Mastering Your Money Mindset: How to Think Like A Top Producing RVP.
From Accountant to RVP: Tom's Path to Success Through Mindset and Networking
Join us as we uncover Tom Connelly's remarkable journey from a dissatisfied accountant to a thriving Regional Vice President in financial services. You'll learn how Tom discovered wholesaling through a serendipitous introduction by his girlfriend's father and overcame significant challenges, including a substantial pay cut and career uncertainty, to find true satisfaction and success. Tom's story is a testament to the power of loving what you do and the importance of building meaningful relationships in one's professional life.
Ever wondered how mindset can make or break your success? Our conversation delves into the critical role of maintaining a positive outlook, especially during slow business periods. Drawing from Tom's early career experiences at Lincoln, we explore the significance of forming genuine partnerships in the life insurance industry, rather than just engaging in transactional business. You'll hear valuable insights on overcoming the fear of failure and rejection, and how the right mindset can help you stay optimistic and focused even on challenging days.
We also highlight the parallels between coaching a youth baseball team and running a successful business. Learn how small, consistent changes can lead to significant improvements, and why tracking metrics is essential for achieving long-term goals. Hear practical advice on the importance of networking, supported by references to influential books like "Never Eat Alone" by Keith Ferrazzi, and discover the transformative power of coaching and continuous learning. Whether you're looking to push personal boundaries, maintain a proactive mindset, or inspire others, this episode has something for everyone aiming to achieve their best.
Join us as we uncover Tom Connelly's remarkable journey from a dissatisfied accountant to a thriving Regional Vice President in financial services. You'll learn how Tom discovered wholesaling through a serendipitous introduction by his girlfriend's father and overcame significant challenges, including a substantial pay cut and career uncertainty, to find true satisfaction and success. Tom's story is a testament to the power of loving what you do and the importance of building meaningful relationships in one's professional life.
Ever wondered how mindset can make or break your success? Our conversation delves into the critical role of maintaining a positive outlook, especially during slow business periods. Drawing from Tom's early career experiences at Lincoln, we explore the significance of forming genuine partnerships in the life insurance industry, rather than just engaging in transactional business. You'll hear valuable insights on overcoming the fear of failure and rejection, and how the right mindset can help you stay optimistic and focused even on challenging days.
We also highlight the parallels between coaching a youth baseball team and running a successful business. Learn how small, consistent changes can lead to significant improvements, and why tracking metrics is essential for achieving long-term goals. Hear practical advice on the importance of networking, supported by references to influential books like "Never Eat Alone" by Keith Ferrazzi, and discover the transformative power of coaching and continuous learning. Whether you're looking to push personal boundaries, maintain a proactive mindset, or inspire others, this episode has something for everyone aiming to achieve their best.
Today we're joined by Tom Connolly. Tom was a accountant and found himself to be not very happy. He wasn't loving what he did. Someone came up to him and started to talk to him about becoming a wholesaler, an RVP. He had never heard of it and 12 years later, that's what he's been doing and he's gonna share today some of his knowledge, some of his insights, some of his wins, some things that he's been doing and he's going to share today some of his knowledge, some of his insights, some of his wins, some things that he's been doing to be very successful. Tom, tell me how you got into the financial services industry.
Speaker 2:I went to college for accounting. Think about when you grow up as a kid. You think about people who are successful. I had this an uncle or close friend with family, who was an dpa, a partner from a big board, and I was like I'm going to go into accounting, I like numbers, I was always good at math, so I said that's what I'm going to go to college for. And along the way I met my now wife, my girlfriend then in Hop College, and her father was a financial advisor and, yeah, I got to know a little bit about what he did. But he also told me about some of his brother-in-laws and close friends of his family who were wholesalers. He told me what they did and I was like, what is that? I've never heard of that. So, anyway, I went to college and I got my kind of degree and I went into the county world early on.
Speaker 2:I went into auditing and just really did not love it. It was something that I couldn't see myself continuing on. I feel like I was working a lot of long hours and I wasn't getting paid appropriately. I was going for my CPA exam. The CPA exam. It was a time where they were changing the requirements, where you had to have 125 college credits in order to get your CPA if you hadn't passed one part yet. I had about an eight-month window to pass one part of the CPA, which is four parts. I didn't get a part pass, so that was tough. I had a big vision in me. Do I want to continue on this road where I'm not really sure? I had to go back and get more college credits, which is almost a full year of college credits.
Speaker 2:I put the call people that were in the environment of financial services and wholesaling. I I put the call people that were in the environment of financial services and wholesaling. I said you know what, if I'm going to do this, I'm going to do it now. I think I was 24 years old. I said let's just make this job. I took a 50% pay cut to get into the business to be an internal wholesaler and it's funny how it all started out.
Speaker 2:I was going to Hartford on the annuity side, back in the old plant. There were a lot of my connection in the industry derived from and I got the offer and I got it on Monday. I gave my two weeks in my accounting job. I was there about a year and a half and they were a little upset. They were like you're changing careers already. I'm like this is where I want to go.
Speaker 2:So not even two days later I get an alert that Hartford was exiting the annuity business. This is in 2012. I'm like you gotta be kidding me. This is in 2012. I'm like you gotta be kidding me. This is a great start to changing careers. I'm taking a 50% pay cut and yet now the company I'm gonna work for is exiting the business.
Speaker 2:So my accounting company said we're gonna allow for you to stick around for a couple more months until you find we've already expressed interest. You're gonna get out of this business and go somewhere else. So we'll let you stick around and until you find something, let you interview. And it was great. I truly appreciate how they handled that. It was back in over 12 years ago. Long story short, I ended up getting a gig at Lincoln Financial. Not even a month later. I had some buddies there, got me interviews right away and that was really the start of my financial services industry. It's funny how it all played out, but I don't have one regret this day of leaving that accounting industry early on and be on in this direction.
Speaker 1:You mentioned when you were doing the accounting. You really didn't like it. You didn't have a love for it. How important do you think that having a love for what you do is in thriving and being successful? I think absolutely Every day you have to wake up and enjoy what you do in thriving and being successful.
Speaker 2:I think absolutely Every day you have to wake up and enjoy what you do. I truly do and do what I get to do. I get to work with different people every single day. I get to build relationships In the public economy world. You saw what the partners of these firms were all the ones who were making the money and they were the ones who were building the relationships. They were the ones who were meeting with the owners of the companies that we were working for, that we were for our clients and I always said that's what I'd love to do. But that's a long projection. That's a 10 year, 15 year path sometimes to become a partner of these firms and you're essentially the one doing all the dirty work a lot of times. So I just said I don't have that time. I don't have the 10, 15 years to go and make those kind of dollars where I can do it sooner.
Speaker 2:I knew with wholesaling you could get there and I've been told by a few people you'd be great at this gig. This is something you should look at. That was a change. I'm working 60, 70 hours a week to make a staff account Two years in not much money. I said, yeah, I can go work harder elsewhere and make a lot more. That's where I took the leap. I also knew that I've had positives that came with it. There's things that benefit you not only financially, but also there's a lot of great that comes with this role. There's a lot of things that people don't realize Well, that can tick you every single day, but it's about having the right mindset and continuing on and figuring that out. How do you win the day? Essentially it. It didn't take me too long to realize that I wanted to go that route, but again, I don't have one regret ever making that career change 12 years ago.
Speaker 1:How do you win your day? I think that's a really important part of starting out the day on some kind of foundation. So what do you?
Speaker 2:do to win your day. Every day is different. I got two little kids that kind of start wrenching the thing through a five and three-year-old. But most days I always like to get up, start out with a workout. I do some preparation and art trainings as well too.
Speaker 2:I try not to lose out early on in the morning. It sets the day, the roadmap for my day. If I can get a good workout in, if I can get a little bit of mindset training in the morning, then start out. I try to plan ahead my day and weeks. That week of Doesn't always go as planned but I feel like if you get those two tough things out of the way early on in the morning and then you get your basics to the kids for getting ready for school and get them in the door, babysitters, whatever it just sets the day to go a lot more smoother and do is hopefully continue to have multiple wins throughout the day to go a lot more smoother and to hopefully continue to have multiple wins throughout the day, being around all the RVPs and having friendships with a lot of people in your field.
Speaker 1:what do you think their biggest struggles are?
Speaker 2:That's an interesting question. We're all very similar. We're always trying to get better on our craft, whether that's just working with new advisors, new agents out there in the field, whether that's just working with new advisors, new agents out there in the field, whether that's figuring out a way to get a foot in the door somewhere, building a relationship. We are on worse every sometimes when it comes to this business, because you can be so successful so soon and so quickly and the next thing you have a one minor setback and you have a mini freakout and you're just thinking about how do I get back to that? How do I get back on track? How do I get back to where I was a year ago, two years ago, three years ago?
Speaker 2:I know many wholesalers that have been doing this for 20 to 30 years. It's sometimes hard to believe that someone can last that long in this business, as on the wholesale side of things. But I think a lot of it now that I'm learning through our training over the past few months here, that a lot of it is mindset, a lot of it is having the right frame of mind, and how do you overcome those objections and what is going on mentally that's impacting those decisions and how do you overcome it? How to become better every single day. I think that's something that we all tend to struggle with, but overcoming that and having the proper mindset and training, I think, is what a lot of these individuals in our roles. That's how they have these long-term careers.
Speaker 1:What do you think makes you most successful in this business?
Speaker 2:I've always been, from day one. I've always been a big relationship guy. It's how I developed myself is just trying to find a similarity with somebody I'm trying to connect with. And again, business aside business will essentially come at some point, but if I can always connect with somebody on a personal level, that's always been my biggest foot in the door in how I get a relationship started.
Speaker 2:I always am big on service too, and when it comes to my business, the service, in my opinion, is first and foremost being readily available. If I miss a phone call, I'm calling my guys back right away. I'm getting back to my emails. I'm constantly on and sometimes it's a blessing and a curse. There's times where it's late at night and I see an email come through and I will respond. Or sometimes I won't, but I want to. That's how I've been built, it's my work ethic, because I understand how important it is to provide that service. That goes a long way in developing the relationship, the person on the other end, whether it's the financial advisor, the insurance agent, whoever you're dealing- with if they see that value that you bring from the start.
Speaker 2:A lot of things go sideways in this business, especially the life insurance world, that sometimes are out of our control. But if they can appreciate the value and the effort that you're putting forward and know that you're always available for them when they need you, that will definitely be big and building that relationship and that's really how I developed myself. I went through early on in my career when I was at Lincoln I mentioned I went to a wholesaler institute and that was really just one of the things that always stood out to me. You can always expect a wholesaler, individual managers and their experiences and just the value that you bring as an individual. You can be the greatest salesman in the world but if you're not going to be a true partner to them, to the advisor and their practice, at the end of the day what value you bring to them? That's not fair. So that's where I hang my hat, first and foremost.
Speaker 1:If you had to come up with one more key item, what would that be? Service is one. What's the other.
Speaker 2:You could pick and choose any wholesale you want to work with. Any insurance company you want to work with, you can pick and choose. But I want them to understand too not only is it a provider service, but we're also it's a partnership. My title is a regional vice president, but some titles of people in our role are external wholesalers and a lot of that is, in my opinion, more of a transactional process. You have mutual fund wholesalers, you have annuity wholesalers. That's transactional business. Here's an idea, here's a fund and the advisor drops a quick ticket and it's done. There's not much service required on that, but as a true partnership, as an extension of their team in our business, the life insurance business you're not going away in the matter of one day. It's a true partnership as an extension of their practice. So I want them to understand not only are we providing you with service, we're also here to partner with you and help that life insurance process.
Speaker 2:It can be a two, three, four-month process for just one case. That's why I mentioned things go sideways, especially if you're dealing with underwriters and you're dealing with medical history. That didn't take some time. When people get frustrated on both sides of the house, we got to be the ones to really hold both sides accountable and make sure that we're there to support them and get them through that process, because some carriers don't always have that support level you can get from an insurance company that does provide it. So when you are there to provide it, you got to be ready to go, and that falls on myself, my internal partner at the home office.
Speaker 2:I've recently got a hybrid as well too, who's been a great resource to my team also. So between the three of us it's been a great partnership to be able to provide these advisors and their practices just a true extension. We don't get all the business and it's always on. It's not a bad thing. But when you are providing that, sometimes you're getting a shot at every case and if you do well, you're doing well. Everyone knows our story. We'll be in the mix every time.
Speaker 1:I hear often from RVPs is they struggle sometimes to get in front of more financial advisors. They struggle to get on the phones and make the calls they know they need to make. They struggle for the follow-up. What would your advice be and what have you done for yourself when it comes to getting into that situation?
Speaker 2:It goes back to where you and I started about three or four months ago and understanding a lot of the mindset that goes into how our mind works. I'm so thankful that I've gone through this process with you to understand that, because I've been on a really good run the past three, four years and I have some setbacks. But business has slowed in a way, in a certain way, and we're trying to try and get back to what it was a year ago, six months ago, and sometimes you fall into the hole that you get stuck. You're not sure what to do, who to call, what activity you need to do. You've been so used to just having so much success and not that things come naturally.
Speaker 2:We're always being proactive in our day to day, but there's going to be windows where you might find it hey, there's been a two, three month window where it's not as busy as it was. And how do you go about fulfilling those? Your time slot to make it the most efficient, to increase your practice and increase your raging, and by going through the exercise with you and learning about these. When I get stuck and I revert back to my comfort zone. I now I understand what's going on mentally and that now I can overcome those challenges that I maybe I faced over the past six, 12 months to to allow me to know how do we go about that and how do we pick up the phone and call that agent we might've been putting off for two, three months, or call that individual who we've been trying to get a foot in the door with for the past year or two. So, again, that mindset is huge and understanding what's going on there has been worth every single ton that we've spent together.
Speaker 1:After procrastinating for a period of time, we actually start to feel some fear. How do you deal with the fear when you feel?
Speaker 2:that the fear of failure in our business is real, the fear of rejection and the fear of failure Because there's times where we want to make that phone call, we want to call up Erston, but we're not sure what's going to come out on the other side From us. Not knowing what's coming out on the other side of it is going to only put things in a deeper hole, to not continue to be proactive. So, obviously, changing that mindset to be positive, to think about what actually is going to happen and what can happen, and recently you and I have come up with this little slogan anything is possible. And there's been times where and I use this example it was on Monday.
Speaker 2:Mondays are sometimes tough in our world. I feel like every whole Saturday on Monday is their office day. It's just call for the weekend. You're getting ready for the week. Since COVID, you're typically you're probably having an extra office day now than we might have had in the past and Monday just seems to be a day when everyone's in the office. So, as you're preparing for that week and you're getting going, you get stuck. Call for the weekend, you can get stuck.
Speaker 2:I was procrastinating a little bit, but I know I had my goals and my calls and I changed my mindset, got into the right mindset and made a phone call to an agent who I'd never spoken to before, who I had on a list of calls, and what happened? We got on the phone. We actually booked a call that Thursday, did an intro call a full half hour. We opened up some opportunities, some ideas. They're a pretty big AUM, but it is a big life insurance case. So now we're sending our call with him and his partner, the owner of the company, within the next couple of weeks to dive a little deeper.
Speaker 2:But had I not made that phone call, that opportunity wouldn't even have arrived. I think again the positive mindset, knowing what's possible. As Michael Jordan said, you miss 100, or Wayne Gretzky I think it was, you miss 100% shots you don't take. So at the end of the day, what can happen? The worst thing that can happen is they say no and we want an action. But I think overcoming that fear of denial is huge in our business and I think everyone, all wholesalers, struggle with that at some point in their career.
Speaker 1:Rejection can be a really tough one for most people. You're feeling that fear of rejection, most people. You're feeling that fear of rejection. You said I take action. How do you get yourself to take action? You get yourself in that mindset. What do you do to get yourself there and then just move quickly?
Speaker 2:get in the right frame of mind, it might even be physically right for me. I play college baseball as long as before and for me it's thinking about if I'm sitting on a 2-0 fastball, what's my? How am I set up? What am I looking for? How do I feel comfortable? Thinking about if I'm sitting on a 2-0 fastball, what's my? How am I set up? What am I looking for? How do I feel comfortable? Same thing If I'm going to make a phone call that I want to get comfortable making for me it's hey, I'm usually standing up, I'm usually going to go put headphones on, I may walk around.
Speaker 2:I tend to be a little bit better on the phone. When I'm in that frame of mind, right, when I'm comfortable standing, walking, versus being slouched in my computer or at my desk. I just feel like I bring a little more energy. So for me it might be let's get up, let's go outside and take a walk and bang out. A four or five call Gives you some energy and for me it just puts me in that right frame of mind to be able to make those calls. That's my power zone.
Speaker 1:I love that power zone. When you first started playing baseball, when you very first started you would get up to the plate. You probably felt some fear when you would get up there. How did that fear start to go away over?
Speaker 2:time it was repetition. It's really what it comes down to and you can correlate that right now in our business the more people you talk to, the more practice you get, the more you're going to overcome that fear. Growing up in this business, you started as an internal wholesaler that's where I was at Lincoln for three years and you take 50, 60, 70 calls a day. Sometimes You're between being outbound calls, inbound calls, everything, and then you transition to the outside, the external role you still are in that. The mindset is still the same. It does start to wear off a little bit only because you're just so embedded in your business, you're so focused on growing, that you might not be as proactive on the phone as you once were. So over time that does start to wear off.
Speaker 2:But bringing that repetition back as I've seen recently, getting back into that repetition, making more calls on a day-to-day basis it helps overcome that fear of rejection that we all tend to sometimes fall into at some point in time. But it's funny, I tell this to my son and I'm coaching my son's five years old. I'm coaching a baseball team and we'll be having catches and do something where I just say don't be afraid, the balls are going to hurt you or whatever it is, and they trust you. And then they fully change what they're doing and the next thing you know they're catching right now. So you can again relate it to what we do on a day to day. Right, we make one couple of changes and continue to repeat what we're doing and get repetition. It just can make us better.
Speaker 1:How do you track your business?
Speaker 2:Probably need to be a little bit better than between submitted and paid reports. That's what our reason looks like right now. We try to put together a system that understands how many calls a week do we need to make as a team to know that, based on what our goal is for the year, how many touches a week do we need to have, and what does that look like? As I brought on a hybrid now and we have a new internal, we're trying to get that number, but for me, it's every day making my five calls a day, proactive new phone calls and five emails a day too. Right If I can hit those numbers every single day. Recently, you and I we talked about asking for a referral one day a week, once a week too, which we're working on our practice as well too. So for me, if I hit those numbers, I understand that we're going to be on the right track, and that's something that I learned early on.
Speaker 2:There was a divisional at Lincoln who taught me about this program that he would use, based on outbound calls and illustration, that he would give himself a scorecard every single week. Actually, the NRA guy is the national sales manager. Actually, I think he might be head of a division now at Lincoln. It always stuck with me. If I can get to 100 points every single week, I know that I'm going to have have a have a good submit week or have business is going to continue to flow.
Speaker 2:I need to get back to doing a little more of that. But the submitted business um, it's really how I track, knowing what our submits are per month. And finally, you say this because the last month of May was our biggest submit month this year and it stems from some of the training we've been doing and again, it was similar to what it was the past two to three years. So we're trying to get back to what that was. But I know when I get to see the submits getting back to the normal levels, I know we're going to have decent paid months and ultimately be close to our goals.
Speaker 1:When you're playing baseball and you get up, you have a choice you can either swing the bat or watch the ball go by. The only way you're ever going to hit the ball is if you swing the bat, and the only way that you're going to get more people is by picking up the phone, making the calls and getting in front of more people. Period, the age world.
Speaker 2:I feel like four or five years ago it was definitely easier to get in person meetings. I don't know if COVID changed this or not, but I feel like people, so it can be draining sometimes when you feel like you're putting out way too much output. You're not getting the input you receive. But that's the nature of the business. That's what we have to overcome that and continue on every single day because we're all out there. It could be and there's enough business to go around for everybody, but it definitely is different than what it was four or five years ago. But if you're not taking the shots, you're never going to know.
Speaker 1:I was listening to David Goggins the other day. He's a Navy SEAL, he was a ranger, he's an iron man, but he was once way overweight and wasn't able to do any of this. But he challenged himself and got himself to consistently do things that he would never do, things that were outside of his comfort zone. How important do you think it is to consistently step outside the comfort zone?
Speaker 2:It's super important. It goes back to a lot of the mindset training that we've been doing in the past few months just understanding you have to get uncomfortable in our world. You stay in that comfort zone and you continue to hit that barrier wall and bounce back. And now you're going to be back to square one and you're going to just continue to do what you're going to do. I think every day you have to at some point make yourself uncomfortable, and that could be making four or five calls to somebody you've never talked to before. Whatever that is, I think at the end of the day, if you're not making yourself comfortable, this, this job, is just an average job. If it was easy, everybody would do it again.
Speaker 2:I go back to that whole selling. People think they look and see money or look and see trips. They look and see like I. Next, we run our leadership in bahamas, so I'm sure my friends will make something up like oh, you're on another work trip in the Bahamas or a nice place. But again, people don't see, though, the fear, the rejection, the late hour, working nine, 10 at night, some nights, phone calls we deal with. They don't realize those times were away a lot from our family. There's a lot that goes into it too. If you were comfortable every day, I don't think you'd be able to have the success that we can have in this industry and in this business. So for me, yeah, I always tell myself if I'm getting too comfortable, that's not a good sign.
Speaker 1:Do you have to take a massive step out of your comfort zone, or could you just take small steps?
Speaker 2:I think small steps totally are all good, because I think the more small steps you take it's going to help you overall. It might be one phone call a day that you don't want to make, you do make it and that's going to continue to build the strength that you need to overcome some of these objections that we face on a day-to-day basis. That's in every environment in a way, in my opinion.
Speaker 1:There is a woman who wanted to run a marathon. This is a true story. She had never run before in her life. What she decided was she was going to go outside and she was going to run to the first mailbox and then back to her house. And then on the second day she was going to run to the second mailbox and then back to her house. And she kept doing it that way, One small step at a time. She ended up being able to run the marathon by taking the approach of one small step at a time. That's amazing.
Speaker 2:It goes right back to what we were talking about baby steps in a way, I think it said it's the same thing in our businesses Every effort you put into your practice is going to make you better overall. In some capacity it might end up being something different. I think we talk about getting on that same wavelength as other individuals who might think the same way. Same with that with the lady who was running the marathon. She had that mindset, she had that vision to get there and she knew she could. Anything is possible and I'd imagine she was having that envision of her finishing that marathon and continue to go. Same thing as us.
Speaker 2:I have on my computer here we're going to have right now what my goal is for the year. I'm reminded that every single day I got to have a goal, I got to have something in mind getting there, how I go about that, that's going to be up to me and some of the practices that I do in my day to day. But if you don't have the vision, if you don't have the goal planted in your head.
Speaker 1:How are you ready to get there? That's a great point. If you got in the car and you wanted to drive out to California but you didn't have any kind of plan to get there, how would you ever get there?
Speaker 2:At the very least you put in the ways that you at least should know you have some sort of plan. But if you didn't have how the cars are driving, you're left to be inefficient. And I think in our business everything goes up and down. There's peaks and valleys, for sure, but you're continuing to progress along the way right and that's the biggest thing. That's why, in wholesale, the hardest thing is I think a lot of my colleagues will tell you this In January 1, we're back to Euro. That's the biggest thing for us, and usually the goal goes up. And there's other changes too. If you go off course and you take a two, three month of procrastination where you're not in the right mindset, then you might have some impact there.
Speaker 2:But it's funny how a lot of things play out because, even if you're trying to find that next producer or you're out there trying to build new relationships, next thing you know one comes along that you maybe weren't expecting. It's funny how other businesses work, but again it goes back to getting on that same wavelength and thinking at a higher level.
Speaker 1:I'm glad you brought this up. So you're talking about getting on the frequency. So someone listening might say what in the world is he talking about? So what are you talking about? What does that mean? How could you break that down in really simplistic terms so anyone would understand that?
Speaker 2:The easiest way to think of it is there's successful people out there who think differently, who have her mindset, has been trained to be at the top. That's how they got there. So if we can have the same mindset, the same thought process, the same truth, the same goals as they are now, we're on that same wavelength and in order to get to where we want to be, we have to be on that wavelength. If we are on a wavelength that is average, then that's where we're going to be. If you want to do great things, if you want to be more successful, if you want to go further in life, and you have to think on those wavelengths as some of the elite not saying we're going to be the elite, but we can. If we want to be, the only way we can get there is by thinking like them and be on that same wavelength.
Speaker 1:If I pick up the phone and I want to call you, tom, and I dial Frank's number, is that going to get me to you? No, that'd be on the frequency. What you're saying is, if we talk to successful people and we know what they're doing and we know how they're thinking and we emulate that and we get on that same wavelength, might we get the same results? Absolutely, it's funny wavelength. Might we get the same results?
Speaker 2:Absolutely. It's funny. I you know I was telling this a couple weeks ago but out of the out of the blue, I got a call from an advisor who I hadn't talked to in a while and he came and he had this huge opportunity. I hadn't talked to him probably a while, or he's a few months, maybe longer, but we were on the same wavelength.
Speaker 1:And again, it's funny how things happen like that, but I believe it If you could give one piece of advice, only one. This is the most important thing I think you should do as an RVP to be more successful. What do you think that would be?
Speaker 2:Showing up in this business is, honestly, 90% of this job and you're going to show up in multiple different ways. Just getting to the meeting is one thing, or whatever the night is, but showing up in every facet, you can show up in every facet of this role. You're going to be successful. You're going to have opportunities. In my opinion, I have colleagues who sometimes they might not respond to an email that was sent. It just drives me nuts sometimes. So I think showing up again is not a trend, it's business, but it's constantly networking.
Speaker 2:If you are like a master networker, it's one thing to do it inside the financial service world, but even outside your other networks, because it all leads to something about. I play golf and my golf club, and even if I play golf with three other guys who aren't in the financial service industry, you have conversations. You can. They might know somebody. The guy on the plane wasn't even an advisor or an agent, but he knows somebody. So it's just that that's a huge part of it. I was sitting next to somebody on a plane but I didn't talk to them at all. I didn't mention anything of what we did or what they do. How do I know that maybe they couldn't be in our business or know somebody. So you just never know, you really never know, and I think if you can figure out a way to continue to grow in the network and build relationships and show up, you're going to be in this business.
Speaker 1:How important is it for an RVP to take responsibility, and how do they best do that?
Speaker 2:I've learned that a lot recently in some of this training with you. In our world especially, as mentioned before, in life trends, world things can go a side way, but at the end of the day we have to. We're responsible. We can't point this finger to anybody else. Yeah, everybody else is doing their job. The responsibility falls on us.
Speaker 2:I always thought I had three internals. Now with my current company, I've been there four and a half years and I've had, I've owned my third internal, and each one that I've lost in the past has gone and done other things within the company. But I always tell them at the end of the day you're going to continue to excel in your career. This isn't a forever role. I've been there. I want to help you grow and get to the next part of your career, whatever that is, whether you want to be an RBP, whether you want to go into somewhere in a home office, whatever that might be. So I don't expect you to be here forever. I don't want you because I want you to continue your career. You're helping this region, you're helping to support me, but it's going to fall on me. It's my region. Today I'm the one responsible.
Speaker 2:But so quick in this business. We can point the finger so easily. There's so many different things Underwriting the channel and service the channel and this advisor is having issues. Whatever it is and I hear every day we hear from colleagues from BYU industry and I've been trying to just recently just clear that out Just not even take it into consideration, because there's always going to be noise. I've been in this business town for 12 years. You've dealt with noise every single day and people complain. So it's all about following yourself and taking full responsibility and I think as you continue to take more responsibility for yourself, you will be more successful, because you don't have to worry about hearing the negativity out there. You're hearing the people that are complaining. It just goes in one ear or the other. Whether you want to agree with it or not, a lot of it is staying positive and continue to understand that.
Speaker 1:What book that you've read in the past has made the biggest impact in your life, and why.
Speaker 2:Never Eat Alone is a book, I think Keith Ferrazzi, because that's the whole networking thing too. It's a cool book to really just help you think differently when you are building your network. It's been a great resource for me and I always revert back to it. I think I read it a few years back, but I should go back and read it again and refresh it after going through some of our training, but it's always been a book that I've always done. I've been networking and building your circles. It's great to tell them there.
Speaker 1:In order to not eat alone. What do you have to do?
Speaker 2:You got to make phone calls. You got to again. I cover a large region. I cover almost a whole main out of Maryland is my territory. So it's not every day I can go out, beat it up in the area and go and get to someone in Boston for lunch. But if I can have lunch with somebody three days a week in our business I can have breakfast, lunch and dinner every single day with three different peoples. And that's the beauty of it. That's how you continue to network.
Speaker 1:You're seeing the people and you're building those relationships as you build more relationships, more referrals come and business will come in some way shape or form. Last question what are final words that you have for anyone that might be listening and potentially struggling a little bit? What's your advice for them?
Speaker 2:It's been 12 years now, and in a higher level role now for about five years and in the role before I was about four years in a hybrid role. So for about eight to nine years I've been out in the field working with advisors directly. I never really had any kind of coaching, and when I say coaching, we've all gone through sales course, sales training courses or whatever that might be but actual coaching model. But I really do believe and I'm so thankful that I've learned this, some of this stuff from you and the mindset, because I never really took the time to invest in myself. Everything really in this business has come to me. I've always been big on work. I work every single day and things will come and they have.
Speaker 2:I've been fortunate and blessed to have a great career so far, but I am glad that I did take a step with you and learning about some of the mental aspects of not only just life but how it impacts our day to day life and how we operate. Every single person in these roles as a hotel or as RVPs go through the same struggles every single day and a lot of them go through it and they don't even know why. So for me, it's been huge in uncovering that, because now I understand how the mind works, what is going through my mind and how do I correct it. So for anyone listening, I mean this might be a plug for you here but I think coaching and having the right mindset is imperative to in getting the results we want to have.
Speaker 2:In my day-to-day, whether whatever it is like, you might see something on LinkedIn or you might see some post somewhere or you might hear something, and you start to be more aware of some of these mindset things that are out there, and before you might have seen something and just glanced over it or thought, oh, that's interesting, but now you actually get there. I know what that person, what they're referring to, or I understand what they're talking about and I can relate to it much better than I would have a couple of years ago. Now I know. If I'm ever in a position where I'm just procrastinating or I'm not in the right frame of mind, I know how to change that, and we would continue on.
Speaker 1:Beautiful Tom. Thanks so much for spending time and sharing, and there will be people that hear this and you're going to touch them in a specific way and you probably will never be aware of it. But that's what we do. We take what we learn and we just spread it to other people so that they can ultimately benefit and perform at their best level. So thanks for helping to do that today.
Speaker 2:Thank you, Mike. We're having me and again, thank you for everything you've told me. It's been a fun ride and we're still continuing on.
Speaker 1:I'm excited for the adventure. It's only getting better. That's right.