How to Build Confidence When You Have Zero Experience

Just getting that license alone, that piece of paper from the state that tells you your license to sell life and health products, you know more than the person that's sitting across the table from you. So it's about being confident in ourselves, right? And when we're young, that's hard to do. And sometimes you just gotta go through the experience or fail a couple times, right? And be able to learn from your mistakes and challenge yourself and never give up.

Today I have got Brendan Moss, taller. Did I say it right, Brendan?

Yeah. Great job, Andy.

Awesome. Brendan Moss, taller, with me from both benefits in Ohio. Brendan, welcome aboard. We're gonna have a fun conversation about how you've built a nice little Medicare practice, but we're gonna dive into how you're gonna leverage online marketing to expand that presence. So welcome aboard, man.

Yeah, thanks. Excited to be here. Appreciate it.

Before we dive into the conversation, let's start here. I'll be honest. Medicare is not something I talk about a whole lot. But what led you, as you got your feet wet in the insurance industry? What led you down the path of Medicare?

Yeah, yeah, it's a great question. I mean, how I got started in the industry to begin with. I only sold one product for almost two years, and that was life insurance. That was all I did. Final expense, in particular, is where it was really focused. So I was sitting with a lot of people 55 and older. That's what most of my, back in the day, almost 12 years ago, Mailer lead cards, right? Where everything was still kind of coming in through the mail and getting sent out that way. Boy, gone are those days now. But that's where everything was coming in back then, right? Life insurance in particular. I expanded into some group benefits for a little while, and that's kind of how we initially connected in the online space as well, where I was expanding, you know, trying to meet some other people, get into the HR pockets with some people as well, too. And really, one of the biggest concerns that I kept hearing time after time again in the HR world was when people were retiring, where to send their seniors. The questions on things like late enrollment penalties. Part D is incredible coverage. What do they do when they turn 65? Hey, we want to get them off our insurance. They're raising our rates up, but at the same time, we can't go tell them to get off the insurance. What do we do? How can you help us out? And, you know, that was really where it was like, hang on one second, let me go get educated in this Medicare space. And then things like Ichra started coming out and I mean it's always changing, you know, but that's really what kind of led me into Medicare about. I think I just, I did my eighth AEP now if I'm not mistaken, it was my seventh or eighth.

So you're, you're scratch off it. I think you said December 7th. How you feeling right now? We're, we're recording this on December 12th.

I'm still a little tired if I'm being honest. You know, my, my record week was 87 people in one week, face to face, one on one. So I mean that, that takes some times, you know. And then I got a family at home as well too, so seven month old, I mean up a little bit early in the mornings. But you know, I got great motivators and a big why. So it definitely keeps me going and yeah, just still recovering right now.

Question for you is, you know, when you think about Medicare, right. We're selling an insurance product to people who are age 65 and older. Most of the time you typically don't see somebody your age specialize in that. Have you, have you been able to use that as a differentiator? I'd be curious, have, has it hurt you in any way from a credibility standpoint and, or have you been used, able to utilize that as a differentiator?

Yeah, that's a great question. Actually. That was probably one of my biggest things when I first got started in this industry that I felt was a roadblock for me. Right. I kept coming up. I mean when I got into this, I was 18 years old. I mean my first sell as soon as I turned 19 back in 2014. And I mean I've been off and running ever since. Again now being in my 12th year doing this, you know, so now that I have the years of credibility, it's a little bit easier to establish that. But, but that was definitely an obstacle that I had to overcome earlier in my career. And I think the easiest way that I did it, the biggest way once I got people to listen to me, was educating them, letting them know that I knew something that they didn't in this area. Right. They might know something more than me in other areas, maybe life experience, a lot of them would say, right, but Medicare or Insurance in particular, when it comes to life and health, this is what I know, this is what I do, this is where I have my license. I've been fortunate to be licensed in 17 additional states. Right. So I a lot of things that I did to build my credibility and I just Made sure to talk about that with people. You know, I always tell some of my other advisors that I work with, don't be a silent agent, okay? Don't. Don't not tell people what you do. All right? Let everybody know what you do. Screen it from the mountaintops if you have to. It's a good thing to do. People need to know where to go when they need help. And if they don't know what they do, they never know to contact you. And again, now, how long I've been doing this, I've been outlasting other people. They see the experience, they see the years now coming next to that. And people who would have never talked to me five, six, seven years ago are now calling my phone. And not only are they calling my phone, they're referring others to call my.

Phone and they're referring their friends. Yeah, yeah, exactly. You brought back a memory for me that I don't talk about a whole lot. I actually started my career in life insurance as well.

Nice.

And I'll admit I was probably failed. A failed life insurance salesman, but.

Fail. Right. First attempt and learning.

I can still remember, you know, when I started in 02, it was all about these orphan policies. These are policies that are still in force, but nobody has really managed in a long time because the agent left or whatever.

Yeah.

And so we're handed these orphans. And I can still remember this orphan I took with my sales manager. We went out to meet this guy in. In Wisconsin where I was working. And it happened to be a doctor making boatloads of money in his 60s who had like $700,000 in cash value in this thing. Wow. And as exciting as that was, I still remember sitting at his kitchen table going, why would a guy take me seriously about what to do with this life insurance policy that has $700,000 of cash value in it? Because I was 22.

Yeah.

That was a very. I still remember that moment like it was yesterday because it was that. Aha. Like, holy cow.

Yeah. Well, I think, again, something for me, because keep in mind, even still, I mean, age is something I still work with, being in my 30s. Right. But I work with a lot of advisors that are older to me. And something that I do try to let them know when they're out there. Right. Something that I think they lack when they first come into this business is confidence. Right. And just getting that license alone, that piece of paper from the state that tells you you're licensed to sell life and health products, you know, more than the person that's sitting across the table from you. So it's about being confident in ourselves. Right. And when we're young, that's hard to do. And sometimes you just gotta go through the experience or fail a couple times. Right. And be able to learn from your mistakes and challenge yourself and never give up. I mean, really, that's the key, you know, Again, outlasting people in this business. I mean, it's. It's hard to do, but once you do it, it's all worth it. Nothing. Nothing.

You know, what you just said? What you just said, too, is great advice. I. There's not a week that goes by that I feel like I'm not sharing that we have a lot of health insurance clients. Right. Because that. That was historically my background. And I constantly have to remind people that you can give me the smartest CFO who went to the Wharton School of Penn, the best business school in America, potentially. When you're in a room with that CFO and talking about health insurance, you about health insurance than that CFO does.

Yes.

You have to remember that.

Exactly.

And. And so I'm glad you gave that advice. Well, here's where I really wanted to go today. You know, you've built a really nice practice, Medicare practice. Locally.

Locally.

And remind me again, where in Ohio are you?

Youngstown.

Youngstown. Okay. So you built a really nice practice, and I'd love for you to talk about what you've done within the community to really get yourself out there. But you're in a phase where you're about to take that and make it an online presence.

Yes.

To expand the footprint a little bit, which I love, and we're going to talk about today. But let's start with how you have been able to scale your Medicare practice from a local standpoint. Because of how active you are in the community.

Yeah, definitely. Definitely. If you can't tell how excited I am to expand into online even more, because that's really where the light bulb went off for me, is. Is I felt like the things that people do online, I was doing locally. So it's like, hey, why do we not expand on this? Right. We're in my right. Just as a small example, something we're doing right now, we have a small podcast right. In our local area. One of the things they really focus on is part of the blind community. So again, they're blasting this out for ears to hear. Right. And then there's also a lot of other members that just don't have access to transportation, the ability to get out of their house. As much. So again, we're keeping this podcast, or they are, I should say, excuse me, very local, about like a 25 mile radius. And I've been, I've been on that podcast more than once talking about Medicare, talking about final expense. I'm scheduled to go back again in April, right. So that was one of the small examples I did. But I'm active in the community in ways where like we're going out and we're participating in events. So again, like community fairs, sometimes I have booths that are set up there at the fair where I am just set up as a resource. People can walk up, ask their questions at no additional cost. There's no pressure to be sold, there's no pressure to talk about any type of insurance company per se. Right. More product specific. Ask me about Medicare questions. Right. We did billboards, we did radios, we did TV commercials. But again, all local, all in the community, right. Never went outside of Youngstown, Ohio, the county that, that we are in. And I kept just thinking to myself, wait a minute, this is working here. People are hearing about this, the phone is ringing. We have to get other advisors coming in because we can't control the influx of calls that we're receiving, which is the goal when you get to this phase, right. In Medicare or any insurance product that you're doing. But so it's like, why should we not expand this a little bit further and then a little bit more and a little bit more. Now wait a minute, here we are on the online world today where it seems like everything is starting to move towards. Right. All the things are going and it just made sense to come out and do it, do it this way. Now where I'm putting face on and you're putting free content out, free educating, free resources. You know, we are just helping people, letting them know that you're available to ask questions to, that you're someone they can trust, that's going to be there for them. And you're not just trying to sell a product, right? You're trying to educate people. That's the main goal. Because I mean these insurance companies, they have the biggest buildings in the biggest cities and trust me, it's not for lining my pockets. That's for sure.

There's a reason they're that big, right?

Yeah.

I think something you just said was really important that I want everybody to hear. Whether you're selling commercial insurance, life insurance, health, disability, Medicare, individual group, whatever, it's really easy, especially if you're selling a product like Medicare, to say, well, I am Selling a product. I'm a broker. But what you're really saying there is no. You're transitioning to a consultant now because it's. Yeah, you happen to sell a product like Medicare, but at the end of the day, what you're doing is you're educating your local market, which means you're no longer just the guy slinging Medicare policies at them. You're the consultant, the confidant, the educator that they learn lean to when it comes to understanding what they're buying. That's a big difference.

I think that's a great point that you bring up because it's funny. You'll know you get good at this when you get to the end and someone looks at you and goes, what do I owe you?

Yeah, yeah.

You have to tell them nothing. You know, they think you're doing them a favor. Now, again, all of a sudden, after, they're thanking you for. Right. Not something where you just have sold them and you're, thank you, Mrs. Johnson. Right. No, she's thanking you now twice.

What led you. So, Brendan, what led you to go, okay, I'm doing really well with the local community, selling a lot of Medicare. Within the community of Youngstown, we've scaled, we've grown, but now I want to expand my footprint. What led you down the path of, okay, I need to have a better online presence.

Yeah, yeah. I appreciate you asking that question because I think that's one of the reasons I even got into this business, that I stay in this business business and what motivates me in this business and it's truly helping people. That's the biggest thing now that, that I get to enjoy and appreciate. You know, where I think something that's overlooked that I'm going to briefly touch on in the online is like, everyone goes through hardships. Everyone struggles. Right. We're sitting here 12 years later where things are now easy. Okay? They're easy. You guys missed the years that it was hard. You missed the years when, you know, I missed birthday parties, vacations, holidays where I was gone out of the state, living in a hotel, out of a suitcase, sleeping in my car a couple. You miss those days, right? And everyone has a story. So go through your story because there is an end. Okay. And it's not at an end yet. Right. It just isn't an easy chapter. Hardships are going to come up again, so just be prepared for those. Go face those when they come. But as I was getting out into the community more and again, going and setting up booths at these events, Right. Going and going and doing things like hanging out at our local community center with a bunch of. It's a group of 70 people. Right. The same 70 people every month, but for one hour a month I go in there, I hang out, we play games, we kind of mess around, we do some yoga, like all types of different things. Right. And that's just hanging out. Well, guess what, about 50 of those people now come to me for their. Because they've been seeing me for an hour a month every single year. They know who I am. So again, what I was realizing is, wow, a lot of people need help. And I know for me that I hope one day when I need help, somebody's there to help me when I need it. Right. So I kind of just feel like I'm putting my good out helping people. Again, what we do is at no cost. Insurance companies obviously compensate us when it comes to Medicare, they all compensate us the same. So again, our loyalty is not to the insurance company. I always tell people my loyalty is to them. And when I say that, I truly mean it. And I think they can feel that.

I believe and I. That's a really good point. Given the market you're, you're targeting locally, what they probably want more than anything is time. That time with you makes a big difference.

Yeah.

Now when you go online, you don't, you can't give that same kind of time or that same kind of presence. But that time now becomes education. So I'm curious, as you move to a more online presence, what platforms, what channels are you thinking you're going to leverage to really get that message out?

Yeah. Well, keep in mind I work with seniors. Right. So I think it's important to know your market and who you work with. Right. So you're right. Some of that time that I'm going to get with them is going to go away, but the education, that important piece, is going to stay. So the two biggest platforms I'm looking to attack, moving here into 20, 26, Facebook, YouTube.

Bingo.

Those are the go tos and I plan on attacking those hard and heavy. I don't want to overwhelm myself, especially coming into an online space where we're trying to do too much reach and now we're, we're fumbling balls and trying to keep up. Right. Once we find a good market, we get some content down, we can maybe recycle some things as we move forward. But those are the two that I want to start with.

I love that you said that because, you know, since I'm ingrained in this world every day. Those two are the obvious choices. But for those that are going, okay, Brendan, why Facebook and YouTube? Well, the number one age category on Facebook today is 55 to 70 year olds. Right. They're looking at photos of the grandkids.

Yep.

And YouTube is where you go for the how to.

Yeah.

And there's a lot of how to that people need to understand when it comes to buying Medicare.

Right. And I think the stigma that needs to go away that, oh, these people aren't online because they are. They are online.

Oh, absolutely. I love my 78 year old parents, Brendan. They're online.

Yeah, yeah. I mean, right. It's. I think we, you know, we can trick ourselves in our mind a lot and that's even part. Right. In the confidence in us. Don't, don't prejudge any situation. Allow them to kind of come in, talk to you. And again, keep in mind what your goal is which is guiding them down through these confusing paths of Medicare, final expense, retirement group insurance, whatever it is that your market is. Right. You know more than they. And be confident in yourself and don't prejudge any situation. When they pull out their smartphone, they know how to use it well.

And I've got my phone up right now. This is where the world's attention is. And if you don't have a strategy to be in here right now and you're. Because you're so proud of what you've done locally. Right. Sponsoring the whole number eight and the local annual golf outing and things like that, you're missing a massive opportunity being online. And again, it doesn't matter what product in this industry you sell, you need to have an online presence. The thing I was going to tell you, the number one piece of advice I'm giving people today from a content perspective, love the fact you're doing Facebook and YouTube. When I think about. Okay, what should you be talking about? The best analogy I can give you is think of yourself like the news station of Medicare people tune into. Because if you think about what a news channel does today, they share two things. Stories, albeit they love to share a lot of fear based negative stories, but stories and timely, relevant, useful information. Yeah. So if you apply that approach with any product in the industry, even Medicare, you share the stories of what you do to help people, plus relevant, timely, useful information. You will absolutely kill it with video content, whether it's Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, LinkedIn, YouTube. But you're choosing the right channels because you know who your audience is.

Yeah. I love that. That's a great way to, to put that. And yeah, I feel like another light bulb just went off in my head where it's like this is more. Again, keeping in mind the education part. Right. We're not going to jump into this online space. This isn't to sell. Right. So we've got to keep that in the forefront of our brain. It's to educate well.

And not only that, I mean, the education piece is, is go at the content as if you're teaching them how to do it themselves. And I say that because a lot of people in our space are afraid to share too much because I am trying to sell you something. Right, right.

Then at the end of the day, useless now.

Exactly. At the end of the day. Or you're just going to give it to whoever you're working with today. Well, number one, if they're willing to use your information to make their broker better, they were never going to work with you anyways. Number two, if you give away the good stuff, that is what's going to cause them to come back time and time again and eventually they are going to hire you as their advisor.

Yeah, great point.

Give away the good stuff. Yeah.

And if they got to take that info to their own broker, maybe you can work with that broker too.

Well, not only that, Brennan, but it may create a banana peel effect for their broker because maybe the broker can't supply or do what you were saying in a video.

Right.

But at the end of the day, putting, being, becoming that again, that news station your buyers tune into, I think is one of the main, the number one or one of the top marketing strategies every agent advisor agency in this industry has to deploy today. Yeah, it should actually be a principle of every marketing strategy.

Yeah, I'm excited for getting into this online space. I think it's anything that's fresh and new I get excited about because it's, it's something that's new. And I kind of get excited to, to mess up a few times because I get to learn in those experiences and learning is definitely key in this industry surviving.

And not only that, I'm excited to see what happens to your business because a lot of your competition is not going to do this. Yeah, they've been around for 20, 30 years. Oh, I do it the way I do it or I'm sitting on a book and I'm not actually trying to grow. I'm really excited what your business is going to look like over the next five years because you're about to deploy this strategy, and this is where I want to kind of wrap. Now that you are at the beginning of this journey, what advice would you give? Regardless of what an insurance advisor sells today? What advice would you give that advisor who's sitting on the sideline right now going, I know I need to do this, but maybe I've got those fears of failing or judgment coming up. What advice would you give them?

Yeah, well.

Or who am I? I'm young. How am I going to get any credibility doing this?

Yeah, that's a great question. It's a great question. You know, I think that again, the number one thing is experience. Right? So I'm a firm believer in that 10,000 hour rule. I'm sure almost everyone that's watching this right now probably knows exactly what I'm talking about. The quickest way you're going to get to that is by getting off of that sideline, getting into the game, failing as many times as you possibly can. Okay? Just do it, deal with it, get over it. Stop caring what other people think. That would be my number one piece of advice. Because the more that you care about. About what, or maybe I should say it this way, the less you care about what other people think, the more people you're actually going to attract to you. And it's weird how that works out. But again, when you stop caring what other people are thinking of you, all of a sudden the stuff that you're talking about, you're going to attract this new group of people, more of them that want to come to you because again, they feel pulled to you, they feel drawn to you. So get out there. Be a part of something. Don't give up. Believe in yourself. Be confident. Never stop learning. Those would be some of my biggest pieces of advice. And just get out and go to work every day. The hardest door to get out is our own.

Ooh, great it, dude. Love the knowledge bomb there. And here's the best part. They're not actually thinking about you. They're too worried about themselves. So don't stop caring what others think because they're not thinking about you.

Not at all.

Brandon, this was an awesome conversation. If somebody wanted to reach out to you, follow you on your channels, what, what are the best ways to follow and get in touch with you?

Yeah, you can simply Google benefits by Brendon and if you Google benefits by Brenden, B R E N D e N My Facebook should pop up. YouTube should pop up. Our Google page should pop up. It is all direct to me. The phone number that you call. It's my personal line. I don't always pick up granite, but if you leave me a message, you'll hear my voice. And I'm the fellow that calls back every single time. It's a little hard to do when I'm fielding a couple hundred calls every week, sometimes even more, but we always get back to people. And again, once I talk to you, we can always look at other advisors in your area. But yeah, just Google Benefits by Brendan, Get a hold of me. In touch. I love talking to people in this industry. And, Andy, I really appreciate you getting me out of my comfort zone. I look forward to growing, because that's where growth really happens.

Brendan Mosthaler, everybody. Brendan, it's been a pleasure.