 Welcome to Coverage Over Coffee, hosted by AI Mutual. I am Agent Ivory, and here we talk about various insurance topics in a fun and informative way that is easy to understand. Enjoy hot coffee and delicious pastries with like-minded people that are excited about creating generational wealth for their families. Don't forget to like, subscribe, and share the channel. For another Coverage Over Coffee session, I am your hostess, Agent Ivory. Welcome you back to another week where we discuss financial and insurance news that you can use. But first, please subscribe, share, and like the channel. Also, click on the bell icon to receive notifications when we upload new videos. Plus, we are trying to get to our thousand subscribers. So with your help, if you could please share with your family and friends, that'd be great. We have tons of information to cover this new year. So we're excited. But the first thing I want to go ahead and cover first is information about the Miller family. So in our last Coverage Over Coffee session, episode 11, we talked about tis the season to be insured. And of course, at that time, Master P and Little Romeo were having some issues. However, they have come on social media on yesterday and let us know that everything has been resolved. They've worked everything out. You know, they had to talk man to man about some things. But the most important thing to them is family and generational wealth. And that is, of course, what we stand for as well. So we're really excited that these two have come back together. Because like I said in episode 11, these two are the dream team. So I wish them nothing but success. So our theme for 2022 was one word, elevate. And elevate, we did. So as you can see here, we had a lot of expansion that took place last year. We welcomed our newest team member, Rebecca. She joined us as the chief editor. And she recently graduated, which is pretty awesome. So congratulations to her. We're really happy to have her a part of the team. For anyone who has joined any of our meetings, she actually is a moderator as well. So you probably have heard her ask the questions or if you had questions in the chat, she was the one who made sure those got answered for you. But she also edits our coverage over coffee and everything on our social media page. So very happy to have her aboard. Then also to here, we have Mr. Wilbert Pritchard. He's super amazing. He has joined the Legal Shield family, specifically the Empire Newer's team as a director. So he is amazing. I've worked with him before in the past. So we are very blessed to have him on board with our team. And we look forward to him doing amazing things in this upcoming year. And then of course, we also have been educating all of our insurers and our clients here with high society and the HI stands for happy insurers. And this particular one that you see here was with Jamel Hargrove. And he spoke to our high society members about the importance of having a survival mindset and water. But basically we just know that this upcoming season is gonna be very challenging. So we wanna make sure that we equip all of our insurers with the information that they need to be successful. And sometimes that just doesn't include information about the economy or insurance. It may just actually mean something about your homestead or something about gardening. So we wanna make sure they have all the tools that they need to be successful. And then of course here, you are with us with the coverage over coffee session. We have been doing an amazing job with this along with our World's Wednesdays, our Sunday inspirations, just to name a few, getting that information out to the people. And then of course we always have our AIM University that gives the more breakdown, if you will, on the education side for all of our insurance products and just insurance in general. So very excited about this last year. And of course this year now for 2023, it's about doing the work. So yes, we've obtained all of this knowledge because AI Mutual has been giving it knowledge since 2016 since we started. So a lot of our insurers have taken this information and have put it to great use. But now we have more of expanded audience. So we just wanna make sure that everyone, no matter if you are a client or not, this information that you're getting, we want you to be able to actually put it into practice. So this year is doing the work. So I want to correct a meme that I've seen circulating around the internet and it says that knowledge is power. I wanna correct that and say, that's not true. It's applied knowledge is power, okay? Because we can obtain all of the information in the world, but until we actually apply it to our daily lives, it's just useless. So this year, when we think about our resolutions, we need to take actions and it sounds great. New Year's resolutions, the whole world's doing it. Everybody's dropping the ball, three, two, one. And then just like that, we're supposed to be into this new us. It's very interesting that we think that the whole world's doing this, like 8 billion people, but the truth of the matter is only 45% of people actually create New Year's resolutions. And then of that 45%, only 8% actually fulfill it. So most people aren't even thinking about goals. They're not even thinking about making a difference in our lives less than half the people are in this world. So if you're thinking about New Year's resolutions, you're already ahead of the game. I know a lot of people like to make fun of people who make New Year's resolutions and say, hey, you're getting in and the way of everybody at the gym, right? That's hilarious. But at least you're trying because more than half of the people in the world aren't even trying. So don't give up, but I want to. So I always like to go and find out what the actual word means. Sometimes we go through life, maybe thinking that we know what the word means, but we don't know what it actually means, okay? So I actually Google the word resolution and you see it has items one and two. So the first, this says, a firm decision to do or not to do something. She kept her resolution and not to see and anymore. The second is the quality of being determined or resolute. He handled the last French actions of the war with resolution. So at the end of the day, you see some of the words that are similar and the first meaning intention, resolve, decision, intent, aim, aspiration, design. So I think a lot of the reasons why, more than 80% of the individuals, first of all, who even create resolutions fail is because they didn't make a real firm decision about it. It's just something that is more in less tradition. Some people say a social construct. So we're not really passionate about it. We haven't really decided that this is something that we want to apply to our lives and we're not really determined about it. We're not purposeful behind our resolutions. So I think this is why many of us fail. So for those of us who are serious, who can approach this, who have an aim, which means you have a target, which means you have deadlines, okay? You can get this accomplished this year in 2023. So although I do agree with having goals and having a fresh outlook for the new year, I just wonder if everyone around the world even knows how new years came to be. So I actually wanted to do a little research on my own. On history.com, it does talk about the origins of new years. It initially started some 4,000 years ago with the ancient Babylonians. They were the first to hold the recorded celebrations in honor of the new year. Now, their new year started in mid-March when the crops were planted, not January. And that makes sense to me because when I talk to a lot of people, especially those who are familiar with the Egyptian history, they do state that that's when the new year starts, when crops are growing, when everything comes back to life, I keep hearing that in January, everything's dead. So we shouldn't be celebrating new years in January. Kind of makes sense to me. It says during a massive 12-day religious festival known as Akutu, the Babylonians crowned a new king or reaffirmed their loyalty to the reigning king. They also made promises to the gods to pay their debts and in return any objects they had borrowed. These promises could be considered the forerunners of new year's resolutions if the Babylonians kept the word, their pagan gods would bestow favor on them for the coming year. If not, they would fall out of the gods' grace. So that's the first group. Now we have the second group. Okay, this comes from ancient Rome with Julius Caesar. And I think it's an interesting choice, the words how they said he tinkered with the calendar. So basically he rewrote history and he actually changed the holiday time to January 1st. So he moved it from the mid-March and then changed it to January 1st to celebrate the new circa, 46 BC. And then this is very interesting too. So January was actually named Janus, the two-faced god whose spirit inhabited doorways and arches. So they believed that Janus symbolically looked backwards into the previous year and ahead into the future. So the Romans offered sacrifices to the deity and made promises of good conduct for the coming year. All right, so now let's look at the third group which is where a lot of modern day people fall into. So now we're moving on to the Christians. So the first day of the new year became the traditional occasion for thinking about one's past mistakes and resolving to do and be better in the future. All right, so it goes on to talk about what we know today as watch night services. And of course I've been to plenty in my lifetime. They include readings from scriptures and hymn singing and serve as a spiritual alternative to all the crazy celebrations going on right over the night. And I know back in the day they actually did have it overnight and I remember being in church after midnight. But just due to the many wrecks and everything that's happening outside nowadays, it's just not safe. So many churches nowadays will end their services by like nine o'clock p.m. But basically they're often spent praying and making resolutions for the coming year. And so this is where we are today. So we have like almost a 4,000 year practice of celebrating new years. It's just very interesting to me how all this always seems to come back from like something pagan, right? It's like, do we have any holiday that's not related to pagan holiday again? I don't know, it's just very interesting to me. But I do think overall it is good to have some point in your year to be able to reflect and also to plan on how you want to be a better you. If you need to change yourself, your surroundings, make any updates, this is the time to do it. So I hope that at some point, even if it's not January 1st, that everybody will do those things because I always say if you're not growing, you're dying. So you need to look around you, you need to look internally, inside you to see if you're growing in every aspect of your life. You know, spiritually, mentally, physically, socially, intellectually, how are you doing in those areas? If there are room for improvement, let's go ahead and improve, you know? Who wouldn't want to have a better them? And I always say your future self will thank you for the actions that you take today. So we previously talked about that pretty much half the world doesn't even create resolutions and then 45% of people do create resolutions, but then only 8% of those 45% are successful. So unfortunately we're not even gonna think about the 50% of the people, right? Because those people are not us if you're listening to this podcast. You know, we're those 45% of the individuals out there who are actually making those goals, creating those plans for us to be successful. So now I just wanna talk about what do we need to do to make sure that we are successful? We don't wanna end up like that 80% that fail, okay? Of that 45%. So pretty much what I always like to do is ask, what is the 1% doing, you know? Anything that I do, how would the 1% handle this, you know? So I love this article here by Inc. Because it says eight things the 1% do that the 99% doesn't. And I know some people say, oh, I don't care to be a billionaire and all that. But at the end of the day, it's about being successful, okay? And success is not a coincidence. It is achieved on purpose. So let's start with number one here. The thing here that I love is says they have to learn to do what the majority of people do not do. So again, going back to our theme for 2023 is do the work. You know, you have to do the work, people. You have to show up. You have to put some sweat in a game, right? Some skin in a game. You know, a lot of people just want things to just happen for them without having to do anything. You know, then you have another group of people who just wanna pray all day, but don't put any action behind it. You know, it says faith without works is dead. So you have to also put that work in. All right, so let's look at how we can be successful. Number one, so successful people, they live life on purpose. Defining your purpose specifies what it is you want to accomplish. So you have to be very specific what you want to accomplish, okay? Your goal will drive you and it will keep you focused and disciplined. If you don't have a goal, you have nothing as a target, you know, in front of you to aim for. So you gotta make sure that you have your list and that it is specific. Number two, successful people prioritize. So again, by defining your purpose, you know what to do. So once you know what it is you have to do, now you can begin prioritizing items in your life. And of course, you're gonna put those items that will help you reach your goal at the top, okay? So you see how we have to do everything in order? Cause if not, you'll just start accepting, you'll be this yes person saying yes to everything when maybe you should be saying no or you could be saying no to things when you should be saying yes. Or you may be moving when you need to be still and being still when you need to be moving, okay? Number three, successful people plan. Again, you know, in project management, they always say that, you know, those who plan at the beginning of the project, they do extremely well. Most of your time is gonna go into the planning phase. They don't just wake up and do whatever they feel, right? So successful people decide in advance what must be done and then they execute that plan. Also, again, there's that keyword focus, they do not get distracted. And also they keep their calendar. So if you have a list that you needed to get done today and then you have all these people, you know, coming to vouch for that time, sorry, I got to accomplish everything on my list. Why? Because you are focused and you have things to accomplish. Number four, they protect, okay? Rather than allowing distractions to sidetrack them, the 1% has boundaries. And I think that we've been taught, you know, as a kid not really to have boundaries because we don't want to offend anyone. We always want to be a friend to people. You know, we have to be kind. You know, we don't wanna be rude or this and that, you know, so we look at everything like that. And honestly, it's not even like that. It's at the end of the day, you have to have boundaries, okay? Both for yourself and also what you're diverting your attention to, okay? So you have to strictly enforce those boundaries. If not, then people will just constantly just eat up your time, okay? Number five, successful people push. I love it. I love that word push, again, it's action you have to put behind something that force, that energy. 99% of people will procrastinate and put things off that aren't fun. You know, our whole society is built on fun. I know this one school that I had my daughter in that I immediately took her out of. Yeah, it was a great school for, you know, having a social life, but I need my daughter in school for, you know, education, you know, the school was like rated an F. And I was like, how could, you know, the principal send home the star's report to all the family, you know, family, parents and with the big F on it, I'll be too embarrassed. And of course, my daughter is a super genius, you know, she was in tag and everything else. Her score is a high, but the overall school was an F. And then I read later that these schools were getting graded on a curve. And I'm like, oh my gosh, no, you know, but at the end of the day, I'm saying that to say that they're teaching us as adults to have fun all the day, I'm time, because they're teaching it to kids and their youth, you know, as little kids and elementary, they're teaching them that you just want to have fun, you know, it's all about the social experience. And this is not, and I'm not saying that you shouldn't have a social life. I'm not saying that, but it has to be balanced, you know, just because things aren't fun, doesn't mean you just, you shouldn't do them. There's so many things that are repetitive every month that we have to do. I remember at one point, this is before the EV vehicles, right? And I had to put gas in my car because I remember driving to and from the office like an hour and a half each way. And it was like, oh my gosh, I'm so tired of putting gas in my car, you know? But that's not a fun thing to do, but guess what? I had to do it to get to point A to point B, to make my money, you know? So some things you just got to do to get it done, you know? And that's actually gonna determine you being successful than those who don't, okay? Number six, they receive feedback. This is something else, you know? A lot of people are scared to receive feedback because they think it's always somebody who's, you know, not in a corner, they think it's always gonna be negative, you know, they just can't comprehend, they can't deal with anything negative, you know? So we have to start teaching our children, right? So that when it become adults, they're okay in this environment. It's okay to receive feedback as long as it's constructive, right? And sometimes, you know, we're not all of us, we're not perfect people. So there's always room for improvement. So as long as we look at it as, you know, look at this in a positive manner, that's great. You should always want to grow. Again, if you're not growing, you're dying. So you should want to know areas that you can improve. Number seven, successful people learn. This is really good too. I mean, you can ask people, what's the last book that they read? That will tell you a lot about them. If they don't even know when the last time they read, that will tell you a lot about them. You know, successful people read and learn everything they can. The average CEO reads over 50 books a year, okay? So there's like 52 weeks in a year. So they're basically every week another book, okay? That's a lot. That means CEOs are penciling in time every day or each week to complete a book because it's that important. Information is power. When you have information, other people will come to you because you have the knowledge. You make yourself an expert just by simply reading, you know, it's that easy. And number eight, successful people take action. So knowing what to do is easy. A lot of people know what to do, right? We all know what to do. We all know we need to eat healthy. We all know we need to exercise. We all know we need to get at least eight hours of sleep every day, you know? We know these things, right? But actually doing it, again, the theme is do the work. And I have to say that because a lot of us, again, are doing the work, you know? We want everyone else to do it. And then somehow we're supposed to miraculously benefit from it. No, if you want your family to be successful, guess what? You have to do the work. So, you know, that means you have to work harder. You may have to outwork your competition. But as long as you do that, you're gonna be successful. So just piggybacking off of this last one, number eight, action. We all know death is inevitable, okay? We're not super human beings, you know? We're not super man or super woman. Death is inevitable. We know this. So as a result, we need to get a life insurance policy. So why are you procrastinating? You don't have one or the one that you have is not enough coverage for your family. So you know you need a new one, right? Or an additional one. So why are we waiting? Again, let's take action, everybody. You know you want to create generation or wealth for your family. So why don't you have a life policy, okay? You know you don't want your assets held up in probate court when you die. So why don't you have a will? You don't wanna be like these celebrities out here, you know? Unfortunately, a lot of celebrities, as we have talked about in my previous coverage over coffee session, are dying without wills in place, you know? And it's getting eaten up with taxes. By taxes is also being held up in court, causing a lot of family strife. You know, it's just so much unnecessary. Items happening right now. When all they had to do was put it in writing, you can do that, put it in writing, okay? Make it easy for your family. Also, you know you need additional income. You may need to start a new career. You may want to start a business. What are we waiting for? God has given you all these skills, all this talent. You see the world around you. You can feel things are not right. I don't know about you, but every time I read, because I do read, I see all of these layoffs happening. Just this week, Amazon is talking about laying off 17,000 people. That's a lot of families that's affected, you know? So you have to think in advance. You have to be proactive and not reactive. And this is the whole point why I even created these coverage over coffee sessions. I wanna give you this information that you can use so that way you can make sure that your family is moving in the right direction. But ahead of time, you know? Like kind of that Titanic, they saw that big old, what, I forgot what it was in a, like a big boulder or something in the middle of the water. Oh, I know what it was. It was the, what was that called, you guys? Iceberg. It was a big iceberg, but they saw it the last minute. Then they tried to turn that big old scene ship is too late. So you have to be able to read and then also look at the signs around you so that way you can prepare in advance to take action. Okay? So that way you won't end up like the 99% of the people. Okay? So as a result, you need to be joining our empire newer team. We are here creating generational wealth for our members. Okay? So what I'm gonna do is leave these links in the description on your own. Once this is over, please click on each one. Read. Okay? Do the work. Go ahead and click on the links of life policy so you can get your life application together. That's www.aimutual.com. Then I want you to head over to nivry.wearelegalshield.com. Okay? And then take a look at all the products that we offer there. You need to make sure you're protected legally. Those individuals who are protected legally are either gonna pay less when it comes to any type of fees or they're gonna receive more. Why? Because they have a lawyer and a network of lawyers on their side. Most people don't have that. And guess what? These companies know that and they will take advantage of you. But when they know you have a lawyer, oh, they get some act right really quickly and very fast. Okay? And then lastly, become an associate with legal shield. Join our empire newer team. Take a look at one of our lunch parties that we had for one of our newest directors. We are in the business of building wealth for our families. Okay? This is very important to us. We know what's coming up with this great reset. We don't want you to be left behind. Okay? You're gonna have to have assets. You're gonna have to have plenty of wealth. The days of being middle class, those days are going, like going very quickly. Okay? So if you think you're gonna be able to make it be a middle class, you know, I'm so sorry. I think you need to read a little bit more and do a little bit more self education. Okay? So definitely join our team. But I appreciate you joining us this week. Join us every week, because every week we're definitely bringing you the financial and insurance news that you can use to move your family forward. Don't forget to join us next week with your cup of joe, right? And we'll see you then. You take care and have a great new year. Do the work. Today we are on site at the owner's box. A sophisticated sports bar and grill located at the Omni Dallas hotel. We are bringing in the new year with a special toast with a great wine. The Mayomi Pinot Noir is a six month age dry California wine that has a juicy strawberry, dark berry and toasted mocha flavor. The owner's box gets five stars for its impressive location, great atmosphere and delicious wine. Tell them AI Mutual referred you. Enjoy. Tomorrow is the first page of a new book. Choose your words wisely. I choose the words do the work. Happy new year everyone.