How Frank Dillon Led His Team to a Record Month in September 2001

Welcome to this episode of the Million Dollar Mastermind. I'm Larry Weddell. And before we get started, if you want to know exactly how to win again and again, go to Wydell on winning.com webinar now to watch something I've put together for you. Now let's get going into this episode of Million Dollar Mastermind. I am back with the legend Frank Dylan. And Frank, today. Where. Where are you today? You up in New Jersey?

Yeah, I'm in New Jersey, yes.

And right now, you know, I'm down in Palm beach. And so we're. We're East Coasters today. But I want to talk about. Dial back. You know, you developed into the kind of leader that could face any challenge. And I have to feel like that, you know, as a process, you know, you developed over time. And a lot of this development had to happen when you were working during the day, studying at night, and moving through that system. How long did that take for you to get that PhD? You know, from the time you started your studying to where you got your PhD? You know, you graduated from Rutgers, you got the masters, you got the PhD. How, how long did that process take of working and studying?

You know, of course, four years college, three years master. Because my, my master was in clinical social work, which is almost, you know, actually was a psychotherapist. And the thing is, you have to have a license, and then you have to have another four years for your PhD.

Wow. And that's a lot. That's a lot of studying, man. Now, was all of us. Was that all at night? Well, I mean, were you working?

No. Well, the college, I did it a weekend and night.

Yeah.

And then the master. I did it also well during the day because I had the chance to get some time off, maybe one day a week or something like that. But then it also, because for you, requires for you to go Friday, Saturday, and sometimes Sunday.

Yeah. And so those of y' all that feel like you're in a box and you need to retrain, you can do that. You got time. There's a lot of time you're not using. And even if it takes a long time, look at what's happened to Frank, because he was willing to put in the time and prepare himself for greatness. So don't begrudge that, because those are the experiences that are going to teach you the things that you're going to need in the future that you will allow you to establish yourself as someone who can and can accomplish great things. So if it takes a great effort to get yourself prepared. Don't be mad about that. That's just the. You're paying a price for greatness. And Frank, the thing is that this developed, I'm going to talk about that, but I'm going to give people an idea. And once you change careers, you got into financial services and you built your business, you were probably within eyesight of the World Trade Center Towers. Is that right?

Yeah.

You know.

Yes, yes.

And you ran a monster office. And when you run a sales, those of you that haven't been in salespeople are very fragile. You know, they scatter like ants, you know, with any kind of sign of trouble, you know, any problem with credibility or this, you know, they all run somewhere else. And so keeping a sales force together, keeping them energized, focused and keeping them working because you only, you know, you get them in a meeting, you talk to them, but you're not going to get in the car and drive away with everybody. But keep them to where they have they got clarity in their mind about what they're supposed to do between now and the time you see them and they stay on track in normal times is an unbelievable job that almost no, very few people can do. But you were able to do that. But the proof of the strength of the management philosophy and, and the relationships you had developed with your people showed that when on September 11, 2001, the towers were hit, those. The smoke went up in the sky. You could see it from your office. The worst tragedy in the history of our country on domestic soil. And it's right there in plain view of your office. Your team still had. And that was early in the month because so it wasn't like at the end of the month. And so the month is just about done. So no, it was September 11th. Just when things are getting going your business, I just could not believe you finished with a total of like 90,000 in production or something when, you know, very few people were, were doing anything over 50,000 in the company at that time. You were up at 90 and, you know, went on after that 90 to 100 and 120 and things like that. But the fact that you did those insane volumes the same month when your people had to be worried, had, you know, they go home and their spouse, their partners are panicking, their kids are panicking, everybody's panicking. Somehow your people were organized and trained enough to where they could not only control their own thoughts and their families, but they could get appointments and make sales and have a record month. I've just never I've never understood that, Frank, but that is a direct tribute to you and I want you to know I'll never forget it. And now that we've got the. Now that we've got the podcast, it's. It's permatized here. Everybody will know that. But what were those things as you started off and you becoming a person of responsibility, you know, from. From the beginning, when it's just you working to where they put you in charge of bigger and bigger things and bigger and bigger groups and bigger and bigger responsibilities. How did you change what. You know, these are tough questions because these things happen by degrees. They happen very slowly over years. But if you look back, there may be some turning points, some big lessons, some, you know, because like you've already said, there's a lot of big light bulbs that came on even after you left there and got involved with the new company. But there had to be a lot of solid foundation that was in place, that was developed while you were working and going to school. So what were some of those things that you'd say identified you or maybe where you had to make changes in way the way you had been told growing up or what you thought the world was, but then it didn't work out right? What are some adjustments you had to make to yourself or lessons that you had? You had to learn some of the principles that you learn there and you still use them.

Well, one of the most important thing, Larry, is that, you know, as a leader, we need to remain humble, right? I was humble to the system, to the people. I respect the people. I say, you know, since I was a doctor, I learned, you know, through my profession before I learned that you need to respect people, you need to see that they're valuable, that they are important and basically, you know, the self worth, it was more important for me to see, okay, this is the way you are and this is the way I need to respect you, but also to remain you, to remain humble and organized. You know, organization is something that I still using, you know, one of the, the scales that I use, what we call distributed lag and that you will keep the progress of your people since they start the company, all the way until they get licensed, all the way until they become promoted to distributed. So I did that. But one of the most important things that I learned is that, you know, we need to be the example of you people, believe it or not, because some people want to be the heroes of your team, but they got no people. I got a people here that I need to Be the model, you know, people. I want to be the model of my team, the hero. But brother, you don't have recruits, you don't have licenses. Who do you be the hero to? I learned that one of the key points is that their responsibility to job people because you are the closest model, the closest example, the closest real team for the new people in your bay shop. And you know, Joseph Darnsey was one of the great leaders that were with me. As a matter of fact, I think with this week or next week, he'll be a million dollar earner, as you know, right? You know, Jose Tansey and then we have Louis, Jim Bard and all of them. So one of the things was to learn how to run teams, you know, team number one, team number two, team number three and put leaders in each team and meet with the team leaders and make sure that we roll it up or out the activity, create activities. And one of the things about the 911, Larry, was that we saw when the plane crashed right in one of the towers and anybody was, oh my God. And I said, listen guys, we're not going to participate in any of these things. You know, as you can see, that is tragic that it can be explosion and things like that. But let me tell you something, that's when the people need us the most, right? People were scared. They think that they were going to be exploded, you know, they're going to put up bumps in their houses and all of that. So we basically are reframing the strategy and make sure people understand that if you participate, like I remember the president at that time said, oh my God, economy is going to go down. And I said to the people, the economy is not going to go down. You know, these are businesses, whatever, and it's bulletproof to any situation that happened in the country. And people say, you know, you're right, I'm not going to participate. You know, feeling, feeling scared, feeling this, doing this and doing that. And that's when people took the message to the next level. So that's when you saw that you need to be in touch with your team all the time, you know, if you want to become a million dollar earner. I said to myself, Frank, you need to be responsible on the daily basis of your business. Like any other store, Macy, JCPenney, any other store, they are in charge every day. And now they, you know, so basically if I really want to have a business, but I didn't worry about the million dollar, the million dollar income. I worry about the team being successful on the street. Being successful in the field, you know, and being recruited. And remember, we got to recruit almost, you know, there was a point that we recruited 216 or 126 people in one month. We went over 200,000 in premium, you know, and basically, you know, the people got inspired by, you know, being. Being the example to you people, you know, but if Frank can do it, I can do it too. And Frank speak half of English and I speak the whole English. I can do this. You see, that's what people said to me. Frank, if you don't speak English and I do, I'm going to do better than me. And I say, of course, you know, you got to believe in you, but go for it. You know, go for it. And we work around the issue of people getting scared about the changes, you know, and we basically, changes are something that you need to become, you know, addicted to it. You know, changes are something that you have to like it and you have to enjoy the changes. And of course, there are different degrees of changes, but I think people need to enjoy going out and be the best you can be.

Hey, listen, there's a lot of information online, but there aren't a lot of people who have actually done something. In my case, I've actually built a successful business, has accrued over $5 billion in assets under management, and has done well even during trying times. Now, if you want to know exactly how I've done this, go to Whiteellawinning.com webinar Now, I've compressed a decade of learning into five short weeks. Just for those of you who want to give yourself an incredible advantage and are tired of waiting and watching others move up. Talk about why being humble was the first thing you led with. Did you? Before I say that, I want to point out that you probably learned about staying on track and staying focused. It's obviously totally ingrained in you. There's no training program anywhere that would prepare you in advance for your people to go out in the parking lot and look at the World Trade center towers and. And see a plane crash into it and burst into flames and this or the other and people falling off? Nope. No, there is nothing. No training program that's going to train you for that in advance. And so your response came from the core of your being. And what I had said earlier, that don't begrudge the early training experiences you go through, because that prepares you for what you're going to need down the road, and you don't even know how until you get in those situations. But you had to be, come, be and become and to stay totally focused on the end game of where you were heading in your career, for you to continue to do a great enough job at work to get promoted and pay raises and all that, plus to be able to move through all of those boring classroom sessions and studying and it had to bore you to death. And you know, as someone who has my degree, folks, let's be honest, probably 90% of those teachers, professors, should be put out to pasture. I mean, they're only there because they have tenure. They're just going through the motions. They're bored. They're going to bore you. They either have stupid. The ones that are excited are usually people have stupid ideas and they're excited about their stupidity of it. But the people that are just teaching you basics are just boring you to death because you know, they're like 20 years of covering the same garbage would with these young kids are not paying attention. And so they got to be bored and frustrated. It's not a great learning environment for someone gung ho like you. So you obviously, you know, when I went to Georgia Tech, you know how I kept myself interested? I said, I'm going to see how few classes I can attend. I found out that when you got out. I didn't find out. I was told by two graduating fifth year seniors my first week at Georgia Tech that, and they didn't know each other had mentioned that to me. But I met them and they both told me, they said, look, let me save you some time. Don't worry about your grades. Because I said, I said, nobody cares about your grades. I said, you know, I was this young, naive kid. I said, what? You got to be kidding. They said, no, don't worry about it. And I said, well, what about, you know, the, when you get a job? They said, look, unless you're going to be a research scientist, nobody cares what your grades are. You know, that doesn't get you the job.

That's right.

And I said, first of all, repeat that. And number two, thank you very much. And so the way I kept. It's true. So the way they said, everybody forgets everything they learn. So all you remember is the cocktail party knowledge about, you know, a few of the details or whatever and then where to find the other details if you need it, you know, and you're good, good to go. That's why, Frank, I, you know, in every college in America, it's the C students that are biggest alumni donors because it's the C students who actually work when they leave, you know, they always, they. They didn't expect, you know, the world to give them a living just because they got A's at college. They knew they were going to have to work. And so I, I kept myself entertained by deciding how few classes can I go to and get a two, you know, a middle C average. And that's. That was the game I played at Georgia Tech, you know, And I only flunked one or two courses in the whole. The whole thing. So it worked pretty good. But the deal is you got to find a way, whatever situation, to keep yourself excited about playing the game, because I never forgot. I had to graduate. I hated the thing is a waste of time. Most of professors, a bunch of idiots. The mechanical engineering Prof. Drooled. He was like 150 years old. He actually leaned over and he would drool on the poor desk of the guy in the front row. But I still had to get a degree. I had to still take it serious enough to get my degree. And whatever situation you're in, keep your eye on the end game, because even if it's not something exciting to you right now, it. It's how you get to what's exciting, you know, that's what I. That's why I knew I need this ticket, you know, that. Yeah. The value is not what I thought it was going to be when I came in the door, but to other people when I go out the door, they're going to want to see if I got my degree, you know. Right. And so I got my degree. And. But then once you get the job, it's what you do, you know, it's not. Not what your grades are. It's. It's. You got to perform. And so you performed in that moment of crisis. And that's how we really make ourselves as leaders, how we perform in crises. But you, you made yourself. That's one of the times you made yourself. And it was instinctive. But I think it came out because you had developed this hardcore approach to life where you were pursuing something great and you knew you had to do a lot of boring things to do it and put up with a lot of stuff that, you know, was distasteful or not that interesting. But you were climbing a ladder. When you're climbing a ladder, what's exciting is what's at the top. When you're climbing a ladder, each rung on the ladder is not going to have a nice little surprise for you. That's right. That's just the la. The rungs on the ladder is what you go through to get to the prize that's at the top. And so you had trained yourself and you didn't even know what was happening, but you became this guy who. Who was monstrously focused on the end game, the big thing, and determined and all kind of interruptions and things. You probably had no telling how many things that came into your life with your, you know, your spouse, your kids, your sickness, your bosses at work, lousy professor school, change your policy, this, that and the other. Where am I wrong? That it would be so easy for you to have quit along the way.

Yes, yes, yes.

And that was time and time and never ends, right?

Right. Never ends. No. And one of the things, Larry, one of the funny things is that most of the teacher teaches a subject that they never practice.

Yeah, there you go.

So you cannot learn from them. And if you ask him a very practical question, they say, well, you know, I'll talk to you later. See me later. But you never get to see the guy, right? Because they didn't even practice engineering, mathematics or whatever, what is that they do. So basically, sometimes that becomes like a fantasy. And I think that society have program us to go to college to be successful. And they don't know until they get to pay thousands and thousands of dollars to be educated for nothing, you know, for basically they don't prepare you what they prepare yourself with experience and the hunger you get developed, you know, because basically you want to find a way to win.

Yeah.

So you're right. You're right. I think that you sell it all.

It's like being sheep being led to the slaughter. All these incoming freshmen, they're gonna. They go to college, your parents are paying big fees so they can learn how to do things.

Yes.

And by and large are being taught by people who have never done anything. How can I learn how to do something? And see, that's why the grades really don't matter, because you were learning stuff that didn't really work anyway. You know, you just learn that, you know, as long as you get the fundamentals down, which is, you know, you can't get a C average if you don't have the fundamentals basically clear in your mind. And so the thing that I saw with you, you know, so I want to point that out to people that you developed what you need to respond to that situation by what you put yourself through to drive to the top and then to launch your new business. But what. Why did you start off with humility being the first thing you learned and characteristic and lesson why did you start off with humility?

One of the things is that is to really humble to knowledge and experience. That people like you, we say, Frank, you got to do this, this and that. And I say, you know what? I might be a doctor in this, I might be an engineer on this, I might be a lawyer on this, but I'm not specialized in this. So let me, let me take the advice. Let me learn from Larry, from Andy or from Ronnie Smith, you know, and let me learn from these guys and listen to, also to some of the CDs. At that time, not as a matter of fact, there were no CDs was cassettes. Right, right. And let me learn. And basically I, I had a bunch of cassettes that I bought to learn from the guys, the big guys. And I think to be humble, humble to a system that somebody wanted teacher who has been successful and show you how to win. But most of the time people don't want to be, to learn. They don't want to be humble. They want to create their own stuff and they think that they got it. But in fact it's hard, it's hard when you are not teachable, when you're not trainable and when you're not coachable, my friend. And I said you, you, you, you know, your standards are high. I say, well Larry is thinking this way for a reason. So let me do that. And you know, with the team that I was very, I was very blessed with the team that I had and they basically we became so close to each other that we followed through on that. You know, I transferred them, whatever I learned and gave it to them. You know, say guys, this is what we need. We need to be number one in the state, but we need to be number one in the country. Guys, do you want to be that? Okay, so we got a train, we gotta create some habits. We need to practice the skills. We need to practice a kickbox presentation, how to close, how to recruit. And the most important thing is how to train the people that you just recruited. And people were good on that. You know, people follow that and that the way we have a hierarchy organization that produces, you know. And you know, I think that we coming back, you know that right now Joseph Dancy is hitting the million dollar. Maybe in another week plus senior national sales director and the rest of the people with people are excited and we coming back, you know. Definitely. And I think I gonna enjoy it for the second time, Larry. That's what I'm saying.

And so you're producing million dollar earners from your team and Louis, Jean, Bart is not too far behind and others. So this is something that's not going to end. It's a process, you know, and it's wonderful to see when you give time because you stay on track, that your efforts that you made even in the beginning have time to compound and multiply because you didn't have these big gaps in there where you lost all your momentum at all. So thanks, Frank, for sharing and some great, great insight. A lot of fun. And the wisdom that Frank has developed over the years comes out every time he speaks and the ideas he's using are ideas you can use. That's the main thing that both of us want you, that, you know, is you're special because you do special things, because you're motivated by special ideas and goals, and there's no reason for you not to be special. Thanks so much, Frank Diary.

I love you, man. Appreciate it very much. And you know that I'll be in contact with you. We're going to subscribe to your podcast and I'm going to tell the team to get in.

All right, man. Thanks so much. If you enjoyed what you've heard and are dead serious about finding out for yourself exactly how this works, if in the real world I've taken the most valuable business lessons I've learned over 40 years and put them into something for you to watch, go to whiteellawinning.com webinar now in order to move up as fast as possible. I'm Larry Wydell, and I run the Million Dollar Mastermind. Go, go, go.