Leadership Potential Accountability

Speaker A: What's up and welcome to the Unquit podcast. And whether you're on the verge of quitting life insurance sales or you want the best tips and tricks to win in the industry, you're in the right place. I'm your host, Jim Larson, and sure, I might own one of the largest and fastest growing brokerage life insurance agencies in the entire country. And yeah, I might have built that agency in just three years, but I also started years ago and quit. I quit on myself and my goals and came back two years later, humbled, um, and ready to win. So whether you need to be talked off the ledge or you want advanced leadership content, you're going to find that here. This will be the number one sales and leadership podcast for life insurance agents. Welcome to the Unquit podcast.

Speaker B: Well, I'm excited to be able to hop into this number, actually, before I even do that. Right. Like I said, I want to be able to first, I want to express gratitude. I'm always. Again, if you've heard me speak on a call before, that is something I'm always going to do. I'm always going to express a higher. A high amount of gratitude just because I'm grateful for life. Um, I'm grateful for the blessings that I have. Right. Because. Right. I deserve none of it. But I always want to be able to start this call with that. And I'm grateful for you guys. Right. To be able just to always start my day with you guys. Like, there's no better way in my mind for me to be able to start my day than here on this call. But hop into it. All right, I'm going to talk about a couple of different things today, you guys. Actually, um, I got a. The topic that I had and that I wanted to share in the beginning of the week or late last week, whenever I signed up, um, I actually changed it like last night, like last night. And we're actually going to talk about that a little bit here today. But the first thing is I'm talking about a little bit about potential. I'm going to talk about influence. I'm going to talk a little bit about leadership all at the same time. I'm going to try to combine it, um, within 15, within 15 minutes and kind of condense it down. All right, so with this, why did this topic come up? Right, so yesterday, you guys, um, I put in. And I had put out there in my. In my slack, and I actually share my screen here in a second. But I put out there in my slack and my agency. I Was like, hey, you guys, I'm gonna go out there, I'm gonna do a three hour dial session. Um, I haven't done a three hour dial session, like straight in a really long time. Like, just straight three hours. And I was like, you know, I'm gonna do it. I'm. I'm on a. I'm on run for things, right? I'm on a run for things right now. Things that I'm fighting for and for me to be able to earn those things. It's gonna start with me actually going out there and putting the work in for it at the end of the day, right? So I hold my m. I held myself accountable. I posted my slack. Hey, you guys, I'm running a three hour dollar session, typically, right? And this goes to knowing your numbers, right? I'm like, typically, in an hour, I'm able to book anywhere between two to three appointments an hour. That is typically what my average is. I was like, so at the end of this three hours, I should be able to book anywhere between six to nine appointments. All right? So I was like, hey, whoever wants to come with me, run with me, come hop in the macro, right? Come, um, hop in the macro with me, Come run with me. How many appointments can you book in an hour? So I go ahead and do it, right? Our one goes decent. I, uh, booked two appointments, all right? I'm like, all right, I'm cruising. Not that, not that bad. Hour two comes, I book four appointments right now it's six. It's about 6:30. I book four appointments within that hour. I'm like, all right, we're good. About 15, about 30 minutes later, I booked my seventh appointment, you guys. I booked my seventh appointment 30 minutes later. And, uh, this next 30 to 45 minutes was very, very hard. Why was it so hard is because I started to get in really, really complacent. I started thinking back to my original post. My original post said, hey, in three hours, I'm going to book anywhere between six to nine appointments. I booked seven. So guess what started going through my head. I'm good. I, uh, booked my seven. Like, I didn't do six. I booked one more. I booked seven. Like, I'm good, right? I don't need to dial anymore. I can call. I can call it a day, right? And I'm sitting there and actually I want to give a shout out. Like, I have one, uh, agent on my call. Well, that's in our agency. Her name is Sadie, and she was dialing at the same time and she was Texting me that she was going through. She was down, she was struggling a little bit. She started her dial session really rough, but then she ended it really well. We were kind of texting back and forth, um, while she was dialing and she finished her session. She finished her session with six or she finished her session, I believe, with seven, actually. And I was like, all right, I need to go out there. I need to like, step it. I can't let you beat me. But then I dropped it. And this is why. Running buddies again. We've talked about the Dream Team so much, you guys, but we're going to continue to talk about it because they're so vital. They're. They're vital to. Right to my success and just who I am.

Speaker A: And.

Speaker B: But I dropped a text in there in the Dream Team group chat. And honestly, uh, Scott, you may not know this or not your text, if you wouldn't. If Scott sent a text because I put in there as I was going through the hours again to hold myself accountable, right? You got to know yourself to lead yourself at the end of the day. I knew there was this weird thought. It shouldn't have been in the. Shouldn't have been there in the first place. But I knew I was like, I need to be held accountable, right? I haven't done a three hour long dial session in a while. I need to be held accountable because I can easily see myself like, getting up and finding excuse. Actually, I did. I meant to start dialing at 4, but then I went and grabbed Chick Fil A and I actually started dialing at 4:30. Um, because I was like, I'm hungry. Let me eat first. But Scott sent a. Scott had sent a text, right? Because again, I was checking in and all those things just to let them know. Scott sent a text at, uh, 705. This is when it started to get tough. He was like, 40 more minutes, Michael. I started a timer on my phone when you texted us. I was like, oh, they're watching. I was like, oh, they actually, like, they're. They're holding. They're holding me accountable. They're doing what they always do, right? They're calling me up. They're holding me accountable. I was like, all right, I guess I got to do this. And I was honest, right? I was honest with myself in that moment, right? And vulnerable with them again. This goes back to. We talked about the national call last week, right? With being. Having a safe environment. I was like, I'm not gonna lie, you guys. I want to stop dialing. So Bad. I was like, the feeling of wanting to be complacent is heavy right now. I just booked number seven. But right again, you can't just bring, can't bring those negative thoughts or like wanting to be able to give up without. Right again, you gotta, you gotta be a self starter sometimes, right? So in my mind I'm like, I can't just bring that energy. All right? They're, they're watching me, right? Obviously they believe in me. I was like, but I gotta keep going though. The person I'm growing to be won't accept room for a complacent mindset, right? So the reason I share that story, and this is why we're talking about potential today. Because you have to know who you're becoming. You guys, you have to know where you're going, right? Where I, uh, where I'm going in this business, where I'm going in life is way bigger than just hitting 130, way bigger than hitting equity partner. And because if that is all you're aiming to be, right. You're going to probably feel really disappointed, right? Your purpose has to be bigger than that, right? And I just know who I am and I know where I'm going again. I know what my potential is. So I constantly. Right. And it's okay. I want to give you guys, I want to let you guys know something real fast. It is okay if you have those thoughts. It's okay. There's nothing wrong with having thoughts like that, right? Uh, what becomes wrong is the choice that you make after that, right? If you want to sit in that complacency, if you want to sit and convince yourself and tell yourself that is okay just to be there, that is where the problem comes in, right? Is what you do after you have that thought. And after what you do after you have that thought, can I honestly dictate your day, your week, your month, your business? Because what happens is that you are practicing, right? We're all practicing at something, right? If I would have given up in that moment and got complacent, guess what? I was practicing on being. I was practicing on being a complacent person. And once you practice on being a complacent person in your practice, on whatever it may be, practicing, not giving your best, guess what you're showing up, you're practicing on always not showing up to be your best at the end of the day, once you build that habit, it is so hard to break, right? So I'm constantly in this and it's all, again, I go through it as well, you guys, I constantly go through this tug of war in my mind, right? Of, uh. Because when I started the business, I was starting. I started the business in survival mode. I started the business in desperation mode, right? And then where I'm at in the business right now, right, my bills are paid, there's food on the table. Like, me and my fiance. Like, we. Me and my fiance, when we go out somewhere, we can just swipe our card and, like, it's good, right? I don't have to think about those decisions anymore. So we get comfortable, right? Yes, I order. If you have gone to a restaurant with me, I. I order. You guys, I will be honest. I love. I love food. Um, so I. If I see two. If I see two entrees, I want. I will get two entrees, but I will eat it, by the way. But, right? So that feeling, that desperation, that survival feeling is gone. So that had. I had to shift it out with something, right? And that is focusing on who I'm becoming, who I'm growing myself into. So I'll give you guys some steps here real fast, right? I'm gonna give you guys some steps here, um, to be able to write down. So, you know, right? How to be able to go out there, number one, figure out what is your potential. What is your potential in the first place? Where are you going? Um, and how do you actually achieve that? So step one, to be able to figure your potential out, you guys, step one, you have to know yourself, right? You have to take an honest look in the mirror, right? What, What? And ask yourself, what are your strengths? What lights you up at the end of the day? Like, what gets you excited? All right, what drains you, right? Because you need to know that as well. You need to know, right? What are those trigger. What, uh, are those triggers? What gets you in those moments? What drains you, right? Self. Right? Self. Awareness is the foundation. Because if you don't know who you are, you will never know what you're capable of becoming. So you need to know who are you right now in this moment? So you know what to overcome, what to lean into, to go out there and be the person that you say that you want to be or that you're meant to become at the end of the day? Step two. For step two, you guys, you got to be able to see the vision. If you don't have a vision at the end of the day, you're going to get stuck in the weeds. And guess what? In this business and in life, it is so easy to get stuck in the weeds because there's so many things that's going to pop up and keep you busy that is just going to distract you and keep you down. And if you don't have a strong vision, right, then the obstacles become very big, right? But the bigger the vision, the smaller the obstacles at the end of the day, right? Potential without direction is just wasted energy, right? Define what success means to you, not anybody else, right? This is your race, so go at your own pace, right? This is about what you want, not what anybody else wants. We all came here real quick, by show of hands. We all came here to be able to own our income, right? Own our own our finances, own our time, control our life, build our own what? Build what we consider, right, Our. Our legacy and what we want to leave to our family, correct? Okay, right? So define what success means to you, right? And then picture it so clearly, you guys, that when motivation runs dry, because guess what? It will. Motivation only lasts so long. Your vision on where you're going and who you're becoming is what's actually pulling you forward, right? Motivation only lasts so long, right? Motivation from conference a few weeks ago probably has already ran dry for some of you guys, right? But for those of you guys who took what was heard at conference and internalized it and digested it, right? And saw yourself becoming more than what you were or what you were doing in that moment, right? You're probably running pretty. Pretty hot and heavy right now. All right? Step three. You got to build the skills. You got to build the skills. Every day is an opportunity to be able to sharpen, right, your edges here, you guys, to be able to get better at. At your craft. It's reading, it's practicing real quick. Just in case you guys don't know this, it's failing, right? Failing is a part of practice, right? It is okay to fail, all right? But again, it's not okay to fail and just to stay there. It's gonna. It's about what you do with it. At the end of the day, right? From failing, you get the opportunity to be able to learn, and then you repeat that process. It doesn't stop. No matter what level you're at. Doesn't matter if you're a Scott's level, Jim's level, Craig's level. It doesn't matter what level you're at. That is always there, right? New level, New devil is what we call it, right? Because the best don't arrive at the top by accident. You guys, they prepared for a long time before Right? They put the work in where nobody was really watching them, right? When you're reading your book, right? When you're working out, nobody is there watching. It's just you and you. At the end of the day, right? Prep for when you're being a student of the, uh. When you're being a student of the game, right? Dylan Crane, obviously on the national call or the top producer call the last couple days on the top producer call, he talked about, right? Yeah, I. Right. I was a student of the game. I went out there to go master my craft to be able to study and do these long hours when nobody is watching, right? He did that when nobody's watching. Now look. Now look at him in the company now, right? Everybody. Everybody is watching now because. But he has earned that. He put the work in for it. All right? Step four, right? You got to take consistent action, right? Small steps taken daily create unstoppable momentum, you guys. That is what it's about. You don't have to do anything big. You don't have to do anything drastic. You just have to put one foot in front of the other and get 1% better every single day. If you know me, you know I'm a Kobe guy, right? Mama mentality. Mama mentality is about pursuing progress, right? Pursuing the best version of yourself and just progressing every single day, right? So you have to take that consistent action. Step five, stay resilient, you guys. It's going to be hard. It's going to be hard. You're going to struggle, you're going to fail, right? There's going to be setbacks. Guess what? Life is life, and life happens to everybody. Everybody has their own versions of hard that they have to deal with and that they have to go through. But your version of heart was given to you for a reason, because you can't handle it and you can actually get through it, all right? So stay resilient. And again, having that vision, going back to step two earlier and having a vision is going to help you get through those weeds. Like I said, right? The bigger the vision, the smaller the obstacles at the end of the day, right? Step six, protect your environment. Again, going back to my dream team, right? That's my. That's my environment right there. Those are. Those are my people, right? That is. That is a sacred place to me because, again, that's somewhere where I know I can be myself. Uh, my agency, right? I protect the environment within my agency, right? My agency. The agency in my agency are my people. At the end of the day, I'm okay with stepping up and being vulnerable there. Right. I'm okay with building relationships there. Right. I love hanging out with them. Right. I love interacting with them. Right. Honestly, I wouldn't be the person I am today if it wasn't for my agency, right. And the agents, because they make me better. They may, whether they realize it or not. Um, and I know they probably. We always pour into our agents. But agents, if you're out there, right, you make your upline better. At the end of the day, you make your mentor better. Right? There's challenges, right? There's obviously fun moments, there's celebratory moments, but ultimately you're making us better in so many. In so many different ways. So I appreciate, um, right. Your guys just patience with us at the end of the day. Um, but protect it, because if you're in the wrong environment, at the end of the day, you guys, right? Your environment can hurt you. I had to move, right? I started this business in New York. I moved out of New York because I didn't like my environment and it was a toxic environment. And I was like, I need to be. Get closer to the fire of symmetry. How can I get closer? So I moved. The first time I moved to Kansas City, Missouri, I was about eight, nine months into the business. Moved to Kansas City, Missouri, where my direct upline, um, was to be closer to them, to learn how to Agency owner get closer to that fire, right? Hit agency owner. I lived in Kansas City, Missouri for two years. I was like, I need to change my environment again, right? I need to change my environment because I. Right, am going to become a 130 here, right? And I want to be closer to. To where a lot of events take place. I found myself constantly going down to Dallas for different boot camps for ignite. And I was like. And also Dallas is somewhere I always want to live, by the way. So I was like, I'm getting to Dallas right in my direct 130. Marty Velour is here. So again, I changed my environment after living in Kansas City for two years. Now I'm here. I've been in Dallas for about a year. But protect it, you guys. But also know this. You get to choose what your environment looks like, right? Because what you're not changing, you're choosing. At the end of the day, you're not a victim of it. You actually get to control it, just in case you didn't know that. So I'm going to give you permission real fast to control and change your environment. All right? And then last but not least, live for something bigger. Live for something bigger. This is what I talked about earlier, right? I'm not here just to be a 130, right? I know what my purpose is, right? God placed a purpose in me, right? To be able to go out there and be the best version of myself. To be able to. And, um, to be able to go out there, inspire an impact, not to show people my superpowers. And my job is to be able to help show people their superpowers and show people that they can do it. That if I can do it, they can do it as well. That's what. That's what I know my purpose is. And guess what? If I stop growing myself, then that impacts small. That. That impact gets really small. The people I'm able to be able to inspire and go out there, influence is going to change dramatically if I don't continue to grow myself at the end of the day, right? And just know this, right? This is something that I had to. This is something that I had to be able to realize, right? And something just in case you guys don't know, right, if you heard me speak before, I'm a pioneer creative. I love living in the vision, by the way. I love living there. It. When you talk about things that light you up, that lights me up. I love talking about the future. I love talking about who I'm becoming. And then the creative in me, right? The creative in me always keeps a lot of things in my head. So I like to write a little bit, right? I like to write and I like to journal, right? To be able to get all that stuff out of my head, it's, um, probably my head is a crazy place that nobody wants to live, um, because it's really overwhelming at times. But right when God is preparing you for more, right? He doesn't hand it to you in comfort. He strips away the familiar. He stretches your patience and he tests the faith you claim to hold, right? It feels heavy because it's supposed to, right? Diamonds aren't born under pressure. Steel is hardened in fire. And I, uh, trust me and trust and believe me, you guys, you are no different in that, right? You, right? What is you. You're. You're the canvas, right? How are you painting it? Right? How are you forging yourself? Right? What again? What is the vision that you're trying to pay and who is it that you're trying to become at the end of the day and going back to what I talked about, it's going to be really hard, right? It's Going to be hard. You are going to have to isolate yourself. Right? Again, you guys heard me talk about it on Main Stage. I felt like I was introverted, right? I felt like I was introverted, but I realized I was only introverted because I was in the wrong environment, right? But sometimes you're going to be pushed away because you're going to have to be in an environment where. Or in a, uh, in a situation where it's up to you to be able to grow, right? And being isolated sometimes and focusing on yourself isn't punishment. It's an opportunity to actually focus. Right? The discomfort you're feeling when your bank account is always low and going into the negative, right? Or you're having to constantly make tough choices, right? That discomfort isn't cruelty. It's training, right? To be able to build you for more. Right? I promise you, the tests aren't random. They're just actually preparation because of God. Again, right? This is for me, right? I'm speaking to me, uh, on a lot of this. But, right. If he were to hand you everything you wanted right now in the moment, the foundation that you currently have will crumble. So what you're going through, what you're being built for right now in this moment, it is building you up for everything you want. So you actually have the strength to hold it at the end of the day, you guys, right? It's developing you to be the person that can actually carry all those things. So with that, and I know we're way over time here, my bad, Jim. Normally, um, I'm. There's a. There's a slight guardian me. Even though it's my fourth voice, I feel like I'm better at that than I actually am. Um, I pro. And then this goes back to influence and leadership. When you are living out your potential, when you are showing up as the best version of yourself and you, right, are practicing, right, to become that person, and you actually get to live it, and you believe it, then guess what? That influences your agency. That influences the folks that decide to follow you, because this is a volunteer army. And going back to what I said, my job is not to show people my superpowers, to show them theirs. But you have to live in your genius. You have to live in your superpowers first so people can be inspired and they can see that it's possible with them at the end of the day. And if you are playing small, guess what's going to happen? You're going to have a very small agency. So with that, Jim, I've been waiting to say this for a while. That's all I got.

Speaker A: Uh, that's all you got? I was going to ask, is that all you got? Hey, Michael, what. What contract level are you at? What's your level of leadership?

Speaker B: Uh, so I'm an agency owner right now and waiting for August snapshot to come out, because then one, uh, hundred twenty to be officially done and dusted.

Speaker A: And, and how. How long you been here?

Speaker B: Uh, July 2021.

Speaker A: All right, so you're four years, just over four years in agency owner about to be 120. Any doubt that Michael Matthews is a, uh, 130 already? Just needs to walk that out. No doubt. You. You hear these principles. You hear the way he thinks, you hear the way he processes, you hear the. The level of. Of excellence he holds himself to when he talks about protecting culture, protecting environments, it's because he created and sought out environments worth protecting. So many of you want to protect your current environment, which isn't going to get you where you want to go. He had to fundamentally change himself and put himself in positions that were worth protecting. You can't protect an inconsistent environment and expect to win. You can't protect an environment with no vision and expect to win. You can't protect an environment that's lazy on your skill set and doesn't invest the time to get better and expect to win. He developed himself to allow himself to create the environment that then was worth protecting. I fiercely protect the culture and environment of my agency because I've done a lot of freaking work in myself to build a place that people want to be part of, where they can thrive. I will protect that fiercely. But that's on the back of a lot of work. Embrace the work, guys. Embrace the hard. I know it's hard. Embrace it. That's what Michael did, literally to the sacrifice of moving twice. Some of y' all won't move out of the living room into the office to get work done. Michael Matthews moves entire states to be productive. I need you to understand, when you see a guy who's like, that guy's a 130, it's because he has practiced excellence. There's a reason for it. I love you, brother. Man, this is freaking fire. Thank you for sharing.

Speaker B: Thank you. I appreciate it.

Speaker A: All right, y', all breakout rooms are open. One housekeeping item. Tomorrow is the first Friday of September. We are opening up a prayer breakout room. Scott Schnitzer is going to be running that. And so my thought on it is, if that is for you, jump into it. If it's not for you, go to your regular breakout room. All the regular breakout rooms are going to be there. They're going to be operational, they're going to be running. But if you need some spiritual uplifting, there's going to be a prayer breakout room. That's going to be on Fridays. Tomorrow is the first one. So jump into your regular breakout room if that's for you. If you need some spiritual upliftment, Scott will be there for you in the prayer breakout room. All right, rest of breakout rooms are open. Let's rock and roll today, guys. Hey, thanks so much for tuning in. Every single week, we are going to be delivering real, raw, impactful content. So you can not only grow a business, but grow yourself. The best way to connect with me is on Instagram.

Speaker B: Eat.

Speaker A: Uh, Jim Larson. Just spell my last name right. That is L, A, R, S, E, N. I cannot wait for some upcoming announcements. And thank you for your support and your help in making this the number one sales and leadership podcast for life insurance agents.