 Most people that I coach make two to six hundred thousand dollars a year of like Revenue to the business not to them and they end up doing a lot of them. They end up doing it all and They get tapped out Tired out they get exhausted. They end up not liking what they do because they're answering the phones or doing all the service They're doing all the selling they're turning all the business or fall over all the pending their cut service in the client It's like it's just it's never ending You can I mean owning an insurance agent you can find something to do 24 hours per day Forever absolutely, and I think that's one of the things that you really taught me As from going through your training programs is that because when I first took over my agency, we had two staff now We have five. Hmm. So Scaling adding people and that's where a lot of agents are scared They look at it as that's money out of my pocket. Well, okay, so Yeah, you could look at it from that perspective, but then that's kind of a scarcity mentality, right? But I've doubled my revenue Right, and then You know, I'm not I my with my compensation plan. I pay everybody up front a lot But I haven't I haven't shared a renewal with anybody yet So all that renewal income is for me All right, all the way in town from Dallas, texas my good buddy, mr. Richard cavernous. How are you, sir? I am glad to be here. Cody. Thank you. Thank you so much for coming in town spending some time together Uh, you have a Book coming out soon. Yes, which is a lot of the purpose of our meeting today and hanging out Yeah, I won't you tell everybody about your book. So the book's called the power to thrive It's based on helping people to kind of rise above mediocrity Unlock their god-given power and then just elevating their everyday living It's a timely book because coming out of covet, you know, everything people are really I think a lot of people are feeling stuck Something's missing in their life, whatever it might be and I just really feel that this is a timely message And it's it's christian, you know, so it's it's bible-based I think what one thing that makes it quite unique, especially my whole coaching process is that What what's kind of separate me from other christian coaches is that mine is more It's a combination of bible. So bible teaching really good bible teacher. You read the book. Yeah, yeah, you know, it's good Yeah, yeah, it got me. They got my wills turned into thinking exactly So it's it's a little deeper than what your traditional What I would call your christian preachers out there kind of do with personal development So it's bible-based. It has science. It has some psychology and of course personal development And so it's a great process and a unique process that really helps people I believe to actually draw closer to the lord Then went before they read the book. So I love that. Yeah, that's huge man. Yeah, it was a phenomenal book It's coming out in a few weeks. Yeah power to thrive book.com to check it out. Yeah power to thrive, which is cool Yeah, uh, we met how long we know each other now I think we've known each other now Close to a year I was it was pre-covid. Yes because I was at your office. Yeah, and I don't remember wearing a mask Yeah, no, it was I think it you came uh mid mid summer last year to our office. You were at the Um, I forget the event that you were actually doing but you were doing something in Dallas right before 8% It might have been was it this past or was it before then was it because that that's the case It would have been this past september Okay, then that's when you came was it previously or was it really then or was it or was it the 8% before in july 2019 or 2020 was it 2020 2020. Wow. Yeah Crazy. Yeah, that's awesome. Actually, I think I did wear a mask in the building and then but then maybe not in your office But it's correct. Yeah That was it. That was it. That's not even been now. What eight nine my eight nine months ago. Yeah, that's awesome And tell everybody about your agency because you've got a very successful interest agency. Yeah in near Dallas, Texas Yes, so I'm a captive agent Uh, obviously do lots of p&c But the I think I try to brand my agency that we're more of a life insurance agency first That's awesome. And then a p&c agency. Secondly, so we typically do About 40 000 a year an annual premium for life insurance. Wow And somewhere between 60 to 100 life applications. It just depends on the right But we have a culture in our agency about asking for life insurance And that's really what drew me towards your system because I feel like it's really enhanced our ability to sell life insurance And and just do a lot more coaching with our staff and it's really been significant for A significant for our agency We do probably between 70 and 80 000 a new business premium property casualty new business premium a month and I have a staff of the nice thing about my staff is that Even my customer service reps they they generate like 15 000 a new business premium. So I have a culture of everybody is Winning winning. Yeah, exactly. They're thriving. They're thriving. Yeah, which I love absolutely You have a phenomenal team great infrastructure. You're crushing it. You're in the top 10 percent. Yes As a captive agent agency owner Which is hard to do and most are telling life insurance, but you're doing at a high level, which is huge We're actually considered a triple crown with our agency so And that is you have a certain amount every quarter you have commercial PNC and life. So I'm a real I feel like we're really balanced and And I strive for that that's important to me because that's how you really spread your wealth out that way If you have some commercial accounts and some of them go south You still got the everything else to fall back on so exactly. I think it's a healthier way to grow your agency I love that and a lot of agents are a lot of agency owners that are doing what you're doing Are struggling with some of those pieces and you're again thriving on a very high level, which is huge also We are doing together because you've doubled your business new business revenue since you took over the agency Yes, you just took over the agency a year ago. Yes, that's correct And you have doubled the new business revenue that you're pumping out. Yes in that office within 12 months Yes, which is huge and you're going to be sharing some of that here coming soon Yes, we're going to be doing a webinar together on June 29th at five o'clock Called how to double your new business revenue and next year imagine, right, which is perfect Perfect correlation and what they'll really learn is how you Have used these 13 christian principles to become a top 10 agency owner As a captive agent at a captive company And you know, you and I've had this conversation before Cody actually quite a few times But you know, we're both christians. Yes, and you know, I certainly don't force my faith on people But I'm also to the point now where, you know, my faith has a lot to do with my success That's awesome. And so I want to share that with others and Hopefully those that maybe even either share the same faith or maybe You know Aren't there but maybe you can really respect what I'm what we're going to talk about totally Even if they're not there yet, they're still going to get a lot of incredible Business owner strategies and principles of things that you've done that they can relate to their business because when you double your business in a year That's impressive. Like it's so impressive and you're giving away 13 different principles. Yes really secrets if you will of your success Yes, and you're giving those away for a webinar. We're doing on the 29th for 37 dollars Yeah, and basically and basically what it is. Cody, it's it's the it's kind of like the declaration It's the it's the constitution of what makes up the whole power to thrive concept as you you've read the book You kind of understand it. So these three 13 principles kind of comprise what makes up the foundation for the entire The book and that's right. That's right. That was that was the first book that I've read The whole thing and actually provided the author with a lot of like pieces that I loved from the book You know excerpts and examples Um, I took some of your advice and some of your recommendations and I did make some tweaks and different things. So good I really appreciate that. That's why we that's why I give it out to people. Awesome. Thank you I wasn't even planning on you make it adjustments because of that, but I appreciate that. That's awesome That means a lot. It means you listen Absolutely, which most salespeople struggle with But you listen way more than you talk to most people. It's like, okay. It's like listen A little half and half dude, you're like 90 10 listening which is which is which is a lot and you guys are going to learn that again on this webinar I was going to charge quite a bit more. He's like, I don't care about the money. I want attendance I want reach. I want to help people and 37 bucks the description the links in description below So if you want to grab that you probably should especially if you want to double your new business revenue in the next year Right. Yes, I want to jump back to the listening piece because as I get to know you You are always processing I don't know what's going on up there, but you're always like you even mentioned an idea Which we can't share until you get to 8% this year But rich inspired an idea that we're going to do at 8% this year That dylan may have saw in the ca team slack earlier that is freaking massive concept Where'd that come from? Is that just like natural for you? You know, uh, you've taken the strengths finder test Right, you know what your top five strengths are. Yeah, which I'd encourage anybody if you don't know what those are Strengths finder 2.0. You need to read the book and do the test. It's really good stuff Um, all my staff. I know what their strengths are because I want to operate in what their strengths are, right? And I know you do that here too, but so I'm a strategic thinker my number one Huh high achiever number two Number three is I'm a learner. So I'm always Studying researching trying to be better And then I'm very focused. That's number four. Yeah And then number five is I'm a maximizer None of those are bad. Yeah, those are all really good qualities Yeah, right of you and what you do and be an agency owner like what more five could you want? Well, I spend a lot of time thinking I do a lot of means you're like a robot. Yeah, I plan a lot I think a lot. I I'm always strategizing. How can I improve? How can I how can we do better? And uh, So yeah, as a matter of fact as I was mentioning to you one of our top producers who was training To be an agency owner in our agency he left and he's you know, he's got his own agency Which is the whole idea But you're like the farm club for for the majors even though you are still in the top 10% of the majors But but you're allowing the other majors whatever them start a company start your own agency or whatever, right? And the thing is is that so we're down a producer But I've been able to motivate and coach my team to keep the level of production as high as possible. Wow That's huge. Yeah, so I mean when it comes to finding good people Which I'm sure is like a core piece of what you do and really leveling them up and pouring into them And a lot of the things that we're going to talk about in the future as we do stuff together Because I'm excited to do a lot of stuff with you together. I really am one of the things you talk a lot about though is Your explanation of service. Yeah And and explaining services in a world-class way to get someone's attention Yeah, I'd love for you to talk about that because most people do not know how to explain their services in a world-class way Yeah, especially as a matter of fact, I've even put it in the book. I got I'm so committed to it I put it in the book. Oh, that's awesome. So I explain to people. Here's here's what I believe here's what we're about So, you know with power to thrive. I just believe that people are Stuck today. I believe that there there's something missing in their life. I believe that they You know that they're they're encompassed with fear Yeah We've had just all this fear thrown at us for all these months And I think people are completely encompassed with fear which paralyzes you From being able to really be the person that god wants you to be So I'm really big on on that One of the the key scriptures for the entire book power to thrive is based on second timothy 1 7 That god has not given us the spirit of fear But power love and a sound mind. So when you look at that scripture alone I mean, it's very clear that that's not god's intention for us to live in fear And then I just believe that every christian needs a coach And somebody to walk by their side and to to really help them With their not only their personal power, but their spiritual power as well. Yes. Um, and so And basically what I do is I help people rise above mediocrity Yeah, I help them to unlock their god given power and then elevate their everyday living and like I mentioned before that's I do it through a very unique process That's very unique to me that combines bible study Deeper bible study than what most people are used to get you to really think Which is what I love to do as a coach get people thinking Bible study and then science I mean science has about the brain and how the brain works and just All of those kind of things is, you know, it's just some great stuff in the book on that I have some great stories in there too. Um, I really took a lot of time to write good stories that match the topics and then You know, just psychology personal development and then, you know, my track record, you know, since 2006 I've kind of been teaching it's taken me this much long to get the book into a 15 years Yeah, it's taken a while But to kind of formulate everything the way I want to get it to where it's Presentable in a in a way that it's a process people can walk through and I think you saw that it It's a process and when you walk through the process you get the desired results That's right. So that I'm very excited about that but people have had marriage problems people who've had um job issues people who have had just Um, even even uh sales issues. They you know, this book will help you with that Um, any any kind of a deficiency that you might have When you start adding god into the picture things all of a sudden start to Kind of they they fix themselves right and uh, so when you kind of get out of your own way And then you allow god to be the foremost thing in your life things tend to Go better for you when you start it. I don't think they can see this but accepting responsibility Which you talk about as well. Oh, yeah It's actually one of the 13 points that we're going to be talking about together on my wrist on our new 8% wrist band Yes, um, talk about that because a lot of people will struggle with accepting responsibility. I love making excuses Love blaming others when they fail love blaming Covid whatever right? Yeah, how is that have you seen that change your life by just accepting responsibility You know excuses everybody's I mean you can hang your hat on just about anything, you know, because it'll work for you Um, but the bottom line is is that you have to look in the mirror and you just have to be able to say Um, I'm going to tell everybody right now. You know, I'm not a college graduate Okay, so when I graduated from high school, my biggest desire was to be a professional skier Um, wow, and so I pursued that and and did that for several years. Have you seen Molly's game the movie? Oh, yeah, yeah, I mean you think of that when you're talking about skiing. That's such a good movie Yeah, so I was a a racing coach. I was a certified ski instructor. I was actually a ski area Um, a ski school director for one of the ski ski areas in Washington state So that was my that was my deal. And so I pursued it remind me not to go skiing with you Well, no, I love skiing you you should go skiing with me because I'll help you have fun. There you go You'll teach me how to actually ski properly. Yeah, the mountain should playground. You should have fun and enjoy it Everybody should have a smile on their face. So that's awesome. Um, anyway, um, so I I'm not a college graduate So I really see myself as kind of self-taught, you know, I've over the years I've just done a lot of reading. Of course, you know, I think what's the third or fourth strength of mine is learner So I'm a perfect person for really self-taught type mentality because I I can find the answers Um, I may not know it, but I'll figure it out and find it I'll find someone who can do it better than me and hang out with them And and that's really what I've done with insurance. I did it with ministry I was full-time into ministry for eight years senior pastor and evangelist and uh, yeah And so everything that I do I just kind of figure a way to You know to make it work and get better. Well, you set a key piece though how you, um Find someone that's doing it better than you and you learn from them Yeah, most people in our industry Human race Struggle with that piece right there like finding someone that does it better saying they do it better is like tough for a lot of people like A lot of people do it better than we do, right? Um, but saying they do it better Identifying and locating that individual realizing that I can learn and get better learner. Yeah, and then Going and finding and soaking it up so that we we can improve by learning and watching them You know, especially in the insurance industry. I mean, there's a lot of really good teachers and trainers out there that have done a Well, get your Vlad churchingos. You have Dan get a jima. You have kodiaskans. You have I mean the list is long The role play, uh, yep. Yep. Yep people from Seattle. Yes. That's right. Yeah Um, there's just so many people out there and I just constantly am studying and learning and Trying to to get better and uh, so, you know all of those people It's I want to be where they're at and I think that's where the victim mentality comes in scarcity mentality is a lot of people They kind of have an idea that they they look at other people and say I'd like to do that But then they come up with a limiting belief Which is we talked about that. That's huge. It's a massive very big issue And in power to thrive we really on we really take that onion and really unravel that thing It's really a powerful chapter in the book on limiting beliefs, but um, the the key is is that um, you have to ask yourself is it true And oftentimes we say no, it's not true Yeah, then you ask well, then why do we say that to ourselves? And then when you really start to understand where it comes from then you can start replacing it with what the truth really is about you But accepting responsibility is is the is is really one of the key principles of success No matter what you're doing, whether you're selling insurance or cars or, you know, real estate, whatever it may be You know, even in ministry, you know, you have to accept responsibility for your actions And especially as a christian, I'm really big on that that's right. Stop making excuses and uh, either say you're sorry as for forgiveness Um, confess to a brother or sister that's in the church or whatever it may be But you know, you got to not make excuses because all that does is it just keeps you from growing It does it it it makes you it like tricks you into believing that it's never your fault You know and before you know it, it's like it's never your fault Well, it isn't if you believe it isn't, you know, and even though it is, you know, uh, that's so huge like For everything to change We got to change Absolutely and for us to get better, we got to get better and and and I'm a big believer in that these last three and a half years I finally started just blaming myself for everything And it's amazing how much the better things will get when you just start blaming yourself for everything Well, we could have done more in sales Why didn't I do more in sales? You know, we should about we should put out better videos I should get better on video, you know, like a lot of that stuff the one thing that you do kodi that I really Kind of role model after is and and I think other people should too is That you realize what your strengths are and what your weaknesses are and you hire for your weaknesses Yes And I just think that that is one area that a lot of people don't get because If you're going to ever scale a business You have to be able to have a team you got to be able to have other people come join you Because you can't do it by yourself. I mean think about it. I mean, yeah, you can write 117,000 and whatever that was, right? You know, you can do that But to get to millions to get to multiple millions You need to have a team and so you have to you have to figure out, you know What what is it that I'm not good at? You know, I don't like admin. I don't like scheduling I don't like any of that. So I hire people to do that Right and I that frees me up so that all I think about is strategy Yes How to grow frees your brain to come up with these amazing ideas that you mentioned earlier on the couch, you know, like I'm glad you mentioned. I thank you for saying that because people don't uh Most people that I coach make two To six hundred thousand dollars a year of like Revenue to the business not to them and they end up doing a lot of them. They end up doing it all and they get tapped out Tired out they get exhausted. They end up not liking what they do because they're answering the phones or doing all the service They're doing all the selling they're turning all the business or following all the pending their cut service in the client It's like it's just it's it's never ending. Yeah, you can I mean, I don't owning an insurance agent You can find something to do 24 hours per day forever absolutely And I think that's one of the things that you really taught me As from going through your training programs is that because when I first took over my agency We had two staff now. We have five so Scaling adding people and that's where a lot of agents are scared. They look at it as that's money out of my pocket. Well, okay, so Yeah, you could look at it from that perspective But then that's kind of a scarcity mentality, right? But I've doubled my revenue right and then You know, I'm not I my with my compensation plan. I pay everybody up front a lot But I haven't I haven't shared a renewing with anybody yet. So all that renewal income is for me So think about that. So if you're if you're thinking about building an agency Ask yourself who cares if you're making a whole lot of money up front It's the back end where you really make the money So if you spend more time trying to figure out how to keep people And and then, you know, keep the keep them in your business Wow, you're gonna have a really your income's gonna go up every single year How many people can say that that they actually do that most cannot yeah, which is amazing. Yeah, how did you transform? and not not only double but but adding that You'll add nearly a hundred life policies this year somewhere in that vicinity Maybe a little less or a little more or whatever. How did you get to that point to where now? That's happening because I guarantee you when you took it over they were selling no life At all. Well, there was a lot of life opportunity. So that's been been nice, but here's here's what I'll say um I have delivered three death benefit checks in my life uh in my career um, and I hope everybody understands what I'm saying when I say that so a life insurance policy where someone's passed away I got the check and I had to deliver it to the client. So I've done that three times I've talked to a lot of agents who's never even done one. Um, but When you do it It really rings at home. Why you do what you do? So I'm really passionate about it And I just feel like it's the most important product we offer People people don't have to say yes, but I feel like we have to offer You feel better at the end of the day if you at least like think about it like If someone passes away if you guys watching right now, right? You're in rich issues and and or you're one of his agents or whatever And you don't mention it and somebody passes away What's worse not mentioning it. They pass away Mentioning it and they pass away or And some would say well, maybe it's mentioning it because you couldn't close Well, at least you were trying to mention it, you know, absolutely Yeah, and uh, so, you know, we we just ask all the time When we do um our annual reviews the first question we always ask is Tell me about the life insurance that you have outside of your work So that's the question we ask to start off our annual reviews So most PNC agents start out with auto home umbrella and then oh, let's fit in the life If you make it first then it becomes a priority That's right And that's how you can brand your agency to be a life producing agency because you're emphasizing that product strong strong, I bet most Most PNC insurance agencies sell less than 10 Life policies per year, by the way Yeah, I mean I it's probably correct And I'm pulling from the hip there, but I guarantee it I know some I know some agencies that are quite large that produce a lot of PNC And you'd be shocked at how little they produce in life insurance when it's actually a very natural segue You know, it's a natural transition and everything so It's a lot of and and the other thing to Cody that I really do That I think I do really well with my staff I've shown them very clearly very clearly on on a white board I have we do handouts we have agency meetings every week all of that I show them what they can make So when you take 20 auto policies And then you take 20 life policies And we know that our average commission on our life policies is like 700 800 bucks, right? And so When you look at that versus the auto policy the amount of money they make is it's so much higher So when you really share with your staff, hey, you can actually make more money doing this Everybody gets a raise now everybody gets excited And they're like, yeah, we do life insurance, you know, so It's just it's making people aware and getting them incentivized. It's amazing how much better it gets When you focus on it Yeah, because it's a big priority. Yeah for what you do. Yeah It's amazing when you start like talking about it tracking it Reporting on it seeing it discussing it role playing it training on it It just goes up odd It does. Yeah, crazy um What are you most looking forward to when we get together on june the 29th at five o'clock for our webinar again for those Have registered in the link below on How to double your New business revenue in the next year. What are you so excited about? Well, I think there's a couple things number one I think it's going to be fun to collaborate together on this and Kind of teach together So I can I'm picturing us at the whiteboard together and you know doing stuff like that and and so I think we're going to have a lot of fun with it. So it'll be I think people will really enjoy It's not going to be some stiff, you know, kind of training. It's it's going to be fun It's going to be conversational But I think what they're going to what what people are going to really get out of it is they're going to get a sense of Kind of a platform I would call kind of like a Stepping stones. Okay, how they can actually take their life to the next level That's good. We're not going to have enough time to go through everything in great detail But I can tell you right now. They're going to get some really good nuggets Enough to feel like they really that time because I value people's time That's why I want to really make sure that it's really we're going to go above and beyond to give great value to people Well, and I know they're going to get Extensively more than their money is worth when they pay 37 bucks Knowing you which is hilarious because it's like that's going to happen just by showing up However, knowing you you're going to be extremely organized extremely prepared and and and feel as if You must deliver because of how much you care about people Absolutely people that will be watching and how impactful it could be if it just helps or touches one person and changes their life Or they double their business the next year because of that and if they don't have a business At all. Yeah, it's easy to double it. You took over an agency that already had like 1300 plus policies on the books It was already a company that have been around like A dozen years or so. Yeah, right. I mean because of that to take over said be like me jumping and taking over a And and and restaurant That's not the worst restaurant in town. It's it's doing well It's doing okay, whatever and then having to double the size of that in the next year That's tough But you've done it You know, you've done it. So I know you're going to deliver a lot of goodies on that. I'm very excited. Yeah, it'll be well with your time 100% I mean to just learn how you Have used these specific 13 principles that we're going to share Okay, again at this webinar to become a top 10 percent of Agency owner with a captive company. Yeah is impressive. Yep, and most people are struggle with that. I can't do that What encouraged you to write? The book power to thrive. That's a good. That's a great question. So You know, my life's not perfect I've had a lot of obstacles some challenges some some real high mountain peak experiences and some real valleys As a matter of fact, if if if people who are watching this if you go to youtube and just look up richcavenus.com You'll see a my story video. I'd encourage you to watch that before the webinar It'll give you some insight to myself and I want to be really transparent with people And but I think it it started back in the 90s when I started my first insurance I've actually started two agencies. Wow. I don't know if you knew that or not But so you learned something. I was thinking you had been in it before I have yeah So in the 1990s from 1990 to 2000 I I did it 10 years of started a from scratch And really built a nice agency and a little place called Wenatchee Washington. Wow, and But uh, you know, what I what I learned During that time was a lot of self-improvement a lot of personal development psychology things like that and really honed my skills And sales and just developing myself And then I went into ministry full time for about eight years And then I really got the bug to Get up and get back at it again. And I love I love building. I'm an empire builder And uh, I love to build things and Make things better, you know, like to take a concept and say what can we do to make this better? What are some things we can do to it? And I love I love that process And so I I would say power to thrive is like an amalgamation of 30 something years of just my life experience My research my study All of it kind of put into Put into a book that really From what what I'm seeing now with the reviews. I mean, of course your review was very strong I really appreciate that Cody, but other reviews I'm getting from pastors business owners Coaches is really strong. I mean the reviews are great. So people are really Impressed with the material and it's actually helping them to improve their life. And that's that's what it's all about That's awesome. Yeah, that's huge. One of the things I love in the book that I won't give away too much You mentioned it earlier is Someone having some type of um, you could call it stinking thinking or like, you know, thinking a little smaller um We all you don't seem to think With like a smaller mindset, you know, you seem to think of like taking something and making it bigger better Uh, where's that come from? Have you always been that way? Yeah, I always have been Yeah, like I said, I'm an empire builder. I've always just thought about I always think How can I make this bigger? How can I, you know, build it? Yes. Wow Well, what else would you like to add in in relation to the webinar power to thrive? Um, we're we're even going to do a four week, uh coaching program coming up in in august For those that want to be a part of that again You need to be on the 37 dollar webinar to learn how to be on the other piece But if if people are really interested in the pre-launch for the book, uh, they can go to power to thrive book Dot com made it simple. So power to thrive book dot com And uh, I'm going to actually be doing a free webinar With that so they'll we'll get give you some additional training with that and So I'm excited to to share that with everybody too, but uh, that'd be that'd be good because the book comes out in june and We're we're doing a special gift for everybody that signs up for the pre-launch. That's awesome. Yeah, that's awesome. Well Rich has given you the permission to thrive Absolutely power to thrive Everybody has the god given right and they were created by the creator of the universe to thrive in their lives and uh, the only reason that you're probably not Is because There's something holding you back and I believe that power to thrive can help walk you through the process To unlock that unleash it and allow you to be the person that god's created you to be I love that. Well, thank you for being here today. Thank you for sharing everything that you're sharing everything that you're doing Um, it means a ton and I can promise you they will love spending time with us june 29th at five o'clock So I'm looking forward to a coating. Yeah, thanks for being in town. Thank you We'll see you in a few months at eight percent and we'll see you guys in a few weeks at the uh Webinar. Yeah, absolutely. Looking forward to it. All right. Let's go thrive. Hey, if you enjoyed this I got another one. You're gonna love it's right there. Click on it See you in there. You generate a ton of inbound leads From social media from facebook Organically like referrals friggin galore. You are the king