Group Benefits and Multi-State Agency Growth with Kristyn Ruth and Skye Saleh

Kristyn Ruth: You of course. Nice to see you as well.

Ben Shaw: ⁓ should we start just with a quick introduction on your end?

Kristyn Ruth: Yeah, and actually I'm here with my business partner. Would is Doctor Sky Sully.

Ben Shaw: Sky, really nice to meet you. yeah, if you too wouldn't mind just introducing yourself and how you found your way into insurance. That's typically the best way to start.

Kristyn Ruth: Sure. So I I'll go first. So my name is Kristen Ruth. I have actually how I got into insurance is I was I've been selling cars for 18 years. And so in 2018, me and a partner decided to open a car dealership. And so I was doing the financing. And I was like, you know what? If I'm gonna be financing the cars, I'm not referring any more insurance out. I started an agency. So when I sold the car, I also started selling car insurance. So that's where I started. but then I started getting requests for homeowners and business. And so I just kept expanding. I could I'm just a person that can't say no in a way. So started expanding. Then I met somebody who got me into even life insurance and annuities. ⁓ so anyways, I've just it's grown so much since 2018, but that's how I got started. Yeah. And ⁓ my name is ⁓ Sky Sally and I ⁓ actually got introduced to this business. Kristen Ruth, ⁓ who's absolutely amazing. ⁓ she and I met. I was actually a client of hers. ⁓ we actually ⁓ did a business transaction. she is like just absolutely phenomenal. I would ⁓ we would all we also became friends and very well acquainted. And I realized, you know, although I had been in ⁓ different industries, whether whether it was nonprofit or medical industries, I saw the way she ran her life and the freedom she had. And I like, hmm, ⁓ you know, looks actually very appealing, you know, because I was like, you know, I ⁓ I ⁓ had lot ⁓ knowledge in my industry. The one know but the knowledge that I knew that I needed, I needed financial services ⁓ knowledge. And so ⁓ connecting with her, I've learned a wealth of information. ⁓ I just ⁓ admired her just you know being financially her financial ⁓ expertise and ⁓ just all that she had. So I I it just inspired me to learn more. And then also I'm at a particular phase in my life where building multi-generational wealth. is very important to me. And ⁓ you know, and I just don't know a greater way to do that other than being in in financial services and in particular ⁓ in insurance.

Ben Shaw: Do you mind telling us what you were doing before, Skye?

Kristyn Ruth: Yeah, so before I have ⁓ ⁓ counseling, I have a a counseling background, I've ran medical ⁓ facilities, ⁓ things like that. And then ⁓ I've worked in nonprofit ⁓ and ⁓ yeah, it it you know ⁓ it it vastly but I ⁓ have been to like my leadership skills, things like that. I think those are transferable. And so, ⁓ yeah, so yeah, it's it's different, but it's it's not different in that it is an industry that you do want to care about the people that you service. And so I I didn't realize that it was that connected because when you're working with in like insurance, you know, you want to care about the clients because this is a very ⁓ thing, very, very personal thing. Very ⁓ you're you're in people's lives, you're in in ⁓ you're talking about sensitive areas and things like that. So think that ⁓ I didn't realize that parallel until actually being in it. but yeah, so that's that's just kind of ⁓ a little bit about ⁓ my background.

Ben Shaw: Very cool. How how did the two of you break up the business right now? Who who's responsible for what?

Kristyn Ruth: So okay, so ⁓ when I started in insurance, I created my own agency. It was just me, right? And then I started getting a few writers ⁓ or producers ⁓ working under me. And then I got a partnership in 2024 ⁓ with someone else. And so we run a property and casualty insurance agency together. Where her expertise comes in and where she really wanted to ⁓ grow was in group benefits because she being in the medical running she she's so humble but running medical facilities she was in charge of finding the in the insurance agency that would help with their cli with their employees benefits right so she had the inside knowledge ⁓ where I have the sales and the out you know sort of the outside and so we created a separate agency that does group benefits and

Ben Shaw: No, that's that that's actually you answered it exactly right. So so the question was how how do you two split up the work? And it sounds to like Kristen, you sort of you you sort of oversee a lot of things. You you have the sales acumen and then Sky, your specific focus is because you come from the medical side, like benefits and and then selling benefits with by an agency to companies, is that right?

Kristyn Ruth: Okay, good. Yes. ⁓ with my background ⁓ in particular, it's kind of like two different things. So when I was doing ⁓ running medical facilities, being ⁓ over that, that's that's one aspect of it. And then just before I got into insurance, I have ⁓ a chief people officer background. And so ⁓ Being in that, ⁓ an opportunity to work and and to be responsible and to oversee and ⁓ be responsible for insurance benefits and ⁓ you know for group group benefits. And so I've been on the other side of the companies and the clients that that we ⁓ are that we're ⁓ reaching. So I have like the insider. So my that being on the other side of that along with Kristen's sales and business acumen, we just kind of marry the two. And so it just gives the the client the best of both the worlds because we're able to ⁓ of put together something for them and be able to bring both of our expertise to the table.

Ben Shaw: So I will admit that you're the first person on this podcast, and I was just telling Kristen that this is now episode number nine, but you're the first person on the podcast that comes with benefits expertise, right? I've typically spoken to people who do life and a little bit of health and then a lot of P and C agents. What is different in benefits? Like how do like a good a good example when b ⁓ talk about their pain points is the interaction with the different providers, the different carriers. I'm assuming in benefits there's a similar type of interaction. How how do I think about that?

Kristyn Ruth: Yeah, ⁓ absolutely. ⁓ so what we while what we like to do is is to sit down with the client and assess what is it that they need? What are what do they want to do? You know, do they wanna, you know, what type of insurance do they want for their ⁓ for their employees? So they have options. They may just want to do, you know, health medical benefits. They wanna may maybe they wanna get into vision and all of things. And then maybe they wanna offer ⁓ some extra. So it's just it it basically depends on what they want and we want to be able to customize it based on their needs. So we typically ⁓ like to work with clients or our our target clients, you know, you know, 50 employees and hire. So we can deal with we can ⁓ work with very small companies on up to ⁓ larger enterprise level ⁓ organization.

Ben Shaw: And then how do you decide on the solution providers you work with? So

Kristyn Ruth: So right now, ⁓ again, d based on what what their needs are, we're gonna ⁓ them according to so we're not just taking a cookie cutter approach. We're going to customize it based on and that's where the niche that we're really filling is that we wanna make sure ⁓ we are going to meet their particular needs, whatever it is that they need. It's not just ⁓ a cookie cutter approach. So we have ⁓ an agency, ⁓ a company that we work with and that can provide ⁓ just about anything that that particular client's gonna need.

Ben Shaw: 'Cause I think Chris and we had talked about the P and C carriers that you're you're all appointed with and and did we I I I don't r remember the number but I'm I think it was more than a dozen of carriers, no?

Kristyn Ruth: ⁓ yeah, we and we're in over forty states on that side. So and you know, every state's a little different. So we have and we're not done. I mean, I just got three more appointments this week. So I mean we're constantly 'cause we have so many agents and so we're always wanting to make sure they have options and choices for the clients they're working with. We don't want agents to leave our agency because they you know, have clients that they can't help because we don't have the right carriers. Yeah.

Ben Shaw: And and then is is that is that type of model slightly different on the benefit side? So you have one almost like a wholesaler in between sky and then you can access all sorts of different yeah.

Kristyn Ruth: Yeah. Yes. ⁓ Absolutely. And and here is the thing too. ⁓ we are still expanding. So we do we do work with the GA and ⁓ we are ⁓ also open to expanding. And here is the thing, we we understand ⁓ that there are ⁓ because we we also have like referral partners and so we're we're working along with ⁓ other agents that are out there, sometimes ⁓ They ⁓ want to be able to provide these services to their clients, ⁓ whether it's small business owners, ⁓ et cetera. And so we understand that they could, you know, work with GAs too. The difference is is that we're we're not just looking to bring on a client, sign them, you know, have them ⁓ you know, sign them up for all their services and then buy C later in a year. The difference is is that we want to also ⁓ be able to provide that executive, you know, executive level reviews, consults, ⁓ things like that, and just hold their hand throughout the year ⁓ well. And that's the separator. If if you you know, I I I believe that that's like our secret sauce is to really be there for them and not just ⁓ you know, get with Dynasty and you know, again what we see you in a year. You know, we we are really there for our

Ben Shaw: How how do you find customers normally?

Kristyn Ruth: So know, we referrals, we're still, you know, of course, you know, we're startups, so we're we're still getting our feet wet. We're we're still of course ⁓ establishing our client base. And so ⁓ we're just we're just at the beginning, early, very early stages. ⁓ but we do we're very strategic ⁓ in our approach and ⁓ we really building out a very robust system so that we can ⁓ make sure that we get clients that that are are a great fit. If we feel that it's someone that we're we're not gonna really be able to serve as well or they, you know, maybe they would be a better fit to go with another company, then, you know, we won't even take take that client ⁓ ⁓ want to make sure that it's it's a great fit for both.

Ben Shaw: Skye, can you walk me through what a typical day looks like as someone who's a benefits broker?

Kristyn Ruth: Yeah. ⁓ so ⁓ a typical day and and Krista may even be able to ⁓ speak better fit on that. Yeah, so ⁓ for me what I like to do is like you know, we do have sort of separate roles is is the training with the agents. And so part of ⁓ ⁓ that we get clients organically is agents, right? Like so they have their own markets, they're out there, they're independent, and they're bringing things to us. So on this side with the group benefits, like she said, we're not gonna just take everything that comes, we we wanna make sure it's a good fit. But ⁓ our agents are sort of on this side, we we treat them more like referral partners where they're referring the business to us, where you know, doing the consultations, making sure it's a good fit. ⁓ and then the day to day would be you know getting the census spilled out ⁓ for the employees, right? Finding out the employees' information. I mean, and depending on how big the group is, that can be time consuming. So We're figuring, you know, figuring all the agent or all the employees and what they need, what they're interested in, and then getting back with RGA and you know, looking through and we have tuck the best companies, I mean the best companies through this GA. So you know, just making sure the price fits right, right? Sometimes they're sticker shock for the employer when you're looking at benefits because they're coming out of pocket, you know. So ⁓ you know, just making sure the price fits right, the employees are getting what they actually want. ⁓ and so yeah, there can be a little it that's just insurance in general. It doesn't matter what side. Sometimes there can be a little back and forth, just making sure that you're offering the best fit. If they like it, great. If they don't, we have to go back and tweak it a little bit. and then just getting that close. And then of course for the clients that we've already helped service, you know, there's sort of a monthly protocol to that. You know, sometimes employees quit or get laid off or whatever. And so things like that could come up. And so there's yeah, definitely servicing, but we have an amazing GA and they do. a lot of back end support for us so we can stay out there facing the clients and and working with them day to day.

Ben Shaw: And then I'm assuming with the twenty independent agents on the P and C side, there will be every now and again, you know, customers that come up that are just like, ⁓ could you also help me with benefits?

Kristyn Ruth: Yeah. Yeah. It it they crosses, you know, there's of course, yeah. I mean that that's kind of why we are gr well, it's not kind of why we're very grateful that we have been able to like operate in both these spaces because even the same thing with these employers, sometimes they own their building and they might want coverage on their building, right? Or ⁓ general liability in case somebody slips and falls inside the building. So ⁓ we can really offer everything. And then they you know, the employers they have personal lives, they have homes, they have vehicles. So if we do a good job, then they will allow us to go ahead and check out all of that for them. Mm-hmm.

Ben Shaw: How do you can you walk me through what the typical processes via which you get quotes from, in this case the GA you know, the the carriers on the P and C side? What what type of tools do you use?

Kristyn Ruth: Sure. So the PNC side, there's a lot more that I would say needs to be done because we do use a GA, their system sort of houses everything we need. ⁓ so it makes it ⁓ it it's very it's more fun because we get to just really sit with the client, figure out the like we just kind of liaison between the two, right? and then on the P and C side, yes, there's you know, of course we have a system management, we use Go High level, it's great for automation for you housing the information so whenever 'cause we do have independent agents, we don't have a lot of employees. So they can, you know, make sure they're uploading documents. So that way if we do need to service something, a a client calls in, just wants an ID card, everything's there. We can send it out. we do have rater systems, of course, to try to save some time from going website to website to website to quoting someone's, you know, home or auto. and I'm to think what am I missing? There I mean there's there's lots of systems. There's lots of websites. Insurance is No shortage of that.

Ben Shaw: go high level more on the life insurance side, is that right?

Kristyn Ruth: I use it for property and casualty, although yes, sometimes it we do have independent ⁓ th brokers that also just do one on one life insurance, not groups. So they they can definitely enter their clients in there and we keep record in there as well. Right.

Ben Shaw: How many of the twenty agents that work with your agency, many of them do life, how many of them do P and C and then are there are there a few that maybe do both?

Kristyn Ruth: Yeah, there are. So actually in total with PNC and the Life and Health, we have seventy-seven agents. ⁓ twenty of so are just PNC. And then the there are some that do both, and there were some that just do life. like and we do annuities as well. So life and annuities. yeah, it it there's a lot. I mean, it's been since twenty eighteen since I started recruiting, and so we've got tons of people that have stuck with me that whole time. We've got lots of new ones that have just come on board this week. so I'm we're I'm always out there trying to recruit and bring on new agents for sure. ⁓

Ben Shaw: I I do find it interesting what I've witnessed is it does seem to be a slightly set of tools between someone who does life and annuities and someone who does PNC. How do you think about that, Kristen?

Kristyn Ruth: ⁓ it is different. So I mean, I I do work with a broker on the life and annuity side and so they have their own systems. I've the life and annuity agents, I plug them into that brokerage system and use their back office system and support. and so I really just focused on the property and casualty as far as my agents go and just plug them into the brokerage that does the life and annuities.

Ben Shaw: My feeling was that the life agents need to be very comfortable with call outreach, you know, maybe even using leads and then phoning a bunch of numbers and really working their way to their customer that way. It it sounds to me like a lot of the P and C agents actually have more of an issue on the carrier connectivity side where, you know, if they need to ensure a house but the house is very complex or in a state that's difficult, right, finding where you can place the coverage, you know, is going to take a long time is Do do you also see those pain points split in that way?

Kristyn Ruth: Yeah, I mean I I see it for my agents. I've been doing it long enough. I kinda have my go to carriers that I know like if I'm personally writing something, right? But ⁓ yeah, for the agents I can be, you know, but that's all part and I'm telling them that's all part of being a good broker. You gotta figure it out. I honestly like I don't have a lot of ⁓ sympathy or compassion for agents that don't wanna get out there and just figure it out. Cause I I and I'm not like bragging and maybe it's even a bad thing, but I've never called anybody, ne ever asked anybody for help. I get on Google, I figure it out, I call the carriers, I ask them questions, and then ⁓ time you do it enough, you kinda get good at it.

Ben Shaw: If when reflect on the seventy-seven agents that work with you, where would you say the majority of them found out about?

Kristyn Ruth: Yeah, so I love Alignable. ⁓ Alignable is a really good website. You get it used to be 10 a month. Now they lowered it down to six a month, six free contacts a month. ⁓ and so I I've I've found lots of agents on there that are already licensed. Also, agents will refer other agents and ⁓ know, I've I've got lots of agents that were already licensed, but I also train people if they want to get licensed and how to go through that process as well.

Ben Shaw: If there if and and I would love to ha have an answer from both of you actually, if you could wave a magic wand to make part of the process in your day to day automated or maybe even make it go away completely, what process would you wave that wand for?

Kristyn Ruth: Hmm. Chargebacks. No chargebacks, no. And ⁓ well, I mean, I don't know if that would ever work, but I'm just saying that's probably the worst part of any business, right? Is like having to give money back. But

Ben Shaw: That's good. Can you expand on that? wh why why do you ever need to charge back?

Kristyn Ruth: if somebody wants to cancel their policy or they can't afford it, I mean that happens, right? People fall into times where they you know, maybe when they bought the policy, they thought two hundred dollars a month was fine in their budget. We do also ⁓ offer like a complimentary financial review with our clients, ⁓ so that way we can build them a budget plan. Cause, you know, for things like annuities, of course, and life insurance, like we want to make sure there's suitability, right? We want to make sure that we're not we're Like we're not just slinging insurance. We're we're literally sitting down consulting with them on you know group side, even on the P and C side, especially with the business owner. Cause I I never want to get in a position where I'm just selling them something because it sounds good, but financially it doesn't make sense for them. So sometimes we even go that extra step. Our agents are trained to we have a system for that ⁓ where they can sit down and break that down. ⁓ but I mean it it's part of life. I I say like your finances and your credit score are kind of like the stock market. They go up and down with life as well. I mean, if you're if you're watching this and your credit score and your finances have been peak your whole life, God bless, call me. I wanna find out the support. 'Cause ⁓ mean for meme it's it's up and down and that's but you get stronger and learn how to navigate that and use it to your advantage sometimes. Yeah. Yeah. ⁓

Ben Shaw: Sky, what what would you want to be?

Kristyn Ruth: I I'm gonna tell you mine, but I also wanna ⁓ say something that I I wanted to interject before I I ⁓ before I had to go. I also wanted to highlight before Kristen and I formed our business, Kristen was very successful, is very successful in her own right. And so when she's talking about her agents and the P and C and all that, that was things that Kristen had already built. And I just really wanna highlight that because she's so successful and she's very humble. And she probably won't say all of that, but I just wanted to be very clear that what Kristen and I are doing is very a small, you know, we're we're not small, we're big and and vision and and all the the things that we're doing, but we are just starting. Whereas Kristen has been up, thrive, and powerhouse all the things. And so I just appreciate you for in even in inviting me on to be on here with you today. But I I just wanted to make sure that that I I highlighted that because ⁓ I I just wanted to acknowledge. her in that. you. And I appreciate that. And I've grown so much since working with her. She brings a whole nother perspective from the inside of things that I that that has been valuable for me. So thank you, Scott. I appreciate it. Good partnership. Yeah. So the magic wand for me would be just really being able to ⁓ mindset training for people that we bring aboard. that right there is is is there's no magic one. People, you know, it's like really putting in the work because like by the time we get to a person, if they have the right mindset, it just makes things so much easier, smoother. ⁓ they're able to to win quicker. You just really being able to help support whether it's an agent, business owner, whatever. And so That that is something ⁓ that I feel that is is so important because it's it's it's key to everything, ⁓ is is, you know, the mindset. So I think that would be if I had a magic it would be it would be that.

Ben Shaw: Is that is there something you could expand on when it comes to mindset? What are the type of characteristics you look for in new joiners?

Kristyn Ruth: Well well and what I mean by that to to be a little bit clear is like grow the mindset. sometimes and you know in people ⁓ investing in growing their mindset. ⁓ because that is you know, you can pour ⁓ to or it it it it even with the vetting process because like ⁓ when we mentioned earlier, ⁓ a a person is not necessarily at a a place where they're ready to take on whether it's our services or whether it's joining us in and a referral partnership ⁓ etc so when a person when they come already with a certain mindset it helps the process along but then at the same time you know I also understand ⁓ and have and understand that Sometimes things take time. And so, but if if we're if we're talking about magic wands here, then that would be that would definitely be one. the person that's not willing to grow themselves, I mean, they're only ⁓ gonna go so far. I mean, I d I've had lulls in my life, like previous to starting my own business where ⁓ I probably wasn't just being honest, growing myself. I was repeating cycles, living what I knew. But it's like a per when you come to the place in your life where you can and not everybody's the same, of course, you know, identify that that needs to happen, then that's where the growth happens and that's where we're gonna have fun. Well, and and let me give you an example. Let me give you a real in real time scenario about what I'm talking about about growth mindset. So before I knew that there was a podcast going on, I had my laptop up ⁓ my way, getting ready to do a couple of things on my way out the door, right? But because my mindset, this is an investment. So I understood. Let me push everything aside, hop on this podcast with Ben, this is important, this is investing, this is long term. I'm thinking not just in the moment, but I'm thinking long term. That's what I'm talking about. Not that I have it all figured out. Clearly I don't. But what I'm saying is that when when when we're talking about investing in in your growth, investing in being able to identify back to business acumen, being able to identify what's important, what how to prioritize, you know, how to move through your day, how to ⁓ expect the unexpected, how to be prepared. I don't have any answers prepared for this. I'm just getting on here sharing information, but it's worth my time. This is worth investing in. And you know, we appreciate you and what you're doing and and the impact. you know, that you're making. Cr ⁓ Kristen briefly mentioned it, but I I didn't know we were doing this in today. But this is what I'm talking about when I say growth mindset.

Ben Shaw: Do you have a way in which you train new agents that want to work with you to get closer to something that you're describing?

Kristyn Ruth: ⁓ so the ⁓ the brokers that I've been plugged into on the life and annuity side, they've been a great help. They they offer trainings around the week, ⁓ know, and consistently for since I've been involved with them. ⁓ and so I plug in my a I plug in all the agents, ⁓ again, it's up to the agents whether they take advantage of that or not. ⁓ I I plug them all into that. I'll be honest, I'm ⁓ busy. I again I I've said it once and I'm gonna say it one more time because this is true. Like I don't have a lot of sympathy. I don't have a lot of compassion for people that don't take the bowl by the horns and want to do it themselves. So I I'm I blow a lot of people out of the water with that attitude sometimes and that's okay because I don't I can't hand hold I got two sons and those are the only people in life I'm hand holding and so they got life on their own. Everybody else is grown ups like it would say that. I would say that, but I also would say that you do. Okay. She's a saying that she really does hold people. By the hand. And you know, we and and and this is not a plug, but I I we can't make it a plug, but it's not a plug. It wasn't meant to be a plug. It's just answering your question. Kristen and I have co authored a book and she she's like, you know what, we'll just why don't we just go online and we read this book? You know, we'll do you know, once a month, we'll go on and I mean once a week and go on and read this book, and it's and it's about helping women, you know, financially and things like that. And we did. And it wasn't, you know, not that it was like this big monetary, ⁓ you know, that not that it was ⁓ lucrative for us to necessarily do that, but she did care about pouring into women. She did care about us getting this information out. So that is like a tool that we use to inform and to kind of help along with some of those mindset pieces. And then also just encouragement. You're really great at that. Encouragement because you know, life can be can bring and present obstacles and challenges and things like that. And sometimes just having someone tell you you can you can do that. And she's real great at that. And I've seen her do that. And I've seen her ⁓ want to help people that couldn't help. And whether it's going to know, there we had a situation where we were traveling out of state and there were some agents ⁓ that were you know, that maybe they didn't have a way to get there. And Kristen was like, Well, I'll I'll drive you all there. You know, we can go there. We can do you know, so it it's things like that. Just really sometimes people need words, but then also sometimes people need practical help. And so ⁓ just just being able ⁓ to do that, I think his I'm a very in person person. So I always tell people if if you like I have a Calendly link, book me, we'll get on a Zoom, a phone call. And I'm very diligent at answering. I mean, yeah, obviously we're all busy. We got stuff we're doing, but I call people back. I run qu I want people to close deals, right? So I'm like, You got work, let's do it, let's get it closed, let's get it done. ⁓ so you know, I'm I'm I'm ⁓ I'm hands on. ⁓ and ⁓ am just blessed 'cause I do have two other business partners on the life and annuity side that do tons of mindset training and so I can plug my agents into that their systems and they they do all the great mindset work. ⁓ and I'm just here to help close deals and get the work done. She's not as bottom line as she sounds been. I know she sounds like bottom line. She she's she really does hold people by by the thing. You do.

Ben Shaw: That's nice. I I I'm I'm hearing a little bit of tough love, you know? you you you expect people you ⁓ you ⁓

Kristyn Ruth: Yes. Top love. I I do think as she Because time is a I want people to respect their own time and mine, right? So I gotta teach that as well.

Ben Shaw: an average person who doesn't know a lot about insurance, what would be something that they would be surprised by in your work? Something they really wouldn't expect you to need to be doing so much of.

Kristyn Ruth: that's a great qu a servicing. I think sometimes agents think, Okay, I sold a policy, great. Like, but there's servicing involved, right? Like customers are gonna call you and it doesn't matter what kind of policy it is. Like, so it's like you need to have that good bedside manner all the time. Like like be able to answer the phone and have yeah, you know, you can't even on your bad even on my bad days, I might be bawling my eyes out. This is Chris and like still have to do that. Like, and so that goes with the mindset. If you're not, you know, but like we do we do referral partners for agents that, you know, want to get a commission but don't want to necessarily do that. And we can refer into us and we can take care of that side of things. But if you want to be a real agent, like you you gotta be strong, I think. ⁓ and and care and you said this and care about people. And what would you say? I'm sorry. Absolutely. ⁓ yeah, the same. Yeah. Servicing ⁓ And just knowing with any ⁓ industry, there are ebbs and flows. You know, there are th times are gonna thrive. And I think that you you know, just just preparing for that. And then always I I think not becoming ⁓ just complacent or stagnant, just always just just just again, I I can't get away from having that that growth. ⁓ mindset and I and I would even say ⁓ as as much as possible this is may sound cheesy and we've heard it a lot but ⁓ having that attitude of gratitude you know I think that that is so important ⁓ it's just ⁓ you know being grateful and it really ties into servicing the people that you are because sometimes we're off to the next thing but being appreciative of the clients that you already have in nurturing that, servicing that, nurturing that. and then when you're good to people, it leads into referrals. It leads into they know that they're they've been taken care of. You know, this is why Kristen gets a lot of referrals. I I'm around her all the time and and hear people referring because because ⁓ you know just just nurturing that you know taking care of

Ben Shaw: If you're looking towards the next sort of five to ten years, where would you love to see your joint operation go?

Kristyn Ruth: Worldwide baby. I'm doing research that happens in Mexico, Italy. Like I want to get us into other countries. Yeah, global. Global. Global vision. Absolutely. We're you know, we're in all 50 states and that's awesome. I'm super excited for that. but we want to push it. We want to take it absolutely and and and philanthropy. Yes. But you know, ⁓ I think that that is important to, you know, that ⁓ being global. you know, but also philanthropy, ⁓ and being able to really pour into the nonprofit that ⁓ that we work with ⁓ together and ⁓ yeah empower.

Ben Shaw: you mentioned you already scaled to forty states. Is there something you notice that is different depending on which state you go into? Any

Kristyn Ruth: ⁓ goodness, some of these states is like I don't even want to hear it or see it or like I'm like, ⁓ goodness. Yeah, some states are not fun. ⁓ I mean just gov the government, I guess, or the laws or whatever, like the to take ⁓ politics, right? It always boils down to politics. So, you know, of the Northeast and California, of course, like, but ⁓ but it's all good. We we we're navigating and figuring it out. Yeah.

Ben Shaw: What's the reason for that? Sky Kristen, thank you so much for joining the podcast.

Kristyn Ruth: Thank you so much for thank you so so much. Absolutely. Thank you and all the views. God bless you and and any anyone that views this. Thank you so much for your time.