Executive TLDR
The Power of Adversity: Khamini transformed the loss of her job during the pandemic into a full-time Primerica career, driven by a passion for social justice in her community.
Identifying Leaders: Leaders aren’t “created”—they are found. Key indicators include consistent attendance, asking insightful questions, and proactively picking up the slack.
Leading by Example: To find and keep leaders, you must first be one. This includes staying close to your coach and showing genuine commitment to your people’s personal lives.
The 5-Point Market: While exceptions exist, focusing on the “5-Point Market” remains the most reliable strategy for finding stable, long-term business partners.
Persistence: Success often comes right after the hardest moment. Khamini encourages those struggling to realize they are “3 feet from gold.”
Video Summary In this moving and practical session, Khamini Leston shares her rapid ascent from a struggling single mother to a Regional Vice President (RVP). Her story is a testament to the “forced success” that often occurs when passion meets necessity. After losing her job at the start of the pandemic, Khamini leaned into the Primerica crusade, fueled by a desire to fix financial injustices in her community. Her journey highlights the transition from being a solo “crusader” to becoming a builder of an army.
A central theme of Khamini’s message is the Identification of Leadership. She argues that as a builder, you don’t actually create leaders; rather, you create an environment where you can find them. She provides a checklist of “leadership signs” for the audience to look for in their teams:
Attendance: True leaders don’t need reminders to show up; they are the ones helping you remind everyone else.
Curiosity: Questions are a sign of interest and engagement, not a lack of knowledge.
Ownership: Leaders identify where the organization is lacking and move to “pick up the slack” without being asked.
Commitment: They move their lives around Primerica, rather than trying to fit Primerica into the cracks of their lives.
Khamini also emphasizes the importance of the Human Element in leadership. She challenges the audience to go beyond professional management and develop deep, personal roots with their team. She asserts that “if you don’t know your people’s children’s names, they aren’t really your people.” This level of commitment is reciprocal; when a leader shows up for their team’s personal lives, the team shows up for the leader’s business vision.
Strategically, Khamini discusses the 5-Point Market as the primary hunting ground for quality leaders. While she acknowledges “exceptions to the rule”—such as young, high-energy district leaders with no traditional responsibilities—she maintains that the 5-point market offers the most predictable path to stability. Furthermore, she stresses the necessity of “Coaching the Coach.” Even as an RVP-caliber leader, staying close to one’s own coach (like Harvey Grahales) is vital because a coach has a vested financial and personal interest in your success.
The session concludes with a heartfelt message of Resilience. Khamini speaks directly to those who feel they are “running out of gas,” reminding them of the “3 feet from gold” principle. She shares her own prayer during her darkest moments: “God, I know you didn’t bring me out this far just to embarrass me.” Her story serves as a powerful reminder that the greatest rewards in the business often lie just beyond the point where most people decide to give up.
FAQs
Q: How did Khamini Leston start her Primerica career? A: She was a single mom who lost her job at the start of the pandemic and was “forced” into the business full-time after only three months of field training.
Q: Can you create a leader in your business? A: According to Khamini, you don’t create leaders; you find them by identifying specific signs and providing the right environment.
Q: What is the most important sign that someone is a leader? A: Consistency in attendance. Leaders show up without being reminded and help ensure others show up too.
Q: Why should a leader be happy when a recruit asks many questions? A: Questions are a clear indicator of interest and a desire to understand the business at a deeper level.
Q: What does it mean to “pick up the slack” as a leader? A: It means seeing where the coach or the office is lacking and taking the initiative to help carry the load without being instructed to do so.
Q: How does Khamini define “true commitment” to your team? A: Knowing their lives outside of the business, including their children’s names and their personal struggles, not just their production numbers.
Q: What is the “5-Point Market”? A: A specific demographic target in Primerica (typically involving factors like being married, having children, owning a home, etc.) that usually produces the most stable recruits.
Q: Why is it important to stay close to your coach even as you grow? A: Because your coach has already traveled the path you are on and has a financial interest in making sure you reach your destination safely.
Q: What should you do when you feel like giving up? A: Realize you are likely “3 feet from gold.” Khamini teaches that the light usually comes right after the darkest moment.
Q: Who kept Khamini accountable during her journey to RVP? A: Her son, Joshua, who told her he wanted her to be an RVP and kept her focused on that goal.
Q: What was Khamini’s “crusade” passion? A: She saw financial injustices in her community and was passionate about providing the education and solutions to fix them.
Q: Is it possible to succeed as a young person with no kids or house? A: Yes. While they are “exceptions” to the 5-point market, Khamini highlights leaders like Alex who are district leaders at 20 years old and going after the opportunity.
Glossary
RVP (Regional Vice President): The milestone leadership level in Primerica where a representative runs their own office and earns overrides.
Field Trained: The initial period where a new recruit goes out with an experienced trainer to learn how to conduct business.
5-Point Market: A specific set of criteria used to identify high-quality prospects who are more likely to have a need for the services and a commitment to the business.
3 Feet from Gold: A classic motivational concept (from Think and Grow Rich) suggesting that many people quit just before they reach their breakthrough.
Crusade: The term used to describe Primerica’s mission to help middle-class families become properly protected, debt-free, and financially independent.
Division/District Leader: Mid-level leadership titles that signify growth toward the RVP position.
Transcript:
Good afternoon, empire builders. How’s everybody doing?
Hey, Coach.
Good afternoon, everybody. It’s such an honor to be up here in front of you guys. Of course, I want to thank God for being the head of my life and for making all of this possible. Definitely want to thank my amazing Harvey Grahales for never, ever giving up on me. Chris Hung, Rory Williams forcing me to join Primerica. That’s another story for another day. Joshua, my son, for telling me, mommy, I want you to be an RVP and keeping me accountable to that. Right. My story is very typical. I’m a single mom, lost my job at the beginning of the pandemic and got forced into Primerica full time after just three months of being field trained. So I was a big on the crusade, so I just saw an injustice in my community and really was passionate about fixing that. And my coach started coaching me on becoming a builder as well.
You could do a lot more damage as an army versus just being one.
Right.
So today, what I want to talk to you guys a little bit about is the question I keep getting is, like, what is your focus? What was your focus when you were on your way to RVP? So you have to create leaders, but you also must understand that you don’t really create leaders. You find them.
Right.
So how do you identify? They’re going to give you signs. So some of the signs that somebody’s a leader you found a leader is that they attend meetings.
Right.
Attendance is a big thing. You don’t usually have to continuously remind a leader to show up. They’re helping you remind other people.
Right.
They have a lot of questions. Some of us are scared of questions, but when somebody asks questions, that’s because they’re interested.
Right.
They show up. They also help you carry it can be a lot of times. And so a leader starts to see where you are lacking, and they start picking up the slack.
Right.
That’s a really big one. A lot of us try to carry everything on our own, and we don’t give leaders a chance to help us.
Right.
They’re committed. Leaders are extremely committed. No matter what’s going on in their.
Lives.
Their lives start to revolve around Primerica. They start moving things out of the way, and that’s something that comes from within. You can’t really make somebody do that.
Right.
One of my best friends, Teresa Crowney, she’s one of our division leaders. She’s always committed. She has so much going on. Single mom like me, but she always makes sure she throws a ball to me. And because of her, that’s how we found our replacements, Bryce and Lexi, who are leaders as well. Your leaders are most likely going to be in the five point market.
Right.
Primerica doesn’t leave anything up to chance. They show you. Listen, if you focus on this part of the business. Everything else Will work itself out, but there are exceptions. We do have alex in the building. He’s a district leader, 20 years old, no kids, no house. But he came, and he saw the opportunity, and he’s going after it. He’s a leader.
Right?
Usually the biggest part is you have to be a leader because, god forbid you find some leaders, and you don’t know how to lead some people.
Right.
So, you also want to be a leader by staying close to your coach, right? You don’t know everything.
We’re all here.
We’re smart. We’re intelligent. But when it comes to Primerica, your leader knows best. Your leader has a financial interest in you. So it’s best to lean on the person that’s already where you’re trying to go and in the direction that you’re trying to go, as well. And you also want to commit to your people. That’s how they commit to you.
Right.
You have to show up in ways outside of just the regular, hey, are you on training? If you don’t know your people’s children’s names, that’s not really your people. If you don’t know what’s going on in their lives outside of Primerica, how can we really expect them to commit to us if they don’t see that commitment from us? So, it goes a little bit beyond just attendance in meetings. Sometimes it’s attendance in what’s going on in their lives, as well. Does that make sense, guys?
Yeah.
Okay, good. And I just want to take the last minute to just speak from the heart real quick. There’s probably somebody in the room that’s about to give up or kind of losing their way or not sure if this thing is for them. I want to promise you something. You’re most likely about 3ft from gold, and that’s usually where most people give up. That’s where you run out of gas. That’s when you’re, like, hoping. I was saying a prayer, like, god, I know you didn’t bring me out this far just to embarrass me.
God. Right?
So I’m just encouraging you guys to hold on you’re right there. It gets so much better right after it gets the darkest, right? The light is on its way, and I promise you guys, this thing is so worth it. I want and thank you guys so much. Thank you to my son, joshua. Take it away. That’s all I got.
