The Purpose-Driven Investor
The Purpose-Driven Investor is the podcast where profit meets purpose in real estate. Hosted by Robert Howell, South Carolina–based real estate investor and founder of De-fine Real Estate, each episode explores how to build wealth through affordable housing, land-home packages, and impact-driven investing that helps families find stable homes.
You’ll discover how to create sustainable returns through partnerships, private lending, and joint-venture opportunities that make a lasting difference. Whether you’re a lender, land seller, or investor seeking purpose-aligned deals—or you’re ready to learn the education and systems behind purpose-driven real estate—this show is your blueprint.
Robert shares transparent insights, inspiring stories, and practical strategies for investing in housing projects that matter. Learn how to connect your capital with causes that build community, create legacy wealth, and deliver both impact and income.
The Purpose-Driven Investor
Building Confidence in Real Estate Sales: Travis Goodwin’s Secrets to Negotiation Success
Use Left/Right to seek, Home/End to jump to start or end. Hold shift to jump forward or backward.
In episode 26 of The Purpose-Driven Investor, Robert Howell interviews Travis Goodwin, founder of TG Home Buyers, as he brings to life the power of mentorship, local leverage, and the mission-driven focus required to turn every challenge into opportunity—whether you’re managing auctions, building teams, or simply showing up when you least feel like it.
Tune in for practical strategies, real numbers, and a fresh perspective on what it really takes to succeed in today’s business and real estate markets!
TIMESTAMPS
[00:00:03] Introduction & guest background
[00:02:03] Transformation from humble beginnings
[00:05:05] Discovering real estate & the power of mentorship
[00:09:07] Small market investing secrets
[00:15:07] Sales, negotiation, and closing with confidence
[00:17:00] Digging deep: Leadership through better conversations
[00:20:43] Relationship-building and team growth
[00:21:50] Small Market REI: Creating impact through community
[00:26:19] Finding & maintaining purpose-driven momentum
[00:31:24] Defining legacy and generational impact
[00:33:31] Biggest wins, mindset, and future excitement
[00:35:21] Connect & take action
QUOTES
- "Confidence comes with repetition. It’s the awkward conversations every single day that build you up." – Travis Goodwin
- "We don’t chase deals, we choose them—figure out if this is the right fit for us." – Travis Goodwin
- "Let’s not be so desperate for a deal that we overpay. Choose your deals, don’t chase them." – Robert Howell
SOCIAL MEDIA:
Travis Goodwin
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tgoodwinwv/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/smallmarketrei/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@Tgoodwinwv
WEBSITE:
Howell and Sons: https://howellandsons.com/
Welcome to the Purpose Driven Investor where we build more than portfolios, we build communities. I'm your host, Robert Howell, a real estate investor and founder of Define Communities. Each week we'll explore how purpose and profit connect through affordable housing, land home packages, and impact driven investing. If you're a lender, land seller, or a partner who believes money should move with meaning, you're in the right place. All right, guys, welcome back to another episode of the Purpose Driven Investor podcast. Today, I'm excited about this conversation because we've got somebody on the show who's doing real deals and real markets, not just talking theory online. I've got Travis here with us today. Travis is a real estate investor acquisition specialist and the founder of TG Home Buyers out of West Virginia. He's also built a community called Small Market REI where he's helping investors to see succeed in smaller, overlooked markets that people often ignore. What I really like about Travis is his focus on relationships, transparency, and actually helping people solve problems, not just chasing transactions. I think a lot of listeners are going to really like what you hear and be able to relate to that. So today we're going to talk about small market investing, generating deal flow, sales and negotiation, building confidence with sellers, and what it really takes to build a business outside of the flashy big cities that everybody talks about online. So, Travis, welcome to the show. Glad to have you on. Hey, man, thank you for having me. It's. I'm having a good morning and even better now that I'm on here with you, I love talking with you. I'm talking real estate, so. Yeah, man, thank you. Great, great. All right, well, hey, there's a lot of people here that probably don't know who Travis is, so why don't we start there and tell us the story. Who is Travis? How did you get started? And then we'll take it from there. Yeah, man, thank you. And that's a great question because, you know, I'm just a regular guy. You know, I'm just a regular small town guy that grew up in, you know, mobile homes. And, you know, I'm not going to say I experience poverty, but I'm not going to say I was homeless or anything like that most of my life. Right. But I've definitely lived in poor conditions and I didn't come from a lot, so real estate was a whole nother world for me. Robert. When I first started, I had no idea what I was doing. It was all new. It was a total different pivot from delivering pizzas. So, yeah, that's a little bit about who I am. You know, I'm in my 30s. I'm still hustling. I'm not online, just teaching about this stuff. Like, I don't even have a big company. Like, I'm still on the phones every day, guys. Okay. I just want to let you guys know that I'm still negotiating, talking, doing deals myself. So. Yeah, it's a pleasure, man. Is that. Does that give you a good. Yeah, that's great. So where'd you grow up? Okay, cool. So a little town. I've kind of been everywhere. So I'm in West Virginia, born and raised, and I've lived in different places in West Virginia, but Sissonville, West Virginia, was kind of home to me for a really long time. And that's about 15, 20 minutes outside of Charleston, which is the capital. And just to give you guys a zoom out view, Charleston's only like 40,000 people on its own, so Cissonville, when I was living there, you know, was a few thousand. I think it's growing a little bit now because, you know, now since COVID the popular thing is let's move out in the country. Let's get away from the city. So, yeah, that's where I'm from. All right, that's cool. What were you doing before real estate? A lot of stuff, so delivering pizzas. My first real job was at a dollar tree. It was a seasonal job and I was up for Christmas, so it was. I was working from 11 o' clock at night to 7 o' clock in the morning, night shift during Christmas, listening to Christmas music all night. They. After that few months, they decided Travis wasn't good enough to stock stock shelf, so they got rid of me. But I've done a lot of other stuff. Like, you know, I'm considered, I guess, a hustler, Quote unquote. Like, I've sold CDs. Like, I. I used to have a CD duplic, and I used to burn like a hundred CDs within, like a few minutes. And I'd go out to, like, ball games and I'd sell these CDs, and I. I used to shoot music videos. So I've done a lot of different stuff as an entrepreneur, but most of it failed. All of it. Classic, classic entrepreneur story, right? Yeah. Keep going, keep failing, keep going, keep failing. And then you click on something that works, right? So seems real estate's working. What. What got you into real estate? Kind of. What. What was the turn where you said, hey, I don't want to burn CDs anymore. I don't want to make music videos. I'm gonna. Maybe you're still making music videos, but you want to get into real estate. So what. What made that turn, Man? I love these questions because they. You get me reflecting and. And. And it takes me back because it's been, you know, 10 years now, so. I remember I had a really good friend. He's passed away, unfortunately, but very good friend of mine named Chris Moore. And me and Chris was tight, man. Like, he actually was an artist. Like, he. He made music, and I kind of helped him out a lot. And one day he was like, man, you know, like, this music stuff's cool, but we need to do more. And. And he was looking into apartment complexes. He was way more advanced than I was. He's like, me and my mom and a partner, we're gonna buy this apartment complex near the school because he lived near college. And it started opening up my mind. I was like, what do you mean, apartment complex? He's like, yeah, we're gonna make this much money every month. He's like, but you got to learn about this stuff because it's a formula. He kept telling me, there's a formula to this, and you can lose everything, and you got to be smart. And he. He was like, I got a book for you. Of course, you've probably heard about this book a bunch. Rich dad, poor dad. Yeah, let me borrow it. That was it, man. It changed my world. It made me just think totally different. I started researching. I started looking up different things. You know, I went. I think I bought every Robert Kiyosaki book. I had all the audio CDs. I was riding through these rich neighborhoods, listening to this stuff, thinking, this is where I want to be. This is who you know? And then. Then I had like, a kind of a moment where I kind of got lost because I started to learn about risk and flipping houses and. And broken toilets, and I was like, oh, man. Like, you know, I don't have any experience in that. I don't know how to manage contractors, and I'm not a handyman. I don't know how to do that stuff myself. So I kind of got unmotivated, man. I was like, I don't know if this is what I should do. And then I kept researching, and I found a YouTube video, and it was a podcast set up. It was two people talking, and the guy was like, yeah, I do real estate, and I don't ever buy a house. I don't ever fix anything. And that was Wholesaling. That's how I found out what wholesaling was, through a podcast. And then I was like, man, that's exactly what I need to do. This is up my alley. So I contacted the guy who was in the video, found out he had a course for $500. Didn't have $500, but I took a credit card. I paid for it anyway. And he taught me the basics. I'm not saying that everything he taught me was totally up to par and ethical. I'm not sure, you know, but it taught me. It taught me the principles. And from there, man, I just kind of took off. I started taking action. Massive, imperfect action. Started doing phone calls and picking up the call and saying, hey. And then they'd say, hey. And then I'd hang up. Like, I was nervous. But I started. I started doing it, you know. That's great. That's great. It's. It's amazing how, how that just. I mean, obviously there's a lot of moments leading up to that YouTube video, right? But how that one YouTube video could then lead to. All right, this is the moment that then's really gonna push you forward, right? Oh, definitely. One video. Like, you know that YouTube doesn't really give you a lot of, like, action steps and a lot of guidance, but it can plant that seed. Yeah. Yeah, that's great. And when you say, when would you say things finally started to click for you? You know, after you. You watch this, you kind of got started. When did things really start to flow and really click for you? Good question. Probably about a year after, like, actually, like taking action. I was going out to houses and really didn't know what to do. I was just looking at houses and meeting people. Not. No negotiations. Really. Not really a lot of offers. Just trying to figure it out and learn how to maneuver in this industry, you know. So, yeah, it took me some time. I wasn't one of these, hey, I just learned about this and 30 days later I got my first hundred thousand dollar check. Nope, that wasn't me. Took a bit. Yeah. All right, so let's talk about small market investing, because that's really your focus, right? Yes. What drew you to. I mean, I assume it's being from West Virginia, but what drew you to this idea of small market investing versus going to larger cities? Maybe even like a Charleston. Yeah, definitely. That's good too. So small markets to me, you know, I grew up in a small market. I understand relationships, and I found that a lot of these, like when you learn about, like, wholesaling it's usually like tailored to the bigger markets and you know how to do all these like million dollar deals and you know how to scale quickly and that stuff's kind of opposite here, you know. So I found that there wasn't a lot of, like, first of all, there's not a lot of buyers. So that's an opportunity for someone like me that there's not a lot of buyers. If I can, you know, I thought to myself, like, if I can learn how to wholesale, then I can understand what a deal is and become the buyer. I'm set. Travis can be the authority in the marketplace here and, you know, as long as there's enough people in your small market, like if you're in a people of 500 people, I mean, of people of 500 people, a market of 500 people, yeah, you probably need to go to somewhere larger. But if you're, you know, I'd say between 50,000 people to 250,000 people, 300,000 people, you have a pretty good market where you can stay consistent, you know. So that's kind of the small market thing for me is this just where I'm at. And even when I've done deals virtually, I've noticed when I go back and look, they were all in smaller markets like Akron, Ohio, Macon, Georgia. So I figured that's me and I need to lean into that. Yeah, yeah, for sure. Use that relationship strategy. Right? That's what it is. You know, local leverage is what I call it, man. Like, you know, it's not, you know, realtors, USPS workers, police officers, emergency workers. Like all these people are in the community, barbershop people. David always says that a hairdresser is the best lead source in a small market. Yeah, 100%. Everything they know, every gossip, they know whose house is being sold, who's divorcing. Right. So, yeah, local leverage. That's great. That's great. Why do you think a lot of investors overlook the areas? Not a lot of activity, not a lot of money here. The economy is not as, as good. It's a lot of management. You know, you, you have to really know the market here because kind of like, you know, a place like Detroit, that street by street, we're holler by holler here. So, you know, that's what we did. It's a hollow, but we call them hollers. And you know, one, one area, like I'm. I went under contract on a house this morning. While I'm about to, I'm sending it out and it's in an area where it's like this hauler is long and one part of this holler leads into a rich area, but the beginning part is a poor area. But if you're looking at the comps in this area, you're very confused because you might compare this one to the one at the end and think it's worth $200,000. I think a lot of people go into these small markets not knowing that, and then they have one or two bad deals go wrong, they can't find a buyer, something happens and they're like, I don't want to do that no more. Right, right. They're out. What I'm really interested to know what, what a deal looks like in a small market. Like, for you. Talk about maybe two of your most recent deals. I mean, maybe the one you're getting under contract this morning. What does that look like? Okay, good question. So do you mean like all around? Do you mean like the houses, what they look like? Do you mean the situations? Yeah, like, what are you buying a house for? What's the profit look like? We were talking before we started here about the auction idea. You know, I think people would love to hear that. Okay, cool, cool. So house ranges here. So our media. So I cover three counties. Okay. Three counties are about 250,000 people that I cover. Okay. So within these three counties, you're going to see values everywhere. I'd say the median price point for most people in most of these counties is around 200 to 250,000. Okay. It went up. Now you have a place like Putnam county that's close to me. You're maybe looking at 350, 400. It's a little richer. But usually we're dealing in the cheaper houses. So we might buy a house anywhere from a couple thousand dollars all the way to$120,000. You know, we're not usually dealing. Like, there's been once or twice where we might get something in a really good area under contract for like 230, and we'll assign it for like 245 or something like that. But that's very rare. And I don't want to buy those type of houses personally because, you know, who can afford them around here? The chances of them setting are a little bit higher in those areas, you know, and I want a quicker, quicker, quicker profit. But, yeah, anywhere from a couple thousand dollars to, you know, 100, 120,000 is what we're usually buying them for. Okay, that's good. And are you flipping these houses? Are you holding them or combination. Very rarely will I be involved in a flip. Most of my deals are actually JV deals, meaning that I'm joint venturing with other people. And like for example, David, you know, David Coach, he's a good partner of mine. And what we do is we work leads together. He might run some ads. The ads come to me, we'll work out a deal where we're, you know, splitting profits, whatever it might look like in the situation. But very rarely, I'm not doing a flip myself. So if I'm a part of a flip, it's because David's doing it, let's say. Okay. And these days we're only really cherry picking those. So I'd say In the last 12 months, there's probably been one or two that's been a flip. Everything else is pretty much hotel, meaning that we clean it out, we buy it, we clean it out, no repairs needed, you know, then we put it on the market or we auction it like we were talking about before the call. That's awesome. Okay, sweet. All right, well, let's move on to sales and negotiation and closing. You talk a lot about closing with confidence. What's that mean to you? Oh, yeah, so good, man. You got good questions. Okay, so choosing and not chasing guys, okay? So we don't chase deals, we choose them. We figure out is this the right fit for us. So confidence comes with repetition. It comes with all these conversations you're having given those unconfident offers, you know, uncomfortable conversations. It's awkward conversations every single day. That builds confidence. And when you go into a deal saying, I'm not going to chase this deal, I'm going to choose this deal, that's a whole nother outlook when it comes to the psychology of the transaction, in my opinion. Does that answer. I love that. Yeah. Yeah, I love that. Because there's so many instances where you get to a situation where you want to. You get desperate for a deal, right? Or you. I had one last night, actually. My business partner sent to me and he's like, man, I think we're gonna have to offer too low. I said, hey, I think we're gonna offer first of land 37 5. And I can't remember, it was list on MLS, but our, our cap was 40K, right? And it's like, hey, let's not be so desperate for a deal that we're gonna overpay. Right? And I like that, that shift of, hey, choose your deals, don't chase them. That's good, man. I wasn't Always. There's a lot that goes into that though, right? I mean, deal flow, like you said, repetition, confidence, so on. That's good. What do you think separates the average acquisition? You said you were on the phone. You're still on the phone. What's a. What's an average acquisitions person versus a great one? Digging deeper is the difference. So somebody who understands people and conversations, they dig further. They like, for example, hey, you know, you don't want to accept my offer, that's fine. Just follow up with me when things change. Well, versus an experience. Some, you know, somebody who's really in the. Into this business for a while, they're going to. Okay, I understand. You don't want to take the offer. That's fine. But instead of following up later, now that it's over, what are you going to do next? How did you even come up with the decision that you didn't want to take my offer? Dig in deeper. You know, it's not just, okay, what's the condition of the house? Okay, move on to the next question. I think that the beginner has a script that they go by. They have all these questions. They're new, so they're just trying to do question after question after question, and it becomes an interrogation versus somebody whose experience is smooth. It's just a real conversation between two people, and we know how to guide it. So that's the difference to me is you got to dig deeper with people. You know, that's how you get deals. That's the difference between I just cold called a thousand people and I got no interest and I just cold called a hundred people and I actually got a few leads out of it is how you approach it, how you're, how you sound, that your tone. All of this comes with practice and experience. I think that's great. And, you know, I think part of that is probably being a problem solver, solution provider, versus, like you said, just reading a script or trying to sell somebody. Right. If you come into it and you're. You've got the heart to solve a problem, I. I think it comes across in that process. Right? Yeah, exactly. So you always go into the deal thinking about the person on the other end. You know, no matter if it's the seller, the buyer, you have to think from their perspective. I mean, of course your perspective matters, but, you know, you're always thinking, like, how can I help you today? What do you need from me in order to do business with me today? You know, and don't always push away, like just because they're saying it's not a good time. Find out why it's not a good time. Just because they say they're not interested today. Okay, I understand you're not interested now. Well, I might be buying later. Should I lose your number or should I stay in touch? Right, like, go for it, Go for the no, and keep and keep going. Is acquisitions your favorite part of the job? Yes. All day long? It seems that way. Right? You love going out and meeting people, talking to people. Are you. Are you spending a lot of time in person with people when you do the acquisitions, or are you doing a lot of your acquisitions over the phone? So I do acquisitions. Both. Okay. So I still like to go out and sit down at the kitchen table. Now, I don't like to leave with 30 fleas and ticks on me sometimes, but I do like to meet people, and I like to look eye to eye and really solve a real problem. And getting to know you. But I'm not just going out and meeting anybody. Like, you know, I have. I have leads coming in all the time, and there's many people who don't qualify for an appointment, unfortunately, you know, so I'm looking for decision makers. Okay, Robert, if I come out and I. And I give you an offer, is there anybody else that's going to have to say yes or no to me, or is it just you? If there's anybody else, can everybody show up? You know that. Now, sometimes it don't work that way, but I try to do that. Okay. Another thing is, is there anything else stopping us from moving forward other than people, Any situations? Do you have to finish probate? Do you need to clean out the place first? Is there, you know, is there something else you need to do before we actually close? Right. So I'm asking questions like that to qualify on the front. That way I know for sure when I go out there, you're ready to do business. You're not just thinking about it. It's not a year and a half from now, after your kids graduate, when you're going to move like, you're ready within the next 30, 60, 90 days, you're the decision maker, or all decision makers are in agreement to sell it, you know, and there's nothing stopping us. And if there is something stopping us, just let me know what that stall might be so I can prepare for it. Yes. So as long as you check my boxes, I'm ready to come meet you. Let's go. I'll come meet you today. Let's, you know, I'm a little busy, but I'm available around 2 o', clock, you know. Yep. That's great. And I imagine saves you a ton of time and only put you in front of the people that really are motivated to. To make a move, which is great. Yeah. All right, let's talk about Small Market rei. So tell us about the group. What is Small Market rei? What made you want to start that group? Cool. Cool. Yeah. Small Market is the baby. You know, the name was actually created by David Dean. So David was like, he always wanted to do a small market group, and he was in a big mentorship, and he's like, man, we should really do this. And they were like, no, we don't want to do that. And he always had the idea. So me and him started working together and we started doing some content and thinking, man, what could we do? What could we create? And small market REI was born because, again, online, there's nothing to tailor to people like us. You know, everything's bigger markets. Let's stack a list. Well, if you stack a list here in my town, you're going to get two people back. Okay. So that don't work here. So we wanted to put out, you know, valuable ideas and what works for us and all of our formulas out to people. So if you're in a small market in California or Michigan or in West Virginia, like, in my opinion, if we can do it in West Virginia, what we do, you can do it anywhere, in my opinion. You know, so that's why we started it, just to kind of give back, because nobody else was tailoring to those people. That's great. And what are the different aspects of that group? So you imagine you've got a podcast. I've been on your podcast before, which is awesome. Love talking with you and David. Imagine you have a Facebook group. I'm part of that group. Right. Do you have a. More of an education part of that group also? Yeah, sure. We have a. Right now we have a boot camp that we're doing okay. And this is just for new. New people. People who are looking to get started. By the time this is released, it'll probably be gone and active, you know, but we do have a. A mastermind group. Okay. And we haven't really talked a lot about this because it's a very small group and it's not something that you can just fill out like a bunch of applications for right now, but it's just a small group of people where we can get together. And it's more of an actual mastermind. And community. But as far as, like, a bunch of courses and things like that, we're not doing a lot of that right now. A lot of our courses, we just gave out for free, and we. We're being told not to do that, but that's what we've been doing. And we're just trying to build. We're trying to build relationships with people all over the country, man. That's what I want to. Is just connect with people, get to know them, see if I can do deals with them. And even if I can't, no hard feelings, but, you know, I want to expand into other markets other than West Virginia, because, you know, West Virginia is only so big, and I've done deals in these other markets virtually. And I like doing it, even though I like going to the kitchen table. There's something about getting a house under contract and making money on it when I never had to see it in person. Sometimes I've never even seen the picture of the house. Like, that's pretty cool. Yeah, that's cool. Yeah. And the love, that community and I think love kind of what y' all are doing, because it's not about. I mean, of course, is there a mastermind that I can sign up for? Sure. But it seems to be more about the community and connecting with people all over the country that want to learn. And, you know, you can see their success. Right? Yeah, man. We do a. Like, not to promote it, but to tell you and promote it at the same time. We do a weekly call every Wednesday, you know, and it doesn't cost any money. We bring, like, guests on that have been, like, crushing it. Like, you, like, yourself, like, you know, you came on and gave us a whole formula on land home packages, a whole formula that people can use, you know, so that's kind of cool when you can put that content out there and you can also be real at the same time. Like, you know, a lot of people call it doom and gloom, meaning that, like. Like a lot of podcast guests and people don't want you to come on their show and talk about the real stuff. Like, oh, man, I lost money. Or, you know, we only made 11 cents on this property. But that's the stuff we talk about. And we bring our guests on that talk about that stuff, too, because that's the real business. Right? This is. This is a business. This is a job. Like, you don't go to work and not have a bad day. Sometimes you're not on the beach every day, and it's not all sunshine and rainbows. Yep. 100. 100. All right, let's talk about purpose, and then we'll conclude with some rapid fire. So the. The title of this podcast is Purpose Driven Investing or Purpose Driven Investor. What's Purpose Driven mean to you? What. What drives you? Good question. So purpose is important, you know, and what drives me every single day is obviously more. More and more these days is. Is God, right? Like, it's not always been that way. I'll be honest and upfront, I'm not gonna lie. But more recently, you know, that's a big purpose of mine, but family has always been very at the top of my list. You know, I have a son. You know, he's. He's. He's. He's turning 10 years old soon, and he's the light of my life. And I remember since he's been a baby, he's been able to witness all of this and, you know, ride around with me in the car while I'm driving for dollars. And he used to go on appointments not to go in, but, you know, him and his mom used to sit in the car, and then they realized, like, we don't want to sit in the car no more because Travis might take 30 minutes in here, you know, talking. But, you know, that matters to me. And also the people, like, you know, every day I wake up saying, there's somebody out here that needs my help. And if I don't make my calls, if I don't give these offers, then their problem is going to get worse, their money is going to bleed, their problems are going to, you know, their house is going to suffer. Something's going to suffer, right? So that motivates me a lot, that purpose, knowing there's somebody out here in my market that needs me today, and I need to go out there and service my community. I need to give back. And even when I'm not the right solution, still give them other options. That's what. That's what drives me. And I feel like my purpose is. That's great. Tell us about a maybe a story where you said, man, I really want to call today, but you ended up making the calls, and you were able to make a big difference in that person's life. Man, it's funny. I think that happens all the time. I think that almost every day that I make calls, there's somebody's life that. That I not change, but I affect, you know, because I'm very intentional to do that. I'm. I'm trying to think of a. Okay, so I remember one time okay, this. This is a good story. This lady called it came through PPL Pay per lead. You know, you. You pay a company, the leads come into you. And sometimes these leads are like. They're just wild and crazy, and sometimes they're just very low quality, you know, so you expect not a lot to come from it already, you know, you can't assume in this business, guys, I'll tell you that right now. So this lady calls me, we have a good conversation. She wants me to come look at it. So we set up an appointment. Next thing I know, she's canceling on me, you know, so I'm like, okay, no problem. I'm not pressuring you. I got other houses anyway, whatever, you know, thanks for talking about 30, 40 days later, you know, she comes back around and she's like, oh, I need to sell this place. I need to sell this place. Come down and meet me today. And it just sounded like she was just trying to rush me down and like, I wasn't going to. Like, I didn't even want to go down to this. It was like 40 minutes away from me. I didn't come prepared. I didn't even have a contract on me. Like, I was just like, whatever, you know what I mean? Like, I'm not feeling it today. And I literally went down there and I solved this lady's problem, and I got. It was such a rush that we had to go to the library to print out a contract to get it signed at the library. That's how hot she was to sell. It's awesome. I would have never, like, you know, I wasn't in the mood. I wasn't in the mood. And that happens to me all the time. I'll say, man, I'll look at my fiance and I'll say, I really don't want to go to this house today. Like, I really don't want to go to do this. And then I'll get a deal, you know? So it happens. It happens every week, right? It does. Every week it happens. So you got to get out there, you got to talk to people. You got to have meaningful conversations. Okay, so going back to what we talked about earlier, the difference between the pro and the beginner, that's the difference. A meaningful conversation. A meaningful conversation isn't okay. How was the air conditioner? Okay, what repairs need made? When do you want to close? I can buy as is and pay all your closing costs. That's not meaningful. You know, you want to find out needs and greeds. And I count, like, three to Six of them through my mind when I'm talking to somebody. Needs would be things they need. Like they need to move out because they're walking up and down steps every day. They're behind on their back taxes. You know, greeds would be. I want to go to the beach. I want to go to Disney World. I want to, you know, I just want a bunch of money so I can buy a bunch of alcohol and gamble. I don't know. Those are greeds, right? So I count those. Needs and greeds. Needs and greeds. I like that. That's good. All right, let's talk about legacy. What, what, what legacy are you trying to build as you think about long term? You got your son, your fiance, your family, friends, of course. What. When you look back when you're 60, 70 years old and think about, man, I, I did what I thought I could do from a legacy standpoint. What is that sweet, man, that's, that's great. Got me thinking about my past. Now I'm thinking about my future. You did your job here, man. Okay, So I think, you know, at the end of all this, I want to support my family for some generations. You know, I would love to say, you know, my, the good one family can live a little bit longer after Travis is gone, even though most of the times it's all going to be lost anyway. You know, the people after me, they're not going to take care of the money. But you know, freedom, man, for my family, that matters to me. Not to get too in deep, but my son, he special needs. So, you know, the question is always, he's very smart and very great. I'm very confident he'll be able to go in life and manage and do whatever it takes. But there's still reality that he will be a special needs adult one day. So, you know, to be able to have money coming in after I'm gone is very important to me. So I actually recently created something I call the good one. Triangle. Okay? It's just a triangle. You guys can picture it. It's got three slices into it. You know, the top slice is my, my real estate, my acquisitions, my doing deals, my auctions, my hotels. Second part's going to be coaching education. Then my third part, you know, that's going to be more, you know, cash flow, storage units, you know, things like that. Like, like Robert mobile home parks. Right. So, you know, if it's not one of those three things, it doesn't fit into my legacy, you know, so that's, that's my legacy. Right there, that triangle, and those three slits. You know, that's how I see myself, you know, in the next 10, 15 years, providing enough, not just monetary, but enough freedom within jobs to. To be able to live my life and not have to work and deliver pizzas until I'm 80, 90 years old or 100. Right. Love that. And that triangle gives you focus, right? And makes you remember, okay, this is what's important. All right, let's close out here with some rapid fire questions. What's the best real estate deal you ever made? Oh, best real estate deal I ever made. It was a quick deal. It was a mobile home we made. And best real estate deal doesn't always mean money to me, how much money I made. It also means how easy the deal was. You know, it was no clean out, no nothing. Sold it right to a retail buyer. Made 77,000. Nothing. I mean, it was. It was nothing. Like, I mean, literally walked into the house with the seller. They were sitting down at the kitchen table already sat down with them for about 20 minutes and talked to them the next day. We had it under contract, and we sold it within, like, 60 days like it was nothing. Easiest deal I've ever done. Huge. All right, what is one daily habit that helps you succeed? One daily habit that helps me succeed is reading. Favorite book right now. Favorite book right now. I have so many favorite books. But I'll tell you, I read Matthew McConaughey's Green Lights books recently, and it definitely opened up my perspective to living life and. And living on the edge and. Yeah, it's a good book. Awesome. I'm gonna check that out. That's great. That's probably not one that people think of often, right? In terms of change your life and change your perspective, but that's great. All right, last question here. Something you're excited about right now. Storage units. I have. I'm negotiating two deals right now. They're both about 36 units apiece. Two different owners and their storage unit deals. I don't want to talk too much on it. I don't want to jinx it, but that's what I'm excited about. That's great. All right, well, Travis, I really appreciate you coming on the show today, man. I think this has been an excellent conversation. If people want to reach you, how can they reach out to you? Love it, man. You can go to my Facebook group, Small market Real estate investing, or if you want to, just get on a call with me. Not to sell you anything, but just to connect, you can text me at 304-444-6744. That's great. Well, I appreciate everybody listening and we'll see you on the next episode of the Purpose Driven Investor Podcast. Thank you, Travis. Thanks for listening to the Purpose Driven Investor. If today's episode sparked an idea or inspired you to make an impact, connect with me@howlandsuns.com Join our community of purpose driven investors who are helping families find stable homes while building real returns. Because when we invest with purpose, everyone wins.