My Advice For Your 20’s

Here's what I think you should do in your 20s from a guy who's been there, done that, got the t shirt, your 20s. Everyone thinks that when they're in their early 20s, life is halfway over and it's not, Trust me, as a 57 year old, you're just getting started in the world and everybody wants to get started and get out there and make their mark. Some are scared to, some are, but some think that this is it, they only have one chance. And that's not the case. I changed careers a couple of times. I wanted to be in the army and I was in army ROTC in college trying to be an officer. And I decided that wasn't for me because they were reducing the forces in the military. Then I went into business. I've been working at Reynolds Tobacco since I was 15. So I just stayed there. I kept getting promoted, had a really good job. I thought that security would be there for me like it was for my dad. Until it wasn't. When my dad was ceremoniously fired. Thirty years into his business or his career stunned him, shocked him, crippled him, broke him. And I thought, man, I might not want to do this. I had some changes in my life that I had applied for to go to master's to get my master's degree because I needed it to move up in management. They randomly happened to send me a mailer and I thought, you know what, I got some free time, I can do this at night. It might take me to the next level. Because in the 90s, masters in 2000s, master's degrees were the next level. These days it's almost everyone's got one. So I did that. That led me to change careers into a whole new field. Now I could sell. I was one of the top salesmen. So I used those skills. But instead of working for a major company, I went into insurance. I planned my escape for two years. I met mom, she was behind me, which is always good. Your, your spouse is your secret weapon in business. You need that person standing beside you, you know, cheering for you, fighting for you, that you can talk to that confidant. But I changed the insurance. We had six months of savings. I had to buy new cars because we had Casey and Riley. Casey, mom quit the Gap, pretty much went part time. She'd been a Gap manager. I left rentals, lost my company car. I'd sold my Jeep and I had bought paid cash for to buy our first house. So we bought two new cars, started a new career and have never looked back. And There are times, and we'll talk about this in some other videos, where you burn the boats. I burned the boats. I got a promotion, actually, at Reynolds, and I said, sorry, I want the package. I had a severance package with all my vacation, and that was about six months of pay. I had some savings, but I bought two cars. But I burned the boats. Put myself full time into insurance, which I'd been doing partially for two years at night and weekends, building my knowledge base up. Had a small base of clients. But in my 20s, I took a complete pivot that I never saw coming. Going from wanting to be a military officer. Law enforcement was my master's, was my undergraduate. So I was looking to springboard into law enforcement. Neither one of those paid very well. It's hard to have a family, and it was rough on your family to have. Meeting a guy, per chance, who's related to a girl I was dating at the time, you know, before I met Mom. And I was like, what do you do? Like, you have a pretty good life. Nice car, worked out, ran right up right all the time. And he's like, oh, I'm an insurance agent. And so I was like, tell me more. So as I looked into sales careers, that intrigued me. I helped mom and dad through my mom and dad through some insurance claims. I had some friends whose parents were insurance agents. So I had a little basis, and they'd done well. So I completely pivoted. Most people would be too scared to do that, but I saw the opportunity and took it. So you guys in your 20s, don't be scared to change careers, to pivot if you're doing one type of work, but there's another one that's new or congruent that matches up with some skills, but it might be a just a pivot and think you thought, well, I never would really do that. Take the chance. The 20s are where you take your chances in life. You got plenty of life left. Your biggest thing, I would say, in your 20s, is to start to nail down what you want to do. You do need to start focusing on that, but try different things and find a spouse. You need to find a spouse. Don't wait till your people say, I'm waiting to my 30s and 35 to have kids. And never a good time to have kids. Have them when you're young. Find a spouse first. Obviously, you need that person beside you, your best friend, your secret weapon in life that helps you get through the hard times, someone you can lean on. Lots of things that a good husband or wife can do for you that you just don't think about that'll help you with that business and that decision. And you need to both, you know, they need to agree with you on that. But sometimes you just take risks. And mom trusted me and said, if this is what you think is going to make it work, let's do it. You know, we've got savings, you know, I trust you. And almost well as 28 years later, so far, so good. So I guess it's going to stick. So the big thing in your 20s is don't be afraid to fall forward. You know, if you're going to fall, fall forward, learn from your mistakes, get into careers that you might not think about, stretch yourself in your careers looking for something else to do. If there's a new field that pops up or some new area of expertise that comes up, which God knows what's coming out there with you guys with AI and all this stuff. Start researching in your spare time. Don't watch fucking TV every night. Study. Always be learning. We talk about this in a lot of videos. Always be learning. Don't watch hours or tv. Read, study. Keep yourself open to other fields. Fall forward and you never know what will happen. But your 20s is a time where you do that. You experiment with career fields, you experiment with occupations, what you want to do. You might want to open a food truck up, who knows, you know, if it's your passion, do it. Money isn't everything. I mean, it helps, but it's not everything. Loving what you do and enjoying building a business or having a career or helping people, that's what keeps you going. And then your kids and your spouse and your family becomes your why that you can do that. But you have to have a passion for what you do. So you just never know. I never thought I would be an insurance agent. That's the funny, the joke most agents have. You never thought, how did you fall into insurance? I got fired from this job, I got let go. Maybe my dad was an insurance agent, I married somebody, etc. No one ever starts off really thinking they want to go into insurance. It's not a really great career, but it teaches you a lot about business. I can do any number of things with my sales skills, my business skills, and what I've learned, I can start a new business tomorrow, do well with all I've learned, but I've constantly learned. I'm looking today, I'm reading two books this morning. I read half of a chapter of one and then a chapter of another one. Read an hour, every day. Every day, seven days a week. You need to be studying like that. So in your 20s, learn. Stretch your neck out, you know, be different from everybody else. Learn something. It's never too late. Even if you're having kids, you can still do that. But that's what your 20s are for. And then we'll go into talking about that. You know, that's what I think. Your 30s, 40s and 50s in another video.