 How do you get more creative? How do you get to wear in your business when you get stagnant, when things aren't going like you want to see them? You can take it to another level. You can instantly flip the switch and find creative ways to grow your business over the last five years. I've had to recreate everything we're doing, recreate my own business, creatively change what we're doing, probably like a thousand times. You eventually want to find a lane that you can run in, that's a niche that you can be successful in, but that doesn't mean that you don't need to be creative along the way. I think a lot of people struggle with being more creative on a consistent basis. Being more creative constantly, being more creative every single day. I'm going to talk about how you right now can get more creative in your business. We're coming off the Apersonation Conference, which from an experience standpoint, from a speaker talent standpoint, from the overall day-to-day operations, this was the single best event we've ever put on and it's not even close. If you missed it, do not miss 2021. But that is one thing that's got me in a more creative space than I've ever been. Right now I'm in Destin, Florida. We've rented a three-story, with a four-story rooftop, beach house. The beach is literally a tenth of a mile that way. I'm in the most creative state I've ever been. You may say, well, why are you in such a creative state right now? Well, there's a few reasons. This was talked about at the conference, by the way. I'm in a more creative state typically because of three different reasons for me. The first one is my environment. And the environment I'm in right now in Destin puts me in a very creative place. It makes me think about constant things I need to be doing in my business, things I can do better, things I can improve, things I can add, things I can change. Environment's a big one. The environment here, the also environment at 8% where you're around a lot of the environment of success, the environment of wealth, the environment of energy, the environment of a phenomenal conference, the environment of a ton of freaking amazing speakers, the environment of, okay, it's okay to think bigger, okay, it's okay to dream, okay, it's okay to really think about money and success and your mindset and want to improve, you want to get better every day. Personal development's okay in that environment, self-improvement's okay in that environment. And so for me in that environment, it helps me be more creative and think about taking everything to a whole other level that I've never been to before. So the first one's environment, right? Environment helps me. The environment that I'm in, the environment that you're in is magical, it's important. I mean, we finally bought a house a month ago, a month and a half ago, two months ago, whatever it is, that I'm really proud of now. Well, I always want a nicer home in the future, probably so. But in Springfield, Missouri, we've got a freaking amazing home back in Springfield, Missouri with a pool and everything else. And that environment being in that home has simply made me better since I moved in. You say, well, Cody, do I need to go buy a new home to be more creative and do big stuff in the world? No. But for me, I need to constantly be challenged with new things in my life that get my attention and that rock my world and that keep me wanting to move forward and do this thing and push this thing to another level, right? So the first one's environment. Environment's huge for me. The second is exposure, exposure to another world, exposure to big time people. We had some unbelievable speakers. We had surprise speakers like Inky Johnson. We had surprise speakers like Justin Forsett from the NFL. Baltimore Ravens running back. We had surprises like dropping $10,000 cash from the freaking ceiling in the ballroom, right? Those were surprises that helped the exposure. But for me, when I get around big time people, right, we had some amazing speakers, Coach Michael Burt, Tim Story, Matt and Judge, Judge Graham Matt Monaro, Jordan Belfort, Landon McCarter, Pete Fournier, just, I mean, like Marshall Silver. I could keep going with all the amazing speakers my father, Brian, asked into. I interviewed. I thought that was a phenomenal interview, by the way. I thought that interview was a legendary. We had some amazing speakers that I got exposure to that maybe I had heard some before and I hadn't heard some before, right? So when you go to an event, you're going to get exposed to people you've heard before. You can expose people you haven't heard before, but for me, the exposure of being around to people that I haven't heard before and the people I have heard before reinforcing what I know gives me exposure, which makes me puts me in a more creative space, if you will, right? Getting around people that are doing better than me, that are operating in a higher frequency than me, that are more successful than me, that are wealthier than me, that are more creative than me, that have a better mindset than me, that have more daily discipline than me, right? And to make more money than me and maybe have a jet or a couple homes or a bigger team or a bigger office or, you know, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera, right? And a lot of that wasn't even about money, by the way. It helps me from an exposure standpoint be more creative in my business and in my life. Why? Because I'm getting exposed to bigger stuff. A lot of people, like me, I was born and raised in little Wind, Arkansas. Nothing against Wind, Arkansas, but if I had just, or Springfield, Missouri, right? It ain't that much bigger. If I stayed in Wind, Arkansas or Springfield, Missouri, my entire life and I never got out and got exposed to people places and things, then I would not be operating at the frequency I'm operating today, right? And I know that I've personally got a few more gears. If we look at like, if you think you have 10 years in your life, I think I'm probably operating at like a three or a four on what I can achieve and what I can do. Maybe that'll wake some of you up too, because some of you think I'm operating at a high gear like eight or nine, but I know I'm not. And that's because I'm taking, that's taking my ego out of the way, by the way. A lot of people struggle with ego. I think a lot of ego holds a lot of people back in the insurance business that forces, that keeps you from being more creative because you think you're freaking, you know, God's gift of the world. And before you know it, you can't be more creative because you are, you're like blocking all the good things from coming in. You're like, dude, it's just me. I don't need anybody else. I don't need anything else, right? Before you know it, you're in this bubble and you can't hear anyone else other than yourself. And let's take, let's take the freaking blinders off. You know, let's take the earplugs out like, let's be aware of what's going on around us, right? So the second one is, is exposure. Exposure is huge. I, when I get exposed to big time people, big time places, I go fly on jets and come to Destin and, you know, et cetera, et cetera, get to hang out with Marshall Silver and Jordan Belford and Inky Johnson, all these people, it wakes me up. It activates me and I become more creative. Okay. The third for me is, is, uh, the third for me is, is competition. You know, when I start to get in a competitive environment, um, I want to win, right? I want to win. Um, Marlon Faulkner in the SWAT training that Nate Offert did said with crazy amounts of conviction, he said, it pays to be a winner. It pays to be a winner. It pays to be a winner. And I love that. It got my attention because I want to be a winner. You want to be a winner in your own right, by the way, right? And sometimes competition isn't, it can be against other people or it can be just amongst yourself, right? I'm creating competitions with myself nonstop. I just got done swimming in the ocean for about 30 minutes back and forth because I'm doing an Iron Man in Galveston, Texas in November 22nd, by the way. And so I'm trying to force myself to compete, compete against myself because I know I got more in me. I know I can challenge myself more. I got, I know I got another, more levels, more in the tank, if you will. And you guys know a lot of the last, one of my last videos, I get bored easy, right? So competition against other people, great. It's cool. It's okay to compare yourself in a healthy way, right? But also competition and comparing me to me and where I want to be and what I want to do and where I can go and what I want to achieve and where I'm wanting to get to, right? So competition against myself is also big and a lot of people forget about, you know, the internal mental side of this and how you are constantly competing to yourself, right? So if you think about being more creative, okay? Is it exposure? Big time people, big time things? Is it the environment that you're in? An environment could be your little network of people that are operating at such a small frequency that they're freaking pulling you down, right? I don't hang out with negative people anymore. I don't want negative people in my life. I don't want to hang out with, you know what I mean? People that I used to go to school with are not trying to do big stuff anymore and frankly, I don't want to hang out with them as much as I used to, okay? That's okay by the way, right? Or at least in small doses, right? So exposure, environment, or beginning around big time people, my environment is everything to me. That's why I love going to conferences, retreats, events, et cetera, et cetera. I was on the first conference I ever went to, I was on the live stream and I was on the live stream because I had not been exposed to actually attending events. Since that live stream, I've attended every event that I could since then. And by attending events, it forces me to get out of my little bubble and to get exposure to everything going on in the world. So maybe it's exposure for you. Maybe it's environment for you. Maybe it's competition for you. Maybe it's external competition, internal competition. There's several different ways for you to take this thing to hold another level. But I want this to challenge you right now as I sit in Destin, Florida and think about my future and some of the crazy big things. I've already decided to spend about 25 to 50 grand as soon as I get home on a project that's kind of unique, you know, that's pretty crazy. And I want to spend seven figures on APRAS Nation 2021, right? I want to challenge myself to do bigger stuff. And I've got to be in a creative space to even think about doing some big stuff. But you have to be in the right frame of mind around the right people, around the right things, at the right events, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera, for you to start to become more creative. Hey, if you love this, you'll love how to do a presentation for insurance agents. There's a couple pieces of this video that I've never talked about before. It's right here. Click on it, you'll love. Hey, almost every insurance agent I know struggles with objections, specifically what to do and how to improve your closing abilities. I'm going to talk through several different things, okay? I always talk about