Ryan Chao came into insurance in 2015 with a clear motive: ownership, income, and residuals. He had just come out of going broke on impulsive investments and wanted something stable he could build. His first agency did not cooperate. He came in without understanding a 25 minute sales cycle or a one call close, hired people who reminded him of himself, and watched a six figure investment go sideways. Around Christmas, in a stretch where the agency had not written anything in three days and his marketing budget was draining, Joseph Puckett called him at 6PM with an offer to run the Georgia sales agency for Craig Wiggins. The catch was that Ryan would have to close his own agency to take it. Within four or five days, it was done.

Eighteen months at Craig Wiggins gave him the piece he was missing. Not self belief, which he already had in surplus, but process, hiring, accountability, and profitable growth. He opened again with a modest goal of $100,000 in written premium a month and hit it every month. The agency started with a $720,000 book, grew to $17 million organically in under five years, acquired another $11 million, and now sits right under $30 million with a team of eight sales agents, eight service team members, five internal telemarketers, and two managers. Every one of them works remote. Ryan has still never met fifteen of his own agents in person.

The most useful part of this conversation is the part most owners skip. Ryan is direct about the fact that scaling exposed him. He is a relationship leader and a pleaser, and when he brought in takers and avoided friction, that team started running his business. He built a culture he did not want to walk into. What turned it around was a deliberate leadership rebuild built on visualization, neuroplasticity, and a rule he now applies to every hire, every metric review, and every hard conversation: friction up front. If you are an agency owner who has ever taken a bad number personally, tolerated a toxic producer because they wrote business, or found yourself apologizing after a conversation you wish had gone differently, this episode is your mirror.

• Self belief without tools guarantees failing forward. Ryan came in overestimating himself, not knowing what a one call close was, and it cost him a six figure investment.
• Friction up front is the whole hiring philosophy. Candidates put their best foot forward, so you have to create friction in the interview to hear the blame, negativity, and victim mindset before you hire it.
• Never hire the wolf in sheep's clothing, no matter how many items they can write and no matter how desperate you are.
• If you are a pleaser and you hire takers, that team will run your business, and you will let them because it is easier than confrontation. Scaling puts every weakness you have on stage.
• Internal visualization rewires how you lead. Ryan cites a 12 week study where guided visualization produced an average of 13.5% muscle growth, and applies the same neuroplasticity principle to rehearsing hard conversations.
• You are the common denominator in every interaction in your life. Ninety nine percent of what comes at you is that person's issue, not an attack on you.
• Metrics are a carrot, never a stick. There is a story behind every number, and asking for the story instead of reacting is what keeps agents from working out of fear.
• Ambiguity is the enemy of scaling. The job offer, the handbook, and the contract set the deal in black and white, which lets you stay kind and empathetic without ever lowering the standard.
• Culture scales, and it scales remote. Ryan's entire team is remote, they show up voluntarily, and he has never met fifteen of them in person.

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Sutton Sabinash joins Ask the Experts for a practical conversation on financial strategy, profitability, accounting, cash flow, and why agency owners need to understand their numbers before making major business decisions.

As part of Club Capital, Sutton helps insurance agents use their financial statements as a roadmap instead of waiting until tax season to discover what went wrong.

This episode breaks down why more sales are not always the answer, how expenses can quietly drain profit, why marketing and payroll need closer attention, and how agency owners can use financial clarity to create more freedom, stability, and control.

• Why financials are the roadmap of your agency

• The difference between wants and needs in business spending

• Why more sales will not fix broken expenses

• How to use your P&L to find profit leaks

• Why payroll and marketing are usually the biggest places to inspect

• How credit card debt can quietly kill agency profitability

• Why agency owners need to understand premium vs. revenue

• The value of working with financial experts who understand insurance

• Why financial accountability matters as much as strategy

• How better numbers can create more freedom and better decisions

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Lauro Herrera joins David Williams and Andy Arter for a direct conversation about final expense sales, telesales, leadership, technology, and the discipline required to build a high-producing insurance operation.

After starting his career knocking on doors and driving thousands of miles across California, Lauro questioned why life insurance could not be sold entirely over the phone. The industry told him customers would never trust the process. He ignored them, committed to the model, and helped build an operation now producing between 600 and 1,000 applications per month.

Lauro explains why lead quality means nothing without sales training, how he develops independent agents without micromanaging them, and why the future of insurance may include AI agents handling the entire sales process.

• Why Lauro abandoned traditional door knocking

• How he transitioned fully into telesales

• The reason most agents waste expensive leads

• Why sales training matters more than recruiting volume

• How his team produces up to 1,000 applications monthly

• What “freedom within a framework” means

• Why he reveals the negatives before hiring an agent

• How digital marketing changed final expense sales

• The role AI already plays inside his operation

• Why commitment matters more than constantly changing strategies

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