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Stay Paid Podcast
This Mindset Shift Made Jimmy Burgess Leave the C-Suite
00:37:58
Would you give up your CEO title to pursue your purpose? He did. In this episode, Jimmy Burgess, former CEO of Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Beach Properties of Florida and one of Inman’s most-read contributors, returns to Stay Paid to share: ...
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- [00:00]
Jimmy Burgess
Foreign.
- [00:04]
Joshua Steich
Welcome to Stay Paid. I'm Joshua Styke.
- [00:06]
Luke Acree
And I'm Luke Acree.
- [00:07]
Joshua Steich
And joining us today, as always, Stephen Acree and Cody Smith of the Acree Brothers realty team, the number one team in Lynchburg, Virginia. Welcome, gentlemen.
- [00:15]
Stephen Acree
Excited to be back?
- [00:17]
Cody Smith
Yep.
- [00:17]
Jimmy Burgess
Number one, baby.
- [00:18]
Stephen Acree
Let's go.
- [00:18]
Luke Acree
Number one.
- [00:19]
Joshua Steich
And we are, we like to say the number one marketing podcast in King of Prussia, Pa. Yeah.
- [00:24]
Luke Acree
Number one podcast in the heart of my mother.
- [00:28]
Joshua Steich
Returning to the show today is exciting. This is a real estate veteran and former CEO of Berkshire Hathaway Home Services beach properties of Florida, Jimmy Burgess. As Inman's most read contributor three years in a row and over 30, 000 YouTube subscribers and a hundred thousand plus monthly views, Jimmy has become a go to voice for real estate strategy and success. Jimmy, welcome back.
- [00:48]
Jimmy Burgess
Thank you. I listen, this is fun to get back. I mean, I've been waiting. I thought I'd done something wrong. I mean, I haven't listened to you guys in a while. When was it?
- [00:56]
Joshua Steich
Did you look it up?
- [00:56]
Jimmy Burgess
I did.
- [00:57]
Luke Acree
I. I didn't look it up. It's been a while though, hasn't it, man?
- [00:59]
Jimmy Burgess
It's been a couple years, I think. Yeah. Which is craziness. I mean, I love guys are doing. So this is. I feel honored that you would invite me back. So thanks for having me today.
- [01:08]
Luke Acree
Yeah, man, it's great to have you back. I, I feel like I, you're my go to person. You, Jimmy Mackin, you guys are like my go to Jason Pantana.
- [01:16]
Jimmy Burgess
You're like, they're all right.
- [01:19]
Luke Acree
You guys are like my top three.
- [01:23]
Cody Smith
Yeah.
- [01:24]
Luke Acree
You could throw your name in there. You're learning from Josh. But I'm, I'm excited to pick your brain because since you were on the show last, right. You, I feel like you are one of the thought leaders in the industry and you were running Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Florida properties down there. And I felt like, oh, man, you're on this trajectory to take over, you know, Berkshire Hathaway as the next CEO. That was kind of in my mind of just because of how good you are. I could easily see that trajectory. You then made a switch. You stepped back from leading that company to really, I would love to pick your brain on why. But it seems from my perspective to go and generate more content, focus on helping agents and build kind of your own downline reason why I want to start here is because I feel like everybody's in these transitions in their life. I even feel it for us at Reminder Media, it's like, hey, man, we've been really successful for 20 years, but, like, what's the future hold in the next 10? Where do we see ourselves? How are we positioning the decisions we make on investments into technology? With AI, you know, the market is compressing. 70% of agents or 71% aren't doing a deal. So there's all this, like, turmoil and transitions. Like, how do you make a decision to step down as a CEO to do your own thing? What caused that?
- [02:38]
Jimmy Burgess
Well, well, thank you for asking. I mean, this is something I really haven't talked about. And so I really appreciate, you know, the opportunity because I think maybe the older I get, you know, I made that joke. I don't know when I became the old guy with 31 years experience in this business, well over half my life, but it's been kind of interesting to kind of just see over that. Here I am at now 54 years old, which seems crazy to me. I, you know, I said, somebody said, hey, look, I heard this quote. It said, everybody's going to get older. But getting old is a choice. I'll be honest. I ain't going down like that. I'm trying to stay young. I'm trying to. I mean, listen, I mean, I'm wearing these, these jeans and J's. I mean, that's. I'm trying to stay as young as I can. But the. But what happened really for me was, is as I looked back over my career and then where we were today, I had some amazing relationships at Berkshire. Whether that be franchise franchisees across the country, whether that be, obviously, the leadership team. I'll tell you, man, Gino Bafari was about as good as anybody to me. After we sold, after the company sold, and he named me CEO at Beach Properties of Florida. He does a thing where he has all of the CEOs. There's roughly 35 companies that are owned by Home Services, where we would rotate and we would spend a month where we would get to know the other CEOs about their families, about their processes, about all. It was incredible, dude. I mean, it was probably one of the. I probably learned more in that time. Well, the first month, Gino came on and he said, hey, look, first month, I'm going to be your accountability partner this month. And we got to the end of it. And he said, hey, look, I've only done this once, but you and I are going to talk every day. We're going to keep this going. I mean, I'm going to keep rotating to you. But and we talked. We didn't miss a day for over 900 days in a row.
- [04:18]
Luke Acree
Get out of here, man.
- [04:19]
Jimmy Burgess
And so I'm just. I will tell you this. That was one of those. First off, he just came, he became a great friend, you know what I mean? And, but secondly, he just, just. I mean, obviously everything he's seen throughout the industry, you know, I can't thank him enough for everything he's done for me. And, and then, you know, other leaders, you know, Chris Kelly, you know that that's there at Home Services, is probably one of the best leaders that I've ever seen in our industry.
- [04:43]
Luke Acree
Really?
- [04:44]
Jimmy Burgess
Wow. Incredible. He is incredible leader. And just, and look, this is the thing too, is, is what I like to do. And, and I'll say this about you guys. Can I love. What's that?
- [04:53]
Luke Acree
Can I put the seed in there? Because I'm really curious. And then finish your train of thought. But I would love to know why you believe he's such a good leader. Because all of us are trying to be great leaders. And I just would love to get your perspective on what in your mind made him such a good leader or makes him such a good leader. But anyways, keep going. Sorry.
- [05:09]
Jimmy Burgess
Yeah, I'll tell you this. I'll. I'll back up on that because I think it's important because I think it's all of us, especially for agents that are listening to this. My mom, I'm what they call an sob, My son of broker. My mom was my broker, if that makes sense. So I started out. One of the first things she taught me was that she said, hey, Jimmy, your main job in any transaction is to be the thermostat. In other words, if things cool down, you're supposed to heat it up a little bit. If things get a little hot, you're supposed to calm things down and keep it cool and keep steady throughout and take your emotion out as much as possible. Chris Kelly has the ability to really step into any situation. Obviously, there's been a few situations over the last few years as a leader in. Of an organization that size. He's got an incredible ability to stay calm under pressure. He's got an incredible ability to find connection with people. And he's got an ability to that. Every single person he talks to, you feel like you're the only one in the room. And so I just think that great leaders demonstrate and what it looks like and they set the tone for everybody around them. And look, Chris is a great friend. I mean, he actually, you know, after he was, he was CEO at Abby Halliday, moved down here to, to this 30Amarket area I am after. You know, he had that position. He could live anywhere. And so I still just think the world of him. We still get to catch up. It's been a few weeks now since we've walked. We walk in the morning sometimes. But I mean, listen, I, I was in a position there at Berkshire Hathaway where you're right, I mean, there was probably a path there to, to. To continue to grow. But there's a scripture that says that as the eagle stirs the nest, so shall he. In other words, you know, the eagle will actually, you know, the baby eaglet is in the nest. It's very comfortable. And the last thing the legal. It wants to do is to jump off of that, come out of that nest and take that. You better fly. Either you fly or you die, you know, but the eagle will actually start pulling the feathers away and sticking the things up where it becomes so uncomfortable that you have to move and almost feel like that was what happened to me. I almost feel like as I began to continue to climb that corporate ladder, I guess you could say I was getting further away from what I felt my purpose was, which was spending time with agents, which was helping agents. You know, I had had this vision years and years and years, years ago, before I was even doing YouTube. And I didn't know how it was going to happen, but I was like, I think that I've just had it on my heart that, hey, I'm supposed to help a million agents close at least one deal from some way that I've influenced them. And now, listen, when you do that and you're serious about it and you feel like that was something you're called to do, that's a different deal. And you make decisions that don't make sense to a lot of people in that case. And so there were a lot of people that my decision didn't make a lot of sense to. And there were a lot of, you know, friends that I, that I miss. There are a lot of, you know, you know, that company we grew. I mean, to watch, you know, it, you know, and not be with those folks every day, the employees that, all the people. That's been the toughest part. But I will tell you that if you're going to do whatever it is that you're called to do, it's not going to be easy. And I can find myself getting comfortable. I'd never been on a salary I never had, you know, I mean, I've been. I'm in real estate, you know what I mean? And literally the whole time, even when we were growing beach properties before, I never took a salary. I said, look, I want to be on the growth of this thing. And so we went from 60 agents to 280 agents. And, you know, and then we sold. And it was. And so it was one of those where all of a sudden now I'm on salary and. And I've got people making decisions that, that maybe I wasn't in line with, you know, as far as things that we would do locally or that that just made sense to me. And so I had to start figuring out that out. You know, I will say that, you know, those conversations were tough with, with Gino, with, with Chris. I mean, they were great. You know what I mean? They've been great to me. Um, but it was one of those that I just knew that I probably needed to figure out what it was for me. And also where did I feel like the industry was headed and where did it. Where could I be positioned to help the most people possible in a way that stays on course with what I believe my calling is? Does that make sense?
- [09:17]
Luke Acree
Yeah, it makes so much sense. It's like, to me, like, I look at, like, decisions and what's really difficult and I try to frame it up and I don't know if you think this way or not, but it's like I've always see people. It's like there's six almost, you know, dimensions of a person. In a way. You have your faith, your family, your friends, your fitness, your finance and your fun would be like your hobbies. And it's like every one of those is a priority in your life. And you tend to make decisions in your life based upon those things and how they're influenced. I'm curious, like, for you, you know, obviously Gino's probably trying to sell you to stay and sell in a good way, you know, to stay. You're saying, no, no, I'm going to step back. Was it in your mind more of an impact based decision, purpose based decision? And did it start with an unhappiness? If I'm not fulfilling my purpose with what I'm trying to do, and that's how you knew something needed to change. It's like this, like, how did you know? Oh, no, this is not for me. Versus just being uncomfortable. Does that make sense? Versus just like Cody. Cody tells agents on his team all the time, you need to do something that they don't like doing. I only know this because I coach some of the agents on his team, and so they don't like it. So they're uncomfortable. But does that mean they're not in alignment with what they need to do and they need to go somewhere else? Or is it just because. No, you're uncomfortable and you're like, how do you sort that bat? How did you sort the balance of like, I'm uncomfortable versus no, no, no, this is not on my purpose.
- [10:53]
Jimmy Burgess
First, I would say don't make emotional decisions and don't make quick decisions in a lot of cases, I mean, unless there's just something that's just completely out of line with who you are and what you believe in. I mean, this was a nine month process for me, you know, I mean, this was a. This was a process that I had to discuss with others, that I had to pray about, I had to think about that. I had to figure out, okay, the pros and cons of. So it wasn't. Look, I mean, my entire career I've been uncomfortable. I mean, it's not about being uncomfortable as much as it is on purpose. And so that was it for me. And then as you begin to go through that process, you know, you start looking and seeing, okay, well, where. Where do I feel like I have the ability to be what I'm supposed to be and who I'm created to be? And as I began to look around and do that, it was just like, okay, it's okay. This is the next step. It wasn't that. It was a step away. I will tell you, look, sometimes too, you got to understand when you're making decisions that sometimes you have to squat to jump. You know, I mean, I walked away from CEO salary, from, you know, the benefits, all the things that, you know, that people, you know, that you think when I, before I had it, where I was like, oh, well, this is. I mean, you've made it. And then you start realizing, okay, well, who is it that I want to be around? What is it I want to do, and where is the place that I feel like I could do that? For me, it was real. I mean, look, I think it's just a matter of figuring that out for you. And, and I've always said also that honor is not truly given unless it's spoken. And so I've tried to honor everyone in that organization. I mean, look, I still love Berkshire Hathaway. I mean, look, I was. There was. I don't feel like there were many people that were bleeding, you know, that you know, that brand more than me and trying to do more. And so that's been a tough part. But. But the future. Look, I will tell you this. Ultimately, the agents that are listening to this, if they will bloom where they're planted, they will do very well. Look, you know, and ultimately what I'm finding is, is that. And I think you're seeing this too, is. Is the branding of an individual agent is becoming so much more important than the banner they're flying in a lot of cases. So, you know, so from that standpoint, Cody, I'd love to hear what it is you tell agents, too. I mean, I'd love to learn a little bit here, too, if you don't mind.
- [13:04]
Cody Smith
Yeah, I mean, we base all coachings off of their goals. So end of October, beginning of November, we're going to set the goals for what you want. And then also, it's like, what personal goals do you have? Like, what do you want out of life? What is purpose? And then all of our coachings this year, I'm going back to, hey, you said you wanted this, you said you wanted that. And then we're going to coach on that. And if that goal, let's say, has changed, sure, we can change some of those metrics. But this is what you said at the beginning of the year. This is what I'm going to coach you on. So this isn't my own goal. Like, you know, for me, I do care about you, but I could, you know, I could care less, you know what your goal is because it's yours, not mine. So I'm going to encourage you in that and hold you accountable to what you said that you want.
- [13:45]
Stephen Acree
And it's amazing, too, how fast it changes. Like we do weekly coachings. It's amazing the emotions every single time, like, they literally have to be reminded of their goals every single coaching, just.
- [13:57]
Luke Acree
Because of the roller coaster of the industry.
- [13:58]
Stephen Acree
That's a roller coaster. So I can't imagine doing coachings every month. Like, that's how fast things can change if you don't attack it in the right way with encouragement, but also sternness, directness, like, people will shift. And that's why people end up leaving, you know, because they. They're so confused as to what they really want.
- [14:17]
Cody Smith
Yeah. So every coaching, I'm like, hey, I totally understand. This happened and this happened. Yeah. I mean, there's a ton of good reasons. I get that, man. But you're saying you want this. How can we work it to where maybe some of those other needs get met that you need to do while you're also reaching the goals that you set for yourself. So, yeah, it's an encouraging. But accountability, if you're ever just the person that's like you're not doing what you need to do, you know, I think you're missing the whole point of the coaching is to help that person reach their goals. Which I would say is one of my, you know, things is like I love help helping people reach the goals they set.
- [14:50]
Jimmy Burgess
Yeah.
- [14:50]
Cody Smith
And they want to, whether that's in houses, whether that's when I was a director of a department, if they wanted to move up or whatever they wanted. My goal is to help you reach your goal. And that gives me encouragement and purpose.
- [15:01]
Luke Acree
Yeah. Well, it's also like a great leader brings out of people things that they don't even believe they can do. And oftentimes that is the parent speaking into the kid's life and making them do the things that they don't think they can do or they don't want to do is a better way to say it. Which is always a difficult balance because in order to be able to speak the truth into people's life, my experience has shown that you can only do that if you have done the work to build relationship and trust with the person. So a lot of times when the relationship falls apart and I see this with my sales team or I see this with the people at Reminder Media, it's because I'm parachuting in and I'm giving them the right advice. I'm giving them the right direction. Hey, you need to do this. You're not doing xyz and it's out of a good place in my heart. But I haven't done the work to do the actual relationship with them in the day to day like Gino did with you. Right in that day to day. And so I don't have the trust built up, I don't have the equity built up in that trust relationship bank account. So it falls flat. Because human beings, I don't know why, we just have our guard up and, you know, we don't want to listen to people. And so, you know, it's, it comes down to, in my mind, it's like, hey, you know, one of the ways to be a great leader is you have to, like you said Chris Kelly was doing, you have to lead by example. Because that is the number one way to build trust is not by showing it's by or not by telling, it's by showing by what you do. I'm curious, because after you made the switch, Jimmy, you know, to, you know, get kind of down your pathway, you now have gone even more in on your content. You've gone even more in. Are you selling properties today or you fig. Are you truly just going all in on helping agents? Like, what's the goal there in your mind?
- [16:44]
Jimmy Burgess
I mean, you know, I've been referring a lot of stuff out. So I mean. I mean, I've sold 8 million, you know, I mean, so it's not like I'm not selling anything.
- [16:50]
Luke Acree
So, I mean.
- [16:53]
Jimmy Burgess
It'S not my main focus. But. But I'll tell you this, though. What's been great about that is, is there's a difference too in. There's a difference in standing on a stage and saying, this is what I think you should do, and saying, this is what I'm doing.
- [17:06]
Luke Acree
Yes.
- [17:07]
Jimmy Burgess
And so I think that has been empowering for me. And what I'm doing is now is I've had the ability, obviously, with the group of agents, and now instead of being geographically located, and now my team is with real, is nationwide. So I have a group of agents that I'm testing this type of content with or I'm testing this type of mailer with. So it's not just me and I, and it's not just my coastal market. Now I'm getting a more diverse understanding what that is by being able to help some of these agents across the country. Well, what's been great about that is, is now I've got a better data set to be able to then take the content and disperse it out. In other words, what I've always said is, is my job really is. Is to be someone who gathers as much intel and information that puts that in a way that people can understand, that they can take action on and get that out to as many people as quickly as possible. Because as we know, things are changing. And so. So that's. That's been one of those things, you know, talking about getting excited. I mean, that's what's been exciting to me is, is that once you start playing offense again, because I feel like I was playing defense. And look, I think the whole industry's been playing defense, especially at the large group.
- [18:09]
Luke Acree
Yeah.
- [18:10]
Jimmy Burgess
And so there's a difference when I'm. I'm on my toes instead of on my heels all the time. And so now all of a sudden it's like, okay, well, what are we going to do to create listings? What are we going to do to create opportunities? How are we going to communicate Our value on the buyer side in a unique and a fresh way. What is the type of content that's working in this place that we can bring to this local market or to that local market? And the second that you can start figuring out how to become someone that takes all of that and brings it into your local market. And you don't have to recreate the wheel. You just got to put your own rims on it and just really spin it. I mean, that's a different mentality. And I think what we're seeing now, it's never been available. I mean, look, I mean, you know, 10 years ago, this was. We did this, but it was like we couldn't look at each other, could see each other, we couldn't do these things. And now we've got access to so much information that I think what can happen though is, is that we have a lot of people that just gather information, don't take action. And that is what I'm seeing with a lot of agencies. They're not sure what to do. So they just keep thinking they're going to find the silver bullet. The silver bullet is having real estate related conversations. However you get to that point, whether it be through social, whether it be through your magazine, whether it be whatever it is, it's. How do you get yourself in those positions? I'm going to tell you quick story. This was a buddy of mine. Well, I had a couple guys that were in town that were agents running big teams. They'd come here, you know, the beach is great because people just come to 38, you know what I mean? So I get all these people that just, hey, man, I'm in town. You want to get a dinner? I'd love to, you know. So we're sitting there having this dinner and these two agents were. We were just talking. They big team leaders. The one from over at. Trey from over in Baton Rouge. Trey says he's got a friend of his with him, guy by the name of Charlie Causey, who runs Charlie. I just think of Charlie all the time now. I still a story. And he's. He runs a big insurance company and he's just sitting there listening to us talk about real estate and how we motivate our teams and how we help agents do the things that are uncomfortable. We were talking about, and he said, and he's just kind of sitting there quiet. We'd had this great dinner and all of a sudden he says, let me tell y' all something, you know, and I'm not going to use his you know, his. His Louisiana accent. But he says, you see this right here, this phone right here? He said, this sitting on the table, you know what that is? I said what? He said, that's broke. He said, you know what this is Rich. Rich. You choose. Ultimately, that's what it is. So. So I think this is. The problem is, is that I think we're in such an environment where, yes, it is more difficult. I mean, look, it is. It is harder to get one across the line. It's harder to get one under contract. It's harder to. Everything about the business from today, from where it was three years ago is harder. But I will tell you, as someone who's been through these cycles before, it's the hard. Right now, this is where people are going to make strides they can't make in a market that's moving up because they can't separate themselves. And so now's the time when they do those things, when they lean into the coaching like you're talking about, you know, Cody and Steven, I mean, when Yalls team leans into that and they do the things that you guys know works and they take the action now, it is like it is a lever that they can't understand is. We talked about this before we got on. I mean, Luke and Josh, before y' all got on, Cody, Steve, we were talking about this. Spring always comes after winter, every single time.
- [21:23]
Stephen Acree
Thank God.
- [21:23]
Jimmy Burgess
So we don't know how long winter's gonna be, we don't know how cold it will be, but we do know this spring is right around the corner. And so you do the things in winter to prepare for spring, so that when spring comes, you've been planting seed, you've been preparing soil, you've been setting things in a way that gives you the ability to take action where others are coming out of the gate, you're already running at full speed. So I will tell you, I don't like to say it because I don't want people to take this the wrong way, but these are the times when you're going to look back and you're going to say, these were the good old days. Doesn't feel that way when we're in the middle of it, but when you take action now, your future self will thank you so much in the future for the actions you take today, because it will show up tenfold of what you're receiving right now.
- [22:15]
Luke Acree
Yeah, that's so well said. You know what's interesting, it's like to be able to be a person, and this is the Key in life, I believe it's that you are so on purpose and so authentic that you're willing to give up a CEO job to do what you believe you're supposed to do. And that just, like, emanates and resonates to people. Because that's why I think your content crushes, because it comes from such a place of like, no, no, I'm so passionate about this. This is what I made to do. I'm literally quitting a CEO job to do this because I believe it's on par with what I need to be doing. And that then allows you to function in a way that has complete integrity. And what I have found over and over again now, coaching entrepreneurs, is that the number one thing people lack is integrity. And it starts with integrity with themselves, is they're not honest with themselves about what they're going to do. And then they lie to themselves about what they accomplished. And then what gets worse is they hide it. And then they start lying to their. Their friends, their peers, the people around them. And before they know it, they feel they're living a whole lie and they don't know what to do. And that affects their confidence, which affects their influence. And their influence is how they lead themselves and others. And it's like your ability to be so real of what you want and make the tough decision. This is what I'm challenging myself with these days, is going, Luke, are you making the decision for a monetary number, like a profit decision, or for a revenue decision? Are you making a decision based upon who you want to be in your life and the life that you actually want to live? And nothing is gained if things aren't lost? And I find in my life, too often I'm trying to hang on to everything, lose nothing and gain everything. And it's like, that's not how it works. For something to bloom, for something to grow, something else has to die in a good way. And that's. I just think how life works. And so I think for people to understand, like, for you to be able to do content, for you to be able to win in your industry, wherever you're at, you first got to ask yourself, you know, are you actually being real with who you are? And this is the converse I've had with agents on your team, Stephen, it's like, are you actually just being real with actually who you are that be real that you're not showing up on time? Be real that you're not making the calls? Admit it. Because when you admit it, you have power over it. When you keep it in, you have no power. It has all the power over you. And it starts with that integrity, because that ultimately is the foundation of how you do everything. Yeah.
- [24:46]
Cody Smith
Extreme ownership, right?
- [24:47]
Jimmy Burgess
Yeah. Hey, and I will tell you this, too. My wife and I. I'll tell you another story. My wife and I went on a anniversary trip a few years ago. We went out to Napa Valley. And I don't know if y' all know this, but you can actually, when you ride bikes, you know, we did, like, this winery tour on bikes. You can get a DUI on a bike.
- [25:06]
Luke Acree
Did you get a dui? I had no idea. I had no idea, but I did.
- [25:13]
Jimmy Burgess
Not, because I was on a bike. But so as we're going, you know, my wife, she'll see these things, though. We were. We were on this bike tour. We get there, and. And if you've been out there, I mean, it's just gorgeous. I mean, this was the first time I'd really been out in the valley there. And so we. We're riding these bikes from downtown Napa. We. We pull through this little cul de sac, and then we go down this little gravel road around this house, and all of a sudden, we are in this vineyard in the valley. And it is like I am riding a bike in. In a. In a. In some. In a piece of art. You know what I mean? It is just gorgeous with the mountains on both sides, and, you know, you've got the hill at the end where, you know, kind of the end of the valley, and you've got these vineyards. It was the springtime, and it was just new growth, and it was just. And the lady who's kind of guiding us pulls over there in the vineyard, and she says. She said, hey, I want to give you a little bit of a history on kind of Napa Valley and how we produce wine. And the first thing she says is. She said, you'll notice at the end down here, the reason why we're able to grow so many diverse wines here is if you look at the end of the valley down there, that is where there was a volcano hundreds and hundreds of years ago. And when that happened, it flooded this valley. Well, you have to understand, there's only about, I think she said, 10 or 11 different types of soils in the entire world. Well, when this happened, what happened is, as that molten filled this valley, it brought those soils from all. From the inner earth and spread it across here. That's why when you can go to one side of the valley and the sun hits it there. And actually that soil is great for Chardonnay grapes. And then you go to the other side of the valley and you have great Bordeaux grapes or you have Cabernet grapes, but you have that diversity there. She said, and so she says so. Then she says, so you have to understand, great wine always starts with great soil. And I was like, oh, this will preach right here. So she says, great wine starts with great soil. And I started thinking about that and I'm like, that is so true with everything. You know, I mean, look, if a flower is not blooming and it is a truly good flower and it has been fertilized, it has done everything right, it's being watered and it's not growing, it's not the flower, it's the soil. So we have to ask ourselves when we write soil. Then she says, you'll notice this here, also, just to give you a history here, is that the original grapevines that were grown here were a native type of grapevine. But they. And they grew really well. But the types of grapes that they, that they had on these native vines, they were actually a little bit acidic. They weren't as sweet as some of the European wines. And so they could grow and have bountiful crops. But then they. What they did is they brought from Europe in the late 1800s some of the vines from Europe, and they began to plant them here. And they made amazing grapes and wines. They grew great. But the problem was that they begin about four years in. They lost the majority of them because there was this mite called Fluoroxera. I think that. Listen, with my accent, I know that's not correct, but I'm just gonna go with it, okay? But there was a mite that basically would eat the root systems of these non native vines and it would kill the entire crops. They could get great crops for two to three years, but it would kill and they would have to start over. These vines typically should last a long time. And they didn't know should they settle for having those more acidic, not the highest quality grapes, or should they plant and know that it was going to die quickly? And what they found was, is they decided to test something. And if you go to Napa Valley now, and she was showing this at the bottom of every one of those grapevines, there's this knot at the bottom of those grapevines. And what that knot is, is what they found was, is that the root system from those native plants, the Fluoroxera, would not attack that for whatever reason, it had built up the immune immunity to it or whatever it needed to do. So what they did is, is they would grow those native plants till about 6 to 8 inches off the ground. They would then take and they would slice that vine and they would graft in those plants from over in Europe. And what they found was that it would do this. And all of a sudden, now think of this. What they had is they had the strengths of the root system that would withstand any of the attacks, and they had the sweetness of the grapes that would produce the best wine that they could possibly have. In other words, there was no way for them to get the results they have today without grafting in together with something that brought something they didn't have. And she says this. And I went, oh, this will really preach. Because all of a sudden now I'm thinking, okay, so first thing is, you got to make sure you're in good soil.
- [29:42]
Luke Acree
You got it?
- [29:42]
Jimmy Burgess
I'll use Cody esteem for. You've got to be around a group of people that you know that if you follow what they're doing and if you just follow the process, you're going to do well. You have to graft into their team, for instance, to be able to be a part of something where you know that. That they're going to give you what you don't have. They're going to be able to fend off the attacks that are going to happen. It's not a matter of if, it's when. And then she comes in and she says, now you'll notice also a couple of things here. She said, you'll notice that we've got all these people out here in this. In this valley that are working right now. And they were all these workers out there hand cutting things from this vine. This was at the time. And she said, if you'll look on these vines, you can see the little clusters. They look like little bbs, you know, clusters of where the grapes were. She said, but what happens is, is that you have these certain parts of the plant that starts to grow, and at this point they can tell there are certain parts of the plant that grows. And you can see that it has clusters of grapes on it. Then there are other certain parts that grow, but they don't have any fruit that's going to come from. And you. You have to understand these are delicate vines. They can't just cut this. So they have people that hand go in and pull those pieces off. They're there now. I grew up in the country down here in the South. We used to grow tomato plants. And when we would grow tomato plants, one of the things we did as they began to grow is you would go out and they had these little yellow flowers which would become the tomatoes. And then there were the little pieces of the plant that would actually grow and it would just have leaves, it wouldn't have any of those flowers. And we would pinch those off and guess what we called those suckers. Suckers. Because here's what they do. All they do is they suck nutrients from the plant without giving any fruit. And so when you take that away, what happens is, is you've redirected all of the nutrients to the fruit producing portion. And when she's talking about this with a grace, I'm like, oh, this is the problem is a lot of times we just allow those suckers, so to speak, to be a part of our lives that are bringing no fruit to the process. And they're actually drawing the nutrients, the energy, the opportunities away from us and they're sucking things away. So as she's saying that, I'm like, man, I got some suckers I need to get rid of. Listen, if I say that people think about them immediately, you know who it is? You know what I mean? Who is that person that every time you talk to them, you're like, oh my gosh, I'll never get that hour back, you know? And they got a minute and it turns into 40 that you're never getting back because they're never going to take action on it. So you have to get rid of those suckers. And then she showed us, she said, you'll also notice these big windmills here. And the windmills are a second part of what they do in preparation. You'll notice there's also these. Each of these vines have a, have a watering system, like a drip system there. And here's the reason why they understand that it's not a matter of if, but there will be dry seasons when they need to add water to the plants. There will be seasons where there'll be too much rain. And when you get too much rain, you get too sweet of grapes. So they want to dry those out and they can turn those turbines on with those windmills, it will dry everything back out to the ideal place. And the comment she made was that she said, look, it's not even about whether the storm is coming. What they've done is they understand the storms are coming and they have prepared in advance so they can handle those. So we all have to do those things. We have to prepare those plans and we have to prepare and understand that there's storms. Look, we're in a storm right now and if you're not prepared, it's difficult and you got to push through it. But prepare for the next storm as you begin to see springtime again. Put some back. And then the last thing she did is she said, you have to understand that the best wine takes time you don't have. I mean, Listen, Mad Dog 2020 doesn't take any time. But I'm going to tell you something. A 20 year old Bordeaux is going to be different because it is allowed to do what has to be done to become what it is supposed to become. So when we're thinking about agents specifically, this is what. And this is in my life I've tried to do this is I have to understand that I need to be in the best soil. I have to be around the people and the situation that gives me the best opportunity to be everything I'm supposed to be. The second thing is I got to graft in with people that I know are going to be, that are going to bring strengths that I don't have, then I'm going to bring strengths they don't have that I can partner with. And then because of that mutual relationship, we're both going to be better off. And then I got to get rid of those suckers. I mean, look, we all got them. You've got to address the suckers in your life. You got to prepare for the storms. Then ultimately you got to understand that great, everything great takes time. And be patient with the process. Trust the process, do the process, but be patient with the process. And every single time I've done that where I've not focused on myself but focused on other people and how do I bring value to the marketplace and how do I help agents, it comes back 10 more than you can ever imagine. And yes, there will be seasons where you will have to squat to jump. Look, you can't jump any higher if all you're doing is you're just staying on your toes and staying up top. You have to squat a little bit to jump. So understand what season you're in. And if you're squatting, prepare to jump. And then everything else is going to take care of itself. Well, that was long winded.
- [34:39]
Luke Acree
Take us to church, baby.
- [34:41]
Joshua Steich
Who knew that going to Napa and getting drunk.
- [34:44]
Luke Acree
I'm booking my trip to Napa right now.
- [34:46]
Cody Smith
Why don't we have a hours right now?
- [34:49]
Luke Acree
Why don't we have a glass? Yeah. What type of grape are You, Josh? That's the question.
- [34:55]
Joshua Steich
I'm a spent grape. Jimmy, thank you so much.
- [34:58]
Jimmy Burgess
Have you heard the Theo Vaughn thing? I'm more like a raisin. He said, I like a raisin because it's a grape that's been through some things, you know. Yeah.
- [35:08]
Joshua Steich
Jimmy, it is great having you back on the podcast before we close out, let people know how they can connect with you and follow you.
- [35:14]
Jimmy Burgess
The best way is on Instagram. That's where I'm kind of focusing a little bit now. Obviously YouTube, there's over 700 videos there that hopefully help agents and. But listen, reach out. I had someone say this to me and I truly think that we could all take note from this. I have a VA that helps me with my content on. And she said when she first came on and she does mine and she does Sharon's also. And she came on and she said, yeah, yeah. So that was. The deal is I was like. I was like, sharon, who are you using? He said, oh, I'm using this. Then I said, I said, I want the Sharon deal. That's what I called the toilet. I want the Sharon I want. I said, well, she got 20 hours. I said, she doesn't anymore. And so literally. But here's what she did, which was amazing. Her name is Faith and she's incredible. In the Philippines, younger lady. And she said, jimmy, you're really good at media, but it's social media and you're not great at social. And. And I had another friend of mine, Tim Macy, that told me this a little while ago. He said, jimmy, sometimes it feels like you're talking at people instead of with them. So I'll tell you what I'm trying to do. I'm trying to spend more time talking with people. So please reach out DM me on Instagram. If there's a way I can help anybody. Listen, don't steal my blessing. That's my purpose. So if I can help in any way, please, please reach out and let me know how I can.
- [36:25]
Luke Acree
That's awesome.
- [36:26]
Joshua Steich
Cody, Stephen, thank you for joining as always.
- [36:28]
Stephen Acree
Absolutely.
- [36:29]
Joshua Steich
Thank you all so much for listening. You can check out the show notes and get all of the links that we mentioned over@staypaidpodcast.com and if you want to show your support for the show, go to YouTube, subscribe to the channel, and make sure to give this video a thumbs up. If you want to get hold of me or Luke, you can email us@podcastmindermedia.com and of course you can follow us on social media. As well. We are at Staypay podcast for this episode of Stay Paid. I'm Joshua Steich.
- [36:51]
Luke Acree
Guys, I'm Luke Acre. Jimmy, appreciate you, brother. You are the real deal. Love your content. I mean it when I say I watch your content all the time. Learn a ton from it. Everybody, please go follow Jimmy on Instagram and YouTube. That is the best action item, honestly, you can take from this. But I will encourage you that, you know, you gotta think and take inventory of the suckers that are in your life and you gotta take steps to get rid of them. And it is one of the hardest things to do. And don't confuse that. You can still love people but not allow them to influence you. Right? You can still love people at a distance, but you gotta take inventory of who those people are. Because oftentimes we talk about the six people who you become like, but we don't talk about the six people that you should probably remove from your life. And you need to do that and take inventory of those six people or more in your life. I know I've done it, and every time I do it, it's painful, but I've grown from it. So you need to do it. Remember, the difference between top producers and mediocre producers in every business is top producers take action. Take action on.