Latest / Elevate The Hustle / Ep.38 Operations Bores Me”: The Producer Who Became an Agency Owner

Transcript

Ep.38 Operations Bores Me”: The Producer Who Became an Agency Owner · Elevate The Hustle

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_00: I guess the biggest challenge was um learning the insurance industry as an owner more than anything because I was a producer and new insurance and knew how to sell.
• 0:09
  SPEAKER_00: That was the easy part.
• 0:10
  SPEAKER_00: Um everything else was the hard part.
• 0:13
  SPEAKER_02: Elevate the hustle.
• 0:20
  SPEAKER_01: Welcome to Elevate the Hustle, where we break down what it actually means to build teams, scale companies, and lead with intensity.
• 0:26
  SPEAKER_01: I'm your host, Dan Mayton.
• 0:28
  SPEAKER_02: I'm Don Picharillo, and today we are lucky to have Daniel Rojas, excuse me, from Lime Street Insurance.
• 0:36
  SPEAKER_02: He brings over two decades of commercial insurance experience, which actually has me beat.
• 0:43
  SPEAKER_02: So I'm looking forward to learning something from you today, Daniel.
• 0:47
  SPEAKER_01: Daniel, well welcome to Elevate the Hustle.
• 0:50
  SPEAKER_01: Round of applause for Danny.
• 0:52
  SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna ask you my my first question I ask everybody.
• 0:56
  SPEAKER_01: What does the word hustle mean to you?
• 1:00
  SPEAKER_00: Hustle.
• 1:00
  SPEAKER_00: Uh for me, I think it's uh you know, not giving up nonstop, you know, keep going.
• 1:07
  SPEAKER_00: Uh that's kind of what you have to do not only in life, but in this industry.
• 1:11
  SPEAKER_00: So you gotta keep going, man.
• 1:12
  SPEAKER_00: Hustle.
• 1:13
  SPEAKER_01: And uh did you always know you were a hustler?
• 1:16
  SPEAKER_01: Did did it start out at a at a young age?
• 1:18
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah, it did.
• 1:20
  SPEAKER_00: Um I was into sports very early on.
• 1:23
  SPEAKER_00: So I think sports brings a lot of that hustle, you know, competitiveness and and winning and going after it.
• 1:30
  SPEAKER_00: So yeah, yeah, I would say so.
• 1:32
  SPEAKER_00: Very sports, four or five years old.
• 1:35
  SPEAKER_00: In the beginning, I played everything.
• 1:37
  SPEAKER_00: Um, you know, uh soccer, you know, football, uh basketball, but I ended up really liking tennis.
• 1:45
  SPEAKER_00: And uh I played that until like middle school, until ninth grade, and then tenth grade is when I started uh volleyball and uh tenth through uh through my senior year, and that that was my favorite sport by far.
• 1:59
  SPEAKER_01: What what position were you?
• 2:00
  SPEAKER_01: Were you the uh not not that I know exactly?
• 2:03
  SPEAKER_00: I know setter, so that's really smart period like me.
• 2:08
  SPEAKER_00: I you know I didn't even know how to play really that well.
• 2:11
  SPEAKER_00: I just I jumped high and then I was you know getting taller.
• 2:14
  SPEAKER_00: Um they put me a setter in varsity.
• 2:17
  SPEAKER_00: So I started in varsity.
• 2:19
  SPEAKER_00: The next year, my junior year, they put me an outside hitter.
• 2:22
  SPEAKER_00: And then my senior year, I was middle.
• 2:24
  SPEAKER_00: And uh, you know, I'm six feet tall.
• 2:25
  SPEAKER_00: So for you know, when you play in college and competitive volleyball, that's that's not that tall.
• 2:31
  SPEAKER_00: So uh, but in but here in Miami, there's there's a lot of you know shorter people down here.
• 2:37
  SPEAKER_00: So we uh I I played middle my my senior year.
• 2:40
  SPEAKER_01: You know, it it's funny because like my favorite part about hosting this podcast and this show is that we obviously interview, you know, people from all walks of life, and you know, they they they have a common theme, which is um usually entrepreneurship and owning your own business, whether it's an insurance company or some sort of other company.
• 3:00
  SPEAKER_01: And sports is like there there's a lot there's a lot of there's a lot of athletes, right?
• 3:05
  SPEAKER_01: Or a lot of competitive people.
• 3:07
  SPEAKER_01: And I I think uh the desire to win is extremely important for somebody that wants to go out there and and build a business.
• 3:19
  SPEAKER_01: You agree?
• 3:20
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, because you know, and just like sports, you're gonna lose, you know, there's gonna be times that you're not gonna win every game.
• 3:24
  SPEAKER_00: And I think if you don't have that that will to win, you're gonna give up.
• 3:29
  SPEAKER_00: You're gonna you're gonna go home and pack up and and uh after losing a couple.
• 3:34
  SPEAKER_00: But like life, business, same thing.
• 3:36
  SPEAKER_00: It's a roller coaster.
• 3:37
  SPEAKER_00: It goes up and down, you have your good good days and bad days.
• 3:40
  SPEAKER_00: So so I think that definitely helps uh being in sports and and having that, you know, early on.
• 3:44
  SPEAKER_00: So I'm trying to teach that to to the kids now, but uh you know, they're not as uh athletic yet.
• 3:50
  SPEAKER_00: I'm I'm trying to get them to to join in.
• 3:53
  SPEAKER_00: Some as the boy is, he's doing jujitsu, but the girls are more into art.
• 3:57
  SPEAKER_00: So but I think that you know any kind of sport will help.
• 3:59
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe you'll get up to tennis or volleyball.
• 4:01
  SPEAKER_00: That's a good good sport for the girls as well.
• 4:03
  SPEAKER_02: Golf is good too for the girls.
• 4:04
  SPEAKER_02: And my daughter is for taking golf lessons.
• 4:07
  SPEAKER_02: That's a good one.
• 4:09
  SPEAKER_01: That's a good one.
• 4:10
  SPEAKER_01: What whatever, whatever, whatever works, right?
• 4:12
  SPEAKER_01: Everybody has to find their own pathway.
• 4:14
  SPEAKER_01: So how did you get into the wonderful world of insurance?
• 4:18
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so like everybody else that you probably interviewed, it was an accident kind of thing.
• 4:22
  SPEAKER_01: Uh that that's the other common theme with what would insurance folks.
• 4:27
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I I pretty much did not know what insurance really was.
• 4:30
  SPEAKER_00: You know, uh I I I I studied business administration at the University of Florida.
• 4:36
  SPEAKER_00: They didn't even have an insurance class for business administration at that time when I graduated, you know, when I went to school.
• 4:42
  SPEAKER_00: So it kind of blew my mind a little bit.
• 4:45
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but my my ex-wife's uncle was an attorney for a very well-known, reputable, reputable company down here, insurance agency in Coconut Grove, uh called ConCarlin.
• 5:00
  SPEAKER_00: And I was, I graduated, I didn't, I could have gone into anything.
• 5:03
  SPEAKER_00: I interviewed with a bunch of companies, real estate, I mean, you name it.
• 5:07
  SPEAKER_00: And um, and I kind of like he said, hey, they're they're looking for a new agent, producer, salesperson for commercial insurance.
• 5:17
  SPEAKER_00: Um, wanted to interview with them.
• 5:19
  SPEAKER_00: And I have no, I had no idea what I was doing.
• 5:20
  SPEAKER_00: So I kind of went in there, and obviously the one of the owners, Mr.
• 5:24
  SPEAKER_00: Kahn, was uh a gator.
• 5:25
  SPEAKER_00: Also, he he went to UF when it was all male school.
• 5:28
  SPEAKER_00: That's how old he was, you know.
• 5:31
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, but man, this guy was like a grandfather to me.
• 5:34
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, he was he was such a cool, cool dude um in his 70s.
• 5:39
  SPEAKER_00: And um, I interviewed a I I kind of I I had two job offers, one going into like real estate mortgage, uh, and I ended up liking the people more than anything in the uh in Concarland.
• 5:52
  SPEAKER_00: And I said, you know what, I'm gonna give insurance a shot.
• 5:54
  SPEAKER_00: Thank God I did that because then you know we had a recession right after.
• 5:58
  SPEAKER_00: So and insurance is very resilient.
• 6:01
  SPEAKER_00: I that was my first, you know, right when I got into insurance, I there was four hurricanes that hit Florida of 2004.
• 6:08
  SPEAKER_00: And that's when I started, June 1st, 2004.
• 6:10
  SPEAKER_00: So I think I was like a couple months into the to the to the business, and uh here comes four hurricanes that hit Florida, and the market down here kind of tanked and was horrible.
• 6:20
  SPEAKER_00: Premiums going up like crazy, you know, carriers pulling out.
• 6:24
  SPEAKER_00: So I kind of thought, you know, if I could survive this, I'll be good.
• 6:28
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but it was very resilient, you know, during COVID pandemic as well.
• 6:32
  SPEAKER_00: I was fine.
• 6:33
  SPEAKER_00: It was it's uh it's definitely a great industry to be in, you know, right now.
• 6:36
  SPEAKER_00: So that's how I got into insurance.
• 6:38
  SPEAKER_00: It was kind of just hey, you know, I know somebody that's looking to hire, and and I got in.
• 6:43
  SPEAKER_02: What were the early days like for you?
• 6:45
  SPEAKER_02: So was it like smile and dial, you're making a hundred calls a day?
• 6:49
  SPEAKER_02: Are you like door knocking?
• 6:51
  SPEAKER_02: Like how did you end up building up your your book of business?
• 6:54
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so there was there was definitely three things that I did.
• 6:57
  SPEAKER_00: Um, you know, the beginning, they so I was the first this this company agency was in business for like 40 years before I got there.
• 7:04
  SPEAKER_00: So around there.
• 7:05
  SPEAKER_00: So they were, you know, they're they've been around.
• 7:08
  SPEAKER_00: They had about 50 employees, and um they they had some really good producers, uh agents um that were just very insurance knowledgeable.
• 7:18
  SPEAKER_00: Like they had they were like I caused one my mentor, John Walther, like the human encyclopedia for insurance because uh he really did know a lot.
• 7:28
  SPEAKER_00: Um so the the issue I had is that they since I was brand new, they've never hired a brand new producer, they've always hired people with experience from other agencies.
• 7:37
  SPEAKER_00: Uh they didn't really have a process, you know, like like a sales process.
• 7:42
  SPEAKER_00: And I think that was my biggest hurdle starting off.
• 7:45
  SPEAKER_00: Um, because I learned insurance quickly and I got it and I liked it.
• 7:50
  SPEAKER_00: The terms, everything was, you know, I read up on it, it was great.
• 7:53
  SPEAKER_00: But the sales part is where I think um I didn't get initial kind of help on.
• 8:00
  SPEAKER_00: Um and it was just difficult to to grasp.
• 8:03
  SPEAKER_00: But yeah, we, you know, I was doing the networking right off the bat after I got my license.
• 8:08
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I did the co-calling and I did the walk-ins, just walking in to go to Gorral or somewhere, knock and try to get, you know, try to get business.
• 8:17
  SPEAKER_00: For me, the number one thing that's always worked has been networking.
• 8:19
  SPEAKER_00: Um, a hundred percent.
• 8:21
  SPEAKER_00: That's just meeting people, talking to them, whether it be, you know, uh circles of influence like attorneys, um real estate brokers, anything that, you know, anybody that can kind of help me in any industry.
• 8:33
  SPEAKER_00: So that has been really throughout the years the best, uh, the best way to get business for me.
• 8:39
  SPEAKER_01: And and if you wanna, is there a point in time kind of going back in time?
• 8:44
  SPEAKER_01: You know, did you have like some sort of jobs or where you learned that skill from, or did you kind of have to figure it out on the fly?
• 8:51
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 8:51
  SPEAKER_00: So the way that so where my life really changed.
• 8:53
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, I I was there and I learned, you know, it was good.
• 8:56
  SPEAKER_00: We were I wasn't doing bad.
• 8:57
  SPEAKER_00: I just wasn't, you know, killing it either.
• 8:59
  SPEAKER_00: Um, what really changed, I think it was by around my seventh year.
• 9:03
  SPEAKER_00: So it took a while to build, you know, but the first two years was just learning, you know, it was it was three years of learning.
• 9:09
  SPEAKER_00: It's it, you know, I think insurance is there's a very high learning curve when it comes to it, especially when you do commercial only insurance.
• 9:17
  SPEAKER_00: And I think that you know, a lot of people give up before they they get to that point of really getting it.
• 9:23
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so for me, it was they hired uh a marketing representative from uh Brown and Brown, you know, one of the the big the big boys out there, and um, and he brought the sales culture, you know, uh with him.
• 9:37
  SPEAKER_00: And you know, when he kind of came in and he said, This is what you got to do sales-wise, you know, then everything changed.
• 9:45
  SPEAKER_00: Um, you know, within two years, I was able to double my book of business.
• 9:49
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and it took a lot of work.
• 9:51
  SPEAKER_00: I, you know, I had to let go of a lot of smaller accounts that I that I used to write, you know, when I first started.
• 9:57
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I had to let go of that, those clients and and focus on on the bigger fish, I guess we could say.
• 10:04
  SPEAKER_00: And once I did that, it was a sacrifice because I lost income.
• 10:07
  SPEAKER_00: I just had to give it away.
• 10:09
  SPEAKER_00: But um it freed up my time to go after, you know, larger accounts and more profitable accounts.
• 10:13
  SPEAKER_01: And do you think that's like trial and error or or is that you know, like because a lot of people do things on a day-to-day basis and they kind of they're, you know, I don't want, I guess they're not self-aware enough, right?
• 10:26
  SPEAKER_01: They're like, oh, I've been doing this the same way for the last two years and you know, I'm making money.
• 10:30
  SPEAKER_01: I I don't know if there's a better way.
• 10:32
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I drank the Kool-Aid, you know, I guess you can say when he came in, he he sold it to me.
• 10:37
  SPEAKER_00: Um and and he's he just told me this is what you gotta do.
• 10:40
  SPEAKER_00: You know, you gotta you gotta stop working on these small first of all, you gotta stop bringing them in and and and working on the smaller accounts.
• 10:47
  SPEAKER_00: Really nothing under 50,000 in premium a year, you know, just focus on the larger stuff.
• 10:52
  SPEAKER_00: Um and and I I just I just trusted him, you know.
• 10:55
  SPEAKER_00: Uh we became friends.
• 10:57
  SPEAKER_00: I still talk to him now.
• 10:57
  SPEAKER_00: He's a locked in um Rick Alfred.
• 11:00
  SPEAKER_00: And you know, he's changed.
• 11:01
  SPEAKER_00: I always tell him like you changed my life, you know, because you really taught me that that portion of it.
• 11:06
  SPEAKER_00: And uh and I got a little bit of every from every every producer there, everybody that worked in that.
• 11:10
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I didn't realize how good of an agency they were um until I started hearing about it, you know, in town.
• 11:17
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, they insured Greenberg Troy, one of the largest law firms in in the country, in the world, you know, uh, when it was like five employees, you know, four employees.
• 11:25
  SPEAKER_00: So the people there really knew what they were doing.
• 11:28
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so it was just uh it was good to have that, you know, that mentorship.
• 11:32
  SPEAKER_00: And that's kind of like what I tried to do now is pass that down as well.
• 11:35
  SPEAKER_00: Um, you know, I've I've worked at the boutique, I've worked at a larger national agency and now on my own.
• 11:40
  SPEAKER_00: So it's kind of uh it's kind of crazy how that works, but trying to pass it down now.
• 11:45
  SPEAKER_01: What about so so you you were there for how many years?
• 11:48
  SPEAKER_01: 13 years, if I'm not mistaken?
• 11:49
  SPEAKER_00: Uh 12 years.
• 11:50
  SPEAKER_00: It was 12 years with Con Carlin.
• 11:52
  SPEAKER_00: Um, you know, the owners passed away.
• 11:55
  SPEAKER_00: Uh there were like when I got there, they were in their 70s already.
• 11:58
  SPEAKER_00: Um and um and shortly after that, um the the the two individuals that took over, they they were working there since they were like 17.
• 12:07
  SPEAKER_00: So they've been there for many, many years.
• 12:09
  SPEAKER_00: They took over.
• 12:10
  SPEAKER_00: And during that time, the you know, the recession was still kind of hurting everybody.
• 12:14
  SPEAKER_00: So we we weren't really growing.
• 12:16
  SPEAKER_00: Um and I think after like about three years after they passed away is when they decided to sell uh the agency to Risk Strategies and new owners.
• 12:26
  SPEAKER_00: And um, and that's kind of another big change, you know, that happened.
• 12:31
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and I stayed with Risk Strategies for another four years um before you know finally going on my own.
• 12:38
  SPEAKER_01: Did did you want to do it right away?
• 12:40
  SPEAKER_00: Was what was it always like I think yeah, I think for me the the turning point was when ConCarlin uh sold to Risk Strategies.
• 12:50
  SPEAKER_00: Uh they gave us two weeks to sign over paperwork for a new contract.
• 12:54
  SPEAKER_00: And at that time, that was the first time I ever felt that had no control over my future kind of thing.
• 13:00
  SPEAKER_00: Because I was like, okay, these guys are just taking over, telling me I gotta sign, and uh like it or not, if not get out of here.
• 13:07
  SPEAKER_00: So I was um, you know, at that point I kind of did some research and and I decided to stay.
• 13:13
  SPEAKER_00: Um, because they did offer stock options, which you know, at that time I didn't even know if they were worth anything, but um, I decided to stay.
• 13:21
  SPEAKER_00: But at that point is when I for those, even those four years that I stayed, there was always in the back of my head, you know, should I do this on my own?
• 13:28
  SPEAKER_00: Let's, you know, and I started this kind of just doing research on that.
• 13:32
  SPEAKER_00: And and it was always there, it was always like uh something telling me to do it.
• 13:36
  SPEAKER_00: And um, so I I but I learned a lot staying at Risk Strategies because you know, I learned how the big boys do it, they have much more resources, bigger accounts, national accounts that I worked on.
• 13:47
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so it was really good kind of getting that experience and learning from a lot of other very knowledgeable great people.
• 13:55
  SPEAKER_00: Uh the CEO was great, John Mino.
• 13:57
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, he's he he ran that company very well and and they did very well.
• 14:01
  SPEAKER_00: So um, so it was great.
• 14:03
  SPEAKER_00: No regrets, you know, staying.
• 14:05
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and that actually helped me start my own my own company once I was able to cash out and kind of kind of get out there.
• 14:11
  SPEAKER_00: So um, so it was, you know, I have really the I I believe everything happens for a reason, and that's kind of how how it happened for me.
• 14:18
  SPEAKER_00: And um, and then the timing of when I left, it was, you know, uh COVID hit, you know, the pandemic in 2020.
• 14:25
  SPEAKER_01: I was I was just about to say that November 2020.
• 14:28
  SPEAKER_01: That's uh peak COVID season, right?
• 14:30
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so I was gonna do it earlier, but then COVID kind of you know came on board in in March is when they shut down everything.
• 14:37
  SPEAKER_00: So uh I kind of delayed a little bit the process.
• 14:41
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and I had three little kids around that time, three kids three and under at that point.
• 14:46
  SPEAKER_00: Uh crazy.
• 14:48
  SPEAKER_00: And my wife didn't work, she she had quit right before COVID because she was a teacher.
• 14:52
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm like, you know, as a teacher, you have three kids in daycare, that's your whole salary, pretty much after taxes.
• 14:58
  SPEAKER_00: So we decided uh the math ain't working.
• 15:00
  SPEAKER_00: So let's uh, you know, stay home with the kids.
• 15:03
  SPEAKER_00: And um it worked out.
• 15:05
  SPEAKER_00: But you know, at that point is when I sat with her and we're like, okay, what do I do?
• 15:09
  SPEAKER_00: I wanted to do this, I had everything kind of going that in that route.
• 15:14
  SPEAKER_00: And you know, thank thank God she she kind of backed me up.
• 15:16
  SPEAKER_00: I wouldn't be able to do it without her.
• 15:18
  SPEAKER_00: She said, just do it.
• 15:19
  SPEAKER_00: You know, let's go, let's let's get it done.
• 15:21
  SPEAKER_00: And I think um, you know, I just jumped in and I think the the one thing it's you know, it's everything's scary, right?
• 15:26
  SPEAKER_00: When you do something like that, especially with everything shut down, you know, you didn't really uh you didn't know what's gonna happen.
• 15:33
  SPEAKER_00: But you know, I still had a lot of calls.
• 15:35
  SPEAKER_00: I was talking to clients every day because a lot of them were calling me to see if their claims were were covered because they were being shut down by the government, which they weren't.
• 15:42
  SPEAKER_00: So um, so that was, you know, so I I kind of had confidence that, you know, what's the worst that can happen if if I fail, I could just get a job somewhere else, you know, as a producer.
• 15:52
  SPEAKER_00: Uh I know I know how to do that part.
• 15:54
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so it was it was kind of like a calculated risk.
• 15:57
  SPEAKER_00: You know, we had paid off all our debt, we had sold a house, you know, as well right before COVID in January 2020.
• 16:05
  SPEAKER_00: So every all the steps we took was were kind of leading to this point.
• 16:08
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so I didn't want to wait anymore.
• 16:10
  SPEAKER_00: You know, it's kind of like, let's just do it.
• 16:12
  SPEAKER_00: And um and right away, the the biggest thing that I noticed is just um, you know, I was gonna spend money on ads and co-calling, you know, somebody co-calling for me and that kind of stuff.
• 16:24
  SPEAKER_00: So I noticed within three months I stopped spending money on that because of all the referrals that were coming in.
• 16:31
  SPEAKER_00: Uh when I when I put it out there that I was leaving in LinkedIn and and told people the amount of uh just support that I received from my contacts, my network, my community, it was just unbelievable.
• 16:44
  SPEAKER_00: I was able to do more that first year and the second year than I've ever done in new business, you know, my entire career.
• 16:50
  SPEAKER_00: So up to then.
• 16:51
  SPEAKER_00: So and during COVID, you know, so it was pretty it's pretty cool how people came out of nowhere to support you when they figured out that you know you jumped and into to the abyss of entrepreneurship.
• 17:02
  SPEAKER_00: So um, and as you guys know, it's not, it's like uh you know, jumping out of a plane while you're building a parachute on the way down.
• 17:11
  SPEAKER_00: Who quoted that?
• 17:12
  SPEAKER_01: I know there's an author that quoted that, but it's it's true, you know, it's kind of pretty accurate, pretty accurate there.
• 17:18
  SPEAKER_00: To know what I didn't know, you know.
• 17:19
  SPEAKER_00: So I was just learning a lot.
• 17:21
  SPEAKER_00: I was doing my own COIs, I was doing everything for the first year on my own.
• 17:24
  SPEAKER_00: And so I was able to hire my first employee uh after the first year.
• 17:28
  SPEAKER_00: What was the biggest challenge you had when you first started out?
• 17:31
  SPEAKER_00: I guess the biggest challenge was um, you know, just learning the insurance industry as an owner more than anything, because I was a producer and new insurance, I knew how to sell.
• 17:42
  SPEAKER_00: That was the easy part.
• 17:44
  SPEAKER_00: Um, everything else was the hard part.
• 17:46
  SPEAKER_00: Like um, you know, the how to how to have the process and the workflow.
• 17:51
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm still kind of dealing with that right now, especially now with AI coming on board, you know.
• 17:56
  SPEAKER_00: Uh just that part of it is not my thing.
• 18:00
  SPEAKER_00: You know, it's really hard.
• 18:02
  SPEAKER_00: My brain does not get it.
• 18:03
  SPEAKER_00: I'm more of a sales marketing kind of guy.
• 18:06
  SPEAKER_00: And um, the operations and that just, you know, it's tough.
• 18:11
  SPEAKER_00: Bores me.
• 18:11
  SPEAKER_00: I don't like it, I'm not good at it.
• 18:14
  SPEAKER_00: So it's kind of it was one of those things, and that's kind of led leads a little bit.
• 18:17
  SPEAKER_00: I know you might ask me later, how I got into a merger with my my current friend uh Javi Javier uh to create Lime Street, is because at that point, after you know, five years of of LJ risk advisors, um I kind of I was at the point that I'm like, okay, I have four, I think four employees at that time.
• 18:37
  SPEAKER_00: I'm like, either I hire an operations manager to help out with all that, because I can't anymore.
• 18:43
  SPEAKER_00: And at that time is when I ran into hobby again after a couple of years not seeing him.
• 18:48
  SPEAKER_00: And um and he already had an operations manager, you know, in his company.
• 18:54
  SPEAKER_00: And uh and it just worked out, you know, it was one of those things we started talking again, and he they do, you know, he does uh homeowners, which I never did homeowners, uh personal lines.
• 19:05
  SPEAKER_00: I never did uh group benefits, health insurance.
• 19:08
  SPEAKER_00: Um he had a department that his wife uh runs as well for that.
• 19:12
  SPEAKER_00: So it was just a great, you know, great time to kind of let's let's talk about this, let's see if we can get together and and you know have a lot of commercial clients that really need that, you know, need the the health insurance and need the homeowners.
• 19:24
  SPEAKER_00: So um it was just great timing, you know, to kind of do that.
• 19:27
  SPEAKER_00: And now we've been eight months into it.
• 19:30
  SPEAKER_00: Uh so far we're you know, we're in the honeymoon stage, everything's great so far, growing, hiring good people.
• 19:37
  SPEAKER_01: It's gonna continue to be great.
• 19:39
  SPEAKER_01: Let's keep the positive.
• 19:40
  SPEAKER_02: We're still in the honeymoon phase.
• 19:43
  SPEAKER_01: Dom and I still get along.
• 19:44
  SPEAKER_01: It's okay.
• 19:45
  SPEAKER_01: You'll be all right.
• 19:47
  SPEAKER_01: So, so Danny, I mean, I I think you hit on something, right?
• 19:52
  SPEAKER_01: Where you know, you've been at a company for whatever it was, 12, 13 years.
• 19:57
  SPEAKER_01: You knew how to sell insurance, right?
• 19:59
  SPEAKER_01: You knew how to speak the language, you knew how to deliver the right product to your customers, but now you're getting into this whole, you know, ownership, right?
• 20:11
  SPEAKER_01: And then like one thing, one thing I like to, especially with insurance agency owners, I I love to have the conversation and they're like, oh, you know, business is great, we're growing, everything is amazing.
• 20:22
  SPEAKER_01: And then it's like, tell me about you know some of the things you're working on.
• 20:26
  SPEAKER_01: And then you really quickly are able to tell that they're working in the business and not on the business.
• 20:33
  SPEAKER_01: And you're sharing that from first hand, right?
• 20:35
  SPEAKER_01: Like, oh yeah, that's a struggle.
• 20:37
  SPEAKER_01: That's a struggle for I don't want to say everybody, but probably a lot of other companies, a lot of other agency owners, you know, same size as you, right?
• 20:45
  SPEAKER_01: Similar geographic areas.
• 20:47
  SPEAKER_00: 100%.
• 20:48
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 20:48
  SPEAKER_00: I think um that's always a struggle for everybody.
• 20:51
  SPEAKER_00: And so you're able to scale and kind of get yourself out of the picture more and more.
• 20:55
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I I like that part of it though.
• 20:57
  SPEAKER_00: I like going out there and winning an account, you know.
• 21:01
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I don't think I'll ever stop doing that.
• 21:04
  SPEAKER_00: Um, you know, I'm definitely being more picky and choose choosing who I work with on in that regard.
• 21:11
  SPEAKER_00: Uh now that we have the backup, you know, now we that we have the VAs as well to help, you know, uh virtual assistance, the operations.
• 21:20
  SPEAKER_00: Um I was doing everything, the payroll, you know, you name it, health insurance, the renewal for the employees, everything.
• 21:26
  SPEAKER_00: So now that I have help, um really more focused on um, you know, trying to still grow by getting more business, but eventually is kind of getting more salespeople, right?
• 21:36
  SPEAKER_00: More producers, uh, mentor them or just get producers that are really established already with these larger firms that are merging and just not happy, you know.
• 21:46
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so we'll see.
• 21:47
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, it's definitely oh I think it's always gonna be a work in progress.
• 21:51
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but the goal is to what I saw when I first started with Con Carlin, quick story with Mr.
• 21:57
  SPEAKER_00: Khan.
• 21:58
  SPEAKER_00: He would come in 7 30 in the morning.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_00: Read his paper, put jazz music on in his office.
• 22:04
  SPEAKER_00: He'd be there, you know, until nine o'clock.
• 22:07
  SPEAKER_00: He'd get on the phone with his broker in New York, start trading stocks.
• 22:11
  SPEAKER_00: He would actually, during the recession, we had a profit sharing plan, okay, which you don't hear about anymore.
• 22:19
  SPEAKER_00: And during the recession, he was getting like 21% returns on our profit sharing plan.
• 22:24
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so I'm like, this guy knew knows what he was doing.
• 22:26
  SPEAKER_01: He was in the wrong business.
• 22:29
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, yeah, he was he was killing it, man.
• 22:31
  SPEAKER_00: And uh, so we were very happy.
• 22:33
  SPEAKER_00: I was like, wow, this thing's awesome.
• 22:34
  SPEAKER_00: You know, they're putting 7% of my income into this profit sharing plan, and it's growing 21%.
• 22:39
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but he did it the right way.
• 22:41
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, he would come in um and and he would have lunch with us.
• 22:46
  SPEAKER_00: He would actually take all the producers out to lunch, pay for it every day.
• 22:51
  SPEAKER_00: And uh he'd sit with us, talk with us.
• 22:53
  SPEAKER_00: He was out by 2:30.
• 22:55
  SPEAKER_00: He'd go home and take a nap.
• 22:57
  SPEAKER_00: And then 5 36, he'd go out to uh, you know, he would go to seafood restaurant here, Captain's Tavern, all the time to kind of uh just eat and network it with his friends and kind of do that.
• 23:08
  SPEAKER_00: And let me tell you, the the phone never stopped ringing.
• 23:12
  SPEAKER_00: He would get referrals all the time and he would pass it down to me or to other producers and um, you know, from from everywhere, from people from New York and, you know, uh just all over the place.
• 23:23
  SPEAKER_00: It was pretty interesting.
• 23:23
  SPEAKER_00: So my goal is to kind of be Mr.
• 23:25
  SPEAKER_00: Khan, you know, in the future is kind of have this thing running pretty much it ran by itself at that point.
• 23:31
  SPEAKER_00: Uh he wasn't really he would he he made the high-level decisions, which is kind of where where I want to get to as well.
• 23:37
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but he had the right staff, he had the right people, you know, running the the agency and and still out there selling.
• 23:43
  SPEAKER_00: And um, so that's kind of like I saw it at work, it worked, and I'm like, that's where I that's my goal.
• 23:49
  SPEAKER_00: That's where I want to go.
• 23:50
  SPEAKER_02: So it's amazing that you were able to find someone that you could look up to at an early like age that helped shape your career like that.
• 24:01
  SPEAKER_02: And to have I think I'm sure if he heard you say that you aspired to to be like him, it would be very meaningful.
• 24:10
  SPEAKER_00: For that, for sure.
• 24:11
  SPEAKER_02: One of the big themes that we keep hearing on the show is people.
• 24:15
  SPEAKER_02: You mentioned that he had the right people in place.
• 24:18
  SPEAKER_02: Like for you when you're hiring or when you're building out your team, like what are you looking for?
• 24:24
  SPEAKER_02: And what are some of the you know, like success stories, and I guess more importantly, some of the failures you've you may have had when trying to hire people?
• 24:33
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so I think with with people, uh, that's really the hardest part of a business owner is dealing with people.
• 24:39
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I think, um, different personalities, and and I get along with everybody for the most part.
• 24:44
  SPEAKER_00: So it's even harder because when there's tough decisions you gotta make, it it makes it more difficult.
• 24:49
  SPEAKER_00: But um, good people are hard to find, especially nowadays.
• 24:54
  SPEAKER_00: So I think for it's you know, the good thing is that all this merger and acquisition has really brought opportunity for us as a small, smaller agency.
• 25:03
  SPEAKER_00: We just hired somebody, uh started Wednesday that you know, she she's awesome, you know, at what she does as an account manager.
• 25:11
  SPEAKER_00: And um, and we wouldn't be able to get her, you know, she was at she was there 21 years at her old old agency.
• 25:18
  SPEAKER_00: So we weren't able to get her if she wasn't happy over there anymore because of a sale of the agency.
• 25:22
  SPEAKER_00: So um then she's now with us.
• 25:25
  SPEAKER_00: So I think I think a lot of this these changes are a brand opportunity for us.
• 25:30
  SPEAKER_00: We just have to jump on it.
• 25:31
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but I think, you know, uh learning how to kind of uh deal with that change and and who to kind of right put the right people on the bus, right?
• 25:42
  SPEAKER_00: You know, on the right seat also.
• 25:44
  SPEAKER_00: I think that's the hardest thing to do is to really figure that out.
• 25:48
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and it takes time.
• 25:49
  SPEAKER_00: Sometimes we're we we we'll do that.
• 25:51
  SPEAKER_00: We'll put somebody here to do this, and then we're like, oh my god, no, we we need to uh we need to kind of move that person back to where they were.
• 25:57
  SPEAKER_00: You gotta move the puzzle the puzzle pieces.
• 26:01
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so that's been really tough.
• 26:03
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but I think now like we got it.
• 26:05
  SPEAKER_00: Like we were just talking about that, Javi and I.
• 26:07
  SPEAKER_00: We're like, man, you know, I think we we're finally getting there.
• 26:10
  SPEAKER_00: We have awesome people, we've had to make changes, uh difficult choices, but um, I think we have the right people, the right support.
• 26:18
  SPEAKER_00: And now it's really trying to find the right salespeople, you know.
• 26:21
  SPEAKER_00: I think that's our next thing to do.
• 26:24
  SPEAKER_00: And uh, you know, this whole thing with AI as well has been very um overwhelming.
• 26:29
  SPEAKER_00: You know, there's so many things you read about and and what to do there.
• 26:32
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm sure that probably if you know you guys are thinking about that as well in your industry.
• 26:36
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so that's another thing that's coming down the pipeline that we're kind of you know just staying on top of to see what happens there with that in our industry.
• 26:44
  SPEAKER_00: And I and I, you know, the the agencies with the larger uh, you know, uh bank accounts, they're able to probably invest more in that now and insurance companies as well.
• 26:55
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so we're just kind of staying abreast as to what they're doing and maybe, you know, kind of copying a little bit of what they may be doing uh a little bit as well.
• 27:04
  SPEAKER_00: But we're also trying to do our own, our own thing, you know, and trying to see, you know, maybe if we do this, it'll give us an a competitive advantage, you know, as well, um, make us more efficient.
• 27:16
  SPEAKER_01: So one thing you said is, you know, your next goal is to kind of go out and hire more salespeople, right?
• 27:22
  SPEAKER_01: More producers, and and it seems like you want to take some of the things you learned with your previous uh boss and you know, plug those in.
• 27:33
  SPEAKER_01: What what what's what's a sales pitch to to you know the the producers out there listening?
• 27:39
  SPEAKER_01: Why should they come work for you as opposed to you know the 30,000 other agencies out there?
• 27:44
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so I think I I did learn a lesson early on um with I hired two very uh young young producers um with no experience in commercial uh retail side agency.
• 27:58
  SPEAKER_00: Um and uh and I spent you know good good about two years mentoring them and spent a lot of time, you know, it was almost like I was producing three times, you know, I was dividing myself into three because they had a lot of questions and and I loved it.
• 28:11
  SPEAKER_00: I liked I actually enjoyed, you know, working accounts with them and you know, mentoring them and kind of doing all that.
• 28:19
  SPEAKER_00: Um but you know, it's tough to compete with the big the big companies because they were both left to larger agencies that paid them a higher starting salary.
• 28:28
  SPEAKER_00: And I think, you know, um, yeah, it hurts, you know, it's like you know, I spent a lot of time, you know, doing that.
• 28:35
  SPEAKER_00: And um, but you know, I think in the end, and and again, it was I supported them because they were making a decision for their own lives that that you know they needed to do, you know, and I'm I'm fine with that because I did that myself.
• 28:48
  SPEAKER_00: Um so so no hard file there.
• 28:51
  SPEAKER_00: But um I think I learned a lesson, you know, I'm like, okay, well, I really don't have time to do that again.
• 28:56
  SPEAKER_00: Um, to hire an experienced producer that I need to train and do all that and mentor.
• 29:02
  SPEAKER_00: Um, because it really took a lot of my time from running the agency and and focusing on my own accounts.
• 29:07
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so I think now where we're we're we've we kind of switched strategies and are looking for more experienced producers that, you know, these guys are, you know, they could be, you know, at any of these agencies and getting paid way less commission that they would be getting paid here.
• 29:22
  SPEAKER_00: And we compete with the big boys all the time.
• 29:24
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, we have access to all the markets, really, um, you know, direct and indirectly, uh, which we can access.
• 29:32
  SPEAKER_00: Um, we have the know-how of how to compete with the the bigger, you know, um, the bigger agencies.
• 29:38
  SPEAKER_00: I think for me, it's I like going against you know, the David and Goliath club, the bigger agencies.
• 29:42
  SPEAKER_00: I love taking business away from them.
• 29:44
  SPEAKER_00: So, and that's what I focus on.
• 29:46
  SPEAKER_00: I I really now work on accounts that are larger, you know, 100,000 minimum premium, and and I like those are the ones that are really middle market type accounts.
• 29:54
  SPEAKER_00: So I bring that already.
• 29:56
  SPEAKER_00: And a lot of times, you know, if if we get a producer, you know, that that is already at that level, then you know, we can relate.
• 30:02
  SPEAKER_00: It's gonna be something that I can kind of really relate with that person and pay them more commission, you know.
• 30:08
  SPEAKER_00: And we're not gonna have the corporate thing.
• 30:09
  SPEAKER_00: One of the things that I that I really, you know, working from a small boutique agency to going to a larger national broker, it was just meeting after meeting and and this and that.
• 30:20
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, and it was just kind of very corporate, you know, when it came to that.
• 30:23
  SPEAKER_00: And and there's a lot of people out there like me that doesn't they don't like that, you know.
• 30:28
  SPEAKER_00: So um there's opportunity there.
• 30:30
  SPEAKER_00: It's just really I think I think finding a good producer is probably harder than finding any other type of employee.
• 30:36
  SPEAKER_00: Um just because they they they're salespeople and they know how to talk.
• 30:40
  SPEAKER_00: And uh, but they really when you do the research, you know, they they you know, a lot of it is not true.
• 30:46
  SPEAKER_00: So um so we're we're gonna start doing that.
• 30:49
  SPEAKER_00: Hopefully by the end of the year we we we make the jump and get somebody good, you know, in our end.
• 30:56
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, hiring salespeople is always is the is always a huge challenge, I think, in any business.
• 31:03
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 31:04
  SPEAKER_01: They're always they're always selling you, right?
• 31:06
  SPEAKER_01: They're always trying, they're always trying to sell you.
• 31:09
  SPEAKER_00: That's why they make do they make the most money out of any organization, you know, small to big, the salesperson is usually up there making making the most money.
• 31:16
  SPEAKER_00: Because if there's somebody that's really good, you know, you you want that person.
• 31:20
  SPEAKER_00: They're they're needed or wanted.
• 31:21
  SPEAKER_00: And uh so so definitely, yeah, I agree.
• 31:24
  SPEAKER_00: It's the hardest, I think, one of the hardest employees to to get.
• 31:28
  SPEAKER_01: What's uh what's the I don't know, call it the three, five, ten-year goal for for the agency?
• 31:37
  SPEAKER_00: Uh for us, you know, I think I think uh I think a three-year goal, which is doable, is to try to get to the five million revenue mark, uh, ten-year goal, you know, ten-year revenue mark for sure.
• 31:51
  SPEAKER_00: Uh so I think I think that's kind of where we're where we want to head to.
• 31:56
  SPEAKER_00: I I don't see this as a quick play, like, you know, if uh I like again going back to Khan Carlin days and I saw how Mr.
• 32:03
  SPEAKER_00: Khan enjoyed his time with the employees and and came to work.
• 32:07
  SPEAKER_00: This is running by itself.
• 32:08
  SPEAKER_00: Like there's really no, if we can get it to that point, uh there's really no rush to sell or do any of that.
• 32:16
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but you know, that not everybody can do that.
• 32:19
  SPEAKER_00: And I think that's the hardest part to kind of how to get there and when's the right time.
• 32:24
  SPEAKER_00: But I think for us, we we're both on the same page with that.
• 32:27
  SPEAKER_00: You know, we're we're not gonna like sell in two years, you know, and get out of here and get what we can get.
• 32:31
  SPEAKER_00: We want to try to grow it and and have it running and you know, uh for us and have good people and and have that family kind of.
• 32:38
  SPEAKER_00: I know people say that all the time.
• 32:39
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, it was like family working for a for a small business, but when they sold, a lot of people cried in that office because that was family, you know, it was a lot of changes after that.
• 32:48
  SPEAKER_00: So um, you know, we want to build that here as well, and um and and have families come in with their kids and stuff like that, like like I do it, you know, over here as well.
• 32:58
  SPEAKER_01: That's awesome.
• 32:59
  SPEAKER_01: Well, let's get to my favorite part of the show.
• 33:03
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, let's talk about rapid fire.
• 33:08
  SPEAKER_02: Rapid fire.
• 33:14
  SPEAKER_01: Where we ask you some uh personal questions.
• 33:19
  SPEAKER_01: It kicks in in the edit.
• 33:20
  SPEAKER_01: It kicks in in the edit.
• 33:21
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, okay, okay.
• 33:22
  SPEAKER_01: That's why I had to pause.
• 33:24
  SPEAKER_01: Uh what's your uh favorite restaurant in Miami?
• 33:30
  SPEAKER_00: Oh man, right now I'm I gotta tell you, it's the one in Wynwood.
• 33:34
  SPEAKER_00: It's an Italian steakhouse called Sparrow.
• 33:38
  SPEAKER_00: It is not cheap, um, but probably good you usually good places are not cheap.
• 33:45
  SPEAKER_00: It's hard to find good places.
• 33:47
  SPEAKER_00: But very good vibe.
• 33:48
  SPEAKER_00: You know, originally they had played uh you would go in there and eight o'clock, they start, they have a like a like a stage, like a little stage.
• 33:56
  SPEAKER_00: And you go in there before, I think we got there, you know, early for a networking thing at six o'clock, and it was uh 80s, 90s hip-hop playing.
• 34:05
  SPEAKER_00: Oh man, very cool vibe.
• 34:08
  SPEAKER_00: Then at eight o'clock, three three piece band would start, you know, singing 90s, 80s, 90s hip hop.
• 34:15
  SPEAKER_00: So it was like live music, and while you eat, great vibe.
• 34:18
  SPEAKER_00: Now they're doing a summer thing that it's more of uh the Amafi coast, so the singers singing a little bit different music, but uh different, a little bit different menu, but the food is awesome and the service is great.
• 34:30
  SPEAKER_00: So that's right now my favorite restaurant so far.
• 34:33
  SPEAKER_01: We gotta check that out.
• 34:34
  SPEAKER_02: What is your favorite city for business travel?
• 34:38
  SPEAKER_00: Oh man.
• 34:39
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, so one of the things you didn't say Miami.
• 34:42
  SPEAKER_00: No.
• 34:45
  SPEAKER_00: Miami.
• 34:47
  SPEAKER_00: Well, I I really I really don't do that much business travel.
• 34:51
  SPEAKER_00: Um, you know, I'm very local.
• 34:53
  SPEAKER_00: Uh the only time I go out to travel is like, you know, for these conventions for insurance.
• 34:59
  SPEAKER_00: Um so Orlando and stuff like that, but uh that's not one of my favorite cities to go travel.
• 35:04
  SPEAKER_00: Um business.
• 35:06
  SPEAKER_00: I think we're going now to for Renaissance, you know, where our agency is part of uh an aggregator Renaissance Alliance, and uh they have they have an annual meeting in there, they're having their next annual meeting in uh Kentucky, Louisville, Kentucky, never been.
• 35:19
  SPEAKER_00: Um but I think I think I I gotta say the the one that I like the most when I was at Risk Strategies um, you know, was Las Vegas.
• 35:28
  SPEAKER_00: You know, it was not in the street.
• 35:29
  SPEAKER_00: We're staying like an hour and a half away from the from Vegas, but it was it was super nice out there.
• 35:34
  SPEAKER_00: You know, the hotel was great, it was really nice, and we got to do a lot of other things um outside of the uh more nature-based van.
• 35:42
  SPEAKER_02: I would ask you what you did, but what happens in Vegas stays in it.
• 35:47
  SPEAKER_02: It's like it's like Miami, it's the same thing.
• 35:50
  SPEAKER_00: We didn't even go, like I'll tell you, we didn't even, it was so far away, and they did it on purpose because they're like, yo, we're gonna go have a sales meeting in Vegas.
• 35:56
  SPEAKER_00: We're never gonna see these people in the in the venture group.
• 36:00
  SPEAKER_02: See them, they're gonna be zombies because they were out all night partying and they can barely see.
• 36:04
  SPEAKER_00: It was like an hour and a half away from from the actual center of you know of the strip.
• 36:10
  SPEAKER_01: And uh shout out to Renaissance, by the way.
• 36:12
  SPEAKER_01: Great organization.
• 36:13
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah, they've been they've been doing a great.
• 36:16
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, I again I was a guinea pick for them as well.
• 36:19
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I was the first agency that they brought on that was like a brand new scratch agency, yeah.
• 36:26
  SPEAKER_00: So they never had that before.
• 36:27
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and uh, and now they have a program for for uh agents like myself that have experience that have start their own agency for them to really incubate and help them grow because of what experience they had with me.
• 36:40
  SPEAKER_00: So it's pretty cool to kind of go together with them and and and do this um, you know, uh as a first-time kidny pick kind of thing.
• 36:49
  SPEAKER_00: So it's cool.
• 36:50
  SPEAKER_01: That's awesome.
• 36:51
  SPEAKER_00: Favorite sport to play?
• 36:54
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so again, going back to my roots, uh, I still play tennis, so I love playing tennis.
• 37:01
  SPEAKER_00: I'm I'm not gonna get into pickleball anytime soon.
• 37:04
  SPEAKER_00: Uh maybe when I'm 50.
• 37:06
  SPEAKER_02: You know, paddle.
• 37:07
  SPEAKER_02: Stan loves don't don't do it.
• 37:09
  SPEAKER_01: I tore I tore my Achilles playing paddle.
• 37:12
  SPEAKER_01: Don't do it, don't do it.
• 37:13
  SPEAKER_01: So paddle, yeah, that'll be cool.
• 37:14
  SPEAKER_02: I see he calls it pedal.
• 37:15
  SPEAKER_02: It's the fancy.
• 37:17
  SPEAKER_00: Padel, don't do it.
• 37:18
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so I I haven't played volleyball in a long time.
• 37:20
  SPEAKER_00: That was my favorite sport, but um, yeah, I'm love I love tennis.
• 37:24
  SPEAKER_00: I still play a little bit, um, you know, and and it's great exercise, really great exercise.
• 37:30
  SPEAKER_00: It's just it gets harder and harder as you get older, you know, because like my back and my hips are like hurting then for days after knees, everything hurts.
• 37:37
  SPEAKER_00: But I'm just trying to get out of bed in the morning.
• 37:41
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I'm trying to get to golf though.
• 37:42
  SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna I'm gonna get back into it.
• 37:44
  SPEAKER_00: I haven't played in a year and a half at least, so I gotta get back into golf.
• 37:47
  SPEAKER_01: All right, we gotta we gotta go play.
• 37:49
  SPEAKER_01: We gotta go play.
• 37:50
  SPEAKER_01: Um, well, you heard go ahead, Dom.
• 37:52
  SPEAKER_01: Sorry.
• 37:52
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, you go ahead.
• 37:54
  SPEAKER_02: That's fine.
• 37:55
  SPEAKER_01: I was gonna say you heard it all here.
• 37:57
  SPEAKER_01: Danny, we appreciate you coming on to the show.
• 38:00
  SPEAKER_01: And uh congratulations on all the success uh with your agency.
• 38:05
  SPEAKER_01: And you know, I my favorite part is meeting people who do it different, yeah.
• 38:11
  SPEAKER_01: There's all different types of stories where they're like, This is my seventh company.
• 38:15
  SPEAKER_01: I was, you know, we just had a 14-year-old on who is like on his fourth business.
• 38:20
  SPEAKER_01: And uh and then and but you're doing it where you went out there, you learned a completely new industry, you uh grind it, and then you started your own business and are successful at it.
• 38:31
  SPEAKER_01: So congratulations to you.
• 38:33
  SPEAKER_01: Where can people find you if they need some commercial insurance help?
• 38:39
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so we're located in Miami.
• 38:40
  SPEAKER_00: We do we kind of do business all over Tri-County.
• 38:43
  SPEAKER_00: So uh, but we're we're off of uh sunset down in South Miami area, Kendall, kind of uh right off of Sunset and 99th Avenue.
• 38:51
  SPEAKER_00: But um, I I like I said I'm all over the place, usually kind of visiting and and talking to Peeper.
• 38:57
  SPEAKER_00: So um, but down in the 305.
• 39:00
  SPEAKER_01: All right, we'll drop we'll drop that, we'll drop that link to the website if you guys are looking for some insurance help or or want to pick Danny's brain of how to scale an insurance company.
• 39:10
  SPEAKER_01: He's a nice guy.
• 39:11
  SPEAKER_01: He'll probably talk to you and help you out.
• 39:14
  SPEAKER_01: We appreciate your time.
• 39:15
  SPEAKER_01: We thanks everybody for watching and listening, and we'll see you guys again next week.
• 39:18
  SPEAKER_01: Thanks, everybody.