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Prepared to Succeed with Toye Oshoniyi

 

Brent Kelly:

Welcome to the Agent Leader Podcast. My name is Brent Kelly, your host. Thanks so much for joining me on another episode. And I've got a fantastic guest that I'll be sharing with you today. And I'll bring him on in just a second. Let him tell about his background.

Brent Kelly:

But before I get into our very special guest, who's going to bring a ton of value to you, the Agent Leader Podcast listener today.

Brent Kelly:

As always, we want to remind you what the purpose of this podcast is. We want to help agency leaders. Whether you're a principal, whether you're a sales leader, whether you're a producer, whether you're just a professional in the service world. Whatever your role is, they're all vitally important.

Brent Kelly:

We want to help you gain clarity, build consistency and make a commitment to become your best version possible. And for our video viewers here, behind me on my green screen, Best Version Possible is our new book that's out. Certainly you can go check that out if you go to sitkins.com/bvp.

Brent Kelly:

You can take a look and order a copy for yourself and I'd love for you to get a chance to take a look at it. Also, you can view our movie, our Best Version Possible movie. Again, sitkins.com/vip. We want you to be a VIP guest. So sitkins.com/bvp or sitkins.com/vip, for the book or the movie.

Brent Kelly:

I mentioned I've got a great podcast guest. I've got Toye Oshoniyi, from Dominion Risk Advisors. And I'm going to give a little, Toye, just a little precursor to the audience. A little nugget of some of our relationship. And then I'll let you talk more about yourself and some of your background, so the audience gets to know you better.

Brent Kelly:

But here's what I'll tell you, the Agent Leader audience. One thing that Toye exemplifies and Toye has been through our producer camp. Their agency is part of our all inclusive model. So we'll get to know their agency well.

Brent Kelly:

But Toye actually, I'm going to step out of my intro just for a second. When did you attend our producer program? I'm trying to remember exactly when you attended.

Toye Oshoniyi:

I think it was the first virtual one you guys did last year. I think it was December through January.

Brent Kelly:

Okay. So I thought it was about a year ago, I didn't look at the exact time. But one of the things that stands out in our program, and we generally on our producer program, that we run our virtual producer fit. It's an eight session program that we run. But we also do Q&A at the end. And I just find it interest.

Brent Kelly:

I know people have appointments that come up at the end and we get that, but we open up for Q&A. There is a direct correlation we've learned in two and a half, three years. And even beyond that, with some of the other programs that we run is that, when people are hungry for knowledge, they always stay to ask questions.

Brent Kelly:

And Toye was one that at the end of every session was on there going, "Hey, I'm still learning this stuff, but what do you think about that?" Or, "What do you do there?" Or, "What did you see there?" And he's always taking notes. And it just goes back, and hopefully this will come out in our discussion today Toye, I'm sure it will. Is that, the best producers, the best professionals are coachable.

Brent Kelly:

And that's something that's, I don't know how you define it. What is coachable and what's not. But it's just the ability to say, "Listen, I know there's more for me. I want to grow. I desire to grow. I don't have to have all the answers, I never will. But boy, I'm going to keep seeking them."

Brent Kelly:

And that's something that I think this audience is going to take, because the path that you're on, is unique than some of the guests I've had previously. I've had agency leaders and sales leaders, and some of our top end producers. Toye's on the path to that. And I have no doubt he's going to achieve it.

Brent Kelly:

So, that's your build up Toye. I wanted the audience to know you. Toye Oshoniyi from Dominion Risk Advisors. If you could just give an overview of your background and history to the audience, the floor is yours. The stage is yours Toye.

Toye Oshoniyi:

No. Hey Brent, thanks for having me on and just a big fan and I follow you and I listen to your podcast. Even as far as asking you some advice from a podcast you did in 2018.

Brent Kelly:

That's right.

Toye Oshoniyi:

But my background, I grew up in New York, Upstate New York. And played soccer, growing up. Played soccer at West Virginia University, had a full ride there and moved down to Roanoke, Virginia. Played for a professional team here for a little bit.

Toye Oshoniyi:

And when I moved here, I really got a fantastic network. It was just a blessing. And as I moved through some different roles professionally, before I got into the insurance, the P&C world, I was doing commercial furniture for a steel case dealer.

Toye Oshoniyi:

And I'm just going to skip a lot, but you fast forward to COVID. And then the work environment, everybody got sent home. So I went from having a huge number of pipeline, and all of a sudden COVID hits and everybody gets sent home. And all my orders are like, "We don't know what we're going to do." And I saw the writing on the wall. I didn't know when this was going to end. So probably about a year after COVID hit, I got let go of my job.

Toye Oshoniyi:

So we were blessed enough to be in a good situation financially. Where we could really take our time to figure out next steps for myself and my family. And Duke Baldridge, from Dominion Risk Advisors, he was a friend of mine. I coached his son in soccer.

Toye Oshoniyi:

We just met and had a coffee. And he said, "Hey, I think this could be a good opportunity for you." And we prayed about it and we really talked through it. And when I got involved, I said, "Man, I wish I would've done this almost 15 or 20 years ago. But I didn't, but here I am now. So how do I make the best out of this opportunity moving forward?"

Brent Kelly:

Well, again, just from your background, obviously the audience can tell that you're a new producer. A new advisor in this game. And so again, I wanted to bring you on again for a couple main reasons. Number one, I already mentioned, you're coachable. You're a sponge for knowledge, you can just sense that. And I think there's a lot of value to see how people approach things and think that way.

Brent Kelly:

The other part of it too is, we've got people that are like, "Well...", either it's a producer themself or maybe a sales leader, an agency leader, that's got some younger or newer. Doesn't always have to be younger, but as you said, just newer in the game. And what can they do? What should they do?

Brent Kelly:

And I think you're going to give, I know you will, you're going to give some ideas for those producers today. And I know that you're not one to say, "I've got this thing figured out. There's nothing going to hold me back." You're going to have challenges. But I also know with your mentality, your mindset and your hunger. I mean you're going to do great things.

Brent Kelly:

So here's my first question, I already alluded to it. Maybe you mentioned even going back with COVID. But for you as a newer producer, advisor in this game and this a lot of new stuff coming your way, what would you say is your biggest challenge that you've faced, Toye?

Toye Oshoniyi:

There was a lot of challenges. One of the biggest challenges just reinventing myself. Going from what I was doing and then jumping into this new role. And you're starting a new career. And a career that's not as simple as A, B and C and then you're fine. There's so much to learn about this industry.

Toye Oshoniyi:

And I was reading back and looking through, actually listening to one of the podcasts, you said when you first started out. That it came back to questions. That , that unlocked a lot for you. And after listening to that and also doing the training with you guys, that was something that you guys always came back to was, really good questions.

Toye Oshoniyi:

And so for me, the biggest challenge was probably knowledge. And then the other biggest challenge for me is because I realized that my opportunities are almost limitless. And so I'm like, "All right, I've got all these industries that I can go after. I've got all these opportunities. How do I narrow that down? If I don't, I'm going to be all over the place."

Toye Oshoniyi:

And then secondly was, a blueprint or a roadmap of what success looks in order to capture these opportunities. So I would say those are probably the two biggest challenges that I had, as far as the hard work and going out. And that wasn't a challenge for me, but it was harnessing it and really being focused. Going back to the book, The ONE Thing, "What is the one that I really need to focus on when I first start."

Brent Kelly:

Great. Great feedback there.

Brent Kelly:

A couple things I want to just pinpoint on that you said, I love them both. You mentioned the questions. Actually, I'm working on content now from one of our sales meetings. And that's going back to what I'm going to be getting into again, is questions.

Brent Kelly:

And you were alluding that, a 2018 podcast I did. I'm like, "Oh yeah, the guy is a student. Always trying to learn." But I'll tell you, and I say this to any new young producer. Whatever it is, inexperience, trying to get in the game, there's that lack of confidence.

Brent Kelly:

Which is common because, I don't know. I'm learning the industry. I'm learning this coverage stuff. I'm learning the technicalities of it. I'm learning how business owners think in these ways. It's all new stuff. But if you just scale back and say, "Listen..." And obviously it depends by your agency resource.

Brent Kelly:

But if you've got mentors and people and other producer or agency leaders and underwriters, and carrier people, they're going to help support you if you approach it the right way. What you found already and certainly what I found in my experience, even going back. Thinking way back when I started in doing production was, I didn't have to have all the answers. I just had to ask the questions.

Brent Kelly:

And the fear of it, "Well, what if I ask the questions and I don't know the answer." That's okay. "Hey Toye, that's a really great question." I ask you a question and you'll say, "That's a really great question. What do you think?"

Brent Kelly:

And part of this is, "I don't want to knee jerk my reactions because there's a lot of factors here. I want to take this back and discuss with my team. I want to make sure I get you the answer."

Brent Kelly:

And just having that confidence and control, I think is a big issue. And the second thing that I want to allude to, and maybe this will turn in maybe a success or some success that you're having is, how do you take all the noise in the world?

Brent Kelly:

And in this case, as an insurance producer, I always joke and say this Toye , "One of the greatest things about being an independent insurance agent is that, you're independent." I mean, you can pretty much build a model, whatever you want. The biggest challenge of being an independent insurance agent is that you're independent.

Brent Kelly:

And what hit me Toye, in your soccer experience is, someone could say, "Hey Toye, are you willing to run fast?" "Yes." And you're saying, "I can run fast, but could you point me in the direction I should be running?" Right?

Toye Oshoniyi:

That's a great analogy. Yeah.

Brent Kelly:

So speak to me, how you've been able to, or some things maybe you've done to try to filter all the stuff that you're trying to process.

Toye Oshoniyi:

I was very fortunate that my agency put me in your training in the early stages when I started. And I'll be honest, when I was first in the training being so green to the industry, a lot of it was just going by me so fast. And the conversations were just at a different level.

Toye Oshoniyi:

And so I'm excited that I'm going to come back and do the training again, I think, in a couple months, your next round. So I'm going to do it again because now I've got a different mindset.

Toye Oshoniyi:

But I will tell you, the blessing of taking it early was, it allowed me to say, "Okay, what is a future ideal client?"

Toye Oshoniyi:

The things I took away from that as a beginner was, I could identify that. And that was at an agency. And now going back to my mentors and saying, "Where do you want me? Where do you want me to spend my energy?"

Toye Oshoniyi:

Because otherwise, I'm going to spend it everywhere. And if I spend it everywhere, I'm going to do nothing well. So let's get that dialed in. And then the other thing you brought up was your PODs. Your PODs. Your points of differentiation.

Toye Oshoniyi:

I knew if I could nail down those two things, it would set me in a path. So I reverse engineer everything. So I'm like, okay, "If I've got my PODs, I've got my FICs, then I'm backing into it and saying, 'What questions do I need to be asking them.'"

Toye Oshoniyi:

That maybe just because I might not know the insurance industry a 100%, not even 20%, probably at that point. But I know the questions to ask to get the information I need and keep the ball moving forward and adding that value.

Toye Oshoniyi:

So I would say between, like I said, the PODs and the FICs, and then figuring out the questions to ask. And then I started learning more about, "Okay, now I need to know what markets I need to go to." It's great being able to say, "Ask these questions." But then I'm like, "Well, what if I don't have the markets to support the answers I'm getting or support that business?"

Toye Oshoniyi:

So those were the things that really helped me in the beginning.

Brent Kelly:

I mean, first of all, I'm glad just to share that is, people ask, "Well, geez. How long should someone be, maybe in the business, before they join your producer program."

Brent Kelly:

And I don't have a clear answer on that, because it sometimes depends on the person. But typically, when you're throwing in right away, again, you're trying to get your technical training done or your license. I mean, there's a lot of things that goes into that and you're like...

Brent Kelly:

But again, part of how we have things set up, and I'm glad you're coming back is, it's like reading a book. I read, Think and Grow Rich when I was 22.

Toye Oshoniyi:

I just ordered that.

Brent Kelly:

Did you?

Toye Oshoniyi:

Again, yeah. Because I read it a while ago and I just ordered it.

Brent Kelly:

And I read it at 22 because someone told me I should. And like, "Oh it made sense, kind of. But okay."

Brent Kelly:

And then I read it 28 and then at 32. And I've read it pretty much every year since. And every time you're like, "Oh, I see this a little differently now." Because you grow, you mature, you learn. And so I think again, whether it's our program you're coming back to, or just your own experience, you're going to continue to filter that.

Brent Kelly:

And part of that is, I love what you said. And here's something that I would ask anybody in the audience. "What are you doing to quantum leap your results? What are you doing to supercharge your growth by putting yourself around people and ideas and others, so that you don't have to do everything by trial and error?"

Brent Kelly:

Because here's what I wrote down. What you said Toye is this, "I don't know, but I know I need to know."

Brent Kelly:

And here's what I mean by this. Like future ideal clients, we talk about that, again, in this podcast, it's we go deep into this. The idea of what your PODs really mean. How do you position that? So how do you position yourself? Just all that goes in the idea of 80/20. The principles of 80/20.

Brent Kelly:

A newer producer, for example, as you said that, may go, "I don't quite know how I'm going to do that exactly, but I know that it's important. And I know I need to eventually figure it out."

Brent Kelly:

That's the difference, is, we've had people Toye that have, and again, this is, you talked about going back. That have said, same people that were in the same program that you were in. That said, "Man, I wish I would've thought about these things 15 years ago."

Brent Kelly:

And part of this is being able to put that in your mind now. So again, I just applaud you for that. And the last thing I'll share is this, and this is something that I know you're working on really hard.

Brent Kelly:

The idea of asking questions and saying, "This is who I want, at least who I think I want. And here are some of the markets. Now, what are some of the questions I need to ask around that?" Is that, so many people with more experience, believe that if they just have this list of cool stuff that they've done and that their agency does, it's going to be the most successful.

Brent Kelly:

It's okay. But what you're doing Toye and the best producers do is that, "Listen, I know one thing about business owners or people in personal risk. They care way more about their own lives and businesses than they care about mine."

Brent Kelly:

And so just that mindset of, "If I can just engage in questions, people know that I care. People know that I'm actually helping to try to design something for them, not me. And people know that the program that I'm going to put together is about them."

Brent Kelly:

I mean, just those key basic parameters. "Oh yeah. Yeah. Yeah." But how many people really do it? So I just had to share that because it's really important.

Brent Kelly:

I want to ask it again, in your short career in the insurance world at this point, what have you seen, Toye, as your biggest breakthrough or success to this point?

Toye Oshoniyi:

I was thinking about this question this morning. And I would say, is being prepared, is one of the key, what has really helped. And what I mean by that is, I think there's a lot of different ways that you can go about this business. And everybody, I feel like, just in this short time, you're so busy. There's so many things, I feel, that can consume your day.

Toye Oshoniyi:

And then all of a sudden the day gets away from you or it's a week. And it's a month. And then it's two months. And then you look back and you say, "Oh man, did I really get back to doing any prospecting?" And then when I did get the opportunity to get in front of an FIC, was I prepared?

Toye Oshoniyi:

So one thing that we've really started focusing on as an agency is, starting that process really, really early. And what I mean by that is, if it's an FIC that we do get an appointment with, and let's just say they've got a renewal that's two months away.

Toye Oshoniyi:

We might seriously say, "Hey, this isn't the time maybe for you to, we don't know yet." We've got to take a look at it and say, "Do we have enough time to really add the value that we really want to add and create the relationship that we really want to create?"

Toye Oshoniyi:

Don't give me wrong, if they say, "Hey, we like you. We want to do a BOR." We're not going to say, "No, leave me."

Brent Kelly:

That's a buying signal.

Toye Oshoniyi:

So I think what we've done is, I'll give for example an account. We found out that the renewal was probably about 10 months away. But we started acting as if we were already the incumbent, and having those conversations with them 10 months out.

Toye Oshoniyi:

So all of a sudden, it just changed their mindset and the way they thought about who we are and what we could do. And that goes back to being prepared.

Toye Oshoniyi:

So now we're getting the time to really learn more about their business, get deep into their business, so when it does come time to renewal, they're all almost already looking at us as if we're going to be their risk manager and risk advisor moving forward.

Toye Oshoniyi:

So I would say, just being prepared in that timeline, has been really good for us.

Brent Kelly:

That last bit or so is really powerful. I mean, some of that's the mindset. And just the fact, I love that. We're already acting as if we are their agent at that point before we are.

Brent Kelly:

And another thing too, you said 10 months out. And we talk about that even in our different programs. And people are like, "Well, that seems silly. That's a long process." And of course it depends on the size of the account, the complexity of the account.

Brent Kelly:

But part of it is, and people say, "Well, why would they take your call or why would they meet with you? They're not in the quoting process." And the simple answer is, "Great. We don't quote. We're not asking to quote your insurance."

Brent Kelly:

And for most agencies, that's a really hard thing to say out loud. Like, "What do you mean?" And so, it's just the idea of, "We approach things differently."

Brent Kelly:

And what I love about that Toye, and I hope everyone's listening. Is that, from the very first connection, again, you've already identified someone, you already know some of the points of differentiation. So you prepare with some of the initial questions to get them thinking a little differently.

Brent Kelly:

But from that moment, in this case, 10 months out, you have already completely repositioned yourself as an agency and as an advisor, as someone that they probably haven't dealt with in this capacity before. And so again, just a lot of kudos on that. And just the word being prepared.

Brent Kelly:

I mean, we spend so much time, and I'm raising my own hand here because I'm guilty of it if I'm not careful. Reacting to stuff that's not that important. I mean, if you really think about it. Versus saying, "How prepared and proactive can I be to the things that really do matter the most."

Brent Kelly:

And it's tough. My favorite quote that I say all the time, comes from the late great Jim Rohn. "If you don't plan your life or design your life, there's a good chance someone else will. And guess what they have planned for you? Not much."

Brent Kelly:

So it's just that, I love that idea. I'm going to be very intentional with the plan. So love that Toye.

Brent Kelly:

Just from, you already referenced some of your takeaways initially from our program, anything else that jumped out at you, just in some of the conversations we've had and the programs? Or even some of the emails you've sent or whatever.

Brent Kelly:

But just anything that has been some of your biggest takeaway from some of the work we've done together.

Toye Oshoniyi:

I think just the book you guys came out with. Those three words are powerful, best version possible. And that was one of the things that really stuck out to me when I did the training early, was that, this isn't about just my insurance journey. This isn't about my P&C journey. This is about a personal journey.

Toye Oshoniyi:

You can really implement like you said, BVP, in every aspect of everything you do. So just starting with that, I thought set the stage for a different mindset. And I think, keep on going back to that. Even if you're in the middle of doing something, then just say to yourself, "Wait a minute, was this my best version possible? Could I be doing something differently right now? Am I doing something different that can set me apart from my competition?"

Toye Oshoniyi:

So I think continuously asking that question, almost, it gets you back to the core of why you're doing what you're doing. And one of the things that I loved about this industry, there was two things that really resonated well with me. Was one, I love the opportunity to help people. And especially businesses, business leaders.

Toye Oshoniyi:

And this industry is something that, for the most part, you don't really know. I mean, I know I was ignorant going into it. On the personal side I was like, "My homeowner's policy came." And I just sign it, whatever. And I just send it back, whatever. But when you really dig into it and you find out how much value you can add to a business, that was really attractive to me.

Toye Oshoniyi:

The second thing that was really attractive to me, I remember Roger came on. He said, "Name one business you can decide to give yourself a raise at any given time."

Brent Kelly:

Your ears perked up, like that.

Toye Oshoniyi:

I was like, "Wow. Yeah. I never really thought about that." So you put those two together. I was like, "Man, I think I'm really enjoying this."

Toye Oshoniyi:

But I think going back to the best version possible was something that I really took away. Obviously FICs, PODs, I'm down with all your acronyms now and all the saying. So there wasn't really too much that I didn't take away that I found useful. It was just fantastic.

Brent Kelly:

Well we have an acronym problem, number one. We know that. But it's fun. We can get some chuckles out of it.

Brent Kelly:

What you said, I got to go back. And we were joking before we started recording about, you hear things from places and referencing people. But I'm going to reference Jim Rohn again, because he had a huge impact just on my life and development.

Brent Kelly:

But I'm glad you mentioned it because one of the things that I'm just so passionate about is, it's not just to tell people to do things, but to get to why it's important to do them. And more importantly than that, why it's important for them. That's behavior change. And so when we talk about best version possible, I mean we tell the story of it.

Brent Kelly:

We didn't sit there and go, "What's the hook we can start to say that's going to really motivate people." It was just our own dialogue internally, and Roger and I a few years back. And we just start saying, "If we can really get people to understand what that means and what it looks like, we can really make a significant difference and change."

Brent Kelly:

Because, like you said, "It's internalized for you." And what Jim Rohn said is this. And when you said that, I'm like, "Oh yeah."

Brent Kelly:

He said, "Our philosophy determines our attitude. Our attitude determines our actions. Our actions determine our results. And our results determine our lifestyle."

Brent Kelly:

And so it's just working it backwards. If you don't like your lifestyle, look at your results. If you don't like your results, look at your actions or your behaviors. If you don't your actions or behaviors, look at your attitude. And if you don't your attitude, look at your philosophy.

Brent Kelly:

And so I think it just, it all comes back to, "What is my philosophy? How am I going to view things and look at things?" And I'll tell you, one of the things Toye that you said indirectly. And I hear people say this, I think said this years ago. "What do you do?" "Oh, I'm just an agent. I'm an advisor with such and such."

Brent Kelly:

Technically true. But there's that little word you probably heard. Just.

Toye Oshoniyi:

Yep.

Brent Kelly:

And even if we don't say the word just, it sometimes comes out in our body language.

Brent Kelly:

"I'm another person. All these people are out there selling insurance. They're all pawns. They quote, they float. As you heard us say before, it's very much a commodity. We're going to pretend that it's not. But that's what I really do. And I'll just get through it."

Brent Kelly:

Versus, "What I do, really matters. And here's why. And I believe in what I do. And I'm passionate about what I do. And I owe people that are the fit, an opportunity to have a conversation, because I know I can have a huge impact on their life, in their business."

Brent Kelly:

Just a different approach. And again, some of that comes with doing it and getting out in there. I get that. But it's just, "How do you view yourself?"

Toye Oshoniyi:

And it's funny you said that, because sometimes I'll explain, not in those exact words. But, "This is what I do. This is who I am. This is how I can I find value in what I do. And how you can find value in what I do." And come back and they'll say, "All you insurance persons are the same."

Brent Kelly:

The same.

Toye Oshoniyi:

And answer back and all I say is, "Really?" That's all I say. And then they all of a sudden go into, "Why they." And I'm like, "Wow! I feel really bad that, that's been your experience with how you've approached your risk management."

Toye Oshoniyi:

And all of a sudden, and it changes the conversation. So it's just interesting, the power of just asking maybe that question of whether you get that response of like, "You guys are the same." I'm like, "Really?" And then all of a sudden they open up.

Toye Oshoniyi:

And then also to go back to, just. That word, just. I remember reading something about that. And I started taking that out of my emails. Like, "I'm just reaching out to you." I took that out and said, "No, I am reaching out to you." It's not a little thing. It's a big thing. I'm reaching out to you because we've got some dialogue going. So I like that you brought that back up, the word, just.

Brent Kelly:

Well, I have a lot of little things and I catch myself. I mean, I just think there's power in obviously how we think. But a big part of it is in how we say things because I think those two are obviously related. And I have people say, I always catch myself or catch others now and say, "Hey, have a great week." "No, go make it a great week."

Brent Kelly:

Well, that's semantics. Maybe, but have a great week means that, "My kids didn't wake up at night and it's not raining or cold. And that everything went well."

Brent Kelly:

"Well, no, that's, that's reactive." Make it a good week is, "Regardless of the circumstances, I'm going to do everything in my power to have the right mindset and attitude to approach things differently." It's subtle, but it's important.

Brent Kelly:

And I think Toye, back to the insurance part of it is, we jokingly say, "The bar really low in the industry." And we say that, but it's true. If you ask, and I love what you said. If someone says, "Well, all you people are the same." There's an inclination that either says, "Well, no, we're not." Versus saying, "I hear that a lot. Tell me why you feel that way."

Toye Oshoniyi:

"Tell me more."

Brent Kelly:

I love what you said, "Really?" And all of a sudden they'll start unpacking this stuff and you can say, "Wow, I'm really sorry you've had those experiences. Now, we have to earn your trust. But we look at things quite differently than those experiences. Can I ask you a few questions?"

Brent Kelly:

And now all of sudden it's like...

Toye Oshoniyi:

Come down, they trust a little bit more. And that's what I loved almost about this process. And I think that's the thing, I've talked to other risk advisors and I've talked to Duke, he's been doing this for over 30 years. He's seen and done it all.

Toye Oshoniyi:

And he says, "Guys come and go in this industry. They really do." And I said, "Well, I think for me, it's falling in love with the process. And that process isn't always going to be sunshine and rainbows. There's going to be a lot of other cloudy days and stormy days. But knowing that there's something else on the other side, is what is exciting about it."

Toye Oshoniyi:

But also learning through those trials. I mean, I can't tell you how many appointments I've had, I feel like I have just completely screwed them up. And I've been on there with Duke. And Duke's like, "That wasn't that bad. I'm like, "All right."

Brent Kelly:

"Hey, welcome to the club, Toye."

Brent Kelly:

But see, that's a mindset thing too. And again, I know for people that are new it's like, "I could never do this."

Brent Kelly:

And you always joke, it's, you played soccer. The first time you kicked the ball, were you great at it? You dribbled it, passed it? No, you probably stunk at it, because you didn't do it before. But, the idea is, "Okay, I'm going to figure some of this out." Versus, "I'm never going to be good at this."

Toye Oshoniyi:

Right. So it's a process and I'm loving the process. And I think that the agent, the insurance or risk advisor development, is a key part of that. And I've been very lucky that my agency has really stood behind that development side of it and not just saying, "Hey, here you go. Good luck."

Brent Kelly:

Well, if you want again and credit to Duke and your agency, for having some of that. But I will say this too, with all love and respect to many other places out there in the country and the world. If it's positioned as a churn and burn transaction only, and that's your entire model, guess what? You're going to have a lot of churns and burn in your producers. Shock!

Brent Kelly:

And it's going to happen a little bit just to say, "Listen, no, we're a professional firm. We're going to look, act and talk like a professional firm. We're going to do things at a higher level." "Does it mean we're perfect? Heck no. Does it mean we're always going to get it ? No. But this is what we strive to be. And this is where we're going. This is the direction."

Brent Kelly:

And the other thing, the last thing I'll say. I'm jumping on some of your stuff here, but it's so good. Is the fact that, we'll have producers that'll say to me, I'm going to tell you this, in our elite program. "I don't like some of the weeks I have to go through. Or some of the days. There's some calls I do not want to make, there's some application stuff that I got to go around with my team that I don't like at all."

Brent Kelly:

"But you know I what I do like? I like freedom. I like having freedom of money in my career and my life. I like having freedom that I control my schedule proactively how I want. I like the freedom of working with the clients that I really want to work with and the team members I want to work with."

Brent Kelly:

"And I like the freedom of having purpose to know what I do matters. That's what I want." And so it isn't always going to be perfect or you're not going to have, Well every day is a beautiful great sunny day." Yeah, right.

Toye Oshoniyi:

I don't know anybody that has a life like that.

Brent Kelly:

No, no. So, last question. Toye, thank you for being a guest here, I appreciate your time. Last question here is this and I asked this to every guest. So if you've listened to this, you know what's coming.

Brent Kelly:

If you were having a conversation with the younger version of you, so young Toye. And I let's just say 20 years ago, whatever term you want to use and they look up and-

Toye Oshoniyi:

You're giving me credit.

Brent Kelly:

Well, okay. And younger Toye's looking up at today's Toye and says, "Hey, listen, if you have one piece of advice to give me as I go through this, what would it be?"

Toye Oshoniyi:

That is a great question. And another one that I was thinking about a little bit before. And this might be a little bit out of left field, but I would tell younger version of me to surround himself with elders.

Toye Oshoniyi:

I would literally say, "I need you to go and spend more time in retirement homes. I need you to go and spend time with people that are in their 60s and up."

Toye Oshoniyi:

I know Roger has a saying about regrets and re-greats. Well, one of the questions, when you and talk to these people, and now it's something that I try to do when I meet somebody that is in that age bracket. And I ask them. I was like, "I'm just curious. What would you say is your biggest regret?"

Toye Oshoniyi:

And it's amazing what they say. And it's all different. I've had one person say, "Get married." I was like, "Wow. Sorry, I didn't expect that one."

Brent Kelly:

"Oh, sorry."

Toye Oshoniyi:

Let's go another direction. I was like, "Number two." Because these people have been where you're trying to go and they have seen and done. And it's just amazing to hear what their responses are. People really resonate with you, but you have to have an open ear.

Toye Oshoniyi:

You have to be willing to really, really listen. I'm talking to my younger person. Don't just hear the words, but really listen to the words and what they're saying. And how they're saying it because, I really think it could change a lot of young people's trajectory when they start having these conversations with this age demographic.

Toye Oshoniyi:

Because I think so often we write them off, but there's so much knowledge in what they have. So, that's the advice I would give my younger person.

Brent Kelly:

That's not left field at all. I mean, I love asking that question because I get a variety of responses and what a cool answer. And I mean, as you're saying that, I'm like, "Gosh, I've done some of that, but I need to do more of that."

Brent Kelly:

And just thinking about that because you're right, there's such wisdom. And you're right. "Oh, well, they're older." Listen, they've been through those battles. They've been searching for their dreams. And they're probably also, I would say this Toye, very open and honest about some things that younger people won't be.

Toye Oshoniyi:

Super honest. They have nothing to hold back.

Brent Kelly:

Yeah.

Toye Oshoniyi:

Nothing. And it's something that I've talked with my kids about. And it's something I'm trying to start doing a little bit more of is, even if it's going to have them read at retirement homes or just go and help out, because I just think it's important. So, I'm trying to tell my younger self that through my kids.

Brent Kelly:

Yeah. That's good stuff. All right. Well, thanks so much, again, for being a guest on here. I knew you'd bring great value, and you delivered, I knew you would. And I have a final side question and we mentioned this before we started recording.

Brent Kelly:

I believe we'll, I'm not sure when this will be released, I think pretty quickly after recording it. So I don't know if this will be released during the tournament or after the NCAA Basketball Tournament.

Brent Kelly:

But we like to talk a little basketball. So who's your final four and who's your champion?

Brent Kelly:

You might become the smartest person in the world if you get this right. Or people could chuckle at you. But either way, you're putting yourself out there Toye.

Brent Kelly:

So tell me your final four. Tell me your champion.

Toye Oshoniyi:

All right, fair enough. I just filled out my bracket right before our call. So my final four is; Duke, Kentucky, Houston and Auburn. I've got Duke and Auburn in the finals. And reluctantly, I do have Duke winning the whole thing. Not a Duke fan it's Krzyzewski's last year. He's got a good team.

Brent Kelly:

Well, that would be quite the story. The TV networks would love Coach K going out with the National Championship. I'm sure.

Toye Oshoniyi:

Oh gosh. And you need to fill out yours so we can have this conversation.

Brent Kelly:

I know. I will. I'll do it.

Brent Kelly:

I was telling Toye, before we started official recording, that I used to do a head and a heart bracket. And then I just I've gotten away. But obviously my passion and my soul, my heart is with my Fightin' Illini, but he's got Houston. So, there you go.

Brent Kelly:

Hey Toye, thanks again for being on here.

Toye Oshoniyi:

Absolutely.

Brent Kelly:

Again, for all the listeners, you can check out our book and get a copy of our book with a sitkins.com/bvp.

Brent Kelly:

As always, if this podcast is adding value to you, your agency professionals, please share. We're looking to grow the audience, get more great guests like Toye on and add value to the world in the insurance marketplace.

Brent Kelly:

So, Toye, thanks again.

Brent Kelly:

And thanks for being a listener, all the best to your success.

 

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