Peter Wood is an accomplished financial advisor and active member of NAIFA with over a decade of experience in the industry. Starting as a multi-line captive agent, he now co-owns a multi-state firm that spans over 12 states and runs a mastermind coaching program for insurance agents. Apart from insurance, Peter coaches competitive bands and drumlines, matching his passion for mentorship in music with his professional endeavors. As a NAIFA member, he is dedicated to growing membership and inspiring the next generation of financial professionals.

               

 

 

 

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

• [05:47] Peter Wood shares his background and career journey in financial services
• [10:16] The challenges of maintaining work-life balance alongside a demanding career
• [14:29] Peter’s involvement with NAIFA
• [20:19] The value of joining NAIFA as a young professional
• [24:54] How NAIFA differentiates itself from other associations in the industry
• [36:33] Peter discusses the responsibility of financial professionals advocating for NAIFA
• [39:22] The creativity involved in local NAIFA chapter engagement strategies
• [46:01] The importance of mentorship
• [55:22] Ensuring NAIFA’s growth by not keeping its work a secret

In this episode…

In today’s dynamic professional landscape, the power of community can be a game changer for your career. Consider the immense benefits of belonging to an organization that champions your growth and opens doors to industry leaders and experts. What if you could access a wealth of knowledge just by being part of a group?

Peter Wood, an insurance agent, shares how he navigated the complexities of the financial services industry by leveraging the power of mentorship and active involvement in industry associations. He emphasizes the importance of time blocking and maintaining a work-life balance. Highlighting the accessibility to industry giants, Peter illustrates how these connections provide unparalleled learning and growth opportunities. His story underscores the critical role of mentoring and the need for younger professionals to join and rejuvenate the association, ensuring its mission and benefits reach future generations.

In this episode of Advisor Today, co-hosts Chris Gandy and Suzanne Carawan sit down with Peter Wood, an accomplished financial advisor, to talk about leveraging the NAIFA community for growth. Peter shares his background and career journey in financial services, the challenges of maintaining a work-life balance alongside a demanding career, his involvement with NAIFA, and the value of joining NAIFA as a young professional.

Resources mentioned in this episode:

• Chris Gandy on LinkedIn
• Suzanne Carawan on LinkedIn
• NAIFA
• Peter Wood on LinkedIn

Quotable Moments:

• "Insurance is just the selling of a promise for a better tomorrow."
• "NAIFA is where the industry's giants play, and they're remarkably accessible."
• "Mentorship was the missing piece that allowed me to thrive in this business."
• "We must actively share NAIFA's story to move the industry forward."
• "The true power comes from sharing knowledge, not withholding it."

Action Steps:

1. Join professional associations: Becoming a member of organizations can provide invaluable networking opportunities and access to industry leaders, professionals who can offer guidance and support.
2. Time blocking for work-Life balance: Balance a busy schedule by prioritizing tasks and setting clear boundaries for work and family time.
3. Embrace servant leadership: Take the opportunity to create a positive impact and foster a supportive community.
4. Promote and advocate for your industry: Avoid obscurity and ensure that valuable resources and advocacy efforts are recognized and utilized by more people in the industry.
5. Encourage mentorship: This addresses the industry's need for knowledge transfer and the cultivation of future leaders.

Sponsor for this episode...

This episode is brought to you by the National Association of Insurance and Financial Advisors, or NAIFA, the #1 association for producers in financial services. 

At NAIFA, we enhance professional skills, promote ethical conduct, and advocate for legislative and regulatory environments.

By joining NAIFA, you gain access to a partnership that elevates your performance while providing greater purpose to your professional work. NAIFA members are happier, make more money, and stay in the business longer.

Get in touch with NAIFA and learn more about how to join NAIFA by visiting NAIFA.org.

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 0:20 

Hi everyone. Thanks for tuning in to Advisor Today's podcast where we feature some of the best and the brightest minds in the financial services industry. Connected with your favorite NAIFA USA. So I'm here with my wonderful co-host, Suzanne Carawan. Suzanne, how are you?

Suzanne Carawan 0:36 

I'm doing great, Chris. Happy to be here.

Chris Gandy 0:39 

So good to see you with your flowers on today and looking spectacular as usual. But Suzanne, before we get to our wonderful guest, can you share with NAIFA nation, who our sponsor is for today's podcast?

Suzanne Carawan 0:53 

Sure. So today, I'm happy to say that well, first of all, I should have said to both of you, Happy election Eve, as we are here on election day, but this month is Long Term Care Month. So I want to make everybody aware of Long Term Care, if you're not and know that our new, expanded NAIFA family includes Life Happens which has all sorts of content, social media, calendars, etc, to help you get out the word and start those awkward conversations, maybe make them less awkward about long term care. So certainly we want to give a shout out to Life Happens. And Chris, I hear we might have a breaking new video coming up that involves you and your client during Long Term Care Month.

Chris Gandy 1:31 

Oh, I might have heard little of that too, some impactful stories.

Suzanne Carawan 1:39 

And the debut will happen for that video, and a lot of our work on November 19, which is our lifetime healthcare impact day, and we're calling it the Peak 65 series, as 2024 is first year to kick off Peak 65 and we will see that for the next three years, we'll be in Peak 65 mode of more than 10,000 people a day, turning 65. So we're happy to see that registration is now open. It is free to the industry. We have a jam-packed lineup of top speakers to talk about this. Of course, NAIFA is on the forefront of what's happening with CMS and the rule changes there, and what's happening in Medicare agents, and we're out there every day fighting to lessen that impact. But with that being said, November 19, lhc.nafa.org, looking forward to seeing everybody and seeing the debut of Chris's new video with his client.

Chris Gandy 2:25 

Awesome. If you have a story and you have an impactful story that you would like to share, please get in touch with the people that Life Happens, and perhaps they could tell your story and make an impact on all those who were out there listening. So with that being said, Suzanne, would you introduce our guest?

Suzanne Carawan 2:26 

Yeah, I would love to. So one of the beautiful things about NAIFA nation is that you get to meet people across the country. I had the pleasure of meeting Peter Wood, our guest today. He came through, I think it was because of Apex we had out there. He's on the board of NAIFA, Arizona. We got to talking, turns out, I tripped over another guy named Carson Porter, who's also an avid member. And we all started talking together, and Peter said, look, I'm in it to win it. I want to help us grow membership. I love the profession, etc. And then it just so happened at Apex, we ended up interviewing Cliff Wilson, one of our past National Presidents, and he's going on and on about this great guy that he mentored, and how well he's doing in the business. And lo and behold, when you know it, it's Peter Wood we're all talking about. So we thought we'd have Peter on today to talk about some of the good work we're doing with David McKnight, with Carson Porter, etc., gives his backstory with Cliff Wilson, right? And get kind of the beat on what else has happened in Arizona So, Peter, welcome to the program.

Peter Wood 3:47 

Cool. Thanks for having me.

Chris Gandy 3:49 

So Peter, the first question everybody wants to know is, how are you able to keep the temperature half the year over 100 degrees in Arizona, where the rest of the country barely gets to 100 maybe five weeks out of the year? That's the real question. That's the only question that I think Nathan Asia wants to know.

Peter Wood 4:05 

Yeah, no, that's a fair question. Have you ever accidentally left the door on your oven open just a little bit too long when you're cooking? It's kind of like that. We just have a really big oven door, like, really, really big. Now it was crazy hot this year. I mean it literally, it just cooled off this month. It was still 100 degrees in October, which is nuts.

Suzanne Carawan 4:33 

Wow, what's cooling off like 98 like, you're like, Woohoo.

Peter Wood 4:36 

No actually, it's beautiful, right now. It's like 70 degrees today. Blue skies, sunny. Yeah, this is why people moved to Arizona. Is for this time of year, not for the summer stuff.

Chris Gandy 4:47 

I heard when I actually went to Arizona earlier in the year, and when, actually it had just started to hit 100 and they were saying that by the time we left, which was at Apex, that it had had some, like, record breaking, like 100 and or like 200 days in a row, or something crazy, over 100 and that's insane. That's insane.

Peter Wood 5:09 

Those are not the kind of records that I like breaking. But unfortunately, the last couple years, we broke that record pretty consistently, just year after year after year.

Chris Gandy 5:21 

Wow. I know we're not here to talk about that, but Peter, welcome to Advisor Today podcast. We appreciate you being here. So Peter, tell NAIFA nation, who did, who, who didn't? Happen to make apex and tell us a little bit about yourself, and then your role in Arizona. What are you guys doing in Arizona that's got everybody buzzing in NAIFA?

Peter Wood 5:47 

Yeah, man, so I started in the business about 12 years ago as a captive multi-line agent. I was really, really fortunate that, when I was brought in, I had the thing that I think is really the missing piece as to why so many agents feel out of the business so soon is I had that thing they did, and I had a fantastic mentor. And that was Cliff Wilson. I mean, you want to talk about winning the lottery, I could not have paid for a better mentor than Cliff. So to get in and get started that was the path. Now today, I still own my individual agency, but I also am an owner of a much larger multi state firm called Crack and Insurance. We've got offices in 12 different states now, pretty much everywhere, west of Texas and north of Arizona up to Oregon. I am active on the Arizona NAIFA board, and then I help run a mastermind agency, a coaching program for insurance agents, the Rev Agency Syndicate with Carson,

Chris Gandy 7:05 

So you jumped in. So what did you do before this? Peter, before you did this? Where were some of the crew job? What were some of the jobs you had before, or career moves you had before you actually got into the insurance industry.

Peter Wood 7:21 

Yep, I pretty much had to the first career path that I had was I worked at the Boys and Girls Club. I did technology training for the clubs. And then I also ran the sports program. So I was the guy in charge of like the Little League Baseball Program. I ran the sports programs, start to finish for flag football, basketball, and then coach pitch, baseball, T ball. So did that for a long time for the Boys and Girls Club. And then right before I opened my agency and got into the business, I worked for a copier company called IKON Office Solutions, and at the time, they were the world's largest independent servicing organization and distributor of copier equipment.

Specifically that last job that I had with them, I was in contract sales, which, when I looked at it afterwards, really what I was selling, it was copier insurance. It was selling that intangible promise of, hey, when you're having your worst day ever and the machine's not working and it breaks, I promise that we'll get somebody out there to make it better. Not a problem, right? And I did not draw that parallel until after being in the business for six months a year. It's like, oh, it's like, I get it, this is the same thing. I'm just, you know, insurance is just selling a promise. It's a promise that when you are having your worst day, I promise that we are going to make it a little bit better.

Suzanne Carawan 8:51 

So you could sell intangibles and deal with youth parents, sports parents, you're set like?

Peter Wood 8:56 

Yeah, so and then in addition to that kind of through the whole story. I also teach competitive band. I teach indoor drumline. I was the director of percussion for the state of Arizona for 10 years.

Suzanne Carawan 9:13 

I did not know that. Okay? Indoor drumline, okay?

Chris Gandy 9:18 

Like the movie, Drumline, yeah. Basically, we got a regular Nick Cannon here.

Suzanne Carawan 9:25 

I know, right? That's very cool.

Chris Gandy 9:27 

So Peter, you said that you got into the industry. You had a mentor, multi-line agency. But you mentioned a couple other things. It sounds like you got in. And then you kind of said, okay, I can do this. And then you started to expand and do some other things. And now you're coaching and you're doing a bunch of other things. So how do you have time? How do you find that balance between what you should do and what everybody else asks you to do? I think that's a hard thing that, I think Suzanne in today's society. Getting pulled in so many different directions, it's hard to really focus on the one or two impactful things that down the hill and grow the other things. So Peter we'll ask you, what are your thoughts? How do you balance and what are you doing to stay focused on the things that are important to you?

Peter Wood 10:16 

Yeah, so I do time blocking, and I live by my calendar. My wife was not a huge fan of it when I started doing this, but I I blocked time out for my family too, because if I don't put stuff, if I don't put the important things on the calendar, something else slips into that spot. So I know it's like, hey, I've got three boys. So my oldest boy, Colin, is in the Marine Corps. And then I've got a four and five-year-old, sorry, five and six. I just had a birthday, and so, like, the little guys just started playing flag football this past week, they had their first game Thursday nights, they've got practices Saturday, they have games that goes on the calendar. Just boom, boom, right? So that way, I don't book stuff over the top of family time and vice versa. I don't book stuff over the top of business time either.

I go through and everything's got a slot and it's where you fit in. I go through and do time blocking, and I revisit it. I revisit it a couple times a month, just to make sure that everything's on track. But the biggest thing is that I make time for the things that are important to make sure they get done, which means if I'm studying for a designation, or I'm doing something that doesn't need to happen within the normal constraints of the eight to five day. Okay? I don't want it to take away from my family time. I don't want it to take away from my productive office time. So that means that sometimes I get up early and do stuff, and sometimes I stay up late and do stuff, like I've got, I love. I built hot rods. I have a car that I drag race, and it's important that I get out in garage and work on some of that stuff. But I try to not let it take away from the time with Cassandra and the boys, because it's a finite amount of time that I have.

So that means that sometimes I put them all to bed and all right, let's see you guys in the morning, and then I go out in the garage at eight o'clock, nine o'clock, 10 o'clock at night and work for an hour or two on something. Because that concept is the same, regardless of what the project is, right? You only have so much time, so if it's important enough, you're going to schedule some of that time out to make it happen. But sometimes the things that you want to get done need to happen outside of the normal kind of operating hours.

Chris Gandy 10:18 

So it's a delicate balance is what I'm hearing. Time blocking is important, doing that. Some people don't understand where time blocking comes from. Did that come from the 12 week year periodization? Any of that stuff?

Peter Wood 13:16 

I did, read the 12 week here. And actually I got to see, I'm drawing a blank, the gentleman, the author's name, I got to hear him at the MDR T meeting this year. But I have learned about this before I had read the book. So it was just, it was something out of necessity. I was struggling when I first got into the business. I think Cliff was probably the first person to talk to me about time blocking, because I was struggling with managing my own calendar, and that was part of the conversation was, hey, you just need to put this stuff. You need to put it in writing. Because if it was in writing, it happened, and if it wasn't in writing.

Chris Gandy 14:03 

Yep, yeah, that's good. So let's talk about NAIFA. How did you end up in a NAIFA uniform? I mean, it sounds like you somehow, someway, someone's like, hey, there's a cool group of people over here that, if you want to play in this game, you got to play in that. You got to play with them. How'd you become a NAIFA member, and then what's kept you so connected to the cause?

Peter Wood 14:29 

Yeah, so I joined because I didn't realize that that wasn't a thing that people didn't do. Cliff was to say that he gently beat it into me that NAIFA was just something that you do, if you are a professional in our industry would be putting it lightly, but he didn't do it in a way you have to do this thing. He just talked so highly. Of it, and so favorably of it, that when I was going through my training stuff at the end of that three-month window of my internship, I was asking him, like, okay, so how do I join? When do I get to go to my first meeting? Because he talked about it so much, like we had mentioned he's a past national president, and so he obviously understood the value of what NAIFA brings to the table. And so it was just a part of his core values, right?

And that rubbed off on me, that, oh no, this is what you do. If you are a professional in our industry, you are a part of NAIFA, because just like we advocate for our clients, they advocate for us, right? And it's important to have somebody advocating for us and our industry and our products, because that's how we keep them favorable for our clients. That's how we keep Death Benefits Tax Free and 7702 and 7702 A regulations where there's, you know, the tax-free loan provisions, and you can move money in and out of the policy as you need. But without NAIFA, that stuff stops just cold done, right? So Cliff really just talked, number one, so much about it, and number two, so favorably about it, that, like I said, it wasn't even a question on whether or not I was going to join. When am I going to join, and how do I join? And I think that that's one of the things that's missing, that's missing a lot in our industry is, unfortunately, NAIFA is one of the best kept secrets out there.

If you went to a conference like I went to the big I conference here in Phoenix a couple months ago, and I would be willing to bet that out of the, let's say, 2500 independent agents that were at that conference, I bet you less than 10% know what NAIFA is. You know, because they didn't have they didn't have a mentor, they didn't have somebody advocating to them, hey, this is something that's important for you, your clients, your business, your career. And the only way they know right now is if they happen to talk to somebody like one of us that says, hey, have you ever gone to one of these meetings? Have you ever been a part of this organization? Do you know what they do? Have you ever heard of and so that's how I got in. Was like I said Cliff talked about it so much and so frequently that the office was littered with NAIFA logos on plaques and awards.

I couldn't wait. I couldn't wait to get in. And then I ended up being a local president of one of the local chapters the last year before the local chapters in Arizona went away. And so I couldn't wait to do it, you know, because somebody was telling me what a great organization it was. And so I think that's really the part that we need to pick the ball up with, is just be vocal and tell people what a great organization it is, and all the value that we bring. And if you look at the literal giants in our industry, Joe Jordan, Tom Hegna, Van Miller, David McKnight, it's like, what all those guys have in common. It's NAIFA. It's not a coincidence.

Chris Gandy 18:52 

You mentioned some pretty, pretty, pretty, what I would call old-school guys, right? And I'd say old school from the standpoint that they've paved the road for young guys like yourself, myself, to come behind them and even be bigger than them. You believe that the challenge is the commitment to get other young professionals on that path. Or do you believe it is that the industry, I've heard this two ways, right? I've heard that the industry, associations are changing and people aren't necessarily doing right? I've heard that from one side.

I've heard that like you said, NAIFA is the best-kept secret. I've heard that too. I've also heard a series of other things. So, what's real and what's not to you, right? So why are younger people not knocking down the door to get into the exclusivity of a NAIFA or to some of the other associations like it was before, when I started, it was like the same way. But I'd like to know your perspective, since you've been in the business for about 12 years.

Peter Wood 20:19 

Yeah. So, I liken it a lot to the same kind of thing as it's just a lack of understanding, right, just like the products we offer, right? If people truly understood what they could do with the products that we offer, they would be lined up around the building, just waiting in line to get in to see somebody, because, like, I didn't know that it could do this and this and this and this and this and this. I thought that the main character of my story had to die for anybody to benefit from this thing. And that's not the case, right? And I think the same is true of professional associations and organizations, is that they don't realize how much value it brings and what the opportunity is, because it's not being talked about, right? Our industry in particular, it's aging, and it's aging quick, and if we don't make some adjustments and get some young advisors in the door number one, get young advisors in the door to the business, right? Bring in some younger agents to pass the torch on to.

So problem number one is the industry is aging. Problem number two is okay, of that aging industry, how many of those agents that are getting ready to hang up the career are doing their best to pass the information on to the next generation, right? And there are people out there that do that. 100% some of the people that we talked about, you know, the vans and Joe's and David's Tom's. They're doing a ton, right, but that's only four, right? Pretty big reach. Yeah, those four have a pretty big reach, you know. But when I look around even at my state chapter, when I look at NAIFA, Arizona, it's an aging organization. It's, it's, it's day one since my first day as a NAIFA member in originally was NAIFA East Valley, I have almost always been the youngest person in the room. And now I've done, I've done my part to, I get a couple members to join every year just by being conversational,

Chris Gandy 23:15 

Sure, right?

Peter Wood 23:18 

But to that point, like, you know, I said that I really felt that the thing that that I got, that a lot of new agents didn't get, or don't have, is that mentor, and that's the void that NAIFA fills right in addition to the advocacy thing, it's the relationships that you build with the people in the room to help find that mentor, and it doesn't need to be a mentor in the traditional sense of well-defined roles of mentor, mentee. But yeah, you just, you naturally are going to gravitate towards somebody in the room. And when you do, I guarantee they have value. They have value that they will bring to you if you have the conversation.

Chris Gandy 24:06 

This reminds me, I saw the play Hamilton. And one of the popular songs is in the room where it happens. And so, sometimes you have to be in the room where it happens. Sometimes you just need to be in the room with someone, and then a conversation strikes up, but it's never going to strike out both if you're not there, right? So, right. So what is some of the unique things that NAIFA, from your perspective, what are some of the unique things that NAIFA brings to the table that no other organizations bring, other than we're really good-looking organization and we dress well.

Peter Wood 24:54 

Obviously. No. I think accessibility. I think accessibility is the thing, like, I mean, I got two books within arm's reach, right? Like, I know both these guys, right? Tom is a member of NAIFA Arizona. Was a member of NAIFA East Valley, the organization as president of and David and I have done some stuff together through the coaching group that Karsh and I run the rev agency Syndicate, and we're doing some stuff for NAIFA now, right? We're doing a bunch of free training webinars for people that aren't NAIFA members, also NAIFA members, but trying to get new blood in the door, right? But having the accessibility to those folks, we done a bunch of stuff with Van, also having the level of accessibility to those folks that you get is unheard of in other industries, right?

Like, imagine you're a high school basketball coach, and there's a professional association for high school basketball coaches, and go, great. We're going to meet up once a month. Maybe we'll do some webinars. We have this website with great resources, cool, but if you come out to our national meeting, you know, Michael Jordan's going to be there. He's going to have a booth. You can stop by and talk to him and just pick his brain, ask some questions, and, oh, Phil Jackson's going to be there. And all of these, like behemoths of the sport, of the industry are there, are accessible, and you get to see that they're just people just like you and me

Chris Gandy 26:50 

Yeah, Dean Smith there and Coach K.

Peter Wood 26:53 

Yeah. And, and they're willing to share. Not only are they willing to share their Jones and to share like they understand that we all know that knowledge is power, but the real power comes from understanding that withholding the knowledge is not where the power lies, right, putting the information out into the world for other people to have and use. That's where the power comes from, right? Because if I know something, and I keep it for myself, and I don't ever tell anybody else that dies with me, and then sure, I might be able to help my people, my clients, but then that's it. It's gone. And that's the thing that's different about NAIFA, is that just the levels of accessibility, one of the first times I ever heard Van speak in public. Number one was life-changing. You know, I've seen him probably a dozen different times, but when I got to hear him speak, he had a slide and it was his cell phone number. He's like, hey, no, seriously, please take me up on this.

If you ever have any questions, here's my personal cell phone number. Just give me a shout, give me a call, right? And he means it, right. He means it, but out of the there was probably 200 advisors in the room. I'd be willing to bet that it was maybe me and one other person that ever called him. He's there. He's accessible. He's saying, Hey, I have the answers. If you have the questions, feel free to give me a shout. Here's how you get a hold of me. And they don't take them up on it, right? Because it's like, oh, there's no way. That's no way, it's real phone number. It's no way he's going to answer. And he does. And all of those guys are like that.

Suzanne Carawan 29:10 

I would say the same. That's like this common character in the DNA of a NAIFA member. It's that, it's, it's not the selfish I'm the take all, not share. I'm super successful, and don't need you. We've had people say that like, oh, NAIFA's only for hearers. There's so many myths out there. You're right. NAIFA is only for either people that are new in the business, or the NAIFA people are not top producers. That's what we hear all the time. It's not the case. NAIFA has all of it, and we absolutely have the top producers who you might not ever know. They're top producers because they're the most selfless, down-to-earth people, and they're not in the winner take all. They're in the Pay It Forward constant mode. Yeah, it's really accessible is a great word for that. I think you really eloquently put that

Peter Wood 29:58 

Well, and it's one of those things to where, I'm going to paraphrase, but there's a saying this goes something like, you're the culmination of the five, five people you hang out with the most, right? And I've know a lot of agents that have started in the business and did not have a great experience, right? Because the organization they were part of, or the training, or the lack of training that they experienced really, really made them feel like it's a dog-eat-dog kind of business. And so when we started talking, and we take them out to NAIFA meetings, or I'd invite them to different webinars that we're doing, or just different opportunities to hear from different people, right? It was kind of like the dog that's been beat that when you go to hand it a biscuit, it's like, I don't know. I don't think so. Last time somebody handed me one of those like, I got smacked. I'm not into that.

And they're apprehensive to get in and put themselves out there and just take in the information, because that's not the culture that they experienced, right? And almost every single time that I invite somebody out to a webinar, a meeting, any of those kind of things, it's like, oh, this is different. Like, this is not what I thought that was going to be like. I was expecting to people to try and recruit and people to be more self-serving, and it's like now that's, it's literally the definition of servant leadership, doing what's right for people, because it's what's right for people, right and sharing that information, knowing that, look, there's only so much me, right? There's a finite amount of Peter Wood.

I mean, my kid's name is also Peter Wood, so it's expanding a little bit, but, like I can do X amount of good, right? But Suzanne, if I teach you how to do that same good, and Chris, if I teach you how to do that same good, my reach grows exponentially, right? And that's what the organization does, is it allows you to take that information and weaponize in a good way, put it in the hands of several agents and advisors, and go, Okay, now go do more good, like, don't keep this a secret. Go tell somebody else.

Chris Gandy 32:50 

What's interesting is we need young, aspiring, let's call it ambitious and thought leaders in the industry who are willing to take chances, to disturb people, to get them involved. And sometimes that's not the most popular boat, right? You know, there's a lot of people on the tail end of their career, but it takes courage to do this, this work, and it's a level of responsibility that some people have to do a gut check, over the next couple years and say, am I really willing to do what it takes to be successful, or do I just want to ride the wave and just kind of whatever happens, happens. You mentioned that you were at the Y and you ran sports. Can you imagine going to the kids saying, hey, listen, kids, I know we haven't started the season yet, but you look them all in the face and you say, let's just see what happens. Guys like, we're not getting ready plays. Don't worry about that. We're not going to execute anything. Don't worry about life-taking alerting you're not going to learn anything either. But when we get in the game. I think we got a chance to win.

Hey, those kids will look at you. Our coach is crazy, like nobody's talking about and I think at times, I think we believe that people, just by default, should become NAIFA members. I think we it's up to us to tell our story and not let the media tell our story, not let other organizations tell our story, not let past experiences tell our story. We have a unique story, and I think it's ours to tell. And so the downside, the good side about this. We can craft whatever we want. We can create whatever we want for the future. We just have to understand that we've got something that, like you said, the greatest kept secret out there in the US, and we need to tell more.

Suzanne Carawan 34:55 

I'd also say that, I mean, we, we don't maybe want every. We want, it may be great, but we don't want people to just sign up. You know what I mean, to sign up and that's it. Like somebody just writes a check and you're, by default a number like, that's great on some levels. But the people that make NAIFA, what NAIFA is for 134 years, are people like Peter Wood, Cliff, Wilson, Chris Gandy, right? Van, it's that. It's that servant leadership. So if you have the self-serving people, you don't need to apply here. Don't come in here and make transactional relationships or try to use us, come in and commit to what we really are, right? That's that belonging piece, and it's and both of you, I'd ask both you too, like, where did that come from? Because all of you, the people that I see that make the most out of NAIFA, that pay it forward, and we have a ton of them, but the factor that I feel is the magnetism. It is that servant leadership part, and it's that coaching mindset, right?

I think we've lost a huge number of coaches, and I think we should say to our peak 65, people who are exiting the business challenge them to say, what are you going to do to pay it forward? Right? Have you coached people in here to bring them in? Because, like, Chris, you're a people magnet. Peter, you're a people magnet. Carson's a people magnet. When you guys say, hey, you should do this, this is what we've gotten out of it. The right people, they come aboard, right? We've seen that Peter Wood's name is on a referral sheets all the time, Chris Gandy's Amazon, or they want to be with people like you two, right? So I think you're right. The story is, is ours to write, but we want the right people too, right? You would agree.

Peter Wood 36:33 

Oh, and I think it's not just ours to write. It's our responsibility to write that story, because if we don't, someone's going to, right, and it's either we get to control the narrative on that, or someone who doesn't really understand what it is that we do. And it's like, oh, yeah, I've been in a group like that, like I did BNI. It's like, no, no. This is not. And BNI is great, right? But it's a different thing, different flavor. Yeah, right. And you don't know until you get in and not only experience it, but participate. I tell people like the coaching group, the Carson and I do, I tell people all the time, look, this is a gym membership, right? Just the fact that you have a gym membership and you pay the subscription fee, you pay the monthly fee, does not put any more muscle on you.

It does not make you lose any weight, right? It's not, I cut that check for $40 a month. That doesn't do anything inherently, right? You have to get in and do the work, right? And that's the thing that's different, right? NAIFA membership is the same exact thing. It's a gym membership, just the fact that you cut your dues every month helps, right? It helps, but it's not a silver bullet, right? You have to get in and do the work, right? Because the only difference between work, yeah, yeah, the only difference between where you're at now and where you want to be at is the work in between. That's it.

Chris Gandy 38:19 

Yeah, that's, that's just true. So, you know, the membership, the work is in the membership, right? Just the access, right? So you got access, so you got a license, right? It's like, someone that goes to get a insurance license, and they walk in, they say, I got an insurance license. And everyone's like, and? Or someone to get a degree and say, Hey, let's graduate from Harvard. Look, I got a degree. And people are like, okay, and so what? Yeah, that's not how you get paid, right? So, we get paid by helping other people understand the impact of NAIFA. So. So with that being said, let's talk a little bit about Arizona specifically. Okay, let's go from 10,000 feet down the fly. What are you guys doing that other people, what unique things are you guys doing that perhaps other people should consider?

Peter Wood 39:22 

Well, that's a great question also. Not enough, if we're being honest. That's one of the things that that we're trying to, we're trying to kind of recenter, because it's been a hard transition going from with the local chapters really having a grassroots feel to it, right when we transitioned away from the local chapters into just state chapters, I feel like we lost some of the identity, we lost some of that grassroots kind of feel, because it's not, it doesn't have that sociable, conversational feel like it used to, like hey every Thursday, the first Thursday of the month, or the third Thursday of the month, we're going to meet up at this place, the Dobson ranch in or wherever the meetings were, and get together. I get that it's harder with the larger geographic area, right? Because now we're trying to pull people from all over the state, and that's a four to five-hour range, right, in driving distance.

So one of the things that we're trying to do is we're trying to figure that out. It's like, okay, so how do we function as a State chapter, but still give it that look, feel, touch and taste of that grassroots, local organization? And honestly, we don't have it figured out yet. We're still a work in progress, but the people that are on the board in Arizona right now are working hard to try and figure it out. They're trying some new things. They're trying to, it's a combination of, okay, we'll do some virtual meetings, we'll do some in-person events, trying to put on some bigger events. But, yeah, it's a balancing act right now we're trying to get that thing figured out with, I feel like everybody that really is passionate about NAIFA and fell in love with NAIFA, fell in love with that thing. They fell in love with that like, Hey, I know, I know everybody in the room.

There might be 100 people, right, but I know everybody in the room because these are my people, right? And it's harder to do on a bigger scale, it's possible, right? It's possible. But I think that's the thing that we're trying to get figured out, is how to still have that same level of connection and engagement with a much bigger audience, much bigger group of people.

Chris Gandy 42:33 

That's the word, I think I ran Chicago, which is a major city. I ran Chicago. I went through the chairs in Chicago, and I guess I did an okay job, because they asked me to come back. And literally, they said, we're not moving come back and do it again. It was like, what they were like, yeah. So I did it two years in a row, and what I found, I'll share this with you on Tuesday. What I found is creativity wins when you're dealing with an organization that has history. We created around three things. We created excitement, one, incentive and motivation, two, and three, we created a unique experience for people, both in NAIFA and the experience of coming to events. So, so like, example is, we did a wine tasting. So, like this example, like, you have an event, like, okay, yeah, we're gonna go grab lunch exchange. Well, we had a wine taste. Like, one of the most you have a sommelier. I said, here's the deal. Like, people don't want to come out, you know, so bring them out.

What do you think? And so we had a similar come out. It was great. People like, oh my gosh, this greatest event ever. All because we added a new element to it, right? We added value, yeah, instead of having an event at the office. We did it at Top Golf. And we did kind of a fun type of event, but it had great content and still delivered the same message. Got a lot, did a lot of different people out, but we did some things. And again, as you know, you coach kids, you coach, you understand, the game of sports is played with momentum, right? Whoever has the momentum at the end typically wins. So I just needed enough momentum to get other people, everybody moving right? And I think part. Part of the creativity that we've experienced in the last call it 5-10 years, we just haven't had a ton of creativity. And I think the creativity we need to wake that back up, because that's what's going to excite you.

Think about the things that excite people and motivate people now aren't the same things as it was before. So we got to come up with new and creative ideas to excite people and get them excited about not only NAIFA, but getting off the sidelines and getting in the game and actually getting involved. Because I think once they're involved, they're in. Like, come on, this is some of those things, like, once you're involved, you're in. But we got to get them off the sidelines of watching the game and say, Hey, listen, why don't you come help us hand out water? Hey, why don't you come help us put together this event? Hey, that type of thing. And that's where that mentoring piece comes into play that you're mentioning.

Suzanne Carawan 42:42 

I'd also say, though, I mean, it's NAIFA people. If you're out there and you're not a NAIFA member, that sounds like, you like, high velocity, right? Quick cadence. I mean, look at Peter's doing hot rods, drum lines, insurance coaching knows a bunch of people, right, aggressively pursuing new knowledge all the time. That's like, I don't want to say that that's standard, but that's Yeah, but a very renaissance person is a NAIFA person, and you do need the creativity, the ideas are there. You need to change it up. It's a little trade-off with economies of scale, right? Just there's a piece of people want to do the same thing all the time. So your point is, what I've learned, Peter, is that people miss the same format, the same like practice time is always going to be on Thursday. But what happens at practice, they want it to be changing up all the time, right with that balance, and somehow we've lost that balance.

Peter Wood 46:01 

I think that's kind of a nail-on-the-head thing is, what they're looking for is consistency. But that doesn't mean that when I show up to practice every first Thursday of the month that we're going to do the same exact drills, the same exact way that we did it every week prior, right? Right? You don't want that, right? No, but just knowing that, hey, look, we're going to meet here on this day and time, and the fact that I'm going to this thing, I'm not checking a box. I'm going because they are bringing value to me, my life, my family, my clients, my practice, right? And how they go about doing that it's going to vary, right? Maybe one day we scrimmage, maybe one day we work on just fundamentals. Maybe one day we watch some video. Maybe one day we go and watch somebody else play, right? So, varying content when we get there. But step one is, hey, just set your watch to it. You know that on this day, and this time you're going to be here, because this is what you do.

Chris Gandy 48:05 

Suzanne, I had an idea, and it got shot down by my board at the time. I said, listen, so they didn't know, you know, we don't really had like an hour and a half NAIFA meetings or whatever it may be, but I had identified five or six agencies that were all within like five minutes of my office. So when they got to the meeting, there was no chairs, and they were like, oh, I thought we're having a meeting today. And I said, we are. We're actually having a meeting where we're going to go out, we're actually going to go to these other agencies and we're going to tell them how wonderful we are and why they need to become members. And they were like, this is so ridiculous, but I think we got like, 20-some members that day. Of course, yeah, yeah. It was just something different.

And it was just like, let's do it. So, Peter, hey, here's what I'll tell you, is that the opportunity is what we create of it and what we make of it, and that we need other young leaders like yourself to be in this industry. So see one, help one, teach one. And so, you know, if we think of that all the time, we're always creating a larger impact. So with that, Suzanne, is there anything else, Suzanne, you want to ask before I take him through the lightning round?

Suzanne Carawan 49:19 

I know I just realized what time it is, yeah, yeah. Let's go to the lightning round. I just say, I love it. I love the coaching mentality both of you have. I think that's what's long been missing. I think we got to think of the coach. Good coaches know their people, know their team, know to switch it up, right? Know how to drive change and keep and get that momentum going and keep it going. So I love that. Need more.

Peter Wood 49:39 

Well, and I think that that exists in some of those advisors that we talked about, the maybe are getting ready to age out. I think the part that's missing is they're waiting for someone to ask,

Suzanne Carawan 49:51 

I agree, I agree.

Peter Wood 49:52 

Waiting for someone to say, hey, would you please mentor a new agent? This is Jimothy. And Jimothy is really excited about coming into the business, but they're trying to do it on their own. Like, would you mind maybe getting together with them once a week for an hour and just share some of the things that you wish somebody would have shared with you when you got started? I think they're waiting for someone to ask them to help.

Chris Gandy 50:25 

All right, awesome. Well, let's go to the lightning round. And the lightning round is pretty quick, and Peter, it's just people getting to know you. Next year when they see you, or at the next national event, when they see you, they'll be able to come up to be like, Peter, I saw you. That's happened a couple times. People are like, Hey, I heard you on the podcast. It was good.

Peter Wood 50:47 

Yeah, I got one of those faces.

Chris Gandy 50:49 

Yeah, those that are listening on your earbuds and can't see us. We're on all the platforms. And those of you can see us that again, we're on all the platforms. Just put it in your Google search and look up Advisor Today podcast NAIFA. And up pops are 30 or 40 some-odd episodes, so we're on there. So with that being said, let's take them to the lightning round. So here's the deal with this lightning round is just answer the questions, whatever comes to top of mind. It's not an overthought, it's just kind of what comes to you naturally, and we'll go from there. Okay, so favorite sport.

Peter Wood 51:29 

Racing.

Chris Gandy 51:30 

Racing, what kind of racing?

Peter Wood 51:33 

Drag racing? Automotive racing.

Chris Gandy 51:35 

Automotive racing. Interesting? Your favorite coach? Your favorite sport to coach?

Peter Wood 51:44 

Drums, drum line, marching band.

Suzanne Carawan 51:48 

Yeah, we need some footage of this, and you can, you yourself, I'm sure can play, right? So next time we got to, I can, yeah, if you've coached everybody. Okay, well, listen to put that on the list. Chris, things we need to do.

Chris Gandy 51:59 

Hey, Suzanne, I think we need to get whoever the President is next year out there and do a drum line with him, and we need to get it on film, and then we need to put it out. We're beating the drum. Listen, we can have some whole marketing fun.

Suzanne Carawan 52:12 

Listen, so it's funny you should say that, because that was one of the ideas I had to come in to proceed with the flag ceremony. And I got shot down with that. I was like, we need an unbelievable drum line coming in, because wouldn't that be right?

Peter Wood 52:25 

Okay, when you're ready, when you're ready, I have some friends and clients of mine. It's called Boom Percussion entertainment, and that's what they do. They do kick off stuff, and they've played a bunch of different insurance conference and stuff. Yeah, very legitimate.

Chris Gandy 52:40 

All right, your favorite food, sir.

Peter Wood 52:45 

Cheeseburgers.

Chris Gandy 52:46 

Cheeseburgers, cheeseburgers, okay, your favorite movie?

Peter Wood 52:51 

Oh, that depends. Now, when I was little, it was Hook for a long time, and now probably Harry Potter.

Chris Gandy 53:08 

Harry Potter, interesting, okay, your proudest moment in this business so far.

Peter Wood 53:14 

So far it's been I qualified for MDRT last year, which as a captive multi line agent is not easy to do.

Chris Gandy 53:35 

All right. And then the last question I have for you is, you can go back in history, or you can go back and have dinner with anyone in history, whether they're living today or they've passed on. Who would you go back and have dinner with? And why? This is always a good question.

Peter Wood 53:59 

Good question, who would I go back and have just one dinner with Roberto Clemente?

Chris Gandy 54:10 

Oh, Roberto Clemente.

Peter Wood 54:14 

So my grandpa played farm ball for the pirates and huge pirates fan growing up, and he, for me, is just, he's the epitome of what that organization is. And so, life was cut a little short for him, but I think that he did a lot of good stuff for the sport. I'd like to talk to him.

Chris Gandy 54:40 

It's interesting that some of the people, some of the cultures, some of the ways of life back then, some of the things that some of those people went through to get to the success they got through, yeah, we're soft compared to some of the stuff those people went through, they went through a lot.

Peter Wood 55:04 

Through the ringer. It's hard to be good at something. It's even harder to be the first to be good at something. Exactly.

Chris Gandy 55:13 

All right. NAIFA nation is listening Anything you want to share with NAIFA nation, we are listening at this point in the platform's yours,

Peter Wood 55:22 

Yeah, don't keep us a secret. The only way people are going to find out about the good that NAIFA does is for you to tell them, right? You have to tell them, right, and you need to tell them more than once, right? Because it's not enough to say something one time in passing, right? That's not how information gets divvied out. You have to make sure that people understand all the good that we do and unfortunately, we got to bang our own drum a little bit on that, because they don't know. One of the biggest problems we have is obscurity. So let's help the organization get out of obscurity and get into the light and get in front of more people.

Chris Gandy 56:13 

Mr. Wood, we thank you, Suzanne, anything before we wrap us up?

Suzanne Carawan 56:18 

I couldn't agree more. Thank you so much, Peter and again, look for the talks that David McKnight is going to do. That's also rev agency. We're all paired up together to do more good work to, again, beat the drum and amplify that and get it out there. And thanks for all your efforts, Peter.

Peter Wood 56:34 

Awesome. Thanks for having me, guys.

Chris Gandy 56:36 

And NAIFA nation, thanks for tuning in to Advisor Today, podcast where we uplift the voice of those you the advisor to make the world a better place for us to live and grow for the betterment of our clients. I actually brought, I was close proximity of one of my next year. I got the Joe Jordan, there he is. It's here on my desk. He's a great one. But NAIFA nation, you heard something unique that I think we all need to take to heart is don't keep us a secret. So with that being said, go out and share the Word, the great word of NAIFA and all the work we do, and we'll see you soon. Take care.

Outro 57:14 

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.