Business Innovators Radio - Insurance Entrepreneur Lennox Cornwall Shares His Unique Approach on the Vegas Business Spotlight Podcast

Starting point is 00:00:01 Welcome to Vegas Business Spotlight, the podcast that brings you the brightest minds and success stories from the bustling business scene in and around Las Vegas. Join us as we journey behind the neon lights and uncover the strategies, triumphs, and insights that shape the entrepreneurial landscape of the city of lights. From visionary startups to industry titans, get ready to be inspired by the stories of those who've turned dreams into reality on this iconic stage. And now, your host, Tim Nifton. Hello and welcome to another episode of Vegas Business Spotlight, sponsored by RSP Las Vegas. I'm Tim Nifton, your host, and I'm thrilled to have you here with us today as we continue our journey through the vibrant world of Las Vegas entrepreneurship. Before we dive in today's conversation, I want to extend a warm welcome to our featured guests. joining us today as Lennox Cornwall.

Starting point is 00:00:59 We're honored to have him on the show today to share his experiences, insights, and wisdom he has gained over his remarkable journey to success. So without further of due, let's get right into it. Lennox, welcome to the Vegas business spotlight. We're delighted to have you here today. How are you doing today? Thanks, and I'm great, and I'm also very pleased that you think I'm going to share some wisdom with you today. I appreciate that very much. I'm sure you have a lot to share. So fantastic. Well, let's jump right in and start by hearing a bit about your journey and the incredible work you're doing in Las Vegas. So I always like to start off with, you know, give us your 30 second elevator pitch or your commercial about who you are and what you do. Okay. Well, the insurance agency is an independent brokerage. It's called the Cornwall Insurance Agency based in Henderson, Nevada. And I like to say that we're unique because we're not quote machines. I like to call most agents, quote, seeking missiles. We don't. do that. We would rather sit down and understand what a client requires, and then we

Starting point is 00:01:59 definitely will diagnose before we prescribe. It's very important. So we take a more consultative approach to most. Perfect. And so what is, you mentioned it a little bit, but what is your unique approach to insurance? Okay. So what I do, I typically focus on commercial business. So my unique spot, if you like, my sweet spot is small businesses between one and 50 and employees. And then we drill down. So what I mean by my unique value proposition is simply this. My background is both corporate banking in London, not in the city of London, where I learned something called, at the time we called it, what did we call it? We actually called it relationship banking, forgive me, it's a long time ago, relationship banking. In today's parlance, that's simply

Starting point is 00:02:49 consultative selling. So what I do today is take that experience and also take the experience from my business consulting days where I understood the business. So I go in and I want to understand a business before I do anything else. Oftentimes I'm not even looking for an insurance thing. I'm just looking for risk management strategies. So that may be somebody wanting to pass the business on to family members or sell the business in, let's say, five years time. So I might look at that and say, okay, what do you have in place right now to transfer that business? Do you have a trust in place? So you have, you know, something like a buy-sell agreement. Do you have an estate plan? And oftentimes I'm not even looking at how I can help them,

Starting point is 00:03:34 but how some of my partners may be able to help them. So it's a truly comprehensive look at a business before we do any prescribing. Perfect. And what qualifies you to deliver what you're promising? Great question. I would say good looks and charm, but you would see through that straight away. So let me tell you the truth. Again, my, background as a corporate banker. So I was literally dealing with Fortune 500 aerospace companies back in the day. And I obviously was able to, you know, analyze balance sheets, profit and loss statements, cash flow statements, and the rest of it, to submit, you know, proposals to my credit committee. So I had to get that right. Otherwise, I would starve. Thankfully, I didn't.

Starting point is 00:04:15 And then again, my experience as a business consultant, I was pretty much a turnaround, especially, so I'd go into a business and sometimes if I didn't turn that business around within literally seven days they would be gone because oftentimes the business zone would leave it until it was almost too late. So I take those experiences into what I'm doing and analyze a business in the same why I would as a banker or as I would as a business consultant. So again, I'm looking for where are the risks? How do we mitigate those risks? If we can't mitigate the risks, how do we manage them? Yeah, yeah, definitely. And what other industry experience do you have?

Starting point is 00:04:54 Banking, as I said, consulting. I actually owned a franchise business before coming to the West Coast. I had a Pop-a-Lock franchise. So, as you can imagine, well, you may not know. Pop-a-Lock is the largest locksmithing business on the planet. It is franchise, like I said. And we specialized in, if you like, letting people into their cars when they lock themselves out. That was the main feature.

Starting point is 00:05:17 But then, of course, we did regular locksmithing like, you know, residential doors, commercial doors, and the rest of it. So I focused on real estate agents at the time because they're a great source of referral business. Oh, that's great. And what do you like to do when you're not working? Great question. I like writing. I'm a published author. You can tell that I'm not from Lubbock, Texas.

Starting point is 00:05:40 I grew up in London, and my team is Arsenal. We're talking about real football here, Tim. and I still follow them. These days, of course, just via TV and the internet. But I love that. I love working out. I like running and staying fit and healthy. And I eat extremely well as well, health-wise.

Starting point is 00:05:58 Yeah. Tell me about some of your books that you've written. Do you mind if I kind of go back a little bit and tell you how the books came about? Okay. So my first business was when I was 29 years. of age. I literally promised myself as a nine-year-old that I'd go into business before the age of 30. I was 29 and I was getting increasingly, you know, peed off with things at the bank. And I decided, you know what, I promised myself this, I'm going to do it. So I resigned.

Starting point is 00:06:30 I went into business with two other individuals. We had a consultancy practice. And one of them stole a bunch of money and I lost absolutely everything, literally lost everything, including my wife who took the dog with her. Now, I started journaling, Tim, to understand how I could make such a fundamental mistake. I'd never really made anything as calamitous as that in my life before, had been successful in everything I'd done. Now, I was journaling, journaling and journaling, and then one day I was literally coming out of a meditation, and a light bulb went on, and it said, this is not for you. This is a book that you have to write to show other things.

Starting point is 00:07:10 people who have failed but want to continue in business how to do it. And I'll scratch you my head thinking I need help. I'm going to help anyone else. But I wrote a book called Embracing Failure, Your Peter Success. And the central premise of that book, Tim, is that failure is nothing more than an acronym. That acronym stands for fruitful and informative lesson, urging renewed effort. And I've taken that into my life right now. So everything that happens that we perceive as negative is simply something that's happened, and we can choose how we respond to it. I choose to look at everything as a learning lesson if it's not a success. Wow, that's great.

Starting point is 00:07:52 That's wonderful. Can you tell us a little bit about your early days as an entrepreneur? Absolutely. So the first business that I started with the two colleagues that I mentioned was called the Mayfair Heritage Group, and we were based in London. Exciting times, one of my partners was a lawyers of London broker, so he focused on, you know, exotic things like ensuring the legs of a model called Susan Metzzi back in the day. You probably don't know. We had a rag of a newspaper. It's still around. It called the Sun back in England, and it was really just a

Starting point is 00:08:31 trashy newspaper. And she would appear, you know, sort of on what we called page three back. then, where, you know, she would be showing off her legs or whatever else. So we insured her for a million pounds back in the day, which was a big deal. You know, in the newspapers and everything else. And then one of my other colleagues was a chap called Philip Fashiony, who had two very successful footballers. And so we got a lot of clients through that connection as well. And then for me, boring old me, I was the dude who did the business planning and raised capital, whether it was debt capital or equity capital for businesses that we served. So a lot of fun. Honestly, we were just very aggressive. We didn't know what we were doing, quite frankly, but we just had a lot of

Starting point is 00:09:14 aggression, a lot of desire. And we made it work until, like I said, somebody decided to, you know, run away with a bunch of money. How did those early experiences shape your approach to business today? Well, negatively, I'll be quite frank. So back then, having left the bank, I was very focused on just earning money. That was it. That was my main golden life to earn money. When I lost everything through that mishap, it really made me refocused.

Starting point is 00:09:44 That's when I started doing things that I'd never done before, like meditating and Tai Chi and Kung Fu and yoga, stuff that I'd heard about but never had any interest in doing. But what that experience did for me was completely changed me from being somebody who was focused on me and what I could get into somebody who was far more interested in, how can I serve you, you know? And so I really truly believe that by serving others,

Starting point is 00:10:10 we get what we want. And that's how I approach business, is how I approach life now. And without that mess out, it would never have happened. So it was a blessing in disguise. That's great. As you know, Las Vegas is known for its vibrant and unique business landscape. How is being based in the city of Henderson, Las Vegas,

Starting point is 00:10:29 influenced your business strategies and decisions? That's a really great question. I think more than being based in Henderson, what does influence my business strategy and, you know, influence, if you like, is that I knew nobody here when I came here. And the agency was brand new. I said it up from scratch, wanted to go my own way. And so, you know, in that situation, you ask you,

Starting point is 00:10:54 well, what's the best opportunity for me to grow this business? And for me, it was simply networking. So I joined the Chamber, the Henderson Chamber of Commerce, which has been a blessing, and even more so the BNI, one of the local BNI chapters, of course, where I met you, and it's been absolutely sensational. And I would really commend or not just commend, but recommend that anyone with a business who wants to grow it through word of mouth and through referrals and just good business relationships would join a chapter of BNI.

Starting point is 00:11:27 That's how it's worked. What advantages do you think Las Vegas offers to entrepreneurs right now? I think it has an attitude of Kandu, okay? I was on the East Coast before coming here. Look, America generally has a can-do attitude compared to most places on the planet and I grew up in England, so I get that. But, you know, coming out to the West, there just seems to be this spirit of, go West, young man, you know, just this freedom.

Starting point is 00:11:54 Whereas on the East Coast, you can see that it's way more traditional. I was lucky enough to travel this country extensively and going up to the northeast is fantastic. It's a beautiful, beautiful place, especially in the fall. However, one thing I did learn is that it's got such traditions that are steeped in England that I didn't feel that sense of freedom as I do here in the West and certainly in Vegas and the valley. Yeah, definitely.

Starting point is 00:12:25 What advice do you have for those just starting off on their entrepreneurial journey? Well, number one is believe in yourself. Absolutely. If you don't believe in yourself, don't even stop. Okay, that's the first thing. The second thing is to have at least one very strong mentor who has achieved what you want to achieve. The third thing is to, you know, know what you want, see that vision. Okay.

Starting point is 00:12:51 So people say, talk about, you know, living the dream. I always say, look, before you can live the dream, you've got to dream the life. So the third thing is dream that life and then you live the dream by planning, solid planning. And that planning is, you know, what do I want to achieve within the next, whether it's one year, five years, 10 years. And again, work with your mentor on hitting those targets. And, you know, if you don't hit a target, remember, what is failure? Nothing more or less than a fruitful and informative lesson, urging renewed effort. So don't give up.

Starting point is 00:13:24 As Sir Winston Churchill said, never give in, or however he said it. So, yeah, just keep going. Wonderful. So building and sustaining a successful business often requires adaptability. Can you tell us about a time when you had to pivot or make a major change in your business model in Las Vegas? In Las Vegas, I'm going to say no because I'm still at a stage. I'm sort of calling it, you know, stage one, which. is beyond ground zero, if you like, where I'm still in that phase of, you know, it's me and I do

Starting point is 00:13:59 have a lot of support, but I'm now looking to obviously expand the business. So I'm not quite there yet, but in a previous business, let me give you the example of the franchise business. It's probably the best one, you know, because I did have a team of guys on the road and so on and so forth. So when you start at that sort of business, it's you are two vans and one guy, okay? and you're doing everything, you're recruiting, you're training, you're out on the road doing the business as well. And then you have to transition from being in that business, right, working in the business, as we like to say, to working on the business. And that requires systems and structure. Without systems and structure, you will not take your business to whatever the next level is.

Starting point is 00:14:41 It's just not going to happen. And I would recommend anyone read a book called The E-Mith. Forgive me if I forget the author, you may be able to tell me that, Tim, but. It is one of the best business books ever written. It's not about e-business, as we know it. The e-meth is about entrepreneurs who are absolutely sensational of what they do, whether it's making widgets or plumbing, but don't have sufficient business experience to take the transition from being,

Starting point is 00:15:08 you know, the plumber or the widget maker to a business owner that's growing a business and having a team around him or her. Yeah, definitely. And the author is Michael Gerber. There we go. Monseil Gerber, I should know that. Yeah, great author. Yeah, perfect. So Las Vegas is known for its diverse industries. Can you share any insights into how you've tapped into or leverage this diversity for your business's success? That's an awesome question, Tim. One of the things I've done, being an insurance broker that has relationships with many different insurance carriers, I've kind of reverse engineered. So I went to my carers and I said, look, what is it that you would like me to write, you know, Mr.

Starting point is 00:15:53 Mrs. Underwriter? What is it that you're not seeing that you want? And there were several things that they wanted that most agents are afraid to go after, if you like, because they're more difficult to get. So one would be manufacturing businesses, okay? The liability there and the understanding the complexity of a manufacturing business when it comes to insurance is way more difficult than just. going down to the mum and pop store or, you know, providing, you know, insurance for a commercial building. Okay, those are pretty relatively straightforward things. So manufacturing would be one.

Starting point is 00:16:31 Another area that I like to specialize in is technology for the same reasons. The underwriter said, Lenox, please, you know, get us some technology businesses. And again, that could be anything as diverse as producing precision instruments to food, literally. Now, the third area is bonds, and I don't mean like government bonds or anything like that. I'm talking about performance bonds, surety bonds. There's a lot of construction going on in the city, as you know, in the valley generally, and there are an awful lot of contractors who need bonds. Without the bond, they're not going to get the contract.

Starting point is 00:17:13 So that's the third area that I like to sort of specialize. And then if I can just give you two others, because I just think that they are dire needs for small business owners. One, with what happened at MGM, I shouldn't even be having to say this. Cybersecurity will kill your business if something goes wrong. Get it. It's very inexpensive. And then the next one is what we call employment practices liability insurance, which is also

Starting point is 00:17:43 known as EPLIFO, for sure, because it's a bit of a mouthful. And that simply protects an employer against being, against discriminating against an employee or, you know, things like sexual harassment. And I always like to say on the final point, Tim, is I know all of you listening to this, don't do those things. I get it. But all you have to be is accused of them. And all of a sudden, there's an attorney after you and you've got to defend yourself. And for pennies on the dollar and I live for me in pennies on the dollar, you could be saving yourself tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars in lawsuits and costs. Wow. How do you stay innovative and competitive in such a multifaceted business landscape? Good question. So again, I do like to rely on the carriers because

Starting point is 00:18:33 they have got way more resources than I do in terms of what's going. But I do read very widely, whether I'm getting notifications from Google or whether I'm doing some seriously deep, you know, serious deep diving into the areas that I like to focus on. And again, you know, I watch what my competitors are doing as well, whether they're, you know, way bigger than I am or whether they're my size, you know, what is my competitor doing and why? So I look at their websites. I try and understand what their, you know, business model is, you know, are they those

Starting point is 00:19:06 quote machines that I talked about, you know, the great. quote-seeking missiles or do they have a more consultative approach? And, you know, I will tweak my business model if I see that there's a competitive advantage from doing so based on what I've learned from, you know, an industry competitor. Sure, that's great. As you mentioned, you're building your business on networking. Can you share some tips on building meaningful connections within the Las Vegas business community? Well, I guess the easiest one to give you is, you know, one of BNI's tenets, if I can put it, that and that is that give us gain. It is about the law of attraction, and even before BNI,

Starting point is 00:19:47 Earl Nightingale told this story, if any of you at their note, Earl Nightingale, you may have heard this before, and if you don't, again, I would urge you to research who Earl Nightingale is. He's one of the founding fathers of the personal development movement, basically. And he told a story one day about a gentleman who was cold, and he wanted to heat up and he had a stove. And he was saying to the stove, stove, give me heat, give me heat. And then it dawned on him that to get heat, he first had to give something to the stove. And that was to light it, right?

Starting point is 00:20:22 Now, if we live our lives by that same principle, I believe that things will come back to us. I do believe in the law of attraction, but it doesn't mean that you just sit around expecting things to happen. You've got to make them happen to some degree. So you've got to light that stove. So you have to make that first commitment and then things will come back to you. Maybe not directly from the person or the entity that you gave to, but certainly from somewhere else. Oh, absolutely.

Starting point is 00:20:49 I'm sure as you're starting your business, you have a vision for the future. What are your goals and aspirations for your business? Good question. So my goals and aspirations for the business are really to build it to a state where I am, you know, feeding at least 10 other agents who have the ability to earn whatever they want to. But more than that, because this is my dream, right, I just want to be honest about this. My goal is to build this business, putting in the right infrastructure, the right systems and processes so that it can literally run with or without me.

Starting point is 00:21:26 I can be on the beach somewhere and, you know, open my laptop and do work, right? So, and again, I talk about this from the perspective of the business consultant because I saw way too many businesses that were failing with, because they didn't have those systems in place. And I would always ask a business owner, why did you get into business? And the number one answer is freedom, freedom. And so I said, well, okay, let me ask you a question. Who owns this business? Oh, I own the business. And then I would say, are you sure or does the business own you?

Starting point is 00:21:59 And then there'd be this blank look on their face is this epiphany of realization. Oh, my goodness, the business owns me. I have to do whatever the business wants. The business isn't doing what I want. So it's imperative to put the structures in place to do that, and that's my goal. Wonderful. Can you share any upcoming projects or initiatives you're excited about right now? Wow.

Starting point is 00:22:22 Projects or initiatives. Really, one for me is giving back not, you know, not, not, a business sense, but I do like to give back. So I have committed a certain percentage of my revenues to a particular charity that I support. And that's a new initiative that I've just literally started. Again, it's just a principle, whether it's my Catholic upbringing or, you know, or I don't know what it is, but I just feel that I have to do that. I feel compelled to. and so that's the latest thing that I'm doing right now. That's great. That's wonderful.

Starting point is 00:23:02 Reflecting on your journey, what's one piece of advice or a mantra that you carry with you in your business endeavors? Well, one I shared with you earlier, which is, you know, the fruitful, informative, lesser-notes, and renewed effort. But besides that, is to know that there absolutely is a way. If we can think of something, it can be done. okay and I love the I love cell phones and I'll tell you why because I'm a Star Trek nut Star Trek not sorry did I say Star Trek yeah Star Trek a Star Trek nut and going back and looking at you know beam me up squad in the flip phones and all that good stuff cell phones today came from that vision right people saw that and were as enthusiastic as about me and said you know what maybe we can

Starting point is 00:23:50 actually make something like this and that's how cell phones came about then I'll give you the story of penicillin. Penicillin was an accident, right? It was an absolute accident. But Fleming, who, quote-unquote, invented it or discovered it, had the vision to say, okay, this can be more than just an accident. Then there's 3M, post-it notes, another major accident that turned into an amazing business opportunity that's now, goodness, know, probably billions of dollars later, right? And many copycats later is a massive success. So there's always a way.

Starting point is 00:24:30 If you have a vision, there's a way of achieving it, period. Oh, that's great advice. Well, Lennox, thank you so much for being on our Vegas Business Spotlight podcast. That's all the time we have today. Do you want to let the listeners know where to find your books online? Well, it would be remiss of me just to tell them that Amazon is where they can find them, but you can find them in bookstores, Barnes and Nobles for One, and wherever good books like mine are sold nationwide or even internationally. So, yeah, you can get them in places where books are sold.

Starting point is 00:25:11 Bookstores online. What's the title? So the title of the one we discussed is embracing failure, your key to success. my latest book, which I truly believe is my best, is called, goodness me, Tim, I'm losing my mind here, creating a fulfilling life through spiritual growth. Wow, that's wonderful. Yeah, so listeners, if you want to go to Barnes & Noble or Amazon, look up Lennox Cornwall and he has his books out. Again, that's all we have time for today. Thanks for listening again, and we'll be back next. week. Thank you for joining us on this episode of Vegas Business Spotlight. For more inspiring

Starting point is 00:25:58 stories and insights from the Las Vegas business community, be sure to subscribe to our podcast on your favorite platform. And remember, you can catch new episodes each week at Vegasbusiness spotlight.com, where we keep the spotlight shining bright on the entrepreneurs who make Las Vegas thrive. And don't forget to like and subscribe. See you next week.

Business Innovators Radio - Insurance Entrepreneur Lennox Cornwall Shares His Unique Approach on the Vegas Business Spotlight Podcast

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