You there? Yes. Yeah, so dude, I've been fighting for I have to go meet the the dishwasher repair guy. Like it's it's been an ongoing it's been it's a one month long saga and they they like finally said that on the on the cast.
SPEAKER_00Huh? You should have said that on the cast. Please tell me you just recorded that.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, it's recorded. We haven't had freaking like a dishwasher for a month. It is a nightmare.
SPEAKER_00Dude, please put that on the cast. That is too funny.
SPEAKER_03We'll put it in there.
SPEAKER_01Captive insurance agency are helping us to think of different ways to optimize and our lives. In this episode, Preston Schmidley talks about life, independent agency versus captive agency, and what catapulted his agency to success.
SPEAKER_02How are you guys doing today? Awesome, man.
SPEAKER_01How you doing?
SPEAKER_02I'm doing good. I just uh just got off a call with my life coach. Life's good, man.
SPEAKER_01All right. Who do you go to? Or or what group?
SPEAKER_02His name is Bruce Gold. He's a private life coach and uh the dude's a gangster.
SPEAKER_01So that's awesome.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I mean it it makes a huge impact, man. Uh you know, it's easy it's easy to get stuck in this thing. So yeah, yeah, he's for you, right? Yeah, so um between between working with him once a week and doing floats, um those two things free the brain, man.
SPEAKER_03Water floats, yeah. Oh my god.
SPEAKER_02Seriously? Oh, okay. All right, guys. So I should get paid, I should get paid an affiliate fee for this for them. But okay. So I do this all the time. So a float is a sensory deprivation water float chamber where essentially there's roughly a thousand pounds of Epsom salt in the bath itself. And what happens is you become the least dense thing in the tank. Now, a few things happen. They the water is the the same temperature of the human body. So uh after you get into it and your brain stops doing all the things it's doing, your the your skin starts to kind of like blur into the water from a sense of touch. So your brain stops processing the because you don't it's a secondary process for us, but like this, I can feel it, right? But like we're used to that. We don't really think much about it, about what we're doing, what we're seeing, what we're smelling and hearing. But your brain is the RAM is operating at like 80% at all times, right? Of your brain. And so what a sensory deprivation float chamber does is it allows you to function, your brain to function and process without having to spend any bandwidth on what you see, what you hear, what you smell, what you feel. So your your skin starts to blur into the water because you're the same temperature, you're floating, um, which adds an additional sense of freedom. It doesn't matter whether your eyes are closed, it's pitch black, you can't really hear anything from the outside. So you're you literally I go in there, most people go for 60 to 75 minutes, but I uh I go for two and a half hours. Um just to do it. It it like lit well. I always bring a notepad. Last time I went in there, I came out with uh I'll get out two or three times usually. Um I came out with like 17 just gangster ideas. So it's it's just awesome.
SPEAKER_03It's like accelerated um meditation.
SPEAKER_02Accelerated meditation, right? Because your brain isn't focused on all of this like auxiliary stuff that doesn't provide value. So it's just literally like on on like the the good shit. It's dope. You should try it. Nice. That's awesome.
SPEAKER_03I believe that's it that that seems to be a northwest thing. My wife, my wife has done that up in Seattle.
SPEAKER_02Maybe it's common up here. I think it's common in hippie communities. Um, and Seattle has some of that, but like there there was even a place when I was in Thailand last month. There's a place there too. So um it's definitely global. Um but there's less representation. Like, if you tell people in most places, oh, I'm gonna go do a two and a half hour float, they're like, Are you gonna be okay? You know, whereas because most places do 60 minutes.
SPEAKER_03So like I gotta double. Whatever, whatever you want to do, whatever the max is, double.
SPEAKER_02Well, I'm in a good place too, where if I feel like two, like sometimes I'll get out at 75 minutes and I'm like, one of two things will happen. You know, if I had if I had a cigar beforehand, I might be a little edgy. My brain isn't able to slow down to where I need it to be. I'll get out at 75 minutes and just call it a loss, and then they just credit me the second half. So I'm like, it works out, you know. If I I get I get half my money back if I don't stay for the full thing, but usually I do.
SPEAKER_01So that's crazy. If I if I told my wife I was gonna go into a chamber where I'd be the least dense, uh dense thing in the chamber, she would say that that wasn't true.
SPEAKER_02So I know. Well, it's it's and it's it's incredibly refreshing too. Um, what I've noticed is so because sometimes I'll go in there and um depending on my state, right? I'll uh sometimes I'll I'll I'll do something to affect myself. Like when I'm in the parking lot, I'll I'll, you know, and this you might want to filter out, but I'll take a hit or I'll take uh or I'll just have like a drink, uh just something small, not a lot. I because I don't want to be heavily affected. I just want to be slightly, slightly influenced. And what it does is it allows me to go in for two and a half hours sometimes and just have a the best nap of your life. And I come out feeling more refreshed the next day, like it it'll get rid of a cold. It'll get like I'm telling you right now, it's like it's it's almost like a week level medicinal type thing if you're feeling off. So um yeah, just go book one. You guys will feel you guys will see what I'm gonna do.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, I gotta do it. I didn't even know about this. I don't know if they have it in Tucson. They have the Cryro, like they they started with that. Have you done Cryo? I I have. I I have that membership and I don't use it as much as I should, but I do like it. That that that really gets you more focused. Like that's you know, like you come out and you're like duh. Is it yeah? I like it a lot. It helps with some skin stuff, and okay. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02So you have uh you have cloud nine flotation and levity flotation and wellness center. Uh cloud nine looks like they have better SEO. Um they're focused on reviews, but both of them seem to have five stars and they're both like above 50 reviews. So oh I'm gonna be honest. I'm looking at the Levity Flotation and Wellness Center. They're open till 10 p.m. Those are usually the ones that are going to give you the longer floats. Um so I would check out Levity. They're they're in Tucson.
SPEAKER_03And with a with a cold, so I've I've been a little sick, and uh, you know, maybe that'll be the end that knocks it out. I'll go there to snipe.
SPEAKER_02So I I don't know because I I don't believe in stuff like you know the whole raps and stuff, and I might offend a few a few MLMers that that listen to this, but um, you know, I don't believe the whole quote unquote pulling the toxins out in a lot of applications, and I don't know what it is about it, but you go in there, man, and and whatever is just like like it could be just a physical pain ailment, like your back hurts. Like, because I have a bad back because I sit in a chair 20 hours a day and work, so it's like you know, my back is like fucked. Sorry. Are we not whatever? Don't worry about it. It's too late. I can't wait. Hello, brother. Um so so uh you know, I have a really bad back. So it's like when I go into that, and that there's that sense of flotation, there's something about it that regardless of my physical whatever ailment, whether it's a cold, whether it's a bad back, I come out feeling substantially better than I went in. So that's awesome.
SPEAKER_03Stand-up desk, brother. I don't know if you've tried it, but the stand-up desk is Are they doped? Oh they're awesome. It is it is life changing. Life changing. I'm I'm standing now. I mean, I I stand all day. Now my my staff asks me for stand-up desks because they're like, you do are doing something right over there.
SPEAKER_01I'm like, and then Craig, you do deep squats behind your desk now, right? Yeah, there he goes.
SPEAKER_03Oh dang, that was like a deep. I do I do orange, like for for workout, I do this thing called orange theory. So I I go to that, which is high-intensity interval training. So a lot of running and and you know, some weight stuff. I kind of augment the weight because it's more for I think for the ladies of some of the workout, you know. Well, and that's why I'm doing it for the ladies. But um ladies, that's what got you into it, really. My my wife's the one that talked me into it, and and now I've been going three years. But um here you go, man. You know, like that combination, right? And and it and that all speaks to prep, right? Like having if you're not in the in the right focus and and you're not honed in, then you can't do any of this stuff.
SPEAKER_02You can't I uh I know this is I this is probably supposed to be an insurance-centric thing, but I think wellness is incredible than something that's actually very neglected in the insurance industry. So this is a great thing to talk about. Um, I uh I just did my first kickboxing class. I haven't worked out in about a decade, which I'm yeah, hashtag blessed for my metabolism. But like, but like I've gained 15 pounds in the last year, which I I'm still fitting into a smedium, but it's it's that the the lifespan on my. How old are you? I'm 30. Yeah, no, I know, I know. And so it's like you know, it's like uh and and so I'm I'm getting to a point where it's like I need to start taking care of myself. I did a uh I did a kickboxing class for the first time, and there's this really cool one. Uh I I don't know if you guys have heard about it, but I I I was really it's actually funny. I appreciated their marketing, and I was like, well, if they're if they're if they market like this, then I'm assuming they have some kind of decent product. So um I I I just bought it without even checking it out just because I thought the marketing was really good. And I went in for the first time, I'd been paying it for it for like six months, went in for the first time, and it's a it's called Nine Rounds. And uh they do like, yeah, it's like nine three-minute stations. Um by the end of it, dude. Because I, you know, when when I was thinking of it, I was I I had a lot of insecurity. I was like, dude, I'm in this for 10 years, and I didn't realize it until I started walking up to it because I had committed, I'm gonna go in today. Hell or high water, I'm going in. And and all this fear started coming up. I'm like, you haven't done this for 10 years, bro. You don't know what you're doing. And I used to do MMA fighting, you know, and so I went from that to 10 years of nothing, and it's like, holy shit. And so I'm going to this kickboxing class, and I didn't realize it wasn't even the physical uh expenditure of it, like from a muscular perspective, that was brutal for me. It's the fact that I'd smoked so many blacken miles in the last five years. I'd smoked thousands of blacken miles. I had zero, like, dude, I couldn't breathe by the time I was done. It was it was brutal. So I quit the I literally, as I was driving away, I I I littered, I threw all of my tobacco out of the window and I haven't looked back. Yeah, so life's life's getting better a little bit.
SPEAKER_01So you know so so we started now. Let's go back. Um Okay, let's go back. You were a captive agent at one point. Uh most of uh the people that are gonna be listening to this are a lot of all state agents. Okay. So um what uh what agency were you with? I was farmers. Um farmers, cool.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, and and I'm actually uh I like all state. I uh um so I've done insurance since I was 12. Uh I illegally sold for six years until I was able to get licensed. I feel like the statute of limitations is cool on that now. If not, then let's let's let's redact that. Uh we'll have to look up look that up. But but uh I I my dad's like a 25-year something like that, farmers agent. So it's oh cool. You know, I grew up in the culture, and uh I as a company, at least back then, I really loved farmers. I mean, there was a lot of good things about it. It was more of a family type company, and I'm sure a lot can change in 10 years. The the you know, then the this is back, so like I'm it's a very weird thing for a 30-year-old to be able to say, but I was doing insurance in the dot matrix printer era. Like you had to rip the sides of pages off, and that was back when you'd send a commercial application in and that you know the prospect would call and be like, What's going on? You're like, I I don't know, man. I'm still waiting for an underwriter, so I'll let you know it's gonna be a week or so. You know, that wasn't here yet. Yeah, you know, that's on paper.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, we used Abacus and and uh and Chisel tablets. I started as well. There you go.
SPEAKER_02Nice. I always I always saw you for more of a papyrus guy. Um, you know, whatever's at hand. There you go. So so you know, I was uh I'd done farmers um since I was 12, so it's like 12 to 18. And when I when I became 18, I knew I wanted to do my own business. Uh and I was going to do a with farmers just because of my exposure and experience. But I wanted uh contrast from the family business because there's an element of you're like, well, I I love my dad, but I don't know what he doesn't know. So it's like I need to go find out for myself. So I went to be an agency manager of an all-state office, and that was a unique experience. I did that for a year um just to get uh, you know, contrast in my exposure. And um really cool product portfolio. Um the guy I was working with at the time, I mean, he didn't he he opened a uh like refrigerator gasket company, and he thought that that would be a more lucrative life for himself. So I was like, I can't stay here. This this place is like purgatory for success. So I ended up just saying F it and I opened my own agency. But um, you know, I went and then I went to farmers. Uh I did that for two years when I was 19 to 20, like late 20. And uh it was actually really hard. I experienced a lot of ageism, and I don't know if if there's any young, super, super young agents. And at this point in my life, I would consider an 18-year-old agent super young. Um, you know, and uh I experienced a lot of ageism. I would have people that would just tell me straight up I'd have the best price, and this is back when uh you know farmers had the best prices. That that's kind of gone by the wayside for a while. But um, you know, I I'd have to have the best price, the coverage was way better. You know, captives know how this is because every captive has to sell off value more than price, right? But when the price is right, it's like the stars aligned too. You're like, oh shit, I'm used to selling on value, but I can sell on price too. Like this is a good day. And and people would literally tell me, I just can't trust my family to an 18-year-old man. Like, I I hear you, it sounds good. And I'm like, you know, so at that point I was like, well, if nobody's gonna take me seriously, I'm just gonna go make music. So I traveled around the West Coast um doing studio engineering uh and working at guitar centers for a few years. Uh, got sick of that because I wanted money. And uh so I got into life insurance, became a regional manager of a life insurance company, but I got really burnt out. I was working like 100, 120-hour weeks, and I couldn't maintain that. It just like it was unsustainable. So I eventually opened up my own farmers agency again, which is the one that you're referring to. Um that was interesting. It was a very interesting time uh in my life. I uh it was going well, and this is actually back before I really knew anything about marketing. And and if you you you I think you guys uh read the book, right? Yeah, yeah. So in the beginning of the book, uh boom, there it is. In the beginning of the book, I kind of there's a picture of like and that and that picture is actually from the farmers' days, back before I really knew anything about marketing, um, where we like have ideas. There's like be we're like B and I meeting, Chamber of Commerce, church. And I'm agnostic, so like that was like very hard to write down because I it's not that I I I I care one way or another, but there's an element in me where I'm like, this isn't even me. I'm like, I'm saying I want to go to church to network. You know, it's like God, I I felt incredibly lost, you know. And uh and so I ended up going and and and you kind of talked about it there, or I talked about it in the big in the front of the book, but the the you know, we were going to the uh during my during a certain era of this, because I was in some contractual uh issues with the company, um we had to go to the plasma center. We were on really f hard financial times. And uh during that during that era, um there was a I I was starting to invest into into marketing. And you really pay attention to your marketing when the way that you are st like the currency that you measure things in is how many liters of blood do I have to pull out of my body to pay for this, you know. And so I would it cost me, I was paying seven liters of blood for this course I was every month that I was in. So like I was like in it. Like I was, you know, uh, and it wasn't even that good of a course. This was the first course I ever took in marketing. It wasn't, you know, it was what I needed at the time. And uh, and so I I just dove into this and I tear it apart. And I was like, I I sp I spent every waking moment diving into it because I became obsessed because I was like, finally I found a way to live the life I want, you know, and I didn't think I'd become a marketer. Uh what was interesting about it was I was just happy to have something quantifiable, you know. Like I was sick of pounding the pavement or pounding the phone. Like, what does that mean? You know, like cold calling, and you know, it was so crazy because you, you know, I don't know if if hopefully none of the agents listening to this have experienced this, but like we would go on and have I I would there would be a week I'd work a hundred hours and have nothing. And there'd be a week I'd work 40 hours and have a fan, you know, so unmeasurable. Like it there was not a correlation between effort and result, and that killed me. Um, and so when I learned digital marketing, everything became quantifiable at every level, right? How many leads, what's the cost per lead, how many impressions, like are they converting over? You know, what's the cost per 1000? But like from the marketing perspective, and then when the lead comes in, it's like, how many did we speak with? How many did we close? How many did we lose? Why did we lose? Like every step at every point. And I think that's where I really became obsessed because like I love sales, I love, I love the um, you know, because leads by themselves are whatever. Like it doesn't matter if you, you know, if you're great at sales, a phone book will do. And if you suck at sales, it's there's there's a referral, you'll lose a referral, right? So it's like sales is ultimately the the main skill, even though marketing is incredibly necessary. And um, but I I really fell in love with, I was like, wow, like I can actually dictate, like if I want X amount of money, I just need to you know do the math and and figure out what I need to multiply. And then I just do that and I'll have this, right? So input and output became corollary, and that that blew my mind. And so we just we just I literally went on a on a uh war path, just this death march to get what I needed from life.
SPEAKER_01And so here we're that's awesome, man.
SPEAKER_02And and was that when you were uh when you went indie or prior to the that was what really started, you know, uh so I got really pissed off because um I was at this conference I I was just telling you about, and and uh we we only had enough money to buy the ticket. Uh I couldn't afford a hotel, so I packed like one of those, what are those, like those foil blanket thingies, you know? And it's Texas, so I'm like, I'm I I live in Washington, so I'm like, shit, I'll I'll take a foil blanket in Texas over a house in Washington. Like it's better than my heating bill. So, you know, I I uh I I'm an optimistic person like that, but but you know, I didn't have enough for a hotel. I I didn't even have enough for the event, but the guy um he was he was gracious enough to he's like, hey man, you know, if you want to do film some testimonials for me, or you know, he let me figure out my way, right? Uh because we were at a really hard time. And uh so I I flew there and I'm sitting in the lobby because I had nowhere else to go. And one of the agents that came to to the event, he was an independent agent. And I'm sitting across from him, and I'm having compliance calls from two different people at my company. One is from my district manager, one's from corporate, and and one is saying they they just went through like a systems transition. One's saying I need to to um I'm gonna have to maintain two leases because one of their systems is messed up as far as what's in it, and it's like super black or or white, apparently. And then the other one, I'm getting calls saying that no, no, I actually have to maintain two leases because the the address was wrong in the other system. Literally, either way, the coin toss, I was supposed to quote unquote maintain two leases, and so I'm pissed off. Like I the word compliance just makes me go up a wall at this point in my life. And so I'm you know, I'm super pissed off, and I'm having all this this problems with my captive company. And then across from me is this independent agent just having the time of his life. He's closing deals like it's nothing. Prices, you know, price when you're independent, price is always it's whatever. If you if you if you can't close something as an independent, you got you just have a sales issue. It's that it's that simple, you know. Because most independents that never that were never captive, they don't know what it is to sell on value. They they're used to just being a rate shop, right? Which nothing wrong with that, I guess.
unknownSure.
SPEAKER_02I'm just grateful to be bred and forged in the fires of selling on value. I mean, because once you have that, you can go anywhere. And so, you know, I'm sitting across from this guy and he's just having a time of his life, and I'm like, dude, what is going on? Like, so I start talking to him. He's independent. And you know, farmers would always make it sound like that, like we were the Jedi and the independents of the dark force, right? It's like you don't want to go over to the dark side. And it's like, what? So when I started finding out about this, I was like, no way, dude. This is he's like his life is way better. And we and the more we're talking, I find out a few of the companies so we had just taken a rate decrease or a commission decrease, excuse me. Uh, you know, they they lowered our commissions on like almost every product. Um, and and and it ended up being, I think, a 38% hit to our book value, which is worth, you know.
SPEAKER_01That's a ton, yeah.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, you start picking up pitchforks at that point, right? Yeah. So, you know, it's like, and and I can tell you very it, it I mean, my dad, 25-year agent, and this is what sucked. Like for me, it's like whatever. I'm I'm young, I'm flexible. I can make, you know, you're a 25-year agent, dude. My dad took a 20 or a 38% hit to his retirement overnight. You know, and it's like for the agents like that, that it's like, you know, that's one of my pet peeves with captives at this point, and any of them. If you're if you're shame on you if you have the audacity, I don't give a shit what your shareholders say. Shame on you if somebody put their blood, sweat, and tears into your company for for decades, and you have the audacity to affect because the contract doesn't have some sort of clause in it that like locks in commission rates, just straight up shame on you. Like that that is the quickest way to repel and cause, you know, an agent force to absolutely hate you. And uh, you know, I don't know if other captives are doing that. Hopefully, Allstate doesn't. Um, but uh, you know, they did that with farmers, and and I was incredibly pissed. And and and what actually pushed me out of the door was two things that happened within about a 10-minute period. The first was I just found out that the companies that I've contracted with that my company that I'm loyal to just lowered my compensation on. They're paying this independent dude 15%, and I'm at nine now. Okay, he can sell products that I can sell, and I'm supposed to be exclusive, but he's like he can do whatever he wants, and he gets paid way more, you know. So that was like the first thing. And then right after that, I had just announced my new agency logo because I just got my 6 and 63 licenses, and so I got a new logo done. And one of the guys at our district comments on my picture with my logo after I'd just been having all this compliance shit happening, and he goes, not compliant with the crying laughing face. And I was like, fuck this, I'm done, I'm out, I'm gonna figure it out. I'll sell blood till till till I die if I have to. I'm done. And and I just we you know, we uh we decided to to hack our way through the jungle.
SPEAKER_01How hard was that transition?
SPEAKER_02Um figure it out. I think it I think it's it's a boogeyman that's self-created. It's incredibly easy, honestly. It's no more work than an Asian is already doing. Uh you know, it's like it's yeah, it's new. It's right, it's a new frontier, but it's like, you know, you you have to have a business plan, right? You should already have one, right? Uh and you go to carriers and they want to know, like, hey, what's your pro your what's your projection? Like, are you gonna put money on the table? And then you just have to decide, do I want to go through an aggregator and or like a cluster group that's gonna essentially and if you do that, by the way, if you get the right one, like I feel like I did, that's what I did. And that's not for everybody, I'm not pitching that. Uh in hindsight, that I see a lot of reason why people are against that. But this is the way I looked at it. I just got my commission cut. This person, this this group is gonna get me all the contracts I could ever hope for, one of which is all state. And uh, and I love them as company. I think they're they have a great uh great portfolio of products. Um the I I didn't have to do any paper, I just had to sign shit, but I didn't really have to do any paperwork for the for the appointments. The the only downfall is they take like 10% of my 15% commission, but hell, I'm at 13.5 now. That's still ahead. You're still ahead. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, so not only have I learned how to sell on value, not only am I getting like a 50% rate bump on on like everything I write, I don't have to do any of the paperwork pretty much. And this is the this was the kicker, too. So I get a 50% pay raise in auto. Let's just say, let's just use auto as a line of business, because this is actually the most pivotal, and this is one of the the a pet peeve I have with captives, because most captives are six-month auto policies, depending on where you're at, but most places it's a six-month auto policy, right? So for the same auto policy, I get a 50% pay raise and I get to sell 12-month policies. That's a 300% revenue comparison to selling a six-month policy on what I had before. It's so much easier to scale a business when I get 300% money now.
SPEAKER_01Right.
SPEAKER_02It's crazy. And so there was a lot of pros. The cons are it, you know, they call it independent. If you play the independent game, you can be alone, but you don't have to be. Um, I look at independent as as a as a definition of freedom, not isolation. And so I've connected very intimately with other independents that I I look to and respect, um, and I've developed incredible friendships. And and you know all these guys in here, right? Pretty much most of them, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And so it's like, you know, my my goal with that, and and and I don't know. I mean, if you guys, I don't know how closely you guys uh and and I know Jason, you're kind of new new to my circle, but uh, you know, Craig, I don't know how how closely you followed me uh over 2018, but you know, I traveled, like I said in the book, I traveled like to like 20 to there was like we took 20 trips in 2018. So like every dollar I was making, I was reinvesting into the dream. Like I was like, we gotta go. Like I have to learn. I was like, whoever knows something I don't, I have to learn. I'm a I am a student as much as I'm a teacher on this journey. And you know, that's always been really important to me. So I was on a, I was just on a war path, man, to to grow and find connect with the people who are the most pivotal, the most, you know, that are gonna make be influential on this journey. And that's what I did. And so um, yeah, I those independence, uh, I wouldn't, I wouldn't have the agency I have right now. And a lot of people do that, you know, they deflect. They go, well, this is scary. They're they're just gonna try to take my ideas. And then when you start to meet people, you realize your ideas ain't shit. You know, it's like that I want to get around a hundred people that make my ideas feel like they're nothing because that just means I learned a ton from them. So that's 100%. You know, and and that's kind of the that was the that was a big turning point for me. And it and and I think that that's especially in the insurance world, we're ingrained with scarcity of mindsets, right? All the disruption happening, the the industry's consolidating, which that might be true, but you know what? We all survived the the you know, the corded phones, we all survived the internet, you know. Nobody nobody lost their business because encyclopedias are no longer important. Yeah, so it's like how many different disruptive waves have we survived? We'll figure out a way. If you're if you care to be successful, you'll figure out a way. And so it's like if we just open up and have an abundance mindset on that and go, okay, well, I'm gonna connect with people instead of pushing away, because at least if I connect with people, and they might take from me, but I'll take from them. I mean, that's sharing, right? And and there is so much wealth to be had in that. And yeah, so I I I think if people want to go independent, make friends, have a have a strong focus on making friendships and pour into them as much as you're trying to take from them, and you'll have success.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, Preston, I'd I'd argue that that even in this in this space, right? Even in the all, if we were to hone it down to the all-state space, 100%. Reach out to the players, right? Reach out to the people that are having success. I mean, that's part of the reason why we're here and Jason and I are doing this show is because we've had the ability to talk to so many people, right? And when you talk to the more you talk to, the more you learn.
SPEAKER_02It's it's cross-compatible too, you know. Like, I I have I'll sit down with an all-state agent all day for multiple reasons. Selfishly, because I sell all state, I want to know. And then who better to know about all state than an all-state agent, right? Like, I don't, I I suck at all state system. It's incredibly simple to write business, but like there's like a remit report. Like, I'm like, that's totally unnecessary.
SPEAKER_03But anyways, you know, there's there's definitely Preston.
SPEAKER_02Dude, it's it's it's like it blows my mind. Like, you know, it's like the business doesn't go through or something until like I don't know. Anyways, that's so that's so 1889 of a company. Um moves very slow. Yeah, but I will say, because I have exposure to their platforms, their quoting is incredibly simple. Incredibly, you know, all states, all state agents, I don't think they know how good they have it from a data perspective. Like some of these carriers, like I was just told by SafeGo, which is my favorite carrier overall, and they have the best system. But this is funny. We had a problem looking up a policy that we had just wrote on a um on a referral from a loan officer that we have. And I looked, I was I got a check in the mail yesterday as I was at the office, and uh I was like, Well, I'll just mail this off to Safeco because it should have gone to them anyways, from the title company. And um I look in the notes in on Safeco's site and it says inactive. I'm like, what the the hell what happened? You know, and so I'm like going on and I can't find anything in there. So I call my agency manager, and it's like eight o'clock at night, and so I didn't get a hold of her. So I'm like, you know, like this client doesn't have home covers, like this sucks. And and so we call Safeco and they're like, Oh, yeah, just don't use that screen. That that screen doesn't function. And I'm like, what does that even mean? She's like, You've got to look up my policy number. Well, that would be nice if I had the policy number.
SPEAKER_01Right, it's on that screen, just don't use that screen.
SPEAKER_02So it's like, you know, and that's one of the things I I will say is is Allstate has a great system. Farmers had an incredible system. Like, I wish I could go back to that because, dude, independent companies are like straight up like they're like, internet, what's internet? And you're like, oh my god, dude, give me Microsoft Paint and a weekend filled with Adderall, and I could build a better website than these independent carriers have.
SPEAKER_03It's remarkable. Very rarely, and and I think Jason will support me on this. Very rarely do you hear somebody uh give kudos to all states technology. So right.
SPEAKER_02This is very in in in a in our industry, it's the only industry that is so outdated technologically. And you know what's crazy? They pay like six to seven digits to have these shitty systems. I'm like, bro, cut that in half, send it to my agency, and I will find the people to do this for you way better.
SPEAKER_03I feel like my 14-year-old could put together something a little bit smoother, you know, given the resources.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. I actually, yeah, we need to get your 14-year-old into a few of these companies. Um yeah, so I I think uh I think that it's important to really cross-pollinate too. Like, I I I love talking to people at farmers or all state or state farmer, you know, American family or whatever. Um, because there's a lot, right? And it's it's easy to forget your roots sometimes. Like we have it so simple. I mean, I could, you know, I have you know, Safe Go Allstate, uh, I don't know, I could go through my carrier list right now, you know. But like when you have progressive Safe Go Allstate, National General, MetLife, Encompass, American Modern, Sillwater, Dairy Land, First America Foremost, Bristol West, Haggerty, Geo Vera, uh foremost, uh flood nationwide. Uh I got all these other life stuff and everything. But like when you have that, dude, price is not like what's price, you know what I mean? It's like the risk portfolios like are from an underwriting guideline perspective is wide open. The pricing's wide open. And so it's like I forget sometimes what it's like to sell on value. And so I love that, dude, because like a good, a successful captive, they there's like a hunter in them. There's that, you know, they're they're the lion, they're just a killer. And and dude, I I sometimes it's nice to be surrounded by that because we take that for granted sometimes. Like, you know, that that that culture is. I don't know that they they I don't know that all state agents might, you know, I'm sure some of them do, but I don't know that they have that they are aware of how good they have it from a people perspective. Because if any one of those persons went independent, and this isn't me trying to tell them to do so, but if they went independent and they're great at sales on value, they will friggin' kill it. Yeah. Oh my god, dude. Their life would change.
SPEAKER_01Hey, thanks for checking out the insurance thieves. Hey, please subscribe. We got some really great stuff coming out.