Episode 131: Implementer of the Year – Finalist Interview #3

Welcome to the Unstoppable Profit podcast. Wherever you are today, if you're starting with nothing or are well on your way to the success you desire, with the right people, processes, and promotions in place, you will be unstoppable. And now I'd like to introduce your host, Mike Stromso. Greetings, everybody. Liz, welcome to the next episode of the Unstoppable Profit podcast. I am pumped to bring you this next feature because we have a featured finalist of the Implement of the Year program who's going to be live at boot camp. And I thought, I'll get them on the podcast to learn a little bit more about them leading up to the boot camp. And so I am proud, honored, and privileged to have another finalist of the Implementer of the Year program. Our most recent year Implementer of the Year winner, as voted on by the crowd, the one, the only, Jose Soriano. Jose, how are you doing?

I'm doing great. I'm doing great. Mike, thank you for having me here today.

You're welcome. Congratulations on all that you continue to accomplish through taking massive action. So let's dig in, and in case anybody doesn't know who you are or this is their first time on the podcast, tell us your name, where you're from, and just a couple of details about your agency.

Yeah, definitely. Well, my name is Jose Soriano. I was born in Mexico, in Guadalajara, Jalisco. Got brought to the state when I was about four months old, so grew up in a famous city called South Central Los Angeles.

Pretty much got brought up here in Los Angeles. And just to give you more about the agency, I am the CEO of Global First Insurance Agency, which was built by Carla and myself. We're currently in the city of Palmdale. We just opened up an office in Santa Clarita, and we service personal lines. We do a lot of personal lines business. I'll say about 90% of our business is personal lines, 10% commercial. And we're just excited, man. Excited, you know, playing the game of the insurance industry.

It is a game, right? I mean, life's a game. And it's our perspective, what we perceive is what we believe. That's a great point. So, Jose, think back to when we first met. I don't know if it was a boot camp that you first came to or something else. Think back to that time. You know, what are some of the things that you're struggling with? Maybe things that weren't working just right in the agency business for you?

Oh, my God. I mean, as you guys can imagine, it was just lack of clarity. We were shooting at anything that moved. We were just trying to do, do, do, do a million different things, trying to see if we found that one thing that could help us grow. So the agency, we still had, like company branded plaques, you know, up front. That was. That was what we were like showing to the audience. We had no branding, we had no systems. We didn't even understand what to look for, you know, so we didn't have the people, we didn't have the processes, and we didn't have the promotion in place where that was our main focus and kind of built down from that point, you know, forward. So we're just doing it, doing it, doing it, doing it. Showing up and hoping that one day, somehow, magically, you know, the business was just going to take off on its own.

Yeah. And I know that was a big turning point. My career journey, which is ongoing and will never stop. Hope is not a strategy, right?

Absolutely not.

Yeah. We need to have a written game plan with goals and everything else all under your vision. And your vision is immense and wonderful and doing great things. So I'm super excited, you know, now that we met and how long you been in UPP coaching?

Do you remember this is actually going to be my second year.

Yeah.

Yeah. Fantastic. Super excited about that. You've had massive success. Things are happening for you personally and professionally. You started another company which is in support of the vision that you have to an extent. You're living your dream. I know it's just getting started. You've got your vision that you continue to implement upon, and you're just kind of knocking out of the park. So congratulations on that. Congratulations to you and Carla for taking action and investing in yourselves to continue to become more. It's just an honor and privilege to stand by your side. So in your own words, just tell us briefly about some of the people, the processes and promotions that you've implemented since we met, since you jumped into the program, and probably will be revealed in some way in your upcoming presentation at the Boot Camp.

This is a very hard, you know, question, Mike, and one of the reasons is I get really excited about a lot of things and.

As we get ready to, you know, be in being, you know, in front and talk to a lot of you guys in November, I don't want to, you know, give you guys what I really want to share up there, but. But going. Going back to just some of those fundamentals is, you know, having that hiring system. And we're going to start off with the first Few, which is the people. You know, in the past, we would just like hire based on gut feeling. You know, did I like this person? Does this person? Made me feel good? And if you really think about it, everybody's going to make you feel good because they're trying to get the job. So there was really not. Not.

They're going to tell you what you want to hear, right?

Pretty much.

You know, it may not be true.

Yeah, yeah. And then you, okay, I like this person. And you might not look at certain things because, you know, we are entrepreneurs and you know, as entrepreneurs, whenever we see someone that might not be the right fit, but they have a couple of qualities. We're thinking about how this could be our project and we could turn them into a superstar and things like that. But there was really nothing in place. You know, and I think that's something that we implemented very quickly is we had the hiring system in place and we had the questions. We knew what we're looking for. We weren't looking at, you know, now we're not looking for whoever is available. We're looking for the best candidates, regardless of where they may be.

Awesome.

That's number one, number P. Number two, our processes. I mean, everybody was just, you know, kind of running their own thing. We will hire people, will sit them down, and I'm going to share something with you guys. You know, when, when back then, what we will do is in. I mean, it's. It's crazy to even say it today, but we will hire Mike. And Mike, here's your computer here, your desk. Go get them. Make it happen. And there was no processes in place. They were. We were just hoping that they figured it out. And quite honestly, looking back at that, there might have been a couple of good candidates that could have probably succeeded with our agency. But they, but because there was no training and there was no processes in place, unfortunately we were setting them up to fail. Now with that is we've created. We've created based on this principles, a process where if you don't win, it's because you don't got it, man. Not because you didn't have the training or the tools or the resources to make it happen. But that's on the process side and promotion. I mean, the industry changes a lot, you know, and that's something I'm very excited about. You know, we gotta. We gotta be able to adapt quickly. You know, you talk about this, Mike, all the ways all the time. You know, there's a couple of things we did this year which we're looking forward to, you know, sharing, you know, but it's exciting. It's exciting times. You know, let's just say there's ways that you guys could 10x your business, and I mean an initial investment, and grow ten times as fast. We'll talk about that later.

I couldn't agree more. And not only that, he's not even moving into the promotional realm, which I know he has a ton going on as well. So congratulations on taking the steps and growing in what you're doing. And I've seen a little bit about your processes, which directly lead into the promotional realm and what you're building out from an automation standpoint, you, your offline strategies. Wow is all I gotta say. And when I say wow, I mean without words. Great job to you and Carla for investing in that and working on that. So, Jose, let's think about this for a minute. So we met and you're just kind of all over the place now. You're dialed in. You have the people, the process of promotion all working in order, doubled your profits, which you put out there. Thank you for sharing your results. Great stuff. So if there's somebody out there who might be listening to this or watching this on YouTube and they might be thinking, well, that's great for Jose, but there's no way I could do this, or this can't happen for me, or I don't have time, or it's too much money, or I can't afford it right now, or I'm already successful and I'm in my comfort zone. What would you say to them.

Bottom line? I mean, you get out of things what you put into them. And if you want to, you know, grow, if you want to learn, if you want to become more you, you got to get yourself out of your comfort zone. I mean, there's no other option. You got to find the right people that are going to teach you and are going to guide you. They have been there that are currently doing and are being successful at that area that you're trying to improve in, you got to invest. I mean, if you truly want to be number one, if you want to cost impact, if you want to make a difference, if you really want to build something special, there's no way you're going to do it on your own. You have to, have to find people who are thinking at a different level. And there's things that you're not even seeing that these people could quickly identify. And that could be that little switch, it could be that little tweak that Little thing that you were blinded to that this coach or person could come and just know, make you aware of. They could just completely change the trajectory of your business forever. So I think. And then there's certain areas. I mean, for example, like, one of the things we do a lot is I don't know everything, but I know what we want to do. And then my job becomes how can I find the person who's going to come and take care of that and help us get there? Because you don't one of the promises, you don't have to know it all. You just got to find the people they know how to do it or hire the people they know how to do it better for you. I believe I learned this in a recent. One of my recent trainings is how do you know when you are in trouble?

And one of the things that was said is, you know you're in trouble when you're giving the answers to your team, when you're giving the answers to the person in charge of that department. So if you have an IT guy and the IT guy is coming to you for questions, you got the wrong one. Fire. Find someone better. Same thing with any area of your business. You want to make sure that they're always giving you that value. And that's why you seek this help. You don't try to figure it out unless it's in your area of three strengths. And still, I believe you still got to hire and get the training and get the coaches because there's someone always out there that is better than you. And I think it goes down to, you know, being humble about that. And I mean, the moment you feel you arrived, I think you're going to be surpassed.

Agree. And I've got it on the wall and in one of my offices, never arrive, never be settled. And more importantly, complacency kills. And you know, the only competition that we have is that we make for ourselves, right?

Absolutely.

I mean, as I was listening to you say, I remember when we first met and where you were then and where you are now. I'm watching you and, wow. Congratulations, sir. I'm so happy for you and for Carla. You've come so far so quickly, and there's not a question in my mind as to why the judges back to back years have, you know, suggested that you should be one of the finalists. And you won by the crowd vote last year. So I'm excited to hear you share as we head up to the upcoming boot camp. And it's going to be fun. It's Going to be a great time of learning, collaborating, helping each other grow our businesses, create wealth so we can all have more freedom. And we were talking about this in a session not too long ago. We want to create a business that supports our life. Right. We don't want to live a life that's supporting our businesses. We don't want to be a slave to our businesses. Right? That's one of the greatest gifts of entrepreneurship.

It's part of growing intentionally, not just growing for the sake of growing. There has to be a purpose behind that growth. There. There has to be. You know, everything has to be properly, you know, structured for it to benefit your family, yourself. At the end of the day, I mean, if you go back to a lot of the things that have been implemented, there's no way we would have done it on our own. I mean, no way. I mean, I would have probably still been shooting, you know, at different. Different areas. I think that one of the biggest things that has really, truly helped us keep us focused and just hungry and just after it, it's been our association with UPB, no doubt about it, 100%.

Thank you. Thank you for sharing that. And to that point, I mean, I'm. I'm just as guilty as anybody else. I was being redirected by one of our team leaders recently who told me, mike, in this particular situation, there will be no fire, ready, aim. Got it. I'm like, what do you mean? I'm the visionary, I'm the lead. They said, no, no. Fire, ready, aim. We need to framework this game plan and this new strategy, and we're going to framework it first. Back to what you said, right? Hey, if I'm the dumbest guy in the room that works in that particular situation.

Right, so then you're in the right room.

Yeah, exactly. Surround yourself with great people and lead them. People are silently waiting to be led. Great, Great stuff. Well, I'm so excited for you guys, personally and professionally. Thank you for sharing just a little bit as we wrap up today. Anything else to add, Jose?

No, just. I just gotta let you guys know that anyone that's gonna be attending the upp, you know, boot camp, you're in for a treat. You know, go there, get ready, you know, to learn, grow. At the end of the day, we're always seeing things from different perspective. You've grown, you've learned, you're looking for different challenges that you need to take care of, and you need to implement it in your business. So always have that fresh, you know, you know, learning mentality. Where you're going to a place, if this is the second time you're going third time or fourth time, don't go in it with the, with the, with the attitude of, hey, I already know this stuff, you know, because knowing is not doing. Doing is not fully understanding it. There's always something that you're learning, growing, and it has to be a part of you all the time. But going with that mentality that, you know what, I already have an idea, but I'm going to treat it as if it's the very first time I'm seeing this content to make sure that I maximize and take it back to my business and allow it to take me to the next level.

Great feedback. You're absolutely right. The day we stop learning is the day we stop growing. The day we stop learning is the day we stop earning more. And it's perspective and having the abundancy mindset, not the scarcity mindset. And having an open mind and an open heart, willing to learn. Sometimes a different way of looking at things. Because, you know, if we want things to change, we get to change, right? As we learn from the great late, great Jim Rohn. So. And it's a changing society out there, so we have to learn how to change with it. And that is the great thing about being in our coaching groups and being in this platform and everything that goes along with it is the ability to learn together and to head towards that ultimate achievement. Excuse me, ultimate pinnacle of high achievement. And congratulations for being on that trek in the lead.

Thank you, Mike.

You are welcome. Jose Soriano. Jose and Carlos Oriano of Global first, one of the implementer of the year finalists. Congratulations to them. We can't wait to experience them sharing all of the details at the upcoming Be Unstoppable boot camp. Jose, thanks for sharing a few minutes with us today.

All right, thank you for having us, Mike. And we look forward to seeing everyone.

Hey, you're welcome. Thank you. So for anybody who might be listening to or watching this for the first time, I am Mike Stromso. I'm widely recognized as the leading author, speaker and coach for the independent insurance agency industry. You can find me @unstoppable profit producer.com if you're interested in attending a virtual or live event to learn to grow your business, create wealth and have more freedom to live life on your own terms, you can find these at the virtual events are at uppfaststart.com that's upfaststart.com you can learn all about our virtual events. Available there. And if you want to attend a live event, please go to beunstoppablebootcamp.com that's beunstoppablebootcamp.Com both events are designed to share some of the best money making strategies that We've developed over 35 years of research in your industry to help you grow your business, create wealth so you can live life on your own terms. And if this is your first podcast, welcome. Make sure you go to unstoppable profitpodcast.com and hit the subscribe button at the top so you won't miss one episode. And everything that we've got for you to help you grow your business, create wealth so you too can have more freedom to live life on your own terms. And we're available on all the channels from Google to Stitcher to Apple. We're there. Spotify. Just find unstoppable profit Podcast lock us in so we can continue to share with you every week. And until next time, everybody get out there, make a decision, take action, have a game plan so you too can make a difference. Be unstoppable and leave no regrets. Jose. Thank you sir.

Have a nice one. Mike.

See everybody. Thanks. Bye. Thank you for listening. If you would like to listen to more episodes or share this podcast with someone you care about, please visit take www.unstoppableprofitpodcast. com. Now go out and make a difference. Be unstoppable and leave no regrets.