A client had reached out asking for help and I called him. I fell in love with his voice and we ended up getting married and having a baby.
SPEAKER_01Whoa.
SPEAKER_00When I was doing emails, it was like the individual people who were out there on their own struggling, no one's paying for a teacher for them and they didn't have help and they didn't have support. And I was like, how can I best help and serve everyone? I'm very passionate, you know, about the opportunity that people have in insurance. It bleeds into my teaching. Like if they're able to study full time, they can start studying on Monday and pass by Friday. Like that's my thing. That's what I do. Some of the people will come to me and they're like, I'm studying, I'm reading, I'm doing everything, I'm watching all the videos, and I still keep failing and it sucks. And I'm like, listen, as an insurance agent, you're gonna fail. You're gonna fail. Like you're gonna have a day where you get no sales. Like I teach people to fail and fail fast, right? Because if I fail fast, I get to see, right? Your score sheet is a map. Most people don't really know that. Oh okay. Well, my name is Melissa, the insurance exam queen dudette. And the wildest thing that's ever happened with me in this business was a client had reached out asking for help, and I called him. I fell in love with his voice, and we ended up getting married and having a baby.
SPEAKER_01Whoa! Insurance dudes are on a vision to escape being handcuffed by our agencies. How? By uncovering the secrets to creating a predictable, consistent, and profitable agency sales engine. I am Craig Hutzinger. I am Jason Feldman. We are agents. We are insurance dudes.
SPEAKER_00That is incredible! So I I met my love on YouTube.
SPEAKER_02Amazing. So you built the YouTube channel. He was somebody that watched you. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00He was watching me for a while before we ever talked, right? Like he fell in love with me before I even knew him.
SPEAKER_02Wow. Stalker. Another reason to start social media.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Those insurance agents out there.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. And so now, I mean, that was that was in August of 2022. We have our toddler now, and we're married. We're in Illinois. So I call him the insurance exam king. But he never passed his exam. Like he never went back to take it.
SPEAKER_02No way.
SPEAKER_00There was no reason.
SPEAKER_03It was didn't matter at that point.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, did not matter.
SPEAKER_03So he really wasn't interested in doing taking the exam. He just wanted to talk to you.
SPEAKER_00Well, he was gonna take the exam and get a job, but after we met and we started hanging out, we realized we're gonna be together. I was like, you don't need to be working in an insurance office, you can work for me.
SPEAKER_02Nice. Oh, that's awesome. Yeah. So, well, so he's not the king. You're the you're the king.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I mean, he's never really done. I mean, he helps me with the business, but like he doesn't know about the exam. He knows how hard the exam is. He knows that it's really difficult to pass without help. Um, but yeah. But now after listening to me teach for so long, he probably could maybe pass.
SPEAKER_02So more like the insurance prince. I was not expecting that.
SPEAKER_03Sorry, Craig. I cut you off. So no, that's that's good. Uh the prince, right? He's the insurance prince.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, yeah, we call him that. Our baby's the princess.
SPEAKER_03So there you go. Well, yeah, then that'd be weird. Uh I don't know, we'll have to figure that out. You know, interesting side story. We uh, and it's not to what up you, but I think that we have two confirmed love connections from uh we have a uh a group of of callers that call leads in the Philippines and two agents, right? Is it two agents or one LSP and one agent? Was it one of your LSPs?
SPEAKER_02Yeah. An LSP in my office and our old um dialing manager, they're they're an item. They're gonna get married.
SPEAKER_00That's awesome. I have two I have two people in the Philippines, they're amazing.
SPEAKER_03Yeah. Oh, so nice. And then he then we had an agent that also, like, hey, you know, I'm gonna be in the Philippines. Yeah. Sure. And then uh he showed up and yeah, love connection. That's it.
SPEAKER_00Wow.
SPEAKER_03Off of the races.
SPEAKER_00That's super cool.
SPEAKER_02It's uh it's incredible. So we Melissa, we would love to hear how in the world did you get into helping agents pass this test that really is a pain in the butt to be honest.
SPEAKER_00So I, you know, I started my insurance career uh while going to college. It my my heart, like I am a teacher at my core. It's like the soul. That's who I am as a teacher. So when I started college, I knew like that's what I began doing, getting my degree in um, you know, being able to teach middle school. And while doing that, I wanted a high-paying job, you know. So I got a job at USAA and it was amazing. Um, and I made really good money and it was fantastic, and I fell in love with insurance. So the whole time I was going to college to become a teacher, I was, you know, selling insurance. And when I graduated, I had to make the choice, you know, kind of between the two. And I'm like, well, teaching is who I am, so I, you know, I gotta try that out. And uh I ended up missing insurance greatly. So I I tried to do both. I went back and forth between, you know, teaching and insurance, trying, you know, trying to, you know, I was just never quite happy in one or the other. So then I was luckily and and fortunate to find a position where I could teach the insurance exam, and that was absolutely my sweet spot. Uh, that was amazing. I got hired by Xam FX, who's one of the you know big pre-licensing providers out there. Uh, they promised me, well, they told me that I could have maybe four days of work a month teaching classes, and that if the rare opportunity popped up that you could travel to an insurance company that wanted an in-person teacher, that you know that that could happen. So, within a couple months of working for them, um, the request came through in Haggerty, uh, their classic cars out in Colorado, they wanted an instructor. I flew out there, I had a 100% first-time pass rate, which blew everyone's minds. And at that point, it just became nonstop travel. So once the word got out that I was a teacher with extremely high pass rates, every insurance, every company, whatever that connected with Eczema FX, I was flying all around the country for the next couple of years uh teaching these classes, life, health, property, casualty. You know, I was at Allstate, United Healthcare, uh, lots of different third-party call centers. I mean, I was just all over the place. Um and I absolutely loved it. And I got really connected with the people who were, you know, taking this exam and understanding what's most tested, you know, what do people actually need to know? I got really comfortable with the exam breakdowns. Like, people don't realize this that some parts, like when you're studying, you think you have to know everything, but you don't. Like, some parts are more highly tested than other parts. And when you can focus on what's most tested, you save a lot of time, you like save a lot of stress, save anxiety, save money on retest fees, you know, and get get your agents out there faster. So um, I did that for quite a while, traveling around until COVID happened. Then I started teaching online, got really comfortable with online teaching, and one of the things that happened at that point was I started answering student emails. So most of my experience with Xam FX was going to insurance companies where they had a group of 30 people who needed to get licensed. But now when I was doing emails, it was like the individual people who were out there on their own, struggling, no one's paying for a teacher for them, and they didn't have help and they didn't have support. And I was like, how can I best help and serve everyone? And so I made the leap to decide to do this on my own. I didn't know exactly what it was gonna look like or what I was gonna do, but I don't even remember how the name, the insurance exam queen, came to be. I think I just I pulled up YouTube and that just popped out, and um, I just started on YouTube, right? I was like, if I just get videos out there, that'll take care of itself, and it really did. So um the first year, I mean, it was amazing. I built a six-figure business in one year um serving people, helping them. I started with $33 an hour with tutoring, you know, just helping people, and then that that demand was too much. And so I started teaching classes, and then I started selling the recordings of those classes. Eventually I had enough recordings, we put it together and basically sell a full-blown course that is gonna teach you, you know, everything you need to pass the exam. So we sell that now on our website, $97. We've been able to help so many people. We have over 3,000 five-star reviews on Google. We have a 20k subscriber Facebook group. Um, not subscribers, like face when Facebook uses the word subscribers, it means money, but that's not they're just a group of people. Um, so we provide a community support where people can get help, you know, like they feel like they're all alone studying for this exam. You know, the most common thing is people are like, hey, you're hired, you have to pass this test. Here's your online login. Let us know when you're done. And they just feel alone, you know. So they can join our group and get support, and um, it's been amazing. Uh, within the last, you know, we started in 2022. We've we've already exceeded 3 million in sales, we're on track for 3 million this year alone. Like, and that's just evidence to me that how much we're helping people and the impact that we have. Um, and how, you know, and just the support that people need to be able to pass this exam. Um, so it's been amazing being the insurance exam queen, you know, building my own entrepreneurial journey through all of this, which is one of the reasons I love insurance that you can, you know, be an entrepreneur and um be able to make an impact on yourself. You know, you're helping your own financials, plus you're you're helping other people with their financials. I think that's really great. So I love being a gateway into this uh career. I love helping people get into this career. I've seen it, you know, bring my friend out of poverty, you know, and so I I absolutely love what insurance can do. So it's really cool that I can take my teaching, my passion and love for insurance, blend the two, and you know, impact and help so many people.
SPEAKER_02It's so cool. And what uh different tests do you help with?
SPEAKER_00So I all the four main ones, so property, casualty, life and health. Um, I know that we do have help for adjusters as well, because that's a lot of property and casualty. Um, but those are the the main the main ones that we have right now. We will eventually get into securities and things like that. Um, but right now those are our our main jam.
SPEAKER_02Gosh, I remember when I was taking those tests, they were the it was the worst. Yeah. Like it was and and the the one thing about it was A, back then we'd have to go pretty much in person, right? Um or I used exam fx as well, or you're just online by yourself. So to have that community element, because that's what was cool about going in in person, was that you had like the group of students that you could like, you know, cry with, you know. But um, but uh yeah, that's that like this way just seems so much it makes so much more sense too. Cause I love the whole online thing, not having to, you know, go in person. Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_00And in person is not really an option everywhere.
SPEAKER_03I think you got a little lag on there, Craig. A big lag, it appears. I we have dial up here. Um, but it it's interesting because when I was at Merrill uh and I had to study for my series seven, it was this, you know, you had six months. Like they paid you to sit there for six months of study. Um and the if it wasn't for the course, like that course, because I've seen other courses after, and the it no longer exists, but it was it was formatted the way that you're talking, where there was a there was a community element. I mean, this is 2003, you know, so the internet wasn't the internet as we know it. But um but they did create that that group thing so you could bounce ideas, yeah, and and it was I mean, man, that test was insane, right? So I mean that's what got got me through. And and it is like literally the difference, right? Because I've had I I've sat through the insurance one too, and um that wasn't quite as fun as as the series seven. And one would argue probably that the series seven wouldn't be as interesting or as fun, um, but uh it was the it was the instructor, right? And and so it's clear just in how you delivered your message and everything that you that you're passionate about it, and that's what makes people interested, right? Like that keeps them engaged, as opposed to you know the guy from Ferris Bueller up at the top, you know, Bueller, Bueller, just boring and fall asleep.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I'm I mean I'm really I'm very passionate, you know, about the opportunity that people have in insurance. Uh, and so it bleeds into my teaching. I mean, teaching in general is just I love, I absolutely love to teach. I love to take abstract concepts, make them very simple, make them very concrete for people to understand, memorize, retain. I use a lot of humor. I do like just silly things, and it just it really helps. You know, I was a middle school teacher for a while, um, and I taught in Glendale, Arizona, which is a large, you know, um population of English was their second language. So I was spending a lot of time just teaching things, you know, very simply, breaking, breaking down these complex topics, and uh it transfers into my teaching now. So we, I mean, low, you know, review after review will come in, like, you know, I I English is not a strong language for me, or you know, I have this learning disability, or I have ADD and I can't pay attention to anything, but your videos were able to hold me on. You know, it's really interesting. Um, I've had many people in education or online course development tell me that videos should not be very long, that they should be like five to ten minutes, you know. And I I'm like, I have like a four-hour video, you know, is one of my one of my like I'll just teach, teach, teach, teach, teach, right? So, but it's it's no problem. Like, I mean, obviously, people can stop and come back, but it's not been a problem at all. Um, and I think, you know, with so many of the courses right now that you that you can take, like Exam FX, Kaplan, AD Banker, they are very text heavy based, right? So you've got to read. But it's kind of like if you're, you know, insurance itself is a whole new language. So it's kind of like here's a course on learning German, and it's written in German, good luck. You know, like that's kind of how the insurance course is. It's written in a language you don't understand, and here's the course for you to learn it. So I like to break it down, make it super simple, you know, uh, and alleviate a lot of the pressure. That's an that's another huge thing that people are missing is when they get excited, they have a new opportunity, they're gonna get into the insurance field, they've heard all these amazing things, how they can make money, how they can help people, and then they're like, okay, you have to pass this test. Here's a course that you have to take. It's easy. It'll only take you like a week, not even. Right? And then they log in and then they start reading it, and they're like, oh my God, their eyes start melting out of their head, nothing makes sense, they want to pull their hair out, and then they're they're failing. They're like, Yeah, it's just awful, right? So then they get very demoralized and they're like, oh my god, this job isn't for me. I got so excited. Now I'm not gonna be able to pass this test, there's no way. And then they they're like stressed, and then like, you know, I've worked with a lot of people where they got hired on the contingency that they passed. So, like, if they don't pass, they lose the job and they already quit their other job, you know. So, like, they got nothing. Like, they're like, I on a hope and a prayer, I gotta get this done. So, um, you know, being able to, you know, help them with their ease, their mindset. You know, we can learn, we can study, we've got this. You know, there's nothing, none of the courses out there really focus on, you know, the mindset piece, like looking at a person in their entirety, you know, they they've got a story, they got a soul, they've got a worries, they got fears, you know, and not only do I teach the information in a way that makes sense, I just I help them alleviate those fears. I make it very simple for them, and that's makes a huge difference um in people being able to pass.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, those cool those courses that I've taken before are soulless, that's for sure. And it's just a bunch, a bunch of just definitions and words, and it's like, dude, I want to fall asleep like three minutes into studying it.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, yeah. And so we are on the the track to uh release our own state approved material. So right now we are considered supplemental. You would use our like in about half the states do require that you earn a certificate. So like you're required to show that you studied for the exam before you take the test. Um half the states don't care. So in the in the states where they don't care, you can absolutely use my content 100% and you can pass the exam. In the states where you need a certificate, you still have to take a course like ExamFX or Kaplan, and you can use my videos in place to teach you the material in that course. But we are working on getting our own state approved material so that we could just be everything that people need from the jump. You know, one of the things people have always told me that I should be raising my prices, that my prices are too low. And I'm like, they've already spent two, three hundred dollars on Xam FX, on Kaplan, on Excel. You know, they're they're trying to get into a new job. I don't want to make them have to pay a ton more, you know. So I I've always kept my prices very low and because I know they're buying it extra on top of what they've already spent and it's not working. But I I would love to be able to one and done solution, you know, for people to pass their exam. So very soon we'll be rolling out our own state-approved courses in the states that require it. So it's gonna be awesome when that happens.
SPEAKER_02Dude, you should teach the the like if if you're if your primary um student is is somebody who's going to work in an insurance agency, you should just teach them, hey, have your new agent pay for it. Yeah. You know, and then tell the agent, what is it worth to have a bad hire? Like, how much does that actually cost you? Thousands of dollars. This only costs 500 bucks. Yeah. You know?
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, it's funny. I mean, agents will will not pay for their materials, but they're paying them to work there, and they're like, I gotta save the money. It's like, what if they sit another month without a license, what does that cost you?
unknownYeah.
SPEAKER_02Four grand? So we're the wrong hire that they fire because they didn't pass the test.
SPEAKER_03Yeah. Yeah, exactly. It's it's saved. Yeah. It's saved.
SPEAKER_00But I mean, I can when people use my like so if they're full time, like if they're able to study full time, they can they can start studying on Monday and pass by Friday. Like that's that's my thing. That's what I do with people. Um, but if they have a job, you know, and they're only studying a couple hours a night, it's it's gonna take about two, two to four weeks for most people.
SPEAKER_03One week? Oh, I didn't know. I did it, I had two days. I had two, they told me you're approved to buy the the you know, this carrier that we represent. You're approved to buy, you just had to pass the test by Monday. And I'm like, but it's but it's you know, Friday or whatever it was. You know, I just had a couple days that I just and I okay, that I went to the class, I sat there, and it was horrible and um not very interesting at all. And uh, but I passed, you know, lucky.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, life and health is definitely a lot easier to pass in a weekend for sure. Property and casualty generally is gonna require a little bit more time. Um, but I mean it can be done quickly. You know, the some people are just really good test takers. So um, but for the majority of people, they're gonna need to understand some of the information in a way that makes sense. So I'm glad that I'm there to help them.
SPEAKER_02That is awesome. What um what could I do as an agency owner hiring someone to help them along this process?
SPEAKER_00Give them to me. Just hide just use me, use my services. Um, I mean, we we will make it so fast. I mean, we can get it done, especially if they're it like I said, if they're hired full time, you know, give me five days, you know, and they will be able to pass the exam within those five days. Um, if it what what ends up happening is a lot of agency owners, again, will just give them a course and say, go do it. You know, we have this belief that like you log into your exam FX, you log into your Kaplan, you just take the exam over and over again, the practice exam, and you'll be good. But so many people will do that and they'll pass the practice exam with the 80%, they'll think they're good, they go to take the state exam, they fail with the 50, and they don't even think they studied for the right test. Because the way that the course is worded is not the same way that the exam is worded, and then so people have just memorized questions, they haven't actually learned material, and then they get into problems. So if they can, if they can just give them to me, give and I'll we'll give them, you know, like we have services, you know, depending on how big the agency is, if they've got a lot of people, if they got one person, but we we can get them through the material so quickly and passing the exam and feeling confident too. And that's also one of the things that I always found was when I was teaching the material from Exam FX, it didn't talk about your job. As an agent, like what does this look like for you when you're talking to customers? And so I actually embed sales conversations while I'm teaching. So it's like because you need to connect what they're learning with what they already know or with something that matters to them. Right? Obviously, it matters that they pass this exam, but they're also thinking about their future. And it's like, I've got to make sales. How do I talk to my customers? I'm like, well, you talk to them like this. And I and I do it in such a way where I'm teaching what they need to know to pass the exam, and I'm preparing them to have sales conversations when they're done. So, and and that was something that I found was missing, you know, in in a lot of the other content that's out there.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, it's it's so academic, right? Like it it just it's just a bunch of blah blah blah, and and uh you know, most agents have the belief, and I don't know how true it is, but that you take the test that that's it, now you gotta forget everything you know and and do this. But I love how you've bridged that gap, right? I mean because if you just look at the material, it doesn't seem like it applies, right? Because it's so broad with with the different terminology and all that. Yeah. As soon as you get with the carrier, they have their own jargon that relates to the stuff that's in the I mean, the stuff in the exam is the real stuff, it just is worded differently in real life, right?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, and I I try to explain that too. I'm like, there is real world and test world, you know, there are and there are also the tests are relatively outdated. There has been no major changes since I started teaching in 2017. And that's we're now almost 10 years, you know, eight years, and nothing major has changed about what I teach. So the what insurance companies they change, they update, they do different things, but the exam has relatively stayed the same. Um, so and that can actually be a problem too, because if you're an agency, like I've noticed this a lot, maybe like in the Medicare space, where a lot of the rule, like things about Medicare kind of change, you know, there's different things, there's different things going like AEP, they always talk about AEP. That doesn't show up on the exam at all. So when they start telling, oh, you just need to know this or you need to know that, I'm like, no, no, no, don't even tell them that at all. That's not gonna show up on the exam. And so that can be a little confusing because it's it's it's so basic and foundational and and it stays the same. Whereas insurance, you know, is a little bit more fluid, insurance companies change things, and so there there also has to be a recognition of this is really foundational and base level knowledge. You will need to know and understand this stuff, but it is gonna look a lot different in the real world.
SPEAKER_02So, what what would you say is the what are the top um worries and and things that um newbies are are thinking when they're going into this process? Because you mentioned a lot of stress and worry, and I do remember those feelings. So, like what what do you see as the top?
SPEAKER_00Well, it's just like am I gonna be able to do this so that I could keep my job, right? Like, we know people you need to be able to make money, you're right. You need to be able to have a job to be able to make money. People are not, you know, like I mean, I I feel like I would do this, but I s for free, but I still need to make money. So obviously I charge for my services. We've got to be able to make money. So if if my job is right, like if the my ability to make money is riding on can I pass this test? That's super pressured, right? So I gotta feed my kids, I gotta take care of, you know, I gotta do this stuff. Like if I can't pass this one test, which everyone tells me is they're like, oh, just take the course, it's easy. Like that's what their agency owners tell them because they did it 20 years ago and they don't remember, you know, or it's just whatever. So it's the fear of will I be able to actually do this so that I can, you know, make money and and have this career. And then once they start reading, and it again it doesn't make any sense whatsoever, then it just compounds the fear, like I'm not gonna be able to get this, this doesn't make sense. Then they begin to question if this job is for them. If I can't understand this material, will I be able to sell a policy? Will I be able to help people? And it's like, but you don't have to full, like, this is not the same thing, right? It is and it isn't. So it's like, yes, this is foundational knowledge, but like you don't have to, you don't have to explain exactly everything that I'm teaching you to pass the exam to your customers, right? So it's not like you need to be have this this huge amount of knowledge for you to then be able to sell. It's not like that. So then they they wonder if this job is actually for them and if they can actually do it. And that's why I stress we're real world versus test world, you know, to ease that anxiety. Um, and then, you know, as a school teacher, I I feel like I'm making up, I'm I'm living out some of my karma because, you know, in school, we made the word fail like the absolute worst thing ever. You failed, you're you're trash, you're awful, you're terrible, right? And we were trying like the intention was becoming entrepreneurs. Yeah, I mean the intention was to be like, you know, do good, right? But we made fail like the worst thing. So when people see the word fail on the exam, because it's normal to fail, right? The it most people take three attempts. If you get with me, you're generally gonna pass the first time. But it's a lot of people find me after they fail. So they're they're already so afraid, like I already failed, I saw the word fail, and they they translate to the I'm a failure, right? Not like I need to study this chapter a little bit more or I need to learn these words. They themselves feel like a failure when they see that word, and that I think that does stem from our early, you know, academic education. So I'm I feel like I'm doing a lot of you know mindset work and and growth work and healing work, you know, coming because I did it. I I I fully admit when I was a teacher, I did make kids feel bad when they failed, you know, as a backwards way of trying to get them to do better, you know. Now I know better, but you know, so I I feel like, you know, when you see that word fail and they they take that on as an identity, that can be a struggle. So we really focus on that. And then I tell them, you're you're gonna have to. I I tell, you know, some of the people will come to me and they're like, I'm studying, I'm reading, I'm doing everything, I'm watching all the videos, and I still keep failing and it sucks. And I'm like, listen, as an insurance agent, you're gonna fail. You're gonna fail. Like you're gonna have a day where you get no sales, you're gonna have a day where, you know, different things are gonna happen and you have to decide, I'm gonna get up and do it again. I'm gonna get up and do it again. Like it, you can't judge your entire insurance career on one day of sales that that fall through, you know. And if you do and you decide, oh, this isn't for me, and then you have another crap day, another crap day because you're in this mental funk because you don't think it's for you, then it's not gonna be for you. So, like a lot of you have to fail the exam multiple times until you build the character, the tenacity, the resiliency to say, I can do this, I can handle failure and be okay, I can handle failure and get up again. Like, I teach people to fail and fail fast, right? Because if I fail fast, I get to learn, I get to see, right? Your score sheet is a map, right? Most people don't really know that. Like, I have such an intent, you know, intense knowledge about the exam and the outlines and what makes up that score sheet and what those numbers and the black bars mean on their score sheet that I it's like a map for me. I clearly I look at that score sheet, okay. You need to study this, you need to study that, you need to study this, watch this video, read this text, you'll be good to go. You know, it's just a map to let you know. And so um a lot of times I think people just need to build that character and build that resiliency and heal their wounds of failure so that when they're an insurance agent and they don't have the best day, it doesn't make it doesn't break them, you know, to have to wake up and do it again.
SPEAKER_02That is one of my that's on the list of things I hate about school. Yes. Is is that is that whole like failure concept because you look at I don't know, Steve Jobs, Elon Musk, anybody that's like made a a change in the world, they failed a lot. Yeah, like like it's incredible too, because like you know, in baseball, if you bat a 300, that means you're awesome. That means you're missing seven out of out of ten. Yeah. You know what I mean? So like one of the things you said fail fast, which I love that, because that's what we had on our onboarding docs, is when somebody comes into our agency, we say, we want you to be the doctor of insurance, but you're not right now. You know, so like how do you get there? A, you fail fast, get to 80 quotes, 100 quotes, and then you'll you'll be the doctor of insurance. You know, use our script and and uh fail fast, like get there.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, you know, like you don't get good by by not doing anything, right? Like, even like the very first time I taught this exam, you know, I was I was relying very heavily on the book. And it was a glorified, and this is unfortunately, this is how most instructors in the industry are, they just read the textbook and add some stories about sales that they personally had, right? So I had to, I but I that's where I had to start, right? So I I relied on the book very heavily. I read I read it, and then I provided some examples, and then it, but it took me a while to get better and better. The way that I teach today is worlds, you know, universes apart from how I taught on day one, but I wouldn't be here if I didn't start here. You have to begin as a beginner in order to be great. And though that's one of the that's a big thing that I like to teach people is not just how to pass this exam, but how to do what I need to do, learn what I need to learn, grow where I need to grow, and know that it's part of the process and that there's nothing wrong with me. That I, you know, it's just part of in order to be great, I have to begin as a beginner, and that's that's huge.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, painful.
SPEAKER_00It is, yeah.
SPEAKER_03Nobody wants nobody wants that part, right? They want to be they want the finish line, and and where all the growth happens is is that journey. Yeah. And you know, well, to Jason's point, you do 50 quotes or 80 quotes. If you if it takes you two years to do the 80 quotes, you have the same experience as if you did it in in two weeks, right? Like it's the same stuff, and but how much faster is it, right?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, and it's and it's ultimately uh a person's ability to to the capacity to hold the emotions of rejection, right? So like if if we hear a rejection, like again, people see the word fail, I'm now a failure. They rejected an insurance policy sale, now I'm a reject, right? Like we've gotta and we've gotta have better emotional capacity to handle stuff like that. And the faster we can move through that stuff, the the quicker we can, you know, make good money in insurance. You know, like Melissa D. Hall, you know, she's really amazing. She's in the Medicare space, and she says, this is not a get rich quick, but it's a get rich for sure if you keep going, right? If you keep plugging in, you keep going, you can get rich for sure. But a lot of people give up because they don't have the emotional capacity to say, I know nothing and I need to learn. I'm gonna have rejection, it's gonna be okay. I'm gonna keep going. I'm gonna keep, I'm gonna keep persevering, I'm gonna figure this out. Um, and that's and that I embed that in my teaching. And that's a huge piece. I mean, I have I have a playlist on YouTube dedicated just to mindset, just to healing our emotions where we feel rejected or like a failure. Like that's if we don't honor the whole person in front of us and recognize that they have, you know, wounds like that, that they have a history of that, that's what makes passing the exam a lot harder. And so I I like to bridge that gap and see the whole person in front of me, see that, you know, and it and I get it like school was literally the place where we got so many wounds for bullying and our belief system and our emotional capacity. And um, so I I I really want to heal that and and allow people to tap into their own personal power and use that to then pass the exam and excel in insurance.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, I it's interesting because um both Jace and I late in life learned that we have ADHD, which all makes sense, you know, looking at it, reading it, it's like, oh, well, oh okay, that explains everything. However, like all the stuff, you know, from being a kid and going through all the you know, the failures that you're like, but what? I am trying, you know, like all the things. I think like even like like we're on the other end almost where we're okay with failure because we did it for so long, so many times. And so we just keep going. So you get those people, I'm sure, they get super frustrated, pissed off really easily, but then they are able to keep going, right?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, yeah, and that's the problem with with school too, is you know, it's a it's a one-road path. You know, everyone has to follow the same exact road. And you know, why we need you, and this this is one of the reasons why I struggled with staying in education, why I wanted to leave, and now I get to teach my own way, was that you you just need to sit down, shut up, be quiet, listen to the teacher, sit at this desk for eight hours while you're a kid, while you want to play, while you got all this stuff going on. And um, that was actually really hard for me uh to do that as a teacher, to make kids sit down, shut up, and listen to me all day. Um, and I I was realized like it's you know, it's that's not that's not honoring again the human that's in front of me. I mean, ADD is like a superpower, but if we don't know how to utilize that and help the person, then we just make them feel bad and awful and you know, like you're not a good person because you're not a good student because you can't sit in your desk for eight hours a day. You know, school really is to make factory workers, you know. Um, and so so if we I was literally just thinking that.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Literally, literally the JD Rockefeller, he's like, I want a nation of workers, you know. So um when we can move away from the school mentality and and like that, that's like we don't learn about entrepreneurship when we're in school. We don't learn that we can make, you know, our own money. We don't learn that the tax system actually favors business owners as opposed to employers, you know. And um, so I've I've learned that on my entrepreneurial journey. I was honestly really scared to start my own business and do this on my own, but it's been nothing but amazing. Yes, it's been painful. Yes, there have been moments where I'm like, oh no, but it is far better than relying on someone else for something that's not actually a guarantee, um, and and being able to do things how I want to do them, you know. Like I'm I'm I'm looking a little bit more professional these days, but I started my channel with a mohawk, pink and yellow mohawk tear, gold chains, crop tops. Like that's just how I wanted to be. And I was, I just like I started my channel as like an absolute rebel. I was like, I'm done with this corporate world, and I'm I'm just gonna go about it my own way. Um, and so and so I'm actually known as the pink insurance, the the insurance lady with pink hair on Reddit, right? Like that's how they refer to me. So, you know, like we gotta be able to do it our own way, and that's that's another thing that I like to really talk about with people is you know, you in and you can find your own way in insurance. You know, you can be in this field and and not have to be in a suit and tie, and you can make it work.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, 100%. I I resonate so much with that. It's funny, when I first started in insurance, I was wearing a suit and tie every day. And I when I took over this insurance agency, and I was I was miserable. I was trying to do it everybody's way, and then finally, like towards the end of the year, I was like, I can't we're we're not gaining any headway. Like, we weren't selling that much, we were because I was trying to do everything like everybody else, so it fell flat. Yeah. And then I was like, screw it, I'm just gonna do it my own way, and then started piecing together stuff, and then realized, you know, what's crazy is that as soon as I started doing that, and and then I started hiring people, and I'm like, we're not I I actually flipped it, which you know I'm sure is exactly why people were drawn to you. Where it's like, I'm not like other insurance agencies. We're not stuffy, we're not like the old school, like we do this, we use computers, we like we go, we go heavy in, you know, leads and telemarketers and like all this technology stuff, too, that don't worry about it, you're gonna be like crushing it. Yeah. Yeah. We're not gonna ask you for 10, you know, 20 deck pages and do all this stuff that like who I mean, no good salesperson's gonna bring in 50 deck pages. And I know there's a lot of insurance agents out there that will tell me otherwise, and they're probably in you know, small states where I I could see how that would work there, but like if you have a really good salesperson, they're not gonna bring in 50 deck pages.
SPEAKER_03Yeah. They're too lazy for that. They just want to do they just want to run, you know? Give me leads.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. And I I think that's you know, like, I think that's one thing that scares people about it. Like, no one knows, like, as a kid, unless your parents are insurance, you don't know about it. Right? Like, I didn't know growing up, like I knew I was a teacher, and school, child, you know, elementary middle school was what I knew. That was my only experience of teaching. So when it was like, what are you gonna do? Well, I'm gonna be a school teacher because I want to teach, and that though those are teachers, you know, I didn't know there was other realms of possibility of teaching other things, right? We we don't know what we don't know. So when I got into insurance though, you know, I definitely thought suit and tie, old boring white guy kind of thing, but it doesn't have to be that way. You really can make it your own way. Um, you know, it's it's what I find so beautiful about insurance is it's like, you know, technically an entrepreneur, you know, makes their own thing, but like it allows you to, you know, be running your own business with a system that is already in place with a product that everybody needs. I'm like, that's like it's like the road is paved for you. You just have to walk it. You just have to keep going, you just have to walk it, you know. And uh, I always like to tell people, find, you know, they're like what who do I work for? What do I do? Or what what should I sell? I was like, go find an insurance person who's living the lifestyle you want to live and then just do what they do, right? Like um Joanne Wyckoff, she goes on cruises all the time, right? Like she's she's always going on cruises and doing all this this traveling and stuff. I'm like, if you like the lifestyle she's living, if you want to be going on cruises, do what she does, you know. Melissa D. Hall really likes uh television. She actually made her own game show for um people on Medicare, like a love connection thing, right? So like if you like what she's doing, go do that, you know? So like you really can make it, you know, unique and personal to you in in a way that feels good without having to follow a stuffy structure.
SPEAKER_02100%. I love it. How hard was it for you? So, like, one of the things that we tell insurance agents to do is like get into making like content and stuff. So, how hard was that? I and it's usually there's like a uh you know, the RO the the thought of like ROI. When am I gonna get the it's it's not gonna happen at first, like let's just be honest. But like what got you through the beginning of of making content?
SPEAKER_00I I honestly just ignored all of the rules. So, because that's what would have bogged me down significantly. Um it when I first started, like you my very first video is my it's just me and my iPhone. Like I had a I had a phone, and it's not even like I'm a Google all the way. I only use the iPhone for videos, but um I I had my my iPhone on selfie mode taking a video of me teaching on my whiteboard, and you see my finger like going up to hit the stop button. I did no edits, right? So I didn't worry about being perfect, I didn't worry about having edits, I didn't worry about an intro and an outro, I didn't worry about the perfect text or the perfect graphic. I just made it, right? So I was like, okay, I go on a Canva, I put the title of the video, I put me pointing my fingers towards the title of the video, and then I just upload the video as is with no edits. And um, I I so I broke every rule that they say you need to be successful on YouTube, and I've got 80k subscribers, my YouTube channel makes $10,000 a month. Like, and I still I don't edit anything. At this point, we now have people who can edit the videos, but like I just make just make it because it's kind of like the fail fast thing, right? Like, it's not gonna be perfect, you know. Like you could at the very beginning of my business, if you look at some of the graphics that I had, you know, if a a person be like, oh my god, this is like a kindergarten graphic. Like, you think you're gonna get any business from this? And I'm like, Yeah, I literally built a multi-million dollar business off of that graphic. So, yes, you know, like we we've got to get out of our heads that it has to be perfect, it has to look like this, it has to look like someone else. Like the biggest thing is just you doing it. Just just make it, just get it out there because the more you do it, the better you get at it. And, you know, like people don't want perfection, they want real, they want something that is actually gonna help them, right? So, like, and I've had people who have said, I really don't, I don't really don't like your pink hair. Like, I don't think that that's great, but you teach really well, you know, like you're not gonna satisfy every single person, but it but as long as you're doing what feels right to you and you're making the content, you're doing the stuff, like just keep going and figure it out. Just keep going. Like the the the thing that stops at people the most is trying to be perfect. Perfection like kills so much, you know, and I'm still not perfect, yes, like perfection is is the killer of of all things, honestly. Um but I just I just made it, I broke the rules, I did what was simple for me, what what would like I avoided TikTok because I it it's weird to me. Um, the making of the videos and the stuff. So I I didn't even get on TikTok until I could pay someone else to put TikTok videos up there for me. I'm a geriatric millennial, so I was like, Facebook is my jam. So I hung out on Facebook quite a bit. You know, I started my Facebook group, I went live on Facebook, and then I I had to go to you like YouTube, definitely for sure. But that was pretty simple. I upload a video, tell them to come to Facebook, um, where I'm hanging out at. And so like it it it it doesn't have to if we get out of our heads that it has to be a certain way in order for it to work, and we just go about doing it, we're gonna we're gonna get there a lot faster.
SPEAKER_02Love it, love it, awesome. Melissa, thank you so much um for coming on today and walking us through um everything with with uh the exam and giving us some nuggets on success with with YouTube and everything. Uh what is one thing that you would give as a piece of advice for any insurance agency owner out there? We got that's primarily our listeners. Um what would you tell them as advice from everything you've learned?
SPEAKER_00Your people need support. So when you've when you've hired someone and you just give them an examfx or a caplin login and say, here, go do it, it's not helping. You know, they really they feel alone, they feel like they're not invested in, um, and they worry if this job is gonna be for them. So rather than do that, you know, connect with us. We have um an agency registration where you can give us your information, we'll give you a discount. I don't really offer discounts anywhere unless you're an actual agency. So if you reach out to us, you say you want help, you want support, how do I get my agents feeling like they're supported and passing this exam quickly? I've got you. Um the insurance exam, anywhere you put insurance exam queen, you're gonna find us. Um, and we're here to support you and your agents.
SPEAKER_02Awesome. Thank you so much, Melissa. This has been uh incredible.
SPEAKER_03Good to have you. Yep, thank you. We should have you come on and do a course.
SPEAKER_00Yes.
SPEAKER_03Do a teach. Teach us some nuggets. Yeah, so yeah, next time we'll do that. Absolutely. Thank you so much for coming on.
SPEAKER_00Yep, thank you.