Market It With ATMA
This podcast is about giving business owners the tips, tools, and strategies they need to market and grow their businesses.
Market It With ATMA
Beyond the Insurance: The Rhythm of Life and Business
Ever wondered why insurance feels so complicated? In this illuminating conversation with Cliff and Cyndi Stubbs of Rhythm Insurance Agency, we uncover how genuine education and relationship-building have created extraordinary success in an industry often plagued by confusion and mistrust.
The name "Rhythm" wasn't chosen by accident. As Cliff explains, it emerged from his background as a drummer, but evolved to represent the changing rhythms of life that necessitate different insurance needs. This philosophy has guided their approach for over 20 years, leading to an astounding 96% client retention rate for Medicare customers and a three-million-dollar book of premium built entirely through referrals.
What makes their story particularly compelling is their commitment to education before sales. "Most people spend more time researching a new iPhone than their health insurance," Cliff points out. This knowledge gap leaves many vulnerable when they actually need their coverage. The Stubbs couple addresses this by ensuring clients understand exactly what they're purchasing, often providing free advice even when there's no immediate sale opportunity.
Their faith-based approach prioritizes doing right by people over maximizing short-term profits. "If you do the right thing, the money comes," Cliff shares, reflecting on countless situations where they've helped people without compensation, only to see those good deeds transform into referrals later.
For those considering entering the insurance industry, Cyndi offers invaluable advice about finding mentorship and setting realistic expectations. Her transition into the business provides a blueprint for success through proper guidance and community support.
Whether you're a business owner looking to build sustainable growth through trust, someone confused about insurance options, or an entrepreneur seeking a client-first business model, this conversation offers clear, actionable insights that challenge industry norms while delivering remarkable results.
🎙 Market It With ATMA Podcast
Brought to you by Advent Trinity Marketing Agency
www.adventtrinity.com
Welcome back to Market it with Atma, where we share the tips, tools and strategies to help your business be successful. Market it with Atma, where we share the tips, tools and strategies to help your business be successful. I'm your host, dori, and today we have a very special guest with us Mr Cliff Stubbs with Rhythm Insurance. Cliff, welcome.
Speaker 3:Hello, how are you?
Speaker 2:Good, and your wonderful wife, Cindy, also joined us. Hi, cindy, good morning. So I wanted to ask first, how did Rhythm Insurance get started? What was the name? One is unique, but what caused that name to come to fruition and what's the story behind all of this?
Speaker 3:Well, when you set out to put a name to a company, right, you got all these ideas of do you put it after your name or do you have some little catchy phrase, and nothing just really came to mind right and rhythm eventually sparked that um. And it sparked it because I'm a drummer. I play in a band nice and so rhythm just kind of comes naturally right and I tried. Well, how am I going to tie that back to? What do I do with insurance?
Speaker 3:well, there's rhythm in everything you do right exactly yeah everybody has a different rhythm in life, and as that rhythm changes, right, so do your needs, and so kind of fit with the flow of what we do here at Rhythm Insurance Agency.
Speaker 2:Okay, and so tell me more about that. What do you do at Rhythm Insurance? I mean, there's a lot of different types of insurance, but what do you guys specifically focus on and why?
Speaker 3:Well, we focus on the individual.
Speaker 2:Okay.
Speaker 3:Okay. So whether they're under 65 or they're over 65, we can really help them from birth all the way through their journey through life.
Speaker 2:Wow.
Speaker 3:And you know, as their rhythm changes and their needs changes, we're there to help them out.
Speaker 2:That's wonderful. So you guys have been in business for 20 plus years, but, cindy, you just came on to the business full time recently, right?
Speaker 1:Absolutely. I'm kind of living my best second half, as I say, in a second career. Yeah.
Speaker 2:And are you enjoying the career? So far, it's been fabulous.
Speaker 1:It's been a good transition. I've really enjoyed it. Getting to work with my husband is great and it was a good transition into the healthcare, since I've come from healthcare, but this is a little bit more in depth and working with our beneficiaries Exactly.
Speaker 2:That's wonderful, though, because you've gotten to watch Cliff go through it kind of the whole path, right, exactly so you learn things when you're around certain areas, yeah, for a long period of time anyway, that's what I think.
Speaker 1:It's been a lot of fun.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and you guys have been through some major acquisitions. 2020 was hard on everybody, so how did that affect you guys?
Speaker 3:Yes, it was so, you know, when I started almost 20 years ago it's been over 20 years. We started by building an agency and three and a half years later was sold to a larger shop that was a regional player and we helped build out their Medicare side of things over the next four or five years, which was great, because then I got stolen away by another shop you got poached.
Speaker 2:Poached is a good word for it.
Speaker 3:It's always nice to be needed and wanted, right. Absolutely and we did that. We worked for a captive shop that had about 3,000 captive agents and we talked to them how to sell Medicare and gosh. In three years we were selling almost 80,000 policies a year.
Speaker 2:Wow, so can you explain how you educate your clients on how to choose and what to choose when they come to you looking for coverage on anything?
Speaker 3:Well, we start by really asking what their situation is. Right, right, everybody likes to believe that insurance could be a cookie cutter model. It's really not. You know, unfortunately, they've tried to do that in the property and casualty side with your auto insurance.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 3:But it's not when you're, you're insuring yourself, right, which is the most important thing, absolutely so, you know, being an independent broker, we have the carriers, we have all the different products, right. And so really to begin the education process is to really hear.
Speaker 3:Tell me your story, what's your, what's your situation right looking for, and then from there we kind of we kind of move on. Once we kind of have an idea of what we're working with, or what they need is a better way to say it then we begin educating them on some of the options that are available.
Speaker 2:Nice, so you've also mentioned before. On a previous call we had you said never use a call center. Why is working with a professional or independent broker such a critical choice?
Speaker 3:Because you have to have somebody that has your best interest in mind. If you're getting dialed from a call center, they have their best interest of mind and typically they have one option for you. They're going to tell you why that option is absolutely best for you. When you work with a professional broker that has all the options, they can take the time and actually tailor a plan that's right for you. And right it's. It's always based on what you need. It should never be on what they have.
Speaker 2:That's a good point for people to understand. You have a reputation you and Cindy, it seems like for creating relationships with every single client.
Speaker 3:Absolutely.
Speaker 2:To sustain for as long as you have. You must have created relationships a long way, and they trust you right.
Speaker 3:Absolutely. People only make purchase decisions from people they like and trust. That's very true, and you know, part of that is building that relationship, is finding out their story, finding out what they need and, more importantly, educating them on what they have.
Speaker 2:Interesting. That's a good point.
Speaker 3:You could sell them the best plan available If they don't know how it works. They don't understand what they have. Their experience is going to be terrible.
Speaker 2:I agree. And to that point, how do you create awareness and build trust before the client ever talks to you?
Speaker 3:So part of that is our branding. Okay, you know we participate in seminars that we host. We go out to work sites and help educate people. We work with partners referral partners that will help send people our direction. And so you know, if you look at any of our posts on our websites or our social media, we try to get some of that education piece out there.
Speaker 3:Yeah, and so that way, if you start giving people something for free, they kind of see that you're real and it's not attached to whether they purchase something or not Right. You build that awareness, you start to build that trust, before they ever pick up the phone and call you.
Speaker 2:Absolutely, and I don't know about everyone else out there, but I like to know what's going on before I even talk to somebody. I like the education part of it and you're right, it's very selfless. You don't have to share that education either one of you right.
Speaker 3:No, not at all. And you know, especially everybody assumes that people are going to go out and hit Google.
Speaker 2:Of course they are right.
Speaker 3:And there's so much information out there, it becomes like a paralysis. You know, I had a guy that called me a couple weeks ago. He got referred to me by one of my partners and I was actually driving in a car when I called him back and he's telling me. He says guys, I got the Medicare and you book which is 140 pages, by the way, and I've read through it and I've attended a couple of these seminars, for the people have put on, he's like, and I keep walking away with more questions.
Speaker 2:No kidding.
Speaker 3:And so, like I said, okay, again, we go back to tell me your story. You know, here's, here's five questions. You can answer them. And he did, and I said okay, here's what you got to do and why, and which didn't end up me selling him a policy right. Because he's fine where he's at for right now.
Speaker 3:Not down the road. We're going to have a conversation. But his comment to me, which I thought was interesting, was wow, I've spent hours on this and in six minutes you answered all my questions. I feel better about where I'm at and I can get on with life.
Speaker 2:That's you know what I wish everyone was kind of how you guys handle it and, cindy, I assume you're the same way. You create that relationship first, yeah.
Speaker 1:I think most customers want to be heard, they want to be listened to, and I think that that's something that we provide, especially Cliff and I is taking that time. It's not a rush through conversation, right, it's. It's really having that genuine interest in tell me, tell me who you are, tell me about you, tell me about your health profile, tell me what, how, how have you had your health insurance before? Did that work for you? And so it's taking that time and really kind of understanding and listening and then getting into the educational piece and then maybe into the product piece and what what's available to them right because, like cliff mentioned, on that one particular person, he may not need insurance right now but later on.
Speaker 2:He trusts you, he trusts you to to decipher those 140 pages right without having to read them right, and that's so important, I feel, for everyone and when they're looking for insurance, when they're not looking for insurance, to understand what you have now and and how to move in the right direction. Would you say that's correct no, absolutely.
Speaker 3:And there you know, people get confused by the time they get to Medicare. I mean, face it, most people have a health insurance plan through work and if they haven't had an accident or a chronic illness, they've never actually really utilized their benefits and a lot of people don't understand what they have. And so when you get to Medicare and things completely change, it's like starting at ground zero.
Speaker 2:And how often does Medicare Medicare change? Year over year, quarter over quarter? Everything changes year over year but there's always new rules.
Speaker 3:The basic program kind of works the same. It's just you know which rules or which plans you know on the Medicare Advantage and the drug plans. They change every single year.
Speaker 2:Wow, that's almost hard to even think about keeping up with.
Speaker 3:Oh, it's crazy. I mean we're just getting ready to dive into certification. Every year, every professional agent has to do annual certification through AHIP and then they got to go back and certify with each carrier that they represent. Oh, my gracious so when you're an agency like we are we have the majority of all the carriers in this area and the other states that we serve. We spend the majority of all the carriers in this area and the other states that we serve spend a lot of time during certifications.
Speaker 2:I can't imagine for both of you. So you mentioned that you have a 96% Medicare retention rate, client retention rate, that's right. Wow. So how do you create advocates from your existing base, your client base, the 96% that have Medicare? Do they advocate for you? Do you ask them to advocate for?
Speaker 3:you Absolutely, absolutely. We try to create that experience, like we said, to get them the right option and the right plan for them and that they understand it. And we ask every single one of them you know if you need, if you know somebody else that needs help, please send them our way.
Speaker 2:Wow.
Speaker 3:And you know, sometimes they go, oh, I know so-and-so, right away. Other times it might be six months. We had a have, a couple that we've helped about three years ago and you know they've always been, you know, good customers and good clients. And they were on a cruise in the Bahamas and ran into, just met some new friends and somehow they got talking about Medicare and they're like, they're like no, when you get back you got to call my guy.
Speaker 2:I got a guy right, that's right.
Speaker 3:Everybody has to have a guy or girl.
Speaker 2:Yes, absolutely. And are they your clients now?
Speaker 3:Oh, absolutely.
Speaker 2:That is wonderful, and that could have only come from that sustained trust and relationship that you've built.
Speaker 3:Absolutely.
Speaker 1:Our clients are our biggest advocates because they're talking with their friends and their colleagues or just their communities, and at the age of 65 or around that age. That's all those people are talking about. Right, they're talking about how they got on Medicare and if they're liking it and they don't like it, and who their broker was. And oh, you've got to go see this broker because he took care of us and explained everything to us. So our clients are our biggest advocates, even if they don't know it, because they just get in these conversations.
Speaker 1:Wow, and then the next thing, you know, they're going call our people.
Speaker 2:Of course. Would you say that's the way you kind of delight your current base at the end of it, because referrals they're very, very important, because one these people are trusting you to give the next person a great experience. Would you say that's how you keep new clients coming in. Is that referral basis?
Speaker 1:Definitely. I'd say that's probably 100% of how our business grows is through referrals.
Speaker 3:Yeah, it's 100% through referrals.
Speaker 2:Even though you have social media outlets and a web page. That's kind of almost a brand awareness for you, just validating who you are with your social media platforms, right.
Speaker 3:Oh, absolutely. I haven't figured out how to monetize that yet. I mean, we'd have social media and we have great information that we put out there Again part of that awareness that we're there, but I've yet to have anybody call me up and go. Hey, I saw your Facebook page.
Speaker 3:I want to buy insurance from you, but we put it out there because it adds to the legitimacy of who we are. We get client referrals and then we work with referral partners that are kind of in the same space or dealing with the same folks, but don't do what we do.
Speaker 2:And what is that differential?
Speaker 3:So we work with three primary groups right. We work with group agents right to sell big employers cases. And most group agents don't want to touch Medicare, they don't want to do certification and it's. You can only be an expert in so many things.
Speaker 2:Why is that? It's just too complicated.
Speaker 3:Well, it's just, it's a whole, nother knowledge set. I couldn't go today and write a large group plan either. I mean I could but it would take me an inordinate amount of time. I'd rather partner with somebody that actually does this every single day to make sure that it's right for the client.
Speaker 2:Right.
Speaker 3:But you know we work with group agents, we work with property and casualty agents. You know if somebody's had your car insurance for 10 or 15 years and you haven't figured out out like, okay, I've got all this mail in the mailbox from all these people trying to get me when I turn 65. Do you know anybody?
Speaker 2:Right.
Speaker 3:That's always right, because they already trust them. And then we work with financial planners.
Speaker 2:Okay, so you have a plethora of not only referrals but contact people that will help educate you in any area. Absolutely, that's wonderful.
Speaker 1:They're kind of on our roots and our resource toolkit is what I like to tell people.
Speaker 3:I like that.
Speaker 1:You know we have the ability to kind of go into that real resource toolkit and, you know, pull out whatever resource that we need, whether it's a resource for us or even a resource for our clients, because we're not trying to be everything to everybody, um but so, but we want to be able to help our clients and so being able to have a resource, a trusted resource that we trust and like to be able to give it to our client and say you can call this person and you can trust them, like them too.
Speaker 2:See, and I think that's so important because and what one thing you mentioned that I think is very pivotal for any entrepreneur, business owner is you can't know everything they're really refining. What you guys focus on and what you communicate to your clients is I, I feel, what makes you so profitable at the end of the day because you guys have brought in, you've built over a three million dollar book of business in premium.
Speaker 2:Yes wow, that's incredible. I mean you have to be doing something right, but to your point, you can't spread yourself too thin, you have to refine your focus and it seems like you guys truly care about these people and educating them the right way, because I've been educated the wrong way sometimes well it is, and we run into people like that all the time.
Speaker 3:I talked about how we can go out to work sites and and talk about Medicare, for example, to their employee group, because, right, either they're getting ready to turn 65 or they they have parents that are getting ready to turn 65, and every time we go out and and educate a group, there's always somebody that goes god, I wish you would have came in like a year ago when I turned 65, because and then they have a story of course and a lot of times we can help them um unwind what they've done and sometimes not.
Speaker 2:That's well, you don't know until you try right absolutely and so you guys host lunch and learns and things like that too. You'll go on site to these different businesses to educate these people that many of those more personal conversations than just what they see.
Speaker 3:Right, yeah, and that's, and that's kind of what it leads to. Right, we go and we do a lunch and learn and help educate them from a very high level and then, with the ability to hey, if you want to talk about your specific situation, let's set up a time where it's just one on one and hear their story.
Speaker 2:Absolutely, and maybe tell some of yours right. So how, how important has consistency been in your business for your brand identity? Do you feel like that was an important part of why you're able to grow and sustain for so long in your business?
Speaker 3:Absolutely. I mean, we've had the same brand identity from day one.
Speaker 2:Which is great.
Speaker 3:And you know we haven't changed the logo. We haven't changed. We've got the same website. Obviously, we updated, but we're not trying to be gimmicky.
Speaker 2:Right.
Speaker 3:You know again we talked about, you know, 100% referral. We don't send bulk emails. We don't send you junk in your mailbox to kill trees. And we don't hire call centers to you know, call and bug you during the day or during your dinner. I hate it when people do it to me, and I certainly wouldn't do that to anybody else.
Speaker 2:No kidding, I want a little button just for dinner time to say hey, this is rude, call me back later, right?
Speaker 1:I think we've also been really consistent in our message about where our strengths and our services lie. I mean we've stayed consistent with individuals, you know, under 65, over 65, health insurance, medicare, rather than trying to put out there every product that we do. We've really kind of kept our message clear and here's our three areas that we specialize in and really focused on those areas, rather than trying to confuse everybody with with well, we do these, but we really have 18 million other products, right, right.
Speaker 2:so and on your, your advertising broadcasting and and just getting people engaged. That's very important because you can know a lot. But if you share those refined points then you've got kids of clients coming in saying you know what? I trust you because you've helped my mom or my dad. Is that kind of how you would say it's working?
Speaker 3:Absolutely. We get those calls all the time and it's usually from the parents. It's like, hey, you know, johnny just turned 26 and Johnny has to get off my policy according to the rules, and so would you reach out and talk to him? Or a lot of times we schedule calls with the parents zoom or in person zoom or in person.
Speaker 3:That's great, um, but it's interesting because right now we have a new consumer who's? If you're 26 and you've been on your parents insurance, you truly have no idea how it works. And regardless of your 26 or your 56, you you know when you're getting off your group plan. We try to ask questions, you know? Hey, we don't want to insult your intelligence. Do you know what the difference between a deductible and a max out of pocket?
Speaker 2:Well, I would say any young adult would need that information right when you're 26. I thought I knew everything, but I definitely didn't, and so you're willing to help them.
Speaker 3:Oh, want to educate, because you know now we talked about the lack of knowledge that's out there and one of the things we pride ourselves on is obviously education. Yes, so if we take that 26 year old who's brand new to the insurance market, and we educate them on how stuff really works, right, whether they, you know, eventually get a job that offers employee benefits, so they don't need what we have but they're going to be educated when they go to make their choices down the road. Right, because reality is most people that have employer insurance have no idea how it works. Nobody explains it to them. They either did what Bob told them to do or they picked out and they pointed. They said well, I guess I can afford that every two weeks out of my check.
Speaker 2:Right, it's almost embarrassing. You know to not know.
Speaker 3:We spend more time researching a new iPhone right. It's true, they've done these studies and they'll spend 10 times the amount looking at a new iPhone. Yet here's, here's something that's going to take up 20, 25% of their check.
Speaker 2:Yes.
Speaker 3:Right, and they just pick that one and then down the road, you know, if they're blessed with health, outside of paying a co-pay right when they got sick or they had to pick up some. You know penicillin right, because they got sick. They have no idea about how that deductible works and what co-insurance means and that they're protected, but they're, they're. They're max out of pocket. They have no idea how that works right, and I feel like that's.
Speaker 2:Most people say okay, I need health insurance or I need insurance of some kind to keep me safe, but if you don't educate yourself on those finite details, I mean it's almost not worth it at all. You might as well just be paying cash if it doesn't cover you for the things you need right.
Speaker 3:Right, I mean, I've got a good friend and this, you know, this was, you know, probably 10, 15 years ago, and had always had insurance through, actually, his wife's employer. And you know, the first time he had a medical emergency, he called me and just like telling me this sucks, right, we pay all this money every month and now I got to come out of more pocket. I'm like, well, yeah, tell me how your plan works. He goes what do you mean? It's like do you know what your deductible is? Do you know what your max out of pocket is? Well, no, I said well, those are things you need to consider. No, kidding, it's just like another real-life example of you've been paying for years and just had no idea how it worked.
Speaker 2:Now you're making me rethink. We might need to schedule a meeting after this, guys. So, with that being said, you guys kind of you're a client of Atma right, correct, and you know we kind of work on the build launch grow scale methodology. What phase of that methodology would you guys say you're in? Build launch, grower scale? So we're?
Speaker 3:probably in the grow phase right now um and part of that. You know, we kind of built, built a brand and we kind of build a strategy about where we want to go and we've launched it and now we're just trying we're in that growth phase, right we're trying to find that balance. That I don't want to say magic bullet, but you know we haven't quite tweaked it to where we want it to be, and once we find that sweet spot, then we will launch it.
Speaker 2:So what specific hurdles do you feel like are preventing you from getting to that scale phase right now?
Speaker 3:I think it's maybe like the engagement part right.
Speaker 2:Right.
Speaker 3:You know, we start out on social media, for example, and you know, as the posts go out there and people start seeing it, it's like they like it and the interesting part is people like it. But I keep telling them you've got to share it. Yes, right, and so not that it's going to go viral, but you want to share it so other people can see it. But then after a while you've got to start thinking okay, well, we're kind of doing the same thing and the same message, and people get tired of right of seeing that and, of course, as consumers, right we, how we consume stuff on the internet and social media changes right right now it's.
Speaker 3:Everybody wants you to see your face and hear a story um know that you're real right you're real right, and so that educational piece is kind of boring. So we're we're kind of in that phase right now where we start to give them more engaging content yeah, it's video and with the same educational spot of it, but you know, give it to them in a way they want to consume it.
Speaker 2:Absolutely.
Speaker 3:And I think that's really the key of where we've got to get to next before we really take off.
Speaker 1:Absolutely. I think it's also trying to reach that next degree of outreach. Right, you've got friends, family, some immediate referrals off of that family and then it just keeps expanding out more into the community and I think we're at that point where we're trying to reach that next degree, past our clients and some of their outreach on beyond right, absolutely, and and that and that's a little bit of a struggle because how do you do that always?
Speaker 2:and and you guys are um shy on helping to educate new agents as well. So what would you say you're looking for in new agents coming to the industry, and what kind?
Speaker 1:of infrastructure or mentorship. Do you think they need to succeed?
Speaker 2:Well, I can speak to the mentorship part, Okay let's do it, cindy.
Speaker 1:Mentorship part Okay, let's do it, cindy.
Speaker 1:So I would highly encourage any new agent that is wanting to enter the insurance business to definitely find a mentor like Cliff or of that caliber to be able to guide them and direct them.
Speaker 1:It is a complex industry, it's a hard industry and unless you have a mentor that you can work alongside, with that you can reach out to to answer questions, to help guide you in certain directions, it'll be a real struggle If it wasn't for me working with Cliff and obviously it's wonderful because he's my husband, of course, but his knowledge and expertise has made my transition so much easier. I couldn't imagine doing it without him. And also, you know, we're part of an association called NABIP National Association of Business Insurance Professionals, called NABIP National Association of Business Insurance Professionals. I highly recommend an individual getting involved in some type of association that's part of the industry, because that also lends itself to finding you can find mentors there. But the resources available to you to be able to answer questions help guide, because you're not going to remember it all and every case is different and you, as a new agent I'm from me I got the hard ones of course, just throw it right in there, didn't you why?
Speaker 1:aren't mine, the easy ones, right? Um so, and it was it. And it's a community, right? It's it's friendships that you build which is so instrumental in your psyche, in your mind, in your motivation to know that, hey, there are others out here doing what I'm doing and we can do it together, because if you can do it together, you'll both grow.
Speaker 2:Absolutely so. Would you say that your faith in the business kind of changes your structure to have more of that mindset to help to guide, to educate? How has your faith affected your business?
Speaker 3:So, you know, with our faith, it's about helping people, right, you know, going out and being Christ-like in the community, which is, you know, to help other people and being Christ-like in the community which is, you know, to help other people, and so we always believe that if you do the right thing, the money comes right.
Speaker 3:We don't focus on I mean I said we don't focus on making money. We obviously want to make money and we want to make a living, but it's about doing the next right thing to help somebody out. We get calls all the time and people have questions and either they can't or they don't have the ability or they don't need what we have to offer.
Speaker 1:They need.
Speaker 3:You know questions answered and you know I don't know how many times I've gotten a call and somebody's in a bad situation and they got referred to me because they couldn't get answers right. So one of our partners or somebody we know said, hey, we just helped this person out and we do. And you know, sometimes they'd be like, well gosh, how much do I owe you? And I was like you don't owe me anything and they're like but everybody needs to get paid. I was like, doesn't matter, right, you know you needed help and you know, know that help didn't lead to me making a sale, but it helped you out. And at the end of the day, they're going to send somebody else, right, that needs help, that does need our product, but it and if they don't, it doesn't matter, right, it's just about doing the next right thing there's something to say about that.
Speaker 2:With a 96 retention rate for your clients and and being in business this long, it says a lot about how well that does or doesn't work right, exactly. At the end of the day. So I like to always ask at the very end, is there one piece of advice you guys can give a prospect, a client or even somebody coming into the industry that you wish you'd had known 20 years ago?
Speaker 3:You know, I would say you know. It comes back to finding the mentor first, Because when you get into business, once you start signing contracts and you kind of hit your wagon to somebody when it's if it's the wrong one, it takes a lot of effort to get out of it and a lot of times it takes so long to get out of it you get frustrated and quit. If somebody calls you on the phone to give you a contract, you probably ought to pause and think about it, and there's lots of great organizations that are out there but you've got to interview them because it's not the right fit. I mean, I've been, you know, in 20 years. I know a lot of people in this business that have big shops and have lots of agents, but I can look at them and go okay, well, just because they're both successful, right, this one might be a better fit for you as opposed to this one. Absolutely, Because it depends on what the needs are and the key is and Cindy mentioned this in that mentor is somebody that you can call.
Speaker 3:If you just get somebody that calls you on the phone and you sign a contract, when you call back in, you're going to go to a call center. You need that one-on-one where like, hey, I've got this situation. I need somebody to actually talk to me of how do I do this? Yes, um, and you got to do it in the moment and you know, obviously, you know NABIP is a great resource um to have colleagues to do different things and help support you, but you gotta you also got to have that one-on-one person that you can pick up the phone and call um. You know, Cindy, fortunate enough she sat right next to me and it was like I'd be working on something and she's like hey, I need help on this, I need help on this.
Speaker 3:And it was great because she can just turn around and do that and after a while it starts to click.
Speaker 2:Right, it's almost pivotal is what you're saying.
Speaker 3:But if you have, if you find somebody that you can have, that too, where you can pick up the phone and call them, it really does make a huge difference. And so, you know, as we look for new agents or people that are joining the industry, you know, I kind of tell them like this I'm like, look, the only difference between going over here or over here or right here is that you get me. Everybody's got contracts, that's right.
Speaker 3:Everybody's going to pay the same commission rate, right right. But if you want somebody that will, for lack of a better word, hold your hand right, it's kind of scary.
Speaker 2:They don't have to go alone, right, exactly. And, cindy, what would you say you wish you'd have known before you, completely deep dived into the industry.
Speaker 1:I kind of wish I would have known that it was going to be okay. I mean, you know, when I first jumped into this, it wasn't it wasn't the first thing I wanted to do. And so, you know, and I knew it was going to be hard and I knew it was going to take effort and I knew it was going to take work. But I wish someone had told me you know, yeah, it's going to take all those things, but if you do these things like Cliff had outlined for me, if you do these things, you'll succeed. And I truly believe that's true and I'm a witness to it. It has been successful for me. It has been a good choice. Met some fabulous people Really love my clients and love what I do. It's been a wonderful transition. I couldn't have asked for anything better. Like I said, living my best. Second half.
Speaker 2:Living your best life.
Speaker 3:And you brought up a great point too. You've got to have a realistic expectation, right?
Speaker 2:That is a point.
Speaker 3:If you think you're going to go sell insurance and you're trying to pay yesterday's rent, it's probably not a great move. You've got to give yourself a runway and you've got to be realistic about what can I accomplish now? Yes, you can do it if you put your mind to it.
Speaker 2:But you know, realistically, you know it's going to take a year or two to to start building something where you can be like okay, I've got this. See, those are very good points because if you don't have a roadmap and you don't have those expectations that you're setting yourself up for failure. Absolutely well, if anyone has these questions for either one of you, or interested in and being a part of your team, or interested in being a prospective client, how can they reach you?
Speaker 3:Probably the easiest way is to go to rhythminsuranceagencycom. That'll tell you all about what we do, including if you want to join a team as an agent. But it's really a client-facing website and on there there's a form you can fill out, give us your information, as well as on there there's contact information for both Cindy and I. So perfect you want us to reach out to you or you just want to give us a call.
Speaker 2:it's all on rhythm agent, rhythm insurance agencycom perfect, and you guys have also have socials they can go to to get to your website as well absolutely, if you I mean Cindy and I both have personal socials, but you can find rhythm insurance on Facebook, facebook, instagram and LinkedIn.
Speaker 2:Wow, this is some great information you guys have shared and I truly feel like we need to all have a sit-down talk about where I'm going in life. I appreciate you both coming on the show and help sharing these impactful tips with everyone in the community. Whether you're a child or someone that's needing Medicare, it's super important that they have somebody like you guys to help them.
Speaker 3:Thank you so much for having it on.
Speaker 2:Thank you, it's been a pleasure and until next time we will thank you all for joining us today. I'm your host, dori, and we'll see you next week on Market it With Atma. Thank you.