Executive TLDR
Humble Beginnings: Whitney and Rob joined at ages 21 and 23 with no business experience, no professional clothes, and zero initial belief in themselves.
The Power of Entrepreneurship: A single statistic—that 74% of the wealthy are entrepreneurs—shifted Whitney’s mindset from a skeptical server to a focused business builder.
Mental Toughness: Entrepreneurship is described as “tough by design.” Success requires moving past feelings, which are “liars,” and overcoming the “ridicule” of negative friends and family.
Introverts Can Win: Rob’s story proves that even “scared-to-death” introverts can succeed by plugging into a system and letting their vision grow larger than their fear.
Consistency over Speed: There is “healthy growth” and “unhealthy growth.” Success in Primerica isn’t an overnight phenomenon; it’s the result of personal development and staying close to a coach.
Video Summary: Unlocking Abundance
Whitney and Rob Cooper deliver a powerful, two-part masterclass on the internal and external battles required to win at the highest levels of Primerica. Their story is a blueprint for the “average person” to achieve extraordinary results through the Empire Builders system.
Part 1: The Mindset of a Builder (Whitney Cooper)
Whitney focuses on the “grit” required to transition from the employee mindset to that of an owner. She candidly shares her initial skepticism, admitting she only returned for her second meeting to say “no.” What changed her mind was the realization that 74% of the wealthy are entrepreneurs.
Whitney identifies the four main reasons people fail to unlock abundance:
Negative Influences: People allow parents or “anonymous internet strangers” (like “Brad from Taco Bell”) to talk them out of their dreams.
The Microwave Mentality: Expecting $100,000 in three months. Whitney argues for “healthy growth,” noting that if you grow too fast before your character is ready, you’ll become an “idiot with money.”
Fear of the “Different”: People pray for change but reject Primerica because it doesn’t look like a traditional 9-to-5.
Refusal to Change: Most people want their circumstances to change without changing themselves. Whitney challenges the audience: “If your current personality isn’t getting you results, make a change.”
Part 2: Overcoming the Wall of Fear (Rob Cooper)
Rob’s segment is a deep dive into the partner’s perspective and the struggle of the introvert. Despite being a “radiographer” (X-ray tech) with a stable job, Rob was initially more interested in “free beer nights” than financial seminars. His transformation began when he saw a young couple making $40,000 a month on a PFN video, sparking “wealth by association.”
Rob’s most impactful lesson is his battle with social anxiety. He recounts being too scared to put his name on a list at Olive Garden, yet eventually leading a team of thousands. He highlights the “AHA moment” sparked by leader Omar Orapaza, who overcame a stuttering problem to earn millions. Rob realized that Whitney would win with or without him, but they could win bigger and faster if he mastered his fears. He concludes with the humorous yet harrowing story of his first field training appointment—sweating through his shirt in a Texas summer—proving that you don’t have to be perfect to start; you just have to be willing to “show up and show out.”
The “Healthy Growth” Chart
FAQs
Q: How old were Whitney and Rob when they started? A: Whitney was 21 (a college student/server) and Rob was 23 (an X-ray tech).
Q: What is the “74% Statistic”? A: It refers to the fact that 74% of the wealthiest 1% achieved their status through entrepreneurship and business ownership.
Q: Why does Whitney say feelings are “liars”? A: Because feelings like “I have a headache” or “I’m tired” would have resulted in starvation in the past. To win in business, you must act based on your goals, not your current mood.
Q: How did Rob overcome his introversion? A: By “plugging in” to every meeting, being the first to arrive and last to leave, and letting his desire for a better life outweigh his fear of talking to strangers.
Q: What is “Team Triple C”? A: This is the name and philosophy developed by the Coopers for their organization following their first major Primerica event.
Q: What is the “Brad from Taco Bell” analogy? A: It’s Whitney’s way of saying don’t take financial or career advice from anonymous critics online who haven’t achieved what you want to achieve.
Q: How much do the Coopers earn currently? A: They recently made $95,000 in a single month and are on track for an $800,000+ annual income.
Q: What is the “18-year-old/Grandpa” comparison? A: A reminder that previous generations went to war at 18, so modern struggles (like a “hard time” during COVID) should be kept in perspective to build mental toughness.
Glossary
RVP (Regional Vice President): The level of independence where a leader runs their own office and earns overrides.
Field Training Appointment: A live business meeting where a trainer shows a new recruit how to help a client.
PFN (Primerica Financial Network): The company’s internal broadcasting and training network.
Social Butterfly: A term Whitney uses to describe an outgoing, naturally social personality.
Self-Employed vs. Business Owner: The difference between “owning a job” (where you do all the work) and “owning a system” (where a team and system work for you).
The OG: Rob’s “gangster” slang for Olive Garden.
Transcript:
Hey, guys. Hey, again, it’s an honor to be here. And my goodness, how great was that? And I thought Danielle just knocked it out of the park and just selling the dream and just unbelievable. I told Rob after Danielle spoke, I go, everyone could go home after that. I mean, I don’t know what else more. And that’s what I’ve always loved about Primerica is it’s just so genuine. It’s just so know. But I’m going to tell you all a little bit of my side of the story. I’m mainly going to have Rob talk to you guys tonight, but I’ll kind of tell you guys my version because I got introduced to Primerica when I was 21 years old and I was a college student. All I had ever done before Primerica was serve tables and bartend. I was actually working out at a gym, and a guy kept looking at me, which we know when you guys are looking at us, just so you all know, okay?
And finally I was on the treadmill, and I jumped off. I took my earbud out. I go, can I help you? Right? And he told me about a financial seminar, and I came to my first overview, and Primerica is know, I always tell people Keith, and Keith said it when he opened. Like, if a kid smiles at you’re like that’s a cute child, right? If a grown man or woman keeps smiling at you’re like, back away, you freak, you pervert, right? I got pepper spray. And so I just man Primerica. And it’s sad because after my first meeting, I remember leaving, and I told Rob, I go, it was weird. He goes, why was it weird? I go, they are way too nice. And he goes, well, why is that bad? I go, I don’t know. It’s like they wanted something from me. He’s like, what do you think they want?
I go, I don’t know. Maybe my money. He goes, babe, remember, we don’t have any. I was like, oh, yeah, right. That’s a good point. But me and Rob, man, were just kids. I’ll kind of click this, and maybe you can help me a little bit. But we came in, and like I said, I was 21 and Rob was 23 years old, and we own nothing business. We own no business clothes. All of our jeans had holes in them. That was my best looking pair of jeans. The crop tops, that was in. I know it’s back, but that was in then, too. Everything just cycles through. And so everywhere went, were flip flops and holy jeans. We didn’t have anything that looked anything close to business casual. But, man, one thing that really stuck out is one slide that they showed. I remember they showed a slide, and they showed us that out of the wealthy 1% a lot of you all have seen this before, so I’ll click through it fast, but it showed out of the wealthy 1% that 74% were entrepreneurs, were business owners, and I had never heard that.
And I also never knew the difference between self employed and business owner, right? And that really stuck out at me. And I only came back from my second meeting for Primerica to tell him I wasn’t going to do it. And I remember telling Rob, I go, Babe, give me ten minutes. I’m just going to tell him I’m not going to do it, and I’ll be back, right? And this is what stuck out the most. And I came out an hour and a half later, miss Primerica, right? And everything that I said, my RVP said, Are you telling me things? Because I thought everything I thought it seemed too good to be true. It just, to me, didn’t make sense. It sounded like I’m like, what are we trying to do? Is it finance? Are we recruiting people? I was so lost. And sometimes when we don’t know everything, we just decide not to do things.
Isn’t that true? And so an hour and a half later, I come out, Miss Primerica, and I tell Rob, I go, Babe, we’re going to do this, right? And I get really excited, and I’ll never forget calling. I went home, and I called my parents, which is funny, because I lived there, right? I was 21. I lived upstairs. And I’ll never forget. My dad goes, Why are you calling me? You live here. I go, dad, get mom on the phone. I’m trying to be professional, right? I tell him. I go, yeah. I want you all to know we do like oil, and we’re involved in real estate. I said everything wrong, right? And I said, Finance. And they started busting out laughing. And I go, Why are you all laughing? And they go, Honey, today’s Wednesday. I go, yeah. And they go, Monday, you borrowed $20 from us for gas money, and on Wednesday, you’re now telling us you’re a professional financial advisor.
And I said, yeah, and if this goes well, I’ll be paying you all back. I don’t think you understand what’s happening here, okay? At the time. And what’s funny is, I come from a family of entrepreneurs. My dad’s a business owner. He dropped out of high school. He at least stayed till he was 18, but then he dropped out and started a business. And this slide right here made so much sense. 1% of the wealthy are entrepreneurs. They’re business owners, right? But why do most people not go start a business? Because school teaches us what to think, but not how, right? But why do most people not go start a business? If we’re being honest, why don’t they do it? Right? It’s because it’s tough, right? It’s tough. People go, well, it’s a risk, right? And I tell people we risk more staying at our jobs.
But people go, It’s tough. It’s a risk. And I always remind people that we are made to be tough. And by the way, like Keith and Daniel said, Primerica is tough. Don’t let social media fool you guys with all the hype and, oh, I’m an entrepreneur. Oh, just another day at the pool. That’s not entrepreneurship. That’s freedom. But don’t let social media fool you that it’s all glitz and glamour. It’s tough and it takes work, and there’s many times that are rough, and there’s many times that you’re going to want to quit. But that’s life, isn’t it? See, I believe we are built to be tough. I love this. What I saw a long time ago or a while back, rob showed this to me, but this is really the image. It says 2018. It said, hey, son, I found a picture of your grandpa.
See, back in the day, 18 year olds went off to war. They got shipped off to war. The other day, I was talking to a 29 year old that said, yeah, I’m still young. I still got time to figure out what I’m going to do. Still living with their parents. I’m like, dude, by your age, we had saved our first million. Like, I owned brokerages. Like, what are you talking about, 29? And they still have time. Son, I found a picture of your grandfather, and he’s going off to war at 18 to fight for freedom, right? To fight for this country. The sad thing is, our generation, unfortunately, this is going to be us. Hey, son, I found a picture of your grandpa. What was going on? Oh, it was COVID, and it was a hard time. We all were locked up. We watched a lot of Netflix.
We took a lot of selfies, and some, I was a puppy, and some I was a donkey, some I was holding Tweety Bird. It got rough. We ran out of ideas. We watched every show over and over. And times were hard, man. We were built like were made to be tough. And I think sometimes we forget that, right? I used to work a homeless shelter with my grandma. Growing up, I used to feel so bad. The homeless, they would come in and we would feed them, and sometimes it was really good food, but most time, it was just peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. But we would feed them as they came in, and I felt like, oh, my gosh, these poor people. But then you think about it, in the day, there was no homeless shelter. There was no homeless anything of feeding the back in the day, I’m talking about Indian and cowboy days, cavemen days.
You just couldn’t say, my tummy hurts, or, I have a headache, or I guess, I won’t go out and find food today. I mean, you went out and killed a freaking buffalo, and you dragged it back to your Indian tent, right? And you ate. I mean, it didn’t matter what you felt like or what you’re going through, right? Billings are liars. And I think so much today. It’s all about what’s easy, what’s convenient. We’re just a society of fast and man. All great things take work and effort and don’t let anyone ever fool you that it does it, right? So I always say truth, and y’all have heard this a million times, that it passes through three stages. First it’s ridiculed. And we first came into Primerica, were ridiculed. And I see some of the main reasons why people don’t make it in Primerica. One of the main reasons is negative friends and family.
I get people all the time. I get grown men and grown women that don’t do Primerica because of what something that family member friend, a guy I had the other day who’s 41 years old, he goes, I talked to my dad and he kind of taught me out of it, thinks this is a better route. I go, dude, you’re 41 years old, you listen to what your parents say. I haven’t listened to my parents since I was two, right? I’m like, you are 41 years old, I think you should love your parents and I think you should respect your parents. But if they don’t have the dream life that you have and they’re not offering you an opportunity, right? I wouldn’t listen to anything that they had to say. Does that make sense? Because if they knew they would do, right, they knew where the treasure chest of gold was, they would have found it 60 years ago.
But they don’t know. So you’re your family’s only shot, right? What’s worse than negative friends and family people that you actually know is now we listen to people we don’t even know. What’s worse than listening to people that we know is we now listen to people we don’t know. I get people, they say, well, I read on this so and so that said this and know, brad said it just it wasn’t good and he made no money. I go, Brad’s probably an idiot who works a midnight shift at like Taco Bell, right? And I’m like, who is Brad? Who are these people? Before we do anything, we look up what some random stranger thinks and that stranger could be an idiot. And most of the times they are because you know, when I go places, if I have an issue, you know what I do?
Can I just tell y’all I actually talk to somebody, I don’t smile and then google and type crap and just right. What a nerd you’d have to be to do that. I actually go, hi, can I talk to the manager? Yeah. I didn’t like I actually talk to people, right? I just don’t go out and start typing away all these anonymous what kind of dweeb would you have to be to react that way? Right? We just solve the problem right then and there and then we move on with our lives. I’ve never left. I wouldn’t know how to leave a batter type nothing. I don’t even know that life. The other reason people don’t do Primerica is, man, we want it to be an overnight thing. We put a time period on it. We’ll give it two months, three months. The guy that recruited me said, Whitney, if I’m not making 100,000 by my third month, he said, I’m quitting.
And I immediately knew he was an idiot, right? I remember thinking, like, I’ll be nervous if I make 100,000 by my third month. Like, there is healthy growth and there’s unhealthy growth. Yes. If I walked in, cash is my son. He’s not even two. If I got home tomorrow and he was now 5ft tall and while I was gone, he grew to be 5ft, I wouldn’t be excited. I’d be concerned. But equally, if he went from being 2ft tall to now six inches, I’d be equally concerned. So there is healthy growth. Yes. So, again, people talking. You make this. Thank God we didn’t make what we made too fast. We would have been idiots, right? We had a lot of growing to do, and we still have a lot of growing to do. So, again, it doesn’t happen overnight. Number three, we don’t do Primerica because it’s different.
Isn’t it funny that you’ll pray for something different, and then you don’t do Primerica because it’s different? I mean, God, he’s got a lot of things to answer to up there. You’re losing them, right? You’re like, I don’t want to do it because different. And God’s up there going, but you pray for something different, and you’re like, not that kind of different. I want a different kind of different. He goes, well, this is different. You’re like, but not that kind of different. I want a different kind of different. And he’s like, I don’t know what to do with you. I got a lot of other prayers to answer, right? So a lot of times we don’t do Primerica because it’s different. And it is different. It is crazy, right? But until what we make is crazy. I put this quote up. I love the quote.
I’d rather be rich because I was curious than be broke because I’m skeptical. I think people that are skeptical just don’t believe in themselves. Number four is people don’t do Primerica because they’re not willing to change. And I ask people all the time if cars are getting better and phones are getting better, if everything’s getting better, why wouldn’t you see? We want everything to change around us but ourselves. We want our kids to get better. We want the government to get better. We want everything. We want technology to get better. We want movies to get better. You don’t walk into a restaurant and go, what’s just average on the menu. I’ll take what’s just average. You should want to know what the best thing is. At the restaurant, right? You don’t ask what an average movie is. You want to see the what best, but when it comes to you and yourself, that’s where we settle, and we’re just not willing to change.
A lot of us need to change. Yes. Some of you’ve not smiled or had energy this entire event.
And you.
Go, I do have energy. I am happy it’s on the inside. Well, we’re not inside there. Some of y’all go, this is who I am. Well, how’s that going for you? No, like, seriously, like, how’s that going for you? That I don’t get excited. I don’t care about anything, right? I don’t have energy. How’s that going for you? And if it’s not going good, which I don’t think it is, then I would make a change. All right, I’m going to get Rob up here. So we came in. It was us and our two guys, tweedle D and Tweedledum. My first recruit, he had a party at his house six nights a week. No credibility. The guy between us, Lance, I was 21. Rob was 23. Ricardo’s 19, and Lance in the middle is 41, hanging out with the 19 and the 21 year old. So Lance also had no credibility.
And here were, we told everyone we’re going to take over the world. And went out, and I tell people, the better you get, man. You got it, man. If you want the things in your life to change, you got to change the things in your life. And when you get better, it gets better. It always does. So went out and we got better. We qualified for regional vice president. We’re smiling in this picture, but we are terrified. We are beyond terrified. We signed our name to a lease. I never even made as much as the lease was. I’m not recommending that. And we got to work. And the better we got, the bigger we got. This is an old picture. We haven’t been able to take a picture to fit every this is 2017. We haven’t been able to take a picture to fit everyone in.
And not that we’ve arrived and not that we figured it all out, but, man, the better we get, the bigger we get. See, I tell people we’re so good at our people skills, and we’re so good at believing in people that it’s gotten us to 800,000 a year. But we’re so bad in believing in people, and we’re so bad at our people skills that’s why we’re not at 4 million a year and 5 million a year. Do you get it? See, our belief and our love and our people skills and our Primerica skills and our self development and improvement is so good, it’s gotten us to 800, but it’s so bad, which is why we aren’t at 5 million. Are you all with me on that? See, people say that I’ve mastered I got it. We have so much work to do. And I’ll tell you, I’m so man, last month again made 95,000.
We were so close to breaking 100. We’re going to do it this month. We’re excited about that. I know Keith and Danielle make that a week. So he’s like, I’d be homeless if I were you. Okay. We’re going to get there. And then it becomes accepted as being self evident. Guys, I’m so excited to bring up my partner, my best friend. As great as Rob always was, rob, when I met him, was a good guy. And after knowing Rob since were 19 years old, we met in Mexico. Rob is not a good guy. Rob is a great guy. And as great as a husband as he always has been, he is better today. He’s still the same to me. But to watch him as a father the way he is with our kids, I’m telling you, I know no one’s perfect, but I’m telling you, Rob Cooper, my husband, my partner, he’s pretty dang close.
Give it up for my the love of my life, the great Rob Cooper.
All right. Thank you, guys. Give a go for Wit. I’m telling you, I’m the luckiest guy in the world, right? And so I got another picture. I want to tell my side of the story, right, the correct side, but I’m going to kind of tell the story from the partner side of it. And I played every role there is in Primerica and kind of tell you the way it looked for me coming in. Because one thing about Primerica, I was very intimidated when I first joined this business. I’m a very introverted person by nature. I hate talking to people that I don’t know. And so when we came into this business, someone like Whitney, she’s just naturally a social butterfly. Not that she didn’t have to work on herself and all that kind of stuff, but she’s a social butterfly, very outgoing, never met a stranger.
When we first started the business, I could see someone like her doing really awesome at this. But honestly, someone like me, I really never thought I could win and participate in a business like this. So my goal today in the next 25 minutes or so is to give you guys some hope that, man, anybody can do this business. If you’re willing to get outside of your comfort zone, you’re willing to grow, you’re willing to change. And I’m going to finish up by sharing some fun pictures with you guys. But in the beginning, I remember when we very first started, our story is a little bit different because Winnie was a finance major in college, so that’s what she was going to school to do. So whenever she told me she was joining a financial company, that just made sense. I was like, oh, great, you’re going to school for finance or going to work for a financial company?
But then I remember she started inviting me to her job all the time and inviting me these meetings, and I just remember thinking, like, I just graduated school. I was working full time at a hospital. I was a radiographer. Does anyone know what a radiographer is? It’s a fancy word for an X ray tech. We say radiographer. It sounds much more like a radiologist, which is a doctor sounds a lot better. But I was a radiographer working full time, and all I remember thinking is, like, dude, I don’t even like going to my job. Why would I want to get off of my job? To go to your job. That’s, like, a terrible idea. And she kept inviting me to all these meetings, and honestly, for months, I wouldn’t go. And it wasn’t that I didn’t necessarily believe in Primerica. I didn’t even know Primerica was.
But people, we really think we’re busy, right? So all you new people in here, you’re inviting people to meetings. All y’all invited people to this event. They didn’t show up, right? It’s not that they don’t like Primerica. It’s not that they don’t like you. People just think they’re busy now. Chances are they’re busy doing stupid crap, right? Like me, I was in, like, three different basketball leagues at the time. I was still holding on to the dream, you know what I mean? I was in all these rec center leagues. Like, it’s going to pay off one day, someone’s going to see me. But honestly, the reason I didn’t go to the meeting is because our meetings were on Tuesday nights. And Tuesday nights was free beer mug night at lucky lose. We lived in a college town, and they had this incredible thing where they had like, 150 beers on tap, right?
And they had this book, and every time you went there, you could drink the beer, and they would check mark, hey, this guy drank this beer. And if you drank one of every beer, they’d put your name on a plaque. So I had big goals before Primerica. It’s no secret why we’re winning now. But on Tuesday nights, not only would you get to check mark a beer off, but they’d let you take home a commemorative cup. So I was like, I’m not missing free beer. My night. I’d like, you lose, right? And so that’s why I wouldn’t go. But I did finally go. She drugged me to a meeting, and I was not even close to dress appropriate. Like Keith was talking about earlier, man, everybody’s way too nice. I showed up to meeting people I don’t know are trying to hug me. I sat in the back.
I was what I call Abercrombied out, right? This is mid 2000s, late 2000s. So they said business casual. I threw on the one polo shirt I had. It was a skin tight Abercrombie polo. I was rocking the shredded up jeans with the flip flops. I remember just sitting in the back, like, what is going on at this place? Right? And so I thought everybody was way too excited. But I did listen to the meeting, and I like to think I’m an intelligent person. If you listen to the meeting, you could tell, like, what the company is doing for people is a good thing, right? I grew up lower middle class, probably like most you guys. Everyone I’ve ever known my entire life struggled with money. I watched my parents struggle with money. I got my first job when I was 14 years old at a Piggly Wiggly.
Those are real in Arkansas, right? And I bought my first car myself. Every clothes, college, everything, I bought it all myself. So I knew what it meant to struggle. And I could tell, man, this company, they’re trying to teach everyday, ordinary people like me and my parents how to handle money. And I knew it was a good company, but I honestly didn’t think it was going to be for me, right? I thought, hey, I remember leaving thinking, hey, this will probably be a good job for Whitney. That’s what I thought. And so that’s another piece of advice for you new people. When you bring people to meetings, not everyone’s going to see the vision and the dream and buy in right away. You understand that. So don’t get discouraged by that, especially when you’re bringing your partners into the business. We all have a different journey inside of Primerica.
So I left thinking, I think this would be a good job for Whitney. And all I did is I would just show up to meetings off and on. That’s all I would do. Whenever it was convenient for me, I would come to meetings. But this is the power, though, of plugging people in. Every Saturday I would go because I didn’t have work, right? So every Saturday I would go to the meeting. And one day it just kind of clicked for me is they were playing a PFN video. And at the time it was this young couple. And I remember this girl got on stage and she was speaking, telling her story, and she was like this tall, little, cute, cheerleader looking girl. And I think she was like 26 years old. And she’s like, yeah, me and Jeff, we made $40,000 last month. And I remember thinking, like, $40,000?
That little girl made $40,000. And I knew my wife. She’s a beast, right? I was like, if that girl made $40,000 last month, like, Whitney’s about to crush this thing, I’m going to be rich by association, right? I got real supportive that day. I was like, I’m going to ride those coattails all the way to the bank. I don’t even care, right? So I was supportive that day. Again, that’s the power of just getting people plugged in the meetings. When he never pressured me into doing anything in Primerica until I was ready, I made every decision of what I wanted to do in the business when it made sense for me to do it. Does that make sense? Right? And then I won’t spend too much time on this one. But the power of big events, I shared this earlier, and going to our first big event, that changed everything for me.
It’s probably three, four months in the business. I went to that event. That’s what sold me on. I was like, Man, I really want to do this business. And Woody told you earlier, told the story how after the event, we came up with our whole team philosophy and Team Triple C and our team colors and all that stuff. And whenever you’re at event like this, you get excited, right? Like, three of you guys get excited, right? But you get excited. But you got to be careful, because you start making promises in the environment, right? I remember telling one of, when we get back, man, I’m going to do this thing with you. I’m going to start going on appointments. I’m going to get fully licensed. I’m going to build this thing with you. And I had completely forgotten that, like I said earlier, I was the most introverted, scared to death person in the entire world, right?
But I had made all these promises to her, and we came back. And guys, whenever I say I was introverted, I don’t think a lot of you guys understand how introverted I was. I was the type of guy like, Winnie will tell you. I took her on our very first date. I took her to the OG. Okay? That’s Olive Garden if you’re gangster, right? I took her to the OG. And it was our first date. Took her somewhere fancy, somewhere nice, and I was too scared to put our name on the list. Like, when you walk in, you got to talk to the lady, put your name on the list. We just stood there for, like, three minutes, and finally, Whitney did it, right? I was the guy. Like, if I ordered food and it came out wrong, I was just picking it off to the side.
I wasn’t about to have that conflict in high school, in college, I was the guy. I’d write the 30 page paper versus do the two minute oral presentation. I hated talking to people I didn’t know. It scared me to death, and I’m ashamed to tell you guys. It took me months and months of showing up to Primerica wanting to I decided from that point I never missed another meeting. I was the first one there, last to leave. I was sold out. I loved the business. I was so supportive. But, man, I let my fear hold me back from actually working this business with Whitney for months after that event, right? And so, again, you have to be careful, because, again, whenever you leave your first primary event, this is what you feel like. You’re like. I’m going to beat everyone, right? And that’s the way I felt.
And that’s actually my body. Just so you know, they put Gerard Butler’s on my Gerard Butler’s face on my body. But we feel like we could take over the world. But then man, life starts beating you up, things start going wrong and a reality starts setting in. But man, again power of plugging people in. I just wouldn’t work this business with Whitney, but she never pressured me. But then again, I had another AHA moment. Again, it was a Saturday training and I think I heard T said y’all had Omar orapaza come in not that long ago. And Omar is a good friend of mine and Whitney’s now, and he’s a real special hero to because I heard him speak and he was telling his story and he talked about before Primerica, how he had such a bad stuttering problem. And he used to go on appointments and the clients would make fun of him and say, how’s this guy going to teach you how to be successful?
He can’t even talk. And I remember him and at that point I think he was probably might only been like a 500,000 a year or something like that. Now he’s like a 1.5 million. But I remember him saying that, man, he didn’t care, man, he used Primerica to make himself get better. He didn’t care what anybody said. And he got over his fears and he basically completely cured that stuttering problem through Primerica. But I remember hearing him tell his story and I just felt so exposed. Those of you guys that are believers, we all had that moment in church, right, when they’re doing the altar call, your heart starts beating and they’re talking to you. That’s the way I felt that day. I felt like just so ashamed was like, man, if this guy has the guts to do this business and he can’t even talk and that’s all we do is talk what’s my know.
So I told Whitney that day, man, I was in tears. I was like, I’m done. And here’s one thing I always knew whitney was going to win in Primerica, whether I helped her or like it was a done deal. She was going to win, she was going to be successful. But I knew we could do it so much faster, so much bigger, so much better, and it could be ours together if I would just get in this thing and work it with her. So I told her that day, man, I’m 100%. I’m going to start doing appointments, I’m doing interviews, I’m making phone calls. And I started running the schedule. And I was still working full time at the hospital, but any waking hour I was at the hospital, I was at the office. And I’m going to spend just a couple of minutes telling you this one funny story.
I’m going to show you some pictures, but I’ll never forget. I was all fired up. And I told Whitney, I’m ready to start helping you. And I got licensed. And she said, hey, Rob, we’re getting busy. I’m going to need you to go on a filtrating appointment for me coming up next week. It was like a week out. She’s like, but I’m double booked that day. I’m going to need you to go on an appointment. And now a week out. You’re confident, right? I was like, oh, I got you, babe. I’m ready. I’m ready to do this appointment because it’s a week away and appointments always cancel, right? So you’re like, it’s not going to happen. And I was still working full time at the hospital, and a few days went by. I think Monday. The appointment was on Wednesday. And later that night, I kind of checked and we said, the appointment is still good on Wednesday.
She’s like, yeah, but still good. I talked to the recruit. We’re good to go it’s with her coach. And I was like, okay, awesome. I started sweating a little bit. I was like, still a couple of days, still time to cancel. And I’ll never forget. Man. I worked that day. I came Wednesday and again, I worked up in surgery. So I had scrubs on. I was sitting there and it was lunchtime. And the whole day, I was just off. I was just so scared to death. I was nervous. I was off all day. People were asking me like, what’s wrong with you? Are you okay? Are you sick? Do you need to go home? And I would call Winnie on my lunch break, and I called her on my lunch break. And I talked to her. Like, we always say, how’s the day going? How’s office going?
Blah, blah. And right at the end, I squeezed it.
Hey.
Oh, yeah. So is that appointment still on tonight? She’s like, yep. I talked to her earlier today. It’s good to go. You’ll be there. I was like, all right, I hung up that phone. I just remember I still get goosebumps just, like, turning white and feeling physically ill. Like, oh, my God, this is happening to me. I’m going to have to go on an appointment. And so I got off of work and I got up at 330. The appointment was at 630. I was there at four because you’re not about to be late for your first appointment. I was driving by, like, staking out the joint. I parked down to the end of the road and I just stared at the house for like an hour and a half. I started letting all my training kick in. I was like, first off, maybe they won’t show up.
I heard of these things called dark houses. I was praying for one of those. I was like, maybe I’ll get a dark house. And it’s funny looking back here’s Wendy, she’s grinding it out 16 hours a day. Trying to get these recruits in, set up appointments. I’m over here praying to God they cancel, right? But I saw a car pull in the driveway. I was like, well, they told me in training, don’t do the appointment unless the husband and wife are both there. Maybe the spouse won’t show up. A couple minutes later, he pulled in. I was like, oh, God. And I was holding on to one last thing. I was like, Maybe my recruit won’t show up. And then she showed up, and I was like, oh, my God, I’m actually going to have to do this. And I remember walking up to that door.
It was August in Texas. I was sweating. I had the pit stains going. I remember being like this, knocking on that door. And guys, it was excruciating for me, excruciating. But the point is, I did it. You know what I mean? And then I had to go on another one, and it was almost just as bad, right? But a little bit less. And then I went on another one and another one, and before you know it, man, it’s like anything you’ve ever done in your life, right? And then I started enjoying doing all these things. I want you all to know, man, you can do this business. My mom, as our office manager, has been for years. And I tell the story all the time at our Op meetings. And our guys will go up to be like, was Rob really that scared to talk to people?
Was he really that introverted? And she’s like, you have no idea. She’s like, we still can’t believe that he does this business. And so I have proof. But I’m telling you, man, you guys can do it. And here’s what I want you guys to know. It’s so dang worth it. I heard early on that’s why it’s so important to listen to audios and show up to trainings. I don’t remember where I heard it, but I remember hearing it one time saying that, man, everything you’ve ever wanted, every goal, every dream you’ve ever wanted, it’s right on the other side of a big wall of fear. And if you can find some way to bust through it, climb over it, go whatever you got to do to get through that wall of fear. All your goals and dreams are on the other side of it. And your fears might be different than mine.
Mine. I was just scared to talk to people. It might be like, you’re afraid of success, you’re afraid of failure, whatever it is. But, man, everything you want is on that other side of that wall of fear. And it’s so dang worth it if you can just get over it. So, guys, I’m going to spend a few minutes here kind of showing you the other side of it. And here’s what Wendy did, man. She sold me on a five year dream. That’s what she did. She told me, rob, if you just give me five years of giving it everything you got, I promise you’ll never have to work another day in your entire life. Keep in mind, I’m 23 and I bought into that vision. And, man, five years went by like that. It’s going to go by quick, guys. And five years went by, man, were making 25, 30,000 a month in overrides.
And Wendy came to me, she’s like, babe, I want to let you know we’ve got a lot of licensed people. We’re doing good. You never have to work again if you don’t want to. You never have to go on another appointment if you don’t want to. You never have to make another phone call if you don’t want to. So by 28 years old, I was completely retired and never had to work again in my life. Isn’t that crazy? And it’s twofold. It’s because I helped and I did my part. But as the agent, the main thing was she did her part. She made me a promise and my God, she went to work and delivered on it. Now, and I’ll be honest with you, for a little while, I took advantage of that. I was like, I don’t got to work anymore. I was like, all right.
For like, two years, I barely did anything. I come to all the meetings, but I got into all kinds of hobbies. I got into running and spartan races and working out. I traveled the country to like, 40 spartan races and marathons and half marathons and all these things. I was, like, obsessed with that for a while. But then I realized I started to miss it. All the stuff I used to be afraid of and hated, I started missing it. And then so I came back. What was cool is I was able to do the parts of the business that I loved, right? The parts of this that I loved doing, I was able to do that. And so, guys, it’s so dang worth it. I want to show you a couple things with you. And again, you see people get up on stage today, you just saw Danielle show you their house.
It’s hard to wrap your mind around that house, right? So this is the house we lived in when we joined the business. This is actually, I think, 709 myrtle in Naples. It’s right down from Keith and Danielle’s house. And it’s not really, but this is the house we lived when we joined Primerica, right? It’s 1000 square foot, little brick home, nothing special. But, man, this is the house we lived in when we joined. And our mortgage was $750 a month on this house. And, man, we listened to our coaches. Man, we’ve always lived way below our means. We were making 25, 30 grand a month still living in this house. It’s like our house payment was nothing to us. We were making more in a month than most of our neighbors were in a year. Because it’s a very small little neighborhood. But that’s where I lived.
And this is like every house that I’d ever lived in growing up. So I felt proud to live in this house at 23, right? But that’s the house that we lived when we joined. But within five years of Primerica, this is the house he moved into, right? And again, it’s nothing crazy for what you see today, but were 26 and 28 years old. It was like a 4000 square foot house in a gated community on an acre lot. We were like crazy party mode. Still. Our business was like half fraternity and we’d have these huge parties all the time. And I remember one time we had a big party and one of our neighbors came over, they were mad. Everyone in our neighborhood was like 60 years old plus. And someone parked one tire in a portion of their lawn in their ditch, right? And they were mad about it.
And they came and they knocked on the door and when he answered they’re like hey, someone’s parked on our lawn. We need to talk to your parents right now. And when he’s like Well, I could call them. No, we need to talk to your parents right now. She’s like, well, this is our house. And they’re like what do mean this is your house? Right? Because we’re the same age as their kids. They couldn’t believe that we lived there. And it’s crazy because growing up I mainly grew up in a small town called WestWork Arkansas, population 2000, right? I always brag to people that I graduated top ten in my class because there was 40 of us. But growing up, I never saw a house like that. There was none. I would have felt so uncomfortable just stepping into a house like that before Primerica. And here were in our mid twenty s.
And this is where we live. It’s crazy. That’s the front picture of the house. And then a couple of years ago we bought this house. It’s on ten acres. It’s about 6000 car garage, has a gym. Absolutely incredible. It’s an entertainer’s dream. And this is where we live now. That’s a picture of the front of the house. It’s got like three different cabanas, huge pool. We have a big basketball court. We put a professional grade volleyball court in there, put another cabana because you can’t have too many cabanas at your house, right? And we have the most ridiculous get togethers and parties here and again still our mortgage is just like nothing we make what our mortgages we make in the first two days, three days every month. Because again, were taught to live way below our means. But my parents, they come to my house and every time they come they just like I can’t believe you live here.
I can’t leave it. And then my family comes in. My grandparents, I was half raised in California, northern California. And my grandparents, they came to visit our new house for the first time last year. They’re like 90 years old. And they walked in, and they just like they couldn’t believe it. They’ve lived in the same house since my dad was six years old. 800 square foot little brick home, and they can’t believe that we live somewhere like this. I’m telling you guys, man, you can change your life. I remember this is a special picture to me when everyone went over 100,000 in 2010 when he said, you can get whatever car you want. That’s when transformers came out. I was like, any car I want. She goes, well, kind of. I was like, don’t worry. I’m getting bumblebee now. I know. We see camaros everywhere these days.
This is the year they came out. I got bumblebee. I was so fired up. Look at that. I was the happiest guy in the world. And you could tell the building here is a Primerica. I got that extra 20 pounds right here in your chin, right? You get that for a while, you burn it off later. And then one of my dreams always was to have a corvette in Arkansas. A corvette is like the rolls Royce of living anywhere else, right? This is the nicest car you’re seeing in northwest Arkansas. So I remember my dream in was like, man, if I could ever drive a corvette one day, oh, god, that’d be awesome. And I remember went over 400, 500,000, and when he said, babe, you could pick out a corvette, I was like, oh, my god. So I was able to customize it exactly the way I wanted.
And I was so fired up. We got this car, and we got this car the same year. I think we had about to have our first daughter, Kennedy. And so I was like, we’re the only people you’ll meet. We have a new baby, and we go buy a two door, two seat sports car. And so immediately I realized I was the one home with kids. So Woundy took over my car, right? So she was driving this thing everywhere. And then so we got rid of that car, and we got a jaguar f type r. Whitney loved this car has about 650. If you ever rode in a car with Whitney, she’s the last person that needs a car that fast. People ask, well, how do you guys make so much money? It’s like, just to pay Whitney’s speeding tickets. That’s the only reason we make this much money.
Half our money goes to Whitney’s speeding tickets and lawyers is but it’s funny. This is that Wendy’s, not a car person, doesn’t care about cars, but she loved this car. And this is a while back, and I was like, all right, babe, you’ve had this car, like, three, four years. You got to get a different car. And then she’s like, I’m going to get another car. And then she shows up the next day with the exact same car, but a new model. I got rid of the 2018 I got like, the 2021 or 22 model of it. So this is the car she drives now. But the point I’m trying to making is that don’t you guys like options? And I hope you guys and it’s funny because when I heard Danielle up here talking, I could see it in her voice and the way her body language and that’s what we try to do when we get up here.
She’s trying to convey to you guys what it feels like to be able to live the way that we live. And obviously, we’re nowhere near their level. So she’s trying to show you her house and their lifestyle and the way their kids are, and we’re just trying to put it in your mind like it’s possible. And the reason we show you these pictures is not to brag or be like, hey, look what we got, suckers. No, it’s because we’re just like you. I sat in a meeting just like this 1415 years ago, and someone showed me pictures like this, and they came from a background like me. And I was like, dude, if that guy can do it, I can do it. That’s why we show you these things. And I don’t know what you’re motivated by, right? It might be materialistic things like houses and cars.
And I also want you guys to know, did you know it’s all right to be motivated by materialistic things if that motivates you, god bless you. We all talk about our why if your why doesn’t make you cry, and you got to figure out your why so you go winning this business, and most of us like, what’s your why? It’s my parents. I want to retire. My mom, she worked so hard. But you did one by one last month. That’s not your why. No. You want to drive a nice car. You want to go on vacations. You want to wear Louis Vuitton belt and Gucci shoes. That’s what’s motivating you, okay? So my point is whatever you want, whatever motivates you. And I grew up dirt poor, and so those things motivated me. I wanted a nice car because I never thought I could drive one.
I wanted nice clothes because I never thought I could buy nice clothes. Those motivated me in the early days, right? And so those motivate you. That’s great. This is what I call my daddy wagon, aka the Black Mamba. I told you we had kids. So Wendy stole the sports car. So I was like, well, if I’m going to drive the kids around, I got to drive something cool, right? So got the new Lincoln Navigator, black Label, top of the line. It was like, the most awesome car ever. If you have kids and Wendy’s like, babe, don’t get that car, the kids are going to destroy it. I was like, no, I’ll take care of it. And then there was, like, chicken nuggets everywhere. Like, smoothies all over the floor. They have these big screen TVs on the back of the seats or scratch the craft.
She’s like, I told you not to get that car. But if you’re going to roll around with the kids, I was like, I’m going to look cool doing it, right? And so, again, it’s about options. You want to drive fast, you jump on the sports car. You got to drive the kids around. At least you could drive around in style. We live in Texas, so you got to have a truck, right? So I got this about a year ago or so. Out of all of our cars we’ve ever had, we get more love on the Rocky Ridge. I don’t know why the same picture pops up twice, but I guess twice as nice. I don’t know. But this is a customized Rocky Ridge truck, about $110,000. Truck is the only one in the country like it. There’s not another one in the country that looks like this.
And everywhere we go, people are like, dude, especially in Texas. I don’t know if it’s that way here or not, but in Texas, like, dude, what kind of truck is that? That’s badass, man. I get that all the time in Texas. That’s badass, brother. It’s like, thank you, man. But it’s fun to have options. This picture is special to me. I told you I spent part of my life in California. I’m a huge San Francisco 49 ers fan. And this picture is special to me because that’s my dad. And my dad’s not only my dad, he’s my best friend in the world. He was the best man in my wedding. And I love this picture because that’s me taking my dad to his very first home. 49 Ers game. We grew up right down the road from the stadium, and he’s probably, I don’t know, 55, 56 years old in this picture.
And he had never been to a game. And so I surprised him for his birthday or something. And I remember at the airport talking to him, I was like, dad, we grew up right down the road from the stadium. Why did you never go to a game? And he kind of looked down. He looked back up at me. He goes, son, you know what? He goes, what’s sad is people like me, man, we never even thought about doing stuff like that. Never thought about doing stuff like that. Isn’t that sad? But, man, you’re a product of your environment and the people you spend your time around. He grew up and spent his whole life around limited beliefs, limited expectations. He just never thought he could do something like that. Don’t you want to change your family’s direction? I’m telling you, it’s worth it. We did it first class.
Awesome seats. And what I got up here next here, this is my mom. I was taking my dad all. I do a lot of fun stuff with my dad. This is a picture special. That’s my mom, and we’re front row in Miranda Lambert concert. She’s a huge Miranda Lambert fan, and she was coming town a while back, and the tickets, like, sold out before you could buy them, type of. And but you’ll find out if you have enough money, enough connections, nothing’s ever sold out. And so I surprised my mom for her birthday or Mother’s Day or something, got her front row seats at Miranda Lambert. Does she look a little bit happy? Don’t you want your mom to smile like that? Miranda Lambert’s, like, spitting on my mom. She was loving it. So much fun. And then my mom’s a Niners fan, too. I don’t have time to go into this, but I started taking her to games.
That was a fun. We stayed at Jimmy Myers house in Arizona and took her to that game. This is me and Wendy had a mavs game. I’m a huge sports guy, so I love this picture. What’s special about this is Wendy surprised me for my birthday or Father’s Day or something. And we got courtside tickets. Go watch Luca play a Mavericks game. And they blew out the Bulls. This is right as the NFL season was ending and the way that things were shaking out, I remember we’re sitting there watching courtside, watching the mavs play, and Luca dropped like, 50 points that game. It was awesome. And then it popped up on my phone that they released the playoff schedule that year, and the 49 ers were going to be playing the Cowboys at and T Stadium. But that’s where we live in Dallas. And so I was able to, like while I’m sitting there in these ridiculous seats, I got on there, bought me and my dad 100 level 50 yard line tickets to go to the playoff game and took him to that game, and we ended up slaughtering them.
It was awesome. And this one’s special me, and it’s my little girls. And that’s Kennedy and Kenzie. This is us on a Disney cruise a while back. And I love this picture because my daughters, they’re growing up my kids, they’re growing up completely different than I grew up. They’re growing up thinking that they can do anything. Vacations are normal to them. Growing up, I never went on a vacation. Vacation to my family was my dad had a work van. He would clean out all of his work tools. We put sleeping bags back there. We’d drive 20 hours to my grandma’s house in Oklahoma because she lives in a trailer near a lake, right? So that was vacation to me. And now my kids, they don’t know any different. They don’t understand not going to Disney two, three times a year, going to Mexico and punta cana.
It’s funny. My daughter Kennedy, she’s getting to the age now. She’s starting to put two and two together that we live different than. Her friends know. I’ll pick her up from school, and she’s like, dad, did you know? Because we’ll get back from a trip. Did you know Eliana’s never been to Disney world. She looks at me like she can’t believe, you know, they’ve never been to Mexico. Never been. She can’t wrap her mind around it. And I have to explain to like, baby, not everybody gets to do these types of things. Don’t you want your kids to grow up different than you grew up? I’m telling. So, again, I don’t know what motivates you guys, but this is our family. That’s Kennedy on the right, cash in the middle. And that’s baby Whitney to the left. The one the rascally looking face, right? That’s Kenzie.
And they’re the ones we do it for, man, our kids. And again, because their mom and dad made a decision 15 years ago to never give up, be willing to grow, change, get outside of our comfort zone. They live a dream life. All of them will be multimillionaires by the time they graduate high school. We’re not going to give them the money then, right? But they’ll be multimillionaires by the time they graduate high school. Could you imagine starting your life out as a multimillionaire and being able to make every decision from the time you graduate high school based off of following your goals and dreams of what you want to do and never having to make a decision based off of money? That’s what you’re playing for, guys. And so, again, the houses, the cars, the travel, all that’s awesome, man. But what really matters is being the go to person for your family.
And here’s what I want. I’m going to leave you guys with this, and we’ll be done. Is life is gonna be hard for two reasons. It’s gonna be hard. Life’s hard, right? There’s some things you can’t control, but it’s gonna be hard for two reasons. It’s either because you’re leaving your comfort zone or because you’re staying in it. And what’s awesome about Primerica, you get to choose your heart. And I’m telling you, it’s so worth leaving your comfort zone, building a dream life. And so, guys, man, I’m so excited to be here and talk to you guys today. Thank you for letting us share. We love you guys, and we’re excited to share tomorrow, too. Appreciate job.
