I was tired of the broken industry conference model: the fire hose of information, the unhealthy food, and the complete lack of focus on real growth.

So I decided to create something different: a private, two-day “unconference” retreat for a small group of top-performing advisors. I wanted to see what happens when you strip away the noise and focus only on what truly moves the needle for success.

The results were more powerful than I imagined and reshaped my own definition of what it takes to win.

In this episode, I’m sharing the three pivotal lessons I learned from watching these advisors in action. We get into why their health is their biggest business asset, how they constantly raise their own standards, and why their willingness to share their playbook is their ultimate advantage. This isn’t just a recap; it’s what I learned about building a more sustainable and powerful career.

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Video Transcript:

This transcript was auto-generated. Please excuse any typos or grammatical errors.

Take these lessons that I took away from these five great gentlemen, and I want you to apply them to your life, because I think you will see an amazing shift, both in your business, but also in every other area of your life health, relationships, family, spiritual, you name it. Couldn’t be more proud of these guys, you might say.

I’m fired up. I, about a week ago, I hosted a two day retreat for some of our, individual clients. And what I’m going to use this episode to do is walk you through, this retreat and, the lessons I learned on success from hanging out with, some of the guys that I got a chance to hang out with.

Now, the reason I say it’s part two is earlier this year, after I spent a couple days up at, up in the North Woods with two friends of mine, Kyle Debs and Sean Pete. I also did an episode on three lessons on leadership and life from the North Woods that, you might want to call part one.

You can go back and listen to that. That episode aired probably in late March, but this is going to be part two. But this is Lessons on success. So set the stage. Last week, I hosted a two day retreat for five of my current individual clients, and I chose these five because I know them on a pretty deep level.

Friendly with them outside of business, has spent time with them outside of business. I knew these guys were into fitness because this was going to be a part of the retreat. And I had to keep it intimate because there were only so many, bedrooms in the cabin. Kyle’s cabin. So what I did is I took these five gentlemen, these advisors, up to Kyle Deb’s cabin.

So the same cabin I stayed at, back in March when I did the first episode or on on lessons on leadership in life. This time around, there was no ice on the lake. We didn’t cut any holes to to do some cold plunging. It was a lot warmer in the high 80s. And Kyle’s cabin is on an absolutely pristine lake, up in northwest Minnesota.

It’s bad medicine lake. It’s one of the cleanest lakes in Minnesota. And as you know, Minnesota has plenty of them. And so I was excited, and I’d never done this before. Not in this way. I had hosted a little retreat, year, a year and a half ago at, Dominic Frank Kenny’s place in Indiana. But this was going to be a little bit different, and I wanted it to be a what I call a non the unconference version of what we’re so often used to in this industry.

You know, as an insurance advisor, it can be really hard to get out of the noise. You know, you find yourself constantly working. It can be really difficult to balance and juggle your priorities, especially when you have a young family. Most of the guys that were at this retreat have kids, and you often find yourself with competing priorities.

You know, a lot of these guys that were at the camp also serve in leadership roles within the organization. There’s a lot of things that they’re balancing right now feeling, a lot of feelings of overwhelm because they’re working on, several things at one time, a lot of pressure, both in the office and at home. And I wanted to give them a chance to break away, detach from the noise.

And I’ll be honest, just getting there required them from to detach from the noise. You know, not only did we pick up most of the guys at the Minneapolis airport, I drove from our home here in Wisconsin, which is four hours away from the airport. We had another four hour drive up to the cabin. This is a remote cabin without Kyle’s Wi-Fi.

There is no cell coverage, basically. So I knew this was going to be an opportunity to give these guys a chance to detach. And I was very clear with them that this is not your typical industry event. And when I was selling insurance, this was always a goal of mine to host a retreat like this. Because I’ll be honest, when I used to go to the industry conferences as an insurance advisor, it would frustrate me because the conferences were designed to be anything but healthy.

You know, it would be fire, a firehose of information from 8 a.m. in the morning till 5:00 at night. Then you go out and you eat a dinner way too late. You ate, you eat way too much, drink way too much, and it’s just a rinse and repeat, every day at these conferences. And I wanted to create something that was the opposite, the unconference version of of, what we see so often in the insurance industry.

And I wanted it to focus on health, both physical and mental. I wanted to give these guys a chance to again, slow down from the race that they’re currently in. And I wanted to give them a chance to create some fellowship, fellowship with each other. Now, these guys all knew each other, before they arrived, but most of them had never actually met.

They had met each other on LinkedIn, maybe over a zoom chat, but never met each other in person. So for some of these guys, it was the first time they were shaking hands and you know, when you’re a successful insurance advisor, it’s easy to have other people look at you and say, man, you’re successful. I wish I could have the book you have.

I wish I could have the revenue you have, but inside, you know, yeah, that’s great, but I’m not showing up the way I should every day, whether it be for my team at the office or my family at home. And you also know you’re capable of more, even though others are telling you, man, you’re winning. You’re doing so well.

You know you’re capable of more. And that’s really I would love to to start the kind of the setup here with that defines the guys that were at this retreat. Others might look at them and say, man, that’s success. But they know inside they could be better. They could be showing up better. They’re capable of more. This episode is brought to you by true captive insurance.

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First and foremost, it was at Kyle’s cabin. Kyle does an amazing job of hosting these types of events. Kyle has his own business called Guys Trips, where he host retreats for men around the world, so I knew he would be a great co-host with me. The first day we got there, which was Wednesday evening, it was a pretty low key evening.

It was just everybody meeting each other, having a nice dinner, just unwinding from the busyness of the travel that day. You know, any of the work priorities they had. Some of these guys were fielding calls, business calls, all the way up until they arrived at the cabin. So the first night was just, hey, let’s relax, let’s unwind. We had every guy go through what we call a life balance sheet, which is, you know, an opportunity to to kind of grade yourself in all areas of life, not just business, but joy and happiness, finances, family, spiritual happiness.

And so I actually kicked it off the first night by going through mine so they could have a feel for what it looks like to go through your balance sheet. And when you go through these balance sheets, it just creates great conversation. You have to be vulnerable. You have to be willing to open up, but it just creates great fellowship.

You get feedback from all the guys in the room, and you take away a lot of things that you can go execute when you leave and go back into the busyness of your career and your family. So that was the first night, but the second, the first real full day, which was Thursday. This is this is the part I want to walk through because I thought it was I thought Kyle create a did a fabulous job creating the full day agenda.

So the goal was to get these guys outside their comfort zone. And from the time we got up till the time we were going to go to bed, we wanted to make we wanted to make the day a, an action packed day of fitness and Bo and getting these guys outside their mental and physical comfort zone. And so we woke up, had breakfast, had some coffee.

But then the first event of the day was a third of a mile swim across Bad Medicine Lake. Now it is a pristine lake. It is clear it is. Oh, it was beautiful to swim in, but the first activity of the day was going to be swimming across the lake. And I knew some of these guys may not be the best swimmers, but at least if they give it a shot, it’s a victory, right?

So we kicked that off when we got done with that activity, the swim, we got back on a dry land and the next thing we did was a circuit. You partnered up with somebody in the group and we did a circuit of the following overhead log carries. So we picked up a log. One partner had to walk around the circle in his driveway, holding log over a shoulder while the other guy did a log.

Call it Landmine Press if you know what I’m talking about there. The second group, the Second Circuit, was a wheelbarrow, wheel, barrel carry, filled with logs, heavy logs, and you had to walk it up in down Kyle’s driveway. As you get to the end of Kyle’s driveway, it takes a pretty steep incline up to the roads. He had to walk it up, walk it down, switch with your partner, repeat.

And you probably got about four laps in. The time we had was nine minute circuits. And then the last part of that circuit was a 95 pound ruck up and down his driveway. And so we did nine minutes per circuit switch to the next exercise and rinse and repeat. But it was a great way to get these guys, get the blood flowing, get the sweat going, but also work as a team with your partner.

And we headed to lunch. And then the afternoon it was back to another circuit of partner log land mines. So one at a time, back and forth, you pushed, a log back and forth to each other. Another partnership went to the a big stomp Kyle had, put in his backyard and just axed one swing after another with the ax.

Just to work the, upper body, the lats with ax swings. And then the third, exercise in the circuit was farmer’s carry. So he took some dumbbells from his basement. He has a very steep back yard down to the lake. So you you up and down, you farmer carried the weights one over the head, one to the side, and you walked up and down as often as you can, again, for nine minute circuits.

So let me tell you, as somebody who exercises a lot, these circuits beat you up a little bit. I was actually really surprised how much the 95 pound rock got to me. The wheelbarrow carry was very difficult. The farmer’s carry up and down that steep back yard really difficult. But it just forced you to get outside your comfort zone, work with your partner.

We switched up partners after lunch and it was just a great way to spend the day together and break a sweat together and chat and mastermind, all while working out. And then the last thing we did was went down to Kyle’s basement. He has a peloton, and as a team of seven, all of us, we got on and did a ten minute exercise, a ten minute workout, peloton workout, and for about 90s each, we cranked it as hard as we could, to kind of end the day of workouts going as hard as we could.

So it was just an amazing day of exercise, something that all these guys are into again, putting getting them outside their comfort zone. I think they absolutely loved it. And as I mentioned, this is an it has to be an intimate retreat because there’s just not enough bedrooms. We had seven guys, including Kyle and I, for this first retreat.

I wanted to make sure all the guys that I invited, I knew were going to get through these exercises and be in shape enough to crank this out, and they definitely, succeeded with flying colors. But here’s where I really want to go. When I look back a week ago on this retreat and I think about the space Kyle and I created for these guys again to break away, reset, detach, get away from the noise.

There are three lessons I definitely took away just in spending time with these human beings. You know, not only are they really good advisors, they’re great people. And the first lesson I took away from this retreat is without health, we have nothing. You know, Thursday was a pretty hard day. You know, we spent a lot of time exercising.

I think in total, when you add it all up, we probably exercised for somewhere between 2 to 3 hours. And I think all of us realized without health you have nothing. I think there were a couple guys who who maybe struggled in a couple areas, but it woke him up, and every guy that was at this retreat works on himself, both physically and mentally, as he does professionally and I think that’s important if you’re going to have success in this business, it’s not just about what you do between the lines.

It’s not about what you do and hitting your sales numbers. It’s what are you doing when no one’s watching? How are you taking care of yourself off the field? This goes back to to my my argument I made at the beginning of the podcast about my frustration with industry conferences. I look at some people and if you just base success on revenue, they’re all very successful.

But you look at other areas in their life health, family, mental health, and it is not the same. And so when I look at these guys, they all are striving to be better human beings. They are students of the game. That was the first big lesson I took away. If you’re going to have success in life, not just in business, what are you doing right now to improve yourself mentally and physically?

Because you do that, you put yourself in a good place there. You are going to have success professionally. Lesson number two raise your expectations. One of the things that came out of our conversations at lunch, at breakfast, lunch, dinner, through these balance sheets that I mentioned earlier, is just witnessing some of these guys raise their expectations. Over the years, I’ve worked with some of these guys for three, four, or five years, and just to listen to where their expectations are today is pretty impressive.

You know, when you think about selling insurance, there was a time that you were excited to sell 100 life Group, right? If you’re in the benefits world or $50,000 revenue case, and then all of a sudden you sell a $100,000 revenue case, or 500 life group or a thousand life group, and as long as you’re willing to go there, that can become your new expectation.

Raising your standards. And I listen to some of these guys who 2 or 3 years ago, were excited if they landed a 100 life group and are now talking about meeting with 2500 5000 life groups as if it’s their new standard. I loved hearing that because that means they’re raising their bar. This is what successful people do. I did a private workshop with an amazing benefit advisor about a month and a half ago.

It’s got a $7.5 million book. His average win these days about a half $1 million in revenue. But that’s his standard. So I’m going to ask you, you want more success, raise your standards, raise what you expect out of yourself. That’s just a mental shift you have to make if you want to continually grow in this business, especially continually grow your revenue, you have to scale your expectations over time.

Which leads to lesson number three. The thing I was most proud about with these five guys who showed up is every single one of them showed up and were willing to share. It is not uncommon in this industry to get a group of advisors together in a room, and have a few people who are a little skeptical about sharing the, you know, secret sauce, because there might be competition in the room.

These guys showed up and they shared they were willing to be vulnerable and talk about what’s going on in their life, but they were also willing to share what’s working for them, the secrets that are helping them succeed professionally. And that is what makes for the right group. When I look back on hosting this retreat, when I look back, I am the most proud about the men who were there.

When I look back and I describe this as the unconference event in our industry, here’s what I loved. They ate well. We fed them a ton of protein. They slept well and they connected well. And I can’t wait to do this again. I know these guys are more than excited to get back together again at some point in the next 12 months to do it all over again.

And I’m just excited as hell to to try this again with another group of people. Now, if you’re listening in and you’re like, damn, man, that sounds like a something I want to be a part of, I will be very clear that I do these retreats for our clients. I’ve had a few women reach out saying, why do we always do this stuff for men?

But there’s nothing like this for women. Hey, I would be more than happy to host this for a group of women, but it might look a little sketchy with a guy hosting a retreat for a group of women. But there has got to be something like that out there. One of my female clients. Maybe you can take lead and host it yourself.

But this was everything. I wanted it to be the unconference event in the insurance industry for all the guys who were there. You know who you are. Thank you for showing up. Thank you for being vulnerable. And thank you for playing all out. And if you’re listening into this episode, thank you again for tuning in. But the lessons I wanted to share with you today on success have nothing to do with this retreat.

The retreat provided a great space to create it, but the three lessons is number one. Without health you have nothing. So as you chase more money, more revenue, more growth, more scale, just remember, without your health, you have nothing. Number two, raise your expectations. If you had a point in your career, you’re starting to write some bigger business.

Don’t get scared. Don’t let yourself fall back to what you’re used to. Continuously raise your expectations. You write that 500 life group for the first time. You write that $100,000 commercial account for the first time. Make that your new expectation. And number three, be willing to share. Don’t hold the secrets back. Get yourself around people playing at your level.

Be vulnerable. Be willing to share what’s working for you. Be willing to share what’s not, because that is where growth is found. So like I said, if you are not a client of complete game consulting and these retreats sound like something that are right up your alley, well, there will be more in the future. So I highly suggest we connect.

But at a minimum, maybe you create your own version of this, but take these lessons that I took away from these five great gentlemen, and I want you to apply them to your life, because I think you will see an amazing shift, both in your business, but also in every other area of your life health, relationships, family, spiritual, you name it.

Couldn’t be more proud or these guys be good. That’s all we got for this episode of the Accelerate Your Insurance Sales podcast, one of the most valuable things you can do to help us and other new potential listeners find our show is for you to rate the show and leave a review. So as a special bonus for you, if you leave us a review, take a screenshot of your review and send it to me as a DM to my LinkedIn profile.

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