How to Tackle 2025 in the Annuity Business | 7 Figure Annuity Sales Podcast | Ep. 315

Hey, everyone, this is Chad Owen with my co host with some of the most with seven figure annuity sales. And you know what? It's been a while since we've done, you know, one of these together. We've done a lot of best of. And you know, you guys may not know that because we just look the same age all the time. You know, we don't age at all. Oh, yeah, well, you do. Like I don't. I'm still figuring out what you're doing with your hair right there. If you guys don't watch the actual YouTube channel, you probably should because this is something special. He looks like. What's that guy on the Incredibles? The. The blonde.

Oh, syndrome.

Syndrome. Yeah, you look like way up like that. The kid that was always picked on that now wants to be something that.

Oh yeah, he was the, the. No offense to any redheads out there, but he was the redheaded, freckled stepchild that never got any love.

Oh. So Grant, my son in law, he talks about he's redheaded and said, what are you gonna do if you have a redheaded kid? And goes, give him away? I'm like, you are not giving away. I was like, oh, that's crazy. He was joking, of course. And Ariel wasn't around because Ariel would have killed him.

Yeah.

But he did say it in front of Leilani, so.

Shoot, that's risky.

Yeah. What do you got on the plate today, man?

I wanted to catch up. It's been, it's been so long and there's been a lot of production and trips and all kinds of things and I just, I mean, just update us, Chad, on your business and what you've done, what you've been finding successful. I mean, it's pretty, pretty conversational, low key conversation today.

Good. Well, I know you know, anybody who follows me on LinkedIn and Facebook, I'm very open about what my life pertains. I mean, I don't hide a lot. And when things are tough, I let you know. When things are great, I let you know. But it's actually been a pretty good year. We are building a house right now, our dream home. I mean, this dude. I mean, when you think about, I was just sitting in the house just the other day and I was thanking God so much. I'm like just so grateful. And I started to think about where everything started. I mean, back in the jewelry business, then running a Lasik eye surgery center, then selling mortgage protection insurance, and then moving into annuities. And now being one of the leaders in the in the entire United States in the annuity war arena. It just, it, the journey is crazy. You know, there's so many trials and tribulations, but there's so many rewards. And you know, we're building this house that literally backs up to a lake which has some of the biggest 14 and 13,000ft peaks behind that and we have a full view that and it faces west which we get some of the most incredible sunsets. And I'm so looking forward to that because you and I were just talking about this. I mean this year has been so busy, so crazy busy. And one of my like if you took three visual things, not including my wife because visually that she just makes me happy. But I'm talking about like if I have a sunset, water and mountains, it really just kind of calms me and I'll be able to stare at this. Literally my new office is going to be over that looking at all the time. And then I have a view of 14,000 plus foot longs peak. And I know people say, well, this isn't really annuity training. This is an annuity podcast. People need to understand. And the refresher is as $150,000 in credit card debt. My daughter had a brain aneurysm. She was in the ICU event on a ventilator for seven days, in the ICU for 11 days, in the hospital for 43 days. She had to learn how to walk, talk e everything all over again. My wife found out she had skin cancer. We've had all these close calls, like you know, one of my daughters or appendix first when she was older and you know, they, it was pretty scary in my. One of my daughters, when she was three months old, she had some sort of virus or something and they said, you know what, you need to be prepared. We don't know if she's going to make it. And you know, you think about the people that have slimed me over the years, you know, they're like scammed me out of money or they, you know, said they were going to help or be a part of things. And you have all that, that builds this beautiful thing and it's important to not stop. It's important to keep. Just keep going and keep going and you know, little Dory, keep swimming, just keep swimming. You know, that's kind of really what it comes down to. And you know, I want to encourage people that life is all about who you get to do things with. I used to think it was about achieving this, achieving that, getting this X number of Dollars. Having this kind of house, having this kind of truck. And it's not. It's. Who do we get to do life with? Because the journey and the memories is far greater than the destination. Because if you get to that destination and. And you don't have anybody around there to enjoy it with you, it's lame. It's like, there's no purpose once you get there. And so I'm just. If I can encourage anybody that's listening to this. Remember, every.

Log in the middle of the road, snake we run across on the path. Bear. Which I always say, if you run away from bear, you'll never get a beartooth necklace. So don't run from the bear. Get the necklace. Can you imagine how cool that would be? The claws and then you have the teeth hanging down.

I want, like a. I'd want, like, a hood jacket. Yeah.

Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Anyway, that will happen someday. But, you know, every trial, if you focus more on how great things are and you're grateful, you start to realize that those things really don't matter. I mean, if you think about a lady who goes through labor, it's intense, man. Especially if you don't have pain meds, things like that, it's super intense. But once that baby comes out, you're like, oh, my gosh. This is my child. And everything you went through gets forgotten because you're, like, just staring at this beauty. And literally, our businesses are babies. You know, they cry, they poop all over the place. We got to feed them all the time. You know? I mean, businesses can be challenging, but if you stop and stare at the beauty, and my wife and I will do this at times, and I bring her up a lot because we've been married for 32 years, man, I can literally stare at her in her eyes, and I forget about everything. I mean, it's literally like a refuge. But, man, we also have those times where we're just going, oh, you remember this? Remember when we had to go through that? Remember, we've never had a. Oh, my gosh, that was close moment. With our marriage, we have just. We are 100% die hard. We're committed. There's no way there's divorce ever. It's. Nothing's that bad. But I look at the things, there's still all these things on the outside that will hit you, and a lot of it, honestly. I was talking with my son last night, and he goes, well, you work for yourself. And he said, okay, so who do I get to complain to when there's problems yeah, you know, you can, nobody's going to listen. You can go to your boss and you can say, hey, I don't like this. And this, can this be fixed? That, that's easy now. Have problems that you can't fix. You know, the dol tries to do their thing, Some crooked politician tries to put their stupid rules on you. You have all these things that can hit you. Who do you complain to? I mean, I know I talk to God a lot. I'm just saying, hey, this is way above my head. I need help here. But you know, you have all these things, but we're going for the end thing. And the end thing is what do you see your life being in 2, 3, 4, 5, 10, 15 years, 20 years. And often I see my life as a reflection of what I would see through my kids or my grandkids eyes. That's really where my focal points coming in. I don't have grandkids yet. But you know what? That's a focal point. What legacy do I get to leave? So today's topic is more just about. Let's stop focusing on for this moment, this 15, 20 minute moment that's not focused on. This is how we do things. This is the process, this is what's going on in our industry. But sit there and really reflect on what do you want to come out of this beautiful business that we get to do together. So there's my, my rant for the day.

I like it. One of the thoughts that came to mind, Chad, was this idea that the more, the more you have, the more you realize that more is pointless if you don't. The people. You know, it's like the more you have, the more you realize that more is pointless if you don't have the other pieces in play. So yeah, while we're planning, you know, a 10, 15, 20 year career, however much longer you have, you know, if you're as a listener in this business, if you forego all the things that make it worthwhile, all the things that you're actually working toward, the things that truly matter, and you get to that 10, 15, 20 year end and you've crushed it financially for what? Yeah, like, I mean, you just got back from a, from a trip, Turks and Caicos.

That's kind of where I did a lot of reflections. So if you guys have ever seen Lilo and Stitch, you know, Stitch gets stuck on the island of Kauai, which there's not a lot to do on that island. And he's used to destroying things, big cities there's no big cities. So he literally had to reflect on, I'm no longer the destruction person. And they found family. And I know it's Maze. It's a Disney movie, but it's so deep because I'm sitting by the pool. There's nothing to do on that island, man. And I had my first two full body massages, and I'm like, oh, this is actually kind of cool. And then we just sit around the pool and we're relaxing, and I'm sitting there, I'm holding my wife's hand. We're sitting on this bungalow thing, and I'm holding her hand. And I see a guy next to me that won the same trip. Won the same trip, but he was by himself. And I'm sitting there going, that would really suck. That would really suck. That you're just. Granted, there's a lot of value in alone time.

Sure.

But a lot of times people are alone because he never played nice in the sandbox, you know? So they get to their 50, 55 years old, and they're not married, and they're by themselves, and nobody wants to be around them. And because you're probably a jerk most of your life, that's not always the case, obviously. But when I think about, you know, what we get to do, hanging around with people that I love and that literally fought the battle with me is. Is what it's all about.

Yeah. You know, that's really good. I mean, and I think that's a. A case in point. Example. I mean, I remember talking to you while you were in Turks and Caicos, and you were like, you felt rested, you felt good, you were ready to get back to it. But I think for a lot of agents, you know, you can look at those carrier trips, we can look at the lifestyle and think, oh, man, that's the dream, that's the goal. And then, yet there you are in it. And this is an interesting thing. There you are in it, being fully having already been filled up by it, ready to get back to it, like, back to the. Back to work, back to the grind. And I think that that mentality is one that leads to that kind of success. I think a lot of times people think about, oh, man, I want to do this thing. I want to sprint for 10 years and then coast for 40. And the interesting thing about you is that it's actually the inversion. It's like you do sprint, but you take time and then you refill and then you sprint again. But as you filled up, it's like the Drive to get back to the sprint is there. So they don't look at it as like, oh, I'm trying to get to a point where I get to coast. It's like the coasting isn't a. Isn't an option. You take the breaks. You rest when you need to, but when you're on, you're on, and it's. And it's all systems go, and it's full steam ahead. And I think that's a good thing for agents to just take away from the conversation today is when you're on, be on. When you're off, be off. And ultimately, it comes down to being present.

You know, Chad, we talk about our faith a lot. Every year on my birthday, I like to ask the Lord, just God, what are you? Like, what does this next year of my life look like from your perspective? What are some things that you want me to grow and what are some things that you have for me to develop? And for this year, he said, is a year of developing in stewardship. Growing in stewardship. Which is interesting because 2024, last year, he said it was a year of intentionality. Well, as I started thinking about it, I was like, you can't steward anything that you're not intentional with. Like, intentionality is a foundational piece of actually being able to steward anything that you're given. Time, money, relationships, opportunities, any of it.

The interesting thing.

Good.

And I like how, you know, every year you ask God, just like, can you please continue to give me just an incredible gift and I still stay in your life every single year.

Yeah.

Although I think you got a little bit of a gift going on. It starts with the A and the L and an I. So we're. We're hoping we're ready. Yeah. She is special. We're hoping Caleb is. We are hoping 2025 ends in a wedding. That's all I can say.

That's the end of 2025. Chad is only 10 months away.

Dude, I met Leilani October 10th. I got engaged or got. She became my girlfriend. January 20th. I got engaged. June. June 20th, and we got married January 31st.

That's wild.

If you know, you know.

That's crazy.

Dude. You're getting old, too. Oh, yeah. It's no longer teasing you starting to get gray. Yeah, I can see that.

You can see it.

Yeah.

Maybe I'd actually be able to close an annuity sale if I get some gray going.

You still have the baby face. You can't get past that. Yeah. Awesome. Well, this is a good one. This is a good one.

So, yeah, be intentional, be present. Like I think ultimately is the call.

To action today and enjoy the journey. And it's a lot better when you have people run you that's you love. So I hope this helps you. And of course, I haven't said this in a while. Happy selling.