Q&A with Ryan Shazier

What's up? We're going to have a special, special guest today in Ryan Schaezer, former

first round draft pick for the Pittsburgh Steelers, two time all pro linebacker for the

Pittsburgh Steelers stand out at the Ohio State University author of the walking miracle

an unbelievable father, an unbelievable friend and a great husband in Mr. Ryan Schaezer.

So get excited, strap it up and we're ready to spend some time with you today.

How money man? Money that grits us. I'm trying to try and told them I'm a beast.

What's up gang? Welcome back to another episode of the Grindcast. Get ready. It's a new day.

We got Ryan Schaezer in the house and we're going to talk a little bit of business today.

And so Ryan, no stranger to the studio over here. Thanks for joining us, my brother.

Yeah, no problem. I'm glad to be here.

So we're wrapping up year one in the business over here starting to transition into a different

role with the agency as a partner in the agency over here.

Tell us about your first year here with the agency and how that went and what you got for

us coming into the new role.

I'm not going to lie, the first year was a big learning career for me. It was a big lesson

for me. And the reason I say that is because just understanding the business, just diving

deep, understanding building the team, understanding how to lead people in a different way, just

understanding the business as a whole.

So I was really excited about it. One thing I am happy about is I did make your money

in it. I was able to help grow a team and I had a lot of solid people around me that

really taught me the business really well. So I think any business that you get into,

you have to really understand the dynamics, understand the situation of the business to

be able to succeed in it. And I feel that the people that you put around me, the team that

I was with, they really allowed me to grow, they really allowed me to have a good time,

but they also allowed me to just understand how to transition, understand how to tell people

why they should get into this business. It's really easy to advocate for something if

you don't really know much about it. But it's a lot better and people trust you a lot

more when they understand that you know the bad bones of it and everything that you're

selling. So I really enjoyed my time. It definitely took me some time to learn what I was

doing. But I'm excited about my new role, being partying up with you and the agency being

able to just help everybody in the agency y'all and just letting them know that I'm adding

value. I'm here to help. I'm here to help this thing grow to as big as we can get.

One of the things I'm most excited about, man, is you transition into the new role and

partnership in the agency is your ability to mentor young people that are transitioning

out of sports. You know, I think people that had an athletic background, no matter what

the athletic background was, seemed to not always, but seemed to be the some of the ones

that do the best here. So I think when you look at what are some of the reasons on that,

I can give you a laundry list of some of the reasons I think that athletes do the best.

But from your standpoint, I've been here for 17 years, somebody that's been in the game

for a year going on two years now, why do you think that athletes do so well in our business?

So the one reason I feel athletes do so well in this business is the same thing when

it comes to you know, service men and everything when it comes like that is just the understanding

of hard work, the understanding of teamwork, and the understanding of hey, you get in what

you put in. It's really an athlete that works, that doesn't work hard, that becomes the best

or get what they want. It's really, and the people that are like that,

they end up burning out or they don't end up lasting as long. And that's not the guys

that we want. We want the guys that understand hey, you know, I work my tail off, I got everything

I want, unfortunately I didn't make it to the league, unfortunately I didn't make it

to D1, D2, but I know how to work hard, I know how to build a team, I know how to enjoy

my teammates, and that's the reason I think that it works here because this is not a

nine to five, and football is not a nine to five. If you want to get you out of get up early,

you got to do all the necessary things that most people aren't willing to do. Like in football,

I have to run into another human being. I can go out, saw it right now, and if I do that

to somebody they'll call it a salt, or somebody would say hey man, what are you doing? They

think you are crazy if you just go out and tackle random people. And it's kind of the same

thing when it comes to themselves, it comes to insurance. It's like hey man, like to

call people that you don't know and just understand and teach them the value of how this can

change their lives, change their family lives. You know, it's like football, it's like basketball,

it's like track. You know, most people aren't trying to go out there and run all day, but

you understand man, if I run all day it's teaching me discipline, it's teaching me hard

work, and it's showing me hey there's something bigger in life. And I think that to me, I think

that's why athletes transition well into this business because they just really just go

back on the roots that they had in sports when it came to just.

You know how you put in the work?

You put in the work. That's how you get the results.

Did the results.

Speaking of which, you know, because you're no stranger to the grind cast, we had them

put something out to the Instagram followers to ask us any questions or ask you any questions.

And I was going to go through a couple of those questions. And one of the questions was

why get into a commission based industry? Why did you get into commission based industry?

The reason I got into this industry honestly is because one thing I really love about this is

you get in what you put in. And there's a, I'm not saying there's anything wrong with

90 files. You know, some people are like working 90 files, but to me, I like to say, Devante

Adams, I like to say, you know, patching my homes, I like to say, you know, even I'm going to

use somebody that's not the best of the best. I'm going to use, you know, Joe Mixon.

He's a great runner back. You know, he's not the best in the league, but he's a great runner back.

And what I would like to say is when you put in the work, you get the results and you get paid

for the results that you do. And to me, Devante Adams, every catch he make, every touch down

he scored every reception he made, you see him on more and more commercials. You see him more,

more opportunities. And that provide more income into his pockets and to his family pockets.

And that's kind of how I see the insurance industry. That's how I see it.

Another reason why I think athletes do well. Yeah. Because, you know, I couldn't even imagine

coming up playing college ball, going through all the work and some of us saying, you know what?

We're going to just split your time no matter how good you do this year. You're going to play

two series. Other person's going to play two series. You got no chance of beating those people out.

That's basically a nine to five. Imagine you watch, imagine you watch the chief

or the stillers. And it's like, all right, every two plays TJ and then every two plays is back up.

And it's back up my love it. But then TJ going like, yo, well, like what are we doing?

Why am I not playing? And then the fans are going to be actually the same thing. Why is TJ not playing?

So to me, I think the better somebody is, the more work they put in, the more opportunity to get.

The missions for the people that are willing to bet on themselves. 100%.

That I know I'm willing to do the work. I'm willing to grind. I'm willing to grind. I'm coachable.

I want to come in instead of someone telling me I'm going to make 30 grand or 40 grand.

I want to go make 300 grand. I want to go make 500 grand. Today we were announcing some of the

income report today. And we had, Joey was on there and made 18,000 this week.

It's crazy. 24 years old. Been in here less than two years. 18,000.

18,000 will probably make a million dollars. Plus this upcoming week. So if he wasn't in a commission-based

business, he wouldn't be making no money like that. So that's the opportunity.

If another question they had, is it if you had to start all over in the industry from what you've

learned in the last year, what skillsets or what things would you work on to make sure you were

successful in the business? So one thing that I will work on, and I feel like I have a natural,

I'm naturally gifted at this but I will continue to work on this. It's just the ability to be able to

talk to people. And when I mean by that is everybody has a skill set. Everybody has a skill set.

It just depends on if you know how to use it or you don't know how to use it. And what I like

is what I mean by that is because in this industry, you're talking to so many different people.

And you have to understand that some people, they're in a good mood, some people in the bad mood,

some people might have had the worst day of their life and you just gave them a call.

Some people might have the best day of their life and you give them a call. And to me, I think if

you understand how to read people, understand how to talk to people, it's going to be a lot easier

for you to be able to understand how to approach people. But I think that's one skill that you have

to continue to work on and that you continue to get better at. And the one thing I would like to say,

there are people that are just gifted at talking to people but you still have to understand the

sales side of things. And you know, you could tell, you could be, you could say whatever the person

wants to hear but once it comes to selling them and telling them about the benefits that you can

provide in them, and if you don't know the business, then you S-O-L. You know what I'm saying?

So to me, I think working on talking but then also understanding what you're talking about.

Because there's a lot of people that just gifted, there's a lot of guys that's first rounders.

But if you're not going to put in that work, you only last for so long. And that's why I love this

business because the people that work, the hardest, the people that continue to put in the work,

you see the results. So putting the work in, developing your sales

skill sets, you can sell. And then putting the work in, getting uncomfortable,

getting comfortable talking to people. You could just get comfortable talking to people.

Yeah, just like talking to random people, talking to your friends, your family. Because a lot of

people are very comfortable talking to their families. A lot of people are comfortable talking

to their friends. But if you just go on and talk to a random person walking on the street,

if you can get to a random person having a conversation with you, that means you're working

every single day to get better at a craft. Because most random people, they're not going to stop

in the middle where they're doing the talk to a random person as well. Because they're uncomfortable

about it. So if you can continue to work on that skill set, then that's something that can help

you progress in this business. For sure, if you know what you're talking about.

You know, recently we just had the tragic situation on the field with DeMar Hamlin that

went, you know, the whole country knows about it. Just so happens to be, he's from our area here

in Pittsburgh. You know, he actually was one of the people that took the kids from Still City on

a tour when we went down a pit campus and visited the football locker room and all that stuff.

Art Kids in Still City are from Stowe Rocks. He's right down in that McKee's Rocks area is where

he's from. Annie played a pit. And so the whole nation saw, you know, what was going on. Thank God,

looks like he's doing a lot better. But seeing his recent adversity, you know, I'm sure you can

relate, you know, as an athlete, what advice would you have for that young man during his recovery?

And have you reached out to him at all? So I reached out to his PR person. I don't really have

his information directly. And I was like, hey, you know, if you need anything, if you need my support,

I wrote them on social as well. I want to talk about anything. I'm here for you. If you

need anything, that's that's about as much as I did. I also, you know, been praying for him. But

the one thing I would talk to him about is just say, hey, one thing, just trust God, you know, no

matter what God is always going to get us through everything. And then another thing is just,

you know, take your time and understand and know your body. Your body will let you know when and when

you can't do things. So just continue to work hard and trust your body and trust God because

it will be days I'll be doing rehab. And I don't want to do it. But on body, it was like, hey,

you keep going. And it's kind of like when you should work out, and you know, in your head,

it's like, oh, man, I should work out. I shouldn't work out. And when you, when you act in that

question, you know, you should work out. But if you've been working out every single day, and you

have that burn sensation, you're like, oh, man, like, my body is dead today. I need to take a rest.

That's what you need to take a rest then. So to me with him, I know he's rehabbing. I know he's

taking his time. But the one thing I would just say, he don't rest it, you know, and just trust God

because then they that seems like you both have that in common, you know, to see some of his posts

and what he's put up. It seems like he has a strong faith in the Lord. And I know that was something

that carried you through. Yeah, 100%. I wouldn't be here if it weren't for God, you know, I want to

first of all say thank you to everybody that prayed for me, that wished the best for me. But secondly,

yeah, to me just God is everything. And you know, some people get away from him. Some people don't

believe in him. And one thing I would just have to say is just, you know, always try to fight to

continue to build that relationship with God because I always understand that the further I am

away from him, the the culture of my mind is, and I think about things I shouldn't be thinking about

or doing things I shouldn't be doing, or I'm making mistakes that I know that easily or mistakes I

wouldn't make, you know, so I would just say always, you know, trust God and just keep God close and

you know, he can get you to do anything. Love it. Great advice. More questions from the

Instagram folks that reached out. One of the questions that somebody had was if you're putting

in the work and you're doing everything that you need to do, but you see other people not putting

in the same type of work on your team, not putting in the same commitment, not putting in the same

activity as the rest of the squad, what would you say to somebody that's in that situation?

They're out working people. They see themselves as a part of a team, but they see people on the team

that's not necessarily putting in that type of work. So it's multiple ways of leadership, you know,

one way is leading by example. If that person isn't following your example and there's another way

that lead to people is, you know, by not criticism, but not corrective action, but yeah, constructive

criticism, you know, by basically saying, hey, you know, Johnny, you need to do it this way.

Hey, Johnny, you should try this way. I understand Johnny.

is working for you, but if you're trying to keep it with a team door this way.

And then there's been, you have to have that hard conversation with them sometimes.

It was just say, hey, they saw me today, you know, I'm just going to be completely honest

with you.

I don't know if you're going to be a fit for us right here today.

And I'm not saying fire them, but just let them make the best decision.

Hey, you might not be a fit for us because the path that we're trying to go on, this is

what we're trying to do.

And I don't see you working at a level of what we're trying to be at.

So to me, I don't know if you're going to be the right fit for this company.

And then most times people don't think, are you firing me or are you letting me go?

There's like no, all I'm saying is I don't think you're a fit because for you to be prepared

like fit for this company, you're going to keep up.

For you to keep up, you're going to have to change.

Yeah.

And I don't know if you're wanting to change.

So basically you're going to have to talk to them, are you wanting to change?

Are you wanting to make the sacrifice to work?

There's a book, old book.

John Maxwell 360 degree leader.

Because I don't know what perspective this person is asking as the coach.

What do you say?

I think that's a good conversation as the coach, as a leader of that.

Here's the expectations of the culture.

Here's what we're going.

Here's what it's going to take.

And you're not putting in that work.

So we've got to have that conversation if this is going to be a fit for you.

The other one is, if you're peers, we're on the same team.

So if you're peers, I'm putting in the work.

I see my teammate not putting in the work.

So if you're peers, I feel like you should just go to them and say, hey, Josh, I understand

right now that you feel like you're working real hard.

But I just want to really ask you, what is your goals?

What are your plans?

Because I need to know your plans because this is the word the team is trying to get.

And I need to know your goals because I'm going to start holding your accountable to your

goals because if this is how you're going to work, I just need to know.

I need to talk to our leader because me personally, I think we need to go.

And I'm going to do it in the direction.

You know, you just have to hold them accountable.

You know, I just basically say, speak up a little bit.

Yeah, speak up a little bit.

And it is, get on the same page, get down the same page.

You know, we care about you.

Yeah.

And then your goals, and I always feel, I always feel it's better to, is the go to the

person.

Don't talk behind people behind it directly.

Go directly to the person and say, hey, Simon, be honest, you're my boy, but you gotta

pick this up.

I need you to pick this up because right now, this is not where I think we should be out

as a team.

And this is as a brother of me, you are doing the same thing right now.

And I don't, I don't feel that, you know, you are giving us the best you have.

And then another thing that, you know, it's really important is most of the time when

you let somebody get by with the actions, it actually hurts the team more than, you know,

keeping a guy around, hurts the team more than actually, the leader, the leader keeping

the guy around, hurts the team more than actually the guy themselves.

So if the leader is like, hey, man, he's Johnny, he's all right.

He's going to figure things out.

He's going to figure things out.

Joey over here is seeing Johnny is like, yo, he's slacking.

Like what's going on at the end of the day, they're going to look at the leaders like you

need to step up.

And as a leader, if you don't step up and make a decision, then your team is going to look

at you in a different, start losing respect.

Losing respect for you a little bit.

Losing respect for you.

Young.

So you're going to have to make a decision and I don't know which, which.

Speaking of losing respect, hopefully nobody loses any respect, but one of the folks on

Instagram want to have some fun with you.

Looks like they want to ask you, what was the worst trouble you got into as a kid?

All right.

So worst trouble I got into as a kid.

I have a kind of two situations.

So one situation and this, like my parent, my father's the pastor, my mother's the stay

at home mom and they raised me well.

I'm not going to lie.

I'm truly blessed about it.

So one situation I went to Walmart with my cousin and he had, we used to play like you

Gio or Pokemon or some of that.

And he had like gave me some Pokemon cards and he was like, hey, your mom bought these,

but my mom always told me before, like don't ever leave the store without a bag.

My mom always told me that when I was a kid, she's like, I don't ever want you leaving

the store unless you have a bag, like a bag from the store.

Because I mean, you went through the register with the bag and then they give you a bag.

You just can't walk around and take a bag.

So I mean, you pretty much got your receipt.

You left.

And I was like, your mom bought these.

So we just walking around and he gave me him and he's like, all right, you just put me

to pack it and walk out basically.

My cousin.

Like your cousin, he sent you up?

You kind of sent me up.

But it was like, I was being kind of naive too.

I was, I forgot how old I was.

I was around like nine or 10.

And he's so some Pokemon cards on the Walmart.

But they, they ain't that bad.

Is it too late to turn you in?

Yeah, now they caught us.

They caught you.

How they catch you?

Everyone came around.

Like they were down.

They were down.

So I was like, where's your fast back then?

I ain't even have to run.

I was just walking through the car and they just put up on us and like, hey, man, I think

your kids stole some Pokemon cards.

I'm like, I ain't still these.

You bought these.

And my mom was like, I ain't bought those.

And then I was like, then my cousin lit that mean I was like, all right, well, basically.

So basically, we had, we had got in trouble and we got a weapon.

So then the next thing was, oh, you got a weapon.

What kind of weapon you get, though?

Now my dad was pissed.

My dad was pissed.

My dad was pissed.

What did you get?

Now my dad, when he used to, when he used to whip us, we had to lay on the bed and he'll

have a belt.

Oh, the belt.

How do I forget about the belt?

Yeah.

So it was, yeah, my dad didn't look like, we're not running around the house and I'm like,

that it was, it was getting the belt.

So, and this is not child abuse, you know, and they back in the day, you know, kids just

get whoopies.

No, no, absolutely.

No days.

I don't know what's going on.

I know I, I'm not whippin' my kids up.

So, right now, I'm not with my kids.

So, they get in trouble, though.

So then the next thing I would have to say is, I, I, I, I, I'm like, what my son, son,

he better watch.

And so, yeah.

So, with, with my other one, man, I was with, like, I was, we used to live in Texas and

I was hanging out this kid and he was like, man, come over here.

We had a road up some leaves and then try to smoke it.

We got caught in my parents had to, like, pull these come over.

I like this one, like, arrest us for smoking grass.

So, like, basically, my parents was like, right, right.

Grass used to be the term for weed.

No, but it was like, but this was legit grass.

Oh, that's crazy.

Yeah, and my mom never done that.

I never done that.

No, my, it's always, I was super.

Who were you with for that?

I was a kid and then they would, I was, I was, I was, I was probably like eight, like

between, I was between nine and 12.

And he was tearing it up.

Nine, nine, you started getting a little rebellious.

So, like, nine, you was still a Pokemon, of course.

Yeah, so, all of a sudden grass.

Yeah, so, and then it's like, my parents had to pull these come, like, to the house and

then I can, like, there's my rest of us.

And then my parents are just like, basically, like, and there's like, don't do drugs and this

is an idea.

And then, you know, so I kind of got, that's probably the two biggest, like, that ain't too bad.

That ain't too bad.

That ain't too bad.

I ain't, like, when I was a kid, I was like, I'm really like, I try to stay out of trouble,

my oldest son, my youngest son, my oldest son is more like that.

He's like, I'm not trying to get into trouble.

You know, like, so I just try not to, I try my best not to get into trouble.

But then my dad, once I got older, he was just like, everybody life is a garbage bag.

And he was like, the more baggage you add to your bag, the less people want to deal with

you.

And he was like, so the heavier your bag, the less people want to deal with you.

And I was like, and he was like, and then once you have a real heavy bag, people are

only going to deal with you until they have to.

And I always say like this, if I have like a light garbage day, my wife will take a trash

out.

But if it's a bunch of junk in there and it's spilling and it's heavy and all that, I got

to take it out.

You know what I'm saying?

And that's kind of how people life is.

If it's a bunch of mess and a bunch of garbage you're dealing with and your life is all

in shambles, most people ain't trying to deal with you.

But if you cross all the boxes and everybody's like, oh man, he's a perfect dude.

You know, he's great.

Some people are going to look at you funny, but in a day, everybody else is going to be like,

man, that's a solid dude right there.

Right.

That's the person I try.

You're always going to have some haters.

Yeah, everybody.

I was going to have somebody who got something negative about you.

100%.

Yeah.

And that's probably been a lesson for you over time too, that wasn't necessarily a question.

How have you learned to deal with comments on social media or anything at any time

of anybody to say anything negative about you?

I feel like my whole life has always been in the, like, not public eye, but it's, like,

I kind of been the public eye because me having out of peace at five years old, random

people see a ball here at kid.

They think I have cancer.

They think I have something that most people are not used to seeing.

So most people when they look at me, they're like, oh, look at that kid, he's something wrong

when I'm done, when I was growing up.

So then as I got older, when people start asking me questions, I just didn't care anymore.

Like, you already immune to it.

That was immune to it.

Like, I care.

Like, if you say, oh, Ryan, your ball, your ugly, he's like, I don't want to be ugly.

I'm going to say I'm not ugly, you know what I'm saying?

Oh, Ryan, you suck.

I'm like, all right, I'm going to do, I'm going to prove you wrong.

But like, to ask you like, oh, man, I can't believe Joe Blow said, you know, Ryan's

such a bad dude.

Like, I don't care.

Like, you just, and then it really, you know, like what you say to me don't really matter.

You know, like, it matters to my wife a little bit more.

It matters to other people a little bit more.

Like, a person that I don't know, if you say something to me, like, why should that matter

to me, you know, like, like, if you have, like, if you're, if you're saying something about

me on Good Morning America, that's a little bit different, you know what I'm saying?

It's like, all right, now the whole world seeing it is like, now they have to proceed, they

have to address it, you know, but when it's just more on, like, a random person seeing

me or how they view me.

Oh, man, on your Facebook or something like that on them.

Like, I, I, it was a point in my life.

I had so many comments.

I didn't even look at them and it's not, it's not as a good or bad thing.

I just didn't look at them because I knew it was like, if you say something good about

me, I appreciate it.

If you say something bad about me, I don't care.

So I'm just not going to look at all this stuff.

No doubt, no doubt.

One of the questions they had was, was there a turning point in your career?

If so, what was that turning point?

Like a, a definite moment where it clicked for you.

And I would probably say more so on the football field and maybe even in the industry because

you're still learning.

Sure.

But I know there had to be some point where it kind of clicked a little bit here too, but

anything on or off the field.

So I would say in football, my, my, my, my, my, my, my training moment was my second to

third year.

So Michelle, my wife, me and her star are like talking and dating then.

And then she ended up moving to Pittsburgh.

And when she moved to Pittsburgh, it kind of like when she moved my best friend moved

to her too, here's my trainer.

And it kind of clicked for me because I started actually going to workout and like rehab

and pay attention to my body and all that stuff a lot a little bit more than I used to.

And so like before I used to workout in the afternoons and I didn't really workout as

consistent.

Even when I worked out with the stillest facility, I'll workout, but it was, I wasn't

working out for real.

I wasn't really working as hard as I should.

I was watching film and stuff like that, but like when it came, it was just like working

out.

So then my trainer was like, hey Ryan, let's try, let's try to work out in the morning

just to get out of the way.

So then we ended up working out at like we had to be at a facility at nine or eight, eight

or nine.

I mean to start at nine.

So I was like, he was like, let's work out at like seven thirty.

So it was not really cool.

The, the, the, the well worked out wasn't far so they're cool.

So I'll be done around like eight thirty.

Did I get some facility like eight forty five?

You know, or it was, I would get some facility like eight thirty eight forty five.

So then I was like, then it's kind of rushing it.

So then he's like, all right, let's work out at six thirty.

So I work out at six thirty and I get to the facility and I'll be there like an hour

before me and then I was spending time with like one of my former teammates and I was like,

hey man, can you put on like run place because he was a safety.

And he was like, if you get in here before me, I'll put on a run place.

So I was like, all right, bet.

So then I was like, it's wrong.

We got to start working out earlier because Mark's been asshole.

It wasn't like he was going to like, that's all it was just more like huge.

Like, if you want to watch what you want to watch, get here before me.

You know what I'm saying?

It's like the TV.

If you want to watch TV, would you want to watch the TV?

If you watch it, if you get TV before me, you can watch what you want.

So then I was like, all right, cool.

So we started working out at six, I think, six thirty or something like that.

And then I was in there for like an hour before him.

And then he was like, all right, he's like, all right, I see you.

And then, but I would get there like thirty minutes before him.

And then when I was there with him, we'll watch film.

But there'll be like a lot of people in there will be talking.

So it'll be like a lot of time.

I'll be noticing that I'm talking and watching films.

I wasn't able just to get like time to myself.

Yeah.

So we're still watching it, but you like joking around.

But you still got a lot of filming.

So I was like, Hey, Jerome, let's start going earlier.

So I can actually like get in like an hour at least by myself.

Or anybody even get in there.

Yeah, like an hour or two by myself.

So he's like, all right, bet.

He's like, you're going to get up early, bro.

So we start waking up at four or five, working out at four or five, four or five,

work out four or forty five.

I get to the facility at five, forty five.

And then I will work out at, I mean, did I be there from six to nine?

Like so our meeting started at nine.

So I'll get there at six.

I'll watch like an hour and thirty minutes.

And then like the first person will start rolling in and like at like seven, thirty.

It is like eight, it is nine.

But it's like already got an hour and thirty minutes and every single day by myself watching

film.

It was watching film three hours.

Yeah, three hours before, every day before everybody got in.

So then my third year, I just started making a hell of a place.

And I'm like, like, it was just like, I will see stuff on the field.

I was like, they're not about to do this.

And then it's like, boom, I'm like, oh, it's like it started clicking.

I was like, all right.

I was like, I gotta start.

I gotta just start doing this consistently.

And then I just did my fourth year.

I did it.

And I was probably in the running for like the deepest of the year.

I had a pro bowl.

And then I made the pro bowl the last two years, third and fourth year.

Yeah.

Yeah.

The third and fourth year.

And then I ended up getting hurt.

But like, I was like, man, I really changed my career in the insurance industry.

or really changed it for me was,

it was kinda crazy, we had a month,

it was like, it was gonna up and down,

I make it a little bit here, I make it a little bit there.

Then we had a month and I think it was like,

I forgot about February, I forgot what month it was,

but it was, you know, braiding and avid,

and the team was just doing super, super well.

And I ain't no making like 45 Gs in a month,

and I'm like, oh snap, like, I'm like, that's crazy.

You know, like because at first I was like making a decent amount,

but we started man, like we made like 45 Gs in a month,

and I was like, like man, that's solid.

So then I just really just thought about like,

man, let me see if I can bring more guys in here,

more people in here, just figure out ways to just

keep growing the industry because the team,

because I was like, if we can continue to,

if I made 45,

some of the guys on my team made just that, that,

that are more.

And I was like, man, if I can continue to bless

other people like this, man, it's gonna be awesome.

Amen.

What do you think about the young people in our business

that have had the success that you've seen them have

that was on your team before we made the transition?

What sticks out to you about some of those young cats?

Like if somebody's listening or like, man,

what would I have to do to come in and have that level of success,

you know, where you've seen young people,

you know, young being 20, 22.

So the biggest thing that a lot of people see

is like on social media, look at something.

And most people are like, they post stuff,

but they're not actually about it.

You know, like dudes were like, oh, I'm working out,

you know, or, I mean, here, I'm grinding every day,

you know what I'm saying?

And when I was playing football, like dudes would be posting

summer drills.

And it was like, they'll do the drill for 10 minutes

and then like, they chill for the rest of the time.

Like these dudes, if they post it in 12 p.m.,

we leaving here at 11 p.m., they really do that.

Like they actually hear all day.

Like they actually, and the thing is,

they're actually going to dinner together.

They're actually trying to help each other grow.

We was reading books together.

Like the personal and self-development here

is on another level compared to where a lot

of other people are in life.

And that's one thing I really respect

about these guys, these 20 year olds, these 19 year olds,

24 year olds is because their personal development

is through the roof and it's allowing them to understand

the sacrifice they got to make now.

And it's going to help them when they're 30, 40, 50 years old

and their kids too.

No, no, no, no.

I think that's one of the best things I love seeing

about the young folks in our culture,

what they've adopted that I've tried to preach for so long

is the self-development.

That's what I think people get.

You know, I tell people that transition

into this high school or out of college, I'm like, look,

if this ain't what you end up doing for the rest of your life,

if this ain't what you retired doing

and you're here for a year, you will get better.

You can learn how to talk to people better.

Your sales development is going to be better.

Your sales skill set, but your internal personal development

is going to get developed mentally, physically, spiritually,

all those things that if you did move on and do something else,

all those things that experience is going to be something

that would also carry those people.

100%.

100%.

100%.

When one of the questions they ask is,

when you went through your injury, if you ever got down

and depressed after realizing that you wasn't going

to be able to play ball and how did you cope with that mentally.

As a friend, I know that this is something that you've overcome,

but I know it still creeps up every now and then.

So how would you cope somebody through?

So I would definitely say I was depressed in moments.

I'll have times where I'll be sad.

I didn't ask why I'm here that much,

but I would be like, man, I wish I could still play.

Man, I wish I had an opportunity.

Because then I love football.

I love it to this day.

And I loved it a lot when I played.

That's all I know football longer than I know my wife.

The only people I know longer than football

is my mom, my dad, my sister, my mom, my dad, my brother,

my grandparents.

And some of my cousins, I know them just as long,

but we see each other here in there,

but it's really football.

So that was almost like every day I did something

that involved football in my life, pretty much from 10 to 25.

So I think most people would get depressed if that happened in them.

But I think one way I cope with it was all just constantly

and then my friends are taught to my family.

I trust in God.

And another way I cope with it is I like video games.

I like going to sport events.

I like spending time with my wife watching movies.

But then I have read a few books that help me just understand.

Sometimes things happen to you.

It doesn't mean that it doesn't mean that your life is over.

It doesn't mean that everything is done.

It's just an obstacle in your way.

And a lot of times people will let that obstacle change them

into a person for the worst.

And you have to understand it's just an obstacle.

And let that obstacle change you for the better.

So that's one thing that kind of helped me.

Speaking of books, we got Walking Miracle back here.

Also for those of you that are looking for a good book

to throw into your arsenal, Walking Miracle by Rye Shazir.

Also would be another great book to wrap it up.

What would you say to somebody out there?

I hate to only sing a lot to young folks,

but a lot of the young folks right now

that are transitioning out of high school or out of college.

Somebody looking for an internship

or they want to come here and they're nervous about it.

What would you say to them, explain the culture?

And how would you encourage those people to come on aboard?

One thing I'll definitely say is that most people

just have to understand picture of products on.

A lot of times people are like, man, I can't do that.

I ain't going to be calling all these people.

I ain't got time for this.

I ain't got time for that.

But then they go to make Donalds and work them.

I mean, I hate my job.

So to me, I'll say picture of products on it.

Just understand that the opportunity here is unlimited.

So there's people here that make 5K a week.

Some people here make 2K a week.

Some people here make 50K a week.

People is millionaires here.

And the thing is that I will tell people

when it comes to transitioning is,

if you just wanted to sacrifice time now

for what you want to be later in your life,

this is the spot for you.

It's a lot of people that want everything now

and not wanting to sacrifice.

And if you ain't having no job right now,

if you don't have a plan right now,

if you have no goals right now,

you're not going to go anywhere.

And to me, I think this is a perfect opportunity

for you to understand where you can continue to get better,

you get an internship, you can understand the business,

make money while you're interning

and then also be like, oh snap.

I can do this for 10 years

and have residuals for the rest of my life

and my family's life to be set.

And you come here at 19, be done at 29,

they're doing boom, their family's gift for the rest of their life.

And you can go back and do what you want to do.

So to me, I think-

We've had people in college their last year too.

I mean they had crazy work ethics,

but we had people in college actually

out of our Columbus office with my friend Pat Bendoor,

who you met.

We had guys in there get an MGA contract,

one of the higher levels of leadership

you can get here while he was still going to college.

You know, imagine coming out of college

with that contract and that situation

because you already set yourself up for the last year or two.

And the thing, the last thing I'd like to tell people

about transition is, it's like,

you don't have to transition about yourself.

Because most guys coming out of high school,

most guys coming out of college,

you know somebody else that's doing the same thing.

And you know somebody else that's,

you're like, hey, what's your body do after this?

Well, I don't know, I might go to CCAC.

I don't know, I don't know.

I'm thinking, I might get a summer job

but I don't know what I want to do.

Man, you just finished playing football.

Man, I'm not gonna make it to the league.

I don't know what I want to do.

Man, you know three more or four more people

like that with you.

Just say, hey man, man, I think it's a cool opportunity

over here we can make some good money.

Let's work together.

Let's work together.

Let's work together.

Hold each other accountable.

You're then boom, now you and your homies

are all making bread.

You know, so I think it's just,

it's a lot of opportunities in this.

And I think a lot of times people see like,

oh man, I don't want to try that.

I'm scared.

And you know, the last thing is,

if you just really look into it like,

we're back by, you know,

globe life and huge companies

and just let you know that's been around for 100 years.

So like, for the people that's around you

that's trying to scare you off,

just understand that this is something

that you can really trust.

No doubt.

Globe, I was looking for a team to root for

and to play off.

And you know, Globe is the official

life insurance company at the Dallas Cowboys,

Globe Life Park, naming rights

to the Texas Ranger Stadium.

Globe's been around for 100 years.

Globe has more policy holders

than any other insurance company in the United States.

No other company has more policy holders

than Globe Life over the last 100 years, man.

So for those, if you know somebody that's looking

for an opportunity, you know,

we don't do this all the time.

But if you know somebody that's looking for an opportunity,

this is going to be a special year 2023.

We wouldn't be partnering up with Ryan.

We wouldn't be doing the things that we're doing right now

for one of them going to be a special year.

We've had consistent growth,

but nothing's going to be like 2023.

And if you want to get personal developed, you know,

if you want to get developed personally, mentally,

physically, spiritually,

you want to get your bank account up a little bit,

you know somebody that needs some experience

looks for a good culture,

send them our way.

We're ready to make an impact.

So thank you guys for joining us on another episode

of the Grand Cascade.

Get ready us a new day.