How I Made $1,200,000 In Personal Production Insurance Sales ft. Juan Franco | Ep80

You've done over a million a couple of times, haven't you?

Correct.

How many times over a million?

Two times.

Twice. Okay.

Sheesh.

All right, guys, welcome back. Have another episode of the Insurance Insiders podcast. I have a buddy of mine, Juan Franco, here. Been around a minute. Been a long time. I think 5 years in a row, I believe now over $400,000 and a lot over $400,000 most years.

Yeah.

You've done over a million a couple times, haven't you?

Correct.

How many? How many times over a million?

Two times.

Twice. Okay.

She wrote— yeah, the other one was close. It's close.

Oh, no way. Okay, 9-something. I think I remember that year.

That's right, last year was about 900 and something, so it was close, like 900.

Poor guy. For those that don't know Juan, he's been around a minute. Um, we're going to talk to him a little bit. He sells a lot of insurance. We're talking a million dollars on his own pen, um, multiple years in a row. Um, I guess we can— I, I'll round up and count the $900,000-something as a million too. Like, why not? You know, it's just probably some date issues, another policy or two. It's all good. Um, but man, been, been in our group with Zach and them for a long time and, um, doing some cool things. So would, would love to hear a little bit more, man. Um, And you didn't start in the business young like these 20-year-olds killing it now, right?

Right.

Different.

Yeah, it was changing career at 57.

57 when you got started?

Yes.

No shit.

Why?

What happened? Where were you in life at 57?

So I was, uh, for 27 years I was in the fundraising industry, which is kind of like, uh, helping schools, public schools, private schools raise money. Especially, I was more into the elementary schools doing like cookie dough. That was the main thing that I used to do. And then fun runs was the other thing that we were doing. So it wasn't an event, so we used to have an event or, uh, one that sell cookie dough. They were both the best type of fundraiser. One was product, the other one was an event. And it was good, but then, uh, Harvey came in and wiped out, uh, a lot of the Houston area. And then my business was flooded. So we— I had a warehouse, like 6,000 square foot warehouse, all in inventory in August. And it was— I lost over a million dollars. And I was, I was thinking about retiring at the time. Like, I was— when Harvey happened, uh, In 2017, I was thinking about retiring at age 55, supposed to be. So I was like, I'm gonna sell my business, I'm gonna just work part-time and just move to Colombia and then live, uh, out there.

No kidding. Yeah, wild. And life threw you a curveball. So when you do those, you had to buy— I'm so intrigued. This might go for people that watch. I have— I'm curious, things Sometimes I go sideways. You had to buy the inventory when you did those fundraisers, so that was literally your operation and some percentage went to—

it was a lot of inventory.

Easy. I didn't know that's how that worked. I assumed you sold for someone and they just shipped it out.

No, it was, uh, we warehoused it and we had to have like cold storage. Like the main— most of the bulk of business was in a cold storage, so gladly that lost because otherwise we would have lost even more. But what we had in the warehouse in August, which is when we start kick off the year of the school, we had the most inventory and zero sales at the time. And that's when you start school. And when Harvey hit, it was right in the middle of August, and then we wiped out the whole— and our sales went like— because all the schools were closed. So it was kind of like We lost inventory, we had no sales. It was like, okay, cash flow was not nowhere to be found. Yeah, I am basically looking to just sell the company for whatever people offer me and try to just restart all over. Like, my mind was like, okay, I gotta restart my career again at this time, at this age.

And hey, so you wiped out one instant. Yeah, there was no— yeah, because in those, I want— it's like on Shark Tank, you see that people make a bunch of money, but it's so heavy on purchasing inventory.

Inventory was that—

yeah, it was risky.

I didn't realize how risky the business was until then. And, uh, I was making probably like about $250 grand a year working real, real hard, and it was not, not much time flexibility wasn't there. I had the summers off. That was pretty much the, the main thing that I had, but it was, it was hard. And, um, so I, I basically had to start looking.

So the money you make all year though, you gotta save that up to buy the big-ass inventory for the beginning of the next year. So it's not like you can party all summer necessarily.

Exactly. It was, it was like, okay, you make this much money put it back all in the business.

Like, what percent? Most of it, I guess.

Yeah, 100%. I, I used to keep like, if I make half a million, I will put half a million back into the business. If I make $300,000, I'll put it— so it was very little. I lived comfortable, but then it, but then it wasn't like saving that money. It was always putting it back into the business. It was always very And some years you had a hurricane, your business was down. Uh, the election happening, your business was down. Uh, so everything was fluctuating depending on how the situation was because it's all donations. Like, yeah, talking about donation is not a necessity.

Small margin, I assume, for you.

Very small margin. It was like 5% margin.

No kidding.

So yeah, it was like we did—

like, for those that are unclear, imagine every time you made $100, you paid $95 for a lead.

Wow.

That's, that's what his business was, right?

Yes, it was, it was, it was, uh, I realized that's real life in a lot of businesses, funny enough. Yeah, I didn't realize uh, how the possibilities that were out there. Because I was there for 27 years, and yeah, you get comfortable doing something, you always keep doing that. And, and I kept— actually, after Harvey, I started doing it independent. I did an inventory, but I, I was— I had so many clientele that I just kept doing it because that was the only thing that I knew how to do. Yeah, I kept doing it, kept doing it, and make You know, I was making about $150,000 and independently without inventory. And then COVID hit and the schools were closed. And that's when I decided, I said, God is talking to me, probably I need to do something else. That's it.

Crazy.

Yeah.

So how'd you find us? Was there a journey to this? Did it happen? I don't remember the beginning.

My client in 2020, in March, when I I was actually in Colombia during the spring break, and while I was flying back, uh, Trump was saying there's a pandemic. And I remember all the schools were texting me, calling me, cancel the fundraiser, cancel the fundraiser, we're closed. So everything that I had lined up for to make money for the service was 2020.

Yeah, 2020. Yeah, cool.

Everything was closed. So I I arrived and then I found myself sitting in my house for a month, then 2 months, 3 months. Basically, it was like I couldn't get out doing— so I was— I started calling clients like in April. And, um, and one of the clients who was, uh, she had told me she was in the business of finance, financial something. And then I said, remember, what, what is your business? And then she says, I'm in the financial. I say, how is it going? As I say, she says, uh, doing great. I just, I don't have to, I cannot see my clients, so I see them over Zoom, but everything great. I said, how does that work? She says, yeah, if you want, I can show you. I says, I don't have nothing to lose. I said, show me, I want to know what you do. It sounds interesting. So I, uh, and it was a company that is, I did, I, I started with them, but it was more like recruiting, recruiting, and yeah. Introducing your friends and family. Friends and family.

Yep.

And it was not, not for me. I stayed, I stayed there for about 2 and a half months and, and, um, didn't make any money. You know, I was selling.

Were you calling friends and family trying to sell them?

I didn't want to, so I, I, I, I started advertising on, on Craigslist, on everywhere, and recruiting. And everybody I recruited, the next day they will quit. Uh, because they, uh, they asked them to pay $25 right away, and it was kind of like one of those things that I— it was like, this is what you show them, but when it— whenever they, they were onboarding, it was like, okay, you gotta give me a list of 50 people.

Yeah.

And that was not part of the deal when, when we signed them up. So people were like, what is this, a multi-level? And then so it was kind of like not, not very good for me. And, uh, it was all term, term, uh, and then so I, I just decided to— after I got my license, I decided to just take a break and then start looking for a real company that had leads. And then, and in between that, I, I went to, um, New Mexico. I interviewed with like even State Farm And State Farm, for me, like, uh, you, you gotta pay $50,000 to be an agent and open up your own office. I said, so, okay, so you give me clientele? Said, no, this is basically the name. And then you—

no way.

And then so I call my friend who was a State, say, how much money can you make in— and he said about $80,000 after you clear everything. I says, I made more money before. I'm like, nope, I'm not doing that. Just to stay in an office and take that risk. Yeah, so I kept looking, and then one company was offering leads, and I almost signed up with them. And then somebody, one of my friends, told me, hey, call Francis. And Francis used to sell books with me at the time, so I told him, I says, I'm gonna call Francis. And, and then Francis told me, yeah, I'm with a company called Family First Life, and You know, we can start you up at $100,000. I'm like, what? Uh, at the other company I started at $25,000. The other company I was looking in, they were gonna give me $60,000. This company offered me $100,000. I'm like, yeah, and you provide— you, you got a system like leads? I said, yeah. How much did you do last month? He was new to it, like 6 months. He says, I did like $20,000. I'm like, sign me up, man. Sign me up. And the funny thing is, like, I had call in April, at the end of April I had call because I saw an advertisement on Craigslist about Family First Life. So I called and I end up in the corporate, and corporate told me, uh, we're gonna say, we're gonna connect you with a recruiter. No one ever called me.

Oh, no way. So I've heard that story a few hundred thousand times in my career, bro.

Yeah, so same, but he didn't follow up with the lead.

So you were a lead one day and someone dropped the ball. I would love to go back and know who Sizer sent that to. Did he ever tell you?

No, I don't know, no idea who, who I talked to or, or, or crazy.

I remember it was the thing they used to, they used to email them to us back in the day, right?

So I, I, I was excited from the moment that I saw the structure of Family First Life. It was kind of like They got, they got a, they got this system and then you can make very good.

Yeah.

Yeah.

For those of you follow that have followed me for a while, you know, I've, I've helped build this agency up to over $200 million in paid annual premium per year. We have over 5,000 agents a year that sell and I am rebuilding. We're building a new base shop, helping people build big agencies, get to multi-seven figures in income or producers that want to, that want to just sell and get to a multi-six-figure sales career. Hit me up. I'm hiring direct. I'm looking to train and mentor winners that want to work their ass off and build something dope. Click on the link below, or you can go to johnwetmore.com/join and put in your application. We'll see if I'd be interested in working with you. DM me, hit me up, whatever you like. So what leads were you working at the very beginning?

Final expense.

You were? Okay, so you were— look, because not many— not a lot of people that start on that other world even know there's leads. No, you were looking for them.

I was looking for them.

Unusual.

So when I— when people told me like, uh, we, we have to put like $3,000 or $2,000 a month or, or $1,000 a week, I was like, just tell me the number, I'm, I'm putting it. I was spending $100,000, uh, in a year like nothing and then risking it everything. And then so it was kind of like Hey, no big deal. If I can double my money and say— the guys told me, say, yeah, you put like $3,000, you can make— you can easily do $10,000, $20,000 in, uh, in sales. Yeah, you just have to learn it. I'm like, there's no risk for me. Like, $3,000, no problem, I can do that.

Yeah, sick. So how long did you sell the final expense side, and how did it go from the beginning?

6 months. I did it for 6 months. So I, so I started, and I was kind of like I was like Rookie of the Week that week that it was kind of like selling, and I, I, I just worked my butt off, uh, just went to people's home.

So I was gonna ask, did you do— okay, so you did go out there? Yeah.

Yeah, so it was all face to face. I was wearing a mask at the time, and it was just, uh, something that it was for me going backwards, kind of like, because I I was, I was like, uh, had my own company, CEO, had employees. I used to do sales, but I used to go to the schools and people knew me. And it was kind of like, hey, going to people's house that didn't know me. And I used to sell books door to door, so it was kind of reminded me of that, but with an appointment, with an appointment. The only thing is when I closed the sale, instead of making $20, I was making $1,000. So that, that excited me. I'm like, okay, if I close one, I make $1,000. I said, I can make a living doing this. I'm like, okay, I'm gonna keep doing it. And I just kept doing it. And then when I found mortgage protection, it was through your video that I learned how to sell mortgage protection. To this day, everybody that wants to sell mortgage protection, they watch your video. They say, I watched John, I said, that's the way I learned it. How to sell young people, he teaches how to sell old people.

Everybody.

Kind of person. I'm like, I like— that's how I learned it. And, uh, and I changed from more from final expense. I started switching to mortgage protection, and I was doing pretty well with mortgage protection. It was less chargeback, and it was a little bit higher commission because the premium was a little bit higher. So I, I like that. I was happy. I started at that year because the first year, one of the commitments that I made with Mike Rhodes at the time, I told him, I said, I'm not going to take any vacation the first year. Because he told me, he says, what are some of the things that I need to do to be successful? He told me this, this, this. And one of the things he says, you know, if you really want to, you got to focus the first year. You cannot— I mean, I'm talking about you focus 100% and you learn this business. I said, I'm, I'm committed. I'm not going to take any vacation the first year. And that was one of the hardest things that I did because I was used to traveling every summer.

Yeah, yeah.

And, and then so I learned the business. I learned it, and it was And after that, it was much easier, you know.

Dude, how was it going from owning your own business, bringing in the revenue you're bringing in, making good money for 20-something years, to going in the field, final expense appointment? If there's a lot of people who don't know what that's like, to be clear, going in the field to final expense appointments in today's world, the 22-year-old kid has no idea what that's like. Um, Where were you running? What area were you in?

I was running Houston.

Houston. Gosh, how was that like, bro?

I was driving in a— without exaggeration, I was driving 400 to 500 miles a week, and I was going because what the, the areas that I like to work were more on the outskirts of like— so I used to go to Galveston, and so I used to station in where I used to do fundraising, that's where I used to station because I knew the area so well. And the best schools were on the outskirts, so I, I used to do that area and I was doing pretty well. But the drive, you know, it was 45 minutes, I was there, and then after that I would drive and drive and drive to around and then come back. I leave like at 6:30 in the morning and come back like at 9:30 at night, 10 PM. So my wife wasn't seeing me. Yeah, it was, it was hard.

Crazy. Insane. So that was— what year was all that you were doing that? '21? Or is this still '20?

I was doing in 2020, part of about 5 months, because I signed up with the FFL in, um, July 2020.

And, um, okay, so '21 is the first full year.

First full year.

Would you sell that year?

About $469,000.

Would you, would you make that year?

No. So I probably made like, like close, close to about $150,000, uh, after paying everything. And then, so I was, I was happy, but, but it, but it wasn't, it wasn't— I knew there was a lot more. So recruiting, I was part of it. I was trying to build up my team. But then it is difficult when you're going outside, and I'm an older guy. Most of the people, if I were like a young person, they would not stick with me very long. So I figure my age were the people, and then so it was difficult to find people that was willing to work as hard as I was. Yeah, that age. Dan Hatcher was one of the few ones. Moham Jadi was one of the few ones. They were, they were, but they were very good friends of mine, and we sold books together. So it was kind of like they knew the system. They like, you have to work, you have to work hard to make money. And interesting, you know, it was, it was an interesting part.

Crazy. So year one goes really just on your own. When does it, when does it change? Like, when does it blow up for you?

In 20.

And to be clear, most people would be like, for something net $150,000 first year after all leads and advance money, all that stuff, chargeback. Like most people are fired up about that, but your business went like—

right, that was the explosion in 2022. I remember that, 2022. I was— I started posting in 2021 on social media, and, um, because I, I heard one of the, the agency owners talking about— she came to one of our, our, our meetings, team meeting, and she talked about TikTok. And how one of her, um, agents posted something and then got like 30 people, uh, signed up on her team because of that post. And it was kind of like, so I, I asked Dan Hatch, I said, what's TikTok? And he was like, I don't know, but let's find out. And then, so, so we, we, he, he got with his daughter, his daughter helped him, and he posted one video, and out of that video he got 250 views. And he recruited like 25 people out of that video.

No kidding.

Yeah. And then some of the people were— I mean, they were good people. I mean, and so I, I believe it took me longer than— then I started posting and posting. Nobody followed me, nobody followed me. And I started, and I, and I didn't know what, what Instagram was at the time. I only had Facebook, and I had about 300 friends. That's it. It was kind of like very— not, not a— I was not a social media type of person, so, but I was not scared of doing it. So I started posting and posting and posting and posting, and for about 8 months until, uh, some of the videos, they started getting more, more traction. And one of them went real viral, like in March of 2022. One of the videos got 1 million views. And I got more people calling me about, hey, I want to do life insurance with you, I need, I need a life insurance product with you, I need a life insurance. I was getting like all these—

this was clients, not a recruiting?

No, it was, it was all— I figured that, uh, the best way to, to attract people was talking about life insurance. Like, if people heard about that you're an expert in life insurance, people will actually listen to you. And then I heard about the IUL and the IUL was that—

what is that?

I said, what is an IUL? And like, I knew I-U-L-E, but I said, I was like, these people are talking about, you know, if you structure it correctly, you save money and you can do this. And I'm like, what the heck? What are they talking about? Structure and all these things. And so I had this guy, Depot, and Depot was like doing this. I says, I just pointed at him, you know, on a video. And that's the video that caught on fire.

So you didn't say anything in the video?

I didn't say anything. I just posted it. I just— and that video went like 1 million views. I mean, like, nice. So I realized, uh, talking about life insurance was hot, and IUL was a great thing. And I, I started becoming like deep into IULs. Like, what is, what is an IUL? How do you structure? How do you do— what's the best companies to use? All these things. And I started calling Sean Roger and all these people, like Hey, what, tell me about, like, you know, about annuities and all these things, but tell me about what is an IUL, what, what does, what can you do with it? And then, so it was, it was, it was a tremendous learning experience. And, and I started posting more and more and more. And then finally one of my videos went in Facebook, and I had, like, at the time I started having like 10,000 people on Facebook I— it blew out to half a million in hours.

Really?

Yeah, it was like, just went very viral. And then so I started getting about 100 leads a day. Like, people were just asking me, hey, IULs, they showed up on my— when they showed up on my, on my, on my screen, I was like, uh, an idol. It was like, people were like, hey, I'm ready to buy from you. I've been following you. You're, you're the master of the IUL. And I was like, okay, let me sign you up. And then so it was very easy. And then so I started funneling leads to, to my whole team and my— started blowing up too. So that year, I remember that half a year I did $1.3 million. Half a year I did that, that much.

Dang.

It was all Target Premium at the time.

Plus, plus your— oh, so $1.3 million Target.

Target premium. It was all— it was, it was a humongous amount that I did.

I didn't know, you know, right? Crazy. No kidding. Plus what you were giving out to your team. What'd your team issue that year? Do you remember?

They did a— it wasn't because I was, I was, I was, I only had like 10 people and yeah, and it kind of— I ended up with about 30 people and we were probably doing about half a million by the, by the in a month, you know, half a million a month by then.

Sick.

Yeah, so it was kind of like we went from doing $100,000 to about— because everybody was writing $50,000 to $100,000 a month.

Target, y'all changed the game. Y'all made the whole game different that year. I remember that. It was like, what is happening? Everyone was like, how's this old guy getting all these videos?

I mean, no, yeah, he's like— I had a 200 $32,000 a month target premium. It was like, I— it was like crazy.

Insane. How long did that wave last, or was this crazy?

About a year and a half. About a year and a half. I, I had the, the first year was totally— was get funneling leads to all my team. Yeah. And myself. And then, and then after that it was just me, my leads for me and a few agents. And then after that it was just me. And then after that it wasn't— it was kind of like, okay, I I gotta start buying leads.

Yeah.

So I started getting into the same flow because it was more competitive. Everybody figured out, hey, this is the hot, hot topic, you know.

Yep. Now everyone— I remember everyone was doing that. Everyone. I was like, I ain't doing it. Nope, there's too many people doing it. I'm not doing it.

Nope.

I see some people now that are buddies that they posted 5 of those and they quit posting on social media ever again.

Like, you—

that was it. They tried it 4 or 5 times and they quit. Yeah, it's funny. Oh man. So now what's today's world like? I mean, you're still making it happen. You're still selling a ton, right? What's the game like today for you?

I'm spending probably about $4,000 to $5,000 a month in leads. And then I probably— I could do— if, you know, I don't work all the time. I run about 20 to 25 appointments a week. I used to run about 40 appointments a week. Uh, so they— this, I probably do anywhere from $40,000 to $60,000 a month. No kidding. So it's, it's not bad, you know.

That's in Target also?

No, AP.

AP. Got it. Cool. Yeah.

Nice.

And what, what are you doing for leads? Are you running your own still or what are you buying? Just buying them from a vendor?

No, I, I, I'll get, I'll get probably like 2, 2 leads a week, uh, organically. And I still post all every day. Yeah, but I started doing more recruiting too, and then I started mixing it up because it was kind of like everybody doing IUL, it was just getting people tired. Oh, IUL, IUL, IUL. Yeah, kind of like, so I started mixing it up and, and it was now it's a mix, mix of different lead types. Yeah, and I do, I, I started I just bought like $1,000 in mortgage protection leads last year. I haven't closed my first one yet. How that—

are you trying to do it remote?

Yeah. Yeah. So I wanted to see— because we're trying to figure out, okay, you know, the IUL is so competitive now. It's kind of like you're trying to find, okay, what's the next deal, you know?

Bro, I promise you there's going to be a mortgage protection wave. When these interest rates come down, you're going to see a wave you ain't seen before because nobody— we've never had it in the digital time. Right. Last one was all direct mail and now it's like, dude, $100-something a pop for a direct mail lead or whatever it is. Are you getting them digital or direct mail right now?

Yeah. So the mortgage ones I was buying just from the lead center. And, uh, the age stuff, $95. Yeah, $95.

Yeah, yeah, $95.

It's a fresh— it's a fresh one. I don't— buddy, I spend too much time calling. So most of the people answer the phone and then, and then I set up the appointment, but it was— it's difficult, you know, people don't show up, uh, type of thing. It's kind of like— so I, so I say, okay, my, my leads on the IUL, they're like 25 to 30, and these ones are 95. So I say, okay, let's continue doing IUL leads. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah, feel better.

Yeah, I agree. I think some people that play with and learn the mortgage that don't understand it, that'll pay off. You know, when people start refinancing again and buying whatever it is, it's going to end. There's a lot of people don't know how to sell it. Yeah, it's not been hugely popular for the last few years.

I love it.

That's sick. So tell us about an IUL. You started saying earlier you know, you started learning what it is and when you use it, why to use it and how to use it and all the things. And obviously there's a lot of— you can get really creative, right? But, but give, give, give the basics on if someone's like, yeah, I want to get into that, you know, I mean, how can you, how can you go sell? Like, if I— John Wetmore today is like, I want to go sell $40K in IULs, tell me how, what do I do?

So you have the license. If you're a life insurance license, you have the license to sell IULs. So IULs is is another product of just like a term life. The only thing is basically is some permanent life insurance. So just like whole life is permanent, the only thing is the IUL can be structured to, to give people cash value and not much life insurance. So you can design it where people actually do use it for for a retirement plan. You can use it for kids' college. You can use it for, you know, buying a car or buying properties or anything that people want to do with cash. They'll have access to the money. And it's one of the few ways to grow their money tax-free, legally. And then so when we explain that, that, that it has all these components and is a, is a very easy type of product to actually— people like, not just because you're not talking about death like every other product you talk about. Hey, true, something happens to you, you're gonna die. It happened to you, you know, you get sick. So that part is very important. But then you, you can also talk to them about the happy part. Hey, you can use your money to buy things. You can use your money to retire. Hey, you can use your money to do this. And then so now it's a positive thing. And now when you come and say, hey, and if something happens to you in the meantime, you're protected. You got a life insurance part of it that is very, very powerful, that has living benefits. It's like all these things. And then so, so anyone, anyone that has a life insurance license can get into the IUL and A very simple product, you know.

Yeah, you're an insurance agent and you feel like you're stuck, you've hit a wall, you're trying to figure out sales strategies, the scripts to use, how to get like off the ground and get to that top of the leaderboard type status. I have a course that I've put out, super affordable. I'm getting a ton of great feedback from people every day on the strategies they've learned and been able to implement, from goal setting to sales techniques to calendar scheduling. Everything you would need to get your business off the ground and get running quickly. jwcourse.com. Click the link below and get in there today. What are you doing more of when you— I assume you're selling a concept, right? So you're letting people— you got to figure out, do they want— because here's what I hear a lot of people on TikTok now talk about, the IUL scam and all the— or the ways people set them up shitty, you know what I mean? It's like, how do you avoid all that? Because you're trying to figure out, do I set it up correctly? But correctly is kind of based on what they want.

Exactly. Exactly. It's all about— is based on the need. So, so the first thing that, that I— when I meet with somebody is asking them, you know, what, what is the main purpose? Is it, is it life insurance or is it your— the, the growth of your money? You know, what is you— what are you looking— because a lot of people, they will say, no, I'm interested in the life insurance. So now you're talking about something totally different. You're talking about protecting yourself. So it says, okay, so what's your budget for protection? And then they say, okay, it's $300 a month. So now you can put a structure where they can protect themselves to the maximum with $300 with a nice more face amount, face more insurance protection, target, all that jazz.

Yeah.

All right.

Makes sense. And then the others, obviously the retirements, the inverse.

Yeah, the ones that they say, you know, yeah, I'm interested in the growth. And sometimes, sometimes you, you, you— somebody at 65, they're asking you, they want to grow their money. I'm like, okay, and how much money you planned? And then they say $200.

This is—

that's not gonna happen, you know. So it's kind of like you gotta give them the, the truth, you know.

Yeah. What's, um, what's the ideal— how do you know if someone that wants to do the growth side, they want, they want income later, they want that whole deal, they want cash, how do you know, like, roughly, is there some kind of formula? If I'm, I'm 48, I'm 62, I'm 35, like, that they should be able to invest or whatever, pay towards 10% of their age.

So So like, like if they're, if they're 48, uh, they should put $480.

Got it. Okay.

You know, $50, $500. So that's— I learned that from, from Depot. He was explaining that. I says, okay, this guy know what he's talking about.

Yeah, sick. Easy, easy, easy.

What do—

why do, why do, why are people on TikTok talking about the scam? What's the deal? What are people doing wrong, or why do they see it wrong, or what's the, what's, what's the negative maybe that isn't so negative, or maybe it is?

Well, the, the thing is, right now a lot of people have policies, IUL. So everybody's trying to find, uh, everybody's trying to find a lead, and then one of the ways to find a lead is, hey, you got a policy, let me see it. And I'll see if I can— sure, better. So if they— let's see, let's see that somebody's putting $1,000 a month and somebody's structure, they wanted growth of their money, and somebody structured theirs to be based on target, which is a few companies are taught to do that with everybody so they get the maximum commission. So when they do that, they have zero, zero, zero, zero for 3 or 4 years in surrender value. That means they don't have any cash value to draw. So they're trying to grow their money, and then all they're doing is basically just putting money on life insurance. And then so when you show them that if they would have had a, a structure correctly, they would have had like— by then they would have had probably like $50,000 instead of zero. They're like, what? Got it, you know.

But if someone went into that one going, dude, I want a bunch of permanent insurance, then it wouldn't necessarily be a bad product the way it is.

Great product is a great product for, for, for protection. So that's what they did. They did a protection and the person was like, no, I don't, I don't want it. Yeah, the life insurance. I mean, the life insurance is important, but I don't need, I don't need that much life, you know, $700,000. I wanted like $100,000 and then the rest of it to grow.

Yeah, yeah, makes sense. What do you think that— you've trained a lot of agents to do this, um, and again, I don't think it's hard to find an IUL lead in today's day and age. They're literally there, you can get them a million places. Um, but what do you think that agents do wrong that want to get into selling IULs and they just, they know they don't sell shit? Where do they mess it up, bro? Yeah, because it's— nothing seems complicated about what you've said at all. Like, it actually seems stupid easy.

I think people don't want to spend any money. That's one of the hardest things to get people to buy leads. So if people buy leads, like, like I notice the people that are consistently selling are the ones that are spending like $3,000, $4,000, $5,000 a month. Those are— they're consistently selling every, every week, every month.

Yeah.

And they have— even if they don't have the sales skills that they should, because you can learn those little by little or, you know, over time, you know.

Yeah.

But I feel that that's the, the most— that's the biggest problem. People don't want to spend money. They, they feel like like, okay, I'm gonna put $200 a week in leads, and then $200 a week is not gonna give them much.

Sure, you know, do you ever get a guy that puts the money and somehow they're like, eh, I can't— the lead, they didn't want it, they didn't invest, like they just can't figure out how to convert it, you know? Where do you, where do you see the struggle there? Where do people get stuck? The guy, I got the money, I just can't close what Juan closes. I close $14K a month instead of $40K. You know, or 18 instead of 40? Where's— what's that guy messing up?

A mess up is they don't, they don't call enough people. Like, like, like one of the things that we, we were taught, like dial 3 times in a row to make sure that they, they get on the phone. So a lot of people, they feel uncomfortable that, and then you tell them, then when I tell them, I say, hey, let's dial together. As soon as they start dialing, they'll dial one and then they go to the next, and I'm like What are you doing? She said, I'm gonna dial everybody. I said, didn't we tell you to dial 3? Say, yeah, I'll come back to them. I'm like, no, no, no, no, no, no, the, the key is dial them 3 times in a row. That way people know it's an urgency call and then they'll pick up. But, uh, that's one of the things that I noticed that people try to not to do. They feel very uncomfortable. I feel very uncomfortable when I was doing it.

You know what's funny is I had no idea you were going to say that, and it's one of my favorite things you said because that answer still works 14 years into this business for me, and everyone still— it's crazy, dude. And yet at the same time, I had someone text me this weekend that said, uh, hey, some of these young kids, they hear you talk about triple dialing and they're like, that doesn't work.

That's still working.

Still working.

I, I, I was doing a— I was doing a live dial earlier today, and I was dialing, and I, and the one guy was couple of people were new, and then they— I'm listening, and on the third dial, that's when they picked up. Two of my appointments were on a third dial. Yeah, it was like, like, like, if I would have only dialed one, I would have not had an appointment. So that's one. The other part is follow-up, like, yeah, trying to confirm your appointment. So I'm, I'm trying to confirm my appointments that the a lot of people just automatically, but at the same time being, you know, calling them, talking to them, uh, also spending a little time of what is the main purpose of them looking for an I/O. So if you get them a little bit thinking about what they're wanting, I think they're gonna show up more because they're kind of like, hey, that was—

you're doing all— you're booking all your appointments, you're not doing one-call closes on these, is that correct?

No, I, I, yesterday I learned how to do that. One call, one call close.

Until, until yesterday you're booking all of them.

Oh, exactly.

I like it.

Yeah, I'm mad at that. She sells over $600K on IULs over the phone. I'm like, can you teach us? And then so she went over and it's amazing. Like, you can do it. I mean, she has great psychology behind it.

Who is it?

Fabiola del Palacio. She's like, she's amazing. She's like very, she's very, very, very, uh, really very good. She's like super good, and she's, she came out with her own way of doing it. And I, I was like, okay, I see it. I've seen other people do it, and I didn't feel comfortable about doing it the way that they do it, but The way that she does is more psychologically, more, and she does it real well. She's just— her business sticks very well.

To be clear, you've sold like $5 million worth of insurance in the last few years and dude's still out learning how to get better.

Oh yes. Oh yeah, every day, man.

Bro, I love it. Will you send me something of hers? I want to see who it is. I don't know who it is by off— I probably should, but I honestly, I don't.

You probably seen her. Yeah, she's very— she's quiet, uh, she doesn't—

I can picture someone, but I don't know if it's the right person.

I only, I only knew of her because she contacted me one time through Facebook. I said, hey, I admire you, I really want to learn about the IULs. And I was like, who's this girl? And then she says, I hit Hall of Fame last year. I'm like, okay. When I— when people hit Hall of Fame, they're serious. They're not like, for sure, hitting you. And then so I was like, okay, let's talk, you know. And then so we started chatting and then we became friends. And then she's, she's great.

I feel like I've seen the name for sure. I'm gonna check her out. Plus I like getting good people on here too. Yeah, I like learning this. It's neat to seeing how it's just changed so much in the last— even the last few years. But this thing in this game is wild, man. And, um, you know, those watching, it's like, I'm 14 years into this sucker, and dude, things keep changing. It never stops changing. In the moment, it feels amazing. It's like, ah, we found the best thing ever, dude. If you don't figure out how to adapt— I'm learning that still again. I'm like, shit, we have to always be ready to adjust.

It does.

Yeah, there's a lot of—

and when I go to— the main thing that I see is when I go to trips, uh, from National Life, or one of the trips that, that is that you get to see other people outside of your IMO. It's kind of like so much because people are like you, 14 years into it. Some people are 30 years, 35 years in the business. True. These people are doing making millions and millions and millions of dollars, uh, and then so they're— and they have a total different system than what I have. And then so I'm kind of like, hey, like, like, if these people are making a lot of money and they don't even touch what I do, but they do some of the same products, like everybody's doing— so there's things to learn. I mean, like annuities is one, one thing that people can just make a killing just doing that.

You know, dude, I don't even sell anymore and I've, I've sold 3 of those this year.

You come across people that have 401s or something, you know, there is easy.

Yeah, those nice checks too.

I was like, yeah, yeah, they stick around too.

That they do, they do, they do. They— I've never had a problem with one. It's good. Yeah, I love it, dude. Yeah, well, what's, what's next for Juan Franco? What do you, what do you got? You're trying to accomplish this coming year, ending up, ending '25, wrapping into '26. What's the goal?

My goal is, is, uh, I'm still wanting to, to, to do hit, uh, Agency Hall of Fame. That's, uh, one of the, the things that I haven't done.

Just $10 million. For those who don't know, $10 million for the year. Where will you be at this year?

Close to it. I, I could— we could still hit it if we, if we all put ourselves into it.

So don't let it be like that '900 year, bro. No agency side.

Yeah, so these are some—

yes, just one year. I don't remember what year it was. Um, let me think. I could think back, whatever year it was. Um, Ed called me and he's like, hey dude, because we were tracking it to hit 10 million. This was in like 2017 or '18, whatever it was. And, uh, we were watching— Amanda was running, we were watching it, dude. I ended at 9.945. Oh my God, I missed it by 50 grand, 55 grand or something for the year.

Whatever year it was.

Yeah, I was pissed. I was pissed, dude. I was trying to push policies through. I was calling corporate, I was calling the carriers. I'm like, we got to get 50 G's through. Oh, it's just a day, you know what I mean? If one more day, or just— it, it hit. So yeah, bro, I missed. I had my equivalent of your 900 missing a million.

It is what it is.

But the next year we did 22. Yeah, we, we smoked it the next year.

Yeah, you were like, yeah, I, I, that's one of the things that I, uh, our agency hasn't exploded like that. Like, we, we go, so, uh, one of those things that, that I have to figure out, uh, more on that. And, and I will say I wanna, I wanna become much better in annuity side, on the annuity, bigger cases like that. So those are some of the things that I'll— I'm, I'm looking forward to it, you know.

Yeah, I heard this week's annuity call was good. Someone, someone sent me that I should listen to it with the annuity call that they do, the SRS call. Oh yeah, they said the annuity one this week, someone texted me, it was, uh, what's his name I forget his name right now. Anyway, I heard this one was dope this week. I'm gonna, I'm gonna watch this week's annuity one. I think, I think whoever it was— oh, it was Dean. I think he's made like $600,000, $700,000 already this year just from annuities, like deposits.

That's amazing. So yeah, yeah, so lots to learn. I just, I feel like, like learning is, is one of the things that I will continue to improve personally and then trying to transfer that into our team. Because everybody looks for, for, for leadership and what is, you know, so this is kind of, if I, what is the next thing? So it's kind of like everybody's, yeah, that's true.

So I have to be, keep leading, brother, keep leading. Yes, you know, keep leading and teach people how to get paid.

Yeah.

And the reality is, dude, for all of us, eventually you find someone who figures it out and they run with it and help. You mean like one day Zach came into my world and he just— again, I did my best to help him, but like, dude, no one was stopping him. He's a machine, right? You know what I mean? And that all of us that have grown, eventually we find— Andrew found Grady, and this one found that one. Eventually it's like If you keep teaching people how to make money, dude, right ones will come and, and help with that mission. And it gets crazy.

Good people.

Yeah, buddy.

True.

Yeah, yeah, true. So, and you have a good heart. You like helping people make money.

Yeah.

And that's a piece of it. So if you keep doing that piece and talking about what can be done, someone else will catch and run. It always, it always happens.

Yeah, like, like, like Bilha is like one of the, you know, she just, she's a machine. She's kind of like, uh, but she does it totally different than everybody in FFL. Yeah. Who is it that does Bilha? Oh yeah, yeah, be like number 3 in the company. Yeah, if she's number 1 or— and she's not gonna be because Steven is always gonna be number 1. And then so she's gonna be at number 2 or number 3, but she, but, but she's gonna do like $1.3, $1.2 million this year. And she does everything without leads. She does basically warm market. She was on Grady's podcast. You probably have to invite her one day. And then she's amazing. She's like—

with no leads, $1.3 mil.

Yeah, she does. She, she just—

I definitely have to get with her.

Oh yeah, she's amazing. She sells a lot of IULs with term, you know. See, that's, that's the main thing that she does. She's learning how to sell annuities, so it should be dangerous. It's dangerous.

Yeah, I love it, love it. It's good stuff, brother. Well, I appreciate your time, my man. Anything that you want to end with? Um, always ask like anything that I should have asked you that I didn't, or if anything you just want to give them, leave people with at the end, either way.

I would say that this business, if you're already in the insurance business, I will say this is probably the best. I've been in other industries and I've seen, and I will say this will give you the most flexibility that I ever could have in my life right now. And if you if you work it, if you do it, you could have a great income. So, and for people that are struggling, is, is mainly just find someone that you can plug into and then teach you how they did it. Basically, that's the only— the only— is, is not magic. When people call me and say, hey, what do you do? What do you do? I always ask them, I say, how much are you doing a month right now? And if they're not doing like $20,000, I said, man, you need to just figure out how to work. You know, you're not working, you're not working, you know, you're not working. I mean, if you're not doing $20,000, that's that— you're not either spending money or not working. It's like you're not doing something. And then so, so that's once you figure, then you can teach them certain things, but it's very systematic. Like you're 'You're the best at that.' And my nephew, he say, 'I learned how to do it because John Wetmore broke it down piece by piece.' Yeah, that's the, that's the magic. Like, you know, consistent, dude.

I love it, brother. How's he doing? Is he making money yet? I haven't heard from him in a minute. He's doing good, great.

He's doing— I mean, he, he reached Hall of Fame last year, and he's on target to hit Hall of Fame this year. Uh, he's a, he's a hard-working guy and he's got a kid.

He went through a little hiccup.

Yeah, he's in the middle.

I think it feels like maybe like a year ago or something. I remember exactly where I was when he called me, like about a year, a year ago.

So he, in the beginning, he was, he was hard, a hard time. But then after, after he, he said the moment that he saw your video, that's the moment that he finally figured things out. He said I just had to, because he said he thought that sitting down in front of the computer for 8 hours was work. And when you told him, says, you know, is how much time are you spending doing work things? And then when he counted, he was working like 4 hours a week.

I remember, and then he went— yeah, I remember asking him permission, right? Because I don't remember how he connected with me. If you gave him my— I forget how it all came together, but I remember him explaining who he was, and then he asked the issue. And I know you, but I don't know you that deep. I know you just always smiling, always happy, super calm. So I don't know your inner personality, right? So I was like, is he aggressive? Is he not? So your nephew's asking for help, and I was like, you, you know who you— are you sure you want me to tell you the truth? He was like, yeah. I'm like, you don't mind at all? Like, one, I don't know if he's too nice or if he's mean. I don't know. But I'm about to light you up, dude. And he was like, please do, right? And that was nice, but he was not working at all, bro. He was— he wasn't doing shit, and he was overthinking it. I remember that.

But then the thing is, like, people think that they're working because they're sitting in front of the computer. It's true, not doing the work. And he said the only things The only thing that you can consider work is when you're doing something that makes money. You're either calling, you're dialing, you are in front of the client, or you're recruiting. That's the only 3 things that make you money. And when he realized that, he was like, I'm not spending any time on that. So it's like, I'm spending time watching videos, I'm spending time doing this, but I'm not doing the work. That was when he started making money, and then he started spending more money on leads too. So, so that was, that was, that was a key too.

I love it, I love it. I'll tell myself what's up. I have to get him on. I have to connect. I'll have to have him on here. That'd be a fun story.

Oh yeah, he's a good— he was, he used to work on the TV, on TV, so he's very good on, on camera.

Send him the link, dude. Tell him I want to get him on and send him the same link. He can schedule it.

I will. Yeah, do that.

That'd be fun. I love it, dude. Well, I appreciate your time, brother. Thanks for sharing. For those that— if they want to follow you, do you tell them how do they get to your social? My team will share it, but if you want to tell them.

Yeah, Solid Financial Plan.

So that's my—

my Solid, S-O-L-I-D, Financial Plan. Solid Financial Plan is my, my, how do we call it, hashtag or whatever, handle, name.

They know, the kids know how to find it. They'll find you. My man, I appreciate your time, dude. Oh, those of y'all watching, feel free, share it, like it, subscribe, do all those things. And if I can help with anything, y'all let us know.

Appreciate it, bro.

Good chatting. Thanks, man. Hey guys, if you've enjoyed the podcast or any of the previous episodes, if you're on Spotify or any of the other Apple podcast platforms, would love if you'd go in and leave a review for us. If you're, if you're watching on YouTube, comment, like, subscribe, share, do all the things. We'd greatly appreciate it. Helps get the word out to everybody. Appreciate you, and we'll see you on the next one.