How To Make Money in Insurance Sales, 8% Nation 2024 Recap, & More ft. Cody Askins | Ep19

Like initially everybody's like, dude, I want to do a conference, got to do a conference, I love events, you know. And everybody's kind of playing the event game a little bit nowadays in our industry. And I'm, I'm not going to get too far down that rabbit hole, but like they just are, right? My competition comes—

I might, I might push you down that rabbit hole, bro.

You might, you might. Then I'll start talking trash.

What up, y'all? John Wetmore back again, another episode of the Insurance Insiders podcast with my dude Cody Askins, coming off 8% in Springfield, Missouri, bro. Pulled it off. I'm not surprised, but I think some people were. Yeah, yeah, I think you seemed excited.

But now you know what's crazy is too, we just came off a 2-hour recap meeting, um, I saw that with our, with our team, which was awesome. And man, it was— I don't know if it was because it was home, which was great to do. I always want to do it in Springfield at some point. I don't know if it was because it was our 7th time, um, and a lot of our core team has been with us for years. But it was the smoothest and easiest one we've ever done. Really? Just crazy. Yeah. And they also— that wasn't just me because I'm like, you know, just talking. Yeah, they all said you just show up. Yeah, yeah. I always dreamed though too of doing an event in Springfield.

Yeah.

And I just— I don't know why, I just always wanted to do that. Um, I think that's true for everybody. Like, it's cool if you can do something in your city.

You know.

Um, like, I already had a guy reach out this weekend like, hey dude, I saw what you were doing, I want to come work with you. I'm, you know, I want to be on your sales team.

I'm like, that's great.

Locally? Yeah, just local. Yeah, he does commercial cleaning or something. He's like, dude, I'm a good personality, I've done some sales, I want to come. And so that's the cool thing about doing something in your market. Yeah, there's other benefits that come from it. I mean, there's a bunch of insurance agents in Springfield, no, but It was cool that a bunch of them came here to hang out.

Yeah, how'd you like it?

I liked it a lot. Um, yeah, it was really good. I, I felt like, um, production, energy, speaker lineup from top to bottom, um, was literally one of our better years ever, you know, without having, without having like too many like massive names by by the way too. Yeah, you know, um, we get a little more creative, um, and I felt like it executed well. Um, audience was super engaged. All of our sponsors were super happy this year because, you know, you guys were like right there. Everybody had a table, was like right by the doors, you know.

Yeah.

Um, your breakout was freaking packed, which did not surprise me. It was funny, there was 7 breakout rooms for those that weren't there, and I opened the door, I walked to G, which is the last spot. Yeah, A, B, C, D, E, F, G. Yeah. And I walk and I opened the door and I was like, oh wow. I'm like, I'm like, I mean, there's like 80 people in here, you know?

Like, holy crap, it was busy. It was good. Yeah, I could have done it for 7 hours too.

They would have— a lot of them, dude, they would have stayed too, you know?

Yeah.

People that will like take time out of their schedule buy a ticket, pay for flights, get a hotel, and come and take notes and listen to people talk for multiple days in a row. Dude, they're freaking hungry. Like, you have to be hungry and want more out of your life to, to do that, especially in Springfield, Missouri.

I can't, you know, that's true. I enjoyed it there, bro. I had, uh, and it's, it's no different for me going anywhere. I'm spoiled in Atlanta, Direct. It was Everywhere is easy for me to fly. I heard certainly some people it's a little more pain in the ass to get to, but it was cool. I found this— this has nothing to do with nothing, but I found this spot. Whatever that mall is near y'all, I assume there's only one mall.

Yeah, Battlefield Mall.

I found this place that has these ridiculous— those acai bowls. I freaking love those things. Yeah. And I didn't, I didn't want to eat just like I just like getting them. So Amanda found it and I went. Dude, I found it the second day. I went every day after.

Oh my gosh, I love that. Yeah, it was, it was in our mall, like in the big mall.

It's out, you can get to it from outside, but it's technically attached to the mall. Yeah, they got those and tacos.

It was unfreaking tacos. Okay, cool.

That's awesome, dude. It was so good.

That's crazy.

I just finished having one out here. There's one by my office I get all the time too, dude.

It's, it's, uh, it's light and healthy and I feel good after I eat it.

Yeah.

And there's so much stuff I eat. Like Lauren was earlier this morning, she's like, hey, you want breakfast? I'm like, a little, but I want to be like light. I don't want like, you know, a bunch of like sausage and bacon and like all the, you know, biscuits and gravy and pancakes and all this stuff. Cause I'm like, I'm gonna be asleep, you know? So I love those, that smoothies, you know, there's a little protein shake I love getting. It's called the Spartan. And it's got like a bunch of protein in it right down the street, and I love getting it. I get it almost every Saturday morning. Yeah, it's cool.

I love it. I don't know how we got on that, but being local— I, I enjoyed being out there though, dude. It's—

you gotta—

it's a cool little town. I was impressed you got that many people there though. I am, but I'm not like— I'm not surprised. I was freaking impressed.

Thank you. It's, uh, you know what, I felt like, um, that was our to-do that was one of the biggest accomplishments we've had. Now, if we had bigger accomplishments, for sure, but to pull that off and get people there—

was it hard?

Is that what you mean? It was hard, dude. Freaking brutal. Like, literally hard, you know? How did you—

for people, like, I see people trying to do events or bring people to meetings or do lock-ins, all the cool stuff people do today.

Yeah.

What's it take to do something like which y'all pulled off? Just get people— like, how much work went into getting people to that?

Oh dude, I mean, okay, so like, like, context, we have a team of— I mean, our smallest team we've ever had probably for years and years. We've got about 20 people in the office now, um, about 15 to 20. And our payroll between— but that's include VAs and stuff— is like $30K a week, you know, sometimes a little bit more, sounds a little bit less with commissions and stuff. Well, this squad works on something 8% related. Several of them touches something 8% related. Every week for a year. Like, it is a—

that's what—

that's why most people, like, initially everybody's like, dude, I want to do a conference, got to do a conference, I love events, I got to do events, you know. And everybody's kind of playing the event game a little bit nowadays in our industry. They just are, right? And I'm not going to get too far down that rabbit hole, but like, they just aren't, right? My competition comes—

I might, I might push you down that rabbit hole, right?

You might. Then I'll start talking trash. But most people, okay, most people do not have what it takes to put on a conference.

Here's why.

Yeah, because they won't go in the hole hundreds of thousands of dollars to hopefully get their money back, number one. Number two, they don't have the people around them to pull it off, and they just think they can just do it all on their own, which is the dumbest thing you could ever try to do. And then number three, they don't promote hard enough for long enough And in the event space, it's, it's, it's crazy too, because like my very first year doing it, I promoted really hard. And then the week, week of, you're like terrified that anyone is actually gonna show up, you know what I mean? It is scary, bro. And, and to— and to like selling insurance day to day, it's like, dude, it freaking toys with your brain like constantly, you know? You're like on a high and then you're depressed 12 minutes later. Like, it's a freaking mental screwing, right? It is. Um, that's the most politically correct way I can put it. Um, same thing for events, but dude, it's the whole freaking year. And every single day, if for the last 3 to 6 months, if I'm not thinking about and pushing and promoting 8% every second of every day, we're just gonna have a smaller turnout. And so I've got to where— and what's crazy too is we probably had— we probably added I don't even know. We added— I think we probably added 800, 700, 800 tickets in the last like 6 weeks.

No way.

Dead serious. Damn. Like dead serious.

Like, so you were nervous?

Oh dude, I was very nervous because I was like, are people not gonna come to Springfield? And then dude, we put the pedal to the metal and just hammered it. And I'm like, dude, we did not let up. We do not let up. We do not let up. And I think there's— I think that's true for business. Like, so many people, like, when things aren't going well, it's so easy to, like, slow down or go backwards. But what I've truly learned with events or business or anything else, if we aren't expanding in some, some capacity, we will eventually start to contract and go backwards. And I, I just— man, dude, I do not want that. And so, like, it's— I talked about this at the conference too. Most people are like, man, I don't know about Cody, dude, because he just promotes so freaking much. Like, he thinks everything he has is like the greatest thing in the world and he promotes it like crazy, you know? Like, I remember years ago there was a guy, um, I don't know, he sold his company for probably $100 million, whatever, and this was a long time ago. And he was asking through the grapevine, dude, all I hear is Cody talking about these, uh— this is when I was generating final expense leads for you guys and a bunch of other people back in the day, way back in the day. And one of these guys is like, are his leads that flipping good, man? Like, he was like older in the industry and he's like, what the freak is going on? Why is he promoting these so hard? Are they And what's crazy is, but when you start promoting that hard, then people are like, man, are they actually that good? Like, because your belief is so freaking high in something, in something that other people starts to like, look like, crap, dude, maybe I should be at 8%. Maybe I should try the lead. Maybe I should, you know. And so I've seen you do that with your agency, you know, over the years. Like, you believed so hard that you could turn and you've proven it. Thousands of people into six-figure earners that you guys just push, man. You push and you push and you push, and most people do not push. I don't know if it's a lack of belief, if they're scared, I don't know, you know, they got to put themselves out there, I don't know. But it—

they—

you just— you cannot stop pushing. You just can't.

I wonder if people like— and maybe also, how do you handle— but I wonder if people stop because it's like the same message over and over and over again. Relatively, you know what I mean? Like, yeah, I feel like I say the same thing. Non— someone once said to me, he goes— I had a guy with me, a video guy, a couple years ago, and he follows me around doing some stuff, and he goes, do you ever get sick of saying the same thing over and over again? And he goes, he goes, it feels like kind of Rolling Stones, like cue the top hits, and you just, you know what I mean? I'm like, yeah, I mean, the basics work, dude, but It does.

I've got a, I've got a couple thoughts on that too when you said that. Um, it's funny, we get on these things, dude, and we have no clue we're talking about it, and then, yeah, um, but we've hung out enough. Here's two things that came to mind. One, um, if you look at the most popular speakers in the world, trainers, etc., dude, they assume that they're always speaking to a new audience. Yeah, they always have the same message, they're telling the same stories, right, constantly. Because it's what works, it's what got them to where they're at. And two, I don't know, like when I go to a conference, there's been people that I've never seen before. There's people that have never seen you before. Like there's a bunch of people, 80%, that have probably never seen you speak before, right?

And, oh, and then there was a ton there.

And then, and then I had like so many people that were like, oh my gosh, dude, I freaking love John, I loved his message, I'm excited about his book. Like all these things, right? Well, you figured out the core message of who you are and what you do, which is cool. And you've identified even more like the last couple years. But then two is there's that part of it where it's the same message over and over again, right? Because it works and it's your— it's your core, it's you, what you believe, it's your story, it's all the things, right? Well, the second thing is when it comes to like pushing and promoting and, and talking, there's also the part of it where you've got to always find the angle. So like, like when we're pushing tickets and something happens, I'm like, okay, what's the angle? Like, like when the AC shuts down in the hotel, right? Which we've had multiple times, right?

Yeah.

What's the angle when the fire marshal comes in the middle of freaking lunch and starts redesigning the seat map and removing tables? What's the angle? Like, there's always an angle to all of this from a promotional standpoint. How do you use it? And it's interesting too because most people are afraid to Um, I think one of the reasons we've done fairly well brand-wise is if I know something, dude, it's gonna come out of my mouth for sure. For sure. Like, it's like guilty as charged. Like, it's not always good, but the people feel like I'm let them in and they hear about the behind the scenes and they learn stuff. Most people be like, nah, dude, I want to feel— I want people to think I'm perfect, so I'm definitely not going to share that. But there's always There's always an angle. Here's, here's an example. Uh, we just had our biggest Kaboom Leads week ever, uh, last week that we've had so far. It's only been out, what, 4 or 5 months, whatever. But the reason that took place is we did this like coupon code for people that were at 8% for Kaboom Leads. Uh, most people don't buy leads at an event unless they're FFL, which is why I love you guys, um, because you guys do. Most, a lot of companies don't. But what's crazy about that is after the conference, I'm sitting there like, dude, why aren't we getting more lead orders for this? So I extended the sale due to the Microsoft outage. And for 3 days I pushed. I'm supposed to be on like vacation, hanging out, like not doing anything, and I'm scheduling emails for leads. And we go on to have our record 3 days ever because of— we extended a sale that happened at 8% that a bunch of people didn't use because also something happened in the world that affected like the internet and online tech and whatever that even meant. But there was an angle and we found it and, and exploited it, you know. And here's, here's another thing too, real quick. I'm kind of curious to hear all your, all your thoughts on all this stuff. So many people are worried about when they're, when they're applying the angle or extending the sale or they're selling, uh, something for cheaper or whatever, they're worried about people's feelings far too much. Yeah, like, dude, like, I was at the Taylor Swift concert. A guy beside me paid $300 for his tickets. We paid $1,500 a piece.

Yep.

I paid 5 times more. Do you think I'm gonna go to the event host and like complain or go to Taylor Swift or go online or social or whatever, like demand a refund or get pissed off or whatever. No, no, but you know what, people in industry do that to us, you know. It's true. But at the end of the day, my job is to fill the room. It's not to worry about how people feel about the way that I fill the room. But that holds a lot of people back from an event standpoint too, and from a business standpoint, because they're sort of, sort of about everyone else thinks, and they want to be so politically correct, and everybody need to be so fair across the board. That they never really, really start to get people's attention.

Yeah, that's, that's tough, dude, because it's tough. Someone's always gonna think something. And I've watched you change over the year. I know it, I know it eats you up some days. Yeah, I know you've gotten better about it for sure, where you just don't let it bother you. But I've obviously— you and I have had enough conversations, but I deal with it too, dude, you know. And just the industry being what it is, you know, you know the hell I get shit for going to your thing sometimes, you know what I mean? Like, some people don't like it. I'm like, whatever, I just don't care. Like, not a mean way, I'm not trying to be an ass, but like—

but you can still help people that are there.

Yes. Yeah. And I enjoy it. Yeah, you know what I mean? I'm like, yeah, whatever. And so I, I see a lot of people hold back from doing all kinds of stuff because someone says you shouldn't, that's not the right way, this person did whatever, you're You know what I mean? They— yes, hold people back or put people down. Um, and I, I still get stuck on that a little bit where I'll think about it and I'm like, yeah, but I gotta go through it, you know. What up, y'all? Officially releasing my book. You can go on and order it now at johnwetmore.com or click the link below. So I go over the 6 basic principles I implemented to go from a struggling agent for my first couple years to Saving nearly half a million bucks a month. And go through stories and examples and exercises that you can do to implement for yourself. Appreciate it. Again, JohnWetmore.com. Get yours later.

Yes, you know what's true too is I, uh, I'm very, um, I think you know this about me. Most people, maybe most people don't. I am very, very stubborn. Um, very stubborn. Like, I like doing things my way, you know what I mean? Like, I don't know how much you can relate to this, but like, I am so freaking— go— I'm so freaking stubborn. And we're a ton alike in different ways anyway, but I'm so stubborn. And you know what's crazy about this year? I can name numerous things that I would have never done a year 2 years, 3 years, 4 years, 5 years ago that we are trying this year, that we're doing this year, that we're more open to this year, that I would have never done before. And we just had our biggest month since the merge in July.

I saw your post earlier.

Yeah, yeah, thanks, buddy.

Which is that just because of what others thought and you're holding back because of that?

Um, I was— I thought VAs was the dumbest thing in the world. I will never do it, dude. I freaking love it. Um, leads, never. I'll never do that again. That's the worst business in the world.

I remember you telling me that a couple years ago.

Yeah, yeah, I'm like, I will never do that again. That's, that's crazy. Agents hate leads. No, dude, they, they love our leads because we're trying, right? Yeah. Um, let's say I'll never do that. I thought I would— I eventually want to do an event in Springfield, but I never thought I would do 8% in Springfield. Yeah, and I was not for it. I'm like, that's, that's never gonna happen, right? Boom, we tried it, loved it, it went great. There's just so many things. Like, I, I didn't want to serve at church because of my pride, and I'm like, well, you know what, I wanted to serve, but I'm like, dude, give me a freaking mic, bro. Like, I speak for a living. Like, that's not how church works, you know what I mean? That's, that's the crazy crap that goes through my brain though. Yeah. So they're like, hey, you, we need you to work like the first, first impressions, like info desk, and like give new— give new visitors a, a, a mug. I'm like, I ain't doing that. You're not sticking me at a freaking info desk to greet people. Are you kidding me? Yeah, dude. But I started doing it and I'm having a blast. Like, there's all these things I can— I could keep going that I was so against, so stubborn. I will never do it. And now I've started, like, open up and adapt and change and be a little more like you know what, we should try that. You know what, we should try that. Like, we did the meeting earlier and there was a few things that came up and I'm like, you know what, you guys are right, we should try that. I would have never been open to before. And it's amazing how much it like just like opens up for new information and new relationships and new access and like things that happen that I would have never been open to before.

Yeah, it's funny, it's, it's like I can watch you trusting your team and the people around you more. Which I've tried to do as well this year, like, but I've seen it. You've been, you've been at that for a minute.

Thanks.

It's crazy how much y'all have grown. And yeah, they handle, gosh, they handle that event like freak out. I told a lot of them, I'm like, yo, they handle that thing like a bunch of bosses.

That's cool. Yeah, I literally had, uh, less to do with this year's 8% from all those details and setup and all that than I— yeah, do I still want to get my, like, am I still going around and like you know, checking all the sponsors and like, okay, like, you know, whatever, sure. But like, you know, different tables, um, and like setup of chairs. Yeah, I still have an opinion, but, um, I, I've— you know what's crazy is the business goes better when I start to be that way. And but my control freak self wants to touch everything. Well, it's just not going to move as fast as I've got to touch everything and do everything, you know. But that's a, that's a big hurdle for a lot of people.

It's tough. What was your favorite part of the week? Any percent?

Oh, oh, um, one of the funnest parts, um, I think this will surprise people. One of the funnest parts was, um, the very— one of the things I enjoyed the most was the, uh, the very last talk, like right before we ended, and just had the team up there and them sharing, you know, what's going on and who they are, and then having other people involved. And like, I just, I don't know, I, uh, I'm thinking all the people involved. Like, I think that was, was like, from a public standpoint, was one of the funnest. But privately, dude, I absolutely love— and I used to, I said this on stage too, like, I was in a network chairman, network chair, chair, what do you call that, the local, uh, uh, networking deal, chamber event.

Yeah.

And it's not really for networking, but that's what I used it for, um, the local chamber thing. And at a country club one time, this was probably 12 years ago, and I went and showed up to a chamber event and like, dude, I like stood in the corner. I was like, I feel out of place. All these people are super well dressed, they're big business people, I have no clue what I'm doing, I'm terrified, I'm not talking to anybody, you know what I mean? And But now I absolutely love meeting people. I try to— when I go to an event, my brain says you need to shake hands or hug or high-five or speak to every single person that comes through these doors. Yeah. Um, did I get everybody? No, but man, I feel like I got a large percentage because I really, really try to do that. And so I, I enjoy that a lot more than I used to.

You're really good with the names too, bro. What's the trick? If I could give myself one superpower, bro, you need to not have to be like, what's up, bro, to everyone. I would love to remember everyone's freaking names, dude.

I mean, if they do business with us, it's easier, I'll tell you that. Um, but I think, um, I'll see— I see a lot of people on Zoom on different stuff, you know. I'm just on a bunch of stuff. But I, uh, I've got to where I will— if I can see, like, I've almost— it's almost got to be— I don't know what the trick is, but there's got to be so many times, and then it's like after so many times it just like sticks with me forever, you know. But I do repeat their name back to them like 2, 3, 4 times in that initial conversation. You know, like almost like too much, you know, like, yeah, hey, remember your name again, dude? I'm Preston. Oh, Cody, man, good to see you again, right? Preston? Yeah, yeah, cool, dude. I love that, man. Preston, it's good to see you, bro. Appreciate you being here, man. That's awesome. Preston, where'd you come in from? You know, like 4 times. Yeah, like 17 seconds.

I like that. Yeah, and it's, uh, because I'll be doing it. I'll be like, and I'll meet Preston and be like, in 12 seconds in the conversation, I'm thinking, shit, what'd he say his name was again? I get so mad at myself, dude.

So easy to do. Yeah. I mean, it helps that like I see them throughout the year in some capacity, but we get a lot of new people. Um, we had one couple that had been to conference 3 years in a row and I was like, hey, is this your first time to 8%? Like, dude, I've been here 3 times. I'm like, they're like, I'm like, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm terrible. Remind me your names again. And then they're telling me like, dude, we're promoting you, we're telling these conferences they need to have you speak, we're telling all these other vendors they should be at 8%. And they're like, we freaking love this, it's our favorite event. I'm like and I can't even remember that you even showed up. I'm sorry, you know, like, so I, I did— I get it wrong a lot, you know, but, but I, I think this is, this is a side note too, like, a lot— I'm okay at this point in my career saying I screwed up, that was really stupid, my bad, I apologize, my mistake. And I think so many people like want to be perfect or they like want this, this facade and like they, they're, they, they just can't be wrong. Um, yeah, I, I've at least grown in that area to where I'm like, I will admit it when I screw up, and if it helps me not have like a blowup or a fight or like a thing, you know, and I can just move on. Yeah, that's on me, no biggie. More about next time, you know. Even when it's not, you know, if there's a big team thing and it's like I know whose fault it is, but I'm like, you know what, nah dude, that's on me. I should have thought about that. We'll be better next time, you know. Like, I think that's a part of growing and moving a little quicker too, and like scaling like you have, is you cannot get tied up in all these little freaking things that happen all throughout your day because it can eat up a day, man. Oh my gosh.

I had someone ask me the other day— I, I was doing a podcast with someone, I don't remember who it was, might have been Mike, uh, Impact Dude, I think. Yeah, maybe could have been. I think it might have been him. And I asked what frustrates him at his stage, and he gave me answers, whatever they were. He goes, what Does anything frustrate you now? What frustrates you? And he turned on me. I'm like, bro, I got a list, dude. And I think it's learning how to— again, part of business is learning how to move on from things that do frustrate, you know what I mean? And understand it ain't going away. It's part of the journey. It's like, how do you adapt to them? How do you fix it? What's— we're upstairs yesterday and— or Friday, and, uh they were coming to me, they were giving me a story about a problem they solved without me because they were going to bring it to me. But every time they bring me something, I go, great, what's the solution you have? And I want them to give me ideas for the solution. So now they're telling me the story and they're like, and then we sat there and I said, what would John say? He'd want to know what the solution is. Shit, we better come up with one. And so then they brought it to me basically done.

That's awesome.

Yeah, which causes way less frustration because I don't have to deal with everything.

Well, you do a good job, really good job of, um, getting other people to see the conclusion, you know. Yeah. And, and make decisions and, and understand where they're at and come up with— at least come up with the realization, the aha moment on their own, or make themselves at least feel like it was their idea, you know. Um, yeah, you do a really good job of that. I've always, always been impressed by that.

I enjoy getting people to think. Yeah, I want people— I want wheels to turn versus just absorb information. I don't like doing a talk when they're just trying to absorb it and write it down. I was listening to, um, Maxwell. Oh dude, Mylett interviewed Maxwell. Have you listened to that one? No, bro, so good. Shut up. Lights Out, dude.

YouTube.

Yeah, it's on my Let's Podcast. Okay, so I listened to it on the podcast in the, uh, when I was, I was hiking yesterday. I listened to like 5 of them. Let's go, Maxwell! You're in one hike, bro? I hiked. I see. I gotta do a better job promoting because you didn't see my social yesterday. I'm slacking, bro.

Well, I did also. I don't— in your, in, in your defense, I don't get on it as much as I used to. My team manages a lot of that. But yeah, was that on your story?

Just, I'm just saying. Yeah, hell yeah, dude. I did, uh, I— so I have this mountain near my house. It's like 3 miles, or like 3 minutes from 14 miles. Yeah, I went over. There's this mountain that people climb to the top and then they hike back down. I went over it.

Pearl.

Yeah, you gotta— can't see it, but is that better? Dylan can fix it.

They did 14.3. Yeah, 3 miles.

Holy crap. Yeah, like on a mountain. Rocks, terrain. It was not like flat.

Mother of pearl. Are you sore?

Yes, my calves. So you know the big one I'm doing coming up? No, you don't know about this? Or don't let me forget the Maxwell thing. Okay, it's about pausing. Don't let me forget. Okay, but Google it. 29029, Jesse Itzler. Really? 29029, which is the height of Mount Everest. Google 29029 Everest.

Everesting. Everesting.

Yes. Yep, that's the one. You're doing 29029 Whistler. That's the actual one I'm doing. Whistler, Canada. So Jesse and his team, you know, the All Day Running Company, it's all that stuff.

Yep. He does like the hill in the backyard.

The Hell on the Hill is like this week. Yeah, they're promoting it today actually. It was on his social a while ago, but I, uh I'm doing this thing. I, I signed up like maybe almost a year ago now.

It's sold out.

Oh yeah, dude, it sold out. Get this, uh, Whistler sold out the day before it went on sale to the public. Because if you do it like I'm in, so next year when they renew, anyone that's been previously gets to purchase first before it goes to public. So this sucker sold out before it went to public. I just happen to know a guy who knows a guy who's involved with this thing and, and got me a connect. So I have to go do—

to fly into Canada, uh, it's like August in 3 weeks, 22nd through the 25th.

Yeah, by the time this comes— I don't know when they're putting this out, but I might be done when this comes out. I don't, I don't know how quick my team's getting this one out, but yeah, that's mid-August. And, uh, so 29029 is the height of Mount Everest, 29,029 feet apparently. And he rents out different mountains. Whistler is one of them I'm doing, and I have to hike it the equivalent as many times as the equivalent of Mount Everest. So I have to hike this mountain, it's 4, just under 4 miles in length, and it's like 4,000 feet in elevation. I have 36 hours to hike it 8 times. Yeah. I'm doing that in 3 weeks. Holy crap. So prepping, I did the one by my house yesterday for 4— I did 7 hours hiking yesterday. Yeah, so I, I listened to a bunch of podcasts. I think I listened to 4 or 5 Mylette podcasts yesterday alone.

Dude, I, I was— I'm beyond impressed by that. Um, well, I did remember the Maxwell thing, but like, dude, my, uh, I was telling Lauren yesterday, I need the business is going so well and the team's doing such a good job that I need something like, bro, competitive and fun to do like that.

I'll get you, you know what I mean? I do stuff. Yes, because that's what I do. And bro, I always try to get people to come with me.

I just told him that yesterday, dude. I would have went for sure.

Oh, I'll see you. Buckle up, I'm gonna get you in the next ones. Okay. I always do stuff So I did a marathon earlier this year. Um, every time I've done stuff over the years, I like doing like mud runs. They do those obstacle course, like, yeah, just like challenges, dude. It keeps me working out every day. Yeah, if I don't have something to chase, I get bored. Correct. I like to, I like to build up to something.

100%.

Um, so I'll— in the past, I used to bring people, and I would bring a dude, and I'd be like, all right, next one's in 6 months. And I've never got someone to come to a second thing with me. They've only ever done one, and then after this— and now I couldn't get one person. I posted on social a few times, but next time, next thing crazy thing I sign up for, I'm gonna send to you.

Okay.

I also— it's coming.

I think I get on Facebook the least. Yeah, of anybody I know.

I'm gonna send you direct next one. This one will be signed. They'll, they'll, they'll release signups for next year's pretty soon, and they do it in like 5 or 6, 6 different locations.

That's a, that's a haul, dude. That's 32 miles like this, bro.

So you go uphill and then you take a gondola down and go right back uphill, down, up, down.

All, hey, all the wind non-stop.

Yes. Yeah, yeah, you got 36 hours, 32 hours. Stop if you want, if you finish in— I mean, I don't know how long it's going to take.

32 or 36?

36 hours.

36 hours.

Geez Louise, is the limit.

The way you sleep at all?

I'm gonna play it by ear, dude. Here's— you know my style, bro.

I don't, um, just do more, baby.

I don't, I don't look too much into it, man. They've done all these like calls and I got on one and everyone had like the dumbest 9,000 questions.

I hate that.

What brand socks do I wear? What color pants should I wear? What if it's— and I'm like, I can't handle it.

I can't, dude.

It's 30 effing miles.

Yeah, socks matter. Cardone used to have this call-in show back in the day, and I would tune in, and I'm like, after the first question, I'm like, I'm out. This is ridiculous. Yeah, this is so stupid.

So I don't— I don't know the strategy. Um, I'm just gonna get out. I figure, again, it's 4 miles up. If I do 2 miles an hour, which is a 2 on a treadmill, right? The little number 2. Yeah, it takes me 2 hours, you know what I mean? I can do 2 miles an hour, so it's 15 hours, but it's uphill. It's like the— it's like being on a treadmill at a 22. The great— you know, you can incline the treadmill.

Can you even get a treadmill to 22?

I don't think so, dude.

I've only been to like 12 or 15.

I don't know. Yeah, mine goes to like 18 at the gym I'm at.

That's good. So that's one of those Atlanta gyms, man.

They got the spring— 30 miles, 31 miles, whatever.

Wow, I'm so impressed by that, bro.

And hey, all to win a red hat that says 29029 on it.

That's awesome. Gosh, dude, I'm so jealous of that. I think it's amazing. I only— I'm only— I'm actually working out less but playing more basketball and like playing basketball and running like more than I ever have in years. And I'm hurting, but like I'm having a blast with it, you know.

It's good. I've been doing a lot of CrossFit for the last like 2 months. Yeah, I love it, dude.

Ah, it's intense. It's—

you move some weight too. Yeah, it's a— it's been a fun challenge.

That's awesome.

So I love the challenge. So yeah, next one, next one. I'm— they got a big one out here and they got some in Atlanta. I might have to get you to Atlanta.

Let's do it. Do you ever cycle?

No, but I bought a bike. I thought about it, but I'm not— I wouldn't call myself a cycler.

Well, I'm not either, but I've thought about it too since I did that Ironman back in the day. I've kind of like been like, okay, if I was gonna run, bike, or swim, what would I do? I'm like, probably bike, you know?

Yeah, I want to do one, but the swimming, I gotta— dude, I'm, I'm— I don't know about that.

I'm not the best. It takes a minute, but I liked it a lot. Well, you're about— you're about to add something about doing something right before I asked.

Oh, in Atlanta? Yeah, dude, there's, there's all kinds of stuff out here. I'm gonna, I'm gonna invite you to one of the things out here, and then we should do something while you're out here, some kind event or training or something. Let's do— yeah, have fun and then do something. Or get a bunch of agents to go do something crazy.

That'd be cool. That would stretch them. We get a lot of people like, yeah, I'll do that, and then you'll never see them again.

But no, let's— yeah, DM one of us if you want to do something. And then, yeah, when it comes time to pay, they'll be like, well, I'm out.

Yeah, yeah, that's, that's the one thing that, like, you cannot grow anything of significance if that is a constant hurdle. Yeah, you just can't. True. You just can't.

Yeah.

So I like that. What about the Maxwell piece?

Yeah, so it was— he was talking about, like, when I was talking about getting people's wheels to turn, right? I heard this thing and he goes— he, he calls it, like, I think he says the power of— the power of the pause. It's like pausing when you speak. And it gives people a chance. What he's— what I, what I was telling you is I don't like to talk at people and just feed them information. I like to get people to discover stuff best I can. But when I was listening to him, I'm like, I got some stuff to work on. And Rocky did a really good job with his pausing. I mean, he crushed it, dude. He was my favorite by far.

He was incredible. He was one of the best we've ever had that nobody knew. Correct. I, I kind of like that. I mean, do you think we should do more of that in the future where it's like the person's— yes, unbelievable, and nobody else can get that caliber, dude.

He's— and then I got to talk to him backstage after, like, so first of all, he was one of the first people when I walked off to come up to me and say something about my talk. I mean, he was like, he just gave me really good feedback. It was, it was really neat. And I didn't know in the moment, I didn't know who he was. I just thought it was another like an agent. I had no idea, dude.

Shut up.

I swear to God, bro. He came and he's like, bro, that was ridiculous. There's levels. And you— he— and he did this thing. And I'm like, awesome, dude. Thank you. Appreciate it so much. Means the world. I turn around to walk away and Amanda's right by me. She goes, you know who that was, right? I'm like, nah. She goes, dude, that was Rocky, you dipshit. And I'm like— so I immediately, I went back up to him and we— he was just standing there watching, dude. He was just standing in the back right by the doors watching the speakers. So I went back and just, you know, asked when he was speaking because I, I didn't know. Obviously y'all didn't release the exact schedule. Um, and then I went and chatted with him after the Q&A. Yeah. And so we've texted a little bit and good, good dude. But his story's great, which I'm sure you heard, just his recent story, why he's doing some of the things, his change. And we're like, bro, crazy, just a normal dude going through shit just like the rest of us.

Correct, correct. Yeah, because he could be— from a speaking career standpoint, if he had just committed to that, you know, he could be so much farther along. But he's been doing other stuff and like, you know, trying to help out different companies and people and stuff. And yeah, yeah, but he is ridiculous. He's really good. The control, uh, without real— without like, without yelling and without, you know, energy and without aggression, you know what I mean? Just like, I, I'm I haven't, I haven't picked, picked up on that yet. Yeah, I can move a room, but in different ways. Not like that though.

That's impressive. It was. And you could feel the, the difference in feeling in the room. Dude is nuts. So yeah, Maxwell thing I was talking about, he goes, uh, he gave— I can't say it like Maxwell does, so go listen to it. Like, I'm gonna do it no justice whatsoever.

Oh, listen, I'm gonna go right now.

He was, he was talking about the power of the pause, and he's like, it allows— he goes, it, it gives me a chance to allow the audience to catch up. Because most people, when they're speaking, they're just giving information. Everybody's trying to process and write things down. They don't ever have a chance to like stop and just absorb what was being said.

Yes.

So he's like, when you pause, dude, and it doesn't need to be crazy long, he's like, couple seconds. He goes, it can get— it gives people a chance to digest what you said. And he goes, pausing is like underlining the point you just made. I was like, huh? And he just— dude, he dove in really deep in it. He go— they talk about it for like 10 minutes. Like, they went in on it. Um, wow. And my—

let's— one of the best communicators in the world too.

So it's like, yeah, Mylett talked about all the stuff he learned from John about speaking. Wow. I know.

Yeah.

So it was— it was—

I need to listen.

It was insane. So now it's got me, every time I speak, I'm like, I, I get a ton of good feedback. Yeah. But I'm like, I always finish, I'm like, how can I make it better? What can I do here? Oh, I missed this point, I wanted to get that across, you know what I mean? Like, I'm always trying to improve it. Um, that's, that's my favorite thing to do right now, dude, is speaking and training. I just love it to just walk in and just, oh, communicate with people. If I could just do that all the time and not deal with any of the other stuff. Correct.

Correct. I can tell you, I can tell you love it. Yeah, I can definitely tell you love it.

That's a blast. Um, shit, I don't even know how we got here.

I don't know. You're also getting a lot better at it too, man.

Like, you just—

yeah, I mean, it is like—

which, by the way, you helped us promote this a lot. We moved some books, dude. For those that are— you know what my favorite part of the book is so far? How many people have told me that they have a book inside of them and they've always wanted to write one, and now because they see me put one out, they're gonna do one.

Dude, how freaking cool is that?

But I bet you 20 people since your event have told me that.

Oh my God, I'm getting goosebumps. That's so freaking cool.

Yeah, by far my favorite part.

Wow, that's awesome. That's awesome.

Well, and as you know, there's no money in a book, for those that are wondering.

So go buy it. You gotta sell like hundreds of thousands of copies. Yeah, yeah.

But dude, I've had good feedback on it, man. We pushed it out. A lot of people are buying it for their teams, for new agents, people at different IMOs that didn't know me before. And it was funny, dude. And this is like, what you're doing is— oh, I don't know what the hell that did. Marker created. I don't know if you can see that sign. I'm pushing shit on my keyboard over here. That's funny. Um, like, what you're doing in terms of giving people opportunity to promote themselves and grow and get themselves out there, I think people miss this thing, dude. And like, when I've done a lot of things with you, but remember Chicago when you asked how many people have seen you speak before?

Uh, this, this Chicago?

Chicago, yes. Yeah, you actually asked, how many is this the first time you've seen me speak? Do you remember what— I mean, you know what percentage of the room that was?

Like over two-thirds had never—

yeah, like It was— again, I was gonna say 75% had never seen Cody speak.

Yeah, easy.

And I'm like, dude, that was insane to me. So we're, we're there, we're at this event, and we have the book drops on Thursday. I spoke on Friday right before lunch. Yeah, so we sold a few books before. Sure, who's going? And I was like, dude, because some people come up and be like, what do you do? They see the book, they see the sign, they see the thing, they're like, what, who are you? Which, all good, I don't, I don't care at all.

Sure.

And I'm like, wait till, wait till after the talk, dude. Immediately after, it was like a rush for the next day. And I had the entire rest of the time with merch and the book and people asking questions, dude. I had two people, one dude from another IMO asked if I'd come speak to their team. He's like, can we, can we set up a time to pay you to come speak to our team? Had a couple other people ask me to do team stuff, like, it immediately after speaking on stage, you know what I mean? I think people miss that. They do, you know, what it, what it does. And a lot of the industry, obviously, as you know, gets frustrated that you have it and it's a platform, you know what I mean? I'm like, dude, it's—

I love everybody.

I didn't really mean that sarcastically as all get out. But nobody's done a better job at being in the industry as a whole as you have. And I'm like, why would I not? Like, we're buddies, but I definitely see it as a platform too, you know? And it works like instant credibility, dude. It's cool when you, when you get stuff like that. So I, I just—

thanks, dude.

Hope more people see it. And I know this year you're trying to do big things with the road shows and add some more, which we're in in for those too, correct?

Yeah, I mean, and you supporting means, it means a ton. I, I do think most people don't— like, that is the marketing of, of 2024, you know? Like, I think most people miss that. Like, they think, you know, like, oh, let's just talk about recruiting, you know, like, whatever, promotion, etc. They think about, you know, Indeed, and they think about ads, and they think about, you know, whatever, right? All the different avenues of marketing. Um, but they forget how important credibility and leverage.

Yeah.

Um, and an audience really, really is like— it is stupid powerful, man. Like, it is, it is. Yeah. So that's really cool for you to hear it, like, say that, because I'm sure years ago when we first started doing stuff together, you're like, you know what, yeah, we'll see, you know, I don't know, right? But it's— but we've done a ton together now.

I mean, I saw it, but I, I didn't see it like it is, you know what I mean? I saw— that's why I reached out. But I'm like, and I've tried to, as you know, and I, I'm super open about this, dude. I hate the IMOs hate each other shit in the end. I can't stand it. I can't stand it.

And me too.

I want to impact the industry as a whole, you know what I mean? And I don't— yeah, again, I— we can grow our company whether I recruit a guy from Joe Blow's IMO or not. I don't care at all. So I have buddies at like every company at this point. Yep. I mean, I'm good friends. Some of them are— hell, what most would compare— consider our competitors, I'll be honest, they're buying more of the books than the people I work with. Correct.

Yeah, yeah, I swear to God, dude, that's awesome.

And I'm like, and you know, I got my little crew that supports me no matter what, but sure, the overwhelming majority are from other companies. Buying it for new agents, giving them out to help them get started, you know what I mean?

I'm like, yep, it's kind of normalized that too, because that was like, I would say years ago, that was a no-no. Like, you just didn't see that happening, you know, like supporting somebody else that also built a big team, you know what I mean? Like, never, never. Like, that was like, literally, that was wrong, you know? It's cool that that is, is possible. And it's true because it's like, dude, we're all in this together. We're trying to— at the end of the day, even if someone's a competitor, like, you know, I still hope they do well because at the end of the day, if they do well, they still help people and make money and people— more people have insurance, which isn't a bad thing.

Yeah, you know, and a competitor, it's like, what does it even mean? Like, yeah, do the same thing as me, right? I'm not thinking about you at—

that means my neighbor's a competitor because they have a house in the same neighborhood.

Yeah. Tommy reached out to me. That's with y'all? Yes, Tommy G, dude. He was like, hey bro, love what you're doing, I'm helping promote your book. And he sent me a screenshot of some of, I assume, his agents there. I don't know who the— know who the agent is. That's like, hey, we're— he's like, I'm pushing your book, man. I'm like, what a good guy.

That's cool. Actually, Dallas— what Dallas mentioned the book and told a little story, uh, that you had shared He did a terrible job at resharing your— the story that you shared, but, um, he did that, uh, this morning on the launch call.

Yeah, really? Yeah, yeah, that's awesome. He texted me this weekend too, Dallas did, because he, uh— I talk about— I don't know if you know Beckett, the magazine, the baseball magazine.

Oh yeah, a little bit.

You familiar? Yeah, you're a little younger. When we're, we're kids, you would figure out the value of a baseball card from this magazine, Beck's magazine. And so he texts me this week and he's like, dude, you just brought back floods of memories from my childhood.

That's awesome. He also just finished 75 Hard, um, for the second time and is biking and like just cycling and other and stuff a bunch.

He looks great.

Yeah, yeah, I love it. So cool. I mean, he's— what is he, 40? He was born in '78, he's 46, you know.

Yeah, he's my— I'm, I'm 77. Was born in '77.

So yeah, same age.

Yeah, yeah, it's cool. It's neat to watch.

It is neat to watch, man. It's crazy. I love it. I'm gonna go watch this, uh, I gotta do it. I'm getting interviewed and I still got a page of notes, you know.

So hey, if that doesn't say something—

well, I mean, dude, man, I get ideas when I get in a room with people, you know, that are doing cool stuff. And I've had a ton of respect for you and what you've built and what you've done and Um, still so many things I can keep learning from you. So yeah, I love it, dude.

Trying to learn just the same, bro. We can do lots more together. What do you got coming up you want to tell them about? I know you got some stuff going on. Anything you want to put out there?

I mean, I think the main thing is we're going to a bunch of cities these next, uh, so many months, you know. We're going to Memphis the rest of 2024. We're going to Memphis, that's August 29th, then Jersey in September, then Vegas, then Kansas City, then Miami. And then I forget where we're going in 2025, but we've got 11. I mean, other than Orlando, next New York's on there. Like, isn't LA— San Diego, uh, LA, San Francisco, Seattle, Phoenix, um, Dallas will be towards the end of next year. Like, yeah, there's a whole bunch of new— Denver. Yeah, there's a whole bunch of new cities. Yeah, which is cool.

I'm excited.

A lot we haven't been to ever, and I'm like, dude, let's try some new, new places. You know.

So I'm excited about that.

And we haven't done as much West Coast, and I've been wanting to do more on the West Coast for years. And I'm like, screw it, we're gonna do it.

So yeah, how do they get it? Where do they go?

8percentnation.com. And then there's a road shows button, and you can see all the dates.

I love it, my dude. I'm looking forward to it. Anything you want to add, end with, give them some— give them some Cody words, make them feel good, dude.

When you get a chance to get around people, man, like you know, you're doing the Everest thing because you're, uh, you know, wanting to get in a room and get around people and just stretch yourself and grow. And it's like, dude, he's looking for some way to grow constantly. Even at the level he's at, he wants to grow. And so my encouragement for everybody is find your way to grow, no matter what it is. It's going to take some money, like John, you know. I looked, it was $6K to do this Everest thing, you know, right? Um, he bought it. Immediately, didn't think about it. And now he's going to Canada and he's going to literally hike for 36 hours. Most people are like, that's insane, it doesn't sound cool. But dude, it's his next level of his growth. What is your next level of your growth?

I love it, my dude. Appreciate you guys. See you on the next one.