Episode 76: The Easiest Money You Will Ever Make

Welcome to the Unstoppable Profit Podcast. Wherever you are today, if you're starting with nothing or are well on your way to the success you desire, with the right people, processes and promotions in place, you will be unstoppable. And now I'd like to introduce your host, Mike Stromso. Greetings, friends. This is Mike Stromsoe coming to you live from the Living Agency Laboratory. And I'm here with the next episode of of the Unstoppable Profit podcast. And I'm excited, I'm pumped, and I love to talk about the subject that we're going to talk about today, because, my friends, the easiest money that you're ever going to earn or make is the money that you're already earning or making. And it's right beneath you all of the time, right in your own acre of diamonds. And I wanted to remind you about this this morning, because consistently, agents that we get to work with all over North America are talking about, well, what's my next marketing strategy? Where am I going to get my. Where am I going to get more leads, etc, etc, etc. And I will always, always revert back to their own acre of diamonds and say, are you at 3.0 or bet 3.0? Or better yet.

That'S exactly what I get. I can't think of a time when I got something other than that. Yes, Silence. Because they're not there yet. So the greatest encouragement is to always, always, always be mining your own acre of diamonds consistently, as well as the other lead sources that are coming in. Because if you will consistently have a plan and have a plan to mine and garden your own acre of diamonds consistently, along with everything else, you will have every opportunity that you would ever hope for. You will grow your business, create wealth, and have more freedom to live life on your own terms. Let's get going. I want to start with the story. It's one of the most influential stories that I've ever heard in my journey so far, and it's about the acre of diamonds. Because in 1843, a man who was born to have a profound effect on the lives of many, many people was born. His name was Russell Herman Conwell. He became a lawyer, a newspaper editor, and finally a clergyman. It was during his church career that an incident occurred that would change his life and the lives of countless others. One day, a group of young people came to Dr. Conwell and asked him if he could instruct them in college courses. They all wanted a college education, but they lacked the money to pay for it. He told them to let him think about it and to come back to him in a few days. And after they left, an idea began to form in Dr. Conwell's mind. Why couldn't there be a. A fine college for young deserving poor people? Before long, the project consumed him. That's a strategy. Ninja stealth tip number one. Let it consume you. Whatever it is your passion is. Whatever you desire to obtain, let it consume you. All right. It consumed him. And he said why not? The project was worthy of. Here's the ninja STEALTH Tip number two. 100% of his dedication. 100%. A complete commitment. Are you 100% dedicated to whatever it is you want to achieve next? And are you giving it 100% of your commitment and your capacity? That is something we have been talking about a lot lately in our mastermind circles. Almost single handedly, Dr. Conwell raised several million dollars with which he founded Temple University. He raised the money by giving over 6,000 lectures all over the country. And in every one of them he told the story of acres of diamonds. It was a true story that it infected him very deeply and had the same effect on his audiences. The money he needed to build the college came pouring in. The story was the account of an African farmer who had heard about other farmers who had made millions of by discovering diamond mines. This excited the farmer so much that he could hardly, he could hardly wait to sell his own farm and go prospecting for diamonds himself. So he sold the farm, spending the rest of his life searching the African continent unsuccessfully for the gleaming gems that have brought such high prices on the market of the world. Finally, as the story goes, the farmer, worn out and in a fit of despondency, threw himself into a river and drowned. Meanwhile, back at the ranch and the farm, in this case, the man who had bought the farm happened to be crossing a small stream on the property when suddenly there was a bright flash of blue and red lights in the bottom of the stream. He bent down, picked up the stone and it was a good sized stone. And later, after admiring it, he put it on his fireplace as an interesting curiosity. Several weeks later, a visitor picked up the stone, looked at it closely, held it in his hand and nearly fainted. He asked the farmer if he knew what he had found. He said no, he thought it was a piece of crystal. The visitor told him that he found one of the largest diamonds ever discovered. The farmer had trouble believing that. He told the man that his creek was full of such stones. Not as large perhaps as the one on the mantel but they were sprinkler sprinkled generously throughout the creek bottom. Needless to say, the first farm that the farmer had sold so he could go find a diamond mine elsewhere turned out to be one of the most productive mines on the African continent. Continent. The first farmer had owned, free and clear, his own acre of diamonds, but he sold it for practically nothing in order to look for them elsewhere. My friends, the moral is clear. If the first farmer had only taken the time to study and prepare himself and learn what diamonds look like in their rough state, since he had already owned a piece of the African continent to thoroughly explore the property he had already had before looking elsewhere, all of his wildest dreams would have come true. The thing that so profoundly continues to affect people is that at this very moment, they're standing right in the middle of their own acre of diamonds. If we only have the wisdom and the patience to intelligently, effectively explore the work with which we're now engaged to explore ourselves, we'll usually find the riches we seek, whether they're financial, intangible, or both. But before we go off running into what we think are greener pastures, let's make sure that ours is not just as green, perhaps even greener. It's been said that the other guy's pasture appears to be greener than ours. Then it's possible it's getting better care. Besides, while we are looking at other pastures, other people are looking at ours. My friends, I don't want that to happen to you. I don't want that to happen to any of you. Don't let your pasture turn brown. You've got to keep your own pasture as green as possible all of the time. So one of my favorite questions in leading into a training like this is to what is the status of your shining jewel? How shiny is it? Are you constantly shining that brilliant jewel as often as possible on a daily basis? Have you allow it to consume you? Have you agreed in your mind and your heart to give it 100% of your commitment? My friends, you've got to be paying attention to your shining jewel all of the time. Because at the end of the day, the grass isn't always greener on the other side, I said in the beginning, is your agency book 3.0 or better? And if not, there is your place to start. Let me give you another encouraging mindset to start with this morning. Okay? So let's pretend as an example. And I learned this in my own personal development training, and I learned it from Bob Berg in the beginning and I've studied it more and I continue to learn the same thing, my friends. There's nothing new under the sun. So let's pretend Bob Burg taught me that Everybody knows about 250 people. 250 people that might come to their wedding, 250 people that might come to their funeral. But let's get conservative. Let's say people aren't as fortunate to know that many people that. Well, let's just say it's 125, okay? Let's say you've got 600 clients, alright? So you've got 600 clients and they know 125 other people. That is 75,000 people, my friends. What more do you want?

What more do you want than that opportunity that's knocking right before you? And if you get just one of them, are you 3.0 or better? Think about that. Do the math. And if you have a systematic, automatic strategic referral program to continue to mine that acre of diamonds, my friends, what more is it that you want when they leave you? What about your lost souls program, my friends? What more do you want? It's right there beneath your feet. Go get it, my friends. And we want to help you get it. Are you mining your own acre of diamonds? Let's look back to The Bain and McKinsey studies. The Bain Company and the McKinsey Company, they're companies out there that study our industry and other business industries to find out the the truth about the acre of diamonds they studied in our industry, the insurance industry, over a 10 year period. Okay? So if an agency had 100 clients over a 10 year period, if they had just one policy, they could lose up to 90% of them because they only had one policy. However, over that same 10 year period, out of those hundred clients, if they had two or more two policies, they would only lose 38% of them. And my friends, over that same 10 year period, over those same hundred clients, if they had three or more policies, they would only lose 10% of them. Simply by adding more policies, you shift the paradigm completely in your favor. So what is it that you want? What is it we can help you with? Because we want to help you get there so that you are rock solid. You see your existing book of business, your existing sphere of influence, your center of influence, once you get to a certain point, you will reach the tipping point. That's 17% of your book, is what I learned from Malcolm Gladwell in his book the Tipping Point. And I strongly suggest you study that. If you haven't studied that yet you see your existing book of business, the probability of selling to an existing customer is 60 to 70% better than a cold prospect as an example. So if you haven't completely mind that, why haven't you? The probability of selling to a cold prospect or somebody who doesn't know you at all or doesn't know your brand, if you even have a brand yet, is 5 to 20%. So my friends go after the low hanging fruit. I remember working with an agent a number of years ago who said, you know what, I've identified this. I get it, I hear what you're saying. I, I'm going to completely stop marketing. I'm not going to invest $1 in mining outside my own book. I'm going to spend the entire year going after my existing book of business and mining all of the diamonds that are inside of my own book of business. And so after checking back with the agent about 13 months later, I said, hey, what happened? He said, it's amazing. We grew 11% last year revenue by just mining our own acre of diamonds. I said, that's fantastic. So what's your plan for this year? He goes.

There'S so many shiny diamonds left at the bottom of the creek. In my own book, we're going to do the same thing again this year. And they did it. And so I checked back with him about 13 months later, I said, how did it go? He goes, we did it again. 13% from just their own acre of diamonds. My friends, it's strategic, but it starts with a mindset and a plan and a team plan and team training and everything else. And then you got to keep score. You've got to inspect what you expect, my friends, right before you is everything you would ever want. And it starts with keeping in touch. Ok. I recently heard a strategy from within our platinum circles. You've heard of Thoma Tomas, Top of mind awareness. So somebody shifted that paradigm a little bit and they call it Toha, which is top of heart awareness. That's a very interesting strategy. I love that strategy, right? Top of mind is fine, but top of heart is better. Because at the end of the day, my friends, people don't buy on logic, they buy on emotion. So if you're not touching them emotionally, if you're not reaching their heart, if you are not connecting with their heart, you might be missing opportunity. So in your touches, in your nurturing touches with your own existing acre of diamonds, how are you connecting with them? All of our clients within our existing agency book, our center of influences, our prospects and Everybody else, we connect with them at least 29 times a year. 29 times. So what is your strategy? Looking at our strategy, every single month we have a strategy to reach people. Whether it be newsletter, whether it be a nurture email, whether it be a voice broadcast call, whether it be a live check in call, whether it be a text, whatever it be, whatever it be, whatever it be. We are connected with people, whether it be their birthdays, we touch people three to four times on their birthdays depending on the availability we have. One of the key things back to Toha versus Thoma, right? Top of mind awareness, top of heart awareness. Alright, so our newsletters, they're personalized, they tell a story, they're about us, they're not about some canned insurance company publication. They're personalized to our agency. Because you've got to be answering the question all the time. Why should people do business with you over and above any and all other options available to them? I know that's a big mouthful. Let me say that one again, I'll say it slower. If you haven't written this down and you don't have it somewhere on a whiteboard around your business, you might be missing opportunity. Why should people do business with you over and above any and all other options available to them? You've got to be answering that question every day and every single way. Because at the end of the day, my friends, they don't need you. There's plenty of options out there. They can go find them. It's that little thing called Google or Bing or whatever they're searching with. Boom. They can find somebody else in a heartbeat. 24, 7, 365. Why should people be doing business with you over and above any and all other options available to them? You got to be answering that question. So we started with a personalized monthly newsletter, online and offline. And the best way to reach 100% of the marketplace. Online and offline, online and offline. It's a street sweet strategic strategy that you must use and employ after you've done your client avatars, your client profile maps to make sure that you are clear on how your marketplace likes to be connected with. Because it's all about them, not about you. It's all about them and not about you. Okay? Holidays make it personal. Every, every single month has an opportunity to connect in some way. All right, when things like pandemics and other things happen, what is your program? What is your community outreach program? I just did a community outreach program this morning.

To connect to teachers and their Students and their families, it's a very, very difficult time for them. But as we're going to learn in just a minute, the great Maya Angelou said.

They'Ll forget about what you said, they'll forget about what you did, but they'll never forget how you made them feel. Okay, don't forget about that. Critically, critically important, ok? And their birthdays, like I said, that's an opportunity to reach somebody, to create toha top of heart awareness on their day. It's their day. I mean, everybody, when you think about their birthday, they're thinking, this is the one day when nobody's going to give me any crap. I'll have a good day, et cetera, et cetera. Yeah, it's their day. It's their birthday. So how are you connecting with them? Well, we send them a card offline, we drop them a call offline, we connect with them on social media, online, and we have a singing birthday telegram. Ok? And then we also have a video email online. So we connect with them two ways offline and two ways online. Up to four times on their birthday, their day, they don't forget about that. And these singing telegrams, I can consistently get messages back. It's amazing to me what they said. My friends, I hope that helps you. I hope that inspires you. I hope that helps you understand the incredible opportunity that you've got right before you, right beneath you, within your own acre of diamonds, my friend, just go get it. Create a plan, meet with your team, launch the plan, make it consistent and inspect what you expect.

You have to be diligent and you've got to check in and make sure that you're executing the plan. Remember, in the words of Maya Angelou, they'll forget what you said, they'll forget what you did, but they'll never forget how you made them feel. It's not top of mind awareness. I love that, by the way. Top of heart awareness. Connect with them where they are. I learned this in my own personal development.

A number of years ago from my late friend Lynn. He said, mike, you know the best way to connect with people? I said, no, Lynn, what is it? He goes, meet them where they are. Meet them where they are, my friends. Just meet them where they are. They're waiting to connect with you. Don't let this thing up here think that you've tried too many times already. No, they're still waiting to hear from you. They just haven't had time to respond. They're waiting to hear. My record is 11 times. I had a deal that I wanted very, very badly. I needed to connect with the person. I hit redial 11 times. 11 times. 11 times I hit redial. The 12th time they picked up. They said, oh, I'm so glad you continue to pursue me. I just haven't had time to get back to you. Let's get this done. I said, yes, there's something about failing 11 times, by the way, I recently did that on a wakeboard in a lake. Alright, the 12th time I got up.

How bad do you want it? 100% commitment.

Are you allowing it to consume you 100% of your being? Are you going to use 100% of your capacity in that commitment? My friends? Go get it. It's out there waiting for you. All you have to do is do the work. And remember, the only time success comes before work is in the dictionary. This is Mike Somsoe coming to you live from the Living Agency Laboratory. I can't wait to see you on the next episode of the Unstoppable Profit podcast. And remember, if you haven't subscribed yet, please make sure you subscribe so that you'll automatically get every podcast right into however you watch the podcast, your inbox if you will. In addition to that, make sure you share unstoppableprofitpodcast.com or any way that you watch the podcast with anybody and everybody you know. We bring these to you weekly with one mission. That you'll grow your business, that you'll create wealth, and that you'll have more freedom to live life on your own terms using the philosophy of the three Ps. It's a simple, proven three step blueprint that I have continued to hone almost over almost 35 years in our industry. Been there, done that and I'm still doing it and I'm not going to stop anytime soon. People processes promotion. If there's anything more that we can do for you, please let us know. And and until then, make a difference, be unstoppable and leave no regrets. I'll see you in the next episode. Take care everybody. Thank you for listening. If you would like to listen to more episodes or share this podcast with someone you care about, please visit www.unstoppableprofitpodcast.com now go out and make a difference, be unstoppable and leave no regrets.