Finding success as an insurance agent: The 8 laws of leveling up

Ninety-two percent of insurance agents will fail, and Cody Askins wants to do what it takes to  help agents be in the ranks of the 8% who will succeed.

Askins even named his business 8% Nation as a tribute to that percentage of agents who are successful. He described the eight laws of leveling up the agent’s business during a keynote presentation Wednesday during the National Association of Insurance and Financial Advisors Apex Conference in Phoenix.

He began his insurance career as a college student while also playing varsity basketball. He then moved on to what he called “cold door-knocking.” But he succeeded, he said, “by building rapport, identifying a problem and then solving that problem.”

Now at the age of 32, Askins owns and operates the nation’s largest insurance agent conference and has 70,000 subscribers on YouTube.

Askins said his vision is “to help every insurance agent in the world.”

He estimated that there are a half-million insurance agents in the U.S. who are, in his words, “lost and unhappy.” His mission is to give them the tools they need to level up their business.

His eight laws of leveling up are:

1. Bless others.
2. Invest more – either time or money.
3. Never stop learning.
4. Grab attention.
5. Have fun.
6. Keep expanding your vision.
7. Share ideas as you are building them.
8. Attract talent.

Askins said that attracting talent is paramount to growing a business. “An organization’s growth potential is directly related to its personnel potential,” he said. “The No. 1 way for a company to grow is through its people. Great leaders accomplish great things through great people.”