2024 Platform MASTERMIND: Jerrid Sebesta: Life Undeferred: How To Break Through Personal And Business Plateaus

Jerrid Sebesta:  You don't have to wait for the life altering moment. You can be it. You can choose it. You can make a choice today and it will change the course of history. You don't have to wait for another market crash. You don't have to wait for a bad report from the doctor. You can choose to be the life altering moment and then other life altering moments enter your life as well. I'm gonna leave you with one question and I'm getting better at asking myself this question. What else is possible? 

Tim Chermak: This is The Platform Marketing Show, where we interview the most creative and ambitious real estate agents in the country, dissect their local marketing strategy, and get the behind the scenes scoop on how they're generating listing leads and warm referrals. We'll dive into the specifics of what marketing campaigns are working for them, how much they're spending on those campaigns, and figure out how they have perfected what we call the Platform Marketing strategy. This is your host, Tim Chermak. I'm the founder and CEO of Platform. I love marketing and I talk too much, so let's dive in. 

Tim Chermak: The next speaker I'm really excited to introduce. It's someone that I've been Facebook friends with for years and years and years and I just met him for the first time this morning in person. You all have a copy of his new book that's just releasing this week. Most people across the United States don't know him, but I think he's going to be quite famous in the next year or two and you'll know why after his talk. He's one of those people where if you spend ten minutes with them, you just feel energized and you don't quite know why cause it happens at a subconscious level, but he just puts out this primal energy that you can't help but just absorb if you're in the same room with him.

Tim Chermak: Every Mastermind, I always look for one speaker who can help shift your mindset and get you thinking differently about next year if you're just in a rut. Cause it's been a shitty last year or two, right? And the real estate market's tough, interest rates are high, people don't want to move, their mortgage payment's too high, they're stuck with their old mortgage. People have all the excuses in the world of why they're not succeeding. And then you look around the room though, there are plenty of people in here who also had their best year ever. And so what is going on with the people that had their best year ever versus someone who's struggling? And it's not always mindset, right? But very often, it's mindset. 

Tim Chermak: And so I don't want to have an entire conference of mindset speakers because that can get kind of stale and you check out, but when I saw Jerrid talk at another event, I think, Jerrid, I told you this when we first talked, I was like, I watched this talk that you gave at another event. I was like, we have to have this guy speak at our conference. I just felt jacked up listening to your talk. It was just a recording of you giving your session for a group. So, I'm really, really excited to welcome Jerrid Sebesta to the stage. You guys are gonna love his talk, you're gonna love his book, and you're gonna think differently about your business this year. Jerrid Sebesta. 

Jerrid Sebesta:  Well, I had the greatest job in the history of mankind. I was a TV weatherman.  Thank you. For 12 years, I was a TV weatherman. I was that guy that you saw on TV pointing to the screen, telling you what the temperature is going to be tomorrow. For those of you that are unfamiliar with what this job entails, let me give you a little bit of an example. At about 2 o'clock, 3 o'clock in the afternoon, I would put on a suit and tie, I would drive to a studio. I would play on Facebook. I would make some fun graphics. And then three times throughout your day, on the five o'clock news, the six o'clock news, and the ten o'clock news, I would talk for three minutes. That's it. And then I would do it again the next day. And the next day, they would pay me every two weeks, no accountability whatsoever for anything I said. Nobody fact checking me. Nobody's screaming fake news. It was great. I was like above the law. When was the last time that you saw a weatherman get canceled? Never. 

Jerrid Sebesta: But be honest with me, how many times have you said you've watched the weather and it was inaccurate yet again and you said, "I wish I could be wrong all the time and still get paid." How many of you said that? Hell, everybody. That was my job, did it for 12 years. In all honesty, it was a great job. I worked in three stations, Sioux Falls, South Dakota, Phoenix, Arizona, and eventually made it home to my home state of Minnesota, KARE 11. 

Jerrid Sebesta: Thank you, four people. No KARE 11. That's great. Very historic station. Some of you live in markets where you have that legendary station where the people have been there forever. You grew up watching these anchors. If you like, you get to know them. That was what KARE 11 was about. I had a chance to do some amazing things. I got a chance to go wake surfing live on TV. I had a chance to throw out the first pitch at a Twins game. I got a chance to go live from the Minnesota State Fair every year. How many of you have phenomenal state fairs? Okay, great. 

Jerrid Sebesta: Minnesota is known for its state fair. Upper Midwest, we had what's called the KARE 11 Barn. Literally did newscast from inside of a barn with 300 sweaty people and animals. It was great. The Harlem Globetrotters came to town one year. They wanted a local celebrity to play against them on the national scene. They picked me. I got a chance to meet actual celebrities like Conan O'Brien. I got a chance to co-host an event with Howie Mandel. And I had a chance to meet the greatest rock band in the history of modern music. Any guesses as to what band it was? Yes, sir. 

Audience member: Nickelback. 

Jerrid Sebesta: Good guess. Judging by your backwards hat, I understand why you said that. I got that. Any other guesses? Ma'am. 

Audience member: Metallica. 

Jerrid Sebesta: Okay, Metallica, good guess, but no. Any guesses over here? Sir? Go ahead. 

Audience member: Aerosmith. 

Jerrid Sebesta: I'm sorry? 

Audience member: Aerosmith.

Jerrid Sebesta: Aerosmith, great guess. No. One more? 

Audience member: Foo Fighters. 

Jerrid Sebesta: I'm sorry? 

Audience member: Foo Fighters. 

Jerrid Sebesta: Foo Fighters, phenomenal guess. The actual band was Hanson. Yes. Sing it with me. (MMMBop by Hanson) Great. MMMBop. I had my own hashtag, this is true. Google it. #BlameJerrid. I was blamed for all the horrible weather in Minnesota for years. It was not uncommon for me to go to the store and someone would be like, "Hey, blame Jerrid." But people were blaming me for things even outside of weather. They'd get a flat tire, #BlameJerrid. Dog would poop on the carpet, #BlameJerrid. My favorite #BlameJerrid tweet, this is honest to God truth, Julie Nelson, who is still at KARE 11, this professional young lady, she had to read this live on the 10 o'clock news. Somebody from Wisconsin said, "My wife is pregnant. #BlameJerrid." Thank you. Thank you. Very proud. My parents are very proud. 

Jerrid Sebesta: You know, if you follow me on social media, if you watched me on TV, if you googled me back in the day, the internet would tell you that I was killing it. The internet would tell you that I was crushing it. The internet would tell you that I indeed was living the dream. But there was a story that the internet wouldn't tell you if you knew me personally. This is me back in 7th grade. Everybody say, "Aww." Aww. Thank you. 

Jerrid Sebesta: The story that I knew that many people didn't know is that my parents divorced when I was eight years old. My dad moved three states away. I saw him on average two to three times per year. I was raised kind of an only child. My older brother was ten years older than me, so by eight years old, he was out of the house. But even at that young age, he struggled with addiction, incarceration. Still does to this day, almost 40 years later. 

Jerrid Sebesta: The internet would not tell you that I was raised in a trailer by my mom. The internet would not tell you that my mom was the youngest of four, also raised in an alcoholic home with an unloving father, someone who always struggled with depression, anxiety, low self esteem. The internet would not tell you that at eight years old, I had to deal with adult problems against my will. Whether it was up to me or not, adult bad decisions, all the emotional chaos that was happening in my home because of my mom and my brother and the outside world fell into my plate. I was the emotional janitor of my house. 

Jerrid Sebesta: One of my most frequent memories growing up was always encouraging my mom, who always seemed to be crying. "You know, mom, if you get up tomorrow morning and you go to work, it's going to be a better day tomorrow." Sometimes it was, many times it wasn't. And as a result of this, and I just want to clarify, I want to honor my parents with my testimony. Both of my parents are still on planet Earth. I'm very, very proud of that. I don't blame my parents. I don't blame my childhood. I was very well loved. I had what I needed. I was not abused. I did not lack love, but I will tell you that the emotional atmosphere in my home was very, very unsafe and unstable. You never knew what you were going to get. And I'm guessing in a room this size, don't raise your hand, I guarantee you there are people here in this room that can connect with that story. 

Jerrid Sebesta: And so as a result, there are some mindsets, some paradigms that I took on at that time. I didn't know how to explain it, I realize it now, but some of the mindsets that I incorporated because of that was that life happened to me, not for me. The world was against me. It's me against the world. I got nobody coming to save me. It's up to me to keep the emotional and almost literal chaos of the world away from me. I had to create a hedge of protection around me because, again, I didn't have somebody backing me. The stuff was falling into my lap against my will. I don't have autonomy. I don't have freedom. I don't have choice. And so I'm going to do everything I can to keep that buffer up as much as I can, as far as I can, for as long as I can. As a result, I became a perfectionist. I was going to outachieve the chaos and find any way to do it. I'm going to be the polar opposite of all the chaos that I see with my family. The person I became perfectionistic with was myself. I became controlling and protective, not of other people. I didn't try to control the people, but I tried to control my circumstances. 

Jerrid Sebesta: I remember a story when I was young, I was lamenting over an assignment or something like that. I remember my mom saying, "Jerrid, it's good enough," because I would not let this thing go. And I remember saying to her, "Mom, it might be good enough for you, but it's not good enough for me." I took this into my adulthood. Right below the surface was bitterness and anger. I come off as a happy-go-lucky guy, but right below the surface was self pity and bitterness. When I would see that Brady Bunch family having the proverbial Christmas dinner, I figure, why can't I have that? How did I get robbed of that? And so I stuffed this down. I pulled this mindset into my adulthood. 

Jerrid Sebesta: I played basketball at the University of North Dakota. You'll notice I'm very tall. I'm 6'6". I was the eighth tallest guy in my basketball team at 14, by the way. By the way, I was a no-name walk-on from a trailer park in southwest Minnesota. By my senior year at the University of North Dakota, I was a starting co-captain on a full ride scholarship out of sheer grit and determination. 

Jerrid Sebesta: I took that mindset into my TV career. I had very humble beginnings. I started at KDLT TV in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. Anybody from the area? Where are you from? Sioux Falls. You live in KELOLAND, right? This is an inside joke. Sorry about that, hang with me. There's one dominating station that owns the market, true or false? True. It's called what? KELOLAND. You know how hard it was being a weather guy in KELOLAND? Okay, I was at the third place bottom dweller station. Twelve people were watching, at most, per weathercast. In fact, I would bet my co-workers, I was like, "Hey, just drop an f-bomb on the air tonight to even see if anybody notices. I bet you $20 we don't get a single phone call and there's nobody watching." If you're wondering how much I got paid, $9 an hour, and I had to sign a three-year contract saying I wasn't going to leave. That's a prison sentence. That's not a job. I left that job five years later, I left 40 vacation days on the table. When I left, I was not going to fail. 

Jerrid Sebesta: I took that mindset into my marriage. I believe that I've been a pretty good husband and father, but I tend to be critical. I tend to be harsh. I will look for the mistake and I'll be the first one to point it out. You ever been around people like that? Hard to be around, aren't they? I lived that way for many years, and then you fast forward to 2020. Wasn't 2020 a fun year? Can we not do that again, people? Right? 

Jerrid Sebesta: Now, full honesty, I wasn't real afraid of the virus, but I saw what was happening in the political and the social landscape. It terrified me. Remember, I'm a guy who's trying to keep the chaos away. You couldn't outrun COVID, right? You ain't fleeing nowhere without seeing it literally on the faces of everybody, true or false? It affected your businesses, didn't it? And so it scared me to death. And coming out of COVID, I wondered, why is my life this big? Why are there these invisible ceilings on my life everywhere I look? I'm not trying to sound arrogant, but I feel like a pretty motivated guy. I don't lack energy. How come I cannot break through? Have you ever felt that way? You see other people like they're crushing it effortlessly and here I am stuck. And you look in the mirror like, why? How come I can't do it? 

Jerrid Sebesta: I remember going on a walk with my wife. And by the way, I want to acknowledge my wife. Where is she? Where is she hiding? Okay, she's in the back. Can you give Emily a wave? Okay? Now, this is a pretty big deal, okay? I've been doing this for 10 years. This is the first time she's ever heard me speak, okay? So you guys gotta amp it up, alright? Laugh at all my jokes, okay? I've been telling her for 10 years, I'm a big deal. I'm really good at this, but I've never proven it so this is my chance. A lot of pressure on me here. 

Jerrid Sebesta: I remember going on a walk with her one time and I was trying to articulate how I was feeling and I said, "You know, it feels like the world's only getting 15% of me." I don't know why I said 15%, that's what I felt in my spirit. I feel like there's so much inside. I feel like I have so much more to offer the world, and meanwhile, the clock is ticking. By the way, it's my 46th birthday tomorrow. Thank you. 

Jerrid Sebesta: I do not consider myself old, but I'll tell you something happens when you hit your 40s. You start seeing there's a finite amount of time left on planet Earth. Suck it up, buttercup. Let's go. And that haunted me. It haunted me that I was wasting time. I didn't know how to articulate it at that time, but what I realize now is that what I was longing for was for the truest, most authentic self that I was created to become was longing to come out, was desperate to come out. And there was this fight and this friction in my mind between what I saw happening in my life and what I was thinking, and it was reaching a boiling point. It could go on no longer. 

Jerrid Sebesta: Every time you hear a message, a keynote from stage, you should be getting three things. There's three things I want to focus on here today over the next 45 minutes. I want you to understand things, I want you to know things, I want you to feel things, and I want you to do things. This first one we'll call under the heading of What I Want You To Know. Here's what I want you to know, write this down. You are worthy of greatness. Amen? You were created to succeed. Your destiny is the stars. You have a light inside of you that is so special, it's unlike any other way at which you can affect other people, help your clients. No one can do it like you. I'm not asking you, I'm telling you. Somebody in this room needs to hear that. 

Jerrid Sebesta: If you follow me on social media, which I hope you do, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, pick your poison, I went on a tirade earlier this year just talking about this concept of light. I love this idea of light. I don't know about you, I don't know what faith camp you subscribe to, but I believe the light of the Creator, the Source, God, Yahweh, Hanukkah, Harry, Jesus, whatever you call Him, don't get caught up in what I'm telling you today, there is something powerful inside of you and it comes from that source. 

Jerrid Sebesta: Have you ever seen that video? It's floating around Facebook and Instagram. It's of, I'm gonna get weird on you guys, you ready to get weird? Okay, cool. It's a magnified video of literally a sperm cell. I told you it was gonna get weird. Conceiving an egg in high power magnification, hyper slowed down. What happens at the moment of conception? There's a spark. There's a flash of light. I find this magnificent. 

Jerrid Sebesta: I've googled why it happens and scientists say it has something to do with zinc chloride interacting with some other chemical, blah, blah, blah. Trust the science, right? I'm choosing to believe it's the light of an infinite source coming to fruition the moment you are conceived in your mother's womb. And every time that that little embryo, I think that's what it's called, splits and splits and splits again, that means every single cell in your body at the divine subatomic level has light. That means your entire fabric in which you exist in this physical form is actually filled with light. Fact. Scientists. I used to be a weatherman, so I'm kind of a mad scientist, so I can speak on this. That's a joke. Remember, laugh harder. She's back there watching, okay? Scientists to this day still don't fully understand how the protons, neutrons, and electrons of an atom actually are held together. They still really don't know. They can only submit that there is some "magical force” holding them together. 

Jerrid Sebesta: I live on a hobby farm just north of Willmar, Minnesota. Whoop whoop! Okay? Half of Minnesota's here actually. But I had to cut down a tree a number of months ago. And underneath this discombobulated pile of vegetation is actually a tree stump that I cut down a number of years ago, okay? It doesn't look like that. By the way, I'm not growing marijuana. I've been accused of that. That's a weed, not the weed. But I promise you underneath there is actually a tree stump and if I would not go out into my pasture and cut down the branches and the saplings that relentlessly grow from this tree stump multiple times a year, the saplings would be going over my head every single year. This thing will not die. I've cut holes in it, I've cut grooves in it, I've set it on fire, and it grows relentlessly. Why? Because that's the nature of creation, is to grow, thrive, and expand. Write this down. 

For more of this episode, listen on Apple or Spotify Podcasts.