle, K on
8:15
a football field for Pop Warner in the middle of the church
8:18
basketball game. No, my dad was just his 0 to 100
8:23
went faster than anybody had ever seen.
8:25
And he was a very large man, you know, he worked out he was in
8:29
shape, was a very big guy. Why?
8:31
And so that didn't help, you know and the temperament it went
8:35
0 to 100 and when it did it was ugly and so childhood was very
8:37
much that way when you came home from school and you saw Dad's
8:41
car their debts truck. There was like okay you got that
8:44
butterfly you know I can even feel it now as I talk about he
8:47
got that butterfly of emotions like which which one are we
8:50
getting when we walk inside here?
8:52
Is it all good? Or is it all?
8:53
Of course, the bat. Well, and so you did.
8:57
How long has your mom and dad Stay Together?
9:00
My parents were together for about 20 years.
9:02
Okay. Yeah, the long time.
9:05
Yeah, long time. She finally got the courage and,
9:09
you know, you know, maybe courage is the wrong word but
9:12
you know, she finally got the courage and the ability to leave
9:15
him and and to forge your own path and do her own thing and
9:19
sad to say, I don't really, I don't really think that she's
9:22
ever recovered from those years. She still hasn't remarried and
9:25
has a lot of trauma that still Associated from all of those
9:29
years past. Ask which is really a sad thing
9:31
for me to witness. So tell me a little bit about so
9:35
you high school, you're playing sports, you're doing all those
9:37
things. And then I think you went to
9:40
University of Miami. Is that where you want?
9:43
I went and got a degree. Yeah, we got a degree in
9:45
finance, you know, prior to that.
9:48
Yeah, graduated from high school.
9:50
Like I said, enjoyed school and went on a mission for my church
9:54
spent two years in the Pacific Northwest area and enjoyed that
9:59
you know and Teaching enjoyed, serving enjoyed learning about
10:01
myself. And you know, then came back and
10:05
and immediately dove in to the financial services industry and
10:10
knew that, that was a place that I'd always wanted to be.
10:13
I felt like you know it was also an era.
10:15
You remember those good days, you know, the days of like Wall
10:18
Street, you know, the Gordon, get the movies and it was a time
10:22
that I felt like I could write my own ticket.
10:25
I it was something that I was naturally good at.
10:28
I was and still am. Um, you know, gifted to put a
10:31
deal together. I am a very unemotional data
10:36
driven individual when it comes to business and I like to say
10:40
I'm industry agnostic. So it, if it pencils, you know,
10:44
then I'm interested. That's really the long and the
10:46
short of it. And so I knew I needed to be
10:49
involved in that Financial Services industry and and being
10:52
involved with people and buying small businesses and working
10:57
with funds on mergers and Acquisitions all of Really did
11:00
spoke naturally to me and so I had a really, really good
11:02
success. You know, there was we were
11:04
managing millions of dollars and, you know, and I was 24. 25
11:08
years. Old young kid.
11:10
Yeah. Yeah.
11:12
That's and I think that's fun. When that happens when you're
11:14
that age, I remember I was in my 20s and and big things
11:19
happening, you know, you know, looking back on it now and you
11:24
think about 20 to 24 years old and you get success at that age.
11:30
It's a lot of fun. Oh man.
11:33
It was a lot of fun. Oh yeah.
11:35
There was, there was a lot of toys.
11:37
There was a lot of trip. It was a lot of fun.
11:41
It was so, how did you meet up? Is this time period?
11:45
Where you got married and did all those things that you do in
11:48
your 20s? Yeah, yeah, I did.
11:51
Yeah, yeah, yeah. My, my wife and I we met my
11:54
wife, Melissa, and I we met goodness 15 years ago at at a
12:00
church event. And We had we had mutual
12:04
friends, her her sister knew a buddy that I had gone to school
12:08
with and so it was It was kind of fortuitous.
12:12
We were at the right place at the right time and it was kind
12:16
of a Beauty and the Beast moment that I like to say that it is no
12:21
really. It is like if you it is my wife
12:24
comes from a perfect upbringing and her parents are probably
12:29
listen to this AC for saying it. But you know, and I say that
12:33
from my perspective, right? I know nothing is perfect and
12:35
nobody's perfect but you know your you've got two parents who
12:40
you know are good, upstanding citizens who you know, never
12:45
abused themselves or anybody else.
12:46
You know who who are great members of society who make good
12:50
money or married after 40 you like there's a lot of good good
12:53
singer there, right? So I look at her upbringing in a
12:57
very small town, you know where your dad with the mayor, you
13:01
know like life with Life was really really perfect.
13:04
You know, you kind of compare and contrast to me the beast and
13:07
you go. Hey oh you're not going to get
13:11
to meet my dad. I meant to ask you, what
13:15
happened, what happened? Travis with, I kind of left that
13:20
off there. So your mom and dad split.
13:22
But that relationship with your father, was that kind of an over
13:27
and done with thing, or did he stay in your life?
13:31
You know, he tried to stay in for quite some time, even up
13:34
until he died about 18 months ago and unfortunately, you know,
13:40
he could never, he could never get rid of those demons.
13:42
And so, for him to be around me with a liability, probably, you
13:46
know, it was just an all those feelings to from growing up,
13:49
man. Confident liability, you know,
13:51
and we would get into it on the phone, you know, he would call
13:54
and then when he wouldn't get his way, he would become
13:56
threatening. And then obviously, you know,
13:58
now I'm my age and my size. Eyes and my, you know, and said
14:01
that it just, it wasn't a positive experience.
14:05
It was really, really tumultuous.
14:06
And so you know there I knew I couldn't have him around my
14:10
little one. I definitely don't want him
14:11
around my children you know, anything that would bring that
14:14
negativity and so know he kind of he chose some some really
14:18
dark way you know ended up really hurting a lot of people
14:23
you know physically and you know and then went away for quite
14:26
some period of time and then we got news that he passed away
14:29
that he died. It about like I said by the year
14:31
and a half ago not that long ago.
14:34
So Travis Walk me into how this nightmare happened for you
14:39
because you're rolling along. You're doing all these things,
14:42
you're figuring it out. Everything is Acquisitions and
14:46
doing deals and negotiating, Life's good.
14:50
And then how does it happen? Man a knock on the door, change
14:54
the world. Yeah.
14:56
Yeah, I had two gentlemen, knock on my front door and they were
15:00
both into and, and they asked who I was told him who I was and
15:05
then they gave me. What looks like Unbound
15:08
thesaurus, you know, it was big and it was paper gigantic.
15:14
And it was my indictment, and this, you know, this is where we
15:19
all have our own stories and so much of it.
15:21
It's just, you know, so hard to believe, right?
15:24
It's just crazy. And this is where I was So naive
15:27
in, keep in mind, you know, I've already set the stage, you know,
15:29
very successful. And we have done very well.
15:31
And so I look down at this paper, and I'm like, well, who's
15:34
this, who's this lawyer, who's this?
15:36
You know, Assistant Attorney General thinks he is right.
15:40
And so, I actually jumped in my car and I drove down to his
15:44
office. And I'm like this is just a
15:47
misunderstanding, this is business, goofy, this can't be
15:51
it and I was I was met with police officers and a woman
15:56
behind bulletproof. Glass, who told me number one
15:59
you're not popping to the add individual that just indicted
16:02
you. And number two, this is not a
16:04
misunderstanding. You should definitely go and get
16:07
legal counsel. Well so Travis, what's going
16:11
through your mind at that moment?
16:14
Well, I mean, you know, the first thing you do is you go to
16:16
Google and you're like, what the heck is this?
16:18
I mean, you know, I mean what is a grand jury indictment and then
16:23
you get, you get, like, 30 percent fact and like 70% of
16:27
like angry people on the internet, the pinion that are
16:30
unhelpful. And that's where I learned the
16:32
phrase that you could indict a ham sandwich.
16:35
Well, Travis, you know, the it's a point that I think a lot of
16:39
people actually do not understand because
16:41
constitutionally, we think you've got, you know, you've got
16:43
your fence and you've got the prosecution of both present
16:46
their sides. Actually, that doesn't happen in
16:48
a grand jury. Only one side is presented.
16:52
No, other side is heard. And that's why people say you
16:54
can indict a ham sandwich because there is no other side.
16:57
There is a group of people that are held as your jury, your
17:02
grand jury, and then the prosecutor comes in and presents
17:05
their case. Yes, yes, it is.
17:09
It is so hard. It's so hard to believe, and I
17:13
remember when I finally did get my, my defense attorney, I
17:18
remember he sat down the first thing he told me as I explained
17:21
as he explained that to me, like you just did so well, he said
17:24
it's the general public knew that there would be blood in the
17:26
streets because it's what you think.
17:29
It's what we see. You two individuals who are
17:32
usually calm, cool and collected, both our attorneys.
17:35
They go and they present duel. The judge who really is agnostic
17:39
to the situation. Says, let me look at the facts
17:42
Bing. Bang.
17:42
Boom, I'm not going to snake where I can split the baby down.
17:45
No, no, no. Quite literally, they summon a
17:48
group of individuals behind closed doors and they paint any
17:52
picture that they want, and the picture that they have to paint
17:55
to indict. You is slow, tiny, all didn't
17:59
really hard day is. Oh my goodness, gracious.
18:02
In order to be invited where I want.
18:04
You only had to be a resident of the county.
18:07
County. And to be have obtained a
18:11
financial instrument. So, any bank account, any
18:15
savings account, any wire transfer in that county?
18:19
Those were that was my low bar to be indicted for them to
18:22
actually come in and blow the doors off of my entire Bridge.
18:27
Did you have a bank account and did you live here?
18:30
What? Okay, here we go.
18:33
So that was it. That was my, my knock on the
18:35
door changed everything. And, you know, not to not to
18:39
gloss over all of the poultry installations details.
18:43
But, you know, once you're in that blender, it very difficult
18:46
to get out. You are dealing with the justice
18:48
system that looks at a low bar and says he was indicted, the
18:55
people, the good citizens of said County did indict him.
19:00
And therefore, we Move forward to a trial, let more citizens.
19:05
Because the judge goes, I don't want anything to do with this.
19:08
And this is where incomes your defense counsel, where they say,
19:11
this is not a good thing to go to trial because most people
19:14
will look at this and do exactly what the judges did.
19:18
The other people before me said, so the evidence said so, so I'm
19:21
going to say so and I'm going to go home And that was what
19:26
started a years years, years years, long legal battle between
19:32
myself and the State of Arizona of which I love.
19:36
So you're married you have kids and how did that all play into
19:44
your world? Great question.
19:47
So towards the end, my wife is just pregnant with our with our
19:53
first one. Towards the end of this whole
19:56
nightmare, right before I had gone in and been sentenced.
20:01
And there came a point where I was so exhausted.
20:07
Every you know to kind of give the people to paint a real
20:11
picture without sounding like a total wimp every 30 days.
20:16
I had a court appearance in the same courtroom up until this
20:20
point keep in mind. My transaction was from quarter
20:24
for 2006. This is now 2010. 2011 2010 you
20:30
are 2012. I had never been arrested.
20:34
I'd never been put in handcuffs. I'd never been served time in
20:37
jail. And so there's a weird dichotomy
20:39
there for people who haven't experienced that.
20:41
Because once you get put in the back of a cop car and go to
20:44
jail, there's like, there's something it's tangible, right?
20:48
But every 30 days, I'd walk into a courtroom and we would argue
20:51
the state would argue and then the judge would say we're moving
20:55
this forward And that was it, that was it.
20:59
And so it was what I what I learned quickly was that, that
21:03
two hours of arguments soon cost me about $3500.
21:07
Every time I walked in, but it was like that, PTSD, that you
21:11
mentioned earlier because I pull up, I parked in the same spot.
21:14
I put the quarters in the meter. I'd go through the metal
21:16
detector idea. Nice to I'd walk in.
21:19
I'd have so much anxiety, you know, you're sick before, you're
21:21
vomiting blood, the night before, you can't eat, but then
21:24
you binge eat, you go through this whole thing and then
21:27
Supposed to be Lucid enough to enter conversational questions
21:30
about what happened 54 months ago, right?
21:34
And on top of that, you then get an invoice in your in your email
21:36
before you even get back to the car for another 10 grand, right?
21:40
I was exhausted. I was mentally physically,
21:42
emotionally financially, spiritually exhausted.
21:46
And I told my wife, I remember I was sitting on the ground One
21:48
Night in our living room and I said, whatever comes from this
21:51
Camp beans. That is what this is.
21:54
I think that's right. This is what I think.
21:57
What you just said there is something that, I mean, I get
22:00
goosebumps listening to your story because it gives me PTSD.
22:03
But you, you do get physically, emotionally, spiritually,
22:08
exhausted, to wear your, I think you run on adrenaline for so
22:13
long because you're fighting in a, you get up and it's about the
22:17
fight you go to bed and you can't hardly sleep because it's
22:19
about the fight. But eventually you get to that
22:22
point. It's like I just want this over
22:24
with. I just I don't know how much
22:25
further I can go with this. I want it over with and and I
22:30
had, we were reading this book at the time and it was called
22:34
Come What May and beloved. And I remember that book, you
22:38
know, I don't remember the entire book, the entirety of it,
22:41
but I remember the overarching theme was, like, if God is in
22:44
control and come what may and love it.
22:47
And that's why I told Melissa. I said like I mean I just can't
22:51
do this anymore. The the details, I'll give you
22:53
I'll give you a couple of fun stories for folks that are out
22:56
there listening. The behind-the-scenes work that
23:00
goes into like high-profile white collar crime, is it
23:04
obviously makes it to the news, right?
23:06
And there was a time where I walked into my attorney's office
23:11
and he said, hey we've got a good opportunity here to get rid
23:15
of a boatload of charges and that is going to require us to
23:19
bring on this additional and attorney because that attorney
23:24
is actually one of the Representatives for the incoming
23:30
attorney general campaign and that will Garner favor.
23:34
And so that particular attorney needs ten thousand dollars.
23:40
And also is looking for this particular and they gave it to
23:44
me. This particular Cartier watch
23:46
for his wife Wow, true story. And in all of that happened in
23:53
all of that went away. Like he said it would and so it
23:56
went from, you know, whatever, you know, 138 charges, you know,
24:01
to 22 charges and, you know, went from 66 years down to maybe
24:07
fall and so you looked at my wife and what didn't, you know,
24:11
money? Well, spent and that went on for
24:13
years, you know, it was a it was a behind-the-scenes chess game.
24:18
That most people just don't believe.
24:20
If I didn't believe exist, if I didn't live it, and that was
24:24
kind of some of the hard things for me to wrap my head around.
24:26
It still is to this day. One of my greatest Clause is
24:29
just got a comfortable business meeting because I'm so
24:31
data-driven that when people say to me, because I like it, That
24:37
doesn't really sit well with me like, help me understand why
24:40
we're making a decision or not, making a decision based on some
24:43
sort of thing. And my case, my case wasn't
24:47
really there, my case was so black and white to them and that
24:50
was you lived in the state, you raise millions of dollars in the
24:54
state, you paid no taxes in this state.
24:56
Therefore comma, you're guilty. That's it.
25:01
And that was it and because it and at 10th and all those things
25:04
are out the door on those things.
25:06
And that's the other thing. You didn't wake up thinking,
25:09
anything about anything that was criminal.
25:13
That, that was, that's the the incredible part of your story.
25:16
As you were, just doing what you were doing.
25:19
Following, what you knew from what you had learned.
25:22
And then all of a sudden, you get a knock on the door and the
25:25
whole world changes and it's black and white.
25:29
Yeah, it is. And that's kind of, you know
25:32
what? I now, tell people, I get a lot
25:33
of these Consulting phone calls from high-profile white-collar
25:36
guys now, and as much as they wanted to give me their tears,
25:40
you know this that did you send the wire was it from your bank
25:45
account and the stories are like wire fraud wire fraud, did you
25:51
send it? Did you scan it?
25:53
Did you mail it? Did you stamp it mail?
25:56
Fraud like, I understand that wasn't the intent.
25:59
You didn't wake up with it. You didn't knock off old ladies.
26:02
Except I get all of that. Trust me.
26:03
I get it. But did it have?
26:05
But the way that the beginning happened, and if the answer is
26:08
yes, now it's time to wrap your head around the.
26:10
Yes and mitigate. What's next?
26:13
Well, tell me about the night that you decide that you're
26:16
going to plea. And yeah, it comes to the, you
26:21
know, that because that's all that's a reckoning.
26:23
I think when you decide you fought it all the way through
26:25
and I'm going to do a plea. Yeah.
26:30
Uncomfortable for share it. I had a really, really, really
26:32
intelligent attorney that helped me through that process.
26:36
One of the things that they did for me was they said, hey we're
26:39
going to do this in a quarter for the year because no judges
26:46
calendars will be pulled at that quarter.
26:49
And so we're going to make sure that you have all of the last
26:54
celebrations and holidays with your family and then we'll walk
26:58
in in January. And as as kind of goofy is that
27:01
might sound to some people, it's a very intelligent scenario
27:05
agree. Totally.
27:07
I had this some years ago but it's an odd situation because I
27:12
was sentenced in November middle of November and then I went into
27:17
prison January 14th but I went through Thanksgiving and
27:21
Christmas and those moments that you have it's such a weird world
27:26
because you know that you're stepping into the unknown. of
27:29
prison, but you're grasping for those moments, where your family
27:35
Totally grabbed thing. Hold we graphing.
27:38
You're a thousand percent correct.
27:41
And I think that's what well, I know we'll get there later but I
27:44
know that's what really you guys like me, when I reflect back on,
27:47
you know, from a gratitude perspective.
27:50
But the answer your question, you know, once you realize,
27:53
you're going to play everything becomes pretty finite.
27:55
What do I really care about what really matters, how am I going
27:58
to spend my days? Who am I going to call, right?
28:01
Like the time that you spend on the phone with people and I do
28:05
Jokingly say that, you know, we living in Los Angeles, in
28:08
California. You have a lot of time on the
28:10
road and you'll love that when you when you are sentenced.
28:15
Or when you plea you really decide who you're going to call
28:19
on your drive home from work. Yeah.
28:22
Because that time is so precious metal, right?
28:25
You're not just going to call up and ramble and and talk nonsense
28:29
with with anybody. You're going to spend some
28:31
really valuable time rolling through.
28:34
As you got an hour on the freeway and going from all of
28:37
the important loved ones on a daily basis.
28:40
Yep, it's a whole different perspective.
28:44
It is take it and take inventory, a whole different
28:46
way. So was it a surprise to you with
28:51
the amount of time that you got when they came down with the
28:54
sentence? How did that roll out to you,
28:57
total surprise? Wonderful sound, you know, up,
28:59
until this point, I was told by everybody.
29:01
It was just going to be a monster fine and probation, you
29:06
know, most people said they're just, they wouldn't drag it out
29:09
this long, and I had all these excuses.
29:12
But when I got into To the courtroom everything changed.
29:16
There was a palpable fear in that room.
29:18
I talked about that quite a bit. If I think it's those pews those
29:22
wooden benches, those rickety wooden benches could talk, you
29:26
know, they start to take sold one by one as the gavel is bang
29:30
and on January 20th. 2012, that was my particular State.
29:35
I stood in front of that judge and the judge had decided to use
29:40
my entire pedigree against me. All of the intelligence, the
29:45
ability to articulate a story, the ability to hire attorneys,
29:49
and have attorneys on staff. The amount of money that I
29:52
raised my age, my schooling. And because of that, he rolled
29:57
it all up and said, I'm going to make an example out of you.
30:01
And he sent it to me. 22 years in the Arizona, Department of
30:03
Corrections that day right there.
30:05
Remanded immediately remanded immediately.
30:09
Immediately I had no conversation with my wife as
30:12
they put those hands up on me for the first time and last time
30:15
in my life, I had no conversations with my wife,
30:18
other than looking across that Chasm of a courtroom, you know,
30:21
and trying to be stoic and just letting her know.
30:23
Hey, I'm going to be okay and I love you and that was our final
30:27
conversation. Well, Travis that would, you
30:31
know, I didn't have that happen. I had, you know, the sentencing
30:34
and then I had a couple of months to wonder where they were
30:38
going to send Bay and then Standing at the gates but you
30:40
went from that courtroom to walk us through what happened after
30:44
that because that had to have been.
30:47
I don't know what that would have been shocked.
30:50
Yeah, it was complete shock to be honest, you know, a prison.
30:54
Take every bit of your dignity with it.
30:59
You know, it starts during that intake process.
31:01
My very first concern. I remember in that courtroom,
31:05
you know, our little guy literally just been born in a
31:09
week, prior to that. My first question, my attorney
31:13
was, what am I going to see him? And she was kind enough to kind
31:16
of, you know, touch my hand, my right hand, as they put, their
31:19
hands up down. And as you said, you'll see them
31:22
often and it was all just a blur.
31:26
It was so fuzzy it was such a blur and I remember you know
31:30
then taking me out of that courtroom and the first thing
31:33
they do is you know take apart your person, you know, give me
31:37
the phone that you came in, with the keys.
31:39
Go back of your car, go back to your wife.
31:41
And that moment for you, where you're like, man, my wife is
31:44
literally on the other side of that door, as they're giving her
31:47
my property, you know. A take the suit that I was
31:51
wearing that day, that I thought would Garner some sort of
31:53
favorable outcome for me, that didn't and each each thing that
32:00
you came in with physically, mentally emotionally, they start
32:04
to take from you at that point and I would walk back there.
32:08
And they, you know, took me down three or four flights of stairs
32:11
in a three or four flights in an elevator and put me into a, you
32:15
know, the old white Paddy Wagon van and it was off to jail.
32:20
For intake. You're right.
32:22
And it is they do prison eyes. You almost I always say to
32:26
people. It's like you can almost feel
32:27
your freedom coming off your skin.
32:29
It just, it just has that feel to it.
32:31
You that dignity that you've been become a number and you
32:36
become part of that world. What was your what was your
32:40
first day like walking into that world of the unknown?
32:47
so, the first day of the prison yard was I had spent, I spent
32:54
about three weeks in intake, which was just a horrible
32:59
condition. You know, they don't let you
33:00
outside, you don't see the light of day, you're not making phone
33:03
calls. The only communication that I
33:06
have was with, like, a really Slim like number two, writing
33:10
pencil that was like, broken in half.
33:12
And so it's part of the job, some things down in hopes that I
33:16
could use it as I could cathartic experience.
33:20
But your, you have no contact and I'm in this.
33:22
This cell, you know, the 10 by 20 cell was one thing.
33:25
And one toilet, there was I believe there was there was a 17
33:29
of us that were in there and I remember the 17, because three
33:33
of them slept on the floor and fun like a makeshift bed roll.
33:37
And so we were there for almost a month and so being transported
33:41
to a prison yard, I tell everybody.
33:44
If you have a choice, don't go to jail, the prison exactly
33:47
there's such a big difference. It was just horrible conditions,
33:55
the worst clothing, the worst guard, it's like a cattle
33:59
turning style, right? But on the prison yard at least
34:03
you have some you know like you get them guys are never going
34:05
home and so they treat it like a house you know take your shoes
34:08
off. They say yes they think you
34:11
asked nicely but walking or driving up to that prison yard.
34:15
You know, all of them are the same.
34:16
It's like a scene out of Shawshank, you know.
34:18
It's like 48 miles to the middle of nowhere because no one's
34:21
building a prison and any cool Town it is and and and then
34:28
you're there and it you know 600 yards of just concrete and
34:32
barbed wire you know and then you pull up for the one gate,
34:36
everybody checked the bus you know on the bus under the buck
34:39
around the Box through the gate, on the Bus, Around the basket,
34:43
under the bus, and then your let off, you know, kind of one by
34:46
one, in my particular City down there, there were four Prison
34:50
yards and so they wouldn't tell you who is going where until
34:52
Hold up then they would call you by name and they pull you off
34:55
the bus, you know. And I learned later, you know,
34:57
that was based on like security level and you know amount of
35:00
time that you had. So my first yard, my first
35:04
moments on the yard with, you know, going through the sally
35:06
port with the kind of your belongings and the lieutenant
35:10
giving you your bunk. Here's where you're going to.
35:12
Here's a room assignment and I got to that room, I thought
35:17
there was another white boy on the yard for those.
35:20
Listening is obviously very political.
35:22
The whites come up to you and make sure that you're one of
35:24
them and then they claim you. And then they tell you where to
35:26
go help you to find out where you need to go.
35:29
And when I got in that room, I didn't want to be in there,
35:35
nobody would. And so, I was just craving after
35:39
that almost month of just being underground in that filth, I
35:42
just walked outside. So the workout yard and I just
35:47
looked up at the sky. And I just wanted to feel this
35:50
pain on my body and I just stood there for as long as possible.
35:55
I I saw somebody do that Travis exactly what you just described
36:01
and he was and still is a very good friend of mine, but he was
36:05
in the county jail, for 16 months and hadn't been out side.
36:10
And he looked like, it looked like he got out of that casket,
36:14
he was that white and he's not, he's very dark complected guy,
36:18
but he took his shoes off which you never saw anybody.
36:21
Take their shoes off on the yard and he walked in the grass and
36:24
just just looked like you said up and just took the Sun and and
36:28
I can't imagine even what that would feel like after not being
36:32
three or four weeks not being anywhere but inside his cell I
36:38
don't know. I don't know how I haven't had
36:40
that happen. It was you know with intent and
36:45
for me it was it was that moment where it was like okay this is
36:48
this is my opportunity to rewrite the very very We learned
36:56
that the yard that I was put on obviously, with a very, very
36:58
minimum yard and probably one of the lowest in the state and
37:03
almost everybody was going home at some point, even if it was 45
37:08
years in the future, they still had an end date.
37:12
Most of them, there was a few lifers on that yard that had
37:15
been incarcerated for decades that had just worked their way
37:19
down to off compound approval and things like that.
37:23
But That being said, my yard was was I say it all the time I was
37:28
fortunate, I was really fortunate in life time, because
37:32
that yard had a lot of off compound approvals, a lot of
37:35
work opportunities. And what most people don't
37:39
understand that, not only just like the indictment would freak
37:42
people out, but Almost every state prison has a prison yard
37:50
or prisoners that have contracts and those prisoners leave The
37:55
Compound on a daily basis. Exactly.
37:57
Yeah. That freaks people out.
38:00
When you, when you start to tell people, I was I wasn't good
38:04
enough to live in my ZIP code, so they transferred me to your
38:07
ZIP code. I wasn't, you know, like I was,
38:11
I was making seven figures a year now, I'm making seven
38:14
sensing here. Yes.
38:16
And you know, I was contributing to the tax base.
38:18
Now, I'm not there so many things that really don't make
38:20
sense about that process. I'll tell you one story that I
38:26
always giggle about and if I didn't, if I didn't live it, I
38:29
wouldn't have believed it. One of the contract that we had
38:35
was with the elementary school. Now you said you have grandkids
38:39
that means you have kids and you've got the three daughters
38:42
and so for everybody listening for this was a true story and
38:45
Douglas Arizona you can look it up, Google it, go visit it, but
38:49
we would go and and serve lunch. I'm literally a grant.
38:56
I promise you opening chocolate milk for children in my prison
39:00
orange. I have parents coming into the
39:03
cafeteria to sit with their children, right?
39:05
Like, you know, bring your dad, though, the lunch day or it's
39:08
your birthday, you know, Sally got balloons and a cake.
39:10
It luncher. Like we do with our children,
39:12
right? Yeah.
39:14
A dozen of us are on the campus in our prison oranges.
39:19
I'm eating slices of pizza and orange slices and chocolate milk
39:23
with hundreds of children. I'll everything every day and I
39:28
just like, I tried. I try not to like sound so goofy
39:32
about that, but it's so important for people to
39:34
understand that this criminal justice system.
39:38
I paid all the time. Didn't didn't fail.
39:41
It was it's working the exact way that they wanted it to work.
39:45
You're talking about a virtual volunteer army, thousands of men
39:49
that were in that City with me who work for the public works
39:53
department. The sanitation.
39:54
Acacia Department, the police department, the fire department,
39:58
the water, the the Sheriff's Office, the school, the the
40:03
mayor's out, like all contractor for basic, all contractor for
40:07
basically, for free. They paid us.
40:09
I think it was something around you know 27 cents per an hour.
40:12
Meanwhile they've got a you know a federal contract on me for
40:14
probably twenty seven dollars an hour.
40:16
Exactly exactly. And like I really want to drive
40:20
that home to people like In order for this system to
40:23
continue to work, there has to be people like me who get
40:26
sentence. So it was contract remains full.
40:30
Yes. Well is that was that part in
40:34
that world that you were in your strategy of being in prison?
40:37
Did you have any particular strategies you were thinking
40:40
okay I'm in the sun world. I'm in this unfamiliar world.
40:43
I want to be still I want to be Travis.
40:45
What were you? What were you thinking and how
40:47
are you walking through all that Travis.
40:50
Yeah, good question. I learned I learned pretty
40:52
quickly and I had I had this guy his last name is actually would.
40:57
And for those of, you know, those of you listening that the
41:00
political term, you know, for the white people and he came to
41:05
what he was leaving from Travis woodpecker, he came to me pretty
41:18
quickly and he read through my paperwork Work, which is pretty
41:21
common. And, you know, on this yard, you
41:24
know, I mean, I might find was over three million dollars and
41:28
so that's a, you know, that's a big number to most people.
41:30
And on this yard that was like a gargantuan number.
41:34
Most of these guys are just, you know, Petty criminals and stupid
41:36
ideas. And so he had ran the yard with
41:39
that point. And so he looked at me and he
41:41
said, all right, Wall Street, like I'm going to take you under
41:44
my wing and and I'm going to make sure that you're good here,
41:48
but I want you to teach me this whole Whole money thing.
41:51
Fantastic. And I thought there it is.
41:54
There it is. There it is.
41:56
And so as you know, there's a lot of like Loch Ness monsters
42:01
in prison. Yeah.
42:02
Saying, you know, people have stories that don't exist.
42:04
And and so I would get guys that would come to me and they say,
42:08
hey like so are you like a jailhouse lawyer or let you know
42:12
that type of conversation but they're not know.
42:14
Like first of all, it's not that nothing to do with the legal
42:17
system. But if you want to talk about
42:18
money, You have to walk it through with you and so then in
42:24
order to get him off compound approval and those DEA, they
42:27
needed to make sure that you had a high school diploma and, you
42:30
know, etc etc. Well, with my paperwork came
42:32
back and they were like, guys literally has a degree with
42:35
finance that came down coming down from the captain of the
42:39
yard. It gave me that that street
42:41
credit. And then what they did, it was
42:45
just super Loft. Had this guy in the yard and
42:47
Dock and here in the education department.
42:49
Ain't he literally had been down since like, you know, Peter
42:52
James and John but he ran the education department.
42:56
He said, hey, I can't get him off pumping approval because I'm
42:58
a lifer. But with your credentials, I'm
43:00
going to submit you to get him off pump on approval.
43:03
We have a tutor position open at the community college and nobody
43:09
else here has had prudential's. So you know, here you go, it's
43:12
yours. And I didn't know what that
43:14
meant that the time until I got there and I tell you what, that
43:18
was Was a blessing from God. Oh yeah I got up the yard.
43:22
I got off the yard every single day, Monday through Friday and I
43:26
was able to at this Community College, they had four yards
43:30
that would meet. They're not all the yards.
43:32
Of course, you know, people are taking courses and classes and
43:35
everything from wood shop to Machining the license plate,
43:38
said, fine and everything. And I started this literally
43:44
business. 101 course, with the Small Business Development
43:48
Center, That had a grant, their sdbc, there's a million of them
43:52
nationally people want to look them up.
43:54
And I started this little thing and I, the first thing I wrote
43:57
down, I said don't buy a key burger with a credit card, and I
44:01
taught them about credit, well, let me talk about compound
44:04
interest and let me show you how it works.
44:06
And let me show you how it could work.
44:08
Negatively over here with debt, but how can work positively over
44:11
here with investment and Grant, I promise you, it wasn't that,
44:15
you know, prisons are nothing greater than a prison Wildfire
44:18
but But it wasn't in in three weeks and they said, all right,
44:23
we got to move you to another class because you've got 150 on
44:27
your waiting list. Wow.
44:30
So you know, that Sarah is kind of Full Circle for you to Travis
44:34
because that's before you went in to the finance part.
44:38
You were teaching the couple of years and getting that
44:41
fulfillment out of that, that had to be somewhat of an escape
44:45
for you. While you're in prison to be
44:48
able to do that. And give that fill you up with
44:51
laughing. Yeah.
44:54
Huge blessings, monster blessing.
44:56
I realized quickly, you know, for those listening that don't
44:59
know information and drugs are two very powerful things.
45:04
On a prison yard, I didn't have any experience in the ladder,
45:11
but I did have a lot of information.
45:12
And so, when people would come through, visitation my wife will
45:15
come down every week Saturdays and Sundays and visits.
45:17
And when people would come to visitation, they slide over to
45:20
my table and say, hey, my wife, At her 401K.
45:25
Can you take a look at it and and then they pay me for it,
45:28
right? For through the handy, the
45:30
strain of Shawshank and then it turned into this Lieutenant
45:36
Lieutenant Reinhardt, he came and he said, hey I want you to
45:40
look, you know? And so I realized exactly to
45:42
your point man, this was this was a huge blessing from God.
45:45
This therapy for me? Yeah, it got my mind engaged
45:48
every day and I really realized then that I was informationally
45:52
valuable to us. All of these yards.
45:54
And so in a sense, it really insulated me.
45:57
Sure. Was that, is that what was
46:00
rolling through your head. When you were going and walking
46:03
through all this, did you start thinking about?
46:06
Wow, this could be something as I walk out of here to create a
46:12
world that needs to be. And I've got now the street cred
46:18
of being here, I'm going to be out there.
46:20
What did that start working in your mind as you were?
46:23
In prison. I realized that, you know,
46:28
financial literacy, I looked at prison like a problem and as a
46:33
business solution versus problem and I knew that, let's look at
46:38
it like Amazon. If there's no packages, there's
46:40
no money. There's no people, there's no
46:41
money. The prison system really, as, if
46:44
you start to unwind it, the dirt that's owned and the buildings
46:48
that are built upon it and the beds that are placed in it,
46:51
those are all contracts. So their hat, those have to be
46:54
full in order for this. This to get an Roi two pencil.
46:59
And that might sound callous to those people who are with needed
47:01
for the truth, the truth. And so I thought, okay well why
47:05
are people coming here if it's 80 some any of the 87% of
47:09
people? After 10 years, come back right
47:12
recidivism rate, eight out of ten crazy.
47:14
And then if Delta Air Lines fell out of the sky eight out of ten
47:19
flights on a daily basis. Yeah, I dropped away.
47:23
If he's at a hospital you can't be out of 8 out of 10.
47:25
Good. No.
47:28
No. How's your OBGYN?
47:30
Twenty twenty two percent. Exactly.
47:33
Why what? So yeah.
47:35
It's not a good thing and so then you go okay.
47:37
Well wait a minute. If this is an industry that
47:39
thrives on like four outcomes if you will and then not only do
47:44
they thrive on it but they make more money off of it.
47:47
Like what in the heck is going on here?
47:50
And so I learned then as I would start to factor these guys like
47:54
what's your barrier to entry when you get out and it always
47:58
Not always, but 8 out of 10 times, it came down to some sort
48:01
of financial component. Sure.
48:03
I can't, I can't get a job because of this, I can't get a
48:06
car because of that, I can't open a bank account because
48:09
something, right. And so, the simplest thing to do
48:12
is like, Johnny is not a car Enthusiast.
48:15
That's not why he stole the six. The Shelby Mustang don't even
48:18
crackhead, right? Right.
48:21
He doesn't have a vehicle in the Barrett-Jackson Auction.
48:25
No, you go like, okay, well, if I can alleviate some of the
48:31
financial burden and, and maybe walk you out with a blueprint,
48:35
like, do you think that that could help you not come back to
48:37
you? And the answer was just there
48:39
was anything yet so I started very simply with FICO score.
48:44
I'll never forget one of the funniest things and it would
48:47
halfway in jest and halfway serious.
48:48
I was just started the FICO course, talk about their credit.
48:53
Oars and I was, I was, I was working out that day and I
48:56
remember these two Mexican guys want that disparagingly, but we
48:59
can't be too offended guys. Came up to me and they said, yo
49:02
man, I know that you're talking about FICO like we know that
49:05
home And I'm like, I don't know. I don't think we're talking
49:13
about the saying like, oh, it was just, it was just funny.
49:18
I realized then obviously it was such a an honest moment for me
49:22
of authenticity to go guys. That's by Cozad company.
49:25
It's an acronym that was started in San Francisco.
49:27
Never mind. Yeah.
49:28
Like that's that's it. Yeah.
49:32
So it was good and so it started there and I never thought it
49:35
would grow what it is. I definitely did blueprint Life
49:40
2.0. I definitely wouldn't listen
49:42
would come down on the weekend. I would say, okay, I'm going to
49:45
turn this. I'm going to turn this mess into
49:46
a message. I'm going to figure out, you
49:48
know, how do I unlike mess into a message?
49:52
Do you know the other thing? Travis that I don't want to
49:53
gloss over because it's such a big deal and so few have it.
49:59
You and I were very very lucky prisoners and it's not it's a
50:04
strange thing to say a lucky prisoner but We both had wives
50:09
that came to visit us every weekend that was so uncommon
50:16
because so many guys, literally lost complete touch with
50:20
everything that had to have been at me.
50:25
And I look at, you know, my wife Julie, she was she was the glue
50:28
that kept our family together because I always say no, when
50:32
somebody goes to prison, the family goes to prison because
50:35
they have to figure out. How does that work?
50:37
How How do we do this? And your wife had to have been
50:41
Rock Solid to walk through that and and the thing that I see to
50:47
is by her coming, she was able to plug into you, your world
50:52
that was so unfamiliar, but you were plugging back into the
50:56
outside world. So you got to sit on the fence,
50:58
the two of you for a little while and that's not great.
51:03
But it sure is better than not having it at all.
51:07
I'll brother truer words have never been spoken.
51:12
You're right as you know that visitation room was few and far
51:17
between right with with loved ones with a lot of parents but
51:22
very few significant others. Why is like ours you know who my
51:27
wife made a five-hour trip you know one way twice a week with a
51:33
you know with a six-month-old. Yeah.
51:36
And And you know, and I joke all the time, you know, not a
51:39
grocery store trip goes by where the cashier doesn't separate
51:42
Melissa nice groceries with a little plastic divider things,
51:45
you know, because nobody can believe that she's with me.
51:54
I've never heard that before, all the time all the time.
52:00
So it is, I mean her, I got sick, my covered with her and
52:05
then she is achieved through, like you said rock-solid,
52:07
there's just not a better. There's not a better one of
52:10
these your clothes. So you do this in your world
52:19
here, and you realize that you've Got something you get six
52:22
months, you know, to the door and you start something kind of
52:26
changes in your work because you don't think about it as much as
52:28
to the point where you're like, okay I'm getting out well what
52:31
was going through your mind of? Okay my next step, how were you
52:35
feeling? What were you thinking?
52:36
What was going through your mind?
52:39
Man, I was just so hungry to hit the ground.
52:42
I was once I got that day, I'll never forget that phone call
52:45
sitting in the counselor's office and tell him a little I
52:46
got a date you know here it is. We don't think they'll give you
52:50
one. Wow.
52:51
So big so big you know and my sentence was two years and then
52:55
Arizona had like an 80. I think it's 85% good times, you
52:59
know, I'm sure some will correct me 80% maybe and then, you know,
53:03
then I had like, 90 days worth of good, you know?
53:05
So your date fluctuates and then it's always like to be Carry the
53:09
one and you didn't get in trouble.
53:10
And, and, and and, and, and then you actually get all the good
53:13
times, but still until you get that date.
53:16
It's your on pins and needles and I remember, they said, yeah,
53:21
you can call her. If I call her handsome, man,
53:22
here we go. We got this date, and I was so
53:25
hyper focused from that point forward on making sure that when
53:29
I got out it was just like militant.
53:31
I wanted to make sure we had a routine.
53:32
I wanted to know where we were going.
53:34
What time I was waking up, what I was doing and everything was
53:38
focused on Goal and the dream, taking this story to the world.
53:42
I knew I had to take it to the world, I didn't know how, but I
53:45
didn't care what that my way to do it.
53:47
I had to take it to the world and show people.
53:49
Number one, everybody, everybody deserves a second chance.
53:52
And number to every human in this world is full of a story
53:58
that can that can unfold to Redemption.
54:00
Yeah. So true.
54:02
So true. So what, I'll tell me, what was
54:05
the day like you walking out? Finally walk out Dorian.
54:10
Well my gosh, it was boring. I was in the greatest Shape of
54:13
My Life clothes didn't fit the my wife dropped off.
54:16
It was pretty can often, you have my wife, was there?
54:19
It was just magic. You know what, I remember this
54:22
one thing that really really like pierced my heart right
54:26
before I left. I'm sitting in the cell with the
54:28
other guys that were going home and this guy, that's older
54:30
gentleman. He had been down 40 years at
54:35
that point and he pulled out his debit.
54:37
Did they give you kind of going home money?
54:39
You know, 50 bucks, 100 bucks. There he's got on you and he
54:42
pulled out his debit card and he was, he was somber with a little
54:46
choked up. He's a little scared and and he
54:50
said, I can't tell you what it means to me for you.
54:54
To teach me how to use this thing.
54:55
Wow. At the kind of man, I was like
54:59
kind of emotional emotional and I just thought goodness, it was
55:04
that moment, right before I left, but I went.
55:06
Okay, God, what do you got for me here?
55:09
Like, what is it? What's now?
55:12
And that man, it was, it was incredible.
55:14
So my wife, can you pick me up assimilating, you know, back
55:18
into the world is weird, you know, the last thing that
55:21
anybody wants to do is go to a mall or a restaurant, you know,
55:25
after you. Been told not to disrespect
55:28
people and not to stand in front of people and not the Crocs must
55:32
hurry over. Well all the word crazy.
55:37
So we went and we got a hotel. My mom wants our little guy for
55:42
that weekend. Went got a hotel and just
55:44
reconnected spent the weekend together talking about what the
55:48
plans were going to be, what they were going to look like.
55:50
I had, I think I had three days before I had to check in with
55:53
probation and you know that it was The rape isn't trying to
55:57
figure out what life is going to be.
56:00
Well, Travis you've done a lot. So tell us what's going on now
56:04
in your world, how did how did you get to where you're at with
56:07
what you're doing? Crazy unrelenting.
56:12
Just desire. I mean I tell people all the
56:14
time, you know, my crime was for millions of dollars and I was
56:18
incredibly fortunate and all that other stuff but the reason
56:21
I tell you that is when I got out I had to have a job, you
56:26
know. No doesn't matter.
56:28
It doesn't matter how much money you have in the bank, doesn't
56:30
matter what business you've got, you know, these based on
56:32
officers have to check a box and they want you to have a Jo be
56:36
with a W-2 or whatever. And so I hustled during the day
56:41
to try to get my story out, he'll most every kind of
56:45
magazine allow you to work for yourself.
56:49
I mean, that's part of the, some of the supervisions you can't
56:52
work or create a job. You've got it, right?
56:54
You got to work for somebody. So, there is there's Limitations
56:57
around people who even put on on that.
57:00
Now you're 100% right. You really are.
57:02
It's there's a lot of barriers to entry.
57:04
Yeah. And so I found this bread
57:06
company and they would let me work there at nighttime.
57:10
I would stack red truck so that I had as a quote unquote job and
57:14
you know and I go there from like 9:00 or 10:00 p.m. like 5
57:16
or 6 a.m. and I would do that all during the week so that I
57:20
have this W to job and then aside from that it was back to
57:24
building the business back to investing back to going to my
57:28
old contact button. You know, that I was home seeing
57:30
what opportunities were out there.
57:32
But first and foremost was really telling my story about
57:35
accomplished and trying to figure out how to take this
57:37
nonprofit and set the world on fire.
57:41
That's so. And, and, and the amount with
57:46
what you did and what you're doing now.
57:50
How difficult was it to get into the world that you would have
57:54
been in to make those connections to have this big
57:58
idea that you wanted to basically create an education
58:02
world inside the walls, was it a hard?
58:06
Was it a hard? Sell was an easy.
58:07
Sell, what how did that work for you?
58:11
Who's crazy hard. The first year I mean they want
58:14
you to prove a model on its concept which basically bleed
58:17
you dry. So they'll say sure will take
58:20
your program will take your content.
58:22
Your curriculum for free will test pilot it, you know, around
58:26
the country will give you data and feedback.
58:28
If we can remember, to give you the data and feedback, and when
58:32
we do, then we'll talk about maybe some sort of Revenue,
58:35
sharing model, or maybe there's zero promises, its Percent risk
58:41
and they want you to put up all of the equity in the capital in
58:44
order to do it. So the barrier to entry is crazy
58:47
high. I tell people that all the time,
58:49
like, you know, when I get the inmate letters, if they all want
58:52
to do what you want to do, and it's like, I would love for you
58:54
to, I hope that you have enough gumption and money in the bank
58:58
to run for the next 12 months for free.
59:02
But once I was able to do that, then, you know, as you know,
59:07
guys like us are hardly anomaly of coming out of prison.
59:10
Most of them are Inked Up and have an addiction and are, you
59:14
know, a little bit sideways. And, you know, still love to eat
59:18
ramen noodles and their kitchen for some weird reason.
59:20
But so, when you and I are able to get in front of a room or
59:23
articulate an email or have an opportunity to shoot our shot,
59:28
you know, more often than not were successful because you
59:32
know, who came before us was, you know, like, The guy on
59:36
heroin. So for me, I wanted to make sure
59:40
that when I stepped into a room that people understood that I
59:42
was doing this from a place of empathy and most of the time I
59:45
got in the room to talk with the o.c., they would think that I
59:48
was legal counsel didn't think that.
59:50
I was in a former inmate when I got out and I was, you know,
59:55
really yoked up. They thought I was Aryan
59:56
Brotherhood and then it, you know, then as you right then it
1:00:01
turned into like legal counsel because I don't have any
1:00:02
tattoos. So it was that Action.
1:00:05
So I thought, you know what? If I can articulate a story in
1:00:08
the barrier to entry is low, then why wouldn't I just jump on
1:00:11
LinkedIn and start cold calling some of these, you know wardens
1:00:14
and lieutenants and captains and saying hey I've got a program
1:00:18
here that stems from financial literacy and I'd love to have it
1:00:21
on your yard. How do we do that and and that
1:00:23
clock where it started? Most people came back and they
1:00:27
went I don't even know how to do that.
1:00:28
Yeah and some of them said I don't want to try and some of
1:00:32
them said hey let's figure it out together but what I'd like,
1:00:35
Learned. Is that it, you know, it's like
1:00:37
for example, when you get Arizona on board, then it's
1:00:39
easier to point to Nevada because they can just say, hey
1:00:43
call your buddy over there and they'll tell you what I did.
1:00:47
So that's been fun. I just think it's so cool what
1:00:50
you've been able to do and I know that you've gone back into
1:00:54
prisons to speak. What's that like Yeah, hundreds
1:00:57
of them at this point on Dairy covid.
1:01:00
I was doing it kind of on a weekly basis, you know, there
1:01:02
was really no volunteers allowed in and so they didn't have
1:01:05
programming. And so I would go in and kind of
1:01:07
travel the country and speak inside.
1:01:09
It was beautiful. A lot of my stuff that I try to
1:01:13
do with the inmates that are currently incarcerated because
1:01:17
they go, oh we just want you to speak.
1:01:18
There's really no guideline, but I start with identity and I walk
1:01:22
them through, like, you've been in the situation and
1:01:25
environment, where are you? You've been told what you can't
1:01:28
do and what you shouldn't do, and what you shouldn't need,
1:01:30
what you can't be. But the reality of the situation
1:01:32
is you are a miracle to be here and you are deserving great.
1:01:37
That's that's why I really want and then I walk them through
1:01:39
like, your programming really changes.
1:01:42
Your belief system, you know, the happiest animal in the world
1:01:46
is a goldfish that are the 10 second memory.
1:01:48
And so, when you walk out of here, I want you to remember
1:01:51
that you've been programmed into, a belief that self those
1:01:54
belief systems will create feelings.
1:01:57
Feeling will turn into actions and then actions actually
1:01:59
pending the result, but motivation doesn't get you
1:02:02
anywhere right statistical that you can write all the cute cute
1:02:05
quotes on the mirror and your wife can remind you every day.
1:02:07
It's a few text messages, but you've got to be programmed with
1:02:11
a belief system that says, you can't win you deserve to win.
1:02:13
You're going to. What, so when I talk to the
1:02:16
inmates that are inside, what's usually my narrative is that
1:02:18
here's who you are? Here's who you're made up of and
1:02:23
what's been interesting for me in 2020.
1:02:26
When T it 2019 2020. Is that my message?
1:02:30
My incarceration method that identity message has resonated
1:02:33
more with the younger generation that youth of tomorrow.
1:02:38
Then then any other kind of genre that I've spoken to, I've
1:02:42
been asked to speak at more schools because of the suicide,
1:02:47
you know, the vaping addiction, the bullying, you know, where
1:02:51
these kids of tomorrow, they lost.
1:02:53
Yeah. If they don't have a screen in
1:02:55
front of them, they don't have a dopamine reuptake.
1:02:57
Action if they're not being applauded or given a plastic
1:03:00
trophy for coming in 19th Place, they don't feel like they're
1:03:02
worthy. Yeah.
1:03:03
And so my message which is an interesting going through this
1:03:06
adversity is taking it to the kids.
1:03:08
And after I walk to you through identity, I walk them through
1:03:11
adversity because I believe that life is supposed to be hard.
1:03:15
Not easy. Yep.
1:03:17
We as parents you know this we try to make our life easier for
1:03:20
our children sir. Yeah.
1:03:22
And I think but life isn't supposed to be hard.
1:03:24
It's supposed to be hard and I think that We're dangerously
1:03:28
getting close to the Cliff of this victimhood, of a nation
1:03:32
that everybody's victims. And there's such a big
1:03:34
difference in being a Survivor that gives you strength to step
1:03:37
through to believe in the mindset that you're talking
1:03:41
about. Travis, you know, mindset can
1:03:44
change just about anything because what it means is you're
1:03:47
willing to step out of your comfort zone and step into the
1:03:50
unknown, which is fearful. And and you don't, you're not
1:03:54
sure. If you keep stepping you gain
1:03:56
confidence. That's and that's if you're a
1:03:58
victim, you have a harder time doing that, then Survivor step,
1:04:02
and whatever that strength that inner grit is is what we've got
1:04:06
instill in these guys, and these gals, because that's what gets
1:04:10
you through. You can't get through it,
1:04:12
getting in a fetal position in the corner and say, ah, for me
1:04:16
because you got to make a difference regardless of life's
1:04:19
unfair. Right now.
1:04:23
You're totally right of mine stretched by new experiences,
1:04:26
never goes. Back to its former Dimension.
1:04:28
The good thing to be stretched into to be stressed.
1:04:30
I like that. So, Travis tell me after you've
1:04:34
gone through all that you've gone through, what do you think
1:04:37
is your biggest takeaway from throwing it back out there to
1:04:40
the listeners? What would you say about the
1:04:42
journey that you've been on that you would share your takeaway?
1:04:47
Yeah, I mean, I think the biggest takeaway for me is that
1:04:50
everybody listening myself, included, you know, you hold the
1:04:53
pen, we write the script and and you have the Fortuna to change
1:04:57
the story. The, the, the negative self-talk
1:05:02
that I think exists in our world, you know, you say it in
1:05:05
the intro, to your show, the worst prisons of America, aren't
1:05:08
the concrete and steel. You know, the identity in the
1:05:11
mindset that he people locked in a life of mediocrity, right?
1:05:15
I think that when you really start to unpack that when
1:05:18
you're, when you're brushing your teeth at night, you start
1:05:20
judging yourself. When you, when you look at the
1:05:22
messy house, the women think that they're a failure at the
1:05:25
bomb, like all those little Self defeating thoughts those
1:05:28
limiting beliefs that guilt that shame, it builds up into a
1:05:31
person that really doesn't know themselves when they wake up in
1:05:34
the morning. And I think that That prison is
1:05:39
some of the dangerous prisons that we have in society.
1:05:42
And so I tell everybody you hold the pen, it is literally your
1:05:45
opportunity to write your own script.
1:05:47
I really, really want everybody to focus on that like your
1:05:51
belief system in yourself that maybe came from a childhood
1:05:55
trauma. Maybe came from adulthood of
1:05:57
addiction maybe came from a significant other that didn't
1:05:59
love you enough. I don't know but I don't want to
1:06:02
take that away from you. What I do want to give to you is
1:06:06
that you have to Is your belief system to propel you to a place
1:06:09
that you've never been to before and that all comes from inside,
1:06:12
you doesn't come for motivational quotes.
1:06:13
It doesn't come from Amazon. Book doesn't come from YouTube
1:06:16
video, it comes from inside your new, got everything inside of
1:06:18
you to be great, man. Love that Travis.
1:06:22
I'll tell you what, man, you are doing some incredible stuff.
1:06:25
It's so fun to have somebody on. And what I like about this
1:06:29
platform is everybody went to prison, but everybody's stories
1:06:32
different and what they do with their experience is up to you
1:06:36
and what you're doing. Doing with your experience and
1:06:38
basically changing for the good of something that my gosh needs
1:06:43
to be changed and you're feeding that system.
1:06:46
And you've got people that are grabbing onto it as a as a life
1:06:49
jacket. And man, just keep we, if we
1:06:52
could clone Travis here and make a million of you with that, we'd
1:06:55
be a much better place for everybody out there.
1:07:00
If you're looking for a book, I wrote One nightmare success, you
1:07:04
can get it on Amazon Barnes & Noble.
1:07:07
The likes share. Share if you can and love the
1:07:12
comments on social media. If you want to cut, make any
1:07:14
comments to me, go to bring kasa.com, the love the reviews
1:07:20
on Apple. You hit those little three dots
1:07:22
out there. Drops down tells you what to do,
1:07:24
as I used to say, to people when I was writing back from my
1:07:28
little cubicle thing, and prison Encore links on my email, stay
1:07:33
strong and I'll do the same nightmare success that it out.
1:07:35
Travis. Thank you, very We much Travis
1:07:37
Richey. I appreciate you, brother.
1:07:41
Have an awesome day. We'll see you.