This Sales Training Made $100,000 in 3 Months In Insurance ft. Joseph Anthony | Ep25

Look, if I told you you can go to jail for a year, but when you come out, you're gonna have $1 million in the bank, would you do it? 100%. He said, cool, mentally you're in jail. That's it. You're going to do X, Y, and Z. When you get out, you're going to have this much more than you have now.

Yeah.

Right. And in our business, that compounds.

What up, y'all? John Wetmore back with a new episode of the Insurance Insiders Podcast. Got my dude Joseph Atkinson here, owner of Joseph Anthony Insurance. And, uh, health insurance beast, working on all kinds of crazy stuff. Good story. I heard another podcast of yours, and obviously we got to hang out in— where were we? Somewhere. Were we in Texas? I don't remember where we were.

Yeah, we were in, uh, Chicago first.

Oh yeah, that's right.

Yeah, I like that dude. He curses a lot. Um, and so very direct person. I was like, man, you know what, I gotta get in this guy's ear. So I just shook your hand. Um, one thing I noticed, and I'm not trying to go on a tangent yet, but, uh, people come in this business early on, they have a little bit of success, and they want to be the boss now, right? They want to go fly on the jets, and they want to have an office, and they want to train everybody on how to be the fucking man. It's like, hey, homeboy, you just got here, okay? Calm down, pump the brakes a little bit. So I, uh, that comes with knowing your place, right? And so I went and shook your hand. We're in Chicago. And then it turns out my mentor in this business, Jonathan, had, uh, been familiar with you already. And so I was like, I don't know how, I'm getting that dude's ear someday. And then, uh, we ran into each other again in Springfield.

Oh, Springfield, that's right, that's where it was. It was not Texas, Springfield. I forgot about that. 8%, I think it was the first night out there. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Where'd we eat? We ate at someplace dope. Hey, we ate too much.

Steak and lobster. And I don't know, all I heard was John said he's taking us to dinner. I'm there. Yeah, man. But no, it's really special. I do want to say thank you. I really do. Because, you know, one thing that's kind of got me into the rooms that I've got into is, I know that in order to have some notoriety in this business, you kind of have to have some results. You have to kind of hit a certain point of success for people to come talk to you in the first place. And so I was like, you know what I'm going to do? I flew up to Denver a few months ago. I filmed a podcast. I said, I'm going to lay my life story on the line. And hopefully that allows people to know a little bit more about me before they meet me, have some context a little bit. And I just sent it to you and I was like, hey, you know what? If he reads it, if he watches it, cool. If not, cool. And then I told you after dinner, I said, this is what makes you special to me, John. And I'm not glazing, okay? Um, but you said— I said, hey man, I got some dues to pay, uh, but one day I'm gonna get in your ear. I want to get your calendar info, uh, and just sit down with you. You were like, what? Here's my number, dude, no big deal. I was like, well shit, that was a lot easier than I thought, a lot less resistance than I expected. And so that was pretty special, man. And then I sent you over that, that video, and lo and behold, you, you watched it.

Yeah, I did. Move your mic closer, bro, it's cutting in and out a little bit. There you go.

All right, can you hear me now?

Yeah, I heard you fine. It's just as you back up, it goes out a little. All right, um, but yeah, dude, I watched it on the plane. I remembered you saying it and I'm like, damn, he had the nuts to send it. I was sitting on a plane and so I was like, hell, I'm gonna listen to it on the plane. And, uh, good story, you know what I mean? Obviously we have some similarities, as you know. I found out And I'm like, hell, I'm gonna get them on and, uh, let some people see some stuff and see what you're doing. You're making— obviously making a lot of changes in your life, which is cool.

Uh, yes, sir.

Have a big why, hence the Joseph Anthony, and, uh, and doing some cool shit, dude. And, you know, I know you wouldn't be in the space you're in if, if you weren't working. You wouldn't be around him. Yeah, you know, I think for me, I'm just trying to pay attention to people who are stand out from the rest and want to do big things and play my little part in helping people, dude.

So no, that's huge that, that you are where you are, and I think you are where you are because of your mentality. But no, it's, it's, it is huge. And, uh, for me, like, I— you can't, you can't get something unless you ask for it. And so for me, one thing I've learned is from being early on in insurance to being early on as a father to being early on in anything really, it's like, go find somebody and provide them some value in any way or offer that, and then they might have a conversation with you. So no, it's really special, man. I appreciate it. And yeah, we, uh, I was reading the book, man, and, uh, we have a lot more similarities than I thought. I said, holy shit, this might be possible, Joseph, let's go! This man has came from the trenches, brother.

Like, yeah, buddy. Yeah, these are right here for those that, those that ain't seen it. Get you a copy. Yes sir, I love it. A little get shit done, do more. If you got it on church side or the real side, but you know.

Oh shit, I didn't— I just found out.

Yeah, it's church mode, you just flip it and there's no cuss words.

That's so funny. We gotta— we got a new guy in here, he's killing it, his name's Eddie G, and we gotta call the damn lead bracelets and he was like, oh, I gotta flip it inside out when I go to church. So that's actually a thing.

It is 100%.

That's pretty sweet.

Yeah, yeah, I wear my— I got a hat. I gotta— I don't think I have it down here. I have a GSD hat on the front, but I wear my hat backwards a lot and it says "Get shit done" on the back side. But if I don't want people to see it, I flip it around and nobody really— I mean, they don't see it. Okay, so my kids go to like a Christian school and I'm supposed to like behave sometimes, and my wife is like, you can't stop saying that around everybody. I'm like, dude, they cuss too. Give me a break.

Yeah, they probably do a lot worse, but hey, they do for the sake of, uh, for the sake of the kiddos, we'll play the part.

Yeah, amen, brother. I love it, dude. Well, let's, let's get into— let's get into some insurance stuff. I definitely want to get into some sales stuff because people love hearing the sales stuff, um, but I definitely want you to give a little bit of your journey, um, how you got here, you mean how you got into insurance. And then for those watching, stick around, this guy sells a shit ton of shit ton of insurance, legit. We're gonna get into some nuts and bolts on, on how he does it, how he books appointments, how he makes sales, things he looks for. So we'll crack that open too. But you know, I always like people to share their story, man, to give people hope and insight that like we need anything special, we just outworking most of y'all.

Yeah, 100%, actually. Uh, yeah, man. So from San Antonio, Texas, brother. Um, I come from two fantastic hard-working parents, my man. Uh, you know, grew up in a church home. And like most children where I come from, it's— I come from the hood, man. Like, I, I was very remiss to speak about it like that coming into quote-unquote business, right? Like, I have to button everything up. And, uh, you know, I have a neck tattoo and, you know, some more tattoos, like nothing crazy, but, uh, I always thought I had to button up who I was as a person. And so I realized, like, where I am now today is because of who I am as a person. And had I not gone through the struggles that I've gone through, uh, the world wouldn't know who Joseph Anthony is. And so yeah, man, I'm from San Antonio. We, we grew up in the hood, man. Like, when I say hood, the pizza delivery man would not come to the house after 6 PM to deliver pizza. You had to go to the gas station to pick up your pizza because he was getting robbed left and right. And that's like all pizza companies. So yeah, man, it was pretty rowdy, man. And grew up with a good family though. Great hardworking parents. They just— opportunity kept us where we were for a little bit. And then went to high school, was an exceptional football player, played for the US National Football Team and pissed away my grades because I wanted to be the man too early, which we'll revisit that. But like I said, trying to be the man—

hence your comment earlier.

Yeah, yeah, it's not the move in life trying to be the man too early. It's not the move. Um, you live by the sword, you die by it as well. And so, uh, pissed away my grades a little bit, and after that I was— I lost all my purpose. You couldn't tell me anything other than I'm going to go play football at a high level. Um, like most naive kids in high school, like, that's all we're gonna do. Um, yeah, man, so I ran right back to the hood, you know. I, I, I left the high school I was at in my junior year when I realized the scholarships I had weren't going to let me play football at the universities anymore. And they were like D2, D3. I had like 2 D1 offers, but nothing crazy. Um, and yeah, man, I was like, all right, cool, well, I'm gonna go smoke weed as an occupation, and I'm going to hang out with people who don't really value their life that much because it's exciting. It's a rush. And so yeah, man, I went and my buddy, one of my buddies at the time had this great idea because I was, you know, selling weed at the moment and I was very good at that. All of my friends, they smoked weed as an occupation as well. What that means is somebody who doesn't really value their life that much, they smoke a lot of weed and they probably sell it so they can buy more and they never run out of it, you know. And so That was my hustle at the time. My buddy had an idea, hey, let's go join a motorcycle club. I was like, all right, down. Like, I've never rode a motorcycle before, but sure, we'll figure it out. So we just went and hung out, uh, with this quote-unquote motorcycle club, and then, uh, turns out they were a One Percenter club. So I became an outlaw. My lifestyle was encouraged. I was down. I kind of pissed off and pushed everybody that loved me away because I was so defeated and poor me, I wasn't the man anymore. Um, so I was gonna go be a piece of shit, to be honest. Excuse my language, but that's just what it was. And so long story short, I did that for a while. I lived the outlaw life. Like, we went wherever we wanted to go, we did pretty much whatever we wanted to do, and you couldn't tell me shit.

Like, you know, people started—

Yes, sir.

When you were going through that stage, like, you own it now But at that stage, were you blaming the world for all your problems?

100%. Um, nobody understands me. You know, nobody's going through what I'm going through. Nobody gets me. I can't believe— I can't believe that this happened to me. And that's why I didn't make the grades. This happened to me. And that's why I wasn't focused. And I just had it worse than everybody else. You know. Uh, and sure enough, what the, the motorcycle club did for me was realize, oh, everybody's here pissed off, all their opportunities in life, and like, this is where we go to hang out, you know. And, um, yeah, man, so I kind of went down that road for a while to about 20. Um, and then at that point I had burnt every bridge, and it wasn't doing people wrong, it was like, hey, I want to help you, here's some good advice. And I was like, well, go fuck yourself because I don't need it. Um, and I hate to be so blunt, but I have to, man. And, uh, yeah, so I knew it all at the time. You couldn't tell me anything. Then boom, kid number 1 comes out at 20. We had, uh, this was— so I was in the Mozart Club from like 17 to 20. This was 18, 19 years old, uh, my first kid.

A baby. How old were you when you had the baby? I was 17 when my first one was born.

18.

18.

Cool. 18. Yeah. So the first one comes out and I'm like, well, we'll figure it out. We kind of did, you know, we did figure it out, um, but not being a great example of what a father was. And the thing for me was I had great parents. There was no excuse for me to, you know, I'll say I didn't have the opportunity to go be something. I'm just the type that, John, I don't do anything half-assed. And so when it comes from, you know, including the bad shit, yeah, yeah, everything, uh, we do it with the whole ass. And so, uh, yeah, man, I was, I was just not living right, brother. And so long story short, I ended up homeless with nobody to call. I didn't have anybody left, you know, because I knew it all and I didn't need them. And so when I needed them, well, figure it out because you know it all, man. And so I did. I was living in motels and hotels and Long story short, one day, you know, I'm crying. Um, my girlfriend had left me, uh, because I was just a piece of shit, and, uh, I was crying.

You weren't seeing your kid either?

Yeah, so I was, um, but we weren't on great terms, you know, and, um, and, and it was hard for me too because I'm the type where when I was— when I know my capabilities, so If I'm underperforming in any way for the people around me, I hold my head down. And that's, that's, it's, it's a hindrance for sure. But I care that much, right? And I don't want to let people down. If we're talking about numbers and goals, we can adjust, move some things around, and I can live with myself if I know that I'm doing what I need to do to try to achieve those things. Maybe I just set the bar a little too high. Sometimes, but when I let people down, it's a hard pill to swallow. And so, uh, yeah, I had let some people down, John, and, uh, I was on my knees, remember, outside of this, this, uh, Motel 6, and I was like, God, 22 years old, 23 years old, uh, please, I want to change. And I did it. And so, you know, I'm living in motels, working two jobs, taking buses to get from one job to the other, and I met a gentleman by the name of Matthew Schaub. He's an author and owns a few businesses in Colorado. And he says, you know, you got a great head on you, kid. You're going to be a business owner one day. And what does it take, you know, for you to try to change this, this whole avenue that you're going down? And I'm like, well, I just need to keep continuing to save money. He sent me a book on his way home, and I started reading it. And chapter 6 was $1,000. And, uh, that's how I got out of the motel. And I remember crying to God. I said, God, I don't want to live this way anymore. I want to become great. My mother has always told me, you're extraordinary, son. Like, you are different. When I was at the playground, kids would follow and huddle around me and just listen to what I had to say because I'm a very passionate person. Uh, God gave me the opportunity, and that was insurance. Took off from there.

Crazy. Crazy. Yeah, it's wild. It's like, man, one day you just make a decision to change some shit, you know what I mean? It's like— and that's— I was just talking to a guy, um, wanted to do some coaching and stuff, and he's like been stuck for like 2 years. I'm like, dude, you have capability, bro. You just ain't made a decision to move forward and let things go. I mean, like, he's got stuff he's still blaming, he's still mad about, he's still hanging on to. And I'm like, Yeah, there ain't much to this, dude. You got to let go of stuff and move the F on. That's it. Stop holding yourself back, you know. I did that. I did the same thing. How old are you now? You're pretty damn young. Of course, my kid's age. Yeah, I just turned— I got kids older than you. I'm not— but, you know, I didn't figure this out. I was, I was still down on myself at 35 years old, 37, before I made a big change, you know what I mean? So to go at 25, dude, to make the changes you've made already, and you've been through some stuff, but you're ahead of most. You're ahead of most, bro. I mean, so, so keep—

you know what it is? It's like, I, uh, I tell people all the time, there's this new thing I found out, and, uh, it's called— I actually have it written down right here— so it's called trauma bragging, right? And what that is, is what this new generation and I hate to claim it, but maybe my, uh, generation after mine, they, they brag in a way of what they've been through, um, for attention, for empathy, um, and almost like to get attention from it. And it's like, bro, I hear what you've been through, but you're still a fucking loser. And you're not changing that. And so I don't feel bad for you. For me, my family has always lived by like a creed. And my mother was corporate America. She was gone before I woke up and she was home after I went to sleep. She was a straight hustler. My father, he was put on this earth to fix air conditioners. He was gone before I woke up and he was home after I went to bed. And we have a saying that you have to do what you have to do until you can do what you want to do. So many people are trying to be special right now, and I don't mean this in a negative way, but they're trying to be special instead of just trying to find something they're passionate about and become really good at it. They're more focused on why they can't or what their story is. And it's like, bro, if you just focus on being really good at something, you're gonna make it out of whatever you're going through. You're going to be able to overcome anything you are currently going through or have gone through, and you're going to see a whole different world in the near future. But I feel like people are so stuck on why they're not getting the results they want instead of holding up that mirror. I remember being in the motel, John, and I used to be like— I mean, I've lost some weight recently, but I was like 200 pounds, man. And I took my shirt off in the mirror and I had a bottle of Jack Daniel's in my hand and I said, You are not you anymore, and, and you're a fucking loser right now, and it's because of you. And, uh, I changed that. Simple as that, you know. I didn't have this existential realization of like, wow, I'm gonna go be special, God's telling me to go change the world. It was like, no, I don't want to be this way anymore. My family deserves the best version of me. The people around me deserve the best version of me. I'm going to do what it takes to become the best version of me. Super simple.

When was that?

That was about a year and a half ago.

Craziness.

Yeah, not long ago, man. I love it.

Quick break in the video. This is John Wetmore. I want to invite you to join my new school community. You will get access to tons of free sales training. There's a community of other insurance agents looking to win Win. We have hundreds of them already in there, um, where we're giving out answers to questions people have, coaching, guidance, tips on not only selling but building, team, team stuff, um, leadership tips. And I'm personally in there responding to messages, putting out challenges, talking about our wins, our losses, our struggles, and sharing things that'll help you win as well. To join now, go to johnwetmore.com/school, which is S-K-O-O-L The link is also below. How'd you meet JY? Like, how'd you get in? Is that your first in— yeah, entrance into insurance?

Yes, sir.

So how'd y'all connect? How'd you get in it?

So it's actually kind of funny. Um, I was in the oil field, working in the oil field for about a year and a half, actually. And, um, you're gone 2 weeks, you're home, you're gone 2 weeks, you're home. In that, you miss a lot. And it's a very like, what have you done for me lately business, kind of like insurance, but there's a lot of politics. So the guy that runs the rig that you're on, he literally sent me home one day after I was— I drove out 6 hours to the desert to get there in West Texas. And he says, hey man, I got a buddy coming. He's from East Texas and we used to work together. I'm going to send you home. And I'm like, what do you mean? He was like, yeah, man, we just don't need you this hitch. Appreciate you. And I'm like, motherfucker, this is how I pay my bills. I'm staying here. And sure enough, the next day he was like waiting for me to leave. I was like, well, that doesn't feel really good then. So I went online and I was applying, man, when I tell you, I applied at little jobs like H-E-B liquor store just for a few weeks so I can go career searching. And nobody would hire me, like in my near area, liquor stores, nobody. And I'm like, this is— you've got to be kidding me. What is going on? And I found insurance. I found the company's called US Health Advisors, and they were in San Antonio. So I'm like, all right, let me do an interview. Did an interview. They didn't call me. I'm sure I don't fit a lot of people's demographic, especially when it comes to white-collar work. So I was like, all right, I like what they got going on, whether they like me or not. I'm just going to show up and go talk to them about it and say like, hey, man, He didn't call me back. What the fuck? And so I get in there and I meet this gentleman named Randall Rutledge and Robert Evans. And so Rob and Randall spoke to me and they're like, hey, man, you got a pretty good story. I feel like you know how to work hard. I can't promise you're going to do good in this business. I can't promise you're going to make a bunch of money. I really can't promise you anything. But here's an opportunity. I said, oh, God, I was waiting for this. This is the one. This is the one that I was waiting for, uh, and I got it, John. So I took it, put my head down, and ran with it. It's craziness. Yeah, I had super— I would love to sit here and give you this mind-blowing story about how much—

just fighting through, like, you know what I mean? Like, every event I go to, dude, I try to— I try to really relate to people in the sense that, like— but I don't get too deep in it because I'm like, we all got stuff in life. I've never been to an event where I go like, who has stuff in life that's held them back? Struggles, bad things, negative things. Like, who had— I've never had someone not raise their hand ever, right? Ever. So I'm like, why are we held up on it? I got it's bad, I got you're going through, I got you, but why are you using that as an excuse to validate why you're not having success?

100%, you know what I mean?

Like, you don't think the rest of us got stuff? You don't think all the successful people you see don't have stuff? Like Who cares? I have this, uh, I'm trying to think, this, uh, it's— I have this shirt, it says like, nobody cares, work harder. Yep. I wear that a lot. People are like, what? I'm like, I mean, nobody does really. No, I mean, so one thing I learned early is like, John, the world—

I could never see myself making a bunch of money. I could never see myself really successful because where I come from, it's just not the normal. And it's not that I didn't believe, I just didn't know. And, uh, one time I realized— I've met a few people that make a bunch of money and they said the world does not care whether you have a boatload of money and opportunity and your family's happy, or you have no money and your family's struggling and you're broke and you hate your life. The world does not care. Like, so it's, it's doable because there's no, like, really, man, I was listening to Andy Frisell this morning and he said, uh, your struggle is not unique. I think you're going through— somebody has been through. Your struggle is not unique, brother. Like, it's true. What's unique is the ones that don't bitch about it and go make something happen, move on, move on from it. Cool.

Well, let's get into some insurance stuff, dude. I want to give them some, some, you know, tangible stuff they can take away to help themselves. Maybe they'll work with you, maybe they won't, maybe who knows, but we'll share it. I would say, um, give them some idea of you know, speak your language, how much you are selling now, like what life is looking like today. And certainly if you want to talk about what your goal is coming up this year, next year, whatever, and then we'll get into the how. Yeah, man.

So yeah, quick story. When I got into the business, you know, it took about— I'd say I failed my test 3 times, but I'm just too dumb to quit anything that I do. Um, and so I'm like, all right, we'll figure it out. We'll adapt. Finally won it. And I thought I made it to the big leagues, John. I thought I am a licensed insurance agent. Like it's red panty night at the house. You know what I'm saying? And that was not the case, brother. As you know, I get into the— that's just putting the gloves on so you can walk to the ring. And so I meet Jonathan. Randall says, hey, I have a guy. We grew up together, super successful in this business. He's really an outlier. Your personalities are identical, which is not always a good thing to put us in the same room together. And so I was like, alright, no matter what this guy says or does, you're going to shut your mouth, you're going to listen, you're going to pay your dues until you've earned the right to speak. And so I did that. And I come in and Jonathan treat me really well. You know, he gave me opportunity, taught me what to do. And I said, listen, what is the secret sauce? And he said, well, well, this is what your day needs to look like. It was up at 4:30 and reading 10 pages a day and making 400, 500 calls in a day. And I was like, alright, I guess this is all I have to do. I didn't say like, wow, oh my goodness, that's so much work. I said, well, this is all I have to do to go make half a million dollars in 2, 3 years. I'll do it. And I did it. And so I really come in and I didn't make any money for 3 weeks. And so I was like, all right, well, we're going to figure this out. This might be a slow-moving ship. And then I got my first sale in 3 weeks. I said, hey, Jonathan, you know, initially I needed him to— I understood our product, I couldn't really present it that well. So I said, hey man, I need you to help me present this product. And he was like, hey, I got a meeting in 10. I was like, you don't understand what I'm going through right now. They're ready to buy this and I'll never have this opportunity ever again in my life. And so he's like, yeah, give me 15 minutes, I'll come help you. You know me, I'm like, fuck that, dude, I'm gonna go figure this out. So I took my script and I butchered it. It was absolutely horrible. And, uh, the gentleman saw that I care and I sold it. And I said, I'm never going to feel like this again. So then I went and, uh, worked on my delivery and I sold $100,000 in 3 months. Nice. Yeah, so 13 weeks. Yeah, man.

What are you gonna hit this year?

So this year I hit about— honestly, projected, uh, projected to do about half a million dollars. I think I'm gonna hit about $720,000 this year, and I'll go hit a million next year.

I love it, dude. I ain't mad at that.

No, not at all.

Ain't mad at that. Well, give them, give them some, give them some insight. JY trained us, so on a previous one, so I'm sure it's going to be similar, but give them some stuff you've learned, dude. I mean, you know the space, right? You know agents, you see agents coming in and out of your office that hem and haw and give all the excuses and reasons why they can't, you know what I mean? So give them, give them some of the sauce, dude. Okay, yeah, whatever you want.

If I'm speaking to a new agent coming in the business, this is how it's really going to work for you, uh you can't— this, this insurance business is not a get-rich-quick scheme. It's not a you come in and you just found the opportunity that's going to change your life. I think Cody Askin said this— shout out to Cody. Um, he said it at 8%. There's people that have made— we have a lady that made $40,000 last month. Uh, there's people that come in and don't make money for 6 months. There is opportunity to make your life whatever you want in this business. There is opportunity to build a business that one day you can pass down to your children. Um, and then there's opportunity to do absolutely nothing in this business as well. Uh, and so if you come in with the mindset that I'm going to hop on the phone and make a bunch of money, you're wrong. Uh, I definitely learned really quickly that me personally, I own an agency within an agency. Um, I need to build a brand, I need to build a business, I need to establish myself. Um, I need to quickly and efficiently learn how to be patient with the results that I'm getting. And I learned that the hard way because I came in and I did more work than anybody's done in 6 weeks in 1 week. And I was ready to get paid the next week. And that's just not how that works in this business, John. I think you know that. I'm sure your agents learned that quickly. But yeah, man, so I came in and Jonathan broke down the 3 legs of the stool to me, you know, your referral partners, your social media, your phone calls. And it's very simple. The man or woman that contacts the most people wins. It's who does more.

That's why we get along.

Yeah, 100%. Like, I would love to— and I tell people like this, so my phone starts blowing up. Hey, this JoJo kid— because, you know, we have 4,000 agents— and, um, hey, this kid's coming in, he's killing it, he's crushing it, he's got a story, he's doing this, he's doing that. What are you doing? And I'm like, I'm working harder than you. Like, I'm not a genius, bro. Like, they were expecting me to come out and write a book saying like you know, here's the 3 tips to building a $100,000 agency in 3 weeks. And it's like, no, you can still write the book, bro.

I did.

It's a kick-ass book too, bro.

I'm like, eff it.

I bet you, uh, people who are teetering between like making an exit from this business and staying in were probably pissed when that book came out. They're like, damn, you know, I was waiting for the, uh, work smarter, not harder method.

But no, I ain't my jam, dude. I'm like, yeah, I can work, I can work pretty smart now, but I work hard and smart still, you know what I mean? Like, but you can't— it's hard to work smart before you work hard, right? And it's different, and it's correct. It's weird who buys that. I'm like, you really believe that you can wave this little magic wand and sit on your couch and magically print money? Like, and if someone's doing it, because there's always the asshole out there doing it that's like, I'm doing it. Yeah, but you ain't taught no one to do it. You're an anomaly, you're an outlier. It's not the norm. Stop, stop saying it's the norm, you know? Hell, when someone comes in killing it, I get nervous. I'm like, uh-oh, so they're probably doing something wrong.

This part— they're not compliant at all.

Yeah, correct, right, right.

Yeah, damn, 100%. And so for me, it was, okay, I have people who— and, and this is free game. This is a million dollars worth of game. To new agents specifically, okay? If you have access to anybody who is identical or almost to where you want to be in the business, um, ask them what they did. Don't bug them, but ask them what they did, how they got there. Write it down and go do it. Repeat. Every fucking day. And you know what, John? I'm gonna disappoint a lot of people, probably upset or, or, um, hurt their feelings, but like, it's mundane. It sucks. It's not fun. I did not have fun. I had a conversation with my girlfriend, with my, my parents, with my kids, anybody I love that saw. And I said, look, these next few weeks is— Jonathan told me like this, he said, look, if I told you you can go to jail for a year but when you come out, you're gonna have a million dollars in the bank. Would you do it? 100%. I'll go sit in the jail cell. He said, cool, mentally you're in jail. That's it. You're going to do X, Y, and Z. When you get out, right, you're not going to be able to go do this and this, and everybody's going to be having fun, and life's going to pass you by. Fantastic. When you get out, you're going to have this much more than you have now. Yeah, right. And in our business, that compounds. And when it compounds enough, whatever your goal is with the output that you match, it's going to get— you're going to get the result you want. So for new agents, find somebody that is where you want to be. Literally tell everybody that you love, if they support you, hey, this is what I'm doing now. You either support me or I don't really have much time to talk to you. If you want to kick it with me, if you're my friend, or for me it was the homies, put time on my calendar, come to one of my events. If not, Love you, love you from a distance though. And then go do it every single day until your brain falls off.

I heard a quote from John Maxwell. You read any of his books?

Yeah, I actually just got into, uh, well, no, I got into his videos.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. One, he's got like 80 books, dude. I've read a handful of his leadership books. One of the things he talks about, I hear a lot, I actually heard it on video too, funny enough, um, he says consistency compounds. It's really simple. Yeah, yeah, I mean, but it's like what it builds up to, and that's the thing people miss, dude. I always, I always get hung up that however agents are feeling today, whatever you're feeling on the inside is about the business and your results and whether you're where you want to be or not, or if you're good or not, or if you get, you know, get hung up on or yelled at or whatever the feeling you have on the inside about your everyday A lot of y'all think it's going to be that way for the rest of time. Yeah, you know what I mean? I'm like, do you not— like, really simple, dude. If I— again, if I do any activity over and over and over and over and over and over and over again over the course of the long term, I'm naturally going to get better at it, especially with some guidance and coaching. Like, oh my goodness, you know? And I just— I wish people would project forward a little bit and more in a more positive way. You know, and it would, it would help you in the today. It would help you with this. It's like the jail thing, you know what I mean? What do they do when they're in jail, dude? When you know you got, you know, 365 days left, what do we do? We scratch the little thing on the wall and then you go like to the little tick marks and you cross it off, right? Right. It's like, why not do that in this mentally, in this business? Like, you're going to get there. I can look back just like you can and remember how bad it was.

Yep.

But I learned the most then, by far. It was all of my in-my-head negative times where I learned the most ever. And when I look backwards, dude, that time flew by, brother. Going through it was slow.

I tell people my days feel like months and my weeks feel like days, like hours.

Yeah, yeah.

Like my days feel extremely long, but my weeks are just gone, brother. And then by the time I'm like just hitting milestones and, you know, just getting awards, and I'm like, brother, I remember just not knowing how to do this, but like all I do is this. And so it really does compound. Let me ask you though, John, like for you, what are the biggest trends or tendencies you see with agents that come in and either make it or don't?

Coachability, for sure.

Okay, is one.

I mean, that's one thing I look for right off the rip, you know. And I've gotten to a point now where, man, every time I'm talking to someone about improving their situation, I tell them that, that I'm, I'm going to test them on their coachability. And the ones that do what they say they're going to do, they got to be good at it, but you got to do what you say you're going to do. So I, I got really good at, um challenging people in a way that I use their words to hold them accountable. Like, I just got off a call, like, a dude who wants to do some coaching with me, and I'm like, I'm not sure, dude. I don't— I ain't taking your money if you ain't willing to be coached. Like, I don't want— I don't need it, right? But I will help you, but I'm gonna push you. If you don't want someone to push you, I'm not your guy, right? And so before we go forward, I'm like, I'm gonna give you a test, because he's getting— he's stuck in his head.

Right?

He's— it's like he's in mud and he's not moving forward, and he's made— he's made excuses as to why he isn't winning. And so— but he's ready for a change verbally. He's like, but I just— can you give me a lead vendor? I just—

I'm—

I'll do new lead, I just— can you give me the lead vendor? I'm like, actually, I'm not going to give you the lead vendor. I will, but I'm not going to give it to you for 3 days. I said, I'm going to challenge you first. I said, are you up for a challenge? And the challenge is solely to see if you're willing to do it. It's literally just a test, dude. I want to see if you'll do something you say you'll do, and if you'll do something that seems hard and scary to you. Because if you won't, I will not work with you. Because there's going to be plenty that's hard and scary, and you're not necessarily going to love the idea of doing it, but to progress, you're gonna have to. He's like, yes, I'm in. I'm like, all right. And we go through his day. I'm like, it was that— it was right before I got on with you. I literally hung up with him at 10:57 my time.

Gotcha.

And, uh, he, he's, he's a police officer and he's doing, he's doing this part-time and he wants to transition. And, um, he wanted the lead vendor and I asked him how many leads he's had that have never picked up. He said, I don't know, probably a few hundred that have never answered. That's all right, I'm gonna challenge you to call them all. Have you ever seen the video I did that teaches you how I dialed? And I suggest you do it the same way. He had watched it. I have a video out there, Google it, y'all can find it. And, uh, my team will probably be smart and put it in the link. He goes, yeah, I've seen it, put it in stacks of 25. I'm like, yep, that's the one. He go— I go, all right, how many hours can you dial for the rest of today? And he goes, all right, it's— I can start at 11, I have to pick my son up at 2. He does the math, he's like, I can spend 6 hours on the phone today. I'm like, all right, how many phone calls can we do in 6 hours? So we figure out 1 a minute. If he did that, it'd be 360. We settle on 300. I'm like, can you do 300 phone calls before you go to sleep tonight? He's like, yeah. I'm like, all right, here's what I want you to do. I just want you to get me like 40 objections, 40 people to tell you to fuck off. I don't care if you don't book an appointment, dude. I want you to— your goal is to get 40 people, not in a mean way, not that you antagonize them. You're trying to book appointments, but I want 40 people to give you some version of fuck off, right? Okay, will you do that? He's like Yeah, all right. I said do the tally marks, dials. You need to get to 300. Then do tally marks every time you talk to someone. Then do tally marks every time you book an appointment. I'm certain if you try this and you're calling leads that have already not— they just haven't answered, right? So that just purely for the exercise, do it. And then I want you to record 2 phone calls verbally so I can hear them on speaker. And then I want you to send me a screenshot of your dials and 2 phone calls by 10 o'clock tonight. Can you do that? He's like, yep. So now how quickly will I know if he's coachable?

Tomorrow.

I'll know at 10 o'clock tonight, dude.

I mean, by tonight.

Yeah, yeah, I will know before I go to sleep. Yeah, does that make sense? And he said he'll do it. I just asked the questions. Will you do this? Can you do that? Can you do that? He's like, yes, yes, yes, yes. And so for me, I'm— all I'm watching for, dude, is coachable. And will he do what he says he's going to do? And I like to give people a test right now, and it can be some version of that. It doesn't have to be the exact— a lot of times it's the same test because I just want to see if people want to put in the work, you know? Because if you— I'm like, if you give me 40 objections and write them down when you get them, you'll find there's probably a variation of 3 to 5. There's not going to be 40 different ones, right? You know what I'm saying? I said, but if you don't give me anything to work with What can I coach you on, right? Like, I need the mistakes, dude. That's how we get better. And so for me, dude, it's, it's always— that's it, man. I'm looking for people who are coachable and do the things that— do the things they say they're going to do. And the next level, what I mentioned it earlier, when I'm, when I'm— people that are already on their own and they're self-sufficient and they don't need me to get them out of bed, you mean like they're self-motivated? I just look for people who stand out. It's very easy if you think about— think of— do you have any agents selling now?

Yeah, uh, 2.

Okay, all right, of the 2, which one stands out from the others? From the other? It's not that deep, right?

No.

Or if you go in your office, if you go all of JY's agents excluding yourself, which one of them stands out the most? You can name it right away. You don't have to name it if you don't want, but think about it.

Yeah, we got it.

You don't— they come to mind right away. I look at that guy and I go, hey, come here. And I try to start to challenge him a little bit more and push him a little bit more and see his thought process, see what goals he has. Does he want more out of life? Can I help? Is there something I can do? Because he's different than the rest, you know. And so I'm just always looking at people, and it can be in anything. I didn't even define stands out in what. I'm just like, who stands out? It's very easy to see when people stand out from the crowd. You know, so as— but I gotta build a crowd first. 2 ain't really a crowd. Yeah, you get, you get 10 or 15, it's really easy to see who, who starts stepping up a little bit more.

Yeah, right.

Yeah, so it's— that's it, dude. And I've been teaching the same thing for years because I'm— I can't drag someone to success, dude. I've tried. I've tried to beat them over the head. I've tried to get them out of bed every morning. I've tried, and it doesn't work, bro.

You can't. And then Like at some point their fear of just letting you down will go away. And then you just spent all of this time and energy into that person.

What up, y'all? Officially releasing my book. You can go on and order it now at johnwetmore.com or click the link below. That's where I go over the 6 basic principles I implemented to go from a struggling agent for my first couple of years to issuing nearly $500,000 of my own pen. Go through stories and examples and exercises that you can do to implement for yourself. Appreciate it. Again, JohnWetmore.com, get yours.

Later. What I've noticed is people who succeed in this business have an internal or external driving force. Correct, right?

Self-motivated.

Very simple, very simple. We have a guy in here, I'm sure he's going to appreciate this, uh, Wheelchair Brian. Yeah, he's just a cowboy, man. Love him to death. Brings the best energy in the world. Used to stumble over his— he used to say the next word before he would say the first word, uh, on the phone. Didn't make money for, I don't know, 4 or 5 months, um, and his wife said, hey honey, like, you know, we love— I know you love this, but we need you to figure out something to do. Has not stopped selling insurance since that conversation. Um, don't know what it was. He sits— I mean, yeah, I do know what it was. He sits in front of his computer, his head is down all day long, and he wins now. People with kids— we have a new guy coming in, sold his first one in a week, prides himself on trying to beat me here because I set the standard for that shit, right? And I love that too, right? And I needed that. Um, just because who doesn't, right? Um, but he has a kid, a small kid, and he's young. He's like 21, 22 years old, and he's hungry. But that driving force is how I know he's gonna make it. Yeah, because it means enough, and there's a standard, like, I need to hit this. If not— and, and honestly, I noticed really quickly the difference between agents that make it and agents that don't is they will find somebody who holds them accountable, quote unquote, and they will tell them, but I'm doing this, this, this, and this, right? Well, I'm trying to do this. So I said I made this many phone calls today. And me personally, like, coming up with a graduating class of people who— some made it, some didn't— in the business, it was like I noticed those people who were always projecting their activities were not doing those activities because they just want the world to buy into, like, so they can sleep at night. The world thinks I'm working hard. Yeah, and it's like, go fuck yourself, you're lazy. Like, that's not how being a when it works. And so I find it curious because somebody who's made it to where you have in this business, coming from where you come from in this business— I don't want to discredit, you know, how smart you are and the decisions you've made, but you've had probably a driving force from when you had the kids and the divorce, from the book, uh, to living in a motel. To this day, I'm assuming some part of you still feels like you never want to go back to that.

Dude, if you saw my schedule, I mean, I, I've got— Amanda walks in, she goes, you've got 10 straight calls today.

Let's go.

I said, nah, I just finished one, so I guess I got 11. I had one on the way in too.

Let's go.

Yeah, me.

Yeah.

And then I looked at my travel schedule. Watch this, dude, I'm gonna show you. Let me pull, let me pull up this text. I, um, I started— some guy wanted to come down to my office and, uh, he's like, can I come on this day? I'm like, I'm traveling. So I put my trap— I don't know if you can— let me see if you can— hold on, see if I can get that in there. I don't know how well I can focus it. Holy shit, that's from, from 8/21, which is next week, to 11— I'll even go 8/21 to 10/22. That's 2 months. I got 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 trips on airplanes.

Let's go!

In 8 weeks I have 10— there's 11 trips on here, but one's in 11/13, so it doesn't sound as cool, you know. Between, between 8/21 and 11/13, I have 11 flights booked already on top of 10, 12 phone calls, you know what I mean? Like, dude, I'm just getting after it. I do— I live this. I don't like write about it and not do it.

Yeah, well, no, 100%, but My thing is, is for the new agents that see this, there's a direct correlation. Jonathan as well. Like, we have some new agents in here that, uh, are trying to do 75 Hard now, and I'm like, that's— there you go. Like, now you're starting to get it. You want more for yourself. And he's like, well, I gotta leave at 6 today because I got another workout. And I'm like, what the fuck? No, you don't get it. That's not— that's not what it is. What it is is doing the work you have to do for yourself to meet the standard you have for yourself and then making more time afterwards.

Yeah, do the workout at 11 PM.

Yeah, to go be better. And Jonathan will call me 10:30 at night, hey, you up? I'm like, yeah, what's going on, brother? Uh, oh man, just working out, getting after it. Like, it never stops. People have this, this negative— no, it's a false reality or false— I don't know how to use fucking big words. They, they think that—

I don't know, I'm glad you don't try.

You make it to a certain point, you're just done.

Nah, dude. And it's like, no, now I can schedule things differently. Like, I went— I got up this morning at 6, um, started getting Maddox ready for— I didn't— there's not much to do. My wife gets him up and I just make sure he moves, right? But Maddox, 6:30, he's getting in the shower. I'm getting ready. I bring him to school at— we leave the house at 7. I drop him off at 7:05. I'm at the gym by 7:30. Work out there for an hour, go to the second gym at 8:30 because they have a sauna. So I stay 30 minutes in the sauna. 9 o'clock I go home, I shower. 9:30 I'm at, uh, they have this place called Kill Me Crazy. You get like smoothies and avocado toast, like healthy food. So I stop there, I pick up breakfast. 9:30 to 9:45 I'm driving to the office, I'm doing a recruiting call. 10 AM I have a call. 10:30, 11 was with you. 12 I have another one. So we got 9 minutes. 1, 2, right? I'm— I just go. So I have, I have, I have my personal time in the morning today, dude. 5 years ago, I had to get up at 5 and go to the gym at 5:30 because I didn't have the ability to do that because I had to get, I had to get it in before I could work. Today, I, I can adjust a little bit, you know what I mean? But again, yesterday, same thing, dude. I had to go to the— I had a, I had a procedure yesterday. I'm old. Er, right? So I had to get a freaking colonoscopy. Okay, so I go in, I go, I'm at the thing at 10:30, procedure at 11:15, I'm done at 12:30. My assistant Amanda picks me up, I'm like woozy as crap. We go eat lunch, I'm in the office by 2, dude.

Wow, same day?

Yes. And then I worked till I think I left here at 6, went, had dinner with my daughter and my son, my my older— two of the older ones. Um, and then I went home and I did like— dude, I was sending DMs and messages on the school group that I have because I have a ton of people wanting me to contact them till 9:30 at night. Amanda's like, I can see you— because the calendar appointments were coming in to my email. She sees my email, she's like, dude, why are you still working? I'm like, I mean, what do you want me to do, watch TV? She's like, the length of the day was the same as every other day.

Right.

Yeah, I had, I had a procedure. So what? Like, I'm good, move on from it, get my stuff done, you know what I mean? But I get family time in too today, and I think some people miss— they don't think— I'm like, I just— from 10 till I'll leave here today at 5, because Maddox has baseball lessons at 5:30 and he has a, a practice with his team at 8. Okay, but from 10 to 5 to have 12 calls, damn. Yeah, I just pack it in, right? I mean, I'm crazy about my kids.

Being intentional with that too, right? Because a lot of people— and the huge thing is how many people go to the office for 10 hours and work 4 of them, you know?

Correct.

The common theme between me and people that are where I want to be is they may work 6 or 7 hours now, but they do not stop working Correct. During those 6 or 7 hours, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom. And what I've learned as well is like, okay, in our business it is what have you done for me lately, right? Like, you— that board, you can have $100,000 in premium on that board, your week is over and it stops. That goes to zero.

Zero, right?

And the moment, the moment you start to try to smell the sunshine and rainbows until your residuals are where they are and things of that nature That expansion is contracting now. The moment you stop trying to expand on it, the moment you stop trying to work in and on your business, the moment you miss a day, it's like, for me, my whole world is shaking up. And so what people think is, I want to do this to get to be where John Wetmore's at so I can kick my feet up and go sit on the beach. And, and they don't know that John Wetmore is not kicking his feet up sitting on the beach.

If I do if I do, it ain't long, you know what I mean? Like, I don't need much, and my family don't need much, you know what I mean? Or we'll, like, you know, I'm going on a— I got a two— two of those trips are personal trips, but I'll still, you know, I mean, I'll, I'll check out for a hot minute, but I'm telling you, I—

it's—

it doesn't stop to— and if you follow Frisella, I mean, he talks about this stuff all the time, you know. He works harder now than he did when he was trying to figure it out sleeping in his first location with the mattress.

Yep, concrete. Yeah, man, I didn't mean to veer off too far from insurance specifically, but what you are applies. Yeah, what you are is what defines an agent for making it. It's like, okay, and, and I don't want to because I haven't made $100 million a year, I've made a million dollars a year, but what I've seen is people who can go do the daily disciplines to go make their first $100,000. Those same daily disciplines with the activities changed can scale that to whatever they really want.

Correct. It can— it does get— you do more, make more per hour eventually. You do bring in more. You do get to make different decisions.

You get—

do get to schedule your time differently. I mean, if I need to schedule a day, I just schedule it. Yeah, I mean, it is what it is, but I do think people take it, take it too early. End with, um, end with some kind of— give them some kind of sales stuff, dude. Yeah, man.

Everything. Yeah, every— if you're new in this business, and I'm really speaking to new agents because I can only speak on what I've done and I've lived, and I am the example of what it takes to survive in this business, right? I'm not going to toot my horn, but I have— my numbers will, will show you. That I am what it takes to survive.

Um, and that may not say much, but I mean, you wouldn't be on here if I didn't believe you had the ability to give them what they need, bro.

100%. So that too, everything you think about sales coming from wherever you come from, whether it's car sales, any sort of sales, when you're in insurance, anything you think about sales is probably wrong. There's a 90% chance it's wrong. I come in this business with a net tattoo and a big dream. I thought that I was going to have to act like somebody I was not in order to achieve the dreams and the goals that I wanted to achieve and the numbers that I've done so far. And it's because I thought I was gonna have to button that up. People are people. People want to talk to people. People want to help people. And if you speak to your client or potential customer as if you want to help them, maybe they want to help you as well, right? So instead of trying to shove your product down their throat or convincing them to buy something that maybe you don't think they should have, try to help them. More times than not, I get on the phone with people, 'Oh man, it's just a price thing for me.' Instead of trying to oversell them on my product, we're going to shop for whatever they can afford right now because me helping them is going to come get them with mine. Also, a lot of insurance agents in this business maybe don't carry on themselves what they sell. I can't speak for that. John said they, uh, yes sir, come on, am I spitting fire now, John? Um, John's people had— John has 6,000 agents. John, you know this. You have probably a product that people believe in, right? And the health insurance side, I have a product that people believe in. I have a product that everybody I know carries on them and their Families, find yourself a product and a partner, a mentor that is going to believe in you. Go do with your daily disciplines. And first, I feel like that's the most important. Don't try to sell anybody on anything. Find ways to help somebody, even if it's not with you. Every day that you help somebody out, whether it's satisfying your checking account or not, you're going to find a way to make a withdrawal from that. You just don't know when that withdrawal is going to happen. You don't know when that's gonna come. That's super important for me.

Like, I love it, dude.

Don't chase the bag, chase the dream.

Hey, we're gonna quote that one right there, Reese. When you watch this, right there, that was the money quote.

Let's go, baby!

I love it.

Chase the bag, chase the dream, man.

I love it. We're putting it out.

Yes, sir.

John, my dude, I appreciate it, brother.

You're awesome, man. I just appreciate your time, and anything I can do on my side, whatever you have, um, I know I just joined this group you had invited me to yesterday, so I appreciate that. Anything you can send my way, anyway I can send some value your way, just let me know, my man.

Yeah, let's just keep— hey, keep building this thing together. There's a bunch of us trying to do big things, you know what I mean? And I'm, I'm, I'm— you said something, were you the one that said to someone, well, I want to be at the table with you or something like that? Was that you that said that?

No, it's like I said, let me elaborate on on that real quick. So I said, uh, hey John— and by the way, also for new agents, this is how you speak to people that aren't where you want to be, right? Don't act like you're fucking where they are, please. I know that's got to be the most annoying thing in the world. Um, you've made $6 and you act like you're driving a Benz. Um, I said, hey John, I got some dues to pay right now, but one day we're gonna sit at the same table. Coincidentally, we have already eaten dinner together. So you said we were already at the same table, bro. No big deal. But yeah, man, it's important. Like, hey man, I'm on a mission. I got shit to do.

I got your point, right? I was just trying to tell you, dude, we're in this thing together.

You were like, hey man, we already did.

Yeah.

And it's— I just want you to know that where I am right now is I'm not trying to relate to you in business right now, John. I'm trying to relate to you and where I came from, my work ethic.

You're on the right path though, dude. I mean, you're doing the right things, you're on the right path. Keep helping people, keep doing what you're doing, keep building it, don't slow down, you know what I mean? I'm just part of— I'm just part of the journey with a bunch of other people, and for me, I'm just trying to build the brand too and get it out there and help a bunch of other people, you know?

If we—

if y'all aren't in the school group we have yet, get in. I'm gonna bring some ballers in there. We're going to be doing some big events coming up. We got a lot going on, dude. Um, so if I would say you're like a guy that likes to add value, just, just bring people, bring people to the table with you, bro. Bring them into my world, show them what I can, what I, what I can. Whatever you think adds value to other people, share it. Yeah, I mean, so keep killing it, dude, and, uh, we'll definitely talk soon. Appreciate you being on, and my team will let you know when all this is going out and stuff.

So let's do it.

I appreciate you, my dude. See you on the next, next one.

Later.