 What is up 8% nation? Happy Thursday evening. I'm Cody Askins and I'm telling you what, when I say I have a special guest, I got a freaking special guest tonight. One of my favorite dudes in the world, Mr. Coach Michael Burt. Welcome buddy, appreciate you doing this. Absolutely. You're one of my favorite people in the world too man. I just admire what you're doing. I admire and respect the guts you have to put on conferences like this. I admire, I mean every day the commitment I've seen you take since you announced this has been very inspiring to people like me who are out there pushing the message and trying to help as many people as we can and it takes people like you for people like me to be able to take our message to the world. So thank you for that. I love it. Thank you coach. Appreciate the kind of words buddy. You know what, when we first met at GrowthCon 2 in Vegas, it was just something about you. I even went up to you after and asked a couple of questions. You were the most relatable speaker for me, period. Just absolutely incredible. We've slowly got to know each other over time, but I'm telling you what man, if you guys don't follow this man, you have to. He will over deliver. He's got a huge heart. He cares about people and he cares about growing businesses by 43%. So coach, for those that don't know you and coach is going to be speaking at the 8% Nation Insurance Wealth Conference at 3.50pm on Saturday. He's a keynote speaker. It's flying by to 14 days, 4 hours, 42 minutes and 29 seconds. It's crazy. For those that don't know you, kind of give, and I think a lot of people do, but give them a little quick synopsis on who you are man. Sure. I spent a decade of my life as a head women's basketball coach. I was actually the youngest head coach in the state of Tennessee at 22 years old at 25 years old. I began to 18 to 25. I was a deep disciple of Stephen Covey. So a whole person theory, deep character ethic, you know, first things first principle center leadership and I began to run my program that way. You taught every player the seven habits of how they affected people, the principles of the great five dysfunctions of teams. So you can imagine teaching the 14 to 18 year olds these things. We begin to win at a very high level and people begin to ask me, what are you doing with those kids, man? What are you doing? And I say, well, I don't have time to explain it because I'm trying to win championships, but I'll write it in a book. And I wrote my first book was called changing lives to coaching because I do believe, Cody, that a good coach can change your whole freaking life, man. So I wrote that book. And when I wrote that book, big time, people begin to call me and ask me to speak to their teams, speak to their people. These were big companies, Dell Incorporated, State Farm Insurance, National Healthcare, you know, and I began to go speak just as a hobby, really, because I was trying to win championships, right? And I like, I really enjoy working with adults, man. I'm watching that light bulb come on like the adults have potential just like kids do. So one book turned into two, now 13 books. And at 31 years old, after I won a championship, I retired from athletic coaching to do nothing but build a coaching business. And so for the last 11 years, I've built a multi-million dollar coaching business and I've got a big program called Monster Producer. It has about 700 people in that program that I am coaching on a monthly basis. And it's just incredibly rewarding and powerful. I was teaching tonight and teaching this morning to see 700 people who want to get better. And I have the privilege of coaching those people every week. Wow. I think it's growing, man. That's amazing. That's incredible. Yeah, it's growing. It started with six people. I don't even know if those first six people paid, you know. But I had a heart for coaching and I spent a decade learning how to inter-engineer people, the body, mind, heart, and spirit of a person and tap into the deepest parts of a person. And I think what you're feeling with me is I have a deep, deep conviction that the good coach can change your whole life. And we all need somebody who will have conversations with us. We may or may not want to have. Who will help us do some things we may or may not want to do, but really get us to a place we never thought we could get. My wife just wrote her first book. It came out the day. It's called Living with a Monster. Wow. You know, my wife came to one of my workshops many years ago and I tell people she fell in love with her potential and I fell in love with her. But to see my wife get, let me challenge and push her and to see her write her first book. And she didn't want to write the book, by the way. But I said, your desire to help people has got to overcome your desire for comfort. And I'm telling you, when you hold that in your hand, sweetheart, it's going to change the game for you. Your confidence is going to go to a new level. And after she wrote it, she's like, it wasn't that hard to write. You're an author, sweetheart. You know, she never thought of herself that way. So I think, you know, even husbands and wives can push each other and be coaches to each other like you and your wife do. And you know, we got to push each other there. So I think that's critical. Yeah. Yeah. Now, okay, so say that again, though, because you said something that was super profound that really stood out to me right there, which was your... It was something to do with your... Your desire. Here's what I told my wife when she didn't want to write the book. Your desire to help people has got to overcome your desire to be comfortable. Okay. Your desire to... Like my desire to help people has got to overcome the inconvenience that it takes for me to go all over the world and be away from my family and do these things. My desire to help more people on planet Earth has got to supersede my desire for comfort in my life. And that's when I know I'm doing something big and it's part of legacy. It's part of meaning and it's part of contribution. I'm doing exactly what God wants me to do. I'm distributing my talents to the world. And the world's going to reward you when you distribute your talents to the world at a very high level. No doubt about it. No doubt about it. What was it when you were coaching 14, 18-year-old girls? What was it that really brought you to where you're giving them books, having them read, having them learn habits of highly successful people? Like that's super unique. Every time I hear that, I'm like, man, that's unbelievable. Well, I made a decision at 18. I was deeply influenced by a coach named Don Meyer. And he used to make his players bring notebooks. He made players take notes every day. And I was studying him. And I believe everybody needs that person that they're studying and they're watching and they're emulating. And I watched how he used sport as a distribution channel to teach life. And I said, when I become a head coach, I'm going to teach my players how to win at the game of life. And as a result of that, we're going to win championships. So I made a decision when you play for me, this is what you're going to learn. And other coaches wouldn't spend the time or do the work to understand or study the successful people out there to even give it. You can't give away what you don't possess. So I had to first study it myself. I had to master it. Then I had to give it away to my players. And that's really part of my legacy. You fast forward when my players are 30, 35 years old. I'm actually coaching one of my players now in our business, which is the coolest thing in the world. And I told her, I said, for all those sleepless nights you gave me, I knew you were going to pay me back somehow. So now she's paying me to coach her, which is so funny. But she understands the value of a coach. She had a coach in her athletic career. She needs a coach in her business. And I see Grant Darkerty on here who's on here. I'm coaching him. I'm coaching a lot of these people out there in the world who have a strong desire to perform at a much higher frequency in their life. They just need strategy and guidance from somebody who's been doing it for years. Yeah. And like you said, a good coach. I love the business retreats you're doing. The opportunities to let people spend the day with you or fly on your private jet, which is so amazing. My wife and I are coming down to hang out with you guys, you and your wife in Seaside, Florida over Valentine's Day. And anyone that hasn't been to that or committed to something like that, I'm telling you what. My wife, as soon as I see my wife, she's like, absolutely freaking Lulie. We can hang out with Coach Burton, his wife. You know, we got to do something like that. So that was cool. Well, why did you end up wanting to do those? Where did that come from? Because you don't see a lot of people doing those. Yeah. It came from this desire. It came from a desire to want to build a community of people and create intimate settings for them to exchange energy and ideas with each other. So we went down to Florida. We were renting houses. We were inviting those people to come and the magic that I saw going, coming down and seeing them having breakfast with each other and intimate time with each other where we're spending time. Like when you go to 10X, you don't get any intimate time with any of the speakers. When you go to big conferences, it's very hard to get that, right? And a lot of people desire that. It's like, man, I would like to spend time with this dude for a day. I would like to see how he thinks. But here's the deal. The people that are going to be down there with you are all big time people. These are the best people in the world. So I'm doing retreats with my wife. I'm doing a cruise in January. I'm doing an event with Tim Story in April. I'm working on an event with Tim Grover. I'm working on an event with Ed Milet. I'm working on an event with Kevin Elko, who is the psychologist for Alabama. So listen, I get to spend time with these people too. I get to sit there and pick their brain. So you kind of get coached by both of us over a three-day period. And it's a really cool environment. I've really loved it. It's a big part of my business model today. You just went up in Idaho with Bradley? I went with Bradley a few weeks ago in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho. I just got back last night from one in New York City. And the one in New York City was Person of Interest Camp. And man, it was a cool. It included flying on the private jet. It included all inclusive. It included the hotel, the food. And we spent two and a half days just working on how to become people of interest. So I brought in Hank Norman and Steve Carlos to do a session when I was there who's coached me at one time. So man, it was just a cool. It's a cool deal. That intimate nature. Yeah, you mentioned Hank Norman. That dude thinks a little differently, don't he? He's so passionate, man. I love it. It's just coming out of him. And he's helped a lot of people overcome their fear of sharing their story and becoming vulnerable. Where he's helped me the most is because I've been a coach my whole life, I've been expected to have answers. I've been expected to be the tough person. And Hank came along and said, man, you got to share the bad days. We got authentic. You got to share when you don't feel like doing it and the worst moments. And when I was speaking at 10X, the moment that I felt like was the best moment for me was really when I told the story of it. 25 years old, I went through a very bad breakup. I had to take an engagement ring back. I thought I had the person I was supposed to marry. I went through deep, deep depression. And that moment when I was so vulnerable with that group, it's hard to be vulnerable with 9,500 people. No doubt about it. But when I told that story, it felt like every person leaned in because they knew we all go through heartache and breakdowns and come apart. And that led me to finding my wife and the woman I was supposed to marry. So Hank was very instrumental in helping me take down my shield, be a real dude, be authentic with the world, man, and let you know, look, some days I got it. Some days I don't, man. Some days I'm on. I'm just like you. Every day I'm waking up and I've got big aspirations like you do. Putting on the 8% nation conference, man. It's just such a lofty and powerful thing that, and like I said, it just takes guts, man. That's what I respect about you the most. It takes guts to do it. I appreciate that. When did you know that you needed a private jet? I've just been enamored with it. I want to know, you know, we'll fly around. I guess it's so cool. All right. So as my business has grown, the demand has gotten much higher. And that's good. That's what I want. But I also have a six-year-old daughter, and I also have a wife at home. And I signed a deal with Remax, a national tour with Remax to do 35 events. I signed it in probably October or November of last year. And I was really torn because it was going to take me all over the country. It was a big contract. It was a good contract. But my daughter's getting to the point where it really affects her when I'm gone for long periods of time. You know, she's six years old. She's in kindergarten. She would call me crying at night. And I said, man, I can't do this unless I can go speak and come home. And the only way to do that is if you have your own plane. So I began exploring and having conversations with people. How much would it cost me? How do I get it? How do I, you know, what do I do? And most people have no idea how much they cost. They have no idea how it operates. There's a lot of misconception about owning a plane. And so I made a decision to purchase one last year at the very end of the year. And listen, we use that thing. And the best thing has been not only to get me somewhere and come home, but it's been to take my best customers with me, spend time with them because that is an unintended positive consequence I never expected. But it caused every time I go, I take four to six customers with me. And I say, man, Cody, go with me. Fly with me. And when we fly together, we're in an intimate setting. We're spending quality time together. We're uninterrupted. We're getting away from our business and we're looking back down at our business. Every person that goes with me is like, man, this is awesome. It was just an awesome experience. So there's ways for you to take liabilities or to perceive liabilities and turn them into assets if you approach it the right way. And a jet is not a liability like most people think. It is a tremendous asset, especially what's it worth for me to come home and see my baby girl at the end of the day versus her have to be at home crying about where dad's at. Man, that's the biggest reason I did it. That's huge. That's huge. Man, some of my favorite content videos that you guys do is literally you and some of your monsters getting onto a plane. That's just so cool. Where did the monster concept come from? I fell in love the first time I heard it. It's just so easy to relate to. You know, I was several years ago, six or seven years, I had an employee, great dude, great guy. And we were riding down the road one day and I said, man, I got a question for you. What do you think I do? Like what do you think we do here? And he said, do you really want to know? And I said, absolutely. And he said, man, I think you are a freaking monster. He had never worked with someone who has the drive and engine and ambition and that you do. And he said, what I think you do and what we do is we produce other monsters. He's like, you're a monster. You're out there producing other monsters. And the second he said it, I was like, that's it. And because I was looking for a theme, I was looking for a mental construct. I was looking for something to go out and push this message. And he said, look, a monster is a legendary creature, man. It's a legendary creature that combines multiple skills to dominate. That's our tagline. We produce legendary creatures. Dominate a market. I love it. I love it. So is that what you would describe yourself as? If you had described coach in one word. I think the word I was thinking about is monster. But I think I'm an intense dude. But if you gave me two words, I'm intense and positive. OK. I love it. I'm intense and positive. Most people, when they get intense, they get negative. My strategy is to push you in a way that you go, dang, I like working for that dude. Dang. Like what I wanted to do at 10X just is exactly what I did, which is get up there and coach and coach you for an hour. And at the end of that hour, I want you to say, I want that dude to coach me. That's what I want. I didn't want to try to sell you a bunch of products. I wanted to take my time. So I spent a lot of time preparing. I spent a lot of time thinking about what I wanted to say, how I wanted to say it, the cadence I wanted to use. And I think when I speak at your conference, what I want to do is I want to give people that time of coaching. And if we never see each other again the rest of our lives, I move the needle in their life in such a way that they never forget it. Yeah. Exactly. And you're speaking on a million-dollar follow-up for those that haven't seen it. What do you expect that agents will learn from you, Nissan Stadium, live on stage in front of a thousand agents? What do you expect they'll learn from you? I think there's two problems with the follow-up. And this is from a book I wrote called Million Dollar Follow-Up. There's two problems. One, we don't go the distance. Every stat in America tells me 7 to 15 touches. It's 7 to 15 touches, 80% of the time to convert a prospect to a buyer. I play the percentages, man. Every stat in the world shows me that every transaction should be worth 5.7 referrals, but we don't follow-up after the sale. And here's the problem. So the first problem in follow-up is we don't go the distance. We peter out after one or two touches because we give up, freighter rejection, whatever the case may be. The second problem is truly the methodology in how we follow-up. And so I'm going to show the people there that day that there's two types of follow-up, a linear or direct follow-up and an indirect or non-linear follow-up. And I'm going to help you build a 7 touch system. So when you have a prospect or you're pursuing something, you keep going, but you keep coming at people in different directions. So I'll use a little bit of the challenger sale. I'll use a little bit of how to make a person think and what I want to do is just I want people going, you know what, he's right, man. There's dreams I haven't followed up on. There's partnerships I haven't followed up on. There's business deals I haven't followed up on. There's opportunity I haven't followed up on because I believe an object at rest stays at rest unless acted on by an outside force. And you have got to be such a force of nature that people do, man. We signed up a guy today that's paying $40,000 a year to be coached by me because I have these different levels. Everybody said, man, your follow up was so strong and relentless, but it wasn't like, like I see some people follow up and they like take pride in like, you know, like stalking people and pushing people and getting whatever. Yeah. My follow up, I want you to think every time I follow up with you, don't you go, dang, that dude's right. Dang, I need him in my life. Dang, I need to take action because there's power in taking action, man. We lose 10% of momentum every day we don't act. Wow. Time kills all deals, man. You're getting me excited and I've already got a chance to see you speak and you're getting me excited about getting a chance to see you at this thing speak again, man. It's because I haven't got to see you speak on million dollar follow up yet. So I'm like, I'm excited about that. Okay. So the stats, I got to ask what the stats and the numbers is that, is that just the coach in you? Is that, I mean, where does that come from? Cause I've heard you use numbers a lot. It's on the front of your website. Yeah. This is by 43%. I love the seven to 15 touches, 5.7 referrals from every transaction. Actually, I mean, these are things that 99% of agents plus struggle with. Yeah. What I do because I'm a former coach and championship coach, here's what I would tell you. The percentages never lie to me. If the percentages tell me that we got to do this, this, this and this and we win 90% of the time when we do it, then I'm going to become world-class at doing those things. Well, when I started coaching business people, they don't play the percentages. Like for example, here's a stat for every 30 people you talk to, only 4.8 are going to be immediately interested. Those are innovators and early adopters. Okay. Then there's going to be 34% that's got to hear it three to seven times. Another 34% that's got to hear it seven to 15 times. Then a percentage that are never going to hear it. They're never going to get it. So what I do is I look at a business and I go, let's play the percentages here. Let's play the percentages here. Not just in calls and volume. That's important. Like my salespeople make about 80 calls a day. They have two call periods, one in the morning, one in the afternoon. We role play three to four times. But it's not just about that. I want to show them that 16% of the people you talk to are going to have some interest. But you can't just talk to four people. You got to talk to enough people. But look at these percentages in the follow-up. Million-dollar follow-up, for example. You look at real estate, mortgage, insurance, financial services. It's a pitiful follow-up for most people. They go one or two touches. I watch how people follow up with me. It's pitiful. Not only do they not go the distance. They give up easily. They can't handle objection. They can't overcome any objection. They don't make me think or challenge me. They just need coaching in that area. And it's costing them millions of dollars because they don't follow up appropriately. Why is it human nature to be lazy and not follow up? I think it's less about the fact that they don't know how, but what's your opinion on that? I think here's human nature. This is from a guy coaching 1,000 people a month. We start with good intention. We fall off the wagon. We feel guilty about it. Now, this is a cycle for everybody. We start with good intention. We start a diet when we fall off the wagon. We start down the right path. We start something new. We fall off the wagon. This is human nature to start, fall off the wagon and feel guilty. The guilt is associated with grief. We're actually grieving our lost potential. We're grieving the wasted opportunity. So a good coach comes in and says, I'm going to break this cycle for you, Cody. I'm going to keep you in such a forward posture. I'm not going to let you get in a static state. I'm not going to let you revert back to your old ways of thinking. I'm not going to let you do this. I'm going to eliminate that middle section of falling off the wagon if you do what I tell you to do. So I want constant engagement with the people I coach. We engage with people like crazy. And every day, I tell people, you're going to feel like you're getting coached by me every freaking day. You're going to feel like I moved in with you. That's the kind of discipline and accountability I want to bring to your life. The difference, I think, between me and a lot of the people that spoke at 10X, all of them were world-class at what they do. Is that I'm a pure coach. That means I am coaching large numbers of people every single day. I'm not just writing books or speaking out on the circuit. I'm in the trenches, man, trying to get active and pray-driving people and get people to a higher frequency every day. And that keeps me, I think it keeps me humble and it also keeps me fresh because I'm right in there with you, man. I'm in there fighting a battle with you every day. Dude, you are, man. And there's some that would say, man, you're all over the place. You're everywhere. You're flying every day. You're coaching hundreds of people. You're helping a thousand people a month. You don't see you ever lose your passion and your energy and your positive intenseness. Is that, that's just always been that way, I would imagine? Well, I mean, I think I face a lot of the same things other people face, but I got to protect my special. I got to guard it, man. I got to guard my passion for people. And listen, it's hard when you coach as many people as I do because there's a lot of disappointment. People start. They quit. They don't see it through. It's very easy to become negative, but we live in such a cynical world that I want to be a bright light. I want to be a person that's attracting the right people to me. And we're doing that. We're attracting the right people. You know, when you wanted me to speak at this conference, I checked you out. I'm like, dude, I want to be in partnership with. I want to attract people to me that like gravitate toward like association breeds assimilation. So I just want to protect. I want to protect what the good Lord's given me, which is a positive spirit. And I want to go out there and just, just, I want people to want to do business with me. And I, you know, that's, that's my heart. No doubt. What was it about this event? You know, cause you, you, you, you speak all over the place. What was it about this one that you're like, man, this would be cool. I think you got an incredible lineup, man. The people you've attracted are, I mean, I mean, I'm just honored to be on the same stage with them. Like I was at 10 X. I think the Titans, the stadium, man, I'm like, this thing's got some guts, man. This is awesome. Like, like, like I tell people, I'm like, dude, man, it's big. Yeah. Like I need my mama to come watch me at Titan State. You know? I remember you putting that, did you put that in a post or did you put that in a video? Man, I'm like, mom, I'm like, mom, I gotta bring my whole family with me. Because this is a big deal, man. It's, it's these big moments in your life. And I'm thankful to, I'm thankful to Grant. I'm thankful for the people that allow me to get on 10 X so I can meet you. So I had the opportunity to go from being unknown to known some. And so I'm speaking and we're booking a thing for me to speak in South Africa next year. That's the result of 10 X. I'm speaking at the momentum conference in New Orleans, which is a result of that. I mean, there's all kinds of things that have happened as a result of that moment. That was a defining moment. And I was just proud that when I got on stage, I delivered. I wanted to deliver value for people that they go, this is a guy that we need to know. Yeah. Well, dude, you did it and you over delivered and it worked, man. It really did. Well, if an agent's on the fence, you're obviously a believer in events. You're obviously a believer in conferences. You're obviously a believer in self-improvement. Everybody's a coach in life. That's that's one of your biggest slogans. If an agent's on the fence, why should they attend this event in two weeks at Titan Stadium? I think here's what people have to understand. The greatest investments you can make is in yourself and you're going to be exposed, not only to the incredible speakers that can change the game for you, you're going to be exposed to other people at the conference. Listen, when you get a bunch of people together that have like-minded interests who want to grow, there is no telling. One of my best customers came when I went to 10X, the first 10X, and I wasn't even speaking. I just sat beside her and we just we had so much synergy and energy. She went back and checked me out and she hired me as her coach and she's one of our best clients. She's from Arizona, Phoenix, Arizona. So my point was you got to go, you got to place yourself in proximity to people who can help you advance. And that's why you got to go to conferences and this is a unique conference. It's got unique speakers. It's got a unique concept. You know, I just think it's a... I think you can't afford not to go, man. I think... Listen, if I wasn't speaking, I'd be paying to come down to the conference. Yeah! In the VIP section, man. All right. I want you guys in the VIP section hanging out backstage with coach Michael Burd. Hey, thank you very much for spending a little time with us. I'm super excited to get to hang out with you. See you again in a couple of weeks, buddy. Thank you so much for being on this. You're a rock star, man. Proud of you. Proud of you, too, man. I'm glad you... Proud of you as well. For those that, hey, you haven't got your ticket. You want to see this man. I promise you want to meet him. You're like, hey, I want to get close to coach Michael Burd. I'm telling you, go to aprecination.com. The website is right behind me. We're 14 days away. Go to aprecination.com. Grab your seat. You want to be in proximity of greatness. Coach Burd talked about it. Go grab your seat. Looking forward to seeing you there. Thanks again, coach. Thank you, bud.