Executive TLDR
Your background does not determine your outcome — perseverance does.
Stop blaming hierarchy and start building from the mirror.
Shift from employee mindset to entrepreneur mindset.
Market yourself daily — control your pipeline.
Adversity is the villain; your job is to keep going.
Video Summary
In this powerful leadership session inside Primerica, Tiki and Fritz Squire deliver a raw, transparent message centered on perseverance, ownership, and mental toughness. Tiki opens by challenging leaders to stop blaming hierarchy and instead “plant where you are.” She shares her upbringing in a low-to-middle income family, growing up in the projects, navigating single motherhood, and repeatedly going back to school in pursuit of stability — earning degrees in education, therapy, and nursing while juggling multiple jobs. Despite working relentlessly, she still lacked financial freedom. When introduced to Primerica, she initially said no multiple times, not out of doubt but because she couldn’t see how to fit one more thing into her schedule. What changed her mind was observing transformation — the confidence and growth in the friend who kept following up. A canceled nursing class due to a snowstorm became the pivot moment that led her to attend a meeting and get started.
She transitions into a key business principle: marketing yourself. Most reps fail to treat Primerica like a real business because they operate from a W-2 mindset instead of a 1099 entrepreneurial mindset. From childhood, people are conditioned to follow schedules and authority structures; entrepreneurship requires urgency, visibility, and initiative. Tiki emphasizes filling the pipeline consistently through face-to-face prospecting, social media, networking, referrals, and everyday conversations. She reframes prospecting as empowerment — when you generate your own leads, you control your destiny. She also challenges leaders not to chase titles prematurely. RVP is not about status; it’s about building systems, promoting districts, writing meaningful premium, and developing people. The goal is a big, thriving base shop where chairs are never empty and momentum is constant.
Using a superhero analogy, she explains that every hero has a villain whose sole purpose is to stop them. In business, villains appear as doubt, financial hardship, unsupportive voices, health challenges, or setbacks. Their job is opposition; your job is perseverance. Success requires mental toughness when adversity shows up.
Fritz follows with his own journey, sharing how he started over 16 years ago making $4.75 an hour delivering pizza. He couldn’t initially afford the startup fee and was followed up with for months before finally joining. He failed his licensing exam multiple times before passing and later earned his securities licenses. He recalls being broke, arguing over overdraft fees, getting locked out of his apartment for unpaid rent, and field training recruits while his car broke down. Yet quitting never entered his mind. His focus remained on reaching Regional Vice President.
He outlines practical RVP development principles: master leadership skills, show up consistently, write at least $8,000 in personal premium monthly, recruit in double digits, promote districts, become fully securities licensed including the 26, win company trips, and build people skills. He emphasizes mentorship, resilience under pressure, and learning to run strong meetings. He also contrasts Primerica with traditional businesses — no inventory, no payroll, no overhead, no cash handling, no seasonality, and unlimited income potential — highlighting how rare the opportunity truly is.
Together, their message is simple but powerful: the difference between those who win and those who don’t is not talent or background — it’s the refusal to quit. Keep marketing. Keep building. Keep showing up. When adversity hits, don’t fold. Perseverance turns struggle into legacy.
FAQs
What is the core theme of their message?
Perseverance through adversity while building a real business mindset.
Why did Tiki initially say no to Primerica?
She couldn’t see how to fit another commitment into her already overloaded schedule.
What changed her decision?
Seeing personal growth and transformation in the person who kept following up with her.
What mindset shift is required for success?
Transitioning from a W-2 employee mindset to a 1099 entrepreneur mindset.
Why is marketing yourself important?
Visibility builds pipeline, and pipeline creates control over your business.
What is the “villain” analogy about?
Adversity exists to test and attempt to stop you — your job is to push through it.
What are key requirements to reach RVP?
Consistent recruiting, premium production, district promotions, leadership development, and full securities licensing.
How does Primerica compare to traditional businesses?
It offers low overhead, no inventory, no payroll burden, and unlimited income potential.
What separated them from others who quit?
They kept going despite financial hardship and setbacks.
What is the ultimate takeaway?
Your story is still being written — perseverance determines the ending.
Glossary
RVP Regional Vice President
A leadership position responsible for building and overseeing a distribution organization.
Base Shop
The core local office or team where recruiting, training, and production occur.
1099 Mindset
Entrepreneurial thinking focused on ownership, initiative, and performance-based income.
Pipeline
A steady flow of prospects, recruits, and clients that drives consistent production.
District Promotion
Advancing a team member to district leader level as part of organizational growth.
Securities Licensing 6 63 26
Investment licenses that expand income streams and leadership capability within the business.
Transcript:
Oh, man. You’re going to come up here, you’re going to say, all right, I guess I’m going first. All right, awesome. Thank you so much, Joe and Denise, for allowing us to be here. This is an awesome opportunity. And you guys got a kick ass hierarchy. Give your hierarchy a round of applause, right? I mean, sometimes we think, like, the grass is greener on the other side, but it’s actually greener where you plant it, right? And I’ve heard that many times. I hear a lot of people, they complain about the hierarchy they in or the base shop they in or if this person would do or this thing would do. But you are part of that base shop. So whatever you want in that base shop to happen, put the mirror in front of yourself like you are that ticker. Nothing will happen unless you make it happen, right?
And I heard some leaders speak a little bit about that. But before I get into a little bit about what I’m going to speak about, I wanted to talk a little bit about my story because a lot of people don’t know my story. I’m a partner, but a lot of times they hear Fritz’s story because I’m the partner and he’s a lead agent. But a little bit about how I grew up. So I grew up in a family that was low to middle income family. So some of the people in my family was like nurses, and some people in my family was like living in a project. You get what I’m saying? So my grandma was like a nurse, but then my mom grew up in this family where I created my own name for them. Anybody ever heard of the name called Bougie Broke?
Yeah. That’s the family I grew up in. A lot of know a lot of flashy, but no cashy. I heard somebody say that right on the outside. They drove BMWs and they slipped great poupon with their pinky, but nothing in their bank account, right? So my mom somehow, some way, I think she was trying to find love in all the wrong places, but met my dad and then they struggled and she lived a hard life with that. She’s still living, thank God, but she lived a hard life with that, right? So we grew up in the projects like her kids. We grew up in the projects. We was like the people to point at the show like you’ll never be nothing in life type people in the family. These are the grandkids that live in the projects. And I was one of those grandkids. But I’m a middle child, and I think when you’re a middle child, anybody here like a middle child?
I think we have a special role if you’re a middle child, and that is to do absolutely nothing. And the reason why I say that is because you have a lot of times no feelings towards anything middle children, you’re very indifferent in your feelings, and you just see all the problems in a family because nobody ever talks to you. And the reason why is because I had an older sister, right? And she was always getting in trouble. So if you are troublemaker, where do the parents attention go? To the trouble, right? And then I had a younger brother who was always sick. Like, he was in and out the hospital. He had, like, respiratory problems. So where did the other tension go? To the sick child. So if it was the minister society or the sick child, I fell somewhere in between. Hi, honey. I’m glad you’re still living.
See you later. So you kind of, like, attach on and try to kind of make it happen in your own way, and you figure things out. So if you’re a middle child, man, big up to the middle kids, you figure it out, right? So I grew up in that family. What I did wanted to do was I knew that I wanted to get out the family. Anybody in here want to get out their family? All right, so college was my outlet. I’m like, yeah, I’m going to go there. That’s where I’m going to go, because I get to live somewhere else besides here, right? So I left for college, went to school to be an educator, a teacher. And also, I knew that I wanted to own a business, but my ideal to have a business was kind of like to be a principal and own, like, these schools.
The bottom line is I wanted to make 100 grand. Every career path I looked at, I didn’t see where I could make 100 grand. But I’m like, if I work two careers, I could get it right. So that was smart to me. And I want you guys to interact with me a little bit, because I like when I speak in this interaction, right? So every time while I’m telling my story, I tell you when I went back to school, just put a finger up for every time I tell you I went back to school, okay? So I went to school. That’s the first finger. Thank you, guys. Oh, you guys are so good. I went to school, and it was for my bachelor’s degree in education and business, and I graduated from Drexel University, if anybody ever heard of that in Philadelphia, blah, blah, all the good stuff.
It’s an Ivy League college and all this other stuff, right? Because that’s what they told you. I became a teacher. I taught for a little bit. Anybody ever heard a bad teacher? That was me. I wasn’t a bad teacher, but I was always late. That was my problem. I heard somebody say that, too. Don’t give up on the late people. I’d still be late, right? But I was always late. And the reason why I was late, because I was a single mother I had a son while I was in college, which you guys see, and I was a single mother at the time, and I had no support. So I was either picking him up from school late or dropping him off and late to my class. Any teachers in here? If you late to your class, where’s your kids at? In the auditorium. Who’s watching the kids?
The principal? If the principal is watching the kids, who’s upset? Any principals in okay. I’m like Joe. He was like, any tax know IRS, right? Any principals in here? So the principal would be standing just like this Hatika. You can’t keep being late. I’m like, I’m so, you know, you want to, like, hurry, scurry along. And that was kind of like me. I’m like, oh, crap. But I didn’t say crap. I say, like, the other word. That was a better word. And I was like, if I don’t figure something out, I’m going to be what, fired? So I’m like, okay, I got to figure something else out. I need something with flexibility, right? So I went back to school again. No, I’m on two. All right. Thank you. I went back to school again to become a therapist so I could be more like a mobile therapist.
I was a behavior therapist. I did that for six years. Very rewarding. Worked with all type of children that had disabilities. But the main point was experiencing some type of trauma or whatever, and they couldn’t function in natural environment. And I did that, and I loved it. It was the flexibility I need. But I had a problem, and the problem was what love had to do with it. Tina Turner said. Right? And the reason why I say that, because I needed to make more money. So I’m like, dag. I like what I do now? I got, like, the flexibility, but I don’t have no goddamn money. So I reached in my back pocket because I paid my way through college, and I had a little certification called a CNA. Anybody ever heard, like, a nurse assistant? All right, so I became a nurse assistant at night.
So by day, I was a behavior therapist, and at night, I was a certified nurse assistant, okay? And I worked at a rehab center. So I would get done with work around 03:00, have my scrubs in my trunk, go to a nurse assistant I mean, to a rehab center, and guess what? Work. So my friend hooked me up with that job, and she was a nurse, okay? So you know what she asked me? She was like, Tea, why you leave your profession and come here for these peanuts? Guess what? Because I needed an extra $1000 to $1,500 a month. So you know what she said? She said, Why don’t you just go back to school and become, like, an LPN or a nurse or something? And I’m like, well, how much do nurses make here? She was like, $50 an hour. I say, sign me up.
All right, $15 versus 50. I’ll do it. So I went back to school again, right, so I could become an RN. And I was in school. This is accelerated program. Eleven months to become an RN. And guess what? Somebody going to come to me and tell me about some Primerica. Tell me, join Primerica. I’m working three jobs. I’m in school to be a nurse. And they told me, do Primerica. I’m a behavior therapist by day, a nurse assistant at night. On the weekends. Oh, I forgot to tell you guys about my hustle. I was doing party planning. Like, putting the little parties together. Like, I’ll set up a room like this, but not this big, because I wasn’t that big, but you know what I mean? I’ll be the person that put the stuff on the table and do the little name tags or little favors and stuff.
And I did that on the weekends just for some extra cash. I was a hustler. Anybody you know, that’s a hustler? And you meet them and say, oh, they working two, three jobs. They’re like, oh, they too busy. No, they not. My friend told me about Primerica, and guess what? I told her no. And it wasn’t no because I’d heard about Primerica or I didn’t like Primerica and all these different things. It was just that I couldn’t find out how I’m gonna fit anything else on my plate. I couldn’t figure out how I’m gonna put anything else on my plate. So I told her no. And guess what? She followed up, and I told her no again. And guess what? She followed up, and I told her no again. I told her no about four times. So you have some people in your warm market that have said no to you, and it hurt your feelings.
You need to go back and ask them again, right? So you know what happened? I always know I’m destined to be in prime America no matter what, because it wasn’t only me saying no, but I was watching her. And I seen her change, and I seen her start dressing different, and I seen her start acting different, and I seen her start talking different, and I’m looking at her like, okay, I see she changing, okay? But still no. I got my nurse thing I’m going to do. But I’m watching. I’m seeing her watching. And you know what happened? One day, right while I was finishing up my classes that winter, a snowstorm came, and I went to this school that they never canceled classes, like, ever. It could have been a bulldozer rolling up to the school. They would never cancel classes. They had a sign on the door that said, evening classes is canceled.
Okay. Evening classes is canceled. And the snowstorm did not even come yet. I thought that I was in twilight zone. I’m like, this can’t be real. So I went to my professor office and he said, Tika? Yes. The evening class is canceled. Do It. And he was telling me, like, what homework to catch up on. And that was it. So usually when I have a snowstorm, I say I was a single mom. I would go to that same friend who told me about Primerica hang at her house for a little bit and her know because the kids is not going to drive me nuts in the house they’re going to drive each other. So I would let my son play with her son. I had a strategy. You see that? So I called her and I said, ring, ring. Hey, girl. I’m heading to the market.
What is it that you need from the market? I’m going to head to your house afterwards. And you know what she said? She said, you always welcome at my house, but I’m not going to be there. I said. Well, where are you going? It’s a snowstorm. And she got silenced. And she said, I’m going to my Primerica meeting. And I could just see her neck rolling through the phone. Okay? Like I done told you be that I’m in business for myself. I could feel the attitude through the phone. I said. Oh, really? She said. Really? I said, Well, I’m coming too, right? And I sat down to a meeting and I joined Primerica and I got started. That’s how I got here, right? So don’t lose hope in the people that told you no. Okay. Stick with them. They might just be one of your biggest players.
Okay. But I want to fast forward because I just want to drop some nuggets on you guys. So that gives you a little bit about my story. If you want to hear some increment details about how I met Fritz, I’ll tell you later. I just met the guy at a convention somewhere along the line. All Right? So look at this, right? What I want to talk to you guys really quick about is I know the whole point in the leadership school is what you need to do to get the RVP. And what is it that we’re doing? Everybody have great stories in prime America? You’re creating your story right now. My story is still being built. Okay. Because when I get to a million, I’m going to have a better story. Right? But what I want to talk to you guys about is branding yourself and marketing.
And I think a lot of times we don’t look at prime America like it’s a business. You guys are very professional. You probably look at Primerica like it’s a business. But in my business, don’t look at Primerica like it’s a business. Right? So I think the biggest challenge that you have is transitioning your mind from a w two mindset to a 1099 mindset, especially when you’ve been in corporate real. So anybody here over 18, raise your hand. All right? That was a trick question. All right, so let’s say this. For at least 18 years of conditioning, you’ve been conditioned before you even knew you was conditioned to work as an employee. You guys got that, all right? Most people, unless you part of the 1% and your dad is like Warren Buffett, and that’s your uncle down the line, and he let you in on a golf club and all that good stuff.
But most of the people was conditioned before you was conditioned. So let’s talk about that real quick. When you went to school, what days you went to school, what days, what time? All you guys got different times. Around about seven to three, eight to four, maybe nine to four, something like that, right? Right. And then what days you have off Saturday and Sundays. And then when you grow up and you finish with high school, right. What time do you start going right into your corporate world? What time? Most people work Monday through Friday, eight to five. So from about five or six years old, you’ve been conditioned to have that same schedule. And then you join Prime America, and they have trainings at night, and your brain is tired and they’re screaming. And you was taught to be quiet, right? Everything is opposite of what you was taught since you were six years old.
And I hear Keith Fatto say this a lot. Patience was a sense of urgency. And when he say that, I know it’s for the recruit, but it’s also for you. You being patient with yourself and understand you’re in your growth journey. And a lot of times we get frustrated with our own selves, and we take our own self out the game. Do that make sense? Like, we take our own self out the game. It’s not the recruits. Sometimes it’s not the clients. In order for you to be the best builder, like, one of the roles that I do in my business opportunity in Prime America is I’m a builder. I’m a full heart holder. You cut me open, builder. What does a builder think about people? What do a builder want to do all the time? Talk to people. I love talking to people, and I love building people up.
I’m a full, wholehearted builder. I will go to the end of the earth for my people, so they go in. I have no limitations. It even drive my husband nuts sometimes. I have no limitations. He come home sometimes, like, six people in our house, like, Dude, hell they doing here? They live in here for a little bit. Don’t worry. I get them out in a few weeks. We got this. It’s going through a rough patch. You’re like, what the hell? I see them at the office in my home. But it’s like, you do whatever it takes to help your people, right? So the first thing is you got to understand that you in the business, and the number one thing you need to do in business is you got to market. Anybody ever heard of the artist called Ashanti? Anybody? Okay. Everybody heard of Ashanti?
She got back with Nellie and all that good stuff, right? Ashanti, right? I think she’s pretty. I think she got a nice body, and I think she got a nice voice. Anybody heard of Beyonce? Anybody heard of Rihanna? What’s the difference between those two artists? The way that the company marketed them? That’s it. When I look at it, I think that Ashanti could have been Beyonce. I think she could have been Rihanna, but she wasn’t marketed right. So at the end of the day, you got to ask yourself in your business, how are you marketing your business? Is it every day, all day? Everywhere you go, you are walking, talking billboard, and most of the time it’s no. So that’s why nobody don’t know what you do. You need to wear people out with Primerica. Like, we got this lady on our team and her daughter, they call her the Primerica police.
I’m like that’s, right? I’m like that’s, right? At least they know who to go to. At least they know, right? So here’s the thing. You got to be marketing yourself, right? The next thing you got to do is sometimes when we get to an RVP, level this for the RVPs a little bit, we got to just humble ourselves and just fill up the pipeline. But what happened is, when we become RVPs, we want to be like this perfect leader. Mr. Peabody oh, I don’t do this no more. I’m not in the base shop. This is for division leaders. And we get all caught up in all these titles when the work don’t change. Like, some of the time when I’m talking to my leaders in my base shop, I’m like, okay, you’re rushing to go to RVP. Okay, let’s look at your numbers. Last month, you did one by one.
The month before that, you did zero by one, and you think you should be RVP. All right here. And I say you got your RVP contract. Congratulations. You got 110%. Now go run the base. Or what you want me to talk about? You figure it out. Oh, well, you did 1000 in premium, so you got 110% on that thousand. How much you made as an RVP? Well, let’s do the math. Okay. Okay, so at an RVP, you made 100 for the month. Congratulations. Do you got the ring? Did you make any money? So how about while you in the base shop and you have the support of the base shop and you practice your craft and you work on getting better and you grow yourself, work on those things? So when you get to RVP, you can have a machine that’s running, a system that’s running, and stop worrying about the title, the title.
The title that’s also a corporate mindset, right? The title. We get so hung up on titles, I make a joke. I’m like, the longer the title, the less they pay you, okay? They got to make you feel good in some type of way. You are the executive assistant of the corporation of stock market of this branch. I’m the executive assistant. That make how much, right? They got to make you feel good in some way. So you got to know. And marketing is big. And I think that’s the first initial thing that you got to do when you want to build a business is you got to market yourself. And a lot of times, we don’t want to market ourselves. We just like people to refer us. We just like to get things through a certain way, and that’s all good, and it could be comfortable, but sometimes we got to get out there, and we got to market ourselves, right?
The different ways that we can market ourselves is social media. And I heard somebody speak about that face to face. That’s the one that people cringe about the face to face. Why do you know, the two things that God gave us that no other species have is intellect and the communication, verbal communication. No other species in the whole animal hierarchy have that to talk and articulate what you want. So why do we look at it like it’s such a downer that we get to talk to people? Think about it like this, right? You talk to people on your deli runnings anyway. Anybody ever talk to somebody? Why are you out and about? Right? So when you out and about, especially if you have kids, anybody have young kids? People think all kids is cute. I beg to differ. But people think all kids are cute, okay?
And they always tell your kid is cute. Sometimes they tell me my kid is cute. I’m like, she do not look cute right now. Her hair is not done. Her nose is snotty. She’s not cute. But okay, you want to say she cute? All right. Got it. But what I’m saying is people always think your kid is cute. People compliment people. We live in New York. People need directions. People lost. They don’t know what owl the potato mixes in. People always communicating. But what happens is when people communicate with us, we give them what they want, and we let them leave. What I want you to start looking at is that you’re a valuable person in this room, everybody in this room. If you just got registered today, you’re worth at least $250 an hour for your time. That’s what I want you to think about if you just got started.
So here’s what I want you to think. When somebody come into your proximity to talk to you, they have to pay. If you want to ask a lawyer, right? A question, a consultation, don’t they have to pay for your time. Exactly. I want you to think the same way. So when somebody come and ask you something, how are they paying? They have to pay with a phone number. Like, I didn’t help you. Now guess what? You won’t help me. So the best transitional word is by the way. Anybody can say that. By the way. Excuse me. By the way, notice is weird. You happen to know anybody looking for some extra income? Oh, really? How about yourself? It’s okay being weird, right? So face to face, another thing is friendship forming, ladies, this is my favorite way to prospect. Anybody ever, like, shop? Yeah, go shopping.
What are you doing today? Shopping. What are you doing today? Shopping. What are you doing? Shopping. Shopping for who? People get a little cart, roll around, right? You guys all notice. I’m sure your leaders tell you this all the time, right? Networking events. I just heard Grace Kim talk about that on the call. She talked about networking events. I’m like, hey, I might add that to my repertoire, right? Schools, churches, police stations. That’s another one. See, some people scared to go in the police station, but now you could go in there with a purpose. You’ll get that on your way home, right? Fire departments, right? Listen, as I close out, the biggest thing I want you guys to understand is we just got to change our mindset, and we got to get back to that mindset of having a big bay shop. And I think a lot of times, because we rush RVP, we don’t talk about it no more.
We don’t talk about it enough. Like having a big base shop. And the way that we do it is a lot of times we got to get up as the leaders, and we got to lead from the front, and we just got to fill the pipeline, go out and say, you know what? I can’t prospect every day. I can’t do this based off my schedule. But you know what I’m going to do today? I’m going to make my day clear. Where I’m going to just go, and I’m going to go meet some people like that’s. My number one priority is just to fill up the pipeline. I fill up my pipeline. It’s okay to call your clients. Add that. It’s okay to call your family and ask them referrals. Add that. But think about it. When you call a client and you call a referral, you’re still limited.
You’re limited to what they’re willing to give you. Would you agree? But when you go out there and you get it for yourself, it’s unlimited. It’s like a buffet. You could talk to whoever you want, whenever you want, and you could control your activity. This is why I love prospecting, because I don’t want to have to beg anybody or nobody control my success in Primerica. And I got to be like this perfect person. And then they see me on Instagram doing what I want to do, and then they want to say, you know what? Don’t talk to my cousin. You get what I’m saying? Not saying that’s my instagram, but what I’m saying is, if they don’t agree with something in your family or they don’t agree with something that is your views, people can also snatch the rug under your feet. That’s how I think.
So I know that I still want to control a portion of my business, right? And don’t get me wrong. It’s all good. But I’m just saying, add these things, right? So we got to get back to a big base shop mindset. And I think that when you’re marketing yourself and this is what I talked to my team about that help you build that big base shop. We should never have empty chairs. We should never have a meeting where people not showing up. People should be lining up at the door to hear from these leaders right here. These leaders have the ticket to make million dollars. Is nobody else teaching them how to do that? I don’t care if your job, you make 100 or $200,000. Guess what? That’s another thing that we pull from under your foot whenever they feel like it. Right? Here’s what I want you guys to think about.
All right? Anybody like superhero movies? All right, imagine this. And I’m bringing Fritz up. All right? Imagine this as I close out, you’re a superhero. Everybody close your eyes for a second. You’re a superhero, everybody. Okay, now open it. Think about your superhero who you like batman, Catwoman, whatever you like, right? You’re a superhero. And what makes the movie so good is because they have another player in that superhero movie. Do you guys know who the other player is? There you go. It’s called the villain. Now, I googled this while I was sitting here because I knew it was part of my talk. I want to read this definition to you really quick. What is the job of the villain? The job of the villain is to stop the opponent. Right? Where is it at? I had it. To stop the opponent from whatever it is they’re trying to do.
So I read it. The villain job. Why did it go away? Damn phones. Well, here we go. The villain purpose is to serve as an opposition to the hero character. Their whole job is to just stop you. They don’t care what they got to do, how many ends of the world they got to go to. Their whole job is just to stop you from what it is that you’re supposed to be doing. That’s it. How hard are they working if that’s their whole job, to stop you from doing what you’re supposed to be doing? You join Primerica. That’s, to me, a God given opportunity. And then what happens is, you have these villains come in your life, and. You start to question if Primerica work or not. And your villains could be anybody. It could be your wife, it could be your husband, it could be your kids, it could be a disease, it could be a job, it could be anything.
And their whole purpose is to stop you from getting that total freedom and for you, because the lives that you’re going to change after you get to where you need to be, that’s the whole job. And you have to get a little tougher, and you have to understand that’s the role. So when Adversity hits you guys, I want you to stand strong and I want you to keep pressing through. Okay, guys, thank you so much. I hope you got something out of what I wanted to talk about. All right, please help me welcome my partner, Fish, your choir.
All right, let’s give Tiki began. Great job, right? All right, I got, like, two minutes. I’m just kidding, right? Very excited, man. First of all, I want to thank Joe and Denise. And not only that, I’m sure there was a collective decision with the RVPs and just to actually invite us and have us here. We don’t take that lightly. When someone asks us to speak, obviously see something in us. And I think for me, the biggest thing out of everything is the relationship that you built with these people like Joe and Denise and Paul. I see Barone, and I remember Barone used to come to Brooklyn, and I was like a rep or senior rep, and he was speaking. I was getting motivated by those talk. That when he do training. And we appreciate those moments, because those are the moments that build us and make us and mold us to be the person we are today.
And then in return, we asked Joe if you could bring a couple of people. So we had about ten people that came out with us. We got Rosemary. She just got licensed. Let’s give her a big hand. We got Clayton. Stand up, Clayton. Clayton just got licensed as well. Funny story about Clayton. Clayton says, I don’t want to work with nobody else. I just want to work with you and show him what I got to do. Go to RVP. He’ll definitely be an RVP in the next at least twelve months. That’s the game plan we got him on. And we got Omar. Omar just got licensed as well. And then we got Douglas. He’s actually a regional leader right now, but yesterday, just yesterday, he actually passed his 26th license, right? So he’s getting ready to go to RVP. So we’re excited about them, man.
And we’re just excited, man. We’re just excited to get to another level. I started Primerica, literally. Now it’s been over 16 years now. I came from a background where, like I said, I used to devil pizza for a living. I used to work at Domino’s Pizza. Okay? And I was making $4.75 an hour. Can you imagine making $4.75 an hour? I never forget this. I got a raise. You know what my raise was? Somebody said it 25 cent. I was so happy. I called my mom. I’m getting a raise, right? My raise was 25 cent. And I went to New York City Tech, downtown Brooklyn, and I was studying computer information system. And so that was my path. I was going to go to college. I was going to eventually go in a computer major. And I met someone in college. They woke up to me and asked me if I know someone’s looking for work.
And kind of weird, right? Someone just walk up to you and ask for know, someone looking for work. And in return, I’m like I look at like, you know, how did they know to speak to know? So we exchanged numbers, and he called me a couple days later. And at that time, I had to admit I’m like, yeah, man, I’m the guy. I’m looking for something better. So I never forget he invited me down to an interview. And it was like a Tuesday night or Tuesday night, but on the same night of the Op meeting, it happened to be PFSU. So I saw a bunch of people that were sitting just in the same in the lobby here. And then they all got up, and I got up with them and I went to I’m thinking was the interview. So I sat actually, I sat into a room where there was a teacher that was teaching.
I never forget it. They said, Turn off your cell phone. So I turn off my cell phone, of course, right? And I was in student mode, right? I was a student. So I literally started taking notes. And I was focused. I’m like, maybe this is the way for me to get the job, and they’re going to have questions after. So I was focused. So 2 hours later after the first break, I turned my phone on and I got a voicemail message from Chris H on. And he says, hey, budy, we’re supposed to meet up today. I’m not sure what happened, but I’m here. I’m like, didn’t you saw that I signed in? Like, what’s going on? So I literally call him back. And I’m going, I’m here. Didn’t you see that I signed in? He’s like here. Where? Right? And I’m like, I’m in a class.
And he’s like, what class? And literally I know I was sitting PFSU and I had the book, and I was leaving with the book. And he goes, Where are you going with the book? I’m like, Can I take the book? He’s like, all right, go ahead and take the book. And he said something magical. He said, Why don’t you come back on Saturday and I’m going to hire you. And usually Domino’s Pizza the weekend. Saturday is just the best day. Even though you get paid $4.75. The more hours you do, you get tips. So I never could come on a Saturday because the guy tried to invite me before. I’m like, no, I can’t do Saturdays. But he says something magical, I’m going to hire you. So I’m like, sure, I’m taking all. And I showed up to the out meeting, and I loved the business.
Never thought it was a scam. Never thought nothing. But I just didn’t have the money. It was $199 back then to get started. So Chris H. Young, literally, he followed up with me for about three months, and this follow up skill was, hey, bud, how are you doing? Right? Nothing crazy. Never invite me back to a meeting or nothing like that. And then three months later, after I save up the money, all right? Could you just imagine making $4.75 an hour? Took me, like, three months. Finally got the 199, right? I didn’t have a bank account. I actually came in with a money order, and I submitted my paperwork, and I got started, and that’s how I got started in prime America. So now we got to the time I was taking a test, right? And I thought I was, like, an average student, but this one was different, because when you got to take the state, you can’t look at your neighbor paper.
You know what I’m saying? So literally, after taking the test over and over again, okay? And this is a disclaimer. If you’re new, you’re not licensed. Test is not that hard. But after taking the test over ten times, I finally pass, all right? And then they say, you got to take another exam. I’m like, oh, shit. You got to get your investment license. And then about five years later, I remember actually doing this. I remember Paul I think Paul had a class with Jeff Thorpe, and I came to that class. I don’t know if any of you guys remember. And that was the class that did it. I came to that class, and I took the train from Brooklyn to the class, and we got through that test. And so grateful for that was able to do that. So if you look at it for a second, every once in a while, you have the fear.
The whole thing is like, when do you share your story? Right? Because you don’t want to share too soon, right? And your story that you’re going to go through. Whatever you’re going to go through in life, you’re supposed to go through it for a reason. And I just remember literally not having the money in your bank account. Anyone ever been broke? I remember arguing with the bank about the overdrive fee. I’m like, you guys gave me overdrive fee. You knew I didn’t have no money in the account. Why did you give me another overdrive fee? You know what I’m saying? And they go, okay. They’re going to waive it. And then they waived a couple of times. And I remember one time, the bank says, well, we gave you so many waves already, we can’t give them a wave. Okay? But I remember going through that, right?
I remember you pull up at the gas station, right, and you got, like, quarters to put in your gas tank. I remember one time we was field training. I was field training this guy. He’s a Haitian guy, right? I’m like, yeah, man, we’re going to do this, right? And this crazy story happened. So I’m training him, and the car broke down. So imagine you’re selling somebody in the dream, you’re going to be a vice president. And my car broke down. So I pull over the car to the side. I’m like, we’re going to leave it here, right? And we took a train, and we go in an appointment. I remember being homeless. I remember going home one night, and I’m trying the key, and I’m like, this is the key. Something’s wrong here, Joe. Why this key doesn’t work. And I called the landlord. He goes, no, I changed the lock because you have me paying your rent.
And it was late at night. It was, like 11:00 at night. And I said, don’t you like I got you? I’m going to pay you. I promise you I’m going to pay you. I said no. I changed a lot. I need my money. So I’m like, can I get my stuff? She goes, no, you can’t get your stuff. I’m like, what do you mean I can’t get my stuff? So she literally went to the room. I was renting the room, and she packed up all my stuff and threw in a bag. And so here you go. And I literally went through all my stuff, and I’m like, all right, let me grab some Primark clothes. Let me grab all my stuff that I need. And I rode the train from one train to the next, back and forth, until the next day, until I figured I was going to do but I remember going through that.
I remember it was Tiki birthday and something we do in the office all the time. You buy a cake for your teammate, and she’s my girlfriend at that time, and I couldn’t afford it, to buy a cake for her for a birthday. And that crushed me, because then Harvey goes, I got you, bro. I’m like, Bro, come on, man. That was good and all that, but you don’t want another man to buy, you know what I mean? So I remember going through those things and in those moments, going through those, I just knew that I just wanted to go to RVP. So I’m going to share with you guys a couple of things. Right? Up, down. Which one? All right, I think this one. All right. Maybe I’m doing up and down. All right, good. Backwards. All right, this way. I’m doing it both oh, it’s over here.
I don’t know what I can you do it over. Maybe screw the whole shit up, right? By the way, that story was true, Joe. He did save my life. I want to thank you for that, Joe. There you go. All right. Which one is it? Okay, good. Thank you. So here’s a couple of things, right? RVP, right? Anyone interested in going to RVP? It’s funny because when we did that trip, man, literally, we got home that night and we’re like, how was the trip? Like Joe, man. He’s crazy. I remember for like, four days straight, we just laughed the whole way. And you guys know Joe. He’s funny as hell, man. Like, one story to the next story. Don’t stop. Okay, so however you are prior to going to RVP, there’s a high possibility that’s how you will be when you go to RVP. So here’s a couple things, right?
Leadership skills. Right? That’s important, right? So you want to learn leadership skills and how to be a better leader, right? John Maxwell has tons of material on leadership, right? Any of his books, any of his material is good, right? Showing up. Right? You want to make sure you show up regardless. It doesn’t matter what the situation is, right? You got to show up. You’re going to learn closing skills. Right. Learn how to write at least 8000 personal premium. Tiki did a great analogy on that, right? If you 110% versus 10,000 premium versus 110% of 1000 premium, it’s totally different. Dub digital Recruiting. We sell out big on Dub Digital recruiting. At least having ten people in a given month where you hire at least ten people in a month. Right. Promoting district. Right. I’ve seen people struggle a lot because they’re not able to promote district, or they can’t promote a district, or they have a hard time with promote someone to district leader.
So you want to master that skill. I think you did an amazing job talking about going to the next level, which is division regional leader. And all those promotion entails you promoting the district. Right. People skills, right? How good are you with people? Les Giblins, right? Skills with people. Great book. You can read that book over and over again. That will definitely help you out tremendously. Learn how to build relationship. My wife is an amazing job in building relationship, right? And get close to RVP. I remember just being so close to Chris. Decent QBI, right? Getting habit of saving it and having a map. All fully secured license, including your 26. Giving up exchange. And learn how to run an exciting Op meeting. We had an Op meeting today, but our guys was running it. We have probably like, about 30 or 40 guests there.
And the meeting still runs because our guys know how to do it. Right. Learn how to deal with at least 35 people showing up. I remember going to region wise present we had about 40 or 50 people showing up, and Alicia school would have at least 100. Learn how to get along with everyone in your base shop. Be a people magnet. You have to be you win all the company trips. We won all the company trips. Like Hawai is coming up, or you’re going to go to Hawai. You don’t have to be an RVP to go. Do you know that there’s a lot of future RVP slots, right? Don’t be a loner. Every once in a while, I see people, they trying to be by themselves. They don’t talk, right? You can’t be a loner in this business. You got to be a people person.
Well, you know, I like to talk to people. Well, you better learn how to talk to people if you know that you can make six figures by learning how to talk to people who do that. Hell, yeah. Right? Wrong, right. Find a mentor, someone that’s going to mentor and coach you. We always seek in. Mentorship should be your RVP. Your biggest mentor should be your RVP. Learn how to deal with adversity. When things doesn’t work out, how do you respond? Do you fold? Like, imagine that. Fold all these things that happen to me, right? If you look at it for a second, right? So Prospecting Tiki did an amazing job talking about that, right? On a daily basis, right, Jeannie? Right? You talk about invites, making the calls. Somebody just talk about making the calls, right? Appointment set. It’s so crazy. Like, just that video that you post 911, I literally have a group that I text all my client, so I copied that.
I went on YouTube and I saw the video, and I send the video out to one of my clients, and she watched the video, and she goes, oh, Fitzgerald, need to talk to you. Right? My insurance, I got to get it back on, right? And literally so that’s going to be an appointment. We literally just book it for I’m like, can you get on a zoom later? Right? That’s an appointment set. New prospect, right? Invites, appointment set, done. Right? So watch this, right? Primerca versus other business. I think every once in a while, people think, know, I could start my own thing. I could do another business, or I could try to just think about Primerica. And my uncle has a business, he has a restaurant. And if you look at it how different it is compared to other business, Primerica is such an amazing opportunity, right?
Look at it for a second, right? No inventory. Do you understand that? You ain’t got to buy and sell stuff, right? No spoilage. You ain’t got to worry about things spoiling, right? No overhead or no real overhead. What do you pay $25 for pol to run a business? Ain’t that crazy, right? No payroll. You ain’t got to do payroll. You ain’t got to pay nobody. Primerica has a whole payroll system. You can recruit somebody and Primerica never make a mistake. Haven’t you know, you send whatever, and, you’re know, I’ll call commission. Like, Nah, we got it, right? No cash. You gotta deal with cash. One of the biggest thing in the restaurant business was people always stealing money. I remember my uncle going through that like, yeah, this person was stealing money. You ain’t got to worry about that here, right? No employees. You got to deal with employees.
Employees stealing. That’s normal. For that to happen in any business that has to do with cash, you ain’t got to deal workers compensation, no fines and fees. My Hunkler, every other week, he get a fine or fee or something happened. He’s always in court. I’m like, it’s crazy, right? No major investment to start. I mean, you pay 124 to get started, and you have an incredible opportunity. If you look at the technology, the Pol system, right, to submit a life application, all that system is so amazing. No three to five year profit. You ain’t got to wait to make money here. Ain’t it amazing? You could start this business and you could be a re like Clay. We spoke about that. Twelve months from now, he’s going to be a regional vice president, and he’s going to be making at least over six figures. Where else can you go?
You could start an opportunity. You could become a regional vice president, and you ain’t got to wait. No advertisement. No real advertisement. You got to pay money. You ain’t got to worry about getting an attorney and paid consultant. This is what happened in real business. If you thought about getting a business, because obviously I think it’s people swaving from having a job. I hope you pass that. So now we’re thinking business. But think about primary companies are the business, right? No income limit. You’re not limited to the amount of money you can make. No quotas, no season. You ain’t got to wait. It’s the summer season or it’s the winter, and your business is going to slow down every single month. You could close whatever amount of business, you can recruit whatever amount of people, and you’re going to be fine. RVP versus future RVP when we was an RVP, we made 27,000.
Now 36,000. And the minute we got promoted, RVP, we got promoted July 14 in that year, 2014. So six months, seven months out of the year. Ready? But regardless, we made double the income in that year, right? And then in 2015, 100 and 4150. And we never made less than that ever since. It was so amazing that the month went over 300,000, we made 49 grand that month. It was crazy. Imagine making $49,000 in one single month. Ain’t that crazy? I know Joe makes that every month. And it’s normal. And it’s normal in Primerica. When you hear the amount of people, that the amount of money that people makes in prime America, it just becomes know. But imagine for, like, we get Gidy, like, oh, shit. Like, dan, that’s like, we still get excited about that. You know what I’m saying? I haven’t got used to it.
When it’s, like, normal, every night I’ll be checking, right? And then that’s a picture of us passing securities. That’s us getting the ring company recognition. We just got recognized in the company the other day. That’s our daughter. That’s her son. Right? Got to update these pictures. And the biggest thing for me is just the time that we get to spend with my wife, because she was there the whole ride. And I just remember just feeling bad as a person. Like, maybe I’m not a good partner. Maybe I’m not a good boyfriend. Maybe I’m not going to be a good wife to her. I mean, husband, that’s a whole nother topic. We were talking about some stuff last night. Throw me off. We had a whole conversation last night that threw me off. My bad. Sorry. But maybe I’m not going to be a good husband, but I’m just grateful that regardless of the fact she stuck it out with me through the whole time.
And not only that, man, we’re just so grateful for where we headed, because it’s not about where we had right now, honestly speaking. It’s about where we’re going. We will promote three RVPs before the convention, right. And we’ll take our income from 300,000 to half a million. What’s your goal? Can you at least say within the next six months or before the convention you’ve been signing a region vice president contract? Can you at least say by then you’re going to be making 100,000 or maybe 200,000? I know Elijah is going to be doing that. Right? Elijah, right. And it’s so amazing we got to be at these guys wedding, man. It was just unbelievable, right? And I think the relationship right. Ryan Elliott. Right. I remember going out to the wine place, right. The winery. Right? Doing an event with him. Right. I’m telling you, man, the relationship you build here, man, is so unbelievable, right?
But what’s your goal? Are you excited about getting to the next level? This was a great meeting. You’re unbelievable. But what you’re going to do when you get out of here? You learn everything. Today you could be a brand new person that was sitting in this room. You got everything you need, every single thing you got. So all you got to do is take the knowledge you get today and just go put it to work. Go make those phone calls. Go do what you got to do. You’re already motivated. The best time to do it is now. Don’t wait until you get to the next leadership school. Like, oh, man, I should have did what I had to do, man. No, you go do it now. And you know what’s so crazy? You got what it takes anyone. These people that sitting in the table in the front row, they were no different than none of you.
That’s not sitting here. What was the difference? We just want to do the work. What was the difference? We didn’t quit. We didn’t give up. And when times tough and you had to deal with adversity, we just kept going. We just kept going. We just kept going. When I got to the house and I turned the key and the key didn’t work, I didn’t think about quitting. All I was thinking about, I wasn’t working because he got close. He’s like, oh, shit. Fuck it. I’m out of here. I was like, Nah, no. I got to keep going. And all I kept thinking my I remember there’s going to be a day where I’m going to pull up at the lady house and be like, I made it. You know what’s so crazy? I did that she wasn’t home. All right, let’s give it up to Joe Cardina.
Thank you for having us, man.
