Where did this vision about helping people with sales or coming into companies and coaching
them essentially come from for you?
Came from the lack of it in my professional career.
I don't know how long of an answer you want, but I mean, if we went back to the beginning
of my sales career, I'll tell you this.
I was not a good salesperson in the sense that the sales skills, core sales skills,
what to say, when to say it, overcoming objections, comforting the client, presenting for the
prospect, presenting a vision to use your words, right?
For what things could look like if you make this change and that will cost money.
I was not good at that.
What I was good at was the work.
I would talk to anybody.
I could talk to a wall and make friends.
I would talk to just about anybody and I was able to build a connection and rapport with
those people who would then work with me.
But what happened was, and this is reflecting back on this time now, it's more my fault
than anybody's, but I experienced a pretty catastrophic failure.
I would go talk with a lot of people and I was an insurance agent and I met some prospects
who had a lot of money and they wanted to work with me.
If they did work with me, the case or the business that I would have done with them
would have paid my bills for the year, right?
Just a lot of money.
But again, I lacked the core skills.
I brought the opportunity to my agency leadership and said, hey, here you go.
Here's the file.
Here's my fact finder.
They responded by saying, let me know when it's real, Steve.
Let me know when it's substantial because it wasn't worth their time to invest in me
until I got more qualifying information.
They weren't going to drive an hour and a half to go see a wealthy client unless I did
more effort.
I didn't know how to do that.
It was very much a churn and burn training.
They got you licensed and then they sent you off on your way.
And I'm not making excuses.
That's where it works a lot of the time.
And I kept chasing those leads, trying to get them close instead of doing the basic
fundamentals that got me success in the first place.
I was chasing whales and chasing whales is hard.
And as a result, the deals didn't close.
I literally ran out of money.
My bank account was overdrawn by hundreds of dollars.
I didn't have a car because it got repossessed.
And all in the name of chasing a big commission that never came.
And so the long story short is, let me finish the story by saying, it's my fault because
I could have pursued different leadership.
It's my fault because I could have left the agency and gone to a different one where they'd
support me more.
I didn't.
That's my responsibility.
But where my vision came from and where I want to take this is because my complete lack
of support made me want to be that support for other people.