Ep 18: Outgrowing Average: With Dusty Todd

Most people say they want to grow. But wanting it and actually doing the work are two very different things.

In this episode, Craig Harvey sits down with $3 million earner Dusty Todd to break down the three real indicators that a growth spurt is coming. They've seen these patterns repeat themselves over and over, in top earners, in struggling agents, and in themselves.

The three signs:

1. Your appetite increases. Hungry people don't skip calls or make excuses. If you're truly hungry, you eat what's put in front of you.
2. Your patterns shift. Sleep, schedule, priorities. They all change when you're about to take off. And balance? Craig and Dusty both agree it's a myth.
3. You start outgrowing things. Old habits, old relationships, old thinking. If nothing in your life has changed in the last two years, that's worth paying attention to.
This one is honest, practical, and built for anyone who's tired of staying the same.

The Drive with Craig Harvey. Real conversations. No filter.

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Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:00

The indicator that you're growing is that your appetite has increased. Yeah. So a lot of times, you know, I've I've thought in my business I'm stagnant. I'm not, I'm not growing. I'm not going to the place I want to go, but an indicator that tells me whether I feel it or not, dude, feel it in real. Feel isn't real in business sometimes. You can feel like you're not growing, but you are. The indicator, the evidence that growth is a reality is that hunger is present. All right, welcome back to the drive. Craig Harvey here, riding obviously the driver's seat, but shotgun today by popular demand is my boy, my friend, the mayor, the franchise, Dusty Todd, my brother. How are you? Thanks for having me, buddy. Good to be back. I'm glad you're here. You're always welcome. You know this. We're talking growth today. Uh, we're talking about something that everybody wants. I don't think everybody is willing to put in the work to obtain. Uh, I was talking to you off camera about my son Kaden and how years ago, when he would have bad fevers, we would give him uh Tylenol, not rapid release. It was called extended release. Dusty, you had to read the box in the back. It said extended release. So you would give the medicine. Initially, it didn't look like the medicine was working, but it was. It was working internally, it was working in ways that that visually you didn't see in the moment. But over time, guess what? That fever broke. And it it absolutely healed a situation that needed uh remedying. And so I think a lot of us need that remedy in our businesses. And we're doing things, dude. We're implementing medication, we're doing from an education, from a vocabulary, from a study standpoint, but it's not happening as fast as we want it. And we don't think it's working. We think, oh my God, maybe I should switch businesses. Maybe I should stop Tylenol switch to Advil. Maybe Advil doesn't work. I should switch to some that's not in all cases the reality. Sure. Sometimes I hate this. I freak how bad do you hate the word patience? I can't stand the word patience, bro. You're not a patient man. Nah, not at all. No. But there's a there's a systematic approach that you have not gotten here overnight. Yeah. And our and as our viewing audience is tuning in, there is an element of applying what it is that we're talking about in the way of growth that happens again, not while we're sleeping, not while we're we're we're incoherent, but it happens, it's like when you you ever go to a let's say a Thanksgiving event and you see a nephew or a niece, and they have shot up in growth. Yeah. But then individuals, their family that are watching them every day are like, eh, not really. Like, no, no, I haven't seen, you know, little Linda. I haven't seen little Tommy in 12 months. I mean, this son of a gun is, Lord have mercy, growing like a weed. Why? Because oftentimes when you are so into the business, when you're so into what it is you're doing, you're not seeing the magnitude of what's happening internally, sometimes externally, because you're all over it. Speak to that.

SPEAKER_00 3:22

Well, I think the number one question I get asked all the time, Craig, how can I grow bigger? How how can I grow a bigger income? How can I grow bigger business, whatever it is? But when those people that really want to grow, when you really look at, you know, what they're doing, if I follow them around last week, if I follow them around, you know, last month, last quarter, would I see the indicators that they're actually growing? Probably not. I would probably just see maintenance. They're just maintaining what they what they currently have just to get by. Because I thought talking about growth, I think there's indicators of growth. And I know you gave a talk a few months ago, and it really inspired me to really study this stuff. And because I do think that there are indicators of growth. And so, you know, I I gave a talk to our group a couple weeks ago, and it was talking about the growth, growth indicators uh of the business, and I kind of related it to my son, my son Tucker. And he's he's five years old, and you know, I remember every time that that Tucker is about to grow, that there's indicators that he's about to he's about to take off. You know, his his appetite increases. You know, there's pattern shifts, he starts to outgrow things. And when I really started to dive in and look at that, I was like, crap, man, this is the same thing in this business. You know, see, Tucker, he's five years old, Craig. And if he came back, if we came back next year and he was the same size, the same maturity, the same strength, people would probably freak out, Dusty, what's wrong? What's going on with him, man? We need to get him checked out. You probably need to go to the doctor. He's not growing. But in business, people stay the same three years, five years, the same level, same patterns, nothing's changed, and we normalize it.

SPEAKER_02 5:01

You you see the problem there, man? Well, it's huge. Um, and and again, I think when you say we normalize it, when comparing yourself with others, in so doing, you're not wise. That that's what that great book said. At least my that's what my father said it said. Um, and I think that's the that's the key, bro. We compare ourselves to what other people are doing, and then that is the ratio by which the grade we give ourselves uh comes from. And look, I will say the company that that we built, uh North American Senior Benefits, every year we've grown 20% minimum. Minimum, 20%. You know how we did that new blood? We found new hungry people. We found new individuals that were willing to embrace a system. We found new individuals that were willing to shed the old, embrace the new. And it's I'm listening to your points here, and dude, I'm just I'm I'm just excited because I I I kind of got an idea where you're going and I want to hear it.

SPEAKER_00 6:02

Well, I think you you said something, new blood, new hungry blood, hungry blood. Because look, there's patterns of growth in children. Guess what? There's patterns of growth in business. And I remember Heather going to uh to the doctor early on, and and you know, the doctor said, you know, Heather, Tucker's about to hit a growth spurt. The biggest, uh, the biggest reason was because of increased appetite. That was that's which is point one, the same thing in business. Every time a kid's about to grow, guess what? He gets hungrier. In business, when I look at people, every every time I've been on the grow, every time I look at people that are about to take off, they get hungry, just consumed with knowledge. Hungry people that they're they're looking for a reason to go to war. I got something to prove. I'm a hunger, I'm an underdog. And and I think, you know, speaking of that, people that that they a lot of people say they're hungry, but when I look at what they're doing, they're they're skipping conference calls. Hungry people don't skip conference calls. Hump hungry people don't skip Zooms. Hungry people, they they don't miss, they don't call out because they don't feel like not doing it. But the people, if you're on the grow, how hungry are you? Because when you're when you're hungry enough, you'll do whatever it takes.

SPEAKER_02 7:12

I think it's important that the indicator that you're growing is that your appetite has increased. Yeah. So a lot of times, you know, I've I've thought in my business I'm stagnant. I'm not I'm not growing, I'm not going to the place I want to go, but an indicator that tells me whether I feel it or not, dude, feel it and real. Feel isn't real in business sometimes. You can feel like you're not growing, but you are. The indicator, the evidence that growth is a reality is that hunger is present. Now, let me just speak to hunger real fast because I know a little bit about this. Uh, I grew up uh in a in a poor home in a trailer, and I remember Aunt Bert used to come over and she would make salmon patties. You ever had a salmon patty, Dusty? I I haven't, but I'd like to have one for old Aunt Bert. You think she can make me one? Aunt Bert's in heaven now, looking down on you. I'm sure she's looking down, not up. Okay, I pray. Um, with that being said, that's all we had to eat.

SPEAKER_01 8:10

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 8:12

Are you hungry? You go eat the salmon patty. Because there was no burger, there was no ham, there was no chicken, there was no turkey. If you're hungry, you eat what's put in front of you. I see so many people in our business that are picky. And everything has to be just perfect, everything has to be just right, everything has to be just ideal in order for them to engage, in order for them to believe, in order for them to go all in when the reality is hungry people aren't picky. We're raising little Rocky not to be picky. Uh Alex feeds him avocado toast. I was showing you, I think yesterday when you when you flew in. Uh kale. Boy's eating kale, right? I mean, he's eating shit. I don't want to eat that. Good job, I don't want to eat that. But Alex is like, Craig, Rockford isn't going to be picky.

unknown 9:05

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 9:05

And I think a lot of people that claim and profess hunger, they they manifest a sense of pickiness. In other words, I need to work in this community, I need to work with this lead type. Everything has to be just right. And and to me, and I know to you, there was a level of hunger when we got into this that wasn't a reflection or a depiction of being picky. It was it was what you put on the plate. We're going to make work. And I just think that separates, again, why you're a three million dollar earner this year, and while other people want that.

SPEAKER_00 9:44

Well, I think hunger is a decision, it's not a situation. A lot of people that they say that they want it, but they're not willing to do what it takes to get it. And so I just think back to my business, dude. Like when there there was times where crap, I I thought I was hungry, but I was picky. I wasn't really hungry. But then there was times when I was on the grow, buddy. I was hungry as ever. So I think, you know, people, if they're gonna be on the grow, Harvey, they're gonna be hungry. That appetite is gonna increase. So if you're out there, maybe you haven't seen the results yet, but you're hungrier than you've ever been, promise you, guess what? It's coming. It's gonna happen, man. It's gonna happen.

SPEAKER_02 10:21

Well, optics of hunger to me are the books you're reading. Yeah. Not just the podcast you're listening to. I've talked to you often about the notes that I've made over the years of of a filing system. Remember that from A to Z when I have a talk on adversity or addiction uh or uh aggression, whatever it might be. If you go to the B's, if if I'm looking at boldness, if I'm looking at something about uh just just just just you know being uh more than than you are. If I go to the C's, when I go to character, when I go to controversy, uh when I go to content, boom, that subject matter is filed under what I've studied. Isn't it interesting that so many of us, it's not it's not that a lot of people I don't think are aren't reading. It's not it's that we're not retaining. It's not that we're not listening, it's that we can't find what we've at one time heard. And so right over here, as you know, in my file filing cabinet, I can find alphabetized whatever it was that I've learned from the likes of a Dusty Todd, from the likes of a Sean Mike, from the likes of a Chad Milner, from a Brian Adams, from a John Maxwell, whomever it might be, whatever leader, being able, again, it's one thing. It's one thing to want it, but then being able to access it makes sense and then apply it in the moment. That's huge. That's huge. I I love your second point uh on this, not not to rush you, but but just because I'm so excited about this because, dude, this second point was a catalyst in my career. I'm not gonna steal your thunder.

SPEAKER_00 11:53

Well, I think you look back growing. Yeah, obviously hungry is uh is important. How hungry are you? You want to grow, how hungry are you really gonna be? Are you do you are you do you are you as hungry as you say that you that you are? But somebody that's gonna grow pattern shifts. There they're gonna have to be shifts in pattern. And you know, we have a little little Bella. She's 11 months old, she'll be one next week. Uh she'll be about to be turn one. And Heather, look, Alex has done a phenomenal job of keeping Rocky on the food schedule, not being picky, right? Well, guess what? Heather is she she has definitely made sure that Bella is on a schedule. That girl, that lady, that girl, she goes to bed at 7.30, she's up at 7.30 every day. It's like clockwork, right? Well, every time that Bella is about to hit a growth spurt, she just hit one about a month ago. And guess what? Her she our sleep patterns would shift. There'll be a change of her patterns. And I relate that back to this business. I look at these agents. Every time somebody's about to be on the grow, or I think back to me, every time I was about to be on the grow, that there was changes in my patterns of this business, whether it be schedule, whether it be priorities, whether it be goals, that would change. You know, I think you know, sleep is your inactivity in this business. When you're on the grow, dude, you're gonna have to invest more time. You have to get it, you're gonna have to get up earlier, you have to stay out later, you have to do more, but that's an indicator that you're on the grow, man. Your patterns will have to shift.

SPEAKER_02 13:12

We we all have that season in our life where we're looking forward to a vacation. We're looking forward to a golf trip, or we're looking forward to an event in your business that you feel like can be just just monumental. And dude, think about it. Like you wake up before the alarm goes off. Yeah. Why? Because like you just said, you're you're you're excited. You're excited, but but again, your sleep patterns shift and you you you're you're pumped about it. There's just something internally inside you that's like, dude, I am I am ready for this more than just a normal day. And so we talk time. And I was sharing with you off camera where the great Arnold Schwarzenegger said, for those of you that need more sleep, sleep fasta. Sleep fasta, however, he says that. And look, I I agree with the adage if there's if there's 24 hours a day, you know, sleep eight, play eight, work eight. All right, that may work for some sons of bitches, but it didn't work for me. It didn't work for you. Balance is bullshit. There has to be an overindulgence or commitment to the system, to the pattern where there's lack, there's got to be an overinvestment on your part of study, of preparation, of of due diligence, of of making sure that in that moment you're hyper ready for when that curtain rises, when when those lights come up, and and you're you're prepared in that moment. I would just say the one thing that equates us all, none of us are the same height. You know this, shorty. None of us have the same beard. By the way, you have a great beard. Great beard. I can't I can't grow. You do not. Shut up. I can't grow. None of us uh came from the same uh socioeconomic standpoint, our parents, you know, positioning us from a wealth standpoint. No, no. But you know what we all have, Dusty, the same amount of time. 24 hours, baby. 24 hours. The janitor and the CEO both have 24 hours. Whomever you are, you have 24 golden hours to be able to create the desired tomorrow. People always talk about tomorrow, tomorrow, tomorrow. My tomorrow started last night. My tomorrow started last night. I'm not, I'm not, I'm not getting ready tomorrow. My tomorrow started last night. I was preparing before I went to bed for what it was I was going to do today. And when you talk about time, when you talk about where we invest our time, I've always said time is gonna promote you, or time is gonna expose you. It's gonna promote you based on what you did to prepare for the opportunity you have, or it's gonna expose you because you weren't ready for the moment when it was it was presented to you.

SPEAKER_00 15:50

Does that make sense? And I think uh you're gonna have to make some changes. You're gonna have to invest more time in order to get more. You're gonna have to put more sleepless nights in there. You up early, out late, whatever it may be. That's a sign that you're on the grow. I I think another pattern shift is mood swings. I think in children, like Bella, especially, she's been on the grow here lately. She's hit a growth spurt. She's frustrated, Craig. She she's mad at everything. You can't make her happy. Well, I I think back to my business. Every time I'm on the grow, I've always been frustrated. I'm upset. I'm pissed off. I w I wanted it done yesterday. It hadn't happened fast enough as we all want it to. And so I think that's normal. I know when agents come to me, that they come to me all the time and they're they're frustrated, they're upset. I get excited. They're mad, they're upset. I get excited. You know why? Because I know that they're about to have a huge spurt, because that's an indicator of growth. Talk about that, man. Talk about the frustration that happens, you know, right before you're about to pop.

SPEAKER_02 16:50

I just think, you know, he or she who cares the most, uh, who it matters to more, uh, find themselves in a place that they're, they're they're double checking every box. They're making super certain that things are as they need to be in any capacity, in any scenario. And again, to he or her who cares the least, they wind up earning the least. Yeah. It doesn't matter to them as much. So frustration for me was when I put so much heart and time and effort and energy into a convention, into a meeting, into a roadshow, into an event, uh, that I wanted every chair to be right. I I wanted the floor to be swept. I I wanted uh the music to be just perfect when they walked in. I the attention to detail was so powerful. We we talk about uh Mr. Bett David, uh PBD, and and Patrick talked about uh the the ability of someone to be paranoid and how paranoia won't destroy you. According to Mr. Bed David, and I agree with him. Paranoia keeps you sharp. Paranoia keeps you looking over your shoulder for what could be, it keeps you in a position and in a mentality that just forces you to make sure that everything is as right as you possibly can make it within your control.

SPEAKER_01 18:14

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 18:15

And it it just keeps you sharp. And so uh I know I've lived a paranoid life trying to make sure that every event we've ever had went as as quality as it possibly could.

SPEAKER_00 18:28

Well, I think just the question you gotta ask people that are listening in, you know, have your have your patterns shifted? Are you still doing the same thing? Has anything changed? And if it has, you're probably on the grow. That's point two. Let's move to point three real quick, man. So I think the third point indicator uh that you're growing or you're potentially about to hit a growth spurt is you outgrow things. And and children, little Rocky, those golden gooses you bought him last year, they probably don't fit anymore. If they did, hey, you probably bought the bigger a bigger size, right? Or we have a problem, right? That's right. Look, if your kids are outgrowing their clothes, that's normal, that's natural. And and I think in business, Craig, if you're if you're outgrowing thu stuff, it's probably a sign that you're on the grow. Old relationships, old habits, old disciplines, whatever it may be, if you're outgrowing these things, it it may be hard right now, but guess what? Understand, that's okay. Because that means that you're growing and big things are coming. Talk about outgrowing stuff.

SPEAKER_02 19:26

Dude, if you're the smartest person in your group, you need a new group. That's facts. I when when we started uh North American, Senior Benefits Dusty, I had a friend group that unfortunately the trajectory of where I was wanting to go didn't align with everyone in that friend group. Not that I was better, not that I wanted to be bigger, not that that anything. It's just my vision of where I wanted to be didn't align. And I was reading more books, I was attending more classes, I was going to more uh of when I say seminars or growth-based uh just just just uh meetings that I felt would stretch me. Does that make sense? And and the to me, it's the power of association. Dude, but real quick, let me finish that though. When I say the power of association, you're a great golfer. When you play great golf or when you play with great golfers, inevitably you play better. Makes you better, makes you better than playing with guys that are shooting 100, 110, you know. It just nothing wrong with that, but that's just a that's a that's a different season, that's a different system, that's a different just ability level that like attracts like. And so for us, in in the in the days of our hyper growth, association mattered. And so I tried to position myself with guys that I knew I knew had the same ideology. We weren't at the same place in reality, but guess what? Our vision was aligned, our our our destination was aligned. And then all that kind of separated that was what we put in together to get there.

SPEAKER_00 21:20

Well, I think eventually when people want to grow, when they have that increased appetite, when when their patterns shift, they're not growing average. They out they outgrow inconsistency. They outgrow that old what they thought used to be the normal. They just outgrow that thing. I mean, one tip I've got for people listening in is look, if your friend group hasn't changed over the last couple of years, it's probably a sign that you're probably not on the growth. I don't mean to be mean, Craig, or anything, but it's just the truth. It's just reality. Who you're associating with. I think association is 80% of our business that we that we do, but it's a lot of it's a lot of things in life because if you're learning from people that have more than you, naturally you're gonna you're gonna pick up things. That they're doing, they're going to teach you how to get more. Another thing, how many books have you read? Another that's another big tip. How many books have you read? If you're if your number the number of books that you've read hasn't increased, it's probably a sign that you're not on the grow. I mean, these small little things that we just take for granted every day, yeah, it it doesn't sound like a big deal, but if you truly want to grow, you're gonna learn to outgrow these things. And the people that that do, I look at the patterns, they just explode in their business. Man, I was reflecting, you know, a couple days ago, Harvey, and I look at seasons. I I think growth does have seasons. I think it comes in patterns, there's indicators, but I also think there's growth, there's growing seasons in business, especially our business. And I look back and I reflect. Every time that I was about to be on a grow, or every time that somebody in my organization has just exploded, there it was the same exact patterns, the same exact indicators that happened. When I grew, when Blythe grew, when Austin grew, when Dylan grew, all these guys are partners now. They grew over three, 400% in a year. They were they become obsessed with the business. They were hungry as I've ever seen, willing to do whatever it takes. And I think there's patterns to that, dude. And so people that they say they want to grow, but but when you really look at what they're doing daily to get better, what they're doing just you know weekly to build their business or or to move to a place that they're not at, the effort's not there.

SPEAKER_02 23:23

For the sake of time, I want to, you know, when when you look at association, you gotta look at your phone. You gotta look at the favorites in your phone. And you know, I've got my wife first, I've got Caden second, Eden. Okay, Caden's 20. Um, I've got my neighbor Daniel, multimillionaire. I've got Teresa, um, who's an assistant to us and does a phenomenal job. I've got Evan Proach, Jordan Smith, Dusty Todd. Dusty, you made it. Congratulations. My ex-wife, Lene, she made millions because of our marriage. Um uh I've got Elizabeth, who, by the way, Elizabeth is my sister-in-law, she'll make half a million dollars this year. Blair Ollendorf, who made $1.8 million this year. Um my point is a lot of times when we talk association, who am I talking to the most? The favorites in my phone. And minus my son, my daughter, and my assistant, um, every person that I just listed is a millionaire. Now is a millionaire everything in life? No, no. Money doesn't make you everything, but it does give you the options. And I think in anything, growth is what creates life. Growth is what creates excitement, growth is what creates energy, growth is what gives you the ability to wake up in the morning, regardless if it's raining or if it's sunny, and say, you know what, I'm gonna attack today and I'm gonna make it the best I possibly can because I don't know if I have tomorrow. And to me, that's been that's been a source of life, and it's been a source of just something that I continue to strive for and reach for. And listening to your talk, brother, it's been strong. Last thoughts on this subject as you have crushed this Dusty Todd, the mayor, here on the drive.

SPEAKER_00 25:08

Yeah, man. Well, I just know, Craig, I know there's somebody that's listening in right now that listen, they're the pump is prime. They're gonna take the next half of the year, the next 12 months, and they're gonna do big things. But on the flip side, there's also people listening in that they're gonna hear the points we're talking about. They're gonna say that I'm hungry. They're gonna say I'm having shifts in pattern. They're gonna say that, you know, uh I'm outgrowing things, but they're really not. They're not making any type of changes. They're still doing the same thing they were two years ago, three years ago, and they're in the same position. And they're gonna look back at whatever opportunity that they're in, whether it's insurance, whether it's real estate, whatever, sales, business, whatever. And they're gonna look back and they're gonna take it for granted and they're gonna wish they hadn't. And I just know there's somebody in here right now. I'm just telling you, the opportunity, whatever career you're doing, if you get hungry, if you have an increase in appetite, if you'll have some shifts in your pattern, if you'll change some things with your patterns and you'll outgrow some things, big things can happen, man. Dusty Todd on the drive.

SPEAKER_02 26:14

What are you gonna do? I like that. I like that. I think it got better and better as open on. That was really strong with the end. Bro, it it it it rose. It rose. Yeah. But between between tote