Latest / Elevate The Hustle / Ep. 29: The Insurance Industry Runs on Relationships, Not Rates. Ft. Adam Urbania from The AC

Transcript

Ep. 29: The Insurance Industry Runs on Relationships, Not Rates. Ft. Adam Urbania from The AC · Elevate The Hustle

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_02: Getting out in your community, going to different events, having tables, you know, being at golf outings or any types of these events where you can get to customer facing is only going to help your business in the future and help with referrals.
• 0:12
  SPEAKER_02: Elevate the hustle.
• 0:19
  SPEAKER_01: Welcome to Elevate the Hustle, where we break down what it actually means to build teams, scale companies, and lead with intensity.
• 0:27
  SPEAKER_01: I'm your host, Dan Mayton, and we have a very special guest with us here today, Adam Urbania from the AC.
• 0:35
  SPEAKER_01: Welcome to the show, buddy.
• 0:37
  SPEAKER_01: How are you?
• 0:38
  SPEAKER_01: Nice to have you on.
• 0:39
  SPEAKER_02: Thank you for inviting me on today.
• 0:41
  SPEAKER_02: I'm doing well.
• 0:42
  SPEAKER_02: It's a beautiful day here in Northeast Ohio.
• 0:45
  SPEAKER_02: We don't get many of these, so gotta take advantage.
• 0:47
  SPEAKER_02: Everybody's in uh good high spirits with that sunshine that we got today.
• 0:51
  SPEAKER_01: I know you got you got you guys are like, what's that?
• 0:54
  SPEAKER_01: Sunshine?
• 0:54
  SPEAKER_01: What what what does that look like?
• 0:57
  SPEAKER_01: Um well I appreciate you taking time to join us and elevate the hustle.
• 1:02
  SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna ask you the first question I asked all of our guests what does the word hustle mean to you?
• 1:08
  SPEAKER_02: What does the word hustle mean to you?
• 1:11
  SPEAKER_02: Um to me, coming from a background of uh played many, many years of of baseball and at a high level and um you know having a master's degree, um, hustle means doing anything that I can possibly do to move up into whatever position that I'm in, move up into that, into that world.
• 1:31
  SPEAKER_02: And also just do what I can to provide the best life for my family.
• 1:35
  SPEAKER_02: And those are the two things that really motivate and drive me, as long as I'm doing whatever I can to provide the the best life that uh my family can take advantage of.
• 1:44
  SPEAKER_02: Then that's what that's what hustle means to me.
• 1:46
  SPEAKER_02: Do what I gotta do to uh to continue to climb and meet my goals and uh be there for all of my family's things that I I can be at.
• 1:54
  SPEAKER_02: That's awesome.
• 1:55
  SPEAKER_01: Whatever it takes, we'll get it done, correct?
• 1:58
  SPEAKER_01: You gotta continue to push, strive, and make it happen.
• 2:02
  SPEAKER_01: Well, let's let's talk about both you and let's talk about the AC.
• 2:06
  SPEAKER_01: Uh let's start with the AC.
• 2:08
  SPEAKER_01: What you know, for for people that don't know what it is or might be somewhat familiar, what is the AC?
• 2:14
  SPEAKER_01: How do we get started?
• 2:15
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, absolutely.
• 2:16
  SPEAKER_02: So um the AC or the agency collective.
• 2:19
  SPEAKER_02: Um, we are a property and casualty aggregator.
• 2:23
  SPEAKER_02: Um, I I really refer to us more as a network of agents across the country because that's what I believe we truly are.
• 2:30
  SPEAKER_02: Um the AC has been in business uh going on about seven years now and got our start because um the nationwide insurance letting the captives go independent.
• 2:39
  SPEAKER_02: Um our CEO Kenny, uh, he has a substantial book of business up here in Northeast Ohio.
• 2:46
  SPEAKER_02: He wanted to join another group or network when they went independent, but couldn't get over what he referred to as the hooks and handcuffs of this side of the business.
• 2:56
  SPEAKER_02: You know, the buy-in clauses, buyouts, exit clauses, um, ownership.
• 3:01
  SPEAKER_02: Um wanted to be a part of something, but just couldn't subject his business to one of those types of models.
• 3:06
  SPEAKER_02: So kind of took a step back, created an agent-friendly contract that he wanted to participate in.
• 3:12
  SPEAKER_02: And uh thought we were gonna be a group of a couple hundred former nationwide agents because that's where we had the connections.
• 3:19
  SPEAKER_02: And uh fast forward six or so years, um, we work with you know a few thousand across the country, which has been a tremendous speed of ours.
• 3:26
  SPEAKER_02: So uh we are a property and casualty aggregator in the in the loose sense, I guess, of the term.
• 3:33
  SPEAKER_02: We do play in that space, but uh in my opinion, we do so much more than just aggregate premium.
• 3:38
  SPEAKER_02: So that's why we kind of built this big juggernaut that we have today, and it's only um getting bigger and bigger, which has been awesome to see and be a part of.
• 3:48
  SPEAKER_02: That's awesome.
• 3:48
  SPEAKER_01: So just to break it down into you know, insurance for dummies for those people that know and don't know what an aggregator is.
• 3:55
  SPEAKER_01: Basically, you have you know, you're getting better rates, right?
• 3:58
  SPEAKER_01: You're getting you're getting more buying power, you're you're getting carrier access to carriers because there's more of it.
• 4:04
  SPEAKER_01: Is that is that is that correct?
• 4:06
  SPEAKER_02: That's our it's our responsibility as the group to negotiate better compensation with you know carrier MGA partners, um, strike deals for vendor technology and other vendor partnerships for the yeah, just that they not only increase their revenue by being a member of the AC, but also save money um with some of our vendor partners.
• 4:27
  SPEAKER_02: So uh we kind of pull together everybody's premium and use that as you know our negotiating tools once time comes for contracts yearly.
• 4:36
  SPEAKER_02: So um it gives the agent the opportunity to be a part of something bigger than themselves, a community feel of other like-minded agents in the industry and being a part of something um that's growing every single day and not slowing down.
• 4:53
  SPEAKER_02: So I think it's been uh it's been a very great experience to be on this side of the insurance industry, and I think that's only going to continue as the years go on.
• 5:01
  SPEAKER_02: So very fortunate to be a part of this.
• 5:04
  SPEAKER_01: That's awesome, man.
• 5:05
  SPEAKER_01: And uh, I believe you guys are like number two or three of like the fastest growing aggregators in in the country.
• 5:11
  SPEAKER_01: Is that accurate?
• 5:13
  SPEAKER_02: If you I I believe the insurance journal does a top 20 network partnerships every year, and I think the last three years running, we've been in the top six or seven, and we've only been in business for going on seven years.
• 5:24
  SPEAKER_02: So it's been quite the feat.
• 5:25
  SPEAKER_02: It's been a lot of smiling and dialing and building relationships and uh earning the trust and the and the business of our agent members.
• 5:33
  SPEAKER_01: So so how does that happen?
• 5:34
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, you you kind of touched on it a little bit, right?
• 5:37
  SPEAKER_01: You've only been in business for six, seven years, and you guys are growing super fast.
• 5:40
  SPEAKER_01: Like, how did you guys accomplish that?
• 5:42
  SPEAKER_02: A lot of it has been word of mouth.
• 5:44
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, referrals are a big driver, not just in insurance agencies, but in our business too.
• 5:49
  SPEAKER_02: So, do right by a group of agents, they're gonna go tell their friends and other agents in the industry.
• 5:54
  SPEAKER_02: You know, it took a couple years for the AC's name to get out there, but um, I've seen it on social media groups.
• 6:00
  SPEAKER_02: Social media has been a big driver of the business.
• 6:03
  SPEAKER_02: Um, I've seen it on even pop up on Reddit from time to time.
• 6:07
  SPEAKER_02: Um, we have some awesome agent members that are also podcast hosts that, you know, do some advertising for us from times.
• 6:14
  SPEAKER_02: We have a great partnership with the Facebook community um out there that has 10,000 agency owners in that group.
• 6:21
  SPEAKER_02: So we've really struck a lot of good quality relationships, not just with uh partners that refer us business, but with our carriers, with our vendors and everybody else that's kind of involved with the AC because of the flexibility of our contract.
• 6:36
  SPEAKER_02: So people like doing business with us.
• 6:38
  SPEAKER_02: We enjoy doing business with anybody that wants to do that as well, and we continue to grow that way.
• 6:43
  SPEAKER_01: That's awesome.
• 6:44
  SPEAKER_01: So tell me about your journey, Adam.
• 6:45
  SPEAKER_01: I know you said you played competitive baseball, and how did you get into the wonderful world of uh insurance?
• 6:52
  SPEAKER_01: Everybody always has a good story.
• 6:54
  SPEAKER_02: That that's a great that's a great question.
• 6:56
  SPEAKER_02: Um, I yeah, I do not come from the field originally.
• 7:00
  SPEAKER_02: So uh post-college, I played a couple years of independent baseball, a year in Tucson, Arizona, and a year in uh Schaumburg, Illinois.
• 7:09
  SPEAKER_00: What uh what what what what position?
• 7:12
  SPEAKER_02: Uh it was many pounds ago, but I was I did play the outfield, so I used to be able to run.
• 7:16
  SPEAKER_02: You might not think that anymore, but I did I could back in the day.
• 7:20
  SPEAKER_01: So uh what's what's what's the what's the batting average?
• 7:23
  SPEAKER_01: What's the career batting average over there?
• 7:26
  SPEAKER_02: I would I was I hit pretty well.
• 7:28
  SPEAKER_02: That was that was the specialty.
• 7:30
  SPEAKER_02: I was um I was probably up there in the in in college, I think I was in the low fours and uh probably Pro Bowl.
• 7:38
  SPEAKER_02: I think I was in the mid-upper threes.
• 7:41
  SPEAKER_02: Cool little fun fact, uh my rookie season, I did win the home run derby, so that was pretty cool.
• 7:46
  SPEAKER_02: Um that was in Santa Fe, New Mexico.
• 7:48
  SPEAKER_02: That was our team's representative for that, so that was awesome.
• 7:50
  SPEAKER_02: And we ended up winning the championship, so I got a nice big fancy ring for that, too.
• 7:54
  SPEAKER_02: So um, it's an experience that I wouldn't trade for the world.
• 7:58
  SPEAKER_02: It did set me back both financially and career-wise, a couple years.
• 8:01
  SPEAKER_02: So, you know, when I moved back home and hung up the cleats, the all of my friends were uh a little farther along in life than I was, but uh I think I've caught up pretty well now.
• 8:11
  SPEAKER_02: Um from there, I always enjoyed um sports psychology.
• 8:16
  SPEAKER_02: And I had a degree in my my bachelor's degree was in psychology.
• 8:21
  SPEAKER_02: And so I took the path of going back to school and uh ended up getting my master's.
• 8:28
  SPEAKER_02: And while I got my master's and I was going going for my doctorate, I had met my now wife, and I was like, I just don't want to do school anymore.
• 8:37
  SPEAKER_02: So I did finish out the master's program.
• 8:40
  SPEAKER_02: Um if you know anything about that side of the of the world and the job world, it does not pay a lot.
• 8:47
  SPEAKER_02: And if I ever made it big, I always said I would advocate for higher pay for the mental health professionals in this world and the social workers because they deserve it.
• 8:54
  SPEAKER_02: Um, but I left that world after a couple years and went to um, I helped run a baseball and softball manufacturing and distributing equipment and baseball that's uh kind of local to Northeast Ohio.
• 9:09
  SPEAKER_02: Uh got my feet wet in the business world, learned a lot of things about revenue and profit and margins and all the stuff that comes with that and building relationships across the country in the baseball world.
• 9:22
  SPEAKER_02: And uh all of a sudden I get a call from who I refer to as my bunkle, which is our CEO Kenny.
• 9:29
  SPEAKER_02: He's my boss and uncle, and says, Hey, I'm I'm starting this new company.
• 9:33
  SPEAKER_02: I'd like to see if you'd be interested in learning a little bit about insurance and see how you like the AC and the aggregator side of the business.
• 9:39
  SPEAKER_02: And I said no.
• 9:41
  SPEAKER_02: I said no.
• 9:43
  SPEAKER_02: Uh my wife and I had bought our first house, and you know, they don't like you moving moving jobs when you purchase a home.
• 9:49
  SPEAKER_01: So so let's let let's slow it down.
• 9:51
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, what was go what was going through your mind, you know.
• 9:55
  SPEAKER_01: Um uh uh Uncle Kenny calls and says, Hey, you know, I'm starting this venture.
• 10:01
  SPEAKER_01: I I wanna I want like, are you like, well, like what was the reason you said no?
• 10:07
  SPEAKER_02: What well I just never knew much about the insurance world, right?
• 10:12
  SPEAKER_02: It wasn't something that was on my radar.
• 10:15
  SPEAKER_02: Um, I knew that um Kenny had been in the insurance industry for going on about 30 years, and uh, but all I really knew about it is that you needed it for your home and auto, pretty much.
• 10:26
  SPEAKER_02: And um, so it wasn't something that I was comfortable making the move right away.
• 10:32
  SPEAKER_02: I ended up doing another six months to a year at the role I was ex.
• 10:36
  SPEAKER_02: I was also giving baseball lessons on the side.
• 10:39
  SPEAKER_02: And I was like, you know what?
• 10:41
  SPEAKER_02: I'm tired of getting home at past nine o'clock at night every night.
• 10:45
  SPEAKER_02: You know, we got goals and stuff to do of our own as a as a couple, and then soon to be, you know, family.
• 10:51
  SPEAKER_02: And uh I called Kenny Beck and I said, Hey, is there's still an opening over there?
• 10:55
  SPEAKER_02: I want to try something new.
• 10:56
  SPEAKER_02: And he said, Come on board, and I've and I've loved it ever since.
• 10:59
  SPEAKER_02: And and not many people here say like they enjoy insurance.
• 11:03
  SPEAKER_02: I truly, truly do enjoy this field and I love what I do.
• 11:07
  SPEAKER_02: So it's that's why I've been here since you know, I've only missed one year of the AC being in business, so I've been here going on six years now, and um absolutely love it.
• 11:17
  SPEAKER_01: So, you know, I'm not an insurance native either, but you know, kind of in the space now, what and you meet, you know, like it's like fraternity cult, whatever you want to call it.
• 11:28
  SPEAKER_01: Like once you get into insurance, you're like it's like the mob, right?
• 11:31
  SPEAKER_01: You're never leaving and you're like, oh, I I I I really like it.
• 11:34
  SPEAKER_01: What what do you think it is that that that's really you know kind of keeps people in insurance?
• 11:40
  SPEAKER_02: You know, uh from my perspective, I get to deal with like-minded, entrepreneurial, agency owners, and and small business owners.
• 11:52
  SPEAKER_02: And I think by doing that every day, I learned I learn at least one thing new every single day.
• 11:58
  SPEAKER_02: And as long as you are willing and open to learn new things, try new things in this business, you it's gonna keep pulling you back in and you're gonna keep wanting to get better and better.
• 12:08
  SPEAKER_02: Um, it's been it's been something where I go home and I tell my wife, I learned this today, I learned that today.
• 12:15
  SPEAKER_02: And like you wouldn't think that after six years, you would still learn new stuff, but you do every day.
• 12:20
  SPEAKER_02: And that's that's what's really cool about this industry.
• 12:23
  SPEAKER_02: You have very like-minded people, you have people that are all going through similar things at the same time.
• 12:28
  SPEAKER_02: And as long as you can get into one of those communities and put yourself out there and meet new people, I mean, the business is only going to be successful after that if you are to take a little bit of what you learn every day and apply it to your agency.
• 12:41
  SPEAKER_01: Sure, sure.
• 12:42
  SPEAKER_01: So let's back up a little bit.
• 12:44
  SPEAKER_01: You you know, when you were kind of helping run the baseball business, what do you think is the greatest lesson you learned during that time about business?
• 12:55
  SPEAKER_02: The biggest lesson that I've learned from that, and then just you know, the workforce in general is the ability to build quality relationships and not burn any bridges and treat everybody with respect.
• 13:08
  SPEAKER_02: You know, I I live by I have my own little, you know, saying here, I live by the five Rs here at the AC.
• 13:16
  SPEAKER_02: You know, it's respect, rapport, relationships, resolutions, and results.
• 13:20
  SPEAKER_02: And if if I hit those five R's on a daily basis, then I know that I'm gonna be successful in any conversation that I have.
• 13:27
  SPEAKER_02: And building that rapport and building those relationships and fine-tuning those skills at the other company that I was at, and then now into the AC has kind of led to this the my own personal success in terms of being able to recruit agencies, uh, meeting with carriers and vendors like Elevate and um striking those partnerships that you know help the company and the agent member.
• 13:52
  SPEAKER_01: I love that.
• 13:53
  SPEAKER_01: So let's fast forward, you get hired, you're you're obviously come into a new role that you don't know much about, you start learning insurance.
• 14:01
  SPEAKER_01: What you know, walk us through some of those, you know, some of those lessons you guys were learning as you guys were working, you know, growing business.
• 14:10
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 14:10
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, with the AC's business model, like we obviously have to know insurance, but we're not writing any of the business per se.
• 14:17
  SPEAKER_02: So I'm one of those people that love like background information.
• 14:22
  SPEAKER_02: You know, I go to a movie, I watch the movie, and I want to learn everything about the background of the characters or the background of the situation.
• 14:28
  SPEAKER_02: And and the same applied to the workforce, right?
• 14:31
  SPEAKER_02: I wanted to learn anything and everything that I could by insurance.
• 14:34
  SPEAKER_02: I was constantly attending webinars and reading insurance journal articles and um just doing anything that I can that I thought would help me benefit conversations that I have with agency owners.
• 14:45
  SPEAKER_02: Why, why should this agency owner trust me with their business and their membership and and you know, pay their monthly membership fees and be a part of our group?
• 14:55
  SPEAKER_02: And um, that's been a big driver in in my success and um kind of just going back.
• 15:01
  SPEAKER_02: And there's been a lot of lessons, and there's been a lot of successes.
• 15:04
  SPEAKER_02: There's been hiccups down the road, just like it with any other business.
• 15:08
  SPEAKER_02: You know, the market was very, very hard for a couple of years, and that was that that hurt.
• 15:13
  SPEAKER_02: And we had to pivot and find solutions, and we did that and came out, you know, successfully on the other side.
• 15:18
  SPEAKER_02: But um, a lot of lessons were to be learned, and and one thing, one thing that stands out is insurance, they they talk big numbers, you know.
• 15:28
  SPEAKER_02: It's you know, you talk about thousands of dollars in revenue, then hundreds of thousands of dollars, and then people are talking about millions of dollars or premium and hundreds of, and then it just goes on and on.
• 15:38
  SPEAKER_02: And I just not coming from that field, it was a big eye-opener, just the kind of industry that we were coming into.
• 15:46
  SPEAKER_01: So, what are some pain points that you see some of these agency owners go through on a day-to-day basis?
• 15:52
  SPEAKER_01: And obviously, you know, they're all different from the perspective of somebody who might be just starting an agency or somebody's had an agency for 10 years, but is there any common patterns and themes that you see?
• 16:03
  SPEAKER_02: I would say for the last two years before 20, like this time in 2026, it was it was market access, especially on the personal line side.
• 16:13
  SPEAKER_02: Um we are seeing a large number of agents leaving the captive world going independent.
• 16:20
  SPEAKER_02: And just like us, when we did it seven years ago, we needed to figure out what phone system we needed to use, what agency management system worked for us.
• 16:29
  SPEAKER_02: We had to demo all of those.
• 16:31
  SPEAKER_02: We had to pick one that was comfortable, that we understood the best.
• 16:34
  SPEAKER_02: And it wasn't just about vendors, it was, oh my gosh, what carriers are competitive in my area?
• 16:39
  SPEAKER_02: How do I get these direct appointments?
• 16:41
  SPEAKER_02: So when we are recruiting a new agency, we kind of always talk about four main pain points of the network search, right?
• 16:49
  SPEAKER_02: So, one, you know, what's the buy-in to be a member of the network that you're researching?
• 16:54
  SPEAKER_02: Two, does the network touch your commissions?
• 16:58
  SPEAKER_02: Right?
• 16:58
  SPEAKER_02: That's always a big one.
• 16:59
  SPEAKER_02: Like, do you want your revenue interrupted by the group?
• 17:02
  SPEAKER_02: Um, if you were to ever leave, what are the exit clauses or the hooks and handcuffs?
• 17:06
  SPEAKER_02: Are there buyouts or non-competes wrapped in that contract?
• 17:10
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and then ownership of the book.
• 17:12
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, not only the book, but who owns the appointment and the code associated with the business.
• 17:17
  SPEAKER_02: And um, you know, at the AC, we answer those questions pretty effectively.
• 17:21
  SPEAKER_02: And I think I can put our contract up against pretty much anybody's in that regard.
• 17:24
  SPEAKER_02: So um, those are kind of like the four main pain points we discuss.
• 17:28
  SPEAKER_02: But in terms of agency ownership, we're seeing a that huge transition from captive to independency.
• 17:33
  SPEAKER_02: And it's the group, whatever group that the agent joins job is to assist with that transition and make sure that their agent is successful.
• 17:41
  SPEAKER_01: How how do you find them?
• 17:42
  SPEAKER_01: How do you like how do you know they're about to go, you know, transition from captive to to to independent?
• 17:49
  SPEAKER_02: Or they find the uh Yeah, that's all in the building rapport stage.
• 17:52
  SPEAKER_02: You know, we're getting we're getting agencies, uh, most most of it's been referrals, um, I would say.
• 17:58
  SPEAKER_02: And uh we've had groups of agents that went independent that then tell their friends that leave captivity and go independent the same thing.
• 18:05
  SPEAKER_02: Um, but I think our story, you know, coming from nationwide captive into to into the world of independency, I think that resonates with a lot of agents.
• 18:14
  SPEAKER_02: Um they know that our our senior leadership are all agency owners themselves.
• 18:18
  SPEAKER_02: So they've made every mistake and have had every success under the sun.
• 18:22
  SPEAKER_02: So they have that trust and that confidence that we'll do right by their agency.
• 18:26
  SPEAKER_01: And going back to you know, the contract, you you said you put your contract up against anybody else, like what is, you know, what are those things?
• 18:34
  SPEAKER_01: Why, why, why is they see better than you know some of others out there?
• 18:38
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, yeah.
• 18:39
  SPEAKER_02: Um, so we don't have your typical buy-in.
• 18:42
  SPEAKER_02: We are like a gym membership in a way.
• 18:44
  SPEAKER_02: We're just a small monthly fee.
• 18:46
  SPEAKER_02: And and with that monthly fee, we always tell the agent that if we can help them save a couple hundred bucks on their vendored partnerships, we basically become a free deal for them.
• 18:54
  SPEAKER_02: Um, so that's kind of like the first pain point.
• 18:56
  SPEAKER_02: The second, with the commissions, our kind of claim to fame is we never ever touched commissions.
• 19:01
  SPEAKER_02: So we want the agent to benefit from the full, whether it's increasing commissions or whatever it may be, we want that agent to earn the most revenue with our deal as possible.
• 19:11
  SPEAKER_02: So we never ever touch commissions.
• 19:13
  SPEAKER_02: We operate on some type of um contingency bonus or profit share typically with our partners.
• 19:18
  SPEAKER_02: Um, if an agent left us, it's just as easy to leave as it is to join.
• 19:21
  SPEAKER_02: So we don't have those exit clauses, we don't have the buyouts or the non-competes.
• 19:26
  SPEAKER_02: Does that leave it open for agents to be a less sticky?
• 19:29
  SPEAKER_02: Sure.
• 19:30
  SPEAKER_02: But if you're doing right by the agent, you provide them the best deal, then why would they ever leave?
• 19:34
  SPEAKER_02: Um and then uh the last pin point was ownership.
• 19:38
  SPEAKER_02: We pride ourselves at the AC that the agent maintains and controls full ownership of their book of business.
• 19:44
  SPEAKER_02: So if they sell or they leave us for whatever reason, that business goes with them, as does the code associated with the business.
• 19:52
  SPEAKER_02: Because, you know, in my opinion, if you what I've seen over the last number of years, if you do right by the agent, especially if they leave you, there's always an opportunity for them to come back and and a lot have.
• 20:05
  SPEAKER_01: And I love that.
• 20:06
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, you're you're like you said, you're making it super transparent, super easy for somebody to say, hey, like, this is why you should join, right?
• 20:15
  SPEAKER_01: There's no like, you know, there's no other shoe dropping.
• 20:18
  SPEAKER_01: And I think that just shows a lot about who you guys are as a brand, right?
• 20:22
  SPEAKER_01: The value you guys provide.
• 20:24
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, though you're gonna be able to provide value to people and they're gonna be like, hey, you know, I'm gonna refer people out, right?
• 20:30
  SPEAKER_01: Which you're saying, you a lot of your business referring, you guys are growing super quickly.
• 20:34
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and I think a lot of times people, not people, I think businesses are they're not as strategic about it, right?
• 20:45
  SPEAKER_01: They're not that they're trying to get it over on you, but they're they're they're looking for they're looking for more revenue opportunities, right?
• 20:52
  SPEAKER_01: And then they'll be like, oh, like, well, why don't we, you know, charge a P here or charge a P there?
• 20:57
  SPEAKER_01: But they're not looking at the big picture as far as saying, yeah, or we could just get a lot more clients who are gonna be super happy with our service.
• 21:04
  SPEAKER_02: A lot of it, a lot of what I've seen is a lot of the focus is on the dollar instead of the relationship with the agent.
• 21:10
  SPEAKER_02: So I would rather, this is just me personally, I would rather learn about you you and your family and what you love to do, find that common ground.
• 21:20
  SPEAKER_02: You know, um, a lot of our meetings here is deals with building rapport, you know, finding that common ground with the agent, whether it's on a Zoom call and I see that you have that giraffe figure in the background and I love it and I think it's awesome.
• 21:35
  SPEAKER_02: And and uh, you know, bonding over that or you're from somebody's from Philadelphia and you ask them where their favorite cheesesteak place is, and you know, it's it's little things like that that go a long way when it comes to building these relationships with the agents.
• 21:48
  SPEAKER_02: You know, they need to feel like they can trust you, and then also if you kind of like set that boundary right away, too, you know, if if you're good at boundary setting in terms of when you're available to talk to them and everything like that, it goes a long way.
• 22:03
  SPEAKER_02: And the agents know and you know I'm a big fisherman.
• 22:06
  SPEAKER_02: So my my agent friends that fish call me and send me pictures all the time.
• 22:10
  SPEAKER_02: And you know it it's it's really cool to be part of that type of community and build those types of relationships.
• 22:15
  SPEAKER_01: That's awesome.
• 22:16
  SPEAKER_01: And yeah, I mean this entire industry is like it is as old school as it gets.
• 22:22
  SPEAKER_01: I mean so for somebody that's you know I'm five years into the space uh it relationship means a lot right if you're like you know if I call somebody that they know and I say you gotta talk to Adam they're gonna be like well if you don't mean to talk to Adam you know I'm gonna talk to Adam and right and that that word is bond where in certain other industries it's it's not like that right it it's not relationship it's not personal base.
• 22:47
  SPEAKER_01: I mean this is still the industry where you could pick up a phone and call somebody and they're gonna pick up and they're gonna speak to you right where absolutely everybody else is like text me email me I don't have time to to to deal with this or so it it is a little bit old school which which is cool which which I which I like about it.
• 23:05
  SPEAKER_02: What's so what's next for the AC what are what are some long-term goals for both yourself and and where you know where you guys are trying to be what you're trying to we we just continue to to provide you know the best service that we can and you know with us because of the flexibility of our contract for the members you know we're always recruiting and you could be in California you can be in New York I'm always willing to have a conversation with anybody and everybody.
• 23:33
  SPEAKER_02: So you might think the market is hard and it could be hard or it could be difficult in some areas I'm always open to do my best to find some solution.
• 23:41
  SPEAKER_02: So we're always looking to grow we're always looking to add good profitable agents into the group as well that have existing business.
• 23:49
  SPEAKER_02: And really we just at the end of the day for now into the future we want to be that network that you know you take a chance on with your business.
• 23:58
  SPEAKER_02: And we're not gonna lock you in.
• 23:59
  SPEAKER_02: We're not going to you know hold your feet to the fire we're going to do our best to provide you with the best partner recommendations whether it's vendors, carriers and MGAs.
• 24:09
  SPEAKER_02: And we're gonna let you run your business the way you want to run it and the way you've always thought about running it.
• 24:13
  SPEAKER_02: You know you're gonna use us for potential market access and increase in revenue opportunities.
• 24:19
  SPEAKER_02: And I think we've built a good we've built a good community of agent members and senior leadership.
• 24:25
  SPEAKER_02: And um I think you know future goal we're we're planning our next big conference uh for 2027 right now uh don't have any firm dates or nothing yet but we're having the initial conversations figure out you know where we're gonna have it and and all that fun stuff that go along with it.
• 24:40
  SPEAKER_02: So I definitely expect to see uh the the elevate team at that conference for sure.
• 24:45
  SPEAKER_00: So we'll we'll be there you have you have you have my commitment right here right now we'll we'll we'll be there.
• 24:51
  SPEAKER_02: I appreciate it we just you know what's really cool about us is if you do ever research that top 20 network partners is you know we're probably the only one on that list that has not grown by by acquiring or selling it's just true blue organic growth.
• 25:07
  SPEAKER_02: And I think that is a testament to our business model.
• 25:12
  SPEAKER_02: It's a testament to the people that work here at the AC we have one of the best staffs um I I have ever been a part of our support team is fantastic.
• 25:21
  SPEAKER_02: We made some awesome hires in the last six months to a year my my uh right hand girl she likes to always call Denise she she helps me with recruiting and she was at the uh FAAIA countersparts as well um she is a huge asset to us um Leah as our CIO Karen as our VP of finance I mean obviously Kenny is our CEO and then we have some awesome senior leaderships um here at the AC I mean we have I saw like one of the one of the questions I saw earlier was you know what are some relationships that you're proud of that you've built over the last few years and and uh a couple of those are the agency owners that help with senior leadership here um I I have built relationships with them they are not only mentors to me but they're another friend or fatherly figure in my life that has has been a tremendous resource to not only me but to my family and that's been extremely important to me.
• 26:18
  SPEAKER_01: I love that I love that and and you know I think that's I think that's what it's about right when you're building a business you're building a company you want to have the right people you want to be able to have people that you know speak the same language as you and you know in in in the perspective of like they want the same things as you right I mean just by you sharing how how passionate you are about the company you work for you know that says a lot about the brand right it doesn't it's not like well they're paying me a salary and you know and you're gonna go ahead and come on this podcast and and represent that you you you could feel that passion which which which which I think is important and that just showcases you know the who you guys are uh as a company as a brand and I'm I'm I'm sure that you know your partners and your agency owners are the ones that are that are saying the same thing about you guys and and it's going to continue to be approval for them and obviously you guys and you're getting more referrals and you're getting more agencies that that that joined NEC which is awesome I always said that if I wanted to quote unquote sell something I wanted to believe in it as well and there really hasn't been something that I believe in more than what we do here at the AC and and um it's a true passion of mine.
• 27:34
  SPEAKER_02: It is it has been a blessing you know not only from a company standpoint but on the personal level too and uh yeah I I I see us doing big things in the future I'm only excited for it and uh loved getting back out on the conference circuit you know that was something that we hadn't done in the past couple years just because we had been so busy you know doing what we do here and uh it's it's been nice getting back into the the conferenc scene and seeing people face to face and uh continuing to build those relationships outside of over a screen for sure.
• 28:05
  SPEAKER_01: I love it.
• 28:06
  SPEAKER_01: I love it.
• 28:07
  SPEAKER_02: Well let's get into my favorite part of the show sure rapid fire rapid fire yeah where we ask you where we ask you some some some personal questions and get to know you a little bit better uh biggest fish you ever caught ooh biggest fish I ever caught well I had hooked into a couple Goliath group in my day but I never got them in um I would say to be quite honest with you it was two weeks ago uh we took my father for his 60th birthday um king salmon fishing up in lake ontario and we got into some beasts so I would say uh between between 18 and 20 pounds is probably probably the biggest awesome yeah favorite cleveland sports team unfortunately it's the Browns you know I I as long as I play baseball I I will forever live and die with the Browns and the the factory of sadness that that comes with being a Browns fan so I will uh I'll live and die with my Cleveland Browns.
• 29:15
  SPEAKER_02: What what prediction for the season record call man if we hit six wins I'll be happy all right uh phone call or text phone call all day Starbucks order um pike roast pike hot uh medium hot pike roast two creams one sugar easy uh favorite city for business travel ooh that's a great question hold on let me let me let me rack the brain here because I've been to so many it's hard to figure out it's hard to keep track.
• 29:52
  SPEAKER_02: Actually I'll I have a group of wonderful agents I don't know if they'll ever listen to this but I have a group of agents that I personally work with up in Montana and I get to visit them from time to time.
• 30:02
  SPEAKER_02: So that's cool.
• 30:03
  SPEAKER_02: Nothing beats the Montana Mountains in my opinion uh favorite dinner meal so many um I would say chicken parm with a side of fettuccine alfredo I like that I like that uh one person you would love to have dinner with that like give me a some more context like could be anybody dead or alive man dead or alive celebrity non-celebrity I'll I'll pick somebody who I don't normally have dinner with um my son fun fact is named after Dean Winchester uh the character that gens plays in Supernatural and so if I could have dinner with Jensen Eccles I think that would be awesome so gents eccles if you ever listen to this I I'm always open I'll I'll go wherever it's your your fault we're gonna we're gonna send them this clip uh to see I would love that I would absolutely love that my son is my son's a year and a half and and his name is uh his name's Dean so he was named after his character in Supernatural I love that last question one networking tip that everyone should know get out in the community um if I've learned anything in this these past six years especially in the insurance industry is having your name out in the community not only in person but on social media as well I mean everybody knows the impact social media has nowadays but getting out in your community going to different events having tables you know being at golf outings or any types of these events where you can get to customer facing um is only going to help your business in the future and help with referrals.
• 31:47
  SPEAKER_01: Love that well that wraps us up for rapid fire before we wrap up the show Adam where can people find you how can people reach out to the AC if they want to join get more information yeah yeah you can go to www.jointheac.com my email is a urbania so first letter of my first name and my whole last name at jointac.com you can also find me on LinkedIn um I'm the only Adam Urbania in the world so it's not hard to find me they will find you Adam well it's we appreciate we appreciate you coming on uh we appreciate we loved watching the success of the AC and hope you guys continue to grow and accomplish everything you guys have done uh we appreciate you guys watching and listening at home and hope to see you guys again soon thanks everybody have a great day thank you staying in the elevate team for having me on it was a pleasure and it's always good talking and we look forward to a great partnership into 2026 and beyond so let's go let's go thank you so much