CHARLOTTE AMALIE — Although musician Jimmy Buffett’s wealth is nowhere near the roughly $83 billion held by legendary investor Warren Buffett, the two Buffetts share both a family name and an ability to succeed. Is it possible they’re related?
After all, Margaritaville is no longer a fictional place for those who’ve had one too many frothy boat drinks: It’s now a empire comprised of branded hotels, restaurants, beer and merchandise emblazoned with slogans like “it’s five o’ clock somewhere.”
It’s lucrative, too. Jimmy Buffett was worth an estimated $550 million as of 2016, according to Forbes. And the 71-year-old has become “a well-preserved businessman” who wears shoes almost everywhere nowadays and is richer than fellow musician Bruce Springsteen, according to a colorful new profile in the New York Times.
So Jimmy and Warren did have cause to wonder if they were perhaps related, and they even took a 23andMe DNA test together to find out, The Times reports.
The results came back negative, but the two men remained friends and continued to refer to each other as “Uncle Warren” and “Cousin Jimmy.” Warren even offered Jimmy some advice on how to build a successful business as he escalated Margaritaville from a song into a lifestyle.
The CEO’s advice was simple yet resonant: “Management in place.”
By that, he meant that Jimmy should choose business opportunities that make sense for his brand and hire good people to run them. He shouldn’t try and do everything himself.
It’s a mindset that often separates millionaires from the middle class. The rich get richer by setting up multiple streams of income and hiring smart people to take over day-to-day tasks. Their less-successful counterparts are often afraid to do the same because they believe things won’t get done right unless they attend to tasks personally.
“The belief that you must do everything yourself puts extreme limits on your financial potential,” writes Keith Cameron Smith in “The Top 10 Distinctions Between Millionaires and the Middle Class.” “Having a belief that no one can do it as well as you is ignorance. The world is full of talented people.”
“Management in place” underscores the idea that, for your venture to truly grow, you may need to start putting more faith into the people who work for and under you. As Smith writes, millionaires “believe they can find someone who can do it not only as well as they can, but even better!”
Although Jimmy has taken that advice to heart in some ways — he now employs more than 5,000 people — he still chooses to be pretty hands-on. “I think it was just the way I was brought up in a seafaring family,” he told The Times. “I wanted to be in charge, like a captain of the boat.”
For now, Jimmy’s biggest focus is the Broadway debut of his new musical, “Escape to Margaritaville,” which promises Parrotheads an authentic taste of the laid-back lifestyle upon which his brand is built, frothy boat drinks and all.