Episode 229: #UPPLife – Tribal Awareness

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. And based on my recent experiences, if I had some, I forgot what they're called.

Some buckets. Some buckets. And some drumsticks.

Some buckets and some drumsticks. Drumsticks is what I was looking for. By the way, things are good, never perfect. I would be playing them right now because I just got done with an amazing experience which put the energy way high, and it was fantastic. Fired up and pumped and excited to bring this to you today with my podcast partner, Mr. Joel McKinley. Joel, how are you doing, sir?

I am doing awesome. Great to be here again, Mike.

Fantastic. Thank you. Hey, just a lesson for everybody. I'm far from perfect. And if you brought my wife in, she would confirm that things are good, never perfect. Don't forget that. And we're going to get started this morning because what we have for you today is something that is out there a lot. And we want to share with you a real life example of what it is to be living the up life. Hashtag upplife, upplife.com if you go there, you'll find lots of information. But what is it to live the up life? It's. It's many, many things. Growing your business, creating wealth so you can have more freedom to live life on your own terms. That's part of living the up life. And Joel McKinley, I'm gonna let him take it away in just a minute, had the opportunity to live life on his own terms. But how do we find out about the fact that this happened? Joel? We were in a session yesterday. We practice what we preach.

So to speak. And we had our monthly, what we call L10 meeting, which is a longer meeting for all of our team members. And we start off with our personal segues. Our personal segues. And Joel was kind enough to share in his personal segways, something that recently happened. And we all said, that is amazing. So we thought it would be a good teaching opportunity for all of you to learn how we do that. But more importantly, what happened by having the freedom to live life on your own terms. And thank you Joel, for your willingness to come forward and to share that with everybody out there in Unstoppable Nation. So before we go there, we were talking about this. Is it important that high achieving, high performing teams in business, period.

Collaborate fairly consistently and regularly?

Right, Mike. And this is from one of the many books that you recommend that I read for my own personal growth and development. And one of them that I'm currently studying talks a lot about transformational and transactional relationships and within your agency or within your business, within your team, you want to have transformational relationships. And that's a big part of why we do the segue is share the thing that's has impacted you recently professionally and something that's impacted you and been something great that's happened in your life personally. And for me, yesterday I was able to share something that's both at the same time. So that's, yeah, it's, it's, it's really important to get to know each other and to build deeper relationships.

It really creates an environment of deeper trust as well, right?

Absolutely.

I mean, you know, it's the E plus F equals C R plus T equals mft, which is experience creates a feeling which equals connectedness. But the relationship builds the trust. And ultimately, I mean, more of a business segment, money follows trust, which is a sales and retention get clients, keep clients thought process. But it's all the same. Right. So fantastic stuff and, and thank you for the depth of sharing and willingness. So let's dive into it. Living life on your own terms, living the up life. You had the opportunity to go to an event recently and tell us more about it.

Right? So every September 11, I have a very good friend of mine, a ranger buddy of mine. The guy actually pinned my Ranger tab so many years ago he would, he was a rough around the edges type of guy. And over time he has changed, changed his life, become a Christian. And as he retired from the army, he felt a pull to start his own ministry. And it's called for his glory outdoors. And he brings veterans to outdoors experiences to help them to recover from wounds, you know, internally or externally, but just to bring them closer and bring them peace in their Life. So every September 11, he does what's called the Guardian Classic, which is a fishing tournament down in South Carolina. So this was the second annual, and I went down there and what a great experience. He gets boat captains to volunteer their boat, their time and their experience and pairs them up with a veteran that they take out onto the water and fish together. And going out there, my boat Captain. We were on the water for eight hours. We just talked and fished and shared stories about our families and just connected. It was such an awesome experience to be able to go down there. We paid tribute to the. All the people that gave their lives and the firefighters and everyone that gave their lives on September 11 and the terrorist attacks and then the long wars that followed, and just a great day of brother and sisterhood and just connecting with people. And then when we came back, you know, based on everything that I've learned in upp, I. I said, I really believe in what you're doing, Bobby, and I love the way that you handled the event. It was such a giving and just a great experience. So what did I do? I Googled his. His nonprofit organization, and I realized that he hadn't secured his. Google my business, and he never sent me a request for a testimonial. And all of these things that we teach our members, and I said, I'm going to help you. I'm going to do use what I've learned, you know, studying with you, Mike, and all of our platinum coaching members, and I'm going to help you. I'm going to help you take your nonprofit to the next level because I believe in what you're doing. So that's where that ended. And then over the weekend, this past weekend, I got a not good phone call. One of my soldiers when I was a platoon sergeant here at Fort Bragg, recently committed suicide. And I wish that I could say that it was less than a handful of people that I knew that that happened to, but it's not. And every time it happens, I see friends of mine, they post on Facebook, hey, you know, if you're. If you're struggling, if you're going through a hard time, you know, reach out to me, call me any time of the night. And we. We do this and we start Facebook groups and we try to get connected, and that's probably working to some degree. But in my opinion, and learning from you, Mike, is we can always do more. There's something that we can do. There's something that we can go above and beyond. So I reached back out to my buddy and I said, hey, I told you I was going to help you. And now I'm calling in a favor, because the law of reciprocity is always in effect. I said, we're going to start a group, you and I, and we may not be able to save everyone, but we're going to get a group of 15 to 20 people together, and we're going to Meet much like we do when you. And again, something I've learned from you, Mike, is we're going to get together on a regular basis and share our obstacle, challenge or opportunity that we have and we're going to stay connected. And the way that I came up with this was based on all of your teachings. And it, it was just going through the past year of the hard market as so many people that are in the scarcity mindset are calling it opportunity. I mean, what with the abundance mindset, there's the abundance opera. The hard opportunity is when they're going through a struggle. What do they do? Our platinum coaching members call each other, they email each other, they, they message into the group. They use their emergency calls to call you to help them through that hurdle, to keep going forward. So I'm going to rob and deploy that from up, and I'm going to use it to help at whatever I can to keep in a handful and hope that, that those maybe Core 20 members go and start their own groups and they, and we have it under this great umbrella of helping each other, but staying connected, ultimately, that is awesome.

And our hearts and prayers go out to anybody and everybody out there who has experienced suicide. I can't know. And thank you, Joel McKinley, for your service to our country. 20 year, if I'm not mistaken. Army veteran, right? An Army Ranger, a leader of men within that organization. Thank you for your dedication. How many tours did you have across the pond?

One to Iraq or two to Iraq, one to Afghanistan, one to Kosovo and one to Kuwait?

Five.

Wow. Thank you. Thank you. And I know there's lots of things that occurred over there. We've talked about that in the past, and it will be forever etched on your mind and your heart. And I think that's just a contributor to, you know, why you're doing what you're doing in this particular situation based on your own, living life on your own terms. But it led to an opportunity to impact other people, which is our core purpose, impacting people's lives personally and professionally. So you're doing that now and, and taking it to another level. So kudos for you for identifying and being aware of the situation and acting on it. So that is absolutely fantastic. But again, our hearts and our, our prayers go out to anybody that's been affected by a suicide. It's, it's, it's tragic. So I don't know if there's anything that we can do for that family or not, but we can talk about that offline.

So.

Fantastic. This opportunity continues to Go forward, Can't wait to see how it evolves and you know, just keep teaching, you know, what we already learn. Right, right. You know, we say this sometimes in certain situations, there's nothing new under the sun, but it's those who take action, those who identify the opportunity and take action on the opportunity. I know what I was going to bring up because I just had a great idea. So I don't know if this makes sense or not. If you took our own tool within upp, which is the vo, and did one for that organization.

Based on how you want to build that organization to impact more people, maybe that might be an idea.

Well, the good thing, Mike, is he only lives a couple hours away, so we can definitely schedule a one on one session, much like our members do with you.

Right.

And I'll be showing him that blank piece of paper and saying, all right, let's design, let's design your, your, your nonprofit going forward.

Exactly. And I mean, you have full permission. Something that we do in a PR proprietary basis. Inside of upp, I have created a complete video training that overviews how people can not only fully complete it, but more importantly the entire thought process from my 36 years in the trenches as a proud 100 of the time independent insurance agent. So they will have the game plan. And, and you've heard this multiple times. I've heard it multiple times recently from people who were here at the house for their one on one private coaching sessions. You, we were talking about it just before we went on this morning.

Right.

You were telling me about an agent you connected with, I think yesterday, the day before yesterday, who had their session here recently. What did she say?

She said after completing the Vision Organizer that you said, she said, even though she's been a member since 2017.

The last session that she had with you, she felt like she moved more forward in that one single day than she had in the entire time because she invested the time to create it and complete her Vision Organizer.

Right. It's a newer tool for us. So it's changing the game for many, many agencies and we've done it for many, many years in the agency business. We thought, why don't we just bring all that knowledge forward to others to help them at the highest level. So we're privileged and honored to help agencies have a plan. But you know, think about it. You know, sometimes we need to think about things differently than we've ever thought about them before. So don't let that fear come in. And something that I recently learned at an event that I was at that changed my life forever. Don't let the lie come into your own mind. The lie to yourself that, oh, this won't work in that context. Oh, this isn't possible. Oh, I can't do this. Don't lie to yourself like that. Because it's those lies that you tell to yourself that will prevent you from making the progress that you are 100% capable of making. Is that accurate, Joel McKinley?

Well, like Mike, you. There's another platinum coach member that you had recently had to tell this to is you are worthy.

You are worthy of all of the success that is coming your way.

100%. And we've got multiples. I just saw an email this morning of an agent who has this opportunity continuing to come at him. It was an agent's producer that has a book of business.

That they're not happy in the agency house they're in now. And because of what this agent is doing in a big, big way in their marketplace, this producer identified, I want to be with you.

And to point.

That producer said, I love everything about your agency and what it stands for.

Yep. Bingo. Right?

Right.

And that's not the first time it's happened to this agency. They, they got some large accounts because, you know, the marketplace identified who they, who they are and what they stand for online. Saw, loved everything they saw and just came in and said, here, take all of our business. So back to online Presence. Right, Joel McKinley.

Right. Absolutely. I mean, additionally, Mike, you know, I've got 20 years of organizational leadership and everything within the army, but I would not have even thought of how we can, how I can assist my, my ranger buddies, nonprofit as well as trying to impact at least a group of people that maybe can, can spread that out and, you know, pay it forward.

None of that would have been top of mind for me had I not followed your example and learned from you and learned from UPP and all of our members. I would not have known this is what, something that we can do, because I hadn't. I didn't know what I didn't know. Like, like you like to say. And it's that continued investing in myself, investing in learning, constantly trying to study and learn more and to become more that I was ready and positioned to seize this opportunity and take this forward and try to help more people and make a bigger impact.

100%. So again, thank you for that and keep the awareness antennas up so that, you know, we can continue to touch people's lives and impact people's lives personally, professionally, but also Huge shout out. Huge shout out to Unstoppable Nation and our members who are doing so many incredible things. And it's because of you also that this impact continues to happen. So it's the tribe, it's all of us combined, doing what we do, trusting each other, staying together, helping each other, picking up the phone and everything else combined with that. It's just absolutely how we live the UPP life. So it's magical, it's a privilege, it's an honor, and it's a great, fantastic way of life because ultimately, at the end of the day, and I've come to talk about this a lot lately because of the impact that's happening out there. I mean, think about this.

How do you want your eulogy to read? Right? And that's a tough statement, I get it. But I mean, everybody that I have this conversation with, generally, they don't want to have it read, oh, he was so successful, or he or she was so successful in business. Right, right.

That's not our goal. Our goal is impacted so many people. Incredible. You know, father, mother, family, man, whatever. And these kinds of things happen. So maybe there's an opportunity for you also, Joel, as you endeavor into this, you know, standing by your buddy's side and helping him build this non profit organization which will further impact people. You know, use that. And if it makes sense, Sometimes it makes sense, sometimes it doesn't. So it's back to the awareness and working on yourself every single day. Those daily habits that can make us aware what to say, what not to say, what to do, what not to do in a certain situation. Right.

What, what, what impression do you want to leave? Or as you say here, make a mark that can't be erased.

Leave a mark on the world that can't be erased. Absolutely. So thank you so much for sharing and I can't wait to hear about the progress of the non profit and how we can help and support Bobby in that endeavor. For all of the men and women out there who have selflessly served our country, supported and defended our freedom, we are forever thankful and grateful for every one of you. So thank you, thank you for doing that and let Bobby know if the opportunity arises and we need a quick collaboration session, the three of us or whatever, I'm always game as long as we get it on the calendar, so.

Right.

Joel McKinley. Fantastic stuff. Anything else to add?

No, that's it, Mike.

All right, so let's, let's just.

Take this full circle for just a second.

All right.

We know that the definition of Team.

Is together, everybody achieves more.

Together, everybody achieves more. There is no I in team. So back to the collaboration which is part of what happened here that made all of this come to the surface and has us sharing it with you here today. So part of the recommendation that we have in the velocity of the three P excellent people, world class processes and systems and simply promote the heck out of it.

The people, the right people on the bus. Right. Patriots, not mercenaries.

Always.

We were talking about that earlier this morning as well before we went on. Know that everybody, you have to be disciplined to attract, recruit, interview and hire. Only the best. Not the best available.

Let me repeat that for you. I can't emphasize this enough and I can never say it enough and encourage enough and teach it enough. Attract, recruit, interview and hire only the best. You're only as good as.

Your team. Mike, can I change that for you?

Your weakest link. So how do you suggest we change that?

Attract, interview, hire and retain. Aha.

So we've got adding. You know, I'm getting ready to head down to speak to a huge group of agents here very soon and I was just working on that presentation to make it so off the charts yesterday. So thank you. May I, may I share that down there?

Please do, Mike. Just like that agent that has that book of business that wants to come over to him, I would venture to say that the agency that he wants to leave did not put a fence around the team and continue to train, invest in and lead him and he'll find it elsewhere.

You mean the two things that we talk about all the time that are can never get enough work and love and improvement daily around the US businesses. We observe inside and outside the industry leadership about those two words. Oh yeah, you mean leadership and training.

Friends, we're serious about that too. You've got to consistently work on your leadership skills and leading your people and train them. The late great Zig Ziglar said the only thing worse than training somebody and losing them is keeping somebody and not training them. Training is like bathing. It's recommended daily. You've got to train daily. Back to the team. There is no I in team. So team meetings super, super important. On a lack of consistency basis, right? On a consistent basis. I was just studying that this morning. Right. Again, it talked about.

Let me see if I have this one right here and if I do, bingo, I do. Lack of consistency is the subtle stealer of dreams. The stop and start process will kill progress in any pursuit. Lack of consistency is the subtle stealer of dreams. Don't let it happen to you. Have your team meetings consistently. And we were talking about the best. Not the best available, and patriots, not mercenaries, at your table for your team meetings.

Right.

Okay. And that is the secret sauce.

That will keep them together, what will keep them growing together, that will keep them working together. The team meeting environment. So critically important. I can't encourage everybody enough. And because of that, we're here sharing this incredible story with you. So, Joel McKinley, again, thank you.

Thanks, Mike. What? How does that saying go, Mike? If you think you're leading a team and no one is following you, you're just taking a walk.

I haven't heard that one. Repeat that for me, please. If.

If you think you're leading a team forward and no one's following you, you're just out taking a walk. Wow.

Joel McKinley, I'm gonna text you a gold nugget.

Yes.

That was awesome. Thank you. A Chris Raiders gold nugget. Thank you, Chris, for that. That. That's a. That's a writer downer. If you did not ink that, please stop what you're doing right now. Put this on pause and ink this. Don't think this. So let me make sure if I can get this down, because if I can't repeat it, I don't have it down. Say it for me one more time.

If you're. If you think you're leading a team forward and no one is following you, you're just out taking a walk.

If you think you're leading a team forward and nobody is following you, you're just out for a walk.

Right?

Fantastic. Thank you. It was worth getting up today. I learned something new. How awesome is that?

Yes.

Yes. Joe McKinley, thank you for sharing from the heart on this episode of the Unstoppable Profit podcast.

Absolutely, Mike. Anytime.

All right. And by the way, if you're out there and this is your first Unstoppable Profit podcast, or our first time joining us, welcome. My name is Mike Stromso and my podcast partner, Joel McKinley, part of the UPP Total Protection, Total Service Team, Total Growth Wealth Freedom Team. We are widely recognized and I'm widely recognized as a leading author, speaker, and coach for the independent insurance agency industry. You can find out more about myself and our team @unstoppable profit producer.com if you're interested in attending one of our live or virtual events, you can learn more. Our virtual event portal is upfaststart.com and of course, our live events are at the Unstoppable Boot camp dot com. All of our events and everything we do is designed to share with you the greatest strategies and money making secrets that We've developed over 36 years of experience and in your industry, 100 of the time as a proud independent insurance agent proven to help you grow your business, create wealth so you too can have more freedom to live life on your own terms. And if you've got great value out of this podcast today, please share it with somebody that you care about. Just send them the link unstoppableprofitpodcast.com and if you haven't, make sure you and they go up to the top. Click subscribe so you mo won't miss one valuable gold nugget of everything we share on the Unstoppable Profit podcast. And of course we're out there on all the channels, including Apple Podcast, Spotify, stitcher, our own YouTube channel. Just go to YouTube, search, unstoppable profit Producer, and anywhere out there on the world wide web. Thank you for joining us today and if there's ever anything more that we can do to serve you in any way, please let us know. Joel McKinley. Thank you.

Thank you, Mike.

You're welcome, everybody. All right, get out there. Remember, you got this. Make a difference, Be unstoppable, leave no regrets. And remember, you are the best.

Don't let anybody ever tell you differently. We'll see you on the next episode.

See ya.

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