The Ryan Hanley Show - 235. How Insurance Soup is Redefining Insurance Communities w/ Mike McCormick

Episode Date: March 7, 2024

Became a Master of the Close: https://masteroftheclose.comStrap on your community manager hat as Michael McCormick recounts the thrilling and sometimes daunting journey of nurturing over 50,000 insurance agents in a bustling Facebook group.✅ Free step-by-step video series for generating inbound leads from YouTube: https://go.ryanhanley.com/youtube✅ For daily insights and ideas on peak performance: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryanhanley✅ Subscribe to the audio podcast here: https://ryanhanley.com/podcast✅ Mike McCormick's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/theinsurancesoup/👋 Insurance Soups' Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/insurancesoup/🌐 Insurance Soup's Website: https://www.theinsurancesoup.com/** More about this episode **It's a rollercoaster ride of strategy, governance, and authenticity, all while balancing member conflicts and the ever-looming shadow of cancel culture.The insight doesn't stop there – listen as I share experiences of standing firm against the waves of criticism, fostering a space for diverse opinions, and navigating the intricate dance of content creation with integrity at the forefront.And just when you think you've heard it all, we bring it home with a heart-to-heart on the real dynamics shaking the insurance industry. This episode has everything from the changing face of carrier-agent liaisons to the power of in-person connections.We'll also delve into the raw honesty that powers our entrepreneurial spirit and the critical importance of personal communication – because sometimes, a Facebook message can make all the difference.Don't miss this episode where authenticity isn't just a buzzword; it's our mission statement.Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

I believe is very authentic. The way he did it was not. And it was like that right there, bam, never again. Like I'll never take what you say seriously again. And again, not that you're pitching watches or whatever, but the idea is I think so many of these groups try to be something they're not, try to put on a,

and this goes for all kinds of different things, associations, carrier groups, all kinds of different things, mastermind groups, etc. Just be authentic to who you are, give a shit, listen In a crude laboratory in the basement of his home Hello everyone and welcome back to the show. Today, we have a tremendous episode for you, a conversation with Mike McCormick, co-founder of Insurance Soup, a group of insurance professionals, 53,000 large that I had a chance to speak to, not all 53,000, but a group of I think just over 300 at Insurance Soup Live last year. It was one of my favorite events that I've been to in a very long time. It had a very like elevate 2017, 2018 feel to it. Energy, enthusiasm, connection, camaraderie. It had both a professional

yet a very familial atmosphere. I just enjoyed my time. I enjoyed everyone I met. It was such a pleasure. I actually emceed the event. So I didn't keynote, I emceed and just enjoyed every moment of my time there and really got to know Mike and his co-founder Taylor and a few members on their team and just think what they're doing and how they're building a community and how they're trying to support and help agents is, it's not the only way to do it,

but it is certainly one of the ways that I would recommend. I find it incredibly admirable. I think they're doing it in their own way. They're doing it for the right reasons. And I just couldn't be more supportive and happy that that insurance soup exists and that I now know what it is, right? I'd heard about them for years. I didn't know them that well.

I got to meet Mike for the first time in person at a mastermind event that we went together, that we both went to in Utah and became very fast friends down to Earth. You're going to love this conversation. And I highly encourage you to join Insurance Soup and just get into their ecosystem. If you're an agent or work inside an agency, et cetera, you can join that group and be part of these conversations. I find it to be as positive and as supportive a group as is possible in a group that large. And I just couldn't recommend it enough.

So I'm very excited to share Mike and his viewpoints on many different topics with you guys. Before we get there, I just want to say this is episode 235. We are putting two episodes out a week, and I just want to say thank you for supporting this show. We're growing every week. Numbers are going up every week. More and more people are listening. More and more people are sharing and commenting. And that's exactly why I do this, just to share ideas, to put new thoughts, some of which are my own in the solo episodes and some of which are the thoughts of the amazing

guests that come on and give us their time and their expertise. And I just love you guys for listening. I hope that you find tremendous value. And if you want to take this ride even deeper, I highly recommend you go to masterclass.insure. You can go to masterclass.insure, pop your name and email in, and you'll be notified of all the new things we have coming. Um, I have pushed back the release of, uh, the community just a little bit because I want to do it right. And I'm constantly just trying to make sure that what I deliver to you is my best work. And so I pushed that back just a little bit, but tons of amazing value. I have some kind of

free downloadable resources that I'm going to be pushing out through the newsletter. So make sure that you go to masterclass.insure and subscribe to that. You'll be notified of new content, new resources, places that I'm speaking. And you'll also, you know, a lot of times I write about different books that I'm reading, different ideas, different pieces of content that I come in contact with that I think you'll find value in and can potentially apply to either your life or your business. And I try to make that newsletter as valuable as possible. So either way, whether you subscribe or not, I love you for listening or watching the show. And if you're not subscribed, please do. Otherwise, my friends, I give you Mike McCormick. Dude, what's going on? I'm excited to have you on the

show. I'm excited to chat and talk about a few things, but just interested what's going on in your world. I don't even know, man. What is going on in my world? I feel like I'm not even really like fully, don't tell Taylor, back into like frigging work mode yet. You know what I mean? Yeah.

Like January is like the 31 longest months of the year. And, you know, I'm glad that it's finally over. I did say months on purpose. Yeah. You know, since the holidays have been over, there was some time spent down in Puerto Rico with Wes. Yep. I was just down in Tampa with actually Wes again.

I saw that. I saw that. That was the wrestling trip that you had told me about right yeah yeah yeah the Royal Rumble so uh I didn't I've been an on again off again wrestling fan my entire life and I like I'm not I'm not the type of fan not since I was a little kid where it's like oh my god I love these guys this is the best you know whatever for me it has always been like that that warm security blanket that i could go back to at any given time and i can turn on the tv it's completely mindless i i don't have to know what's going on i know who the good guy is

and i know who the bad guy is based on the way they're talking to each other yeah like i can just zone out and like i can i can be working I can be working on my emails I can be farting around on social media I can just glance up and I still know what's going on it's just nice and easy and it's like a couple hours a week where I don't have to do any thinking at all it's just a couple of men in underwear yeah trying to fight over a belt for pants that they're not even wearing. Yeah. I get to just enjoy it. Yeah.

I, uh, I'm the same. I was, I've had, you know, when I was a kid and then again, I had two buddies in college who were super into it and just being around

them. Like I watched a little bit, you know, and then I, I kind of feel the same way. I mean, now my kids like enjoy it. I won't say they're huge fans, but they watch once in a while little bit, you know, and then I kind of feel the same way. I mean, now my kids like enjoy it. I won't say they're huge fans, but they watch once in a while.

And they, you know, and the thing, too, is with like YouTube, it's so much different. Like before it was like Monday Night Raw and you had to watch it and whatever. Now, you know, Monday Night Raw or whatever Smackdown will happen. And then it'll get chopped up in all these clips. And then it's on YouTube and all these different things. And it's that way with everything. It's that way with sports. It's that way with whatever you watch. And, you know, I like it also because I feel this is going to sound weird as a more conservative minded person. I feel like it's a safe space for me. Like,

I'm not going to see wacky, woke woke nonsensical you know transgender crazy stuff like men are men and they're fighting women are still able to we can still think of them as like strong but sexy and fun and like they're feminine but strong and the men are like acting like real men and there's like a masculinity to it. And I know it's fake fighting or whatever, but you're not getting like the, you know, politically correct. Which, by the way, I and again, if we haven't completely lost all of the listeners at this point wrestling in politics. But I heard this really interesting clip the other day from – shoot. It was Jordan Peterson was talking about the origins of political correctness, right?

And how today political correctness is yielded as like this. You're a bad person if you're not politically correct, et cetera. And what people don't realize is it's actually political correctness that the term, the concept and its proliferation are authoritarian communists like it's a Stalin. Stalin created the concept of political correctness. So the idea of political correctness in general. And, you know, I want to get to I have a couple actual questions that come out of this. But the whole concept of political correctness is an authoritarian term created by Joseph Stalin himself in order to sculpt the way in which people are able to describe certain things. So what I think is really interesting is how, and again, this goes to

all kinds of different concepts. We have to be very aware of the words we use and how we think about things because we throw around this idea of being politically correct and we don't want to offend people, et cetera. And that is literally a communist control mechanism. Like not you, me saying, Mike, you can't say these things because I don't want you to offend people is a way for me to control what you say and the truth and how it proliferates throughout throughout a community. So again, I thought that was very interesting. But my question for you out of that is, so you guys run the largest Facebook group for insurance agents in the country, 52,000, 53,000, somewhere around there, just a huge number.

And just, I think the last time that we spoke, you were saying on any given month, you have more than 36,000 of those members are active and engaged in the community. And it may even be more, but that's even if that's the lowest number, that's tremendous. I think right now we're running at 38, but I think at one point it was 36, but yeah. Yeah. That's phenomenal. Either way, 36, 38, 38, those are phenomenal engagement numbers, a huge number of people. How do you, you know, anyone who's ever run a Facebook group or been part of one, insurance or otherwise, knows the complete wacky nonsense that can happen. And we actually had some of your, we'll call them peer Facebook groups have dealt with this, you know, quite seriously in the recent past. How do you guys, my interpretation of your group and my experience with Insurance Soup has been, for the most part, I don't see a lot of nonsense.

I mean, some of the questions are like kind of remedial and maybe some people get sick of that kind of stuff. But that all seems like fair game. It's more like, I don't see as much of like the, the backstabbing, the like passive aggressive shots at other members. Like I don't see a lot of that in there. I'm really interested in how you guys have cultivated that culture. One, do you think that's an accurate perception? And two, how have you cultivated that culture in a group that large, if that makes sense? I think we do a good job for a group that size. I do still think that there is plenty of that nonsense present. Okay. You know, just being, you know, like being honest.

I mean, I'd love to, I'd love to just sit here on the podcast and be like, yeah, we're perfect. We're definitely not. I mean, dude, you're prominent online. You put yourself out there and you're a bold and opinionated guy. So I know you get flack and pushback and all that kind of stuff. From a very, very early stage when we started building the community, originally we had no intention to monetize whatsoever. So because we didn't have any intention to monetize and that idea kind of came later, we ran the group very, very fast and loose. And when people were a little bit outside the box or whatever, we just removed them from the group. But we didn't just remove them from the group we did it in a kind of like a public spectacle kind of way like a beheading yes yes the the beheading so we had uh we had a a character that we created for the group

uh that we called the executioner and every single time that someone would just act a fool in the group or whatever, I'd head on over to the old Google machine and I'd find a picture of a medieval executioner with someone with their head in the gallows or whatever, the chopping block, and I would present the crime, and I use that word very loosely, to the group and give the group the opportunity to decide what happens with the, with the person.

This is like the gladiator, like thumbs up, thumbs down. Total life. Totally. And, and dude, like one thing that,

that, that you would never know. Well, actually, I mean, you would definitely know, but maybe the average agent wouldn't know is, is how unbelievably bloodthirsty our industry is for,

for, for one another. I don't think anyone survived the executioner. Once you were put up, it was pretty much game over. But what was interesting about that, and ultimately we decided to put it away, put the executioner away as we were growing and monetizing. Our attorney said that was probably a good idea. What was interesting about that whole stage or phase in the primordial soup days was that it really created an environment where the group governs itself. So because they're so

bloodthirsty and they love to see the heads roll and like they they love to see someone that's doing something they shouldn't be doing in there get removed now whenever anybody is acting out of line like i get tagged taylor gets tagged someone's in my messenger you know they're they're they're calling attention to it and you know the the riffraff and the nonsense get cleaned up pretty fast so like the posts where that take place get shut down immediately where you do find a little bit of nonsense and soup is within the comment sections. Yeah, yeah, that's the hard part. So one, I completely agree.

I think it is in small groups, altruism, acceptance, grace, much easier. You get into larger groups where maybe we've commented on the same post a couple of times, but I don't know you from Adam and you don't know me from Eve kind of thing. Like our human nature is like people want to see retribution and justice. And I think it's very interesting. It's an interesting psychology experiment that you guys are running. And Nate, you probably have got a PhD in psychology now from having dealt with this for so long.

I think I need a psychiatrist with a PhD to deal with the problems that I've endured as a result of the last 10 years. I'm sure. It's funny. Some people will just take everything you say out of context on purpose. Right. And at first you're like, you're first like, okay, did I say that wrong? And then you're, then you're, it's like, it's like, it's like, it's almost like the five stages of remorse or whatever it is, like, or, you know, whatever the five stages of dealing with death where it's like, at first someone will say something, you like, oh, maybe I just, maybe I could have said that better. Okay. And then the second time it happens, you're like, maybe they're just not getting what I'm saying. And the next time you're like, maybe they're just not very bright. And then the last time you're like, no, they just, they're just a dick. Like they're just trying to cause trouble. And you know, and like, you have to kind of work through this process where you're like, how are they, how could they be,

do they really not understand what I'm saying here? Or like, what is the point? And I honestly believe that some people wake up and just, I don't know if it's because they feel bad about themselves, where they are in their career, insecurity, whatever, man, they're just dying for an opportunity to make someone else look stupid and i saw a facebook reel uh probably about a week or so ago and it was uh it was this woman and she was all worked up and she's yelling at this guy and the guy's sitting in his chair and he's got a big smile on his face and he's all smug and you know like the the word like the words over the woman while she's yelling said like you yelling at me furious you know making points over uh you know over some you know argument whatever and then

she pans back to the guy and he's sitting there all smug looking and it says me knowing i've been wrong for the last 20 minutes not willing to budge an inch yeah exactly and you find so many of them online yes many of them online yes you have like you you. Yeah, I'm with you, man. And it's funny. One of my favorite memes is like all the liberals when Trump won, when they just like started screaming because they had no way to express like their feelings on the moment. And then, you know, and then you have and then the opposite. You often see a lot of times from from people of a different disposition. That's the way they are. They literally won't agree to anything you say.

They won't fight you. They won't agree to anything. But they know they're wrong too. And it's so hard to put it all together. And I guess my question is, I'm interested in your take. I obviously have my own. Like when you're creating, and you create a lot in that group, and I think it's a testament to that group's quality is specifically, you know, and it's not that not discounting anything

Taylor has done, but like you are posting in there a lot of content. You're keeping it fresh. You're communicating. You're commenting. Like I see a lot of it. And, you know, what was the process like for you creating in public that often to kind of get past some of the you just can't help yourself at first, the hate or the disagreement or like that, whatever. Like as much as you may know you're right or know you believe or have faith in your beliefs like. It still hits you in a way.

Like, how did you start to work through that? How did you start to feel more and more committed to your viewpoint, to how you communicated with that group, how you shared value with them? Well, I've always been pretty firm in my convictions. It's not something that I needed to really kind of grow into. Like, I've always been a pretty opinionated and bold personality. And as far as like dealing with the flack that comes from putting yourself out there and having people that disagree with you, oftentimes in not the most polite ways.

I don't know if I should be saying this or not, but there is not a single person that I've come across online that is able to beat me up worse than I beat myself up. So like I look at I look at every single one of them and I chuckle and I'm like, man, if if only you were able to hurt me as much as I'm able to hurt myself, that was nothing. Yeah. So not not to not to bring it down a dark path, but I've always been my own harshest critic uh i to this day deal with massive massive imposter syndrome uh something that i struggle with regularly uh i i truly look at what taylor and i've created and i say to myself like like i i'm still shocked by it a lot of times yeah i feel like uh i feel like if we had to recreate it again today it would be very very difficult with the current landscape uh and i feel very fortunate for what we've been able to create but uh you know by and large i just i just kind of chuckle and shluff it all off because at this point too after doing it for so long i know that there are people out there that

are just looking to cause problems yeah so like like to having to your point a few minutes ago, literally yesterday, I put up a post that was a response to a woman, a woman had, had posted in suit asking if, if she, if she changed her hair to something crazy, like she, she's a brunette woman was thinking about changing her hair to like

blue and purple or something like that. And wanted to get the agent's opinion as to whether or not she would be hireable, you know, if she, if she was to make a change like that. And so I took, I took that question and the responses that all the agents gave, but I made a, I made a, I made a post about it so that my thoughts didn't get lost in the shuffle of the comment section. And I basically made a very, very generic post. I shouldn't say generic. It was, it was, It was opinionated, but I was basically making the point of you can absolutely alter your appearance in any way, shape, or form that you want and still find a home within this industry, but you have to understand that whenever you're

going to make a drastic change to your look, that you are going to receive harsh judgment, not just from someone who may be thinking about hiring you, but by anyone thinking about opening up their wallet to give you, you know, to give you business. And it was, you know, I use a lot of playful, you know, playful, you know, talk when I write. And, you know, I do try and make, you know, making a point, like if I want to really make a point, I will make it a little bit more emphatic than it needs to be made. Or I might make it a little bit more bombastic just to get a chuckle or to, you know, to. You can be hyperbolic. One thousand percent.

Yeah. And and so I referred to having, you know, crazy, you know, crazy colors in your hair. I said something to the effect of, you know, feel free to feel free to be rainbow bright if you'd like to be in this industry, but understand that there may be consequences, something like that. I love it. And someone in the comment section uh alluded to made a comment along the lines of uh you know in 2024 is it really safe to assume the gender of

you know try to try to take it down a path that it just uh it wouldn't go and my my that i wasn't willing to take it and my response to the person was, what did I say to the person? I said, if you want to slap a label on me and get yourself worked up, feel free. I'm sure there are others that'll participate. Yeah. Like, whatever. Like, I don't care.

It's all you can do. I have always looked at this cancel culture, which seems to be slowing down a bit the last, you know, call it six, nine months or whatever, but that cancel culture that's been going on, like for the life of me, it always just tears me apart when I see someone turn around and apologize for something that requires no apology. Dude, I couldn't be more in agreement to you. You know, this is, we are living in a time where everyone is lying. And this is is this is what I don't understand.

Like these these politically correct warriors. And this goes for both sides. I don't want to I think the left today, I think in the current pendulum swing right now, the left are these crazies trying to reorient reality. However, it has been the right in the past as well. So I don't. And you go far enough, right? You're going to find some lulus over there. A hundred percent. A hundred percent. And the right in the past as well. So I don't. And you go far enough, right? You're going to find some lulus over there too.

100%. 100%. So not, but we are living, you know, the most vocal by far right now are the extreme left. They're the most vocal by far. And the things that they're trying to get most people to say, people are just being wholly dishonest. You know what I mean? Like for, for when you walk up to a coffee shop, right. And

there is a person in front of you who is completely androgynous with half their head shaved, half their head blue, piercings everywhere. Like, you know, I don't care so much about tattoos, but just, you know, they're tattooed all over the place. Sometimes on their face, their clothes are look crazy. They're calling attention to themselves. Yeah. It's like, it's like, I, I, as an American believe you have the right to, to dress that way, to believe whatever you want to believe. That's the beauty of this place.

However, I don't have to accept it. I don't have to say I'm, I can say, I don't want to buy coffee from you. I can say, I don't want to buy coffee from you. I can say I don't appreciate it. I can say it's you. You are making yourself purposely unattractive and then and then want me to pretend like I think what you're doing is attractive. And that's a lie. What's up, guys? Sorry to take you away from the episode.

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much as I do creating the show for you. All right, I'm out of here. Peace. Let's get back to the episode. I think that we have completely misconstrued the beauty of America, which is you get to believe and say whatever you want with, I have to accept what you believe and say. And those are two completely different things. And I think we get that a lot in our industry, taking this off of politics and coming back to say the way the industry is run. I've been talking a lot recently, and I'm interested in your take on this, that we need to recalibrate the way we view carriers as independent agents. And I think for too long, we've referred to carriers as partners. Carriers do not refer to agents as partners. Now, granted, I'm sure there's

some carrier people listening going, well, Ryan, bullshit. When you actually have a conversation, you refer to your agents as your distribution plant, your distribution arm, et cetera. That's what it's categorized on your P&L when you pay out commissions. That's who they are. Well, let me break it down the most simple way that I can. If you were my partner, you would not be making decisions without me that impact me and you do it all along. Boom. There it is. So this is the recalibration that I've been talking about and getting a substantial amount of pushback on this is like, I don't think we should ever refer to a carrier as a partner again, unless they're going to buy into something like you said, but that's not the contract that we sign. Right. So like you have carriers, well, you know, huge carriers that everybody has

appointments with who will literally just send you an email and say, we're reducing your commission by two points on this particular line of business. Have a nice day. That's your partner. That's a partner. Now what, and this is, and this is where people lose their effing minds. And this is the part that I feel like we need to, I don't think anyone has to accept this idea, but people are literally have been coming at me and some people in DMS, like you can't be saying that. And I'm like, we need to think about carriers as suppliers. I want my carriers to be honest with their viewpoint of me as a distribution partner. And I want to get to be honest to them and say, you're my supplier. That's how I view you. We have this contract. I put profitable business with you. You send me commissions. If I hit a certain number

per our contract, you pay me these contingencies. That's amazing, right? This is our relationship. As long as you are supplying me the product and I can distribute that product for you, we can have an incredibly profitable, wonderful relationship. However, you are not my partner because you can change your appetite. You can drop my appointment. You can change my commission structure. You can change my contingency structure. You can change any of those things at any time.

And therefore, we are not partners. So think about this through this lens. They call us partners, right? Do they? Like to us. Oh, yes. Yeah, yeah, yeah yeah like marketing rep comes in and partners what kind of conversations are they consistently bringing to us tough ones right generally speaking is it easier to have a tough conversation

with your partner or with the person that is distributing your product partner. There's like a camaraderie, but there's like a friendship. There's a, there's a, uh, like, Hey, we're buddies. I know this is tough news, but we're partners. We're going to work through this. When you delineate the relationship, the way you're describing now, it's what's going on here. Yeah.

We need to fix this. Like I've got customers, you know, it's a one-way street and that means it's not a partnership. here yeah we need to fix this like i've got customers you know yeah it's a one-way street and that means it's not a partnership it's a one-way street but but by doing it the way you're describing it versus you know the the illusion of partnership it makes for it makes for a softer conversation with the agent when you think like we're all in this together when the reality is no one's in this bowl, but you right now. And here's the other thing, dude.

I think that if you think about your carriers as suppliers, what it allows you to do is remove the emotional connection to that carrier. And this is what happens. People go, well, no, you don't understand, Ryan. I have this amazing relationship with XYZ Carrier. And I'm like, with the carrier or with the underwriter? Because I completely believe that you have an amazing, probably even close to partnership-esque relationship with the underwriter.

I believe that. Maybe even an executive. But what happens when that executive leaves? Or that underwriter finds a better job or gets promoted or moves to another region is no longer attached to you? Or you're simply incentivized a little bit differently. And now you're not pretty pony anymore. Yes. And I'll tell you this.

This hit me like a sack of shit about about a year ago with Rogue. I went to this carrier partnership meeting in New York and it's a big to-do and the CEO's there and all the VPs and it's glad handing and it's nice and we're partners, partners, partners. Okay, great. And then we get an account that comes in and it's a big account for us

and it is right down the sweet spot for this particular carrier, right down freaking Broadway. Like, this is a home run account for this carrier. And submit it, come back. We actually get pricing. Then some VP, right? So I have pricing.

I have proposals. I have a verbal commitment from the client. And then some VP in the carrier who I've never met, who they won't let me talk to, goes, we don't want it. Case over, case done. I've just spent a month of back and forth. I've lost a month of work, right? This was a $60,000 revenue account. And just some guy somewhere in the company who I don't know said, no, that carrier is not my partner.

The underwriter that I worked with on a day-to-day basis, she was probably as close to a partner because she was very good to us. But the carrier itself is not your partner. They are not. And by thinking about it as a supplier, and I'll be quiet. Sorry, I'm on my freaking cell phone. This just fires me up. If we think about them as suppliers, what I believe it does for us is it allows us to recalibrate our brain to say, to not over-index emotionally into any one relationship. Right. And, and it basically allows me the, the, the distance emotionally to say, Hey, look, I know you're coming in here and you're going to blast me for more, for more premium, but I got to be honest with you,

this carrier over here and this carrier over here doing just as good a job with the same amount of commission splits. And I kind of want to feed them too feed them too so hey you need to step your game up if you want more right instead of they come in and they're hey we invited you to the ball game and did this and come to that is all that's all you know foreplay for for them just getting what they want when they want it. And, you know, this idea, dude, going back to our original, this like freaks people out. Like literally their brain, this like breaks people's brains who've been in the industry for a long time. They can't fathom not thinking about their carriers as partnerships. And then they have to like, it's just, it's so crazy how we get attached to these identities and these concepts. And we don't think through, you know, what it really means.

So I was talking with CJ Utzenpiller a little bit earlier today out of Tennessee. Yeah, yeah. And he has got a book with a carrier right now that we both feel have overextended themselves a little bit and are trying to pull back a little bit of market share. And he is dealing with right now a account that is being dropped in the middle of Nashville, not like the outskirts, not like the backwoods or the sticks or anything like that, not like rural Tennessee. We are talking urban Nashville. And the carrier is dropping this household because they have officially deemed them a wildfire risk. There is no wildfire in the heart of Nashville.

That is just not a thing. And because this is not a partnership, there is no one to talk to. The decision has been made. The ivory tower has done what it's done. It doesn't matter how buddy-buddy he is with the marketing rep or the underwriter or anything like that. The decision was made. Yes.

And that's not a partnership. Yeah. It doesn't mean, and just so everyone who is literally a smoke coming out of their ears or feels like I'm blaspheming here. Guys, one, I'm using this concept as a microcosm to kind of describe to you some of these ideals that Mike is dealing with in terms of navigating this community and sharing concepts and working through these things that impact us. And some of the things that these legacy concepts that we've been holding on to 40 years ago, I would believe that your relationship with your carrier was much more of a partnership. I mean, carriers would bend over backwards. They'd give you extra points. There were all

kinds of backroom deals that you could get when you did production. And I honestly believe that it was a partnership. Today in 2024, I just think we have to recalibrate our minds so that we can better position our agencies for success. Okay. So what? Yeah, go ahead. So think about the way the world has changed over the last 35, 40 years. Think about how small the world has become. 30, 40 years ago, not every carrier was even aware of every insurance agent out there. As an insurance agent, you weren't aware.

So these relationships became so much more important. Yes. They weren't, they weren't like valued at a high dude. It's no different than the way we are in society today with our, with our romantic relationships. Yeah. Like look how small the world has become.

I had, dude, I have, I have the ability to contact every woman I have ever dated in my entire life. Any person that I like, any woman I have ever dated in my entire life, any person that I've ever had any kind of physical relationship my entire life. But I've got a bevy of women that I've never had any kind of communication with. And I'm married, and I've got it all at my fingertips.

And take all that aside, push all that aside. As a person in the world today with all the dating apps are so cavalier with with. Who were with and what value they were like, we don't need you, like we don't need you on to the next one, on to the next one, swipe, swipe, right,, swipe left, swipe, swipe, swipe, swipe. And we've got the ability to do that to a degree, both as carriers and as agents, maybe not as agents so much right now in this current season. But when the when the industry is is hot and not, you know, not not what we're dealing with right now. Like, it's very easy to be very cavalier and flippant about, you know what? I don't like the way this carries straight me. I'm out. And right now we're experiencing it on the other end. They don't like the way, you know, things have been going. So they're dropping agents left and right and dropping products and appetites and all that. But the last 35, 40 years be fluid has, in my opinion, really eliminated a lot of people's almost obligation to loyalty that was once a thing.

Well, I think it's a the groups that we're a part of, large groups, the smaller mastermind groups, the carriers that we're part of, our friendship relationships, the communities that we're part of inside our local area, whether that's the country club community or the little league or the softball or whatever. I feel there is a general sense of the minute, you know, and again, I want to be clear in what I'm advocating for. I am advocating for incredibly strong, open, honest relationships with other entities that are willing to be honest as well, right? What I'm asking for is a carrier to say, look, we're going to give you our

best products and we're going to stay up to date on our appetites. But so you know, if the world changes, we might cut our appetites in half. Our pricing might double. We may reduce your commission. Those are all options that are on the table. However, in a best case scenario, if you do your job, we're going to do our best job. We'll stay open and communicate and everybody will be fine. That's what needs to happen. But what bothers me, and this goes for startup insurtechs who aren't honest about what their product can do. This goes for consultants and I'm kind of moving into this coaching thing that I'm doing. I shouldn't say coaching thing that diminishes what I'm trying to do, but like, you know,

so I'm researching that and there's like so much because optionality is so easy today. I feel like we are constantly misrepresenting exactly what we do with the hope that someone will buy into it. And it's like, that's not the kind of relationship that I think it just, I don't think that works anymore. I don't think the, the, I, I think you just, the people that are going to win are the people that say, look, this is who I am. This is what I provide. If you like it, awesome. We'll have a great relationship. If you don't move on instead, everybody is trying to get everybody to like them and telling all these little half-truths in there about what they're actually going to do, what the relationship is actually

going to be. And I feel like that's where all the negativity comes from because then everybody's not happy. I'd rather have a small group of people incredibly happy with what I provide to them versus this enormous number of people where everyone's kind of quasi- quasi upset because no one's really getting what they want. Well, I think what ultimately sounds like a utopian scenario, difficult to pull off, is just the human element of it, right? So within the organization, even if you could get the organization as a whole to agree to that level of transparency, you still within the organization have human beings that are being compensated via

different incentives and whatnot that are always going to try and angle for themselves first because they're trying to feed their family. They're trying to get that next title. They're trying to, you know, climb up that corporate ladder. So, you know, even with the best of intentions, you still have that human element in the middle of all of it that will always throw a little bit of a stick in the spokes. Yeah, yeah, yeah. All right, let's change topics a little bit. I just think the psychology behind these groups and creating culture and dealing with negative feedback and dealing with consent, you know, this disconsenting viewpoints. I think it all I think it's something that we all deal with every day. And in some I think in your case, it's very much like part of what you do.

I think for other people, it's it's little touch points that waste brain cycles that we need to be aware of, right? There are things that like, if we can avoid, you know, if we can avoid reacting to things, if we can avoid going down certain thought paths, we can save brain cycles and focus on valuable things. Okay, I want to talk, I want to switch to you guys, Insurance Soup, largest Facebook group for insurance agents. You now have Soup Live, which I had the pleasure of emceeing last year. It was an amazing event. One of my favorite events I've been to. By and large, because we had a really good emcee. Oh, stop, stop. It's just the energy, the people, the atmosphere. I really enjoyed it. I just really did. I'm interested in kind of just talk

me through, you have this group, everything's virtual, right? All these virtual relationships, and now you're bringing them into the real world. One, what is that like for you and Taylor, you know, taking this very virtual thing that you have and turning into something physical, you can bro hug people, you know, you're seeing their face. You're seeing their reaction to content. Like, what was that like? And why did you decide to make that move in the first place? So, it's been frigging awesome. Like, getting everyone in the room together has been truly, truly special.

Not so much for, I mean, it's special for Taylor and I. But I feel like I'm having a Michael Scott moment right now. Personally, it's like I'm watching all my children come together. I don't look at them like that, but when we threw the first one and all these people that we have had in masterminds, being an user, utilizing one of our products or services that we have had you know in in masterminds being an user utilizing one of our products or services that like we see chatting with each other on facebook on a regular basis like people that we know have been friendly with each other online for three years four years six years or whatever when they all came into that room together and i mean dude like the first year

there were literal tears yeah literal tears from some of these people like, oh, my God, I never thought I was actually going to meet you. Not me, not me, not Taylor, the other agents in the room. And seeing the power of that was was was truly very, very humbling, to say the least. But that's not the reason that we did it. You know, we were very fortunate the number of years before, you know, for, you know, years, you know, years and years at this point, where we were getting invited to a lot of different events, whether, you know, whether it was to speak or host panels or, you know, whatever the case was. And as we were going through the industry

and going from event to event and all that kind of stuff, we saw stuff that we liked and we saw stuff that we didn't like. And, you know, ultimately we decided that, I mean, soup itself was asking us for years to throw a conference, like, please get, let's get us all together. And like, I mean, just being completely transparent for a while, Taylor and I were just like seems like a giant headache, seems like a giant risk and uh like we we may come across very however we do when we're online and right now you like you and

i actually have a relationship with you know and whatnot so like you get a very talkative version of me but like neither one of us are traditionally the the most outgoing extroverted personalities and like i'm able to do my thing online or whatever and and and you know you give me a little bit of space to gather my thoughts and i'm i'm good but like being on all day like when soup live is over i need like a solid week to like get myself back together. And so for a while, it was like the idea of actually throwing one of these was just kind of like, oh, geez, like I want to meet everyone too. But like, I don't want the pressure of all of it. And so ultimately what wound up happening was after being to a number of the industry events, the audience begging and pleading with us for a while because they wanted to all get together and meet each other and all that. And, you know, just having experiences at various industry events that like kind of turned us off a little bit. You know, we just decided

that we were going to try and do it our own way. And so like we don't try and profit on the event. We try and break even. We failed last year. We lost about 30 grand. We try and keep the sponsors to an absolute minimum. We do eight to 10 sponsors. We actually have turned sponsors away. And it's not just like the first eight or 10. It's do we know you? Do you align with what we're doing?

Do we know that you're delivering results to the agents? You know, that type of thing. And, you know, the two main things that we really honed in on agents, you know, that, that type of thing. And, you know, the, the, the two main things that we really honed in on was number one, we didn't want to have a lot of vendors. We've heard of a lot of events out there that have so many vendors that it becomes absolutely overwhelming. There's been rumors of events that actually have more vendors than attendees. And like that to me is, that is disgraceful to both the vendors and to the attendees.

Like you have taken the money from the vendors and provided them absolutely no opportunity for ROI. And you have taken all these people who have paid a lot of money to receive value and essentially inserted them as, you know, essentially the hunted on the wild hunt from the vendors at that event who are now wildly trying to get ROI off of this very small amount of attendees.

That was one thing that we absolutely hated. And the other thing that we absolutely hated was we came across events where it was, I mean, point blank. We were invited to speak at an event. This is going back to 2019. And we agreed to it. And it was someone that we were looking to get to know and that we hadn't really built a relationship with yet. And we were all excited about it because it was an opportunity to shake hands with someone that we wanted to get to know. And about two weeks before we were supposed to speak,

out of nowhere, our inbox, we got an invoice and I called the dude up and I was like, we just got an invoice from you looking for money for us to speak. We never had this conversation, but I waived my fee to come speak for free for you because I want to get to know you, but you're billing me right now. And we never had that conversation. So what's that all about? Oh, I'm sorry. Maybe my sales guy didn't make it totally clear. Well, let me make something very clear. You don't have us at your event if you think that we're paying. And ultimately, we didn't have to pay and we were brought back another time or whatever. But it was evident from our experience, not only being asked to pay, but seeing the message that was being delivered from stage by the people that obviously paid, that everyone in the audience was simply there.

They had paid to come watch commercials. And like, sorry, that just doesn't sit right with me. Like we we as professionals that attend these events are paying good money hard-earned money we are in many cases hopping on a plane we're paying for a hotel we are if the event is five hundred dollars a thousand dollars by the time everything's all said and done you're twenty five hundred to three thousand dollars in and you show up for a commercial like to me that's wildly offensive so i'm with you so that was one of the things that with soup live we uh we made it a point as well there is no selling from stage in fact uh taylor

and i every single well every single year because like, we've been doing it for years and years. We've done two of them so far. But the first two years, we brought backup talks to give to the audience because we told all the speakers, you start selling from stage, we're cutting your mic, and we're going to go up there and just start speaking about something else. So we are very, very firm on that. And what's been great about it is everyone who has hit the stage, regardless of whether it's a normal everyday agent that's got something cool to share, or it is someone that has got a product or service for the industry that is probably chomping at the bit to tell everyone all about it. Everyone that has hit the stage at our event is delivering value without any kind of ask, without any kind of offer, without any kind of real product conversation at all. It is just people up there delivering value, teaching and getting agents on, giving agents the ability to go back to their agency and implement something that'll give them some positive lift.

Yeah. And I'll tell you, you can always see the difference in the energy that the speakers bring to stage when they're doing it for one, if you're, you know, I think there's really two formats and there's the format where you don't pay the speakers, right? And you as an event have to be giving them some value back. However, which is a trade a lot of speakers will make. I've made it. I made it to emcee the event, right? I wanted to get to know you guys. I wanted to get to know your audience. I had heard amazing things. I wanted to be there in person. Awesome. No problem. Had a tremendous time and we're talking about it now. And that's a value trade that a speaker has to make. The other

thing is if you pay them, if you flip it to, and this is why I would never allow, when I put on Elevate, I was hard. And this is probably part of the reason that I got fired from Trusted Choice and Agency Nation was I was like draconian in my belief structure around Elevate. Like that was my baby. And, you know, we went 315 year one, 825 year two. And then all of a sudden after year two, you know, people started injecting their opinions and what we needed to do to maximize our profit on the event. And similar to you, I think we lost year one, we lost like 40 grand. I think year two, we lost like 30 grand ish, you know? And in this, and what I said to them was I wanted to get to break even in past for sure.

But I was like, this is a year two event. And would you pay 30 grand for all the promotion of our brand that we have had over the course of a year, including 825 people in person and all the vendors? Like, would you pay 30 grand for that? Like if I said, hey, I'm going to get you this many brand touches over the course of a year, would you pay 30 grand for that? Yes, you would. A thousand out of a thousand times. So that is exactly how Taylor and I have been looking at this. We don't need to profit because what we're doing is we're getting everyone in the room. They're building the know, like, and trust factor. And ultimately, that all comes out in the wash yeah and it fell you

know and i mean this purely 100 as a compliment like as having bill elevate and whatever being at soup had very similar energy to me which i think is another reason why i really loved it um but my point being when someone is coming on their own accord, like I have decided to waive my fee and come speak because I want to be at your event and or you're paying me a commensurate fee with what I think I should be there, you get a wholly different presentation than when someone is paying to be there, which is why, to get back to my point, which I got off track on, I refuse to allow vendors to speak. Absolutely positively refuse. Like Billy Williams was one of the speakers at Elevate 2018. And I wanted the

audience exposed to him because he hadn't really done a lot in the independent space on a wide scale at that point. And I said to him, dude, I have no problem at the end, you mentioning what you do and where people can connect with you. Just don't make it a pitch. No problem. He absolutely crushes, right? That to me is fine. There's a difference between that.

And let me give you 45 minutes on all the reasons I'm amazing and you should pay me money for whatever it is that I'm selling. And as vendors rightfully can't help themselves, but do that when you put them on stage. Now, if someone inside a vendor is a subject matter expert and you can get them to commit to talking on that topic without pitching and maybe just a mention at the end to where people can learn more again, you have to trust them. But sometimes that can come back in your face. So it's very, very difficult. And this is why I think for those who want to be speakers, like getting involved, particularly in events like in events like yours or local state association events where maybe you can get in and do, you know, do a breakout session, do a small little workshop for free, whatever. Start to get some touch points and record yourself because you're not putting someone on stage if you even have an inkling that they're going to

start pitching, right? And unless you've seen it or heard it or have enough touch points from other people, you're not going to bring them in. You're just going to be like, hey, sorry. And that's the way we were. And that's the way I think a lot of well-run events that people want to keep coming back to, right? The reason I think events fall apart, which so many do, is because they start falling victim to how do I maximize profit? How do I get more vendors involved? How do I bop, bop, bop, bop? And the people can smell it and they just stop coming back. And you just see it over and over and over again. Well, you know, funny enough, it's literally the exact same thing that we do inside of insurance suit as well.

We don't allow the recruiting. We don't allow the vendors. We don't allow the carriers. We don't allow carrier representation. And the reason for it is because at the end of the day, when you've got those types of people in a room with a bunch of agents, they just can't help themselves. Yeah. They just cannot help themselves.

When a vendor sneaks into suit and they start DMing agents, thinking they're being slick or whatever, I know that they are sitting at their computer going, there's 53,000 of them in here. I'm going to make so much money. You know, and that is what is happening when they show up at a well-attended event. They're going, they're going, look at all the agents, guys, let's get out there. We brought our youngest, most attractive people, you know, that we've got on staff here. They're super outgoing, go out there and chat them all up, guys. And, you. And when they're not allowed to do that, and it has to come from a place of value. And you bring up Billy Williams.

I don't know, and I mean this respectfully. I don't mean this in any other way. I wonder if there's like a generational thing where, because my personal experience has been with a guy like Billy, who I love and respect tremendously and same same about the next two next two names i'm going to throw out tom hegna on the life insurance side troy korsgarden you know i i love those guys i respect them they are they are stalwarts or stalwarts what's the word i'm looking for they are stalwarts they're the word of our industry they are leaders they are they they are

deserving of the names and the respect and the accolades that they've achieved over the years. But within the insurance suit community, I've encouraged them to like step up, like, you know, like they want to hear from you guys. I've I've had to remove

so much content from them because there's like there's like an inability to not like. Yeah. And and there's just so much value to give. And I, I've always wondered if that's like a generational thing, because it seems to be, it seems to be like the, the people that I've done that I deal with that are,

that are in that, that stage of their career versus, you know, versus some of the young. Yeah. It's a completely different, I'll tell you what it is, dude. Cause, um, so I, uh, I consume a massive amount of marketing content because I'm just interested in it. It's part of who I am. And it's direct mail mentality, right? Like if you can only send one piece of mail a month to your target audience to get them to buy your thing, to write, handwrite a check and stick it in the mail and send it to you with how many units you want or whatever. You have to give value and ask, give value and ask. And that is an entire, there's

an entire generation of coaches, marketers, salespeople, that that is just how they were trained. And frankly, I think that while today, I think premium, the freebie, the lead magnet is much more a part of that process, right? I have to get the Gary Vaynerhook jab, jab, jab, right hook. I also believe that our generation of marketers, and maybe not even me and you, maybe it's a little younger too, the pendulum is swinging sometimes a little too far to free, right? We're too willing to give everything away for free and we don't ask as much. And I'll tell you, this is a big problem for me. I have a couple of mentors that I work with. I actually just had every other Wednesday, I have a mentoring call with a guy that I've been working with for more than three years, and he's become a great friend, and we kind of mentor each other on different things.

And he is always saying to me, you undervalue yourself. You know, like you're putting a price tag of this, and really it should be here. And if you get two less things, but you get it at this price, like this is what it's worth. Like it's not, you're not, there's no,

it's not heroic to, let's say it's worth. Like it's, it's not, you're not, uh, there's no, uh, it's not heroic to, to let's say it's speaking events to do three speaking events at this price when you should be getting one speaking event at this price. He's like at this point in your career, like 10 years ago, whatever. So I think that, I think right around your, in my age generation and below, we have to be careful that we haven't swung too far to the give stuff away for free, give stuff away for free. Like, but I think the other side of it is, and this is where we see the difference is their generation was jab, right hook, right hook, right hook, jab, you know, and, and we're just like jab, jab, jab, jab. So if you haven't read that book, that's a good book for sales and marketing guys. Jab, Jab, Jab, Right Hook by Gary Vaynerchuk. So

I want to be cognizant of your time, but I have one more question for you. And, you know, I see, I think so much of success is just outlasting your competition. And I honestly have never quite understood the territorialism that so many people have. I mean, just like there are people, and I'll just use their name, like the IOA group, like you're either an IOA member or you're an insurance suit member, and I'm like, I don't understand. These are all amazing people, and you can learn from all these different groups. Why are we picking teams?

You can be part of this group, and you can be part of this group, and share here, and get to know these people people and get life insurance advice from this group over here, yet we tend to be so territorial. Unfortunately, in the competition of that, it seemingly is just outlasting your competition is ultimately how we're successful. You guys seem to have found a formula that allows you to, and again, you never know what the future will bring. Although I, for my own. You want the formula? You want the actual formula? Yeah. I'm interested in the formula for, for outlasting.

Taylor has developed into a brilliant business mind. Truly. I have gotten really bad ADHD and that's our, our combination. Like, like throughout the day I hop into, I hop into really bad ADHD and that's our combination. Like throughout the day, I hop into soup and it's just like, where's my mind at right this second? All right. The audience, you know, the audience agrees with me, doesn't agree with me. I'm keeping it moving. I'm keeping it fun and upbeat and all that kind of stuff.

And like, and I work with, I'm working primarily with agents throughout the day, building relationships with agents and all that kind of stuff. He is working more on the business side of things. He's working with carriers and vendors, and he is building the industry relations side while I am working on the agent side of the equation. I love that. I mean, and to be honest with you, getting to witness your partnership firsthand, how you guys interact with each other, the fact that you seemingly are willing to push back on each other, but still have a good natured, you know, still are good natured about it. And we fought like cats and dogs throughout our career here and there. Yeah.

And I, and I think that's what you have to do. I mean, I, you know, I think there are a lot of people that, and I've even seen it, unfortunately, that when they have those arguments, they just decide to give up. They're like, oh, we're fighting. We're not a good fit. I guess maybe for those listening who have partners or are part of groups or whatever, when you guys had those arguments, disagreements, whatever, how were you able to continue to be so committed to each other to keep pushing through on the mission? Super, super simple, man. Super simple. It was a very, it was a very early conversation after a very early argument. And it was, we're both trying to accomplish the same thing here. We're both trying to improve the business. We're just not

agreeing on how. So like, we're both trying to get to the same place it's okay that we don't see eye to eye here because at the end of the day our goal is the same our like the the methodology the the route that we take to get there all of that sure we can bang heads all we want but the fact that we've got the common goal we both got our eyes set on the same thing like we're able to understand that like i mean it's it's good it's good for us not to see eye to eye if if every time i said i think we should do it like this taylor was like definitely bro like who needs the echo chamber yeah dude like a lot of people look at what taylor and i built and they say to themselves like oh those guys have

you know must must really you guys must be really good at something or really talented or blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And to your point, man, I really think it's just been consistency. It has just been consistency. There is not a special talent or ability that either one of us have that should give us anything that we you know, we've been lucky enough to build along the way. It's just showing up every single day with a positive attitude, looking to be in the right rooms with the right people. Yeah. And I'll throw two things just as

a third party observation and getting to know you guys in the last year is that one, it is incredibly obvious that you authentically give a shit about the people in your group. Oh, yeah, man. Thousand percent. And the reason for it, I mean, we haven't even really gotten into this, like, you know, why soup started or whatever. A big reason that that soup started was because Taylor and I felt as if there was a lot of over under-delivering from the carriers to the agents. And we were like, it's time for transparency. It's time to get everyone in the room and keep everybody that is at the carrier level, get them all out.

This is a room where all of us are going to speak very openly. And if that means that someone's going to get shit on heavily so be it but you know what like we're not going to allow the carriers or the vendors or anything like that like you're not going to uh it was just like it was kat williams just said it when he was doing his uh his spill his tell-all some of the some of the effect of like like if you didn't want if you don't want the narrative to i'm i'm totally wording it wrong but essentially it's uh it's like if you didn't want the narrative to come out perhaps you should have treated them better yeah and uh you know how we went into to suit uh you know was was like let's make this a place where it can be totally transparent

and we can make each other aware of where the good opportunities are. We can make each other aware of what to stay away from and all that kind of stuff. So that was kind of like the genesis of it. And like, like I, it's a true passion. It's a true, it's like for me personally, if I am able to, what once started as like keep agents out of harm's way and has evolved down to more like help get you to the promised land, that's what I really love. Because I know what that entrepreneurial journey is like. I know the pitfalls. Dude, like I have fallen on my face and made so many mistakes and had, and, I have made mistakes. I have felt slighted.

I have been burned. I have been stolen from like, like the list goes on and on and on. I like, and I feel like, I feel like, you know, every entrepreneur has an element of this in their journey. With the amount that I have felt chewed up and spit out before I really hit my stride here with soup. Like for me, the passion has been like help others avoid some of the shit that I've been through. And it's authentic. Like that's something that truly does drive me. it because you know i think it will hit home more for the audience listening you know hearing someone else say but it uh i i do not abide people who are fake i just it just it's like one of the largest turnoffs i like literally can't even be around them um and i and you know i think you guys in and not even that you guys have an inkling of that it's the exact opposite it is so especially me you know you know, coming to Soup Live. It just, from the moment I walked in, it was so obvious to me how much those people being there, the experience, the experience they were having, how much it meant to you guys, how much that group meant to you guys.

I think that's the key. Can I embarrass myself? Sure, yeah, go ahead. When Soup Live kicked off, the very first one, a couple years ago, we hosted a Texas Live in Arlington. And the way that it's set up is it's basically two tiers. You've got the main floor with the stage,

and then you can go upstairs and there's like a upper deck or whatever. And when things kicked off for soup live and troy core has gone uh took the stage and kicked us off i went upstairs to just get a view of like the entire thing i wanted to see how many people were here what's it look like like this is, this was a big moment for us, you know, our first conference or whatever. And like, I'm getting chills even, even talking about it right now. I got up there, I looked down at everybody and I had to sit in the chair and I just started to cry. Yeah.

And like, cause it was just a, it was a very, it was a, it was a very intense. You're the second person that knows. Well, now, now a lot more people know about this. Taylor're the second person that knows well now now a lot more people know about this taylor is the only one that knows that knew about this previous but it was just so overwhelming looking down at you know the the 325 350 people that were there uh did you do that or did i do something to close balloons i have no idea. you know spending a lot of them are there and maybe financially like it's a stretch for them to be there and it's because of this event that we were able to put together and the trust that people had given us and all that and it's just a very very uh i mean dude like i was trying to

carry bill wallace uh not that long ago and like she was you know she was talking about soup live in a very similar manner and it's like it's like dude i fell over putting my pants on like a couple weeks ago like i was putting like i was like getting the second leg and i was like it's like dude i i fell over putting my pants on like a couple weeks ago like i was putting like i was like getting the second leg and i was like fell over on the bed and it's like these people come out for me and like i like i am like like i'm the guy at like 11 o'clock at night with a bag of cheetos on my stomach you know it's like it's like it's like it's it's just a very very humbling very amazing yeah and, it comes back to the fact that everything you've said today,

I think it's just so obvious again, how much that you care, Taylor cares. And I think that's where people want to be. And I look at my own decisions and the groups and the people I follow. Like, you know, there are people that I follow, even online that I don't know that I've never met, who I don't even necessarily agree with or don't even really particularly care for their style.

But man, I believe that they believe what they're saying and they're saying it for reasons that I believe are positive. They believe that this viewpoint, they're sharing it not to get traffic or to win some award or get another follower. They're saying it to be helpful because this is what they believe or their experience has taught them. And I would rather follow that person who maybe I don't 100% agree with their viewpoint, but I believe they believe it and are trying to be helpful versus somebody who's polished and crisp and has every David Ogilvie-esque line perfectly written in their copy and the, you know, the graphics and all that. Like, you know, it's funny. I saw this guy today. I was doing some YouTube research for a coaching client of mine. And I found this person who ranks for a keyword they wanted to rank for. So I'm like, oh, this is interesting. I'm looking to

click through and I go to his Instagram and like, there's this dude and he's an influencer and you know, he's got like 7,000 Instagram followers and he's got this picture of like living the whatever life and he's, and it's just a picture of his wrist with a watch on it. And it looks like a PJ. And I zoom in and I'm like, no, that's a pivot. That's $150 PJ knockoff watch that you're wearing in a photo that looks like, you know, something you'd see like in a Rolex commercial with like this language around. I'm like, this is fucking bullshit. Like you can buy that shit at Macy's, you know, with a gift card. Like, you know, not that there's anything wrong with having $150 watch.

I'm not trying to knock that. But the way it was played off was so, in my opinion, insincere and fake that I will never trust another thing that you say ever because I saw that, because you would take that picture and not make fun of the fact that if he took that picture in a different way, there was a way to promote that watch, if that's what you want to do in a way that i believe is very authentic the way he did it was not and and it was like that right there bam never again like i'll i'll never take what you say seriously again and again not that you're pitching watches or whatever but the idea is i think so many of these groups try to be something they're not, try to put on a – and this goes for all kinds of different things, associations, carrier groups, all kinds of different things, mastermind groups, et cetera. Just be authentic to who you are.

Give a shit. Listen. And this is the other thing that I think – and I want to be cognizant of our time and have people learn more. I think the other thing you guys do really well is I think you listen to your community really well. And that to me is a testament to – it's a byproduct, a derivative of the first thing, which is giving a shit. It's not just telling them what they need to know or shoving another product down their throat. It's listening to what they need and trying to match products, vendors. Like, you know, you were with Wes because I think you guys have something going with agency BA.

Like that's listening to your community, going out, finding someone that you believe, that you trust, and then presenting them in a real and authentic way to the people who follow you and say, if you need this, it's now here for you. That is completely different than some backhanded deal where you're promoting somebody that you have some interest in, but you try to play it off like you don't. I don't know if Soup is aware of it. I would imagine the casual member is not. We do not have a single affiliate deal.

Anything that we bring, we either own 100% of or have invested in because we believe it. That's what I mean. That to me, that's being authentic, being honest, being transparent with your group and going out and finding solutions for them versus I think with so many. If you're in insurance soup and you're watching this, right, listening to this right now, we are compensated on every product and service that we talk about in there. We're not pretending that we're not like it is, it is what it is, but we, we do believe that we're bringing you the best version of everything that we do. That's the way it should be. Like, and, and, and I hope I was, I wasn't trying to blow you guys up. I was trying to say like, I think that's the- We're transparent about it.

Yeah, that's the way it should be done. It should be, it is perfectly fine to sell people things. Perfectly fine. Just be upfront and honest about why, right? Hey, we invested in this company. We did this, or we formed this partnership. Here's exactly how we're compensated. But I did this because I think this is the best thing for you. And then people don't give a shit. They almost respect you more

and are more interested and will listen more because now they understand where your head is at versus these like, I'm going to promote this product, but I'm not going to tell anybody that I got advisor shares and that shit happens all the time. And I think it's disgusting, but dude, we've been chatting for a very long time. I obviously I'm a big fan of what you guys are doing. Where can people, if they're not part of soup and they're eligible to join, where do they go find out more information? Where can they connect with you, et cetera? Yeah. Just, just do a search on Facebook for insurance soup and you'll find the group. There's 53,000 of us in there right now.

Just join. Make sure you answer the questions. People that don't answer the questions to join the group generally don't get in. If you are watching this and you are a vendor, recruiter, carrier or anything like that, we prefer you don't get in. If you do get in, understand that you got a target on your back

and it's just a matter of time. As far as Soup Live, you can head on over to Soup Live 2024. We'd love to see you there. Actually, Ryan, you're going to be presenting this year. We're super excited to have you and all the value that you deliver, of course. But Insurance Soup on Facebook is really the best place to start. If you're looking to connect with me personally, Facebook is also the best place to find me. I mean, I know you're an inbox zero guy, aren't you? No, no. Oh, you're not?

I'm not. Inbox zero guys. I'm easiest to find on Facebook because I'm not the easiest to- Inbox 1,000. On my inbox. I am inbox 100,110 is what I am right now. So I'm a little less than that.

Right now I'm carrying 26 emails, So I'm a little less than that right now. I'm carrying 26 emails, but I'm not a, I'm not an inbox. That's that. I do find the important ones and my, my VA does get a lot of get everything that needs to get to me over to me. But if you're looking to actually connect and not just be something that I have to get back to, like I, like right now, just since this, since this podcast has started, like I've got, I've got nine people to get back to. Like right now, just since this podcast has started, I've got nine people to get back to on my messenger.

Like messenger is the way to find me. Awesome. Dude, I'm going to let you get back to them. I appreciate the hell out of you. I want to just close this by saying, getting to know you and Taylor and just the small part that I've been in your ecosystem has been something I'm very happy about and blessed.

And I wish you nothing but success. And I can't wait to be part of Soup Live 2024. It's going to be amazing. Thanks, brother. Appreciate your friendship. Yeah, be good. I'm going to Shaboom! Thank you. Thank you. Close twice as many deals by this time next week. Sound impossible? It's not. With the OneCall Close system, you'll stop chasing leads and start closing deals in one call. This is the exact method we use to close 1,200 clients under three years during the pandemic.

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