Executive TLDR

• You are not truly in Primerica until you commit to the distribution system.

• Recruiting, field training, and duplication create long-term wealth.

• Build a base shop and keep the ladder of recruiting on at all times.

• Recruit both spouses to protect your business from collapse.

• Dream bigger than your circumstances and build a legacy through people.

Video Summary

From Taxi Driver To Million Dollar Legacy

Charlemont Genestin opens by reflecting on his journey.

Twenty-seven years ago, while driving a taxi and earning $25,000 per year, someone invited him to make money part time. That single decision changed his life.

But he admits something powerful:

He was in Primerica for twelve years
And he was not truly in the game.

Having an IBA.
Getting licensed.
Making small money.

That is participation.

Playing the real game is different.

What It Means To Be In The Game

Being in the game means committing to the distribution system:

• Recruit

• Field train

• Promote

• Build cash flow through people

Primerica became massive because it focused on distribution — not just sales.

If you are operating alone, selling by yourself, you are not building the business.

Premium pays today.
Recruiting pays forever.

As a leader, what excites you more?

If you celebrate premium louder than recruiting, your team will chase premium instead of building structure.

Keep The Ladder Of Recruiting On

Genestin emphasizes a simple but powerful concept:

Keep the ladder of recruiting on at all times.

Too many leaders:

Turn it on.
Turn it off.
Turn it on again.

That inconsistency kills momentum.

Explosive growth happens when recruiting never stops.

Recruit Both Spouses Or Pay The Price

One of his biggest early mistakes:

Recruiting the husband but ignoring the wife.

If the spouse does not understand the business, eventually:

• Doubt creeps in

• Chargebacks hurt morale

• The business collapses

When both spouses buy into the vision, the foundation becomes unshakeable.

If a setback happens, the spouse becomes the encourager — not the exit door.

Build A Base Shop

Genestin challenges leaders to build large base shops.

When someone says they are bringing 100 people, believe in them.

Even if they disappoint you.

Even if they quit.

Your job is not to shrink your vision because someone failed.

Your job is to keep building until the right leader emerges.

Courage means believing the next one will become RVP.

Praise Builds Leaders

Referencing mentorship from John Lavin, Genestin explains how affirmation changed his self-image.

He did not look like a future six-figure earner.

But consistent praise built belief.

Leaders grow into the expectations spoken over them.

If you look for flaws, you will find many.

If you look for greatness, you will create it.

Upgrade Your Standards

As income increased, so did standards:

• Better health

• Better discipline

• Better environment

• Better associations

Success is not only financial.

It transforms habits, mindset, and identity.

Personal growth fuels business growth.

Communication Creates Culture

A powerful system in his organization:

• Morning calls

• Midday contact

• Evening reinforcement

Be the first voice your team hears.
Be the last voice before they sleep.

Consistent communication prevents problems from growing unnoticed.

Culture is not accidental.
It is engineered daily.

Work Ethic Before Freedom

Genestin is transparent.

Today he enjoys flexibility.

But during the building phase?

12 to 14 hour days.
Five years straight.

Average effort produces average results.

If you want wealth, you must outwork the average.

This echoes principles long taught by founder Art Williams — beat 50 percent of people simply by showing up consistently.

Competition And Personal Responsibility

At some point, he looked in the mirror and decided:

This is not the life I want.

Self-respect fuels ambition.

Competition is not about beating others.

It is about refusing to stay where you are.

Become A Dreamer Again

Many people stop dreaming.

Genestin and his wife would drive through wealthy neighborhoods in Miami, looking at million-dollar homes long before they could afford them.

They spoke the dream before it existed.

Today, they live in a million-dollar home.

Dreams must be sold to yourself first.
Then to your team.

Vision Creates Legacy

Genestin shares how attending an event and watching Joe Ward line up his RVPs gave him a vision.

He said to himself:

I need an organization like that.

Years later, he stood on stage surrounded by first- and second-generation RVPs.

Vision precedes structure.

Belief precedes achievement.

He credits leaders like John Lavin and Dave for creating the environment that allowed this growth.

The message is clear:

This is only the beginning.

FAQs

Who delivered this message?
Charlemont Genestin.

What is the main theme?
Commit fully to the distribution system and build legacy through recruiting.

What is the ladder of recruiting?
A consistent, always-on commitment to bringing new people into the business.

Why recruit both spouses?
To protect long-term stability and prevent outside doubt from destroying growth.

What builds long-term wealth?
Structure, duplication, and leadership development.

How many hours should someone work during the building phase?
12 to 14 hours daily for several years to create momentum.

What role does communication play?
It builds culture, accountability, and belief.

What sparked Genestin’s large vision?
Seeing Joe Ward present his RVP organization at a major event.

What transforms income into legacy?
Developing leaders across multiple generations.

Glossary

Distribution System
A structured model of recruiting, field training, promotion, and duplication.

Ladder Of Recruiting
Keeping recruiting consistently active to fuel growth.

Base Shop
A large foundational team of actively building representatives.

RVP Regional Vice President
A leadership contract level responsible for building and managing an organization.

SNSD
Senior National Sales Director, a top leadership milestone.

Chargeback
Commission reversal when a policy cancels early.

You are not in the game
Until you build people.

You are not building legacy
Until your people build people.

Dream bigger.
Recruit consistently.
Build something that outlives you.

Transcript:

Thank you. All right. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. I got excited. Thank you. Thank you. Ginger. Thank you, thank you. I got excited. Seriously. Seriously. Seriously, seriously. Listen, if you are not excited, something’s going with you. Would you guys agree with that, man, listen, I’m so excited to be here with you guys. John said it pretty well. It’s amazing. 27 years ago, while driving a taxi. Somebody asked me if I want to make some money part time. And I said yes. He come to this thing. He changed my life completely. Today is not about me. But I’m going to talk about a few things. Then I’m going to do something with my hierarchy. Because we’re so excited about it. Let’s put your hand together for all the superstars in the house, man. We love you guys.

It’s amazing. Guys, listen. Honestly, they’ve asked me to talk about and get in the game. It’s amazing because I was in Primerica for twelve years. But I was not in the game. You probably said, how come you’ve been on for Primerica? You are not in the game. Well, a lot of people put their iba in, go to school, get their license. They make little money. But they’re not really playing the primerica game. That’s not to my knowledge. Because if you come here, you get your license. It doesn’t matter which license you have. If you go out there, buy yourself, go make some money. You are not in real Primerica again. So tonight, I don’t want you to make the mistake that I made. It took me about twelve years to find out that we are primerica.

So tonight, I want you to make that decision yourself. To get involved in Primerica business. When you’re talking about Primerica business, what are we talking about? Let’s put the slides for you guys together right now. So we can see what I’m talking about. Well, if you really want to play Primerica game. You got to understand, you cannot be confused. I was confused. I was confused on small for big, slow for fast. I was totally confused. Because I used to drive a taxi myself. Making $25,000 a year. Coming to America. All I wanted make $2,000 a month. Well, if you really want to make a decision to change the game. You got to get involved in distribution system. All Primerica is talking about. Recruit, field training, premium promotion, cash flow. The only reason Primeca becomes so big. Because they’re focused on the distribution system.

So the question is to ask yourself right now. Do you have it working for you? If you are by yourself pretty much you are not in the game. How do you feel about like when somebody brings somebody in your team, are you more excited about the premium than just somebody who somebody. Because we understand once you do the recruits, you don’t get paid, but once you do the sales, you get paid. But you know what, as a leader. So your people following you. When that call, I say coach, I just close. You say, which one? You say premium, you just excited. But when they say recruit, you’re not that excited. Guess what? They’re going to go after the premium and bring it to you.

To my knowledge, the premium pay you right now, but the recruit is going to pay with tons of money in the future. You’re going to see it yourself. Do you have any recognition for them when somebody, could somebody bring people in the office that Joe talk about today? I mean, it’s time to go back in the office. I don’t know, Joe put it like in a nice way, but the realize you got to go back to the office, you got to go back. Well, this is a real friendship built to my knowledge. This is why you know your people problem face to face. You know them, you know they got problem. When their car break down, they can call, you can pick them up. This is when you give them the training.

You say, listen, don’t worry, we’re going to be a multimultimillionaire in this thing here and I believe you. Let’s go to the next one. Well, again, you can confuse a small for big. Go to the next one here. That’s the first one. All right. You got to keep the ladder recruiting on all the time, guys. Our businesses explode when we make the decision. The ladder of recruiting has to stay on. That’s why we have the t shirt. He says, well, keep the light of recruiting on all the time because we realize like some people, turn off, turn on, tin off, turn on. We’re not going to go anywhere. The mistake that I used to make, if I could somebody guess what, I quickly go to the cell. But when we switch, we talk about recruiting somebody for you first.

The mistake I used to make when I could a husband, I stick with the husband. Don’t get the wife involved. Now we understand if you don’t recruit the other partner in the business, you are not doing anything. You could put two, three years in somebody right now. You’re excited about them, you work with them. Guess what? And their wife don’t understand their business. Chargeback, show up. She said, honey, this thing is not for you. You can get them in the business. Let me tell, because she sleep with them, you don’t sleep with him. He’s going to listen to her, you understand? But if you could, the wife and you sell the vision to the wife, guess what? And some stretch back showing up, guess what’s going to happen. He gets home, he says, honey, I got chargeback today.

Guess what she’s going to say, honey, don’t worry, you’re going to get it tomorrow. Don’t make that mistake to record one. We could both. I used to ask, referral for sales. This is not easy. I close you, I said, who do you know right now? The insurance. You said, I got my auntie, I got my uncle. I said bring them in. And by the way, when I get to these people, they don’t even ask me to do the place. They say, give me same thing that we did for my uncle. This is an easy sell. You’re not working. They weren’t working. So once you take somebody, they come to your office. I says, coaches. And man, you better call the landlord right now because we’re going to build this.

Listen, we’re going to bring 100 people and tomorrow they don’t show up and you work with them for two, I mean, six months or eight months, you work, you give them everything you got. The day you think they’re going to be there for their quit on you, they don’t call you, they just text you. Let me tell the mindset you have, I don’t want to do it again because you’re going to do the same thing to me. That’s your superstar. You got to have enough courage to say, I know that, scoop me up already. But you’re going to be the next RVP. That’s where you work to me through goods. And you got to build a big base, guys, I’m in big base. I love what the top three premium do. You got to take a picture.

Do you make a decision, say, you know, I’m going to knock you out because this is a game you’re playing right now. Let’s go to the next one. You got to praise people. You got to make them feel good, always look positive. And guys, everybody has great things in them and bad things. If you’re looking for a bad thing, you’re going to find a bunch of them. But also if you’re going to look for good things, you’re going to find good stuff about people. When I joined Primer, I didn’t look at vice president. I didn’t look like somebody who can make $100,000 a year. But every time John Lavin see me say, sharma, you special and small elite, little by little, I start believing myself until it become reality. What you see right now, that’s not the shaman back there. That’s a money makeup.

People look good. You understand that? No. There is no ugly people on planet. You have money problem. Seriously. Because I’m looking my picture when I was 35 years old. And I’m looking my picture right now. I look way better now than when I was 35. Let me tell you. It’s very easy because I eat better. I do exist. I don’t eat any stuff. Okay. I used to go to poetry. I’m not against that. But I used to go there by three. $4 of chicken and rice. You know, when I start making someone, I said, no, I’m not going to go there anymore. My system doesn’t allow the bad stuff in my stomach anymore. You say prime, I change it. Well, when I was broke, my wife cooked all the time. When I started having money, we hired a chef to cook for me.

Listen, if you are not going to school, you’re not professional. You can cook for me. If you don’t, good, I fired you. You understand? I got to look. But listen, I used to go to the gym myself. Work out. Nothing. How? Guess what? I have personal coach to work with me. And then the muscles start coming. You see it every day. I look at that thing. I’m excited, man. Listen, father, change your life. You got to become a great communicator. Guys, your people, you got to communicate with them all the time. Listen, we have a system in our office. I wake up. I wake you up. Listen, I’m the one supposed to put you asleep because I’m going to be the last voice in your head. Because we’re going to same place. Yes.

Call your people in the morning, call them in afternoon, call them before they go to sleep. Let me tell you, because if any problem, you are the first one’s going to know about. Let’s go to the next one, please. Work ethic. You got to make a decision to go to work. Guys, listen, there is no freelancer. Art says you’re going to beat 50% of people if you decide to go to work. Most people are not working now. I’m an SNS immunizer listener. I mean, honestly, I don’t work. Okay, I’ll be honest. I don’t work because this is what I do. On Monday, I go to the office to check these things out. 12:00 go out and eat, take 1 hour lunch. My wife called me. We make some phone calls, go back only two days a week.

But if you try to get these things built, you cannot live like that. I truly believe if you want to get these things moving, you got to put 1214 hours a day. Average people in this country work for 8 hours a day, 40 hours a week to just pay the bills. These are tough. It is in this country. But if you come, you do the same thing. You’re just going to pay the bills. If you want to be rich, wealthy, you got to put the 1214 hours a day at least for five years straight to get it. But otherwise, you got to wait for somebody to take care of you. Competition, you got to have it in your blood. You got to piss stuff. You got to look at your life and say, you know what?

That’s not the life that I want for myself. Listen, this is what I mean. At some point, I was not happy about Charlman, okay? But we made a decision. Say, listen, we’re gonna do something different right now. I don’t care what people saying. All I know, I care about myself. Listen, when I go to the miwa, before I go to sleep, I look at that dude and I say, I’m so proud of you, Shalma. Regardless what people say, shalma care about Sharma. Shalma understands. Shalom. Go to work and pay the price. To be where I am right now, you gotta listen. If you are not excited, if you’re not happy where you make a decision, man. Let’s go to the next one, please. Listen, this state, why don’t you make a decision? You say, you know what? I’m going to be the top three.

Top three in the state, district, division, rationale leaders. Why don’t you make a decision? Because all the top three make the most money. In Primerica, they all went here, man, I love the last one. You got to become a dreamer again. Most people do not dream anymore. You got to sell the dream to yourself. Sell their dream to your teammates. Always be in charge. Always be part. There is nothing negative. Everything is positive. When I was broke, I got no money. Many times, many times I took my wife with me. I said, let’s go look at some beautiful houses. There’s Miami called a one a. It’s millions of dollars of properties. I always look at that, I say, honey, one day we’re going to live one of them. I was broke, I got no money.

Sometimes she laughed, sometimes she said, you’re going to make it. You know what? Thank God. Thank God, I didn’t give up. I stand it. Today we’re living on a million dollars house. It’s the dream come true. Guys, listen, I’m so excited about what Dave and his wife do for this organization. Shalom. I’m going to call right now. My rvps. We got about know when we joined this group here, we got nothing. I was the original leader or RVP when I started here and guess what? And then all these things happen. If we can have Emmanuel, esteven. Oh, marlene, Janet, come on stage please. Let’s have like, let’s put your hand together for the rVps. Marlene, emmanuel, esteven, David Buddhalis, David Buenalis, senator, tesla, santa, Jean Paul, Richard, Joseph, witness, Vanya Rampa, Chandel, messiah, Jose bellies. This is the first top ten.

If you guys can on stage right now. Let’s put their hands together for them, please. The second generation, the second generation. Let’s call right now. Let’s call right now. The second generation will call us. Billy G, one Elizabeth Fabian, la fortune, giselle. If we can have Angie, if we can have Jeed and Nikki. On stage please. Guys, come on stage. Come on stage now. All right, come guys, move fast. Get close, get close, get close. All right, now what you see right now, listen, you guys can squeeze a little bit, please. All right, what you see right now, this is icono that we built for the last 14 years. My first RVP promoted in November 2011. Dave and John, we want to thank you guys for all the hard work because you create environment for us to come here today.

We become SNSD million dollars earner, secular option. All this because you guys do the work and are we bringing people by bosses to come here today? This is what we have. We understand, we understand. This is the last school that you and your wife put together. We want to present this to you. This is all the rvps here. This is all of them signed here. We just want to thank you because you have a big heart. I was, I was making about 150,000 when you come here, you change it to a million dollars. You change all these people life. So we want you to know we love you. Thank you so much. On behalf of all these rvps here. Thank you. Thank you. We can let them go without giving them that t shirt that we could, we could. Is that right?

And then here say keep that out of we couldn’t own because you changed our lives. So we’re going to sign this year. I know, probably not going to wait, but at least put in your office. Dev. So this is for you. This is for you. Thank you, thank you, thank you. See, Dev, you know. You know, I mean, let me tell this vision right now. Let me tell. We came from in 2009, went to AARC. I was in Puerto, America for 13 years. At that time we didn’t have anything. We have a year. And went to the AARC and I saw a guy named Joe Ward. Joe was talking, he called all his RVP line up. Joe. And I said to myself, I need an organization just like that. Joe didn’t know. I said that was something like he gave me a vision.

Dev, today I’m so excited because not only Joe is here, but Joe experience what we have here, man. Again, we want to thank you, Joe, because you give us a vision. He made it happen. John, we want to thank you, man, again. So without you, none of this thing would happen. You better, wherever you are. Thank you. You better because you never give up. I love you guys. Thank you so much. This is just the beginning. We’re going to do something huge here. Thank you. Thank you, thank you.