The Power of Process: How Billy Wagner Mastered Business Growth

In this episode of Hometown Jax, hosts Aaron Bacus and Jason Kindler dive into the incredible story of Billy Wagner, one of Jacksonville’s most successful entrepreneurs and a master of process-driven growth. Billy shares how he transitioned from the restaurant industry to founding a thriving insurance business, all while juggling challenges, learning from mistakes, and building a culture of excellence. From his early days of working for free to his innovative 21-step hiring process, Billy reveals the secrets that have propelled his business and life to new heights.

Beyond his business achievements, Billy discusses his commitment to giving back through charity work, writing books, and sharing his experiences as a keynote speaker. Whether you're an aspiring entrepreneur, a business leader, or someone looking for inspiration to elevate your personal and professional life, this episode is packed with actionable insights and motivational stories. Tune in to learn how process and persistence can unlock limitless growth!

Transcript

00;00;00;00 - 00;00;14;29
Unknown
Where are your hosts, Aaron Backus and Jason Kindler? We like to sit down with our guests to hear their journey, their challenges, and how they impact the local community. So grab a seat. Tune in and let's get inspired by Jacksonville's everyday workforce. Welcome to Hometown Jacks.

00;00;14;29 - 00;00;23;21
Unknown
Billy Wagner I'm really happy to have you here. Thank you for being on the podcast. This is going to be amazing, people. Just want to let me introduce you to Billy.

00;00;23;22 - 00;00;44;10
Unknown
He owns one of the most successful insurance, companies in Jacksonville and maybe the southeast, maybe all over the country. So that's one side of Billy Wagner. And we're going to get into so many different sides of that. But thank you for coming on and spending your time, I appreciate that. Yeah, it is absolutely my pleasure to be here.

00;00;44;10 - 00;01;02;17
Unknown
I've got a ton of respect for what you guys are doing, and it's been a pleasure to get to know you over the years and super excited about adding value to your audience. Well, thank you, thank you. There's not a question or person Billy doesn't know, so, he's a good guy to have on. So I want to go right into it back to when you were, you know, getting your hands dirty in insurance.

00;01;02;17 - 00;01;32;17
Unknown
So tell me, what's one of the craziest claims you remember having to deal with that? I can see something probably came to your mind already. Man, we've got a million stories because we've got so many, so many interactions in that way. I mean, we've had a landlord that we ensured that had a meth lab, we've had murders, we've had, you know, a engagement ring, $20,000 engagement ring, turning in it as a claim and then finding out two months later that the dog had eaten it and they found it in the yard, if you get what I mean.

00;01;32;18 - 00;01;51;12
Unknown
Oh, my God. So, so but, you know, I think, you know, if you go back to like before I was in the insurance business, I actually had a full house, fire. And I lost my entire home. You did? I did personally, and before I was in the business. Interesting. So that probably gives you a little empathy for the situation.

00;01;51;12 - 00;02;08;12
Unknown
And I didn't have the right coverages. I didn't know what I didn't know. And so, you know, it ended up working okay for us because it was our first home was a starter home. But, you know, the the insurance company, that that the concept is confusing to many people. It's, you know, I know we're not gonna spend a ton of time on it because it's not interesting to everybody.

00;02;08;12 - 00;02;27;20
Unknown
Right? Insurance is kind of boring, but but it is like it is a noble profession. And we feel great that we're protecting people and helping people. And, but yeah, there's been some crazy, crazy claims that we've seen. But, you know, meth lab that's not this brush over that. I mean, literally, how did you find that out? Well, the insured was that the landlord that owned the property.

00;02;27;20 - 00;02;46;23
Unknown
So he had no idea. He had no idea. And it was in the garage. And yeah, it was a massive claim. Was his name Walter White? You know, but it was similar to Walter White. Right. Exactly. Oh my gosh. Well, Billy has multiple different hats. You know, insurance company owner, speaker, author does a lot of work with charity.

00;02;46;23 - 00;03;12;06
Unknown
And I really want to kind of get into the days of, you know, where you started, where you where you started getting into insurance and what you did before. So let's pick that up. So you worked for a restaurant chain for a long period of time, right? Yeah, yeah, I've been my start was I went to school and University of Central Florida and got my first job as a busboy, and I worked for that same company, which was Metro Media restaurants with steak and ales.

00;03;12;06 - 00;03;27;13
Unknown
Yeah. And I went from the busboy to next in line to be the president of the company. So I literally went all the way through an a ten year career there. And I was the youngest general manager to ever, run more or less restaurants. And they started in like the 60s and I still around. No they're not.

00;03;27;13 - 00;03;43;12
Unknown
I drove them all the way to the out of business. No, but about, you know, they went out of business about ten years after I left. But I did that for ten years. It taught me how to balance a piano. It taught me how to hire people, how to fire people. It I learned a ton, and it was a very stressful business.

00;03;43;14 - 00;04;09;14
Unknown
And did you have any did you have any inclination into getting it or you just. I needed a job when I was in college and yeah, that's what was it. And then there and I just kept following and in learning and then it was like, you know, it became a six figure career for me. And I was young and I was making great money, but the lifestyle I did, I looked at the future and said, you know, the lifestyle here, this is not going to be conducive for family and weekends and holidays and the air of nightmares.

00;04;09;14 - 00;04;28;29
Unknown
And it just never ended. And so, you know, in about 2006, I kind of I've so I've really only had like two jobs in a sense. Right. Like it's kind of getting it. Yeah. But when I was younger I had my own pressure washing business and stuff like that. Like high school job. Always been entrepreneurial spirit. Yeah. And I'm always wanted to kind of do my own thing.

00;04;29;02 - 00;04;47;13
Unknown
Did that come from your parents? Yeah. My parents were, very entrepreneurial as well. They had a bunch of rental properties. My dad tried about ten different businesses, wasn't ultra successful in any of them, but he just did a ton of it. Right. And so I had that fire of like, you know, wanting to do my own but didn't know, like in what industry that I wanted to do it in.

00;04;47;13 - 00;05;09;10
Unknown
And a lot of the people that worked for me in the restaurant business were actually went my managers went into the insurance business, and I started studying and started following it, and then just started asking questions. And, you know, so in 2006, I started a less than scratch agency, is what I call it, like less than, you know, no clients, no experience, didn't know what I was doing.

00;05;09;17 - 00;05;27;27
Unknown
And I worked for free for six months from somebody that actually knew what they were doing. You know, that's how I learned that was when you got your license. Because it's not easy to get your license, is it? Yeah. It's a it's a 220 hour course. Right. It's it is pretty challenging. I did it in a very rapid pace because I left that job and had to start a new job, and I had to have that thing.

00;05;27;27 - 00;05;45;09
Unknown
So it was like, literally, you know, my wife was terrified. She's like, what are you doing? You have no clue what you're doing. And we're leaving this income. And and she was you. She was like, she was afraid, you know, luckily she had a great job. She's an occupational therapist. So she was able to kind of support the family as we kind of got it started.

00;05;45;10 - 00;06;04;20
Unknown
You have kids when you quit? No, I did not. I was right shortly after a couple years later. So it's kind of if you if you reverse engineer it. Like the timing was actually really perfect because we really did it when, when I could make a big risk like that, you know, because before we had a family and she was able to kind of help fund that risk, and I was working 90 hours a week.

00;06;04;20 - 00;06;24;14
Unknown
She was working 80 hours a week. And, you know, it was tough. I mean, like, I can't even describe a more humble beginning. Right? Like a lot of people see, like, oh, yeah, you're very successful. This was not an overnight thing. This was a very long, long process. And I would go in at seven a am, and I would get home around eight at 8 p.m. every single night.

00;06;24;16 - 00;06;43;18
Unknown
And, I didn't have enough time to do everything that I needed to do. So I was taking out the trash. I was, you know, cleaning the bathroom. I was doing all the marketing, I was doing all the business and just just doing literally everything and really also trying to learn how to be a businessman and how to be an insurance agent at the same time.

00;06;43;18 - 00;07;02;10
Unknown
Right. So six months of that stint and then is that were bright when you came into the picture? Yeah. So it actually it was before Bright Way was started with the founder of Bright Way is who I worked for for six months for free. So he didn't have a franchise concept or anything like that. So it was just he had an agency on the north Side.

00;07;02;17 - 00;07;20;27
Unknown
It had burglar bars on the windows. I mean, it was it was like when I look back on there, I'm like, what was I thinking? You know, but you know. But did you I'm assuming you believed in him. He probably motivated you. I did, I believed in him. And I actually had the opportunity to go, like, start my own, Allstate agency.

00;07;20;27 - 00;07;39;26
Unknown
I could have done a nationwide agency. I was also talking to State Farm, so I had a bunch of different options. And what I loved, he did have he had a vision, but the the vision evolved over time. Right. And so you never know when you get started what it's going to become. And we all like I saw him last weekend and it was like we just we pinch ourselves.

00;07;39;26 - 00;07;55;00
Unknown
We can't even believe like what it is. Ever pay you back for that six months the I was you know unfortunately not. But I feel like I it was the lesson right. Like I tell everybody like if you want a job really bad and you want to start a career, go tell somebody you'll work for free, right? And they will give you an opportunity.

00;07;55;00 - 00;08;13;27
Unknown
You get inside there and then there's a deep level of respect for somebody that Will is willing to do that, and they will bend over backwards to make sure you win. Right. And that's what you need. You just need to start and you need to get in and start figuring it out. And you know, you get to where somebody is and you say, okay, what's the next level and how can you start it?

00;08;13;27 - 00;08;35;08
Unknown
And so that's great advice. It's like I listened to Gary Vander, Chuck Berry, V all the time. Yeah. He said the exact same thing. Just offer to work for free. Yeah. Most people aren't going to turn that down, right? Yes, absolutely. So six months in, you're working, you're working for him. And then did the idea of right way start and that's where took us from there.

00;08;35;09 - 00;08;52;01
Unknown
Yeah. So he had like a couple of other offices of like college buddies that had opened another office or whatever. So I was like the one of the first that kind of went out and it wasn't a franchise. He was like, just under me, you can go open up this location. And I opened up and I was like, Pontevedra seems like a great place.

00;08;52;01 - 00;09;08;29
Unknown
There's a lot of nice homes there. Yeah. So no one was there and I was like, I'm going to Pontevedra. And my, my first office was probably smaller than the room that we're in right now. I needed like nine real estate signs to show people how to find me. Like, go this way, make a right, make a left.

00;09;08;29 - 00;09;24;02
Unknown
And it was like in the very, very back. And I started out with, one employee, and, you know, we, we just we were just, like, looking at each other, like, do you know what to do? And I was like, I don't really know what to do. And, you know, so that's kind of how it started.

00;09;24;02 - 00;09;43;00
Unknown
And it was just the two of us in the office. And, you know, for the we started getting traction on just massive action, you know, and so it's very similar to what you guys are doing in the industry. You are taking such massive action that that people are like, oh my gosh, I didn't see that coming. Like, oh my what, what is what are they doing?

00;09;43;00 - 00;09;56;29
Unknown
How are they doing all those things? And it's like, that's what we see from the outside, from what you're doing. And that's very similar to what I was doing. I was I was knocking on doors, I was calling people, I was saying, hey, would you mind if I talked to you? Can we have lunch? Can we have coffee?

00;09;57;02 - 00;10;17;20
Unknown
And I just was relentless about building relationships, and I was very focused on making sure we had a great experience. Was the relationship building geared towards realtors? Mainly? Yeah, it was realtors and lenders both. And it was just trying to figure out how we could add value to them. And we're much more sophisticated than we were then.

00;10;17;20 - 00;10;32;11
Unknown
I was just I want you to make I want to make sure all your deals close. I want to make sure nothing gets in your way. And, you know, we built some some really good relationships and then, you know, the market crashed and then they all left. And then it was like you had to start over again. Right.

00;10;32;11 - 00;10;51;20
Unknown
And so you we've done those peaks and valleys, but I think like six months in, we had done a good enough job to where we were both overwhelmed and we brought in another person and we just, you know, we just started trying to scale the best that we could, but it was it's tough. I mean, the margins in the insurance business, you know, are are very small.

00;10;51;20 - 00;11;10;29
Unknown
You know, I think I made like $6,000 in my first year. And I worked like the hardest I've ever worked in my life. Right. But but so you knew it was a long play. Yeah. Like, hey, I'm not going to make anything for the first several years, relatively. And it was put your head down. Focus on what you can control, create, create a great experience and build as many relationships as possible.

00;11;10;29 - 00;11;28;13
Unknown
And for the first 2 or 3 years, that's all I did. And you know, we were good at like being fast and getting things quickly. And, you know, that was kind of one of our products was speed to kind of get it done fast. And we got some momentum with relationships. And we had just like you guys, I mean, we were we were independent.

00;11;28;13 - 00;11;47;27
Unknown
We were a broker. Right? So we had options and we had really good options. And so and that, you know, focusing on that was kind of a new thing back then, right? Yeah. I mean, because you talked about the big boys and the typical insurance, the, you know, old school companies, it was you go to them and you get their product and that was it.

00;11;47;27 - 00;12;11;14
Unknown
So you different. Right? You're looking at multiple. Yeah. We believe just like you do that like having an expert like training somebody and having great people and giving them choices that they can guide their clients through to find the right one for them. Right. We believe that's it. And I think the vision early on when I was talking to the founders and I was like, we're like, we're like, Best Buy, right?

00;12;11;14 - 00;12;23;10
Unknown
Like, you got to go to an electronic. You want to go there? And they have a bunch of different electronics. They get somebody you can ask questions to, and they're going to guide you on what's the right thing for you. You got a bunch of options. And when you have choices, you're going to usually get a better result.

00;12;23;10 - 00;12;42;11
Unknown
Right right right. Yeah. So take us from there. So you that's a couple years and then today the right way start going to the franchise model at that point. Yeah. So it was a couple years in. I was the number one person. They had like five offices by that time. They were kind of adding offices. And I was the number one person.

00;12;42;11 - 00;13;06;09
Unknown
And and they came and I actually referred a friend and the friend, like halfway through, they're like, we're making this a franchise and they charge the franchise fee. And, you know, they had a vision of, expanding, nationally. I think, you know, they got some insights from the firehouse guys, right? They're local. And they were able to expand and and they came up with this concept of having a territory.

00;13;06;09 - 00;13;32;09
Unknown
And so I was the first one to buy those franchise rights to build out a territory of ten locations. And so I did that early on. I wrote them a big check when it wasn't worth anything. But they started selling just doubling down on the belief and risk. Yeah. Trusting that we had the right business plan, we had the right vision and, you know, made that investment and, you know, but it was like right in the middle of what were we were starting to get some traction.

00;13;32;09 - 00;13;54;27
Unknown
But then I was also building out ten locations and, you know, finding franchises and all that stuff. And so it was it was a crazy time, really, really crazy. Were you running all the locations and people were your employees in there or you were franchising them out to other people? Yeah. So I was, like almost like a master agent, right where I had the main location, I had a messy kitchen, and I was like, I had already proven the concept right.

00;13;54;27 - 00;14;11;29
Unknown
I was like, I was killing it a little bit compared to most others. And so then, you know, the first franchisees sold was to Donna Bobby. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. Right. So locally in town and she, you know, she was running that organization, but I was her guide. I was helping her. We were doing plans together and I had an ownership piece in the revenue.

00;14;12;01 - 00;14;36;26
Unknown
And so, and I did that for ten years and we built a massive $50 million, agency through those ten locations. And it was pretty cool, you know? Yeah. That's amazing. Well, that's what I wanted to kind of really reiterate is like, you were in the trenches, started from zero calling on realtors, explaining your value proposition and giving them options.

00;14;37;02 - 00;14;58;13
Unknown
And literally, can you remember your first policy? Oh yeah. And I remember we used to have a binder log where we had to write down every single one and like, yeah, I mean, like, you know, there was it was like a personal friend, you know, that that was the first one. But I still like I have that binder log still like of those first, you know, 300 policies or whatever that we wrote and.

00;14;58;16 - 00;15;20;00
Unknown
Man, they were hard. I mean, they were so hard, right? Everything was a chore because you just didn't know it. You didn't know. Right? And, you know, not only are you trying to get the business, you're handling the business. And then if something happens to their house or car, you're talking to them through that. So it's kind of a a multi-phase operation and hard to do them all the same time.

00;15;20;00 - 00;15;36;14
Unknown
Yeah, it's very hard. And it's like trying to decide what the what the right thing to work on and when. And the way I give people advice now, as I say, you know, like almost think of it like when you start a career, you start doing something that it's like, this is your freshman year when you first start a business, it's your your freshman year.

00;15;36;14 - 00;15;56;28
Unknown
You've got to like build a foundation. You got to put your head down. And then when you're a sophomore, you can start, you know, doing a little bit of scaling. You can start like bringing on somebody that's taking on some of your workload. And you can then get back into your best personal best use. Right. And then, you know, then you're a junior and then you're a senior, and then you try to get your MBA right.

00;15;56;28 - 00;16;12;12
Unknown
Like, you know, like that's how I kind of look at it as like there's phases to the journey and at different phases, your focus should be on different things. And that's got to constantly be evolving. But you also have to have the vision for the future. You have to say, okay, this is where we're going. I know we're going there.

00;16;12;12 - 00;16;27;05
Unknown
And, you know, I think the other thing that was really important for us is we were always chasing something. We were always like, done next. What's the next goal? Like? I remember we wanted to be like we wanted to write $1 million a year. That was the first thing we were trying to do. And then it was 2 million and 3,000,004 million.

00;16;27;11 - 00;16;43;21
Unknown
So it was just and then we wanted to add two people and three people. And so we just had these goals that we were chasing, you know, always right. Always laying it out there. Yeah. Was there ever a point where in the beginning you're like, man, I, I want to go back to the restaurant business. I mean, I mean, real talk.

00;16;43;21 - 00;17;01;00
Unknown
Was there scary points at that point? Like, hey, I'm not sure if this is the right path for me. Yeah, I think that it was scary really in the first 2 or 3 years. But the great thing about it, so that's really a good point. And I listen to a lot of podcasts. And that's the thing that I liked it.

00;17;01;00 - 00;17;21;26
Unknown
It was scary for a couple of years. Yeah. This is what you're saying because then you it's like a snowball rolling that a snowball rolling down the mountain. Right? So you get a little bit it goes, it goes down a little bit, it gets a little bit bigger and it's got a little bit more momentum. And so with the way that our, our business worked and it's the same with any business, you get a little momentum, you get your the next day is always better than the last.

00;17;21;26 - 00;17;41;06
Unknown
Right. Like tomorrow's always going to be better because you've got more relationships, you've learn more. You've done the work now to make tomorrow better, you know. So like that's what's the key is like the amount of daily activity and doing all that thing so that tomorrow is better. And by the time we were three years in, we knew we were going to be successful.

00;17;41;06 - 00;17;57;03
Unknown
Because again, you know, you've got a foundation of clients and those clients are sending you referrals and you're building, you know, it's all building off of each other. But in the first 2 or 3 years, I was like, what am I doing? This is crazy. And then, you know, you have your head down and then you talk to your tax guy and he's like, well, this is all you made.

00;17;57;03 - 00;18;16;10
Unknown
I'm like, okay, great, let's get back after it. It's kind of it's very demotivating, honestly, that first few years. But you know, I, you know, no regrets. Right. Like no regrets at all. Like anything worth doing is hard in the beginning. Otherwise everyone would do it, no doubt. Great quote. And I heard another quote is like, entrepreneurship is kind of like eating glass.

00;18;16;11 - 00;18;41;20
Unknown
Yeah, sometimes. Yes, it's painful, but you just gotta move to the next point. Yeah, I call it a violent contact sport. Yeah. For sure. No, absolutely. Well, that's really cool because I just love to hear that kind of thing because people see successful people and they're like, man, that's just great world. No, they have to really go through tough times, gamble, reinvest, deal with the fear, get comfortable with feeling uncomfortable.

00;18;41;20 - 00;19;06;00
Unknown
That sort of thing is is part of the process. So that's really interesting to hear. So going into your business now I know you're very methodical. You're very process oriented. We've talked about it many times and I thought was really interesting is you have a 21 step process for hiring people. We don't need to go through every step, but kind of describe why you think that's important.

00;19;06;00 - 00;19;23;17
Unknown
And just an overview of how that works. Yeah. I mean, if you go back to like when I said we were 3 or 4 years in, I realized that the most important thing I could focus on in my sophomore and junior year of business was how do I develop talent and people? And people say, well, you should have a niche and you should really focus on your niche.

00;19;23;17 - 00;19;43;23
Unknown
My niche became being great at finding people, and the reason I have 21 steps is because I made that many mistakes. So every time I made a mistake, I added a step. And so what? What also, I think it does is it it reinforces a different thing. Right? So, you know, you you drive by like a bar and you see a line outside with the red rope, right?

00;19;43;23 - 00;20;01;04
Unknown
And you're like, why are all these people waiting in line to get into that bar? Like it creates this excitement about something, right. So we create that exclusivity and you get inside, you're like, this is just a bar, right? I mean, you can get a drink, but whatever. Right. But it's that element of like, there's something special there.

00;20;01;04 - 00;20;19;22
Unknown
There's something going on there that I want to be a part of. And so by having that many steps, the 21 steps, it it sets the right tone. And you make sure you find the right people. Like, yeah. Are people just like you are the the best decisions we've ever made in business is the people decisions. And so we're very careful about who we let in.

00;20;19;24 - 00;20;43;01
Unknown
We believe we have rare air. Our culture is very sacred. And we, we, we just we have so many steps in. The cool thing about it is we've automated it over time. Yeah. So in the beginning it was all manual and it was all run by me. And, you know, that's the process of evolution of like, like figuring out what the process you need to focus on and then building those steps and then constantly improving it over time.

00;20;43;01 - 00;21;04;25
Unknown
Right. And so, you know, if I if you asked me two years ago we had 18 steps, right? And so that's the point of it. And it doesn't really matter what the steps are. It's just a matter of like what's important. And I think the key thing I would say is we try to get as many people in the funnel as we possibly can, so we go land, air and sea, and we're about to put aggressive job opportunities out there.

00;21;05;01 - 00;21;25;29
Unknown
And we we, we everywhere, it's everywhere. And we have like, like 15 ways that we do it. It's like, we ask people like you that are highly networking says, hey, do you know anyone? Like, we have an email, a letter, we have social media posts, and we just blast it everywhere and what you want and we put testimonials from our team inside of our ads went up 500%.

00;21;25;29 - 00;21;45;20
Unknown
And the response? Interesting. And so we also recorded our staff saying why they love working there. We put it on our videos and inside of our hiring website, we built a hiring website that automates everything. So over time we've gotten better. But I think it's just more about like, you should have a process. And we make it very difficult that people say it's like getting into the FBI to come work for us.

00;21;45;20 - 00;22;05;19
Unknown
And these are entry level jobs, but it's it's important that we get the right you built. I mean, you don't have a huge staff. No. Do you. But you actually took the time and expense to build a website to facilitate the 21 steps. Yeah. I mean, we only hire 2 or 3 people a year. We've got 16 employees, so it's not a now our model is different.

00;22;05;19 - 00;22;21;07
Unknown
If we were a traditional agency that did all of our own service in-house, we would have 50. But we don't. So but yeah, I think the hiring website was me just trying to figure out how to save time and like and so it does an online interview. It does a video for them to understand what the opportunity is about.

00;22;21;07 - 00;22;36;24
Unknown
It has the testimonials from the team. It talks them out of the job. Right? Right. It does all those things. And it's different than anyone else is doing. And then it also has them do an online interview, which is eight steps. And by the time we go through, they go through all of that and we do the eight steps.

00;22;37;01 - 00;22;55;26
Unknown
My hiring manager checks their social media account. They do an audit on that. Yeah. And then she narrows, you know, 300 applicants down to like 15 just on that first step. Well, but that's the key. You've been able to, figured out a way to generate a lot of applicants. Yeah. And you can eliminate so many of them through step of ten or whatever, right?

00;22;55;27 - 00;23;10;29
Unknown
Yeah. Everything. Every step is an elimination period, you know, and it goes down to all the way to the end where we do a panel interview with our entire team. It's pretty wild. Like we've been we've done that for so long and it's kind of a little bit weird. Now because it's like 16 people staring at this one person and it's very intimidating.

00;23;10;29 - 00;23;26;16
Unknown
But yeah, but it's it's it shows my team that we're so careful about. We want 100% buy in before we bring anyone in that want to do to culture fit. And they each get to ask a question and they and we tell that team member, like, whenever you're looking for a job, you know, you got to play the movie out.

00;23;26;16 - 00;23;39;13
Unknown
They got to know what it's like working there. And you got to tell them what it's like. So we just tell them, hey, ask them anything you want, tell them. Ask them, what's the worst part of the job is right? We want crystal clarity because, like, we're going to make a huge investment in you and we want to make sure it's the right fit.

00;23;39;14 - 00;23;55;24
Unknown
Are you still involved in that? Are you step 21 I'm step like 14 okay. And the last step. So I'm pretty much to I do if I do a third interview when it's down to two people before we do the panel down to three people, but we're trying to narrow it down to two to do the, the panel interview.

00;23;55;24 - 00;24;19;11
Unknown
And how long would you say, you know, everything going according to plan. It would take somebody to get through the process. 2 to 3 months. 2 to 3 months. Wow. Yeah. So that's just a constant running thing. Yeah. And and we've built our business in a way. And you know, we can like to me, I think people was the first thing that I figured out what I figured out in the lab, I'm like really studying leadership and people.

00;24;19;13 - 00;24;36;11
Unknown
But I think you have to give people a pathway. And what I've learned in the last 2 or 3 years, we built a pathway for people that says, here's where you're going to start, and then here's what your next position can be, and your next position could be in your next position can be. And so that's really powerful to tell people like, hey, trust me, follow me, I got you.

00;24;36;11 - 00;24;52;13
Unknown
This is where you need to be. You're in the right place. And here's we're going to do this together and we're going to win together. Interesting, interesting. As part of that process, then I'm going to have to get license after they come on. So they have to be licensed before they come on. But we give them a sign on bonus to be licensed.

00;24;52;13 - 00;25;06;28
Unknown
So it gives them a bonus and it pays for the cost of it. So but we require a license. So show me. But you've passed it and done that work. But there's multiple kind of licenses. They don't have to get the full 220 hour one that I had to get. But but yeah, they have to come on license.

00;25;06;28 - 00;25;21;18
Unknown
And that's just a mistake that I learned we did that. But in the past were like get license later. And then it's like it never happens. No. Yeah. It never happens right in the way that you want it to. Yeah. Yeah. It kind of reminds me of that movie The Farm, when it's like walking in for the first day of the farm and everybody's happy past.

00;25;21;18 - 00;25;40;18
Unknown
Yeah, I mean past it. I just got here. I understand. Right? Well, when did you like. And you're a master of this. Like, when do you feel like you've kind of, stepped out of working, you know, in your business to on your business? Did that happen a long time ago? Just recently. Like, when did you make that stuff?

00;25;40;21 - 00;26;00;11
Unknown
Yeah. So a lot of people ask me that because it's like the journey, you know, entrepreneurial journey that that's that's the North Star really, in my opinion, is. And so I had that ambition from the beginning that I wanted to do that. So when I started 18 years ago, I said, I'm going to work my way out of a job and provide opportunity for everyone else behind me.

00;26;00;11 - 00;26;27;01
Unknown
Right? So every single year and again, I wasn't smart enough to do this, like in the first 5 or 10 years that I did it. But after like ten years in, I was like, here's our org chart, here's all the people, here's the responsibilities of every person on the team. Here's what my highest and best uses. I highlight in bold the top three highest and best use for every person on the team, so they know that that's the most important thing for them in this organization.

00;26;27;04 - 00;26;43;10
Unknown
And so for me, I had this giant list and every year I was just, you're doing this now, you're doing this now. And, you know, again, this is a long evolution. I'm talking like a ten year evolution. But now he sorted out and kind of wrote it out. I just looked at every single thing that I was doing.

00;26;43;10 - 00;27;02;16
Unknown
And for the last 3 or 5 years, I didn't do anything without teaching. That was a that was a big thing. It was like, okay, I'm going to do this, but I'm going to teach somebody else why I'm doing it right. And so you got to constantly be evolving. And when you have a small team, like there was people that like had these responsibilities that was way outside of what they should have been doing.

00;27;02;18 - 00;27;16;11
Unknown
But I was like, look, you're going to learn and you're going to do this for a year and it's going to help the business and it's going to grow you. But next year you'll do something else and so, like, it's very weird how we did it, but it was very organized down to like, who had that cleaned the fridge out on Friday.

00;27;16;14 - 00;27;35;12
Unknown
Right. Like, if no one's job is to do that, then that's your job, right? Like, yeah, or it's going to get oh, you're going to put food there. Well yeah. Yeah. You know I had that problem a lot. So I completely understand I mean what a masterclass and really how to that that's what I've always known about you is that you're just very technical and detailed and planned out.

00;27;35;12 - 00;27;53;20
Unknown
And you can tell by your 21 steps and then working your way out of a job at I mean, you're, you're you've built such a great foundation that now you're doing other things. And we're definitely going to get into that. Yeah. So you've written two books. Was there any spelling errors in any of the books or how did you do that?

00;27;53;20 - 00;28;10;11
Unknown
Yeah, it was very tough. The first book. I didn't think anyone was going to buy it except for my mom. Maybe I thought she was going to down on her mom. Right. Like I think she was going to come. I'm good. Yeah, but honestly, the first book came from, you know, I went to go see somebody, at a conference.

00;28;10;11 - 00;28;28;11
Unknown
And, you know, I don't know if you know this, but my brother passed away in Iraq right, in 2004. And so tragic. Right? Very tragic. So the guy kind of does this talk about what he's doing for families that have had that happen to it, and he left behind my five year old nephew. So it was just like the worst day of my life.

00;28;28;11 - 00;28;41;29
Unknown
Right. And so I was like, I got to do I got to live my life in a way that I can do everything that he was going to do. And what I'm going to do. And so I was like, I got to start scaling and doing more and trying to give back. And so the first book was all about like, how do I give back?

00;28;41;29 - 00;28;57;10
Unknown
Right? And I'm like, well, what do I know anything about? I was like, well, I know about insurance. And I was like, who the hell is going to read a book about insurance? Right? So but I wrote the book in about it took me two years. I did it on my site. When people say they wrote the book, you mean you physically sat down in front of a computer?

00;28;57;10 - 00;29;17;18
Unknown
Yeah. And wrote the book? Yeah. And I'm going to tell you the evolution of that because I think it's helpful for people is like I just said, okay, what are the chapters? That's where I started. Okay. So this is gonna be a 12 chapter book. What are the chapters? Chapter one. And I laid it out. I kind of came up with the concept of like, I wanted it to be a book that somebody could understand insurance at a like a third grade level.

00;29;17;24 - 00;29;32;07
Unknown
But I wanted to make it fun and interesting and tell stories so that it wasn't boring. Right. So that was my by my Northstar. And then I just wrote one chapter at a time. I was like, I'm going to write chapter one. Chapter one is going to be on home insurance, and I'm going to write that chapter. I know of all about it.

00;29;32;09 - 00;29;47;07
Unknown
And honestly, I was very naive. I didn't know what I was doing, but I just took action on it and I just kept doing it, kept doing it, kept doing it. And and honestly, it actually the book did really well because what it ended up being was everyone that got into the business was like, I need to learn the business very fast.

00;29;47;07 - 00;30;07;01
Unknown
And they were able to read that book. And so it sold thousands and thousands of copies, which I didn't think it was going to sell anything. And then the second book was much easier, and I did the second book in like four months. And the big difference was, and this is what I would encourage anyone that wants to write a book is you do the same outline, same plan.

00;30;07;01 - 00;30;25;21
Unknown
You have to have a North Star. You have to know what the purpose of the book is. But then voice record. So I voice recorded everything and I just talk like like by the time you do this podcast 50 times, you're gonna have so much content, right? Right. And so I just voice recorded it and it was, you know, the second book is a business masterclass book.

00;30;25;21 - 00;30;45;26
Unknown
It's all about how I ran my business, and every chapter was a keynote that I performed. So it was me just documenting those keynotes that I already made. I already did the material. I already had all that stuff developed, and so it was just putting all of that together in one place. Interesting. What when you write the book and you have the thing you wrote, like what do you do next?

00;30;45;26 - 00;31;10;17
Unknown
Like do you have to go to a publisher or how does that work? Yeah. So I mean, it's become so easy now, where you can self-publish it yourself. Right. And so Amazon of course, Amazon does everything and Amazon has a product where you basically upload it as like a word document really. And they will. And then you have to have a cover design and you can find, you know, vendors to design a cover or to edit or to proofread.

00;31;10;17 - 00;31;28;29
Unknown
And I would encourage people to do those, like get an expert in there to go look at the writing and make sure it flows and is smooth, but it's incredibly easy, you know. And then once it's on Amazon, I mean, like it's that's everywhere and it's super easy to get it out there. The first book was much harder because none of that was developed, but the second book was incredibly easy.

00;31;29;01 - 00;31;44;16
Unknown
Do you have to buy a number of copies to start? And then whenever somebody buys, it goes out of yours, they make them copy by copy. They make them copy by copy. What's interesting, credible. Like, again, the first book I had to buy like a thousand copies or 500 copies, I can't remember. Right. And that's kind of how we were starting.

00;31;44;16 - 00;32;02;00
Unknown
And there wasn't on Amazon. None of that. Now that my first book is now on Amazon also, but no like and you can buy your own author books two at a lower discount. So I could buy like 20 books at a time, like directly from Amazon or like you go and you go online and do a book. They print it and then it ships out like the next day.

00;32;02;00 - 00;32;23;10
Unknown
It's incredible, the technology. That is amazing. So you said two books. One was in the insurance. Like what? What is the typical reader for that? Like what? What would turn on? What would that reader look like? What are they interested in? Yeah, this is just really giving them an overview of what the concept of insurance is. So a lot of people, like I said, getting into the industry, we're reading that to learn about the business.

00;32;23;11 - 00;32;45;08
Unknown
Right. But it's also like anybody that's, you know, you you deal with insurance on a day to day basis if you wanted, like a, CliffsNotes version of what it is and to learn it, that's that's a great it's a great it's a quick read. You know, none of the books I've written were very long, but what what my books, the second book, especially is very important to me is it's not a it's not a strategy book, it's tactical.

00;32;45;09 - 00;32;58;17
Unknown
Okay. So like when somebody reads it, it's basically business owners reading it and it's dog eared. It's highlighted. It is. These are the steps. These are the tactics. And that's how I that's a book that I want to read. I want to read a book where I'm like, that's a great idea. I'm going to do that. I'm going to do that.

00;32;58;19 - 00;33;19;26
Unknown
That's what I wrote it for. Right? That to take action. Has that one sold as many copies is way more, really way more how many? I mean, we're over 3000. Oh my gosh. Yeah. And that doesn't count. Like when I do a speaking engagement they'll negotiate like certain books. That doesn't count for that. So like probably another thousand of that where I'm like, I'm going to bring 100 books to you.

00;33;19;26 - 00;33;36;21
Unknown
Yeah. But the funny story is, is like when I, I was getting advice from a bunch of people and this is, again, that the, the person that I got to was a company, called scribe, which is amazing company. They wrote Data Goggins book. Right. And what they wanted to charge was crazy. And I'm sure they're worth it.

00;33;36;21 - 00;33;51;15
Unknown
Right. Maybe. But but I asked them. I said, well, what's a bestselling, you know, nonfiction book? And they said, you'll be lucky to sell a thousand copies. And I'm like, well, well, that's not worth it. You know? Right. I mean, I'm not going to share that, but it was like it was a lot. Right? And so I'm like, I'm just going to self-publish this.

00;33;51;15 - 00;34;07;17
Unknown
And because I wanted the money to go to charity like that was the like, if I spent that much money developing and publishing and editing it, it would take forever to get any return on it. Right. So that was my so the proceeds of the books go to charity, not even the proceeds but the entire revenue. So it's not even the proceeds.

00;34;07;17 - 00;34;23;05
Unknown
So I cover the entire cost of, if you pay $20 for that book, I'm donating $20 to the to the chair. Wow. Yeah. So you're taking 2 or 3, but whatever it is in the cost of the book. Yeah. You're you're taking all of that. That's amazing. Well, I'm, I'm kind of reading through some of the things that were highlighted.

00;34;23;12 - 00;34;43;27
Unknown
21 step process of finding higher world class profit. We talked about that cast the vision, communicate with your team. How I create autonomy in my business. How I created a culture of accountability. I love those things. How I build a system that generates thousands of referrals a year. I mean, is there anything else you need to know about the world?

00;34;43;27 - 00;35;06;00
Unknown
It sounds like it's all in the book. Yeah, yeah. Well, I want to you know, we talked about Billy, how he started out restaurant to, insurance owner. We talked about author, and that's not it. I mean, he's got multiple other hats. We're going into the speaker keynote world. So when did you did you always like speaking in front of people?

00;35;06;01 - 00;35;20;27
Unknown
No. In fact, I was terrified to do it. I remember, like, I brought you to my Rotary Club. I remember not being terrified to do the invocation. I was like, I didn't want to stand up there. I'd even do like the prayer before it was started. Right? And so that was an evolution again of like constant, never ending improvement.

00;35;20;27 - 00;35;31;26
Unknown
I became the president of that club and I was speaking in front of them 50 times a year. Is that kind of when you like, figure it out, like, okay, I'm going to be the president. I got to get over this fear. I got to get over this fear. I got to just I got to step into it.

00;35;31;26 - 00;35;46;24
Unknown
Yeah. And so but as I did it, I really enjoyed it. And for a couple reasons. One is I'm an introvert. Right. So I'm not a person like you that's going to run around and meet everybody at the party. Man, I'm I'm an introvert and I can fake it pretty well. You're fake it really well. Right. So but I'm an introvert too.

00;35;46;24 - 00;36;08;27
Unknown
But what I love about it is, you know, and Ed Mallet talks about the six human needs that everyone has. There's not eight, there's not for their six. And one of them is contribution. And that's my dominant need. I feel like I need to contribute in life. That's very important to me. And so when I go speak, it's I'm helping people to like I already chewed on the glass.

00;36;08;28 - 00;36;25;07
Unknown
Yeah. And I've already got punched in the face. And I've learned the lessons that I need to learn. And I feel like you don't have to start at the bottom of the mountain. I can help you start at the middle, like I've already did all of that. So I love sharing and helping people, you know, get past the hurdles that they're going through.

00;36;25;07 - 00;36;45;28
Unknown
And, you know, it really is kind of simple when you when you figure it out, the the business world slows down for you after you kind of figure out some key concepts, like how to build a process, like how to find people, how to show them the pathway, how to have purpose in your business leadership. If you figure those things out, it solves almost every problem in business.

00;36;45;28 - 00;37;02;03
Unknown
Right. And so I want to help people do that, right? Because it's like when I figured that out, I was like light bulb, oh my gosh, now I can feel like I can do anything now where I, I was terrified before. I didn't know what I was doing. And so it's that constant never ending improvement. And I want to help other people.

00;37;02;03 - 00;37;20;24
Unknown
So I love speaking. And I got invited to speak at a conference and I didn't know what. And people loved it because it was very tactical. Right, right. And they had bunch of fluff. It wasn't fluff or theory, and it was very much like what they needed to hear, and it was helpful for them. And they asked me to come back every single year for seven years straight.

00;37;20;24 - 00;37;41;01
Unknown
It was like a thousand person conference. Oh, wow. And I was the only one that they were ever asked to come back twice. Right. So and I just honed my skills that way. And now there's another evolution of that too. It's like I've got to almost narrow my focus down because I almost I have 20 keynotes. I need to have like three, and they need to be world class.

00;37;41;03 - 00;38;00;09
Unknown
So that's my next level is like, how do I make world three world class ones completely memorized? I mean, are to, you know, notes or no. But what I've learned, there's a couple things. I've been studying this again, I'm trying to get better. It's like everything I'm trying to learn, it's like there's so much resources now. Like, if you really want to be world class, there's so many things, right?

00;38;00;09 - 00;38;22;10
Unknown
So the key I think to speaking is lots of practice. Yeah, lots of preparation. Like you should spend ten times the amount, at least for the amount of time you're talking, having an amazing opening that is, that leads them right into a story, right? Like, you know, it is right into it. Like you don't do anything else. You go you go right into a story, you capture their attention.

00;38;22;11 - 00;38;45;01
Unknown
Right? And you keep the audience engaged. You make it specific to them. Even if you have a keynote, you should know what winning looks like in that keynote. Talk their language, all those things. So generally insurance scripts you're talking to or I've been doing, business owners, I've done some schools, I've done some insurance companies, I've done like trade associations.

00;38;45;01 - 00;39;03;02
Unknown
And so I've done a ton of insurance, conferences for sure. But it's a little bit of everything now and, and I, and I think the next level for me is I will do stuff that is a little bit more broad. I've got some great concepts on saving time. And like, people are always asking me, how do you build the autonomy?

00;39;03;02 - 00;39;20;12
Unknown
And so I've got some great. That's probably the one that's more widespread that can talk to any audience. Do the people that are asking you to speak is that organic relationships you've developed, or do you have a company that kind of promotes you or does that work? And that's the next level of it, and I haven't I didn't want to I don't want to travel right now.

00;39;20;12 - 00;39;37;25
Unknown
And that's what I've learned. Like I did like 12 and one year. And I was like, that's too much. Yeah. My kids are at an age where I want to be home. Like what my vision and my mission is for applause at home. Yeah. I want the people that know me most to respect me the most. Right. And so I don't want to be all over the all over the city and all over the town.

00;39;37;25 - 00;39;53;17
Unknown
But like in 3 or 4 years when my kids are at college, then my wife and I will go travel and I do that. And so that's the next vision. And there is another level of that. There's speaker bureaus. You can, you know, beyond those and they you can have a broker that promotes you. But for right now everything is just organic.

00;39;53;17 - 00;40;10;23
Unknown
But there is another level that I see that I'll go to. Yeah. That's awesome. Yeah. Well you need to do more speaking in the winter areas that have slopes. Right. So he's he's also an epic skier. We've got many stories with that. But we won't go into that. So speaker, some of the keynotes I, I gathered how to simplify your life.

00;40;10;23 - 00;40;38;12
Unknown
The experience is everything. How to utilize executive assistant building referral based business master class on running an agency. All great topics. Amazing. Billy Wagner, the speaker. Now we're going to move into another component of Billy Wagner. He is the, universal man here. Renaissance man is charity. So I wrote down just doing my research on you, you know, five different ones that it looks like you've been involved with.

00;40;38;12 - 00;40;57;13
Unknown
So we have Big Brother, we have your own, the Wagner Foundation, Rotary Club, mission House and been. Can you say a little bit about those and kind of where where you started and what they mean to you? Yeah. And again my dominant need is contribution. Right. So I always whenever I had a little bit of scale I was like how do I get back.

00;40;57;13 - 00;41;15;19
Unknown
How do I be the example that I want to others to say, okay, that's somebody that's doing well in the community. And so I've constantly been looking for those things and it's evolved over time again, just like everything else. Right. Well, the first organization that I started with was before my kids were born. I did the Big Brother system, and that was incredible.

00;41;15;19 - 00;41;32;21
Unknown
I did it for ten years. I won Big Brother of the year nationally. So Big Brother, just so I mean, I think it's pretty obvious, but essentially they match you up with a with a kid and you mentor them forever or. Yeah. So it's well for, for me he I started with him when he was eight and so you phase out of the program at 18.

00;41;32;21 - 00;41;50;25
Unknown
So it was a ten year thing. So at 18 they no longer support the program. But he's still like a part of my family now. Like I stay in touch with them all the time. It's absolutely incredible. Yeah. So I started with that. I did rotary, which rotary helps me organize all the things. And then when I started having scale and I had more time in my schedule, I was like, oh, I want to get back.

00;41;50;25 - 00;42;09;06
Unknown
I want to join boards. And I started joining these boards, and I just want to share this because like, you got to share the losses too, right? And so I joined the boards and it wasn't fulfilling the way that I wanted to be illustrative. It was I was I could work 40 hours a week and not feel like it was enough because I'm a perfectionist.

00;42;09;06 - 00;42;26;27
Unknown
I wanted to fix everything right. And so and so. Some boards are easier, some boards are harder. But I did it and it was rewarding and I learned. But what I learned was I learned the inside of the nonprofit. And really what I've been doing in the last two years is, makeover. So, Marcus Lemonis does the profit.

00;42;26;27 - 00;42;43;29
Unknown
I'm doing the not for profit. So essentially, I'm meeting with the executive director, and Marcus Lemonis lives in Jacksonville. And you know that. I feel like I knew that. Yeah. So. But but, I go into it and I meet with the executive director and I say, okay, what are your needs? What do you what do you what are your challenges?

00;42;44;02 - 00;43;00;18
Unknown
How can I help you? And what I found was these nonprofits, they all need the same thing. They need awareness. They need help with their social media, their website. They need help with strategic planning. They need help with video. And so I built this process. Imagine how to build a process. Right. And so I did it with mission House and we did a makeover.

00;43;00;18 - 00;43;20;23
Unknown
We did a landscape refresh. We pressure wash, we cut down their trees. We replaced their doorbell. Things that weren't in their budget. We we got strategic planning. We brought in a videographer. We completely transformed that organization and literally poured into them. And then that was the that was the blueprint. And now this can be a national thing like these nonprofits.

00;43;20;23 - 00;43;38;18
Unknown
They need the exact same thing. They need organizations probably need a little business sense with charity. Absolutely. So and then the one that I'm doing now is with beam. And so how I've tied it all together is I put my arms around one organization for an entire year. So last year it was mission House. We raised a ton of money for them.

00;43;38;26 - 00;43;52;24
Unknown
And so when I go speak at, you know, anywhere I'm speaking. And what I say at the end is if you want. And again, I learned this through trial and error. Right. So I wrote the book and I know the book was that's not enough. It's not going to make a dent in the organization just from the book proceeds.

00;43;52;24 - 00;44;08;20
Unknown
Right. So it's like, what else can I do? So I built my own systems that I call Wagner Waste System. So in the insurance business, everyone wants my access to the all my stuff, like the details, and I give them the entire blueprint. It's like, here it is. It's a word document. Make it your own, steal it, whatever you want to do.

00;44;08;22 - 00;44;26;27
Unknown
And I make them make a donation directly to the nonprofit so they get the tax write off. And so I ask them to make a $997 donation. And so, you know, already with beam and what I've done this year, we've raised $50,000 from that one year. And and yeah, and we're just getting started. Right. And so every time I go speak I'm promoting.

00;44;27;01 - 00;44;42;09
Unknown
So this is 50,000 from people buying your my system. Wow. Right. So I could sell it on my own. Yeah. And and then just give them the money. But I was like I don't want to deal with the financial logistics of it. I don't want there to be anyone thinking anything different. And I'm like, you make the donation directly to them.

00;44;42;11 - 00;45;01;10
Unknown
And so they make it for 997 so that the charity knows that it's coming from me. And then we decide how we're going to together transform that organization. So like we're talking to them right now about their phone system and like doing a landscaping and putting in a sidewalk, whatever we decide that we want to do to lift them up is what we're going to do.

00;45;01;17 - 00;45;21;06
Unknown
And for an entire year, I've got my entire arms around them. So I help them with onboarding an executive assistant for for the leader. I'm helping them with hiring. I'm bringing in my team to volunteer there. Yeah. At rotary, we made them our our big organization, and we're helping them to pay for a refrigerated truck. And we're getting all these grants together.

00;45;21;06 - 00;45;42;17
Unknown
So it's just like my arms are around them. Yeah. For one year, we're going to lift them up and they're going to be transformed in a different place. And then I'll go on to another one and I'll have the experience from the last one to make it better on the next one. Right. It's really interesting. How do you feel like you get more reward out of this phase in your life than building the insurance?

00;45;42;19 - 00;45;59;03
Unknown
You know, I think like, I think the journey is the reward. Yeah, right. And I think we also forget about that. We're like, oh, I want to get there. And then, you know, like we have this big goal that we got to like 3 or 4 months ago and I barely celebrate it. And my team is probably like, and I've already my head's already gone to doubling.

00;45;59;06 - 00;46;17;04
Unknown
Yeah. I'm like, we're going to double again. Right? And so I like the journey. Like I like the challenge. And I'm like, so I don't ever like, say when I reach something I'm like, I'm good, right? So it's different and better. I do like the challenge of it and like learning and constantly growing like that's important to me.

00;46;17;04 - 00;46;32;14
Unknown
And so yeah, I think it's very fulfilling to, to do different things. But I also like and really enjoyed the journey of it. And if I completely stepped away, I'd miss it. Yeah. You know, I would miss it. Like, even though I could walk away right now I've got leaders that are running it. I'm still a part of it.

00;46;32;14 - 00;46;46;06
Unknown
As long as I can add value. And my my role right now is to develop the leaders that I have to step into those, those new positions. Well, it sounds like they don't need you. They kicked you out of your office. That is very true. They did. It's the sign of a good leader and kick them out of the office.

00;46;46;13 - 00;47;06;21
Unknown
Well, as we wrap up here, there's a couple quick things I want to talk about. And I know you spent some time recently with John Gordon and Ed, my last two super famous people in the personal development space. I mean, I listen to them all the time. A big podcaster. What are some of the tidbits that you came out of that time that you spent with them?

00;47;06;23 - 00;47;25;02
Unknown
Yeah, I mean, you know, they're they're amazing. Thing is, they're local Jacksonville residents, which is so incredible that we have these people here. And it's like they're telling other people about it, and they're bringing these high quality people here, which is that's just it's going to be life changing for Jacksonville to have those type of people here. Right.

00;47;25;05 - 00;47;45;28
Unknown
I mean, just massive influence, I think, with, you know, Ed Mallett, completely blew me away, brought kind of the whole group to tears and, and multiple things. And again, it's like stuff that he's not really shared a lot with other people. It was very intimate, but one of the keynote with him at our mortgage conference several months ago, and it was unbelievable.

00;47;45;28 - 00;48;04;21
Unknown
I mean, he grabbed you out of your seat and just like, listen to me. Yeah, it was unbelievable. Yeah, there was some guy and it's just funny, there was some guy in the front of the room right when he started speaking and he was playing on his phone, and he literally called him out and he goes, I'm worth $800 million.

00;48;04;25 - 00;48;20;27
Unknown
And you're sitting there sending a text message, and the whole room was like, and this guy is kind of a jerk. And then he starts going into the mike. Yeah, man, you need to listen to this guy. Amazing. Yeah, I mean, he completely blew me away. It's the first time I'd seen him speak like I've. I've heard him on podcasts and stuff.

00;48;20;29 - 00;48;38;29
Unknown
You know, the thing that I thought was really powerful about what he said was, you know, what he did with his kids, and, like the family stuff, like, you know, I talk about, like, applause at home is my, like, mission, right? Like, I want, I want that. And one of the things he did with his kids since they were born was, let me tell you about you.

00;48;39;01 - 00;48;58;01
Unknown
And he basically told his kids the 2 or 3 things that they were special in, because everybody in life is special in 2 or 3 ways, minimum. Right. And he has this ability to pull that out of them, share it with them. And he shared it with them every single day, like to the point where they were teenagers and they were like, dad, stop doing that.

00;48;58;01 - 00;49;13;09
Unknown
Right? And that's the way he lives his life. And and so he goes and visits his kids at college and they're like, the kids are like, don't tell it in front of my friends. But then the friends are saying, aren't you going to tell her about her? Like, you know, he was they were telling their friends about it, right?

00;49;13;09 - 00;49;34;07
Unknown
So it's about like like saying to your your kids, like, I got your back, like I'm your dad and you're you're never going to face anything alone. You're special the way that you, you know, make connections with people, whatever it is. But it's got to be authentic, you know, you know, and I, you know, I just I love living life like that now, like that.

00;49;34;07 - 00;49;53;28
Unknown
Change my perspective to everyone that I'm talking to. I'm listening and trying to understand what they're 2 or 3 special things and calling it out in them. Yeah. And so let me tell you a little bit about you. Right. Like that was a that was really, really interesting. I mean, there's so many things. Sure. But you know, the whole the, the six basic human needs about life was really powerful.

00;49;53;28 - 00;50;10;16
Unknown
And I'm spending a ton of time on that right now trying to figure out which will on my team, what are those human needs that they are and what's the dominant need for each person that I have on my team? Because that's really important to know, right? What moves them, what pushes them. And so you know, like I said, it was an incredible.

00;50;10;16 - 00;50;30;18
Unknown
And what were some things that you took away from John? So, John, he talked a lot about, you know, like, in order to build something successful, you got to have a really strong foundation. He's very much the positivity guy, right? Right. You know, I mean, I sent you the notes. There was, like, 19 pages and notes, right?

00;50;30;18 - 00;50;55;02
Unknown
Like it was I was writing, like, feverishly the entire time. I felt like I was taking notes for you, like, I know you care about it, so I wanted to make sure we got it all in. But, you know, and they talked a lot about, again, about family, you know, because, you know, John Gordon's kids are a part of his company, and they were there and, you know, and they talked about, like, the regrets that they had, of like, you know, they're busy.

00;50;55;02 - 00;51;16;07
Unknown
They were building their businesses. Right. And and it's like, you know, they don't regret the times that they weren't there when they miss something, but they regret when they were there, but they weren't present. And you have such a such a hard concept, huge thing right now is, yeah. When you're at the baseball game, be at the baseball game is kind of a message that they were saying, like, I'm guilty as charged.

00;51;16;07 - 00;51;34;08
Unknown
So I understand that. Well, you know, kind of in summary, and we've gone over some amazing things about you. But I did want to go back to insurance, and I wanted to ask you, you know, the state of Florida insurance is a tough, tough thing. It seems like it's getting tougher. Like, where do you see it going?

00;51;34;08 - 00;51;49;12
Unknown
I mean, we've got to have insurance on our house. I mean, there's no ifs, ands or buts. Well, what do you think the future will look like with that? Yeah. And I'm a glass half full person. I can tell you that the last five years was incredibly challenging. It was the hardest market. We had 11 companies go insolvent.

00;51;49;14 - 00;52;12;20
Unknown
Rates were going up. It was we were the people were being punished and a lot of it was litigation related. A lot of it was bad laws that people were taking advantage of. It was, you know, a combination of all those things. And so I will tell you that tomorrow is going to be better. I will tell you that for the first time, we have started to see like renewal rates go down, which has has not happened in eight years.

00;52;12;20 - 00;52;37;09
Unknown
Right? The rates always go up. Right. So we're starting to see some of that happening. The storms we had three hurricanes that didn't help things, but we've solved the fraud litigation issue and that's completely been solved. So but it takes, you know, an 18, 24 months for that to start cycling through the, you know, because reinsurance companies and insurance companies want to see the results of the law change before they're going to change rates.

00;52;37;09 - 00;52;57;23
Unknown
Right? So we're also seeing, you know, 6 or 8 new companies coming into the market, which is super healthy. We need that desperately. We have a state insurance company that is the largest company in the state of Florida in the country, and that's a state insurer. So that's that's getting depopulated. So I think that it's that I see the light at the end of the tunnel.

00;52;57;25 - 00;53;11;06
Unknown
People are, you know, ask me like, how's the market in Florida? I'm like, well, we're still in hell. But it's not, it's not. So it's, it's but the weather is really nice. It's cooling off a little bit. And I and I think like the next five years is going to be much better for the consumer, which is to me, that's the most important thing.

00;53;11;06 - 00;53;33;16
Unknown
I, I don't like representing a product that people are mad at. They're frustrated. And, you know, and what ends up happening is sometimes the coverages get reduced because of the fraud happening. And it's like the rates are higher, the coverage is less. Yeah. And I don't like that. And so while I'm a big proponent of making things more simple, you know, I'm in Tallahassee trying to talk to the legislators about what we need to change to make it better.

00;53;33;24 - 00;53;50;07
Unknown
And we need it for the for the real estate community. We need it for a thriving economy. We we need it to be healthy. And so I see it, heading in the right direction. Positive note. That's great news. I appreciate that. I think a lot of people get some good news out of that. Well, this was amazing.

00;53;50;07 - 00;54;07;00
Unknown
I feel like I could go on for hours. But, you know, it was great to hear the evolution of Billy Wagner. It's going to be exciting where Billy Wagner goes. Just don't forget Aaron Bacchus. Okay? I want to be. Just be able to still have your cell phone number, but, it was great talking to you.

00;54;07;00 - 00;54;12;10
Unknown
I really appreciate you having you on the podcast. Absolutely. Thank you. I absolutely loved it. It was great to be with you. Yep.

00;54;12;10 - 00;54;26;16
Unknown
The Hometown Jack's podcast is recorded and produced by First Coast Mortgage Funding. Located in the heart of Jacksonville. Do you want to be our next guest? Visit our website at Hometown Jack's podcast.com. We can't wait to hear your story.