The Real Cost of Success: A Six-Year Journey in Personal Development

Back in 2017, my wife Amy and I attended a Tony Robbins seminar in Denver. While the day was filled with notable speakers, one presentation changed my entire business trajectory. Gary Vaynerchuk took the stage and laid out his vision for social media’s role in business growth. His message hit home: social media would be essential for building businesses and personal brands.

Instead of just nodding along and returning to business as usual, I made a decision that would shape the next eight years of my career. Every morning, I dedicated time to studying Gary Vee’s content on YouTube. I learned about content creation, video production, and editing. I put in hundreds of hours to master these skills.

Now, in 2025, social media stands as our number one lead generator. This didn’t happen by chance – it happened because I committed to the process. I see people today make one post and give up when it doesn’t get immediate engagement. But success isn’t built on quick wins.

In 2018, another pivotal moment arrived during a speakers’ academy where I was coaching insurance professionals. A colleague, Jeff Fox, pulled me aside and said something that stuck with me: “Why are you selling insurance? You need to be coaching people – that’s your gift.” While I didn’t act on it immediately, those words planted a seed.

That same year, I invested over $5,000 in a business mastermind called Fast Foundations. Did I have the money readily available? No. But I believed in myself enough to make that bet. Through this program, I learned the fundamentals of business operations and gained the confidence to become an entrepreneur. To this day, I still connect weekly with an accountability partner from that mastermind.

By 2019, while still selling insurance, I began coaching on the side and launched the Bullpen Sessions podcast. Starting a podcast didn’t require much money, but it demanded hundreds of hours learning the craft – understanding equipment, developing interview skills, and creating engaging content. Today, after 320 episodes across two podcast brands, that investment continues to pay dividends.

Looking back at this six-year journey, each step required an investment – whether time, money, or both. From productivity training to email marketing, speaking engagements to social media, podcasting to entrepreneurship – none of my current success would exist without these investments in personal growth.

Here’s what I’ve learned: Too many insurance professionals today are casual about their success. They want guarantees from everyone else but won’t guarantee their own success. I heard something profound recently: “People aren’t succeeding right now because they want guarantees from everybody else, but they’re not giving themselves a guarantee.”

If you’re serious about reaching your goals in the insurance industry, start by looking in the mirror and asking yourself: “How badly do I want it?” Are you willing to commit the time and resources needed to reach your full potential? Success isn’t about hoping someone else will make the investment for you – it’s about betting on yourself.

The path to success isn’t a sprint; it’s a marathon of continuous learning and investment in yourself. Each skill you develop, each hour you dedicate to improvement, compounds over time. The question isn’t whether you can afford to invest in yourself – it’s whether you can afford not to.