This Sales Mindset Made Me a MILLIONAIRE ft. Ty Brady | Ep18

I get it, it's hard, but are you willing to break that barrier? Because it's you against you. It's not me against you. You're telling me you want these things, but are you willing to sacrifice to do the work?

What's up guys, John Wetmore back. We are here at another episode of the Insurance Insiders Podcast with Ty Brady, owner of Brady Insurance Marketing. And, uh, my understanding is you have a lot of agents that work with you over the years and currently? And is it mainly Medicare?

That's mainly Medicare and under-65 health insurance, you know, ancillary products, you know, very little. If I do life, it's just final expense, not any big cases like you're familiar with, you know, no IULs or nothing.

Yeah, I'm not familiar at all with your world except it confuses me. There's weird seasonal stuff, everything changes, the government hates you. There's a lot going on.

I heard— hey, isn't that the truth?

Yes, I have I've heard enough to know I'm glad I don't do it. Yeah, but I'm intrigued. It's, it's funny, a lot of people look at what I do and they're like, it's complicated. And you're— they like— guys like you say your side's easy, and I'm like, your side feels like Chinese to me, which you probably think equally. So intrigued to, um, to learn more. And my goal with this thing is always to share, you know, information with people who find us and give, give them an opportunity to get better and you know, give them feedback and advice and things we messed up so that they can see success sooner in the business.

That's the beauty of what we do, right? You know, Medicare is not for everybody, life insurance is not for everybody, and people find their own path. In fact, I did life insurance my first year and I just, I didn't like it, you know. Yeah, a lot of people do really well in that industry. They just, just not my forte.

What didn't you like? I'm curious.

You know, I, I didn't like the back and forth. So meaning you write a case, you think you're going to get done, and, and then it gets kicked out for health It gets kicked out for suitability. I mean, you know, doing annuities and things like that, just the suitability factor was the back and forth. And then I just didn't like dealing with people's money, so I just gravitated away from it. And, you know, Medicare I fell in love with. There's very little underwriting and the product portfolio was in my wheelhouse.

So that's why. Got it. So you've been in— I have a note here. You started in '09, but you started your own deal in 2012.

Correct.

What was What was the beginning like? Would you— how'd you get into it? What'd you do before? What was that?

So most people say that I have a background in construction. I ran a $33 million construction company, you know, built thousands of homes, developed a lot of houses. And at the peak, you know, I had 150 employees. I was in— it was a brother-sister team, so I was in charge of all the production. And, you know, the cash register doesn't ring until that house closes or that lot closes. But we know what happened in '08.

Now I know why you started in '09.

Yeah, so there's '08, and basically in November, the week before Thanksgiving, they gave me my last paycheck and said, see you later. And you know, I'd made a millionaires over and over again, and I just said, hey, all you could do is— I said, if you could do this for me, just give me time if you're gonna let me go. No, they didn't. You know, they gave me my paycheck on a— last paycheck on a Thursday, said, there's the door, pack your crap and get out. And I was like, wow. I mean That was it. So right before Thanksgiving, and, uh, then my— I ended up going through a short sale and illegal foreclosure. My house was sold out from underneath me by April, so I had to move back in my mom and dad's place with two young children and a wife that depended on me. And I'll tell you, I had some hard times when, you know, as a father and a provider, you just want to provide for your kids. You just— that's the whole idea, is you're— you want a roof over their head, you know, food to eat, and, you know, money to do things. But, uh, I was out of a paycheck and I had to go live with my parents for the next 4 years. But it was, it was challenging because, you know, I had to find a job. And that next year, so from '08 to '09, I worked 17 different jobs, from, you know, installing insulation to building decks to hanging Christmas lights, uh, to doing trim carpentry work to electrician, whatever I could do to pay the bills. And in the process of that, one of my old vendors that actually provided me my fencing and decking called me up and said, hey, we have an opportunity. We laid too many people off and we're looking for a production guy to run the shop. And I went in and interviewed and they're like, you know what, you're too qualified to run the shop, but you know what, we'll give you a shot at sales. They said, hey, we'll give you a gas card and all the leads you want. And I'm like, well, I've never done sales before, but you know, they cut me loose and I was a million-dollar producer for the next 5 years because I did insurance part-time. Why I was out selling vinyl fencing. It worked out really well because, you know, fencing in Utah is seasonal. So you, you know, most people want their fence during the summertime and then the snow flies and whatever's been done is done. But I worked part-time, so the days that I wasn't bidding fencing, I was out selling insurance. And then, you know, I did got about 150 policyholders. And then in '09, I'm like, hey, there's something to this, and started helping other agents do the same in, in 2012. But it was a process, you know. The one— I actually sold a guy a vinyl fence that talked to me about getting in the insurance industry. And so I did a lot of research, and I knew that insurance and banking were the two most recession-proof jobs. And so I gravitated towards insurance, but obviously I didn't know what type. I think I told you earlier, I did a little bit of life insurance, a little bit of annuities, a little supplemental, you know, like, uh, you know, worksite stuff. I did group. I was doing everything trying to figure out what I like to do. And I was with a captive agency that first year, realized when I went out and sold a deal that I'd make $100, they'd make $300. I'm like, yeah, this isn't working for me. So then I connected with my current upline, and, and then the sky's been the limit, you know. Doubled my income for the first 5 years from $2,000 to $4,000, $4,000 to $6,000, $6,000 to $8,000, $10,000 to $12,000. And then just basically put the accelerator on in, in 2012 and went on the road and recruited and trained agents, and now, you know, 3,000+ agents, 50 states, and helping people live the American dream, make a 6 or 7-figure income.

That's dope. Craziness. So 3,000 agents, like, last year? Is it last year?

Is that— no, that, that's what I have, 3,000 agents that have a contract with me of some kind. Got it. So they may have a, you know, a, a dental, vision, hearing policy, a MedSupp carrier. Um, last year, you know, I put 500 new agents in the system and You know, they all gravitate to a product or something that I have to offer that, uh, is in my, in my organization.

That's, that's cool. I love it. If you're looking to transform your insurance sales game in just 12 weeks, this course I put together is for you. Go over 20 different topics, everything from sales to goal setting to lead plans and everything I've done in the last decade plus having multiple 6-figure sales success. I've helped hundreds and hundreds of agents get to multiple 6 figures all over the country mentoring and speaking. Speaking at all kinds of events. So available now at jwcorus.com, or you can click the link in the description. So how'd you go from— you, you, where are you from? Utah, like originally? I know you're there now.

Yeah, from Utah, but I've sold in every, almost every single state I've been licensed in. You know, back when I decided to grow the agency, I would do this. I would go, I'd order leads, because back in the day that's how we got a lot of that done, a direct mail lead. I'd go to those markets and write policies to pay for my trip, and then I would leave the rest of the leads with agents there because I knew that I couldn't get back for 4 to 6 weeks. I did that for 2 years in every different— in different markets. No way. And that's how I was able to grow my agency. My wife told me one thing, she's like, you can go on the road but you can't move the kids. So she committed to— she was a stay-at-home mom for 2 years, bless her heart, man. And, you know, she cracks me up because she's like, I was just a weekend booty call for 2 years, and You know, I was on the road, hotel, on the road by myself working with agents.

No kidding, that's cool. What part of Utah are you in?

Uh, just a suburb of Salt Lake.

Okay, I see. So funny story, when I was getting started, I, I was direct mail too. I came up in direct mail, kitchen table sales also, and, um, there was a period of time where direct mail mortgage leads were king if you could get them in my space. And I remember one of the lead vendors I was working with out here in Georgia, I was building here in Georgia and I had leads in like 40-something counties and I was growing my team here and I'm like, I got to do something different. I need to get some people leads here and let me go grow. And Utah opened up to where I could get like 150 mortgage leads a month in like, it was, let me think, I remember the counties. It was like the 4 counties they connect. It was like Salt Lake, Utah, Salt Lake, Davis, Weber, whatever. Yeah, exactly.

Yep, that's where all the population is.

Yeah, dude, it's a zillion people in between the mountains. It's the coolest.

It—

never in my life have I seen so many people, and back-to-back appointments would be around the corner. I've never— it was not like that here in Atlanta. Out there, dude, I'm like, yeah, I'm book— I'm running 15 appointments a day. People are like, how do you do it? I'm like, dude, they all live in the same neighborhood. It was insane. But I used to fly out there I would go, uh, I would start making phone calls on Sunday. I'd sit in the airport, Atlanta Airport, start making phone calls on Sunday to Utah, start booking up like Monday, Tuesday, fly out there, and I would sell Monday through Friday up there. And then, uh, I stayed in Park City. Yeah, I was just staying in this, uh, like a ski resort off-season because I didn't go when it was snowing. I would, I would only go when it was decent out. And I'd stay in Park City. And I remember downstairs they had this, uh, really nice steakhouse, and I'd go eat by myself. And then in the— in the—

in the—

I don't know, it wasn't a hotel, it was like a condo. I could rent that person's condo, like an Airbnb kind of deal. And in their condo, I always— my wife always rented me the same one because they had a really dope, like, steam shower inside the condo. And later, when I actually started making money, I built one in my house to mimic the one that I found in Utah.

And, uh, but I would—

I'd fly out there Monday through Friday and sell life insurance up there, and then I would drive down to St. George. Wow. Sell there on Friday night and Saturday, and then I'd drive to Vegas and take a red-eye home. Wow.

Yeah. You know, it's interesting you say direct mail was king back in the day. And it's— I grew up doing that. But you see, I would do similar things where find out where markets where lead orders hadn't been run and be like, hey, I'm going there. And, you know, back in the day I was getting a 3 to 5% return. I'd go right to literally the cream and then I'd bounce and I did really well.

Wow. Yeah, same. That's how I started building outside of Atlanta. I had a pretty good team here in Atlanta, so I did Utah. I go out there and I'd fly out there and I'd meet with people And then I'd be like, yo, I just flew across the country and made 20 grand this week in your backyard. Same thing, here's leads, take their ass work, I'm going home. Yeah, and I did it in Ohio. I didn't do as many places you did, but I did Utah and Ohio that way. And, uh, it's neat, neat to see someone else that's— hell, you, you made it look like, uh, I did nothing as, as much as you were traveling.

Well, you know, it's interesting, it's time or money, right? And it's a sacrifice being on the road, but it front-loaded and the momentum that I have now, it contributes back then, you know. It's not the things I'm doing now— I mean, I've got a lot of synergy on that front end and has propelled me to keep growing, that, that I'm finishing in the top 5 every year as an FMO channel with a lot of these Medicare Advantage carriers. And it's because of the work I did back then.

Yeah, heck yeah. It gets, it gets that ball rolling. It piles up.

Yes.

I get way more credit than I deserve today, but I always say I did start it. I got, I got things wrong, but I have so many good people now that, like, I'll be honest, some of them I don't even know, and they kill it without me. They don't even need me.

Well, you spent the time and the money, and I think when I went on the road, I worked harder because I knew that my family was at home. I knew that I, I had this expense. You know, people say the fastest way is get in debt, you know, go buy a car, put money on credit cards, whatever, buy leads, right? And so I knew that I, I was— my back was up against the wall, and there was weeks that I struggled and I would make all my sales on a Friday, you know, and I'm like, dang, I mean, I would just blank, blank, blank, blank, blank. And I did a lot like you did. I made sure my— the many— all my appointments were booked, so I knew I was running 5-8 appointments a day. And because the leads were there, so that was just— it was a lot of similarities.

That's crazy. Yeah. Did y'all— so did y'all have— so when I started, I was broke too. I was in mortgages. I was doing loans for the people buying your houses that couldn't afford them, or I was giving all the arms away.

Yeah.

So Um, you know, so I went through same thing, bankruptcy. I had 2 houses foreclosed. It was a disaster. Took car away. It was a, it was a nightmare. Um, but when I started in the business, same thing, we were broke. And there was a stage where I didn't sound like make money as quick as it sounds like you did in insurance. I took a minute. But there was a stage where I really like was ready to change my life. And my family, and we had my wife and I, we had to have a conversation about it. And like plan it out. How did that go with— I know being on the road's tough, dude. You deal with agents, and I have, you know, we all have agents that if they miss a soccer game on Tuesday night, it's the end of the world. How did that go with the family, the conversation? And then I wouldn't hate to hear how it's come full circle now, you know what I mean? How you look back on it.

Uh, first of all, that conversation was, is we, we knew having a conversation that insurance was where we were going to be, like, to replace that income. I mean, I'm making $200,000 a year in construction, you know, life's good. I love a golf course, I have a house on the golf course. So to get that ripped out from underneath you and you're like, crap, I'm living in my parents' house that I grew up in. And we did that for 4 years and it was a huge sacrifice, but it was, it was the short term. I mean, as any entrepreneur, successful person, I mean, it's the, it's the, it's the journey to success, right? And it was that failure that propelled me to even be in this industry, and now the impact I'm able to do on the back end. But I got a phenomenal wife that I was able to sit down with and say, we had to cut out a lot of things, we had to sell a car, we had to downsize. You know, I had 15 houses that the plan was, and I kept 2 of them, and they wanted to file bankruptcy, and I never got through bankruptcy because I was able to short sell them. But I lost, you know, those houses because my, my plan back in the day was a house every 2 years, by the time I got the 10th year, my current house would be paid for. But it didn't work out that way. So my— I got a wife that is very near and dear, and she, she studied the course, and she was always my sounding board. She's like, we'll be okay. She's like, I got the kids. I mean, she'd always tell me, I got the kids, just go to work. But I'm telling you what, going on the road by yourself in a hotel room, those put you in some very dark places, especially, you know, when an agent wants to go home at 5 to the soccer game and you've got, you know, 6 hours, you know, you've got an evening by yourself and then you're not working until 8 o'clock the next day. I mean, it's dark. And my wife, she's like, she's like, I worry about you. And she'd always do FaceTime or whatever we could do at the time. But it was, it was just having that support at home. One thing that I never allowed myself to do is there's no bad days in this industry, meaning there's days scheduling appointments, there's days doing presentations, and there's days closing. So when I communicated with her is I'm like, hey, I had a great day doing presentations. And she's like, well, did you make any money or did you sell anything? I said, no, it's coming. Because I knew she had to have the faith in me that I was going to bring home a paycheck. And there was times she's like, yeah, that was great. You made $13 this, you know, this paycheck. But those $13 add up. And she was just patient over time. Now those $13 paychecks are significantly larger, but I had that support at home that I knew my kids were taken care of. But it was having that conversation. I wouldn't be where I'm at without her. There's no question. I wouldn't have been able to do it. And she was just saying, listen, let's— let's— it's time or money. And we spent time and money and putting myself in a situation where, you know, I burned the ship. Napoleon Hill, he talks about burning the ships, right? I was on that plane. I spent the money. I burned the ships. I got to make it work. Yeah. At all costs.

That's dope. We should get them— we should get them in a room together one day and let them tell war stories. This sounds similar, dude. And it's, as you know, with Agents, man, um, when we first spoke, we were on Cody's thing and you wanted to get feedback. Do you remember? I mean, remember I was like, I don't know you, bro, I'm kind of nervous. And I'm glad I did because I instantly knew. I was like, this dude knows his shit, you know. But it's, it's funny, man, when you do this for a while. It's crazy how, in a negative way, influential many spouses are and, and, and hold people back because they aren't willing to have that period of sacrifice, you know. And same, Steph gave me no problems ever. Yeah, not once. Didn't want to know when I was coming home, didn't care. Like, she was just like, do what you got to do to get us where we want to go. And she had to do her part. Like, she sacrificed— your wife sacrificed a shit ton too. She'd deal with everything without you there, you know what I mean? It's like, it's neat to see y'all got to kind of meet back up at the end. I know you're still doing it and building, but you know, you probably don't have to travel quite as much as you once did, I would guess.

No, no. You know, an interesting thing is, as you work across the country, you know, I got people tell me, you know, hey, I can't meet tonight on Wednesday night because it's Bible study. Or I had agents that wouldn't travel 20 minutes And you and I, you know, if you're being in Utah, you could be an hour between appointments and travel. And but just agents won't do it. They're just, they're like traffic. I'm like, you don't— I mean, I'm like, man, the things that I used to do and, you know, the, the podunk towns I used to go— I call them podunk towns, but these small communities where I would go and own that community and get tons of referrals based on helping one person that people didn't want to work. I mean, I took leads that were in the trash. Agents are like, these are garbage. And I'm like, I'll take them, you know, give them to me.

I used to take them and then call them back and let them know how much I made on the ones they gave me.

Yeah, exactly. You're like, hey, I closed 8 out of 10 of those leads. I'm like, what?

You're like, well, how long did it take you to make that $250K back? You were at $200K, $250K, whatever you were making in construction. How long did it take you to get to that in insurance?

Uh, year 6. Year 6. Okay, cool.

How many were part-time? Yeah, correct. How many, how many of those were part-time?

How long did you— first 5 years were part-time. Got it.

So, so your first full-time year, really?

Correct. Yeah. So, uh, like when I, I mean, I'm a million-dollar producer in, in selling fencing and decking, you know, that was bringing me $120,000 a year plus what I was making on insurance. So when I cut that tie, you know, and I thought I'll do it at the same time, I could do this at the same time, I took that first phone call from a client, I'm like, nope, I'm done. And I told my wife, I got to make up $120 grand this year, you know, I got to make this up, because I knew what my residual was and I had to make that up. And again, that next 2 years it just went after it hard. Yeah, but it's, uh, you know, burn that ship again, you know. I've done— I've burned that either forced— the ship was burned or I burned it, you know.

How'd you get into the building side?

I, I have a bachelor's degree in applied science in industrial design. So industrial design encompasses furniture, cars. So I thought I would go down that route, and I just applied for jobs and, you know, showing people my portfolio. There was a local home builder that said, hey, well, you can come and design houses, or, you know, clean up these houses for the local home builder. And I designed the houses for about 8, 9 months, and I said, well, is there any other opportunities here? And they happened to let a superintendent go. And I, I had worked in construction with my dad growing up because my dad was— I mean, Dad worked 2 jobs as long as I can remember, but, you know, plumbing, drywall, all those things. So I had a concept of construction and they're like, hey, we'll give you a shot. And I went from superintendent to— then they let the project manager go that ran everything on the project management side. And then they put me in that, that role about 2 years in. And then I dealt with city— did a— I tell you, city government, you learn a lot in construction, all the red tape and how many roadblocks that you run into. I got a funny story where I had to put a fence in for a mayor so he'd sign off my half a million dollar bond. 60 feet of fence. Stop it. No, no, it's— so literally, we, we did a development that, that was by the mayor's house, and we did like 100 feet of his backyard with this concrete fencing. And then there were 60 feet that was left. And he's like, he's like, I need you to sign off my bond. He's like, well, the job's not complete. I'm like, what's not complete? He's like, well, come look at my backyard. Does that fence look completed to you? I'm like, ah, you're not gonna sign off on my bond unless I complete it. So I'll complete that 60 feet of fence, got my bond.

Dang, that's crazy.

Wild. You're like, wow, okay, I see how this goes.

Utah was an interesting place, man. I, I had fun out there, really cool people. But man, so I grew up in Boston and I obviously am in Atlanta. That was— that place was different, and they were all 100% sure I was not from there. Every house I walked into, they were like, where are you from? It was like the first thing, every house. So I started using it. I'm like, all right, first things first, I'm not from here. Now that I've spoke, you know what I mean? Then I'd play a game, get them to guess where I was from. It was wild. Some of the guests, it was a fun time. I enjoyed Utah. So from building houses to building an insurance agency, What, any similarities, dude?

It all starts with a good foundation. So, you know, the foundation was, is that I was a personal producer. A lot of the questions and training I do, I've experienced personally, you know, like when they say, what are some lead strategies? I've tried them all. So I'm talking from experience. And same thing in the building industry is that you build that foundation and then everything builds around it. The difference, though, I'll tell you this, is that building somebody's, you know, the building a house is the American dream.

So and you see daily progress.

Meaning you see the foundation going in and then you see the plumbing and then you see the sub— the sub rough and then they actually— I mean, all those things, right? It's stages as you go through that process. Well, building an agency, yeah, I'm building the foundation. Like I said, 5 years of personal production allowed me to then build an agency. And some of the work I've done 3 years ago is coming to fruition now. So the long-term play, you don't see that visual as quick. I mean, I, I obviously am selling somebody a piece of paper that says when crap hits the fan, they're going to be protected financially with their health. It's, it's quite a bit different. But I have to look at the wins differently because when I was out personally producing, it was a high. I closed that deal, I'm like, heck yeah, you know, I just put that money in the bank and I got that high. Well, now it's seeing other agents achieve their success, whatever level that is, because I have agents who support a golf habit. I have agents that make a 6 or 6 or 5, 6 or 7-figure income. It doesn't matter to me. So I have to look at those differently. And, you know, if they want to have an RV, the car, all those things, I'm happy for them.

Yeah. Did you always look at it in a sense like, whatever they want, they can have, I don't care either way? Or did you ever go like, why aren't you trying to make a million bucks? Or— I used to struggle with it. That's why I'm asking. Oh, when I was new to it, I wanted everyone to kill it.

Oh no, you—

that—

I do want them to kill it, right? And what's interesting is, over time, my mentor used to say, Ty, you can never push somebody out of their comfort zone. And I think we talked about on that, that show with Cody is, you know, I have people that I think have all the potential in the world and they stop at a certain income. They're like, oh, I got $60 grand a year in residual income, they're done, you know. And I can't, I can't get them to do anything else. But I'm like, you have so much more potential in you, but I can't want it for them. And that's why I did that reference, you know, be the lighthouse, not the tugboat. And I want them to kill it. I want them to kill it., but I can't want it for him.

Yeah, be the lighthouse, not the tugboat. Interesting. Who's your mentor?

Uh, Ron Kellogg. He's since passed away. He'd been in Medicare since Medicare began. No way. And yeah, yeah, he, he used to tell me all the time, he said, Ty, whatever I have in my brain, I need to get in your brain because that's the legacy I need to pass on. So the agency I'm under is Kellogg Insurance Marketing as an FMO. They're an NMA. I'm an FMO, if anybody knows the lingo in that industry. But, uh, you know, he'd pour into me, not necessarily with money but time. You know, I'd go into his office and I'd say, hey, I got a deal snaked from me. He's like, well, go write another one. Or he's like, write an app a day. You know, an app a day. He's like, you want to relieve stress, just write an app a day. And, you know, back in the day when I was going on the road, believe it or not, people don't believe me, but I can show you the numbers, I'd write 40 to 60 applications a week. A week, and then I'd split it with the agent that rode with me, the agents that rode with me.

Got it. So you've taken people out in the field to show them the business?

Oh man, I got stories that would blow your mind that I've run into, from, uh, guns being pulled on me to goats eating through, through the wall to scared to death. Like, this agent's like, we gotta get out of here, you don't know where you're at. And I'm like, I don't know any better. To a plot— a cop telling me, son, you know where you're at. I mean, I, I was in the gas station they burned to the ground in Ferguson, Missouri with those riots, and that was the same—

no way—

deal where a cop said, you get in that car and you do not stop until you hit the highway, son. You don't know where you're effing at. And I'm like, okay, but I have lead cards, I had all these leads.

I'm like, I gotta help these people. And this was selling Medicare or health insurance? I don't know the difference, to be honest.

Yeah, so Medicare, Medicare health plans. And then there's under 65 health insurance, which is referred to as like ACA or the marketplace.

Got it. Obamacare. Yeah, I've learned that. Someone taught me ACA means Obamacare. I was like, ah, that makes sense. Interesting. That's wild. I didn't have the patience. I took two agents in the car with me. I did it twice and I was like, yeah, I'm not built for this.

I could— you could bite your tongue.

Oh dude, I just— ah, I have flashbacks still thinking about it, man. I didn't have— I didn't have— I can see, you know, I know some people that did, did it that way and did it really well and, and, and saw success from it. I convinced myself that I was, I was hurting them because I didn't want to do it. And I'm like, yo, I wish I could take you on my first appointment, but my thousandth, I'm like, your first one ain't gonna look like mine. You know what I mean? And I would— that was me convincing myself why to not do it, you know. But I, I appreciate guys like you that did and had the patience because I, I was not given that gene that I—

I did not say I had the patience. I bit my tongue many times. You did it because I, uh, you know, the, the one thing my mentor committed me to, he said, Ty, if you're gonna make phone calls, if you're gonna go to the field, just take someone with you. But he said, make sure you tell them on the front end to take notes and don't say a word. So, and of course they always wanted to jump in. They always wanted to. I had— I— oh, funny story. I had this guy that was a licensed chiropractor in another state, and he could not pass the bar to get the chiropractor's license in Utah. So he decided he was going to get in the insurance space. So I'm in this appointment, of course I lay out, don't talk, don't do anything, and all of a sudden he starts going off about all these supplements and how it can change their world. And vitamin D, just, you know, vitamin D is, is the number one, uh, underused vitamin and how it will change your world and make you happy. And I'm like, how do I shut this guy up? Because I'm like, he's ruining my presentation. And, and we, we get done with the appointment and I'm like, what did I ask you to do before we went in that appointment? He's like, be quiet. And he's like, we should do this more often, this was great. No, way am I taking you on another ride-along after that just happened? And oh, I— and he's trying to get him on a membership to go, you know, to consult and feel better. And I mean, nothing wrong with that, but it wasn't the place. Yeah, man. Oh wow. Trust me, I've got stories that you'd be like, you did what?

Yeah, I couldn't— I, I did it. Same thing, one of the two, we went into an appointment, same thing, starts talking about—

not—

I'm like, bro, I'm giving him the stank eye the entire time. I'm like, dude, I told you to put duct tape over your mouth, bro. And I just— I was like, nah, we're going— I'm— we're going home. I— and that was the last time I ever did it. I just— I'm like, uh-uh, didn't have it in me. So it's wild, dude. Um, insane.

So what do you— what do you—

I want to hear your thoughts on like building an agency. You know what I mean? What's the— I don't know, give some advice on it. The good, the bad, the ugly, whatever, whatever input you have. I mean, you've dealt with this many agents, you, you know where I'm going with it. But, you know, a lot of people say they want to build. Yep, right? I mean, that's all the time.

I'm gonna build.

Uh, I hear it non-stop, and then it gets hard, and then you deal with people, and then you deal with broken people, and then you realize you're broken. And, you know, I mean, it's like, it's such an interesting dynamic, dude. Um, so I'd love to hear a little bit more about the journey.

And, and, well, uh, growing an agency was not something I said, hey, you know, I, at the beginning, I just wanted to sell an app. And I realized over time that I drew people to me, and I would just tell people about what I'm doing, and they saw my success. Some people watched me for 5 years, and they're like, hey, I see something to this, what are you doing? So people naturally gravitated, you know, came and asked me these questions and I'm like, okay, there's something to this. You know, I think the first 5 years I probably recruited 20, 30 agents. It wasn't at a large scale, but there are people that had just watched me. Well, then I knew that, hey, I can help these people change their financial future. And then it became, you know, I'd go in and ask my mentor. He'd be like, hey, just follow the agents. And I would just follow where they went. And answer their calls. So, but you, as you know, you'll pour your heart and soul into some of these people and they'll turn around and tell you you did nothing for them. They'd be like, I'd be in this industry and making $100,000 a year without you. And you're like, really? You wouldn't even know about the industry had I not even talked to you about it. So there's no safe— there's no— I mean, you look back, how'd you get in the industry? You didn't just find it and figure it out. So you would talk to somebody, right? You had a mentor.

Buddy DM'd me.

Well, yeah, but you— but you— somebody started that conversation and then helped you along the way, right? And so you— my mentor said, Ty, you've got to be willing to let things roll off your back or don't grow an agency. And then he says, you may not see a return on your investment for 3 to 5 years. You know, people think they're like, oh, growing agency, you make all this money. No, you make less money at the top, and you're dealing with a lot more problems. You're dealing with somebody that may be going through a divorce. You may be dealing with somebody that has a crisis at home and they got death, they've got cancer. I mean, you're dealing with all of that, trying to help them make a living. In the meantime, you're dealing with somebody that may have gone through bankruptcy, somebody who got laid off their job. So it's, it's more than just the, the agency. I mean, you are dealing with people's lives. And I, I took this to heart when my mentor said, you have to be willing to give these people your heart and soul until they until they make a decision to quit. And I thought, what do you mean? I mean, you know when they quit, you know when they stop engaging. And, you know, to be honest, there's agents that never really did anything the first 3 years, and then 3 years in, something happened, and now they're rock stars. Or I got people that start right out of the gate that they're rock stars, and then I have a bunch of part-timers. You know, it's— I want to help them in whatever capacity they're willing to give me. So if they're willing to give me one night a week, I'm willing to give them one night a week. If they're willing to give me 9 to 5, I'm going to give them 9 to 5. But I know that the system and strategies that I have work. And if they'll— they will listen. I think you also said this in your— and when you and I talked, that if you're not willing to listen, don't come and give me the excuses on why you're not being successful. But if you're willing to listen and do the system and strategies, you'll be successful. And it's that framework, you know. Yeah, I've unfortunately made agents mad because of things that I've said, you know, like the Be Back bus never comes back. It doesn't. Or, you know, you just got to get off your couch or you got to go back to the basics. You got to smile and dial. You want to go from $200,000 to $500,000? Order more leads. Well, I'm not willing to do that. I get it. It's hard. But are you willing to break that barrier? Because it's you against you. It's not me against you. Yeah, I might. I may not tell you what you want to hear. I'm gonna tell you it's okay and people are gonna start calling you by the gross and referrals are coming through the door. You've got to market, you know. You go from a personal producer to a marketer. You got to learn to market yourself. Again, it's you against you. Yeah, not me against you.

It's true, that's true. I always wondered, like, if people aren't coachable, I was just always confused on why they called me. Yeah, I'm like, I mean, if you don't listen, I don't understand the point. And I— at its core, it was they needed someone to listen to them complain or be whatever it was at the moment, you know. And I'm like, that was a hard stage, man, because I had some really good people that, um, had to like kind of move on from because they were like at a ceiling, you know what I mean, and trying to help them get to that next level. They just didn't want to eat. Most of the times they didn't want to sacrifice, correct? That was the biggest catch. Like, maybe they, maybe they'd do the work, but they didn't. They weren't willing to sacrifice to give them the time to do the work. And I struggled with that. And, um, you know, I was trying to, I was trying to help as many people as possible. And the hardest part for me of the business, man, was moving on from people that weren't willing to continue to grow and, and work at getting to another level. And me just having to go like, I'm sorry, I'm not staying in this spot, I'm, I'm moving up, you know. And that, man, that was hard because I had some people I was really close to that unfortunately I just had to keep it moving, you know what I mean. And it's like, it does make the relationship funny with time, I think, because people like you and I just don't understand.

Like, we've just, we just work, right? And We've never hit our ceiling. I mean, that's— it's people, you know, some people get in the insurance industry to then chase it, chase a passion. You know, I've got— I think I mentioned this as well, that, you know, I have, I have agents that built— that bought back family farms and now they're farming, but they took the insurance money. Or they really wanted to be real estate investors and they took that money, invested in real estate. Or they wanted to open a restaurant, or they wanted to open a care facility. I got an agent that opened a, you know, a care facility, 100 units. So that's— it's just interesting to see that development, but I, I don't, I don't understand it either. I just don't. It's like you're telling me you want these things, but are you willing to sacrifice to do the work?

Yeah, I love it. What up, y'all? Officially releasing my book. You can go on and order it now at JohnWetmore.com or click the link below. It's where I go over the 6 basic principles I implemented to go from a struggling agent for my first couple years, finishing 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! What, um, besides— and you've somewhat kind of just answered it in a sense, but I would love to know more of your thoughts on what you tell agents that it takes to succeed? The things, you know, I mean, just give some insight into that. So like, really, if I— if, if someone's getting into the business now and they're like, yeah, I want to make $100 grand, great, I've never made it, $100 grand would be dope, but I'd really like to live different, like I want to make multiple six figures, I mean, what's that? What do you— what kind of advice are you giving to people?

So, uh, typically when an agent onboards with me, I want to sit down with either myself or a member of my team, and it's more of a coaching session, like, what do you want to make, right? It's a dream board. I mean, if they're not willing to do a dream board and tell me what, what kind of car, what kind of car do they want to look like, what kind of car do they want to drive, what house they want to look like, what kind of financial freedom they want to have— if they're not willing to do that most basic thing, they're not for me. Because I'm asking them to do some homework before they even onboarded, because I want them to look at that and, you know, look at that dream board and be like, okay, here's the house that I want, here's the car, here's the financial freedom. What does that look like to you? That's the first thing. And then coming up with a game plan. Let's say they have a job, a day job, and they can only sacrifice Wednesday, Thursdays, and Fridays or whatever the case may be. So I had a schoolteacher making $50,000 a year teaching the entrepreneur class at a local high school. He came to me and said, hey, I really see what you've been doing. I'd really like to participate in this. What can I do? And, and I said, okay, what days can you commit? What days can you commit to work? It was Thursday nights, Saturdays, and Sundays. In an 18-month period, he went from making, you know, $50,000 at the local high school to over $100,000. Now he's making over $500,000 a year, 1,100 policyholders, and now he wants to develop a team, lives in his dream home that he, he did, retired his wife that was a nurse. That used to chase schizophrenics off scaffolding 20 stories up because during COVID the hospital was used as a mental facility because that's where they put those patients. I mean, just some crazy stories. But now he has kids that are two boys that are twins that are young that he's able to give back. But it's having that time with them to come up with that game plan and then basically checking in once a week. Hey, how you doing? Are you making your calls? What experience did you have? And if an agent goes and works a lead, I want to know the good, bad, and the ugly. And if they're not calling me, that's a problem because I can't prepare them for everything in that— every situation in that appointment. But at the end of the day, I just want to see them close that deal. Could I give them another something to ask, a little tidbit? Because they can do all the training on the front end, but there's nothing that's going to prepare them for real life until they're actually asking the questions, actually getting in a presentation, actually doing it themselves. And as you— as they make that game plan and then return and report, you know, the sky's the limit.

I love it, dude. I was with a, um, an agent a couple weeks ago in one of Cody's events, and we were having this conversation. She was struggling with some stuff, and I'm like— and I know the guy she works with, great dude, he makes a bunch of money, he knows his shit. I'm like, why don't you call him? Like, you're struggling with this, are you calling him to review what your problems are? Yeah. And she— and I hear this a lot, dude, it drives me mental. So I kind of want your thoughts on it. She's like, well, I just— I know he's busy, so I don't call him.

I'm like, uh, I try to say on the front end that yes, I am busy. I'm not going to deny that, but I'm never too busy to take their phone call. I may not get back with them for 20 minutes, but if they say, hey, Ty, 911, I need an answer to this question, because they're in an appointment trying to close a deal I'm gonna, I'm gonna step out of a meeting and take that call because— but, and not only that, I've got a good support team as well. That's important because if they can't get me, you know, I have, you know, 30 managers that they can call, um, their current immediate upline. Then I have 2 full-time marketers, recruiters that they can answer questions to. But the idea is usually if an agent's calling you, they're struggling with something, whether it be personal, whether it be trying to get an app done through the— through the— you know, what did they miss? What could they have done? All those things. So it's a priority thing. And letting them know I'm never too busy to take that phone call.

It's funny, like, the dude would have taken her call, you know? I mean, it's not that he's telling her, it's just they— it's funny where people put— they project something out there that's literally made up and hold themselves back, you know what I mean? And I'm like, dude, he did hire you.

That's correct.

Like, his job is to help you, and he wouldn't have hired you if he wasn't prepared to do that. You know what I'm saying? I'm like, there's no— so stop putting these false words out there. And I don't, I don't know, man. I think people do it as a— I don't know, it's wild— like a reason to validate why they're not succeeding, you know what I mean? They try to find some reason to, to validate it. And I'm like, will you pick up the phone and call him?

Send it?

Have you— she was struggling with booking appointments. Wow. I'm like, have you recorded them? Have you sent him recorded? No, I haven't done— no, I just keep struggling. I'm like, How's that working? You know what I mean? Like, let's change something.

I go back— are you committed? Are you interested? Right? If, if you're committed, you're going to get— you're going to eliminate all the excuses. If you're interested, you're just going to come up with excuses. And I think that is an excuse where they're like, well, he's too busy. Well, that's a limited belief they put on themselves. Um, he's never too busy. And, and if not, he's going to put you in contact with somebody who can help you. Because he wouldn't have hired you, just like you said, unless he didn't see something in you.

Committed or interested. I like that one. It's dope. I love it. So what's— what's, um, what's— you talked about vision board and— or dream board, I think you called it. What's next for you? Where are you trying to go in this deal?

Well, you know, I, uh, just keep doing what I'm doing and, uh, just keep growing it at the consistent rate I have been growing. Yeah, you know, there's been offers on the table to buy the agency, and I just don't know if I'm there yet. Um, maybe one day, but I just don't— if I can continue to do this— I mean, my mentor used to say, you know, you build a business to build a legacy, you don't build a business to sell. But at some point that may be on the cards, but it's not there yet. Um, they're just keep I mean, the, the, the— there's 50 million Americans. This is what I always come back to. There's 50 million Americans on Medicare right now. By 2030, there'll be 80 million. And out of that 50 million, less than 30% of the people actually do something. So there's 70% of that 50 million that are doing nothing. And that's what's scary, because, you know, the, the greatest generation of wealth is baby boomers. And they don't even know what their options are. They've been so inundated that they're going to get scammed, that they're going to get taken advantage of, that they just choose to do nothing. But yet there's opportunity for them to better themselves, better their health. You know, I see people work 40 years and they retire, and yet their health is then bad, so they can't even enjoy the money or the retirement because their health is bad. And healthcare is changing. Healthcare They, they're— a lot of these plans want you to have a relationship with your doctor. And it's like, how many people can we impact not only on the consumer side but on the agent side so that it's a win for everybody? And it's a great responsibility when you think about that, the amount of people that are doing nothing, kind of like when, you know, you talk about mortgage protection, you know, people insure their cell phone, the $30, $40 a month, and they won't insure their life. I mean, I've got probably $15 million in life insurance and index UL and, and whole life and all those things. I have 20-pays on all my kids. And I mean, I, I believe in insurance because I don't want to deal with that phone call when something happens and be like, dude, you're on your own, you know. To replace my wife, I got her insured for about $8 million. That ain't enough. I mean, what she does, it ain't enough. And you know, people insure their cell phones over insuring their own life. It just blows me away.

It's true. So when you say 70% of them do nothing, meaning they don't have like health coverage at all?

Uh, they typically will do just original Medicare, so they're not going to supplement or Advantage plan. And you're talking that— they just don't know.

Interesting. Wild.

I mean, the largest insurance carrier, um, has about 8 million. Uh, no, they— I think they may have passed 10 million, close to 10 million. So they have 10 million at 50 million. And then you take the next 4 largest insurance companies to make up the other— that makes up the 30%. It's just wild. So much opportunity.

Dang. And only getting bigger. This industry has been insane to watch. And, uh, my— how old are your kids?

I have a— my daughter turns 22 in August, and they go to 7. So 16, she's got her driver's license 2 days ago. Scares the heck out of me. The, the P&C guy said, hey, your, your insurance went up by $10,000 a year. I'm like, okay, we got to figure something out. $10,000 a year, she ain't driving, she can park in that car. And then, uh, 13— I got two boys. I heard you say baseball. My boy lost in the playoffs yesterday, but 13 and, uh, 11 are my boys. I got a boy that plays baseball, lacrosse, and football. Then I got a boy that plays lacrosse and football. They both play on comp teams for lacrosse and football. Is, uh, their passion.

So, so, 4.

Then I got a 7-year-old. 7-year-old that does 5 here. Yeah, 5 kids.

5 total. Me too. Very cool. Very cool.

Anyone, um, you'll find me if I'm not working, I'm somewhere with them, you know, chasing them somewhere, doing something in the evening.

Makes sense. It makes sense. Does, does the older one— is she in insurance? It's a girl, you said? The older one?

Yeah. So I, uh, she is in insurance actually, and I never asked her to Yeah, she actually works as a receptionist, does really well as a receptionist and office administrator, and then she sells on the side. But I never encouraged her. She's like, I want to build a team one day. But I think just she has that guaranteed paycheck, and so she'll write like 10 or 12 or 20 during AEP. And I keep telling her, we got to get you to 100, we got to get you to 100, because that's guaranteed $2,500 a month. And now she's getting ready to move out and I'm like, man, I don't know if I'm ready for that.

But so, saying, I just had another one graduate from high school this past weekend. So let me have 3 out of high school now. 2 are done with college, actually. So third one going into college, and then 2 younger. And none of them— my oldest did insurance when I was brand new, but I had no idea what I was doing. And she was trying to sell from college, and she did well part-time, but she just didn't stick with it. And in those days, we had no idea what we were doing. So she was— she was driving all over the God's green earth and Yeah, I mean, I just— I was— it was literally my first 6 months in business in, in the, in the industry that she got into it. So she's not in anymore, but my 16-year-old, he's like, yo, when can I start? Can I start doing something now? I want in. He's, he's, he's dying to get involved in the industry. So I'm excited to see where the next generation of our little nuggets takes this thing.

Be fun. You know, one of the interesting things you say about that is people are watching you. I mean, I've had, you know, brother-in-laws that have watched me over the last, you know, 8 years, and they're like, there's something to this. I've got a brother-in-law that does mortgages, and he used to buy and sell mortgages. He hit me up, he's like, man, what have you been doing? Like, they know kind of what I do, but not what I do. And they're like, yeah, well, I'm retired now, I gotta do something. It's the wildest thing. You're like, well, you had an opportunity to do this 15 years ago, but hey, yeah, I'll take you now.

It is insane. I've had a lot of, a lot of people, especially— it's funny, like, if they don't know us, they don't really know, they kind of see or whatever. But I've had like end-of-year parties with my kids' baseball team, and they come to the house and they'll be like, um, what do y'all do? Because I just show up, I'm in gym shorts and a t-shirt, you know what I mean? You wouldn't have a clue. And, uh, it's, it's kind of fun. I enjoy it. I love helping people figure this thing because I got so much help figuring this industry out, dude, from so many good people. I wouldn't be here without a shit ton of them, you know.

They crack me up. They're like, what does your dad do? Oh, he talks on the phone. And you know, my phone rings, I step out, they don't bother me. I'm like, they're like, they just, they know. My wife, she's like, he's working, you know, that, that phone rings, or, you know, I'm on the phone, it's like, okay, Dad's got to go.

So do my stage where that was all day, every day. I remember my kids' biggest memory of when they were little was me on the phone crazy. And even if we have memories at places doing fun things, there was a stage, dude, building this sucker where I was— it's not like that today, to be honest. It's not all day every day anymore, fortunately. No, so many good people. But man, that stage, most people couldn't handle that stage.

Well, until you get good people around you, right? That's, that's what you do. You're, you're wearing a lot of hats. I mean, you're, you are wearing a lot of hats and you just keep, you keep grinding.

Well, what, um, so how do y'all— this is just me curious because I want to, I want to understand the size. I know how many agents you have. Do y'all track volume like the same way we do in like annual premium, or how do you, how do you speak your lingo? Like, how much insurance do y'all sell? I'm trying to figure that out. Uh, so how do I, how do I understand it for a dumb life guy?

Yeah, everything that I, um, commit to is app count. All they care about is app count. So the carriers every year will ask me how many apps I'm going to write for XYZ carrier, PDQ, and so on. So I'm committing to apps. Now when they count apps, it's new to the carrier. So if it's a plan change, yeah, everybody gets paid, but I don't get credit for growth. So that, that's how they track everything. Correct.

New to the carrier, new apps you do last year, say, do you know?

Last year almost 8,400.

That's dope. So sick. And what's the goal?

Uh, I'll probably write 10,000 to 12,000. So sick. The, the year before that, I did just shy of 5,400.

Cool.

So again, I probably wrote another 40% plan changes. So you look at, you know, I, I probably wrote 14,000 to 16,000 applications for the year But plant— but the ones I got credit for was—

yeah, I follow. How many, how many do you do as like a producer by yourself? Like, what's a big— what's a good number? How many apps? I know you said 100 for your daughter, 2,500. So I assume it's a lot more if they are a full-time agent.

Um, the expectation is one a month, one a day. So 20 a month. That, that's all year long? No, for— yeah, so you're looking at 240 apps a year. Um, there's a lot of agents that write 40 to 60 a year. So there's, there's everything in between. The agents that write, you know, 150 to 200 during what's called AEP, they've got a book of business and they're managing, and then they have 1,000 to 1,500 clients that they've got over the last 5 years. And it all just depends on the agent. But if they're a full-time agent, I'm like, hey, an app a day, 20 apps a month. And then if they're a part-time agent, I'm like, there's no reason you can't do 8 a month. If you're doing it one night a week. I mean, if you run 3 appointments a night, you close one of them, you're there. You close a husband or wife, you're there. So it's, uh, it's just set that game plan we talked about, that vision board, because we know what an app gets them. We know the street comp, they get paid the 100% of the street comp, but it's just setting the expectation of what's capable. And the leads, the leads are a third, a third, a third. There's a third of the people that are going to do something if I get to them soon enough. There's a third of the people that I'm never going to get a hold of no matter what I do. And there's a third of people that are tire kickers. Well, I know that if I put those middle people on a drip campaign, eventually they're going to call me. I know that the third of the people, if I get to them soon enough, that's the cream, I'm going to write them. And I mean, just if you wrote the cream, the 3 out of 10, you're going to win. You know, there's— it just— you got to call, you got to do the work.

That's the exact same in my world, the numbers near identical. So you said 100 apps when you were referencing your daughter, was $2,500 a month. Yeah. So $30 grand a year. So if you write 100 apps next year, it renews, right? So then they're getting $60 grand and they do it 4 years like you did, they're making $120 grand just renewing. Yep. That's dope. Cool business, ain't it?

It is. It's incredible.

I love it. Cool, man. Well, this has been fun, bro. Anything you want to add, put out there, give thoughts on? However you want to end it, man. I'll leave it up to you.

Well, I mean, you could find me on social media pretty easy, you know, on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, all those things. And the one thing I'd want— it's ty.r.brady. You'll see my picture. I also have a consumer-facing website, Brady Insurance Marketing, and I'm happy to chat. Anything I can do to give you a little bit of insight. Maybe you're in a rut. I talked to an agent where he's like, listen, I just can't seem to break half a million dollars a year. So I sat down and talked to him, and I said, what's your schedule like? He's like, well, I spend Monday and Tuesday scheduling all my appointments, and then I close, you know, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday. I said, well, have you ever thought about hiring somebody to book your appointments? And he's like, that's a brilliant idea. I'm like, anyway, his income changed to where he wanted to go, but he never thought about that. It was something that simple, a 30-second phone call where he changed from going making half a million to a million dollars a year just by scheduling a phone booker. So those, those are things that, that, uh, and it wasn't even part of my team, he was part of someone else's, and I don't really care as long as I was able to help him and give back. But you know that you're valuable, um, the people need you, whether you're— whatever product you're selling, you, you— I think you'd rather want to take a phone call if somebody calls you up and says, hey, I just got diagnosed with cancer. Well, I don't need you to worry about that because I put you on that cancer, heart attack, stroke policy. Or hey, somebody calls you up and said, my My husband was in a tragic accident, just passed away. Well, don't worry about it because we got that $2 million life insurance policy. When I think agents forget, when they take— when they decide to get licensed and get a professional license, they have an added responsibility to tell people about these products. Talk where your feet are. There are so many people that need help. But I love how agents are so afraid of the fear control and their paralysis because of the fear. But you may not get everybody, and it's enough nos you're going to get told yes. But just keep talking where your feet are. People need you. You're value— you're valuable. The universe needs you. And let's give back. And I promise you, when you give back, you're going to be rewarded on the back end, you know, financially, free time, family, faith, all the things that I talk about all the time.

I love it, dude. It's all good stuff. Appreciate your time, bro, and, uh, giving back to the, to the community here. And, uh, you're one of the good ones, bro.

Good chatting. Yeah, talk to you later, my friend.

Thank you.