TORI GORDON | Dreaming Big and Avoiding Self-Sabotage
Full Episode
Show Notes

Tori Gordon (@thetorigordon) is a trauma-informed breathwork facilitator, peak performance coach, and award-winning content creator. She is the founder of Coachable LLC, a company that helps people achieve success and fulfillment through engaging content, seminars, and coaching programs.
Tori has been featured on major media outlets, including NBC, CBS, and Fox News. Her popular podcast, The Coachable Podcast, has been named one of the top five podcasts to get you through COVID-19. She is also an award-winning mental health influencer and a brand ambassador for international brands such as Nature Made, Better Health, Organify, and Natural Cycles.
In 2022, Yahoo News named Tori as one of the top 10 mindset coaches in the United States. She is now a highly sought-after speaker, and has been hired by organizations such as the United Nations to share her insights on personal development and mental health.
What Travis and Tori Discussed:
- How Tori’s competitive nature and desire to be in control shaped her into a successful leader, and how she learned to delegate and trust her team to avoid burnout.
- When alleviating tension and overcoming challenges, it is important to engage in practices that bring one back to the present moment, maintain a long-term perspective, and embrace the obstacles as stepping stones towards personal growth and success.
- The importance of identifying the root cause of stress and how aligning one's skills and responsibilities can help alleviate pressure and tension, often requiring the humility to recognize areas of weakness and make strategic hires to delegate tasks and focus on one's unique strengths.
- Taking action and applying acquired knowledge is crucial for personal growth and success, as consuming information without implementation leads to stagnation and lack of progress.
- How Tori turned her podcast into a profitable business, and how she initially focused on offering one-on-one and group coaching services, and later expanded to brand partnerships, retreats, affiliates, and strategic business decisions, while being open to new opportunities aligned with her long-term goals.

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Tune in to this episode as Tori Gordon shares her insights on leadership, overcoming challenges, stress management, and turning a podcast into a profitable business. Learn valuable strategies for personal growth and success, and discover how Tori navigated her journey to becoming a sought-after speaker and influential coach. Don't miss out on this inspiring conversation with Tori!

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Transcript

Tori Gordon (0s):I've been struck by how many people have so many limitations around like really Dreaming big, especially women because they've been told to be a certain way, And, that they need to fill certain roles, And, that they don't need to outperform their partner or their spouse or whatever. It's safe to dream and it's safe to dream really big and it's safe to want more. You're allowed to want more and also be grateful for where you are and what you have right now.


Travis Chappell (27s):
Welcome back to the show. I'm Travis Chappell. And. I believe that if You can connect with the best, You can become the best So. after creating 800 podcast episodes about building your network, I ve come to realize that networking is really just making friends. You're doing it the right way. Anyway, join me as I. make friends with world class athletes like Shaquille O'Neal, entertainers like Rob,Dyrdek authors like Dr, Nicole, Lapera, Former presidents like Vicente Fox or even the occasional FBI hostage negotiator, billionaire, real estate mogul or polarizing political figures. So, if you want to make more friends that help you become a better version of yourself and subscribe to the show and keep on listening cuz this is Travis makes friends. What's going on everybody? Welcome back to another episode. Travis Makes Friends podcast.


Travis Chappell (1m 8s):
Today I'm making friends with TORI GORDON. TORI is a trauma informed breathwork facilitator, peak performance coach and award winning content creator. As the founder of Coachable LLC, she has helped in nearly 1 million people worldwide achieve success and fulfillment through engaging content seminars, coaching programs, you name it. Tori has been featured on major media outlets including NBC, CBS and Fox. News and Her popular podcast, The Coachable. Podcast has been named one of the top five podcasts to get you through COVID as an award-winning mental health influencer. Tori's a brand ambassador for international brands such as Nature, Made, Better, Health, Organify, natural Cycles, so many more. She was named by Yahoo News as a top 10 mindset coach in the US and is now highly sought after speaker hired by organizations such as the United Nations TORI.


Travis Chappell (1m 52s):
Welcome to show.
Tori Gordon (1m 53s):Thank You. That's a very warm, generous introduction. So Thanks For having me
Travis Chappell (1m 58s):
Of course. We don't know how to welcome people any of the day, you know? Yeah. Doesn't work as well anyway. Yeah. Cause you give cold introductions for people, so

Tori Gordon (2m 4s):
Well thank you. I'm happy to be here. Yeah.
Travis Chappell (2m 6s):
So you're of Vegas Local Yes. As well, but only for the past year or so. Yep. So where are we from before that?

Tori Gordon (2m 11s):

New transplant from Atlanta. Oh, okay. But originally from Alabama.
Travis Chappell (2m 15s):
So east coast though. Yes. How do you like, how do you like being on the west side?
Tori Gordon (2m 19s):
I love it, except for my skin does not love it. It is quite,
Travis Chappell (2m 25s):
It's a little dry out here. Dry.
Tori Gordon (2m 27s):
Yeah. Yeah. But I am happily, like very happily like settled here and Vegas has surprised me in all the good ways. Yeah.
Travis Chappell (2m 37s):
So you're from the East Coast. Talk to me about early stage family life, living out there, you know, seven, eight year old TORI GORDON. Set the scene for us. What's life like? What are your parents doing? What are you Yeah.
Tori Gordon (2m 48s):
Grew up in a very nuclear family. Okay. Older sister, four years older than me and my parents were married for 36 years. Both my parents were both educators and musicians. So I grew up with a big value of education and curiosity and so my parents really instilled in me resourcefulness in the way of like, if you wanna know something, ask the right questions and learned to ask the right people and You can, You can be unstoppable. So that was kind of instilled in me since I was really young and also was super competitive as a kid.
Travis Chappell (3m 22s):
So you were an MVP in three different sports, is that right? Yeah. What were the sports?
Tori Gordon (3m 26s):
Basketball, softball and soccer.

Travis Chappell (3m 28s):Okay. Yeah. Any of them that you liked better than the other?
Tori Gordon (3m 32s):
Softball was my main sport. Okay. Yeah, I was a pitcher, so Nice. There's an element of liking to be in control there. Yeah. And but also just like, I think as a kid I wanted to be as involved in every play and now looking back, I think I've seen so many of the ways that's like actually shaped me more than I thought as a kid. But I think it really started as somebody who was like, Hey, we need a pitcher who wants to volunteer? And? I was always the one to say, yeah, I'll do it.

Travis Chappell (4m 1s):
What kind of ways do you think it shaped you?
Tori Gordon (4m 3s):
I think it taught me to be a leader in a lot of ways, a team player. but it taught me how to work hard. It taught me how to go for a goal, know what I want, put in the work, put in the reps and get better every day. But at the same time, I think on the darker side of that, I think it taught me like if I didn't carry the team or if I didn't make the play happen, I kind of felt like this pressure that it all like was up to me. And so I've actually been thinking about this in the last few years more as I became a business owner and was doing like starting my own team And, that kind of thing is like how to actually trust my team members to take the ball and be fully responsible for their role on the team, for their role.
Tori Gordon (4m 55s):
Yeah. And not overcompensate and think I need to do it all.
Travis Chappell (4m 58s):
You can't be responsible for everybody's role. Yeah. Do you feel though that the pressure is helpful? Where, where does it become unhealthy I guess is the question? Because I tend, I played a lot of sports growing up, played a lot of basketball, tend to feel kind of the same way, especially in a business context. Everything rises and involves on leadership and if you're the person at the top and the person people look to, then you take more accountability than everybody else does. Sure. And with that comes a lot of stress and comes a lot of pressure and comes a lot of anxiety. And, I think that some of it's extremely necessary. Yeah. But where, at what point does it become, you know, unhealthy or, you know, I guess, I guess that's really my question that I'm asking. Where do you think that it stops being valuable because it's just constantly weighing on you or you're taking more than you should be taking or whatever.
Travis Chappell (5m 44s):
Yeah.

Tori Gordon (5m 44s):
I think it, it requires self-awareness to even be able to take inventory and stock of how stressed you are and how much pressure you're actually under and how that's impacting your results. For me, I am able to notice internally what is that, what is my internal environment like? And typically my body and my mental health are gonna give me cues when I'm like, I'm operating out of a really, like a stressed response out instead of out of like an intentional, conscious, grounded decision making place. And I think part of being real leader requires you to be humble enough to say I need help and I'm taking on too much and be able to delegate And.
Tori Gordon (6m 29s):
That's been a learning curve. For me, especially in business as I have grown and scaled and still operate a very small team of people that I only like deeply trust. Because like in business of any kind, like no one, there's this idea that no one's gonna care as much as you care. Right. And no. And you want people to take care of your baby. It's like, this is my baby, this is what I'm working on and pursuing every day. And you want the people that are working on your team to care as much about the product. So I think For me, it's really having my finger on the pulse of my own internal environment and really doing intentional check-ins and like how am I doing? Like Yeah. And my results tend to speak for themselves when I'm like the tension is pulling to where I'm like fraying at the end.
Tori Gordon (7m 16s):
That's the time where I'm like, okay, we need to take some of that tension off. Yeah.
Travis Chappell (7m 20s):
And time to take a day.

Tori Gordon (7m 21s):
In what ways can we do that?


Travis Chappell (7m 22s):Yeah. How do you like to work through that? Is there like an activity, you do an action that you take a meditation, you try conversations you have people you call. What's your process for working through

Tori Gordon (7m 32s):That? All of the above. All of the above. Yeah. I've got a lot of tools. So breathwork is one of those For me. It is an immediate state changer. It helps.

Travis Chappell (7m 42s):It's, it's a hack. It

Tori Gordon (7m 43s):Is a hack for sure. Yeah. Because just in a couple minutes I can go from a stress response to downregulating my nervous system and feeling more grounded and in control of everything happening. Yeah. And so that's like an immediate thing. Getting in nature is really big. For me. Okay. It helps me to ground because it, when I get in those states right, it's like you're really heavily operating in your mind. The mental is is like you're thinking about all the things you need to do. Yeah. You're thinking about your laundry list of personal and professional things that are taxing on you. You're thinking about what could go wrong, what could go right, whatever. And So it.

Travis Chappell (8m 21s):
Mostly what could go wrong. Yeah.
Tori Gordon (8m 22s):
But big part of it is like, let me get reconnected what's actually true and what's actually real. Because my mind can play games. And, I don't need to believe everything I think

Travis Chappell (8m 32s):
And what matters. Right. Right. Because like that, that's, I do a lot of the same things. Try to, you know, spend a day or two by myself at the beach or something. Like I get by myself for sure. Yeah. And then try to get out, even if it's just like I said, smoking a cigar with a beautiful view at sunset somewhere with a drink in my hand and a re-engagement into what it means to be alive. And an appreciation for just being, because that's already a blessing. But just be, and then realizing that anything I build on top of that is just icing on the cake. Right. you know what I mean? It's like on, I, first of all, I'm here at this with this beautiful view and enjoying time with myself, smoking a cigar with a whiskey and having a great evening.

Travis Chappell (9m 12s):
And if that's all life provided me, it would be a fucking great Yeah. Life. Yep. But I got the opportunity to do all these other things and if I can figure out a way to make sure that I can reengage with me with Travis, it's deep down in here somewhere, the real version of me, then I think that version is much more likely to be able to go conquer a bunch more things. Because you know, the life is not a zero sum game. It's not a you win, you lose type of a thing. It's like there's multiple ways to make it out. So yeah, I, I do a lot of the same things. Try to give it myself.

Tori Gordon (9m 43s):
Well, and everything you just said is like, are things that help us get present. Yeah. Right. And when you're in the mind, you're not really present with, you're not an engaged relationship with life. You're in relationship with your mind and all the thoughts that you're having. And so whatever practices that I tend to use are ones that bring me back to the present moment of actually what's really real and what's actually really going on so that I can either attune and meet my needs or just again, come back to the truth that like everything is okay.

Travis Chappell (10m 15s):
Yeah. Right. Even if it's seemingly not. It is.
Tori Gordon (10m 18s):
Yeah. It really is.
Travis Chappell (10m 19s):
That's one of the reasons I love having a show too, because I get to sit down and have conversations with people like you all the time. And when we dig into their story, there's inevitably periods of of uncertainty where there's obstacles you're not sure how to overcome. There's huge problems. There's bankruptcies, there's people losing tens of millions of dollars on deals. There's people that have built up a nine figure net worth lost it all there. Like they're, every successful person I've talked to has these moments in these periods of time where they're like, what am I doing? Am I qualified to do this? I don't know exactly how I got to where I am now. Yeah. And I don't know how I'm gonna get to where I'm going and I'm totally underqualified and nobody believes in me.
Travis Chappell (11m 1s):
And, I don't believe in myself. And I should just go back to flipping burgers or whatever. And so one thing that really helps me is trying to think about what I want my story to be in 10, 20 years from now, like five years from now Travis, 10 years from now, Travis, 20 years from now, Travis, what part of my journey is this going to be when I'm telling that story on stage or at a podcast in 20 years from now. Right. This is gonna be that part where I'm like, yeah, I thought everything was over. you know what I mean? Like, oh, I'm losing this or I'm not in control of this thing, or I'm totally, I'm under a lot of stress or pressure. But if I can take myself out of that and put myself in 20 years from now Travis and be like, look, I, I think that's what's so important about committing to the long term is that I know that I'm in the game long.

Travis Chappell (11m 44s):
So I know it's going to work out at some point because there's no way it's not going to Right. Because I'm in the game that long. This is just part of the story.
Tori Gordon (11m 52s):
Yeah. Along the way. That's, that's the perspective that I think most people miss and don't And I think having that perspective is the differentiator between long-term success or not. Because here's what happens. You're at where you are wherever anybody listening is in their life. Whether it's they're unhappy with their career, their relationship status, their financial status, whatever. It's, and then they think about where they wanna be right. In five years. And they imagine that compelling future that they want to become that version of themselves. And then there's the gap between where am I, where do I wanna be? And this what feels like insurmountable distance between those two things.
Tori Gordon (12m 33s):
And what they do is they define where they are and they make up a story about where they are and what that means about where they're going and their ability to get there. So what I see a lot of times And I think one of the reasons I've had the success I've had is cuz I've switched this mentality is I never make where I am mean anything negative about where I wanna go. Meaning if I think that I'm not where I wanna be yet And, I think that means I'm not a good leader. Maybe I'm not creative enough, I don't have the skills, I don't have the experience, all the stories we tell ourselves.
Tori Gordon (13m 14s):
But if you think long term and you knew without a shadow of a doubt you were gonna get to that destination And that it was or even something better that or something better. If you knew that and had that confidence and had that belief and you could see 10 years down the road and Seema how amazing your life was, you wouldn't make where you are mean anything. But this is just a stepping stone. Absolutely. And that's how I approach my life. And I'm like, yeah. Oh, where I am at is exactly where I need to be because it's where I'm at right now. And if I was meant to be somewhere else, I would be. But the fact that I'm experiencing this in this moment is means it's For me, And, I get to figure out what's in this For me.
Tori Gordon (13m 55s):
And if I'm not experiencing gratitude or if I'm experiencing tension or overwhelm or stress, I just come back to that and it's like, what is this trying to show me? Because it's For me and it's trying to move me towards the direction of who I think I wanna become.
Travis Chappell (14m 9s):
Yeah. We are absolutely a reflection of the obstacles that we overcome and the pressure that we face in moving past that pressure. And, I think that if you don't learn how to stomach that now that you're never gonna get to the destination you're trying to get to or the better one that may end up that. That was kinda the realization that I had lately. Cuz when I started Geia, we raised this money to seed the software company. And I never started a software coming For me. I'm not a developer, I'm not a product guy, I'm not any, I didn't have any business starting a software business. We raised money for it from a bunch of people that I trust and admire and look up to and all these, you know, different people I built relationships with over the years and it was extremely stressful after we closed the round counterintuitively, it was like, you know, typically people will kind of praise that. You know, like, oh you raised over a million dollars for a software startup.
Travis Chappell (14m 51s):
Great job. And to me it was like as soon as we closed, I was like the most stressed I've ever felt in my life. Now the work starts. Yeah. Because like that's step one and yeah, it's a difficult step. Sure. But now the real work begins where I have to go turn this money into more money. you know what I mean? Or I risk losing my reputation and it weighed on me so heavily for six to eight months made me almost like not even productive. And eventually it got to the point where I was like, if this is the path that I'm choosing, meaning that even if like regardless of what happens with Castio, we go bankrupt or we sell for a hundred million dollars, whatever happens, I'm still going to be taking risks like this for the rest of my life because that's who I am and that's the path that I'm choosing.

Travis Chappell (15m 32s):
So if I can't learn to stomach the risk of like a small amount of money of a million bucks, like what makes me think I can go raise 12 million or 20 million or start a real estate fund and buy, you know, multi-family properties that are 150 million in our portfolio. Like what makes me think that I can go do all those other things. If I can't stomach the pressure that comes along with a million bucks and it just forced me to figure out a way to deal with it, the solution's not going to come tomorrow. Right. you know what I mean? Like, we're gonna build here. This is gonna take multiple years to figure out and if I can't figure out how to stomach the pressure now I'm gonna have ulcers and gray hair by the time I'm 33. you know?
Tori Gordon (16m 9s):
how did you do that? How did, what was the thing that you figured out how to deal with that?

Travis Chappell (16m 14s):
Was that like? For me? So the first thing was like getting to the root of the problem. Like what is the thing that stresses me out the most about what I do? Which

Tori Gordon (16m 20s):
Is typically what For me. Some kind of fear. Like if you like strip it all back, it's like what's the fear there?
Travis Chappell (16m 25s):
It wasn't necessarily fear For me, it was more of a lack of alignment in my Skillset. Okay. Versus what I was spending time on. So the solution For me became hire somebody that's an operator that can take all the things off of my plate that I don't want to do. Even though they're an expensive hire. Even though it's a big risk of a hire cuz it's the most expensive hire I've ever done. Bringing in that person and taking that pressure off of me will allow me to do the things with my time that I think I'm uniquely qualified and very good at. Right. That most people are not good at And. that is a better seat. For me to sit in and this person can handle this thing. So, it took us like four months, 30 interviews and stuff. We finally made an offer like six weeks ago and we brought on, or like two months ago we brought on an operator for that business and it's already taken loads of stress off of my shoulders.

Travis Chappell (17m 11s):
Relieved. Yeah. Even though it's a, like again, it's a big risk. It may not even work out. Like I hope it does. I think the guy's really great. We, like I said, 30 interviews and we did two or three rounds of interviews met in person. I get good feelings from the guy, right? He's working well with the team, everything's going well. But it's a risk nonetheless. But I think that it was one that was worth it For me, For me. It came down to an understanding of what, like what is the thing that's really stressing me out the most? And it's like I feel underqualified and undereducated to do this particular role within the company, yet this is where I find myself in the majority of my hours during the day. And it was absolutely just not working. At first I was like, I can wear the hat, you know, I'll put that hat on, put this hat on, put this hat on. I just wanna save money. Run the company really frugally. I'll do it all. Yeah, exactly.
Travis Chappell (17m 52s):
Which is a really great strategy

Tori Gordon (17m 55s):
Until it's
Travis Chappell (17m 56s):
Not. Exactly. Yeah. So, it became not really fast. And that became the root of the problem. For me was just like, how am I spending my time and what will free me up to do the things like I said that I'm good at that other people would not be able to do.
Tori Gordon (18m 11s):
Well again, I think it requires humility to even be able to admit that. But for anybody that watches this show and For me personally, like I always tend to look at where do I have, what do I have the most resistance around? you know, why is that resistance there? Yeah. And what is that trying to show me? And it might be that I'm out of alignment somewhere and because when I'm in alignment that resistance intention kind of goes away. And I always think about it as like going to the chiropractor. It's like when I get back into my role that I'm good at that I'm uniquely qualified for And. I'm not trying to be everything to everybody. I'm not trying to be someone I'm not and I'm letting that person be really good at what they're good at.

Tori Gordon (18m 52s):
Then there's just this release of Yeah, the pressure that tension built up, right? Yeah.
Travis Chappell (18m 58s):
Yeah. Now is super important. Yeah. That's awesome for us to do to make that decision.
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Tori Gordon (21m 51s):
But I, I really want to get back, we skipped a bunch of things here in your story that I'm really interested in so I wanna get back into that.
Travis Chappell (21m 56s):
Sure. So sports competitive parents in education. So did they push you down a certain career path? Like I typically find that people whose parents were really into the education side don't really end up, like in the online world, they tend to have like more kind of traditional career paths. Traditional college, university, get a job, you know, be an accountant or lawyer or something like that. Did they push you in that direction at all? Was that ever part of your path? Did you have any inkling or desire to go down those directions?
Tori Gordon (22m 26s):
Yes and no. So they never pushed me in any one direction. And. I actually sort of always had this entrepreneurial spirit since I was a kid. Like I was the kid that would bring like get my mom on Saturday, get her to take me to Sam's or Costco and buy like candy and bulk and take it to school and like sell it on the side to my friends. Nice. And then I ran in college, I ran a a photography business. Where'd you go to school? I went to the University of Alabama. Oh, okay. So I started in photography, thought I wanted to be a commercial photographer, had a great business in college and my sister got sick with cancer. And I did this portrait photo shoot of her after she shaved her head and lost it all over her hair.
Tori Gordon (23m 6s):
And it, that was such a profound experience and for some reason it kind of stole my joy for photography at the time was actually I put the camera down after that and didn't really pick it up for a really long time and all of a sudden I was like, I wanna take my life in a different path. And I didn't know what that looked like, but I knew I wanted like most people to help people. Right. I was like, what do you wanna do? I wanna help people. What does that mean? What does that look like? And, I didn't know. And like many people in college, you're kind of trying to figure that out and a friend of mine was like, well I'm in social work and it's easy. And so I followed that And I got
Travis Chappell (23m 46s):
The end of a 19 year old totally. And I was just like easy sign me up.
Tori Gordon (23m 50s):
But the thing was my parents always really encouraged me to find my way and they believed in me and they trusted me that I would figure it out And. that I just, they just continued to encourage me to pursue the things that were real and true and interesting. For me. So I got into social work and although I found it interesting in psychology is where I started at my toe into psychology. I figured out very quickly it was not gonna provide the lifestyle I wanted. And it was really heavy and dense and intense. And so I went the corporate path right outta college. It was like what my dad always said was like, but you do have to pay your bills and you gotta figure that out.

Tori Gordon (24m 29s):
So I took a job in software sales right outta college. Oh really? And did that outside sales for six years before I went in-house to do sales operations training and onboarding for like, like performance management. We were selling legal software and services. Okay. To large corporate legal departments in the biggest law firms in the country.

Travis Chappell (24m 48s):
How was that experience for you?
Tori Gordon (24m 50s):
Worked for a really toxic boss. Okay. Which taught me a lot though about teamwork and collaboration outside of that culture and culture to
Travis Chappell (24m 59s):
Toxic in what ways? Oh gosh. Don't even get you started.
Tori Gordon (25m 2s):
Yeah. Just abusive. Just
Travis Chappell (25m 5s):
An abusive power.
Tori Gordon (25m 7s):
Yes. Yeah. But also even the hiring structure. He hired, so his HR like hiring manager was a Former, miss u a and his whole strategy was to hire girls that had been in the Miss u s a pageant system because they were beautiful and they could talk and they could hold a conversation and men enjoyed giving them sell better. Yeah. They selled better. Yeah. And, that was the whole strategy. And as you know, so that was the environment you come into. Yeah. It was, here's a Tiffany bracelet during your onboarding process, but I'm not gonna give you health insurance. That was the environment that I lived like I worked in for six years.
Tori Gordon (25m 48s):
And it was interesting though thinking back like I, it's
Travis Chappell (25m 52s):
A touch of misogyny
Tori Gordon (25m 53s):
Sort of became like this in some ways. This person that the other, my like coworkers rallied around cuz I wasn't really afraid to stick up for myself. And I wasn't afraid to stand up for the other people And that I worked with and he didn't love the fact that I baed at his authority. No, no.

Travis Chappell (26m 16s):
It's so strange.
Tori Gordon (26m 17s):Usually
Travis Chappell (26m 18s):
Eventually people like that have such a great relationship with their ego,
Tori Gordon (26m 20s):
But there's a cost and a payoff to everything. And I realized that there was a cost to working for them but there was a payoff. Right. I had flexibility there were different making good money. And I was always May twenties weighing the options. Yeah. you know, weighing is this worth being here or not? And I for a while it was a very strategic move to stay as long as I did. And then when those, the cost outweighed the benefits Sure. I was out.
Travis Chappell (26m 43s):
You also probably gained a lot of experience in selling. Totally. Which was
Tori Gordon (26m 48s):
Invaluable.
Travis Chappell (26m 49s):
Pretty beneficial to the rest of your career.
Tori Gordon (26m 50s):
Extremely valuable. Yeah. Because then I ended up going, working for the top country in the industry. Yeah. Top company and doing all of their sales training and teaching their sales people how to go out and sell. Got, so
Travis Chappell (27m 1s):
That was two separate companies? Yes. So you did outside sales for this other company. Yeah. And then moved to inside sales management.
Tori Gordon (27m 6s):
Yep. Sales operations. Got it. Yep. Got it. Then I ended up starting a podcast and the response from the company at the time, cuz I posted on LinkedIn, I got a call from my boss and her boss and they didn't love the fact that I'd started a podcast.
Travis Chappell (27m 23s):
Why?
Tori Gordon (27m 24s):
The response that I got from them was that this looks like it takes a lot of time and how do we know you're not doing it on our dollar? Cuz I worked from home full time and they made a lot of assumptions out of the gate thinking that they were afraid in their opinion that I was gonna like sell, like giveaway trade secrets and stuff. Well they didn't even realize cuz they failed to listen to the show. Right. It had nothing to do with say sales or anything that we did. So that put enough of a bad taste in my mouth to really wanna pursue what felt good For me. Sure. Because at the time I was going through this whole separate kind of come to Jesus moment, spiritual awakening and my personal life that was completely restructuring my priorities and what was really meaningful and important to me.
Tori Gordon (28m 10s):
Yeah. And so that was my first act of creating something that I was really proud of that felt like TORI that was rejected in such a public way. Yeah. And I was and
Travis Chappell (28m 23s):
Formal way. Yeah.
Tori Gordon (28m 24s):
That I was like, all right, this was the push I needed. Yeah. To go actually bet on myself and see what I can do on my own.
Travis Chappell (28m 32s):
Why did you start the podcast to begin with?
Tori Gordon (28m 33s):
I wanted to bottle up conversations that I was, that I had with my parents my whole life. you know, sitting on the patio, having wine grilling out and having really meaningful, profound, helpful, useful conversations that I realized as I got older, other people didn't have access to, other people didn't have parents like mine. They didn't, they weren't encouraged the way I was. They, you know, And I was like, people need this. And it was sort of a selfish endeavor because I was very much trying to heal from a lot of the things I'd experienced in my life. And it was my opportunity to have a one-on-one conversation with somebody who could actually provide me useful tools.
Tori Gordon (29m 18s):
Sure. And So, it really started as like my desire to work on myself by interviewing people who'd had worked on themselves.
Travis Chappell (29m 26s):
Were you a podcast listener for a while before that?
Tori Gordon (29m 29s):
A little bit. Okay. Yeah. But not too long. you know, I, there were a couple of podcasts that I listened to that were very much in the coaching education side. Okay. And
Travis Chappell (29m 39s):
What were some of the first ones that you liked?
Tori Gordon (29m 41s):
The first one was by a woman named Christine Hassler. It's called Over and on with her podcast.
Travis Chappell (29m 45s):Oh yeah. Yeah.
Tori Gordon (29m 46s):I know Christ. She became a coach of mine for a little while. Okay. During that period, And I met
Travis Chappell (29m 50s):
Her at a Aubrey Marcus Yeah. Mastermind event like
Tori Gordon (29m 52s):
Four years ago. Sounds so similar type, those types of shows. Aubrey's show being one of them as well. And I was at a place personally where I was doing a whole new level of self-exploration and self-discovery. Like who am I? Why do I do what I do? Why am I pursuing the things that I'm pursuing? What do I enjoy? So those shows kind of allowed me to be a sponge, but there was always like a moment where I was like, okay, now I need to
Travis Chappell (30m 23s):
Do something about it. Yeah.
Tori Gordon (30m 24s):
Yeah. It's like You can just absorb as much information as you want. There's knowledge out there everywhere, but apply like that doesn't necessarily make you powerful. You have to apply it And, integrate it and use it.
Travis Chappell (30m 33s):
Yeah, totally.
Tori Gordon (30m 34s):
So yeah, there,
Travis Chappell (30m 35s):
Yeah. It's kind of the same thing with the idea thing. It's so funny when everybody, you get people that are, that have like an idea for a company or something and they're so secretive about it. And I learned this when I was pitching for for guest you because you start realizing like in angel investors, VCs and all this other stuff, like you are initially thinking, Hey please sign this NDA because I'd wanna protect my IP or whatever. No serious angel investor is gonna sign an NDA to look at your pitch deck. you know, because they know more so than most people that ideas are literally a dime a dozen. Sure. There is zero value in having an idea. The only value comes in the execution of that idea. And it's the same concept. You can soak up knowledge all day, every day and still work at Starbucks for the rest of
Tori Gordon (31m 18s):
Your life. There are many people whose lives who do are in the, like they're getting the results they're getting. And it's not because they have a lack of resources. Yeah. Or information. And I. Think it's Jim Quick who's like shelf help. It's not self-help. Yeah.
Travis Chappell (31m 31s):
Shelf help. Yeah. He does call it
Tori Gordon (31m 33s):
Shelf up. Yeah. He is like, you're buying a book and it's sitting there collecting dust or even you read it, but you have yet to apply one principle. No, that sounds good. And I'm gonna post a quote on my Instagram Right. Or tweet this. But yet I've done nothing differently. Right. you know, And I try to live my life in a way that my internal world and my external world are congruent. you know what I mean? They're aligning. They're aligning. There's it's integrity and yeah, they're certainly and will I'm sure be moments in my life where I say one thing And I do another. Right? Sure. But sometimes
Travis Chappell (32m 9s):
It's like we all have blind spots. Totally.
Tori Gordon (32m 11s):
Yeah. But that's a check-in that I do very consistently with myself.

Travis Chappell (32m 15s):
The check-in's a good idea. It's the, it's the clarity like purposeful times to take inventory of, of what you believe, why you believe it, and if your actions match with what your beliefs are. And a lot of times just consuming a bunch of information is actually counterintuitive to the path that you should be going down. Because there's so many conflicting views I was talking about earlier. Like, success is not a diver, it's not, there's not success or not success. Linear You can have success in a multitude of ways. And so if you listen to this person and then you listen to this person and you read from 14 different people, they're all gonna have different opinions about what you should be doing, how you should be spending your time. What like at the end of the day, you gotta just do. Yeah. You gotta do something.
Travis Chappell (32m 56s):
Absolutely. And then the next thing to do will probably show itself to you while you're doing the first thing. Exactly. But if you just sit and wait and hope for this revelation, it's just, it's not gonna come. Those are the people that, that have one year of experience 20 times over. Like they'll tell you like, oh I've been, you know, I've been working this job for 20, I've 20 years of experience. It's like no, you have one year of experience lived 20 years over. So because you've never done anything different and all you're hoping for at the end of the year is your little cost of living raise your 7% increase on your pay. And you keep talking about all the things that you want to do and you keep thinking about all these ideas and you have a dream board and a vision board and you've watched the secret 42 times on Netflix, but you don't do anything. Yeah.
Travis Chappell (33m 36s):
If you don't do anything, nothing's gonna change. Yeah. you
Tori Gordon (33m 39s):
Know, well And I think that's the kicker, right? You can't be in the planning phase forever. And that's when just absorbing and collecting information and knowledge becomes a form of self-sabotage. Honestly. It's absolutely because it's just another distraction.
Travis Chappell (33m 53s):
It's mental masturbation.
Tori Gordon (33m 54s):
It's something that You can get off on that makes you feel like you're making progress. Yep. Makes you feel good about yourself, Hedo dopamine, but you really aren't doing nothing. Yep. And I would rather follow somebody and like learn from somebody who goes to a workshop, goes to a retreat, reads a book, and then spins the next 60 90 days doing the thing. Yeah.

Travis Chappell (34m 18s):And falling on their face most likely. Yeah. That, that's really what it comes down to is it's operating from a place of fear and scarcity. Because at the end of the day you think that the consumption of the information is gonna prevent you from failing at all. And while it may be the case that will help maybe mitigate failure or bring you more information to light that will help you in your journey, maybe shave some time off the learning curve, you will fail. It is a guarantee. You will be embarrassed of something that you do. You will fall flat on your face when you try to launch a new product or write a book or start a podcast or quit your job and start a freaking flooring business. I don't care what it is, you will fail.
Travis Chappell (34m 59s):
It is not a matter of if, it is a matter of when. So the sooner you take action and start getting used to failing, the sooner you learn how to overcome that failure better and the sooner you learn how to avoid that failure again in the future. Yeah. And if you just sit there reading and consuming information, thinking that's gonna be the thing that prevents you from the pain of failure, you're just wrong. Right. It's just a lack of understanding of what it takes to truly become outsized successful. you know what I mean? It's just, it's part, you have to factor it in. Yeah. And some people can't stomach that because it sucks. Especially if it's something like this podcasting or content or something. Cuz it's such a public way to fail. Sure. How's the biggest fear that I have when I started this cause? Cause I had a bunch of people that I knew were hoping I was gonna fail cuz of the world that I came from.
Travis Chappell (35m 41s):
There was a bunch of people that I just knew were just, like I said it was, it's a public way to be like, I wanna do this thing publicly, Please help. Yeah. Right. And so you have people sitting there with popcorn just hoping. Yep. And it's like, I know that during the times where I was failing the first couple of years where I was like barely getting by and trying to get this thing off the ground and you know, get to the end of the runway and have some lift, it was like I know that those people were just rooting for my failure. And in some ways they got what they wanted several times over during that period of time. But if you are so concerned with what's happening in the next 12 months, you'll never be able to optimize for what's happening in the next 10 years. And that's much, a much more effective way to go about success in general.
Travis Chappell (36m 23s):
Yeah. Is thinking more long-term than short-term and being able to delay gratification and be okay with short-term embarrassment. Short-term failure. Because you know that at one point, like at some point it's gonna flip. you know what I mean? Where like that person is seemingly like they're somebody that's talking shit onto you or and actively rooting for you to fail. And it seemingly looks like when you're whatever, 25 that maybe they're more successful cuz they stayed in the corporate job. Right. And they're getting a fat salary and they live in a beautiful condo on the high rise in Chicago or whatever. And you are like eating shit living in your parents' spare bedroom, trying to build a business. It looks like they've won but in 10 years they're here cuz they've gotten two promotions. But you are here because you've built a multi eight figure business that you exit.
Travis Chappell (37m 7s):
you know what I mean? Yeah. Like it just, it's a complete misunderstanding of priority.
Tori Gordon (37m 11s):
It just reminds me of a conversation or a text I got recently because I had that exact experience. Basically when I started posting on social media and starting my own business and the podcast and everything, there was definitely a contrast of reviews from my friends and people that I knew and what people thought about it from my bosses, people
Travis Chappell (37m 30s):
From work. Yeah. Right.
Tori Gordon (37m 31s):
To, from my bosses and my coworkers, to my friends closest friends, And. I definitely lost friendships that I remember. One girl specifically I was really close with. The things that she would say about me is like, oh, Tory's trying to be an influencer. Like look at what is she trying to do? Like making it a joke and thinking when it was funny And, that relationship kind of dissolved and only this past week now that I'm having, we just crossed the million mark and having a ton of success and hit number one on the education podcast. And I get this long text from her. And it's been years I'm, I was the godmother of a child. Like we were deeply close. Wow. And she was just basically said, you pursuing the thing that you wanted and doing it so, you know, passionately and intentionally like triggered me because I wasn't growing.
Tori Gordon (38m 21s):
I was afraid you were gonna leave me behind and as a result outgrow me. And and So it's interesting he pushed you away Yeah,
Travis Chappell (38m 28s):
Exactly. To make sure it
Tori Gordon (38m 29s):Happened. Exactly. And it's just interesting because like you were saying, it really does come down to like the longevity and like thinking long term because these things, you know, aren't built overnight. They all take time. They all take time and but yet the people who you know are the doubters or the haters who there will be and they wanna see you fail the, the moment that you start to have success is the moment that they're like,
Travis Chappell (39m 0s):
It's the come to Jesus moment where they realize they were wrong.
Tori Gordon (39m 3s):
Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. And
Travis Chappell (39m 4s):
Where they can't say anything about it anymore. Right. you know, so their only option is to support. Right. Because you're gonna be successful regardless. Yeah. you know? Yeah. It's, it's unfortunate that works that way but that is how it works. And it's the same, you know, for anybody that's trying to do something, anything different. If you're just trying to do something different, you're always gonna get this reaction and it's going to be most painfully from the people that love you and care about you the most. Yeah. Unfortunately. And sometimes it's because of what you know your friend was saying, but other times it's because they don't wanna see you fail. They don't wanna see you get embarrassed, they don't wanna see you, you know, do it for eight months and then realize that you quit your job and now you don't know how you're gonna pay it. Like they don't wanna see that pain either. Even some people are just, they're doing it from a place of love for you.
Travis Chappell (39m 46s):
Yeah. It's just misplaced. Absolutely. Because it's a misunderstanding of what I value in life. It's just like I don't want to work for a corporate corporation that doesn't V doesn't value what I want. I want to do this thing. Yeah. Even if it means less money, even if it means late nights, even if it means downgrade in my lifestyle for a little while, you know it's a worthy pursuit. And, I'm fine with that. Yeah. And I need you to be fine with that.
Tori Gordon (40m 10s):
Well and it's a projection. It's a projection of their own feet that they're putting onto you. Right. And they're calling it and they're saying, I'm trying to protect you And I wanna love you by keeping you small. And that's unfortunate. And I like you said, it is just misplaced and Yeah,
Travis Chappell (40m 25s):
It's, it is. Yeah. It's, as a parent, it's your job to keep your kids safe Of course. So it's really hard when they like become an adult and they start doing stuff that you perceive as being risky, inherently risky. Yeah. It's like totally wait before you do that. you know, like, let's maybe talk about this for a second.
Tori Gordon (40m 40s):

Well I was encouraged when I started there was like from a lot of people I deeply respected, they were like, you need to have this much in savings. You need to be able to pay your bills for six months if something ever happens. And so And I was like, that's all nice advice. And. I really appreciate it. And, I'm gonna listen to it but I'm not gonna take it. Yeah. And, I, you know, And I, not everybody will take the same path. Sure. And but I had a conviction personally. Yeah. I knew I needed to put myself on the hook Yeah. To show up to actually put in the work that wouldn't So it necessary Yeah. To get it done. Money
Travis Chappell (41m 10s):
Can be a great accountability partner. Yeah.
Tori Gordon (41m 12s):
Well and if I had that cushion I wouldn't have had the pressure Right. To actually go out And that that happen.
Travis Chappell (41m 19s):
Yeah. Yeah. Right. Now sometimes you need it. Yep. you know, and most of the time my advice is different for everybody. Especially like, you know, if you're in your forties and you have four kids and you know what I mean? It's like it's gonna be a little bit different. Absolutely. But if you're in your twenties and you're single Yeah. And it's just like, just do something, try things. Do like take big risks literally in the optimal time of life. Yeah. To make those big decisions and put yourself in a position that is potentially extremely risky. And to me it's like I always looked at not always, one thing that I've recently gotten better at, I should say is looking at my current problems in the scope of the future version that I've of myself that I wanna become.
Travis Chappell (41m 59s):
And it really puts things into perspective because most people would look at a $5,000 investment, a $10,000 investment, a $25,000 investment as intrinsically a lot of money. But I always knew that I wanted to be somebody that at least was worth eight figures at the time. Now I'm, my goal moved on to nine figures, but at the time it was like if I could be worth 10 million then like that's a great goal. And, I wanna do that before I'm 40. Like I wanna be able to have the option to retire before I'm 40 was my goal when I started everything. It's a lot higher than that now, but at the time it was still made a 20,000, 10,000, $5,000 investment. Super insignificant if you look at it in relation to where you want to be.
Travis Chappell (42m 41s):
you know what I mean? Like I want to be worth 10 million but I'm gonna let this $5,000 investment prevent me from getting to where I want to be. Even though it's astronomically more than what this, you know, you know what I'm saying? Absolutely. So, it gotta be able to adopt a future version of Yourself's identity before you reach that level. Or else you're gonna keep making the decisions of the person that thinks $10,000 is a lot of money. Yeah. You're gonna keep making the decision of the 50 K a year person. If you keep taking the actions and adopting the mindset of a 50 K a year person. You're always gonna be a 50 k a year person. Well
Tori Gordon (43m 14s):
And you might make progress. It's just gonna be
Travis Chappell (43m 15s):
Incremental. Incremental. You get your 8%, you know, cost of living race. Right.
Tori Gordon (43m 19s):
Exactly. Yeah. Yeah. And you're gonna come up against a lot of frustration of why am I not making progress at a quicker, right. Yeah. But it's gonna be compare like it's going to be in proportion to the risks that you're willing to take.
Travis Chappell (43m 33s):
Yeah. Correct. Yeah. Cuz I, I hesitate to give the advice to people but I tell them this is my story, you know, like you don't have to do what I did Exactly. But I'm telling you like if you want to know how I got from where I was to where I am now in this period of time, this is what I did. I'm not telling you you have to do the same thing cuz I understand it's risky and sounds insane. you know, like when I started the show and wanted to move my business online cause I was doing door-to-door sales at the time I had, I pulled out a 0% interest credit card. And I failed that bad boy up. It was $42,000 credit limit. I was 24 at the time, 25 at the time. And I filled up $42,000 in debt on a credit card. But talk about like putting your feet to the fire.
Travis Chappell (44m 15s):
I knew that I wasn't gonna set my family back and not pay that card off. So before I ever paid a diamond, it was 18 months 0% interest. I think it was like the Chase Freedom Unlimited or something. And before I ever paid a diamond interest on that, I'd paid off the entire card with money from the online business. And paying off that debt was like a, oh my gosh, I can't believe I did that. you know what I mean? Yeah. but it, it sounds, again, it sounds insane like to say like, Hey pull out credit cards and spend a bunch of money on 'em. The problem is that most people would take that advice and then they go buy a TV and a bunch of, and like a MacBook Pro and stuff like that. I wasn't doing that. I was buying coaching, I was paying for masterminds. I was buying proximity to people that figured it out. I was buying knowledge, information, And. I was taking action on all the knowledge information I was getting.
Travis Chappell (44m 56s):
Right. And I had my sales ability to rely on to where like I knew I could sell stuff if I had something to sell. So paid off that card. When I started my software company, the first version of the software, I pulled out $90,000 in 0% credit cards. Three or four different ones. He's my buddy. Bill Jennings has a company called Pathway Financial. They help you, you know, get lines of credit from credit card companies at 0% interest. So I took out $90,000 in zero percentage credit cards, put the first version of the build of Castillos, like $78,000, something like that, almost 80 grand and built out the first version of the platform and then used that to go raise 1.4 million. Right. To take myself out of debt, put myself in a position to succeed and start building the company.
Travis Chappell (45m 39s):
Those are big risks. Yeah. It easily could have been the opposite of that. It easily could have been, I have $80,000 on this credit card, nobody will give me any money. And I can't figure out how to make money and now I'm just $80,000 in credit card debt and now I'm paying interest. you know what I mean? Like that could have been the story. But the bottom line is I was okay with that version of the story because I want this to be worth more than 90 grand one day. And at the end of the day, even if I'm on the hook for 90 grand, it's still just not enough to be able to take me away from the pursuit of what I really want to achieve. Yeah. Which is in 10 years from now, want to be able to not have to work again. Yeah. you know what I mean? So if you first of all aren't thinking about your current problems in contrast to your, you know, future desires, that's one thing.
Travis Chappell (46m 21s):
But then secondly, it's a good way to make sure or measure up what your future desires are and if they're big enough. Because sometimes I think people just have a misunder, like they have an underestimation of what it's going to take. I
Tori Gordon (46m 30s):
Agree. I agree. I think one of the things I've actually been working with a lot of clients on recently is creating a new orientation. Dreaming big because I've been struck by how many people have so many limitations around like really Dreaming big, especially women cuz they've been told to be a certain way And that they need to fill certain roles, And, that they don't need to outperform their, you know, their partner or their spouse or whatever. And, and so I've actually, that's been a conversation that I've been having with several people recently is that it's safe. It's safe to dream and it's safe to dream really big and it's safe to want more, you're allowed to want more.
Tori Gordon (47m 17s):
And also be grateful for where you are and what you have right now. Just because you are pursuing something that feels audacious and big doesn't mean you're not at the same time grateful for what you have. Sure. And see your privilege in the position that you might be right now.
Travis Chappell (47m 35s):
Totally. This house that we're in right now, we bought this a couple years ago. One of the reasons we bought it was that we had a perfect view of the strip, like the whole strip. It was just a, like an empty dirt lot behind us. So on our balcony we can see like all the Vegas strip and it was beautiful view sitting out on the porch at night, like glass of wine whatever, four or five months ago we find out that they're doing this huge commercial development behind us and it was like, ah man, that's gonna take away part of our view. But we're like, ah, it's not, oh, it is what it is. you know, it's a half mile from the house and they're putting in some cool restaurants and a good place to go walk around and hang out. So that's pretty cool. You know, take the good with the bad, whatever. But then like a couple months later right behind our house, there's another development going in and they put in a bunch of like freaking like two story, three story, like eight plexes and they're like luxury condos, So.
Travis Chappell (48m 24s):
It's not like they're gonna be like, not great neighbors. Sure. But it's 10 feet from our back wall and it eliminated our view. By the time the project is done, our view will be gone completely. And all we'll be looking at is the stucco of other people's places. And my immediate reaction was like, well let's pack up and move. you know, let's, let's get out, let's go somewhere else. Let's find that view. Like be able to get our bigger yard or something. Yeah. And it was kind of what you're just saying, it was like a realization that like, you know what, it's not smart to do that right now. The real estate market's completely different. We bought it a great time. Our interest rate's extremely low. We have a next gen apartment that we have a renter in that pays us money and rent every month. Like we keep our expenses extremely low so I can be really nimble and take big risks in my business.
Travis Chappell (49m 7s):
And it's just a face. And we just have to, we need to be very grateful for where we are cuz it's still a beautiful home and we're very grateful to have it and we're lucky to have it. It's a, it's, you know, better than what we lived in any other place we've been, we have a lot of equity in the home cuz again, we bought it a great time. Our interest rates, like there's so many things to be grateful for, but you can always get caught in that like Yeah, but I want that. Yeah. Yeah. But I want to be there. Yeah. And it's like, I, it's so good to have those big dreams and goals, but it's also so important to remain extremely grateful for the position that you're in and recognize how far you've come. Absolutely. As well. Or else you're just gonna drive yourself crazy. Absolutely.
Tori Gordon (49m 44s):
Well, it's always on to the next best thing where you don't ever stop to actually appreciate where you are. And knowing what we were talking about earlier, this is a phase, this is a part of the journey. So if me in five years was sitting in my mansion with amazing views of the strip and having the glass of wine with my wife is, looks back and is like, remember when we were in that house? Yeah. you know what I mean? And it's like that in, in your mind you're like, that is a guarantee. Yeah. That's gonna happen. Exactly. You're resourceful, you're committed to doing the long work over time and fail forward. And it's like, okay, so this too shall pass. Yeah. And for now, right now the grass is gonna be green where we water it and we're gonna water it where we
Travis Chappell (50m 23s):
Are. That's exactly right. Yeah. Okay, so keep going back to your story and getting sidetracked. So your college, you get the corporate job, start the podcast. How does that start turning into money for you? What are you doing to start building a business?
Tori Gordon (50m 38s):
I immediately sold my house. Okay. I bought a beautiful house, 25 26, had a, it was like green, you're still on the
Travis Chappell (50m 47s):
East, east coast,
Tori Gordon (50m 48s):
Still in Atlanta. Started the business. but it was like, I need to get myself off the hook for this mortgage. I need to give myself a chance to actually be successful. Sold my house, props to you, moved into a tiny apartment and then covid hit.
Travis Chappell (51m 2s):
Oh wow. Okay.
Tori Gordon (51m 3s):
So I did everything out of my time. So
Travis Chappell (51m 6s):
You started the podcast in 19 or 20?
Tori Gordon (51m 8s):
19. 19. Okay. End of 19. But I immediately hired a coach. Okay. Because I quit my job. And I was like, I need to make money. And I, don't know what I'm selling or what
Travis Chappell (51m 21s):
Business coach
Tori Gordon (51m 21s):
Or a business coach that was focused on coaching. So I started offering one-on-one in group coaching. I built out a program and started doing little workshops and literally it was just one foot in front of the other. Like just started with like now when I look back at my graphics and my marketing for it was just, it's so cringey, but like I have Yeah. Love for
Travis Chappell (51m 39s):
Her. It was me and Canva for like the first two years. Totally.
Tori Gordon (51m 42s):
Totally So it started with that. And then I ran a group coaching program that turned into a mastermind that I did several times. 1 0 1 group coaching. And then in 2020 during Covid, everyone's on lockdown, everyone's on social media. TikTok, I randomly got an email from TikTok, And I had no followers on Instagram. I'd like only ever used my Instagram for personal reasons. Now I'm trying to make this pivot into business and use it for marketing myself. And, I. Get this random email that I almost deleted cuz I was like, I don't know why TikTok is emailing me about something called the Creative Learning Fund. That they were starting during C as a way to bring, they were trying to position TikTok as not just a kid's platform for dancing.
Tori Gordon (52m 25s):
Right. And they wanted to bring other thought leaders and experts and people in other niches and verticals that were educating people. Sure. From home. So I signed up for this little program that they were doing. They were like, we'll pay you $1,500 to make like 40 videos and start your TikTok. And I was in the motivation like niche. And during those 40 videos, during that ramp up of like, I'm just going to put content out there. I wasn't afraid to put content out there cuz I knew no one on the platform at the time. And so I just went for it. And in that first month of putting out 40 videos consistently, I started to see immediate growth, And I.
Tori Gordon (53m 9s):
Remember one video, it was three years ago yesterday. That was my first viral video. And all of a sudden I sort of started to build this community and this audience simply off me talking about my life and the lessons I was learning and the things I was going through. And all these people were looking to me and now considered me, you know, an expert in this space in some ways. But people trust who they see and who they see consistently and as. And so I just started posting on TikTok and built a following there yesterday we hit 1 million followers. So it's been about three years. Thank you. Yeah. It's a big accomplishment. But a lot of, to answer your question, how did I make money?
Tori Gordon (53m 50s):
It started with coaching and then brands started reaching out and wanting to do brand partnerships with me. And it's only been recently that we've brought on, you know, some other streams of revenue. I had ran retreats and now I have the podcast and that's doing really well. And, I've done consulting, it was really be scrappy. Yeah. And figure out what You can offer. I am. you know, and that's what I did for like the first year before things started to Same
Travis Chappell (54m 16s):
Take off. Yeah. I was just like, what can I sell? What
Tori Gordon (54m 18s):
Skills do I have?
Travis Chappell (54m 20s):And I was like, oh, I have to fulfill now. Right? Yes. Gotta learn how to do that part of the business. you know, it's coming from sales, you just sell and you think it's done, you know, and then you become a business owner, you're like, oh, I actually have to like do the things now.,

Tori Gordon (54m 31s):There's no op team that I hand this over to and you guys fulfill on delivering
Travis Chappell (54m 36s):
TORI meat, I guess. Yeah. Cuz I'm, I'm gonna be the one to do everything. Yes. Now. Yeah. So,
Tori Gordon (54m 43s):
It is been a huge learning curve. And that continues to be like, every day I just learn more about who I am, what I wanna do. And there was a point though, a couple, about a year and a half, two years ago, I don't know if you've ever heard of Brand Builders Group. They're a group out of Nashville or Vaden and his wife AJ run it. And I joined them. They help personal brands monetize and really figure out their messaging and who they are and who they help. And. that was really important For me because as soon as I started working with them, one of the first things they had me do was look at my streams of revenue and how I was making money. And at the time it was one on one in group coaching that was like primarily, and then it was like brand partnerships and then it was a retreat and then it was affiliates maybe the podcast.
Tori Gordon (55m 30s):
Right? It was, and one of the things they encouraged me to do was to look at where I was bringing in money. And the next thing is, where do you want to, how do you want to be making money long term? So couple years from now, what would you like your business model to look like? For me, it was speaking and bigger deals in the podcast. And it became very clear as soon as I defined that, that I needed to make strategic business decisions to move away from just the coaching piece. Why get myself into a yearlong contract with all these people again and commit another year when ultimately I wanna be speaking and doing podcasts. So that helped me to start to see where I needed to start to shift my priorities and what to say yes to and what to say no to in my business.
Tori Gordon (56m 12s):
Hmm. Even if it seems like a good opportunity at the time and this client wants to, that's
Travis Chappell (56m 16s):
The hardest part. That's the hardest
Tori Gordon (56m 17s):
Part to turn down money. It's like, but it's not aligned with where I wanna go.
Travis Chappell (56m 19s):
It's not on my DNA n to turn down money, but it has to be. Yep.
Tori Gordon (56m 22s):
Yeah. So I got, I learned how to say no to things that look good but not, might not feel good. For me long-term. Mm. Yeah.
Travis Chappell (56m 31s):
Yeah. Well, super interesting. What's next for you, do you think?
Tori Gordon (56m 35s):
You know, I've been getting this question a lot lately, and the truth at this moment in time is more of what I'm doing right now. Like I really feel like I'm in a place that I have everything I want in life and personally and professionally, I'm doing exactly what I want to be doing in terms of speaking, facilitating and doing this podcast and having this conversation. So it's more of this on a bigger scale. Yeah. Because right now I just feel really fulfilled. And, that might change, you know, down the road. Sure. Yeah. But probably a book at some point. Yeah. That's been on the horizon. We've had some opportunities and deals come up, but it hasn't been the right one. And who knows? I mean, ultimately I would love to have my show continued to take off and either be doing really well, have its own TV show or whatever, but sure.
Tori Gordon (57m 24s):
More of what it, what we're currently doing. Definitely.
Travis Chappell (57m 27s):
Well, congrats on success you've seen so far. Seems well earned. Well deserved. And yeah, we'll be following along the journey. If you're listening, watching right now, go check out some of Tori's stuff. Where is the best place, the one place that you want them to go connect with you more?
Tori Gordon (57m 42s):
The, Coachable. Podcast. Yeah. We're gonna have Travis on very soon. Yes. So you're gonna be able to come here, our conversation where he's in the guest seat soon. That's where You can find us on YouTube and Apple Spotify wherever.
Travis Chappell (57m 53s):
So checking this out right now, The, Coachable Podcast, whatever podcast app you're listening in, search that or go check it out on YouTube. TORI, thanks so much for coming to the show. It's a lot of fun. Thank
Tori Gordon (58m 2s):
You so much for having me.
Travis Chappell (58m 4s):That's it for today's episode. Thanks for spending some time with me and my friends. If you want to be better friends with me, then head over to Travis Chappell dot com slash team to subscribe to my free newsletter, your friend Travis, where I share what's on my mind about life, building a business, raising kids, being married, and anything else I would normally share with my close circle of friends. That's Travis Chappell.com/ team. And my biggest ask of you, since I'm sharing my friends with you, is to share this episode with a friend of yours that hasn't listened to the show yet. Then leave us a quick five star rating in Apple Podcast and in Spotify it would mean the world to us as it helps us make sure that this show continues to be more valuable to you. Thanks in advance and I'll catch you on the next episode.

Full Uncut Interview