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

[00:00] Good to see you, Kristyn. Thank you for coming on to the podcast.

[00:02] Of course. Nice to see you as well.

[00:04] Should we start just with a quick introduction on your end?

[00:07] Yeah, and actually I'm here with my business partner. Her name is Dr. Skye Saleh.

[00:12] Skye, really nice to meet you. Yeah, if you two wouldn't mind just introducing yourself and how you found your way into insurance. That's typically the best way to start.

[00:20] Sure. So I'll go first. My name is Kristyn Ruth. I actually, how I got into insurance is I've been selling cars for 18 years.

[00:29] And so in 2018, me and a partner decided to open a car dealership.

[00:33] And so I was doing the financing and I was like, you know what?

[00:36] If I'm going to be financing the cars, I'm not referring any more insurance out.

[00:40] I started an agency.

[00:41] So when I sold the car, I also started selling car insurance.

[00:44] So that's where I started.

[00:45] But then I started getting requests for homeowners and business.

[00:48] And so I just kept expanding.

[00:50] I'm just a person that can't say no in a way.

[00:53] So I started expanding.

[00:54] Then I met somebody who got me into even life insurance and annuities.

[00:57] So anyways, it's grown so much since 2018, but that's how I got started.

[01:03] Yeah, and my name is Skye Saleh, and I actually got introduced to this business, Kristyn Ruth, who's absolutely amazing.

[01:13] She and I met. I was actually a client of hers.

[01:17] We actually did a business transaction.

[01:20] She is just absolutely phenomenal.

[01:23] I would, we also became friends and very well acquainted. And I just realized, you know, although I had been in different industries, whether it was nonprofit or medical industries, I saw the way she ran her life and the freedom she had.

[01:42] And I was like, you know, this looks actually very appealing, you know, because I was like, you know, I would I had a lot of knowledge in my industry.

[01:55] The one but the knowledge that I knew that I needed, I needed financial services knowledge.

[02:01] And so I'm connecting with her. I've learned a wealth of information and I just admired her just, you know, being financially.

[02:11] her financial services expertise and just all that she had. So it just inspired me to learn more.

[02:21] And then also I'm at a particular phase in my life where building multi-generational wealth

[02:27] is very important to me. And I just don't know a greater way to do that other than

[02:34] being in financial services and in particular in insurance.

[02:38] Do you mind telling us what you were doing before, Skye?

[02:41] Yeah. So before I have worked in counseling. I have a counseling background. I ran medical

[02:50] facilities, things like that. And then I've worked in nonprofit. And so, yeah, it is vastly

[03:00] different, but I have been able to use my leadership skills, things like that. I think

[03:07] Those are transferable. And so, yeah, so it's different, but it's not different in that it is an industry that you do want to care about the people that you service.

[03:20] And so I didn't realize that it was that connected because when you're working with insurance, you know, you want to care about the clients because this is a very personal thing.

[03:33] very, very personal thing.

[03:36] Very, you're in people's lives.

[03:38] You're in, you're talking about sensitive areas and things like that.

[03:43] So I think that I didn't realize that parallel until actually being in it.

[03:48] But yeah, so that's just kind of a little bit about my background.

[03:53] Very cool.

[03:53] How do the two of you break up the business right now?

[03:56] Who's responsible for what?

[03:57] So, okay.

[03:58] So when I started in insurance, I created my own agency.

[04:01] It was just me, right?

[04:02] 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.

[04:23] she's so humble but running medical facilities she was in charge of finding the in the insurance

[04:31] agency that would help with their with their employees benefits right so she had the inside

[04:37] knowledge uh where i have the sales and the out you know sort of the outside and so we created a

[04:42] separate agency that does benefits and no that's that's actually you answered it exactly right so

[04:49] So the question was, how do you two split up the work?

[04:51] And it sounds to me like, Kristyn, you sort of oversee a lot of things.

[04:54] You have the sales acumen.

[04:56] And then, Skye, your specific focus is because you come from the medical side, like benefits,

[05:02] and then selling benefits via an agency to companies.

[05:05] Is that right?

[05:05] So with my background in particular, it's kind of like two different things.

[05:10] So when I was running medical facilities, being over that, that's one aspect of it.

[05:16] And then just before I got into insurance, I have a chief people officer background.

[05:22] And so being in that, I had an opportunity to work and to be responsible and to oversee and be responsible for insurance benefits and, you know, for group benefits.

[05:37] group benefits. And so I've been on the other side of the companies and the clients that we are,

[05:46] that we're reaching. So I have like the insider. So being on the other side of that, along with

[05:54] Kristyn's sales and business acumen, we just kind of marry the two. And so it just gives the client

[06:03] the best of both worlds because we're able to kind of put together something for them and be able to

[06:10] bring both of our expertise to the table. So I will admit that you're the first person on this

[06:15] podcast and I was just telling Kristyn that this is now episode number nine but you're the first

[06:19] person on the podcast that comes with benefits expertise right I've typically spoken to people

[06:25] who do life and a little bit of health and then a lot of PNC agents what is different in benefits

[06:30] Like how do, like a good example when agents talk about their pain points is the interaction with the different providers, the different carriers.

[06:38] I'm assuming in benefits there's a similar type of interaction.

[06:40] How do I think about that?

[06:41] Yeah, absolutely.

[06:44] So what we like to do is just to sit down with the client and assess what is it that they need.

[06:51] What do they want to do?

[06:53] You know, do they want to, you know, what type of insurance do they want for their employees?

[07:01] So they have options.

[07:03] They may just want to do, you know, health, medical benefits.

[07:07] Maybe they want to get into vision and all of these.

[07:11] And then maybe they want to offer some extra.

[07:14] So it's just, it basically depends on what they want.

[07:17] And we want to be able to customize it based on their needs.

[07:21] So we typically like to work with clients or our target clients, you know, 50 employees and higher.

[07:30] So we can work with very small companies on up to larger enterprise level organization.

[07:40] And then how do you decide on the solution providers you work with?

[07:43] So right now, again, based on what their needs are, we're going to match them according to.

[07:52] So we're not taking a cookie cutter approach.

[07:54] We're going to customize it based on.

[07:58] And that's where the niche that we're really doing is that we want to make sure that we are going to meet their particular needs.

[08:06] Whatever it is that they need is not just a cookie cutter approach.

[08:10] So we have an agency, a company that we work with and that can provide just about anything that that particular client's going to need.

[08:20] Because I think, Chris, and we had talked about the P&C carriers that you're all appointed with.

[08:27] And did we, I don't remember the number, but I think it was more than a dozen carriers.

[08:32] We're in over 40 states on that side.

[08:35] So, you know, every state's a little different.

[08:37] So we have, we're not done.

[08:38] I mean, I just got three more appointments this week.

[08:41] So, I mean, we're constantly, because we have so many agents.

[08:44] And so we're always wanting to make sure they have options and choices for the clients they're working with.

[08:49] You know, agents to leave our agency because they, you know, have clients that they can't help because we don't have the right carriers.

[08:55] And then is that type of model slightly different on the benefit side?

[09:00] So you have one, almost like a wholesaler in between, Skye, and then you can access all sorts of different.

[09:07] Yeah.

[09:07] Absolutely. 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 also have like referral partners that we're working along with other agents that are out there.

[09:32] Sometimes they want to be able to provide these services to their clients, whether it's small business owners, etc.

[09:42] And so we understand that they could, you know, work with GAs too.

[09:47] The difference is, is that 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, see you later in a year.

[09:58] 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 as well.

[10:12] And that's the separator.

[10:14] If you, you know, I believe that that's like our secret sauce is to really be there for them and not just, you know, get with Dynasty.

[10:23] and, you know, again, we see in a year.

[10:26] No, we are really there.

[10:29] How do you find customers normally?

[10:32] So, you know, we, referrals, we're still, you know,

[10:35] of course, you know, we're startups.

[10:36] So we're still getting our feet wet.

[10:39] We're still, of course, establishing our client base.

[10:44] And so we're just at the beginning, early, very early stages.

[10:49] But we do, we're very strategic in our approach and we are really building out a very robust system so that we can make sure that we get clients that are a great fit.

[11:04] If we feel that it's someone that we're not going to really be able to service 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 that client on.

[11:15] We want to make sure that it's a great fit for both.

[11:19] Skye, can you walk me through what a typical day looks like as someone who's a benefits broker?

[11:24] Yeah. So a typical day, and Krista may even be a better fit on that.

[11:31] Yeah. And for me, what I like to do is, you know, we do have sort of separate roles is the training with the agents.

[11:38] And so part of another way that we get clients organically is agents, right?

[11:43] Like, so they have their own markets. They're out there. They're independent. They're bringing things to us. So on this side with the group benefits, like she said, we're not going to just take everything that comes. We want to make sure it's a good fit. But our agents are sort of on this side. We treat them more like referral partners where they're referring the business to us. We're doing the consultations, making sure it's a good fit. And then the day to day would be, you know, getting the census filled out for the employees. Right. Finding out the employees information.

[12:11] information. I mean, depending on how big the group is, that can be time consuming. So we're

[12:16] figuring, you know, figuring all the agents or all the employees and what they need, what they're

[12:20] interested in, and then getting back with our GA and, you know, looking through and we have

[12:26] the best companies and the best companies through this GA. So, you know, just making sure the price

[12:31] fits right, right. Sometimes there's sticker shock for the employer when you're looking at benefits

[12:36] because they're coming out of pocket, you know, so, you know, just making sure the price fits

[12:40] right the employees are getting what they actually want and so yeah there can be a little it that's

[12:45] just insurance in general it doesn't matter what's that sometimes there can be a little back and forth

[12:48] just making sure that you're offering the best fit if they like it great if they don't we have to go

[12:53] back and tweak it a little bit and then just getting that close and then of course for the

[12:57] clients that we've already helped service you know there's sort of a monthly protocol to that you know

[13:02] sometimes employees quit or get laid off or whatever and so things like that could come up and

[13:07] So there's 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 working with them day to day.

[13:18] And then I'm assuming with the 20 independent agents on the PNC side, there will be every now and again, you know, customers that come up that are just like, oh, could you also help me with benefits?

[13:26] Yeah. Yeah. It crosses, you know, there's of course. Yeah. I mean, that's kind of why we are.

[13:32] Well, it's not kind of why we're very grateful that we have been able to like operate in both these spaces.

[13:37] Because even the same thing with these employers, sometimes they own their building and they might want coverage on their building, right?

[13:43] Or a general liability in case somebody slips and falls inside the building.

[13:46] So we can really offer everything.

[13:50] And then, you know, the employers, they have personal lives, they have homes, they have vehicles.

[13:53] So if we do a good job, then they will allow us to go ahead and check out all of that for them.

[13:59] How do you can you walk me through what the typical processes by which you get quotes from, in this case, the GA or, you know, the carriers on the P&C side?

[14:09] What type of tools do you use?

[14:11] Sure. So the P&C side, there's a lot more that I would say needs to be done because we do use a GA.

[14:17] Their system sort of houses everything we need.

[14:20] So it makes it it's very it's more fun because we get to just really sit with the client, figure out like we just kind of liaison.

[14:29] between the two right and then on the PNC side yes there's you know of course we have a system

[14:34] management we use go high level it's great for automation for you know housing the information

[14:39] so whenever because we do have independent agents we don't have a lot of employees so they can you

[14:44] make sure they're uploading documents so that way if we do need to service something a client falls

[14:49] in just wants an id card everything's there we can send it out we do have raider systems of course

[14:54] to try to save some time from going website to website to website to quoting someone you know

[14:58] home or auto and I'm trying to think what am I missing there I mean there's lots of systems there's

[15:03] lots of websites insurance there's no shortage of that go I level is more on the life insurance side

[15:07] is that right I use it for property and casualty although yes sometimes that we do have independent

[15:13] brokers that also just do one-on-one life insurance not groups so I think they can definitely

[15:18] enter their clients in there and we keep record in there as well right how many of the 20 agents that

[15:23] work with your agency how many of them do life how many of them do PNC and then are there are there a

[15:28] few that maybe do both? Yeah, there are. So actually, in total, PNC and the Life and Health, we have

[15:34] 77 agents. 20 or so are just PNC. And then there are some that do both. And there are some that

[15:40] just do life. And we do annuities as well, the life and annuities. Yeah, there's a lot. I mean,

[15:45] it's been since 2018 since I started recruiting. And so we've got tons of people that have stuck

[15:50] with me that whole time. We've got lots of new ones that just come on board this week. So I'm

[15:55] always out there trying to recruit and bring on new agents for sure. Yeah.

[15:58] I do find it interesting what I've witnessed is it does seem to be a slightly different set of tools between someone who does life and annuities and someone who does PNC. How do you think about that, Kristyn?

[16:09] It is different. So, I mean, I do work with a broker on the life and annuity side. And so they have their own systems. The life and annuity agents, I plug them into that brokerage system and use their back office system and support.

[16:23] 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 annuity.

[16:31] 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.

[16:42] It sounds to me like a lot of the P&C agents actually have more of an issue on the carrier connectivity side where, you know, if they need to insure a house, but the house is very complex or in a state that's difficult.

[16:51] right finding where you can place the coverage you know is going to take a long time is do you also see

[16:58] those pain points split in that way yeah i mean i see it for my agents i've been doing it long enough

[17:04] i kind of have my go-to carriers that i know like if i'm personally writing something right but um

[17:08] yeah for the agents i can be you know but that's all i'm telling them it's all part of being a good

[17:13] broker you got to figure it out i honestly like i don't have a lot of sympathy or compassion for

[17:19] agents that don't want to get out there and just figure it out. Because I'm not like bragging,

[17:24] maybe it's even a bad thing, but I've never called anybody, never asked anybody for help. I get on

[17:29] Google, I figure it out, I call the carriers, I ask them questions. And then over time, you do it

[17:34] enough, you kind of get good at it. When you reflect on the 77 agents that work with you,

[17:39] where would you say the majority of them found out about you? Yeah, so I love Alignable. Alignable

[17:44] is a really good website. You get, it used to be 10 a month, now they lowered it down to six a month,

[17:49] six free contacts a month. And so I've found lots of agents on there that are already licensed.

[17:54] Also, agents will refer other agents. And, you know, I've got lots of agents that were already

[18:00] licensed, but I also train people if they want to get licensed and how to go through that process

[18:05] as well. And I would love to have an answer from both of you, actually. If you could wave a magic

[18:10] wand to make part of the process in your day-to-day automated, or maybe even make it go away completely,

[18:16] what process would you waive that one for?

[18:20] Charge back.

[18:24] That's good.

[18:25] Can you expand on that?

[18:27] Well, I mean, I don't know if that would ever work,

[18:29] but I'm just saying that's probably the worst part of any business, right?

[18:32] It's like having to give money back.

[18:34] Why do you ever need to charge back?

[18:36] Well, if somebody wants to cancel their policy or they can't afford it.

[18:40] I mean, that happens, right?

[18:42] People fall into times where they, you know,

[18:44] maybe when they bought the policy, they thought $200 a month was fine in their budget. We do also

[18:50] offer like a complimentary financial review with our clients. So that way we can build them a budget

[18:56] plan. Because, you know, for things like annuities, of course, and life insurance, like we want to

[19:00] make sure there's suitability, right? We want to make sure that we're not, like, we're not just

[19:04] slinging insurance. We're literally sitting down consulting with them on, you know, group side,

[19:09] even on the PNC side, especially with the business owner. Because I never want to get in a position

[19:14] where I'm just selling them something

[19:15] because it sounds good,

[19:17] but financially it doesn't make sense for them.

[19:19] So sometimes we even go that extra step.

[19:21] Our agents are trained to,

[19:22] we have a system for that

[19:23] where they can sit down and break that down.

[19:26] But I mean, it's part of life.

[19:28] I say like your finances and your credit score

[19:30] are kind of like the stock market.

[19:32] They go up and down with life as well.

[19:33] I mean, if you're watching this

[19:35] and your credit score and your finances

[19:38] have been peak your whole life,

[19:40] God bless, call me.

[19:41] I want to find out the story.

[19:42] I mean, for me, it's up and down.

[19:45] But you get stronger and learn how to navigate that and use it to your advantage sometimes.

[19:51] Kai, what would you want to be?

[19:53] I'm going to tell you, Ma, but I also want to say something that I wanted to interject before I had to go.

[20:00] I also wanted to highlight before Kristyn and I formed our business, Kristyn was very successful, is very successful in her own right.

[20:10] And when she's talking about her agents and the P&C and all that, that was things that Kristyn had already built.

[20:16] And I just really want to highlight that because she is so successful and she's very humble.

[20:21] And she probably won't say all of that, but I just want to be very clear that what Kristyn and I are doing is very small.

[20:28] You know, we're not small. We're big and efficient and all the things that we're doing.

[20:32] But we are just starting. Whereas Kristyn has been a thriving powerhouse, all the things.

[20:38] And so I just appreciate you for even inviting me on to be on here with you today.

[20:43] But I just wanted to make sure that I highlighted that because I just wanted to acknowledge her in that.

[20:50] And I appreciate that. And I've grown so much since working with her.

[20:53] She brings a whole nother perspective from the inside of things that has been valuable for me.

[20:59] So thank you for that. I appreciate it. Good partnership.

[21:01] Yeah. So the magic wand for me would be just really being able to mindset training for people that we bring aboard. That like there is there is no magic wand. 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.

[21:26] they're able to win quicker.

[21:30] You just really being able to help, support,

[21:34] whether it's an agent, business owner, whatever.

[21:36] And so that is something that I feel that is so important

[21:42] because it's key to everything is, you know, the mindset.

[21:49] So I think that would be, if I had imagined, it would be that.

[21:53] Is there something you could expand on when it comes to mindset?

[21:55] What are the type of characteristics you look for in new joiners?

[21:59] Well, what I mean by that, to be a little bit clear, is like growth mindset.

[22:04] Sometimes, you know, and people investing in growing their mindset, because that is, you know, you can pour into one or it helps even with the vetting process.

[22:18] Because like when we mentioned earlier, a person is not necessarily at a place where they're ready to take on, whether it's our services or whether it's joining us in a referral partnership, etc.

[22:34] So when a person, when they come already with a certain mindset, it helps the process along.

[22:43] But then at the same time, you know, I also understand and have compassion and understand that sometimes things take time.

[22:52] And so, but if we're talking about magic wands here, then that would be, that would definitely be one.

[22:58] Because the person that's not willing to grow themselves, I mean, they're only going to go so far.

[23:04] I mean, I've had lulls in my life, like previous to starting my own business, where I probably wasn't, I mean, just being honest, wasn't growing myself.

[23:11] I was repeating cycles, living what I knew.

[23:13] But it's like when you come to this place in your life where you can, and not everybody's the same, of course, you know, identify that that needs to happen.

[23:21] Then that's where the growth happens.

[23:23] And that's where we're going to have fun.

[23:24] Well, and let me give you an example.

[23:26] Let me give you a real in real time scenario about what I'm talking about about growth mindset.

[23:33] So before I knew that there was a podcast going on, I had my laptop on my way, getting ready to do a couple of things on my way out the door.

[23:41] Right. But because my mindset, this is an investment.

[23:44] So I understood. Let me put everything aside. Hop on this podcast with Ben.

[23:49] This is important. This is investing. This is long term.

[23:53] I'm thinking not just in the moment, but I'm thinking long term.

[23:57] That's what I'm talking about.

[23:58] Not that I have it all figured out.

[24:00] Clearly, I don't.

[24:01] But what I'm saying is that when we're talking about investing in your growth, investing

[24:08] and being able to identify back to business acumen, being able to identify what's important,

[24:15] how to prioritize, you know, how to move through your day, how to expect the unexpected, how

[24:21] to be prepared.

[24:22] 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 the impact, you know, that you're making. Kristyn briefly mentioned it, but I didn't know we were doing this today. But this is what I'm talking about when I say growth mindset.

[24:46] it. Do you have a way in which you train new agents that want to work with you to get closer to

[24:54] something that you're describing? So the brokers that I've been plugged into on the life and annuity

[24:59] side, they've been a great help. They offer trainings around the week, you know, and consistently

[25:06] for it since I've been involved with them. And so I plug in all the agents. And again, it's up to the

[25:12] agents, whether they take advantage of that or not. But I put them all into that. I'll be honest,

[25:18] I'm very busy. Again, I've said it once and I'm going to say it one more time because this is

[25:23] true. I don't have a lot of sympathy. I don't have a lot of compassion for people that don't

[25:28] take the bull by the horns and want to do it themselves. So I blow a lot of people out of the

[25:32] water with that attitude sometimes. And that's okay because I don't, I can't handle, I got two

[25:36] sons and those are the only people in life I'm handholding. And so they got life on their own.

[25:41] everybody else is grownups.

[25:43] And I would say that.

[25:45] I would say that,

[25:45] but I also would say that you do.

[25:47] Okay, I'm just saying that.

[25:49] She really does hold people by the hand.

[25:51] And, you know, we,

[25:52] and this is not a plug,

[25:53] but I can't make it a plug,

[25:55] but it's not a plug.

[25:56] It wasn't meant to be a plug.

[25:57] It was just answering your question.

[25:59] Kristyn and I have co-authored a book

[26:01] and she's like, you know what?

[26:03] We'll just,

[26:04] why don't we just go online

[26:05] and we read this book

[26:07] and, you know, we'll do,

[26:08] you know, once a month,

[26:09] we'll go on.

[26:10] I mean, once a week and go on and read this book.

[26:13] And it's about helping women, you know, financially and things like that.

[26:18] And we did.

[26:18] And it wasn't, you know, not that it was like this big monetary, you know, not that it was lucrative for us to necessarily do that.

[26:27] But she did care about pouring into women.

[26:29] She did care about us getting this information out.

[26:33] So that is like a tool that we use to inform and to kind of help along with some of those mindset pieces.

[26:42] And then also just encouragement.

[26:44] You're really great at that.

[26:45] Encouragement, because, you know, life can be, can bring and present obstacles and challenges and things like that.

[26:52] And sometimes just having someone tell you, you can, you can do that.

[26:56] And she's real great at that.

[26:57] And I've seen her do that.

[26:58] And I've seen her want to help people that couldn't help.

[27:03] And whether it's going to, you know, 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.

[27:14] And Kristyn was like, well, I'll drive you all there.

[27:17] You know, we can go there.

[27:18] We can do, you know, so it's things like that.

[27:21] Just really, sometimes people need words, but then also sometimes people need practical help.

[27:28] And so just just being able to do that, I think, is that you've done.

[27:34] I'm a very in-person person.

[27:36] So I always tell people if I have a Calendly link, book me.

[27:39] We'll get on a Zoom, a phone call.

[27:41] And I'm very diligent at answering.

[27:43] I mean, obviously, we're all busy.

[27:45] We've got stuff that you're doing.

[27:46] But I call people back.

[27:47] I want people to close deals, right?

[27:49] So I'm like, you've got work.

[27:50] Let's do it.

[27:51] Let's get it done.

[27:51] Let's get it done.

[27:53] So, you know, I'm there.

[27:55] I'm hands on.

[27:56] and I am just blessed

[27:58] because I do have

[27:59] two other business partners

[28:00] on the life and annuity side

[28:01] that do tons of mindset training

[28:03] and so I can plug my agents

[28:05] into their systems

[28:06] and they do all the

[28:08] great mindset work

[28:09] and I'm just here to help

[28:11] close deals

[28:11] and get the work done.

[28:14] She's not the bottom line

[28:16] that she sounds.

[28:17] I don't know if she sounds like

[28:18] bottom line.

[28:19] She really does

[28:21] hold people by the way

[28:23] she doesn't.

[28:24] Nice. I'm hearing a little bit of tough love, you know?

[28:28] Yes. Tough love. I do think that's true.

[28:31] Because I want people to respect their own time and mine, right?

[28:35] So I've got to teach that as well.

[28:38] An average person who doesn't know a lot about insurance,

[28:40] what would be something that they would be surprised by in your work?

[28:45] Something they really wouldn't expect you to need to be doing so much of.

[28:48] That's a great question. A service thing.

[28:50] I think sometimes agents think, okay, I sold a policy, great.

[28:53] like but there's servicing involved right like customers call you and it doesn't matter what kind

[28:58] of policy it is like so it's like you need to have that good bedside manner all the time like like be

[29:05] able to answer the phone and have yeah you know you can't even on your back even on my bad days i might

[29:11] be bawling my eyes out this is christine like you still have to do that like and so that goes with

[29:18] the mindset if you're not you know but we do we do referral partners for agents that you know want to

[29:24] get a commission but don't want to necessarily do that and we can refer into us and we can take care

[29:28] of that side of things but if you want to be a real agent like you you've got to be strong i think

[29:33] and and care and you said this and care about people and what would you say i'm sorry absolutely

[29:39] um yeah the same yeah servicing and and just knowing with any industry there are ebbs and flow

[29:47] you know, there are times you're going to thrive. And I think that you, you know, just, just preparing

[29:54] for that. And then always, I think not becoming just complacent or stagnant, just always, just,

[30:02] just, just, again, I can't get away from having that growth mindset. And I, and I would even say

[30:09] as, as much as possible, this is may sound cheesy and we've heard it a lot, but having that attitude

[30:16] of gratitude. You know, I think that that is so important. It's just, you know, being grateful.

[30:24] And it really ties into servicing the people that you are, because sometimes we're off to the next

[30:29] thing, but being appreciative of the clients that you already have and nurturing that, servicing

[30:37] that, nurturing that. And then when you're good to people, it leads into referrals. It leads into,

[30:44] They know that they've been taken care of.

[30:47] You know, this is why Kristyn gets a lot of referrals.

[30:50] I'm around her all the time and hear people referring because, you know, just nurturing,

[30:57] that, you know, taking care of them.

[30:59] If you're looking towards the next sort of five to ten years, where would you love to

[31:03] see your joint operation go?

[31:05] Worldwide, baby!

[31:06] I'm going to do a research on how to be in Mexico, Italy.

[31:09] Like, I want to get us into other countries.

[31:12] Global.

[31:13] Global.

[31:14] Global vision.

[31:15] Absolutely.

[31:15] We're, you know, we're in all 50 states, and that's awesome.

[31:18] I'm super excited for that.

[31:19] But we want to push it.

[31:21] We want to take it.

[31:23] Absolutely.

[31:23] And philanthropy.

[31:25] Yeah.

[31:25] You know, I think that that is important to, you know, that expansion, being global, you know, but also philanthropy and being able to really pour into the nonprofit.

[31:39] that we work with together.

[31:43] And yeah, it's in power.

[31:45] You mentioned you already scaled to 40 states.

[31:47] Is there something you noticed that is different

[31:49] depending on which state you go into?

[31:51] And some of these states,

[31:52] it's like, I don't even want to hear it or see it

[31:54] or like, oh my goodness.

[31:55] Yeah, some states are not one.

[31:57] What's the reason for that?

[31:59] I mean, just the government, I guess,

[32:01] or the laws or whatever,

[32:03] like the politics, right?

[32:06] It always boils down to politics.

[32:07] So, you know, most of the Northeast and California, of course, like, but it's all good.

[32:12] We, we, we're navigating and figuring it out.

[32:15] Skye, Kristyn, thank you so much for joining the podcast.

[32:18] Thank you so much for having us.

[32:19] Thank you so, so much.

[32:21] Absolutely.

[32:22] Yeah, thank you.

[32:22] God bless you and all the viewers.

[32:23] God bless you and any, anyone that views this.

[32:27] Thank you so much for your time.