Frame of Reference - Profiles in Leadership
"Frame of Reference - Profiles in Leadership" and "Frame of Reference - Coming together" are conversational style shows with local, national, and global experts about issues that affect all of us in some way. I’m, at heart, a “theatre person”. I was drawn to theatre in Junior High School and studied it long enough to get a Master of Fine Arts in Stage Direction. It’s the one thing that I’m REALLY passionate about it because as Shakespeare noted, “all the world’s a stage and all the men and women merely players”. Think about the universality of that line for just a moment. Think about the types of “theatre” that play out around us every day in today’s world. The dramatic, the comedic, the absurd, the existential, the gorilla theatre (it’s a thing, look it up) that is pumped into our Smart Phones, TV’s, Radios, and PC’s every minute of every day.
Think about the tremendous forces that “play” upon us - trying to first discover, then channel, feed, nurture, and finally harvest our will power and biases in order to move forward the agendas of leaders we will likely never meet. Think of all these forces (behind the scenes of course) and how they use the basic tools of theatre to work their “magic” on the course of humanity. Emotionally charged content matched to carefully measured and controlled presentations.
With that in mind (and to hopefully counter the more insidious agendas), I bring you the Frame of Reference "Family" of podcasts, where the voices of our local and global leadership can share their passion for why and how they are leaders in their community and in many cases, the world. Real players with real roles in a world of real problems. No special effects, no hidden agenda, just the facts and anecdotes that make a leader.
And at the risk of sounding trite, I sincerely thank my wife Ann and my two children Elisabeth and Josiah for continually teaching me what leadership SHOULD look like.
Frame of Reference - Profiles in Leadership
From Addiction to Success
What happens when you strip away ego and embrace humility as your guiding principle? David Price's extraordinary journey from twenty years of drug addiction to becoming a millionaire insurance entrepreneur provides a powerful answer.
David's story begins at rock bottom – homeless, broke, and battling an addiction that had consumed two decades of his life. After getting clean in 2013, he faced the daunting question that confronts many in recovery: what now? By 2018, he had obtained his insurance license and begun building what would become a thriving virtual business that employs hundreds of agents nationwide.
The turning point wasn't simply sobriety; it was a profound mindset shift. "If you're having issues with this guy and that guy, you're screwed because you can't change them. But if the issue is with you, then you have a chance," David explains, referencing wisdom gained in recovery. This principle of extreme ownership – taking complete responsibility for everything in your life – became his north star in business and personal development.
What makes David's approach unique is his emphasis on humility as a business strategy. "Pride is expensive and ego is even more expensive, but humility is profitable," he notes. This philosophy has allowed him to create a successful virtual insurance agency where agents receive inbound calls from interested prospects rather than cold-calling reluctant customers. His model has transformed the lives of countless agents, many of whom were servers, retail workers, or single parents struggling to make ends meet before joining his team.
Beyond business insights, David shares his journey with plant-based eating, his move to Puerto Rico, and his thoughts on creating a meaningful legacy. His story serves as a powerful reminder that our greatest failures can become the foundation for extraordinary success when paired with humility and ownership.
Ready to transform your approach to business and life? Follow David Price on social media or visit tpglife.com to learn more about embracing the power of humility in your own journey.
Thanks for listening. Please check out our website at www.forsauk.com to hear great conversations on topics that need to be talked about. In these times of intense polarization we all need to find time to expand our Frame of Reference.
Welcome to Frame of Reference informed, intelligent conversations about the issues and challenges facing everyone in today's world. In-depth interviews to help you expand and inform your frame of reference. Now here's your host, raoul Labrèche.
Speaker 2:Welcome everybody to another edition of Frame of Reference Profiles in Leadership and I'll tell you, the wind side changed the format of this. You know, originally we started out this and it was kind of a more local thing during COVID years and then, as time has gone on, I've been able to branch out to people way beyond Sauk County in Wisconsin here, which is good. Not that we don't have great leaders around this area. We're kind of blessed that way in a lot of ways. But it's nice to be able to talk to people all over the world. Now and today I get to talk with somebody that just you know.
Speaker 2:I honestly, david, I didn't know about you ahead of time. So I hope that's not insulting at all. But you know, when these people that come kind of and say, you know, would you like to introduce this person, and then I start reading bios on them and I think, god, why would I not want to interview this person? I would have to be one of the dumbest rocks in the bag of rocks in order to not want to do this. So, david, thank you so much for being with me today. David Price tell us about David Price. Okay, I don't want to do the thing off the screen deal. That's boring to me, but you know, if you had to say right now who is David Price, who is he, god darn it, what would you say?
Speaker 3:I mean, first off, I appreciate the introduction. Already that was a lot of kind words and it's okay that you don't know me. I'm guessing most of the people the percentage of us probably don't know me, but the people that do know me quite a bit are people in the insurance industry. So, basically, who am I? I'm a recovering addict who struggled with drugs for 20 years of my life, got clean in, uh, 2013, got my insurance license in 2018 and went from homeless, broke, carless, you name it, you know, bankrupt, no credit, uh.
Speaker 3:And the reason I bring all that stuff up is because I feel like, uh, people listen to podcasts and they're in like every different stage of their life, from you know, if you could be at the homeless stage, you know all the way to you know I just you know I'm working a job and I'm not happy or whatever that is. So I went through all those stages but eventually became a millionaire in the insurance industry, working virtually, you know, working from home and creating a lot of freedom for me and helping a lot of other people, so that people in that space they do have a higher percentage of people that know me with that. But that's what I do I build virtual team systems, processes and ultimately really just empower people to be the best version of themselves that they can be.
Speaker 2:You know, and that's just such a fascinating, I mean, I think, of these times that we're in right now and there seems to be so much cynicism about, you know, the American dream and you know who is America anymore, where, you know, our position globally has changed the perception that people have of us internally, the polarization, all of that stuff. But you know, you're telling me these things, david, and I'm thinking you are the American dream, for goodness sakes. You know you've got Captain America's shield back there. But then you know, you're epitomizing, in my mind at least, the rags to riches philosophy or model that's been, you know, held up as the American archetype for so long, and it's refreshing to know that as recently as 2017, a conversion like that could still take place. Right, because those are, I wouldn't think 2017 till now was necessarily a bright and shiny, you know wonderful kind of time in America's history, but excellent, we'll get into that, especially the rags to riches.
Speaker 2:I want to hear your peanut butter story, because that was something I ran across not too long ago. Yeah, anyways. So if you know anything about frame of reference, folks that listen know we always do this thing called my Favorite Things. So even if I had the money I would pay to have Julie Andrews playing right now and singing that song. But it's just an opportunity for us to kind of throw some things up against the wall. There's no right or wrong answers. It's just an opportunity for people to get to know you, and as I get to know you, I ask more things and it's hopefully just a fun way to kind of ice break into the whole interview. So I'm going to start out Really easy. One Favorite color Blue, blue, excellent.
Speaker 3:I'm a blue person too. We should get along just fine. How about do you have a favorite thing to see that color in? You know, I like blue shirts. I'm not wearing one today, but I typically I have a lot of blue shirts, so I like, I like blue shirts.
Speaker 2:I get a lot of compliments when I wear blue shirts Well your blue eyes, right?
Speaker 3:Yeah, that's what they say. Your eyes come out and I was like all right, well, that works. So you know, being in sales and wanting to connect with people and stuff like that, you know that gives me an advantage. It gives me an advantage.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 3:Well, you know, if it puts talk about it. Outside, on my balcony, I always see this blue Lamborghini Urus and it's just like this, like beautiful, like baby teal type of blue. So I do enjoy looking at that blue car from my balcony quite often, so that's a cool color, but honestly I don't. I could go years without wearing a tie. I don't wear a tie very, very often, so I try not to. I try not to wear a tie. I think that the point of get my insurance license and building my own business is so I can wear gym shorts and T-shirts the majority of the time and really have to put shoes on.
Speaker 2:So yeah, hey, you know you're speaking to a kindred soul there, babe. Hey, you know you're speaking to a kindred soul there, babe. So do you find that there is a quality that you attribute to blue that you know? Does it bring up memories? Is it just something that is just you equate with certain feelings at all?
Speaker 3:You know, I know there's a lot of research and stuff done on colors and personalities and stuff like that. But in one of my managers, I think she did say I was she's, I think she's a mix between a blue and a red. I don't remember exactly what her thought process was on that, but I just remember as a kid I just always liked the color blue. I was just, I don't know, I guess for some reason that that color attracts me, Uh, so so maybe it does have something to do with with the personality. Uh, you know, as I say, blue, right, you think about like blue is like blue in the face, like you're sad and stuff like that. But you know, I, I, I don't feel like I'm sad, I feel like I'm a happy person. But yeah, blue is just color of the sky, right?
Speaker 2:I mean, it's not. How can you be blue and sad when you're looking up at the sky? It's just not consistent. Anyways, do you have a favorite food, favorite fruit, a favorite vegetable, any of that kind of thing?
Speaker 3:Yeah, I like blueberries, so that's good, right, so blueberries would be Good.
Speaker 3:We're on a theme here, good good yeah, you know, recently uh, switched to plant-based eating. Uh, not that that have any issues with fuel eating meat or anything like that, but, uh, you know, my cholesterol has been kind of high and I was like you know what, let me, let me give it a shot. So I switched to plant-based maybe about a year ago. I'm gonna eat meat one or two times in the last year, okay, uh, so so it's definitely different, different way to eat. But I get my blood work done every quarter and I've been seeing my uh blood work improve drastically every single quarter. Uh, so I'm seeing it's working. So I'm like, all right, well, let me, let me keep doing this.
Speaker 3:And for me, uh, the one thing I like a lot is when I see something working, like in my head is like, how good, could I make this thing work? And I think that's why I'm good as like an entrepreneur, because typical people will like do something and like, once they have like the result they're looking for, they're like, all right, cool, we got this result. I'm like, oh my God, this happens, this is great. Like let me see how much more I can make this happen, or how much better I can make this. So, so I'm sucking plants, I guess, until until I hit some kind of plateau, I'm like, all right, well, let me, let me try something else. So yeah, a lot of vegetables.
Speaker 2:Interesting Is there? How? How did you come across that? Was that just in reading? And you thought, well, I got to do something, I give this a shot. And kind of alluded to that.
Speaker 3:But yeah, are you familiar with Brian Johnson and his old don't die mission? No, no, no. And his old don't die mission no, um. So brian johnson, he's the tech billionaire that sold venmo, okay, mo, uh, the payment app, sure, I think like six or 800 million 800 million I think he says he sold that for. And then he went on this mission to reverse or slow, but slow down the speed of aging. Uh spends like two million dollars a year on like doctors and testing and data and all these things, and uh actually just released something that he slowed his rate of aging down to like 0.5. So basically it takes him two years to age in one year biologically right, and and he has like all his organs and everything like tests at like the level of an 18 year old. So he's getting all these results and he posts everything online that he does. Everything's fully transparent.
Speaker 3:So I started doing a little bit of the stuff he was doing, minus plant-based. He does eat plant-based. I was still eating meat, but I was taking a lot of supplements he was taking and he thinks sleep's super important. He says sleep's super important. Matter of fact, sleep's super important. He says sleep's super important. Matter of fact, sleep's the most important thing because that's when your body's repairing. So like the whole day set up to make sure he gets a good night of sleep and that's a priority in his life. So just a lot of things that I was doing.
Speaker 3:And then I was actually like sick one weekend or a few days and I was like you know what? I'm sick. I'm not feeling good because I heard when you detox from me, you're sick. So I was like I'm already sick, so I probably wouldn't feel any worse. So let me try giving up me and see what happens. Uh, so yeah. So I gave up me and, like I said that that had that was probably about a year ago and then really started getting even closer, more aligned, to what he does, being plant-based and eating the same diet that he eats, the same supplements. Uh, try to sleep. You know, work on getting better quality sleep not just sleep, but getting good quality of sleep by not going to sleep with food in your stomach and stuff like that. You see, a lot of those things affect your sleep.
Speaker 3:And then I actually started taking speed of aging tests. So I took my second one so far and my second one was drastically better than my first one, nothing to brag about. So my first one said I was actually aging faster than than one, so it was like 1.2 or something. But the last one was that I'm aging out of one, so I'm hoping the next one, uh, maybe I, maybe I make some progress and hopefully slow down the rate of aging. And you're wisconsin, so I'm like thinking cheese, I like love cheese. Uh, right, and that's something. I had to give up with cheese because that there's, there's nothing that in cheese that helps you live longer. Uh, so definitely. Uh, yeah, it's just wisconsin, like man it's against the law.
Speaker 2:Here in in wisconsin that's almost more of a uh, you know definitely thing to talk about than abortion uh right, yeah, oh, you're kind of offended on the screen.
Speaker 3:I apologize, you know.
Speaker 2:I mean I really apologize, like oh my god, what have I gotten into here?
Speaker 3:you know, but no, I'm 45 minutes with this guy yeah, I'm a theater person.
Speaker 2:We accept all types, so how about a favorite? Uh, do you have a favorite book or a favorite poem? Anything from the literature side of life?
Speaker 3:yeah, you know, honestly, you know, with books, I'm a non-fiction guy. Uh, one of my favorite books is extreme ownership and it talks about, just, it's a, it's a military book. Uh, jocko willick willick or wilson willick, his name is jocko willick. Uh, I think he was a navy seal and he he brings, like the corporate world and you know him, his time in the military and he puts them together. But what I like about the book and I can make it so you don't have to read the entire book, right, I can tell you exactly the Extreme Ownership right in the cover is basically all you really have to read and understand. But to give you, like an example, if his men went on a mission and one of the guys tripped, that would be his fault because he didn't plan ahead, right? So, like, no matter what's happening in your life, if something's wrong and you're not happy about it, instead of letting someone else, um, be the reason why, like, oh my God, this guy tripped, he messed the whole mission up, it's his fault. If he didn't trip, we would have captured the bad guys and did everything we're to Like, no, I planned the mission. I didn't warn him about the trip hazard. We didn't have contingencies, about him tripping I, you know he takes the blame.
Speaker 3:So same thing in life, right, and someone told me. So I told you, like I said, I was a recovering drug addict and uh, I was in a 12 step meeting and somebody told me that, um, if you're having an issue with this guy and that guy and this guy and that guy, you're screwed because you can't change them. But if the issue is with you, then you have a chance because you could change yourself. So it was like two lessons. That really it's the same thing. So it's like when you start really looking at anything you're not happy about in your life, realize that it's your own fault and that you're the solution, well, then you have a chance to fix it versus blaming it on anyone else or anything else.
Speaker 2:That's just fascinating too, because so much of our culture, it seems, is geared towards find someone else. That's responsible. We're very big on our rights, but not very big on the responsibilities for what those rights entail. Because I have the right to punch people in the nose if I want to and I can say, well, it's his fault, he did all this, yeah, but I still made the decision to punch him in the nose. That was all on me. And if I wasn't considering all the possible consequences of having to punch him in the nose or choosing to do that, that's on me.
Speaker 2:But getting people to think that way seems to me to be, you know, you're talking like rocket science. To some folks around the world today, especially in this country. It's just like no, not my fault, it's this company did this. Or you know that guy got me upset. Or you know my wife. Just, you don't know what it's like to live with her. You know, come on, just come on, please. So how about? Do you have a favorite place that you like to go to when you do distress?
Speaker 3:you know, when you have to just kind of like go of it all. Yeah, so I live in Puerto Rico, so I definitely enjoy that. So I have an electric scooter and, yeah, sometimes, you know, in the middle of the day, got a lot going on. You know there's different things. You know that maybe I got to run to the grocery store pick something up or something. So, you know, sometimes just jumping on a scooter, you know, right along the beach, you know, so I'm riding the scooter.
Speaker 3:You know, puerto Rico, the sun, you got the nice wind, you can see the beach, you can see the people, so it's super enjoyable. Scooter is like 42 miles an hour. So, you see, so I'm right in the middle of the road, like, like, like pretending I'm a car, uh, but with the freedom of, you know, of of being on a scooter, uh, so, so I definitely enjoy that. Um, you know I vacation to a bunch of different places, but I decided to, you know, move somewhere that I would vacation to, and move to puerto rico a little over two years ago okay, so it wasn't puerto rico.
Speaker 2:We had a hurricane down there that that long ago, wasn't it? So things pretty well recovered from them or from that.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah, I mean, well, there was hurricane Maria, which was uh, I think 2017, 2017, uh, hurricane Maria, that one was was tremendous. One was tremendous for the island. I was actually here for seven months after that helping out with that, and then I think they had a hurricane slightly before I moved here. So I moved here two years ago, but it was nothing like what Hurricane Maria was. But I think it's just, you know, there was always going to be some power issues, for sure. I live in an apartment building, there's a generator, so it's just. It's like living in America, but just a little different. Yeah, everything's not yeah.
Speaker 2:I was looking at that, as Puerto Rico is supposedly a really good place to retire, because not only is it still America, if you will, but there's a relatively much cheaper to live there. I mean, the cost of just living in general is lower. But then they were saying how it's just a really relaxing climate in general. There's just having the ocean breezes and having temperateness throughout the year. It's just a very calming place in the world. So I thought, no, you know Puerto Rico. I did West Side Story years ago. I even know a little bit about Puerto Rico from you know America. So how about? I'll finish up with this.
Speaker 2:I find it's a good thing to reflect on, a good thing to reflect on. Is there a memory or you know something you would be willing to share of sometimes, you know? I think there are things that you know, you hear, you smell something and it reminds you of it. Or you, you know, hear a tune and your brain goes right back to it. That is just a safe place or good place to go to, because whenever it happens it's like ah, I want to kind of relive that again. It's not that people live in the past, but there are those things that I think are fortifying to us to just remember this is something that is really responsible for who I am today in a good way, and sometimes it can be a painful way too. I know people are like I don't want to give this up. It was a really painful thing to go through, but I don't want to give up thinking about it because it helped to shape who I am today.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I mean music definitely does that, you know, and I think about different periods of my life when I listen to different types of music. You know I was listening to some Rolling Stones today actually, and you know it reminds me of my mom, but it's something my mom would listen to is the Rolling Stones when I was a teenager and at that time I didn't like, I didn't like the music my mom was into, because, because my mom was listening to it, I was into rap music at that time back in the 90s. And so now listening to that music it does it brings me back to that and makes me think about my mom and really like how you know, when you're a teenager, you just think you got so figured out and you're like you hold on to these ideas like so hard and then just like you know being in and still I still don't think I'm the wisest person, I still think there's a lot, a lot to learn over the next 10, 20 years of my life. But just really like understanding that when I hear that music, I'm like man, like this is, I'm so like, didn't like this at all, I'm like mom, change this. You know, like, and just like really, uh brings me to that spot of like being open-minded and like willing to continue to learn and knowing that things that I might be holding onto today, uh, may, may you know my, my thought process on those and my opinions on those may change over the next.
Speaker 3:You know, 10 years and stuff like that. And, um, you know, I think that's what we started to be like humble and like uh, you know I guess what, like I mean, like the humble thinking is like uh, some, you know it's uh that happy place for sure.
Speaker 2:Okay, I just saw something. Actually that's a really interesting or good segue. I saw something you posted on LinkedIn. Um, I think it must've been a fairly recent post too, and you were just talking about the most successful people you've known and they have the shortest learning curves, and not because they're smarter, because they're coachable. But then later on in there he said they don't defend their old ways, they'd embrace new ways.
Speaker 2:Pride is expensive and ego is even more expensive, but humility. Humility is profitable, because when you're more interested in being effective than you are in being right, you learn faster. And boy that, just that really, really resonated with me, because there is a something about the current United States gestalt or personality that it wants to be as a nation is very, not that right. It's very, you know, power, ego oriented. You know, just do whatever you need to do to get ahead. Don't ever admit that you were wrong about anything ever.
Speaker 2:People ask you questions. You just refuse to answer their question. You just deflect to what you want to talk about, and I am amazed that people don't see at least enough, don't see the destructiveness of that. And I don't know how you teach people to be humble, because it used to be at least when I was growing up it used to be. You went to the school of hard knocks right, like life kind of beat that out of you or it just made you a real hard son of a you-know-what, and the people that I really admired were always the ones that got beat up by life and said you know what I needed to learn. That that's a good thing that I learned that. Now I'm going to not be so quick to judge the next time I see somebody do that and hopefully I can help them through it, rather than, you know, be the person that says oh yeah, how dare that happen to me? Blah, blah, blah. What's your take on that? What is it that keeps us from choosing to be humble?
Speaker 3:Yeah, I think you know, as you're saying this and going through this, you know I'm going through my head and you know where did the light, where did things change for me? And, honestly, it was my drug addiction and I hope your listeners don't take this as advice to go pick up a drug addiction to get better.
Speaker 2:There are profiles of leadership. We believe in drug addiction in any way possible, so mostly plant-based.
Speaker 3:Plant-based exactly Every extreme there is. But I used drugs for about 20 years of my life and usually for someone to be able to use drugs 20 years of your life, you have to really hold on to the idea that you're okay and that you're in control. I didn't go to rehab a bunch of times or do a lot of things. A lot of people you know end up doing uh because in my head, like everything I was in control. I could stop tomorrow if I wanted to right my ego. My pride was was keeping me exactly where I was at, and at that time I don't know that right. You have to get out of a situation to like understand what was happening in that situation, cause when you're in that situation you can't see it. Uh, and eventually I lost everything. It took 20 years, but eventually I lost everything.
Speaker 3:Uh left New Jersey, escaped to Louisiana to try to figure out like how to get fixed. I wasn't even sure how to, but I just knew that maybe if I just get away from everyone, I knew that that would be the first start. Uh, and long story short, end up getting clean and then, once you have some clarity and you kind of look back at your life. You're like, holy crap, dude, I was a train wreck, you know, no, I wasn't okay. No, I couldn't just quit. No, I wasn't in control. And then you realize like, wow, it was the ego and pride that kept me there. And then you're like, all right, well, that screwed up that part of my life. And then like, all right, so if I want to grow and learn, I need to be humble. So then you start looking at other, then you have the ability to look at other parts of your life and, again, just be willing to learn and not hold on to ideas. You know, there's a quote that I like and it's like everything you know is subject to revision, especially what you know of subject to revision, especially what you know, the truth. And I'm just like you know, and I heard that and, and it was actually in 12-step literature and I was like, oh, wow, that that makes so much sense. So so it really became the.
Speaker 3:The core of everything else in my life is like just having this you know ability or or you know and it doesn't mean I'm perfect Right Doesn't mean I don't still have ego and pride, you know, I think, I think we all do.
Speaker 3:There's different levels of it, but realizing that I might not have the answer, I might not know, even though I might think I know, I might actually not know, I may be wrong about this. And then when you start coming at things in like that aspect, it's so much easier to learn because when you know everything, it's like the person that all they're doing is talking and telling you what they know. It's like, all right, good, he's telling you what you know, but you have to stop, shut up and listen if you want to get a chance to learn something else. But for that to happen, you have to be willing to take that information in. So, yeah, I think that was the easiest right. It's the easiest black and white to realize that and a lot of times people don't go through something that drastic in their life, so it's so hard to tell that their ego and pride is holding them back from those things that they actually want to accomplish.
Speaker 2:Yeah, there's that. What's it all saying? God gave us two ears and one mouth, which do you think he intended us to use more? So it seems that there is a lot of you know, just a lack of even desire to listen, which is what concerns me sometimes with. I do a lot of training in my job and I see the younger. A lot of the kids that I work with have just sort of tuned out and they're not listening. There's always been some of that between older and younger folks, right, but I see it across the spectrum too. It's not just a younger generation thing. There are people that have just tuned out. They think they've got it all figured out and they really don't. And I think deep down inside they know they don't. But it's the having to open up and admit that they don't have it all figured out is just too scary. Now I think At least that's my take on it.
Speaker 2:You know you're actually in the insurance business. I mean, that's been where you've been focusing your effort. You're building leaders, obviously in relationships with people, but I've always found insurance to be a fascinating thing overall. You know it's the old saying that you know the thing about insurance is you don't need it until you need it so and so we're always kind of taking that chance. I guess we'll say, by spending the money that we may never recoup, but if we need it we will recoup a tenfold.
Speaker 2:So it's kind of like investing, I think it's like all kinds of investing, right, you invest in the hope that when the time comes that you actually need it, that will be there for you to do what you need it to do. But it's also one of those things where insurance and scam go together probably better than any other words in a lot of instances. And insurance men have a rightly or wrongly. You're aware of this as much as anyone. Probably more aware of it than others is that insurance men have a tendency to be seen as you know, I don't need any more insurance. Would you leave me alone on the insurance thing? How did you get to the point where you reconciled the fact that this is going to be a tough business, probably, but also changing people's perspective on? You're not doing it doing because you're afraid. You're doing it because it's just a wise investment in your future.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah, this is a great question. So you know the there's a lot of different people that sell insurance and there's a lot of different types of insurance. So I would say, with insurance, what you're purchasing with insurance is peace of mind. You know, I know, when I have something you know, like a vehicle, let's say, my vehicle's paid off, right, other than Puerto Rico. My truck's paid off, my motorcycle's paid off, well, guess what? If someone steals it, they're gone, right. So I could buy, you know, insurance to cover it if it gets stolen. So now I have that peace of mind, right, that's what I'm paying for. I'm paying for I'm peace of mind and chances of it getting stolen are very slim. The amount I pay monthly in insurance in hopes it doesn't get stolen is going to be a lot lower than what they win. But again, it's peace of mind because for them to pay out a claim on my motorcycle or my truck getting stolen probably won't hurt as much as me having to replace the vehicle if it gets stolen.
Speaker 3:But to answer your question, we do everything opt-in first. So all my agents have hundreds of insurance agents. They work virtually from all over the country. Some even are American citizens that decided to live outside the country because they have that freedom to do it, because we do everything on the phone, but we only typically deal with people that reach out to us. So they're filling out ads, they're requesting a quote from us, they're calling us directly saying, uh, saying that they're interested in insurance. So we're just basically educating them on what is that they want, uh, helping them fill out an application right, but basically help going through application, making sure we're answering the health questions properly to find the right product.
Speaker 3:There's a lot of different products depending on what your health is. Let's say, a person A has cancer and person B has nothing wrong with them. Well, person B, different carrier products would be best for them, or they'll get the best bang for the buck with money versus the person with cancer. Then they would need a different product that would fit them better and then that carrier wouldn't be good for the other person. So it's just a matter of us really finding what's the best deal for the person. It was just a matter of us really finding what's the best deal for the person, educating them.
Speaker 3:But yeah, for me, when you know I was looking for a business opportunity, it wasn't that I was like, you know what I love insurance and it's such a great thing and it is but it wasn't like that wasn't what I was looking for. I was like I was in my mid-30s and you know, when I was a teenager, I dreamed of, you know, living in a mansion and driving exotic cars and having more than one home and all these things that a teenager that grew up in the Jersey Shore wants for their life, right, and you know, again, instead of doing that, I got caught with drug addiction and finally started getting my life back together in my mid-30s and I was like, you know, there's nothing I'm doing right now that's actually going to give me that life I wanted when I was a teenager. I could live good and make some money and have a comfortable life, but nothing is going to give me the things that I actually dreamed about when I was a kid. So I have two options. One, I could settle for where I'm at now and just give up on my childhood dreams, which most people do. Or two, I need to find something different that could actually it doesn't mean guaranteed, but something different that actually would be the path to have what I want, and I was like, all right. So to do that, I need to be a business owner. But I'm not going to do that being an employee. So I need to be a business owner, so I need to find a business. So I'm like, all right.
Speaker 3:So I started talking to all my friends that were business owners or had family that are business owners, and I'm in like this educational phase and I'm just talking to all these people, you know, bouncing ideas, just being super vulnerable, like, hey, what do you think if I opened up? Um, you guys think about sober living houses, and my friend's like, no, yeah, I don't think that's going to get you what you want. You know what I mean? That's a lot of work, not not a lot of return. People that do do that. They do that to feed their spirit, you know, not not to build freedom in their life. You know, I'm like, okay, okay, you know.
Speaker 3:And I talked to my other friend and he owned a gym. I'm like I was like, hey, man, how's the gym doing? It looks like you had a ton of success with this gym. You know, if I, if I, started gym, will you coach me? He's like, yeah, man, but was like insurance. Well, you know, insurance isn't like some new made-up thing. I'm like well, insurance is a good business to be in. I thought you needed a four-year degree to sell insurance. I didn't realize it was as simple as a 20 or 40-hour course you could do from home. So I'm like all right, well, that's good.
Speaker 3:And then I knew of the person, so I looked to see if it looked like he was successful. It does look like he's living a life I wish I was living at this time, maybe not all the freedom that I wanted, but he was doing better than I was doing, or doing better than I've ever done. So then I was like all right, well, then the next question is I didn't want to be that sleazy insurance guy you know, harassing friends and family, and go just randomly knocking on doors and doing all that. So I'm like hey, how do you find your people? And it's like oh, they call us. I was like so they call you. How many Enough for me? What if I build a whole sales team? Will it be enough for them too? And they're like yeah, I was like okay, so they're calling you looking for this product. I just have to find people to talk to them. They're like yeah, I was like all right.
Speaker 3:So I learned how to sell insurance. I learned the underwriting, the applications, once I figured that out. Then I have my own agency and I teach other people how to do the same thing and I have a business and I have freedom. Yes, okay, I could do that, sign me up. You know, looked at some numbers, look at some charts. I was like, okay, that's simple. And then realized this, this, this, you know, would get me to what I want. So making sure you know it's a good product, you know, uh, the clients are happy. Uh, the page like every, everything, just all the boxes were checked and I could do it on the phone, from anywhere in the world. Um, and yeah, so I would think in that model isn't the networking?
Speaker 2:still, I would think that's the difficult part is getting people aware that you're there and then activated to call, so that, how is that bridged in there? Or how do you leverage that? Because I mean, in my world it would be marketing right. It would be placing an ad for your services in the right places, that people are going to see it, that are looking for your product, and they'll reach out to you that way. Or you have enough people that become ambassadors for the company that they're saying, hey, you need insurance. These are the guys you want to talk to for sure. Um, is it? Did you find there was a secret sauce for all of that, or did you just follow roadmaps that other people established?
Speaker 3:Yeah, I mean, it was a process. You know, I'm uh, let's see 2018, I started 2025. So I'm seven years in now, uh, so, so I'm a lot better now than I was when I started. But basically, that guy, Mark Zuckerberg, I pay him $100,000 a month for, you know, for ads on his Facebook platform.
Speaker 3:Ok, trying to be funny with that, but yeah, we run over $100,000 a month for Facebook ads and you know, they see our ads that you know talk about insurance. They're interested. We give them a form to fill out. We bring them to a landing page. We make sure it's very detailed to make sure that the quality of leads high. They know it's insurance. They know there's a cost to it. They had to put in their beneficiary, the coverage amount they're looking for. They need to put in a favorite hobby. They need to put in their zip code. A favorite hobby, they need to put in their zip code. So so we're, we're we're getting we're only getting people that that have a a very strong interest in talking to somebody and then at the end they get a chance to actually click the button and they'll call our agent. So we built our own system where we could route the leads directly to the agent who that leads for. Okay, but yeah, yeah.
Speaker 3:So so it's yeah, we definitely do do a lot of marketing, so we do, uh, where we could route the leads directly to the agent who that leads for, okay, uh, but yeah, yeah, so so it's yeah, we definitely do a lot of marketing, so we do that with with google as well, and there's some other platforms that, uh, we've been testing, uh, but facebook's been. You know probably where the majority of our budget goes, okay well, that makes sense.
Speaker 2:I mean, that's the facebook, you know, uh, what is it? The? Uh, the marketplace, right? I mean, they were one of the originators of that, that kind of philosophy. And you're broadcasting out to the world at that point, which is hard to beat that kind of target audience, and when you're paying that money, people think, oh my God, $100,000. But the reality is, too, that the way that they're structuring that spend is so much more precise and targeted than we could ever be with. You know our own capabilities in terms of you know, you tell them exactly who you think you're trying to reach and they will find, you know, 16,000 people just like that. So, and they'll do it like that. So what about?
Speaker 2:So let's talk about insurance too, though. I mean, I think one of the things I mentioned as we were kind of putting together this interview was there's so much turmoil in the minds of people over insurance, notably because of Medicare, medicaid, social Security. All those things have been under supposedly, seemingly just direct attack, which is freaking a lot of people out, which is freaking a lot of people out, and you know rightly so, if you believe, or if half of what they talk about in the media, which I'm always suspect of 100% of what I see in the media. But still, if there's a grain of truth in any of that and you know, I guess we'll see now as the big beautiful bill plays out it strikes me that people are being almost used as pawns for a political agenda, instead of us really looking out for wait. This is something that people have been counting on being there for them. They've been paying for it regularly for quite a period of time and you know, with the knowledge and the trust that it was going to be there when they need it. And now, after years of essentially abuse of those funds I mean, anyone that looks at that trending knows that those funds have been being used for things to balance other numbers instead of being held in a pocket to do what they were supposed to do and paid in to do that sort of shenanigan, I guess I'll call it.
Speaker 2:It does an awful lot to harm the insurance business and you know I don't know that the government folks that are involved in these you know deals understand or maybe they just don't care about what that does to people's psychological well-being, their you know their health in general. I mean, if you were prone to a heart attack. You're more prone to a heart attack now, right as you think about that stuff. How do we get that to change? How do we get people to understand that you know someone in your position that's going to present insurance options to people? You want to be sure, if you care about your reputation, if you care about your integrity as a human being, that the things you're presenting are rock solid, or at least as rock solid as things can be. And we had something that was rock solid with Social Security. You know, in people's minds they were just depending on it. And now all of a sudden, that rug is pulled out from underneath people. What does that do to the whole concept of insurance and our whole approach to insurance going forward?
Speaker 3:Yeah, and our whole approach to insurance going forward, yeah. So the things you're talking about a lot more happens in the health insurance world, where the government's a lot more involved in the regulations and stuff with that. Fortunately for me, my focus has been life insurance. So since I've been in life insurance, there hasn't been anything that I can recall where the government got involved with that. But it's the health insurance right where they get involved. Medicare, like Social Security insurance I don't think that really falls into any. I don't think anyone's selling that right. I think that's just Social Security. That's just something. They just take it right. You just start taking your money for it and, like you said, we're just going to take your money and don't worry, when you need it it's going to be there until we change our mind and don't worry, we're going to invest this for you.
Speaker 2:Right, it'll be fine, come back tenfold.
Speaker 3:Don't worry about it, we're way better at dealing with your money than you. We had a great track record.
Speaker 2:But you know, and it takes, because we were thinking of that as an insurance, as a safety net, and now all of a sudden it's not. You know, it's just kind of whoa.
Speaker 3:So did they actually get rid of Social Security?
Speaker 2:Well, it's just, they're just talking about the fact that it looks more and more like they're going to have to cut back to. The latest numbers I saw were 75% to 80% by 2034, because they are depleting the fund much faster than they're going to be able to, you know, maintain it at current levels. So you know, they keep pushing back the retirement age. That helps somewhat, but you know, no one's come up with the magic silver bullet that'll kill the you know, depletion faster than you know, building of it. So I don't know, you know it's not as much of a killing it as it is a uh, letting it die by a thousand cuts at this point, from what, what I've been able to ascertain.
Speaker 3:But yeah, I mean I can tell you firsthand. So you know, when I did start selling insurance, you know we, we weren't uh, doing it digitally and virtually, like like we are now. I was doing it, um, out in the field and what we did is we, we sent out mailers at that time and the person would fill out that they're interested in insurance. We would get it back and I would just go to their house right, I would just show up to their house, um, and a lot of times for final expenses, what I focus on. So that's going to be like middle to lower income families, right.
Speaker 3:So people that um didn't get insurance policy and don't really have the money in the bank or the family doesn't have the money to bank to cover, you know a simple funeral for like $10,000, you know. You know which is most of America, right, that doesn't have $10,000 of disposable income to bury their loved one, and a lot of the people were they check by check. You know Social Security. You know that's what they say Like dude I, you know I get $800 a month or something, like you know some very small amount of money that they're they're living on and they're just like no, like I can't afford an extra 30, but like, no, I guess I can't afford to bury myself.
Speaker 3:You know, and, and and you would hear that a lot and see that a lot, so yeah, I would. I feel like you know there's, there's a good part of America that are already barely um getting by on social security now. So so anything that would restrict that in in any way would would definitely affect a lot of people. Um, you know, based off what I've seen, you know out, out in the field I mean, I was knocking on doors from nine o'clock till dark, you know with with, you know with the leads, um, you know, for a year straight, you know. So we definitely talked to a lot of people and um, and seen that. So, yeah, that would definitely affect a lot of people, trevor.
Speaker 2:Burrus, do you think there's any possibility that the insurance industry will be able to come up with an alternative for folks?
Speaker 2:Because certainly. I look at natural disasters, the disaster insurance that people have had and that industry has been taking such a beating and yet for the most part, they're able to keep going. You know I work in IT and you know cyber security insurance was initially, you know, this huge growing field. Everybody had, you know, a cyber security waiver that they could do and all these companies spread up and then all of a sudden, you know all the hacking started and companies were folding faster than they could form. So is there a potential for growth there where people would have the option or want to just okay, I'm not going to do social security anymore, I want to pump into this private fund that I know is being invested in. You can see the transparency to know that the money that I'm investing is being, or paying out of my check is being put into things that are going to be there for me when I need them. Do you think there's a possibility for that at all?
Speaker 3:Or is that pie in the sky, thinking, yeah, it's a great question? I mean, first, like social security, it's not. It's like I said, I don't think that falls under insurance, right? I think you know people might think about it as their insurance, right? More of a? You know a verb or a noun, I guess right as their insurance. But you know a verb or a noun, I guess right as their insurance. But it's, it's, it's not. You know, it's not um, it's not like there's no one that's selling that. Uh, so it doesn't fall under Um. But, yeah, I mean it would be nice, right? And I look at that too, because I also think about um.
Speaker 3:You know what life insurance is? The people we speak to or they'll say, oh well, you know 80 bucks a month, and if I pay this for, like you know, 10 years, instead, if I save $80 a month, I'll have this much, and then it'll be my bank. And then the question is all right. Well, let me ask you this so you're 70 years old and that sounds like a great plan, and we all know we're going to die one day and you live this long, which is good, but we don't know how many more days we have left. So, based off that plan and you've been preparing for death, right Cause we know we're going to die since, since, since we're born uh, how? How much do you have saved for that so far? And the answer is always none, zero, right Zero. So it's.
Speaker 3:You know, in a perfect world, it sounds great that somebody can um, you know and and I wish, right Cause, I think that'd be better. I think there's way better options than giving the government our money to give back to us at some point if they choose to. So I think there's better options, but unfortunately, the majority of the people, because you shouldn't count on Social Security. I think that's the thing For me. I'm not counting on Social Security. If it would be there, it would be extra money to have. Like, if it would be there, it would be extra money to have. But I take some of my money that I make and I put it in an investment for myself and make sure that I do have some kind of nest aid in case something happens. So it definitely should be some type of bonus. I mean, they're taking your money. So don't get me wrong. I don't think that's good that he's taking it and not giving it to you. That's 100% wrong. But yeah, no, I mean if there's more options to that, you know.
Speaker 3:I think it just comes down to a lot of times. The politicians are politicians, right? They're not investment advisors and they're not business owners, or they're not. You know, they're not the kind of. You know they're not. They're not the kind of people that should be making those decisions all the time. Right, I feel like there's other, there's better people that could probably be making the decisions on how to help the American people be OK when, when they can't work. That's what it comes down to, right? Yeah, be able to survive when they can't work. I feel like there's better, better qualified people to do that. You know, just survive when they can't work. I feel like there's better qualified people to do that, but those people are, you know, running businesses or doing other things instead of working in the government.
Speaker 2:Yeah, well, and having that humanity that you know you've been talking about, really the resilience to be able to say, okay, how do we teach people to just be able to pick themselves up, be able to set some goals and say you can attain this, you can Just find the thing that is really exciting and it will motivate you to do it and you know we can help you roadmap that out. So, are there? What do you think right now are the major issues that you're facing in your profession? Are there obstacles that you think insurance industry is going to face in the coming years that you're trying to kind of get strategized around?
Speaker 3:No, I mean, you know, lead cost is always a thing. Lead cost is always goes up. I mean the cost of marketing. I brought on a really good marketing team and partnered up with them and they've been doing a great job with that. Uh, and that's just me being proactive, because I've seen that. You know, like I said, I got my license in 2018 and I definitely seen lead costs um, gradually creep up and as the lead costs creep creep up, it will cause the agents to be less profitable. And you know, agents, if they, uh, they can't make money then then then then they're not going to want to be agents. So then that puts Can't be able to afford it.
Speaker 3:Not everyone, right? They want to be able to make money, so it's super important to be proactive and make sure that we always have systems for that. And you know, of course, ai is a big talk and there's a lot of fear with AI and stuff. And you know, I have some VAs that work with me and one of my BAs. I was showing her an AI tool. She's like soon, you won't need me. I was like no, I'm going to always need you because you're going to learn how to use these tools and you're just going to become way more effective and I get even more money's worth of you because you're using these tools that I pay for you to use.
Speaker 2:So I just had to reassure her that no, ai is definitely not going to replace you and ai shouldn't replace people, right?
Speaker 3:um, you know, replace jobs or replace things, but that's where people just have to adapt and learn how to use ai to become more valuable. Um, or just get way more work done, uh, in a way shorter time, and then so you're making more money, um, getting the same amount of work done because it's taking you less time to do it, so you could get more stuff. Sure, so, looking at AI in our business and looking at how we can incorporate that to stay in the front of it, right, you know, understanding that things are going to change drastically I'm sure they already have. You know, I already use it for a ton of things and just want to make sure that, um, you know, we're not, we're not sitting there, uh, like running ads on the radio, right, you know that, that, that, that that went away a long time ago.
Speaker 3:And then some people held that line and you know, I remember a couple of years ago, someone told me she was starting a magazine company. I was like magazine company, do people buy magazines? Still, you know, I feel like it's, it might be a, it might be a little late to start a magazine company, you know. So, just staying with the times and just, you know, not holding onto these old ideas, um, but yeah, no, I mean, you know life insurance is, is my bread and butter.
Speaker 3:I just did recently get into health and Medicare, uh, and, you know, knowing that there is going to be some, there is some regulations and some government things that can change that Uh, but always making sure that, regardless, you know life will be my bread and butter and that will, will pay the bills and if something happens where you know they, they pass some law or some bill and it changes my whole, uh, health related business, that it doesn't, you know, put me out on the street because I still have my life business, which typically, uh, doesn't get messed, messed with with regulations, it's just a lot different.
Speaker 2:My father-in-law used to say that people here were going to vote for the ones that didn't have any legislation that they wanted to introduce. So I'm like, ok, that's as fair as anything. So we're running out of time. I just want to make sure I get to ask you this question is in the years to come I mean, you touched on it yourself we're all going to die someday, right? Is there a legacy that you hope that you'll leave behind? You know that people stumble upon your grave someday, that they'll be able to look at you and say, oh yeah, there's that Price guy. He was a good guy. I remember he did fill in that. I remember he did thing. What would you want to be remembered for, do you think?
Speaker 3:Yeah, you know, I think about that quite quite a bit. Um, you know, as as the network starts increasing and you start thinking about like all right, cool, like where's this go when I leave and what's the best, what's the best place for it to go to, you know, and you look at, like you know, like I think, warren Buffett, bill Gates, like all those rich people, you know they're like we're not giving our money to our family, you know, and when you're young, you're like, oh, that doesn't make sense. What the hell, the family deserves it. But you start understanding that it's like all right, where does this go? And like, how can I affect the most amount of people that actually can use it? So you start thinking about those things and you know a lot of the insurance agents that work with me, that entrust me. A lot of them start out as like servers or retail workers or housewives or, you know, single moms and weren't in the greatest financial position, and you know seeing them. You know be able to make six figures, being able to, you know, make their own schedule. You know watch them on Instagram doing all these cool things with their kids the parties, the trampoline park and stuff like that. And you know that's already been a huge, huge blessing because, you know, I've seen so many people grow in so many ways. The money is like the first part, but the money just opens up this freedom for all these other things. So it's really doing more of that and affecting more people.
Speaker 3:I did a meeting this morning. I had 100 people on it. They're all my agents, you know, and I let them know that, like you know, money's cool and houses and cars and vacations and all those things are cool, but the the thing that really, uh, inspires me the most to like keep going, cause I don't really have to work as much as I do. Uh, but I do because, like watching a new person come that I didn't know, getting to know them, getting to find out that they were down and out when they got their insurance license and started to start working with me, um, and then like start making life changing money. You know, and life changing money from them might just be thousand dollars a week that they weren't making, you know, or $2,000 a week. You know it doesn't have to be, you know, millionaire status or anything like that, but you know, sometimes you know a single mom that made 80 grand last year for her first year as an insurance agent. It's just completely changed everything about their life.
Speaker 3:And you know me growing up. Me and my sister live with my mom. You know being a single mom, you know she she struggled with drugs, high school dropout and you know welfare andout and, uh, you know welfare and and all that like you know seeing how. You know, if my mom was making 80 grand a year, it would have changed all our lives as kids. Uh, you know. And then the way we grew up and I kind of am glad I grew up like that because I could relate with people and I'm used to struggle and I'm used to all those things Uh, but to see the, the children's and the kids, you know, the six-year-olds and the babies that are just being born and stuff like that and seeing that, so that's what I really enjoy. So it's just like how do I get more of that before I leave?
Speaker 2:I don't know, David, it sounds to me the way you're describing that you sound like you already are in the Social Security business, so you know, it's just a whole different way of looking at it, which is a good thing. I mean, if an 80 year old grandma can start selling this stuff and actually fill in an income gap for herself, maybe that's not so bad.
Speaker 3:They're the best ones. They're the best ones because they're talking to other seniors and, like you're not going to hang up on a senior, like you're going to talk to them, they're the best ones.
Speaker 2:Yes, so people want to find out about this new social security income. How do they find out more about you, david? What's the best way to do that?
Speaker 3:Yeah, you can reach out to me on all the socials Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, TikTok. David Price official my website, tpglifecom. You go in there, submit your information, we'll get to you, or you can always send me an email at david at tpg life dot com, so any of those. Also on YouTube, David Price official as well. I put out content weekly.
Speaker 2:Okay, tpg is the price group, right. So that's to remember the price group TPG. David, it's been just a real joy talking with you. We went all kinds of different places. I didn't necessarily think about going, so hope you enjoyed yourself. So hopefully we can talk again sometime. Maybe, as things get even crazier in the world, we'll have more need for reassurance of insurance, right?
Speaker 3:So take care. Thank you so much for the opportunity. I really appreciate it.
Speaker 2:You have a great Friday night too, folks. You've been listening to David Price, the founder and CEO of the Price Group a real, true good guy. So if you're going to talk to someone about insurance, that will give you the straight poop for you. I think David's your guy. Take care, thank you.
