RHS 030 - Brent Kelly on Why the Grass is NOT Greener Outside Insurance

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Speaker 7 Hello, everyone, and welcome back to the Ryan Hanley Show.

Speaker 8 And today, we're joined by a very special guest. One of the gentlemen that I have known the longest in this space.

Speaker 8 He was reaching out into the internet to connect with people, to find other professionals that were doing interesting, fun things at the same time that I was back in the 2009, 2010, 2011 days.

Speaker 8 My man Brent Kelly is on the show today. Brent Kelly is one of the premier sales leadership performance consultants in our space.

Speaker 8 And if he's not the best today, he will be in the very near future because he just keeps getting better. And the work that he's doing at the Sitkins Gupa with Roger Sitkins is second to none.

Speaker 8 It's really tremendous stuff. And it's been so much fun.

Speaker 8 We're going to talk about it during the show, but it's been so much fun to watch Brent evolve from agent to doing his own thing to working with Sitkins and now rising up through that organization.

Speaker 8 And just, it's, it's just fun when you see one of your friends do really well.

Speaker 8 And I've known Brent for a long time and it makes me happy to see him happy and doing what he loves and helping agents.

Speaker 8 And we just talk about all that stuff today, and you're just going to love this episode. But before we get to Brent, we have to talk about the people that make this show possible.

Speaker 8 I want to give a huge shout out. I want to do a clear call to action.
Go to advisorvolved.com. Advisor Evolved.com.

Speaker 8 Don't believe me that Advisor Evolves creates the dopest websites in the insurance game, maybe in the internet, period. Go to roguerisk.com.
Go check out roguerisk.com right now. Check out my website.

Speaker 8 I don't care.

Speaker 8 I'm not doing that as a call to action. There's nothing for you to buy there.
I want you to check out that site because it's built on the Advisor Evolved platform.

Speaker 8 Check it out. Advisor Evolved websites that aren't just pretty pictures on the internet.
They're tools for your business.

Speaker 8 And I just can't thank Chris Langell and his team and what they did for Rogue Risk to give us an absolutely gangster presence on the interwebs.

Speaker 8 I know it's early. I know your website doesn't mean everything, but for a young company like mine to establish ourselves, be able to send people to a website that looks like roguerisk.com does today.

Speaker 8 It means a lot. It gives us confidence.
It gives our clients confidence that when we talk to them,

Speaker 8 that we're legit, that we're here, that we're rock solid. And I couldn't have done it without the fine people at advisor evolved.com.
Go to avisor evolved.com,

Speaker 8 schedule your demo, figure out how you can make the transition to an Advisor Evolved website today.

Speaker 8 All right, let's get on to Brent Kelly.

Speaker 7 What's up, man?

Speaker 10 Not much. You got enough going on right now?

Speaker 10 Dude,

Speaker 7 I just interviewed Matt Masiello, the CEO of SIAA.

Speaker 10 Yeah. How'd that go?

Speaker 7 It's good. It's good.
He's a good, good dude.

Speaker 7 You know, I think,

Speaker 7 you know, I think, you know, there's a lot of different opinions about SIA. They have a lot of agents.

Speaker 7 It's good and bad to everything. But I feel like

Speaker 7 I've never not gotten the impression from him that he is is doing everything that he believes he can in order to improve agents, the industry, and the members who are part of it.

Speaker 7 So I thought it would be cool to have him on because I wanted to get his perspective. I mean, this is an organization that collectively writes a billion dollar,

Speaker 7 $8 billion in premium. Sorry.

Speaker 10 Yes, yes. And,

Speaker 7 you know, I just think that there's a lot of misconceptions. And, you know, one person has one experience, one person has another, and we start to

Speaker 7 you know

Speaker 7 you know i think we start to

Speaker 7 get a narrative in our head that isn't actually always what's taking place and like i know a lot of them i shouldn't say i know a lot i know a dozen or so master agents in the sa

Speaker 7 network um

Speaker 7 and worked for a bunch of them and

Speaker 7 you know, they all seem to be pretty good people. So I just thought it would be fun.

Speaker 7 It was, it was definitely more stressful than like, if I'm talking to you or Cass or somebody, we can just have like a con you know obviously

Speaker 7 I want to go but like we can have a conversation you know I had to like interview up to get

Speaker 7 you know I don't here's a dude who runs a pretty big organization lots to do like I don't want to mess with his time I don't want him to get done and be like this was a joke right I get it

Speaker 7 and then I remembered that I had a hoodie on so

Speaker 10 it's all right hey it's part of it you were you were interviewing up you're prepping but you were still being real right

Speaker 10 oh trying to be something like that

Speaker 7 so dude let's um

Speaker 7 let's get right into it like i you know so all right so here's where i want to start so cass and i put this 20 must follow agents for 2020 thing together i don't know if you saw that or 2020 insurance pros you were one of them

Speaker 10 and uh by the way Oh, well, yeah, obviously, man, you're very deserving,

Speaker 7 deserving more than most. And

Speaker 7 what was funny was when we got to your name on the list, Cass said something that I hadn't really thought about, or at least not thought about in a long time.

Speaker 7 He was like, something, something, something like, bro, like, remember back when it was just me, you, and Brent Kelly, it was like just the three of us. We were the only ones talking about this stuff.

Speaker 10 Right.

Speaker 7 And like, I remember like those old Google Plus days where like we'd have the grainy videos and it would take us 15 minutes to get on and get it all working.

Speaker 7 And then we would talk about this stuff and what's working and what wasn't working. And, like, you know, there were other people that popped in and out of that.

Speaker 7 And, uh, and, and, and everyone's good peoples, but it was just funny. Like, I hadn't really thought about those days.

Speaker 7 And like, today there's so many people having conversations like the one we're about to have.

Speaker 7 Seven, eight years ago, it was a handful, like, just a handful. That was it.

Speaker 10 Yeah.

Speaker 10 It's well, I think I had this conversation with Cass not long ago, too. Um, I said, Two things: what you do sometimes forget to reflect on,

Speaker 10 oh my god, like I do remember that, and then number two is that we're getting old, man.

Speaker 10 Like, you know, because I was thinking because I thought about that too a little bit ago, and I can't remember when we first-I mean, I know there's different aspects, and it kind of evolved, but your hair was darker then, too.

Speaker 10 My hair, I got a lot of

Speaker 10 salt and a pepper, right? But

Speaker 10 thanks for pointing that out, by the way. Appreciate that.

Speaker 10 But it's true. My, my kids call me on all the time.
Yeah, you have pictures. You had dark hair.
I'm like, yeah,

Speaker 10 wisdom hair is coming in.

Speaker 10 But

Speaker 10 it's been like 10 years. Yeah.

Speaker 10 Yeah.

Speaker 7 So dude, I started writing insurance in 2006.

Speaker 7 I think we all connected in 2000 nine ish, 2010 is when we started connecting. The internet started providing us with enough capabilities to find each other.
Yep, uh, it's pretty wild.

Speaker 7 So, so you have come, you've your career, I think, probably much like my own, yeah, has taken a lot of twists and turns.

Speaker 7 You've been a bunch of different places, and you know, give us the just for the few people that don't know who you are. And if you're listening to this and you're not connected to Brent, then

Speaker 7 I gotta be honest with you,

Speaker 7 there's something wrong with you. No, dude, go go go find Brent and check out that post or just go search him on LinkedIn.

Speaker 7 But, um, uh, because as you'll see, you know, we're, we're talking to one of the, one of the best, one of the best in the industry. And, and, in my opinion, uh,

Speaker 7 I think, I think there are some others with more experience than you, but I think in the very near future, you will be probably the best like agent sales trainer in the industry. And, um,

Speaker 7 and we'll all be able to say we knew him when.

Speaker 10 Yeah, right, right,

Speaker 10 right,

Speaker 10 Right.

Speaker 7 Just give us the 10,000 foot, you know, quick rewind view of the couple stops that you've made to where you are today.

Speaker 10 Well, I mean, as you just said, I mean, I started as a producer. I mean, that's where I got my teeth kicked in, as we all hear, and

Speaker 10 made, you know, thousands upon thousands of mistakes. And I had a few wins in there as well.
So 15 years in production with two agencies. So,

Speaker 10 you know, even that time kind of flew by. I remember when I, when I officially left the last agency I was with to start my own business, which was my next step to do

Speaker 10 consulting, speaking, coaching. I honestly didn't exactly know.
This is advice to anyone to start their own business, have a better plan than what I did.

Speaker 10 But I mean, I knew I wanted to do what I'm doing now. I just didn't know how it would look or feel.
You know, and I think, Ryan, you've had obviously some of those experiences in your career as well.

Speaker 10 And, you know, it just goes into the fact that I enjoy, I love the industry, although probably like many people listening to this, there were several times where I thought, you know, this would be a great opportunity to get out.

Speaker 10 You know, like

Speaker 10 try something new, do something unique, go out and, you know, and it certainly, as we've all talked about, I mean, as different events I've been to, it sucks you back in, right?

Speaker 10 And for a lot of good reasons. I mean, you know, part of it is, yeah, you've got.
ties there, you've got experience, there's knowledge, there's credibility.

Speaker 10 But I don't want to be cliche, but it's the people. I mean, we talked about us us connected in 2009, but it's just amazing how many of those connections that you have.

Speaker 10 And so I started my own business, started in 2015,

Speaker 10 and I was doing a number of different things. Like I said, it was really focused around sales, marketing, some leadership.

Speaker 10 But then I kind of gravitated more into the leadership coaching, which really kind of started the idea of performance.

Speaker 10 This idea of how do you help us like, you know, athletes, how do you help them perform at a higher level? And so that was whether it's agency leadership or sales.

Speaker 10 And then in 2017, got connected to Roger Sitkins, who I had read

Speaker 10 years and years, who I had talked to other people.

Speaker 10 And everybody's got different opinions on everyone. And I didn't know Roger.
I didn't really have an opinion other than when I started talking to him, he was very credible.

Speaker 10 And I went to a producer camp and I thought, why aren't more people doing this? Like,

Speaker 10 it wasn't.

Speaker 10 And he'd be the first to tell you and people that attend, it's not rocket science, some of the stuff that we talk about, but it's taking some some very simple ideas that simply that work and execute and so my role now is i work with agencies as part of the sitkins group i'm the vice president we have our our main uh our main goal our main purpose is our private client network so we have a private client group we work really closely with and

Speaker 10 we coach we train work with the producers work with the agency leaders and it's i mean simplistically get results and do it in the right way and and i think the cool thing ryan is that going back to we talked about 2009 with me you and CAS and being one of the first few people to do it It's how you kind of take stuff that works principles and philosophies that are never going to change and just adapt and put some different life to them and and you know, I mean as we know the business is evolving It'll never stop evolving and so that's the cool thing is that the older I get and I'm sure you've heard this before and experienced this the older I get the I realize the less that I actually know

Speaker 10 and so I I could see myself, and I appreciate the comment about, you know, being one of the best sales trainers. Certainly my goal is to be, yeah, to be the best that I can be, right? The Army slogan.

Speaker 10 But it's not so much just because of me, it's because what I can give back. And that's what I want to do.
I want to make a greater impact.

Speaker 10 And I also know that by the time I'm 50 or 60, and I'm completely gray and or bald,

Speaker 10 I'll know even less because you'll learn enough more things. You go, wow, I didn't realize that either.
So, and that's one last thing. I know I'm rambling here.

Speaker 10 But the cool thing

Speaker 10 that I have learned, and people say, you know, with Roger, what has your relationship been like? Or what have you learned?

Speaker 10 One of the things that's just always interesting to me is Roger just turned 70 years old. So as he would say, it's his 20th anniversary of his 50th birthday.

Speaker 10 And I've never seen someone, I mean, a lot of people, it's like, okay, I'm good, financially upset, good reputation. You know, I don't need to learn anymore.

Speaker 10 But I've never seen someone after every event. Okay, what do we do well? How do we do this better? What can, you know, it's always asking, what do we not cover? What did we not learn?

Speaker 10 What's changing the industry? How do we understand technology better? And most people wouldn't get that.

Speaker 10 So to see someone who's got that hunger for growth and learning and how it then impacts those people you're serving has probably been the greatest lesson I've learned. Yeah.

Speaker 7 You know,

Speaker 7 wow, there's so much in there to unpack. I love it.

Speaker 7 So

Speaker 7 one thing I would tell people

Speaker 7 is that it. from my own experience and

Speaker 7 I would love for you to comment on this.

Speaker 7 The grass,

Speaker 7 insurance is not sexy. And i think we stand in the field of insurance and we look out over the fence and we're going man

Speaker 7 that looks beautiful over there and geez look how wide open that is and oh that just that looks like the tastiest grass i've ever seen in my whole life and you get over there and you realize that like the grass isn't greener on that side this is

Speaker 7 you know having been

Speaker 7 worked except for working inside a carrier, I basically worked just about every other avenue that you can have in this business.

Speaker 7 And now I've spent time outside the business and I spent time outside the business before coming into the industry.

Speaker 7 I don't know that it gets much greener than here, right? I just don't know that it does from a, from a

Speaker 7 challenging you perspective, from a, you know, how much there is to learn, like how deep you can go if you want to, how wide you can go if you want to, the various opportunities that exist, the amount of money that you can make in this industry, how well you can support your family, your goals if you want to give back.

Speaker 7 Or like, you know, I did a, I did an episode that will air before this one comes out. Everything you've ever wanted to know about Jason Cass and one of his goals, right?

Speaker 7 Like, like anyone has ever wanted to.

Speaker 10 You can't wait. They already do, right?

Speaker 7 But like, he was talking about how one of his lifelong goals was to build churches in Cuba, which he's already started to do. And like, that's possible because of the insurance industry.

Speaker 7 I mean, this is is a guy whose story has a moment in it where he has a two-year-old and not a single present under the christmas tree because he hasn't made enough money to do that and now he has enough where he has three location agency and and and and he's taking four trips a year to build churches in cuba the insurance industry provided him with that i mean he had to do the work and um

Speaker 7 you know i i i'm just I mean, that obviously, I mean, obviously, I think that's probably what you're going to say, but I would love for you to comment on that because I think there's a lot of people as digital becomes more present, digital tools of what of every extent become more pervasive.

Speaker 7 There is this idea of, and I was given this advice, Ryan, don't stay just in the insurance industry, branch out, go to more places, have a consulting agency that works in all these industries.

Speaker 7 Obviously, I didn't take that advice. And it's because I believe that

Speaker 7 the greenest grass that you can find, maybe there are other industries that are just as good, but the greenest grass you can find is here. I mean, is that, am I crazy? Or what do you think?

Speaker 10 No, I think you said it really well. And,

Speaker 10 you know, so often when I talk to insurance professionals, I don't care if you're an agency leader, producer, whatever, that's mainly who we deal with.

Speaker 10 But there's no, especially younger people, however you want to define that, there is a lot of that because you haven't experienced as much stuff yet.

Speaker 10 And again, I'll experience a lot more in the next, hopefully, God willing, 20, 30, 40 years. But you're right.
You look at it and, you know, I'm kind of settling.

Speaker 10 You know, I fell into this business, right? There's so many family businesses, which is great, but it's like, is this really my path?

Speaker 10 And

Speaker 10 that's a fair question to ask. I think we all need to ask that question.
But as far as a business model, lifestyle opportunity, impact that you can make,

Speaker 10 I don't think there is a better business, a better, you know, I hate the word industry, but that's that's out there that can provide the things that you want.

Speaker 10 One of our biggest frustrations, and I'm sure you've experienced this too, Ryan, in different roles you've played of doing coaching, consulting, training, however you want to to define it, is the biggest challenge is it's hard to find people that are hurting enough that really want help.

Speaker 10 And I know that sounds crazy because there's some agencies and producers that go, you know, I'm struggling, things are better. But I'm telling you what, we asked a question at a producer camp.

Speaker 10 We've got 40 people sitting there, how many are making more money than anybody else in your family right now? Most hands are, you know, how many are making more money than this or that?

Speaker 10 And it's not just the money, we know that, but the opportunity it provides.

Speaker 10 And you know, the cool thing is the fact that even when we do our models with insurance producers, for example, we base it off 42 weeks. We say, here's the deal.

Speaker 10 You're going to screw around for 10 weeks the year anyway. So let's just prepare for 42.

Speaker 10 All that being said is, yes, I think it's easy to look at and go, oh, that's a cool thing. I could do that.
That would be neat. That's got a sexier feel to it.

Speaker 10 And if that's where your heart and passion lie, you want to make an impact there, go for it. Great.

Speaker 10 You and I are not the only ones. Others have kind of teetered outside of it and gone, wait a second here.
This opportunity and how we serve people and the freedom it provides both time and in money

Speaker 10 and the recurring revenue model that

Speaker 10 even if you're not very good with client experience that probably 90% of your clients stay with you and pay you again. Find me a better model.
Yeah.

Speaker 7 And here's the other thing too, man, because I think, I think what happens is, and this is why I love the,

Speaker 7 why I like that technology is becoming more and more a part of our business and why new models, like I would like to believe that the model I'm creating is not wholly new, but it is in part new.

Speaker 7 And what it is, is very specifically me. That's what I believe Rogue is.
Rogue, the way it's going to be built, and I'm going to talk more about it as it becomes a real thing.

Speaker 7 And some of the pieces I have to tear down because I'm just talking on my ass.

Speaker 7 it will be very uniquely who I am and what I believe. And every agency is able to be that.
And what it does is,

Speaker 7 I feel like that provides, like,

Speaker 7 you can go, like, you can be challenged in new ways every day in this industry. And that is not the case in other industries.
That is simply not the case.

Speaker 7 Like, I'll tell you, coming from the fitness industry, like,

Speaker 7 I was nine months in and granted, I didn't love fitness. You know what I mean? I wasn't a fitness guru.
I was someone who enjoyed being fit. And I gave my heart and soul to that business.

Speaker 7 But, like, I wasn't, fitness didn't like

Speaker 7 turn me on, you know, just like insurance doesn't turn me on on a day-to-day.

Speaker 7 But what I love about insurance is there are so many new challenges that I've never been in this industry and felt

Speaker 7 I've never felt that like, ah, geez, I've kind of got it figured out.

Speaker 7 And after nine months in the fitness space, I kind of felt like take hot co-ed between 25 and 45, get them sweaty, take up shots, and

Speaker 7 put

Speaker 7 inspirational language around image and post on social media. Clients come and sign up, like rinse, repeat, right? Do one with a woman who's a little older, do one with a teen basketball player guy.

Speaker 7 Like, I mean, there just wasn't any more to it.

Speaker 10 You show up, you work out, it's cool, rinse and repeat.

Speaker 7 And that doesn't make the business diminished. It just means that was kind of what it was.
And then execute on that. With insurance, man, there's just, you, there's so many different things.

Speaker 7 You can take on a new niche. You can find a new way to sell.
You can add a new product. You can add a new piece of technology.
It just feels to me like there's so much here.

Speaker 10 Yeah. So I'm just trying to unpack that because that's powerful.

Speaker 10 I wrote down one word, which is kind of my theme personally.

Speaker 10 And then as I use, as I talk to insurance agencies and some of the stuff I have upcoming in the first and second quarter this year, but it's about depth.

Speaker 10 And I think, you know, you just kind of hit it. And again, this isn't to compare all the different industries or businesses out there because there's going to be different models.

Speaker 10 But I do think, just like anything in life and in business, that from the outside, grass is greener. If you stay shallow, it's pretty cool.

Speaker 10 But once you're in something for a while and you have to go deeper, they just talk like, wait a second, what else? Is there another level here? Is there more to this?

Speaker 10 Is there, I mean, you can use that for anything, right? You travel around and you do speaking engagements and you stay at a nice hotel and like from the shop, that's awesome. How cool does that look?

Speaker 10 But then you go into some of the depth behind it, right? And

Speaker 10 again, this isn't even the speaking. I'm actually talking about like locations.
Grass is greener. Oh, it'd be cool to live here.

Speaker 10 Well, yeah, it's cool when you stay at the hotel there and you're on a beach. Yeah.
That is pretty cool. But what's the depth of the daily lifestyle?

Speaker 10 I think, and I know I'm taking this in a weird way, but it's like with the insurance, we start going deeper. There are a lot of places to go.

Speaker 10 Like you said, you can create the model you want, the niche you want,

Speaker 10 you know, the clients you want to create. I mean, opportunities are great.
And even within that, it changes a hundred different ways. Yeah.
So I a thousand percent agree.

Speaker 10 It's a, it's a, it's a depth issue in my mind. Yeah.

Speaker 7 And I think I would just roll this part of our conversation into the idea that, like, if you're thinking about leaving, if it's something you have to do, like it's just, there's a calling to you, right?

Speaker 7 You want to start your own yoga studio. You want to become a speaker.
You want to do something else.

Speaker 10 By all means, live your dream, like do it.

Speaker 7 But please, I would say, take a second and question yourself if you're doing it because it feels like the grass is greener someplace else, or you're doing it because it's actually what you want to do.

Speaker 7 Because I just firmly believe, and I've believed this for a very long time, because I did not leave the insurance industry to go to fitness because I didn't like insurance.

Speaker 10 There's a whole story to that, which I won't tell. It doesn't oh, come on, Ryan, let's dive deeper into that today.

Speaker 7 You know, I could share the top level of that, you know.

Speaker 7 For some people who've listened to me, I've kind of hit on it, but um, I left the insurance industry, and this will be two minutes because we're supposed to be talking about you, but like, um, I left the insurance industry because my brother-in-law was sick, he has since passed away.

Speaker 7 Um,

Speaker 7 and when I was with Bold Penguin, my wife came to me, and I have no beef with Bold Penguin, perfectly fine company. They treated me perfectly fine.
I wish them nothing but success.

Speaker 7 I still talked to a lot of people there. So me leaving Bold Penguin had nothing to do with like they didn't like me or I didn't like them.
My wife came to me and said, you need to be home.

Speaker 7 Her brother,

Speaker 7 the heir to the agency who was their, by far their primary producer, got very, very, very sick. And she said, you needed to be home.

Speaker 7 And I could not find a job in the insurance industry that allowed me to continue to provide for my family in the way in which I was accustomed and not get on airplanes.

Speaker 7 And I had to not be on airplanes because at any given time my wife was pulling all nighters at the agency or flying to Arkansas to be with her brother and support and all that.

Speaker 7 And I needed to be there for her. And the only job I could find, and at the time it seemed like a wonderful opportunity, was this job in the fitness space.
So

Speaker 7 I did not leave this industry because I was sick of insurance.

Speaker 7 That was not the case.

Speaker 7 I

Speaker 7 did everything I did in terms of like, you know, social media stuff because that's what I do. I dive in 100%.

Speaker 7 But I don't want people to look at what I did and go, well, Ryan, you left or, hey, Brent, you started Biz Grizz and you were doing all kinds of different stuff.

Speaker 7 Like, I think the truth is, and I'm going to speak for you, but I want you to, I think like

Speaker 7 life happens.

Speaker 7 And not everything goes exactly the way you plan, certainly not for me.

Speaker 7 But I've come back and I've seen you come back and I've seen, it just feels to me like since you've hooked up with Sitkins, you've taken it to another level and I'm trying to kind of follow suit with you as I come back.

Speaker 7 Like it feels to me like that move back from Bizgriz to Sitkins took you to a whole nother level. Just you feel more polished, more confident, more,

Speaker 7 just all of it. I mean, do you, do you feel that way about yourself when you wake up in the morning?

Speaker 10 Oh, yeah. I mean, yeah, as I said earlier, I mean, part of it is I get older, I realize the less that I know.

Speaker 10 But at the same time, looking back you know from the outside world i've grown a ton yeah um you know and i think that you know this is part of a mindset too and and i i was fortunate you know i started to get into personal growth and development and some of those different concepts even in my 20s even though i didn't know what half of it meant and i didn't do a lot of it i started to take pieces and the hard part about you know, even going and talking about depth and all this, what I just mentioned, is that that growth process isn't fast.

Speaker 10 Yeah. And no one wants to hear that.
I mean, I don't want to hear that. Like, okay, you just keep pouring that time in, Brent.
No worry, you know.

Speaker 10 But I think one of the things, Ryan, you talk about, you know, Sin Sitkins, I mean, a lot of it is being surrounded by other people that can help you.

Speaker 10 I mean, there is a mentality, and this is true in the insurance world, whether it's an agency leader or a producer. I got this figured out.

Speaker 10 We give them an acronym, Saku, S-A-K-U, source of all knowledge in the universe. They know everything.
Just ask them.

Speaker 10 And I think, you know, to a degree, I had some of that. Like, oh, I got it.
I'll figure this out. I'll work my tail off.
I'll I'll get that. And you've got to have that work ethic, no doubt about it.

Speaker 10 But then it's like, wait a second, I'm not that smart. Who do I need to connect with and learn from that can help quantum leap where I'm at?

Speaker 10 And so, yeah, directly from Roger Sitkins, our team, not just Roger himself, which is great.

Speaker 10 but the agencies and companies and contacts that he's put me in connection with that I could have deeper level conversations.

Speaker 10 Sometimes you're like, wow, I've grown more than I could ever imagine because I've been able to get an opportunities that I haven't haven't had before and so i don't know if that answers your question but i mean yeah

Speaker 10 i you know so that's one of the things and again this is just general for anybody i've said this hundreds of times on different areas but like find mentors find people that will push you and challenge you quit trying to figure you know say i've got it all no i got it all figured out um you don't and none of us do so you know i don't know if that's my call to action but geez

Speaker 7 find people that can help you and and this doesn't i this is this podcast is starting starting to sound like a independent agent recruiting video, but

Speaker 7 I do think that,

Speaker 7 and I found this in my own career, is

Speaker 7 whenever I have felt a little stagnated, I seek out those people that I feel like are crushing it, right? Like, like I'm going to IAOA Innovation 2020 this year in San Diego. I leave tomorrow morning.

Speaker 7 It's the first year I've ever gone because it's the first year I've ever been an independent agency owner, which is cool to say because it still feels weird, even though I haven't written a policy yet,

Speaker 7 which hopefully New York State will let me do soon. New York State, hint, hint, please, I'm starting a business in New York.
Please let me start my business.

Speaker 7 Someone stamped that TPS report and push it across.

Speaker 10 There you go.

Speaker 7 Is like David Carruthers, right?

Speaker 7 David, I am like, I can't wait to listen to this dude give his presentation.

Speaker 7 I see the things he's doing, the way he's attacking the business, the way he's mixing sales and value and the market he's going after. And I'm like,

Speaker 7 this is a dude, like, I can't wait to learn what this guy has. And it's pushing me to move forward.
And I think it would be easy. Oh, I've been a producer and I know digital marketing.

Speaker 7 And, you know, and I've, and I've, and I just say to myself, like, if you're feeling stuck, just see, there are so many people doing shit way cooler or way different than you are that can give you that new edge, that new thing that new gets you gets you to show up every morning so I just hate to see good talent go out the door and we've both done it to a certain extent I know busy still worked inside of the insurance industry a little but and come back and I just

Speaker 7 I just if you can avoid that time my time outside the industry even though I learned some valuable skills feels wasted to a certain extent Like I wish I hadn't lost that almost a year.

Speaker 7 I wish that I had stayed in the industry. If I'm looking back on it, and

Speaker 7 if I, if other people can avoid that, I would recommend it.

Speaker 10 Yeah.

Speaker 10 Well, I think just, I mean, to that, there are, I mean, you just did that list, you know, the 20, but it was way more than that.

Speaker 10 It's just, I think if I just had to sum it up, it's just always be curious. You always be close.
Always be curious. I mean,

Speaker 10 and just to realize that you're not that smart. And that's not to say that, you know, I'm a guy that belief and confidence in all things that you do.
So I don't say that with that intention.

Speaker 10 I just say it the fact that there are a lot of people doing stuff.

Speaker 10 They've done it 10, 15, 20 years, or shorter, whatever it is, that have a heck of a lot of expertise that can shorten that pain curve.

Speaker 10 You're going to have pain anyway. That's part of the deal.

Speaker 10 But you might as well avoid some of it. And so, yeah, I mean, it could be anything from just picking up the phone and having a call with someone.
Doesn't have to be necessarily formalized. But

Speaker 10 I think it's just easy to get stuck in the fact that, well, this is who I am. This is what I do.
This is how it's going to be.

Speaker 10 And as I said earlier, Ryan, in this business, that can be easy to do because sometimes being stuck and plateaued is a pretty nice lifestyle.

Speaker 7 Yeah, I get that. I get that.
You get to get a real nice handicap on your, on your golf score.

Speaker 7 So let's, let's, let's, let's flip this. So we've done a lot of like high-level, casual, fluffy conversation.
Let's talk a little bit about what you do for a living.

Speaker 7 Like, I want to, what are some of the things, like you said,

Speaker 7 you know, a lot of what you teach is foundational, kind of, it's not rocket science stuff, but it's helping people come up with processes to execute. So

Speaker 7 without giving away all your sitkins, black box trade secrets, you know, the double secret code to the kingdom.

Speaker 7 Like, what are, you're a producer and you're, you're, you're a, you feel like a high performer, but you're not getting the performance that you want.

Speaker 7 Like, what are some things that, how would you address that? How would you start to unlock that for someone?

Speaker 10 So I'll just, because I, this isn't totally a black box secret, because I'm actually going through what, like, seven of our core strategies on LinkedIn each week and I put them on my podcast.

Speaker 10 So they'll be there as well.

Speaker 10 But just like, I mean, to take like a high-level thing, give like one action or thinking item around, because I'm just looking at even the strategies on my whiteboard because I keep them in front of me.

Speaker 10 But, you know, one of the things that we look at is, for example, with any agency team, is establishing Me Inc., which is what is the company that you're going to run inside your agency?

Speaker 10 What's part of WeI Inc.? And where most agencies struggle, if I guess there's one foundational thing across agencies, and this is whether it's service, sales, whatever, it's lack of accountability.

Speaker 10 There is no, no um if i and again i don't want to just throw up percentages but i'm sure it's well more than 90 percent um of agencies if i say what's your defined role what are your defined expectations how are they documented and who's keeping you accountable to that they would say i don't know

Speaker 10 right and then so what happens agency leaders get frustrated because like why aren't they doing what they should be doing well

Speaker 10 Because there's never been any defined role necessarily. When I say role, it could be a lot of different things or defined results.

Speaker 10 And we're not doing something to help them stay accountable to what not just what I said as agency leader but what we've designed together and I think that's often a missing piece so you know one core strategy is me ink there's a lot of things we go and dive around that

Speaker 10 and I can just throw some others out there I mean this is so simplistic buying back time

Speaker 10 We spend, Ryan, in our producer camp, almost a half of the first day just on not time management, because that doesn't exist. We all have 168 in a week, but situation management.

Speaker 10 Are you putting yourself in the right situations? I can tell most, and this again, this is for producers, but this is true for agency leaders or anybody.

Speaker 10 If you would document, and this is a hard thing to do, you could do this every half hour. I did this every 15 minutes.
What you actually did

Speaker 10 every 15 minutes, you would be shocked at how much time we waste.

Speaker 10 And so, a big part that we look at with producers in particular is: are you putting yourself in the right position to win? And part of that is just being in the game.

Speaker 10 And we talk about what that looks like and how you're doing that. And people say, well, that's sales 101.
Yeah, it is.

Speaker 10 But you'd be amazed at just that awakening, how we do it in a way that, you know, our goal of teaching is that it's not just going to be our idea.

Speaker 10 We're going to help you kind of walk your way into it. You go, oh my gosh, I'm a part-time producer making full-time money.
I wonder what would happen if I actually did this the right way.

Speaker 10 And it'll unlock things, right?

Speaker 10 You've probably heard me talk about this, and I've talked about this with CAS, but we spend a lot of time on 80-20, which is only, I mean, it's only been around for 135, 40 years, Valfredo Barrett, of understanding that 20% of something we do leads to to 80% of the result.

Speaker 10 So we talk to agencies and we just have them look at it. One of the first parts of execution is awareness of what it actually is.

Speaker 10 So when you look at your books of business, where is the revenue coming from? Where are you spending your time and energy?

Speaker 10 And typically, we spend a lot of time and energy and frustrations and problems and clients that aren't very profitable. And we can't figure out why we can't do more with the ones that are profitable.

Speaker 10 Well, because we got to figure that out. Same is true with carriers.

Speaker 10 You know, we have agencies that brag about the fact they have 100 and some carriers. good for you um

Speaker 10 that doesn't necessarily mean anything it could it depends on the agency but typically we see 80 20 is true on that so i mean those are just three i mean i could run through them all if you want um yeah i actually i want to talk about the situational management a little bit if you don't mind i i really like that that's one that i struggle with um

Speaker 7 because

Speaker 7 I struggle with it for two reasons. One,

Speaker 7 the fact that I do a lot of things and share a lot of ideas in public. I have a lot of people constantly pitching me things.
And I don't mean that as a negative.

Speaker 7 To anyone who's listening to this has ever pitched me something,

Speaker 7 I learned from actually from Marcus Sheridan, who's a good friend of mine, to always appreciate the fact that people are interested in talking to you.

Speaker 10 Like, don't,

Speaker 7 you know what I mean? Like the day they stop being interested in talking to you, that's when you should be concerned. So I try to appreciate that.
But but what I find is, you know, that

Speaker 7 I tend to consume a lot of content. I tend to

Speaker 7 fall into these things that don't actually lead to the results that I need for my business. So then I find myself scrambling and I'm bookending work at either 5 a.m.
or 7 p.m.

Speaker 7 instead of, because during the day, I'm doing all this other crap. And

Speaker 7 I've. I've had moments where I've been very good about blocking time on my calendar and that definitely helps, but that's about as sophisticated as I get.

Speaker 7 And I'm just interested because I think a lot of people share this problem in different ways. Like, how do you really dive into that with somebody? Like, what do you recommend?

Speaker 10 So, and again, whether it's a one-on-one, you know, perspective, or again, even when I work with agencies, I mean, it works both ways. And you just kind of hit on it.

Speaker 10 It doesn't have to be, it's one of those things that's not difficult to understand. It's really difficult to do and execute.

Speaker 10 And so, you know, one of the things that I've really looked at, and this is for me personally, and just as Sitkins and the agencies we work with, is that, you know, you ask yourself that question if I can only do these few you know what are the very few things that if I do is actually going to be that leading indicator right or the needle mover whatever you want to call and am I going to actually analyze this objectively not lie to myself because it's easy to lie to yourself and go these are the things that are really going to move the needle and so if that's true then I have to in my calendar I have to put those in ahead of the week I can't hope that I that I do it on Thursday like it has to be already in my calendar Thursday 9 a.m.

Speaker 10 to 10.30 is that because it's a needle mover. And if Ryan calls me and says, hey, Brennan, I want to chat, I'm going to go, no, I'm busy.
I'm booked. And that's a really hard thing because

Speaker 10 I am top of the mountain of shiny object syndrome guy. And people look at me now.
I look at my calendar. Oh, you're so organized.
I'm like, the only reason I'm organized is because.

Speaker 10 if I don't, I'm a mess. Yeah.

Speaker 10 Because I know myself. And so, you know, part of that is just being really intentional about your week.

Speaker 10 And, you know, one of the things we do with this, for example, this is for anybody, but we talked about having a Sunday evening review.

Speaker 10 And I don't care if it's Saturday or Friday afternoon, but most people never actually look on Sunday or before their week and go, okay, what do I really have this week? It's the right stuff.

Speaker 10 And taking some time to do that, to prepare before you repair. And that's a big thing.
You're either preparing or you're repairing. And so.

Speaker 10 Most producers go, no, I've never really done that. So that's one thing.
The other thing too, Ryan, and this is kind of getting to what you said as well.

Speaker 10 And I forgot who i heard this from this is pretty basic but it's worked for me is that when people pitch me with opportunities i say pitch you know whatever it is need your time here hey can i borrow five minutes right i mean all those kind of things that i'm sure you've heard or better yet like oh let's schedule it in march or june that way i don't have to worry about it now and then you get to march or june you're like why do i have why did i schedule this yeah i don't want to have this conversation there's nothing this is not it's a waste of my time and so what someone told me is bro immediately when there's a question asked and make a decision, you have two things.

Speaker 10 It's either a hell yes or a hell no. And there's no in between.

Speaker 7 Derek Sivers.

Speaker 10 Is that where that came from? Yeah, Derek Sivers. And I love it.
And it helps me. And because otherwise I'm going, well,

Speaker 10 you know, there could maybe.

Speaker 10 And I get caught in this trap. So that's just me personally.
But that's one thing as far as situation management is understanding what are the needle movers. actually putting them in the calendar.

Speaker 10 I mean, this is not rocket science. And then I would say committing and having someone hold you accountable to it.
Yeah.

Speaker 7 yeah that hell yes or no idea so that's derek sivers uh derek sivers was the founder of cd baby and i actually

Speaker 7 so i most of the content i consume i consume through email newsletters um i use

Speaker 7 probably

Speaker 7 much to the chagrin of every time management professional in the world i use my email inbox as a to-do list just do

Speaker 7 that has its drawbacks don't get me wrong but the system actually works for me me because what I don't do is go out into social to find something,

Speaker 7 right? I have, I don't follow every person who I, who connects with me. I follow the people that I'm interested in their stuff.
So I have small connection groups that I actually follow.

Speaker 7 And then if I like your stuff, I let you email me to your inbox. And that's how I know that I give you, that I'm interested.
He's one of the few people I do.

Speaker 7 He's tremendous, but he wrote an awesome book called Anything You Want. And in that, he shared his,

Speaker 7 he shared this idea of hell yes or no, where he does not take a meeting unless he says hell yes. Otherwise, every other meeting is no.

Speaker 7 And he's like, that doesn't mean if they pitch me again, it won't be hell yes a year from now. That doesn't mean that.
He's like, it's not no forever.

Speaker 7 It's just right now, that is not a hell yes for me. So it has to be no so I can get these other things done.
I'm awful at that, by the way, even though I've known about that for like a decade.

Speaker 7 I'm awful at it. But

Speaker 10 you're not alone.

Speaker 10 I i mean because everybody wants to be nice right you want to be nice oh yeah i mean that's the thing i don't you know it's it's no different whether it's it's our time when we're talking about agencies that i work with i mean producers as far as client profiling understanding that like we want to be nice it's with a good heart and good intention like well i couldn't possibly say no like is that really where you need to best invest your time well no then why'd you do it i don't know And then we get caught in this trap, right?

Speaker 10 Because, I mean, we look at situation management.

Speaker 10 i mean our only diminishing asset is our time yeah we can get back money we can get back stuff we can rebuild relationships in many cases but time is fleeting so it's just that to me and i've and i've done a number again i've taken many courses on this uh and i'm so far from being great at it but i know that i must because if i don't especially for me i mean you know i've got five kids i mean If I don't have stuff lined up and thought, like I have to, I mean, some people go, I could never do that.

Speaker 10 I mean, I've got to have date night on the calendar. I have to.
Yeah. Oh, I'll have a date with my wife.
No, I won't, unless I've proactively scheduled it. I won't.

Speaker 10 Something else will run into it. There's always more things to do.
So it's just simple stuff to understand, but it's just hard to execute.

Speaker 8 So

Speaker 7 when you're meeting with agents, you're doing your roundtables or private client things you're doing or trainings, like what are some of the things that you're hearing producers or agency principals talk about or ask about that like has you excited for the future you know like tangible stuff not

Speaker 7 you know someday we'll be able to sell policies with just our mind you know what i mean like like what are some of the like real things that are that are tangible today that you're like this is a tool or this is a concept or an idea or whatever that that that I really, this excites me.

Speaker 7 Like, I think this has real value.

Speaker 7 What are you seeing out there?

Speaker 10 I think that

Speaker 10 there's a lot of ways I go with that question but i think what jumps out of my mind ryan is the fact that i think the excitement opportunity is that i sense the insurance independent insurance agencies and agents have the opportunity to become true professionals again

Speaker 10 and i say that with all due respect but most of them aren't and i'm probably going to irritate people but i i'm very you know i just i see it i've been in it and now i'm the outside is that we want to talk about all the different things and why we're unique and different and the value we provide whether it's technology face-to-face

Speaker 10 but back to what I mentioned earlier with depth, how many of them are really being true risk professionals?

Speaker 10 And sometimes we forget the business we're actually in and understand that, you know, really it's a matter of, and I guess, you know, what excites me is this idea of helping agencies change the conversation from quotes and transactions to risk advice and true relationships.

Speaker 10 Yeah. And again, it's an easy thing to say it's well cliche, but to actually work deep with agencies of how to actually create things around that.
Because

Speaker 10 I did,

Speaker 10 just to give you an idea, probably it was probably the last year or so. I went out and I did a number of speaking engagements like you've done.

Speaker 10 And I have rooms of different agency leaders and producers. And if I ask about, just from an agency perspective, what actually makes you different?

Speaker 10 And we hear this all the time, but with what actually makes you different,

Speaker 10 no one can come up with anything.

Speaker 7 No, but Brent, I have 30 carriers to quote your insurance. You don't understand.
You don't understand. I give you options.

Speaker 10 I can quote you with 30 carriers right and and that's and so i started going through this and i've written stuff about this but became the generic five you know great service best people um all the carriers we're local we've been in business a thousand years that's that that becomes our like differentiators which as we both know pretty much every independent agency outside of the local thing and been in business a long time, which again, what's the impact for the client?

Speaker 10 Like that's to me. It's like, sit down and go, what does this mean for the people I'm trying to serve?

Speaker 10 How do I help them win? And just to give an example, one of the things, and this is like, it seems obvious, but it's missed.

Speaker 10 So I do, we do a lot of work with property and casualty from the business, the commercial side. We do a lot of commercial.
And, you know, we have conversation with agencies.

Speaker 10 I'm like, what do your clients really care about? And they don't care about insurance. Yeah.
I mean, now, again, we could say what the insurance does.

Speaker 10 What they really care about is their clients, their profitability, and their employees.

Speaker 10 So let's start looking at ways to change the conversation, to have, ask real questions, go deep, be a true advisor um and that so that to me is what excites me because i think there's so much opportunity because quite honestly the bar is really low like it doesn't take a lot more it just takes more sometimes where you ask questions to clients and they go geez ryan i don't know no one's ever asked me that before oh okay um so that's what excites me i think there's just that combination of what's out there with you know technology and stuff we've talked about and you combine that with going like true

Speaker 10 being a true risk advisor being a a true professional at your craft, right? That excites me.

Speaker 10 Like, love your craft and dive deeper into it, and you'll be amazed at what opportunities are there for you.

Speaker 7 Yeah, I

Speaker 7 was, uh,

Speaker 7 I was talking to someone the other day, and we were, they were asking me, I was being interviewed by someone, and they were asking me about independent agents and their role and their future.

Speaker 7 And I said, you know, my response was,

Speaker 7 I don't, I don't, I feel like the total number of agencies is going to go down. I feel like in that way, the industry is going to contract.

Speaker 7 However, I feel like agent, independent agency influence/slash impact

Speaker 7 on,

Speaker 7 you know, in our, in our, in our country, in our economy, in our ecosystem, I feel like that is on the rise. Like, I'm very bullish on the channel.

Speaker 7 I'm not bullish on like the total number of agents or total number of agencies. I mean, that's less important, but I feel like the

Speaker 7 influence of

Speaker 7 the channel itself,

Speaker 7 you know, if once we were the most dominant and then we kind of got punched by Mike Tyson right in the face, you know what I mean?

Speaker 7 And we've kind of been not down and out by any regard, but certainly not the unshakable mountain that we once were. I feel like we have the opportunity.
I mean,

Speaker 7 you see captive after captive chopping their business.

Speaker 7 you see failed attempts at d to c you see you know mediocre returns from a lot of these insurtechs that were and what sustains and what is starting to really grow i feel like especially with these hybrid kind of digital i call them agent optimized agencies um is a is a return of the independent agent and

Speaker 7 you know i just i i see this as the trend and and absolutely people are going to get their heads cut. Like, absolutely.

Speaker 7 If you don't, if you're not making progress, if you're not investing, you're going to get your head cut.

Speaker 7 But for those that engage, it's like sky's the limit.

Speaker 7 There's no governor.

Speaker 10 Yeah.

Speaker 10 Well, I mean, two thoughts that came to mind when you were saying that. I mean, number one is, again, I agree.
I mean, the acquisition part, that's going to continue.

Speaker 10 Actually, the numbers may not change much because a lot of new ones that are small ones starting up too.

Speaker 10 So it's kind of swapping, but overall, yes, there's a lot of, there's going to continue to be acquisitions. And a big part of that is, you know, why do agencies sell?

Speaker 10 Well, I don't begrudge anybody for sell.

Speaker 10 You know, at some point, we're all going to leave. Got to make that paper, dumb.
Right. So you do what you got to do.

Speaker 10 But one of the biggest reasons why it happens maybe sooner or unexpected is because, A, we haven't perpetuated leadership

Speaker 10 in any form or fashion. And, and, you know, so we've never had these conversations of what's actually going to happen.

Speaker 10 And we have no type of agency way or culture of how we're actually doing business. So once this one person disappears, we're like, I don't know what to do.
So, I'll sell.

Speaker 10 And so, there's, you know, there's a lot of that. There's a lot of different situations of that.

Speaker 10 The other thing, too, and this is more of a humorous standpoint, by any chance, did you watch Hulk Hogan as a kid growing up? I did, yeah. Yeah.

Speaker 10 So, I just had this weird image when you were saying, like, we got knocked down. I just picture Hulk Hogan getting punched on for a while, and all of a sudden, he starts the arm shaking.

Speaker 10 The arm back, yes, it just goes nuts, right? And everyone's like, Yeah.

Speaker 10 And I, and I agree, I think there's some aspect of that that's starting to happen in the independent insurance agency model is that it's like the big boys came in and technology came in.

Speaker 10 It's like, we're going to slap you around and you're not going to be around. And we've seen pretty convincingly that's just not true.
Yes, there's been many changes and

Speaker 10 impact that that's happened. It'll continue to, but it's not like, you know, I think everyone thought it was going to be simply the travel agent.
They're just going to disappear and die.

Speaker 10 There's been some of that, but not at that level. And I think there's a new awakening that's happened and it will continue to happen.

Speaker 7 I think the pure transactional agencies will really struggle.

Speaker 7 There has to be a value add in some way, shape, or form. And that feels like the movement.

Speaker 7 Like the conversations that I see happening, and this is another reason why I'm so excited to go to IOA this week is, you know, a lot of the presentations, a lot of the conversations leading up to this event have

Speaker 7 been about value, about injecting value at various points in the process.

Speaker 7 And I think that's exciting. It's not transactional.
It's not pure like automation stuff or just like insurtech. It's how can we add a value here?

Speaker 7 How can we find a reduction in a touch point here that gives people time back? How do we, I mean, that to me, that's this next level.

Speaker 7 And I think what really defines the difference between, say, a travel agent and an insurance agent, which to me are two completely different, not against travel agents, but it's just two completely different things.

Speaker 7 Like just because they both have the word agent in the name doesn't mean that what they do or how they operate is even, it's like apples and oranges.

Speaker 7 Um, by the way, best scene in WWF history is WrestleMania 3 when Andre the Giant has Hulk in the chokehold and he does the one arm drop and then the second arm drop and then the third arm drop he catches and then he spins around and he body slams

Speaker 7 uh Andre the Giant. It's the best.
I mean, I mean, you can watch that a thousand times. It never gets old.

Speaker 10 It's the best. It's a comeback.

Speaker 7 Shout out to Alan Eggbert, Ask Kodiak, the biggest

Speaker 7 wrestling fan in the insurance industry.

Speaker 10 Well, if you do anything probably less than 20 years in the wrestling industry, I'll have no idea what you're talking about. But when I was a kid, but when I was a kid, I do remember that.

Speaker 10 I do remember that. Yeah, no, I think, again, it's bad.
I mean, again, there certainly is an awakening.

Speaker 10 And those agencies and agents that are going to be transactional, the fact is we already know it. We've seen it.
They're going to to be replaced.

Speaker 10 And I think what's cool to me is to be able to take some of the big enhances we've had in technology and to be able to free up time for human beings to really have that deeper level of sophistication and meaning and relationship.

Speaker 10 And you have two options. You can just say, well, I want to play out or you can leverage it.
And I think that the great agencies are starting to figure this out.

Speaker 7 Yeah.

Speaker 7 If I'm going to take anything from our conversation at a very tactical level, it's that you don't, I feel like what we've said a bunch of times here is that you don't necessarily have to have, you want to almost avoid if you can, the shiny new thing and just be amazing at executing the fundamentals and add shiny pieces in places where the, where you have so much muscle memory on the fundamentals that they've become second nature.

Speaker 7 But if you're struggling with you know, situational management and you can't block off time properly, then adding a new thing, you know, no matter how shiny it is, you're never going to be able to implement it.

Speaker 7 And

Speaker 7 it's ultimately going to be a waste of time, energy, and resources.

Speaker 10 Yeah, I agree. I mean, it comes on to, and this will be a plug for an upcoming event I'm doing in March.
Yeah,

Speaker 10 I'll go ahead and plug myself. But no, we've got our ProFit networking event, March 11th through 13th.

Speaker 10 And I will say this, too, if you're ever interested in what Sitkins does, this is very likely our last public event, just because we will be doing everything private with the clients that are part of that.

Speaker 10 And that's just a fact so I'm just telling you if you're interested in like wow there's some stuff they're really good agencies here that are doing really cool stuff I definitely want to invite you to that but my I'm gonna be doing one presentation we do a lot of round tables and masterminding my presentation is simply hashtag execute because ideas are plentiful right and I love ideas and we need time to think sift through ideas but to execute is where I really want to focus on to actually have a tactical plan and I think one of the reasons we don't have a tactical plan is because we have too many goals

Speaker 10 we don't really even know what we want. We haven't actually taken the time to figure that out.

Speaker 10 And then we haven't figured out what are the leading indicators, not the lagging that are going to help us get there. Maybe those very few things.
We call them a vital few.

Speaker 10 And then are we keeping a scoreboard? Because so often we want to play a game, we don't know if we're winning or not. I mean, I don't know about you, Ryan, but you're a sports guy.

Speaker 10 Would you like to play baseball? I mean, it's fun to go play with your friends, don't get me wrong. But did you have more fun when you were keeping score or not?

Speaker 7 No, I just played pickup with a bunch of 20-year-olds the other day, and I was wet in threes and definitely keeping score in my head.

Speaker 10 Yeah, it's, I mean, and if you're not, okay, it's probably not for you, right? But I mean, keeping score.

Speaker 10 And then lastly is that ongoing accountability and, you know, it's just, we call it the culture and cadence of accountability. Just understanding this is important to me and the agency.

Speaker 10 I need you, Ryan, to help me keep me accountable to this because left to my own accord, I'm going to go off in a thousand different directions. I can give myself excuses.

Speaker 10 And one of the, we had a guy at our last camp. We stayed up at the end and said, what's your one big takeaway? And he goes, I'm going to stop lying to myself.

Speaker 10 And it's a a very powerful thing. Like, I've got to be a truth seeker and what I'm really doing.
Is it really creating the result that I want?

Speaker 10 And back like you said, Ryan, at the beginning, for the lifestyle I want, for the charity work that I want to give out, for the vacations I want to take.

Speaker 10 I don't care what it is, but just go deeper in those areas and you'll probably be amazed at what can happen.

Speaker 7 So let everyone know one more time since it's a public event, where can they find out more information? Where can they sign up and the dates and all that?

Speaker 10 Yeah, so it's sitkins.com. And if you go there, you'll see it, but sitkins.com/slash profitnet.
It looks like profit net. It stands for professional fitness.
So sitkins.com/slash profit net.

Speaker 10 And it's March 11th through the 13th in Cape Coral, Florida at the beautiful Weston Hotel. It's a great place.
Yeah. Good place to be in March.

Speaker 10 I don't mind, I don't mind leaving the Midwest to go down there and hang out and by the ocean either. So it's pretty

Speaker 7 get your knowledge on. Well, dude, I

Speaker 7 mean, we could, we could keep going.

Speaker 7 I love chatting with you and catching up.

Speaker 7 And, you know, I have, you know, just from afar watching the work that you've been doing at Sickens, it just, it, you know, it, we're all kind of growing up in the industry and we've known each other for a long time.

Speaker 7 And it's just, it really feels like you've hit your stride in this role in our space.

Speaker 7 You know, it probably won't be, you know,

Speaker 7 I know you'll continue to grow, but it's just,

Speaker 7 it's very nice to see a friend really doing work that they seem to enjoy enjoy and excel at. And I know everyone who

Speaker 7 goes to ProFitNet is going to get a tremendous experience. So thanks for coming on and sharing your expertise and everything.

Speaker 7 Where you personally, if someone wants to connect with you and just be in your network, where can they do that?

Speaker 10 I'll just give you one spot. I'm in a few places, but I'll give you one.
Just connect with me on LinkedIn. I'm probably the most active there.

Speaker 10 Back to the vital few. I used to be on every single, and I still am.

Speaker 10 But it's like, what what am I trying to do here? And what I really want to accomplish for me is LinkedIn. So just go to LinkedIn and search for me, Brent Kelly.
You'll find me.

Speaker 10 And I post my weekly videos and podcasts are on there and different stuff. So connect with me there.

Speaker 7 Awesome, man. Well, hey, I wish you nothing but the best.
And

Speaker 7 I can't wait for the next time we get to connect, man.

Speaker 10 Yeah, likewise.

Speaker 11 And it's fun to watch you grow in this business too, Hamlet.

Speaker 2 Thanks.

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