Executive TLDR
Your “time” starts when you claim it and back it with action.
Dabbling part time creates slow progress, leadership systems create breakthroughs.
He frames success as three phases: learn the business, do the business, teach the business.
The first 30 days should be spent learning and becoming coachable, not rushing licensing and “winging it.”
Licensing alone does not create income, knowledge, skill, and consistent activity do.
Personal production standards matter, he emphasizes weekly recruiting and weekly policy activity.
Stop leaning on “my team” before you have built one, build yourself first, then build leaders.
Replace drop-offs quickly by bringing in new people every month.
Credibility comes from deadlines and alignment, if you say it is life-changing but stay stuck for years, people do not buy it.
Long-term stability is framed as building income that keeps paying, not a one-time “championship moment.”
Table of Contents
“This is my time” and ownership
From taxi driver to builder
The discipline gap
Builder mentality vs seller mentality
The three-step path: Learn, Do, Teach
The first 30 days: do not waste them
Licensing vs knowledge
Personal production standards
Replace people fast, build with fresh partners
Develop 10 by 10 leaders before VP
Deadlines, credibility, and going full time
Environment, attendance, and accountability
Closing lesson: income that keeps paying
FAQs
Glossary
1. “This Is My Time” And Ownership
He opens with a simple theme: claiming ownership matters. Not because words are magic, but because they force a decision. Without a decision, nothing changes.
2. From Taxi Driver To Builder
He contrasts the grind of long hours for limited income with being introduced to a part-time income pitch. He highlights that the invitation was framed as income opportunity, not an insurance sale.
3. The Discipline Gap
He attributes slow early progress to personal discipline issues: not honoring appointments, weak follow-through, and not understanding professional standards. His point is blunt: this is not a “company problem,” it is a personal operating system problem.
4. Builder Mentality Vs Seller Mentality
The turning point is switching from selling to building. He frames leadership as service: serve people, treat people right, develop people, income follows.
He challenges anyone who wants to “feel like a leader” but has no people with them.
5. The Three-Step Path: Learn, Do, Teach
He presents a simple sequence:
Learn the business
Do the business
Teach the business
He positions the third phase as where real leverage and income acceleration happens.
6. The First 30 Days: Do Not Waste Them
He calls the first 30 days the most important window. His warning: people “mess it up” when they skip learning and rush into isolated tasks without understanding the full process and rhythm of the business.
7. Licensing Vs Knowledge
His line is clear: licenses do not automatically produce income. Skills and knowledge do.
He also reframes licensing effort: the harder it was to earn, the more he values and protects it.
8. Personal Production Standards
He outlines personal standards as a weekly rhythm:
recruit consistently
write business consistently
work with multiple new people monthly, not just one
He criticizes overreliance on “the team” before personal production is stable.
9. Replace People Fast, Build With Fresh Partners
He expects attrition and does not dramatize it. His solution is practical: always have new people coming in, so you are not stuck chasing the same three unresponsive names for months.
10. Develop 10 By 10 Leaders Before VP
He emphasizes building leaders who can run consistent 10 by 10 activity. His caution: if you cannot develop leaders while in the base shop, it becomes much harder after promotion.
11. Deadlines, Credibility, And Going Full Time
One of his strongest points is credibility: if someone says this opportunity changes lives, but they stay part time for years with no timeline, prospects sense the disconnect.
He pushes for a written deadline to go full time and frames that as a leadership signal, not just a personal goal.
12. Environment, Attendance, And Accountability
He describes a culture of tracking attendance, teams sitting together, headcounts, and direct accountability when someone is missing. The message: leadership is enforced through environment and expectations.
13. Closing Lesson: Income That Keeps Paying
He contrasts a one-time “championship ring” moment with a ring that represents ongoing income. His punchline is that the “right ring” keeps paying.
FAQs
1) Why does he say part-time effort will not build a million-dollar business?
Because inconsistent activity and weak leadership development do not create the volume and leverage required for long-term scale.
2) What does he want new people doing in the first 30 days?
Learning the business and being coachable, building understanding before trying to sprint.
3) Why is he so dismissive of licensing as the main focus?
Because licensing without skill, activity, and systems does not reliably create income.
4) What is his core personal production rhythm?
Consistent recruiting and consistent policy activity, week after week.
5) Why does he say “stop relying on the team”?
Because many people use “the team” as a cover for not producing personally and not recruiting new partners.
6) What does he mean by “replace them fast”?
Expect attrition, keep recruiting, keep fresh partners coming in so momentum does not stall.
7) Why does he push deadlines so hard?
Deadlines force seriousness, and seriousness builds belief and credibility with prospects.
8) What does he mean by “teach the business”?
Developing leaders who can replicate activity and results without you doing everything.
9) Why is meeting attendance emphasized?
Because attendance is treated as a visible indicator of leadership, culture, and momentum.
10) What is the main leadership identity he promotes?
Servant leadership, building people and serving them, not ego.
Glossary
Builder mentality
A focus on recruiting, developing leaders, and creating duplication, rather than only making personal sales.
Seller mentality
A focus on personal transactions without building a leadership structure.
Learn, Do, Teach
A three-phase model: learn the system, execute it personally, then train others to replicate it.
First 30 days
A critical early window where learning, coaching, and habits are established.
Coachable
Willing to follow direction, learn the system, and apply feedback quickly.
Personal production
Your own recruiting and business activity, independent of the team.
Replace them fast
Accept attrition and keep recruiting to maintain momentum.
10 by 10
A performance standard referenced as consistent personal recruiting output, used as a building block for leadership development.
Team captain or leader leg
A developing leader who can sustain activity and production.
30 by 30
A team production target referenced as collective output, not just one person’s effort.
Environment
The culture and physical or consistent presence around meetings, training, and accountability.
Deadline
A written, time-bound commitment to action, used as a seriousness and credibility signal.
Video Summary
00:00
I want everybody to say, this is my time. This is my time. Let me tell you why I said that, because, listen, if you don’t claim it’s not going to be yours. It doesn’t matter really how you feel right now. If you say this is your time, it is your time. Let me tell you a bit. A few years ago, like, you know, our business is down. We got together with the team, we said, listen, this is our moment. We’re gonna go to work today. I can tell you we’re so excited because we coming now. I’m. Listen, listen, now, 32 RVPs excited about this, but I’m more excited about like. Anyway, we have about a 40 to 50 below IVP’s right now ready to go. So, Tim, I’m so excited.
00:50
So this morning we’re going to talk about like, you know, the steps for you willing to get these things moving. So again, so my name is Shawmo. You know, I’ve been doing this for over 29 years. I’m not new here. Okay, 29 years. When I joined Primer, I’d say, man, I didn’t know anything. As a taxi driver, I used to work 12 hours a day, six days a week to make $30,000 a year. 12 hours per day, six days a week for $30,000. I didn’t have time for my wife, I didn’t have time for kids. Okay, Every day I’m sleeping, I’m a working, sleeping guy. Thank God. As soon as you thank God, somebody looking at Mr. Sherman, do you want to make some money part time? And I said, yes, thank God. This guy talked to me.
01:42
He didn’t say about Shymon, I want to sell you insurance. Thank God, he said, listen, I’m gonna help you make some extra money part time. I came in this place, I said, jehovah, listen, if you can help me making the same money that I’m making in the taxi so I can leave the taxi alone, so I can have time for me and my wife, I’m gonna be the happiest man on earth. And I start for America. Timmit, I tell you what, I didn’t know what I signed in. I played with this thing here. I didn’t take it to serious. It took me four years to become a vice president. It took me nine years to make $100,000. It was not for America, it was Charlotte. I had a lot of stuff that I need to overcome a lot of challenging.
02:26
For example, one of the challenges that I had back then, I didn’t have enough discipline If I have enough appointment at 9 o’ clock, I’m not going to show up, I’m not going to call you and I expect for you to wait for me at 10am but I got to take care of this. My yes was not yes. You know, I didn’t understand the concept of business. I have to learn all these things here in primary. But you know what? I’m glad I didn’t give up because every day I got better. I had people say shalom, today is my top day in prayer America. I said, you don’t understand. There’s no tough day in Prime. There’s no bad day in Primeka. Every day in Primeka is the best day. And now we keep moving. Took me 12 years to figure these things out.
03:16
But after 12 years, finally we figured out Nikki. We found out the game to win here is to build a team, start working with people, treat people right. You are a servant leader. Your job is to serve other people. And the more people you serve, better you become and more money you make. That’s all it gets. That’s all it is. It’s not about you, like, you know, beat your chest. I’m a leader, I’m. This is not. That has nothing to do with that. It’s over. If you’re thinking like this now, the question that you need to ask yourself right now, how many people do you have here sitting next to you? How many? Until you take that thing serious, nothing’s gonna change. We made a decision to switch from a selling mentality to build a mentality. It was not easy. But guess what?
04:04
We keep on doing it. We keep on doing it and then we come up with this. The slogan here is to keep the light of we’re quitting on. If you see today all the blue is like, you know, so you know, keep the light of recording on and the back. We say we could, we could because we know we could’s gonna solve the problem. It doesn’t matter what you got going on right now. Sharma, listen man, I got money problems. Of course, you know, we couldn’t have people. Shamon, I don’t promote people because you don’t include enough people. Shamon, listen, you know, you don’t know what I’m going through. I know exactly what you’re going through right now. You don’t just recruit, what, enough people.
04:38
If you make a decision to go work with people, develop people, so your life’s gonna be great in PR America. Let me show you a few things that actually believes that can help you, we got three steps to become personal vice president. One of the things that we’re missing in prime, we need more vice president. But you’re not going to become a vice president if you don’t learn the business. The first 30 days in Primerica are going to take time for you to learn the business. So for my 29 years in prime America, the worst thing can happen when somebody came here in the first 30 days, they screwed it up. Your first 30 days in Primeka is the most important time in your life. Either you bake it there or you screwed it up. Let me give you an example.
05:22
In your first 30 days, you said, you know what? I’m not gonna learn anything. I’m gonna go to school and get my life insurance license. You screwed it up. Let me tell you why. Because you get license, but you know nothing. License don’t make you money. Listen, license don’t make you money. I got people who have life insurance license, investment license, you know, mortgage broker license. They’re still driving taxi. I said, how come you have all these three licenses? That’s a million dollars. Each one of them is a million dollars. You’re still driving a taxi. I don’t know what I’m doing. License don’t make you money, but knowledge give you the money. And the only way you can have the knowledge in your first 30 days, you got to be coachable to your upline and learn the business.
06:10
You got to learn this business in the first 90 days. Six to 30 days in the business. Listen, we have to make sure we identify six business partners for you. Their name and their phone number. This is the people that you’re going to be in business with. Also we got to make six people for you. We call it six by six in the first 30 days. We have many ways we can do that. And also we talk about have your package. Guys. When I went through some challenging in primer, business didn’t take off. I didn’t make any money. People said, what keep you going? What keep you going? I tell you what, keep me going. When I joined Primeka in 1996, I was driving a taxi. The guy who could run a business to show him what you want.
06:57
Yesterday, Wesley was talking about the vision. I said, I want to have a million dollars by the time I’m age 52. That was 20 years to save a million dollars, Andy. And then he did the F and A for me. I have to invest $1,000 every single month for 20 years to save a million dollars. Imagine I’m a taxi driver making about 2, $3,000 a month. $2,500 a month. Now you ask me to invest a thousand. It’s impossible. Yes. He said, sharma, start where you at? I start at $50 a month. He said, sean, once you make more money, you can invest more. Let me tell my plan. I said, well, 20 years from now, I’m gonna. I’m gonna have. I’m gonna have a million dollars cash. I’m gonna be okay. I’m gonna financial independent. I don’t need. I don’t need to work anymore.
07:45
When I see people like, you know, we tired, you know, quit on me and people lying to me, I say, I got 15 more years to go. I got 14 more years to go. I got 10 more years to go. That’s giving me at least encouragement. Now, let me ask you a question. Do you have your package already? They say, listen, if you sit down and you don’t have your investments going, you don’t have insurance going, something’s wrong with you. How are you going to tell people to get this? You don’t have it yourself. You don’t believe in it, and you expect people to believe in it. I didn’t have wife, I didn’t have kids. People say, shout out, why you have a life insurance? I said, well, the fact that at least my sister brought me here with will be.
08:25
Which, you know, you just saw. Like, you know, everybody can get licensed in 30 days. Yes or no? I mean, I can’t tell how many times I took the test. No, seriously, it was very challenging for me. Came from Haiti, don’t speak English. I give. They give me the test. They give me the test. They keep giving me the wrong test all the time. So, you know, guys, they said, you know the station, they know me. They know me by my face. Every time I come, they really say, okay, go. This is your. This. Go sit down there. Go sit down there. They already know the results before I give it to them. I say, I’ll see you next week. I didn’t give up. Finally, guess what? They made a mistake. They gave me the white one. Yes, I got my license.
09:20
I got my license. Everything was not easy for me. That was in 1996. And let me tell you what I found out about when you study hard to get your license. I feel so bad for people take the test the first time they pass it. They’re too smart. Because you know why? Because you don’t value the license. I see them leave the license. Let it go. Let it go. Me, my license is my PhD. You don’t mess up with this, okay? No, seriously. I do the CE way before the time. I don’t want to go take the test again if it’s the first time. I took nine years. Can you imagine if I go a little bit after? It could be 20 times. I don’t want that. And I take it very serious. And I learned that I go to work.
10:06
The second thing that you got to do is doing the business. Now you learn the business, what you do, you got to do the business. To my knowledge, doing the business is very simple. These are rules. 4 equal personnel on a month, 10,000 premium for the month, personal. What does that mean? That’s mean every week you got to recruit one person and pick up three policies. Every single week you pick up three policies. Not team. One of the things people saying to them, man, my team, my team. You don’t have a team, don’t have the team. You’re going to build a team, send ourselves, go to work. Too many of you right now, waiting too much on the team. You rely on the team and you don’t make any money. You know what’s so funny about you talking about the team?
10:54
When you don’t make money, you don’t build a team. You don’t do nothing. You don’t make money yourself. You can look at the team, you say, you know, you cosmetic don’t make money. You hate them, they hate you. But you know what? If you know how to write business on your own, you don’t worry about them. Every time you see them, you’re smiling. I’m happy for you. You’re gonna be good. People say yes, yes. You’re gonna be good. Go work with two. Three people are more personal. Don’t work with one person. If you can work with more, that’s better. But at least I have two or three new people every single month to work with. Let me tell you why, because people are gonna get tired of this business with you very fast.
11:32
The three people that you have for the last six months, they’re gone already. But you don’t know. You keep talking about them because you have no new people coming to replace them. Replace them fast. Become a team leader by doing a 10 by 10 base. 10 by 10, you are responsible to do 10 equals yourself. If we could fall one of them gonna quit right away. We promise you three of them. If you go work with them fast, you’re gonna put two people for each. That’s six. Six plus four equal ten. You double duty to Quit every single month yourself. What? You know what’s so funny about this? If you keep doing double digit goods yourself, 10 quotes in a month yourself, eventually gonna find somebody says I want to copy you.
12:14
You’re gonna start develop other double digit record and the game is about to be over. Once you have about three, four, five people focus on doing the same thing that you’re doing now, you learn how to do the business. Is that right? The steps number two, you learn how to do the business. Let’s go to step number three. Now you become a teacher. You got to teach this business. This is where the goodie, this is where all the money is at. You see the first 30 days you learn the business. They say you know the second 30 days, which is a 60, 90 days. Now you learn how to do it. You go do it, you know how to make money. Now you’re in the third stage. Right now you are teaching other people how to do this business.
12:53
This is where the game started. He says here have two or three team leaders that do 10 by 10 in the team. Well, you know, one of the reasons our businesses explode. Once you have a leader that doing a 10 by 10, we call it team captain. We call you a leader. Guess what? It doesn’t matter if you are regional leader. If you have somebody coming under you that can do the same thing, we pull that person away, we say, listen, we still, he’s still under you. It’s still part of your team. But now you have one leg that can do 10 by 10. Can you produce another one? We know where we’re going with you. We need you to have at least a three to four people that can do ten by ten outside of you.
13:35
We prepare you right now for you to become what, our vp. But this is a challenge. If you never develop 10 by 10 leg while you’re in the bishop, it’s almost impossible for you to promote 10 by 10 leg after you become a vice president. I heard people say shaman man, listen, I want to build a big bay shop. Well, let’s start right now. Where you at, what you build right now? What’s your business look like right now? If you’re a division leader, original leader, how many leaders do you develop yourself? Or did your upline do it for you? Do you know once you become a vice president, this is going to be your job to develop these leaders while you’re in the bishop. Why don’t you practice this yourself? This is where you can screw up.
14:20
This is where you can make all the Mistakes. Because once you become a vice president, you’re on your own. Pretty much. So again, now you’re teaching people how to do 10 by 10 legs. The question again, how many do you have in your team right now capable to do 10 by 10 every single month? 30 to 50 licensed agents in your team. What I give you right now, this is the formula that puts you in a position for you to become a vice president. How many license do you have in your team? It’s not about personal. How many licensed people do you have in your team? Is it 40? Is it 50? Are you full time? People say, shaman, I love my job. I’m not against your job. That’s fantastic. Keep your job.
15:04
But do you understand before you become a vice president, you got to become full time. What’s your deadline? Do you have any deadline writing right now? Say, listen man, six months from now, I’m going to become a vice president. What stop you become a vice president? What stop you become full time? You’re scared because you’re probably making three, four thousand dollars a month at your job right now. Say, if I leave my job, how I’m going to pay my bills? While your skills is not there yet, can you work on yourself? Can you get better? Timber? Listen, you know, Primerica is so special in a special way. Let me tell you, if you come to me right now, you say shaman, listen, I’m excited. I’m going to work with you. I’m going to help you become a business owner. All these things.
15:48
John was mentioned yester and I said, I’m excited, pumped up. I said, I’m gonna work with you. Then I said, how long you been doing this? He said, two years. Okay, do you have a full time job? Yes. You do prime makeup part time? Yes. Do you believe in it? Do you see where I’m coming? If you believe in what you said you’re gonna do for me. How come you’ve been in America for two, three years, you still have your full time job? You’re lying to me. Do you guys got it? No, no. You said Paramedica is a business. It’s a company that can change people’s life. You can make a million dollars here. Blah blah, blah blah. I said, okay, yes, I’m excited. But it’s three years. You’re still doing this full time job. You’re still doing primer part time.
16:36
You know what you said full time job. Better than what America? Give me your deadline. Why don’t you tell me, Sharma? Six months from now, I’M going to quit my full time job. I’m going to do Primeka full time. Can you work with me? You get me more excited. Yes or no? Well, can your team to focus on doing 30 by 30? When I say 30 by 30, it doesn’t have to be you person to go out there. I’m talking about your team put together and doing the 30 by 30. You become full time. While 30 to 40 attend the meetings every week. She made. Listen, well, the environment that I came from, you know the RVP’s that I had back then. So this is the thought process. Every time we have a minister’s a head count. How many do you have with you?
17:26
How many do you have with you? How many do you have with you? And then every leaders put their team together, they sit together like you’re doing right now. Everybody sit together. This is your team. If somebody show up, we call them. What’s wrong with you? You’re supposed to be here. Yes or no. And then you know what little by little parameters start taking for us teammate paramedics about leadership. It’s all about leadership that we pay you based on your leadership. If you take Primeka serious, you decide to go to work, you make a decision, you say, you know what, I’m going to change my life. Nothing can stop you. But you know what, it start with you. You can come here right now, get excited, pumped up. Let me tell you, go home.
18:12
You’re going to forget everything that we just said on stage until you make that decision yourself. You said, I’m sick and tired of this. I can do something better with my life. And I promise you, Paul Maker, I will deliver for you. Timmit, listen, listen. I’ve seen people working for 30, 40 years in this country, they got nothing. Yesterday I call an Uber. I was going somewhere and the guy who come pick me up, I noticed he has a big ring on his finger. I said, where’s this? He said, well, that’s a championship team. I said, you win a championship game? He says, yes, Canada. I said, what are you doing in the Uber here? The guy said, I’m driving Uber to put guys in my boat. I realized the guy was a championship at one time in his life.
18:59
Big wing on his finger, he still broke. He looking at me, says, what is this? Yours is bigger than mine. I said, well, this is championship too. No, no, no, no, no. Listen, listen. Let me tell you the difference between my wing and his wing. My wing keep paying me right now. $160,000 every. No, listen, listen. Him that stop paying him, he become broke. And then, Prime Minister, I said, shaman, you will never, never broke again in your life. Is that excited. Is that excited. Listen, so listen, when I said, you know, this is your time, say, this is my time. This is my time. I love you guys. Thank you.
