The Intern at His Best
In February, when Gamble Shadday submitted his resume, I learned that he had worked at Worldcast Anglers in Idaho the summer before. “What was that like?” I asked. He explained that he was an employee in the fly shop, he assessed the inventory (I had done this at Orvis in Jackson Hole many summers ago) and graduated from their fly fishing guide school. And, all I really needed to know was if he had learned enough customer service to be able to work intuitively with our sales brokers and the marketing team. Gamble was sure he could fit in. He grew up in Rome, Georgia, and had been employed as a yard worker and farm hand on twenty acres of land. His resume, including attending Auburn University, showed he was shooting for a Bachelor of Science in Business, majoring in Marketing. After checking his personal and work references (calling Worldcast too), I felt optimistic. When I reached out to offer him the internship position, I was received with boisterous cheers of excitement. “Now all you have to do is finish the semester, then we will see you this summer…”
Then the pandemic hit. We held our annual Live Water Properties broker workshop online in April. After that our employees isolated themselves in their offices or worked from home. In some cases both. I delayed calling Gamble. One day in late May, I called his cell to check in with him. “There is very little travel right now, only what is necessary for work. What are you thinking about for the internship position?” Well apparently, we were “necessary” to his advancement in education and life. Gamble stated, “Yes, I’m still planning on it.” I paused, thinking he’s kidding. I thought of my employees and mentioned it would be best if he quarantined once he arrived. “Yes, of course I will,” he said.
He arrived out West, spent time alone, and then instantly was on the team. Physically, he was tall, cut like an athlete and shared his big smiles. He was eager to get started. We planned on him helping with listing expirations, assisting with the organization of property video footage and aiding in the purchase of our company schwag orders. Suddenly we were commenting amongst the team, “Independence and organization are two qualities we look for in an intern, and Gamble has no shortage of either.”
By late June, it was about showings...we were starting to have customers drive out to see the ranches for sale, touring them, and then, engaging in negotiations. A shift was taking place as people became more comfortable on land out West: the spaciousness, the anonymity and the overwhelming beauty after sheltering from Covid.
One morning, I got a text, “I’m running late, there’s major traffic on Teton Pass, much more than normal.” Gamble was working on several initiatives, and he said he’d be in as quickly as he could. Enthusiasm spread wherever he walked; every project we brought to him was new and exciting.
The extra traffic that day was a sign of what was to come, a boom in tourism, a boom in real estate. People were looking to escape cities, and Jackson Hole and resort towns were at the top of their lists. And July turned to August, and that’s when our interns usually leave to go back to college...however, there’s nothing that goes more opposite than the norm than Covid. Many college students had options. Gamble had been peppering me weekly, “If I can start online, can I stay and work longer?” And thus, we had a college senior taking classes, living far from the college dorm, and working for us.
We had the opportunity to get to know Gamble. He learned how we work too, and even though his words showed up in an email that I read across my screen, I can almost hear Gamble’s Southern voice saying: “One of the most significant benefits of interning for Live Water was learning a lot about what it takes to succeed in the real estate market. Live Water is very respected and will continue to be one of the best ranch real estate companies for good reason. Spending valuable time with different people who make quality sales was a great learning experience.”