Episode 218: Higher Profits in Your Business with Mike McDonough

Welcome to the Unstoppable Profit Podcast. This podcast will give independent insurance agents all of the tools to grow your business and live life on your terms. Wherever you are today, if you're starting with nothing or 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 Stromsol.

Greetings, everybody. Welcome to the next episode of the Unstoppable Profit Podcast. This has been a long time coming. I am pumped and excited to have our guest on the podcast today, Mr. Mike McDonaho.

Mike, how you doing, Mike? I'm doing awesome. Thank you for asking. How are you doing?

I'm doing fantastic. Better now that you're here to get together, because I want to learn all about what Mike's got going on. I see things that he's got going on out there in the industry. He's doing phenomenal stuff. And so I was able to finally twist his arm to get him on the podcast to learn about what he's doing and to help all of you who are the watching or listening to the podcast. Mike has a new book. We're going to get into that in just a couple minutes. But, Mike, if there's anybody out there who may not know who you are, give them a little bit of information. And we first met in roughly 2011 at an event at the Ayers Hotel in Southern California, which is when we first met. And it was a great event. And I remember you standing up and you got some takeaways from the event. And that was our first interaction together. Since then, we've had a lot of fun along the way in our journey so far, but share with everybody a little bit about who you are, where you're from, etc.

Thanks, Mike. Okay. Obviously, you know, my name is Mike McDonough. I'm from Southern California. I currently reside in San Clemente, California. Our agency is located in San Juan Capistrano in California. And I'm born and raised in California. I was born in Riverside. I'm one of six children. I was born. I. I was raised primarily in the San Fernando Valley in the LA area, and, you know, went to high school, college, all those things. But I've been in the insurance business close to 40 years now. Mike.

Wow.

And I started with Captives as an account rep for some of the major carriers. And at that time, I was also in the restaurant industry as a sous chef for the Hilton and Marriott hotels. And one day I got a call From a friend of mine who's at USC business school, who's working, you know, part time, going to school for a, a big, you know, captive agent in the LA area. And he'd say, would you ever get any insurance business? I said, I know nothing about it. And, but he knew I had an outgoing personality, so I said, hey, I'll come down and try it. So, you know, went down there and I learned, you know, the auto and the fire and the life and this and that. But after several months, Mike, I was doing pretty well at it. And so I was still working as a sous chef primarily in the weekends and in the evenings. And I'd work for this agency during the daytime, part time. So after about, I don't know, six months, I was at the owner's house and I saw how he was living. I saw the freedom he had. I saw that he was living life by choice. I like the residual income. I like the fact that he had the branding and everything else. And he was very successful. So I said, hey, I want to be, you know, an agent. He says, well, you have to have a high school, you have to have a college degree. And all I had was a high school diploma. So what I did is I continued working for him. I cut back on my hours in the restaurant industry and I started going to school at night to get my degree. So anyways, I, I got my degree and make a long story short, that carrier never hired me because of legal issues and things like that. So I went to the next best carrier and, and built an agency there. But to make, you know, to move this along is I started in personal lines, right? And, and, and I didn't know commercial back then. And most agencies back then, they, the captives were primarily auto home and life. Auto home and life with small bops and commercial. So it wasn't until I got on my own and then I started learning. And once I started dabbling in the commercial, I started realizing the return on my time. And it's like, where do I want to spend my time? So I had all these people servicing this personal lines book, and I realized it takes fewer people to handle a commercial book. So we started moving more towards that, right? So that's pretty much what I did. And then I started phasing a little bit out of personal lines, got more into commercial, getting into bigger commercial, more industries, and then really understanding risk management more. And that's really what's brought me to my passion, which is workers comp. And you know, we're in 25 states right now. And we have some niche programs, and one of them is the home care industry, and we're growing that across the U.S. you know, we, we specialize in hospitality, restaurant construction, manufacturing, and those are the areas that we primarily focus on. And the reason being, Mike, is because those are the, those are the industries that we see the most severe and injuries, and also a frequency of injuries. And those employers that are having those issues are normally paying higher premiums than other industries.

Right.

So that's why we primarily focus on that.

Fantastic. So you've identified through your journey where that opportunity is. Sounds to me like you are crystal clear on where the opportunities are and you just taking massive advantage of it. And we were talking before we started on the podcast, you're still doing, say, personal insurance and other lines of insurance, but you're focusing on maximizing each opportunity. In other words, writing the whole account, right?

Absolutely. And I know with your experience you'll, you'll agree with. What I'm going to say is that how many times have. Have you or anybody in your agency quoted another household cars? Right. The umbrella, this and that. And the client, you know, you come in, it's competitive, but then the client didn't tell you something. They find something in Clue. Right. And, and now it makes the rates this much more. And so now you're in an uncompetitive situation. So that homeowner says, well, hey, thanks for your time, but I must stay where I'm at. What are your chance? What are your chances if you say, hey, can I get a shot at your commercial? In their mind, you're higher. Right.

Right.

Now, there are some times where a client may say, oh, sure, I'll let you look at it. But I'll tell you right now, most of the time they're going to say, you know what, we're good where we're at.

Right.

So I learned that through personal lines. It's, it's, it's commoditized. Unless you're doing it right and you're rounding out the household and you're doing it as an advisor versus just transactional.

Right.

So what I, what I've learned is that what is the biggest pain point? Where do they have the biggest problem? Where's the most stress? And I can tell you, in business, it's their workers comp. And so when you go in there, you have greater opportunities because you can go in there and create an operational plan for them, which involves many things, not just the claims and the workers comp and the payroll and this and that it's actually sitting down with the employer and saying, okay, what is the number one priority? What's the biggest thing that's bothering you in your business? Right? And so you create the relationship which, you know, that you build the foundation because that's where it starts. So once they trust you as an advisor and they see the difference that you're making and you're bringing more resources in to help them be more successful in their business, they're going to. You're going to get the workers comp. Right now. They're going to see. Mike, can you take a look at our general liability? By the way, we've got 20 trucks. I need an excess policy of 10, 10 million. Right. We've got 30 employees, and we need, you know, benefits looked at. And then we get that done, and then it's like, hey, you know, their auto renewal comes up. We're getting an email from, hey, can you. Can you write our cars? And home to. So we're doing all the lines, but we're doing it reverse because we're going where I found. And this may not be true for everybody, but that's what works for us, is we've identified and we go in backwards. We start with the biggest pain point. We go to auto and homes, a pain point, too. But if they own a business, workers comp is a bigger pain point, especially if they're having injuries and they have a high mod compared to a little 100, 200 rate increase in their auto insurance.

I might throw a twist into this because I learned from my original marketing mentor who used to say, yeah, but my business is different.

Yeah, I would challenge that. You know, there's opportunity out there for everybody, regardless of what you're doing. You just have to have a plan and you have to execute the plan. And kudos to you, Mike. You have a plan and you've executed the plan. You know what you're doing. You know how to help the employers. You know, based on what you've built, you want to lead with that particular niche. And, you know, now you're in 25 states. I know you're out there speaking as well, right?

Yeah, a little bit. Starting to do more of that. Yeah. Thank you.

Yeah. Fantastic. But I think a lot of it is because of something that I remember when I wrote my first book and people got wind of it. They're like, you wrote a book? And, you know, my fourth book was on pizzeria delivery, liability, and the perils of all that. And, you know, the insurance commissioner was in San Diego and I got with my assistant, brought it to my attention. She goes, do you see the commissioner on the news about, you know, after the one to the pizzeria facilities? I said, no. I sent the book to the Fox News reporter. They were in the office two days later. I mean, it's. It's amazing what a book does, right? So we want to share with everybody Mike's current book. Congratulations, Mike, 70 Surprising Ways to Create higher profits in your business. Congratulations on making that happen. So what inspired you to write the book? And, you know, anything you want to share about how you did it and what's happened since you published the book and how do you use it to.

You know, help business owners understand that you're the guy? And I know that was a lot of questions all in one.

No. Yeah, but they're all great questions. So.

With my experience in workers comp. I. I see that this is a collective effort, and I'm just one. And my agency, we're just one party.

Right.

And there needs to be a larger impact from all of us. And one thing that I find out there a lot is that when I come up against other brokers, they may not be as knowledgeable as I am, they may not be as involved as I am. And so I see that there's an opportunity for more brokers to grow and to, you know, learn the system a little more. Because to me, Mike, it's one of the most complicated, mis. Most misunderstood coverages because of all the complexities with injuries. So just having an.

Treatment of injuries.

Right, and treatment of injuries. Correct. And getting the injured employee through the system. Right. So the more we all know as brokers and advisors, the better it's going to help the system because the employer needs our assistance.

Right.

You know, you can turn a car over to a body shop and okay, the car is being repaired on. There's no emotions involved in that. You know, yeah, there's emotions in a home claim because, you know, burglary or fire, things like that. But there's really a lot of emotion in workers comp. Because you're dealing with human feelings. You're dealing with the frustration of the employer. HR is frustrated, the employees are frustrated, and then the staff's frustrated because of the. We're having to bring in staff, we're training. I mean, it's very disruptive.

Right.

And so I wrote the book for two reasons. One, to help employers understand that these are all components that are affecting you one way or another. So if you are understanding and utilizing these, you're going to be saving money or reducing your overhead or overall cost of risk. If you don't, these 70 things can hurt you financially. And so the second piece is, is that an employer can use the book as a guide and so can a broker. Because if a broker looks in that book and Maybe doesn't understand one of the 70, they can look it up. They call me whatever, but they can get an answer to what that is. But they can see these are some of the things are going on. They can ask themselves, okay, how can I learn a little bit more about this so I can support my clients so I can help them reduce their frustration and overall cost of risk.

Thank you for having such a giving heart.

So, so the other piece is, is how I'm using is, is I'm mailing my book to CFO and I'm getting great response because, because you know, it's like, wow, okay, they look at the book, okay, this guy gets it. I've gotten a lot of great feedback from other brokers around the country that have bought it. And, and, and I'm using it to promote my services for both, for, for both the broker and, and for the employers. But really it's a guide to just let people know that, hey, there's a lot more that we can do as brokers and as insurance advisors from our industry to helps support because it's a really, it's a huge disadvantage for the employers of how the system works. And the smaller employer who's having claims is really getting beat up more than, you know, the people paying a million dollars in premium versus the one paying 100 grand or less.

Right.

When they, when their mod goes up, it's a, it's a huge impact. So the more we can help reduce that, I just think that it's better for everybody. It's better for the employer, it's better for their employees morale, it improves the system. The employees are getting through the system faster. And so we're just collectively working together just to make the system work better for everybody.

And the families, the families of the employees of the company are better off because of all the work that you're doing. I mean, if you really think about, you know, the trickle down effect of everything involved. Great stuff. Thank you.

Yeah, you're right about that, Mike, because, and that's one of the components we work on is because, yeah, they want their family member whole again.

Right?

Because when, when the husband or the wife are sitting at home and have had surgery for six months and they're in pain and they can't do things as a family.

Right.

Yeah, that's, that's, yeah, that's digging into their personal time. And so, yeah, it improves everything from all aspects, Mike.

Yeah. So fantastic. What has, how, when, how long has the book been out?

About April.

April, okay. So roughly two, three months. And you've had a chance to distribute it to CFOs, which I think is a very smart marketing strategy. You're having great success there. What's the next steps and what else did you learn in putting the book together? How long did it take you to put together?

Well, I joined a.

60 day or less challenge.

Fabulous.

From a mastermind group.

Great.

There were, there were 15 people. Uhhuh. We all committed to it and two of us did it.

So that was a huge thing because everything else going on I had to. And, and I didn't know the name of the book. I didn't know exactly what I was going to write on. And so I was just told, just write down. So I started dumping things into my head. So I was just starting out talking about culture and this and that, and then I heard from somebody else that they were writing down all the things that they knew about their industry that made them. And I said, you know what, I'm going to write down everything I know about my industry. So I started writing down. So out of that I selected 70 of these and then I just put that in, into, into the book. So. And I self published it myself. So yeah, 60 days or less. So it was a challenge. But I enjoyed the challenge. And it's reaping, you know, rewards.

But bigger than that, you didn't think about it, you didn't talk about it, you took action.

Correct.

And that's one of the things that we want to encourage everybody out there, please, whatever it is, just take action.

Right, Mike, Action is everything. You know, until it, until you take action, it's nothing.

Right, Right.

So exactly.

You got it done within 60 days because you were challenged. Was it. Without going into any details, was it inside the industry or outside the industry? Just people, entrepreneurs who want to put together just.

Yeah, just entrepreneurs outside the industry. It was various industries. I mean, we have doctors in there, all, you know, all kinds of consultants and, and AI experts and all kinds of people.

Yeah, well, I intentionally bring that up because some of my greatest learnings about marketing, about business, about entrepreneurship in the whole nine yards came when I started endeavoring outside the industry to learn there's a ton of smart people out there.

There's a ton of smart people and the rules all apply. It's about, it's about proaction, it's about action, you know, complacency, you know, all these things and procrastination, you know, thought. What causes procrastination? Uncertainty, certainty, chaos. We all have it and it's, it's how you manage your time. And so I've been taught three things and I'm sure you know, all three. Roi, ROT and ros. Return on investment, return on time and return on return on scalability.

I want to make sure you get you to repeat that. Roi, ROT and ros. Ros.

Return on investment, return on time, and return on scalability. So those are the three things that we should be focusing on every day. So this task I'm doing now is what's return on the investment, what's return on my time? And, and as far as me scaling, is it getting me closer to scaling or is it taking away?

I would say that it's going to cause all three.

Yeah.

And you know, just to make it public, you do whatever you want. If this helps somebody in some way.

Yep.

Fantastic.

I mean, exactly.

That's why I get out of bed.

Is those items, right? Yeah, but there's. I didn't, I, you know, I was always looking at roi, but you know, time management, you know, it's just like you gotta. I focus on that so much more. And scalability. And are we scaling and are we doing. And is the team scaling? And am I scaling faster than the team? So is the team at the same cadence I'm in? And so there's a lot of, A lot of leadership juggling things like that, but it all comes together 100%.

100%. So the art of disqualifications in play and all of that, because we can't be all things, all people. So, you know, now that you're. The word is getting out with the book and everything else you're doing, you're in 25 states, you're making an impact in industries. Do you encounter, you know, people that raise their hand and say, I want to work with you, but they're not a good fit or they're not your ideal client avatar?

Yes.

So how does that work out?

Well, I have some good referral partners.

Okay, good.

And, and so what I do is I will do an analysis of their situation. I, I look and see what their needs are. And I, A lot of times I, I'm too much for them. And, and so they're not ready for my services, but they do need help. So I find them A solution of somebody that's like minded, like myself, that is happy to take on that client.

Awesome. And have you built in a separate fee for service model as well as a companion to your workers comp program without going into details on that?

Yes. So I can work with employers, for example, if they like their broker and they've been their broker for 10 years, but their broker doesn't have the knowledge or the experience I do. They, they have brought me in and paid me as a consultant to oversee and I work with, with the brokers.

That's a very smart model. I had an agent on the podcast a couple of episodes ago who has built that out as well and is having good success in helping employers. Because I mean ultimately at the end of the day, the employers want to do one thing right. ROI, ROT and ROS for themselves.

100 yeah. So, yeah. And so I don't mind working side by side as long as the broken and I, I'm not there to take the business away.

Right.

And, and, and that's agreed upon up front. So they understand I'm just a third party source. But. And brokers have learned a lot from me as well.

Right. So Mike, what would you say to somebody who might be watching or listening to this podcast who's had some ideas about doing something similar to what you've done so far, but really hasn't taken action?

What would you say to them?

Well, it comes down to, you know, how bad we want anything. Right?

Yeah.

And so.

If they are on the fence, my question is, what is it that you don't understand or what uncertainty do you need clarity in order to move forward?

Right.

Because usually.

A lot of times it's labeled as fear and that could be part of it. Mike. I don't know their development from what they were raised around and their belief systems of what's holding them back.

All I know is in my life that if I didn't take action, I wouldn't have what I have. And I continually take action and I'm learning to take even more action all the time. I'm always learning. I don't stop learning. And I try to be around smarter people than myself and I enjoy learning. And if I can just pick up a couple of gems that I can not even just help clients, just, you know, encourage or empower another human being, I get a huge lift from that. So if somebody's listening or looking at this, if you really want something, just try and identify what that is that's keeping you. What, where's the doubt? What's the doubt what's causing. Is it money? Because you don't necessarily need money because you already have a book of business. It's just, you know, find out what are you passionate about? Because I know that you and Bill and Chris and you did your thing down in Texas, and I know that they've talked about veterinarians and, you know, niches to riches and things like that. So I tell people, find out what you're passionate about. Because, you know, some brokers love auto repair, some brokers just love construction. Some just love the hospitality, you know, so find out what you love and then. And then find similar people and go help those people. Because everybody has a problem, Mike. That's what I've learned. You and I have a problem today. Could be a dishwasher, it could be a car problem, could be, you know, somebody didn't get a ride, but everybody has a problem. So I look for problems all day long and then I like to find solutions. So my passion is finding solutions to help people become better in their lives. Because when I do that, it empowers me and makes me better.

A problem solved is an opportunity always 100% so. And people with money, they don't have any problems. They just have something that needs to be solved.

Yeah, that's. That's one of the myths, Mike. That's one of the myths.

It was, it was in the book that I'm currently. I just finished up this morning, actually, and I'll just share this since I know you're an avid studier and learner. Who, not how.

And, and I. That might be my biggest takeaway so far this year. And I keep saying it to my team, we need to get this done, we need to get this done. We need, are we on goal, etc. Etc. And they're like, well, well, I said, who, not how. Who's going to do it? You're not going to do it. I'm not going to do it. It's not on our calendar right now. Somebody's going to do it. Who's going to do it, not how. We're going to get it done. Who's going to do it? It's Dr. Benjamin Hardy, Mike.

Dr. Benjamin Hardy.

Yep. I will say, I will compliment you a copy because of you investing time today and enjoy. So back to the matter at hand. We were talking about, you know, the opportunities that are out there for agents before we went on. Let me see if I can pull that conversation back to right now. You know, the agents who, you know, might be in personal lines. And you were kind of dabbling there a little bit. In fact, you intended our million dollar sales producer boot camp in San Diego three, four years ago, which. Fantastic. I'm glad you were there and I hope you got one or two nuggets out of that. But the niches to riches event intentionally designed to help agents who might be doing more personal lines now than commercial. And we were talking before we went on about there is opportunity out there for those agents as well. Right?

Yeah, I, I see there's a lot of opportunity. So I know there's a lot of media out there. We're in a hard market there. This, and it's shutting down. So rather than look at the, you know, the engine that's not running, look at the engine that is running, you know, so if you're on an airplane and twin prop and one prop goes down, don't focus on the one that's frozen. Focus on the ones keeping you in the air. So. So there's a lot of opportunity right now. So I think that, I don't think. I know the more time you spend figuring out what's going wrong right now, it's taking away from your wealth. So if you're a personal lines broker that don't have much experience in commercial lines but want to get into commercial lines, you know, just start small. So don't stop what you're doing, but start transitioning into other lines because you want to leverage yourself. Because as an insurance brokerage, there's 20 products you can offer. So do you have your life license? Do you, do you have any background in health insurance? You know, maybe start going. If you do have some small business owners, go in and see if you can start helping them with their individual or group health. See if they have any, you know, buy sell agreements, you know, do they need a group life? I mean, just look for opportunities that are there and start looking at small business. Start writing the bop. Start writing the small workers comp. They got a couple vehicles, I know commercial auto, this and that. People say it's tough, this and that. There are still some carriers doing it competitively. It depends on the industry. So best thing to do is go to your marketing people and say, okay, I want to write these types of insurance. Can you tell me in your appetite in today's market, where is it the carrier wants to grow? And so they'll give you a list of areas they want to go into because they're trying to tighten up the ship on this side. Right? Because they're trying to Mitigate the cost and so forth. So there's other opportunities over here. So, and every carrier's opportunities are going to be different because they're all filed differently, they all have different, you know, agendas and so forth. And, and, and, and their marketing strategies are different. So to understand those is where you're going to learn your, where your greatest opportunities are. So go find out where the business is, not where it's not.

Go find out where the business is, not where it's not.

Gold Nugget. I hope everybody got that one. Fantastic stuff, Mike. And yeah, there's nothing but opportunity out there. And you're thinking differently than probably the majority of people out there. And we were talking about this yesterday. If you keep thinking the way you've been thinking for the last number of years, however long, 1, 3, 5, 10, if you keep those same ways of thinking, you're gonna get the same old results. Right? Same results.

That's right. It's the definition of insanity.

Exactly, exactly.

Yeah, yeah. So I, I just think there's a real opportunity. Don't buy into the social media. Don't look for the flashy objects.

Just take, take a half a morning or a day, go to a park, beach, whatever. Get away from something. Just sit there and breathe and look at the sun or look at the ducks or whatever, dogs in the park, whatever. And just, no, just really, just get it. Just be with yourself and say, okay, where, where are my opportunities and where am I willing to take the most action now to get me to where I want to go?

Right.

And more importantly is if you want to understand commercial, then I think that you should at least talk to Mike, Chris or Bill, part of that team, and find out, you know, when the next opportunity is to go. Because they all started and I started. We all started. We didn't just have big books of commercial, like I said, I started personalized and I learned. So I started small and then I grew because the more I liked it, the more, the more I was, you know, passionate about it and the bigger the accounts, the more enticing it was and so forth. But just start small and start breaking it. So when you look at that piewheel, you've got auto, you got home, you got life, you got commercial, you got this, you got benefits, you know, start writing the RVs. But Mike, here's another opportunity. If I had a big personal lines book right now, I would have somebody on the phones 12 hours a day reviewing all my clients policies and I would be changing deductibles, increasing liability Adding, um, I don't care whether you may pick up some RVs, you may pick up a boat policy, maybe now they need an excess policy. So there's always opportunity. But don't start looking down the street in somebody else's backyard because your backyard is full of stuff that you could go and incorporate and start generating probably 15% more in your agency just from within your own book, just from doing reviews.

100%, 111% gold, absolute gold. And one of the other things I wrote down, Mike, is I was listening to you drop gold nuggets. The eight by eight by eight philosophy for everybody, right? I mean we all, there's, we all need to invest time to work, to earn money, to pay bills, whatever we're doing, right? So just call it eight hours a day, right?

Rest.

We need to rest our bodies, our brains and everything else. So let's say we're resting or sleeping up to eight hours a day, some less. I get it. So eight hours of work, eight hours of rest, the key to your future achievement and prosperity and everything else. What are you doing with that extra eight hours?

And case in point, I mean I, I, you were talking about where we started. I started doing non standard auto insurance, non owner policies. I got sick and tired of having to rewrite people because they never paid their bills. It's like, right, right what I want to do and so, so forth and so on. And then I learned and I invested in myself and I went to a training to learn how to become, you know, certified work comp advisor and everything else. So invest at least one hour and that extra eight hours to learn to do how you want to shift, move the needle, right, Maybe into commercial and.

No, you're right. And another component, Mike, that I've seen is if your clients or prospects are calling your agency and they're dictating what coverages they take and you agree with them, you're losing all credibility.

Who'S now the advisor, right? So you went to school, got a license, got trained, now you're in the agency and you're allowing the client to dictate what the pricing is going to be, that you've just handed the leverage to that client and all the clients and they know that. And those clients are not going to be loyal. So you're going to have a higher rate of turnover. Okay? So it's just, it's a different mindset. And so like you were saying, hey Mike, do you ever get calls for people that you know, want to do business with you and you don't how do you handle that? It's the same thing on personal lines. Somebody wants to call for a quote.

That's a waste of time. It's, it's really, it's a waste of your time as an advisor. You, you're a trusted advisor. Attorneys charge for every minute. Doctors charge. Why aren't we charging? Right, right. And, and so as insurance professionals, back to you. Yeah, I mean, I understand there's people that can't afford it and this and that, but that, if that's where you're going to play, that's what you're going to attract.

Exactly.

So to your point. So if you're doing same things for five years and you wonder why you got 45, cancel, cancel. Cancellation lapse ratios. It's because your mindset is swimming in that pool. So until you say, hey, I want the attorneys, doctors, the three cars, the house, the umbrellas, start marketing different areas. Don't just take what comes in the door, because now it's almost like social services. Okay? You know, you got all these people in there. They're looking for, you know, you know, handouts and this and that. They want the cheapest, but they're taking a lot of your time. So if we all have 24 hours in a day and you take the eight, eight and eight, how do you want to spend each one of those eight hours? And what's your return on your time, your investment and your scalability? So if you're losing and you got all this cancellation and follow up, where's your scalability in that? You know, where's your return on your time? So to me, it's, it's a lot of frustration. And the reason why I can share this, because I used to do the same things. I tried to help everybody right until, right until you learn. And so I'm where I left. Yeah, exactly. I'm where I am. I am today because I took massive action. It's what I believe in. It's what, what gets me up in the morning. I see the impact that I'm making. I love solving problems. I'm a problem solver. I, I like to help people end some, some of their suffering. And basically what I do is I end financial suffering by helping them mitigate their costs and reducing their premiums.

Sounds great to me. Sounds like it's time for some pizza.

It is time for pizza. And that's, that's something you and I had in common when we met at the Ayers because you started with your dad in the restaurant and you wanted to have a restaurant. I said, I want to have a restaurant someday. So we said, well, maybe someday we'll get together and do one. So who knows? Mike, what's in the cards? You know, maybe we get together and do, you know, Mike and Mike's, you know, pizza.

You know, I think we need to involve our second son because he's in the restaurant industry. He's got his hands in four separate restaurant businesses right now.

Nice.

And he's in the locale. Your locale. In my locale.

That's awesome.

So we need to chit chat about that. So we'll have to get together for a pizza and have a conversation about the next steps on that.

Absolutely. I'm game.

Yeah, I know you are. So anyway, most importantly, let's get on the counter.

Mike.

Thank you. Just dropping gold nugget after gold nugget, but if somebody's interested in getting a copy of the book 70 Surprising Ways to create higher profits in Your Business by Mr. Mike McDonough. Mike, where can they find this?

Well, it's, it's on Amazon. I, I mean, I, I don't have the link with me right here, but yeah, but it's, it's there on Amazon. If you just put in the name of the book 70 Surprising Ways to hire profit in your business. You know my name. I'm happy to, you know, send you the link if you. I want to get it out, but.

Yeah, why don't you send it with the information we talked about and we'll make sure that it's available to anybody watching or listening to this so they can quickly access it. Highly recommend you grab a copy. Highly recommend you start going through it. Just in wrapping it up. Mike, was there a chapter that was the most fun to write? From reducing claims cost with cameras to build business wealth and grow profits or anything in between, this one come to you?

Well, the, the one the most is the last one. And that's where it's about the profits. That. It's a very complicated system. And so the, the message I just want to get across to brokers and employers is that you don't have to go it alone. Right. So there's plenty of qualified advisors out there. And if you really want to make an impact and take control of your costs, it's best that you find an advisor that has a background and knowledge and a history of, you know, reducing costs within workers comp. Managing workers comp. That, that's one thing and then the other one is, you know, for, for brokers to reach out and join programs that you and Bill and Chris offer, you know, riches to niches and, and, and really finding something that you're passionate about. And, and if you're passionate about workers comp. I strongly suggest you don't have to learn it to the degree I do because, you know, Mike, I don't know if you know this, but I got my administrator's license, so I'm a licensed, you know, claims administrator in California. I have my sip.

Did not know that.

Yeah.

Congratulations.

Yeah, thank you. So I did that because I was so involved in the claims and I was getting pushback from claims examiners and supervisors. And now we, we work together as a team. So now they see me as an equal playing field versus just a retail broker. Right, You're. He's just a broker. So I just got tired of hearing, I said, okay, I went back to school and I got, got my, my license, so I, I have that piece. So. But brokers reach out to the people in the industry that can help you. And if you want to take action and really grow and grow your book to a certain level, you know, 10, 15, 20 million workers comp is one great way to get there. And there's a lot of people out there willing to help you. And Mike and I are two of them.

100. We are here to help and to support. Anybody that just wants to have a conversation, let us know. I mean we are here to help and support you in any way. Again, Mr. Mike McDonough, 70 Surprising Ways to Create higher profits in your business. Just go to Amazon, search that it's there. Mike McDonough. M Mike M I K E last name M C Capital D like David O N O U G H Check them out on Amazon. Grab the book, strongly recommend it, go through it. You will probably find ways that you can help your business insurance insurance clients gain higher profits and ultimately at the end of the day, more importantly, run a safer business and just have a better existence and higher profit business. So Mike, thank you for all you're doing for so many people across the nation, grateful for our relationship. Thank you. Thank you for being here on the podcast, sharing from your heart. It just tickles my heart no end seeing how passionate you are about what you're doing. So great job, man.

Yeah, thank you. And you know, Mike, you're. I give you a lot of credit for this as well because when I met you, you know, I, I didn't know everything and you know, you were learning and so your passion for what you were doing was contagious. As well. And I learned a lot about systems and, you know, primarily the marketing system with the packages, the colors, the sizes, where people can see, feel and things like that because they have greater connection than, than just an envelope. So a lot, a lot of what I of my success today, you're, you're part of that journey as well. So I want to make sure I give you credit for that as well. Because I am blessed to have you in my life because you are part of my journey and you're part of where I am today.

Well, Mike, thank you for the kind words. We're all just privileged, blessed and grateful.

Grateful.

The opportunity to help people and support people. We're, you know, in the words of, words of Earl Nightingale, we've all been somewhere and we're all going somewhere. So we just want to bring as many people along for the ride as we can. Right, Mike?

As many as we can. And I'm here to help support and empower as many as I can as well.

A hundred percent. One hundred. Mike, thank you. I can't wait. Let's connect soon and we'll just keep this ball rolling, so to speak. Grab a copy of Mike's book so you can continue to learn. He did it in 60 days. And anybody that might be watching or listening, they can do the same thing. Right, Mike?

100. And I'd be happy to show them how to do it.

Only action.

Take action and you call me. Take action to call me and I'll help you.

Fantastic. Mike Bandono, thank you for being on the podcast and if this is your first time on the podcast, either watching or listening, welcome. My name is Mike Stromsei, widely recognized as a leading author, speaker and coach for the independent insurance agency industry. You can learn more about what we're doing@unstoppableprofitproducer.com if you're interested in attending one of our live or virtual events, you can find out more about our live events@beunstoppablebootcamp.com or our virtual events are at UPP Fast Start.

All of our events are designed with some of our best money making strategies developed over 35 years in the independent insurance agency business. 100 of the time as a proud agent, all designed to help you grow your business, create wealth so you too can have more freedom to live life on your own terms. We can't wait to help you. We can't wait to teach you and help you along that journey as well. You can find information about this podcast at Unstoppable Profit Podcast Dot com. And by the way, if you got some gold nuggets today, and if you were paying attention, you got many. Thank you, Mike. You can share that link Unstoppable Profit Podcast with anybody out there, and we strongly ask you to do so so they can continue to learn as well. And we're out there on all the channels as well, as well as Amazon, Spotify, Stitcher, Apple Podcast. Just search the Unstoppable Profit podcast and Unstoppable Profit podcast dot com. We just want to continue to help you. Make sure you go up to the top of that and click subscribe so you don't miss one valuable episode. Because every week our goal is to bring gold nuggets just like Mike was able to share. Thank you again, Mike. And we want to continue to help you grow your business, create wealth, so you too can can have more freedom. And Mike, I love that ROI R O T R O S. Do you mind if I share that, my friend?

You can share with everybody and anybody.

That I love that. That's fantastic. That's one of my big gold nuggets from today.

Well, I appreciate that. So like I said, I like to take away one or two things and if you got one or two things or anybody that watches this gets one thing out of it. I think that you and I had a successful podcast because this is about helping other people.

That's right. 100% impacting people's lives personally and professionally. That's our purpose at UPP. So, Mike McDonough, thank you, sir.

Thank you, Mike.

You're welcome. All right, everybody, I will see you on the next episode. Until then, remember, you got this. We believe in you. Just go take action. We'll see you on the next episode.

You love the podcast, but don't know where or how to get started. Come join our next virtual training. While seats are still available. Register now@uppfaststart.com that's upfaststart.com.