How a Coach Can Help You Grow With Joe Templin

Joe Templin

Joe Templin is the Co-founder and CEO of The Intro Machine, a training ecosystem for professionals who want to build an introduction-based business. Joe began his career in financial services with the Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Company, eventually becoming a “Top 10 Mike Gish Qualifier” and a “Top 10 College Unit Director.” He also served on Northwestern Mutual's recruiting, retention, and diversity committee and has earned numerous Million Dollar Round Table (MDRT) and NAIFA Quality Award honors.

Later in his career, Joe served NAIFA on the local, state, and national levels and was a recipient of NAFIA's Advisor Today 4 Under 40 Award. Recently, he helped found NAIFA’s Coaches Circle, which provides individual coaching to advisors. Joe has spoken all over the country, authored multiple best-sellers, and founded various companies that help professionals grow.

Here’s a glimpse of what you’ll learn:

Why coaching and discipline are fundamental for optimal success
Joe Templin explains how he got into teaching and coaching
Why do people often abandon their goals?
The characteristics and background of an effective coach
How to avoid complacency and continue growing through your coaching journey
Joe talks about his book, Every Day Excellence, and how it can help anyone improve their life
Joe answers the round of rapid-fire questions — which includes discussing his favorite mentors and coaches

In this episode…

Many of us have had coaches or mentors in our lives. Through sports, hobbies, classes, or other activities, coaches have inspired and motivated us to reach our loftiest goals. But coaching doesn’t have to end once we’ve aged and established our careers. In fact, coaches can help us unlock our potential and grow professionally — no matter what industry we’re in.

As Joe Templin points out, humans tend to become complacent after reaching a goal. However, a coach knows that there’s more on the horizon for you. They can see your potential and remove the things that are interfering with your success. Coaches fuel your fire to become a better version of yourself…even if it’s little by little each day.

In this episode of Advisor Today, Chris Gandy and Suzanne Carawan are joined by Joe Templin, Co-founder and CEO of The Intro Machine, to discuss why coaching is beneficial for professionals. Joe shares what inspired him to start coaching, why discipline and consistency are key to growth, and how a coach can guide you to reach your goals.

Resources mentioned in this episode:

Sponsor for this episode...

This episode is brought to you by NAIFA’s Business Performance Center.

The Business Performance Center provides resources, tools, and collections of thought leadership to help you move from solo advisor to business entrepreneur. Featuring articles, webinars, coaching sessions, and more, NAIFA’s Business Performance Center can help you grow your practice.

Get in touch with NAIFA to learn more about NAIFA’s Business Performance Center.

Episode Transcript:

Intro 0:02

Welcome to NAIFA’s Advisor Today podcast series, where we focus on how financial advisors work, live and give to their local communities and our greater financial services industry. Now, let's get started with the show.

Chris Gandy 0:21

Hi, everyone, welcome to the 2023 Advisor Today podcast. Again, we can't wait to see you in person at our next in-person meeting. But today, we get to bring some of the best minds in the insurance and financial services industry together here on our podcast. Hi, I'm your host Chris Gandy, one of your hosts with our wonderful co-host Suzanne Carawan. Hi, Suzanne. Hey, Chris. So Suzanne, we have a wonderful guest today. But could you share with us a little bit about who our sponsor is for our opening show in 2023

Suzanne Carawan 0:58

I would be delighted because it's not only a great guest we're gonna hear from but it's a new program too. So today's podcast is sponsored by NAIFA’s Business Performance Center, you can locate that online at bpc.nNAIFA.org. And the Business Performance Center is one collection of thought leadership that's all about how do you make a practice better? How do you make more money, right? How do you grow better? How do you perform better? And as part of the BPC for 2023. We have an advisory council that oversees that and we have created a new program called the coach's circle. And the coaches circle really gathers together vetted individuals who are experts at providing coaching and business performance coaching, individual coaching to advisors. So today, we're delighted to have one of our founding members of coaches circle, Joe Templin, who is also a loyal NAIFA member. So we're delighted to have Joe as part of his kind of foray into the coach's circle, and being able to kind of spread some really interesting messages we're going to touch on today.

Joe Templin 1:59

Chris, thank you for bringing me on. And I'm not just a member, I've been a 25 plus year member at this point. And even though I don't write insurance, I am the New York State membership chair because of the value that NAIFA brings to our profession and ultimately, to the public. So that's why I continue to be involved and licensed even though I don't sell so that I can continue to serve because of everything that I've gotten from NAIFA over the decades.

Chris Gandy 2:31

Well, Joe, welcome. You're in the coach's let's call it the Coach's Corner. Thank you for being here. We appreciate the time, energy, and effort and everyone who listens to us will love the inside. So, you know, during my previous life, I played sports. So you know, we always had to listen to the coach. Right. And so, share with us a little bit about why coaching is so pertinent to be able to optimize success.

Joe Templin 3:00

This is interesting because we all have different experiences with coaches, my background is as a martial artist. And so we literally had somebody walking around beating us with a stick, which I, unfortunately, can't do to new reps anymore. But there's an old saying that champions want to be coached and coached hard. And we as human beings have a tendency to say good enough. It's an energy-saving mechanism. Because in the old days when there were cyber Sabre-toothed tigers, and we had to literally fight for our food, there was a calorie deficit. And so we did anything possible to cruise where we could, and that has carried forward to where we are today. So somebody writes a couple of big premiums, and they're like, Ah, this is awesome. And they take vacation, somebody gets a big investment case, and suddenly they've got some nice systematic revenue, and they want to take their foot off of the pedal, and just be able to coast. And coaches have what is known as Michelangelo, phenom. Michelangelo looked at the chunk of marble and saw the David with it, and removed the material around it to expose it to the world, as he said, and that's what a good coach does is they look at the individual, and they see the potential with it, and help that person unlock it. And so that's why I do whether as a martial arts instructor, as a Cub Scout or Boy Scout leader, or as a coach with financial advisors or executives is I help them see their own potential within and do what is necessary to remove the things that are interfering.

Chris Gandy 4:45

Awesome. So you mentioned you mentioned a couple of kind of key things there dealing with coaching. I had my experience with coaching and something where I was gifted talent-wise, but, you know the world is written with, as our coach would tell us with, with people that they have the opportunity to, or they have talent, but they're not able to put the talent and a skill set together to be able to perform. I'll just give an example the most talented guy ever seen play basketball outside, but Michael Jordan, a couple of other guys was a guy that used to play on a playground. And he used to come. They used to call him magic. He used to wear a Magic Johnson jersey. He was always like 200 pounds overweight, but he used to wear Magic Johnson Jersey, and he used to actually wear actually a Timberland boots out on a basketball court. Everybody would say like that, like, Come on, man that everybody would say no, he's magic. Like, literally, He's unbelievable. And so that guy wasn't able to put his talents into a system to be able to for the world to to optimize and for them to be able to capture his skill set. But on a playground, which you hear about in New York, like rockers playground, you hear about all the places where the greats go, even the best NBA players go and they get beat up, they get beat because of that. So how can we collectively as an advisor, what are the things that we should be doing? That we inherently aren't in us, but we need to have a coach to bring out of us. So we

Joe Templin 6:30

biggest things is, you know, the individual that you're talking about magic, he was 200 pounds overweight. And one of the reasons why is because he probably lacked discipline, discipline at the plate, not like in baseball, but in terms of what he was consuming. And a lot of people lack discipline in terms of what they're consuming with their minds. They sit there and they you know, eat Cheetos while sitting on the couch while watching the Kardashians or whatever new. You know, reality TV is, instead of feeding their mind with knowledge with positive things, and having a desire for challenge, my biggest asset is not my creativity or my intelligence. It is my addiction to challenge to wanting to do the hard things i regular basis. So getting up in the morning and training even if I don't want to running in the rain, even though I absolutely hate having squishy feet and all that picking up the phone, I hate the phone so much that I did not have a phone when I was a new rep for five years in my apartment, because I hated dialing so much. But I did it every single day and did the dials I had to do to lay the groundwork for my business. So it's having that discipline of what you consume, whether it's people, knowledge, food, etc. And being able to every single day, do the little things that you need to do, because the little things end up being the big things, you can skip one particular day getting on the phone to schedule appointments, if you're a new app, that's not going to hurt you. But it does hurt you because of that nonlinear growth curve that's on the cover of my book, or the flywheel, you skip one day, you're actually losing two or three days worth of progress is that compound interest that Albert Einstein said was the eighth wonder of the world, which applies to cash value life insurance applies to investment and applies to people, if you spend a half hour every single day working on your language at the end of the year, that is the equivalent of about 188 hours. That is the equivalent of a nine to five every single day for four weeks. If you were taken into an office and worked on your language every single day, for eight hours a day for four weeks. How spectacular would you be Chris?

Suzanne Carawan 8:47

So I think Joe's I want to ask your opinion on this because I think some people would say the concern they have is, is that something that can be taught and coached? Or is that something's just inherently you're born with? And you just happen to be like that 1% Or that top 10%? Or is it? You know, is it a combination? What What's your take on that

Joe Templin 9:04

we all have potential and everyone's like, oh, this person is such a high potential and you know, this person's got lower potential. But none of us reach nearly our potential, we can all get just a little bit better. You know, the example that I use is if you're sitting on the couch, you're not gonna get off and you're on a marathon the next day. But you can get up and you can go around the block. And then the next day, you go around the block twice, and then you go a little bit further. And after a period of time of focused, consistent effort, you're going to be better, you're going to be able to do that 5k or 10k, or ultimately a marathon. So I don't care where you are today. If you're keeping three appointments per week, guess what? Focus on keeping four and then do that. And then after that focus on keeping one per day minimum, absolutely minimum, and you'll be keeping five or seven in a week. And that's a big jump If you can stay at that level as your body and your mind and your business acclimates to it, then you can add more. So it's the little consistent steps that make you better. As I say, you need to be consistent to be excellent. Let me repeat that you need to be consistent to be excellent. I don't care if it's learning to play guitar, learning a language, being able to shoot a three pointer pointer like crest, you know, being able to practice your introduction language, every single skill can be approved, as long as you focus and do it consistently. And that is where I see a lot of reps falling off, in that they're not getting the reps that they need. When you're first few years in your business, you should be practicing language every single day. When you're an established rep, you should still focus on practice your language, occasionally, once a week, twice a week, whatever it is, just to make sure that you still have that skill set. It's sharpened and ready to use.

Chris Gandy 11:01

And interesting you say that, Joe? Yeah, I've recruited over 50 advisors that have still made it in the business over 100 through my 20 some odd years. And I've been an advisor, I've been a sales manager, I've been a senior sales manager, and I've kind of done that. And what's kind of interesting is that you're right, is is is, is my manager once told me, he said, you know, no one 90% of blowouts don't our tires, flat tires don't happen because of blowouts to happen because of slow leaks. And the slow leaks is the lack of discipline necessary to be to do things necessary. So So you're right, most people don't fail out of the business, because of a blowout, they fail because of the small things that add up to the big things that become monstrous, because of the compound interest equals small things. And so let me let me ask you, let me let me go back. So so how did you get started with coaching, I mean, coaching is pretty unique, because there's so many paths and the financial services industry you can take, but why coaching and coaching is thankless job and some respect, right? Because end of the day, the coach never really gets the credentials. It's always the Tom Brady's or the it's always the guy that LeBron James, it's always one of those people who get the credentials, but behind them, they wouldn't have got there without the without the the mindset, right, and then the tools that the coach equip them with, but if when you interviewed the player, they always say I couldn't do it without the coach.

Joe Templin 12:38

Exactly. And so I was taught early in my financial services career where I was just dipping my toe into management, that management is the black velvet, that allows the diamond to sparkle. And so that is one of the things. So coaching has always been in my blood. My mom the non Yes, my mom was a non before she had six kids. That's a story for another day. But she was also an educator. And so and my dad, former military, both vers people in their family to go to college. So I grew up with this standard of excellence. And growing up on the farm, if you don't work, you don't eat, and I like to eat. So I learned to work pretty hard. But I was taught to understand and desire or knowledge. And I've got a whole bunch of younger brothers and sisters. And so when I was 10 years old, I was my parents assistant T Ball Coach, working with my younger brothers and sisters. And I found out at 18 years old, that I really love doing this. Now, I was also incredibly gifted intellectually, I used to be wicked smart. And so, you know, teaching didn't call to me in the traditional sense. But I have always had some capacity around that I tutored people in high school. In college, when I got my black belt, I was an assistant instructor and back, I still am an assistant instructor today 30 plus years later, as a teaching assistant in graduate school. So these were these different components. And when I first entered financial services in graduate school, I realized that people didn't even understand the potential of life insurance. I mean, I was looking at these people who were making MDRT. And this is back in the days where it was only life insurance. And they didn't even really understand how life insurance worked. And so I started studying and I started understanding. And I started doing I was doing joint work as the junior individual to start very quickly, I established myself as somebody who actually knew what was going on, and was a good partner because I spent a lot of time teaching other individuals. So I moved into being a college director with Northwestern recruited and developed individuals. And then I went into field director and then I moved was moving further along and then I shifted gears so I could, instead of just teach individual reps, I was teaching agencies I was going in and helping companies too. So I've been in this consulting teaching guiding mode for my entire life. And so it's just an in to me personally, it's a natural evolution of having a strong desire to understand a strong desire for others to be able to understand, so that they can be the best that they possibly can. And so, coaching is really a combination of teaching in some capacities, inspiring, but also being the drill sergeant that needs to get people's bought to make sure that they can do what they need to do to achieve their goals.

Suzanne Carawan 15:30

And it's a different win, right? I mean, the other piece is, it's

Joe Templin 15:32

completely different when so I want to see the people that I coach, get all the accolades, I want them. Right, like, they're tight. Oh, yeah. So like, my, some of the people that I coach, they have to text me when they get new appointments scheduled every day. And depending on their stages of businesses, that you're one, two, or three. So when they told me that they got that second or third appointment of the day, I'm, like, all juiced for them. So I don't need to have those wins. I mean, I've won a world championship, I've done my ultra marathons, I've written a million dollars premium, I've been to the top of the mountain in so many different ways. My goal now is to show other people how to get to the top of their mountain, and be there with them, whether it's as the guide or the guy behind them, push them back, you can make a you can make it.

Suzanne Carawan 16:18

So is it that accountability piece of this really appeals to them? I mean, you're you're you're, you're playing both parts, right, you're playing the sometimes you need a little FTA, you need a look. But to ask, right, oftentimes, you need a lot of, you know, chest bumps and everything else and, and praise. But what do you find? I guess the big thing I would say is, what do you find why people quit? Right? We were just talking earlier this month.

Joe Templin 16:39

Wait, because we haven't developed resilience, we've made things too easy in this country. Convenience kills, write that down, convenience kills, because, oh, this didn't work, I'll just, you know, go on a different dating app and find somebody else. This didn't work, you know, I'll just, you know, go get another crack. If this didn't work, I'll just switch majors, this didn't work, you know, I can just abandon it and move forward. Well, if you burn the ships, and you can't do that, or if you're so committed to the goal, as Nietzsche said, A man who has a strong enough y will overcome anyhow, if you're absolutely committed to what it is that you're trying to accomplish, you will overcome any obstacle, the obstacle is the way as Ryan Holliday says, and you will become resilient, and you will learn as the general Hannibal, not the one from the 18th, the one from ancient Roman Times said, I will find a way or make away. So if that goal is that important to you, it's something that you need to have, it's part of your very essence, then you will find a way and finding a coach or mentor or somebody to help give you the information or the guidance or the alliances or the skill sets or the resources that you need, you will discover it and do it no matter what. And so the issue is that too many people don't have that laser like focus that belief of what they need to accomplish. And if they did, then they would have more of a hour to push them along. So I entered financial services because my godfather and namesake died unexpectedly and we lost the family farm. Carried Case Closed. That's why I entered the industry. And then years later, my best friend died at 42 years old from cancer. And his wife Saturday was sitting around after the funeral and everything. Five kids, five boys said thank you, because the planning that I had laid the groundwork for years ago, that they had continued when I had shifted out of being a full time planner kept going and the disability insurance paid the life insurance paid. The kids were going to college, there were no worries financially, they just had to worry about making sure the kids developed into be good young men, and eventually leaders. And so that was part of the responsibility of the Godfather is to step in and do that. But they did not have to have any worries. And so every single time that I'm talking with a young adviser, I'm like, You need to go pay a death claim. You need to go listen to a life happens.org video multiple times every single day, you need to get this belief because if you don't believe well enough, you're not going to make sales because sales is a transfer of belief. But you're doing this to help other people. And if you don't do it, they're not going to be taken care of. And some kid is not going to go to college, some person is going to lose their home, somebody's not going to be able to retire. Some persons not going to have the care that they need when they're elderly. You know, there's going to be all these bad things because you decided not pick up the phone that day. Or you decided to not ask for an introduction because you were feeling a little squeamish or whatever. You need to have this belief this fire and that's what's going to carry you and that's what's going to make you successful. And so if you believe in it that much, just like you know Chris believed in trying to win the NBA championship. If you Want it that badly, you're gonna get up in the morning, you're going to do the wraps, you're going to do the work, you're going to be willing to have somebody yell at you, because it makes you better moves you towards that goal of taking care of that. So,

Chris Gandy 20:12

Joe, let me ask, let me ask a question I, I'm going to ask a real question to another sports guy slash coach, you hear on a regular basis that good players don't make good coaches, and vice versa? Yep. Tell us your thoughts on that.

Joe Templin 20:28

So good coaches, with people who don't care about getting better, are going to have an absolutely lousy record. Now, a good coaches who have players well at challenge are going to get the most out of that talent. I mean, look at me, I'm definitely not your classical financial services guy. I'm a nerd. I mean, you know, I'm not what you would expect. But I was able to succeed, because I had some good mentors and good belief systems helped bring me up. So if a player without great talent with a good coach can unlock most of their ability, if they have a lousy coach, guess what, they're quit, they're going to another company. And that's one of the reasons why we see a lot of people leave their organization that brought them in, is because they don't have a coach or mentor that can draw the best out of them inspire them. Now, the same thing is that so bad manager can destroy good talent, a bad fire can destroy a good organization, if somebody's got a really bad attitude. And you've probably seen that in teams in the past. And the thing is, if you can have even average, then they can bring it both up. If you have somebody that is very good at seeing that potential, and others and getting them dry out, and you've got somebody who's got a lot of fire, those are the people who can become champions. So there are so many stories of people who are not a first or even second round peg, who end up going on to the Hall of Fame, because they had a coach that believed in them. And they had the belief in themselves and their mission. And they were willing to do the work. Plus kind of sometimes caught lucky breaks. But the work ethic, combined with the vision that is being brought to them from their coach, from their family, from the team around them. That's what's necessary. And so this is one of the reasons why I tell managers raise your standards because the standards have all slept during COVID. Everybody can get away without wearing a suit and tie or, you know, everybody had the apocalypse beard or they're wearing shorts into the meetings. I can't tell you the number of organizations where people don't even know how to tie a tie in where it's dumbfounding. But that having that higher standard and saying you need to see X number of people per week or else you're gonna be gone, I will help you do it. But I will not do it for you. As the great Pat Summitt told her own son years ago and this one stuck stuck with me, I will help you by will not start your engine. So managers need to take people who are willing to work and show them the right way and polish them and train them and bring them on up. And people who are unwilling to work with don't want to, they ultimately need to go someplace else because culture will be self reinforcing. And make everybody walks in through that door be better.

Chris Gandy 23:26

When you when you mention players, it just brings me back to the time of hearing a coach in hearing my coach say say to us do the first thing first every day do the things you don't like to do every day, eat the frog and have to ask something. And so what happens when you win the championship? You know, I always see the guys who win and then all of a sudden they're the you know, the the the burning fire that desire starts to wane.

Joe Templin 23:58

Right? That was their goal. They achieved it. So now they need a new goal.

Chris Gandy 24:03

Right so so it's difficult for them to to find that succeeded. I talked about I talked with athletes, I work with a bunch of athletes that are former professional athletes and get there try to convince them that this is the career with your skill set that's already been built, retool, you can be ace, you can be a all star in this industry, right. And one of the challenges is the psychological challenge is that they can't they don't get the popcorn, it can smell the popcorn coming out of the people yelling don't get

Joe Templin 24:30

the accolades. They don't get the quick hit and the sensation. It's more like they're, they have to go back to when they were like in junior high school. And it's the daily grind for years before they get the chance to play on Friday nights for the football team or to have you know, the music playing for them. So they have to go back and unfortunately they've climbed to the top and they want to transfer immediately to the top of the next mountain. Chuck Norris says when you finish climbing the mountain you need to say your sights on the next one. When I finish a race, or Ragnar or an ultra marathon, I register for the next point immediately. So if it's two weeks away or two months away, I don't get that let down. Yes, I'm like, sort of depressed the next day. It's called the rag Nover. Because you just accomplish something really big. It's a little bit like postpartum. But you immediately have next thing to focus on. Kobe Bryant said that the time that he was most depressed, was after he won his first NBA championship, because that is all that he had focused on his entire life was winning that championship. But after he wanted, he was depressed. He was hollow, literally because I did it. What am I

Suzanne Carawan 25:38

right. But then

Joe Templin 25:39

he changed his focus. He said the goal was not then to win a championship. It was to win multiple championships. My goal was to see how many he could win, the goal is to see how great he could become, and the mindset change. And so working out after a game, you know, and doing the icing down and taking rest, which for very driven individuals like us is very, very difficult. The hardest thing in the world for me to actually is rest. So it all became part of the plan to be the greatest that he could be. And that became the challenge not necessarily winning any particular game, even though he gave everything in every game. It was, how great can I become? How can I win as much as possible instead of just winning the one and so in our space, so you'll make million dollar round table? That's awesome. First time you do it. Accolades. Great. Woohoo. Second time you do it. Alright. Now, how do we change it so that you're making MDRT instead of in mid December? How can you qualify by Thanksgiving? Or is that making million dollar round table? How do you get to Korea that table to get to that next level? So instead of playing in the NBA, how do you become an all star? How do you you know, eventually become a Hall of Famer. And so it's that challenge for yourself. It's your conscientiousness on the Big Five personality traits, you know, pushing it so that you have a really, really high seat, so that you demand more of yourself. And that then creates a standard of excellence. And if you have this combination of internal fire, in setting up the environment around you to help support it and push you, that's where you're going to be as excellent as possible. So great, Suzanne.

Suzanne Carawan 27:25

I was gonna say like Blake Gryphon always says his coach says, You have to fall in love with being great, right? And then it's the Michael Jordan last dance games within games, constantly being able to get those games to get that leverage on yourself to, you know, to not slide into stasis, right?

Joe Templin 27:40

It doesn't matter. Last season. Okay, so you want then what are you doing this season? And in our world, you get that every day? Okay, we're recording this on Monday. Doesn't matter what you did on Friday, it doesn't matter if you got seven introductions, doesn't matter if you wrote 15,000 in premium, what are you doing today? What are you doing this week? And so this is actually a page from the alcoholics book. That sounds bad, but you know, what's the most important day it's today? What can I do today to be the best possible I can. And you should have no regrets. Meaning at the end of the day, you did everything that you could. But also, when you wake up the next morning, don't regret that young, you did all sorts of horrible things. So having that balance of no regrets, because you did the right thing every single day. And you're living as if it's the last day in your business, but also that you're going to be in this business for another 100 years. If you can maintain that balance. That's where you're gonna get the sweet spot and you're going to end up in flow and you'll really produce some awesome effects.

Chris Gandy 28:38

So complacency if I'm in the driver's seat, right. I've won a couple championships, right? How do you win? How do you set yourself up? Because effort has compound interest also? Yeah, right. And so given that scenario, I've witnessed reps, I've coached reps and they talk about this hyper growth right? is where you have that controlled environment for an elongated period of time. And then when success happens you with a coach they don't read the press clippings right? You don't read what happened yesterday because at the end of the day, we had a game tomorrow, right? When let us read the paper, right? Because all of a sudden they would start to get let me read how awesome I am right? But that also has so how do you get to hyper growth you mentioned MDRT but I've seen and I've experienced I was one of them. Where every check I made after MDRT I literally put it away and forgot it existed in my mind right? And so because it created that environment and to desire right to do better than that only that person but I am just as good as them. I'm just as talented as them right. I played with I got to Practice with Jordan every day and 80s and 97. Right. And one of the things he told us he said, he I remember playing with he's like, you know, I breed just like you guys, I put my shoes on just like you guys, at the end of the day. My skill may be more developed than yours. But if I can do it, you can do it. So our mindset, my mindset has always been if somebody can achieve it, I can do it. And if, if no one's done it, I need to be the first to do it. Right? Right, those are

Joe Templin 30:29

the financial services space, we can all learn to do things like I can't learn to be tall, like you period case closed, I'm not gonna get stretched out. I don't have the natural physical talents. But I can learn how somebody interacts with somebody else I can learn about using if then statements within my discussions with clients, I can learn that one question that so and so asks their clients, that helps them bond better, I can see how somebody is using technology in their business. And that's one of the beautiful things about NAIFA is we are literally an open book in a lot of ways. In no other field, will somebody tell you their trade secrets? In our world? We do? Anybody asked me? How do you do this, I'll be like, This is how I do it. This is how I do it, this mistakes I made. Here's how I use it, go do it. And so literally people are handing each other tools. And the question is, are you going to use it or not. So we can compound li ways. And the big thing is that I've found that helps some people is to have the appropriate challenge. So if you've got somebody who's performing about the same level that you are, then you have that's with each other short term that's like weekly, monthly ones. Like, you know, whoever gets most backfires this week, the other one has to wash their car, that's always a great one. So you know, hi, I got six fat fighters as well, I got seven man. And even though you're doing something that's causing you to grow, this person is growing slightly faster. And so now what happened, ignites that competitive juice, and so you're gonna get better. So like my best friend growing up, she's from Vietnam, she was salutatory era of our class and everything. And so there was always this competition of pushing each other to be better. It's the bird and Johnson, Magic Johnson sorry, thing, where they came into the league approximately the same time, and they kept making the other one up their game. And so find somebody like that to work with to up your game that that have that friendly rivalry, that works for some people, other people will say, they set the goal, okay, I'm gonna hit doing 400,000 and premium this year, or I need to buy this house or something like that. Some people, they need to have that focus on one particular thing. So the biggest thing is having them better awareness, understanding who you are, what you are, what motivates you, and then tapping into that, because this is one of the things that, you know, some of the best coaches, I mean, does that master probably did this was finding what motivated that particular individual and being able to press that button. Is it you know, competing to get a suit? Is it bragging rights? Is it your own Giga beer on Friday afternoon. So, essentially, being able to understand and apply the five love languages from Chapman, in a lot of ways, is a really smart idea is understanding what moves the needle for that particular individual, and being able to then do that.

Chris Gandy 33:30

Right. So So So collectively, I heard you say, we need a pace car, right? We need somebody we can dunk, and we need to we need to pace we need to, we need to find someone said a rabbit for a rabbit, we need to set our sights here. Because looking forward, we're only going to get so far right? So it's like climbing about we have to look up to be able to go up a mountain, you can't look here, you're trying to go up right. And there was your client trying to climb that mountain and trying to become the best version of ourselves. I think I think you said it. Joe, this is this is fantastic. I think we need a part two, Suzanne,

Suzanne Carawan 34:02

I agree. It's a great,

Chris Gandy 34:04

it's got a lot of knowledge, I

Suzanne Carawan 34:05

suppose part of that coaches circle. So I know, Joe, before we go to the lightning round. I do want to make sure we mentioned your book. So can you tell us a little bit about Every Day Excellence?

Joe Templin 34:15

So Every Day Excellence, which has this really cool nonlinear growth curve on the front I was talking about is a multivitamin for life. And it's not just for people in financial services, it actually makes a great gift for clients because they'll see it every day and remember you but every day starts with a quote. And then there's discussion analysis around it so we can improve cross multiple parameters of our life, whether it's our personal health, our physical health, our communication skills. And then the big difference between my book and the other ones is that there's an action item every single day. So the reader has to do something to improve themselves. It could be something as difficult as writing down all the reasons you're upset with somebody and crossing them off one by one saying I forgive you for this. I forgive you for that. I was really hard. Or it could be something as easy as smiling at five people today. Because when you smile, it improves your biochemistry, it makes you two it does I mean, it reduces your cortisol increases your serotonin, it can produce oxytocin and so that we've got all these good things, it reduces your belly fat, by the way, so smiling is good for you. And when you smiled at somebody else, they want to smile back just like you are. So I've given you the gift of health. And by the way, you're going to be about 25 to 30%, more receptive, and more creative is hold it for the next 10 to 15 minutes. So smiling at others, gives them a gift, and it turns around and helps you. So these little things, these bio hacks are actions, that compound and you get a little bit better here a little bit better there. And at the end of the year, you're in a much different mental, physical and financial place because of all these compounded improvements.

Chris Gandy 35:54

Yeah, that's amazing. Your wealth of knowledge. The word is that you did how many podcasts in 2022,

Joe Templin 36:02

roughly 300, to 300

Chris Gandy 36:06

podcasts. That's a lot. I know, people don't realize that being on a podcast, you know, the lighting, being at a location where you get a stable signal, and blah, blah, blah, all these things that go along with being effective and efficient, and productive on a podcast, you've planted this seed, you're a loyal NAIFA member, you now are going to be part of the DNA of nature. NAIFA, as we start to really go to the next level, as we climb collectively as an organization, you will become part of all of our lives, not only from this book, but Joe, how do we get the book? I mean, you just told me something I can improve 1% Every day in every way I get it. Right. So So share with me, how do we get this book? Are you sending it to Chris Gandy only is that how this works? Are

Joe Templin 36:55

you a copy signed copy. So they get on Amazon if they want. But actually, if they go to my website, everyday-excellence.com, that's everyday-excellence.com. If there's a lot of free resources there every single day, I put up a blog post, it's got links to the podcast, it's got links to the YouTube channel that I do every single day we're connecting my Tiktok No, I don't dance on my Tiktok. But it's got all these additional free resources for you. But at checkout from the website, if you use the code NAIFA use that code, you get a 10% discount.

Chris Gandy 37:35

So you get more to remind now,

Joe Templin 37:39

awesome, I'll make sure that I sign it with a good message for you, buddy, I want to I

Chris Gandy 37:43

want I want a couple of versions

Suzanne Carawan 37:45

doesn't want to answer that. Right? It doesn't want it on that. I want

Chris Gandy 37:49

one in our office here. And as we launched new advisors, right, that becomes part of our army chapters in it, that becomes part of our weekly digest of reading, you know, we have in our repertoire, we make them read thinking Grow Rich, out of successful financial advisor, you know, the AL AL Grantham slash successful OCS system, the systematic approach, right, we make them read that, right. And so this would be one that would be a great kind of collective program for them to do,

Joe Templin 38:23

because this helps them work on their daily discipline and discipline transfers into the business. If you are used to running marathons, or practicing an instrument every single day or doing difficult things on a regular basis, you can take that mindset and apply it to ask for the introductions from that client, or to ask somebody for the $100,000 premium a lot easier, because you're used to facing your fears and overcoming wimp junction, as Pete Grider talked about. So being a better version of you, allows you to be a better professional and ultimately more successful.

Chris Gandy 39:01

All right, wonderful. Suzanna, I'm voting for a round two. With yo, yo, if you would, you'd be so kind. I don't know, Suzanne's the boss? Absolutely, absolutely. We'd love to come back and have a conversation about this up here. You know, this is 90 this 90% Our ability to connect psychologically to the actions. We missed that piece cuz we didn't have a lot of time. But I know you have a lot there of how to connect this to this. Right, the desire and it moves our feet, like how do we connect those two, you know, create those neurons, fire them up, get them moving? A fun conversation, right? So so I know there's something that I know because I actually work with a coach and network, high performance coach and whatever, blah, blah, blah, you know, so I work in that arena a lot. And we're always trying to get it I guess 1% better every day in every way. Right and how do we improve It's not about perfection. It's about progress. And you know, so you'll hear some things from me. So we'll we'll kind of talk about that. So Suzanne, do you have anything before we get into? I think it's

Suzanne Carawan 40:09

time to go now because I think for Joe, especially the lightning round, it's going to be just fascinating. I can't even wait because, yeah,

Joe Templin 40:16

it was like a living Rorschach test. Yeah.

Chris Gandy 40:20

So Joe, let me let me kind of share with you. So the goal of this is, everyone this is not scripted. This is something that literally I in the morning, I look up 10 questions that I'm going to ask and I look for the most interesting question to ask Joe. So here's the deal. First thing first. The first thing is like mind mapping, right? First thing that comes to mind, I just want you to say it, right? You can tell us a little story about if you'd like to, but if not, we'll move on to the next one. And we'll wrap up with a question that typically Pete makes people say, Huh, like it makes them think about what's more important and what's not. Okay, so is that fair? Yes, sir. We'll start off something really easy. What's your favorite dessert?

Joe Templin 40:58

I don't eat dessert.

Chris Gandy 40:59

I know. That's why I asked

Suzanne Carawan 41:00

the question. There isn't a discipline

Joe Templin 41:02

Ice cream? Ice cream. Okay,

Chris Gandy 41:04

got it. Okay, see how easy that was? Chill. Very easy. Okay, let's go. So, your favorite author JRR Tolkien same initial book if I was an advisor you would recommend I read outside of yours.

Joe Templin 41:17

The Trusted Advisor

Chris Gandy 41:19

Okay, Joe, you mentioned you're a coach, who's the best coach you've ever had or mentor in your life?

Joe Templin 41:26

That would be master Daniel Grant, who my oldest son is named after

Chris Gandy 41:32

perfect. And so who is the best coach you've ever seen or observed at a professional level in sports and or any other Zana got the Phil Jackson, Phil Jackson, the Zen Master. Master? Yes. Then Master, your favourite place to travel?

Joe Templin 41:57

Family cabin in the mountains. Okay,

Chris Gandy 41:59

if you were your younger self, what advice would you give to your younger self, when you started in the career have more boundaries? And more boundaries? Can you tell me what do you mean by that? I

Joe Templin 42:20

let some people in leadership, push me around and do some things that I would never allow at this point. So I was little young as a little naive, I wanted to please. I thought that doing exactly what others did in terms of compliance and non compliance because compliance is good but complying was the right way to be able to ultimately reach and help more people. And there's a saying difference itself. Be your unique self. Stop trying to be a version of Tom Hagner or van nilly or any other people be the absolute best version of you. If they don't like it. That's what I'm problem.

Chris Gandy 42:59

If you can come back in history last question, you can come back and for anyone in history and have dinner with one person anyone living now or they have lived in the past? Who would you have dinner with? And why? Firstly,

Suzanne Carawan 43:16

Bruce Lee. Yeah, makes sense. Makes sense.

Joe Templin 43:20

I learned 35 pounds in like yo could do 200 Push ups with one arm. Yeah. faced adversity he changed the world.

Suzanne Carawan 43:29

It's his mentality right and reading about him and his

Joe Templin 43:33

and he drew from everything whether it was european fencing you know, Russian wrestling, Western Boxing Wing Chun is the guy who took everything and distilled it into what was uniquely

Chris Gandy 43:49

Susanna responsibility now is to read like water. Now, see, see, there you go. So you know, I actually pay attention. Right? So like water. It's a great read. It makes you think, okay, basic elements of who we are and the essence of who we are. It's a great book. Anyways, Joe, thank you so much for appearing on the first version of 2020 threes, NAIFA Advisors podcast. What? What a wonderful one. If you have not seen us go on to the NAIFA. Read Look at this. We'll have another version. Come in. Joe, thank you so much. Suzanne, do you have anything before we close? I would

Suzanne Carawan 44:27

just say, look for more webinars coming up with the starring Joe template, more knowledge to come. And it's always a pleasure to be here, Chris.

Joe Templin 44:35

Suzanne and Chris. Thank you. Go ahead, Joe. Thank you for the opportunity to share be excellent. And grow today. All right,

Chris Gandy 44:42

Joe, can you hold up that book so everyone could get a picture of that and we're working? Everyday-excellence.com

Joe Templin 44:49

Everyday-excellence.com.

Suzanne Carawan 44:51

Yeah. Smiling gets us all happy then certainly like throwing kisses that has to be better, right?

Joe Templin 44:57

Even better.

Chris Gandy 45:00

He's gonna smile that day. I'll close this out. Thank you everyone for being here on NAIFA’s Advisor Today podcast, where we're actually progressing. 1% better every day in every way. And we're here to support, grow, uplift, empower the future advisors of tomorrow. And we look forward to seeing you on our next podcast. Thank you so much. Let's smile away the thing. Yeah, we'll see you guys next week. Great job, Joe. What a wonderful what a wonderful conversation. We appreciate you.

Outro 45:34

Thanks for joining us for NAIFA’s Advisor Today podcast series. Make sure to subscribe to get future episodes. And if you're interested in coming on the show, let us know.

37 min read