everybody welcome into another episode of vision
pros live i'm your show host jackson callum founder
and ceo of first class business and i'm really
excited to have billy stitt on the show today
uh this guy's got a bacon company uh like how
how much better can it get? And he's got a restaurant.
He's got a lot of background in farming and family
and values. And the amount that we get to learn
today isn't just about how to dream up a vision
or even just produce a vision, but his background
in these different industries means that he becomes
a potentially powerful mentor for anybody who's
willing to reach out to him and talk to him.
And that's really what his MO was. As he talked
to me about coming on the show is he wants to
be connected to more podcasters. He wants podcasters
and audiences. to realize how fun it can be to
work with him and talk to him. And so I don't
know where all of his ambitions and dreams are
taking him and what he's up to in that regard,
but maybe we'll get into that too right when
I bring him back on. So before I bring Billy
back on, a couple of other fantastic resources
to be aware of and to tune into. One is Dr. Shannon
and Dr. Justin Pierce of Journey to Wellness.
I've known them for eight years now. I met them
at a conference of chiropractors and holistic
professionals that I spoke at years ago. We stayed
in touch, stayed friends. I had a couple of friends
and family members who had some serious health
issues. And Shannon's known for curing and helping
with health issues that were incurable, that
nobody could work with. And all three of the
people that I sent to her. um when i followed
up with them just raved about what they learned
and what they were to uncover about their health
and i was able to see the transition like the
transformation they had so it was such an honor
when they decided that they wanted to work with
me back in november um it's been and it's been
eight years coming but if you've got a health
issue or especially those of you who are women
That's what Shannon's specialty is, helping women
overcome fatigue and anxiety and health issues.
And secondary, we've got Jennifer Reed's company
up here, Practice Makes Permanent. Jennifer Reed
is a cultural facilitator. She helps companies
understand EQ and IQ and emotional intelligence
and spirit. I said EQ and IQ, EQ and SQ, emotional
intelligence and spiritual intelligence and incorporate
that in the workplace in order to bless the lives
of families. She firsthand learned a very hard
lesson. about emotional intelligence and about
being there for your family and making sure you're
doing the right things. She lost her son to suicide
just over a year ago. And that's what inspired
her to say, you know what, I'm going to dive
in as much as I can to learn about emotional
intelligence and spiritual intelligence. And
I can tell you the things that I've learned from
Jennifer have made a... phenomenal impact on
my life. And she's been training in one of the
most difficult organizations, in my opinion,
that exists out there. She's been working for
the IRS for more than 20 years, I believe. I
can't remember if it's 20 years exactly or not,
but that's one of those areas where... you know,
making a difference and, and showing up to work
with the right attitude. If you get the chance
to meet her, you'll see exactly what I'm talking
about. And if she can go about saving more families
and making sure that parents are more prepared
to help their children at home, then she's going
to do just that. So I believe in her full force
and hope you get the chance to meet her as well.
then there's the water project you can see right
there in my hand the water project is something
that i support every single month um and i've
never been thirsty in my life but when i found
out there's millions of kids and and families
that don't have access to clean water and it
affects their lives and disrupts it and there's
an entity that's actually willing to do something
about it what was really cool i gave like 20
bucks the first time to a specific entity or
a specific project And they actually sent me
social media posts about the project update and
what they were doing to educate the people to
keep up with this water well that they were building.
It's called a borehole well. They teach you about
it and you get to see the community transformation.
We're talking about a contribution that helps
generations of people with their life. So if
you've got another cause you'd like to see us
support. then by all means, let us know about
it. I'm going to get back to supporting your
cause right now of how to build your vision out
by interviewing some of these great guests. So
Billy, thanks for joining me on Vision Pros Live.
I really appreciate being here, man. Happy to
be here. This is a really good setting. I'm enjoying
this. Well, go ahead, man. Me too. You know,
the family aspect, I think a lot of people forget
or overlook the reality of how important family
is. Your father. Helped you out. And then two,
the community was smart enough to also get involved
in the community, ask you what things you wanted.
So those are all huge impacts already for us
as visionaries. I want to steer you down some
of the restaurant path because that's where I
want to go. But I also know better than to do
that. This may be our last time to talk about
vision and what vision means to you and how you
can help others with it. So I'd rather give you
a clean slate, a clean canvas. What do you want
to talk about? to help visionaries out there
bring their goodwill to life? Oh, gosh. There's
some in the visionary category. I'm kind of a
geek in regards to writing my plans down. I have
the worst handwriting in the world, but when
computers came along, that helped me a lot because
now I can read my notes. I've been working off
one plan that I started. I actually started journaling
in high school, but where it really got detailed
and I really put it to paper and I'm still working
off that same plan was one that I started when
I was 18 years old as a freshman at Ole Miss.
And that's where I said, you know what, I'm going
to work hard for as many people as I can. And
I'm going to one day own my own restaurant and
one day own my own brand. And by putting it on
paper, I don't think I would be where I'm, believe
me, I'm definitely struggling in a lot of ways.
But I would have never started it and I wouldn't
be where I am today if I didn't put it on paper.
Hmm. Ideas down and don't ever throw your old
notes away. Um, you know, there's nothing wrong
with editing them, but keep your original copy.
I love that. I'm a big fan of writing as well.
Um, you guys can see right here when I'm, when
I look distracted, it's cause I'm, I'm writing.
Oh, that's a huge, huge component of, uh, of
two. What, what it brings me joy, um, satisfaction
and peace in my life. You mentioned the word
struggle. We might have time to come back to
that. But you also said something that I think
a lot of people miss out on in life. But you
caught it from an early age. You said you want
to help as many people as you can. Why do you
care? What drove you to care and why do you care?
Caring for others was instilled. In my family,
from my grandparents to my parents, my brother,
every one of them, I mean, they got up in the
morning and it wasn't all about them. They got
up in the morning wanting to help people. And
it was just, we just watched, we watched my mother
and father constantly. Just doing things for
others. If it wasn't just for us, when my brother
and I were kids, it was just, you know, when
we would get picked up at the ballpark from some
sort of sporting event, both my mom and dad,
they wouldn't just grab us and go. They would
look around to make sure that some kid wasn't
getting left. Because there was always somebody
that, you know, somebody forgot to pick them
up or they didn't have anybody to pick them up.
Or, you know, when we were in scouting or. or
sports or anything we just you know and and then
the customers that my dad worked with were they
weren't just customers to him they were his friends
and they were involved you know they were community
-minded people that were you know yeah they were
making money and they're driving their business
but that wasn't what it all what was to them
it was you know how do i how do i make my community
better how do i how do i create a company or
how do I take my vision? To have a vision and
to have a company, you have to have people. If
you can bring on people and they become part
of your company family and you learn what their
goals and visions are and you tell them, this
is only as far as I can go with this company.
This is as much as I can pay. This is what I
can offer. If we get to here, I can do more.
If we're just going to maintain and stay where
we are, this is as far as I can go. So when it
comes time for you to decide to do something
different, I hope you don't just disappear. I
hope you try to find a way to do what I call
graduate, where you come to me. And let me back
up for a minute. When I worked for the folks
at a restaurant in Oxford, Mississippi, I graduated
from college. I worked with them all through
college. I was studying hospitality. I wanted
to be a chef. I wanted to run restaurants and
I approached them and I said, you know, I've
learned so much here. I really, really like it,
but I want to get out and see the world. I want
to do some different things. And they said, OK,
great. But let's let us help you. So they said,
if you'll agree to give us X amount of time,
we will help you find what you want to do and
make a great decision. But you need to help us
also train someone to do what you do. And I was
like, that's great. So we looked at everything
from McDonald's to Marriott. And we studied all
these different companies. And Ruby Tuesdays,
which was owned by Morrison's Cafeterias at the
time, kept popping up. So just to have owners
of a small company to not just look at me and
say, well, the guy wants to leave, he's gone.
I'll never forget that. So when people that work
with me decide they want to do something different,
I hope they'll give me a chance to help them.
I mean, just don't just disappear. There's a
lot of people out there just disappear and they
don't give their boss a chance to help them.
Since they help them, they want to help them
also. It's huge. A lot of people never learn
that either, Billy, on the entrepreneurial side.
You know, it's so cool to see that you've had
so many great mentors that knew how to do that.
You know, the e -myth, Michael Gerber talks about
that exact type of experience of understanding.
how to delegate well by taking great care of
the people who are helping you build um you know
making sure you're staying in touch with what
is it they're doing and they're prepared and
good friend of mine uh craig hanley um he's he's
got a fortune 500 company um called listen trust
and they wrote a book called um hired to quit
inspired to stay um and they make sure that everybody
they bring in knows that you're not You're not
necessarily meant to be here long term. You got
ambitions and goals and things you want to do.
We want to help you get there. And that inspires
those people to say, wow, I belong here. And
so you're a living, breathing example of that
as well. So I guess it would be easy for somebody
like me to think, OK, your your vision is just
to inspire people to enjoy the taste of bacon.
Right. Enjoy the taste of food. But I don't want
to limit you. What's your vision for those that
you serve? And you serve multiple audiences,
so feel free to expand. You know, Billy's has
become so much more than just a hamburger joint
or a personal chef experience or a slice of bacon.
It's a family. You know, we have, you know, 30
to 40 people that come and go through my doors
every day that work here. And the restaurant's
been doing this for 13 years and the baking company
for eight years. And I just, I want to expand.
I want to grow the restaurant to where we can
open Little Billy's. I want to go east to Pensacola,
Destin, and the 30A area with three little billies,
and I want to go west to Mobile and Ocean Springs,
Mississippi, Covington, Louisiana, all places
that I could drive to and be home in my own bed
at night and open little billies, a small bacon
and burger joint, fast, casual little concept.
I want to get that mastered, and then I want
to push north to small college towns and large
college towns. and grow the brand there. And
then with the bacon company, I get to where I
can really put a road show together and travel
around the country talking about bacon and talking
about the hospitality and how the hospitality
industry and bacon is what I'm about and have
my distributors that help me get my bacon to
people support me along the way. So for example,
I've got a good old Winnebago pulling a trailer
with my old 1958 Chevy Apache with a kitchen
in the back of it. Pull into Dallas, Texas and
park it at some mall or whatnot and, you know,
walk out of the back of my sleeper van and grab
about 50 pounds of product and put it into my
pickup truck and drive to some festival or show
or some major street corner. And I pull up and
start cooking bacon. And it just, I've done it
a few times and it's just, it's a really cool
experience. And I want to be invited to festivals
and shows and be an MC. I want to, you know,
I just want to show up and talk about pork belly
and the fun about it. That is awesome. That is
just living. That reminds me of the four -hour
work week without the... without the push of
like being lazy um you know it's the exact opposite
it's like being tenacious with purpose though
that creates a a wonderful life so you mentioned
hospitality my first article on linkedin ever
it's probably got like eight views on it um it
talks about how if if you want to be you want
to hire successfully hire out of the hospitality
industry i am right there with you the hospitality
industry bless my life so well And you brought
up struggle. Let's circle back to the struggle.
I'll lead the way. I had a co -host that was
learning a lot with me as he was helping me grow
Vision Pros Live out. As we were going through
some big growing pains and financially just wasn't
there. I know lots of challenges. We invest a
lot to make these episodes come out and to build
our brands and build other brands. And he said,
Jackson, it's a real shame what we haven't been
able to accomplish. And I said, well, what do
you mean? What do you mean by that? And he let
me know and he was referring specifically finance,
finance, finance. And I said, well, I don't think
it's a shame at all. I'm really grateful for
where we're at. And he said, what do you mean?
So we have over 30 families on payroll for over
a year and a half now. And none of them could
have ever had the opportunities that they have
today. They got job stability. They got security.
They've all got raises. They've never dreamed
like they've dreamed until now. And we continue
to grow. And we'll continue to get better and
learn along the way. And top 5 % podcast, et
cetera, all that stuff. But at the end of the
day, man, the families whose lives we've blessed,
why would I ever take that for granted? On your
side, you mentioned some struggles, but some
of your story is also just kind of larger than
life. I know you've been able to build some pretty
amazing things in my eyes. So you want to talk
to that? Talk about that? Well, I mean, talking
about struggles kind of makes you feel like a
country song. Feel free to spin it. I've really
tried hard to not. Go that route because I've
told those stories so many times. Well, how do
you keep the positive and the fun as front and
center in the middle of struggles? Let's go there.
You know, somebody I love very much told me one
morning that they didn't understand how I could
be so positive with all the negative around me.
And, you know, anybody that's ever worked with
me. whatever day it is i walk in and i say happy
wednesday happy thursday happy friday um you
know let's make today awesome you know tell me
something awesome what's going on in your world
and i mean it when i say those things um and
it doesn't surprise me when somebody slows me
down and pulls me around the corner they break
down into tears about something horrible that
happened and um and uh I guess I've been through
a lot. I'm still going through a lot. It's definitely
part of the story. All of the struggles that
I've had have definitely made me stronger. I'm
definitely not a quitter. I just, I guess I thought
owning my own restaurant was just going to be
this just nonstop easy money. And that's not
been the case at all. uh i i i thought uh x amount
of dollars was going to be enough to do my plan
you might as well multiply that times a lot more
uh and um timing has always been different you
know when i i yeah we you know we get things
going right and then i had somebody take a bunch
of money from me at an event. That's still a
mystery as to who did it. One day I'll find out,
but it was all gone. That put me into a financial
turmoil. I had a federal agency decide that we
needed to make a bunch of changes on my property.
I lost you for a minute there, Billy. Can you
hear me now? We can hear you now. So you're at
an event. Somebody took some money. Continue
on that. That was just shame on me kind of thing.
They were supposedly putting the money in the
bank every day. That all disappeared. And then
after that, I had an ADA came in and told me
I had to do all this stuff. And that was just,
you know, I couldn't quit. So I had to find a
way to do what all they said. And that was a
nightmare. When everything was, you know, and
then, you know, busted up marriage. I lost my
father and I didn't handle that well. He was
my best friend. He was my everything. And I just
really was not healthy. I was way overweight.
I was just not where I needed to be. And everything
was spinning around me. Things just, but I just
kept plugging and praying and talking through
it. And slowly, you know, the guy above, he's
got a better plan than I do. And he just guided
me and the restaurants turned around and we've
got it to where it's doing really well. The bacon
company is doing well, but needs to scale. Just.
Just a whole lot of things will hit you, but
you still got to get up and go to work. I couldn't
just lay down and hide. I didn't mean to get
off on a negative tangent there. You're just
telling me about the man above helping in some
serious life situations, things that most people
go through, at least one, two, or three of the
things that you're talking about, and this may
be the message that they need today. Well, things
are going to happen to you along the way that
you have no control over, but you still have
to own them. And that's broken marriages, loss
of a loved one, financial disasters, and people
that you care about are going to steal from you.
And strangers are going to do things to you when
you're a giving person. Those are going to happen
to all of us. It's just you got to get up and
you got to keep moving. I mean, there are so
many weeks and months where I did everything
I could to make sure everybody that worked here
got paid. And I knew I wasn't going to get paid
or write myself a check and write it right back.
It's just brutal. But when you start seeing some
things, some things fell into my lap that really,
really helped me out. When I started making my
bacon that everybody loved it, I had a really
large hotel in the area come to me and say, we
want to buy your bacon, but not only want to
buy it, we want to get it to a distributor. So
that helped put me on the map. And then so that
little company is just grow, grow, growing. And
now we went from being this little bitty company
that made bacon for ourself and we're selling
it out the door to getting USDA certified. And
now we're in five different distribution warehouses.
We're sold by Gold Belly all over the country.
We're constantly winning awards. And I get these
just fun and exciting, crazy emails, texts and
phone calls from. some foodie or some chef that
just says i had your bacon it's unbelievable
and uh i i just i love talking about it and um
so my vision is to grow the restaurant company
and to scale the bacon company and to all of
those to follow underneath the billy's umbrella
to where i can get out and share my bacon and
share my story and possibly be invited by you
know a different company that has an event they
just need somebody to come in and motivate their
people i know i didn't sound very motivating
talking about my struggles but uh i think the
opposite the opposite's true billy um it depends
on what people are going through at the time
so you've got you got the dynamic of being able
to do both and that's an unfair advantage in
the market um and so i hope you leverage it because
you got a powerful story that can help uplift
people who maybe feel hopeless And then you got
that super helpful dynamic as well. And that
attitude of I'm going to bring the fun today
too. Right. You got to have a good time. One
other thing I wanted to add in there is I work
for a corporate restaurant company and corporate
restaurant is a bad word. I agree with that.
You know, anyone else would jump at the chance
to hire somebody from Applebee's, Chili's, Ruby
Tuesday's or Charlie's because they're trained.
Absolutely. When the food network started progressing,
you know, they, they really. turned everybody
into a foodie and then they just made those brands
bad, which is not true. But I realized that if
I was going to grow within that major organization,
that I had to really sell myself and I had to
be able to do something better than other people
were doing. And I identified the to -go part
of the Ruby Tuesdays chain as a huge opportunity
to just... take a business within the business
and just blow it up. So I did it within my one
restaurant and then my entire district. And then
I got an opportunity to become the national director
of to go and catering for Ruby Tuesdays. And
that was exciting. And that was just great people
running that organization that saw that I was
passionate about doing something. And they said,
let's, we don't really know what to do with this
guy, but let's take him and let's let him help
us grow this part. It was an amazing experience
for me. I'll never forget it. I mean, I didn't
want to leave that company, but I knew that I
couldn't move to where they wanted me to move
and I needed to stay where I was. So I was able
to basically retire and start my own gig. That's
awesome. That's awesome. And it brings a lot
of hope to a lot of people who've got a lot of
big ambitions and plans. And it doesn't matter
if we're 20 or 80. um there's still opportunities
for us and there's a lot of purpose to fulfill
so i'm i'm truly inspired by your story i hope
we continue to catch up i got a chef named billy
joe wilson down in texas who uh grow i guess
i should say up in texas a great friend of mine
phenomenal individual phenomenal chef i'd hire
him full -time to be my chef if i could so we'll
see what comes out of that and other relationships
but vision pros um you know it's it's this is
just a prime example not knowing what to expect
on an experience getting to know each other um
you know swapping friendship stories and then
seeing what you can do to to help each other's
vision come to reality and and bless other people
out there so thank you for all you provide today
billy i'll give you the final word um any last
fortune cookie piece of advice you'd like to
give to vision pros yeah um tell your story again
and again and again um share your vision and
uh And don't hold back. I mean, if you're going
to do something, do it all the way. And work
for as many people as you possibly can. And always
exit in a positive way. Love it. And you heard
it from the man behind Billy's Bacon. If you
see it on shelves. purchase it. If you don't
go onto the website, I'm sure he's got distribution,
uh, come in different formats, but, uh, and let's
get ahold of Jim Gaffigan. Let's get him in this
lineup so that he can tell us how he feels about
it. We'll see you guys soon. Enjoy your days
and keep enjoying building out your vision. Thank
you for being here today. I'm really happy that
you tuned in to vision pros live. I'm looking
forward to seeing your reactions as these episodes
continue to move forward. This is going to get
more and more fun. We'll have more and more engagement
as well. We'll invite people to participate in.
show and thank you for giving us your time and
attention. Have an excellent time building out
your vision and becoming a vision pro yourself.