By Brent Kelly

“Security is mostly a superstition. Life is either a daring adventure or nothing.” — Helen Keller

If you have been an insurance sales producer longer than 10 minutes, you know all about risk.

Risk is defined as “exposure to danger.”

Danger surrounds insurance producers everyday. It could be in the form of a manager, company, prospect, client, product, or service. That list could go on and on, but the key point is that risk is clear everywhere you turn.

I believe you could categorize sales risks into three areas:

1. Risk of rejection
2. Risk of failure
3. Risk of financial hardship

These three risks highlight that even though the sales profession is the highest paid industry in the world, only a small percentage of the population enters this line of work. Furthermore, this is why even a smaller percentage of sales producers survive.

I have dealt with these three risks consistently in my own sales career. Although the context of these three risks...

By Brent Kelly

One of my all-time favorite business books, is Simon Sinek’s, “Start with Why,”

His TED talk on this exact subject called “The Golden Circle,” is something that every business professional should watch. In fact, I’ll make it easy for you. Click here to watch now.

The simplicity of “The Golden Circle,” makes it easy to understand. However, when I challenge insurance agents and agencies to apply this philosophy to their own business, they often get stuck.

Simple doesn’t equal easy!
Every insurance agency knows what they do. Most insurance agencies can clearly explain how they do it. Very few insurance agencies know why they do it.

Why has nothing to do with revenues or profit.  Why is about your purpose, mission, cause, or belief.

As Simon Sinek so eloquently states, “Why do you get out of bed each morning, and why should anyone care?”

Can you...

By Brent Kelly

If you had to pick one word that gets you out of bed each day and motivates you to attain success, what word would it be?

My business partner asked me this question recently and I had never really thought about it in great depth.

There are many words that came to mind for me and some of these will probably relate to you as well. Words like purpose, family, achievement, success, security, goals, and legacy came to mind.

Those are all true in some capacity, but didn’t get to the heart of why I wake up each day with a plan of action.

My word is challenge.

All of those words I described above are a challenge. I’m challenged to become a man who lives out his faith through action, to become a dad who is a spiritual, emotional, and a physical provider to his family, and be a man who achieves in business by empowering others.

The list could go on and on, but the it all comes back to challenge. Every day presents new challenges, which thus provides new...