Episode 262: Why Masterminds Change the Game with Russ Castle

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 and welcome to the next episode of the Unstoppable Profit podcast, a very special podcast today, because we're going to go way, way back. And I've got my longtime friend and colleague mastermind Buddy, Mr. Russ Castle on the podcast. Russ, how you doing?

I'm doing great, Mike. Great to see you as always.

Great to see you as well. And I'm so honored and privileged. Russ just told me how many days he's been traveling the world this year, and I'm like, holy Toledo. I'm not going to drop the number unless you want to fold it in in just a minute. But to start the podcast today, Russ, let me go way back, okay? And I want to take everybody back to your defining moment. So what is your defining moment? What was that moment in time that made all the difference for you, personally or professionally in business? For me, my defining moment was when I went to an event because I just started out from scratch and I was trying to figure it all out and I wasn't have a lot of success.

Think about this for a minute. And you, most of you know exactly what I'm talking about. The long nights.

In the office after five by yourself, the early mornings before dawn in the office by yourself, the weekends, just time going through the grind and getting it all together. Yes, we've all been there.

I was trying to figure it out. So I went to an industry event at an invite just to see if there was something there that I could help me figure it out. And I was sitting there in the audience and there was these agents on stage who had it all figured out. And I was listening to everything they said. I was on the edge of my seat taking notes as fast as I could because they had it all figured out. And I said to myself at the end of that event, after 20 to 30 pages of notes, I'm going to start listening to everything that they've already accomplished and become a massive implementer. And one of the strategies that I took shortly after that, that I implemented into my arsenal of personal development was a mastermind event. And I am blessed and fortunate to say that Mr. Russ Castle has Been one of my mastermind buddies, if you will, were just talking about it. 17 years, roughly.

Oh, God. It, it doesn't. On certain days, it seems like a lot longer. Other days, no, it doesn't seem that long at all. So. Yeah, many, many years.

Yeah, many, many years. But bigger than that, moments that made millions over time, over implementing the strategies that we learned together. Moments that saved hundreds of thousands of dollars in lessons or mistakes. Right?

Yeah. Hiccups. Yes, exactly. Thank God some, thank God some of our, our fellow colleagues, you included, stopped me from doing some crazy things way back when.

And me too. I mean, we have all these great ideas. We're going to start these, you know, these wild ideas that are going to change everything. And then somebody would reel us in. Like our buddy Sean. He was always the think one of the thinkers in the group. He was always really. Ah, let's talk about this for just a minute. Right. Remember those moments?

Oh, a hot seat. I'm still feeling a little warm down there.

100% agree. So what Russ and I want to share with you on this podcast is a little bit about the value of masterminding and the value of what it can do for your business, but also what can it do for you personally as well. Because I know in our mastermind experience, we got to the point where the wives or the spouses started coming along and it just supported the entire experience and made it absolutely fantastic. Remember some of those days?

Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. We, I, I'm trying to put the words in formula here and I'm fumbling, but it was, I remember the first one, it was at a nice country club in Northern California. Agents all over the country. I was one of the co hosts. And my wife is like, do I really need to go to this? By the time we went home on Sunday, she wanted to go to everyone from now on because she had so much fun. So.

That's right.

It's all good.

Yeah. And the wise. Who's going to be there, what are we going to do? How much time do. How much free time do we have?

Exactly.

We know what they wanted to do on their free time. Right, Exactly.

No, totally.

And that's fantastic. Window.

I still remember the first meeting. We got there on a Friday night and we were, you know, late in the afternoon. Everybody had flown in from around the country and my wife had committed to dinner the next night. By the time it was done, it was in Napa. So the net by the end of the first night, she's now going with all the spouses to go wine tasting the next day, and I'm like, I thought you were just coming to dinner. So it changed quickly and, you know, gotten to be some of our good friends over, like you and Cindy over many, many years.

So absolutely. Lifelong relationships. But let's get back to business for just a minute. So, Russ, think back to the masterminding sessions. And I know you have a phrase that is quickly associated with masterminding of your own and what it means to you and what it did for you in building such a phenomenal agency.

Well, when I talk to my friends, people that aren't even in the industry, and you're going on this business trip. But what's this for? What's that for? Well, the majority of the travel I've done over the last 15 years has been for masterminding anytime, anywhere from three to four times, scream a year. I actually at one point was in a couple of different masterminds. I've since combed that or narrowed that down. But I refer to it as my uninvested partners. I don't have any partners in my own business. I'm a sole proprietor. I have employees. But none of them are at the same level, obviously, is where I am. So it's my uninvested partners. They're going to give me the straight scoop, either firsthand experience or just knowledge of whether what I'm bringing to the meeting is good, bad, indifferent, or some pros, some cons we joked about earlier, Some of the hiccups. Well, you know, I come with all this great idea. Well, I'm excited about it, but yet sometimes that excitement doesn't necessarily translate to the end result you want. And they're the honest and truthful partners, but they're not invested 100%.

So just like anything else, I mean, I, I teach our grandkids nowadays and cousins camp.

Make sure that your circle of five is the right circle of five. It's the same kind of philosophy and mastermind. Right. It's not just a meeting. It's a convergence, if you will, of innovative minds. So you got to make sure you get in the room with the right people very much because it can make all the difference. Right.

And. And I will tell you, it's. I'm trying to remember if it was Napoleon Hill or who it was in one of the books I've read over the years. But when you're getting people together, let's say it's four, it's not four times the knowledge. It's exponentially, almost to the point of 16. If you're doing math, it's not only are you coming and asking about your idea, but you're then helping with other people with which in turn gets your mind working. Hey, maybe is that a good idea for me? Almost to the point of I'd never say too many because you got to prioritize them. But when you come out of a meeting, it's like, I've got more ideas that I, that I should either be doing or thank goodness those peers of mine can prove me not or convince me not to do that idea and save me thousands.

Well, and one of the major benefits that we had, and we won't go into the stories that were born in places like Birmingham, Alabama, at the table, but you know, then we have these collaborative discussion groups and with today's technology, the sky's the limit, right?

Yeah, but I. Sky's the limit. But I think people also might get too caught up sometimes in the virtual meetings. I can tell you story after story where I got probably a better idea, got great ideas during the day, but it's that after, over a meal, over an adult beverage, over whatever, just a walk where you're focused on your business at that meeting. If you're doing just the zoom or.

Whatever the face, the video conferencing is, that's great, that's a step in the right direction. But it's much better when you get away from the office and you go.

Face to face 100%. And even if it's a one day mastermind session, as an example, you still have lunch, you still have the before session and the after session where depending on your situation, you can hang around. But I brought up the collaborative circles as well, because when you're there live, it's fantastic. And I remember we went to music events and everything and did so many great things together. But you go back and you're looking at your notes and you can't make sense of a note, or boom, you're reading your notes on the way home and you get another great idea off of that one note and you're able to get into the forums and say, hey, you know, I'm thinking about this now, because that's the power of the depth of relationship. And you're absolutely right, Russ. It was Napoleon Hill who originated the powerful concept of masterminds and who documented Andrew Carnegie's ascent to becoming a world renowned steel magnet. It's. It's also your peer advisory and kind of like your board of directors, right?

Very much so. And let me just add One more footnote to the face to face. While technology is great, thank God we had it during COVID et cetera, you get other distractions. You and I are doing this now. My phone could be ringing or if this was a group call, I might be doing something else. If you're face to face, you're uninterrupted and you're, you're putting all your energy and your focus into that meeting as opposed to the distractions. We've all seen it on different calls, whether the person's on live video like this or not, but you know, they're not as engaged as they could be. Face to face, you don't have that option. Right. And that's. You're giving 110%. So it's not saying that these video calls are not beneficial. They are. But face to face is so much better.

100%. And you're getting out of your familiar environment, if you will.

Very much, very much.

You, you and I went both went through the same leadership program where we learned about the law of familiarity and how important it is to get away from it. Right. Because you know, there's no progress in the comfort zone, is there?

No. And there's a difference between working in the business and on the business. If you're face to face or out of the office, you are working on the business and not getting pulled into the interruptions and everything else.

Yeah. And for the majority of the chairs, the entrepreneurial or the owner leader chairs.

One of those persons generally is the visionary for the business. So you know, vision is the art of seeing things that other people can't see. And so it's these kind of forums as well that help create those visionary thoughts. The long term planning, not just the next quarter, the next year, but the three years and out to the 10 year forecast and the visions and everything else, just great stuff. And 100 agree with you. There's just massive power getting out of the office. Maybe out of the city, out of the state, sometimes out of the country, right?

Very much. Very much.

Yeah.

So I enjoy travel.

No. When did that start?

When I was starting to make money in my business. Very much or the day I got married? Either way. Probably both.

Probably it was both. And the day you got married. So anyway, with that being said, that was Mary, who he's married to, by the way. Hey Mary, if you're watching this. But anyway, we are grateful for our spouses without question. But you know, the wonderful thing is, you know, you, the old Russ Castle story that is so famous out there, Russ has to look at the calendar and figure out when he's going to stop his marketing because his next vacation is coming up and he doesn't want to have the phones ringing off the hook when he's not there.

Well, and the footnote is I've gotten. And this is not a. An ego comment, but I've gotten the business to a point. I enjoy the sale. I don't want a service, so I'm the main salesperson at the office. So when it is busy, I want to be here. Well, I'm not going to spend that kind of revenue on the investment of marketing and not be able to capitalize on it. So definitely.

Let me be very clear on this story, though.

All the. All the credit, all the kudos and all the millions belong to Russ. Okay. With that being said, meaning all the commissions that have been earned over years is what I mean by the millions. Okay? But I remember the early days of Russ Rush's. Russ's. Let me try that again. The early days of Russ's creation of his niche, which he grew to dominance in his marketplace. But I remember the times, and I think it was partly in the Mastermind circles or in the Mastermind circles where you were out taking, what, Polaroid photos.

Taking digital pictures every Friday for four or five months. My niche is residential landlords, and I'm in California. And I took a picture before Google did of every apartment building in two counties. But that was part of the marketing. When they would get their mailing piece for me, it had a picture of their apartment. I got the phone to ring. So, you know, putting in the sweat equity. It was a Mastermind meeting. I came with the idea, actually. It was my father's original idea. And then the Mastermind really helped me fine tune it to the point where it got the phone to ring. And I still use it today, just no picture.

So that's kind of shared experience that happens at Mastermind. And you're able to bring that to the session and say, hey, this is what I'm thinking about. Help me wash this out. What am I missing? What am I not seeing? What am I not thinking about? And you get the core idea, but it elevates it to a whole new level. And you took it to levels beyond, I mean, to the point where, you know, Russ's challenge is, yeah, I got to. Oh, I got to stop marketing because I'm going on another vacation. Or what are you doing this weekend? Well, I'm going to be watching some sports, but I'm be scrubbing my list. And you invested big money in those lists because you learned how to dominate again, originating in a big, big way in the Mastermind philosophy. So that's another thing. Go ahead, Russ.

Well, and I'll, and I'll add to it what Mastermind helped me with, continue to help me with. So it wasn't just that first mailing piece and how to get the phone string. It was how to keep improving and tweaking and pivoting through the course. I've been doing this niche now for almost 20 years. Just this niche and nothing else. And you know, the way it looks today is nowhere near what it looked like 20 years ago. And I can honestly say, sure, a lot of the ideas are mine, but at the same time or my staff in full disclosure. But a lot of it is the various groups that I've been with where when I've wanted to tweak a they've really put me through the ring or put me on the hot seat. Our buddy Sean we talked about earlier and there's a number of others, you know, I can start naming off a lot of names. It does take a village. But that have really helped in perfecting and continuing to perfect. What worked 20 years ago probably wouldn't work exactly the same today. And so you got to continually be on top of it. So that's it is, it is. It does take a village and it is a group.

Let me know if you agree with me or disagree with me. It's fine either way. But the real power is showing up, right?

Oh, they're showing up and being prepared. Both showing up as, as I say, given a choice. Okay. The, the different groups I've been in, the ones that had the most benefit were the industry only masterminds in not in my local area. Not that they're going to be competitors. My buddy Sean always said that, you know, you could do something exactly the same as someone else in your market but you're going to do it differently because of the way you market your follow through, et cetera. So but the best groups that I've been in have been nationwide, usually in another city because not very often are we coming to the Bay Area because it's too expensive. But it's that focus on the topic that I prepared for. That's why I said prepared. But also not just your hot seat time but the before meeting, after meeting etc and, and, and I think this is goes for, for presenting as well Mike and everything we do in our businesses, you get as much out of how much you give. And I, and I would say I've gotten more out of receiving than I have done giving. And I like to give, but I think it's the rest of processing, reciprocity coming into effect that the more I help others, the more it helps me. So being prepared is a big part of that.

111% agree that the giving, the sharing with others, the teaching aspect.

It'S not only just the right thing to do and it's a great thing to do, but when you're teaching and sharing with others, you're actually learning. Because you know one thing that really smacked me like a two by four and I needed it. I'm going to say within the last year when somebody said after an agency growth session where I was collaborating with them.

They followed up with me a couple weeks later and they said, Mike, everything that we talked about during that session is starting to become reality. I found a person to come into my office. I landed the biggest deal that I've ever landed and this has happened and that has happened. He said, there's so much power in speaking things into existence. And so the other thing is you're away from your business, you're away from your office in that. And you get instant high value feedback on the spot because you're not, you're not succumb to some technology. You're there live, right.

And you get. Yeah, yes, but, but you brought this up, but we didn't go into it much before. It's also critical in who the other, who the other people are in the other seats. Different groups. I've had yours in particular. I love this because you take hours trying to put the right mix in that room. It's not all A's like Russ, it's not all B's, et cetera. And I'm not trying to judge people. It's that that combination of personalities gets together. Another group I was in, we did it ourselves, but we learned real quick. You don't just raise your hand and say who wants to join a mastermind? That's going to blow up the mastermind or the group real quick. You've got to hand pick who you want to help the group as well as us helping that member. So it's both ways and it is very key on who are the butts in those seats, male, female, whatever, to be able to help each other. I've been in some groups too over all the years where there's been some wrong people in the wrong seats. And you've got to make those changes.

100% agree with you there as well. And that's why some of the very best mastermind sessions are by invitation only. And so if you see an invite to a mastermind group and it says invitation only, don't think, well, that's kind of different. Think fantastic. They are vetting the people are going to be in the room next to us for that particular session.

They saw something in you to invite you. So that's a plus. You know, we all have the imposter syndrome, if you will. You know, I just was at a lunch today with one of my biggest clients who was telling me that, and this is an uber, uber successful former attorney. So, you know, he's got the chops. Well, if it's invitation only, they knew something or heard something about you to think that you could add to their group. If it's just social media posts and saying, hey, you know, who wants to do this? That's not going to be one a good use of your time. But also you're going to go through a lot of growing pains.

So. So, Russ, how important is the facilitator.

Or the poor person leading a mastermind session? I mean, is that, you know, important to you based on your experience? I mean, does it make or break a mastermind sometimes?

Very much. You facilitated in the group. In your group that I was in. In one of the other groups, I was facilitator. So I've seen both sides of it and I've been in meetings where either there isn't a facilitator or the facilitator lets it go way off topic too much. We're spending real dollars to be in that room, whether it's driving, flying, hotel, whatever it might be. And if we're not on topic, we don't have an agenda. We don't have certain people and certain time limits. That's a waste of everybody's time. And that's, that's one of those growing pains you learn by that. So facilitating meetings is huge. And first of all, everybody comes with a set amount of time. They better use their time wisely in your particular group. I love it, Mike, that there's skin in the game. This isn't just a group that's getting together because we're all friends. It costs you to be in this group and that's great because now you're going to put it to a whole different level. You know, we all that are in sales know the more something costs, there's a perceived that it's worth that much more, hopefully in a lot of cases it is, but in some cases it's not. That's a whole different topic. But by paying for it, having a facilitator, someone that knows what they've done, in this case, Mike, and Mike did not ask me to do any of this, you know, prep and boost him up. I'm just saying it from years of experience in UPP and to be able to hold people accountable. A perfect example in Mastermind. If you come to the meeting with the same item, two or three meetings in a row, and if somebody doesn't call you out, you're in the wrong mastermind. I don't want to keep hearing this idea complaint, whatever. Multiple times we've talked about it. You as the entrepreneur, decide how you want to move forward. But let's not just keep rehashing old things. And if we have a facilitator, back to Mike's point, that facilitator keeps people on, on topic. Let's talk about this later. If it, if too many people start having a side discussion or if it's not on what the agenda was, or, okay, there's a time limit. Giving somebody, okay, you got three minutes left, five minutes left, whatever. And so that they don't come away from the meeting going, well, I had these three items I want to talk about, and I spent all my time on the first one, and that probably wasn't the most important. So come back to being prepared. But also facilitating is huge.

Fantastic. Yes, 100% agree. So it's a good idea if you're going to invest time, whether it be one day or, or more than one day at a Mastermind session, make sure it's with somebody who has.

A good amount of experience leading and conducting masterminds so that you get the maximum benefit. You know, the expanded vision, the collaborative synergy, helping you with goals, if that's what you're after, or need from that particular meeting, the accelerated growth and to make sure the energy in the room is right. Know, I was listening to what you were saying about a mastermind, Russ, and it prompted a thought. I'm not going to name any names, but you know the person and I know who, the person I'm thinking about, who called some, to an extent, called somebody out and really told them the truth and prefaced what they were going to say with, I've got something that you need to hear. But I just want to let you know that my dad taught me that telling people the truth is actually kindness.

I'm being kind. I'm, I'm, I Like to believe that I'm exercising kindness by telling you the truth. And the truth you need to hear is this. And the person, if that person hadn't said it in that way, might have taken it a different way. But that person needed to hear that statement at that particular moment.

Very much so. And I always preface it when I'm giving somebody feedback or at the beginning of the meeting, if you know me most, a lot of times, you know, you got people that are new, that have never met you before, don't really know much. I'm not saying anything to be rude, but we're all adults. As one of my employees always comments, you can put your big boy or big girl pants on and you know, let's all talk as adults. We're not meaning to. We're not trying to demean or be mean or anything else, but it's helpful. Sometimes the hot seat is really hot. You feel bad, emotions are strong. But more than not, and I could probably say 9 out of 10 times more than not, you come away from that maybe a little bit, you know that you were sitting in a hot seat, but you've grown so much from that because people were being honest, they were being candid. One point, besides being a facilitator, Mike, I think that's very important to you got to have knowledge of the topic. If we're in, in this particular forum, insurance agencies, you got to have somebody that knows about the insurance agency. You know, it's not like some of these teachers that are book smart and have never done it. You need somebody that's been there, done that and knows it. So that's another key. But it is, it's, it's trying to be as honest with the person who we're discussing at whatever the time is. And also call, call BS when BS needs to be called. So. And all you're trying to do is help them. If they choose not to do it, it's their business.

That's fine, 100%. I'm thinking about a quote, one of my favorite quotes as far as who's in the room in mastermind sessions as well. And it's from Doc Rivers. Doc Rivers said if you're an average player, you want to be left alone because you want to be able to slide by. Well, that normally doesn't happen in this particular environment. If you're a good player, you want to be coached or held accountable. If you're a great player, you want the coach or your fellow mastermind members to tell you the truth every time because that's where all progress starts with the truth. Russ, I can't wait next time that we connect about to hear about your amazing travels down under and beyond. So great, great stuff. I'm glad you made it back safe. Congratulations on your success to be able to do that kind of thing. And let's help everybody here with something that they might be able to get their minds around. It has to do with money. So one of my very favorite mastermind experiences ever, it was in San Diego, California. I remember it. We're at a hotel and this person did prepare. This person did show up. To reiterate, those are two keys, Russ. Russ confirmed that you not only just you can't just show up. You've got to prepare. Talk about preparation for just a second. Russ, how long should people prepare and what should they prepare?

A couple of things. Well, I'll come from the very first meeting to now. When I leave a meeting, whatever, especially mastermind meeting, I come out with as many as three items, hopefully just one. And that's my focus between meeting one and meeting two. Generally speaking, there's a couple of months in between. So, you know, we get back to the office and we get sucked into the day to day, you know, working in the business. I understand that. Prepared. I try to do it. Excuse me, I try to do it about a week prior and it's okay. What is my burning? What's my one item that I want to come to the meeting with? I might end up having two or three on the list. But what's the most important example? Most meetings we've had half hour to an hour depending on the different mastermind meeting per member to discuss their topic. Well, if, let's say it's a half hour, I want to have the most important item first and foremost because we might spend the whole hour on it. Heck, we might spend breaks, lunch, dinner, whatever, on it. We might never get to 2 and 3. But I have 2 and 3 in case Mike's the first one up and he hits it right on the head and I'm good with it. Okay, let's go to the second one. Let's use that time. The reason I do a week before is and this happens to me a lot, my real estate buddy has always taught me, let's sleep on it at least till tomorrow or next week or whatever. The more time you prepare, the more your subconscious will come back with, oh, well, I really thought about x topic over here, that if I only spent 15 minutes in preparing, I would never have gone that deep in. But Because I've given it multiple days prior as things come up, then I can go, oh, yeah, that's right. I'm in that meeting next week. Maybe that's more important than what I thought it was. So I think prepare is that I don't want to make it analysis paralysis, though. So I want to make sure that it's. It's a high level, 10,000 foot level. I don't want to get too much into the weeds. First of all, you don't have, you know, you're not talking about your topic for three hours. People aren't going to sit through that. But you also want to make it as appealing so that they're engaged. And as I said before about giving back, I try to do it in such a way where it's helpful for me. But could my idea work for somebody? I'm in California, in Nebraska or in Utah or in Florida or whatever. You know, they can, they can pivot their own way. But we're all entrepreneurs in our particular field, independent insurance brokers. And a lot of things can be mirrored in various areas. So that answer the question, Mike, or.

That your answer is your answer. I thought it was a great answer personally. And you can never begin preparing early enough because our great friend Ben Franklin said if you're failing to prepare, you're preparing to fail. And so the more you prepare well in advance, you know, get a little notebook as things come to mind. Start, I mean, make a notepad on your phone, whatever it takes, you know, whatever works for you, and start making notes. It doesn't have to be the right answer. It doesn't have to be the wrong answer, but at least it's an answer at that particular point. Absolutely. Russ, back to the favorite story. So out of Mastermind experience in San Diego and this person had prepared and one of the things they wanted to talk about was a big deal that they had coming up. I mean, it was a big deal. It was about $200,000 deal, and they wanted to close it. And it was in a niche. They wanted to close it. So they said, the thing I want to talk about is this deal. And so we went around the room and we're talking about the account and they had a meeting coming up and a board meeting of this and decision makers there and wanted to talk about all the scripting and all the conversations and what that would look like and, you know, situations with the carrier. The carrier, they're going to go to dealing with the underwriter, et cetera, et cetera. Long story short, we Gave everything that we could for that particular situation. The agent to commend them, went back to their room after we got done with the session, took action and was there for a couple of days, came back on the last day and reported I got the deal.

They wanted him to come to the board meeting. It was a. And you know, something that was just needed to get done because it was a board of directors. But the verbal was, yes, we want to go forward with you. We need you to come to board meeting and present and all that kind of stuff. It was fantastic. So what did that mean? The commission on that deal was $38,400 first year because it was an elevated commission level because of the carrier relationship. 38 for first year. And Russ, you and I both know the lifetime value is everything. So we'll say seven years, which is very conservative. That's $268,800.

So by showing up prepared with a high priority item to a Mastermind resulted in $268,800 in the bank. Now, I don't know if that's a good incentive or not for anybody to consider being in the room with the right people.

And Russ, you're right, buddy. Thank you. Everybody also knows 100 people that would come to their wedding or come to their funeral. So that's just one. There's at least 99 others out there just like it.

And that client knows them too. So now you're getting exponentially. This is the kind of idea that snowballs in a Mastermind meeting. You know, you got one just certain comments, but you can keep going and get. Not only did this member be prepared, they anticipated the different things that could happen rather than reacting. So and I think that based on what I've heard from that one member and that was a lot of what got them that account was this client realized they came prepared, they anticipated and they knew what they were talking about.

So 100%. So it is a great stuff. And so everybody, thank you. We hope this has fueled your thought process as far as being involved in a mastermind. And just to let you know, there are mastermind pop ups is what we call them. They're going to be popping up all around the country and it could be coming to a city near you. So if you're interested in putting your foot in the water on what a mastermind experience would be like with me facilitating and other A player agencies beside you in that experience, please check around this either podcast audio or podcast video, there is a link and if you're Driving. Please keep both hands on the wheel. Russ. I don't know if you know, one of my grandkids told me it's nine and three now, not ten and four.

Okay.

Just FYI, buddy, I thought I'd share that.

But let me just add one other thing.

Yeah, please, go ahead.

And again, Mike's not prompting me to do any of this. So I've been in Mike's mastermind 10 years plus. Anyhow, I forget exactly how long ago was, but that those masterminds have actually changed my revenue in excess of three, almost four times. And that's all because of these people around the room and giving me feedback. So if you're getting it, if you're anywhere close to one of these pop ups, I think it's an investment that you'll, you won't regret. And if there's any questions, by all means, look me up, call me. I'll give you the straight scoop. But I think it's money well spent, time well spent and you'll kind of go the old cliche of where, where, why and how come I haven't done this in the past. So.

Russ, thank you. Appreciate your kind words. And these popups, they're normally complimentary. You just got to get there. And if you're going to stay overnight, you're going to have to invest in the hotel. But otherwise it's an investment in yourself and it's an investment in your business and it's an investment in the future personal development which will benefit your family and everything around you into the future. So thank you for sharing today, Russ. Thank you for coming on and helping and helping encourage everybody on the incredible, in many situations, life changing value, personally and professionally of being in a Mastermind forum. More specifically, the right mastermind forum. Anything else to add today, Russ, as we wrap it up?

No, I just appreciate all your help, Mike, and all the other members over all the years. I wouldn't be nearly where I am without people like you. So thank you very much.

You're very welcome, Russ. We are grateful for you as well. And we talked about the teaching and giving back aspect earlier. It's absolutely accurate. Wouldn't be, you know, at the levels that we're at as well, without our partnerships with people like you as well. Not only in the agency side, but in the masterminding side and personally. So thank you, Russ.

Right on. By the way, if you're watching this podcast, that means we second or we agree. It's an ism that was born within our UPP circles. And if this is your first time on the podcast. Welcome. My name is Mike Stomson. I'm widely recognized as the leading author, speaker and coach for the independent insurance agency industry. You can learn more about what we do@upplife.com that's upplife.com and if you're looking for more information on one of our Mastermind Sessions, go to upplife.com check up on the top. It should be right there on the main page of the website information about it. Or you can contact us just go to VIP life.com is our email VIP life.com or just call us 800-770-9984 or again, there's likely a link around this recording which you can just click on. It'll give you all the information you're looking for. But everything that we do, it's all designed based on my 35 plus years of experience as a proud independent insurance agent. All designed to help you grow your business, create wealth so, so you two can have more freedom to live life on your own terms. That's all we want for you. And that's all Russ does is travel. He's got to again, he's got to figure out when he's going to stop his marketing so he can travel some more at the ask of him and his, his wife and his family. And we couldn't be happier for them. So that's what you get. You get all the proven experience coming to the table in that collaborative environment. It's just game changing, game changing. That's all I can tell you. And if this is your first time on the podcast again, go up to the top@unstoppableprofit podcast.com Unstoppable Profit podcast.com Go up to the top. Make sure you click subscribe so you don't miss one valuable S episode. Join the hundreds of other successful independent insurance agents who join us weekly to get gold nuggets galore. And it's helping them. Russ, we didn't even bring this to the table because we didn't get to it. Helping them polish their acre of diamonds, right?

Well, I kind of talked on it a little in the multiplier that my revenue has gone up because of your group. But it is, it's the polishing of the diamond so that you can get the business to run the way you want and do what's important to you. As a final note, I'll just give you my one last comment. Mike, you didn't ask for this, but you're getting it as a as an extra free gift. No Ginsu knives here. When I started in business, I always wanted to provide a lifestyle for my family. What I've told the employees when I hire them, I don't want it to say anything on my epitaph or on yours about what you did during your life or for a living. I wanted to provide a lifestyle that you wanted. Hopefully we're doing that. We'll be doing that for hopefully many more years. My employees feel that and practice that every day. And I thank you, UPP and Mastermind for that. So thank you very much.

Thank you, Russ, again for your kind words. And concerning the podcast, please make sure you subscribe. And we're out there on all the channels. Apple Podcast, Spotify, Stitcher, our YouTube channel, Amazon, and so much more. So we're out there Unstoppable profit podcast. Just check it out. And thank you for joining us. And again, Mr. Russ Castle. Thank you, sir.

Thank you, Mike.

You're welcome. All right, everybody, you've got the goods. Just get out there and make it happen for yourself. There's only one thing that's going to get you to the next level. It's not thinking about it. It's not talking about it. It's taking action. And we can't wait to see you at one of our next Mastermind opportunities. Just check around this recording somewhere or just go to upplife.com check it out. It's around there somewhere. Or email us viplife.com or 800-770-9984 that you are well taken care of and help you grow your business, create wealth so you too can have the lifestyle and live life on your own terms. I will see you on the next episode, everybody. Until then, be unstoppable. See ya.

Do 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.