 We get this question a lot, man. Like, how do I own a niche and sell annuities virtually like with the world we're living in and you're doing it crazy successfully? You know, it's been a combination of learning this whole process for the last five years. And so we were fortunate, man. I mean, obviously I was trying this virtual thing last year, not realizing there's a pandemic coming, right? And so we were fortunate. And August of last year, I started trying some stuff over the phone, trying to some work leads over the phone in different states to actually just kind of prove to ourselves that it could work. And believe it or not, it did. And so, you know, now that the pandemic had hit, we've been really lucky because we had a head start in the game. And so what I love about this though, and we're gonna talk a lot about this is it allows you to scale your business across the country, no matter where you are. And we'll talk a lot about that. But yeah, man, it's been a great year doing this thing virtually. And just a lot of people probably have heard my story before, but I used to have four different offices, three in Virginia, one here in North Carolina. I was traveling like a madman at those offices, you know, Monday through Friday at one of my other offices. And, you know, doing really well, writing $8, $9 million a year in annuities. But man, I was exhausted. And so this year, I'll tell you, Cody, right now I'm pacing a million dollars a month and I have not left my office since March of this year. We shut our offices down in Virginia and I'm doing everything 100% virtual and we've almost doubled our annuity volume by not leaving this office, becoming more effective and efficient than ever before. That's crazy because you think about it naturally, like it's like, okay, I can never do that. I've gotta go to people's homes and I gotta show them brochures and I gotta go on multiple appointments, gotta go back drive four hours again next week. Like, you know what I mean? All this stuff, but that's, apparently that's not true, man. I mean, what, you've clearly figured it out. And what do you think has been the biggest thing that you've figured out that most other people haven't yet? It's really our process. I'm not gonna say it's flawless, but it's pretty darn close. I mean, we have built a machine in my office. And I'm gonna tell you this right now. I come from the mortgage protection and final expense world, a lot of people know. And I was always chasing the next lead like a lot of people do. And for me, I'm very systematic. So I had to really kind of take a step back five years ago and really figure out what does that want to accomplish? And so obviously for the last five years, I've been learning this annuity world, becoming a student of the game. But in that process, building a sales process that allows me to have these kind of results, no matter where I am in the country, no matter if it's virtual in person, it doesn't matter, the process works. I think that's what's really important is. And I'll talk about that, our sales process and some of the things that we've done to get to where we are, but that's so important is the way that we think about this, being able to pivot and to become innovative through these times has really led us to where we are right now. That's awesome, yeah. Cause a lot of people, man, they're like, you know what? I'm just gonna close my office. I'm just gonna sit back. I'm gonna get rid of all my employees and I'm not gonna do nothing until this thing is over. I'm gonna hunker down. And you're growing and skelling and doing more production then you were doing face-to-face. Yeah, absolutely, no, and that's a dead truth. And here's why Cody, when I had all my offices, I was, like I said, I was going to each one. So I'll give you an example. Roanoke, Virginia, I had an office in Roanoke, Virginia. So I'd go to Roanoke for two or three days, meet with clients, do my first appointment with them, drive back home, do all my reports, go back and sell a bunch of annuities and IULs and big whole life and big life cases. But that was very time consuming because I'm on the road, I'm away from home and I could only see clients in Roanoke, Virginia that day. Then the next day, I'd have to go to Richmond, Virginia where my other office was and so on and on and on. But what this has allowed me to do virtually is to talk to people in seven different states in one day. So it allowed me to take my little area of Virginia, North Carolina where I was writing $8, $9, $10 million a year in annuities and be able to scale it all the way across the country where like this year, I'm live here in Raleigh, North Carolina, this year I've done over $3 million in the state of Texas and I haven't left my office. You see I'm sending me, so I could never do that. And in the same day I'm selling an annuity in Texas, I'm also selling annuities in Utah, New Mexico, you know, Virginia, Massachusetts, you name it. I've sold in over 17 states this year and I haven't left my office. So it's cool to me to be able to take that and scale that. Now he's bragging man, he's a freak, he's a super freak. And dude, did you ever think he'd be selling annuities in freaking Utah, man? You're in North Carolina, you're in Duke country, you know? Never, never man. You know, and that's the thing about this that's exciting is I had to build my own belief in this. Like I knew you could probably sell some insurance over the phone, but to write a million dollars a month virtually I never thought a million years was possible because I'm from the old school way of doing seminars, you know, the dinner seminars and then coming to see me in my office. And that was the way that I've done it for the last five years and we had to change, man. We had to innovate with the times. I love it, I love it dude, man. What do you think, before we actually like start to break down and you start to actually do some training and really help and provide some additional value, which you always do a great job of. What do you think's possible? Like where's this thing going? Cause it feels like to me, not only are you creative, you're always sitting outside the box, you're always freaking pushing the envelope. Like how do I do more? You know what I mean? Where do you see this thing going? Cause I don't see Ryan and Palomini always being comfortable with a million bucks a month over the phone. No, no. And so I've always ran my business in phases. And I think that's one of the most important things for any entrepreneur to focus on it, you know, cause I know everybody wants to go from zero to a million dollars overnight, but it doesn't work that way. And so, you know, for us Cody, the next phase of my business, and I know this is kind of next level stuff, but the next phase for my business is we're building out our wealth management book. And so, you know, yes, I'm doing a million dollars a month in annuities, it's great income, great revenue allows me to scale and grow my business. But my next goal is to get to a billion dollars and assets under management and within the next seven years. So, you know, that's the next thing for us. And so yeah, no, I'm not satisfied with a million dollars, but you know, I'm getting into the wealth management side of this world. You know, again, five years ago, I was slinging final expense, never in a million years thought about wealth management, never thought about getting that level. But, you know, when you're writing this kind of annuity volume, you're leaving a lot of money on the table too, because suitability, you can't get it all. You know, if I have a client that's got half a million dollars and I can only get 300,000 of it, what about the other 200,000 that I can't put into an annuity because of suitability? Right, so it allows us to go back and pick up a lot of money that we've left on the table over all these years. And we've done a phenomenal job of keeping our CRM full, but you know, I don't even have to prospect anymore. I got my book of business that I can go back to with all my clients who have annuity dollars that've got millions and millions outstanding. So those are the kind of things Cody is, and I can't get to a billion alone. I have to get there with my team. Right, so we're building out platforms now that allow people to get into the wealth management side of things, manage money for a fee and really kind of build it. So I would say my goal is to get 10 of my guys to a hundred million dollar book of business, which will bring us to a billion. And obviously, we'll be at over probably 200 million in annuity volume at that point as an agency. Geez. I need a loan, Ryan. RP, I need a loan, man. We're doing that too, by the way. We're breaking out something where we're doing venture capital for loans for CPAs and loans for advisors to help them come off their business. So we'll talk about that at a different time. Dude, that's unbelievable. You're like, you're thinking big, man. We're like, you know what? Why think millions when we could think billions? You know, I mean. I mean, look, I'm 33. I'm going to be in this industry for the next 30 years. I mean, so that's the thing too, is if you plan on being in this, you really need to run your business in phases, right? Because if I just stayed in mortgage protection and final expense, look, I was making six figures doing that, but I got burnt out. I was ready for something more, right? And so then I got into the annuity world, pretty much mastered this world. Not that I'm bored, but it's the, what's the next challenge, right? So you have to be challenging yourself. And so the next phase to me of my business is to get to that level. Now I don't think everybody wants to do wealth management. It's not for everybody. But if that, if you're really trying to strive to get to build your business to the next phase, then you have to figure out what's next and that's what's next for me. Yeah. Dude, you're 33. I mean, I don't know, man. You're old, you know, you're old now. I am getting old this industry, right? I'm getting old now, man. It was cute when I was making six figures at 25. Now you're 33. It's like, oh, God. Yeah, for real, that's what's funny is the average age of insurance agents, 59. That's crazy. I just hit 30. We're both low 30s. But yeah, you're right, man. We're gonna be around for another 30, 20, 30, 40 years getting after it, doing the thing. I love it, man. I love to see your growth. Thanks, man. What's the sales? How did you learn? Is the sales process different from face to face to virtual? Great question. The answer is absolutely no. So here's what I would say, Cody. Prospecting is important. And I'm gonna tell you right now and I'm gonna be very honest with everybody. I've always said this. I've been in a niche market for a long time. I work in the federal space predominantly. And I'm gonna kind of give you guys a story. So this is, I like to ask this question and I'm gonna say this is, this morning I did a three hour long training for a $300 million FMO. And they wanted to talk about this process. And so I dove really deep into it. But one of the questions that I asked the people that were on that call is, and this is something that I ask myself every single day. And I think it's very important in this industry. And the question is, is what makes you different? Right, it's a simple question, but I don't think people think about it enough because I have this saying in my office, I look at it every single day and it reminds me what I need to do daily. And that is to stay in my lane and to create space between me and the next person. So I look at it every day, I say stay in your lane and create space. I think that is so important because we are in such a flooded industry, right? We have so many people. There's over 300,000 financial advisors. So what makes you different from the person next to you? Right, and you know, here I am in Raleigh, North Carolina, dude, you could throw a rocket hit 40 advisors in the head, right? So why does somebody skip past the other five offices to come to mine on the way down the hallway? And that's something that we as a group and as an agency strive for excellence wise every single day is how do we become better? How do we continuously keep creating space in our industry? And so five years ago when I started thinking about that I thought about, yes, listen, I can do seminars, which I do. I can do social security seminars, but it's no different than what all the other advisors are doing. So I really wanted to focus, I think everybody needs to focus on figuring out a niche, finding a niche market that you can get into and really start to create space in. And Cody, that's what I did five years ago in the federal market. I work with federal employees all over the country, but again, predominantly the reason I moved here from Raleigh to Raleigh was because I built a really good brand in the federal space between North Carolina and Virginia. So I was able to do a lot of business with the federal employees, but that took me five years to build up. And so from a prospecting perspective in creating space, my sales process is all about being different than anybody else that they're ever gonna talk to. And that was what I talked about with that $300 million group today was you have to find ways to be different, right? And so it comes down to your sales process. And I'm gonna tell you right now, my sales process from the time that I went from face to face to doing this virtually has not changed. It didn't change it at all. The only thing I changed is probably making fun of myself and how I can't use technology for crap and getting people to laugh at me, right? Because I'm a millennial that can't get this mic to work half the time. So, you know, but it's cool because you get to make fun of yourself and you have to be comfortable enough to do that, right? So you see my setting. So I'll give you an example. Is this where you do an appointment right here? This is it. This is my war room right here, man. This is why clients see this. So I think one of the things too is invest in your business, right? You have to invest in something that's professional especially if you're gonna do millions of dollars of annuities and financial planning over the phone. You know, you have to be presentable. It's, you have to create a space where your clients feel like they're sitting with you, right? Because right now you're looking at me and you're sitting across. It feels like you're at the end of my conference table or having a conversation, right? And so when I'm doing my virtual appointments, this is exactly where I do it from right here in this chair. They can see my office. My staff walks past here all the times. They see other people going back and forth through the window. It's a professional setting that people can, you know, can feel comfortable with. They know that I'm not sitting in my basement, you know, my mom's basement. And you know, I see all these people doing virtual stuff with their computer, you know, up their nose. You know, they got their camera pointing straight up their nose, look at their nose hair. It's just weird. Like, like be professional, you know what I'm saying? So to answer your question though, my sales process hasn't changed a lot. It's just more of being a little bit more thorough, right? Because if I've got somebody sitting here next to me, you know, we can touch feel and it's just different. It's a different vibe. So you have to do a better job of being more transparent, being open and really letting people warm up to you with this virtual thing, right? Because if I'm working with somebody in Texas and I live here in North Carolina, it's just different when we're not face to face, but it doesn't mean you can't do the same things and have the same feelings with that client. Hey, if you enjoyed this, I got another one you're gonna love. It's right there, click on it, see you in there. I have four boards up here, we don't have much time today. And I love to talk, by the way, talk all day. So on one side you have the inner world, which represents all the things that happen up here, between your ears before you ever go out into the,