Executive TLDR
Fueling Success with Purpose: Ryan transformed the sudden loss of his sister into a powerful “Why,” driving him to become someone his family could be proud of.
Sad vs. Angry: In the face of adversity, Ryan argues that “sad” people pout, while “angry” people use that energy to prove the doubters wrong and change their situation.
The 5% Perspective: Achieving RVP in five years may feel like a long time, but over a 100-year life span, it is only 5% of your life dedicated to securing the other 95%.
The Truth of Relationships: The business reveals who is “the real deal”—those who promised support during hard times but disappeared when asked for a field training appointment.
Zero Excuses: With so many successful examples in the business who have overcome even greater hardships, there is no valid excuse for staying dejected.
Video Summary In this deeply personal and moving session, Ryan Ciser recounts his five-year journey to becoming a Regional Vice President (RVP). His story is not one of easy wins, but of profound resilience in the face of back-to-back personal and professional trials. Ryan’s narrative begins at a crossroads: graduating college with a degree in Criminal Justice and the intent to follow his father into law enforcement, only to have his world upended by the unexpected passing of his sister.
Ryan describes this loss as the “worst experience of his life,” but it became the catalyst for his transformation. He made a solemn vow to his late sister, Nicole, to make her proud by becoming a better version of himself. This “Why” became his anchor when his post-college employer cut his promised pay in half, despite knowing his family’s tragic situation. At 23, with no sales skills and no people skills, Ryan joined his sister and brother-in-law in Primerica, starting part-time with nothing but a relentless drive to honor his family.
A key takeaway from Ryan’s talk is the “Sad vs. Angry” Emotional Choice. He observes that people facing hardship generally take one of two paths. Those who choose “sadness” often become stagnant, pouting over their circumstances. Those who choose “anger”—a productive, focused dissatisfaction with their current reality—use that energy to fuel their activity. Ryan used the skepticism of others (“Why are you doing finance? Why don’t you just settle?”) as fuel to prove that he would not accept a mediocre life.
Ryan also addresses the harsh reality of the Warm Market. He candidly shares the sting of reaching out to people who offered support at his sister’s wake, only to have them ignore his calls for a simple field training observation. Rather than becoming bitter, he used this as a filtering process to identify “who is the real deal” in his life. This clarity allowed him to focus his energy on building a new “Primerica family” of leaders and producers.
The session concludes with a mathematical perspective on the RVP journey. Ryan, now 27, views the five years it took to reach RVP as just 5% of a potential 100-year life. He encourages the audience to see the “long game.” If you can secure your financial future in just 5% of your time, you are left with a “95% charged battery” to live life on your terms. His message is a call to action: while it is okay to feel down or dejected, it is unacceptable to stay that way. Given the examples of others who have succeeded despite having it harder, Ryan asserts that there are no excuses left for those who truly want to change their future.
FAQs
Q: What major event changed Ryan Ciser’s career path? A: The unexpected passing of his sister right after he graduated college, which gave him a new sense of purpose to make his family proud.
Q: Why did Ryan choose Primerica over a career in law enforcement? A: After his sister’s death and being treated unfairly by a previous boss, he realized he wanted a life of freedom and success that he couldn’t achieve by “settling” for a traditional job.
: What is the difference between being “sad” and “angry” according to Ryan? A: Sadness leads to pouting and inaction; anger at one’s situation can be used as fuel to work harder and prove the skeptics wrong.
Q: How does Ryan view the five years it took him to reach RVP? A: He sees it as only 5% of a 100-year life—a small investment of time to ensure the other 95% of his life is successful.
Q: How did Ryan’s “warm market” react to his new business? A: Many who promised to support him during his grief did not answer his calls for business appointments, which taught him who his true supporters were.
Q: What was Ryan’s “Why” during his journey? A: His primary “Why” was his promise to his sister, Nicole, to become someone she would be ecstatic about and proud of.
Q: Did Ryan have sales experience before joining Primerica? A: No, he admits he had no people skills or sales skills when he started at age 23.
Q: What is Ryan’s advice to those feeling dejected? A: He says it’s okay to feel that way temporarily, but you cannot stay that way because your life depends on you changing your mindset and taking action.
Q: Why does Ryan say there is “no excuse” for failure in this business? A: Because there are countless examples of people within the company who have faced even harder challenges and still managed to “crush it” in business.
Q: How old was Ryan when he reached RVP? A: He reached the RVP level at 27 years old.
Q: How does Ryan suggest we should live every day? A: With the awareness that we only have one life and we should be working toward a future that our loved ones would be proud of.
Q: What does the “95% charged battery” represent? A: It represents the vast majority of your life that remains to be lived in freedom after you’ve spent the initial years building your business.
Glossary
RVP (Regional Vice President): The milestone leadership level in Primerica that signifies independence and the ability to earn overrides on a team.
Warm Market: Friends, family, and acquaintances that a new representative typically contacts first.
Field Training Observation: A process where a new recruit watches an experienced leader conduct a financial presentation.
Pouting: A term Ryan uses for staying in a state of sadness or victimhood without taking action to change the situation.
The Long Game: The strategy of looking at life and business over a span of decades rather than just weeks or months.
Crushing It: A slang term for achieving high levels of success and production in the business.
Transcript:
Guys, hasn’t this been a great meeting? We’ve got some great takeaways, but what I want to do is just take a second and just give you the last five years of my life. I’ve been in Primerica for about five years now, just hit RVP. Things are getting exciting, but things were definitely not all that exciting. So I went to school as a criminal, just assist major. I wanted to follow my father’s footsteps. Being a police officer, I graduated college. Kind of not sold on that path. What happened was that I graduated college, and then one of the worst days of my life occurred. Unfortunately, five years ago, my sister unexpectedly passed away as soon as I graduated college. And what I did when that happened, worst experience of my life, it changed me forever. What I said to her, I said, listen, Nicole, I’m going to make you proud, because isn’t that the best thing that we could do for our loved ones, right?
Just make them proud. Be somebody better than who they once knew you as. So June of 2018. May of 2018, I graduate college. June of 2018. My sister passed away totally unexpectedly, and my boss, he paid me half of what he originally promised me, also knowing about my family situation. So I was 23 years old in a very tough position. So and what do you do in a tough position like that? You join your brother in law and sister in the greatest company on this planet. I started part time. I didn’t know anything. I had no people skills, no sales skills. I had nothing. But what I did know is that I wanted to make my sister proud and I wanted to make my family proud. I wanted to make everybody who loved me around me proud. I had people who showed up to my sister’s wake, hug me, crying with me, saying, hey, listen, if you need anything, I’m there for you.
I call them for a field training observation. I get no answers from them. I’m grateful for this company. The reason why is that I can see who is the real deal in my lifetime. And, you know, you can get sad or you could get angry. You have two kinds of choices. I notice sad people just kind of pout and don’t do anything after that. So are you sad or are you angry? Are you angry about this situation going, you know what? I’m going to prove them know, they said that I couldn’t do this. Oh, you’re getting into finance. Why are you doing that? Why don’t you just settle? Why don’t you just settle, Ryan? Just do what everyone else is doing who graduated college. I don’t agree with that. That’s not going to be my life. That’s not something that my sister would be ecstatic about.
That’s not something that people would be proud of. As far as I know, we have one life. How do you want to live it. How do you live every day? If you live till you’re 100? Get the RVP in five years, that’s 5% of your life. I look at it this way. Hey, if I had a battery that was 95% charged, I’d have a very positive battery. So I’m very excited, guys. Being 27 years old, being an RVP, this is definitely the beginning of something greater. And I want to let you know, if you’re feeling down, if you’re feeling maybe dejected, that’s totally fine. You can feel that way, but you can’t stay that way because life has to change for you. What do you want for your future? There’s too many great examples among us of people who crush it. In business, you have no excuse.
People who have had it harder have succeed here. So what is your excuse in general? You can’t have those excuses, man. You cannot accept that for your life. Because if you live till you’re 100, what do you want your life to look like? You have a long life ahead of you. It’s time to change it. Thank you, everybody.
