It Worked for Me

My Life Seizing Opportunity and Building Success

De: Jeff Burgess

Narrado por: Jeff Burgess

What if one conversation could change your entire life?

In 1979, Jeff Burgess was a 22-year-old college dropout drifting through life in a haze of beer, weed, and dead-end jobs. He was the "town clown" with an undeniable work ethic but no clear direction. Then, on a lazy Sunday afternoon, his father called him home for a talk that would shake him to his core: "You have a gift, and I cannot allow you to waste it anymore. It’s time to get your shit together."

From that moment, everything changed. Armed with a relentless drive, a knack for problem-solving, and a newfound determination to make something of himself, Jeff set out to prove his father right. Within two years, he skyrocketed from warehouse worker to Vice President of Sales at a booming tech company. By the time he retired, he had built a global business supplying surveillance video recording appliances to both the most iconic and the secure sites in the world.

It Worked for Me is the inspiring, no-nonsense story of how an underachiever transformed into an industry leader—one who thrived not by playing it safe, but by embracing risk, trusting his gut, and always finding a way forward.

If you've ever felt stuck, uncertain, or like success was just out of reach, this book will show you how to seize your own turning point.

Are you ready to take charge of your future? Pick up a copy today!

ALL proceeds for It Worked for Me will go directly to the Wounded Warrior Project.

About Jeff Burgess
From outhouse to penthouse.... He’s that guy who started in the embryonic stages of the computer industry way back in 1979 as a non-college graduate warehouse manager, selling his way to the top as the CEO of his own $100M company.

His story is about all those bumps and bruises along the way, and the lessons learned honing his uncanny ability to turn opportunities into successes.

©2025 Jeff Burgess (P)2025 Jeff Burgess

Fired by his own father to a global success!

“It Worked For Me” is the story of one man’s success and the scale he achieved despite being fired by his own father.

Author Jeff Burgess was a college dropout, living with a buddy jumping from job to job as he couldn’t seem to hold anything down, or take anything serious enough to be successful. After being fired by his own father, Jeff was then forced to spend the next three hours in his dad’s office, waiting for his ride home, his dad, to be done with work. This is the pivotal moment Burgess attributes to a lot of his success. In those three hours between being fired and waiting for his father, Burgess received invaluable sales experience. Learning the job is 99% confidence and 1% BS, this moment was a catalyst for what would one day become a successful global company.

Pivoting to new job, just a few towns over, Burgess soon began working as a member of the warehouse team for Tek-Aids, a computer peripherals distributor. Quickly making the job his own, cleaning up, organizing, and mentally taking stock of what was moving quickly on and off of the floor, he soon became invaluable to the sales team and distributors directly. Embracing his new role, he built bonds, mentors, and relationships that lasted the rest of his career as he quickly moved through the company. Whether recounting the connections he made or the deals he helped achieve, the lessons Burgess relates to readers are lasting. Because haggling on price is fleeting, it’s the value add where everything comes together, something Burgess learned firsthand and has utilized so well over the course of his career.

As readers follow Burgess down to Austin, TX, at the forefront of the technology revolution, and back to Illinois for a proposal to his still wife in a Lou Malnati’s pizza, “It Worked For Me” is both a one-of-a-kind biographical experience and revolutionary business guide. Gaining experiences, insights and networks that would serve him well throughout his career, readers see the lost, attention seeking teen that set off a roman candle in the hallway to the enlightened roman candle in the tech world that he quickly became. “It Worked For Me” shows the power of doing the right thing, standing by your work and being a trusted partner. Product knowledge and expertise combine for a business success that Burgess has had the pleasure of experiencing, offering more than just products but solutions that keep customers coming back.

Never failing to acknowledge the important women in his life, Burgess highlights the roles they’ve played, both through their mentorship and in supporting, and boosting, his career. Recognizing the part so many played in his success. Offering insights into sales, confidence, and at times a necessary deflection, Burgess always keeps his eyes on his own father and the important skills, lessons, and kick in the butt that has served him extraordinarily well throughout his life.

Laughing in parts, cringing at others, Burgess may have been selling computers on the outside, but on the inside, he gave so much more. Sharing with readers for the first time, “It Worked For Me” teaches valuable business and sales lessons with a story that is unforgettable.