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Why Getting Sober Made Me a Better Entrepreneur | Andrew Taylor, FFL USA (Ep. 250)
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Start with a truth most salespeople dodge: momentum is fragile, and it collapses without structure. That’s where Ben Smith begins—by tracing the line from a July 4th goodbye-to-booze to nine steady years selling life insurance, and how AA principles quietly power the phones, the pipeline, and the patience. We don’t glamorize a turnaround; we map the small moves that stack: daily meetings, public accountability, and the Big Book reframe that alcohol is an allergy, not a debate.
From there, we translate recovery into revenue. Ben lays out how automatic lead orders shift “spending” into “investing,” why expectations save you from doom loops, and the phrase that changed his close rate: what we’re going to do today. We get tactical with virtual selling: the pros and cons of leaving living rooms for Zoom rooms, realistic numbers on Ethos abandoned cart leads (think five to eight times ROI over time), and a clean opening script that disarms while it directs. Contact rate hacks take center stage—FaceTime Audio to beat call filters, light-touch memes to spark replies, and disciplined callbacks that turn six-month-old leads into same-day issues.
We also open the black box on agency building. Ben is blunt about chargebacks, why business means modeling for losses like a retailer, and how modern carriers reduce risk by paying on issue with verification. Hiring shifts from hopeful to intentional: proximity, daily Zooms, and community over lone-ranger dreams. And there’s a personal pivot with real impact—moving from a small desert town to Las Vegas, finding new networks in recovery and the gym, and watching production climb because comfort finally lost its grip.
If you’re chasing consistency instead of a hot streak, this conversation gives you the blueprint: own your story, automate your inputs, set firm expectations, control the call, and let disciplined effort compound.
Andrew Taylor, founder of Family First Life USA (FFL USA), is known for helping insurance agents grow and scale successful businesses within the life insurance industry. Having achieved a 7-figure exit himself, Andrew now focuses on helping agents do the same. FFL USA provides agents with proven sales systems, lead generation strategies, training, and support designed to increase production, build agencies, and position agents for long-term scalability and eventual business exit opportunities.
Hello, everybody. Andrew Taylor here. Today we have Ben Smith with us. Welcome in. Thanks, man. Thanks for having me. All right. So, Ben Smith, fun fact. I was thinking the other day, I was like, yeah, we went to high school together. And then I kept thinking, I was like, bro, we went to elementary school together. Yeah. So I've known Ben for years. Um, Ben, you have an amazing story, and we go to well, I'm I've been being a wuss lately, but we usually go to the gym in the mornings together. And we have a bet usually where like if you don't get there by uh a certain time, you have to pay your you have a punishment to the other person. I'm pretty sure you owe me a hundred bucks for a rush. I I owe you a hundred bucks. I'm just joking. Um, but we talk a lot, and one thing that I've always been intrigued with and impressed with is obviously you've consistently sold life insurance for years. A lot of people can do it fast, but they just they call them shooting stars. They come in, they do well, and they go away, and everyone's like, what happened to that dude? But you've done this for how many years now?
SPEAKER_01Um nine. I sold my first policy December on Christmas Eve of 2016.
Hitting Bottom And Choosing Sobriety
SPEAKER_00So you you've gone through the highs, the lows, the goods, the bads, all these things. But you've also had a crazy story with sobriety. Yeah. And I want to talk a little bit about both of these things today and tell everybody how intrigued I am about this, like all the time.
SPEAKER_01Um, you just always ask me questions about it. Like you just kind of say, like, I you know, not not being in recovery or not knowing my story. It they're normal questions, like, hey, dude, do you still feel like you want to like drink and stuff? And that's not not really, excuse me, that's not really how it is anymore. I've just um I've worked done a lot of work on myself. I'm in the program and and and yeah, man, I just uh take things one day at a time. But you're in this program every day, yes, almost every day.
SPEAKER_00So five days a week? At least three. At least three for how many years now? Uh my sobriety date is July 5th, 2020. Okay. Do you have like uh do you carry a coin or something around? No, not anymore. But you had that. You got your one-month coin, one year coin. What are those?
SPEAKER_01Um just sobriety chips, just kind of like um letting you know how far you've come, you know. The last one I got, after you get past like 30, 60, 90 days, stuff like that, it's uh they only they do it yearly. So I have to do that.
SPEAKER_00All right, so where I want to go back to before we start talking about life insurance, because I think all this goes together. Everybody's struggling with something. What was the rock bottom point?
Lessons From AA And The Big Book
SPEAKER_01Um man, I just I just got really sick and tired of being sick and tired, you know. Um I'd wake up every morning and and just with like extreme anxiety, and sometimes even like pick up a drink in the morning before starting my day just because my my nerves were so jacked up and I didn't realize it it was the alcohol that was causing causing um the anxiety. And uh I had had something happen to where I just, you know, I did not um I was sick and tired of being sick and tired, and I was sick of living that life. And so I just uh July 4th of 2020, I drank one more time because I just wanted it to be in my head, it made sense to like drink one more time and then say goodbye to it, and what better day than July 4th? And then after that, I um I haven't I haven't picked up a drink since.
SPEAKER_00Was it a crazy day?
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Yeah, it was.
SPEAKER_00Okay. Now, uh a lot of the questions I've asked you are about AA. It's is it wrapped around this book that you guys call the big book, right? What are some things in there that helped you? Because like I'm trying to get people to realize no matter how bad their situation is, they can get out of it. And this is a good vehicle. Life insurance sales is a good vehicle because you don't need to be born with some special gift, you don't need to come from money, uh you just need to be able to get your insurance license and we can teach you how to make a good living. Absolutely. Yeah. So what what translates from there to this?
Purpose, Accountability, And Helping Others
SPEAKER_01Um, I I mean I've pretty much had an addictive personality ever since I can remember. I almost feel like I was born with it, you know. Um if you channel if you channel that into the right things, you can be unstoppable, you know. And I've even even in my addiction, I I I was able to like channel this somewhat and still still the gym and stuff like that. And you you know me, you've known me for a long time. It's like I either do it big or I or I don't really do it, you know. And um like the things that you were talking about about the big book, I mean it it once you once you learn and and you read that and understand that that literally I have an allergy. If I drink, well, I haven't had a drink in over five years. If I pick up one drink right now, it creates a mental obsession combined with a physical physical craving. Literally, I physically crave it to where I'm not gonna like I'm not gonna stop until you know I decide to get sober again. And when I when I looked at it like that, like, hey, this is an allergy. Um, I'm allergic to it. I can't touch it. You know, I break out in handcuffs. Um and so I've just really tried to, you know, uh, I don't have kids and and um I I'm not married yet, you know, but like a big part of my why is I just want to show people that are in that position now that that you can really make something of yourself if you, you know, if you put your mind to it and and and stay sober one day at a time. So that's really what my why is. My my drive to be successful is to show people that are in the trenches that are struggling with addiction that they can do it as well.
SPEAKER_00I love it. Um, and you help a lot of people with that, right? I do. Yeah, which is awesome. Um, and then you said this isn't a dating app, but you did say you're single. So any ladies watching. Ben is single. He and he can help you sell life insurance, and he can help you get sober. But Ben, how can somebody reach you if they wanted to work with you?
SPEAKER_01Um, they can reach me by by phone, um, by my phone number or my Instagram is uh Ben J Smith 1588. That's my handle. And then also you can just reach me directly at uh 760-265-9079.
SPEAKER_00Love it. All right, let's get into selling life insurance. Okay. What are some tips you can give people? Because you were like a you were like middle of the road. My opinion is you were scared to invest more. So your numbers didn't shoot up, but you always were able to make a good living. But what advice do you have going through all that stuff to give to someone who's either done this for for a few years and wanted they want to do better, or just starting out?
Getting Started And Investing In Leads
SPEAKER_01Advice just starting out. Um, I had been in the restaurant business for about seven and a half years before I got into this, and I was tired of doing that. And so I I just made a decision that this is what what I was gonna do. And so, like I I attribute the success that I've had in this business. I don't think there's anything special about me. I just didn't quit. And so early on, um there's a big difference between spending and investing, and I had to learn that. I didn't have any business acumen when I came into this. I was a server. There's a lot I had to develop myself into that. But it this business is actually easier the more that you invest in leads because it gives you more opportunities. Um, however, it's taken me a very long time to develop that. Even now, sometimes I can get cheap with like with that kind of stuff. And so for me, the the the I think the biggest thing for a new agent, you have to do it within your means, but go on an automatic lead order to where you don't have to put any energy into it thinking about it. You just got new leads coming in every day. And just the expectation, you have to know like this ain't this is this isn't easy. Anybody can do it, but not everybody will do it. There's a lot of rejection involved, there's a lot of um stuff like that. And so I think if you know that going into it, leads don't mean set mean sales, they mean opportunities. And and you have to, you have to have the right expectation when it comes to that. Because if you think, hey, they they hung up on me and they filled out a request, like that kind of messed me up when I first started, you know. I'm like, they're filling out a lead, but they they're telling me, you know, what's going on here? It's just a numbers game, man. I literally when I'm you know on the on the ledge moment, I'll call you and you'd be like, don't worry about it, bro. The numbers just always work out.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, you did this like three weeks ago. You were like, dude, I can't close a sale. I know. And you're calling me telling me, dude, I don't know what's wrong with me. I don't know if I could do this anymore. I know. And then what happened?
SPEAKER_01Um, I ended up writing 8K the next week.
SPEAKER_00Crazy.
SPEAKER_01And and that's the thing. Like, I mean, I sometimes look at my situation and be like, dude, I've been doing this for nine years. I should be used to that. You know what I mean? I should be like, oh, the numbers always work out. But when I'm going through those valley moments, I'll be honest, I sometimes still kind of struggle and need to reach up and just kind of get somebody to to to breathe some life into me or or get my mind on the right track. Because I can I can doom loop, I can really doom loop. Yeah, dude, I still do that.
SPEAKER_00So think about that. Think about that.
SPEAKER_01I guess I got a lot to look forward to.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, no, I am still like, dude, I need to get some advice from somebody because something's not going right or well for me. And then you're you just constantly have to learn at every level that you get to. All right. I I do want to get into sales, but I forgot to bring this picture up. Drew, can you pull this picture up? I wanted to show Ben. All right, so this picture, when was this?
SPEAKER_01Um I think it was in November of 21, if I remember right. What was happening here? Um so I was on a panel and they were talking about overcoming adversity. That's what the panel was. There's a few, me and a few other guys on there. And um the program that I in is very the is very much about being honest, right? And I felt like everybody else in the panel was kind of saying that they had a little bit of problem with drinking, but they that they were kind of like, and and I remember um it was kind of a breakthrough moment for me because I just owned it. You know, I just literally was just like, I don't even know what to say, but I got a real bad drinking problem and I've gotten in a lot, I've gotten in trouble because of it. And I just like I literally got emotional and started bawling, like, you know, and uh the the cool thing, um what I'm so grateful for about sh uh about Sean for is I actually called him when I was going in the beginning when I was going through what I was going through.
SPEAKER_00So this is the CEO of FFL.
Expectations, Rejection, And Numbers
SPEAKER_01This is a CEO of FFL, and and he was just really, really cool with me. I mean, he chewed me out a little bit, like he does, you know, but he just he just he just let me know how much he cared about me and he gave me some like good orderly direction. And and I'll I'll truly never forget that. That was kind of the you know, I remember one time and I've shared this before. I was at I I'd partied the night before, and I show up to this meeting, and and I can tell Sean's just looking at me like, you know, red face, all puffy looking. And he goes, Hey Ben, uh, you still drinking? And I was like, nah, nah, you know, I've I've been drinking. And he just said, he's like, dude, you're never gonna reach your full potential unless you unless you stop. And oh he said that. Yeah, and I wasn't ready to quit that day, but I I like I heard him, you know what I mean? That was kind of like a like a light bulb moment or like a uh he planted a seed that day, and I never forgot that. And so when he came up to me, everybody kind of got through their speech and I started talking, and I just I was just very emotional. I just kind of let it out, and and it made me feel good because it it also um it gave me a letter level of accountability with the people I work with now. If they ever see me picking up a drink, they're gonna be like, yo, bro, weren't you the guy that was you know what I mean? So it it helped me there. Every year on my sobriety birthday, I put something out on social media, not to to brag or boast or look at me, but to for the accountability for myself and to also show other people that are struggling with it, like there's a way out for you. Dude, they should make sobriety birthday parties. Hey, July 5th, bro.
SPEAKER_00That'd be legit.
SPEAKER_01No, they do. I mean, in the you know, and like we get a cake, we go out to eat after oh yeah, they already have that in recovery every year. Yeah, I was just trying to have you throw me a party.
SPEAKER_00That was I'll throw you a party. Uh all right. So uh what I'm just curious. Sean Mike is uh he's leading FFL in a direction that's helping a lot of people. Absolutely. What has it been like working with him?
SPEAKER_01Um I just love Sean because you know where you stand with him, you know. And and I think you can um there's been times where he said things to me that that's uh made me mad, and I'll be honest about that. And but when you know somebody's heart's in the right place, you're willing to take that, you're willing to take that from them. And and like there's never been a time in my nine years of doing this where I've texted Sean or called Sean. He's literally sent me a text back within five minutes, like, hey, I'm doing this right now, I'll get back to you then. And and for somebody that's running and doing what he's doing, um, that just that goes that goes a long way, you know?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, 100%. Okay. Back to selling life insurance. Um, you're saying get leads every week. That was a big mistake you made. You're really good on the phones, like you're like a robot. How can somebody get that confident on the phones with people?
Owning The Story And Public Accountability
SPEAKER_01Um, getting around other people that are doing it, you know. I remember early on, like I thought I would see the numbers that you were putting up. And I just thought that you had these like special circumstances or these special things that happen. And then I heard you get beat up on the phone. And then that made me realize everybody gets beat up on the phone. The people that went in this business, they get beat up the most on the phone and they keep pressing forward. So, like I was saying earlier, the expectation has to be right. Um, because it's it's we get paid a lot to deal with rejection, you know? And so having the right expectation going into it for me was everything because I didn't have it going in in the beginning. And I was just going like, I was taking everything personal, I was sensitive, and and you know, that was that was something Sean helped me with too, you know. It's like, tell him you're coming over. That's what he always says, right? They send it in, tell him you're coming over. And um take also like like I was I was timid and shy when I first started. I like my um, you know, my my self-confidence wasn't great, you know, and and and so I would kind of let the client tell me what to do. And that never works, that always ends bad. Um, once I started taking control and my self-image and my self-esteem got better with this, I you just tell them what we're gonna like, you know. When I heard that phrase, hey, what we're gonna do today to the client, that made everything that changed everything for me. So good. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Assuming everything else.
SPEAKER_01Assuming everything.
SPEAKER_00Okay. You went from okay, the world went from actually not the world, but family first life went from majority in-home to majority virtual sales over the phone. You were so hesitant to do it. You didn't want to do it, you didn't want to change, you stayed in the field. What you eventually you made the transition, but what it what is life like making that transition?
SPEAKER_01Man, it's just uh it's it's just it's that's that's a good question. So there's pros and cons to both, I think. Because I got to the point when I was in person where pretty much if I could get through their door, uh you know, if I could get in front of them, I was gonna close them. Now, now in in virtual sales, there's no driving involved. Um and it's it's just different. I I don't like change at all. It takes me forever to adapt. That's one of my weak points. And I don't know, it's just you can literally from home get on Zoom, buy leads, book appointments, and help families and make money from anywhere that you're at. When I first started, and when you were, you know, you've been in it longer than me. I mean, I was getting on an airplane and traveling to Reading, California, because that's the only place that there was available mortgage protection leads. You know, now it's literally show up to the office, buy leads anywhere in a state that you're licensed in, and help families over the phone and one call closed. So it's just it's totally, it's just totally changed and transformed since then.
Leadership, Mentorship, And Tough Love
SPEAKER_00Well, yeah. Now I think it opens up an opportunity for a lot of people that don't know, and I'm gonna keep saying this, but you could work part-time, you can work virtually, you can make uh hypothetically a thousand dollars a sale if you were to take all these averages. Maybe it comes out around there. You can get some leads so you don't have to call your friends and family, and you can make money from you can call Hawaii up until midnight uh Pacific time. So you can do it as a part-time, full time, but dude, the amount of money that people are making part-time is legit. Now, with that being said, some people don't make any money, they don't figure it out. So I always tell people it's not for everybody, that's okay. You know what I mean?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I agree.
SPEAKER_00Um but the virtual thing's pretty amazing. It is, yeah, it's legit. Uh what's your favorite lead type?
SPEAKER_01Um, I do like, I really like the ethos abandoned cart leads. Uh I those are those are and then um just a live Facebook lead campaign.
SPEAKER_00Tell us what the Ethos abandoned cart leads are and how to call them.
SPEAKER_01Um, so pretty much that they you know, if you've watched anything anywhere, you see Ethos advertisements about, you know, term life insurance or life insurance, and and what happens is uh some of these people go on there and they apply and they get a policy, but some of them start the application and then they don't finish it. Okay. And then we're um Family First Life makes that lead available to us, the people that don't finish it. And uh for a brand new one, it's$15. And for one that's uh plus 30 days is is about is$7. And so when uh when I call that, I just reach out to them and I just say, Hey, um Andrew.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Hey Andrew, uh my name's Ben Smith. We've never met before, uh, but I was just giving you a call back here because I was looking at a life insurance application that you didn't get to finish online through Ethos. Uh not sure if you got busy during the application or it just the coverage wasn't lining up for you. But these incomplete cases get sent to a local broker like myself just to see if we can help you find what you're looking for or answer any questions. I have your date of birth as July 5th, 1989. Is that correct? Yes. Okay, perfect. And then I just and then I just kind of, you know, what what stopped you from finishing? I I after that, they're gonna tell you right away.
SPEAKER_00I'm impressive that you knew my birthday.
Phone Skills And Taking Control
SPEAKER_01Was it was that right? Yeah. Dang, man. Uh but yeah, that's that's kind of how I do the introduction, and they'll they'll let you know, like, oh, I got it taken care of, and then it's like perfect. I work with quality control. I just want to make sure you're not overpaying for your coverages. I, you know, just our normal rebuttals that we do.
SPEAKER_00How how many leads to convert? Like, where does somebody go? Something's wrong with me, or this is just a numbers game. Like, what are realistic expectations for people? Um, with ethos leads?
SPEAKER_01Yeah. If I buy 60, I'll close four or five. Okay. And what's the ROI on that? It's usually about it's between five to eight X for me. Sometimes it's a little bit higher, but on average it's from five to eight X. So five to eight X on your investment. Correct. But with that being said, there's times where I buy a batch and then I don't sell anything as I'm working that batch, and then I buy another batch and I sell some, and then I go back to the old batch and then sell one. So sometimes it's kind of like You need the consistency. You just need the consistency of the leads. But like if I'm going through and I'm, you know, made a couple out of out of these, and then I go back, like I leave them in white if I haven't been able to get a hold of them. I just hammer back through those again and call them again. And I I just the other day, I sold a six-month-old Ethos abandoned cart lead. The guy's like no-show me two or three times, and then I hit him again. And it just the timing of it, he was like, Hey, dude, I know I've been blowing you off. Let's do it. You know, and it I was able to help him.
SPEAKER_00So, do you have any tricks to contact? Do you send people memes? I don't, dude. This contractor was trying to get a hold of me and he sent me this meme. I gotta send this to Drew to pull it up. Hold on. Uh in the meantime, yeah, like, dude, I heard if you send people memes, the response is way better. I believe like the old lady where it says it's been 84 years. Like, I've been trying to get a hold of you, and then you put that old lady and you say it's been 84 years. The Titanic thing? Is that uh no, it's not the Titanic. I gotta find that too. But hold on. Let me Drew, I'm gonna send this to you. This contractor sent this to me. And this can just make it fun. And then do you ever FaceTime people?
SPEAKER_01I do. That works.
SPEAKER_00Tell us about that. That's a hack, dude.
Switching From In‑Home To Virtual
SPEAKER_01So okay. So a lot of these with Apple's new update or whatever it is, a lot of these um numbers have like a call filtering system. So it'll say, you know, it won't let you through. Pretty much you have to say your name and who you are. And then literally 97% of the time they don't answer the phone. But with those, what I do is I just press FaceTime Audio and it goes straight through, and you can get a hold of them.
unknownYeah.
SPEAKER_00Oh, FaceTime Audio? FaceTime. But also FaceTime.
SPEAKER_01You can also FaceTime. You can also FaceTime.
SPEAKER_00Brett's been FaceTiming so many people, and it's hilarious, dude. I bet. And they're just like, who's FaceTiming me?
SPEAKER_01No, I heard there was a lockout, and there I can't remember the kid, the guy's name. He was like 21 years old. And he um I just introduced myself to him and I was talking to him, and he told me, he's like, dude, I don't dial. I FaceTime every single client if they'll allow me. And I asked him, I was like, How long you been doing this? He's like, a month, like two months. And I was like, How much did you issue last month? And he was 22,000. I'm like, that's hilarious.
SPEAKER_00Drew, did you get those? Alright, let's pull those things up. Oh, is that the Titanic lady? Okay. So these are my favorite memes to send people. But someone sent me one of these, this Jim Carrey meme or something, and I'm like, I gotta call this dude right now. And I had been like delaying talking to him. So this is a this is a hack. Alright, here we go, Ben. This is my favorite meme of all time. If I can't get a hold of anybody, I send them this. It's been 84 years. That's great. Yeah. And then Drew, let's pull the other one out. I guess on. Can you play that or no? Oh, it's a little video, but bro, it's just so good. Now, um Jamie Cherio has like a CRM that people pay for that he made that automates a lot of contacts. And he said the memes get the best response.
SPEAKER_01I believe it.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. So they have all kinds of memes that come in, you know, that that they send automatically. Alright, Ben, what's the worst week you've had in life insurance? Sales-wise? No, just like everything. Chargebacks, sales, uh personal.
SPEAKER_01Um worst week. I um I got through some debt that had literally rolled to me that was like 31,000. I got through it. That same day, another 11 rolled to me.
Lead Types And Ethos Abandoned Carts
SPEAKER_00Now, this was because you have a team. Because I have a team, correct. And one, so a lot of people ask me in insurance, they go, What's the catch? Right? Because they're like, it sounds so good. Well, there's a lot, there's a lot of catches because you actually have to work, you have to invest in leads, so it's not like you can just show up. You could lose money. And then the other thing is if you decide to build an agency, you're responsible for their chargebacks. Now, it took me a long time to wrap my head around this because people go, Well, I wouldn't want to do that. Well, dude, welcome to business. And then the guy that was mentoring me goes, Hey, Walmart, their theft department would be a Fortune 500 company just from people stealing. And if you take in returns, which is kind of like a chargeback, that would be a Fortune 500 company. So did Walmart just shut the doors because that was happening, or did they just build it into their uh profit margins, which is why um if you're building a team, you can you can factor in a percentage of chargebacks. Now, the other beautiful thing though, for people is that was a f that was years ago, and the carriers have changed so much now where that doesn't happen as often. Have you noticed that? Yeah, like it's much harder to do.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, they don't pay on um, they pay on issue, they do the bank verification, so it's a lot more difficult for them to to pull it off.
SPEAKER_00But um Yeah, so for everybody watching, back in the day you could get paid before the customer paid. That created a lot of times where someone didn't want it, but it made a commission go through. Now you can't get paid unless the customer gets paid, and the carriers are using AI and all these things, so you're probably not gonna have to deal with a similar situation. I agree, which is pretty nice.
SPEAKER_01I haven't dealt with it in in three years.
SPEAKER_00I haven't seen a I've seen a little bit of those scenarios happen, but I haven't seen it nearly like it was before. Yeah. So that's positive. But I always like to tell everybody everything. What would you say the worst things about selling life insurance are?
SPEAKER_01Um you know, when people tell you they're gonna be there for an appointment and then they're not, that's frustrating for me. Because I'm the kind of person if I say I'm gonna do something, I do it. So when they don't, it's like um, it's just it it bothers me. But I mean, it's just part of the business. And I remember that hack that you gave me like rate your appointment. Is it a one, two, three, four, or five?
SPEAKER_00So good.
Contact Hacks: FaceTime And Memes
SPEAKER_01Because sometimes I I'll be booking these appointments. I try to one call close, but sometimes you'll get somebody while they're driving, you know, and it's like I'm not, I don't want to send a text signature while somebody's driving, you know, to work or whatever. Um, but I I just try to rate the appointment so I I kind of you kind of know when they're gonna be there. Sometimes I get surprised though. I'll literally say, hey, just as a professional courtesy, you know, can when I send you this text of the time and date of the appointment, can you send me a confirmation text back just so that my assistant doesn't double book the slot and they'll confirm it. I'll call them the next day and then they're just they just uh aren't there. But that that's probably the most frustrating. That and the rejection, I'm sent I can be sensitive. I really can, you know, even though I've done this for a long time. I don't love rejection, but I just know uh what the rejection yields. So I I just I just keep pushing, you know, I keep pushing forward.
SPEAKER_00Love it. Um all right, when you're building a team, who are you looking for?
SPEAKER_01So that's recently changed. Um well, actually not recently, that's changed a while ago. I I mean I trial trial and error has been my main learning thing in this business, and and I in the beginning hired a lot of wrong of the wrong people and I spent a lot of time with a lot of the wrong people. Um when I'm recruiting today, if they're not willing to come into the office here, like I'm I'm primarily trying to recruit here in Vegas. If they're not willing to come into the office and if they're not here in Vegas, get on Zoom. I'm just really not interested in working with them because it doesn't work. If you try to do this, I'm not saying nobody, the majority of people that try to do this as a lone ranger, it doesn't work. We thrive off connection. And when they're trying to do it on their own, it's like it just need community, it does it doesn't, it doesn't work.
Chargebacks, Risk, And Business Reality
SPEAKER_00Yeah, 100%. Okay, lastly, um, we're both from Victorville, California. For those of you who don't know where that is, it is where the movie The Hills Has Eyes was filmed. It's a lot of desert about 80 miles south of LA of Los Angeles or north of Los Angeles. Um you recently moved. How was it good or bad? Because you decided just to pick up start over in Las Vegas. And the reason I'm asking is was it good for you to get out of that little town and meet other people and get around other people in business? And do you recommend it or do you not recommend it? But what was that move like?
SPEAKER_01Um it was probably one of the best things that I've done for myself personally and business. Um, just because when we were talking earlier, like I was one of the last of the Mohicans to to trade over doing uh doing virtual sales because I just I don't like change, I get stuck in my routine, I don't like change. And and coming to a city, well, I mean, I I was just grateful for the fact I didn't come to a city not knowing anybody. I kind of already had community here because I had you, the office, and all the people in here. But it just moving moving away from where you're there. I I can't even explain it. There's just something about moving away from where you were like born and raised that just kind of um I don't know if it makes you feel like your back's against the wall a little bit or it just brings out a different version of yourself that I mean my production is has increased significantly since I've moved to Vegas. Interesting, you know, and then I just um it also you're like forced to, I I'm not real good at approaching people, you know. Like I'm not real, I've never been that guy, kind of shy, you know. It you almost are forced to like make friends and and meet new people and things like that. And I think the pressure of of going to a new city and not knowing very many people kind of it it makes you do that more, you know. And I've I've met a lot of I've met a lot of really cool people, not just in recovery, but just people at the gym and and I I try to recruit them all. But um, you know, I've I've met a lot of cool people here in Vegas, and it was getting out of my comforts. You don't grow when you're comfortable, you know. And um it's been a really good move for me. So if if it's something that's that someone's been on the fence about, I would, I would highly recommend it.
SPEAKER_00Now, if somebody you could always go back, yeah, dude. I honestly I I love that little town still. I do too. Like even when I go see my mom, I I love that little, it's awesome. It's home, it's home. Um, all right. But if somebody works, if somebody lives now, anywhere in the country you can help them virtually, but if they live in Las Vegas, they can come in here, you can help them sell life insurance. Will you train them? What does that look like?
SPEAKER_01Yeah. I mean, I'll do anything anything within my power to help help them be successful as long as they're they're putting it. They can come in every day.
No‑Shows, Rating Appointments, Resilience
SPEAKER_00Every day, and you'll help them, and I'll help them. So if you live in Las Vegas, hit up Ben. Um, and we would love to help you. And if you're anywhere in the country, we can help you on Zoom virtually. Uh, but we definitely want more people to know about we want we want more of the right people to know about this. Absolutely. You know what I'm saying? Absolutely. All right, Ben, thank you for sharing, my man. We got to do this again. And what's your before we go, what's your goal this year? Hall of Fame. Hall of Fame, and what about your team? Agency, by the end of the year, I want to be doing 500,000. Nice. All right, my man. Keep killing it. Thank you guys. Thanks for thanks for joining us. Thanks for having me on.