Executive TLDR
Success is a decision — winning or losing is a personal choice, not a circumstance.
Recruiting is the engine — sales are a byproduct of building a strong team.
Master the basics — personal production builds belief and long-term credibility.
Big thinking requires consistency — leaders must set the pace and stay relentless.
Focus on leaders, not everyone — winners reveal themselves through action.
Video Summary
From Visa To Vision
Teshler Senat shares his journey from arriving in America on a visa with nothing to building a million-dollar organization. As the first in his family to come to the United States, he carried the weight of his entire family’s future — and made a decision early: no matter what, he would win.
Over 17 years, he helped relocate nearly his entire family to America — proof that opportunity, when matched with obsession and belief, can transform generations.
The Turning Point: Show Me The Money
When first introduced to Primerica, Teshler asked two simple questions:
Show me the money.
Show me it’s legal.
Once satisfied, he committed fully. He didn’t understand everything — but he understood enough to start.
Master The Craft
Early struggles shaped his philosophy:
Couldn’t explain Rule of 72 on an appointment
Nervous and sweating through presentations
Lost early sales
Instead of quitting, he locked himself in his closet, studied, and mastered the fundamentals. From that moment forward, personal production became automatic.
His message: before building giants, become one.
Recruiting Over Selling
A powerful shift defined his success: stop chasing sales — chase distribution.
He emphasizes:
Sales are a byproduct of recruiting
One strong recruit can produce thousands of sales
Influence matters — always meet the most influential person in a prospect’s circle
The long-term play always beats the short-term commission.
Finding “The One”
How do you know when you’ve found a true leader?
You don’t have to guess.
They ask how, not why
They show up
They take ownership
They run without pushing
Stop trying to make someone “the one.” The right ones reveal themselves through hunger and action.
Fear Of Success And Growth
Leaders discussed fear — not fear of failure, but fear of growth.
The solution:
Constant self-improvement
Stay ahead of your team
Lead from the front
Never coast
Confidence comes from preparation and work ethic.
Raising Standards
If your standards are too low, your culture will reflect it.
Advice shared:
Raise standards with new people first
Build a new environment
Let performance speak
Leaders don’t explain excessively — they set the pace.
Big Thinking Without Apology
When teams panic over bold goals:
Don’t stop talking about them
Stay consistent
Move first
Outwork everyone
People watch the leader’s behavior more than they listen to their words.
Ownership And Massive Recruiting
The path to ownership isn’t premium-focused — it’s recruiting-focused.
Premium follows distribution
Massive recruiting solves income
Builders think legacy, not commission
The final message:
You’re either going to get rich or quit. Decide.
FAQs
Q: What is Teshler Senat’s main success philosophy?
Winning is a decision. Circumstances don’t determine outcomes — commitment does.
Q: Why does he focus more on recruiting than sales?
Because recruiting builds distribution. Sales naturally follow a strong distribution system.
Q: What should new recruits master first?
Personal production and the fundamentals like Rule of 72 and buy term invest the difference.
Q: How do you identify a true leader in your team?
Leaders ask how to win, show up consistently, and take initiative without constant pushing.
Q: What causes most people to fail in the business?
Fear, lack of belief, and trying to force the wrong people to succeed.
Q: How do you overcome fear of growth?
Commit to constant improvement and lead from the front.
Q: Should leaders raise promotion standards?
Yes, but start with new recruits and build a new performance culture gradually.
Q: How do you handle recruits who are afraid to make phone calls?
Focus on the mission and impact, not the task itself. Tie action to purpose.
Q: What is compound recruiting?
A multiplying system where each recruit brings in three, creating exponential growth.
Q: Why is environment so important?
Events and meetings create belief and momentum that cannot be duplicated alone.
Q: How should leaders allocate their time?
Invest heavily in the runners and coachable leaders, not the disengaged.
Q: What is the biggest mistake leaders make?
Trying to turn everyone into “the one” instead of finding the actual hungry leaders.
Q: What drives long-term ownership?
Building leaders who build leaders — not chasing personal production alone.
Q: How do digital teams maintain accountability?
Use scoreboards, recognition, and strong communication to replicate office culture.
Q: What mindset shift creates massive growth?
Stop worrying about quitting — focus on hiring your growth consistently.
Glossary
RVP
Regional Vice President — a leadership level in Primerica responsible for building and managing a hierarchy.
District Leader
An early leadership promotion level focused on recruiting and personal production benchmarks.
Rule of 72
A financial formula used to estimate how long it takes money to double at a fixed interest rate.
Buy Term Invest The Difference
A financial strategy advocating term life insurance with investing the premium savings.
Compound Recruiting
A multiplication strategy where each recruit brings additional recruits, creating exponential growth.
Personal Production
Income generated directly from an individual’s own sales rather than team overrides.
Ownership
A high-level status in the company earned through sustained production and leadership growth.
Distribution Channel
The network of licensed agents and leaders responsible for delivering products to clients.
Transcript:
Okay, so everybody in the room is an RVP. This is not, you know, this is not a sneak in meeting. Hi, Jim Meyer. How are you? I miss you. How’d you get here? By yacht or by plane? Oh, no. So one of the things we’ve learned is that rv that are sitting up here, I call you. All rvps have boatloads of wisdom. So we’re going to start this session out, sort of get capturing some of that wisdom. So what we want to do is we want to make sure that somebody like Charlemont, what I would tell you to do, you need a microphone since you’re the first one. We got a few. There we go.
So, charlemagnet, what I would tell you to talk to this group about is what you would say to your own rvps that are all hungry know, tell me how I get to be you. What is it that I need to do and be real and be authentic and give them your best advice. Okay, you’re up first.
Absolutely. So how are you guys doing? Excited. Very excited to be here, guys. I get promoted RVP. In 2001. When I got to RVP, I didn’t understand what I have in my hands because I was chasing the life insurance. I never did anything. It took me about nine years to make $100,000. But when we made a decision to switch from going after the finance, which is insurance and investment, we’ve switched to the distribution system. Nine years later, the company pay us over a million dollars. So what I found out about this business, yes, you can be an RVP, but the RVP is the starting line. It’s not the finish line. You got to have a vision, clear vision of what you want yourself three years from now, five years from now.
What I understand is, like, once you become a vice president, you have to have a game plan. Three to five years to build yourself a hierarchy, and he has to be a millionaire hierarchy. So if you go to work, which is put hours behind this thing, work with people, develop people, three to five years, you should be able to build a millionaire hierarchy and move forward. That’s what I’m excited about.
Thank you. Okay, Johnny, you and I go back a couple decades or three or four. So what would you tell your younger self?
My younger self, I would tell my younger self to get very disciplined in the area of daily prospecting for direct recruits. I was very good at getting direct recruits in bunches and then working depth and working with them. And that served us very well. Had I continued to stay focused on my direct prospecting, and I had continued to add direct recruits. We’d be much bigger today. And quite honestly, the search for the most coachable, hungry, ambitious people is the work. And when I would find somebody like that, I would tend to hang out there for a couple of years. And through replacements, we got big. But if I could have gotten wider at the beginning, I think it would.
Have really served me right. So let’s expand on that for a minute. John, if you go wide, you feel like you’re working really hard and that nobody’s listening to you.
Yeah. They aren’t.
Right. So if nobody’s listening to me and I’m going wide, I lose my focus on going wide. That’s the danger zone. Right. You get, like, worn out from what I would call the mediocre people.
Well, here’s what we know. We know that with numbers, someone will listen. Yeah, there is somebody who will listen.
So how wide is that? If I have ten direct licenses in.
My base shop, it’s how wide you have of leaders. And I think the key for me was if I could get three leaders at once direct to me, and I could have three locations, then it was three locations going. That was my number that I used. And so we worked that and we would get replacements from those three. Well, had I added a fourth and a fifth and a 6th during that time, I just think that it’s that search for that next hungry person that you want to build a relationship with and lock arms with. And I think everything starts there. So for most of the people here, their problem isn’t getting too wide.
Right.
And that’s the work that all of you have to do. If you want to go fast, there’s only one way to go fast. You’ve got to find people that want to go fast with you. And that comes through numbers. It doesn’t come through anything else that.
Yeah, yeah. Thank you. Okay, Assad, so as you look back on your career, how many years did it actually take in running a base, and how big was that base to build this stable million dollar plus income?
Great question, Rhonda. I heard it said before that for a period of time, about three years, you have to 100% believe you’re the hardest working person in this entire company. Doesn’t matter if it’s true or not, but you have to be convinced that nobody is outworking you for at least a three year period of time. And for me, honestly, I look at my early years in the company, and I was me with a lot of clients and doing a lot of business, but I wasn’t recruiting and field training and duplicating myself. And so it just took once I decided I was going to do arch system. So for about six years, I just averaged about two direct recruits a month, and my income exploded over six years. From 131,000. Get ready to give me a standing ovation all the way to 141,000. Come on.
That was terrible. Right? Art said 8531 per week. The one at the end is a direct recruiter week. For the next three years, I average about one recruiter week, and my income raised about 69,000 per year instead of 1500 per year. That was before bonuses, before securities comp, before all the stuff that we have now. So the key is three years of doing what you know you’re supposed to be doing. I would just say this. You know you’re doing it right. If you can answer any question any teammates ask you with the words, do it like I do it, or here’s what I do, or do what I do, then you know you’re doing it right.
That’s priceless. Do what I do, not what I say. Right. Okay, Ed, so let’s talk about your business. So, your philosophy about business says what to an RVP? What’s one of the common things that come out of your mouth?
Basically, you just got to reinvent yourself from the very beginning. Kind of just make sure that you. You start off every month, every week, whatever the case may be. You gotta put yourself in a position where you’re, know, I’m just starting off. I just turn in my IBA right now, and you want to picture yourself as a brand new person, and you just want to say, okay, what’s my next step? Well, first of all, I got to get trained. I got to recruit. I got to get me three. I got to get my promotion. Once you got your promotion there, you’re like, okay, now what I got to do is duplicate myself and do this thing six times and see if I can get six district leader and become an RVP.
One of the things that I appreciate about Jimmy is that what he did. I mean, when he came over to Jacksonville, I remember looking at your business, and I don’t know what happened. You went over to bill widows or something like that, and you came back and know, I’m just going to reinvent myself. I’m going to start from scratch. And this guy right here, and it’s something that I’ve always done, is basically say, just start from the very beginning. Get yourself licensed, get yourself district. And once you’re district, start looking even if you’re an RVP, okay, I’m going to develop another district. I’m going to develop my 6th district. I’m going to become an RVP. Once you’re an RVP, let me start jumping in and developing other rvps.
No matter what level you’re at, if you just maintain that and make it a philosophy as far as this is what I’m going to be tracking. So on a monthly basis, you know, exactly what is it that you got to be doing? What’s your goal? Otherwise, it’s like, I’ve talked to some of the folks out here and say, so what’s your goal? Well, I’m going to recruit 20 people this month. Well, what’s the purpose of that? Why are you going to recruit 20? Well, maybe I’ll find a leader out of that. Well, that’s good. Well, why don’t you just focus on, let me get a leader, let me become that leader, and then let me show someone else how to become a leader as well and just start building it from there. And it helps when you start getting these young guys in.
I mean, I’m so blessed that, you know, these two little studs over here, Jason and Eric, where I just beat them up until they became rvps. But, hey, it helps in doing something like that.
Thank you. That was great. That was great. All right, Jimmy, my favorite maniac in the right, so. I know, right? He’s amazing. So one of the things that I’ve drawn from you throughout our career is your enthusiasm and specifically in front of people that you never show doubt, never show pain, never show anything other than your belief and your love for the business and your generosity towards your team. So maybe we can speak to that being not necessarily a talent. It might have been a God given talent, I don’t know. But developing the right personality that has to show in order to win big.
Sure.
Thanks.
Words. We go way back. Okay. Jerry, Rhonda and I, we met them back when were both. I was part of entrance hierarchy. You would come and study it, and Joe taught us early on, never show hurt, never show doubt, never show fear. And did any of this come natural to me? No. I’m a baby in a lot of ways. Okay. If something’s wrong, I want to just be a baby. Kim knows it more than anybody. And all this enthusiasm that I’ve shown over the years, it’s a switch. I truly think it’s a switch. I played basketball. If you get put in a game, you better go in the game like you’re mentally ready to play. This is a team sport. People are counting on us. So you got to get yourself revved up. You got to get yourself motivated.
You got to get yourself pumped. Whatever word you put on it, Anthony Robbins teaches. You got to change your state. This is all stuff that I’ve worked rather hard on, okay? I will tell you, in the locker room, for the first time in my life, I’m wearing an apple watch because I didn’t make it to the senior leadership meeting last week. And the reason I didn’t make it to senior leadership meeting last week was In the hospital, and they said to me, what do you do? Like, your heart. It’s like you’re running a marathon, and you’re sitting here. I go, what do you mean? What do you mean? I share this with you. Not for people to say, how you feeling? Please. Okay. I’m feeling amazing. I’m unbelievable, okay? The good Lord’s got a great plan for me.
If he decides to take me home, I’m ready to get the hell out of here, too. Okay? So whatever the plan is, it is. But to answer the question directly, it’s a decision. Walk faster, talk louder. Smile. This friggin watch. The first day I had it starts vibrating. What the hell? I’m doing a meeting with our one more time team. I’m so proud of our one more time team journey. Ron, the turn is on a kumo space. I’m with these guys every day, or most days, I should say 930. We have an RVP meeting. Then we meet with the full timers, and I’m doing my thing into the computer. It’s going decibel reading. You’re over your decibel reading. I’m like, what the hell is this?
So a couple of the more techie guys are like, it’s saying that the decibel you’re at is too loud. It’s going to hurt your hearing. I’m like, screw this. How do you reset this? But I learned from nature. It’s very hard for people to don’t think you’re excited, to not believe you’re excited if you talk louder, if you walk faster, if you smile, no one cares what you’re going through. So, as leaders, we get paid in direct proportion to how much crap you could deal with. That’s the reality of our business. I love when you say, boy, I do anything to have your business. You’re full of shit, okay? You’d be dead if you had my business. Because there’s so much crap that goes on every day. Every day there’s phone calls, here’s this, here’s that. But I don’t focus on that.
You hire people to handle that and you focus on where you’re going. So why am I excited? Because I’m fired up about building 100 new people to make $2,000 a month, ten to make 10,000 a month and three to make 25,000 a month. I know without a shadow of a doubt we’re going to have brand new rvps. Our theme now is 500,000 or bust. This couples the example of it. Now maybe we all can’t recruit in the base shop like they do, but there are people in this day where most of us, all of us as a matter of fact, we knew everybody who made a quarter million dollars a year. Everybody. Now there’s brand new million dollar earners and we’re not being dispelling. Who’s that? That guy’s a million dollar. This company is on a trajectory that is like this.
And by the way, it needs to because as Miguel Ilridge said to our team last Tuesday, a million dollars today is equal to $300,000 when some of us made it. When I made $100,000 in 1986, that’s equal to $30,000 right now. So I’m so frustrated by so many of our amazing vps. They’re amazing, but they don’t make $500,000 a year. And it’s very uncomfortable for them to be around me because my mindset is 500,000 or bust. Because you’re not living the life. Now, I know you think that your old house and your old car is good, okay? And if that’s what you want, great. I want more. I want to be around people that are hungry. Yesterday was an amazing day in sports. Actually, those 48 hours coaches that are legendary, we got to watch Bill Belichick. They had a mutual agreement. Bullshit.
It was not mutual, okay? Bill played the game because the owner said it’s over. And believe me, Bill’s still going to coach. He’s going to coach what’s his name out. My man at Alabama, Saban’s done. He don’t like the game no more. He don’t like these kids leaving. In college football used to recruit a kid once. If they left, it was difficult as hell for the play somewhere else. Now they can leave whenever they want. We got the greatest gig in the world because what he just said, anytime we want, we can start over again. And what Bill Whittle did exactly say was he told his rvps at Blake Whittle’s RVP promotion. I was there as a guest. I’m friends with that family. I wanted to experience that promotion. And Bill challenges rvps. Go home and repromote yourself to RVP.
You want to change your life in the next 36 months? Go repromote yourself to RVP. I’m doing it. I said I was a regional leader. I gave myself a Premature promotion. I’m really division. Last month, we hit 10,000 in production, 38 recruits, 10,000. And we’re growing. But make a decision to either grow or stop kidding yourself. Nothing’s worse than just playing in the middle. There’s nothing worse than that in our opinion. So being excited is a decision. I’ll tell you. Walk faster, talk louder, smile. Turn your apple. Watch off when it tells you’re talking too loud, because people think you’re excited. If you talk, you.
Thanks, Jimmy. You know, that’s so true.
And by the way, Kim always yells at me in the car, the poor thing, because I was the speaker in the car. She’s like, you don’t have to scream. She sits like this. I have to, because Rhonda said she thinks I’m excited.
That is your strength. There’s no doubt about know. Art Williams used to say, you either get mad or you get excited, but you can’t be know. Okay, Jerry, you get the award winning question of the day. How do you get such an amazing partner? Yeah, let’s just switch gears a little bit. Let’s switch gears.
Can’t keep her hands.
Know. I know. And I run around the house.
I did say to Jerry, go, who’s the hot girl doing the interviews here?
Yeah, I know, Jerry, right? I run around the house naked chasing. All right, relax. Relax, buyer, relax.
This is what I have.
To many people, so many people strive to have a partnership that’s strong. And I know that you understand the work that went into that, and I think you should speak to that, because we’ve been strong. We’ve been here a long time. We’re having fun. We’ve always had fun. So maybe talk about how you get a committed partner. They don’t just pop up. It gets earned. So talk about that.
Okay.
Thank you.
All right. Good afternoon. Good to see you.
All.
Day one, I told Rhonda that I didn’t want to do this unless she wanted to do it with me. And it proved to be so much more than either of us ever thought that we had to job the job at hand, the task at hand, building a business is not a one person job. Building a business is not something that you can do in 8 hours a day. I mean, it is absolutely all hands on deck. All the know. Rhonda, I always kids about how I have five people that support me and service me, that work on helping provide everything that we need to provide so we can do everything that we do. Every know. Rhonda absolutely works in this business every day, just as I have. Just as we always have together.
We’ve always met on Sunday night and had our meeting for a week. Meeting for the week. And what are you going to do this week? What’s happening this week? What are you working on? What do I need to work on? We’ve always attacked this thing as a partnership because it’s worthy, it’s too big to ignore. And we see so many people. Jimmy talked about how he’s frustrated with people that he knows are better, that don’t work hard, that don’t take it serious, that don’t go for, you know. Rhonda and I have always been puzzled by partnerships that go in two different directions every day. The fact is, you have to work together if you want to do something great.
And if you do work together, you can make it happen not only faster, but you can make it happen much bigger than you ever dreamed of. So I think that just like building a business is all about having conversations. It’s all about communicating with people. The key to having a good partnership, I think, is solid communication and really working on doing not necessarily the same things all the time, but that every partnership should know and be able to understand every part of the business and work on every part of the business. Now, that wasn’t always comfortable for know. I remember the day Rhonda tells the story often when I told her I wasn’t going to show up to an opportunity meeting and she had to make the presentation. Rhonda recruited somebody once, and I said, I’m not taking them in the field.
You got to take them in the field. We both had to learn the business in order to build a business. And I think that it’s hard work, but it’s worth it.
Well, let’s take it one step further. So just to not make people feel like they have to have that, but what it did for us being together like that was. First of all, I understood what the pain and the agony and the sacrifice that he was making because I had a front row seat, I went to the meeting. I saw, and when he made commitments and he looked people in the eye and he said, I’m going to help you win. We’re going to do this together. I understood what that meant. So that’s the first thing, is just exposure for a partner is really helpful, so that they understand that you’re getting committed to other people in a way that you weren’t before.
And then the other thing is that we took ten years to get to a million, and we’ve been paid almost $50 million, plus our stock. And so I look at that and I say, well, so, yeah, thanks. It’s the opportunity. It’s the system. It’s not us. But we understood the enormity, sort of, kind of. Of the opportunity that every time we sent an app, we’d get a check. And the more applications we sent, the more checks would come through, and the more times we talked. Help people learn how to send an app and get a check, we would get another check because they sent an app, and we understood just the mechanics of it. And that duplication, the sooner it took place, the more we would be on our way to financial independence, which is why we came here.
We did not come here to save any families. I’m glad we do. I am. I’m very happy we do, because that kept us here, and that kept us feeling like there’s some purpose, there’s some other reason why we’re here, other than money. But we really came here to become financially independent, and the sooner the better. So that was also part of the sacrifice, part of the partnership, if you will. Okay. All right. Thank you. Okay, you two, you just got to do some talking. We need to know. People need to understand. You built a 400 by 400 base shop just now.
Pretty close. We’re getting there.
You’re getting there? That’s incredible. All right, so I know there’s you, there’s hard work, there’s amazing family behind you. But what are you telling people? What are you telling these rvps? If they could be a fraction of what you are, they’d be on their way. So go ahead.
Yeah, I think. Well, first of all, look at this guys. This is crazy. Look around. Come on. Give these guys a round of applause. That’s wild. I got a kink in my neck because I love you, too, but I might be chasing Jerry around naked myself a little bit later. Okay, but anyways, just kidding. But, no, I think the biggest thing is if I could give everybody one thing, you got to really take the lid off. I mean, I talked to so many people that come up, and they’re asking, Rhonda, what are we doing? What are we doing? And I ask what numbers they ran last month. And it’s funny because Brittany and I even talk, like, when you tell them large numbers and you start getting triple digits, they shut down. And we have what we call, like, the redline bubble.
Like, our people, they don’t even realize how big they are right now. And that stuff is taught by us to our people. Your people. And how big they think this thing can actually get is literally taught by you. So what are you teaching your people? We come in, a good regional leader for us is 100 by 100. That’s like, good, right? And that’s just the standard we have. It’s crazy because we do weekly recognition. And this last week, our base recruited 121 people last week. And it was crazy because I tell our people, I remember five years ago being in the base shop, and we would say, whoa, we’re going to get 100 people this month. And people looked like we’re crazy, right? And I remember that we had accountability.
One of our first meetings, Jerry, they would go around, and after the op night, the RVPs would break out in their offices and they would get a little huddle and everyone would say what they were going to do for the month. And Jimmy, it’s like the first week of the month. And people are like, yeah, one by one. I’m like, is that for the month? That’s for the month. I’m like, bro, it’s the 6th. It’s the 6th, right? And they came to us. We don’t know what the hell we’re doing. So I’m like, I’m going to get all of it. Why would I not expect it all? The problem is, one of the things our RVP taught us, the great Nate and Melanie Brayley. They said, you have to think so big. Your people’s vision fits inside of it.
Because if you’re talking about 15 x 15 or 30 x 30 or whatever, your people organically, they’re going to mentally think that small. If we’re talking about 500 by 500, there’s no limit to what they can do. And it’s crazy because even people come up and the numbers Brittany and I and the team are running right now, it’s crazy, but I’m still pissed. I know there’s so much more in the tank. Like, if you look at the multiples of our businesses, three who get what? That’s one more time. Three who get three who get what? Yeah. So we’re doing 328 recruits in the base shop, Jimmy, and I’m pissed. I’m like, we should be at 900 right now. What’s going on? And it doesn’t get any easier.
But I tell you, if you think small and you expect small and you only talk small to your people, you can never get upset when you get small results. Right? It’s literally we all, ourselves included, we have to have the courage to talk fast, talk loud about being big. People want to be somebody and you have to give them the environment to grow. What kind of an environment are we bringing our people into? Right? And I think that’s the biggest thing. And Ronnie, you said, what are we saying to our new people? We don’t recruits. We recruit rvps. I think it’s so important, too, that we tell our people what they’re coming into right off the bat. Like, I tell our people, we have so much activity, the people that we recruit, I let them know, like, look, I need you to come on.
You need to get licensed. Pass, go independent. Pass. We have so much going on. Can’t keep up with it. I’m looking for people to help us and open up a new office. Is that you right there? It’s setting the standard for speed and bigness. Right. And I think it’s just also about setting the tone with people and letting them know that you need them but you’re going to do it without them. That’s the other thing, too. You had such a good question. You were asking them about what they would do earlier or tell themselves as a new RVP or if they were starting over. You got to stop expecting things from your people. Like, God love them. If they’re going to win. I mean, I would love our people so much, I would chase them away from the business.
The problem is we all see the vision of how big this thing can get. But your people, I hate to break this to you, some of them don’t want to get big, and that’s okay, but what do you want to get out of it? Let’s get you that and then go get the next person. The next person. Find more people. So I think it’s just a culture of big and we’ve removed the lid. That’s one of the biggest blessings the zoom has done for us, is it’s removed us from any other thing. And now we’re off on an island by our own and we’re just getting massive. And it’s so funny.
We’ve got some great legends in our bay shop that used to be with the business 17 years ago, and they made a comeback, and they’re like, man, it’s like, if I’m not doing 30 by 30, I don’t even get recognized, because that’s how big our people are going. I’m so proud of our regional leaders that aren’t even in a room right now. The great Abby Schauvener, she’s doing 175 recruits by 75,000 in premium a month after month after month. I’m so proud of her. Right? You got Noah McQueen in the front row. Noah, stand up for everybody real quick because your shoes look so dabbers like this. Give it up for Noah McQueen. He’ll be speaking later. Noah McQueen’s been licensed in the business in Primerica for 14 months. And in 14 months, he’s made $270,000. He’s an RVP, right?
He’s got fully licensed, and he’s got a second diamond. And these guys been in the business 14 months. Retired as a lieutenant colonel from our military. Give him up some love for that. Right? Retired. And they actually called him back and said, you know what? We screwed up your numbers. You actually owe us one more year. No, part time. This guy’s part time in the business and makes zero excuses. Like, these are the people we’re looking for. When you’re talking about getting big and finding the right people. I learned, john, like you were saying, I love the people. I love everyone. But I’m going to make sure I give my love to the people that deserve it, of that love. And you know what’s really good is when you find those hungry people, when you go so wide, John, you’re bound to find them.
And it rejuvenates me when I find a runner. Like, how do you feel finding these young new studs? Like you’re back in the game, right? And that’s how I feel every time. Every time. I tell you, if you feel like you’re having to push or pull your people, you need to stop riding a rented mule and quit trying to move a dead body and go find you some new directs and do it again. Right? Sorry, baby. Go ahead, talk to the people.
You’re awesome. That was great. So I got. Be enthusiastic, be loud, talk big, right? It’s a simple business. Okay, so, Brittany, there’s a lot in your life. You’ve got bunches of children homeschool, right? Yep. And so talk to us about, know, providing the environment for your husband to work in. How does that go? Yeah, it’s kind of trial and error at first. You see all these different examples of partnership, and you can start going different ways, but you have to figure out what works for you guys. At the beginning, we joined in the beginning, we started at the beginning, got licensed together, and I went on the first couple of appointments, but I also knew that I wanted to home school and kind of switch gears. I had been working since forever, so I wanted to be able to spend time with my children.
So I was like, here’s what we’re going to do. I know what we’re doing now. I still showed up to everything. I never missed a meeting, I never missed a call. I never missed a trip. I never missed anything. But as far as the appointments, I’m like, this is good. We started together. You run with this, I’m going to run the household. And trial and error. I tried office admin for like a day, and then we wanted to get divorced. So I was like, this is not going to work. We’re going to hire someone for this, right? So you got to find what works for you. And people always say, how do you do it? It’s just time management and organizing chaos. We’re always doing this. No matter what’s going on, we’re doing this. I don’t really ask much for him from him.
I know that your main focus, and this is just what works for us, but his main focus is, like business. He’s got a lot of strengths, but most of anything else is not it. You’re really good at recruiting and closing. This is 1000% you. I will handle literally everything else. And as we’ve gone on, and we have four kids, they’re 14, seven, three and one. So we’re getting out of the newborn phase. So I’ve kind of stepped in more. I got fully investment licensed, so I do all the investment appointments, I handle the licensing and stuff.
So I’ve gotten different roles here and there, and we’ve kind of tried things and gotten rid of things that haven’t worked, but it’s just kind of communicating with each other over and over again until you hear each other and figuring out what works and going about just keeping distractions out. And I feel like there’s a lot of people that come into the business that could be really good, but you see, if people at home are not in their corner or there’s a lot of negativity or there’s a lot of stuff going on, they will fizzle out so fast. So in the beginning, were 1000% into this. We never luckily had any trouble with that because we had each other’s backs from day one. And I knew whatever he promised that it was going to happen. And that’s the other thing, is giving them room.
There’s going to be times where you’re not doing 200 by 200. Right. And there may not be money coming in or there’s chargebacks and things like that, but we just have faith in each other that what we’re doing, we’re learning together, we’re growing together. This business, the opportunity is like it works, right? So you just got to find your groove. You got to figure it out together as a couple, and you can do powerful things. There we are. All right, so we have 45 minutes of Q and A. I think that there are things that rvps come to these meetings hoping to get the answer, that there’s something that’s holding you back. There’s an aching feeling. There’s a question. This is our locker room.
This is your only opportunity to talk to a bunch of million dollar earners candidly and as directly as you need to. So, yeah. Good morning, everyone. Thank you. I am struggling and I am working on getting rid of the truth that I grew up with, which is not truth at all, but it is a lack mindset and it takes a lot to bust through that. Any experiences and how did you take care of that? Okay, who’s the psychologist here? Right? Who did it? Who overcame it? Charlemagnet. Johnny. Okay. All right.
Do you clarify what a lack mindset is? What you think it question, John. Good question.
Sorry. I want to understand the microphone shortage here. Thank you. I grew up in a household that didn’t make a lot of money. That’s the way it was supposed to be. And people who did have money were bad people. We didn’t try to be rich. We didn’t try to be wealthy. If you saw a nice house, that was unnecessary. You didn’t need that. So anything you wanted, you didn’t need some of your best book.
Here’s the thing. You got to figure out what you want. It’s not about what anyone else wants or what your parents taught you. What do you want now? That money would allow you to do better and more for others. I grew up in a neighborhood and around wealthy people. I was very fortunate. I didn’t grow up with that at all. I grew up with, hey, I want that. How the hell am I going to figure out how to get that? And so I was very fortunate that way. But I think you’ve got to really get zeroed in on what it is you really want out of this. Maybe it’s. You just want to be around a lot of other people that are getting what they want. You want to help people, but you got to get clear on that, I think.
Okay. So I’ve been told to bring that suffice. I would tell you there’s a lot of great authors out there, and I’m sure you’ve already experienced it. You sit with those audiobooks trying to convince yourself. Yeah. Right. So we got to hear somebody else other than dad. Okay. So rvps to ask questions right here. They want you in the center, John.
Thanks, Andy. You recruit me. I’m excited. I believe I want to change my life. What does the first two to four weeks look like? What are you telling me? What are the things you’re focusing on with me? Good question. Yeah, I know, right? No, everybody knows we do a lot of social media stuff. So the first thing is, I’ll say it again and again. Every single time a new recruit joins the business, they need to be posting an opportunity post on every platform or social media they have. And we just talk about, hey, look, super excited for you. We’re looking for some more great people. Would you be open to posting something on your social media, see if you know anyone else looking to make some extra money. Boom. The thing is, you got to remember new people.
It’s all about, like, the mental game with people. New people. Their only fear of primerica is they don’t want to call people, bother people, chase people, and they’re worried if they have people, they’ll eventually run out of people. Right? So the reason we run the social media play, because it gets people that are open to the opportunity coming to them right out of the gates. Right? So if they say, now, if I build a list with you and you don’t want to call them, I say, great, that’s good. Get your license. You need to know how to do this. Anyways, we’re going to get you recruiting people. We’re going to build your team and they’re going to bring the people. Sound good? Because I don’t care what the hell you tell me, we’re going anyways. Licensing, I always let them know.
Also licensing, that’s to be done on your time. I love you. You need to get a license, but I’m not going to sit on your lap and do it for you. That’s not working. You’re going to get licensed and do this at the same time. The other thing we do is we get back together with them and we do an orientation. On the orientation we do a wedding list of top 25 to 30 people, friends and family. And I’m using all the sales skills on the new recruits and teaching them and tying them down to, hey, you would agree even you could go online right now and look up investment services, right, and find 50 million people.
Yes.
But if your best friend’s doing it or your sister, who are you going to call best friend? Doesn’t matter what company that best friend works for. I just literally explained primerica in 30 seconds, people overcomplicate it. Luckily for me, Jimmy, my brain is not big enough to allow me to overcomplicate it. She would agree to that. Yes, right. But that’s it. I say, great. And also, we’re in a referral based business, so who’s going to give you the most referrals? Random people off the street or your friends and family? Friends and family, right. So do you see the importance of us getting in front of these people? And that’s it. And then we get them on some recruits, everybody goes three by three.
I will tell you, in the beginning I used to focus on just driving so far through people’s markets in training that all of our people were training personally would have a 6000 $7,000 fast start bonus. But what I found is it doesn’t really leave them much meat on the bone. And also, this is the RVP locker room. If they write out, go out and write $10,000 in premium to get a $7,000 bonus or whatever, it works out to being they could leave tomorrow and they still get to keep their bonus. Yes or yes. So I learned was I’m going to get you three by three and I’m going to keep duplicating and driving, and driving and driving. And if you’re not the one, you’re going to get sidelined anyways. So I just focus on just driving wide and deep as fast as possible.
Like we promoted out two rvps last year at this time within a month, both out of the base shop and we knew we had to get back to work. So I had one recruit, I drove that one month. I worked my buns off. I drove that 80 people deep in one month. Right. And through that I gave everybody a talk. We’re looking for regional vice presidents. Everyone said they wanted to be, but we found one and then boom, that’s a new leg. So I’m just looking for the one, you know what I mean? Are you focused more on, are you doing some group overviews with the warm market. Are you doing one ones? Are you doing kitchen tables? Husband and wife. More for what? Yeah. So that’s another thing.
In all honesty, I love you, but most people, you try to make your business fit into their life. I do whatever they let me do. If you don’t want to talk about it, God bless. Get your license. I don’t care. Most people they look at, like, when people don’t want to move as a bad thing. I love that Charlemagne because I’m like, good. You’re showing me you’re not the one yet. I love you. Get your license. Come to the meeting. You know, some people, you might not be the one right now, but I bet you know the one who’s the one. Our team. I do this all the time on Zoom. I have them all. Go. All of our killers came through. People who quit the business. Every single one of them, right?
And I always talk about Bill of Render and my thing is, I love it. People get so focused on making a sale all the time. The sales is a byproduct of the recruiting. Bill of Render said you could plug in vacuum cleaners in this deal and we’d sell $250,000, primarily 250,000 Primerica vacuum cleaners tomorrow because it’s a distribution channel. Why would I worry about one sale when I can find out one recruit through that guy underneath the guy that’s going to bring me 2000 sales this year, right? We recruited one girl. Underneath Jessica Powers, she recruited a couple of people. Those people quit. But underneath that person came three giant legs. Those three girls have been responsible in our hierarchy in the last year for over 3000 recruits. I don’t care about the sale. I’m not trying to make a sale. I don’t care.
I love you. I love your parents. Do I want them to be protected? Of course I do. But I don’t care. I’m recruiting. We’re building and recruiting. Everything else will come. I guarantee it. And then we talk about. I will tell you the one thing, though. I do have, John. I have. I want to get in front of your person, in your circle, that has the most influence. That’s it. No matter what, it’s a non negotiable. If I sit down with the husband. Hey, does your wife know you’re doing this? What does she think? Oh, she thinks it’s a giant pyramid scheme. Perfect. I’d love to sit with her and just show you what you’re doing. Is that okay? And on the orientation, if they don’t have a spouse. Hey, does your mom, know what you’re doing.
Who’s that person in their circle that has the most influence in their life? And even if I go on the appointment and I don’t close, say I take Jerry on an appointment, it’s his first appointment. And his brother Jimmy, right? And even if Jimmy’s like one of those hard headed guys, he’s not moving forward. Regardless, I don’t care because I’m not there for the sale. I’m there to build his belief in the business. So, Jimmy, listen, dude, I know you’re all set, but don’t you see value in what Jerry is going to be doing? Is this incredible? Don’t you wish you would have learned this stuff a long time ago? I know you’re all set, but dude, isn’t this awesome? And this guy’s going to be building 100% referral base. Would you be open to giving him referrals in the future? Sure. Yeah.
And then afterwards I hang up and I call Jerry and he’s all in the dumps because we didn’t close. I said, jerry, that was the best appointment ever. He’s like, what? I’m like, did you hear him say that he’s so proud of. Well, yeah, I did hear that. Did you hear him say that he wish he would have known this a long time ago? Did you hear him say he’s going to give you referrals? Dude, that was. And he’s like, oh, my God. That was really good, Jerry. Who else can we get in front of?
Genius. So simple. Thank you. That was a grading.
So my question to any of the rvps is real quick. We do know that most people have a fear of failure, and that’s why most people don’t make it here in primerica. But as rvps close. Okay. Feedback. So as rvps, I think that especially, I guess I’ll talk about myself, is that fear of success, that you build it because you have a small base shop, but you build it so big, how are you going to handle the amount of volume and the people if there’s not maybe a system that you actually have in place?
So when your guys started building your base shops, can you talk about how did you handle that fear if you had it, or if you’ve worked with rvps who may have felt that fear and self sabotage and went back and built it again, went back and forth, how have you worked with your rvps? Or have you ever dealt with that? Thank you.
You’re going to take that one aside. Okay.
There’s not a single set of parents that came home from the hospital with a baby and thought, we know exactly what to do, right? If they did know exactly what to do, they found out real quick they knew nothing about what to do. So what happens is, as you build people, you grow along the way. But the most important thing is you have to become, and this word was used by a former CEO, but you have to become cocky. A constant assault on continuous improvement. Primerica pays all of us what we’re worth, but we can get paid more if we become worth more. So what you always want to do is every single day, just try to get better.
And I know these guys on these chairs, the way we learned early on, we would fly across the country, we would drive 8 hours, take a little Sony recorder, record what someone was saying. And nowadays, all the tools in front of us, between Primerica online and apps and training apps and Soundcloud, everything else, you can every single day, put yourself in front of million dollar earners who are teaching you how to get better. So if you’re constantly focused on getting better and you’re improving and doing what you’re supposed to do, you’ll feel a confidence and an authority to handle your team. What doesn’t work is if you are coasting and bring on people who are having huge success, getting huge egos, and you’re not doing much, you feel inferior around them. They sense it.
They sense the weakness, if you will, and they’ll try to stir things up in the base shop. So if you always make sure that you are leading from the front, the hardest working person, your team, the one who’s calling the shots, the one who’s always bringing in, directs, then you’ll maintain that as you’re learning and growing and building yourself, hopefully that helps you.
Right? Great answer. Thank you.
So how do you know when you found the one, and how do you know when to sideline someone? Say again, when you find a one. He’s referring to your point. How do you know when you find the one? And when do you sideline? You got it. Listen, I don’t have my own plane. You have to take it.
Okay. I think we can all identify talent. Ed, you can take that one.
I would say to answer the. And this probably answer both questions, but in this business, you’re looking for a leader. You want to take the weight off of you, and you’re looking for a leader that you could just train them where they could just go ahead and run the business. Who’s the lieutenant colonel here? All right, lieutenant colonel. Four so we could talk. But we come from the military, and the military basically is developing leaders. And I’ve always said this business, when I came in this business, I looked at it and I said, this is just like the military. In the military, you come in as a lieutenant. As a lieutenant. The minute you can develop other lieutenants, that’s when you become a captain. Now, you could basically, lieutenants are doing what the captain does, what the captain. Once you could develop other captains.
Now you become a colonel. You become a major in between, and now you become a colonel. Once you’re a colonel, you can develop other colonels. That’s when you become a general. General, develop other general, two star general, three star general, four star. It’s the same principle. The only difference between Primerica and the military is that we get paid more here and we don’t get shot at. Okay? That’s the main thing. But at the same time, your job is to develop that leadership. Your job is a general cannot run or a colonel cannot run, or even a captain cannot run the company. They always got to develop other leaders, a platoon leader, they got to develop squad leaders and so forth. And the same principle works here. You can’t do it on your own. You got to develop other leaders.
And that’s why we got the district leaders, the divisions. And your job is to develop these guys, train them, give them everything you got and the minute and the purpose of it. So you could take that weight from you, pass it over to them, and then teach them to do the same thing, to train and develop other leaders and just move forward with that. With the young lady over here, you’re talking about your main thing. You need to get into a self improvement. Whatever you have up there, you need to start. What do they say this business is about self improving with a big old paycheck attached to it. Self development program with a compensation plan attached. Yeah.
The minute you start doing that, all those thoughts, all those your dad or something like that, they start fading away, and you start getting into what other successful people are doing, and it just changes you. It just changes you. So that’s what I would say on that, Rhonda. I’ll add on to that, too, because Brittany said. Did you forget what you said already? Because I think he was asking you. But listen, quit trying to make people into the one. If you have to ask, is this the one? They’re not the one. Point blank, you’ll know. Second thing is, this is Andy onset quote. You’re welcome. Is listen to me. Quit worrying about the people that tell you why they can’t do something, find the ones that ask you how they can.
If you live your base, shop by that, and you make sure you lock arms with the ones that are coachable, available and hungry. How do I do this? What do I do? And then they take that ball and they go run with it. That’s who I want. Because most people, what they’re trying to do is they’re trying to make their people be the one and they don’t want to be the one, or they’re not ready. I’m going to piggyback off of this whole conversation. Andy said before, and anybody can answer this, but you said you love your people so much, you push them out of the business. We want our people to win so badly. We want them to win more than they want to win.
And I feel that, and I’ve been here for seven and a half years, and I think it took me until this last couple of months to realize that if someone doesn’t want to win right now or they don’t want to win big, that’s okay. And you don’t have to try to force them to want to win big. But now I’ve found some people that want to win big, and I’ve got all these other people, 100 people who should have their license and they don’t, and they should be studying and they’re not, and they should be setting up appointments and they’re not. And sometimes they reach out like, hey, I need help with this, whatever. And I’m starting to feel guilty that when I identify some of the ones, I’m pouring my time and energy and you start to lose time.
You’re putting so much time into those people that are motivated and you’re not able to put time into those other people. How do you manage that sort of guilt factor of, you haven’t done anything in six months. I just don’t really have a lot of time right now. How do you deal with figuring out where to put your time? And like you said, when do we let people go? You don’t let people go ever. But you kind of do the sideline thing. It’s just really challenging.
It’s a great question. I think Jimmy should answer that one. I do. Because, Jimmy, you built a gigantic hierarchy. Everybody feels good. Nobody feels left out. They’re all important. But yet you built strong personal producers and strong direct rvps and top earners. This is yours.
Well, I do think some feel left out and some feel a little know. Art Williams said, you pick your winners early don’t pre judge people. What the hell? How could you pick a winner early and not pre judge people? But then he went on to say, this is a contradictory business, and that put everything in place for me. You’re laughing, but I’m very serious. See, Art said, winners win, losers lose. People that struggle in this business, they struggle because they work with the wrong people. It is clear as could be. The reason I started over again is I traveled around during eight years of me shutting down my bay shop, and I’d say to wonderful leaders, so tell me about that guy you introduced me to. You know, tell me. Oh, he’s my guy.
He’s my guy, all right, but what makes him your guy? Why? You don’t like him? I said, I’m not here to like or not like people. What is it about that person that makes you want to invest your time in that person? And I knew the answer. It’s the only damn person they had. And it just wore on me for years. I worked with people that I liked, that I wanted to be around, and that liked me and wanted to be around me. I was a much better leader when I was broke because I had no tolerance for bullshit. So I hear what you’re saying that you don’t want to offend. I don’t know you. So please, take the right way. Grow up. People are going to get offended. We live in a world today that you say a joke.
You’re like, I can’t believe you said that. Well, get over it. I said it, okay? I mean, this ain’t about man, woman, the color of your skin. What I love about primerica, it’s anybody could win here. But it comes down to working with the right people. And they will identify themselves. They show up, they ask questions, they do exactly what Andy said. What could I do to win? We got a guy here that just joined. He got a plane from Massachusetts to be here. We got people that live 20 minutes away. Oh, some came up at work. I can’t make it. I had an office in Seacaucus, New Jersey. Everybody in Wayne told me, man, if you were closer, man, we’d be with you, bro. So we opened up an office in total, which is next to Wayne.
Those son of a bitches still didn’t join. You know why? Winners win and losers lose, Jim. You can’t say that in 2024. That might offend somebody. Well, if that offends you, don’t listen to me. I’ve had some of my key leaders dream you can’t do this shit you’re doing. Well, then don’t come to my meeting. I’m who I am. And again, I’m not mad at you at all. Okay, I’m not mad. But this ain’t easy. Becoming a multimillionaire, changing your family tree forever is not easy. But we have all done it. I mean, he kicks things for a living. He’s even a kickboxer. It doesn’t matter where you come from. What do you want? And we all have our stories in our head. And it’s about conditioning your brain that you’re one person away from changing your life, our lives, forever.
But guess who that person is? It’s the man or woman sitting in your seat right now. When you change, people change. But just so you know, when you change, there’s a group of people that aren’t going to like it. They’re going to say, you changed. No shit. I was broke. My life sucked. I didn’t like it no more. Oh, well. I don’t know if I want to be around you no more. Great. And again, at 62 years old, man, life is so clear to me right now. This is all one and lost. As ensure taught us between the six to eight inches between our ears. You believe it, you will achieve it. It goes back to think and grow rich. And if you don’t believe you deserve it, then, damn it, go. The entry used to say this.
I go, Joe, I feel your brainwashing me. And he looked at me one day, he goes, Jimmy, when you take a Shower, you wash your hair, yeah. You wash your arms? You wash your other. Yeah. He goes, well, guess what? Your damn brand needs a washing. So get over here. And we do, because we live in a world that’s so negative and it’s so wimpy. But you know what? There’s a lot of people that don’t want to be wimpy. But guess what they need? They need a leader. I’m not who I am today because of me. I’m who I am today because of Joe Enser, Bob Safford, Art Williams, a lot of these guys, a lot of leaders in primerica. So don’t just be a spectator. This is an involvement. You got to get involved. Jump in the water.
You don’t learn how to swim by reading friggin books and watching videos. You get in the water and you screw up and you fail. Forward, and you don’t let your pride. This is a pride issue for most people. Broke people deal with pride. Oh, I just don’t like the way that feels. No kidding. None of us like the way losing feels. But on the other side of losing that one more step, that next person is an explosion. Because the best thing about this business is you don’t need a lot of people. You need a few people to build an empire. That’s the only thing that ever kept me going.
Great job. Great job.
I want to answer that as well. It’ll be shorter without any cuss words. We’re in church. Jimmy, pray for him. I got the jewish guy. The jewish guy called. I will tell you that if you know the moment is now, if you were going to go do it and go through the crap, do it now before the convention, like now. If you got people here, you’re doing your work, there’s not a lot more you can do. I got this guy plugged into a meeting with Jimmy, and it changed his life, which changed my life, because he went to a meeting and said, I got to change something. And he went back and he went on a program, and I think it was a year that you prospected from nine to noon every day for direct recruits. He said, I got to change it.
Then he said, I got a problem. I get these recruits, and then they don’t do anything. They waste my time. They take me on bad appointments, and then. So I write my sales at night through my referrals. And my new recruits, they’re a waste of time. He comes to me, so, well, you got to fix that. When did that happen, though? It happened at a meeting. It happened at lunch, at a meeting where he got. And I said, you got to fix that. What do you do with your clients to get appointments? I said, just do that with your recruits. Same exact thing you do. Same thing. He started doing that and then plugging his people into an environment, and other people saw the way to do it.
And he had Tesla sonat come in, and all of a sudden, it was him and another superstar who wanted it so bad that the guy would go down to the keys without a car, and he walked from house to get his division promotion. The winners show up, but you got to put them in the environment. You put them in the environment. You got to work hard to get them in the environment. The convention’s coming. That’s the environment. That’s where the winner wins. Whether you win or not, they decide. I don’t know whether he’s doing it or not, but I’m doing it. Y’all got it. Use the events. Look, we’re doing so much on Zoom right now, the way. And, Andy, I love what you’re doing because you’re proven.
I can do it on Zoom, and we can have live events, and we can have people who want it bad to travel across the country to be in the environment. It’s the ones that show up from all over the country. I don’t know where. I have a girl I met here today. She’s from one of my rvbs from California. She comes. These are the people who want it. They’ll show up, use the meetings, go wide, go ballistic, and just say, okay, I’m going to do everything I can possibly to help. The people want to be helped, and I’m getting them to the next big event. Literally. We built our whole business that way. Good job.
Fantastic. You just answered four of my questions. But kind of embarrassingly, through the last three years, it’s been focus on this, change that, focus on this with the technology and Zoom and 17 million things. The presentation, kitchen tables, fna short. Fna. No fna. So we’re in a place where I know my strength is recruiting, and I have not been doing it specifically because I feel like I don’t have the right systems in place to handle the recruits. And I know it’s a mentality, but that being said, the first most important system to focus on developing and why or the philosophy behind it. And then the second, I just need to know which direction to go, please.
I had the same problem that you had before, and I become a vice president in 2001. It took me about eight years to figure these things out. Just like you said, I was up and down. Every time I go to the big event, people say something, I chase it. But what I found out, you have to have your own philosophy. What is it that you want yourself to accomplish here? Once I put that together, and I know we couldn’t, is the way to go. And I liked myself to it. I keep working. People keep talking, but I don’t listen. At the beginning, people say, well, Charles, we could. All these people, what should do with them? Do you not licensing people, they are not growing. I say, well, let me keep going first. Let me keep getting in first. Then the rest will follow.
And the same people that was criticized me later on, they applaud me. They say, you did a great job. Well, you got to know what you want. Stick to it. No matter what people say, if you believe in it, you go after it. It’s going to happen for you.
Okay, so this question is for Brittany. I’m an RVP partner. I’m a stay at home mom. I have two little girls, a five and a two year old. And this year, I’m going to be homeschooling. So my question to you is, how do I stay involved as a partner, supportive, and at the same know, obviously do a good job schooling the girls. So maybe you can give me a rundown of your schedule or two or three books or resources that has helped you to obviously support Andy. And basically, that’s my question. Yeah, my schedule is. I don’t really have a schedule. It’s a lot. It’s funny because I get that a lot from partners, like, how do you do it all? And it’s just doing as much as you can whenever it fit in.
I mean, kids, especially toddlers, you’re kind of like a cruise director. You’re trying not to stick them on a screen for 12 hours because you’re trying to build a business. You don’t want to screw them up, right? But you want to help with the business. So it’s really just figuring out what works. Now that the kids are out of the newborn age, I try to get out of bed before them, even if it’s 20 minutes. It’s way better than getting woken up by a screaming baby if you can get up for a second before them and have 5 seconds. I stay up late because the kids go to bed. That’s like most people you see on social media. That’s like their mom me time, and that’s my time, too. But I do business at night, so, like, other people, it’s their me time.
They watch Netflix, right. I get on my computer as soon as the kids go to, like, he hangs out with the older kids when he’s done with appointments. And I put the toddlers to bed, and I get on my computer and do whatever I think I can help out with and catch up with things. So it’s just figuring out what fits into your schedule. When I was studying for stuff, it was literally like I got rid of everything. It was any nap time, any in between, any screen time I was studying or I was trying to get on an appointment or do stuff. As we’ve kind of gotten bigger, Mario coached us on. He was like, you guys need to get help. She needs help. And I was never big on trusting people with my kids.
We moved to Florida, and I moved away from all family. So I was like, you mean I got to get a stranger to watch my kids? I took them out of school so that I kind of had control of everything. And now you want me to just find somebody to come over. But that helped, too. She only comes over a couple of days a week, but I lock myself in the room. I can work out, get my mind right, go on appointments, do stuff for even just a couple of hours. So finding that help, too, is okay. Some people suggested hiring tutors and things of that nature, but I like that part of it. So I still school them. The nice thing about homeschooling you’re talking about doing it is I think back of when you think you’re going to screw your kids up.
Like how much you actually remember from school. Yeah, not much. You know what I mean? When I feel like I maybe am working the business too much and I’m like, oh, my gosh, maybe I need to do more balance over here and teach them. They’re learning from what we’re doing. They’re going to learn more from you building a business and doing stuff with your husband than anything else you stick them into, even bringing them to staff. They’re watching us win, and that’s bigger than anything. So I put in the time wherever I have it. And sometimes it’s way more time than others. But they’re watching you. So the best example you can be for your kids is going to teach them anything. Even if you feel like you’re neglecting them because you’re building a business on the side, or maybe you didn’t do that.
So just figuring out a schedule that works for you. Every nook and cranny, we tell people all the time, we’re never not doing this. Never. This is what we do. Twenty four seven.
So good.
We’re down to nine minutes. So we’ve got a lot of people with a lot of questions. Okay, so my question is, I struggle a little bit when I do the orientation and people get excited and I talk about the three by three and how important it is to get to district leader. And we do a top 25 list and people get so happy and excited. Well, we’re going to sit down to do the phone calls. People freak out, no, this one is working. I cannot call this one because this went for vacation. And it’s very hard for me, even though I think that I’m doing the orientation well to really get people to do the phone calls with me. And then people all of a sudden disappear.
Some of them will do it, but I don’t know, maybe Andy can answer me this question because where you told us before about the Orientation is very important. But people, when you join Primerica, we don’t have any self development, people freak out. They’re like, so scared of what people are going to say about them. So how can I help these recruits, even though I show them the value? Because I did the top 25 with the numbers, with everything. But it’s very hard for me to make them do the phone call with me.
Sorry. It’s kind of hard to hear because the speakers are going that way. Are you saying it’s hard for them? You get to make phone calls?
Yeah. Once we do the top 25 list. Right. I perceive people are freaking out and they’re very scared of doing the phone calls.
You got it? I got it. Real quick. We’re 47 years old. Not one person in our company history wanted to join, wanted to get licenses, wanted to make a phone call, want to do appointments. Ours said 50% the crusade and 50% of the dream. People do want to make a difference, and people do want to make their dreams come true and change their life forever. So you have to talk more about, do you understand the difference we’re making their lives? All these people in your list, people are going to die. They’re going to get cancer. They’re going to have kids who can’t get a college degree, have student loan debt. You’ll never retire. All that will be on you if we don’t get to these people, they’re hurting and they’re struggling now.
So we have to talk more about that, the crusade and how your life is going to change on your side of this. Nobody wants to make phone calls. No one wants to do appointments. People want to make a difference and change their lives.
Thank you. Thank you so much.
That’s good. And I’ll sprinkle a little bit something extra on that is, you also have to let people know that I always say, we don’t sell, we show. I always let my people know, and our people know, like, I’m going to be your Jake from State Farm. I’m going to be your duck. I’m going to be your flow. I’m going to be your lizard. Your only job is marketing. Most people, they fail in Primerica because they’re afraid and unwilling to market the opportunity or the product to anyone. And we talk about that and I say, it’s okay. I don’t care if they buy, sell, or join. That’s not my job. My job is to simply be able to show them what it is that you’re actually doing.
So that way if them or anyone they know in the future could use it, they’d have enough information, at least feel comfortable referring us. That’s it. And I let people know. And guess what? They still don’t set appointments. And then you just go recruit more people. Right.
Hello. This is awesome. Okay, so thank you for all being here. Question, best ways to introduce big thinking to your team while you’re leading by example and not freaking them out with that off switch that Brittany talked about. That’s my question.
About big thinking. What are you saying? Say it one more time.
I’m sorry, you can’t hear. So what’s the best ways to introduce big? Think? Not introduce. Like, obviously we talk about big thinking, but last time were like, we’re going to do 100 by 100. Our team freaked out.
Yeah. So they’re going to freak out and so are you. And you’re going to freak out. And what’s going to happen? The worst thing you can do is stop talking about it. Every instinct in your core is going to say, stop talking about it. Nobody’s moving. I’m talking about 100 by 100. We’re three weeks in the month and we’re at three. You cannot stop because they’re waiting to see if you’ll stop. They’re waiting for it. You have to be that person that’s crazy enough to keep with it, keep after it, keep talking about it over and over again. And we built our business off. One audio we found on Soundcloud is bill renders compound recruiting. And that’s all we talk about is compounding. Three. Who get three who get three? You get three.
You could put me in front of a Dagum Walmart right now with a folding table and I can go get three recruits today. Yes or yes. Yes or yes. Jerry’s the only one that agrees. Of course I can. And then guess what they all have. It’s the same thing your boy Mark Zuckerberg does. And that’s all we talk about. Mark, you had a friend on Facebook and said, hey, here’s some three people you might know. Check them out. It’s the same thing. And I talk about that compounding over and over again. I ask Brittany and Noah and Jessica how many times in wendy, I pull up the Dagum calculator on a Zoom meeting because they actually have to see the multiples. So I actually show them, like, look, you got three people. Let me give you some simple math, Noah.
I’ve done this so many times, I can do it without my calculator. Believe it or not, if I go out and I get 20 people, 40% of them are going to quit regardless. We talk about people quitting the second we recruit them. I say, good, you’re right where you’re supposed to be. So if you go out and you have 60% left, you got twelve people. Yes. Great. Half your team quit, nobody cares. But guess what? You go get them, all three people. Now you got 36 new people on top of that. And I show them the multiples. They quit again. Who cares? Guess what? You’re hiring your growth over and over again. And I show people, and I show them that it’s possible. And the other thing is you got to keep talking about it.
And like John said, you have to lead by example. You can have the best game plan on the planet and be clapping your tambourines together like a wind up monkey doll flopping around the office. But if you’re not doing anything yourself, they’re watching. They’re watching. You guys got to remember how many guys, by show of hands, how many guys were ever in your bay shop when you were still inside of a bay shop below RVP, looked at your RVP’s number and you figured out mathematically how much of the business was yours that they were doing. Be honest, all of your people are doing that right now. You can talk by 100. But if it’s three weeks in sister and you got one direct, why would they move? Talk big, stay consistent, be strong enough to stay after it.
Have the courage and faith that’s going to work out. And then you got to move. You cannot expect your people to run if you are walking. That guy was talking about fear. Fear is the best motivator in planet. I was always so scaredless that other people are ever going to be able to look at me and say, that guy’s not working. Why should I work? We will always outwork everybody. We will because that’s the pace that we’re setting and it’s the example and you just got to have the courage to stick with it. And it will happen. I guarantee a girl. Okay. How you doing, coaches? So, for Coach Andy, in reference to building on social media, I just want to figure out what am I missing or to deal with Zoom retention.
My first twelve months as a vice president, I made 264,000 and average 80 by 80. The last six months been crazy with teammates and like what coach John Levin said about getting directs. Last three months, been doing ten x 20,000 personal. But I just feel like the last three months been every month I start over or what have you. So, Coach Andy, what exactly do you think I’m missing with the retention on social media. Yeah. First of all, you all are screwing up by asking me questions like, these guys are the triple studs up here. But the winners are going to win, bro. What you got to do is if you said you went 80 by 80, then drop back down. Is that what you said? 60 x 40? You keep it clean, though, right? Okay, 60 x 40.
But listen, what happens is you got a pocket of leaders that are getting burnt out and they’re stopping working personally. That’s what’s happening, dude. I guarantee it. Tell me I’m wrong. You got a pocket of leaders in there that ran up. It sounded good for a minute. You’ve got their numbers up and then they drop back down. Yes, hello. Yes. You got to get them to recommit, but the only way you’re going to do that is you got to find a new runner, brother, yourself. You got to go back out in the wild, bag you a runner, and then make them the shining example. Put them up, display them, get them to go win. Hype them up. People move towards recognition, right? What you recognize grows. You go get a runner and then you lock them in with a new runner underneath them.
Because what’s going to happen is most people in your business, some of them flare up like a pan. Some of them stick around and they’re in there, they’re kindling. What’s going to happen is you try to pour love and that belief into people that aren’t working anymore. They know you’re going to be there forever. No, no. I’m going to go out, I’m going to find me a Jerry Byer, and I’m going to make him win and show him how to win. I’m going to hype him up so much that the right people are going to get pissed that they’re not in the spotlight anymore. Most people, I think they screw up in Primerica because they’re trying to find those three dead bodies in their base shop that did something 17 years ago, and they’re going to give them a speaking spot.
No, you got to earn that, sister. Nobody gives a crap what you did last month, right? The problem is, you go 80 by 80. That’s cute. But some of your guys, they’re now the big dog. And they like for that spot. You know how you make them uncomfortable? Go get you a new big dog because you’re the big dog. Am I right? Yes, sir. Come on, brother. Thank you. That was good. That was a good one.
Okay, so I’ve been running my office with the company standards for promotions, which I realize now are way too low. And I think that’s why I’m dealing with a lot of sidelining issues. Right. And so I want to increase my standards, but I want your coaching on how to do this properly as a leader. My thought right now is, tell my people who are already here and already trying the hardest, you got two months to hit the standards of the promotions that I gave you when you first came into the business. And then after that, here’s what the promotion guidelines are going to move to. And starting right now, every new recruit that comes in, this is what we want to talk about for what they need to do to earn their promotion. Is that a good move?
Would you coach me up to do something different? Do I incrementally grow it? What are your thoughts?
This is good.
Good question, Randy. Who’s going to take that one? John?
Yeah, I think we got a couple left. I appreciate you guys.
So what Randy said, I got the question. Randy’s the company guidelines are the ten x ten, two months in a row, 2500 on the other side of it. She feels that’s too low, but that is what she’s told her team, and she wants to tell her team a little bit something else higher. How do we transition that as a leader? Go ahead, Jimmy.
Start with new people. Start doing it with new people. Rabbits come in, they start kicking butt. Deal with those people individually. It’s all about getting new people. You could have these meetings and they’re going to have their own union shops. Oh, this is bull crap. She’s changing the rules, this and that. If you don’t do a lot, I won’t do a lot. You get clear on what you want. You get new people in, you start doing that with them. I’m doing it right now myself. Okay. Then they’ll come to you and say, hey, I want to be qualified for three months in a row. I want to level up for a while. And you start building a new environment, and they start building a track record.
If you start trying to have meetings saying, hey, what I told you before, the company, this, it’s just going to be like new people. Set your guidelines. They will come copy or they’ll disappear. You’re not hurting them all. But if you try to explain too much, and so many of us just spend too much time explaining stuff that they don’t need to know, you’re in charge. You’re the leader. You’re making a very good decision, in my opinion. Okay. And new people rock and roll and you’ll be good shape.
We got three more people.
And by the way, we got to finish up. So some of you ask questions, but you’re really trying to give us an eight minute talk. Just ask your damn question. Let’s move here. Okay? It’s uneat. I don’t think any of you are second gen. I know you have kids, and I know there are those in the audience that have Kids. My parents are here in the front row, and I know all that they’ve been through as just people. And I know that senior level leadership here. I just want to make sure that at 22 years old, I can do everything right as of now to maximize the level. You’re not going to do everything right. Love you. I met you before. You are a stud. You just made RVp, right? You’re part of this studs team, okay?
You’re.
But, hey, you ain’t going to do everything right. You’re setting yourself up for failure. This is not perfection. This is progress. You hear me? Fail forward. You want to try to do everything right? Join the church or something, okay? This is progress. Mom and dad, you did a wonderful job with this young man. He’s a wonderful young man, but please don’t go. Don’t leave. This being said, I’m going to start doing everything right because you’re going to be in for a rude awakening. You young people don’t even know what Murphy’s law is. We grew up with art Williams telling us the first 18 months, everything you do is going to turn to what crap? And it’s called Murphy’s law. Anything that could go wrong will go wrong. So sorry. Get this mic out of my hand. How y’all doing?
This question is for the onsteads. I know from what I understand, you guys have, like, a majority digital business. What are some things you guys do? What are some things that you guys do to hold your people accountable, but also build a relationship with people on Zoom, it’s obviously different than being in person. So what are some things you all do? Yeah, and this is a big thing, these type of meeting. But you got to remember, too, the right people are going to be here, so they’ll show out the people that are going to be worth it. And the thing is, when you start getting so big, it actually makes the business easier. It’s crazy because you don’t care about the quitters as much. Like Jimmy said, you got the one guy. People always whining, complaining. Their one guy quit.
The problem wasn’t your guy quit. The problem was you have one guy, right? It’s the same thing with building a business. You have to be in our redline bubble. You have to be producing at such a level to get our time. But those are the people I build a business with or build a relationship with. And it’s through text message, phone calls. I don’t care what coast you’re on, I’ll wake you up at 03:00 in the morning. I don’t care. Because the way I look at it, I could never be upset with my coach reaching out to me, trying to help me get stupid, stone cold wealthy. Could you ever be upset with that? So I don’t care what time of day it is. I don’t care. I don’t care. I wake them up, I put them to bed, I don’t care. Right?
And the right people, they love it. I literally tell my people, you’re either going to get rich or you’re going to quit. The choice is yours. I don’t care what it is. Just decide. Just decide, bro. And I love it. And this has turned into a self help seminar, RVP meeting, okay? But we all go through that. The problem is we’re going so fast and we’re so big, I don’t have time to be spending my time with the wrong people, right? So, like, dude, every question you could ever ask me in a million year, the answer is recruiting. Get bigger, bro. Get bigger. Okay. Real quick. Real quick. I’m not telling you to do face to face or Zoom, but if you’re going to do zoom, you got to replicate what happens in offices.
In every office, when there’s a live meeting, the little teams huddle around the corners and the sides and little cubicles before and after the meeting. So if you’re going to do Zoom meetings before the meeting starts, you have a little zoom with your team for 1520 minutes, catch up, talk accountability, then plug in the big room, just like in a big office.
That’s good accountability, too. We use the scoreboard. So people are constantly asking us, how do you hold that many people accountable? We use the scoreboard. That’s literally all we do for accountability because like they said, the winners are going to win. So we’re constantly showing people the scoreboard. They come on, we maybe show them the state scoreboard first. Like, oh, my gosh, look, you’re dominating your state. You need ten more recruits. You’re going to break the record. Then we move to national. But that’s really the only accountability we use is the scoreboard because it doesn’t.
Know, andy mentioned that they’re so big that they don’t have the time to deal with the people. Okay. Hey, if you’re small, you don’t got time to deal with the wrong people, either. Okay. Don’t forget that. I also want to apologize to everybody my wonderful partner brought to my attention. I was taking notes on my phone. It looked like I was being rude. So I certainly was not being rude to any of my fellow teammates here. But I will not take notes no more. I left my damn notebook back there. But I am sorry about that last question.
Yes. Thank you. So, as new rvps, my husband and I have.
Congratulations.
Thank you so much. So, Eric and I have an amazing partnership. We are both 100% in this business full time. We’re both running it together. What do we do to maximize ourselves? To get to ownership by convention.
Go to work. Go to work. But one of the things that, when I came in this business 32 years ago, I remember they showed me the presentation. They showed me about buy term inventor difference. They showed me about the ruler. And I got excited. I mean, to the point where I’m like, I didn’t know there was recruiting. I didn’t know there was a business. All I knew was that, man, now I know how wealthy folks become wealthy. Now, this is what they have. And in the military, we had know, USPA and Ira, you probably know what that is all about. And they sold me eight whole life policies. So when they started talking about terminal invested, I got excited about this stuff. And then they started talking about the business. And that’s when I really got excited. I said, I can do this thing.
I know I can do this thing. And the know ward Peters, you guys probably know who he mean, but he came into the. Basically, this was his Recruiting philosophy. He said, okay, yeah, hey, listen, if you understand this, what you need to do, if you want to learn this thing, take me to see three people for two reasons. Number one is to show you. First of all, you become a client. And I was my first client. I was a client. And he said, now let’s go out and talk to three people for a couple of reasons. Number one, I want you to know how to do this presentation. And the second reason is because I want you to not only know how to do the presentation, but once you get licensed, I want you to be able to go out on your own.
And let me help you recruit someone as we’re talking about this, okay, let me help you build a business. And when you get a license, you’re off on your own. And that’s all he did. And my job is the minute I recruit someone, I just put it back to him and say, hey, second. And he’s the one who started until I started learning how to do this thing. And then eventually it got to recruiting ten people a month, 20 people a month, and that’s when you start developing leaders. It doesn’t all happen at once. It doesn’t all happen at you’re going to come in this business and a week down the road you’re recruiting 100, 200 people. But if you go three and bill a render, that’s where I got it from. Hey, get three. Who get three? That’s nine. Get nine.
It gets 27, 81, 247. And it starts growing and it starts compounding. When you look back, you got a room, you got a business, you got a team, you got a squad, and there’s people that you don’t even know who’s on the team right now. And it just continues on growing with or without you. Let me give you one pro nugget, because everyone always tries to tell me what their income goal is and production goal is. You need to take that off the table. And needing to focus on massive recruiting. Everything you want is a byproduct of the recruiting because we got the ownership on our own pen. But if you want ownership so bad, but you’re the only one doing anything and you die, what does he own? Nothing. You got to build a team and don’t force it. It’ll happen.
I promise you it’ll happen. But just massive recruiting, the premium, the cash, everything will be a byproduct of that. You have to build a recruiting philosophy and everything. Trust me, we know. We have the Michigan record. We wrote $96,000 in personal premium in one month in the state of Michigan. But you know what happened four months later when I stopped trying to work the business for a little while, half it came crashing back, right? We used to talk about the tidal wave all the time. Last month we did 170,000 in the base shop. I wrote 7000 in personal premium. It’s bananas. It’s bananas because it doesn’t have to be you. You, right?
You focus on a builder’s mentality, because even if they don’t want to call people, they don’t want to set appointments, they don’t want to show up, they don’t want to do the right things. You know what they can do? They can recruit more people that will.
Okay, let’s hear it for the rvps in the room. You guys have been great.
