Latest / Elevate The Hustle / Ep. 30: We've Trained 1,500+ Insurance Virtual Assistants. Here's How It Works. Ft. Melissa Rivera

Transcript

Ep. 30: We've Trained 1,500+ Insurance Virtual Assistants. Here's How It Works. Ft. Melissa Rivera · Elevate The Hustle

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_00: She was super overwhelmed.
• 0:02
  SPEAKER_00: And even at the interview process, like there was a lot of tears, a lot of nerves, and it was like, we can't place this girl.
• 0:12
  SPEAKER_00: It's gonna be very difficult because the interviews are not going well.
• 0:16
  SPEAKER_01: Elevate the hustle.
• 0:17
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 0:23
  SPEAKER_02: Welcome to Elevate the Hustle, where we break down what it actually means to build teams, scale companies, and lead with intensity.
• 0:31
  SPEAKER_02: I'm your host, Staton.
• 0:32
  SPEAKER_01: I'm Don Petarillo, and today we have our head of training, our creator of Hustle University, and my original insurance trainer, believe it or not, Melissa Rivera.
• 0:48
  SPEAKER_04: Let's go.
• 0:52
  SPEAKER_02: Thanks for being here.
• 0:53
  SPEAKER_02: You couldn't give a better intro, like Melissa from the Bronx Rivera.
• 0:58
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 1:00
  SPEAKER_00: BX, BX.
• 1:01
  SPEAKER_00: That's right.
• 1:02
  SPEAKER_02: Oh, all right.
• 1:03
  SPEAKER_02: All right.
• 1:04
  SPEAKER_02: Well, I already know how you're gonna answer the next question, but let's get right into it.
• 1:09
  SPEAKER_02: What does the word hustle mean to you?
• 1:13
  SPEAKER_00: Hustle.
• 1:14
  SPEAKER_00: What does hustle mean to me?
• 1:15
  SPEAKER_00: So hustle does not mean working these long hours, or, you know, what it means is really like, what do you do when you don't know what to do?
• 1:27
  SPEAKER_00: So that's what I think of when I think of hustle.
• 1:29
  SPEAKER_00: Like, do you sit there and wait for somebody to give you the answer?
• 1:33
  SPEAKER_00: Do you keep, do you keep going?
• 1:35
  SPEAKER_00: Do you ask questions?
• 1:36
  SPEAKER_00: Do you get curious?
• 1:37
  SPEAKER_00: Do you try to figure things out and keep it moving?
• 1:40
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I think, you know, and that's also, you know, hustle is a big part of training as well.
• 1:46
  SPEAKER_00: And how I train, right?
• 1:47
  SPEAKER_00: I don't expect everybody to know everything.
• 1:49
  SPEAKER_00: They're learning a completely new industry.
• 1:52
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but it's what I care about is what they do next, right?
• 1:56
  SPEAKER_00: So, and also there's a resilience piece to hustle as well.
• 2:01
  SPEAKER_00: You're gonna make mistakes, you're gonna have days where you're overwhelmed, you're gonna get feedback that you may not have loved hearing.
• 2:09
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but hustle is being able to say, okay, what can I learn from this?
• 2:13
  SPEAKER_00: And how am I gonna come back better the next day?
• 2:17
  SPEAKER_01: So you've been with us since the very, very beginning.
• 2:21
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 2:22
  SPEAKER_01: And training has evolved.
• 2:25
  SPEAKER_02: Pre pre-launch.
• 2:26
  SPEAKER_01: Pre-elevate teams, pre-launch.
• 2:29
  SPEAKER_02: When it was just a baby in the in in the ones, just an idea.
• 2:34
  SPEAKER_00: Yes.
• 2:34
  SPEAKER_00: I remember Dom asking me, should I do this?
• 2:40
  SPEAKER_01: I don't remember that.
• 2:41
  SPEAKER_01: What did you say?
• 2:42
  SPEAKER_01: What did you say?
• 2:43
  SPEAKER_00: I said, Yeah, do it.
• 2:44
  SPEAKER_00: Like, what do you have to lose?
• 2:46
  SPEAKER_00: Do it.
• 2:49
  SPEAKER_02: So it it's it's all because of Melissa's basically.
• 2:52
  SPEAKER_02: What what's it?
• 2:53
  SPEAKER_02: It's all her fault.
• 2:55
  SPEAKER_02: It's all her fault.
• 2:56
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, I I I pushed.
• 2:58
  SPEAKER_00: You pushed.
• 2:59
  SPEAKER_02: Well, that's what you gotta do.
• 3:00
  SPEAKER_02: You gotta push.
• 3:01
  SPEAKER_02: Give us uh give us some hustle stories from back in the day.
• 3:05
  SPEAKER_02: What did you always know you were a hustler?
• 3:08
  SPEAKER_02: Did you always start hustling or was it later in your career?
• 3:12
  SPEAKER_00: I think it was um, I've always had, I mean, I grew up in the Bronx, so I think I've always been surrounded by hustle.
• 3:20
  SPEAKER_00: Um, is not something that I I didn't grow up in the Bronx that everybody sees on TV or thinks.
• 3:25
  SPEAKER_00: Like I went to private school, you know, I grew up in middle class, so no like crazy struggle stories, but I was so you were you weren't you weren't selling guns, guns on the street corner in third grade?
• 3:38
  SPEAKER_00: No, but I know people who were selling guns on the street or selling things that they that they shouldn't have been selling.
• 3:45
  SPEAKER_00: Um so, you know, my my parents were just, you know, hardworking people making sure that they they take care of their family and get our needs met and get us through school so that we didn't have to be in the public school system.
• 4:00
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so I always saw my mom, especially like, you know, her working full-time, coming home, doing the the mom thing as well, and keep keep keep things moving and never stopping.
• 4:12
  SPEAKER_00: Um, she's always, you know, been driven after her career.
• 4:18
  SPEAKER_00: So that's something I learned from her.
• 4:20
  SPEAKER_00: And um every, you know, everybody around me, like I said, you know, my my brothers, they've always been hustlers.
• 4:29
  SPEAKER_00: They might be the hustlers that we hear in the movies.
• 4:31
  SPEAKER_00: They but they always like everybody I around me has always figured it out, right?
• 4:38
  SPEAKER_00: So whether they're if they don't have a job, they lose their job, things aren't working out financially as as they want it to, they're gonna figure out a way to get shit done and and let's go and let's go make some money.
• 4:52
  SPEAKER_01: What does your mom do for work?
• 4:54
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, my mother, of course.
• 4:56
  SPEAKER_00: She's my she's my original trainer.
• 4:59
  SPEAKER_00: So um insurance has pretty much been in my life forever because my mom is an insurance.
• 5:06
  SPEAKER_00: So she worked in insurance, she still does.
• 5:09
  SPEAKER_00: So I was exposed to it when I was really young.
• 5:12
  SPEAKER_00: I used to go to the office with her.
• 5:14
  SPEAKER_00: Um like applications.
• 5:17
  SPEAKER_00: Like we used typewriters at that time, so I would type things up.
• 5:21
  SPEAKER_00: You would have applications with like carbon copies.
• 5:24
  SPEAKER_00: So that was like my favorite part is taking out the carbon and getting my hands all black.
• 5:28
  SPEAKER_00: I know.
• 5:30
  SPEAKER_00: So putting things in the mail.
• 5:32
  SPEAKER_00: And when I was a teenager, I would answer phones and you know, work, work in the summertime, filing and stuff like that, when there was a lot of paper, which by the way, my mom still has a lot of paper.
• 5:44
  SPEAKER_00: So if anybody asks why I've never worked for my mom, there is your reason.
• 5:49
  SPEAKER_02: So you were basically the first VA ever created.
• 5:56
  SPEAKER_02: You were the original VA, you're the original VA.
• 5:59
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yes.
• 6:01
  SPEAKER_02: Wait, so how how long has your mother been in insurance?
• 6:06
  SPEAKER_00: Um, since I was one, so a long time.
• 6:09
  SPEAKER_03: So 29 years, 20 years, 15, 15 years, 15 years.
• 6:16
  SPEAKER_02: And did you know that this is like what you're gonna do?
• 6:22
  SPEAKER_00: Absolutely not.
• 6:23
  SPEAKER_00: Um, not at all.
• 6:26
  SPEAKER_00: So, like I it was just uh, you know, a summer thing, something quick when I was in high school, um, aside from helping her when I was younger.
• 6:34
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, I actually went to school to be a doctor.
• 6:38
  SPEAKER_00: That was my dream since I was a little girl.
• 6:40
  SPEAKER_00: I was always gonna be a doctor.
• 6:41
  SPEAKER_00: And so when I went to school, I was pre-med.
• 6:45
  SPEAKER_00: And um what actually happened was um, if you want to hear like a little hustler story, I met a guy that wasn't the greatest.
• 6:54
  SPEAKER_00: And I was hanging out a lot.
• 6:59
  SPEAKER_00: And so, um, but I was still doing my school thing, but the next year I was I wasn't too far from home and I was home a lot.
• 7:07
  SPEAKER_00: So the next year I decided I'm not gonna dorm, I'm gonna stay home.
• 7:10
  SPEAKER_00: So when I stayed home, my mom was like, Where are you going?
• 7:13
  SPEAKER_00: What time are you getting home?
• 7:14
  SPEAKER_00: This and this and that.
• 7:15
  SPEAKER_00: And I was like, oh no, like I'm gonna get a job and I'm gonna get an apartment and I'm leaving.
• 7:20
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so that's what I did.
• 7:22
  SPEAKER_00: And what was my job?
• 7:24
  SPEAKER_00: It was in insurance.
• 7:27
  SPEAKER_00: I ended up full-time in insurance and during the day and going to school full-time at night.
• 7:33
  SPEAKER_00: And then I said, after like doing that for a year, year, like a year and a semester, I was like, I'm just gonna, you know what?
• 7:42
  SPEAKER_00: I could be a doctor and I could be like a regular doctor or a great doctor and make a lot of money, or I could do the same thing in insurance.
• 7:50
  SPEAKER_00: Wherever I want to take it, that's where I can go.
• 7:53
  SPEAKER_00: So I just stayed in insurance after that.
• 7:57
  SPEAKER_02: So you got dumb dumbfounded.
• 8:01
  SPEAKER_02: He he can't believe it.
• 8:03
  SPEAKER_01: No, I, you know, doctor, you have to go to school for a really long time, and that that wasn't for me.
• 8:08
  SPEAKER_01: Not that I was was that I also couldn't couldn't look at the sight of what I probably faint and you know, kill my patient.
• 8:15
  SPEAKER_02: So was that a hard decision?
• 8:18
  SPEAKER_02: Was your family upset or were they kind of happy because it was like insurance?
• 8:22
  SPEAKER_00: No, my mom was so upset.
• 8:24
  SPEAKER_00: She was upset probably until like, and you know, one of my it was like one of my very good friends growing up, one of my best friends, she also wanted to be a doctor.
• 8:34
  SPEAKER_00: So she went to med school and she did the whole pre-med thing.
• 8:38
  SPEAKER_00: So my mom for the whole four or five years was like, You see, you see, look, she's doing it, you couldn't do it, you couldn't do it.
• 8:45
  SPEAKER_00: And then, um, and then she ended up deciding that that wasn't for her after she was in med school and she left, and she's, you know, very successful doing what she's doing.
• 8:55
  SPEAKER_00: But after that, I was like, You see, you see, you see.
• 9:03
  SPEAKER_02: So let's fast forward, you went into insurance.
• 9:07
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, I'm sure you were successful, and then one day this named Dominic Piccarello.
• 9:16
  SPEAKER_02: And somebody is like, you need to train this guy.
• 9:19
  SPEAKER_02: Is that what happened?
• 9:20
  SPEAKER_02: Am I being accurate here?
• 9:21
  SPEAKER_00: Well, no, we were he was an intern at the time, so he came in, I think for like uh, you know, a a summer, and then the next year he came in for longer.
• 9:32
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and yeah, it was basically, you know, this is the guy.
• 9:36
  SPEAKER_00: And then um eventually when they made him like an account manager, we were all like, no way, like he is not gonna make it.
• 9:45
  SPEAKER_00: Like, like, are you guys kidding me?
• 9:49
  SPEAKER_00: Like this guy is not like you're gonna make him an account manager, like no.
• 9:55
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but you know, look at him now, super proud of you, like like my little brother.
• 10:02
  SPEAKER_02: Oh were you, but you were an account manager as well, right?
• 10:06
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, I was already by the time I met Dom, I was already doing it for like six years.
• 10:10
  SPEAKER_00: So I was already like then an account manager.
• 10:13
  SPEAKER_02: Seasoned.
• 10:14
  SPEAKER_00: Yes.
• 10:16
  SPEAKER_02: According to your age, that was only like a few years ago.
• 10:19
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, it's all very this is like soap for time here.
• 10:26
  SPEAKER_02: So so you you end up going, you you end up working with Dom, and then I'm assuming you guys don't end up working together for the entire time, right?
• 10:36
  SPEAKER_02: But but eventually your your paths crossed again.
• 10:40
  SPEAKER_02: How did that happen?
• 10:41
  SPEAKER_00: Um, we've always stayed in touch.
• 10:42
  SPEAKER_00: I actually I left to go um somewhere else.
• 10:46
  SPEAKER_00: Uh and then we've always stayed in touch, and I knew like you know, I knew when Dom wanted to leave, when he didn't want to work, you know, he wanted to sell, sell, sell, like that's it.
• 10:57
  SPEAKER_00: Um I had moved and again, he started his own business, his own agency.
• 11:03
  SPEAKER_00: So I was actually at that time, I lived in California.
• 11:06
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so I lived out there for like almost five years.
• 11:10
  SPEAKER_00: So when I decided to come back, I guess that's when Dominic was ready to hire some, you know, a new person.
• 11:17
  SPEAKER_00: So we met up, he gave me an offer and and I accepted, and here we are.
• 11:25
  SPEAKER_03: Oh God, here we are.
• 11:27
  SPEAKER_00: Here we are, here we are, like you know, before that we stood in, we've been working together since then, because constricted.
• 11:35
  SPEAKER_02: All right.
• 11:35
  SPEAKER_02: I I'm trying to give a timer to the people there, Melissa.
• 11:38
  SPEAKER_02: Okay, so we were how many years ago is this?
• 11:42
  SPEAKER_00: So this was in, so I lit moved to California.
• 11:44
  SPEAKER_00: I moved back in 2017.
• 11:47
  SPEAKER_00: So that's when I started with Mr.
• 11:48
  SPEAKER_00: Dominic in October 2017.
• 11:51
  SPEAKER_00: And then um, and then again he started Elevate.
• 11:55
  SPEAKER_00: So I developed the training program based on, you know, we used VAs there at the agency.
• 12:02
  SPEAKER_00: So everything we basically sat down and everything that R VAs did, we wrote it down, and that's how the training uh syllabus and the program came came to life.
• 12:14
  SPEAKER_02: You built it.
• 12:16
  SPEAKER_02: You you're you're you're the creator, you're the founder of the training program.
• 12:20
  SPEAKER_01: Give yourself a little more credit.
• 12:22
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you.
• 12:23
  SPEAKER_01: Do you remember our first our first person, Eric?
• 12:28
  SPEAKER_00: No, I wasn't there at that time.
• 12:30
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, you weren't there for that?
• 12:31
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, I don't know who I don't know who was there.
• 12:35
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know if you had a virtual assistant.
• 12:36
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe you were in between when I started there.
• 12:39
  SPEAKER_00: The first one I remember was um Daniela your assistant, Daniela.
• 12:44
  SPEAKER_00: Yes.
• 12:45
  SPEAKER_00: She was my first so she was uh an assistant, she was really good, and um, but she came on vacation to the US and disappeared.
• 12:54
  SPEAKER_02: So might still be here.
• 12:57
  SPEAKER_02: She found she found love.
• 12:59
  SPEAKER_02: She found love.
• 13:00
  SPEAKER_00: So we never got this soon.
• 13:10
  SPEAKER_00: No, she had just started.
• 13:11
  SPEAKER_00: I think she was there a couple of months.
• 13:13
  SPEAKER_01: She's like, I'm gonna go to US for like two weeks, and and that was two weeks turned into more than two weeks, and then we we stopped hearing from her.
• 13:24
  SPEAKER_02: So so let's talk about let's talk a little bit about training.
• 13:29
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, I believe we're on wave 50 plus on mistake.
• 13:35
  SPEAKER_00: I think we 56 right now is uh 56.
• 13:39
  SPEAKER_02: So, you know, you have trained a lot of people.
• 13:43
  SPEAKER_02: I don't know what the math, oh I don't know what the math is, but call call it a lot of people.
• 13:47
  SPEAKER_00: Minimum is 30 per wave, so yes, a lot of wave per wave.
• 13:51
  SPEAKER_01: Dom, what's the math?
• 13:52
  SPEAKER_01: What what's the basic math there?
• 13:54
  SPEAKER_02: It's like 1500-ish, 160 1500 plus people you have you have trained over over the course of uh the last four and a half years.
• 14:07
  SPEAKER_02: Um what does it take to cast this course?
• 14:13
  SPEAKER_02: What does it take to be a successful VA?
• 14:16
  SPEAKER_02: And what what do you look for?
• 14:19
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so obviously we teach them the technical insurance stuff, right?
• 14:24
  SPEAKER_00: That's what it's it's it's about.
• 14:26
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but that is really just one piece of it.
• 14:30
  SPEAKER_00: Uh we could teach insurance, we could teach, you know, Hawksoft or any other system.
• 14:36
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but what we're really looking for and to be successful in the in the training is who you are while you're learning all of that.
• 14:46
  SPEAKER_00: Um are you curious?
• 14:48
  SPEAKER_00: If you don't understand something, are you gonna ask questions?
• 14:52
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, are you gonna pay attention and write down notes so that you're not asking, you know, so many times I see like we say something and then two minutes later they ask the same questions, and then two minutes later somebody else asks the same question, right?
• 15:05
  SPEAKER_00: So are you focused?
• 15:06
  SPEAKER_00: Are you paying attention?
• 15:08
  SPEAKER_00: Are you resourceful?
• 15:09
  SPEAKER_00: You know, before saying, I don't know how to do this.
• 15:13
  SPEAKER_00: Are they looking at their notes during homework time when they're not with us, you know, on a on trainings or on a one-on-one?
• 15:19
  SPEAKER_00: Are they checking all the resources that they were given?
• 15:22
  SPEAKER_00: Are they going online trying to figure things out, right?
• 15:24
  SPEAKER_00: We're looking for all of this because um we want to make sure that they're gonna own things, right?
• 15:30
  SPEAKER_00: Ownership is huge.
• 15:32
  SPEAKER_00: And um also if they make a mistake, you know, do they understand what they did wrong?
• 15:38
  SPEAKER_00: And can they fix it so that they don't continue doing the mistakes repeatedly?
• 15:44
  SPEAKER_00: So um, you know, hustle initiative is big.
• 15:49
  SPEAKER_00: Uh and I love the people that see something that needs to be that needs to be done and and and they figure out a way how to do it.
• 16:00
  SPEAKER_00: So there's a lot of like we have um, we use clicks, so there's a lot of messages going on, and especially like messages that go on late at night, you know, when and and I love to see that because I know like they're putting in the effort and they're they're there late at night trying to do extra practice or you know, trying to Google stuff to try to, you know, to learn more about a certain topic, even if we have it, or to get a refresher on a topic.
• 16:26
  SPEAKER_00: So that's the kind of things I love to see.
• 16:29
  SPEAKER_00: Number one thing I tell them in training is communication, right?
• 16:32
  SPEAKER_00: During training, after training, everything that is big when especially everyone is working remotely.
• 16:39
  SPEAKER_00: Um you can't disappear if you're confused or overwhelmed, right?
• 16:45
  SPEAKER_00: Always tell them I rather you guys over-communicate in the beginning, and your agency should never be wondering what you're doing, right?
• 16:54
  SPEAKER_00: They should never be wondering what's going on with this account or what happened with this process or whatever it is.
• 17:00
  SPEAKER_01: Who's been your biggest success story that you've told?
• 17:03
  SPEAKER_02: Oh my god, I was literally just gonna ask that question.
• 17:06
  SPEAKER_00: I would say, um, can I say a name?
• 17:10
  SPEAKER_02: Why not?
• 17:11
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 17:12
  SPEAKER_02: I'm gonna say nobody watches the show anyway.
• 17:14
  SPEAKER_02: Go ahead.
• 17:14
  SPEAKER_02: Say that.
• 17:15
  SPEAKER_00: It's gonna be Rob Bowen's girl, Candela.
• 17:19
  SPEAKER_02: So Candela.
• 17:21
  SPEAKER_00: Candela is a huge success story, and not just, you know, not from the she was, you know, she was a seasoned professional, very professional, um, knew her stuff, right?
• 17:33
  SPEAKER_00: But she was super overwhelmed.
• 17:36
  SPEAKER_00: And and even at the interview process, like there was a lot of tears, a lot of nerves, and it was like, we can't place this girl.
• 17:46
  SPEAKER_00: It's gonna be very difficult because the interviews are not going well.
• 17:50
  SPEAKER_00: Like, how are we gonna get her?
• 17:52
  SPEAKER_00: You know, so you know, it takes it takes a village in training as well.
• 17:57
  SPEAKER_00: So with everyone stepping in and having that village all, you know, pusher and culture, that confidence came out, and now she's you know doing amazing there.
• 18:08
  SPEAKER_00: So that's that's one of the the best things that the proudest things that um or the peep per one of the people that I'm most proud of.
• 18:17
  SPEAKER_01: What about Carlos?
• 18:18
  SPEAKER_01: You missed Carlos.
• 18:20
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, that's not, you know, Carlos is I knew Carlos from the beginning.
• 18:24
  SPEAKER_00: I said, hey, you're gonna you wanna be a trainer, you're gonna be a trainer.
• 18:28
  SPEAKER_02: Okay, so so for those of you who don't know, Carlos works on Melissa's team, and um he was in our first class, right?
• 18:34
  SPEAKER_02: And he was like, was he the first or the second class?
• 18:37
  SPEAKER_02: I said Melissa is like, I want this guy, he's gonna come work on my team.
• 18:42
  SPEAKER_02: We're like, okay, whatever, whatever you need, Melissa.
• 18:44
  SPEAKER_02: But but and you know, you're talking about Candela.
• 18:47
  SPEAKER_02: Candela works with Rob Bowen, Rob Bow is one of our favorite clients, he was one of our first clients.
• 18:52
  SPEAKER_02: And you know, if you go back and watch one of the episodes he was on, he talked about, you know, he was a business owner who was super overwhelmed, who needed help.
• 19:01
  SPEAKER_02: And, you know, now he's like our brand ambassador.
• 19:05
  SPEAKER_02: Where, you know, if somebody's ever like, oh, do you have anybody we could talk to?
• 19:08
  SPEAKER_02: Or like, oh, go talk to Rob.
• 19:10
  SPEAKER_02: Rob is like, this is gonna change your life.
• 19:13
  SPEAKER_02: I'm like, Rob, you always have time to like talk to our clients.
• 19:16
  SPEAKER_02: He's like, Yeah, I got candela.
• 19:17
  SPEAKER_02: She's doing she's doing all the work.
• 19:20
  SPEAKER_02: It's fine.
• 19:21
  SPEAKER_02: Don't worry about it.
• 19:22
  SPEAKER_02: So uh well, everybody just needs their own candela.
• 19:27
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, they do.
• 19:29
  SPEAKER_02: What about uh coaching?
• 19:31
  SPEAKER_02: Coaching.
• 19:31
  SPEAKER_02: You you guys always also coach.
• 19:33
  SPEAKER_02: Let's talk about that.
• 19:35
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, so coaching is nice interview readiness, right?
• 19:39
  SPEAKER_00: So same we look for the same things that we do in training, um, you know, making sure they're they're paying attention, they're taking feedback, they're putting in the work.
• 19:50
  SPEAKER_00: So it's just as important.
• 19:52
  SPEAKER_00: Like we can have somebody that gets training perfectly, but when they meet a client, they just get stuck and it's very hard, you know.
• 20:02
  SPEAKER_00: So that is a major part of what we do here is helping prepare them for those interviews and just like helping them, you know.
• 20:11
  SPEAKER_00: Some of them have great experience, but they don't know how to express that experience, right?
• 20:15
  SPEAKER_00: They don't know how to how how much they think sometimes they think I don't want to oversell myself or make my and we're like, no, like let's go.
• 20:23
  SPEAKER_00: Like give us all the goods, like tell us everything.
• 20:26
  SPEAKER_00: Like, don't, you know, like be confident, you know, uh show off.
• 20:30
  SPEAKER_00: We want you to show off, give us what you got, you know what I mean?
• 20:33
  SPEAKER_00: Like what is great about you, that's what we want to hear.
• 20:36
  SPEAKER_00: So I think this a lot of them are a little bit more reserved and they're not maybe used to that same like process that they go, you know, as interviewing with a US company.
• 20:47
  SPEAKER_00: Uh I think maybe in Latin America, from what I've heard is more like conversational kind of interviews, where in the US they really have to like sell themselves.
• 20:56
  SPEAKER_00: You have to sh tell them, you know, why they're great.
• 21:00
  SPEAKER_00: So that's what we bring out of them in coaching.
• 21:04
  SPEAKER_02: That's awesome.
• 21:05
  SPEAKER_02: What about Hustle University?
• 21:08
  SPEAKER_02: What is Hustle University?
• 21:10
  SPEAKER_02: Another initiative that you built.
• 21:13
  SPEAKER_02: Melissa built the training, she's built Hustle University.
• 21:17
  SPEAKER_00: So Hustle University, uh actually, that idea originally came from Stan.
• 21:23
  SPEAKER_03: So it's for me.
• 21:28
  SPEAKER_00: In one of his in one of his madman moments, you know, he was like, you know what?
• 21:33
  SPEAKER_00: We need to do something that people are just gonna get it.
• 21:36
  SPEAKER_00: They need to get it.
• 21:38
  SPEAKER_00: So um, meaning, you know, how do we get somebody who joins elevates really understand who we are, right?
• 21:46
  SPEAKER_00: So not just onboarding them, not just explaining like this is your role, this is your job, this is your department, and here's your responsibilities.
• 21:55
  SPEAKER_00: Um that doesn't, you know, mean that they get.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_00: elevate so um I think so I kind of took that and said okay so they don't know our story yet so they don't understand why a lot of you know especially leadership and why we're a little different we're a little different the way that the way that they are the why we do things that we you know the way we do them um they see our core values right they read them but they don't understand that we actually live them they're not just there on the wall um written somewhere um and they don't know the people or their stories behind how we got here right so especially like you know they hear from you and and Dom and they hear your stories of before elevate and I think that really is something that they um they resonate with and they and they take and they hear those hustles and they really like I think that helps them get it and that definitely helps them understand you because before meeting you they're like these guys are crazy but then when they well well like I I get it right so and yet then I think they're more invested right they want to know you know all right I wanna I want to build with this too they want to build with the crazies yes uh but but shout shout out to you because I mean we kind of threw the idea at you right and said hey you know what are we really great at we're really great at training people and making them prepared for a job and how do we bring that same motion forward for our internal team and you took the idea and you just ran with it and Hustle University is very very cool.
• 23:51
  SPEAKER_02: We get an opportunity obviously tell our stories but learn about other people's stories that are joining the team um and they're able like you said they're able to understand us and if able to understand our our mission our vision what we're trying to accomplish and they become fully invested within the first week.
• 24:11
  SPEAKER_02: And or some people don't right they're like you guys are crazy.
• 24:16
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah we want people to walk away thinking like I get it right now understand this place I understand these people I understand these crazy founders and understand what we try to build and how I fit into it.
• 24:29
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah I think it adds a it adds a human element to it as well right because like especially newer people that that are coming in the company is a lot bigger than it was four years ago we actually just looked at the numbers from January of 23 and we did$14,000 in sales at Mary but so but but even Melissa is part of Hustle University is like I think that's there, right?
• 25:01
  SPEAKER_02: Like our first conference we went to like our original logo like you know our chart of how many people were there to have like we're we're very transparent with like you know where we were back then and where we are today.
• 25:15
  SPEAKER_02: And it's only been is it it's not even four and a half years it's like it's like four and actually it's exactly four and a half years I'm trying to do basic math yeah I think it really helps people feel like they're they're a part of this company you know instead of like I work here no I'm a part of it.
• 25:37
  SPEAKER_00: What what so make making the the transition from insurance agent broker whatever you want to call it to non-insurance agent or broker like what was the biggest what was the biggest difference or what was like the biggest challenge that that you faced in making that leap and would you go back to being an insurance agent if you could firing the biggest challenge was just creating something from from scratch right I'm not going into an agency that has processes or something that I'm not working you know it's working on kind of the same thing but in a different way but it's not what I've been used to for the past 20 plus years right so now I actually have to like and not not even just training somebody that's working in an agency with me right that's still a little bit different.
• 26:35
  SPEAKER_00: It's okay like this is the stuff like they really need to know and this is the stuff that I really need them to get.
• 26:41
  SPEAKER_00: So how am I gonna do that?
• 26:43
  SPEAKER_00: Um and the biggest um you know one of the biggest differences and would I go back no so that means we can't fire her.
• 26:54
  SPEAKER_00: I think that's what she's trying to say to you she's unfireable I would not go back uh because it's just you know it's nice not be there anymore there's insurance agencies watching the show all right don't talk shit she's gonna come back it's gonna be okay well let let's trade I think this is a great transition because we talked about processes and and and you know a little self-promo to our new product called Elevated Plus which was another brain child of yours uh what is elevated plus and like why would somebody need it what's the benefit of it so elevated plus is really our way of taking training one step further right our VAs go through that core training um but now with elevated plus we're saying okay now how can we get closer to how can we know how your agency actually works right we teach the training and so many times during training someone asks a question and I'm like and our answer is our famous it depends.
• 28:05
  SPEAKER_00: What depends if your agency wants it this way some of them like it this way some of them might want it a different way so it you know this is the baseline for you to understand but it depends on how the agency you know operates right so every agency is different.
• 28:21
  SPEAKER_00: So with elevated plus we're looking at agencies' actual workflows their processes their expectations the way they want things done and so that we can then build on that.
• 28:32
  SPEAKER_00: So either they don't have anything in place so I still want to you know meet with them like how do you want this done and you have nothing in place and we're gonna help you put some a process in place or they may have something in place but they have no idea how they're gonna incorporate the virtual assistant into that and what what they can own, what they can't own.
• 28:52
  SPEAKER_00: So we're gonna look at it we're gonna go through it and we're gonna say okay these are the things that the virtual assistant can take off of your hands these are things that they can own.
• 29:00
  SPEAKER_00: These are the things that somebody that's licensed can own.
• 29:03
  SPEAKER_00: And um once they're they're with it and they're prove it then we will go and actually you know work with the VA to train them on that process.
• 29:15
  SPEAKER_00: So it's very you know hands-on and working and while we're also creating the process we're also working with the VA as well so they're getting that exposure to actually creating the process plus learning what the process is so we're looking for you know what does the agency owner want how do they want this process to look like and and training and helping them create it even more than that we're we're helping them become more efficient and effective right there they're they're because you know the reason we launched this is we were either meeting with companies who are like we don't have anything in place and we don't know where to start and you know now this this person's coming on board and they're just getting thrown a bunch of shit or people that do have processes in place but are they the most effective efficient processes out there and is there a better way of doing it?
• 30:08
  SPEAKER_02: I mean myself coming from non-insurance looking of how insurance is being done and it's like you have licensed people and producers who are making a lot of money doing tasks that they should not be doing and they're like well this is how we've been doing it our whole lives and this is how we were taught to do it and it's like doesn't necessarily mean this is the only way to do it.
• 30:31
  SPEAKER_02: There has to be a better way um so I think kudos to you for working on this and and and really I mean I think our our goal is to help these agencies grow right because if they continue to grow they're obviously going to come back to us and hire more people and we're part of that journey with them.
• 30:51
  SPEAKER_00: Absolutely and one of the things that you know with Elevated Plus is not only you know teaching RVA, I mean that they hire from us the processes but using those processes then when you hire somebody new you have those in place to make things easier for you.
• 31:05
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 31:06
  SPEAKER_00: So if we can shorten that learning curve and help somebody else walk in and understand the agency's world from day one like that's that's a win for me.
• 31:18
  SPEAKER_02: What what what's what's been your favorite part about working with holiday teams?
• 31:24
  SPEAKER_00: My favorite part I think is is being able like to build things right so it's not like insurance is very like yes I could build processes and things like that in an agency but being able to have like the autonomy to to build things and to you know if I have an idea like feeling comfortable coming to you guys and saying hey like can we try this can we do this and you're like let's see let's do it like we usually say no anyway.
• 31:55
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah not him is gonna benefit you guys.
• 32:01
  SPEAKER_00: I thought you were you're gonna say your favorite part was not doing insurance work anymore it is it's not dealing with at this moment not with which when it comes to the insurance work is not so much dealing with the people so much because I like the people I like the insurers and the clients and stuff but dealing with with the headaches of not being able to get them something that's that's cost effective for them right now is driving me crazy.
• 32:31
  SPEAKER_02: Well you're you're also you're also made I mean we all are but you you you have the front row seat of making an impact I mean our graduations uh are absolutely tremendous and people cry and you know we give awards to we have all these different awards from CEOs to I don't I don't know if we have a class clown award but there I'm sure there's some funny we did okay we did uh I assume we did but but but I mean like like people from all over Latin America come together virtually right they they they start working together in this class and they are competing against each other right so they're they're learning but there's also a competitive aspect to it but then they become friends right I mean I think there's friendly friendly competition.
• 33:16
  SPEAKER_00: They're fairly but I I mean there's like I think there's like the boyfriends and girlfriends that that that that came out of classes supposedly supposedly so there's I'm sure friendships that are formed and and and you know we're making an impact where people are now you know going into a career right I think that's the most important thing insurance is a career it's not you're not just getting a job right you agree with me here you you guys are wrote the insurance natives um is you know definitely a career it's a career path right it's a job so I mean it's not a job sorry it's it's a career path so if they really like put in the effort and push and kick ass and they are great it can lead to a great opportunity for them in the future.
• 34:05
  SPEAKER_01: And it's also I mean it's one of the most stable industries if not the most stable industry in in the United States and I think a lot of people in Latin America are looking for that stability um because it lacks the the countries that they live in are it lacks stability a lot of times.
• 34:23
  SPEAKER_01: You know even in the BPO space if you look at like the big BPOs where they sign a contract with ATT for six months and then ATT decides they want to go to a different country all those people get laid off and now you know they're out of the job trying to find another job whereas with us that's not necessarily that's not the case, right?
• 34:42
  SPEAKER_01: It's we're gonna find you a home if you put in the work and you do a good job, you're gonna have a a home for you know a long time if not in in perpetuity forever.
• 34:51
  SPEAKER_01: And I think that's really important to you know not just people in Latin America but really everywhere.
• 34:56
  SPEAKER_00: So I've had a job through a lot through the recession through COVID through and I think in co during COVID we probably actually grew and got busier for some reason somehow luckily but um yeah so it's always you know uh everybody needs insurance here so that's something that's always gonna have stability so for all you kids watching at home go work in insurance that's what I tell my kids you know you could do insurance they're like no thank you I'm like that's what I I said the same thing it's the get rich slow get rich slow scheme insurance I I love that though but but it it's it's true right like nobody you know like growing up and everybody as a young hustler you're always looking like how can I make money right like what can I do what is everybody doing nobody was like oh you should go to insurance like you're gonna kill it right like like they're like you know you're you're you're selling some sort of hustle where you're getting you know the big commission but but knowing now what I know it's like shit should have gone into insurance at like 19 no one ever said it but it's like a little black hole once you take a step in it sucks you up and you're you're in it and that's it.
• 36:19
  SPEAKER_02: And and they're like you said your pathway right we we've interviewed now you know dozens of guests on the show and asked the question of like well how did you get into it and it's usually like family legacy which is you know similar to yours or you know somehow randomly they took some random temp job or or something somebody told them about it and and and they never they never left well let's get into my favorite part of the show rapid fire rapid fire you ready for Celeste?
• 36:58
  SPEAKER_02: Do you know rapid fire?
• 36:59
  SPEAKER_02: Do you watch it child do you know yes I do okay okay this this this this is where we're gonna go straight to it ready straight to it favorite rap song you know my favorite rap song is all about the Benjamins I don't want to say it you know it's just a little kim part that's it for don't for don't for those of you watching at home I have seen a live performance with both Dominic and Melissa are there and it it is absolutely epic epic that's all I could say about it.
• 37:37
  SPEAKER_00: We need to do a karaoke night at our uh retreat this year and me and Melissa can do the all about done uh our our our our event planning committee if you're watching this please make sure to put this on the list of things to do uh elevate teams in three words of our core values hustle be great and extreme ownership I got a good one for you best job you ever had elevate teams I don't know if you're being truthful but I think you might be I am being truthful like what it's not gonna be like pathmark or something when I was little like when I was beyond it's definitely not one of the other insurance agencies actually mogul is out of insurance agency wise mogul was my best job insurance agency no cody group um I'm sorry I forgot no coding I mean you know is it mogul was younger less pressure you know it was different you know so that's why your boss wasn't such a dick train this little um f lp that you know that's that that uh that story stand no what's the story we we call him flp because don got someone fired because he complained about her so which you're a rat you're a rat dog what's going on well she complained about hand first let's just say and then he was like you know no blah blah blah blah blah but anyway so when she was leaving she told the receptionist the receptionist was like you're leaving and she was like yeah that fucking little prick so every now and then we're like you're acting like an FLP right now I love it I I learned something new every day I might I might I might have to save that one in my back pocket just in case that's gonna come back it's gonna come back probably on the golf course what is the best part about graduation day the best part about graduation day is seeing like everyone emotional so is them you know we tell them when they first they're day one you're fur you're gonna learn a lot of information in four weeks um your first week week and a half is gonna be super overwhelming for most people but keep on pushing right so then to see them actually make it you know not everyone makes it through training right it's not a training that you just getting trained and and you keep on going you actually have to put in the work you have to get it you have to put in the effort you have to make it um and I think we were looking at the numbers today is usually less than 60% is usually in the 50% range that actually graduate so to see them and and they know that right they see as they're going week by week they're seeing less and less people come and their nerves are like oh my gosh you know so every week I'm like just you guys are still here just keep doing what you're doing right keep putting in the best keep figuring it out keep trying so when graduation comes to see them like yes like the the pride that they have in themselves and to know that they actually like put in that effort and and they're excited and they're emotional that's that's nice to see oh I'm gonna ask a completely different question uh favorite meal of all time favorite meal of all time is definitely my Puerto Rican food my blanc Puerto Rican food it's uh my roast pork my rice with um my rice my crab me salad all that together what about your empanadas I was gonna say what about your favorite meal like I love empanadas but if I had to have a favorite meal and something you know like if I'm if I'm going one day my if I'm on the death chair that's the meal that I'll that I wanna remember.
• 42:10
  SPEAKER_00: We didn't talk about your empanada mama hustle yes we used to sell empanadas yes where um well my husband cooks so he makes really good empanadas so he's the one that gets all the credit because he he does he seasons the meat and stuff but I'm the one that puts in all the work that I'm there closing them all up and putting in the hours like the green sauce he he makes green sauce is good he seasons it and then he leaves well I'm there for hours you know making putting them together uh but um yeah so everyone really loves them so when we moved to California we started selling them so we used to sell them in the farmers markets in California that's cool it was a lot of hard work and a pain in the ass but not a lot of not a lot of money I'm assuming yeah but it but we well we liked it and like sometimes we missed it and we used to and I used to work like I used to you know go overnight like making them to like four in the morning go to sleep go to work at 6 a.m and start it all over again um but it was yeah I don't know something about it was like it was like exhausting and tiring but it was fun at the same time and just like being together and doing that and then going out and selling them and everybody loving them um it was it was a good experience so um and now we're here we did sell them at the farmers market here um when we moved to New Jersey but they were a big pain in the ass.
• 43:45
  SPEAKER_00: You're supposed to have a commercial kitchen which we didn't really use.
• 43:48
  SPEAKER_00: So the lady came the lady came to the farmer's market like government nine months pregnant ready to pop to to test our empanaps and then um my husband was like forget it like they're they're on my ass I'm not doing this anymore and and that was it um so you know we make them when somebody wants them or somebody else is having a party or stuff like that but the sale part is is over those farmers markets are over with well you heard it hear all Melissa thank you for joining us on Elevate the hustle and thank you for being a great example of the word hustle uh if those of you who are watching at home want to work with Melissa and her team of uh you know building out those processes we're we're we're reach out to we'll drop a link in the description and you guys could get your firsthand experience working with Melissa and her team and maybe just maybe she's gonna make you some infanadas get a VA get elevator plus and I will send you some empanadas boom I'm gonna this this is gonna go in an email blast out if you sign up in the next 30 days you are gonna get a batch of mamas and panadas is that what it was actually called empanada aced empanada ace that makes sense I like mamas and bananas better but somebody own mamas and panadas I've had them they're they're delicious and the green sauce is banana green sauce is fire green sauce thank you that's me that's me not not not not the so everyone knows it's not Dre it's Melissa that does the green sauce maybe just call the green sauce but whatever we can talk about that another day we appreciate you coming on to the show we hope everybody enjoyed it and uh we'll see you guys again next week thanks everybody