 You wrote a significant amount of business last year. 2019, yep. You want to tell us about that? Yeah, so it was 8.2 million in annuity volume. Say it again? 8.2 million in annuity volume. How many people? That was me. No, that was me. But the reality is if you're not going to do things differently, you're going to be where you are, right? I mean, you know, like when I transitioned to the annuity world, that was a big change for me. But it came down because I had to reinvent myself. You know, I fell flat in my face like a lot of people do. In the mortgage protection and final expense, I did the same thing in the annuity world. But one thing I like about the annuity world is I like being the financial planner side. You know, like more of the financial go-to professional. If you're trying to level up and you're trying to become, you know, a bigger producer, I think people should be focused on how do I make that transition? How do I make that, you know, from going from struggling to get a $30 app out of somebody to being in front of the six-figure income market, right? The annuity world, Cody, I'm going to give everybody the secret. Are you ready for the secret? All right. This is it. You ready? Here's the secret to the annuity world. Hey, Cody Askins here with another episode of insurance influencers, and I got a serious insurance influencer today for you. My buddy Ryan Palomini, I came all the way to Raleigh, North Carolina to hang out with this dude. Yeah, buddy. Man, good to see you. You too, man. Thanks for coming out here. Appreciate it. You got it, brother. Second time out here. Love being here. Booming market. Smoking. Every time I come out here, you're making more money. It must be something in the water. I don't know what it is, but... Either that or the 100 people a day that move here. Maybe that's it, man. Maybe that's it. Dude, you know what? Before we kick this off, the first time we spoke about the very first 8% nation, you were the only person that had no clue who I was that also said... Not the only person who didn't know who I was, but the person that also said, I'm in. Yep. Like you wanted to be a part of it. I did. Why? For the longest time, I actually wanted to try to accomplish what you were doing to be honest with you. I don't know if I ever told you that. I don't know. But I loved the mission that you had of bringing an industry together that is so cutthroat, so doggy dog, right? I mean, it's always going to be like that, but we're trying to fix a little bit of it, right? Yes. It's a mission to bring the industry together and to collaborate with everybody in one space where it's like everybody can feel comfortable just learning. Because a lot of times what happens is there's a lot of great trainers. You're one of the best trainers I've seen in the industry, but if somebody's not a part of your FMO or your IMO, they can't get your training. And so what I saw was an opportunity to change that, right? To where the best trainers in the industry can be on a stage teaching everybody regardless if you're part of their organization or not. And so for me, that's been my mission for a long time. And it was very easy for me to get behind what you were doing and say, let's make this happen. I don't know who you are, but I see what you're doing and I want to be a part of it because what you're doing is creating something special. Well, thank you, buddy. And dude, you were a big part of it. You slayed on stage at the first event. You're going to do it again coming up in 2020, which I super excited to have you back. Yeah, thank you, man. So tell us about, because when I think about Ryan, I don't know why I always do this when I do one of these episodes. I like compliment the person. I don't know what it is, but that's how I kick it off. When I think about you, I think of driven, genuine, honest, and just deep down like a good dude that just truly, truly cares and an annuity sales machine. Where does those things come from? Is it upbringing? Is it childhood? Yeah, it was a little bit of everything. I had a great upbringing. I did. My dad built a pretty successful construction business and I get my work ethic from him. I'm in 24-7 to provide my family a great life. And so I had the privilege of watching that. And so for me, I was always just like, okay, if he's doing it, I'm going to use my hero, right? I want to just do what my dad did. So I get a lot of my work ethic from there. I had the privilege of seeing and knowing people who had money. Not that we had a lot of money growing up and in my family, but I've seen a lot of people who do and I've been around it. And so for me, I've always wanted to have money. I always wanted to make money and have money and for me, it's always kind of been more of a game. I'm not going to lie. It's more of a game of how big can you get? But that's a lot of its upbringing. My mom is the most genuine, loving person in the world. I love my mom to death. And so I get my sensitivity. I'm the biggest crybaby in the world too. So I get that from her. So my sensitivity and that kind of side of it and genuineness comes from her. My dad's good to do it, but I get my work ethic. So it's a combination of a little bit of everything. But growing up around and seeing money was also a driving force for me to get there. Where'd you grow up? I grew up in Connecticut. I grew up right on the shore in Connecticut. I absolutely loved it. I had a great childhood, great upbringing. So in New England, we move very fast there, depending on what part of the world you're in right now. A little different to Missouri. A little bit different. So that fast-paced lifestyle is what I'm used to. So even now, like I catch myself when I'm doing deals at the office or if we come up with a project, it is like lightning. We are on it and we are moving fast. So that upbringing comes from there. Dude, there's something about that, like the most successful people in the world. They always say they make decisions quickly. They change them slowly. You just embodied and said that right out of the gate. Do you think it's just from, who do you think you got that from, your mom or your dad? I gotta tell you, really, neither. It's kind of weird. My dad is a very smart man when it comes to business. He does a really good job, but we're in very different businesses. So for me, the moving fast part comes from I know where I'm going. And so I look at my business as puzzle pieces, right? And so I'm always two phases ahead of where I want to be. But in order for me to get to phase two, I need to find the puzzle pieces for that. And so for me, it allows me to move very quickly. So when I see something that's going to make my business better, it allows me to say, okay, that's what I need to do. Let's go, right? Instead of kind of slowing down and be like, oh, maybe that would work. That could kind of work. Now, it gets me in trouble sometimes too. I move fast and I fall flat in my face. Well, it's also why you're one of the most successful 32-year-olds that I know. I appreciate that. I mean, we're in different, you know, decades. Sure, sure. And sure, you know, you're a lot older, you know, but. Oh, come on, man. You'll be 30 in a couple of months. I know. It's catching up on me. That's good. So tell us about Ryan as a kid growing up. Maybe tell us something we don't know, maybe a story. I would love for our audience to kind of get to know you for a second. Sure, sure. You know, always super competitive. All sports, you know, from day one. What sports? Soccer. My whole life. Wow. Still playing this day. 32-year-olds play two nights a week. Absolutely love it. That's some freaking cardio. Still love slide tackling people and just nailing them on the field at 32-year-olds. Remind me not to play soccer with them. I can't get up as fast as I used to. I'm still, you know, at Villa next morning. No, but you know, that competitiveness has always been in me. And then as I kind of grew up, and especially like in high school, I was always a leader. I don't know why. I've always liked to be a leader and to help people along the way. And I get that from my upbringing, you know, helping a lot of people. I saw my dad and my mom donate a lot of money, give a lot of stuff to charity. So that side of it comes up there. But no, it's always been really competitive, you know, as a child. And I love the competition. You know, it drives me crazy if people give participation awards out. I want the trophy. I want to be the number one. And so I think that that early drive, and I've always had the entrepreneurial spirit. Like when I was 16, how many people know this? When I was 16, I started my first business and I started a detailing company. And so I was detailing cars. And the funny thing was I didn't even have a license, but I didn't tell anybody that. So what I used to do is go pick up clients' cars. I didn't have a license. They didn't know that. I thought I was driving. I'd go pick up cars, bring it to my house, detail it and bring it back. I mean, you know, but you do what you do, right? So I built a really, you know, at 16 years old, built a pretty nice detailing company out of my dad's garage. And, you know, that was kind of the beginning of my entrepreneurial spirit. Then I got involved in multi-level marketing, which I absolutely love. You know, I mean, I got involved with, back then it was prepaid legal, now it's called Legal Shield. Those are some of the best years of my life. You know, at 18 years old, I got involved in it. And I learned a lot, man. I learned a lot about some of the things you talk about, which is networking. I learned the power of that. And I also learned the power of events. I never missed one. So from 18 years old to now 32, I never missed an event. You know, no matter what company I've been with, I go to all of them because events are pieces to your puzzle as well. And if you miss one, I'm afraid I'm going to miss that piece to my puzzle. That makes such a big difference. You know, so that's just where it came from. A lot of early entrepreneurs, and I got around some good people. I've had a lot of bad mentors. I'm not going to lie that I've, you know, probably stumped some of my growth. And so, but that's a learning process, right? And now you learn who to get around. You know, if you want to grow fast, like what you're doing, you know, the reason that Cody Askin grows as fast as he does is because you get around some of the high, high level people in the, in all industries, right? And they're like, dude, if you don't pick it up, we're not going to let you hang out there. Yeah, right, right. So I got to go. You know, and that's what I learned early on. So when I was 18, and I started doing the network marketing deal, I was always trying to position myself around the big income earners, right? And then at 19 years old, I'm up in front of the room, you know, teaching classes and stuff like that. And so it allowed me to really grow. Walk us through that. 19 up in front of the room, teaching classes with prepaid legal. Yeah, yeah. I was doing opportunity meetings at 19 years old. And for me, it was kind of cool, right? I mean, I was still broke as a joke, but I loved it. Like I loved being in front of the room and I loved the kind of, I liked the eyes on me at that time. 19 years old and you know, everybody was all mesmerized by 19 year old up there doing the thing. And so it was a great feeling because it allowed me to get up there and, you know, learn how to publicly speak. You know, I love speaking now. I mean, I teach retirement classes with 200 doctors and nurses at a time. So it allows me to, you know, that kind of made me feel more comfortable with that. But no, I really, I really enjoyed it because I was teaching people twice my age how to become entrepreneurs, how to become financially free. Even though I wasn't financially free at the time, I was teaching the methodology to do so, which at 19 years old was really cool for me. And then from there, I got into the insurance industry. You know, I had met somebody through that network that was in the insurance industry and I started like everybody else does mortgage protection, final expense in four years. By the time I was 25, I had reached a six figure passive income. I built an agency of over 250 agents across the country in four years. So I just loved it. You know, say like, I loved just doing it. And I, but it's doing things that other people are not willing to do. You know, and I'll give you an example. As I was building my company, you know, my agency in that first company, I put 195,000 miles on my Toyota Corolla in two years. I was driving all over the country, hosting opportunity meetings, recruiting, building my team. You know, I would, and I still didn't really have a lot of money. So I would do things like, give me an example. I used to do a lot of meetings in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. And I was living in Rhode Island at the time. So I would get up at like three o'clock in the morning and I'd have to be in Pittsburgh by like noon or one o'clock ish. And it's a nine hour drive. So I would get up at three in the morning, drive all the way to Pittsburgh, do a meeting all day long, not have money for the hotel. And so I would drive back the nine hours the same night. I mean, it was just stuff like that. Like I'm not, you know, don't, you know, fall asleep at the wheel. But those were the things that I did early on in my career. And it pushed me, you know, it drove me harder. It, it made me see like, okay, this is possible. Nobody else is really doing this stuff. And that's kind of why my agency is growing faster. You know what I'm saying? So you have to be different. There's a lot of people watch this right now that complain about driving 30 minutes to an appointment. Oh, I know, we've hired those agents. We, we know, but again, then you look at the longevity of that person. And I'm saying good or bad, Cody. But the reality is, if you're not going to do things differently, you're going to be where you are. Right. I mean, you know, like when I transitioned to the annuity world, that was a big change for me. But it came down because I had to reinvent myself. I was burnt out, dude. I mean, I know a lot of people don't admit that, but, you know, doing mortgage protection final expense, I was a $20,000 a month producer every single month. And you do that for four years while driving around the entire country. Dude, I was burnt. Yeah, I was burnt out. And I was like, you know what, I got to make a change. I walked away from us from a passive six-figure income to make a change in my life. I had to reinvent myself, my business. And, you know, that's kind of what led me, and we'll talk more about that, but that's kind of what led me to the annuity world. Yeah. And you now are helping and coaching and training with your level of advisor's academy, which we will get to in a second as well, get to level up with, you wrote a significant amount of business last year, 2019. Yeah. You want to tell us about that? Yeah. So it was 8.2 million in annuity volume, 8.2 million in annuity volume. How many people? How many people? What? How many? I mean, I mean, he had an army. Like, no, it was me. No, it was me. One person. Yeah. Um, but again, that's a result though. That's honestly, that's a result of. Since 2016, I've been becoming a student of my craft and I've been mastering my craft for, for four solid years now. And I built myself as a brand in certain areas of the country that allowed me to do that kind of volume. So it's not like I came out of the gate. Like I didn't in 2016, you know, make the transition to the annuity world and I'll sell them right millions of dollars. I mean, it took time. You know, I fell on my flat in my face, like a lot of people do in the, in the mortgage protection, final expense. I did the same thing in the annuity world. Yeah. But I, but one thing I like about the annuity world is I like being the financial planner side, you know, like more of the, the financial go to professional rather than the insurance person. Not saying the insurance person is bad, but there's so much more that you can do to help a family versus just writing a life insurance policy and walking out the door. You know, so that's what drove it. That's what drove me to really kind of get on the annuity side, but 8.2 million last year. We had a great year, but it again, it's a result of the things that I've done for three years to get me to that point. Yes. You know what I'm saying? Because, and now the consistency and the activity, it's just higher than everybody else. I mean, there's really the annuity world Cody. I'm going to give everybody the secret. You ready for the secret? All right. This is it. You ready? Here's the secret to the annuity world. Okay. You have to have more activities than everybody else. I have between five to seven financial planning appointments and I'm not life insurance, financial planning appointments three days a week. So I run my business because I do a lot of traveling. I have three offices now. So I work here in Raleigh, my headquarters. I have two offices in Virginia, but Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, I'm on the road. Those are my road days and I see between five and seven people during those days and I do that every week. So that's, that's the secret. I just see more people, but I see, but the thing about is I see people who have a high net worth. You know, people that are the right kind of client. And the things that we teach in our training program is, how do you get in front of those kind of people? Yeah, that's the secret. You can do it. Right. And a lot of people that you're in front of now, there are a lot of annuity opportunities, but how do you get in front of that, that doctor, that nurse, right? How do you get in front of the people who have money that are looking to invest? And, and when I'm talking about my five to seven people, that's who I'm talking about. Wow. I want to know, dude. I'm like, dang, I want to write out 10 million bucks in annuities. Yeah, it doesn't. That's a good income, bro. It definitely doesn't suck. I mean, I'm not going to lie, it definitely doesn't suck, but you know what, the impact you get to make on people's lives at that level is so significant. You know, I mean, and to have your clients come in and give you referrals and talk to you, I mean, it's just, it's such a great feeling. In 2019, let's compare, what was your last year in like, before you started selling annuities? 2015? 2015 was, yeah, that was my transition year. Which year did you work harder? Oh, 2015. I mean, I'm working smarter now, right? I'm like, because when I was in mortgage protection, I was running seven days a week. But that's what we always hear. I know. That's what we're trained, dude. Just work harder, just put in more hours. Just do, it's like, you know, and sometimes I'm like, I don't have any more to give. I know, no, I know. And now it becomes about working smarter, but it also comes down to you being in front of the right qualified client, right prospect, client, whatever, and that's what we've been able to master is how do I get myself in front of somebody who's a six-figure income earner versus struggling to get a $30 final expense app out of somebody. You know what I'm saying? There's a difference, there is a difference between that type of clientele. Totally. And I think that everybody, if you're trying to level up and you're trying to become, you know, a bigger producer, I think people should be focused on how do I make that transition? How do I make that, you know, from going from struggling to get a $30 app out of somebody to being in front of the six-figure income earner? And those are things that we teach a lot of because it's very doable. It's very doable. What was the secret to last year? If you had to give us one reason why you were able to write such a significant amount of annuity volume on your own, what's the one thing you would say, you know what, I'd have to pinpoint it was that? Yeah. I got really, really good at three things. Okay, so I know you said one thing, but it's a combination of three. Number one, I mastered the social security world, understanding social security, because the thing about financial planning, and when you get into the annuity world, is it's more than just about selling a product. It's become, it becomes selling a strategy. Okay, and so I got very, very good at mastering my strategy, and my strategy consists of social security, taxes. We run a tax practice from here, so obviously we know a little thing about taxes, and so social security taxes, and really figuring out my products better. Knowing, because I think a lot of people when they annuity world, they stick to one product, that's what they know. We sell probably between six to seven different ones because they all play a role. So building portfolios using annuities, but also encompassing the tax model. And that varies by client? It does, because not every client fits into one. And we talk about this a lot in our coaching program is, imagine building a house, right? So the first day you buy a plot of land, and you show up to that plot of land with a screwdriver. Okay, how far are you gonna get building a house? Take it. Right? With the right tools, it would take me a long time. No, but you show up with a screwdriver. No nails, no hammer, no wood, no concrete, you show up with it. But that's how people run their insurance business, right? They show up to the client's house with one product thinking that that's gonna be the end all, be all. You can't build a house with one tool. You can't build a seven-figure practice like we have with one product. You know, a lot of times when I'm selling annuities, if it's a big client, I'll sell the same client, maybe two different annuity companies because they fit into the strategy different. Maybe one's a long-term growth strategy. Maybe one's for short-term earmarked money. Maybe one is for income purposes. So they all play a different role. I think it's really important if you're gonna master the annuity world that you understand the differences between the types of annuities. And so that last year played a really big role in my success on the volume that we do. And this year, we'll do about 15 million between 15 and 17. And the reason is just gonna be because of more activity. That's really what it comes down to. That's another huge freaking number, dude. Yeah, yeah. So why level up? But where that, I mean, because it sounds, it rings so well with what you're trying to do with the advisory academy. Because you have to, right? You have to get your business to the next level. And here's the problem. So many people get caught up on this lead sucked, right? I mean, in the mortgage protection, final expense world, they are so stuck. The leads are weak, man. This lead sucks. I can't get past this. And while people are thinking like that, I'm thinking about how do I acquire another tax practice? How do I buy a CPA price? So it's a different level of thinking. And so level up is not just about how do you level up your production, but how do you level up your thought process when it comes to business, right? Because I think very differently, like this year we're probably gonna buy somewhere between three to four tax practices. Why would I buy tax practices? Well, number one, reoccurring clients every single year. Number two, most CPAs and tax professionals do not sell financial planning or wealth management to their clients. So now this is called, this is called, here's another secret, growing by multiplication versus addition. Multiplication means I'm buying a book of business with 200 clients versus me trying to go on and get one. Wow. See what I'm saying? So it's a different level of thinking and that's where my coaching program is really about how do I change people's thought process? How do I get them thinking on this level versus I'm stuck on this one file expensively that didn't work, right? Move on and go on. But it's leveling up. You've got to continuously every day be leveling up in your business. You've got to be getting better than you were yesterday in your business. That's what our mission is, is really help people do that. What can they expect? Say they were a part of that and they're like, dude, I want more. I want to learn more. What can they expect from that academy? Very detailed content on what to do. Exactly what to do. Exactly what I say, how I do it. Why, what's my thought process behind it? Because anybody can teach you, yeah, go do this and say this. But why? What's the psychology behind that? What does it mean when you say this to a client? What's the pros and cons of that question, right? Because we teach that if you want to get great answers, you have to ask great questions. So I teach everything down to the T of what I do. So if you want to learn exactly what I do on a case design, right? How do you case design a million dollar case? Why did one client last year, 1.8 million, that I moved over? How did I case design that? By the way, I was up against one of the top financial advisors here in Raleigh. How did I win that case versus him, right? There's a lot that went into it, but it's a strategy, it's a thought process. How do you case design at a high level like that? How do you attract somebody like that, right? So those are all things that we teach, but we get down to the T on what we do. I mean, I want my people that I coach talking like me, thinking like me, and because again, if you want to have that success, I'll tell you exactly what to do, what to say. What's the web address for them to go check it out? You can go to ryanpolimini.com forward slash coaching. And we have different levels of it, depending on how serious you want to get. We have different levels of it, because obviously you got to start where you're at. I don't ever think that somebody needs to be at $1,000 a month or whatever, just start where you're at. But your offering is ridiculously affordable. You're there to help anyone. It's impressive. Well, I want it to be that way, Cody. I want it to be where the average person can get into the thought process of how do I become better? And so we want to make it affordable for people to do that. It's the truth of the matter. We want to make it affordable because we know what kind of content we deliver. But I also want you progressing through the system, too. I don't want you just getting on the lower level and say, I want you, because the higher levels, you get to listen to my interviews with people who are $10 million producers, $20 million producers, the best CPAs in the area, getting tax advice from the best. So we bring a whole another level to the people at the higher levels, but start where you are. What can we expect from Ryan Polimini at 8% Nation 2020? Oh man, so I think I'm more excited this year than I ever have been about this. And I'll tell you, one thing that I think will make a very big difference. When I was at 8% Nation in the first year, when you guys started this, I was running at my IMO called Top Rank Advisors. And last year, I made a big decision. We had gone from zero to $20 million in annuity sales in less than 18 months. By the way, that was with eight people. So it's not like it was the Army, right? But one thing I realized, and I think your 8% really kind of helped me with this, is I'm working with those eight people, right? And yeah, we're gonna recruit, we're gonna grow, but I'm limited to who I can help. That's right. You know what I'm saying? So last year, I made a really big decision to stop the recruiting side of this business and to focus on the coaching side. And the coaching side allows me, Cody, to work with thousands versus just a little group. I wanna make the impact you're talking about making, right? The impact that you've made with 8% and reaching thousands of people, that's what I wanna do. But I wanna do on the advanced market side because I think that there's a lot of people missing a lot of opportunity to build their business, to make more money, to be more profitable. And those are things that we are focused on this year. So 8%, I'm gonna talk a lot about how to become a great annuity producer. What does it take? That we've talked about three things. Talk about the mindset, the marketing, and the motivating strategies to become a top producer. The mindset is how do you think differently? The marketing, what are the strategies, right? Where are the marketing strategies to get in front of those six-figure earners? And the motivating strategy, what are the strategies that allow you to pick up those big clients like we talked about? The case design of work. That and also, Cody, one thing and the other thing I'm gonna talk about is how to become a better business person. I love it. Dude, I'm ready for you to be there, dude. I'm fired up to be there, man. Thank you so much for having me back. Thank you for sharing. Super excited to have you back. 8% in 2020 in Vegas. Check him out, RyanPolimini.com slash coaching for the level up. All right, thank you, brother. Appreciate you being on. Thanks, man. Appreciate you. Thanks for watching another episode of Insurance Influencers. So Cody Askins and Lauren Askins are doing something that the industry has never seen before. And that's taking people who were once considered competitors and putting them in a situation where we can collaborate together. There's systems available here that you can actually plug into and start taking your business at the next level. Part of the benefit of being here at 8% Nation is getting in a room of other people that can help you grow your business. You get to come to this place and meet so many people who are so successful and you just get to pick their brains and get all these nuggets to add to your repertoire. So if you're an insurance agent and you find yourself struggling and unsure of what your next steps are, you need to come to 8% Nation. If you're on the fence of whether or not you need to come to these type of conferences, I challenge you, get off the fence. Make that commitment. You will not regret it. Hey, if you love this podcast and you wanna know how an agent went from homeless to six figures per month, then click on the video right there. You'll love it and I'll see you there. Here's really what they're saying. I'm scared of the unknown. And if you can do it, I think maybe I can do it. But here's what happened, they would never do it. Everyone who said that to me would never do it. Why?