The Journey To Top 10 Insurance Agent In The Country w/ Austin Glazer

People told me I was crazy. My own family wouldn't help me start the business, and opening the doors was the most challenging thing I've ever done in my life and I've overcome quite a bit, but the second I opened those doors. Of course, there's growing pains, but it's business as usual and what I've gained is what I wanted all along, which was the creative freedom to build this. However, the hell I want and that's Austin's way. I believe in the insurance industry is the best way, and I'd rather go down swinging than go down with my hands tied behind my back because I listened to someone else tell me what to do.

The journey to wealth is a long walk and some may walk quicker than others, but what good is sprinting to the finish line if you pass out when you cross it? On Walk to Wealth, we enlighten and empower young adults to build wealthy, abundant lives. They say the journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step and your first step starts right now. This is Walk to Wealth with your host, john Mendez.

Hey everyone, welcome back to the Walk to Wealth podcast. If you're tuning in on any of the podcast directories or YouTube, make sure to give us a follow, because I don't want you to miss out on any of the amazing guests I'm bringing on this year. Without further ado, let's get right into this one Austin the man, the myth, the legend, coming back for the official podcast interview. I had him on my 100th episode and now he's back for the full podcast interview. If anyone who didn't listen to the 100th episode, man, tell us about yourself, who are you and what do you do Sure, john?

First off, thanks for having me. I don't know what number we're up to, but it's certainly an honor to have been on the 100th. My name is Austin, the insurance guy Glazer, and I help people live a safer life. I own my own insurance brokerage and Safe Shield Insurance, where we help you with your business and personal insurance. In addition to that, I'm a keynote speaker around the country. I help with sales trainings. I'm also a real estate investor and I love to play golf. My favorite thing is long walks on the beach.

Amazing Austin. Let's go back into your backstory a little bit, man. We kind of heard a glimpse of it at the 100th episode, but I was a little shorter, so say we get to dive into a little bit. Man, Take us back in the time machine a little bit. Where does your story all kick off?

Sure, my story kicks off. I grew up in Long Island, New York, where I grew up with my mom and my dad Lived a normal Long Island life, very privileged, upper middle class. Things kind of hit the fan in 0809. My father owned a family owned appliance business in Brooklyn, New York. The recession hit us and, unfortunately, we were one of the ones that were not able to push through. We moved to Florida where I was going to Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. We were very quickly after my mother was diagnosed with a terminal form of brain cancer and given three months to live. Two and a half months later she was gone. My father decided he wanted to be a part of the picture. I started to go down a very bad path. I was adopted six different times Before I eventually settled in Westchester, New York, living with my aunt and uncle, where I realized that it was up to me to make a difference in my life and be the change that you wanted to see. Now here I am. You know, 10 years later, since my mother passed, done some really big things. It's all about the journey you take to get here. That's what I'd say has been my story so far, but there are so many pages left to be written.

You know 100%, man. If you don't mind me diving into it a little bit, man, what was it like growing up with your aunt and uncle For me? My mother she suffered from mental health issues and my dad he was absent until a couple of years ago. Me and him started to get back on the same page, but my grandparents raised me. So what was it like growing up with your aunt and uncle, man, so growing?

up with my aunt and uncle. It was certainly interesting. You know they took me in and coming from where I was in Long Island with having everything they my uncle specifically did everything to make it so that I heard that I learned the value of the dollar, right, nothing was handed to me. I really had to work for everything, and while they live in a very beautiful home and their kids have everything, I was never given everything. I was given food, shelter and the rest was left up to me. So it was very challenging because I felt like I was an outcast a lot of the time, not like I was part of the family. It wasn't until very recently that I actually started to feel like part of the family and realized that those people have become a mom and dad to me, but without those life lessons that they taught me. I mean, you know going through that stuff when it was happening, you know, I was constantly asking myself why me, instead of try me? Well, I've done some cool things really quickly. Maybe I could have done it a little sooner if I hadn't played in the world's smallest violin and realized what lied ahead of me and what I could do if I just sacked up and did what I needed to do, which I eventually figured out.

Yeah. So, man, you had a point where now you're living with your aunt and uncle and then, if I'm not mistaken, you got directly into sales with an insurance broker, if I'm not mistaken. That's how the story goes. Take us through that time, man. You got up and got a job. There's a lot of people nowadays that just like, don't want to work for anyone, don't want to just put any work in at all. They're like everyone wants to become an entrepreneur and it's the flashy thing. But sometimes you have to, you know, earn your stripes right Before you go on and start your own thing. So take us back to that point in time where you very much could have said you know, screw it. You know to hell with the world, man, everything's not going my way. But you dug yourself out of that hole, if anything. Yeah, you dug yourself out of that hole and managed a way to climb out and hit your stride. So what was it like when you were first digging yourself out, starting at that insurance broker, being the age that you are in the industry, where majority of people are like double, triple our age? So what was that like, man? Yeah, sure.

Good question, john. So I'd say that when I was in college so you know one of the things again my uncle was like you need that piece of paper. You're going to college Now. I was never a good student, but I realized that I needed that piece of paper to sort of credentialize my dreams. I've said that specific word on stage before and it's true I did need to credentialize my dreams. But what it meant is it meant I needed to work even harder. So while I was working three jobs in high school, it meant I needed to get six jobs in college so that I can afford to go to college. Right, and while I wasn't a good student, I always knew in the back of my head, you know, coming from being the grandson of one of the pioneers of Heber National, the hot dog company, you know he had the gift of gab. And one thing I remember growing up I used to say to myself, you know, I was always very bad at sports, but I played them all. I played the cross, I played football, I did a little wrestling. What I always said to myself is I wonder what my talent is? Right, I've never, I've never been good at sports. I never fit in. Athletically. I always had a lot of friends, but athletically I didn't fit in. But I realized that my talent was talking. I was far superior to anyone else when it came to being able to convince someone to do something, and in the beginning it was just very aggressive sales techniques that I eventually learned didn't work. But it was one day that I was sitting in my college dorm room and I realized that, with my disadvantages that I was faced with. Unfortunately, it meant and I already knew this by then unfortunately I meant that I'd have to look a little bit harder than everybody that comes before me or anyone who's going to come after me, because in order for them to give a look at me, I got to make myself shine like a brand new red car, and that's what I did. So prior to applying to this specific insurance brokerage and I'm going to stop you, john, before we get too far into it, I'm not going to address that company by name, I am going to be very, very cautious of that I am under a two year non-compete, which we'll get into later, but I was already working in some sales positions, right? So while in college and I had the six jobs I worked for what's called the telefund, and what I did at the telefund is I raised money for the alumni association. So basically, I call alumni who used to go to SUNY Oswego and I would ask them to make a contribution to the school's alumni association. Turns out I was pretty good at it because in a very short amount of time I'd raised the most money in the school's history. So I got shit. There's something here In addition to that. I was working through this startup that was called Textbook Valet, and what Textbook Valet was. In retrospect, it was a fantastic idea. What it was is we would. Basically, I personally was a campus representative. For those out there that are listening, as a campus representative, what your job is is to just rep the brand on campus, do whatever the hell they ask. So I did that, and what they did was buy and sell textbooks at the beginning and the end of every semester. People would you know, during final time again, I was not the person that was getting through classes Like I'd wake up. I trust I studied, but I wasn't. I didn't work that hard in school. I still, you know, I'm not a studier. Anyways, people started to know me as Austin the textbook guy because I'd go around and I'd buy people's textbooks. I'd sell them at the end of the year. I was making good money doing it and I realized there that it was all about branding. I was, you know, I was on Facebook, instagram, dming people. Hey, meet me at the library. I was literally sitting in the library, not studying because I well, I wouldn't study, but I was sitting in the library waiting for people to finish their final so they'd sell me their goddamn textbooks. And let me tell you something, john, they did. Now, as we're going through all this, I realized that I'm very good at sales. I have something that a lot of people don't, and that's a. There's a degree of the it factor in sales and I possess all of it. And when I, when I realized this, I said, all right, it's time to kind of start making some strides. So I started applying to literally 100 and different internships. A couple of companies called me for an internship. They said Okay, we'll give you a look. Coming for an interview, no problem. I went to this company, ch Robinson. It's a logistics company. It was in Syracuse, right near my college. I walked into the interview room. The first question they asked me John, and here I am thinking I'm the best goddamn bullshit that's ever walked the earth. They said to me, austin, define logistics. And I swear to God, I sat there and I said to myself I said, guys, to be honest, I thought I'd be able to bullshit this. I can't. And I walked out of there with my head between my legs because I realized that if I don't prepare, I won't be, I won't be anything. So I went back to the job where I kept applying to different internships. I applied to this one insurance company that was in Trumbull, connecticut, about seven hours away from where I was in college, and I applied as a summer intern. By the grace of God, somehow they gave me a look and I don't talk to publicly about this often, but they gave me a look because my brother, adam, is one of the biggest insurance agencies agents at that company that they've ever seen. They gave me a look. I was making $24 an hour and I was just cold calling all day. It was crazy, so boring, it was miserable, but I got my feet wet. It's funny. I haven't assisted now and I've been telling recently about how important cold calling is, but at my level people are like when you and we'll touch on this a little later as we go through my sales journey. But, like I don't cold call anymore, but when I first got started I used to cold call all the time and it wasn't until two years later that I right before I went back to go into my second year, I sit to my manager. I said, listen, I don't want to do this anymore. Can I go shadow a rep for the day? She said yes, and it went well enough because, long story short, they offered me a position as a sales associate where I'd worked full time under the number one agent in Connecticut, where, for that year, when I went back to college, I was actually supposed to be the president of my fraternity. They said to me Austin, we're going to make you the first person in our company's history Trust me, it's one of the biggest insurance companies in the world and I said you are going to be the first full time student in our company's history. You will work on this guys team, will make you, will pay you a salary of X amount of dollars a year and you'll learn the business. Well, john, the cool thing is that came full circle and I was able to do it, and it wasn't until, you know, I came and graduated from college. I decided to step down as president of my fraternity because I realized the opportunity that lied ahead. This was the fast track to my goals, everything I wanted I had the opportunity to stand out with like shining red car, like I said I wanted to do, and that's what I did. Now I don't want to. You know you're going to ask more questions. That'll take us through the story, but that's essentially. You know how I got in with the company that I got in with to give you the longest possible answer. That could have gone longer if I wanted it to.

That's amazing, austin, and it's just like well cool to see you because also I for anyone that doesn't know I attended public speaking school, austin, so I can vouch for how much you've grown as a speaker. I mean, you're already great at speaking, but since the speaker school mastermind a couple months back to now, man it just, you just keep on getting better. So congrats to you, man, and so I want to talk to you.

And I want one second before you ask that question. I want to give a very big shout out to brandy Doris. I tell him every day I would not be here without him when it comes to public speaking. I owe it all to him. I am so thankful for him and everything he taught me when it comes to public speaking. I thought I had it. I didn't have it like in the public speaking.

Was it for him, I wouldn't be continuing to evolve AG ATIG LLC, which the public speaking at that and made a million, and so no worries, I was gonna ask man to talk about like the sales, like specifically. So like for me, my first sales job was that I was at K Jewelers and and there that's my first cold call. I remember still to this day, man, I don't talk about a much often, but I was cold calling. They had me cold calling a random list of people. K Jewelers had their own like database or whatever, so I would just call people on the iPad. And then one guy ended up calling and we had this like promotion. It was like something, something something 30% off-goal. I forget what the other promotion were and on I get started off the pitch because you know we had a sales script that we're reading off of, and then I mentioned that there was 30% off-goal and then me and him were on the phone for like almost an hour. Man, we were just chopping it up talking about you know jewelry, because he wanted to buy a chain and, long story short, he ended up coming in and he bought like two gold chains there's like $4,000, and in chains that he bought that was like Damn, that's how, and I think the district manager happened to be at in the office that day. So I felt like that man I still have a photo on my wall about it so tell me, take you through your sales journey is like the skills you learn cold calling and doing outreach like what did you learn during that Time period? Because, man, it does build someone up very quickly. If you stick with it long enough, man, you learn a lot, sure.

So sales journey and cold calling. Unfortunately, people associate them together. Right, you don't need to be a cold calling wizard to kill it in sales. Yeah, in my industry I needed to in the beginning my assistant he will not need to because he works for me. And I've done enough in this industry and I built myself up to a point where leads come to me without much effort anymore, and that's what I've been trying to do. But it's been a seven-year journey to get here Right, and without that seven-year journey of dealing with constant rejection of people saying no, I wouldn't be the man standing in front of you right now. When it comes to sales, the key to being a successful salesperson, yeah, is don't be overly salesy and shake as many hands as you can, but when you're out, never talk business right, and that's that's a secret that I don't tell too many people. John, I'm out five days a week here. I'm on the golf course, I'm getting a dinner, a drink, whatever it might be with someone. When I'm with people, I never talk about sales. And I got to tell you something if you are someone that talks about sales With me and you talk about work the entire time, I'm not going to want to do business with you, and the reason is because the only people I do business with are the people I know like it trust. And that's the key to sales doing business with people you know like it trust. And Until I figured that out, it didn't hit right, because when I first got started, john, I was the guy that would wear a shirt and tie every single day. Man, I realized Years into it at the key to being successful in sales is being you. I'm actually doing a keynote on this very shortly, but, john, everybody's got a story right. We opened up with my story. My mom passed away when I was young, being adopted. You're told me about your mom. That's great man. I'm happy you have a story. I'm happy I have a story. Here's the reality, john. Everybody's got a story, and for those that use that story and use it to propel them to success and they use it to tell their story and live their bread those are the ones that reach the next level and that's what I've learned about sales in order to become so successful at such a young age.

It reminds me of a quote that I heard one time is to go something along the lines of your mess becomes your message, and those who learn how to share that message and articulate that message, that tends to help them get a lot further, a lot faster. Which is why I've been practicing so much on public speaking, because it's one of those things where we talk every day and, despite that, most people don't actually know how to communicate. And so I wanted to make an effort this year really to just go all in on Furthering and developing my communication skills so that, no matter whether it's at a function where there's a networking event, whether it's at a family reunion, whether it's that on a podcast, that I can, you know, whip up a story and Articulate that story in a way that captivates an audience in seconds. But and so let me ask you now so, after your time through your at the last company rap, then you started the insurance Brokers that you have now. So what was it like starting your own independent you know company? What was the journey like? What was going on in that point in time in your life? What was the feedback from the peers around you, man? What was going on to that point in time?

Sure, so let me take you back a little bit. So the last three left off. When it came to my company and where I was in the industry was I was working for this guy, number one agent in Connecticut. After I graduated, I went up to my manager. I told her I was ready to fly free. She told me no, I fought her. I did it. My first day as an agent was February 1st of 2020. March 1st of 2020, we had this thing called COVID happened right, and now I, here I am, I'm locked in my condo that I just bought at 22 years old and I'm fucked because I have one referral partner that's sending me business. And how am I gonna make ends meet? So what I did is I got creative. One month into my career, I bought a green screen that collapses from the ceiling off Facebook marketplace. I drove to the heart of Brooklyn and I picked it up, masked up and all, and I started making these videos fast facts with Austin Austin the insurance guy. It was around this time that I started using Austin the insurance guy as well and I merged the Austin the insurance guy brand with Austin Glaser, which it's important because you want to live your bread. People need to know who the fuck you are. Then I realized how powerful these videos were becoming for me on Instagram, because nobody in my industry was doing not even real estate. I launched Closer Conversations, which was a podcast designed to highlight successful individuals. Now, internally, what it was designed to do was tell other people's stories so that maybe they would want to do business with me. John, it worked. I became almost an overnight sensation. I was writing a shit ton of business. I went on to win rookie of the year in four categories. One category short of a suite. I made $350,000 that year, 23 years old, my first year of my career. I came back the next year and I said, well, what's next for me to do? So what I did was I went on to become countrywide rookie of the year. Now I was number one, top dog. Nobody beat me by anything. I actually won it by 350 policies. Now I did it all. I was number one Connecticut, number nine in the country. I passed my mentor and only the second year being there, I realized that the thing about where I was working is there was no mindset of residual income. The reason people get into insurance is for passive income. If you paid $2,000 a year and I make $200, I make that every single year that you were new as an agency owner. Now as a producer, that changes it depends on where you work. But I realized this and I realized where I was working was creating this sort of rat race, because it meant I had to work just as hard every single year to make the same amount of money, and it was sick. I was 24, 25 years old making $500,600 a year Pretty cool stuff. But I realized that it wasn't all about the money anymore. It became miserable. I felt this massive following and I realized that if I had just done it right the first time and I opened a brokerage or when I worked somewhere where they paid renewals, I could be asset rich in 10 years. Not even I could probably sell my book for $20, $30 million, and that's what I decided to do. So I left my company, mustered the dismay of several people at that company, including my own brother. My own brother and I don't speak anymore, and the reason for that is because I left a company that he is such a big agent and I was such a big agent at. We would go to events. I've never publicly addressed this, so consider yourself lucky. My brother and I would go to events together and we were known as the Glaser Brothers. Everybody would walk up to us. We were the shit, john. We were the shit and we were two top dogs. We were two top 10 agents in the entire country. We had a 20,000 agents, john, no sugarcoating, we were the real deal. When I left the company, though, the amount of dismay I felt from people was astronomical. People told me I was crazy. My own family wouldn't help me start the business. I had to liquidate my entire 401k and any stock portfolios. I had to launch this, and opening the doors was the most challenging thing I've ever done in my life and I've overcome quite a bit, but the second I opened those doors. Of course, there's growing pains, but it's business as usual and what I've gained is what I wanted all along, which was the creative freedom to build this. However, the hell I want and that's Austin's way, and Austin's way I believe in the insurance industry is the best way, and I'd rather go down swinging than go down with my hands tied behind my back because I listened to someone else tell me what to do. I would chart my own path 10 out of 10 times John, and I'll be damned if I let someone tell me I'll have to do it. And no matter how hard it was to open this agency, every single freaking day has been better than when I worked there, because I'm free and I'm doing things my way, and that's an amazing story.

It's one of those things where I had a I wouldn't say as similar, but almost kind of similar experience where when I left out of college so for me, first generation college student everyone thought I was the golden child. I was the one that was going to finish and graduate and get the degree. And when I dropped down the middle of the pandemic, when the whole world was pretty much uncertain, it was a decision that I knew was going to pay me in dividends. And there's a quote with those online lines of the reason why people can't see your vision is because God didn't bless them with it, and for me, I always kept that in the back of my mind because I knew that they couldn't see what I was envisioning for myself, which is why most people didn't understand what I was doing or where I was going, and so that allowed me to propel forward, and that's how I kind of got started with all this stuff and eventually ended up pursuing my real estate license and fast forward a little bit. Now here I am, and so you started your insurance brokerage. What was it like in that beginning stage, getting it off the ground? What did you have to do? Were there sacrifices made? What was it like during that beginning period where you're trying to get the wheels rolling?

Well, what existed, john, was all the doubt, everybody around me telling me I was fucking nuts. And I'll never forget this phone call After my family told me I couldn't do it and all my mentors told me I was crazy. I called my best friend, kevin. I said Kevin and I talked to Kevin four times a day, sometimes nine times a day. I said Kevin, maybe I'm crazy because, john, prior to watching my own agency, I interviewed at 37 different companies. I got 37 offers but I didn't take any of them and I called Kevin. I said Kevin, maybe I'm crazy, maybe everybody's right. He said to me you're crazy. He said Austin, if you don't start this insurance agency, I'm not going to be your friend anymore. And he said it with a little bit of seriousness. Right, and the reason he said it is he realized that this was what I want and if I didn't do it I'd be making a big mistake. But going through that like starting the agency dude the amount of paperwork I would do every day. Like dude, I'm still doing it. Like going from being a captive insurance agent to an independent insurance brokerage owner. It's very different. There's a lot more paperwork. The amount of time I spend doing things is crazy. And am I working more hours? Not necessarily I'm working smarter. I have staff of people that I'm very thankful for. But opening those doors, john, was the hardest thing I ever did, because it was so much unknown. I mean, I didn't have anyone legally counseling me or anything. I did it myself and obviously I had, you know, lawyers I talked to and stuff, but it's all that was such education. It was education and I'm the type of person that loves to learn when something I'm interested in and fortunately it turns out, I was pretty interested in it and I was able to launch Safe Shield Insurance, which is now doing very well.

That's amazing. And just for a little bit of to get a timeline, how long ago was that? If you don't mind me asking, february 1st 2023. It was when you started, wow. So now you have that going on your own and you've been in six months. Yeah, that's amazing, brother. And so now, where is envisioning? Because now you're getting into public speaking, right. So now you're taking this you know Austin Insurance guy Glager brand and getting that beyond just insurance. You're taking that to real estate investor meetups. You know public speaking, doing keynotes. What's the vision for it Like for you, man? Where are you planning on taking all this? What's fueling you? Right, you conquered your domain of, you know of expertise the insurance. Now you're going on to bigger things. Man, what one is the motor pushing you to keep on going? And two, where are you planning on taking all this, man? Where's it going? Yeah?

So moving after that in a couple of different, because that's a very multifaceted question. I didn't master this yet, john. What I mastered is networking. I'm the best networker in Fairfield County that's in my space. I've created networking groups. I've spoke on panels with some of the most successful people in the world. What I've realized, though, is that's how you maximize your time. That's why I've gotten into public speaking. That's why every move I make is so strategic, john, because I realized that, if I, social media is the greatest tool ever invented I can get in front of X amount of people at once instead of one to one, dude. It's a game changing concept that not enough people are taking advantage of. When I got in the industry, people were saying to me hey, let's grab a couple. Sorry, when I got in the industry, I was asking people to get copies. Let's do a one to one. Fuck that, dude. I'm not sitting with someone one to one to get a cup of coffee, because, first off, that means you're going to talk my ear off about business, and I'd rather fucking watch paint dry. Okay, what I realized is that I have a captivating speaker, and I'm really freaking good at it, and so are others, and I want to be around people that are like minded, and that's what I've built. I've developed something special, which is that people want to do business with me. John, how many people do you know that sell insurance? Three, okay. Well, besides the three, if someone random was going to ask you who's the first person you thought of? I guarantee you I'm pretty much a man as soon as you come to mind. Well, that's what I'm building, right, because, john, I know you personally, but there are so many people that I don't know. Then I've spoke on the stage in front of where I have been seen on social media that are like Austin, I want to do business with you and, John, that's 90% of the people that I do business with. Now. My days are unpredictable. Now, of course, they're carefully structured so that I am, you know, able to get to everything. But your question is where do I want to go next, john? There's a question to answer that in two parts. The question becomes where does Austin want to go and what does he want to do with safe shield insurance? I'm going to answer safe shield insurance first, because it's the easy, john I'm building a largest independent insurance agency in the entire country and you can lock that in, square it away, send it back and forth to me, because it's still going to be true by time it gets back. I'm doing it, and whoever wants to come along for the ride, you're more than welcome to joy, because it's going to be fun. Now, where does Austin Glazer want to go? Austin Glazer's five-year vision is to stop selling insurance. And I'm not saying stop selling insurance, I'm saying step away from working at a computer desk all day. I am best when I'm on a golf course, when I'm getting drinks. I am the best at building relationships and building connections. I want to create a killer sales force that the world has never seen before, and I want them to be just like me, or a variation of me, because I'm great at this, and I want to make them great at this too.

Yeah.

You know, john, it's funny, I talk about building a great staff, but I'd be remiss to not share something pretty cool that happened to me recently and it's made me feel really good inside. I held a Connect CTNY event about three months ago and it was at the ridges in Stanford, and Connect CTNY is an entity I started for networking. My partner, mike Spiller, and I got through these events and there was this kid working the door and he was a young kid, turns out he's majoring in insurance. I got to talk to him a little bit. He was working for the restaurant. He told me that he was majoring in insurance and I told him that I am insurance and he'd be an idiot not to talk to me. Some stories short. He came to work for me as a summer intern and he's been so exceptional that I decided to extend the same offer that I was telling you about earlier, which is where someone who was number one at my previous company gave me an opportunity as a full-time college student to work for them and be their assistant. Well, the coolest thing is, john, is I've done that and I made a deal with him where, if he passed his test on the first try, he would come be my assistant full-time while he goes back to college. John, he did it. Of all the cool shit I've done making $600,000, starting a company, being top freaking dog and I got one of the biggest insurance companies in the world. You know it's so cliche to say, but this has been one of the most crowning achievements I've ever had. To have someone that believes in your vision and believe in your goals and dreams is one of the most rewarding things because it means you're doing things right and to me that's number one so far and that's been my greatest accomplishment to date.

Yeah, it's one of those things where I experienced that for the first time this year as well. So I hired someone so not from here, but from the Philippines and I hired my first video editor and I was, I think, about like 72-ish people applied for the position, half of which were all just copying and paste responses. So it was about like, let's say, 40 actual applications that I kind of went through and I ended up getting on the phone with this guy. I got on a Zoom call and I was sharing him with my vision, with like Stop and Stereo Media where I'm going, and like he was game for it, like he was just like, of course, he had, you know, things that he wants to accomplish and I was just like kind of how, sharing with him my vision and how, by helping my vision carry out his vision, will also come into play. And then there's another person I've been talking to as well recently and it's so crazy how the world works. So see, at that point, you know, around last year, around, like you know, middle of 2022, right, we were I used to jokingly say that I was going to hire her eventually and now in a position where now we potentially are going to be able to do, start doing business together. And she was on board with the vision. And it's crazy when it starts coming around full circle and when you paint these big pictures, how people are more than willing to hop on your ship and just ride along. You know, come along for the ride with you. So I kind of want to ask you, because for us is kind of intuitive, this is just kind of who we are thinking big, having visions, but for the people can't really see. You know, past the first couple steps, man, what are some tips that you would, you know, you can give to people so that they can become more like visionaries? And I'm sure not everyone is going to have it, but, like, every kid dreams, right, so it's in all of us, right, some people have it locked away and can't tap back into it, but it's in all of us. And what's it like, you know, being a visionary? Like, how do these dots and visions come together?

Well, for someone that's young and looking to do this, the ultimate thing I can tell you and not just insurance, but in anything find a mentor. Find a mentor and then be a spot, because if somebody's done it, chances are they'll help you achieve the same goal. Because, just like parents how, when parents have a kid, they want to see that pair be more successful and I want to see my assistant, eric, be more successful. There is no question in my mind Now he's got a long time. I'm not going to let him beat me anytime soon. He's years and years away. Who knows, maybe he takes over, say, a show. I have no idea, but what I do know is that that would be one of the coolest things ever, because I built that right and your stamp on the world is only as good as those who come after you, and when you're looking for a mentor, he might be thinking more. She might be thinking the same thing, which is that I want to leave my stamp on the world. How can I do this? Because, at the end of the day, john, I make a lot of money, but it's not about money. Okay, what it's about is making a goddamn impact. I don't know if you could see this here, but I have a gold word to my right you can't. But on the bottom now I wrote this January 1st of 2023. On the bottom here it says if it was easy, everyone would. And then it goes ellipses. You know the three dots. It says make a fucking impact, because that's what I want to do. I want to make a fucking impact, and not just monetarily. Now, sure, what's Austin Glick? I'm not going to cast Austin in the transcap, but what's Austin Glazer's long-term vision? My vision is to be retired 15 years. Yeah, easily. Golf course every day, up a vodka. I get excited just thinking about it.

That's amazing. So I wanted to ask you, man because you found where you're best serving right, you found where you're at your flow state your A game, the golf course, the networking event man, how does one start finding their zone of genius, as you could, as someone would call it, so that they can start making progress faster? Because a lot of times we're taught code code, email, DMs, social media videos, shorts. There's so many strategies and ways to get to a certain level of success. You found yours and you start just running with it now and that's making you go a lot faster and then a lot further. And so it's like how does one start to find their zone of genius?

today you can start propelling their journey, that's a tough question because, like you said, the golf course. But let me tell you something I was just starting out in this business. I would be at my desk grinding and I'd be doing everything it took to get leads in the door. Because the thing is, when you start insurance, for example, what is giving? I mean, some companies do, but they take, give you a shit commission For me, like I'm out there busting my ass or at least I used to bust my ass to get leads in the door. Now I'm so established that I figured out ways to capitalize on it and that's why you see me on the golf course. I joined a private country club on the most prestigious club in the Westchester and I play golf with people that I do business with or people that I want to do business with. That's the trick. Okay, now is there a for someone getting in the business? You better not be on the golf course every day. I wouldn't let you work for me. I've heard that right. But I think that for someone I mean, I think it's the same answer Find a mentor, like don't go about this yourself. Like there are people that are better than you that are doing it. There are people that are better than me that are doing it, and I talk to that every day. You know like I talk, you know listen. Here's someone was told I got a sales coach recently and you know what he said to me. That blew my mind. Do you know, john, michael Jordan, you've been out of sales coach. Oh sorry, michael Jordan out of shooting coach. Yeah not to find a mentor. Find a mentor because, that's true, your coach isn't better than Michael Jordan. Maybe he is, but he's not, because there are other facets that make you you. But if someone could teach you how to excel and get there faster, what are you doing? Working harder to not be smart, you know?

Yeah, a hundred percent. I was in. You dropped a lot of amazing nuggets, man. We got into your story, man. We got into talking about sales a little bit. We got into talking about public speaking communication, the grit that it takes to succeed as an entrepreneur. We talked about a lot of amazing things. Man Work, we find you out. Where can we go to to keep up with you and your journey and potentially work with you as well with Safe Shield? Man.

Type in Austin, the insurance guy glaze her on Google.

I guarantee you I pop up everything you could want to see Amazing, nice and easy. Now it's time for our favorite side of questions man. Question number one what is the most impactful lesson you've learned in life?

Impactful lesson I've learned in life is recently, and that's everybody has a story. It's those who know how to tell it are the greatest.

What is the most admirable trait a person can have Most?

admirable trait that a person can have is being a sputch, the ability to learn and being able to be great, but by listening, being coachable.

If you had to change someone's life but you only had one book, which book would you recommend?

That's what they're getting into. But I would say Straight Line Selling by Jordan Balfour, and when I always tell people and I've bought this for every single person that's ever worked for me years and years we're not selling petty stocks and we're not doing anything illegal. But Jordan Balfour was a sales wizard and he teaches you things that you need to know. But I have a number two. I know you only asked one, one, one two, the number two.

I'd give you rich that cordac because it teaches you to think what is the legacy that you're trying to leave behind? You kind of hit it already, but just to summarize it, man, what's the legacy you're trying to?

leave behind John. The legacy I want to leave behind is for my kids. I want to give them the life that I didn't have and I want to make. I want Austin Glazer on my headstone one day. I wanted to say renowned father, renowned friend, renowned husband and kick ass, fucking insurance guy. How?

about it? Huh, I was waiting for him, man. I was waiting for it. I'm gonna finish off, man. For anyone that wants to embark on their Walk to Wealth today, what is the first step you recommend they take? Take the first step.

You've now finished taking the first step. Now let us help you take the next one. Subscribe to our newsletter at walktowealthcom. That's Walk the Number Two, wealthcom, so we can keep you moving on your journey. We'll see you on the next episode of Walk to Wealth with John Mendes.