April 17, 2025 • 48 mins
What do psychology, personal growth, and sustainable housing have in common? More than you might think.
In this episode of From Crisis to Justice, Parag Amin sits down with Dr. Travis Fox - Emmy Award-winning speaker, clinical psychologist, entrepreneur, and CEO of Build Your Fortress - to explore how our internal belief systems shape the lives we build, both metaphorically and literally.
From mastering your mindset to revolutionizing the construction industry with high-performance panels, Travis brings together psychology, purpose-driven business, and innovative thinking to answer a powerful question:
What kind of legacy are you building - and who will it serve?
Key takeaways include:
- How subconscious patterns affect decision-making and long-term success
- The power of reintegrating the “hidden” parts of yourself for true growth
- Why most people quietly “quit” long before they realize it—and how to stop
- How Travis is using high-performance panels to solve the housing crisis
- What it really means to build a business that puts people over profit
Whether you're an entrepreneur, a builder, a creative, or someone looking to build something that matters, this episode will make you rethink the way you define success—and how you’re achieving it.
Learn more about Dr. Travis Fox:
Website (Fortress):
Website (Mindset/Coaching):
Instagram:
LinkedIn:
Learn more about Parag Amin:
Business Law Firm: https://lawpla.com
Personal Website: https://paraglamin.com
Follow Parag:
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Hi, I'm Parag Amin.
Welcome to my podcast.
From Crisis to Justice.
As a lawyer and entrepreneur, I'mpassionate about helping small business
owners successfully navigate situationsthat can kill a business.
As a kid, I watched my dad's dreamsof being an entrepreneur were destroyed
by an unethical businessman, and I don'twant that to happen to you or your family.
(00:22):
That's why I started my law firm.
I want to protect and defend businessowners and their legacies from crisis.
Welcome to From Crisis to Justice.
Welcome back, everybody.
To from Crisis to Justice.
I'm your host, Parag Amin.
And todayI'm joined by a very special guest, Dr.
(00:44):
Travis Fox,who is known as the mind scape architect.
He's an Emmy Award winning speaker,entrepreneur and business strategist.
With over 30 years of experiencein psychology,
clinical, hypnotherapy and leadership.
He's the CEO and boardmember of Build Your Fortress.
He's revolutionizing the constructionindustry with high performance
(01:07):
panels and innovative building materialthat cuts costs, accelerates
project timelines and enhance it, enhancessustainability.
And he's also the founder and chairmanof the Ultimate Business
Quest, where he helps entrepreneursunlock their potential
by overcoming subconscious limitationsand scaling their businesses.
He's got a backgroundin media, entertainment and real estate
(01:30):
and he blends psychology with businessdevelopment to help individuals
and industriesreshape their approach to success.
Travis,thank you so much for joining me today.
Well, you know, thank you.
By the way, every time I hear someone readthat, I go, are they talking about me?
Because we all have those little voicesin our head going,
oh, I haven't quite done enough yet.I haven't fulfilled all this.
I listen to thank you for the intro,but it was very kind.
(01:51):
Thanks for having me on the show as well.
But I still look at that every time I hearthat and go, Is that me really?
Because I still feel like I'ma whopping 16 years old,
even though I'm not even closeto that chronologically.
But thank you for having me on the show.I appreciate the intro.
Yeah, absolutely. So so then, I mean,
that leads to
my first question, which is, I mean, like,is that your subconscious speaking that,
you know, you're questioningquestioning yourself?
(02:13):
And does it does it ever really go away?
No, it never does.
In fact,I think one of the biggest misnomers
and part of why,you know, many people don't know this and,
you know, it'snot something we talk about publicly,
although I think this year it's going tobecause my latest book with my wife,
we actually co-publishedjust one together.
This my fourth book is adding
it released later this monthat the time of this recording.
And Amazon's taken us out of it nationboth on print and audible.
(02:37):
And one of the thingsthat we came out with is
I developedthe system called the dropout dynamics,
which is really academic wayof saying it's
the first fluid persona profiling systemthat we're aware of in the world.
And why is that?
Because we've we've always spent
most of our psychology saying, hey,focus on the positive thoughts.
You know, just, you know,when you hear a negative thought,
just kind of ignore it and redirect,and that has some power to it.
(02:59):
However, karma, we are the only specieson the planet that can actually
compartmentalize itself and actuallyactually forget, quote unquote.
I use that term loosely a partsof ourselves, which makes no sense.
It's about reintegrating. It'snot that the thought should go away.
It's should understandwhat is the thought.
Therefore, because oftenthere's a lot of those thoughts
that we would deem a shadow mysticor we call the path of whispers,
(03:20):
and then it drops into the shadowsthat really are there to protect you.
A lot of the times we'll say thatthey're trauma based or they're emotional
or some emotional traumatic scenarioor my own neurosis,
self-doubt, you know,
whatever the thing is, however karma, it'sthe reintegrating them, them
using them both because there's timeswhere I'll have that and I use
that thought and go, You're right,I haven't motivated myself enough.
(03:43):
I haven't done it because you're not doneuntil you're done.
And oftenwe get in the place of comfortability,
and I believe comfortabilitybreeds contempt.
And then all of a sudden we quit.
And I don't mean that you quit like,Oh, I'm just going to quit.
And I say that I actually quit slowly.
And it's the slowly subtle quitsthat you don't pay attention
to that ultimately end up into.
Also. Now, I haven't achieved my goals.I haven't left the legacy.
(04:04):
I haven't left what I wanted for my kids.
I haven't experienced anythingI wanted to experience in this life.
And you wake up and you're 75and you know our good friend Death,
who's non-negotiable and by the way,has 1,000% batting average.
The only thing in the known universethat does even God doesn't stop death.
Death comes for us all.
Have you really lived your life out loudand quote the great Alan Watts death?
You know, death is inevitable.
(04:25):
Life is a choice.
And so coming to that space, it's not that
those are, in my humble opinion, bad,because then you have to ask yourself
which persona in your headis judging it as good or bad.
That's a whole nother conversation,further exacerbating our neurosis.
But it's understandingwhat that person is saying to you,
and it says, I haven't really completedat all. You're right.
(04:45):
Travis Fox has not completedthe mission that I set out for myself,
not only for this lifetime,but for this particular chapter
in my life, because in different chapterswe have different value systems
like what I valued at 25and what I value now here on
the precipice of 55are radically different.
Now the body may look similar.
You know, the jokes me,
if I the smile there, maybe the hair'sa little more gray than before.
(05:08):
So overall, physically,we look relatively the same.
You know,ideologically it's radically different.
What I thought was interesting at 25and what is 55 different?
So those voices can be used as a positive.
But often we try to ignore them.
And the moment you try to ignore them,you're only playing with, you know,
half of the half of your skill setand why would you want to do that?
But that's what old psychology used toteach us, is ignore that.
(05:29):
And I quote the great book by NormanVincent Peale out of the fifties
learned optimism.
Well, if you listen to the bookitself, his own title was telling you
everything you needed to know.
One is a great bookand I love it and it's fantastic.
But you have to learn optimism,which means our conscious mind is
the one that actually does more damagethan our subconscious.
But that's not how we teach it.
So that's kind of a long windedanswer to that question.
(05:52):
Yeah, you know, it's interesting.
It's something I do say is,
you know, when somebody quits,they've quit a thousand times already.
And there's an aspect I think, of
there's optimism, there's pessimism,and then there's realism,
which is usually a healthyblend of the two.
I think optimism keeps us going.
Pessimism to some extent, some good.
(06:12):
Some people may argueit's a it's an aspect of realism, right.
That, you know, not everything is rosyall the time and that pessimism keeps
you alive and keeps you striving and keepsyou moving and keeps you protected.
But, you know,how does how does one filter that
this subconscious negativityand actually look at it like like
this is reality versusthis is just a negative
(06:34):
thought patternthat has no basis in reality whatsoever?
Well, you know, you I love your answer,by the way, eloquently stated.
I'm sure I'm right.
I know.
I know your backgroundis obviously clearly law,
but you clearly have a philosophicalone as well.
So I applaud you for that.
I think all of us do to a certain degree,whether we're willing to admit it.
I'm not talking about religious,I'm just not the.
Phillip Lasker.But how do we approach life?
(06:55):
And I think that you bring upsome valid points.
But I would also sayyou open your dangerously close
to open it Pandora's box.
And that's not from a bad thing.
It's from a When we talk about a realist
point of view,then we have to define and counsel.
I think you mutually agreewhat is our common ground of what's real.
Right.
And we use from the matrix'spoint of view, how do you define real?
What is real?
(07:16):
Then you also get into youryour own psychology.
What's real?
Oftenour perception of the events that occurred
and I'm sure you knowthis better than I do from witness
counting is vastly different than what
a video shows and what someone's mindperceptually perceives.
And then we start to get into thequantification of, Well, how do I perceive
which persona or personas in plural?
(07:37):
Am I looking at the world through?
But here's the back question.
This is the part that cracks me up.
You know, you heard the famous saying,and it goes all the way back in time.
You know,
to thyself, be true to know thyself.
Okay.
But self is set in a singular frame.
Self.
It's actually selves plural.
(07:57):
The ideology that that Travis Foxis a singular being or anyone
listening to this podcast as a singularbeing is the biggest misnomer
in my humble opinion.
The biggest
deficitthat we impose upon any human being,
whether young or old,doesn't matter by saying, well,
you know yourself as in singular,think of yourself as a diamond.
A diamond doesn't have one side.
(08:18):
It has multiple sides. Why?
Because how the light hits it will refractand give you a different look.
You and I are identical.
Anyone listening to this podcast?Identical.
Realistically, there's about 102 differentpersonas running around in your head.
The question is, do you know them, howyou experience them, and more importantly,
how do you integrate them?
Because if we go back to the great Carl
(08:38):
Jung doing Shadow mystic work,it is not about the omission.
It's not about getting rid of.
It's not about, Oh, that doesn't exist.
It's about the reintegration of you.
Because in anythingwent all the way back to the great Daoist,
which really precedesany major known religion in history,
and even look at
the universe light in the dark,go to the bad,
the dualistic approach of theor the word or needs to be collapsed.
(09:02):
Yes, I am a psycho linguist by trade.So lingual.
You know,using linguistics is important to me.
And some people argue semantics.
I'm like, You're damn rightI'm arguing semantics because it matters.
And I'm speaking to someone who would know
that equally as well,and probably better than me is the word
or implies one or the other.
The object is and putting them together
(09:22):
because the integration of you iswhat makes you there.
The partsthat you would call shadows or whispers.
Those are the voices that come overyour shoulder.
While you can't do it,you'll never be good enough.
What if they find out you're an imposter?You're a fraud.
All those little thoughtsof every human being has.
And if you say that you don't have them,you are truly
in the space of compartmentalization.
Which then I would offer you.
(09:43):
You've leftpart of you on the playing field
because there's a reason that it's thereand you can integrate it and use it.
And often those thoughts can be usednot just for motivation,
but integration and inspirationto push you as you so eloquently said,
not from a place of force,but of invitation to push you
into a space of, Wow, what would it belike if I actually was fully integrated?
(10:04):
What would we operate as a human being,You know, our spiritual
being, having the human experience,quantifying it that way?
What would it be like if we actuallyoperated with a full 100% integration?
What would that look likeor even fantasize about?
It puts your mind in an overload space.
But isn't that the adventureof a lifetime?
Because to know yourselfis to really understand
(10:24):
where you are in the current chapterand how you're applying both your insights
and your whispers, your consciousin your subconscious, and how you're using
those as an integrated woven tapestrythat makes the diamond of you.
And now the sun you shine on all aspects,regardless of whether it's a shadow
mystic approachor it's an insight approach.
Doesn't matter because it's still you.
(10:44):
And to deny yourself, how would you knowyourself if you deny it?
It's the biggest oxymoronic statementwe've made in human psychology
in at least the last200 years that I'm aware of.
Well, thatraises a lot of interesting questions,
and I think you and I could probably spendan hour talking about it and.
Sure, fair play.
Where, when and how does it make senseto the filter versus not?
(11:06):
And, you know, on the onehand, you're talking about
how would you know if you don't explorethat aspect of things.
Right.
And that could be appliedto a number of different different areas.
And let me ask you this.
When it comes to your decision to explore
high performance panels,it seems kind of like a
(11:27):
feels like a left turn, maybe
up until you know,maybe you could provide a
little bit of insight,like how did you get into this
area of high performance panelsand why did you get into it?
Fair play.
I grew up outside the United States
and my my biological father abandonedmy mother and I when we were in Japan.
My mother was a model and actressabandoned when I was one years old.
(11:49):
So we came back to the States for a briefstint at four and I lived in a trailer
and there's nothing wrongwith the trailer.
But back in 1974, trailers were madewith a lower construction rate
than we currently are now.
Not much better now, but lower.
And I saw what it did to peoplepsychologically and as I grew up over time
and got to travel around the world
and I grew up in the better
(12:10):
part of my life in Europe before I cameback to high school here in those states,
I sawconditions outside the United States.
And I think unfortunately,a lot of United States
American citizens are like,don't really get to see.
I think it's imperative that you see that
it influences you in a waythat I can't articulate in any word,
except for the impact was so palatablethat it influenced
(12:30):
my life always from a perspective.
And I always hearken back to,
you know, Maslow being hierarchy of needs,food, air, water, shelter,
shelter, soil, shelter hits the thematicor the theme in all of us of safety.
Now, it doesn't meanthat your house is impenetrable,
but it should be theoretically,and it gives you a place where you can
come and just be you, whatever that is,view with your family and your self.
(12:53):
However you choose to do work play.
Obviously,life has changed radically since 2020,
but nonetheless Fortressbecame about that ideology.
So it is actually a blend of the two pastthat influenced me most.
One, I was obviously human psychology,hypnotherapy
and how do we actually applyour persona system to the world
and giving a blueprint for lifeso we can master ourselves.
And ultimately, where do I do that?
(13:16):
But as we were talking about the pre-showglitz here in the United States,
House,pricing has gone through the bloody roof.
I mean, it's gotten ridiculous.
And as have some of the mega stormsand experiences that
the United States has been experiencingover the last couple of years.
These disasters are catastrophic,not just to the personal
and individuals homes,but cities and communities that, you know,
(13:38):
to this day,many people may or may not know that
even from Hurricane Katrina,we still haven't rebuilt New Orleans.
That was 15 years ago. People.
So we haveand I say this the most respect,
regardless of what side of the aisleyou land on. I'm not a political person.
I think there are waste of time.
Personally, I care about people.
I'm just a people person. I'm a P.T.
Barnum kid and I Harkenand I got the great opportunity to meet.
(14:02):
One of my heroes
was his doctor, Dennis Whaley, when we didour last film together in 2020.
And, you know, those are the two thingsthat have influenced me my whole life.
P.T. Barnum and Dr.
Venezuela is how I got started in.
I started looking at, well,how do we make ourselves happy?
P.T. Barnum But what's the psychology?
Working myself through the parts of methat aren't happy with me.
Dr. Dennis Whaley, A psychology.
(14:23):
When he was my first influence
and I combine those two and when I startedto really realize was buying a home
often for people is traumatic.
It is not a pleasant experience.
You're leveraging yourself, you'resubscribing yourself to a 30 year deal,
probably called a mortgage, sometimes now40 or 50, depending on if you're going to
(14:43):
in those extreme states,you're putting a chunk of money down
that you'll never get back.
You think that you will, but you won't.
It's so difficult to car right now,except for the house, at least
generally will appreciate generally.
But you work to pay for it.
So where's the safety in that?
So there's this oxymoronicand almost dichotomous psychology
we set ourselves up. Yeah,I've got my new home.
(15:06):
Come on, come over.
We have a party.
This is great.
By the way,my monthly mortgage is out of control
and my pity payment, my insuranceand the cost of operation and electricity
and that of all of the things we don'tthink about and the challenge with it.
For me, I really got twisted because my
my father who became my adopted mymy biological,
he obviously left me by my adoptivefather, who's really one that raised me
(15:27):
military, military to the bone,
all Air Forceall the way up to a single star.
My eldest son became a special forceoperator, did
four toursand did did his time for God and country.
And I notice that that generation,which is and he's in his late thirties
now, but that generation, the
(15:49):
they're having trouble affording housesand it didn't make sense to me.
I'm like, well why should they? Right.
And it doesn't make a lot of sense to me.
They should be able to afford a househe couldn't at the time.
His obviously subsequently did it,but the amount of debt he had to take on
and the amount of hoops
he had to jump through for a house,With all due respect to all of my fellow
general contractorsand my fellow developers,
(16:10):
we know is technologythat's 100 years old.
This industry as a macrocosm meant
I mean in construction Barb commerciali.e the Burj Khalifa
as an example, is a great adjustmentin architecture and building materials.
But I'm talking about singlefamily as multifamily stack.
It hasn't really changed.
(16:31):
Why? Why are we still doing barraising technique with you
know, sticks and bricks and we have stormsthat are wiping communities literally
off the face of the frickin planetwhen we have things like Fortress,
which are high performance panels whichare better, faster, greener and stronger
and are designed specifically golook it up yourself.
Miami-Dade County in FloridaSIPPs are the only product
(16:53):
that is rated to survive 160 mile an hourplus hurricanes
start that well.
That also includes EF five tornadoes.
Now anything above 160 in generalities,
if you know, how would have you deviseyour deed structure God above it's gone.
It's going to happen.
But give yourself a fighting chance andmore importantly, a house that is solid.
(17:17):
Not I mean, that solid isI don't mean in rigidity.
I mean a solid is in its corebecause how a high performance panel
works, it's designed forthat is very process, not just efficiency,
but it's also designed for affordability,speed to build less waste.
We're using productsthat allow us to recycle and renew.
These are all things that people don'tfactor in when we go build a new home.
(17:38):
I'm just going to go build new home.
Okay. Have you ever built one?
On average, you'll spend 30% morethan your original budget agreement.
It's the way it works.The general contractor will make a macro.
This iswhat I think it's an a cost to build it.
And then we're goingto come into these cost overruns.
Now, subjectthat sometimes is to the buyer
who's making adjustments,choices, upsells, upgrades, downgrades.
(18:00):
But if we talk about a macro comment,it makes no sense.
It doesn't.
And I got really twisted about itand I went, Wait a minute,
we have 9 million veterans in this countrythat the VA supposedly takes care of,
and I use that term looselyfor all my fellow,
you know, people out therehave that same philosophy I do.
I think the VA is a very challengedorganization, but thank God
(18:21):
I'm not the one that has to deal with it.
That's that's we'll leave that toother people that are far smarter than me.
But I know that those men and women,
because I lived it as a family member,I've also lived it as a parent,
and I didn't get to servebecause it skipped my generation.
Okay, that's fine.
But I've been around it
my whole life, and one of the thingsthat I've admired about him is that
it isn't just the the the individual,meaning the veteran.
(18:42):
It's their families.
Sometimes they're gone for a year.
That's an impact on theseyoung these young men and women.
Shouldn't they be able to afford a home?
And I don't mean affordable and cheap.
I'm and I implore all of you listeningto this wonderful show,
change your vocabulary.
The word affordable has been synchronizedin the real estate industry as cheap
(19:03):
and often it isbecause it's built for profit over people.
Buildyour fortresses of the complete reverse.
We are about people over profit.
We design, we do everything we can,and we show as transparency
as much as possible.
In fact, we're working on a projectright now where we can we'll show you
we can build you a 1200 square foothome, 3 to 2 vaulted
roof, beautiful house, and we can do itand we can do it in less than 30 days.
(19:27):
Move in.
Ready, solid built,hip, high performance home.
But you can get it for less than 250.
Let'schange it from affordable to attainable.
How about we do that?Because it's not affordable.
Nothing's affordable.It's a frickin mortgage.
I don't care if you pay 100,000
or 20 million, you are still financing itunless you've paid cash, which is rare.
(19:48):
But let's assume that that's the case.
It's a standard operating procedure.
The if the ATTAINABILITY means you canattain what you choose as your fortress.
And I believe every man and woman,whether you wear the uniform or not,
we have two things.We have what's upholding the oath.
As you can see right behind me herein our work board, whether you if you were
one of the chosen ones that wore uniform,
(20:09):
would that representthe United States government?
Speaking specifically, you made an oath.
That oath doesn't changebecause we stopped wearing the uniform.
The oath was to defend the Constitutionagainst foreign and domestic enemies.
This is a domestic enemy.It is not a person.
It's an idea.
It's an idea that affordable means cheapand that we keep giving people housing
that is not sustainable with where we arein our current climate conditions,
(20:31):
economically,where we are in our weather conditions
and most importantly, neighborhoods,how we're building communities,
especially post-COVID psychologicalwill get to that Second, But moreover,
the House should grow with you.
It should be an asset.
It should be a fortress, harkeningall the way back to the medieval times.
If I may,what was the point of the castle?
That's where the king and queen were.
(20:52):
They had the keepand that was where they held the treasury.
That'swhere they held their their hierarchy.
That's where here they holdall the secret meetings.
And obviously they're hereditary,where we're going to pass this lying down.
Everyone should be the kingor queen of their own castle.
I firmly believe that whether it's a 1200square foot house or it's 12,000,
I don't care.Your attainable is your dream.
And the buildyour fortress is about building
(21:13):
the fortress the way you want itso that it lasts. It's sustainable.
It makes sure that it goesthrough the weather conditions
and most importantly, it'sgoing to retain its value in its solidity.
It's not going to fall apartbecause it's built for profit over people.
That's how I got into it.
That's great. So so let me ask you this.
I mean, what makes it able
(21:33):
to sustain or withstandsuch incredible force?
And how did you figure outhow to manufacture this thing?
Do you have manufacturing background?
That's one thing I hadn't heard about.
Do you have an engineering background?
How did you figure out how to takethis idea and this dream that you had?
And look,I want to put people over profits.
I want to create something that'saffordable where people feel safe and,
(21:56):
you know, maybe it ties
a little bit back into your own childhoodand feeling like, oh, not as great.
And having that living in a trailer
park for a little whileand wanting something better and
being able to give back in a wayand solve the problems that you had,
how did you go from that feelinginto the actual execution?
Great question.
Wonderful question.
(22:17):
Yeah. Yeah.
Glad you're on my side.
The it's a great question.
The feeling of
and this is not just for our veterans outthere,
it's our veterans,our first responders, right?
It's two things.
It's when you took that oath,it still goes and all of us are citizens.
And let me complete that thoughtand I'll move into the next question.
We we have our pledge.
(22:37):
We pledge allegiance to the flag. Right?
That means we're pledging allegianceto our fellow brothers and sisters.
I don't care what creed you are.
I don't care what gender you are unfurledyou are if you're American.
That's what the American dream is.
And we know that the American dreamhas been under assault
for a long, long timebecause property has become king.
Now, I'm not sayingwe should be profitable.
That's not what I'm saying.There's plenty of profit in this business.
(22:58):
There's plenty.
Our shareholders love what we do,but we're doing it for multiple reasons.
One is attainable.
Two, what makes them so solidis the way they're constructing it.
So I want you to just imagine in your mindan ice cream sandwich, right?
And put it in a vertical frame.
So when you look at
a sip, a skull will structurally insulateinsulated panel.
Right.
(23:18):
It's 7/16 OSB specifically designedfor the it's hyper compressed polystyrene,
which is a really fancy word for Styrofoamand then a 716.
So it's a big ice cream sandwich.
And then when you split them together,
you're actually creatingan interlocking sequence.
When you look at sticksand bricks, we'll use traditional framing.
You have gaps, usually 16on Star and Center on stud.
(23:39):
Then you're going to put this insulation.
But if you notice, there's constantlyair gaps in there.
Why is that important?
Because when air comes through,if it finds the gap,
it hits it, it explodes the house.
Which is why
when you see tornadoes come by,they look like boom, like a bomb went off.
Because inside and I'm not a meteorologistjust said,
please don't anybody think that I am. Itjust you look it up.
It's common sense
(23:59):
that you explode the housefrom inside out from the pressure
because it airs inside.
Now, I'm not saying our housesdon't have airflow.
They do.
But the difference is when you hit up
against a solid wall like this,the air has to find a way to move.
But if it has air leaks,it will find the path of least resistance,
just like water.
The other element that we deal with
so when you look at that concept, it'show it's built.
And let's go back in timeand I want to qualify this.
(24:21):
I did not invent sips.I would qualify that.
They were actually invented in 1930over 100, almost 100 years ago.
The challenge we run into and this isthis is where I am a man on fire
and I am a man on mission.
My entire team is and no,I do not have an engineering background.
I do not have a manufacturing background,I have a mission.
And my mission washow do I solve this problem?
(24:43):
So the men and women like my sonand all the other people that I've gone
through and watched in my careerover the thousands and millions of people
I've met through my my career,how do we make housing solid again?
Because back in the dayand I go back 50 years
post-World War two, the American dreamwas the number one agenda.
You got it. I got it.
We all got it togetherbecause we fought for freedom
(25:05):
on a global scale and we're this closeto never having it again,
or at least for a time period from,you know, the World War Two experience.
So we start looking at it.
We're going, well, why were six developed?
One because it takes too danglong to frame.
Even with today's things,it takes too long.
And if you don't believe meand many of you out there,
I'm sure you have a beautifulwhisper. There goes.
Come on, Travis.That's too good to be true.
(25:27):
That's your first whisperthat you want to look
at from a psychological perspective.
Local. Talk about a minute.
Go to our website,Build your fortress dot com, and watch us.
We did this with Habitat for Humanity,one of the most powerful
known long running organizations,the Great Late.
Great.
Now, obviously,
Jimmy Carter post his presidency form thisand they're fantastic by the way
(25:47):
and we worked with their number two
division in Omaha, Nebraska.
These guys are fantastic.
They're massive. They're not just, hey,we're building one Z Tuesdays.
They're dealing development's400 homes at a time.
Fantastic.
And they really would be the pinnaclethat we would all agree is
this is what we call attainable housing.
(26:07):
Okay. They're fantastic.
They could frame a house in 21 days,which is exceptional.
I said 21 days.I said, Yeah. I said, okay.
I said,I'll tell you what, I can do it in a day.
They said the same.
Look at your face. You said, No way.
I said, Fair play.
You can go watch this on the website.
What's the head ofconstruction is fantastic.
Tell his name is Drew.
(26:28):
And we all came out there.
We said, Give us your greenhorns.
Give us the peoplethat just are volunteers
that don't know what a 16 ounce swinginghammer is from a jackhammer.
Give it to us.
Obviously, a couple of your guys there.
We built the house, slowly framed it up.
You can see it yourself in fourand a half hours.
And that was slowaverage. It's 2 hours to do.
And this was a 1200 square, 3 to 2.
(26:48):
Their blueprint.
And why is that important?
Because part of what made is so unique
is that our military got to use themfor forward operating bases.
So here we go back to this full circleof asking how I get into
where all the dots connect for me.
And where did the architecture make sensewas if we used it in military, for what
speed and protection, boom,put the put it up forward operating base,
(27:09):
Give our military men and womenopportunity to defend themselves
and be defended by the ship itself,which I'm not going to tell you that
it's bulletproof,but it definitely has some interesting
stopping power out therefor obvious reasons.
It's a dense, solid core.
When you do, framing goesright through it.
If you've seen drywall,I mean, you can lean on drywall
and put your hand right through it.
Or if you're a young malewho's lost his temper with your parents
(27:30):
and you punched a wall,you know exactly what I'm talking about.
You try that with a sip.
I promiseyou, You're going to the doctor's office,
you're going to have a busted hand.
So we started looking
at the solidity of these things and said,Well, wait a minute.
If the military is doing it, how comewe're not getting civilian adoption?
There was only one reason, onethat's the mindset.
My granddaddy did it. This way.
(27:51):
My daddy did this way.That's the way I'm going to do it.
I'm like, Well, that's dumb.
That's the same thing as saying,Well, gee,
I sure like to dial you on a phoneexcept to use a rotary one.
The cell phones don't make a lot of senseto me, guys.
We're living in the Jetsonsera, for God's sakes.
We we talk on phones.
We're having this conversationaround the globe.
We have flying bloody cars.
We have electric carsas a standard operating procedure,
(28:11):
but we're afraid to advancehow we build our structures.
Somebody tell me somebody anybodyout there, tell me where that makes sense.
When we have an 8 million home, single
family home deficit in the United States,that is completely unacceptable to me.
Now, I'm just one man,but our entire team believes in this,
our philosophy, and we're about readyto change that industry even more so
(28:33):
in revolutionizing how we manufacture,because that's part
has been around for about 30 yearsas far as the manufacture of a chip.
But even that's slow.
We've got to build better, faster,greener, stronger
because we are way behind.
We just saw what happened in L.A.
We've all saw what happenedNorth Carolina, Kentucky or Florida.
It's a yearly experience.
These storms are becomingmore and more powerful
(28:55):
and they are becoming to the pointwhere, as we've now seen
and I've loved to have met youabout nine months ago, sir,
when I said to the world,I said, California and Florida insurance
companies are going to stop insuringsingle family homes because they
keep blowing up in these stormsand we can't rebuild fast enough.
And it's a compounding depleting effect.
(29:16):
Well, like I've said, you can be writer,you can be rich, I think.
Right. Is an overstated,subjective comment.
And I'm not interested in being superrich, although that doesn't bother me.
I'm interested in people being ableto be rich in their experience of life.
Like P.T.
Barnum said, when the great quotes,
the art of making peoplehappy is the most noblest of arts.
Well, I don't how to make anybodyhappy, counsel.
I'm that's above my pay grade.
(29:37):
But I sure as heck can make it fun.
I could sure as hell making fun.
What would it be likeif you as an individual
who doesn't know constructionfrom a hole in the ground
just wants to buy a nice home,whatever that home may be?
What if you could build a with us?
What if your kids could build it with youwhere you can actually come in
and do that
and you can you can watch it on a website,watch people do this all the time.
There's a different emotional
(29:59):
embeddedness that comes to that,that fortress now.
It's now not just a home that I'm doinga fix and flip or transactional,
although that's fineif that's what you do.
But for your own personal home,it creates a different side effect.
And it's it's palpable to watch.
So to me, blending the twopassions of my life has really been
an intersection that's takenreally 50 years for me to get there.
(30:20):
So really understand what the mission wasand understand what the path was.
And most importantly,
how do we advance now manufacturing,because that was the next things
that we had to solveon the bottlenecking was
how did we how do we get the manufacturingto go faster
without losing quality,but more importantly, get it to the people
and then change the mindset of,
hey, if you still want to build sticksand bricks, that's fine.
(30:40):
I'm not knocking it.Do what you need to do.
There's plenty of great buildersthat do that.
But reality check is if you're goingto live in anywhere in this country
where we have storms, which by the way,is pretty much the entire country,
if you end those storms, wouldn'tit make sense to build something
better, faster, greater, stronger,but sustainable? It's going to last.
And you can finally feel safethat at least you have a shot.
You have a chance to survivesome of these storms.
(31:03):
And most importantly, because the house isbuilt on solid core, the air leaks.
But this is the part that people forget.
Remember, with air leaks,you are literally burning money
in your vaseywith a with a high performance panel home.
You're going to save up to 70%in your HPC operations.
And what people ask all the time
like, well,how do I know what a sip hall looks like?
I'm like precisely the only way you'regoing to know it is one of two things.
(31:26):
One, when you get your first electricor heating bill
or two of the next time there's a stormand you're the only house standing,
that's how you know, the house is simple.
Otherwise it looks identicalto every other one.
You'd never know the difference.
Yeah, that's great.
So, you know, when you're tryingto figure out this manufacturing process,
let's rewind before you actually turn
started manufacture and you see this thing
(31:47):
maybe on the Internet, you'verediscovered it from the thirties and
you decided, you know what?
We could build houses out of this. Sure.
And so then what had itHow did you then scale that idea?
I assume you found it on the Internet.Maybe you found it in a book.
I don't know.
No, it's quite the opposite.
It No, I was approached by.
(32:08):
Yeah, I was just strangely enough,it started with the story
that was aforementioned,and I was brought in as a consultant
to help a one of the fundswho was moving into a real estate
and how they're doing fixing flipsand how they're moving into new builds.
Section eight Housing againat the time Affordable.
And we changed the word to attainable
and we said, Look, guys,here's the problem.
(32:30):
I said, the fund is great and you'remaking good margins and returns.
But unless you're controlling the verticalmeaning from the actual product
itself to the end product,you're leaving money on the table.
Maybe you're losing quality controland time control.
So the variance was always the problem.
If you look at an average average we'retalking about the time to build is months.
Why? There's only two reasons.
(32:53):
Financing subcontractorsthat led to reasons I could identify.
And we kept looking at overand over and over.
We interviewed and kept asking,and one of the fund managers
said to me, I said, Hey, man,I found this product and I know a guy.
Would you be interestedlooking at this thing called a sip?
And at the time, just like you,I was like, like taking a sip of a drink.
What? What the heck's a sip?
(33:13):
What do you talk about?
Again, lack of knowledge is the number onereason.
Again,back to mindset is lack of knowledge.
Why people don't make different choicesbecause they don't know.
What they don't knowapplies to me as well.
I mean, everybody has their expertise.
And so for me it was, well,how do you make this palatable?
How do you make people aware of it?
How do you make a GCand developer friendly?
(33:34):
And most importantly,
how do we also include the funds,the NGOs and the charities
who are seeking to do thingsfor other people like our veterans?
For example, our first responderis autism, something that's very clear.
All those are very close to me
are sex trafficked people that are victimrecovery or domestic violence.
You know, Tina Turner's a great example.
We've seen that in the past of a celebritywho's dealt with that on a public level.
How do we do that?
(33:55):
And we came up with called the push pull
the push pull an NGO theory.
It's a really fancy way of saying, hey,we push it out
in the marketplace of going,what have you made building fun building?
If you watch most building ads like,
Well, welcome home counselto your beautiful home and talk on it.
We build solid. No one cares, man.
That's about as sexy as a fart,with all due respect.
And it's intriguing is not.
(34:16):
And we live in a society where you got3 seconds to snag somebody's attention.
That's the way we work.
My generation was warping six,now it's three.
When you look at it,why don't make it fun?
Building a home for mostpeople is a difficult experience
if you've ever done it.
It's challenging,especially when you're dealing
with contractors, subcontractors, timingdates.
It's a consuming thing.
And if you're in a spacewhere you have nothing but time, great.
(34:39):
I would suggest you do that.
But if you're like most
who are wanting a place that they can hangyour hat for a while, continue
to grow their career, their adventure,their relationship and their kids,
then you want it to be a pleasurableexperience and you want that to move in
because we forget. Now we're back to theto back to the psychology side.
And then it was a terrible experience,was trouble to go through escrow.
We've been to closing.
We almost lost it.
(34:59):
We had subcontractors.And you finally close them, you move in.
But you got to remember thatall that traumatic experience
that you had of either buildingor buying that home goes with you
into said home
and then you start to seethis degeneration process because
it was such a traumatic experience,we kind of move away.
I don't want to take your landscaping.
There's always something to fix.
I've got water problems, I got plumbingproblems, whatever it is, right?
(35:22):
I got to upgrade the kitchenevery ten years
because I got to upgrade the kitchen.
We don't think about those things or justoperating the home in and of itself.
And so for me it became abouthow do we make this fun, one and two,
how do we then put it out into the worldso people know about it, which is the push
pull theory, but also three How do we helpour general contractors turn the notes?
One of the things we also identified
(35:44):
is that the general contractors,developers in often case
specifically in the horizontal side,the developer,
more than the general contractor,but still they're in these things 18,
24, 36 months on these build outs,
Well, that createscapital constraints on the company.
That makes it impossible for them to move.
Often their lines of credit are tapped.
The banks get stickybecause they're not hitting KPIs.
There's variance controlsthat they can control.
(36:06):
What if we could do thatand we turn it faster
so that they were making more money?
Well, okay.
Well, they they make moneywhen they build houses, period.
Sitting around is like a plane.
If the plane's not flying, it'snot make any money, it's an expense. Same.
They were general contractors then.
And for developers,if we're not moving dirt
and we're not doing horizontal vertical,we're losing money.
You're right.
So what if we could turn those notesa little faster?
(36:28):
What if we could help you outgetting the product done in speed time
so that soon as the structure is up, it'sgoing immediately for sale.
And now this is the part that got sexyfor me.
I invite all of your listenersto make your own determination.
Unless you've moved to a
certain status in life,meaning economic status, often the homes
that we're going to get at the attainablelevel are more track homes.
(36:51):
They're not custom, they'rebarely semi-custom for that matter.
I think that sucks.I think that's terrible.
I think everyone should havethe opportunity to make a
at least a semi-custom experienceat that level.
And with that, with the high performancepanel system,
you can't because it's not modular,it's not prefab.
We assemble on site, it'sfabricated to exactly to your blueprint.
There we walk up, we assemble on sitebecause it's easier to speed to build.
(37:15):
But now you get the moneyyou save on building it.
And also the long term effectyou can add into an upgrade,
maybe a better kitchenor maybe better flooring or
or different app,
whatever add on if you want to do an ADUor if you want to do an RV garage
post or move it, it can quantify itinto something, a better roof even.
That's different.
Now again, we're back to psychology.
If I am choosing how the house is designedbeyond just a general experience
(37:40):
and I'm upgrading,I'm going to be attached to this thing.
Counsel. I'm going to be involved in it.
I'm going to I'm going to protect itlike a fortress pun intended,
because it is now your proverbial castle,as it should be.
That is the American dream.
It's been around for thousands of years.
I don't mean the American dream, butjust having your own castle on your own.
Keep.
And so for me,it became about those three things
and identifying those thingsand we did it.
And then the next washow do we make the manufacturing faster?
(38:04):
How do we make it speed?
And most importantly,I think part of the most revolutionary
breakthroughs that we are on the precipiceof doing as we speak,
we're currently in a round raise right now
as we go for this,and we're about 90 days out.
What if you made thewhat if you brought the mountain to you?
What if instead of saying,hey, guess what?
But here's the deal.
We manufacture out a blank pick,the state doesn't matter.
We have to logistically get it to you.
(38:25):
So you're right
we're going to save your money
on your packaging because you only haveone experience with us.
You have the SIP.You don't have to worry about lumber.
You don't have to worry about knowinsulation.
All that's done inone shot, it just shows up.
But I have totransport it from my state to your state.
And obviously you're on the West Coast.
So if I'm on the East Coast, manufacturingtransporting to
you is not going to put my price pointa different spot.
(38:45):
So what's the first thing you're goingto do? All the cost for money.
So I'm going go back to the nail file, duerespect the affordable version,
and don't realize in the longterm effects of that.
Well,what if what if the mountain came to you?
What if the manufacturing
showed up right on your doorstepand we built it right there?
Boom,Fresh off the presses, puns intended.
We did it.
(39:06):
It's part of our unique IP.
It's about as far as I'll go with that.But imagine that happening.
And that now took itto the next step, which was
watching our men and
women who have stood on a wallfor this country.
Regardless of your political ideology.
I don't care about your politics.I care about the fact that they signed up.
They did it.
They stood on the wallso that you and I can have
these conversations on this podcastso that we could pursue our dream.
(39:29):
They have the rightto have a house in this country.
They fought for it.
They stood on a wall for in some cases,
they paid the ultimate price for itand their families too.
And for them to have not had that withI have a I have a dream
that every vet, every first responder,because that's who we expect.
We expect psychologically,almost emotionally,
that these men and women, they have todo their job so that I can do what I want.
(39:51):
When I call 911,I expect PD and FD to show up.
Well, who's showing up for them?
Where do they where are we as the people?
Where's our oathto take care of those Americans?
And so for me, it'sa pleading to go, guys, we can do this.
We can do it together.
And it's fun because back in the daywe used to do barn raising together.
I used to help buildyours, used to help build mine.
(40:13):
Now we're friends.
Now I know something about youbecause I'm vested in Yorkshire structure.
I'm invested in your family.
You're invested in mine.
Well, that means if someone comes
walking into the neighborhood,that's the problem.
You and I are most likely going to team upnow. So we've got a community.
That's what, in my humbleopinion, is lacking in this country.
We are so damned divided overstupid stuff.
(40:33):
With all due,
it is a waste of frickin life and time.
But I promise you this and you can watchit on some of the videos on our site.
When peoplecome together and they build a home,
which is what made Habitatsuch a unique experience and of itself,
which is why we were so gratefulto partner with them and work with them
and continue to do so is to go stop.
(40:54):
When you do it together, it changes you.
I don't you don't need to go to therapy.
You don't need to go do ayahuasca.
You need to stand there with your brotherand your sister
and you build a ship togetherand you don't in any framing experience.
And there's something emotionalthat happens.
It changes you naturally.
It's a memory that will never go away.
It is a legacy of your life.
Just to say I helped build that
(41:14):
not from a possession area point of view,but from a contributory point of view
and contributing to your lifesomewhere down the road,
whether directly from youor from other comedic points of view.
It's going to come back and we watch.
When people do this, they change,
they get to know each other,they do business together,
which is exactly what communitieswere designed for in this country
and what we do with our strategicrelationships and our partners,
(41:35):
specifically the Black Packand the Consolidated Veterans Group.
Not only do we build the houses
for our vets in our first responderswhere they're truly attainable,
but they can actually work with usand take them and come a part of it?
And that was the third lever.
How do we help these vets?
No one, no vet, No that I know.
I don't know all of them.
Of course, that would be a misnomerstatement, but I know a lot of them.
(41:58):
I've yetto meet one that will take a handout,
but I know every singleone of them will take a hand up.
They want to earn it.
They want to feel like they're part of it.
Their natural gladiatorpersona is still embedded in who they are.
They took that oath willingly.
I would force them to do itso they know what they signed up for.
So that's naturally bred in them.
We give them organization,we tell them, do this,
(42:19):
be and value every part your life.
The day is organizedwhile you're in military service.
Oh, and by the way,now you're honorably discharged.
We're going through the chaos. Good luck.
Figure out how a grocery store works.
Hey, figure out that traffic pattern.
Figure out how to communicate differentlybecause there's not a hierarchical
structure out in the in the worldcompared to the military, as an example.
So what have you gave them that?What have you said?
(42:40):
Hey, you can come work on the line, learnhow to do this.
It doesn't take much. It's a really coolautomated line.
I'll show you how it works.
You can help a build with us and we dowhat's called a B plus one program.
I was honored to be part of itto help design this with our partners.
There's that barn raising conceptthat you and I talked about.
What if
we're building your home?
I come and say, I can help you do it.
(43:02):
Great.
We, you and I build a safe home together.
I say, great.
Now I'm going to build a home.
Well, in order for that, your obligationis you come help it build with me.
That's it.
That's your entire obligation.
Nelson rebounded, And that's the.
We keep doing thatuntil they became a platoon, Our team
and that team's about seven members longAnd then we teach them
how to be seasoned developersand now they're building other high
performance homes for other individuals,first responders, that's or otherwise.
(43:24):
And ultimately
they'll be able to owna piece of the fortress
as we startto expand across the nation now
and actually own their own office to it,because they should have every right.
And that's first responders,veterans and civilians.
And it's not in a hierarchical order.
It's just a lean to. It's somethingthat we're very passionate about.
And I think everybody should be,regardless again,
of your ideology or political structure,that's just my humble opinion,
because they give us somethingthat every generation who has fought
(43:47):
for the American dream
and I mean, that literally isthey've stood on a wall
and some have paid the ultimate pricefor us to have this thing here.
And the best way we can honor themand their families
is to give them quality homes.That is their fortress.
They fought for the fortressof the United States of America.
Let's fight for themand give them the fortress back
and let's do it attainable and solidlyand give them a quality product
for what they gave us,which is a life of freedom.
(44:08):
I agree with you, and I love that.
I think I think that we should be doingmore for our veterans.
And, you know,I'm always grateful for their service.
I thank you.
I volunteeredor I worked at Veterans Affairs
for Summer as well, trying to make thingsa little bit more efficient. So
there's still a lot of inefficiency there.
And I think that we shouldwe should be doing a lot more
(44:30):
for our soldiersand people who serve our great country.
So for people who want to learn more,
Travis, about your panels
or you being the mind scape architect,how can they find you?
I mean, it's really easy.You can email me.
I answer all my own email. I don'tI don't have a bot do it.
(44:50):
I don't, do I?
It's I'm good old fashioned.I still answer mine.
You can email me directly or go to buildyour fortress dot com and email
and it gets to my myself or our chairwoman
and yes, by the way,I do want to represent
all of you out therebetween our board and our advisory board.
We are represented by all four majorbranches of the military
actively serving with ushere at the fortress from our ally,
our Chief Operations officer, all the wayto from a colonel to a sergeant.
(45:13):
So every branch is represented.
We are also minority
owned and operated, and we're also womenled our way, our actual chairwoman.
So as a woman, I know that soundsthat was I mean, I'm like, well,
if you've been around the constructionindustry,
it tends to beheavily dominated by males y
Whoevercan build the product is all I care about.
And so part of what we really got into
was men and womenserve in our military equally.
(45:36):
That's been around for a while,
so why should our construction companiesbe burned the same way?
And that's exactly how we did itfrom the material side.
And so I'm super proud of that.
You can email us my emails. Easy.It's tough.
I build your fortress dot com.
I put it out there for public.I answer all my own email.
I'm excited.
If you've got something you want to build,you want questions and call us.
We will get on the phoneand talk with you all day long.
Even if you don't do any business with us.
(45:57):
Please, if nothing else, educate yourselfto what's out there.
You are not confined to sticks and bricksanymore.
Ladies and gentlemen,there are wonderful, great products.
If you don't use a sip, usesomething that's renewable,
it's resourceful,and it's going to last the test of time.
These storms are not going to getany softer. We've already seen it.
I don't I'm not I'm notclimate warming. Just stare at it.
But we want to be ableto survive these things.
(46:18):
That's what Fortress was.
And if you want to knowwhat a fortress is,
look at any castlefrom the modern, from the middle of
the dark ages, the middle,the middle part of our last century.
Look how long they lasted.
Those were just things stacked on it,but they were stacked in a way
with thought process. A fortress.That's exactly what a ship does.
And most importantly, it's going to it'sgoing to help you survive these storms.
(46:39):
And this will survive the storms of life.
And this is not what you really want foryour family, is protection.
And if you're telling me that thethe price of it's a $5,000 swing,
you're not willing to spend $5,000 family,then I would suggest you we need them.
Landscape architect to find out what yourpriority structure is and how come that
that's more important than your family?
It's not and it doesn't need to be.
So blending the two together.
(47:01):
I do consulting for companies
now when the time is available,because this is
pretty much my focus right nowand has been
this is a legacy piece for me,something that I can hand off.
And we're on trackand I'm this is my last legacy piece
and then I'll stop there because there's
something that you can tellI have no passion about at all,
is I?
I'm under the process and in the processand being guided eloquently
(47:21):
to take this company publicby the end of 26.
I want everybodyto own a piece of the fortress.
They should you should invest in it.
You should be able to be a part of it.
You should be able to have the productsfrom it.
And everyone in Americashould be able to own piece of it.
If it's something that fitswithin your portfolio.
But this is where our goal is.And that was my dream.
That's the dream that's been you know,my life has been built on between the P.T.
Barnum influence and Dr. DennisWhaley influence.
(47:43):
And here I am at the ripe age of 54.
And now perhaps,
hopefully we can fulfill this nicelybefore I turn 60
and we'll take this company publicand everybody can own it.
And then we go from there.
That's awesome. I love that.
That's amazing, man.
So thank you, Travis, for sharing with us
and all the listeners, no matter whatit is that you're trying to build.
Hopefully these insights from Travishave been incredibly helpful for you
(48:07):
and inspiring.
I know it has been for me. And
if you found this helpful.
Make sure you like and subscribeso you know when the next podcast episode
is dropping.
Thank you allso much for joining me today.
And thank you, Travis,for sharing some of your wisdom with us.
Thanks so much.Appreciate the opportunity.
Thanks, everyone. Uh.
Hi, I'm Parag Amin.
Welcome to my podcast.
From Crisis to Justice.
As a lawyer and entrepreneur, I'mpassionate about helping small business
owners successfully navigate situationsthat can kill a business.
As a kid, I watched my dad's dreamsof being an entrepreneur were destroyed
by an unethical businessman, and I don'twant that to happen to you or your family.
(00:22):
That's why I started my law firm.
I want to protect and defend businessowners and their legacies from crisis.
Welcome to From Crisis to Justice.
Welcome back, everybody.
To from Crisis to Justice.
I'm your host, Parag Amin.
And todayI'm joined by a very special guest, Dr.
(00:44):
Travis Fox,who is known as the mind scape architect.
He's an Emmy Award winning speaker,entrepreneur and business strategist.
With over 30 years of experiencein psychology,
clinical, hypnotherapy and leadership.
He's the CEO and boardmember of Build Your Fortress.
He's revolutionizing the constructionindustry with high performance
(01:07):
panels and innovative building materialthat cuts costs, accelerates
project timelines and enhance it, enhancessustainability.
And he's also the founder and chairmanof the Ultimate Business
Quest, where he helps entrepreneursunlock their potential
by overcoming subconscious limitationsand scaling their businesses.
He's got a backgroundin media, entertainment and real estate
(01:30):
and he blends psychology with businessdevelopment to help individuals
and industriesreshape their approach to success.
Travis,thank you so much for joining me today.
Well, you know, thank you.
By the way, every time I hear someone readthat, I go, are they talking about me?
Because we all have those little voicesin our head going,
oh, I haven't quite done enough yet.I haven't fulfilled all this.
I listen to thank you for the intro,but it was very kind.
(01:51):
Thanks for having me on the show as well.
But I still look at that every time I hearthat and go, Is that me really?
Because I still feel like I'ma whopping 16 years old,
even though I'm not even closeto that chronologically.
But thank you for having me on the show.I appreciate the intro.
Yeah, absolutely. So so then, I mean,
that leads to
my first question, which is, I mean, like,is that your subconscious speaking that,
you know, you're questioningquestioning yourself?
(02:13):
And does it does it ever really go away?
No, it never does.
In fact,I think one of the biggest misnomers
and part of why,you know, many people don't know this and,
you know, it'snot something we talk about publicly,
although I think this year it's going tobecause my latest book with my wife,
we actually co-publishedjust one together.
This my fourth book is adding
it released later this monthat the time of this recording.
And Amazon's taken us out of it nationboth on print and audible.
(02:37):
And one of the thingsthat we came out with is
I developedthe system called the dropout dynamics,
which is really academic wayof saying it's
the first fluid persona profiling systemthat we're aware of in the world.
And why is that?
Because we've we've always spent
most of our psychology saying, hey,focus on the positive thoughts.
You know, just, you know,when you hear a negative thought,
just kind of ignore it and redirect,and that has some power to it.
(02:59):
However, karma, we are the only specieson the planet that can actually
compartmentalize itself and actuallyactually forget, quote unquote.
I use that term loosely a partsof ourselves, which makes no sense.
It's about reintegrating. It'snot that the thought should go away.
It's should understandwhat is the thought.
Therefore, because oftenthere's a lot of those thoughts
that we would deem a shadow mysticor we call the path of whispers,
(03:20):
and then it drops into the shadowsthat really are there to protect you.
A lot of the times we'll say thatthey're trauma based or they're emotional
or some emotional traumatic scenarioor my own neurosis,
self-doubt, you know,
whatever the thing is, however karma, it'sthe reintegrating them, them
using them both because there's timeswhere I'll have that and I use
that thought and go, You're right,I haven't motivated myself enough.
(03:43):
I haven't done it because you're not doneuntil you're done.
And oftenwe get in the place of comfortability,
and I believe comfortabilitybreeds contempt.
And then all of a sudden we quit.
And I don't mean that you quit like,Oh, I'm just going to quit.
And I say that I actually quit slowly.
And it's the slowly subtle quitsthat you don't pay attention
to that ultimately end up into.
Also. Now, I haven't achieved my goals.I haven't left the legacy.
(04:04):
I haven't left what I wanted for my kids.
I haven't experienced anythingI wanted to experience in this life.
And you wake up and you're 75and you know our good friend Death,
who's non-negotiable and by the way,has 1,000% batting average.
The only thing in the known universethat does even God doesn't stop death.
Death comes for us all.
Have you really lived your life out loudand quote the great Alan Watts death?
You know, death is inevitable.
(04:25):
Life is a choice.
And so coming to that space, it's not that
those are, in my humble opinion, bad,because then you have to ask yourself
which persona in your headis judging it as good or bad.
That's a whole nother conversation,further exacerbating our neurosis.
But it's understandingwhat that person is saying to you,
and it says, I haven't really completedat all. You're right.
(04:45):
Travis Fox has not completedthe mission that I set out for myself,
not only for this lifetime,but for this particular chapter
in my life, because in different chapterswe have different value systems
like what I valued at 25and what I value now here on
the precipice of 55are radically different.
Now the body may look similar.
You know, the jokes me,
if I the smile there, maybe the hair'sa little more gray than before.
(05:08):
So overall, physically,we look relatively the same.
You know,ideologically it's radically different.
What I thought was interesting at 25and what is 55 different?
So those voices can be used as a positive.
But often we try to ignore them.
And the moment you try to ignore them,you're only playing with, you know,
half of the half of your skill setand why would you want to do that?
But that's what old psychology used toteach us, is ignore that.
(05:29):
And I quote the great book by NormanVincent Peale out of the fifties
learned optimism.
Well, if you listen to the bookitself, his own title was telling you
everything you needed to know.
One is a great bookand I love it and it's fantastic.
But you have to learn optimism,which means our conscious mind is
the one that actually does more damagethan our subconscious.
But that's not how we teach it.
So that's kind of a long windedanswer to that question.
(05:52):
Yeah, you know, it's interesting.
It's something I do say is,
you know, when somebody quits,they've quit a thousand times already.
And there's an aspect I think, of
there's optimism, there's pessimism,and then there's realism,
which is usually a healthyblend of the two.
I think optimism keeps us going.
Pessimism to some extent, some good.
(06:12):
Some people may argueit's a it's an aspect of realism, right.
That, you know, not everything is rosyall the time and that pessimism keeps
you alive and keeps you striving and keepsyou moving and keeps you protected.
But, you know,how does how does one filter that
this subconscious negativityand actually look at it like like
this is reality versusthis is just a negative
(06:34):
thought patternthat has no basis in reality whatsoever?
Well, you know, you I love your answer,by the way, eloquently stated.
I'm sure I'm right.
I know.
I know your backgroundis obviously clearly law,
but you clearly have a philosophicalone as well.
So I applaud you for that.
I think all of us do to a certain degree,whether we're willing to admit it.
I'm not talking about religious,I'm just not the.
Phillip Lasker.But how do we approach life?
(06:55):
And I think that you bring upsome valid points.
But I would also sayyou open your dangerously close
to open it Pandora's box.
And that's not from a bad thing.
It's from a When we talk about a realist
point of view,then we have to define and counsel.
I think you mutually agreewhat is our common ground of what's real.
Right.
And we use from the matrix'spoint of view, how do you define real?
What is real?
(07:16):
Then you also get into youryour own psychology.
What's real?
Oftenour perception of the events that occurred
and I'm sure you knowthis better than I do from witness
counting is vastly different than what
a video shows and what someone's mindperceptually perceives.
And then we start to get into thequantification of, Well, how do I perceive
which persona or personas in plural?
(07:37):
Am I looking at the world through?
But here's the back question.
This is the part that cracks me up.
You know, you heard the famous saying,and it goes all the way back in time.
You know,
to thyself, be true to know thyself.
Okay.
But self is set in a singular frame.
Self.
It's actually selves plural.
(07:57):
The ideology that that Travis Foxis a singular being or anyone
listening to this podcast as a singularbeing is the biggest misnomer
in my humble opinion.
The biggest
deficitthat we impose upon any human being,
whether young or old,doesn't matter by saying, well,
you know yourself as in singular,think of yourself as a diamond.
A diamond doesn't have one side.
(08:18):
It has multiple sides. Why?
Because how the light hits it will refractand give you a different look.
You and I are identical.
Anyone listening to this podcast?Identical.
Realistically, there's about 102 differentpersonas running around in your head.
The question is, do you know them, howyou experience them, and more importantly,
how do you integrate them?
Because if we go back to the great Carl
(08:38):
Jung doing Shadow mystic work,it is not about the omission.
It's not about getting rid of.
It's not about, Oh, that doesn't exist.
It's about the reintegration of you.
Because in anythingwent all the way back to the great Daoist,
which really precedesany major known religion in history,
and even look at
the universe light in the dark,go to the bad,
the dualistic approach of theor the word or needs to be collapsed.
(09:02):
Yes, I am a psycho linguist by trade.So lingual.
You know,using linguistics is important to me.
And some people argue semantics.
I'm like, You're damn rightI'm arguing semantics because it matters.
And I'm speaking to someone who would know
that equally as well,and probably better than me is the word
or implies one or the other.
The object is and putting them together
(09:22):
because the integration of you iswhat makes you there.
The partsthat you would call shadows or whispers.
Those are the voices that come overyour shoulder.
While you can't do it,you'll never be good enough.
What if they find out you're an imposter?You're a fraud.
All those little thoughtsof every human being has.
And if you say that you don't have them,you are truly
in the space of compartmentalization.
Which then I would offer you.
(09:43):
You've leftpart of you on the playing field
because there's a reason that it's thereand you can integrate it and use it.
And often those thoughts can be usednot just for motivation,
but integration and inspirationto push you as you so eloquently said,
not from a place of force,but of invitation to push you
into a space of, Wow, what would it belike if I actually was fully integrated?
(10:04):
What would we operate as a human being,You know, our spiritual
being, having the human experience,quantifying it that way?
What would it be like if we actuallyoperated with a full 100% integration?
What would that look likeor even fantasize about?
It puts your mind in an overload space.
But isn't that the adventureof a lifetime?
Because to know yourselfis to really understand
(10:24):
where you are in the current chapterand how you're applying both your insights
and your whispers, your consciousin your subconscious, and how you're using
those as an integrated woven tapestrythat makes the diamond of you.
And now the sun you shine on all aspects,regardless of whether it's a shadow
mystic approachor it's an insight approach.
Doesn't matter because it's still you.
(10:44):
And to deny yourself, how would you knowyourself if you deny it?
It's the biggest oxymoronic statementwe've made in human psychology
in at least the last200 years that I'm aware of.
Well, thatraises a lot of interesting questions,
and I think you and I could probably spendan hour talking about it and.
Sure, fair play.
Where, when and how does it make senseto the filter versus not?
(11:06):
And, you know, on the onehand, you're talking about
how would you know if you don't explorethat aspect of things.
Right.
And that could be appliedto a number of different different areas.
And let me ask you this.
When it comes to your decision to explore
high performance panels,it seems kind of like a
(11:27):
feels like a left turn, maybe
up until you know,maybe you could provide a
little bit of insight,like how did you get into this
area of high performance panelsand why did you get into it?
Fair play.
I grew up outside the United States
and my my biological father abandonedmy mother and I when we were in Japan.
My mother was a model and actressabandoned when I was one years old.
(11:49):
So we came back to the States for a briefstint at four and I lived in a trailer
and there's nothing wrongwith the trailer.
But back in 1974, trailers were madewith a lower construction rate
than we currently are now.
Not much better now, but lower.
And I saw what it did to peoplepsychologically and as I grew up over time
and got to travel around the world
and I grew up in the better
(12:10):
part of my life in Europe before I cameback to high school here in those states,
I sawconditions outside the United States.
And I think unfortunately,a lot of United States
American citizens are like,don't really get to see.
I think it's imperative that you see that
it influences you in a waythat I can't articulate in any word,
except for the impact was so palatablethat it influenced
(12:30):
my life always from a perspective.
And I always hearken back to,
you know, Maslow being hierarchy of needs,food, air, water, shelter,
shelter, soil, shelter hits the thematicor the theme in all of us of safety.
Now, it doesn't meanthat your house is impenetrable,
but it should be theoretically,and it gives you a place where you can
come and just be you, whatever that is,view with your family and your self.
(12:53):
However you choose to do work play.
Obviously,life has changed radically since 2020,
but nonetheless Fortressbecame about that ideology.
So it is actually a blend of the two pastthat influenced me most.
One, I was obviously human psychology,hypnotherapy
and how do we actually applyour persona system to the world
and giving a blueprint for lifeso we can master ourselves.
And ultimately, where do I do that?
(13:16):
But as we were talking about the pre-showglitz here in the United States,
House,pricing has gone through the bloody roof.
I mean, it's gotten ridiculous.
And as have some of the mega stormsand experiences that
the United States has been experiencingover the last couple of years.
These disasters are catastrophic,not just to the personal
and individuals homes,but cities and communities that, you know,
(13:38):
to this day,many people may or may not know that
even from Hurricane Katrina,we still haven't rebuilt New Orleans.
That was 15 years ago. People.
So we haveand I say this the most respect,
regardless of what side of the aisleyou land on. I'm not a political person.
I think there are waste of time.
Personally, I care about people.
I'm just a people person. I'm a P.T.
Barnum kid and I Harkenand I got the great opportunity to meet.
(14:02):
One of my heroes
was his doctor, Dennis Whaley, when we didour last film together in 2020.
And, you know, those are the two thingsthat have influenced me my whole life.
P.T. Barnum and Dr.
Venezuela is how I got started in.
I started looking at, well,how do we make ourselves happy?
P.T. Barnum But what's the psychology?
Working myself through the parts of methat aren't happy with me.
Dr. Dennis Whaley, A psychology.
(14:23):
When he was my first influence
and I combine those two and when I startedto really realize was buying a home
often for people is traumatic.
It is not a pleasant experience.
You're leveraging yourself, you'resubscribing yourself to a 30 year deal,
probably called a mortgage, sometimes now40 or 50, depending on if you're going to
(14:43):
in those extreme states,you're putting a chunk of money down
that you'll never get back.
You think that you will, but you won't.
It's so difficult to car right now,except for the house, at least
generally will appreciate generally.
But you work to pay for it.
So where's the safety in that?
So there's this oxymoronicand almost dichotomous psychology
we set ourselves up. Yeah,I've got my new home.
(15:06):
Come on, come over.
We have a party.
This is great.
By the way,my monthly mortgage is out of control
and my pity payment, my insuranceand the cost of operation and electricity
and that of all of the things we don'tthink about and the challenge with it.
For me, I really got twisted because my
my father who became my adopted mymy biological,
he obviously left me by my adoptivefather, who's really one that raised me
(15:27):
military, military to the bone,
all Air Forceall the way up to a single star.
My eldest son became a special forceoperator, did
four toursand did did his time for God and country.
And I notice that that generation,which is and he's in his late thirties
now, but that generation, the
(15:49):
they're having trouble affording housesand it didn't make sense to me.
I'm like, well why should they? Right.
And it doesn't make a lot of sense to me.
They should be able to afford a househe couldn't at the time.
His obviously subsequently did it,but the amount of debt he had to take on
and the amount of hoops
he had to jump through for a house,With all due respect to all of my fellow
general contractorsand my fellow developers,
(16:10):
we know is technologythat's 100 years old.
This industry as a macrocosm meant
I mean in construction Barb commerciali.e the Burj Khalifa
as an example, is a great adjustmentin architecture and building materials.
But I'm talking about singlefamily as multifamily stack.
It hasn't really changed.
(16:31):
Why? Why are we still doing barraising technique with you
know, sticks and bricks and we have stormsthat are wiping communities literally
off the face of the frickin planetwhen we have things like Fortress,
which are high performance panels whichare better, faster, greener and stronger
and are designed specifically golook it up yourself.
Miami-Dade County in FloridaSIPPs are the only product
(16:53):
that is rated to survive 160 mile an hourplus hurricanes
start that well.
That also includes EF five tornadoes.
Now anything above 160 in generalities,
if you know, how would have you deviseyour deed structure God above it's gone.
It's going to happen.
But give yourself a fighting chance andmore importantly, a house that is solid.
(17:17):
Not I mean, that solid isI don't mean in rigidity.
I mean a solid is in its corebecause how a high performance panel
works, it's designed forthat is very process, not just efficiency,
but it's also designed for affordability,speed to build less waste.
We're using productsthat allow us to recycle and renew.
These are all things that people don'tfactor in when we go build a new home.
(17:38):
I'm just going to go build new home.
Okay. Have you ever built one?
On average, you'll spend 30% morethan your original budget agreement.
It's the way it works.The general contractor will make a macro.
This iswhat I think it's an a cost to build it.
And then we're goingto come into these cost overruns.
Now, subjectthat sometimes is to the buyer
who's making adjustments,choices, upsells, upgrades, downgrades.
(18:00):
But if we talk about a macro comment,it makes no sense.
It doesn't.
And I got really twisted about itand I went, Wait a minute,
we have 9 million veterans in this countrythat the VA supposedly takes care of,
and I use that term looselyfor all my fellow,
you know, people out therehave that same philosophy I do.
I think the VA is a very challengedorganization, but thank God
(18:21):
I'm not the one that has to deal with it.
That's that's we'll leave that toother people that are far smarter than me.
But I know that those men and women,
because I lived it as a family member,I've also lived it as a parent,
and I didn't get to servebecause it skipped my generation.
Okay, that's fine.
But I've been around it
my whole life, and one of the thingsthat I've admired about him is that
it isn't just the the the individual,meaning the veteran.
(18:42):
It's their families.
Sometimes they're gone for a year.
That's an impact on theseyoung these young men and women.
Shouldn't they be able to afford a home?
And I don't mean affordable and cheap.
I'm and I implore all of you listeningto this wonderful show,
change your vocabulary.
The word affordable has been synchronizedin the real estate industry as cheap
(19:03):
and often it isbecause it's built for profit over people.
Buildyour fortresses of the complete reverse.
We are about people over profit.
We design, we do everything we can,and we show as transparency
as much as possible.
In fact, we're working on a projectright now where we can we'll show you
we can build you a 1200 square foothome, 3 to 2 vaulted
roof, beautiful house, and we can do itand we can do it in less than 30 days.
(19:27):
Move in.
Ready, solid built,hip, high performance home.
But you can get it for less than 250.
Let'schange it from affordable to attainable.
How about we do that?Because it's not affordable.
Nothing's affordable.It's a frickin mortgage.
I don't care if you pay 100,000
or 20 million, you are still financing itunless you've paid cash, which is rare.
(19:48):
But let's assume that that's the case.
It's a standard operating procedure.
The if the ATTAINABILITY means you canattain what you choose as your fortress.
And I believe every man and woman,whether you wear the uniform or not,
we have two things.We have what's upholding the oath.
As you can see right behind me herein our work board, whether you if you were
one of the chosen ones that wore uniform,
(20:09):
would that representthe United States government?
Speaking specifically, you made an oath.
That oath doesn't changebecause we stopped wearing the uniform.
The oath was to defend the Constitutionagainst foreign and domestic enemies.
This is a domestic enemy.It is not a person.
It's an idea.
It's an idea that affordable means cheapand that we keep giving people housing
that is not sustainable with where we arein our current climate conditions,
(20:31):
economically,where we are in our weather conditions
and most importantly, neighborhoods,how we're building communities,
especially post-COVID psychologicalwill get to that Second, But moreover,
the House should grow with you.
It should be an asset.
It should be a fortress, harkeningall the way back to the medieval times.
If I may,what was the point of the castle?
That's where the king and queen were.
(20:52):
They had the keepand that was where they held the treasury.
That'swhere they held their their hierarchy.
That's where here they holdall the secret meetings.
And obviously they're hereditary,where we're going to pass this lying down.
Everyone should be the kingor queen of their own castle.
I firmly believe that whether it's a 1200square foot house or it's 12,000,
I don't care.Your attainable is your dream.
And the buildyour fortress is about building
(21:13):
the fortress the way you want itso that it lasts. It's sustainable.
It makes sure that it goesthrough the weather conditions
and most importantly, it'sgoing to retain its value in its solidity.
It's not going to fall apartbecause it's built for profit over people.
That's how I got into it.
That's great. So so let me ask you this.
I mean, what makes it able
(21:33):
to sustain or withstandsuch incredible force?
And how did you figure outhow to manufacture this thing?
Do you have manufacturing background?
That's one thing I hadn't heard about.
Do you have an engineering background?
How did you figure out how to takethis idea and this dream that you had?
And look,I want to put people over profits.
I want to create something that'saffordable where people feel safe and,
(21:56):
you know, maybe it ties
a little bit back into your own childhoodand feeling like, oh, not as great.
And having that living in a trailer
park for a little whileand wanting something better and
being able to give back in a wayand solve the problems that you had,
how did you go from that feelinginto the actual execution?
Great question.
Wonderful question.
(22:17):
Yeah. Yeah.
Glad you're on my side.
The it's a great question.
The feeling of
and this is not just for our veterans outthere,
it's our veterans,our first responders, right?
It's two things.
It's when you took that oath,it still goes and all of us are citizens.
And let me complete that thoughtand I'll move into the next question.
We we have our pledge.
(22:37):
We pledge allegiance to the flag. Right?
That means we're pledging allegianceto our fellow brothers and sisters.
I don't care what creed you are.
I don't care what gender you are unfurledyou are if you're American.
That's what the American dream is.
And we know that the American dreamhas been under assault
for a long, long timebecause property has become king.
Now, I'm not sayingwe should be profitable.
That's not what I'm saying.There's plenty of profit in this business.
(22:58):
There's plenty.
Our shareholders love what we do,but we're doing it for multiple reasons.
One is attainable.
Two, what makes them so solidis the way they're constructing it.
So I want you to just imagine in your mindan ice cream sandwich, right?
And put it in a vertical frame.
So when you look at
a sip, a skull will structurally insulateinsulated panel.
Right.
(23:18):
It's 7/16 OSB specifically designedfor the it's hyper compressed polystyrene,
which is a really fancy word for Styrofoamand then a 716.
So it's a big ice cream sandwich.
And then when you split them together,
you're actually creatingan interlocking sequence.
When you look at sticksand bricks, we'll use traditional framing.
You have gaps, usually 16on Star and Center on stud.
(23:39):
Then you're going to put this insulation.
But if you notice, there's constantlyair gaps in there.
Why is that important?
Because when air comes through,if it finds the gap,
it hits it, it explodes the house.
Which is why
when you see tornadoes come by,they look like boom, like a bomb went off.
Because inside and I'm not a meteorologistjust said,
please don't anybody think that I am. Itjust you look it up.
It's common sense
(23:59):
that you explode the housefrom inside out from the pressure
because it airs inside.
Now, I'm not saying our housesdon't have airflow.
They do.
But the difference is when you hit up
against a solid wall like this,the air has to find a way to move.
But if it has air leaks,it will find the path of least resistance,
just like water.
The other element that we deal with
so when you look at that concept, it'show it's built.
And let's go back in timeand I want to qualify this.
(24:21):
I did not invent sips.I would qualify that.
They were actually invented in 1930over 100, almost 100 years ago.
The challenge we run into and this isthis is where I am a man on fire
and I am a man on mission.
My entire team is and no,I do not have an engineering background.
I do not have a manufacturing background,I have a mission.
And my mission washow do I solve this problem?
(24:43):
So the men and women like my sonand all the other people that I've gone
through and watched in my careerover the thousands and millions of people
I've met through my my career,how do we make housing solid again?
Because back in the dayand I go back 50 years
post-World War two, the American dreamwas the number one agenda.
You got it. I got it.
We all got it togetherbecause we fought for freedom
(25:05):
on a global scale and we're this closeto never having it again,
or at least for a time period from,you know, the World War Two experience.
So we start looking at it.
We're going, well, why were six developed?
One because it takes too danglong to frame.
Even with today's things,it takes too long.
And if you don't believe meand many of you out there,
I'm sure you have a beautifulwhisper. There goes.
Come on, Travis.That's too good to be true.
(25:27):
That's your first whisperthat you want to look
at from a psychological perspective.
Local. Talk about a minute.
Go to our website,Build your fortress dot com, and watch us.
We did this with Habitat for Humanity,one of the most powerful
known long running organizations,the Great Late.
Great.
Now, obviously,
Jimmy Carter post his presidency form thisand they're fantastic by the way
(25:47):
and we worked with their number two
division in Omaha, Nebraska.
These guys are fantastic.
They're massive. They're not just, hey,we're building one Z Tuesdays.
They're dealing development's400 homes at a time.
Fantastic.
And they really would be the pinnaclethat we would all agree is
this is what we call attainable housing.
(26:07):
Okay. They're fantastic.
They could frame a house in 21 days,which is exceptional.
I said 21 days.I said, Yeah. I said, okay.
I said,I'll tell you what, I can do it in a day.
They said the same.
Look at your face. You said, No way.
I said, Fair play.
You can go watch this on the website.
What's the head ofconstruction is fantastic.
Tell his name is Drew.
(26:28):
And we all came out there.
We said, Give us your greenhorns.
Give us the peoplethat just are volunteers
that don't know what a 16 ounce swinginghammer is from a jackhammer.
Give it to us.
Obviously, a couple of your guys there.
We built the house, slowly framed it up.
You can see it yourself in fourand a half hours.
And that was slowaverage. It's 2 hours to do.
And this was a 1200 square, 3 to 2.
(26:48):
Their blueprint.
And why is that important?
Because part of what made is so unique
is that our military got to use themfor forward operating bases.
So here we go back to this full circleof asking how I get into
where all the dots connect for me.
And where did the architecture make sensewas if we used it in military, for what
speed and protection, boom,put the put it up forward operating base,
(27:09):
Give our military men and womenopportunity to defend themselves
and be defended by the ship itself,which I'm not going to tell you that
it's bulletproof,but it definitely has some interesting
stopping power out therefor obvious reasons.
It's a dense, solid core.
When you do, framing goesright through it.
If you've seen drywall,I mean, you can lean on drywall
and put your hand right through it.
Or if you're a young malewho's lost his temper with your parents
(27:30):
and you punched a wall,you know exactly what I'm talking about.
You try that with a sip.
I promiseyou, You're going to the doctor's office,
you're going to have a busted hand.
So we started looking
at the solidity of these things and said,Well, wait a minute.
If the military is doing it, how comewe're not getting civilian adoption?
There was only one reason, onethat's the mindset.
My granddaddy did it. This way.
(27:51):
My daddy did this way.That's the way I'm going to do it.
I'm like, Well, that's dumb.
That's the same thing as saying,Well, gee,
I sure like to dial you on a phoneexcept to use a rotary one.
The cell phones don't make a lot of senseto me, guys.
We're living in the Jetsonsera, for God's sakes.
We we talk on phones.
We're having this conversationaround the globe.
We have flying bloody cars.
We have electric carsas a standard operating procedure,
(28:11):
but we're afraid to advancehow we build our structures.
Somebody tell me somebody anybodyout there, tell me where that makes sense.
When we have an 8 million home, single
family home deficit in the United States,that is completely unacceptable to me.
Now, I'm just one man,but our entire team believes in this,
our philosophy, and we're about readyto change that industry even more so
(28:33):
in revolutionizing how we manufacture,because that's part
has been around for about 30 yearsas far as the manufacture of a chip.
But even that's slow.
We've got to build better, faster,greener, stronger
because we are way behind.
We just saw what happened in L.A.
We've all saw what happenedNorth Carolina, Kentucky or Florida.
It's a yearly experience.
These storms are becomingmore and more powerful
(28:55):
and they are becoming to the pointwhere, as we've now seen
and I've loved to have met youabout nine months ago, sir,
when I said to the world,I said, California and Florida insurance
companies are going to stop insuringsingle family homes because they
keep blowing up in these stormsand we can't rebuild fast enough.
And it's a compounding depleting effect.
(29:16):
Well, like I've said, you can be writer,you can be rich, I think.
Right. Is an overstated,subjective comment.
And I'm not interested in being superrich, although that doesn't bother me.
I'm interested in people being ableto be rich in their experience of life.
Like P.T.
Barnum said, when the great quotes,
the art of making peoplehappy is the most noblest of arts.
Well, I don't how to make anybodyhappy, counsel.
I'm that's above my pay grade.
(29:37):
But I sure as heck can make it fun.
I could sure as hell making fun.
What would it be likeif you as an individual
who doesn't know constructionfrom a hole in the ground
just wants to buy a nice home,whatever that home may be?
What if you could build a with us?
What if your kids could build it with youwhere you can actually come in
and do that
and you can you can watch it on a website,watch people do this all the time.
There's a different emotional
(29:59):
embeddedness that comes to that,that fortress now.
It's now not just a home that I'm doinga fix and flip or transactional,
although that's fineif that's what you do.
But for your own personal home,it creates a different side effect.
And it's it's palpable to watch.
So to me, blending the twopassions of my life has really been
an intersection that's takenreally 50 years for me to get there.
(30:20):
So really understand what the mission wasand understand what the path was.
And most importantly,
how do we advance now manufacturing,because that was the next things
that we had to solveon the bottlenecking was
how did we how do we get the manufacturingto go faster
without losing quality,but more importantly, get it to the people
and then change the mindset of,
hey, if you still want to build sticksand bricks, that's fine.
(30:40):
I'm not knocking it.Do what you need to do.
There's plenty of great buildersthat do that.
But reality check is if you're goingto live in anywhere in this country
where we have storms, which by the way,is pretty much the entire country,
if you end those storms, wouldn'tit make sense to build something
better, faster, greater, stronger,but sustainable? It's going to last.
And you can finally feel safethat at least you have a shot.
You have a chance to survivesome of these storms.
(31:03):
And most importantly, because the house isbuilt on solid core, the air leaks.
But this is the part that people forget.
Remember, with air leaks,you are literally burning money
in your vaseywith a with a high performance panel home.
You're going to save up to 70%in your HPC operations.
And what people ask all the time
like, well,how do I know what a sip hall looks like?
I'm like precisely the only way you'regoing to know it is one of two things.
(31:26):
One, when you get your first electricor heating bill
or two of the next time there's a stormand you're the only house standing,
that's how you know, the house is simple.
Otherwise it looks identicalto every other one.
You'd never know the difference.
Yeah, that's great.
So, you know, when you're tryingto figure out this manufacturing process,
let's rewind before you actually turn
started manufacture and you see this thing
(31:47):
maybe on the Internet, you'verediscovered it from the thirties and
you decided, you know what?
We could build houses out of this. Sure.
And so then what had itHow did you then scale that idea?
I assume you found it on the Internet.Maybe you found it in a book.
I don't know.
No, it's quite the opposite.
It No, I was approached by.
(32:08):
Yeah, I was just strangely enough,it started with the story
that was aforementioned,and I was brought in as a consultant
to help a one of the fundswho was moving into a real estate
and how they're doing fixing flipsand how they're moving into new builds.
Section eight Housing againat the time Affordable.
And we changed the word to attainable
and we said, Look, guys,here's the problem.
(32:30):
I said, the fund is great and you'remaking good margins and returns.
But unless you're controlling the verticalmeaning from the actual product
itself to the end product,you're leaving money on the table.
Maybe you're losing quality controland time control.
So the variance was always the problem.
If you look at an average average we'retalking about the time to build is months.
Why? There's only two reasons.
(32:53):
Financing subcontractorsthat led to reasons I could identify.
And we kept looking at overand over and over.
We interviewed and kept asking,and one of the fund managers
said to me, I said, Hey, man,I found this product and I know a guy.
Would you be interestedlooking at this thing called a sip?
And at the time, just like you,I was like, like taking a sip of a drink.
What? What the heck's a sip?
(33:13):
What do you talk about?
Again, lack of knowledge is the number onereason.
Again,back to mindset is lack of knowledge.
Why people don't make different choicesbecause they don't know.
What they don't knowapplies to me as well.
I mean, everybody has their expertise.
And so for me it was, well,how do you make this palatable?
How do you make people aware of it?
How do you make a GCand developer friendly?
(33:34):
And most importantly,
how do we also include the funds,the NGOs and the charities
who are seeking to do thingsfor other people like our veterans?
For example, our first responderis autism, something that's very clear.
All those are very close to me
are sex trafficked people that are victimrecovery or domestic violence.
You know, Tina Turner's a great example.
We've seen that in the past of a celebritywho's dealt with that on a public level.
How do we do that?
(33:55):
And we came up with called the push pull
the push pull an NGO theory.
It's a really fancy way of saying, hey,we push it out
in the marketplace of going,what have you made building fun building?
If you watch most building ads like,
Well, welcome home counselto your beautiful home and talk on it.
We build solid. No one cares, man.
That's about as sexy as a fart,with all due respect.
And it's intriguing is not.
(34:16):
And we live in a society where you got3 seconds to snag somebody's attention.
That's the way we work.
My generation was warping six,now it's three.
When you look at it,why don't make it fun?
Building a home for mostpeople is a difficult experience
if you've ever done it.
It's challenging,especially when you're dealing
with contractors, subcontractors, timingdates.
It's a consuming thing.
And if you're in a spacewhere you have nothing but time, great.
(34:39):
I would suggest you do that.
But if you're like most
who are wanting a place that they can hangyour hat for a while, continue
to grow their career, their adventure,their relationship and their kids,
then you want it to be a pleasurableexperience and you want that to move in
because we forget. Now we're back to theto back to the psychology side.
And then it was a terrible experience,was trouble to go through escrow.
We've been to closing.
We almost lost it.
(34:59):
We had subcontractors.And you finally close them, you move in.
But you got to remember thatall that traumatic experience
that you had of either buildingor buying that home goes with you
into said home
and then you start to seethis degeneration process because
it was such a traumatic experience,we kind of move away.
I don't want to take your landscaping.
There's always something to fix.
I've got water problems, I got plumbingproblems, whatever it is, right?
(35:22):
I got to upgrade the kitchenevery ten years
because I got to upgrade the kitchen.
We don't think about those things or justoperating the home in and of itself.
And so for me it became abouthow do we make this fun, one and two,
how do we then put it out into the worldso people know about it, which is the push
pull theory, but also three How do we helpour general contractors turn the notes?
One of the things we also identified
(35:44):
is that the general contractors,developers in often case
specifically in the horizontal side,the developer,
more than the general contractor,but still they're in these things 18,
24, 36 months on these build outs,
Well, that createscapital constraints on the company.
That makes it impossible for them to move.
Often their lines of credit are tapped.
The banks get stickybecause they're not hitting KPIs.
There's variance controlsthat they can control.
(36:06):
What if we could do thatand we turn it faster
so that they were making more money?
Well, okay.
Well, they they make moneywhen they build houses, period.
Sitting around is like a plane.
If the plane's not flying, it'snot make any money, it's an expense. Same.
They were general contractors then.
And for developers,if we're not moving dirt
and we're not doing horizontal vertical,we're losing money.
You're right.
So what if we could turn those notesa little faster?
(36:28):
What if we could help you outgetting the product done in speed time
so that soon as the structure is up, it'sgoing immediately for sale.
And now this is the part that got sexyfor me.
I invite all of your listenersto make your own determination.
Unless you've moved to a
certain status in life,meaning economic status, often the homes
that we're going to get at the attainablelevel are more track homes.
(36:51):
They're not custom, they'rebarely semi-custom for that matter.
I think that sucks.I think that's terrible.
I think everyone should havethe opportunity to make a
at least a semi-custom experienceat that level.
And with that, with the high performancepanel system,
you can't because it's not modular,it's not prefab.
We assemble on site, it'sfabricated to exactly to your blueprint.
There we walk up, we assemble on sitebecause it's easier to speed to build.
(37:15):
But now you get the moneyyou save on building it.
And also the long term effectyou can add into an upgrade,
maybe a better kitchenor maybe better flooring or
or different app,
whatever add on if you want to do an ADUor if you want to do an RV garage
post or move it, it can quantify itinto something, a better roof even.
That's different.
Now again, we're back to psychology.
If I am choosing how the house is designedbeyond just a general experience
(37:40):
and I'm upgrading,I'm going to be attached to this thing.
Counsel. I'm going to be involved in it.
I'm going to I'm going to protect itlike a fortress pun intended,
because it is now your proverbial castle,as it should be.
That is the American dream.
It's been around for thousands of years.
I don't mean the American dream, butjust having your own castle on your own.
Keep.
And so for me,it became about those three things
and identifying those thingsand we did it.
And then the next washow do we make the manufacturing faster?
(38:04):
How do we make it speed?
And most importantly,I think part of the most revolutionary
breakthroughs that we are on the precipiceof doing as we speak,
we're currently in a round raise right now
as we go for this,and we're about 90 days out.
What if you made thewhat if you brought the mountain to you?
What if instead of saying,hey, guess what?
But here's the deal.
We manufacture out a blank pick,the state doesn't matter.
We have to logistically get it to you.
(38:25):
So you're right
we're going to save your money
on your packaging because you only haveone experience with us.
You have the SIP.You don't have to worry about lumber.
You don't have to worry about knowinsulation.
All that's done inone shot, it just shows up.
But I have totransport it from my state to your state.
And obviously you're on the West Coast.
So if I'm on the East Coast, manufacturingtransporting to
you is not going to put my price pointa different spot.
(38:45):
So what's the first thing you're goingto do? All the cost for money.
So I'm going go back to the nail file, duerespect the affordable version,
and don't realize in the longterm effects of that.
Well,what if what if the mountain came to you?
What if the manufacturing
showed up right on your doorstepand we built it right there?
Boom,Fresh off the presses, puns intended.
We did it.
(39:06):
It's part of our unique IP.
It's about as far as I'll go with that.But imagine that happening.
And that now took itto the next step, which was
watching our men and
women who have stood on a wallfor this country.
Regardless of your political ideology.
I don't care about your politics.I care about the fact that they signed up.
They did it.
They stood on the wallso that you and I can have
these conversations on this podcastso that we could pursue our dream.
(39:29):
They have the rightto have a house in this country.
They fought for it.
They stood on a wall for in some cases,
they paid the ultimate price for itand their families too.
And for them to have not had that withI have a I have a dream
that every vet, every first responder,because that's who we expect.
We expect psychologically,almost emotionally,
that these men and women, they have todo their job so that I can do what I want.
(39:51):
When I call 911,I expect PD and FD to show up.
Well, who's showing up for them?
Where do they where are we as the people?
Where's our oathto take care of those Americans?
And so for me, it'sa pleading to go, guys, we can do this.
We can do it together.
And it's fun because back in the daywe used to do barn raising together.
I used to help buildyours, used to help build mine.
(40:13):
Now we're friends.
Now I know something about youbecause I'm vested in Yorkshire structure.
I'm invested in your family.
You're invested in mine.
Well, that means if someone comes
walking into the neighborhood,that's the problem.
You and I are most likely going to team upnow. So we've got a community.
That's what, in my humbleopinion, is lacking in this country.
We are so damned divided overstupid stuff.
(40:33):
With all due,
it is a waste of frickin life and time.
But I promise you this and you can watchit on some of the videos on our site.
When peoplecome together and they build a home,
which is what made Habitatsuch a unique experience and of itself,
which is why we were so gratefulto partner with them and work with them
and continue to do so is to go stop.
(40:54):
When you do it together, it changes you.
I don't you don't need to go to therapy.
You don't need to go do ayahuasca.
You need to stand there with your brotherand your sister
and you build a ship togetherand you don't in any framing experience.
And there's something emotionalthat happens.
It changes you naturally.
It's a memory that will never go away.
It is a legacy of your life.
Just to say I helped build that
(41:14):
not from a possession area point of view,but from a contributory point of view
and contributing to your lifesomewhere down the road,
whether directly from youor from other comedic points of view.
It's going to come back and we watch.
When people do this, they change,
they get to know each other,they do business together,
which is exactly what communitieswere designed for in this country
and what we do with our strategicrelationships and our partners,
(41:35):
specifically the Black Packand the Consolidated Veterans Group.
Not only do we build the houses
for our vets in our first responderswhere they're truly attainable,
but they can actually work with usand take them and come a part of it?
And that was the third lever.
How do we help these vets?
No one, no vet, No that I know.
I don't know all of them.
Of course, that would be a misnomerstatement, but I know a lot of them.
(41:58):
I've yetto meet one that will take a handout,
but I know every singleone of them will take a hand up.
They want to earn it.
They want to feel like they're part of it.
Their natural gladiatorpersona is still embedded in who they are.
They took that oath willingly.
I would force them to do itso they know what they signed up for.
So that's naturally bred in them.
We give them organization,we tell them, do this,
(42:19):
be and value every part your life.
The day is organizedwhile you're in military service.
Oh, and by the way,now you're honorably discharged.
We're going through the chaos. Good luck.
Figure out how a grocery store works.
Hey, figure out that traffic pattern.
Figure out how to communicate differentlybecause there's not a hierarchical
structure out in the in the worldcompared to the military, as an example.
So what have you gave them that?What have you said?
(42:40):
Hey, you can come work on the line, learnhow to do this.
It doesn't take much. It's a really coolautomated line.
I'll show you how it works.
You can help a build with us and we dowhat's called a B plus one program.
I was honored to be part of itto help design this with our partners.
There's that barn raising conceptthat you and I talked about.
What if
we're building your home?
I come and say, I can help you do it.
(43:02):
Great.
We, you and I build a safe home together.
I say, great.
Now I'm going to build a home.
Well, in order for that, your obligationis you come help it build with me.
That's it.
That's your entire obligation.
Nelson rebounded, And that's the.
We keep doing thatuntil they became a platoon, Our team
and that team's about seven members longAnd then we teach them
how to be seasoned developersand now they're building other high
performance homes for other individuals,first responders, that's or otherwise.
(43:24):
And ultimately
they'll be able to owna piece of the fortress
as we startto expand across the nation now
and actually own their own office to it,because they should have every right.
And that's first responders,veterans and civilians.
And it's not in a hierarchical order.
It's just a lean to. It's somethingthat we're very passionate about.
And I think everybody should be,regardless again,
of your ideology or political structure,that's just my humble opinion,
because they give us somethingthat every generation who has fought
(43:47):
for the American dream
and I mean, that literally isthey've stood on a wall
and some have paid the ultimate pricefor us to have this thing here.
And the best way we can honor themand their families
is to give them quality homes.That is their fortress.
They fought for the fortressof the United States of America.
Let's fight for themand give them the fortress back
and let's do it attainable and solidlyand give them a quality product
for what they gave us,which is a life of freedom.
(44:08):
I agree with you, and I love that.
I think I think that we should be doingmore for our veterans.
And, you know,I'm always grateful for their service.
I thank you.
I volunteeredor I worked at Veterans Affairs
for Summer as well, trying to make thingsa little bit more efficient. So
there's still a lot of inefficiency there.
And I think that we shouldwe should be doing a lot more
(44:30):
for our soldiersand people who serve our great country.
So for people who want to learn more,
Travis, about your panels
or you being the mind scape architect,how can they find you?
I mean, it's really easy.You can email me.
I answer all my own email. I don'tI don't have a bot do it.
(44:50):
I don't, do I?
It's I'm good old fashioned.I still answer mine.
You can email me directly or go to buildyour fortress dot com and email
and it gets to my myself or our chairwoman
and yes, by the way,I do want to represent
all of you out therebetween our board and our advisory board.
We are represented by all four majorbranches of the military
actively serving with ushere at the fortress from our ally,
our Chief Operations officer, all the wayto from a colonel to a sergeant.
(45:13):
So every branch is represented.
We are also minority
owned and operated, and we're also womenled our way, our actual chairwoman.
So as a woman, I know that soundsthat was I mean, I'm like, well,
if you've been around the constructionindustry,
it tends to beheavily dominated by males y
Whoevercan build the product is all I care about.
And so part of what we really got into
was men and womenserve in our military equally.
(45:36):
That's been around for a while,
so why should our construction companiesbe burned the same way?
And that's exactly how we did itfrom the material side.
And so I'm super proud of that.
You can email us my emails. Easy.It's tough.
I build your fortress dot com.
I put it out there for public.I answer all my own email.
I'm excited.
If you've got something you want to build,you want questions and call us.
We will get on the phoneand talk with you all day long.
Even if you don't do any business with us.
(45:57):
Please, if nothing else, educate yourselfto what's out there.
You are not confined to sticks and bricksanymore.
Ladies and gentlemen,there are wonderful, great products.
If you don't use a sip, usesomething that's renewable,
it's resourceful,and it's going to last the test of time.
These storms are not going to getany softer. We've already seen it.
I don't I'm not I'm notclimate warming. Just stare at it.
But we want to be ableto survive these things.
(46:18):
That's what Fortress was.
And if you want to knowwhat a fortress is,
look at any castlefrom the modern, from the middle of
the dark ages, the middle,the middle part of our last century.
Look how long they lasted.
Those were just things stacked on it,but they were stacked in a way
with thought process. A fortress.That's exactly what a ship does.
And most importantly, it's going to it'sgoing to help you survive these storms.
(46:39):
And this will survive the storms of life.
And this is not what you really want foryour family, is protection.
And if you're telling me that thethe price of it's a $5,000 swing,
you're not willing to spend $5,000 family,then I would suggest you we need them.
Landscape architect to find out what yourpriority structure is and how come that
that's more important than your family?
It's not and it doesn't need to be.
So blending the two together.
(47:01):
I do consulting for companies
now when the time is available,because this is
pretty much my focus right nowand has been
this is a legacy piece for me,something that I can hand off.
And we're on trackand I'm this is my last legacy piece
and then I'll stop there because there's
something that you can tellI have no passion about at all,
is I?
I'm under the process and in the processand being guided eloquently
(47:21):
to take this company publicby the end of 26.
I want everybodyto own a piece of the fortress.
They should you should invest in it.
You should be able to be a part of it.
You should be able to have the productsfrom it.
And everyone in Americashould be able to own piece of it.
If it's something that fitswithin your portfolio.
But this is where our goal is.And that was my dream.
That's the dream that's been you know,my life has been built on between the P.T.
Barnum influence and Dr. DennisWhaley influence.
(47:43):
And here I am at the ripe age of 54.
And now perhaps,
hopefully we can fulfill this nicelybefore I turn 60
and we'll take this company publicand everybody can own it.
And then we go from there.
That's awesome. I love that.
That's amazing, man.
So thank you, Travis, for sharing with us
and all the listeners, no matter whatit is that you're trying to build.
Hopefully these insights from Travishave been incredibly helpful for you
(48:07):
and inspiring.
I know it has been for me. And
if you found this helpful.
Make sure you like and subscribeso you know when the next podcast episode
is dropping.
Thank you allso much for joining me today.
And thank you, Travis,for sharing some of your wisdom with us.
Thanks so much.Appreciate the opportunity.
Thanks, everyone. Uh.
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Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.