243. The Best Success Tip I Could Ever Give You

Christina asked me a question. What do I believe was the secret behind our early success with business? And I thought about it and I, you know, I was trying to think of maybe some marketing tip or some strategy I was using, but what I really, what came out of my mouth almost involuntarily and it really, there was no hesitation after she asked the question. As I said, I just showed up.

Hey, welcome back to Bullpen Sessions. My name is Andy Neary and this is episode 243. Today I am going to ask you a very simple question. Are you willing to do whatever it takes to succeed? Now, before we dive into today's episode, I want to make a very quick announcement for our sponsor, Complete Game Consulting. Yes, that is my company and, and we do not take on any outside sponsors. However, if you are a insurance advisor and you know that you could use a little help booking more appointments with the right prospects, you feel like prospecting today, picking up that phone, making those cold calls a little tougher than it was in the past. And building a relationship with your prospects isn't as easy as it used to be. I want you to give us a look. That's what we do. We help you book more appointments with the right prospects by teaching you a marketing process we call the Complete Game Marketing Playbook. So if you are one of my health insurance advisors, one of my commercial risk advisors, listening in first, thank you. I am grateful that you take the time to listen every week, but if you know you could use help booking more appointments, go check us out. A link is in the show notes and we will get a call scheduled with our team. All right, back to today's episode.

Are you willing to do whatever it takes to succeed?

The topic for today's podcast came from a conversation I had with my business coach last week. And we were meeting at our regularly scheduled time, 8am Central Friday morning. And we were having a conversation because the, the meeting was on June 30th. So we were at the halfway point of 2023 and we spent some of the call, the early part of the call, looking back at the first half of the year. And I went back over the first six months and just reflected on kind of the lessons I've learned the first six months of the year, some successes we've had, you know, things I was proud of both personally and professionally. And we were talking about the, the, the success we've been fortunate to have here at Complete Game Consulting. For those who are unfamiliar, we've been around really since January 2021. I started the business, the legal name APN Consulting LLC. I started that in 2019. But at that time I was still a health insurance advisor. I still had a live book of business. I really didn't go all in on what is known today as Complete Game Consulting until just January of 2021. So we've been around now for 18 months, excuse me, 36. I can't do the 30 months. Can't do the math today. We have been around for two and a half years and we were reflecting on the growth we have had over the last two and a half years and we've been fortunate enough to experience some pretty tremendous growth in the first two and a half years of the business. I'm very proud of it. But we were talking about why what do.

She asked. Christina asked me a question. What do I believe was the secret behind our early success with the business?

And I thought about it and I, you know, I was trying to think of maybe some marketing tip or some strategy I was using. But what I really, what came out of my mouth almost involuntarily. And it really, there was no hesitation after she asked the question. Question is, I said I've just showed up every day.

And that led us down the path of a pretty detailed conversation about what does it mean to show up every day.

And it leads to today's topic of what are you willing to do to succeed? Are you willing to do whatever it takes to succeed in your business? And I have to be honest, when I look at the insurance industry right now, I think that answer is no. For far too many insurance advisors, you are not willing to go as far as you have to go to do whatever you have to do to win. Why? I'm not so sure you like doing what you do in the first place. I know that's hard to hear, but let me hear me out. If you think about the insurance industry.

I did not get in. But in this industry, by design, I don't know about you, I was sold the dream. Back when I was 22 years old, I was approached by a family member who was in the business who told me that I should come and give this insurance thing a try because if I stuck around long enough, I would enjoy the schedule flexibility and the lifestyle that this business creates. And it is one of the biggest, best lifestyle businesses you could find. However, with that carrot in, in front of me as it was, it is for so many, probably you as well.

It's easy for us to get in this industry, to seek the financial success, to seek the financial, the rewards without really.

Enjoying what we do in the first place. Because you're so hell bent on just making money.

You'Re not building a foundation for long term success. Heck, you might not even be interested in building a foundation of long term success because you want to win now.

And.

That, that mindset is why I see so many advisors today.

Unwilling to go above and beyond, unwilling to do whatever it takes to win business. And I'm not saying, now let me, let me be very clear about something here. When I say doing whatever it takes, I'm not saying saying whatever you need to say or selling whatever you need to sell just to win. That's not what I'm talking about. I'm saying how hard are you willing to work to grow your business?

You see, the difference between where you are today and your business reaching its full potential is not going to be found in some hack, some, some silver bullet, some script, some product.

It's going to be found in your ability to go the extra mile, to work your living face off to get what you want. It is that simple. So as Christine and I were reflecting on the early success of Complete Game Consulting, it dawned on me all the things I've done in the last.

Two and a half years to make sure I'm showing up every single day for the business. So let me go into depth, let me, let me go to some details on what do I mean by doing whatever it takes to win and, and making sure in doing so that I am showing up every single day. When I look back at the first 30 months of this business.

If I were to put my finger on some key areas that we have leverage, key things we have done and I would say I, because I'm going to talk very personal for a second, I have done to make sure this business is in its best position to succeed. It starts with me. You know, how am I taking care of myself? There's no way I can reach my full potential or the business can reach its full potential. If I'm not in good health, I'm not in good shape, both mentally and physically. So the first place I'd tell you to look, if you want to reach your full potential right now, it starts with how you're taking care of yourself. But what I want to share today as far as are you willing to do whatever it takes to win.

It comes back to that, just showing up every day, making it a non negotiable. And here's what I mean about that. Let me share a couple examples both personally and Things I've seen from our clients that prove to us they are willing to do whatever it takes to win. They are willing to go above and beyond to grow their business. So I look back at our first two and a half years and a couple moments that really stand out and one was very recent about doing whatever you have to do to show up for your clients, for your business. Almost making it a non negotiable like it's not even a thought as to whether or not I'm going to do this. The first happened early on in the existence of Complete Game Consulting. As I mentioned, I started the business January 1st. The real going all in on the business officially on January 1, 2021 come August 2021. So eight months later I was hit with a pretty bad leg infection. I was on the road speaking in Ohio when, when the infection developed and by the time I got home from that road trip I found myself in a, in an emergency room and immediately.

Admitted into the hospital where I spent the next six days. But let me talk about where the showing up comes in. Here I am in a hospital bed and I've got my leg bandaged. I'm hooked up with IVs, I'm hooked up with antibiotics. They're monitoring every angle of my body.

And I look at my calendar and I realize that I've got some coaching calls.

And I was hospitalized on a Friday and I think I was.

I was able to go home by the following Wednesday.

And I remember when Monday and Tuesday rolled around and by that point I was stable. It was a matter of just letting my leg heal. They weren't comfortable enough with the numbers yet to let me go home, but I felt pretty good except for the fact I could walk because I had this leg infection. I can remember leading a few of my coaching calls, the ones I had on the calendar with my laptop from the couch in my hospital room.

Now when I told Amy, my girlfriend that I was going to do this, she thought I was nuts. But I said to her, I said no, I got to show up for my clients. I understand I have a leg infection, I understand. But I feel fine. I have to show up for my clients. It wasn't even a second thought.

Now you might say to me, Andy, that's maniacal. Like that's insane. But is it?

That's one example of making the consistency of showing up every day a non negotiable. The second example I think about is just happened last week. Amy and I had a vacation planned up in northern Wisconsin as, as you Know, we just moved back here a month ago and when we got to our first destination, I realized I had forgot my laptop charger. And that was an oh shit moment because I did have some coaching calls scheduled in the mornings and now I didn't have a laptop charger to make sure my laptop would stay juiced up throughout the week. And if you own an a MacBook or an Apple Computer, Apple laptop like I do, trying to find a charger that works is, is impossible was sol. Fortunately, I found a way to kind of rig up a charging system, but it didn't work very well. So here I found myself by Wednesday with a computer that was about to lose its power. And I had more than a few coaching calls to give those mornings. We were on Wednesday and Thursday and on Wednesday because the computer had lost so much juice.

And the only way I could charge the computer was using a rigged up system. But the cord, the cord for the rigged up system was less than a half a foot long.

I had to sit on the floor of our kitchen in the place we were staying to run my coaching calls, including our broker branding academy. I'm sure it looked pretty strange for the people on the call to see me teaching them sitting on the floor of the kitchen.

But I said to myself, doesn't matter, I gotta show up. My clients don't think, don't care about the challenges I'm having right now. They want to grow their business. They're focused on doing what they have to do to win. And in order to do that, I've got to show up. It's a non negotiable.

And so as you look at your business, the final six months of this year.

Take a pretty honest assessment of your performance up until this point.

Are you doing whatever it takes to win?

Are you willing to go the extra mile to put in the extra hour it takes to hit your goals this year? All right. Or are you willing to admit. Yeah, Andy, you know, have to admit probably, especially since the weather's gotten a little nicer, I've taken my foot off the gas and I've coasted a little bit.

I've talked about this a lot recently, how easy it is to make an excuse for an entire year as to why selling in the moment is not a top priority in Q1. Andy, I can't, I can't focus on selling right now. I've got to kind of clean up all of my 11 renewals in Q2. It's okay, Andy. I'm going to, I'm going to Build a list. I'm going to put a really good list of prospects together and I'm going to perfect it. I want it, I want it perfect before I send that first email or make that first call, which, by the way, never comes. And then in Q3, it's, you know, Andy, it's summer, it's nice out, we've got a couple vacations planned. My clients are on vacation. It's probably not a good time. I'm not going to reach anybody. And then we all know the excuse in Q4 and. Are you kidding me? You want me to try to sell something in November and December? I got all these renewals to handle and you literally excuse yourself throughout the entire year, year after year, as to why you're not selling. That is an example of an unwillingness to do what whatever it takes to succeed.

Last week on the podcast, I had Dominic Frankini join me. And Dominic is an extremely successful health insurance advisor with Haran in Cincinnati. And.

We were talking about the keys that have allowed him to build a multimillion dollar book of business over his career. And there was one thing that I, that, that, that he's done that I, when I observe what he does, that stood out for me that said, yep, this guy's willing to do whatever it takes. And that is a year ago.

He participated in an rfp. And the RFP was for a large manufacturer in the southern Ohio market that specialized in aviation. I think they may have made parts for planes. And Dominic, already extremely successful, somebody who probably could take his foot off the gas if he wanted to and just be fine, decided, you know, in order to win this thing, I'm going to go above and beyond. I'm going to do the extra work it takes to win this. So he decided that along with submitting the rfp, he was going to submit a video with the RFP which, where he delivered the entire RFP from a cockpit of an airplane.

He took the time, invested the money to rent a plane, go up in the sky.

Record the video rfp, because he knew he was gonna do whatever it took to succeed. Now here's the. The punchline of that story. He didn't win the rfp. It's easy to go, Andy. What was the point? He didn't even win. He did all that and he still lost. Yeah, I get it. But it's willing to go the extra mile. It's willing to do whatever it takes even if success is not guaranteed.

That's maybe a better question to ask today. Are you willing to do Whatever it takes to succeed, even if success is not guaranteed.

So that's the question I want you to chew on as we wrap up today's episode. I wanted to give you some examples when I look back at our 30 months in business and some of the things for me that stand out when it comes to the secrets, the keys that have allowed us to succeed. And one of the things I'm proud to say is one of our pillars at Complete Game is our willingness and our desire to just show up every day for our clients. It's a non negotiable. No matter what's happening in my life, our, our business, my employees lives, we know the number one priority is our clients and we have to show up for them. So ask yourself that same question as we start the second half of 2023. Are you doing whatever it takes to succeed or are you negotiating with your own success right now? Are you letting yourself off the hook? Are you failing to show up because you don't feel just right? Ah, today's not the right day or the perfect moment.

There is no perfect time to have success, my friend. And I'm here to tell you the number one success tip I will ever give you is just be consistent. Just show up every single day and do whatever you have to do to succeed. That's the big secret between you and those advisors you're looking up at right now. They're willing to do what you're not. So let's get back to the basics. Let's have an amazing second half of the year. You still have a long way to go to hit your sales goals, meaning a lot of time to hit your sales goals. And the one thing that's going to make success as close to guaranteed as possible is your willingness to go above and beyond. So use today's episode as inspiration. Get out and get after it and do what you have to do to go win business. Be good, my friend.