Ever feel like you’re stuck in a rut, unable to break through to the next level in your Primerica journey? You’re not alone. Many reps hit a wall, feeling overwhelmed by setbacks and unsure of how to turn things around. But what if you could transform those challenges into stepping stones for success? That’s exactly what Godfrey and Ashmaine dive into in this powerful session. They share their personal stories of overcoming obstacles and making pivotal decisions that led to incredible breakthroughs. It’s raw, real, and packed with insights that can help you shift your mindset and propel your business forward. Don’t miss this must-see moment where they reveal the secrets to turning setbacks into success. Watch the video below and get ready to be inspired!
Video Transcription:
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you for Primerica is here.
Thank you.
A unit for having us.
All right.
Look, this is an honor to be here, guys.
I’m gonna take just a few minutes, just really briefly tell about myself and then I’m gonna bring up the reason you’re really here.
I know I’m just an add on for such money here, right?So I know that I don’t care about that.
I don’t, you know, it doesn’t matter to me one way or the other.
I’m just happy to be here.
Okay, so all right.
Can you guys hear me? Okay, so really I want to tell them briefly about my story.
My name is Godfrey John.
I’m part of the team Victorious Hierarchy under Kamika John.The last name.
Yes, we are family.
That’s my little big sisters.
I call him and what Marcus is my little Marcus is actually my brother, my younger brother.
I call my little big brother.
Been in the business now since 2009, started February 2009.
The reason I came into Primerica is because after 18 years in the corporate world, the job let me go, right?And I made a decision back then, and everything, remember, is going to start with the decision that you make.
So the first decision I made was that I’m never going to work for another person.
I’m never going to allow another person to put their thumb over my head and depend on another man to tell me how I’m going to take care of my family.So I didn’t know what I was going to do then, but you know what, there was a decision and they got a, you know, we’re in a locker room now, so we can say a couple things, right? We all grown here? Because sometimes there’s like these oh shit moments in your life that are going to happen, right? And so that’s that first one that happened was when I had to make that decision.I’m never going to work for somebody else.
Now, I was fortunate enough that I had somebody in the business.
They were brand new in the business at the time.
My brother, my sister in law, they came over to my house and they said, Listen, we got this great opportunity called Primerica.
I said, How much money do you need?You know, I’m not interested because I had a good job.
Anybody had a good job watching my time.
But you know what still happened? Two years later down the road, they came back and said, Listen, we’re regional vice presidents.
I didn’t know what that meant.
I knew I was a vice president of my company.
I made good money on my good job.And, but you know what? Now I was out of that good job.
You know, that money was gone.
And so my brother was like, Come on down.
I said, No, I’m not into this.
I’m a corporate dude.
You see, I wear a suit and tie every day.
I have a different mentality.
But you know what? The decision wasn’t made yet.
So two months later, I came out to an op night meeting.Just get him off my back because thank God he did not let me go.
And you know what I said? I literally, I said this to him, I said, Look, if you can do this, I can do this because I’m smarter than you.
Right? I said, I said it like that.
But you know what? He’s richer than me, so hey, you know what? That’s what I’m gonna do.But, so, you know, I went there and my decision was done.
So you know what? I enjoyed being unemployed for the next couple of years.
Because, you know what, I didn’t have a job, I was no longer in corporate, I was doing stuff, enjoying, but you know what, the bills started racking up.
And we’re gonna be real, and you know, the mortgage house went into foreclosure.And then, you know, the wife was not happy about it.
So, so I had to make another decision.
So I had to make a decision, either I had to do this thing for real.
Or I had to go get a job.
And you know what, I went for an interview, and I, and you know, and I worked in IT, as an IT professional.
And I remember sitting across, I interviewed with seven people that day.My last interview was with HR, and she says, you know what, you know, this is a 24 hour responsibility, I know, I’m used to this in IT.
And she said something else, and then she said something to me that, she said, uh, we’re gonna start you off with two weeks of vacation.
And I swear to God, I didn’t hear anything else.Cause all I heard was that, what am I gonna, I’m like, is that two weeks a month? Because at this point I’ve been out, I had a little bit of taste of freedom.
I’m like, what am I gonna do with two weeks off? I can’t do anything with that, I got a life to live.
So I came back home, I said to my R.
V.
P., what do I need to do to make R.V.
P.? Because at that point I was a senior national division leader, right? I mean, I don’t know if anybody’s been there right there, but that’s where I was.
And so that decision was, I need to do this thing for real, or I had to go back to work.
And we’ll tell you, from division to R.
V.
P.
took me three months.Because there’s nothing that beats a made up mind and I say to everybody here, you are only 90 days away from R.
V.
P.
I don’t matter if you’re a brand new rep, I don’t matter if you’ve been here 16 years, it doesn’t matter.
It’s 90 days away once you make up that decision and you make up your mind.
Continue fast forward now, so from 90, so then I enjoyed that, and I became a regional vice president and then I went to sleep.
You know what? Because then it became another turning point in my life when it became another one of those oh shit moments.
Even though I was an R.
V.
P., I was a broke R.
V.
P.
But I wasn’t making money because you know what?I had the title, but I didn’t have the work ethic and the mindset.
And the only things that you need to hear, the only things you can take and change, is your attitude and your activity level, right? We all know that.
So in 2017, because again, things were backing up and my back was against the wall, I made that decision to decision that I needed to make money and once that decision I went over a hundred K in 2017, right?So again, I had another one.
Thank you very much.
And when another one those moments came again, you know I promoted my first RVP Carl Brown in 2014.
Carl is on the council now making over 200, 000 a year No, it’s so what again the next moment came around when you know what I was coming up to the convention in 2021 And this is the important part before I bring Tisha up here So what happened at that point is that?You know, during covid in 2020, my wife lost her job in November.
I said it’s all right.
You know, these things happen.
And I said, wow, you know why we have a two income household, you know, I’m making 100, 000 plus a month in primary primerica doing this thing.
Okay.
And primarily so.
But now I said, you know what?And then I said, you know, we’re doing okay.
And then what happened, four months after that, her mom passed away suddenly from a heart attack.
I’m sorry, a stroke.
And massive stroke, gone really close.
And my mother, her sister, and my wife, they were like inseparable.
They were one unit.
And she took that hard, and she couldn’t do anything.So that was that oh shit moment, you know what, I gotta man up and carry the load.
But you know what, I had an R.
V.
P.
contract, and with that R.
V.
P.
contract, you get to do whatever you wanna do.
So I said, you know what, I gotta get this thing to a hundred, to two hundred, because now I gotta replace her income.You know what, so, you know what, you’re gonna get that call one day.
If it’s going to happen to you in one way or the other, somebody’s going to call, somebody’s going to need your help.
Someone is going to, a family member is going to be sick.
Somebody’s going to have something that’s important, someone that you love.And are you going to be able to make that decision and step up and get the job done? So that decision, I said, I got to get to that 200K.
And I’ll tell you, I have, I put a point down, you know, that year we had, AALC was in August.
And I said, I am not going to AALC unless I hit 200K.
I registered and I did not buy a plane ticket because I went to work and I went to work and the activity was that at that time, you know what, it came down to the last month, I needed to make 60, 000 in one month to get on the council.My highest cash flow at that point was about 19, in a month.
But I said, you know what? I’m getting it done because you sometimes you got to have that faith to have to get done right? Because what does the Bible say? God says he’s going to supply all your needs, not some of them, but you just have to have that faith and that vision to see things that are going to happen before they get done.You know what? Because when we talk about that vision and it says, the Bible says, you know, for lack of vision of people perish because sometimes you don’t, we can’t make that stand because we can’t see it.
And we know we talk about that African impala.
If you ever know about it, I’ll tell you something really quickly about it.The impala is uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, a girl in the state of the Antelope, and the impala can jump ten feet in the air, straight up, and it can jump thirty feet in one leap.
But, you know, in the zoo, they enclose that impala in a fence that’s three feet high.
And you know why they do that? Because that impala will not jump where it can’t see that it can land.So even though it has that, that, that ability to be free, and get out of its captivity, it will never take that leap.
But so many of us are here in this business and opportunity, we got these f ing damn contracts but we’re not taking the leap.
We got our IBA signed and you’re not taking the leap.
But you know what, you have leaders all around you who have done it and are doing it, so it’s not that you can’t see it, it’s not that you, but your mind is, you gotta emancipate yourself from mental slavery like Bob Hardy said, right?Or you know what, when are you gonna take that leap? Just because you can’t see where you’re at, you gotta believe it.
And you just gotta go for it.
And I went for that and I said I’m gonna make 60, 000 in one month, even though I only made 20, 000 before.
And you know, I made 58, 000 and changed it that month.I missed it because I had a charge back that night.
But I went to go there.
No, I’m serious.
That’s why I didn’t make it.
So I went over the following month.
But to make 58, 000 in one month when you’ve never seen it before, when you’ve never believed this is exactly, if possible, that’s what this Primerica opportunity is about.Now I’m going to stretch out there, I’m going to tell you, I’m going to turn some of my time over here because you came here from this leader.
Now let me tell you about this young lady.
This young lady’s been in the business now since 2015, came in the business, said she doesn’t know anybody.
Let me tell you, we repping for GT over here, right?We have some Guyanese people over here.
So she came into this business in 2015, no natural market, she was a mom.
Stay at home working, doing her thing.
And you know what? She, she transformed because she believed.
And she locked arms with me and it didn’t, it wasn’t an overnight thing.
Right? Because sometimes you see me on the stage, this is not an overnight thing.So all those people who, who definitely have been there for a while and it hasn’t been going your way, So what? Have some faith.
Get back to work and get it done.
Because you know what I like to say, and the reason why we’ve been the number one in premium for solo, you know, for the last couple months, is because this is a vision that I had.And my team will tell you, I told them that and I professed this.
I said, we are going to be the number one in premium in New York.
And I kept saying that, I kept saying that, and it manifested.
And it doesn’t matter how it happens.
You know what, a big part of it is because of this lady that’s standing here.But God didn’t say how it’s gonna happen.
He just said it’s gonna happen.
So you don’t have to see how it’s gonna happen.
You just gotta know that it’s gonna happen and get it done.
Now, bringing up this young lady, like I said, she is a senior regional leader in the business.
Went over her 50, 000 watch in October of 22.In January of 23, no sorry, February 23, hit 100, 000.
And in December of 23, went over 200, 000 in the base shop as a regional leader.
Guys, put your hands together.
For us, money.
Oh my gosh.
That is amazing.
Thanks everyone.
Oh my gosh.
I’m nervous.
I need some love right now.
Alright.
Thank you Coach Godfrey.
Thank you every single one of you here tonight.
Is it night time already? No.
Thanks for a little bit more.
All right.
So thank you, everyone.
Thanks for having me.
Thank you, Coach Godfrey for this wonderful introduction.
I know we need to spare.
All right.
All right.
Um, so guys, my name is Ashmini Balgaben.
Um, like Coach Godfrey said, I’ve been in the business in and out.
Um, I am originally from Guyana.
Big up to you.Let’s go baby! And um, And um, Chicken curry, here we go! And I’m, and I’m currently living in Brooklyn.
So big, bigger Brooklyn, right? So I’m married, um, and I have three beautiful daughter.
Um, I got started into the business in 2015 and you know, I wasn’t ready.
Like most of us, um, we, sometimes we get started and, um, it’s just not the right time.Um, so then I resigned my IBA guys and I believe in 2016 and then I leave again, right? And during that time I give birth to my second child in 2017 now.
And then, um, my dad passed in 2017, same year.
Then in 2018 I had another baby.
Right, so that’s enough reason Why it took so such a long time right to get back into the business, but guys something great happened in 2018 During all my depression and whatever I was going through my coach Godfrey John came and you know Knock on my door, because he was calling me and I wasn’t showing up.I wasn’t answering.
I was too depressed to answer and I was tired of giving him the excuses, right? So I didn’t want to lie.
I didn’t know how to, to say what I’m going through.
But he came and he phoned me.
And since then, I’ve been here.
I showed up.
I came back.
I learned a business.
I, I did what I had to do.I didn’t produce, same time, but it took me a while.
I, I figure myself out.
I figure how to do the business and it’s been working, right? It’s the best thing for America is a blessing, God.
It’s the best thing that Coach Godfrey did for me.
I have this financial freedom.
My family have, you know, it’s just a blessing.My kids, they’re, they’re living the life, right? Um, so, we can all do it.
Um, so get into it.
Sorry guys.
Yes, I got this.
So, uh, thank you.
Thank you guys.
So yes, it took me a while to get, you know, to get back into the business.
Um, but uh, I’ll tell you a little bit about my why, right? What is your why? Why is it worth it? That is what I started asking myself, right? Um, why, why am I in Primerica?Right? Um, my why is to is to make my family better.
My why is to feel feed millions of kids, right? And I made the decision in 2022 that I’m gonna show up.
I’m going to achieve my goal.
And in 2023 December, I said to my husband, because usually we do a lot of charity work, so I said to my husband, we’re going to be feeding millions of kids in 2023 December.Sorry, in 2022.
I said that to him.
So 2023.
Um, that’s last year, right? We’re in 2024.
Yeah.
Um, so we were able to do that, guys, not only in America, but also in Guyana and Trinidad, right? So that is, that is my biggest why is to Reach out to the less fortunate.
There’s so many kids out there who need their help.Right? And that is my biggest why.
That is why I stayed up late.
That is why I go on the meeting.
That is why I make the calls.
That is why, um, I ask for referrals.
Cause I build, I’m building my business on referrals, right? Right? How many of you go on an appointment and do not ask for referrals? Right? So we’re losing money.Right? And we’re, we’re not helping the people that need help.
Right? And we need to protect those.
There’s so many lives out there that needs protection, right? It’s not just right in life insurance.
It’s what’s best for our client.
So, in 2023, I can proudly say we did it.
We were able to feed the millions, millions of kids, and we’re gonna do better in 2024.
Right? Like Coach Godfrey said, I got the watch, got the 100K, and Got the 200 right there the ring and Yes, and the diamond the second diamond so You guys heard my story.
So just tell you how I do the business now.
So how I get client I Be myself.
I’m a little nervous today, but I’m not like this when I’m talking to client.I be myself.
I be genuine.
I I’m not be true to myself so I can be true to clients, right? When you show success, people will follow you.
I have so many people looking for me to recruit them and to do their policy right now, right? I have people who, as I stand here today, my phone keep on going off the hook because I show up.People see you when you’re successful.
They follow you, right? And we can all do it, guys.
We are building our business on referral, like I said.
Um, And one of those reasons, sorry, and all of those reasons that I gave you just now, that is what I am building my business on, right? When you build a relationship with people, you will never run out of people to talk to.
They will ref, they will refer you to their family, their friends.They will do, They will do the work for you, and it will make your job easy, like real easy, right? You don’t have to do the presentation.
You don’t have to do all of that.
They’ll just, you know, call you and say, hey, can you do my, my, my brother and my sister policy? Can you recruit this person? They want to make extra income.It’s not easy at first, but it will get easy as you go along, right? My 2024 goal, guys, is to become a uh, uh, RVP.
Um, and get to 500k to change more life, to feed kids all around the world and always put God first in everything that I do, right? So, because without God we’re nothing.
Right? Do I have more minutes? Um, uh, before I go I just want to thank you all for allowing me to be here, um, today and thank God for having me.Not only me, but all of us here today.
I know you guys probably have some questions, so I’ll leave some time for that.
Yeah, I’ve got a few minutes.
Yeah, I’ll pass it on the coach.
Godfrey.
Good question.
So my schedule guys, um, it started from six in the morning.
After I send my kids to school, I, um, like I said, I’m a stay at home mom and, um, so I have to do everything, right? So I schedule my time in with my client once my kids, my kids go to school, um, I go on my appointment and, um, I make sure I close every single day.I have a goal to close every single day.
So within two to three hours, you know, during the day I have some time and then in the evening I also take out two, two to three hours a day from my business.
Um, it’s all about timing.
Thank you for that question.
It’s all about timing.
It’s um, if you really want it, you’ll find the time between because if your kids go to school for 830, you have from 830 to three, that’s my schedule.
So within 833, I did, I will do like two to three appointment and after they get home, I do homework and then I start back around six, you know, within six, seven, eight.
And if it takes me 10, 11, I still go on, because I want to get the job done.
Once you’re, uh, you know, usually jump from appointment, you get referrals and see referrals right away? So, um, so, I’m getting a lot of referrals, like I said.
Um, so if someone calls me up and say, Can you talk to my, my aunt, my sister, my brother? I say sure, and I schedule a time in with them.
And yes, I try to do it right away, even if I cannot jump on a meeting, but I set up a time with them.
Sometimes 10 from one client.
I ask for 20, but sometimes they give me 5, 10.
It all depends.
Not everyone knows a lot of people, but.
I have no social media.
No Facebook.
No Facebook.
No, I don’t know what it’s called.
I’m sorry? So, like I said, at first, um, if you’re doing business, um, good business, right? And you’re being genuine and you ask for a referral, they’re gonna give you because I go like, okay, so I just close your policy, just help you.
And I will go like, so do you see the information? Just share with you valuable.And, you know, they were like, yes, yes, Mr Shell.
I love the way you, you know, you explain and help me.
And I explained to them that life insurance is not Just life insurance.
You’re wasting money because most people thinking they’re wasting money.
So I let them know that it’s like a saving and guys my husband came up with this.He explained to a guy one day.
He’s like don’t think of life insurance as life insurance.
Think of it as a saving for your kids.
So God forbid it, you know, you pass you’ll have 300, 000 or 200, 000 to send them to college, you know, and your spouse don’t have to worry about what’s gonna happen after you go.
So that’s how I showed them the value.
Thank you for that question.
Good? I do? Go ahead.
I’m sorry? Studying.
Um, I, you know, I didn’t have the time to study.
But I’m gonna get to RVP by April 15th.
So, If there’s no more questions, I’ll pass it back to my wonderful coach.
Let’s go! Oh my god! Awesome stuff.
I’m stomach.
Alright, give it up for my coach, guys.
You know, this is her very first time speaking on stage, so it’s a little bit nervous, but that’s her very first time speaking on stage.
Okay.
So really quick, we got a couple minutes to really wrap up this.I’m stomach.
I’m so nervous.
This is the plural system.
And one of the things we say, well, you know what? When you, when you ask for those referrals, it’s just this.
We’re gonna ask, who do you know? And you put your head down, right? And you got that pen out, because the first person who blinks loses.
So, you know, so that’s what we teach.Like, so when you ask for referrals, okay, who do you know who could take advantage of this, this information we know? And you got that pen in hand and you’re just waiting for them.
Somebody’s gonna speak, right? And so, well, that’s one of the things we have to, this is something that was taught in our hierarchy, get good at getting these referrals.And, uh, we were, you know, everyone was just talking, Arthur was just talking about, you know, premium.
You know, we grew up in an environment where we learned how to write premium in business.
You know, we didn’t learn it the easy way of going out in field training, which is what we’re doing now, because, you know, if we were number one for premium right now, now we’re gonna get that recruiting bug going as well, because if you’re not recruiting, your business is dying.We know that.
So we have to continue to recruit and build, and you know what, that becomes the easy way of doing it through your field training market.
But we were taught how to do this on our own pen.
You know, I was trained by, you know, under Kamika John and Gupreet Singh, and it was like 10 to get in.Learn how to write 10, 000 premium and you’ll make 100, 000 a year on your own pen.
That’s right.
So, but, you know, um, In closing, a couple things I’m just going to say, you know what? Don’t, don’t fear the failure of this.
Go out there and continue to try anyway, because failure is a harsh teacher, right? But it’s also the best teacher.You know, but you got to put the work, you got to put it to work for you.
It’s not about, don’t get discouraged when things don’t go your way, but just learn how to fail forward.
Take the lessons, you know, some people say you wouldn’t fall down, just get back right up.
I say when you fall down, stay down there for a minute, what did you learn from falling down?And then you get back up and continue so you can learn how to fail forward in this business.
And the other thing is, you know what, you have, okay, I got like, it was a low battery.
Okay, I got three seconds, give me like, about five.
Give me about five.
And it doesn’t matter if you’re brand new, because look, everybody in this room qualified to be here, right?So that means that you already got it in you.
You gotta believe a little bit more.
And sometimes, you know what, if you don’t have your story yet, You can’t steal somebody else’s.
You can’t steal somebody else’s story until you can get your own.
You can’t answer the story until you’ve got it defined.
Okay, alright, I gotcha.
Okay, so then finally, and you know what? The other thing I say is that Primerica is a jealous mistress.
So don’t get mad about it.
And according to what the great Peggy Hightower says, is that you gotta stop courting this thing and marry it.
Right? Because you can’t have Primerica as your mistress forever.Um, you know what? And what you gotta do, you can’t give Primerica What you’ve got left, you’ve got to give Primerica what you’ve got.
Never say that you can’t get it done.
Never say I can’t recruit, I can’t, I can’t, I can’t.
Because if you tell me that you can’t get 10 more IBAs done today and going tomorrow, if I said to you, you need 10 IBAs by this weekend or somebody’s coming to take your kids away.
Are you going to tell me you’ve got to go to work and you’ve got to go to that job? Are you going to tell me you don’t know anybody? Are you going to tell me that people don’t answer your phones and your calls? Are you going to tell me that you got dark houses? Are you guys going to go out there and do what you have to do to get the job done?So it’s not that you can’t.
You said that the biggest battle that we’re going to fight right now is the battle between our ears.
So get the head right.
Get in the right mind space.
And let’s just get to the top.
Get rich together.
And let’s go out and blow this thing up.
guys.
I love you.
