Business Innovators Radio - Interview with Scheavosky McGawion Retirement Benefits Counselor & President of McGawion Insurance Pros

Episode Date: August 11, 2024

Serving the men and women who effortlessly serve this great nation, Scheavosky proudly served the country in the United States Air Force on active duty and as a civilian servant for 20 years. He values educating America’s best and brightest with regard to how their Federal Benefits will work for them in retirement. He loves serving his family and leading within his local community.Learn More: https://www.myinsuranceprofessional.com/Influential Entrepreneurs with Mike Saundershttps://businessinnovatorsradio.com/influential-entrepreneurs-with-mike-saunders/Source: https://businessinnovatorsradio.com/interview-with-scheavosky-mcgawion-retirement-benefits-counselor-president-of-mcgawion-insurance-pros

Welcome to influential entrepreneurs, bringing you interviews with elite business leaders and experts, sharing tips and strategies for elevating your business to the next level. Here's your host, Mike Saunders. Hello and welcome to this episode of influential entrepreneurs. This is Mike Saunders, the authority positioning coach. Today we have with this Shavoski McGowan, who is a retirement benefits counselor, and we'll be talking about how he serves his clients. Shabowski, welcome to the program. Hey, Mike, good afternoon, sir. Glad to be here.

Yeah, me too. I always love when you have someone that comes at a position of serving their clients. And I see that from your approach and your website. And I want to dive into how you do that and some of the benefits of working with your firm. But get us started first with your story and background. How did you get into the financial services industry? Yeah, Mike, I, a funny story, I joined the military around 2001 straight out of high school. Kind of knew I wanted to be in something dealing with finance, but utilize my time in JRRTC to benefit and go into the military so I could really pay for my education and kind of figure out exactly what I wanted to do.

It's been about 12 years on active duty there and then got out and joined the reserve. But during the time, once I got out for left active duty, you know, I kind of, you know, went to a couple of places, grabbed a couple of jobs. But one thing I noticed right when I was getting my paycheck is that there was the thing, you know, being taken out of my job. there was just a lot of money being taken out of my check that was going for insurance. And I was like, insurance, well, what is that? And later found out that, you know, there's many facets of insurance, but the monies that were being taken out were for, like, you know, the health insurance, dental, stuff like that.

So did a little digging and found out that, you know, insurance, you know, insurance, is something that, you know, we all need. My benefit was being in the military and because Sam took care of all that for me, so I never understood the gravity of needing that, you know, because they provide you with the service group life insurance, you know, 400,000s if something happened to you, to serve in the country, stuff like that, all your medicals taking care of. And so around 2009,

I was in Tampa Florida there, and I decided to go and get my license to get into this thing called insurance because I had friends who were getting out of the military who also did not understand insurance in any facet. So I kind of felt a little obligation to go out there and understand it and dive deep into it. I kind of learned all the fastest major medical long-term life insurance, you name it, when it comes to having the life health and annuity license. And, you know, just really started trying to teach, you know, people that were looking for this thing, especially my military veterans who were not retiring per se, because obviously if you retire, you have the certain insurance that Uppaham provides you throughout the rest of your life. You know, so.

And, yeah, just really felt an obligation to get in there and learn it. I did while earning my, earning my bachelor's in business and then subsequently earning my master's in business because I really wanted to make sure if I was going to take the thing, you know, full throttle that I, I really understood the concepts of coming to my consumers as a legitimate, no kidding business. You know, what I hear through that is there was a level of confusion you had with the, you know, deductions be taken out and going, what is this and why is this? And then when you started learning that, it started making you think, if I felt this way, others might feel the same way. And so you then wanted to kind of refocus and serving other people to help.

help them understand those benefits, right? Well, definitely. I, um, I, I, I come from a humble background. Um, you know, my mother, uh, raised, uh, two boys. My father passed away when I was, uh, seven years old, uh, subsequently, um, for some time there was just me and my brother, uh, and my mother, uh, later on, she did, you know, uh, remarried. And, uh, up until that point, though, it was just us and it was just a tight-knit.

family. Mostly, my brother and I were raised by my grandmother who instilled into us, you know, you know, service before self, which, if you can believe, is an actual outforce, you know, core value. So with that being said, you know, knowing that I was confused in terms of how this whole insurance thing worked, you know, I could imagine the many, many people that just don't know it and really took it upon. myself to say, hey, you know, I want to go out and make sure that people understand what it is that they're, you know, getting into when they buy insurance or look for insurance with different types and all of that.

100%. So then at that point, you're looking at helping people understanding their retirement benefits. What are some of the ways when you connect with someone that you're starting, where do you start first? You know, because you probably can tell a little bit of your story and go, hey, I was confused at this, this, and this. I'm going to help you understand it. But maybe they've got their own questions. So where do you find yourself beginning to start laying out that teaching and education for your clients? Yeah, you know, I try to target the spectrum, but, you know, I mainly deal with our seniors. seniors have a special place in my heart again.

I said I was raised by my grandmother. I got rest of soul. She left us in 2012. And one of the things that when she passed away, she had a whole bunch of life insurance, and she had different retirement accounts that was just left in disarray. And we had to navigate that.

And thankfully, I was in the industry. And so anything that we needed to call and say a reference to, you know, I was there because I understood the language. I could speak the lingo. And you can't imagine the relief that my family had been that they had an expert that was related to them, if you will, that could navigate those waters. So, you know, I deal with the, you know, with the 50 and older crowd, you know. And where I try to start with them is just really understanding, do they understand what they have?

And based on what they have, just answering questions that they have trying to uncover what it is that they want their life insurance to do, whether if it's a term or universal life or whole life policy, what do they want their retirement to do, if it's to continue to accumulate cash or if it's to, you know, live so they can travel the world. I really want to get an understanding of what it is that they want and then, you know, provide it that. obviously just like our phones and technology updates every, you know, 30, 60, 90, 180 days, you know, then I can come in and provide some solutions that, you know, may benefit them and enhance what they already have. Yeah, and it sounds to me like through, you've used, you know, servants' heart and servitude several times. So I want to go deeper there.

But I think a lot of times when people hear, oh, retirement's benefits and he's going to sell me something. I don't need any more insurance. Talk a little bit about how you take the approach of let's see where you are. That's the baseline. You know, here's what you have. And then maybe you're going to say, where do you want to go? Where do you want to be in retirement? So you're almost acting like a life coach. You know, what does retirement mean to you? And let's paint that picture. And then, hey, here's where you are. Here's where you want to be. Let me just show you some options and some paths. So it's that that guiding aspect, right? Definitely the guiding aspect, Mike. And you will not believe how many phone calls I've received after going into a home or visiting

with a couple and just educating them what they have that, you know, it may be six months a year or sometime later that I get a phone call saying, hey, we want you to come by because what you recommended for us before, we want to now employ. when you go into a home, you know, when you go into a home and you're leading with a heart of education, sometimes you find that people are in a great spot, you know, and you would just, you know, ask that potential prospect client that, hey, you know, don't keep me a secret. If you know somebody else that needs this type of education and understanding of what they have, you know, spread the word.

And again, you know, just really looking at it, that if I can guide them along the way and then if I see any pitfalls, for sure, I'm recommending different things. And it's just that a recommendation, right? But I find that the value of education that I provide for, you know, my clientele and the people who interact with me, the education has driven me forward to be able to sustain. and now be in the business over, you know, 15 years. Yeah, you know, I think that you laid something out really important there where it's like, let's just see what you have and see if it makes sense. And sometimes you come back to them and say, you are good to go. Let me just tell you, I can sell you something, but you're good to go and here's why.

And here's some things to think about years to come. But I think that having that assurance gives them peace of mind. And it makes me feel like, too, like a second opinion. Hey, if someone comes to you and says, I think I'm good here because my current person who I've been talked to in years, by the way, you know, that kind of thing. You know, take a look and give me that second and me, that outside perspective. That's a really powerful offering that you're able to provide. Yes, it is.

And again, they are more than happy to understand that, you know, this guy is not just coming in trying to, you know, open up the hood and change out the engine, right? He's actually looking at it, making sure, you know, everything is good, it's intact, make sure my safety nets are in place, make sure that, you know, in the event, you know, got to bid, something happens, you know, my family will know, number one, I got a guy I can contact that I help me walk through the process, right? Because also a part of this business is when that time come, especially in the license room, when that time comes, you know, they want to know that you're going to be there, you know.

And I do my, I do my very best to stay in contact with, you know, the multitude that I have this year actually hiring an assistant because I've tried to, you know, hoard all the comms and everything myself because I really, really take a great sense of pride in doing it the right way. just brought on a virtual assistant this year to kind of help me keep up with the life events, you know, birthdays, kids graduating college or high school, you know, a many of things that would just say, hey, you know, I'm still here if you need. Yeah, that's huge. So that's, that actually, you know, you think about serving and servant leadership. What you're describing there is the complete opposite of what most salespeople in where using air quotes there, find, find their approach, you know, because, you know, it's like pushy.

It's like, buy this. Do it now. Deadline. You know, you need to do this. And it's almost like shaming someone that they don't have this or that package. So what are some of the other ways that you find that you're able to set yourself apart from other advisors and really focus on that serving the client? You know, I'm being in the community, really reaching out to.

some of the local, you know, local churches in the area, hosting events, just straight up educational type of seminars where people can come out. I do webinars, just really just trying to find different venues to just educate. Again, you will not, you can probably imagine, you know, all the great men and women you have on your show here that come through, but you will not imagine the level of response I get from people was like, hey, can you come, can you come tell me whether if I'm on the right track or not, you know, and once we find out what their goals are, man, it's a gratifying, it's a gratifying feat because at the end of the day, they know that they reached out to someone who was looking to educate them first. We can do with paperwork and

everything else later and referrals and all that jazz, you know. I'm a firm. I don't believe in the quote that Dick Ziggler states that if you have enough people get what they want, you always have what you need. A hundred percent. You know, and I love, I'm on your website now, and I love this line that I see. Our agency is committed to our customer's understanding of the products they seek. And I would venture to say that there's, if you could put a hidden camera in clients leaving advisors offices, you know, all across the country, there's a good percentage of them that. walk out, scratch in their head going, what in the world is this and what did we get? And I don't understand if people can understand how meeting their needs of whatever,

XYZ, whatever that need is and how this product or that product will do that. And they don't need to understand all the, you know, 30 pages of, you know, documentation and disclosures, but understand the benefits. That is a, that's a gift. Yes. And it's one that I just have to give credit to, you know, my, grandmother, my mother, you know, for just, you know, making sure, you know, obviously the golden rule, right, do unto others as you add them, do unto you. And I know if any person's

sent across the table from, you know, my grandma or any of my family members that were sitting down and talking insurance with them, you know, it would be my request, almost mandate that they walked away knowing, you know, like you just said, not all the looks and crannies, of what it is that they've acquired. But, you know, just to be able to tell their friend, hey, look, man, you know, there's this new Medicare product that's coming out here in 2025. I got a guy he does Medicare orientations where he walks you through Medicare, A, B, C, and D. And it's phenomenal.

Hey, call this guy, you know. And so for them to be able to regurgitate and educate their friends, then I've done my job. Yep, 100%. Well, Chavalsky has been so great chatting with you and seeing how you serve your clients. If someone is interested in getting that second opinion or a quick look at their plan, what's the best way they can learn more and reach out and connect with you? Oh, yeah. You can find me at www. Myinsuranceprofessional.com. Again, myinsuranceprofessional.com. You can peruse the website. You can request a free consultation.

You can also let me know what it is that you're seeking. My assistant will get that information and we can get your scheduled for appointment. I'm also, my phone number is 478-268-503. That goes to my office. So to reach out. And you can also find me on Facebook at McGowan InsurancePros. com. Wonderful.

Well, thank you so much for coming on today. It's been a real pleasure talking with you. No, I appreciate it, Mike. Thank you so much for the opportunity. You've been listening to Influential Entrepreneurs with Mike Saunders. To learn more about the resources mentioned on today's show or listen to past episodes, visit www. www.

Influential Entrepreneurs Radio.com.