211. Success Demands Your Commitment

Hey. Hey. Welcome back to Friday Bullpen Sessions. My name is Andy Neary and this is episode 211. Today I'm going to talk about success and the fact that success demands your commitment. As I've mentioned in earlier episodes, when I do these Friday Bullpen Session episodes, it's just me solo, part time, or sometimes it's tactics, sometimes it's mindset. This week's episode is definitely focused on mindset. And that mindset I'm going to hone in on today is your commitment to your own success. And let me set the stage of where this topic for the week came up. Last week, I had two circumstances that led me to want to talk about this topic. One I would call positive. One I would call negative. And when I think about the positive, I spent two glorious days last week with the one, the only, Kareem Cade. If you're in the insurance industry, mainly the health insurance industry, and you have not met Kareem Cade before, I highly encourage you to take time to reach out to him on LinkedIn. He is one, a great human being, but number two, one of the most energetic people you are ever going to meet. And, and I had Kareem out here in Colorado visiting for two days because we're working on a little project. Yeah, we're gonna be putting together an awesome program for the insurance industry heading into next year. One of the things he and I are both dedicated to is making sure that the insurance industry's future leadership is trained correctly. It's a gap he and I both agree exists, and it's a gap he and I are both committed to. Now I just said the word committed and that's what I want to talk about today. Because today's topic not only came as a result of spending two days with Kareem, because he and I both believe success requires commitment. There's no way you cannot. There's no way you can succeed without a high level of commitment. But let me talk about the negative reason why I wanted to talk about today's episode or wanted to use commitment as the precipice of today's episode.

Last week, I happened to have a chance to jump on two discovery calls with advisors who were looking out or reaching out to me for help, and they feel a bit stuck right now. They want to build brand recognition with their prospects, and so I took the time to jump on two discovery calls with them. My discovery calls last roughly 30 minutes, and my goal when I host my discovery calls with a prospective advisor agency is I want to learn what your goals are, what your challenges are, what would it mean if you could achieve your goals? But then I'm going to walk you through our complete game marketing playbook program and to see if it's a fit for you. And so I jumped on a call with two different advisors last week, eager to learn about their goals. And quickly I found both calls to get sidetracked. And the reason they got sidetracked is it was very obvious these two advisors were not focused. In fact, I can distinctly remember the second conversation I had with an advisor where I was trying to explain to him my our program how it works, how we think we could be a good fit for him based on the goals and the challenges he had just laid out for me. And as I was describing our program, he not only wasn't paying attention to me, he was checking his email. He was like Pavlov's dog being succumbed to all the dings on his smartphone notification. And I quickly became frustrated, to be honest with you, and when I should have probably just asked him if we should reschedule because I could tell he was not focused, I kept going on with my presentation, which probably was my own fault. But it really made me realize.

Though he tells me he wants help, his actions are telling me he's not committed to making it happen. And that's what I wanted to share with you today, was when you look at where you are right now in your insurance career.

You'Re either in one of three places. You are kicking ass.

Far exceeding your goals and expectations at this point in your career. And if that's you, hey, keep on keeping on.

You're on target. You know, you could be doing a little better, and you just need that one unlock that is going to take your career to the next level. Or you're stuck, which is where I see a lot of advisors sitting right now. I think you and I can both agree that coming off the pandemic, selling isn't as easy in the insurance industry as it used to be. There was a time cold calls were a bit more effective. Emails were more effective. Heck, it's hard to get people to jump on a webinar right now because we're all exhausted from zoom, and you have to figure out a different strategy to grab your prospect's attention. And so no matter where you are on that spectrum, whether you are absolutely having a banner year or you're absolutely stuck right now.

Your commitment to success is going to determine how far you go and how high you rise. And so when I go back to this conversation I had with this gentleman, it was very, very obvious to me he was not focused, which made it very obvious to me he's not committed to his success. He's not committed to doing what it's going to take to have success. In this case, build brand recognition. That's what the question I want to pose to you today is. Number one, how successful do you want to be?

Now, I'm going to share a few tips that have helped me get laser focused on my commitment that I think could help you get that focus that you may be lacking right now. But I'm also going to be very honest with you. Commitment can't always be taught.

Commitment often has to come from within. Now, I don't think it's something you're born with, but I do believe commitment is something that you have to develop from within. And there aren't too many external solutions that are going to help you create that commitment you're looking for. I'm going to give you a couple. But at the end of the day, I truly believe that the commitment you need has to come from within. And hey.

If you're not committed, if you're in this insurance gig to pay the bills, to make some money, put food on your family, put food on your table, you're not all that in love with what you're selling. All the more power to you. I'll tell you, that's not a place I think you want to be right now.

So when you think about your commitment.

The first question you need to ask yourself is, how.

Successful do you want to be?

Are you satisfied with where you are at right now? If you're like me, you jumped into the insurance industry because you saw an opportunity to create a lifestyle career. And there is absolutely nothing wrong with that.

But I think the mistake that many advisors make when they get in is they think that success is going to come quickly. They look at folks who've been doing it for 10, 15, 20 plus years and they look at the lifestyle they have built, right? The cars, the houses, the ability to go out and play golf a couple days a week. And you want that right now.

But you have to remember that success for them was not overnight.

And so the first thing you have to do is level set where you're at and ask yourself, are you happy with your current success? If the answer is yes, great. If you're not, how successful do you actually want to be?

Because if you're setting lofty goals right now, and I hope you are.

The only way you are going to hit those goals is if your level of commitment matches the level of success you want to have.

If you're just looking for the easy button right now, you're looking for that silver bullet, that one tactical hack that is going to help you have short term success. That is not commitment.

You have to figure out what it's going to take. How much time and money are you willing to invest to go all in on your career? To go all in on your success? The timing of this conversation is perfect because I am recording this on Monday, November 14th. You are about to wrap up 2022 and head on into a new year. New goals, fresh start, a chance to have the best year you have ever had. But. But that only happens if your level of commitment is going to match the level of success you want to have.

So here are a couple tips I want to give you that I believe have helped me make sure my level of commitment matches the level of success I want to have. And I'm going to go back and I'm going to share a story with you that I've shared often on this podcast. But I think it's going to really draw home the point I am making today about how committed you have to be. It was October, late September, early October 2020. So right in the middle of the pandemic, at that time I had actually lost a few clients. I was still very, very new in this company with Complete Game Consulting and one of my biggest clients had just got acquired and I found out I was no longer going to be one of their outside contractors they had hired to coach their membership, the people that they had in their community. And so I lost a really big client and late September I found myself with very few clients. Now at that time I was still, I still had a book of business for my benefits advising career that I was earning income from and I was advising. But I knew the time was coming near that I was going to have to get rid of that book of business if I wanted to go all in on this Complete Game Consulting gig. And so here I sat with very few clients, the Complete Game consulting side, not enjoying what I was doing on the benefit advising side. And I felt absolutely stuck. In fact, I remember sitting in this very room I'm doing this podcast from, wondering if this business I was building was actually a reality or is it going to, would it be easier for me to just go back and do what I've always been doing, which is being a benefit advisor? And it was in that moment I made a very important decision this is where the level of commitment comes in. In that moment, I realized that if I was going to make this a reality, I had to go all in. I had to go all in on my commitment. And that meant time and that meant money. So I made the decision to make a bet on myself. And that decision involved three investments of both time and money. The first investment.

Was to make the decision that I, at the end of the year, I was going to get rid of my book of business. Now, that was scary because that was bringing in a nice little monthly recurring income. And I knew that at the beginning of the year, that income would be going away if I made this decision to get rid of it. But I had to. If I was going to make complete game consulting a success, I had to go all in on this gig. That was decision number one. Number two, I decided to hire a business coach.

I'd had coaches in the past, but it had been about a year since I had worked one on one with my own coach. And it wasn't going to be cheap. But I knew that if I was going to have success, the level of success I knew I was capable of, I had to commit. And so I hired a business coach who I still work with to this day. And then the third decision I made.

Was to go all in on the community of minds I was surrounding myself with if I was going to take both my personal development and my business to the next level. And I joined a mastermind, a mastermind for entrepreneurs. Again, it was going to be a time commitment and a hell of a money commitment. But I knew if I was going to have the success I knew I was capable of, this commitment was required. Trust me, when I wrote those checks, when I hit the pay now button with my credit card, I could feel.

The fear boiling up inside of me. But I knew it's something I had to do. And I'm here to tell you over two years later that day, those decisions I made in that moment, those three decisions are the best decisions I have possibly made in my entire business career. So now I go back to this conversation I was having with this gentleman last week where I am showing him what is possible.

For his career, especially when it comes to building the brand recognition he is looking to build. And he can't focus. He's checking email, he's checking his phone. He's distracted. Are you.

Are you staring your future in the face right now? The opportunities that exist ahead of you to build the career you know you're capable of, but every little distraction is Getting in the way of you taking the necessary steps to make sure your level of commitment matches the level of success you want to have.

This is the time to gut check yourself. We have a little more than a month and a half to go before the end of the year and before a new year starts. And if you are not exactly where you want to be, even if you're having success and you're looking to take that success to the next level, this is time to look in the mirror. And this is the time to ask yourself if you are willing to commit the time, the money, the focus to do everything you can to have that level of success. This has nothing to do with investing in my courses and my coaching. It has everything to do with your level of commitment. I'm watching far too many advisors right now tell me that they want to have a ton of success. They're frustrated because they know they're better than their results are showing. But time and time again, I'm watching, I'm talking to people who, it's obvious, are not committed.

To have that kind of success they want. And if the commitment isn't there, no harm, no fall. But don't complain when you get there or don't complain when you don't get there.

So my advice for you today is look at the mirror. Look in the mirror right now and gut check yourself and ask yourself if you are committed to go all in on you. It's going to take time, it's going to take money, and it's going to take a hell of a lot of focus.

And if that's not meant for you, it's okay. But if it is, get rid of the excuses, start focusing, get disciplined. Do everything you can to make 2023 the best year you have ever had. Make 2023 for you. What October of 2020 was for me. My business has never been the same. My personal development has never been the same. My happiness, my growth has never been the same. And I know it can do the same for you.

So my ask as I leave today's episode is this.

Put down the email, put down the phone, put down all the other distractions in your life and just get focused. Get focused on commitment. You have the capability, you have the knowledge, the tools, the guidance. They're all there for your taking. But you just have to be committed to your own success. Because if you do.

You know what happens? You're going to get clear and you're going to get confident. And when you mix those two together.

Unbelievable things happen. So wish you a happy Friday, my friend. Have a beautiful weekend. And if you need help finding that clarity, if you need help finding that confidence, you are committed. But you just don't know where to start. Hit me up something we can definitely help you with. But if not, I wish you the best of luck and go out and make 2023 the best year you've ever had. Have a great day, my.