Special Guest, Brian Zuzick

Count money, man.

Count money, man.

Stacked riches.

I'm trying to told him, I'm a beast, but...

What's up gang?

Welcome back to another episode of The Grindcast.

Get ready.

It's a new day.

And we got a special guest, young man in Brian Zuzek today.

Absolute superstar.

And I want to say with this one, one of my favorite people in the entire company and my

20 years that I've been around.

And I knew he was a star from the start.

I don't want to take any credit for his success, but I do want to take credit for noticing

that it was going to happen.

Because I told him long, long, long time ago, when he was just doing 10,000, 15,000 a week,

you know, as it's coming out as a partner with Laura who I love, such a great person.

And I'm like, man, you're going to do 100,000 a week.

You know, you're going to be absolute superstar.

And I remember parade and around telling people, like, hey, watch out.

This guy's going to be a stud pointing them out to the people in the company.

And you've been as advertised, man, and went through adversity.

And that's always the tester of who's going to make it versus who's going to fake it.

And just be there for a moment versus be there for a lifetime.

You got a great leadership team, great culture, great atmosphere.

And so I think there's a lot that people can learn from you.

So why don't we just start out, Brian, with talking about how you got started in the

business, you know, where you were living, how you ended up coming aboard and kind

of the upstart to everything?

Yeah.

So before I start working out, I was doing construction.

So I'm from Boston, Massachusetts.

So I did roofing, which is like the worst thing I ever did do because it's either really

cold and snowing or it's really hot.

And I'll never forget, like one of the biggest turning points of my life is I was on top

of a roof in the middle of a snow storm.

And I got a random phone call.

And they said, hey, we're looking for some business athletes that are super competitive.

Would you be willing to come in for an interview?

At the time, I didn't even know I had a resume out there.

I don't even know if I knew how to make a resume to be honest with you.

And so I said to them, my only response was, is there a heat inside for the interview?

Because I was so cold.

And I'm like, I'll do whatever it takes just to go inside for an interview.

So what an interview?

You know, that was back when we went into the office.

And immediately when I walked in the doors, it just felt like a locker room.

And that's what I craved and loved.

And I just played sports my whole life, loved to compete.

And to have that feeling again, and that's never changed.

I think that every year, this is my starting to end 12.

So 14th year in the business, so my 14th season.

And I just feel like every year, get more competitive.

When was your code date?

November 30th, 2012.

OK.

Yeah.

Yeah.

And then every year, you get more and more competitive.

That's why I love about our business.

It's just like playing sports.

Every year is a new season, new challenges, new adversities, new goals, new visions.

I love everything that comes with that.

So tell me about your first few years building your organization or just when you started.

Just the beginning phases, talk us through what that looked like.

Yeah.

When I started, you know, I'm a young kid, super hungry, really competitive.

I moved up real quick.

You know, back in the day, it was a little bit more challenging, let's just say, to get

promotions.

And I was able to move up and become what we call partner and MGRJ with them.

Six months was really rare back then.

But the reason being is I was just so passionate about what we did that I brought in a lot of

people.

And, you know, I just felt like this is the best opportunity in the world.

So start out, things are going real well.

And then just like, I think any business owner, you get it with a little adversity.

And I had to rebuild the team a couple of times just because I wasn't prepared to run

that big of a team.

I don't think that my leadership level was where it needed to be.

So those experiences were so huge for me.

Because then when I got offered the opportunity to become an owner and start from scratch,

I felt like I was prepared for it because I already done that a few times.

And I wasn't willing to get my hands dirty.

I didn't feel like I was too good for anything.

You know, when it came to a same with clients or going back into the field or being the top

producer again or whatever it took, you know, I'm like, I already did this a few times.

I just got out work everybody else, ask more questions than everybody else, and find some

mentors that have what I want and just do exactly what they say to do.

Is that what you still think is the key today for someone to come up and move fast and quickly

is that being competitive, being willing to do whatever it takes.

What things would you say if I'm coming into the organization and it's like, hey, man,

I want to move up fast.

I want to be in the first six, 12 months, be on the leaderboards and be in the leadership,

core leadership team.

What do I got to do?

How would I expedite that process?

I think it really comes down to two things.

I think that one of the biggest skills you've got to have is be ridiculously competitive.

Like if you're not waking up in the morning, excited to attack the day, there's levels

to be in competitive.

You've got to get a little bit more competitive.

You've got to wake up, excite, beat the alarm clock up because I just can't wait to dominate

today.

You've got to be really, really competitive.

But more importantly than anything else is you just got to get a phenomenal mentor and

be a great mentee.

So I was blessed that my mentor was Laura Fisher and she directly coached me every single

day.

She coached me tough.

I couldn't appreciate her anymore.

She has the highest character.

She did it all.

So having that mentor was huge.

And then when I became an owner, having you and having a Marcus, like you two were

just so instrumental in helping me think bigger.

Once you start thinking bigger, you can't go back to the old ways.

Once you start stretching your brain.

So I think that the biggest superpower, let's say that I had, is just trying to be as coachable

as possible.

And finding mentors that we're already doing what I want to do and just try to do 100%.

I think a lot of people try and cut corners.

So they'll say, hey, I'll do 90%.

But it's July 4th, so I'm not going to work at all.

And maybe when I was in my first year in business, there were no days off to be honest with

you.

I worked every single day because that's what my vision required.

That's where I want to accomplish.

So when I would ask my mentor and my coach, they'd say, hey, this is how you're going to

get ahead of everybody else.

When everybody else is sleeping, you're going to be getting an edge on them.

Because I was never the most talented.

So the only way I could find ways to win was just to outwork, be a little bit more coachable

and just implement faster.

You talked about having this competitive spirit and energy every day waking up, beating

you at alarm clock, just getting all excited as soon as you start today.

How do you remember carrying that type of energy when in 365 days in a year, not all days

are going to be sunny?

You know what I mean?

Like today was easy to be excited.

We got good weather, we got sunshine.

I have my good friend coming to visit me.

I got to sweat in.

I had some Nate Dog and Warren G banging.

And it's easy to be excited.

But what about on the days where it's like it's rainy, no one's coming to visit you,

to radio ain't working.

It's cold outside.

How did you get through those moments?

How would you explain to somebody to carry through those type of situations?

So I think there's a couple of things.

I mean, probably the biggest.

You've taught me so much about business and life.

But the foundation of it has always been mine by spirit.

That's been the foundation.

So if there's 365 days, I can tell you there's a lot of days I don't feel like doing it,

but I feel great after I do it.

So it's just like I always tell you what's the hardest thing to do is just drive to the

gym.

What's the hardest thing to do in our business just make the first phone call.

So I felt like first things first, you got to take care of yourself first and foremost.

That's what always helps speed up again through some challenges or some versities or we're

not feeling like it.

And then the second thing I...

Take care of yourself.

Inborn into yourself.

100%.

On a daily basis.

Yeah, just got to be real consistent with it.

Because I've tried doing it without doing it because I was just working way too much and

not taking that serious.

And then I've tried to where I'm like, hey, I'm going to do mine by spirit every day.

What a difference.

Better leader.

Better person.

Better.

Every area in my life is better when, especially God was first for me.

And then the second thing is a lot of times I had to manufacture it.

So what I mean by that is if I wasn't feeling it, I would compete with people.

So I would do all different types of competitions.

Like whatever it was, it would be like, hey, we're going to have a race this week to

the office who's going to be to every single day by 7.30.

Just little things.

Hey, today we're going to have a race on who can book the most amount of sales appointments.

Like it was little manufactured wins because when you're competitive, you hate to lose.

Probably more than you like to win.

So make a game out of it.

Yeah, I just made games out of it sometimes.

Because if there's 365 days in a year, I don't know how many you're going to be super

motivated to do all the things that you need to do to run successful business.

Especially when you get to be a little bit higher in leadership, you're usually handling

all the problems.

So it's not like the funnest things.

Like people don't really call you really that much good news.

They're usually calling you with like, hey, this is the fire that's going on.

We need your help.

No doubt.

Hey, this is the problem.

You know what I mean?

So you're going to have a lot of days that you don't feel like you just got to get

the job done and I think having some competition there helps a lot.

I tell you know, sometimes you got to act yourself in the feeling.

Right.

Instead of feeling yourself into acting, because you ain't always going to feel like it.

Right.

But if you get to act it, just Nike, just do it.

You know, just get to action.

All of a sudden you'll act yourself into feeling the way that you want to feel.

At what point, you know, you got that energy, you know, I'm coming out and willing to do

whatever it takes.

I'm moving up fast.

You know, I want to get it as fast as I can.

I'm going all in.

At what point did you realize, you know, building something that's going to last, that's going

to be big isn't going to happen overnight?

You know, I think that when you're in your first year or two, you're a little naive.

Like I think it'd be healthy.

It's kind of like, I think if you get drafted in the NFL, you need to have the mindset

like you're going to play for the next 10, 15 years.

You're going to be an all pro.

You're going to, but the statistics are probably stacked against you in that situation.

And now our business when I started, I was a little naive in regards to thinking that,

you know, everything was going to happen immediately.

And what I realized very quickly is that most of my biggest lessons I've learned and the

things that helped me out the most were never from wins.

They were always from challenges.

They're always from adversity.

They're always from some losses.

And when you're trying to scale, you know, I think it's all about you forcing your

way to understand that you're either going through adversity, just got out of some

adversity or about to go through some adversity.

And I think that, you know, like we get calls a lot of times from new people, you know,

from, let's say, you know, Hydrops saying, hey, you know, we really like this guy.

We really like this girl.

We think they could be great.

And a lot of times they say, hey, they're doing awesome, but I haven't seen them handle

adversity yet.

So I don't really know their character yet.

Once they got to go through some adversity, let me get back to you.

Because when it's, when you're in a winning season, then you feel untouchable.

Momentum is a leader's best friend.

But when you got to go through some challenges, when you can really dive deep and figure

out who that person is and, you know, if that person's going to be able to stand the test

of time.

You ever have any moments where you felt like quitting or thought about quitting?

Honestly, I'm one of the rare people that I'm madty-d.

I'd say no.

Say what madty-d?

Yeah.

So I, which I know that's not normal.

I tell people, talk us through how does that happen.

I think it's because I did.

Yeah, no, I got my first year.

You know, so madty-d tells me the same thing.

You know, same thing.

Hopefully my wife never, never thought of me.

My life without you.

You, you, walk us through why, how was that?

What was going on in your mind and your spirit that people can maybe adopt?

I think it was, I just, you know, I had come from a back, I don't have a college

jury.

I came from back from work to a ton of different jobs.

And you know, when I came in here, I never met a group of people that cared about me so

much.

So even if it was challenging, maybe I wasn't making much money as I want, to me what

I was learning and knowledge and what I was learning from the people and just the people

I admired the most.

Still to this day are almost all in this business.

So I'm like, man, I'm not leaving that no matter what.

You're going to have to drag me out of there.

So, you know, and then it doesn't mean you don't go through a verse.

You look past maybe some weeks or months if you didn't have a record breaking income.

I start with an negative bank account.

So like, when you start, like, so like, I, if we didn't make money for a couple weeks

or a month, I'm like, all right, we just got to learn from it, grow from it, get better

from it.

It wasn't like, this isn't for me.

Great attitude.

You know, so, but.

Great attitude.

What do you think that attitude came from?

Man, I tell you that the most, you know, everybody gets different blessings in life.

My biggest blessings, there's some of my biggest blessings that, you know, is that, you know,

I got the best parents in the world.

And my dad's the hardest working human being I've ever met.

And I said because it's not just like all seven days a week no matter what, he's worked

in our business now for the last 10 years after working as a vice president for 30 years.

But just how he does everything, he really gives us all.

But he's just also one of the most grateful people you could ever meet.

You know, so I've never met somebody who's met him who hasn't loved him.

So I think that coming up with having a household that believed in you and, you know, knew

that you were to accomplish anything you put your mind to, I think it's similar to our

business.

You know, I think one of the reasons that.

What did your parents say when you first started in this business?

Hey, whatever makes you happy.

But if you're going to do, you got to give it 110%.

So I'm telling you go all in, go on on 10%.

Yep.

They weren't saying don't do it.

Never.

They're probably lying to you.

No.

Can't be real.

Yeah.

They were supportive.

They were supportive.

You know, I lived on my own at a very young age.

So it's not like I was asking them for.

I was your 24.

Yeah.

I mean, I moved on when I was like 17, 18, though.

So like that, you know, they're like, hey, if you're happy, we're happy.

Yeah.

Right.

But man, you know, and same thing.

I think that, you know, when you're coming to our business, I think the couple big

obstacles for people are, if you start young, you got to get your family to believe

in the vision.

Whether it be mom, dad, whether you're married, especially, you know, first sale, you

got to make most important sale you over make.

You're supposed to either have your back or be on your back.

And I think that those things, you just got to, if you're so passionate about what you

do and you share your vision with people and they love you and they care about you,

I think that they're going to help you more than more than you may realize.

You remember any, you know, we're always going through ups, downs, more ups than downs.

You know, you've been up more than you've been down, which is why you're a winner, you

know, your executive council member and business is rocking, you know, right now.

Can you think back to maybe challenging moments that were maybe breaking points or turning

points of like, hey, this was a pivotal moment or this was a pivotal moment and this

was a turning point for us or this was a turning point for me to took us to the next level.

Yeah, I think that, you know, we grew fairly quick and, you know, when I was growing quickly,

sometimes you can get away from doing the things that got you there.

And I think that, you know, to me, ego stands for edging, got out and in our business that

can happen because when you're winning, everyone's on how great you are and you're making

a lot of money and you kind of feel like you're untouchable and this had the other thing,

which sometimes can lead you to get away from doing the things that you know you need to

be doing or what you're great at.

You know, so like we were talking about in the car.

Yeah, like my biggest strength to me has always been my work ethic and being coachable,

like those things.

So, you know, I understand like delegating in things of that nature, but there's certain

things that I delegate, I shouldn't delegate.

And then you look back, like that was silly.

Let me just get back to being who I am, you know, and that's what, you know, you always

taught me is that, you know, you be you.

Like I can't be Simon Areas, I can't be Marcus Smith, I can't be Laura Fisher, I can,

all these people I looked up to so much, but I had to find like what's my personality

and I do believe that everybody has greatness inside of them.

It's just different for every person.

Just figure out what that greatness is and for me, it's always been being coachable and

having a really strong work ethic.

So, as long as I say laser focused in those areas, then we do really well.

But when I got away from it, not so much.

So what, you know, speaking of that, what do you think were some of the, and I think

you mentioned it, that just clarify maybe, couple mistakes that you think maybe you were making.

Yep.

And, you know, trying to delegate, building relationships was a big one.

You know, so instead we're going, sometimes in our business, once you're been here for

while your team gets bigger, it's easy.

It's easy to spend time with your inner circle.

But you got to reach down and find the people that are just starting that you can make an

impact on.

Now that's why I'm so grateful for everything Laura Fisher, like she reached down, grabbed

me and said, hey, I'm going to really help you to be something special.

You know, that was a lot more of her than it was me.

You know, so I was asking some of my leaders to reach down when in reality that's my strength.

You know, so I had to go down and get them.

And I think that when you can build relationships, you know, nobody cares how much you know

until they know how much you care.

Right.

And you can really care and love on people.

I think you can see how, I mean, it's why I have so much respect for my mom and my dad

and how much they've done for me.

The biggest thing they would do is they believed in me and they loved on me and they supported

me and I think in our business, when you do the same thing, you get some really great relationships.

So what would you say changed inside you before the business changed?

Jim Sarace helping me turn the business over to God.

You want me to like what was one turning point that changed everything?

Yeah.

I remember that meeting him and having him and, you know, I think that, you know, when you

get into business, you're told two things.

Don't talk about politics.

Don't talk about religion.

And then I said, that's just not me.

Like I feel like God is what has been at the center of everything great that's ever

happened in my life.

And the more that I've really poured into that, the better things, better things go for,

not just me, but I feel like everybody around me.

So having Jim and having, you know, Marcus and yourself and so many other people there

like be yourself and, you know, let God in and watch what happens.

And man, did he bless me with some amazing, amazing people?

What do you think strategy or mindset that maybe you've made or had or adjusted that's

maybe made some of the biggest differences?

And I agree with you.

I think it's all secondary.

So I was lucky and blessed to come up learning from Jim and Marcus and I originally got my

life, you know, changed spiritually, you know, 22, 23 years old, walking into the door.

And that's made all the difference, you know, for me, not that I've, no one's going to

be perfect period, but 22 to 42, you know, you're, you're, you're going to walk through all

different phases of your life, you know, in the mean.

So I think a lot of times people can be intimidated by doing that because it's like, well, I'm

not ready because I'm not perfect, you know, in a mean like, we're all still working on

ourselves, you know, and it's going to be a constant work in progress.

You know, at least I know for me, you know, it's just a constant work in progress, you

know, for me to continue to try to be the person I know God called me to be.

You know, I saw a funny thing the other day, somebody put up and it was a picture of this

woman with her dog and, and she said, you know, this is me and my dog sitting here

figure, trying to figure out, are we going to handle things like Jesus or like 50 cents?

You know, I'm like, man, I feel it.

Yeah.

Oh, that one.

Can you go either way?

Thank the Lord.

I met Jim Saration because I probably would have, you know, my initial upbringing was more

like 50 cents.

And so I've been grateful that even if it's last second, you know, it's like, man, the decision

ends up being made like what would Jesus want me to do here?

And that I think that's made all the difference in foundation.

But is there any other thing strategy wise or mindset wise, you know, for you that you

think is made a big difference that people can grab?

I mean, strategy and mindset, I don't want to beat a dead horse, but you don't have

to reinvent the wheel in this business.

So like it's super simple.

It's just sometimes people don't like simple.

The simple answer is just find a mentor that has what you have or want has what you want

and do 100%.

So I think where people miss the boat, they don't do the 100%.

The second thing is like I always took a lot of pride in making sure that I did everything

I possibly could to make sure my mentor liked coaching me more than everybody else because

I think it's hard for.

Unbelievable.

It's hard for people to take criticism sometimes.

I think it's hard for people to take coaching sometimes.

No, no, I'm like, hey listen, like playing sports, my best coaches were ridiculously tough

on me.

My worst coaches were players coaches.

That's just my experience.

I'm when it comes to winning and losing games.

And so like I always appreciated tough coaching.

Maybe it stings for a minute, but sometimes you get to chew it up and spell out the bones

like just understand like if someone's willing to coach you hard, that means that they love

you, they believe in you, they want the best for you.

Hey man.

So I just always felt like I'm not going to try and reinvent a wheel, especially in our business

been around for a very long time and had the best leaders in the history of the entire

insurance space.

So if they're doing such big numbers, I'm just going to follow their lead and ask a lot

of questions, take some notes and implement that day.

Hey man.

I think that's like the key.

Execution.

Yeah.

I had a chance to go to education and allergic to education.

Execution, right?

Yeah.

So I had a chance to go to a symposium with one of my partners, Jalen Smith and a bunch

of their athletes and this and this and the other thing.

There's a couple of billionaires there.

And I was just asking some questions on the side and the one thing he said to me that

really stuck with me is he said, I just made sure I implemented immediately.

So even if I failed, I failed three, four times before everybody else went to board meeting

after board meeting after board meeting.

And then a lot of times I learned my biggest lessons from those challenges, but I already

beat everybody because it was a really.

But the time they were just trying it for the first time I already had.

Yeah.

I already experienced Kings out.

Yeah.

And I think that that's that's what's so great about our business is that we get so

much coaching.

We get so much help from all different people and people doing great things.

If you can just implement right away, like same day, then beautiful things always happen.

Speed kills.

What's something you believe five years ago or so and maybe you look back now is like,

ah, maybe I don't 100% know if that's true to me today.

Ah, five years ago.

I probably had the mind, you know, I believe like, hey, once you get to a certain point,

well, you can stop doing x, y and z.

And that's not the case because I just have found that five years later.

I just love my people.

And I want them to have every generation I want to have a better opportunity than I had.

And you know, I just think that, you know, if you love what you do, like for me, this

has always been a lifestyle.

Like when I said I've been married to the game, I'm married to the game.

Like, like, I was all in just because I knew what it had done for me in all areas.

That's what I think people miss.

You know, it's like they want to sit at that table with the people that gave all when

they gave half, right?

Yeah.

Or like maybe they're thinking, man, when I get to that table, I'll give all.

Yeah.

And when they pay me all the money, and they give me all the awards, and I'm making

that type of money, and then I'm going to give it everything.

You know, I'm going to give it everything I got my time and everything, but it don't work

that way.

You got to be loyal first to the game and married to the game, and you'll get back tenfold.

You know, I remember Marcus telling me, when people were telling me it was too good to be

true, you know, starting out, I called him back, and I'm like, man, are you sure?

You know what?

And he's like, look, if you're everything that you told me you are, and you're willing

to do everything that you told me you were willing to do, this company's going to do for

you everything that I told you it was going to do, and then some.

I'll top it at it.

And it's been way beyond what I originally hoped for, you know, a little $100,000.

You know what I'm saying?

Yeah.

And it's been more than tenfold.

You know, so if you can just go all in, you know, that's what I think people miss so

much that could be talented.

You know, how many people do we see that have walked in the door that are talented, that

should be multi, multi, multi, millionaires, gazillionaires from the business, and they don't

right?

And they have the talent.

It's usually that lack of coachability, lack of going all in gratitude, and that's

great.

In the moment, you know, of like being able to say, yeah, it's no big deal.

I had a couple of weeks that are tough because I see the outcome, you know, of where I'm going

to be.

They miss those.

They start beating themselves up, I think, in a season, and they make long term decisions

based off of a short term season moment.

Correct.

You know what I'm saying?

And then they quit.

Right.

You're going to pass up 90% of the people in whatever you do if it requires greatness out

of you.

You're going to pass up 90% of the people just by not quitting.

Most people quit when things get difficult.

And the issue with that is when you look back on your biggest lessons and the things that

help you get to where you are today, we wouldn't have had a record month, you know, if it wasn't

for the adversity and the things that I've gone through and that we've gone through.

And I don't think we're going to go to where we're getting ready to go.

Lord willing, if it wasn't for those things happening.

So in the moment it was like, oh man, why me?

Not look back.

I was like, man, praise the Lord.

God knew exactly what he was doing.

The funny thing is, is even when I've seen you go through it, that's why I've always had

the utmost respect.

It's not, you guys break.

You've broken almost every record that the company holds and come been around for 75

years.

So you know what I mean?

It's pretty special.

But I've always so much more impressed.

And I know I've spoke to you about this.

Is that anytime that you're there's some adversity comes away because it happens all of us,

but let's say it comes your way.

I always say to everybody on my team, watch what they do in the next six months.

Watch what they do in the next 12 months.

Just because I know your heart, I know how hard you work.

I know how much you're willing to sacrifice for all those that you love around you.

But that's the thing that you learn about our business that is such a necessity in all

areas of life.

Like you're going to go through some adversity.

How you respond to that adversity is what's going to dictate your future.

Amen.

And I think that sometimes in the beginning.

The heart got a break before it breaks records.

100% broken.

100%.

In order to break records.

Right.

And they say adversity causes some people to break and others to break records.

Right.

And you need that adversity in order to break records.

You know, it's my experience.

And so I just wish more people would allow that to run its course without quitting because

the lessons that you need to learn to take you to where you need to go are usually right

in the middle of the things that people quit about.

You know what I'm saying?

And that's what stops them from greatness.

You know, so many times people think that success comes from adding more things, doing more,

doing more.

You're like, I just going to keep it simple.

I keep saying this.

I don't want to be the dead horse.

What do you think is there anything that you could think of that helped you be successful

that you had to eliminate?

Eliminates.

Yeah.

And this is, I'm still working on Gambar.

Sometimes, you know, your biggest strengths can be your Achilles heel.

And sometimes I have too big of a heart.

And what I've realized is that sometimes a disher in plus subtraction is how you win.

So for instance, if you're trying to build something special at some point, because a build

sound special needs a lot of people.

So at some point, you're going to have some people that kind of sneak in there that are

not a good fit for your culture.

The longer you let them stick around, the more it just spreads like cancer.

Hey, man.

I think sometimes in the past, I've been too big of a heart where I try and like save

everybody.

I'm like, let's give them some room.

Let's give them some time.

And, you know, I don't, to me today, I think I, you know, were the biggest mistakes I've

ever made.

Yeah.

And so like, those are like some lessons that can either speed up or slow down your growth

big time.

Because, you know, especially when you're running a business in a results based, or, you

know, it's easy for people to say, well, they do a lot of production.

They have the, if they're not good for your culture, I think you got to protect your

culture at all costs.

And even if it means that you got to deal with the low adversity for a little bit.

It's the back.

It's okay.

Whatever.

Yeah.

Yeah.

So speaking about leadership and building people, you know, obviously, you know, you're

going to have a big year this year, good year.

There's a team of people.

I know you got a core group of people that have been around, you know, for a while.

The people that have stuck with you, you know, for a long time that you've gotten a stick

with you for a while, why do you think they've stayed, you know, so long?

How do you build loyalty in your opinion?

Man, I've been super blessed with having some of the just best of the best.

You know, and I'm sure you feel it's a way too, but I'm like, man, we got the, you know,

like when I have meetings with home office, we have a part of numbers just out there.

I'm like, here's the great news.

We got the best leaders in the world, some of the best senior partners in the world.

So, you know, and I'm really lucky for that, very blessed by that.

But I think it all comes back to building relationships, getting to know them.

They all work a little differently in my deal, like some of them are super motivated by

recognition, some are super motivated by money, some are super motivated by, you know, building

their team and helping their guys when some are super motivated by donating to charities

in their church.

So like I just think you got to figure out what makes everybody tick, and it's going

to be a little different, you know, and as you grow bigger, it's just so important that

you can make sure that those top people are continuing to grow and are happier and happier

and happier.

And I think that just comes from spending quality time together.

I know it's harder now, and when you work in a virtual world, like, you know, we're basically

100% virtual in my organization.

So it means more trips, more flights, more doing, you know, because people live all over,

a little bit more, but it's so worth it, you know, selling early, you know, I've traveled

a ton the last 12 months to see different people and doing, you know, all these different

things.

But every time I'm flying home, I always feel like, man, I'm really glad it's kind of

when you go to the gym.

Some mornings you don't feel like driving there, but then when you drive home, I'm so glad

I did that.

It's like this morning, I was up at 320 in the morning and then I'll fly back tonight

at 11 and get home at midnight.

But well worth it gets me some of my people out here, all these different things.

So I just think spending quality time with them don't neglect that.

It's a lot different to spend quality time with somebody face to face versus through

a computer screen.

No doubt.

And I'm grateful for you, man, you know, for making the trip out here.

I'm happy to get to see you.

I think it's better that we could do this in person.

Shout out to you for just being a giver.

You know, I know you've been one of the bigger supporters in still city, you know, just

this year, I could say we probably wouldn't have had the summer program if it wasn't for

your agencies, you know, large donation that you guys made.

And so we're grateful, you know, for your heart and charitable giving, you know, that

the kids here in Pittsburgh are even reaping some of the benefits from.

So grateful for that spirit.

What would you say, you know, when you stop trying to do everything yourself, because

you got to delegate, you know, things to people and learn to, you know, you got to do

a lot like your biggest strength is your biggest weakness.

Your weakness to talk about is like, all right, I got to do a lot, but there's if I do

too much and I got it, then I'm not going to develop my people, right?

So can you remember any turning point of like I remember thinking of like, all right, I can't

do everything that I thought maybe on my own.

And then how do I start to develop people to help with that?

Yeah, and I listen, because I'm so competitive, I struggle with this for a long time because

I'm from Boston, super impatient.

I just come to the territory.

It's kind of like fight or flight out there, you know?

So either way, so when I was trying to develop people, I was just too short with them.

And I had to learn to more empower them and give them opportunity because they're going

to do it a little differently than sometimes, you know, I want it done a certain way because

I know that's what works for me.

But sometimes I give these guys their room to grow.

Like that's one thing that I always had the utmost respect for Laura Fisher.

She let me run a salad office and gave me a lot of room.

Now, you know, I had hit certain numbers and this had the other thing, but she's like,

I'm going to let you do it your way.

We just going to work together on it and she kind of let me go do my thing, which I never

felt like micromanaged.

And the beginning stages, I think I probably micromanaged people a little bit.

And when you have superstars, superstars don't really love me in micromanaged, to be honest.

And I try to think back like if they were trying to micromanage me right now, I don't

know much about that.

I would not be.

And so I learned to empower them.

Just pick the right people.

Pick the right people that you know that are good-hearted, care about doing things the

right way, or loyal are going to be in the game long term.

And I think that if you're just hoping quarterback everything with them and it's a side by side

attack, it's a lot better than trying to be the boss over everything and trying to dictate

everything.

The hardest leadership lesson that you've learned.

Hardest leadership lesson that I've learned, I would say, man, the hardest leadership lesson,

loyalty is rare.

I mean, I hate to say it, but it just really is.

And I've learned to cherish my relationships more than anything else.

Now that, you know, loyal people, to me, it's just so much more rare than I thought.

You know, when I was coming in, you know, I just maybe I grew up a little different.

Like loyalty was really important to us.

It was kind of like a rider diet type of thing.

And in business, it's not always that way.

So being okay with that tour degree and understanding like, you know, my goal when we were newer was

obviously grow the business.

As I was here a little bit longer, I said, you know, my goal is to either make them be successful

here or make them leave and be successful with someone else because I generally just want

them to have success wherever that is.

You know, I just want them to be happy, do great and all those different things.

But when you can have some loyal people and you can build that loyalty and it goes both

ways, some special things happen.

Speaking of which, you know, you work pretty close with someone who's incredibly important

to you.

How have you and Shy, you know, been able to separate business, you know, from your relationship,

which I know would be a challenge for a lot of people.

So.

And I'm super lucky, super blessed.

I think that, you know, we were talking about earlier, but I think the most important,

one of the most important decisions in your life is who you decide to live your, run your

life with.

And, you know, I've been just really, really blessed, really lucky.

But I think when you're running a business and you have a real personal relationship, then

you just got to make sure that you work on it every day.

Like it's not always going to be perfect.

Like in every relationship.

There's some days that are great, some days aren't.

I just, we try to keep work at work and that's how that rolls.

But I guess for me, I had a little bit of practice.

I remember my sisters in the business, my dads in the business, my aunts in the business,

Shy's in the business, my best friends in the business.

So like they're all personal.

I mean, now this one's the most personal, obviously.

But I just think that she's such a phenomenal human being and she's just so great at everything

she does that it makes it really easy for me.

I think it's a lot more of her being patient with me.

Because when you're trying to go as fast as we try to go sometimes, you need a little bit

of grace.

What do you think would be, what's harder than people might be, maybe, would think about

working together?

What's harder about working together?

I would say, you know, it's hard some days not to take that work home with you.

You know what I mean?

Like, you know, easier said than done sometimes, you know, like try, you can do your best.

But you know, it's kind of like, you know, something you taught me a long time ago is

like sometimes, it's like I'm big about, hey, every Saturday night, you gotta have a date

night or you pick the day, but that just works for us.

And I think that that's super important.

But kind of like what you taught to me, sometimes you gotta put the phone away.

And our business, like your phone's how you make all your money, that's a challenge sometimes

for people.

No doubt.

You can cause some issues.

So, you know, that can be a little bit of a challenge if you don't watch it.

But again, I think that you just learned so much in our business and when God is at the

center of any relationship, it always seems to work out.

If God's not at the center, those ones seem to never work.

Fire.

That's been my biggest issue.

I was going to ask you, what do you think has helped to make it successful?

Yeah, that's it.

That's an important part of it.

Yeah.

Just because you're going to make mistakes, you're going to have challenges, you're going

to have issues just like any relationship has.

But when God's involved in God's at the front of it, then I feel like everybody's willing

to take a little bit more accountability.

And when you take a little bit more accountability, you can work on things and grow and get better.

You have children.

Three kids, right?

What are the ages?

Well, we have 11, 7, and 3.

Similar to my track.

Yeah.

My daughter just turned 11.

I got 11, 8, and 5.

Yeah.

And so how has business changed, if at all, because of the kids or with the kids?

How have you navigated, you know, having children and still working, traveling?

Yeah.

You know what I mean?

And all that.

I think the biggest thing is you have to have a schedule.

So maybe when I didn't have kids, I could get away with not being as scheduled.

When you're, when you have kids, then you really got to schedule everything in.

And you know, if you're, you know, my goal was always to provide something really special

for them in a lifestyle that, you know, my parents weren't able to provide, because they

didn't have a vehicle like ours.

So I feel like I have to make sacrifice.

That's my role to make sure that I can provide for them so that they can go to the private

schools and they can have, you know, the situations that they're in.

But you got to schedule things.

You know, so there's certain things that like I get are non-negotiable.

So we just make sure that the beauty of our business is you can get it all done.

Like you can get it all done by getting all your work done and then still being a phenomenal

parent.

There's nothing more important to me than being a good dad.

I think it's the most important title I'll ever get is dad.

And you know, so it's just about managing your schedule at a high level where you can make

sure that everything's rocking and rolling in the right direction.

What do you think keeps you grounded?

You know, a lot of, you know, I think some of my challenges, and you know, I don't know

about yours, but, you know, we're always mentoring people like us.

You know, I came in, I was 22 at one point.

I, you know, needed to grow as does many 22, 23, 24, 25 year olds.

And much like, you know, we say business athletes, you know, not everybody makes that type

of money.

But there's a lot of our young people that make professional athlete money.

Yeah.

Some of them even more.

You know, in the mean and I, so I'm working with 26 year old person that's making $3,

$4, $5 million.

Right.

You know, in the mean and so what are things that have helped keep you personally grounded?

You know, with the title, you know, no, quote, really boss other than what we have to

function within the globe life, you know, arena that we're blessed to have.

You know, you're, you're, there's a lot of ways that a lot of people would, would let

that get the best of them.

Any tips on staying grounded?

I think that at the core, you have to make sure you take time for yourself every day with

my body spirit.

But also, I think that in our business, ego can be a killer.

And I think that once you've gone through some adversity and you've gone through some challenges,

like I just try to always stay as grateful as possible because I don't think you can

be grateful and hateful at the same time.

So it keeps me really grounded.

And also, when I'm helping my people or I see them as starting to explode and they're

doing really well and they're making more and more than they thought they'd ever make,

yeah, I just think it's so important that they go ahead and serve other people.

And they focus a lot on serving other people and helping other people because, you know,

it's kind of like in the holiday season, it's good to get gifts, it's way better to

give gifts.

It's way better.

So I got to try to teach a man.

If you could just help your people and really go on and serve in them and helping them.

And that's harder when you're young.

When you're 22 years old or 24 years old and you're making a boatload of money or you're

doing really well, it's easy for people to get their ego out of check.

So I think that, you know, for me, it's like keep the Lord first, keep mind by spirit,

number one.

And then let's just make sure we do everything we can to give a better opportunity to our

new guys than we got or the next generation.

Love it.

I wanted to do something different with you.

Little have fun.

We're going to call it lightning round.

So just off the top.

One book everyone should read.

Any John Maxwell book.

The one that was really game changer for me was the dichotomy of leadership at Jocke

Walker.

Love it.

One habit that's changed your life.

God.

Name three traits of the greats in our business.

Competitive, coachable, phenomenal attitude.

Oh, work ethic.

What's a work ethic over here?

Competitive, coachable, work ethic.

Work ethic.

If you lost everything tomorrow, what would you do first?

Anything I would do?

Get a mentor like you and do 100% of what you told me to do.

Love it.

So absolute fire and gems in there.

And what I love about it is straight to the point.

You know, we're 45 minutes in.

So I have one more question for you.

But I think leading into that, I would just ask you to speak to someone out there that's

listening that's either new in the business or not in our business at all that's looking

for some guidance on being successful.

What closing remarks, if you will, what closing things on your heart would you like to give

to those people?

You know, the blessings that I've learned from this business and some of the mistakes

that may run as younger and one of the most big ones for me was realizing who you

surround yourself is who you're going to become.

And you know, when I was newer in the business or maybe before I got into the business, if

you ask me who are the five people you speak to the most, I was definitely the average

of their income, which was basically nothing.

You know what I mean?

So it was like 0% is 0, still 0.

And then you get into our business.

And if you can surround yourself with really great people, it's like I'm really blessed.

My best friends in this business are other SGA's and people that are just huge thinkers,

big thinkers, they help a lot of people, they serve a lot of people, they're grateful,

they're thankful.

So just finding five people that you would really want to trade places with as best.

But if you can just change that circle of influence, you don't realize how much you're

getting brainwashed on a daily basis.

And it's happening no matter what, they're going to be really good.

This is why I talk so much about listening to podcasts, reading books, finding mentors

and spending time with them.

Or it can be really bad where it's, you know, turn the news on today and there's nothing

positive.

I probably haven't watched the news in five years.

I couldn't tell you anything, it's going on.

But it's just because I don't want all this negative news over and over and over and

over.

I rather think about all the positive things and all the great things that are going

on and spend time around people that want to think bigger.

So I just think that in the beginning stage.

Strength fire.

I had that jot it down, something I want to do in our organization, maybe in the middle

of a meeting.

And it's have everybody just think about.

And so you listeners, you guys could do this right now.

Just think about who are you spending the most time with your top five people that you

spend the most time with.

Who are you around the most right there, names down and start looking at, is that, are

those people, if they rub off on you, is it going to be all positive?

Is it going to be mostly positive?

Is it going to be something that pulls you in the right direction or is it maybe not

so much?

And so I think that's a great exercise for people to go through.

And also the challenge, I think, when you're newer or for me anyways, was that there

might be some family members in there and it doesn't mean you don't love them, doesn't

mean you don't want them.

It's just that maybe you need a little bit of a different approach.

Like when I was starting a business.

Maybe they can't be in the top five.

Yeah, maybe they're number eight.

Yeah.

You know, I mean, just not top five.

Still love you.

Yeah, still love you.

But because a lot of times you're going to be the one that's changing their lives.

But the only way you can change your lives is by you getting out first and working on

yourself and developing yourself.

Then you can come back and help all these other people out.

But I think that then to be in that's where people miss it a lot.

People don't.

So I personally myself enjoyed spending this time with you and having you on here and

watching your journey and being a part of it.

I'm excited to spend the day with you the rest of the day, one of my favorite people.

Maybe now that people are listening, they're like, man, I see why he's one of your favorite

people.

How would somebody, you know, maybe find you if they were looking for you?

Get a look from me.

Social media.

What is your social media?

Brian's using it.

Can't miss it.

Yeah, not too many.

Zuzix.

It's an IAN, not a while.

Yeah, the Ys are different.

Yeah, just an IAN.

Okay.

Yeah.

So it's a spell at form.

BR IAN.

Uh huh.

Z, you, Z, I, C, K.

Yeah.

Yeah.

And so if last question, we're going to close on this one.

Sure.

All right.

Let's say there's somebody out there that, you know, you can relate to at a point where

you were working hard, but nothing's happening.

You know, there's someone out there working hard, they're frustrated, wondering if it's

ever going to happen, you know, for them, what would be your advice to those people?

So sometimes I, I think that that's actually going to be a really good thing down the road,

but sometimes comparison to others can be the thief of joy.

And I think that everybody's path is different, especially in our business, our life, enjoy.

Everybody's path is different.

So don't get so hung up on, you know, hey, I've been here for this amount of time and

I haven't done as good as this person.

I've been here this amount of time.

I haven't made as much.

The lessons that you learn in the beginning stages are going to be so much more valuable

than any dollar amount you could put on it.

Now in the moment, I know it's tough because you know, Steve Jobs is money.

Yeah.

Steve Jobs always says you can always connect the dots going backwards.

You can't connect them going forward.

So in the moment, I get frustrating, it's hard, it's challenging, but that's where

you're going to learn the most about yourself and you got to build that mental strength.

You got to build that, you know, no quit mentality, you know, like you got to get that dog

in your words like, hey, no matter what comes my way, I can handle it.

If it meant to be, it's going to be up to me.

I'm going to find a way to get through this.

So I think that in the beginning stages, don't get, you know, I think a lot of times in

our business, I'll talk to people, they're like, well, I've been here two years and I've

been here three years and I haven't, like, don't worry about the amount of time.

Because the lessons you learned is you probably weren't doing everything you need to do.

And now you've gotten a little bit better.

And you've been here three years, but you didn't really work hard at all the first two

years.

And you know what I mean?

So like, don't get worried about the time you can flip the switch today and make all the

difference in the world.

Like, I think people underestimate just how much can get done with six months of like legit

focus.

Like you could really, now, you got to stack a day though.

You got to, like, so a lot of times you were like, hey, I really want to see some growth,

but let me start after the fourth of July, after Thanksgiving, after Christmas.

No, no, no, no.

Every month or something.

I'm going to say, you got to stack today.

You got Christmas.

We got New Year's.

We got Valentine's Day.

You got March Madness.

You got Easter.

Yeah.

We got it all.

So we got to start today.

Yes.

So you got to stack some wins.

And what happens is now it becomes a habit.

And that's when things really get saying, when you can start building the right habits, but

a habit takes time to form.

Like, you're going to have to work on this.

Like, so if you just said, hey, for the next 30 days, I'm going to lock in.

Because that's harder until it becomes a habit.

You got to feel yourself or you got to act yourself in the feeling.

It's kind of when you go to the gym the first week.

That's how you create the habit.

Yeah.

You got to act yourself in the feeling.

100%.

Like, when you go to the gym the first week, that's what you're going to be.

Super sore.

You're not going to feel like going the next day.

So if you quit right then, you ain't going to get any things that aren't getting better

for you.

Right.

You know what I mean?

So if you can just really force yourself to start building those habits, just stack

a day, stack a day, stack a day, stack a day, stack a day.

And then I think you can really do some special things.

I think a little cheat code to that is just fine somebody to do it with you.

It's kind of like if you and I go to the gym together and you're really pushing hard,

I'm going to do more.

It just is what is like Tom Brady, who's my favorite athlete ever.

Why is mine too?

Never not had a coach.

Like, meaning like he's always had Alex Guerrero.

So if he goes and works out, it's never Tom Brady with Tom Brady.

Tom Brady with somebody else who's pushing him.

Yeah, someone pushing him.

And I think that that can be a little cheat code when you're new.

It's get someone that's going to push you.

It pushes them too.

And people ask me to do certain things.

It's good for me too because I'm like, oh man, we got to come correct today.

No doubt, no doubt.

Love it.

A bunch of nuggets and gems and jewels in there, man.

Super proud of you.

Grateful for you.

As I know, there's going to be a bunch of value added to the folks listening that we

appreciate as always.

You guys know how much we appreciate you guys taking time out to spend time with us in

the Grandcast studio over here.

So we love you.

We appreciate you.

There's anything that we could do to help you.

Let us know, DM us.

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Take the 60 seconds out, share it with them.

And let's try to impact another piece of the world.

So we appreciate you.

Thanks for joining us on another episode of the Grandcast.

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It's a new day.