the entrepreneurs radio show 036 sean patrick mccullough

THE ENTREPRENEUR’S RADIO SHOW

Conversations with Self-made Millionaires and High-level Entrepreneurs that Grow Your Business

Copyright © 2012, 2013 The Entrepreneur’s Radio Show of 18

EPISODE #36: SEAN MCCULLOUGH

In this episode, Travis talks with Sean McCullough, a best-selling author and entrepreneur who's also

active mentor for insurance agents. He's also an active Christian radio host and producer for Christian-

based podcast. In their talks, Sean shares his life's lowest points and how he mustered the strength

and courage to get back up and now become a successful entrepreneur that everyone can get

inspiration from. His method of developing a clear goal while fostering the right attitude to achieve

success would certainly make sure that your customers would get the most value for the money they

spent and would easily catapult your career to success.

Sean McCullough

– Attitude Equals Altitude In Your Business

Travis: Hey, it’s Travis Lane Jenkins, welcome episode number 36 of Diamonds in Your Own

Backyard, the Entrepreneur's Radio Show, conversations with successful business owners that grow

your business. Sandra, my co-host is still in the center of Daytona International Raceway, Sandra I

know you're listening, we miss you, get back to us.

Now for my friends and fellow entrepreneurs that are listening to this show. I want to ask you to be sure

and stay with us until the very end, if you can. I’d like to share an inspirational quote with you and I'll

also reveal who I'm going to connect you within the next episode. One quick reminder, if you enjoy

these free podcast that we create for you, we'd really appreciate it if you'd go to iTunes and post a

comment, and rate the show. This would help us reach, instruct, and inspire more great entrepreneurs

just like yourself each and every episode.

Now for some perspective for our new friends that just started listening to us. Every interview that we

do is a conversation between four friends, me, Sandra when she's here, you, and of course, our guest.

Even though we're talking with some of the brightest, high-level entrepreneurs and brilliant thought

leaders around, this is still just as if we're sitting at a table with each other having a normal

conversation. Everyone that we're talking with has found success doing what they teach, and they want

to help you by sharing what they've discovered.

Normally, the only way to get this level of personal access to so many high level entrepreneurs beyond

having your own show is to join a high level mastermind, go to seminars, events and build those

relationships over years and years and spend an absolute fortune in the process. And now with this




podcast and this platform, I get to share these great people with you to fast-forward your success and

your connections that grow your business.

Now our guest today is Sean Patrick McCullough. Sean has helped over 27,000 clients in 13 states,

with 17 agents, and 500 brokers, with $2.7 billion in coverage, it's incredible. Sean is also a best-selling

author titled For the People You Love. He has co-authored another great book that he's coming out

with that I'll let him share the details on. I could go on with more impressive stats about Sean, although

I want to spend our time today, our limited time, with you getting to know Sean and his story on a more

personal level. So without further ado, welcome to the show Sean.

Sean: Hey, great to be here Travis. I’m just so blessed and honored to be on the line and actually just

have an opportunity like you said, sit down and hopefully lend a few nuggets of advice to your audience

and listener that we could bring value and hopefully help them not to go through some of the pains and

the hardships that I know any entrepreneur that has any level of success has to go through in order to

get to where they really desire and want to be. So it's my pleasure to be here brother.

Travis: Yeah, you bet. And you know, we've quickly developed a strong friendship in a very short

amount of time. One of the things that I should do is let me tell our listeners your full name, Sean

McCullough.

Sean: That's right.

Travis: And while his emphasis is in insurance, I want to be sure and point out that the things that

we're talking about, the strategies and the lessons that we're going to talk about are going to go well

beyond just the insurance aspect of things. And so, you know Sean, the name of the show is Diamonds

in Your Own Backyard which is from the story acres and acres of diamonds, and if I remember correctly

I believe that you're familiar with that story, right?

Sean: Very, very familiar with it.

Travis: Yeah, so just in case we have a listener that is not familiar with it, it's about a guy that had a

successful business and heard the story one day, one night by fireside about incredible wealth with

diamonds, and so he just couldn't shake this dream, this was back in the 14th or 15th century. He

couldn't shake this dream of this incredible wealth and so ultimately it consumed him and he ended up

selling his successful farm and leaving his family behind and going on a many year journey where he

died. And then a few years later they found that there were acres and acres of diamonds on his

property that he sold. And it's such a great story and even metaphor for a lot of times in life we

experience failure, not just basic failure but catastrophic failure at times and think that it's the end of

things when actually it's really just the beginning.




So with that story in mind, have you had any type of those incredible failures or turning points, or

epiphanies in your own career?

Sean: Yes, quite a few actually Travis. When I started out, I never formally really worked for anybody, I

always was able to generate in various different businesses, money that provide for myself and my

family. One of the hardest things that I went through and it was actually in hindsight looking at it now.

Coming out of high school I started a cleaning business, and I actually--I started out with 12 accounts

and it was just really to be able to have paying money to be able to pay for my schooling and pay for

my books because my degree is in elementary education. But I never stepped into academia arena to

actually be teacher full-time, teaching academics to students in classrooms.

Anyway, I started the business out, I ended running that business for 8 years, and at any one given

time I had 6 girls working for me and when it was at the height of it in 2003 or 2004, I believe it was, we

were doing basically 2 crews at 3 girl, and we were doing about 120 cleanings a month. And I got so,

how do I say it? I thought I was better than cleaning toilets and tubs, and I thought there was always

more out there because the money, I was 22 years old making a 6-figure income, and I was able to pay

for my college, not have to take any student loans or anything, and I got frustrated with the employees

calling out, and then I had to reschedule it, and just think I got burned-out, I really got burned-out.

And I ran across this guy, I was out one day I'll never forget it as long as I live. I ran across this guy at

the Wa Wa which is very much like just a local convenience store that's prevalent in our region, in the

Philadelphia region. And I ran into this guy Jim McGill, and he was driving an SL500 Mercedes Benz

and we bumped into each other and we got to talking. And this guy, it blew my mind, he was actually

living in Marcus Hook which is one of the rougher neighborhoods in my local backyard, and I said,

"What's the deal with this, this guy is driving an SL500 Mercedes Benz and he's living in Marcus Hook?

That just doesn't line up." And I said, "What do you do, what business do you do?" And he was involved

in a network marketing nutritional company, selling basically Vitamins and powder making $25,000 a

month. And I started to scratch my head, I said, "I never heard in network marketing and never was

involved in a network marketing business." And long story short he invited me down to a training event

in Camden, New Jersey as a guest, and I was introduced to a gentleman named Jim Rohn, and I was

introduced to the CEO at the time of that company, I was introduced to Mark Hughes who's actually a

billionaire, and a whole new world opened up for me at age 26 or 27 I think it was. And I immediately I

gave, and this was a real bad business decision, I didn't sell the company, I actually gave it to my

number one girl Betsy, and she still actually has a few of the accounts, we're still good friends today,

Betsy and I. She was my one employee that I must have went through in the 6 years or 7 years that I

ran that company, I must have went through a 150 employees. And Betsy never called out, never had a

complaint from the customers, always was on time. And I said, "Betsy, you know what, you basically




had helped me be very successful. Just take the business." And I gave it to her. And it was in hindsight,

the intention was good but it was a bad business decision.

Travis: Why is that? Why do you say it's a bad business decision?

Sean: I say it was a bad business decision because I didn't establish myself in the other industry before

I segued into the new network marketing business arena. And there wasn't, not even God himself

couldn't tell me I wasn't going to be a top income earner in that company. And my first year, Travis, I

talked about like--I'm the type of guy that if I'm in and I'm on board, I'm fulfilled and we go all the way.

Hell or high water, the goal's the wind. And basically what I did was I financially put myself in the

position because I didn't want to go back to cleaning and I didn't want to go back to doing toilets and

tubs to make a living anymore. I was done with that business, it wasn't in my heart. And when I first

started out I wanted to be the cleaning company for the tri-state area, and I was well on my way to

doing it. We were pretty successful company. And the bad business decision ultimately really what

boiled down to was I didn't have myself established revenue-wise in the new endeavour that I was

stepping into and it really--I basically went bankrupt, I lost everything. I eventually lost the home that I

had; I lost the car, everything. And that's for quite a few other reasons but I added that experience

Travis, I was introduced to some of the top minds. Jim Rohn is--I wrote him a letter one time; we

actually sat down and broke bread a couple of times at a couple of different events. And that guy, Jim

Rohn is just one of the--I adopted him unofficially as my unofficial papa. And I told him that he just

opened up my mind to a world that personal development and some ideas and thinking that I was just, I

can't--why didn't have a class in high school for this, I would've signed up for this. And it's from that

experience of being involved in a failed business has tremendously blessed me.

Travis: Yeah.

Sean: So, coming through the light at the end of the tunnel in hindsight, I'm so glad that that happened

because it allowed me to just get to where I am today and quite honestly with a lot of other people's

help.

Travis: Yeah, well let's go a little deeper in that because that's a great point that you bring up there.

And I've experienced it with myself. So you're tired of your current business, you're exhausted with it

although it's paid the bills. You've done quite well with it financially, and your heart's just not in it, right,

is that fair? Or your heart wasn't in it at the time?

Sean: Yeah, it's cleaning, and it's not that it's not, that's a great profession, and it's an honorable

profession.

Travis: No, not to knock it but what happens is, and I see this and even part of some very high-end

masterminds, people that pay a lot of money. Even doctors and lawyers that are absolutely sick of




being doctors and lawyers. And now they want to do something else and so they're so sick of it that

they just neglect the business while they're pursuing that next thing which can have catastrophic effect.

And now fortunately for you that catastrophic failure brought you to the next level of success but I've

personally gone through the bankruptcy experience of losing everything and it's a very humbling and

very tough experience, or it was for me, was it for you?

Sean: Extremely difficult. My wife left me, two kids, lost the house, basically--when that happened

Travis, and this is real personal but that's the intention of the call. Man, I was for 2 weeks, after all that

stuff was hitting the fan. I was in my bed and I was contemplating, "Okay, do I cut my wrist there in the

bathtub or do I go on the garage and hang myself with the rope,” like I was at my wits end.And quite

honestly I thank God that I didn't do it but the thought was there. And for that I was blessed to be

introduced through my accountant, Frankie Lochia, he's done my tax work for 13-14 years, so we're

really good friends now. He said, "Sean, I want to introduce you to somebody." And he introduced me

to, whose a dear friend and business partner now, Stewart Grizzle, and Stewart took me under his wing

and he knew that the caliber of person that I used to be, but I was down and out and I was on the floor

basically. And he taught me the insurance business and I'm blessed by him tremendously today.

Travis: Well you know the turning point is a very, very, maybe even another very deep, dark place.

Losing everything and us men as providers, when you're rendered useless, and helpless, and even

hopeless in your mind, I think it--I don't want to diminish the effect that it has on men or women but us

men, we're providers, and so, I think it even takes one additional level. Maybe we associate our

manliness with our success and our competence. Do you think that's a piece of it?

Sean: Yeah, I do. I think our culture which, they think the greatest thing I've learned in thinking about

this now Travis is our culture teaches and impresses upon us. If you don't have the big enough house,

if you don't drive the right car, if you don't wear the right clothes, if you don't have this, or if you don't go

to the right college, if you don't have the degree to back you up, it's such a falsehood it's not even

funny. That's basically what I thought and originally, that was a lot of my drive, very arrogantly and

naively was I. In order for me to be a man then I should have these things. And that is so far from the

truth it's not even funny. Because when it all boil down to it after, when I went through that experience I

went through and losing everything, the people that were around me at the time, you really, really,

quickly discover who really loves you and who’s really there for you.

Travis: Right.

Sean: Yeah. And again, and I share that because that tough challenge, and that tough struggle. I firmly

believe that every challenge and every hardship and every struggle that we face as entrepreneurs and

as small business owners is there to force us to grow. And also, this is my personal faith and I don't

make this call about that but it forces us to press into--it forced me, I'll speak for myself, it forced me to




me press into my relationship with God. And have fault and it's on him. And with that, man He is faithful

when I was faithless; when I was weak He was strong.

Travis: Yeah. Well, I have to say that using my own personal experience; I'm a better person for going

through it. I'm less arrogant, I'm more focused. And I want to make sure that I'm being clear and I've

talked with you enough to know that financial success is not a negative thing, it's just when it's put in

the wrong sense of priority that it becomes a negative thing, right?

Sean: 100% agree with you. Here's one of the--I share this a lot with my clients and just people that

have been placed in my path, that I'm there to help and encourage, especially with my idea with a lot of

agents that are just starting out in the business all over the country. And the reality of it is every 10

people, agents that I bring into the business that have great intentions, a great desire to have the level

of success that our organization has had, we can show him how to do that but--I kind of lost my train of

thought there Travis.

Travis: Well, you were talking about what you teach here.

Sean: Yeah, I got it. It's like this, I share with them a lot of times when we're talking about--one of our

top agents last month just had, he actually broke the record. He had a $49,000 month. And that was the

first time it ever happened in our organization, and one of the things that, you know, money is just a tool

and money solves all problems. If you don't have money, you can't provide for your family, you can't put

a roof over your head, you can't put gas in your car, you can't pay for your insurance, you can't have a

phone, you are dead in the water. So money is not everything but it ranks right up there with oxygen, I

firmly believe that.

Now the distinction is when the desire is 100%, it's the love of money that will throw you off-track. And I

had that at one time, because I thought in order to be man, this is digressing a little bit back into our

previous conversation. I thought that in order to be a man, I had to have lots of money, that's what

makes a true man a man. And that was such a false belief it's not even funny. But there's two things,

what can I do with a hammer? A hammer is a real good tool, right? A hammer can drive a nail in to

build a house, to put wall up, or to do whatever with it. I can also use the hammer to smash your skull

in. So it really depends on how you utilize the tool. And money is just another tool. I could use money

for good things. I could donate money to the church. I could donate money to an organization that's

going to put a well in for an area that doesn't have clean water. Money I could feed people at the

shelter, right? So money is just the tool, and exactly what you said Travis, it’s how you utilize the money

is the distinction.

Travis: Right. Let's go to the other side of this, and let's talk about some of the things that--so you're in

this extremely successful business now. What are the things that you teach, and I want to qualify, when




you teach other agents, those are entrepreneurs themselves, they work for themselves. And so, what

are the things that you teach those guys to help ensure that they have incredible or at least a high level

of success?

Sean: Yeah. We always start with--it's just like building a house, you don't just show up and call the

lumberyard and say, "Dump a bunch of wood over hear and just start building a house.” We always

start out with the end in mind, in other words we create a blueprint, and we have blueprint formula that

we have mastered through our, basically our business has been built not online but offline. We have

mastered direct mail marketing and we know the numbers inside and out and we know how to build it.

So the biggest thing that we do starting out is, again, it's all qualifying and asking the right questions,

because good questions lead to good answers and good thinking. And if you don't have your thinking

on straight and you don't have a clear direction, and a clear mission, and a clear goal, and a burning

desire to accomplish that goal, you're not going to make it.

Travis: Right. So take me through some of the examples. So say you're helping me to get set-up, what

would you--take me through some of those paces.

Sean: Yeah, but first thing that we--there's two ways so you could build, particularly what the insurance

business or building a life and health insurance practice. You either have marketing dollars to spend, or

you're going to have to do it the harder way but it is definitely possible to do it. You're going to have to

go through what's called the cold market, and or your close circle of influence to get yourself started.

But what we have, what I find and when I talk to the agents that come in to, or they raise their hand

they say, "Sean, I want to get involved in this business; I want to get involved in insurance. You're good

at it and you're organization's good at it. What do I really have to do?" And I ask him, I say, "Well, you

either have money for marketing, that's going to be the easiest way to build a business. And or you're

going to have to do it the guerrilla way and you're going to have to knock on doors or go talk to your

family, friends, and your circle of influence and ask them about their insurances that they currently

have. If they would be open to sitting down and having an honest conversation to review the proper

planning that they have already set-up for themselves up until the point where you have met them, to

take a look at and discover if in fact they are getting the biggest bang for their dollar, and or is this the

right product--insurance, we don't set people up with insurance, you don't buy it because someone's

going to die, you buy it because someone's going to live. And in my book For the People You Love we

go through that clearly. I love the insurance business because it's a self-less product. You don't buy

insurance--now don't get me wrong, there's other lines of insurance that like critical ailments insurance

for instance, that type of insurance is for a living benefit, you got death benefit insurances and then you

have living benefit insurances.




So it's not to say that all insurances are for life products. They're not all death benefit, there are

products that are, or specifically designed and created for someone that doesn't have a family member,

doesn't have a wife, doesn't have children, doesn't really have anyone to worry about to leave anything

behind to.

Travis: Right.

Sean: When we're working with a brand new agent and whether the agent has experience or the agent

is a novice right out of the gate, I can bring in this one guy on; he's coming into the organization out of

New Jersey. And I'll tell you what, this kid is sharp, man, he went through all the training and education,

he had finance and a business background coming out of Rutgers University. And this guy had all the

ingredients to be a superstar in our industry and it's such a joy and a pleasure to work with, young,

hungry, not only colleagues and partners but also clients as well.

Travis: Right. Well, let me ask you this, how do you go about finding or selecting the best candidates

for your business?

Sean: Yeah. I love anything--if it's free it's from me. And one of the tools that we use is a website called

Craigslist. And on Craigslist my job for building the secure benefits group is to post free ads, and you

can actually, you pay that as well but in various different sections within Craigslist. And I have the last

ad that we ran, I ran it and I think it was 8 or 9 states, and I add 45 responses because I ask them to,

and there's 2 things I want them to do, one is I want them to call me because I want to hear their voice

on the phone, I want to hear how they sound on the phone. The second thing I ask them to do is send

me their resume, so that I can get an idea and a background, real quick snapshot as to what this

person is all about, what they've been through. And through that I can--here's the numbers, and this is

the raw reality of it. Out of 45 people that responded to the free ads that we did, we didn't spend a dime

on advertising to recruit. Out of 45 candidates, I'm only bringing one in.

Travis: And so do you speak with each and every candidate?

Sean: Oh yeah. We go through, again, I go through a lot of times because the average agent that we

bring in to the organization, or I should say the average, full-time agent that we have, the low-end they

make, on the low-end 75,000 a year annually. On the high-end our top guy Tom Lee, Tom Lee's 28

years old and made $256,000 last year.

Travis: Wow! Well I guess I should've known that answer but for me the reason why I asked it is when

you see someone that has a resume that doesn't apply to your industry, does that still warrant a phone

call from you guys?




Sean: Oh absolutely, yeah. Anyone that raises their hand, if they went through the exercise, they jump

through the hoop of actually--no I won't. If someone just sends me their resume and they don't call me,

they didn't follow instructions from Job Street. They didn't call, I asked them to call me...

Travis: Yeah, that's one of the things we do, is we set-up an elaborate series of steps that they have to

go through.

Sean: Yup.

Travis: Before we speak to them and the reason is that we want people that can take directions.

Sean: Yes, you've got it.

Travis: And so, people that can't follow directions normally are--especially when they want to get job,

applying for a job, because they're putting their best foot forward at that time.

Sean: That's correct. You nailed it right on the head Travis. If you can't follow two simple instructions in

order to qualify to work with our organization because we're a very small insurance practice in the

grand scheme of things. We're not a MetLife, we're not a Prudential, we're not an All-State, we're not a

State Farm, we don't have that national, how do I say it, reputation. We're small in the grand scheme of

things in the insurance world.

And right out of the gate, if they can't follow two simple instructions, in order to apply for this position,

number one, you need to call this number, number two, send me your resume. And if they can't do

those two things then, no, I do not invest anytime with that person because they already told me who

they are. They can't follow instructions.

Travis: Talk to me Sean more about the attitude and the mind-set for the success of one's business.

How do you get someone on the track for that?

Sean: Yeah. When we sit down, everything is based on desire. In order for, and I personally believe

this with all my heart. In order for you to be successful and it doesn't matter if it's in business, or at

school, or in a relationship with a friend, or in a marriage situation with a spouse, there has to be a

burning desire to see an end result or an accomplished goal. And that all partly into your thinking and

your attitude about how you think because it's not--and I forgot exactly where I picked this up Travis but

it's not so much what you say, it's how you feel about what you’re saying, and that conviction, and

again I don't mean this arrogantly but that confidence will come through and shine through as you

speak with people, because there's two things that we can do with any words that we share. There's

only two things that really can happen, and I can either tear you down, or I can build you up. And much

like you we're cut from the same cloth Travis, I don't focus on negative too much, I can't hang out with




negative too often, that's one of the reasons, and again I'm digressing a little bit but I got my degree in

elementary education because I really have a teacher's heart, I have a coach's heart. And I was so

frustrated then, I would put hours in energy and effort into these lesson plans that had an objective and

a goal of anend result that the student would pick up. And man, I would go into the classroom Travis

and doing student teaching, because that's one of the qualifications to be a teacher in Pennsylvania.

And man it blew me away how much, 70% of the students weren't really involved or engaged, and

really wanting and desiring to pick up the material I was teaching and sharing, I was so frustrated. I'm

looking at the clock and I'm like, "Man, when's this day going to be over?"And I'm like, "There's no way

on God's green earth that I could see myself doing this for the next 40 years."

And I'll never forget one of my science education teachers in college; because she knew I was running

the cleaning business at the time. And she said, "Sean, why don't you just go be an entrepreneur?"

Because one of the--while I handed in a pizza junk material that was required for this class, in order to

get through this class, and she looked at it and she pulled me aside, there was no one else around, I'll

never forget it. And I got so angry at her Travis, like, "You can't tell me I'm not going to be a good

teacher,” because inside of me I have a teacher's heart, a coach's heart, a mentor's heart. And the

reality of what she said that day to me was absolute, total truth, and this was my junior year in college,

because you don't do your student teaching where you're actually in your practical application of all the

things that you've studied and learned to apply in the classroom, you don't do that until you're senior

year, so you're ready to graduate.

And man, she was so right, and I actually went back to her and I told her and said, "You know what,

you were absolutely right."And because I’m a stubborn knuckle-head sometimes, if someone tells me I

can't do something and I really think I can do it, look out man, I'm going.

Travis: Right. Which can be a positive and a negative at times.

Sean: Yeah. That's actually to strengthen and it's also Achilles' heel at the same time Travis.

Travis: I'm with you on that 100%. Man, great story. So, one of the other things that we wanted to talk

about is, I like for the conversation to be just organic and happen naturally but one of the things I

promised in the very beginning is we talk a little bit about getting your client the best results. Can you

tell me more about that?

Sean: Yeah. That's actually, we call that our discovery process, and the way that we have built the

SBG or Secure Benefits Group is through direct mail marketing. What we do is we collect data, we got

a qualified, targeted audience, we clearly know what our client looks like. We're crystal clear on that, we

know their age, we know their income level, we know their basically, their demographics and we have a

broker that we call up, Jennifer. We ask Jennifer to pull all the data based on this criteria in any market




that we're trying to open up. And once we get that data back, we only want to work with people that

raise their hand, people that are interested to actually talk to us. And that's marketing dollars,

everything is marketing in the beginning and then I could go into a little bit further. That's the hardest

part of the business just starting out, it's really building your client base, and getting your client base

built because after you have a client base established and built, if you do your job properly, and you

truly love what you're doing, and you truly are serving your clients, and you are building relationships

with them where there's no one else they would think about to send someone if they have a family

member, or friend, or relative, or a colleague, a business partner. When that conversation comes up,

my business now for every new client I pick up, that client turns into four so it has like a multiplier effect.

And it takes a little bit of time to establish that, it doesn't happen overnight and if anyone tells you that it

does they're really not being fully truthful with you, because it takes time to develop anything good. A

baby doesn't come out and start running the marathon. They go to walk...

Travis: Let me jump in there. The marketing is the fronting end and so how to focus on getting your

client the best result, so let me make sure that I understand. Is it by taking the time to do a deep dive on

a needs assessment?

Sean: Yeah, I'm sorry; I kind of went a little bit, off there a little bit...

Travis: No, that's okay.

Sean: ...but to answer your question, how do we make sure that the client is getting the best product for

the biggest bang for their dollar and that it's actually a proper product. We go through what's called A

Life's Purposeful Plan, and that gets in to a lot of details. We actually have a discovery process, and it's

one of these other qualifiers for them to actually be and become one of our clients. And we just sit down

at the kitchen table, or over a webinar, or on the phone, depending on how far the business is. And if it

made sense I absolutely love going to people's homes and sitting down at the kitchen table, I just really

enjoy it, it's a lot of fun. And I still do that today, I don't do it as much because I'm primarily overseeing

and bringing new agents into the business, but man, I love getting those--when I get a personal referral

or--I still do, sometimes drop marketing just to keep fresh, just to keep real because I'm coaching and

talking to these new agents, I want to be able to really understand what it is that they're facing, and

really understand what it is that they're dealing with. But to make sure that the client is getting--because

sometimes we'll run in to somebody and we identify, you know what? Now you're set-up good, you

have everything that you should have and there's nothing really I can offer you that's going to bring any

value to you, but...

Travis: Let me draw a parallel on that.

Sean: ...when I say about the...




Travis: I'm sorry to interrupt you.

Sean: I'm sorry?

Travis: What's that? We've got a little bit of an overlap here on the line but I wanted to jump in and add

something, because I want to make extra sure that we draw a clear illustration of what's going on here,

and I think this is where most businesses fail. So number one I commend you for doing a deep dive to

make sure that the customer gets what they need. We do that, I have a consulting business to where I

go in and do turn-arounds for businesses, both businesses that are struggling, we'll figure out what's

wrong, do a deep dive on their business but most people are floored because we spend the time and

we ask 50-60 questions, and we drill deep and we want to know the answers to all of these things

because before we say, "This is what needs to be done, we need to know for sure what's happening."

Sean: That's correct.

Travis: And very, very, almost none, 99% of the businesses don't do that so I commend you on that

and that is the key to getting your client exactly what they need so that's how I perceive it is in my

understanding what you're doing. Is that correct?

Sean: That is exactly--we do what's called a discovery--before any exchange in monetary is done for

any recommendations or products or services are recommended. We do what's called a discovery fact

finder appointment. And that's our--typically it's--with a lot of our agents, they meet with their clients in

their home because as you already had stated in the beginning of their call. We're currently in 13

states, we currently have 17 full-time agents and 500 brokers around the country, that's our numbers

right now.

Travis: Right, okay. Good deal. Let's segue into--a lot of great information there by the way.

Sean: Thank you Travis.

Travis: You’re welcome. Let's segue into the three questions that I did send you.

Sean: Okay.

Travis: And let's talk about this for a minute. Well you know what, before we do, tell me a little bit about

your new book that's coming out because I know that that is something that's dedicated towards

entrepreneurs. Do you mind? Are you in the position to where you can share that with us right now?

Sean: We're just in the final stages, it hasn't gone to print yet but it's basically, I'm working with Jason

Meyers and Mike Lewis. Jason Meyers is the primary author on the book. It's a co-authored book so it's

a collaborative effort which is really a fun experience to go through. But that book is basically, it's 16




different authors that are established in their particular locations and the intention of the book is to,

again, help people with attitude and mind-set. And basically it's 16 thought leaders, total combined in

the book that it's really designed to help people really get clear on their attitude and their mind-set,

walking into anything new. The primary audience for that book is entrepreneurs that are just starting

out.

Travis: Okay.

Sean: And my particular contribution, it's a short; I think its 14 or 15 pages. It's a short synop--it really

shares the experience of my high school football experience. I played on the--this is one of the things

Travis that really, sports really helped out my business life. And I played on a championship high school

football team. And I talk about in that book I talk about really developing a code of thinking, an attitude

of thinking, and a crystal clear mission and goal that you want to accomplish. And it was such a special

team, in four years of playing together from freshman year, we started out, I think it was with if my

memory serves me right, little over a hundred players came out on to the team as freshman. And our

school policy and the coach’s policy, anyone that wanted to play was able and had the right to be on

the team.

And by the time we, I was one of the captains of their team, but by the time we got to senior year in

high school, our number went from, as far as kids being involved doing the team or a particular group.

The numbers went from; it was kind of a weeding out process. The numbers went from over a hundred

players, down to 45, over that 4 year period. We had such a code and the school administration and the

coaches, we basically, if someone's attitude was off, and they' weren't meeting the standard or the

criteria, to be a player on our team, on and off the field, you were asked to remove yourself from the

team, we had no room for knuckleheads. And if they weren't committed to that cause we wanted to be,

we wanted to own the central league title, and we almost did. We only lost one game in 4 years. We still

hold the record there at my high school for the most winning as football team in high school's total

history, which is I think after already high school's been established over a hundred years. We were the

most winningest football team out of that high school. And I still have a lot of great friendships and

relationships that I've been there. The quarter back of that team, Bobby McGoughlin, I talked about him

in my book. Man, he was one of my best man in my wedding. Man, we just had it going on. When

you're synergized and you're on a focused team, and this is what we have here at Secure Benefits

Group. Everyone that is involved in our organization, it's crystal clear that they want to be there and

crystal clear what they want to accomplish with their insurance practice. And they're good at what they

do.

Travis: Let me highlight what you're saying here is, from an outsider's perspective. It sounds to me like

when you have everybody on your team, and there's alignment in the goal and work ethic and integrity

and all those other things, it's much easier to dominate whatever you're doing.




Sean: Oh 100%, absolutely, and that's it. When you're synergized and you're committed. Where two or

more are gathered for a common mission and purpose and goal, look out, good things are going to

happen.

Travis: That's right. Sounds like a mastermind to me.

Sean: Oh it's great, we got a great--and the cool thing is we go on company trips together it's really like

a family.

Travis: Right. Hey Sean we're getting close to the time so let's segue into this through questions that I

did send you. What book or program made an impact on you related to business that you would

recommend and why?

Sean: The program I went through a training course, they're an international education training course,

it's called the Landmark Forum. I went through their training course and it was recommended by my

friend and mentor in the Herbalife business, JimMcGill. Put it this way Travis, I couldn't put into words. I

went in there and he said, "Sean, the only thing I can recommend for you. There's no way for me to

describe it, I can't put it into words, you have to experience it." And I'm like I never took a class like this

ever and that someone said that to me. And I came out of there Travis with such clarity and such

crystal clear focus of what the heck I was here on the planet for at the time. And if I could recommend

anyone to take that what's called the Forum. They have a host of classes that they offer. You won't ever

see them advertise, they don't advertise, but they're an international--I know some of the top thought

leaders, some of the top sales people, some of the top CEO's in the country have all gone through that

training, it's almost like if you--and it doesn't have to be per se, particularly for an entrepreneur or a

business owner, it could be for anybody, a professional, anybody really. I highly recommend that

course.

Travis: Excellent. Do you have a book that comes to mind or is it just the program mostly?

Sean: Yeah. I love books, I'm a really avid reader, I love collecting books. That's one of the things Jim

Rohn taught me when I was 20 or 19 years old, it's one of the first things I'd picked up. He said, "Smart

people read books and here's a couple of books that you should read if you want to improve yourself."

And off that list, one of the top ones was Acres of Diamonds which we already talked about, the other

one was The Richest Man in Babylon, the other one was Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill.

There's so many books I could refer and recommend and it's kind of funny Travis because all of them

are like kind of my favorite.

Travis: Right. No, I'm with you and I'm familiar with those books, great recommendations. Let me ask

you, what's one of your favorite tools or pieces of technology that you've recently discovered, if any,

that you would recommend to other business owners?

http://amzn.to/XUnWnE

http://amzn.to/Uw6l5J

http://amzn.to/XFh9MP




Sean: Yeah, if you have, depends on what you're, this is particularly real focused niche to what I do. I

love, we're actually utilizing the tool right now, you and I, we're on a conference call line bridge. And

prior to getting to this business I never really utilized it but I would say the technology, the greatest

asset to me is the phone and having a free conference call. If you need to bring people together, utilize

the heck out of the, I think it's free ConferenceCalling.com where you can have actually up to a

thousand people, free, it doesn't cause you a dime, it's free. I love free; if it's free it's for me. It doesn't

cost you a dime to actually utilize that and I don't have to give it away for free but it's a very valuable

tool. The other valuable tool that we're really just coming out of the stone ages with our business

model. As our said, we build our business on direct mail marketing. We're in the process of bringing it

not only offline but online as well. There's so many cool things that are up and coming and so many

things that I'm learning through social media and technology. The capabilities of the technology that is

out today is unparalleled it blows my mind.

Travis: Right. Okay, so great. We'll put that down as your recommendation. What famous quote would

best summarize your belief or attitude in business?

Sean: My best quote that I love, again, it's actually comes from Dr. Wayne Dyer, and it also comes

from Mr. Rohn, Jim Rohn. "For things to get better, you have to get better. Don't ask for things to be

easy, ask for more skills and more disciplines, and everything will change for you." And that's from Jim

Rohn, and I like how Dr. Wayne puts it. Dr Wayne Dyer puts it a little bit different, he says, "Change the

way you think and the things you think about will change for you. Change the way you talk, and the

things you talk about will change for you." So I would say those two quotes--there's actually one more,

and I got quite a few of them, I'm a big quote guy. Do you know Mac Anderson, Travis?

Travis: No, I'm not familiar with it.

Sean: Okay, Mac Anderson has a company called SimpleTruths.com, if you go to that. Mac Anderson

is a real big quote guy as well, I'm a really huge quote guy, but one of my favorite, favorite quotes, I

tweaked it a little a bit, and it says, "It takes each of us to allow any one of us the opportunity to burn

and shine bright." If you're going to be an absolute success in whatever you're doing, you can't do it

alone, you need a mentor; you need an established good team up positioned around you. Where two or

more are gathered for the same mission and the same goal, look out, good things are going to happen.

Travis: I agree with you 1000%. Sean, how can people find you or connect with you?

Sean: Yeah, it's a great question, I appreciate you asking. If you go to my website, my website is

SeanMcCullough.net, and we're coming out of the stone ages, man. That website's not fully functioning

yet but it's up and coming.

Travis: Well, no worries. And what I'll do is I'll put also your Facebook and LinkedIn connection as well.

http://www.conferencecall.com/

http://www.simpletruths.com/

http://seanmccullough.net/




Sean: Yeah, if someone wants to connect with me directly, I do a bulk load of work on Facebook and

that's actually, as far as technology-wise, if you're not currently using social media and you're not

currently using the platform which again doesn't cost you a dime. I have connected with people all over

the world on there and actually, quite honestly some of my best relationships and best friendships have

spawned from being online with social media. It just blows my mind how quick it is to connect with top

thought leaders and people that are really having a good impact in our world.

Travis: Yeah, good stuff. I agree with you 100%. I want to tell everybody listening, I created a section

called Show Notes which is just going to be below Sean's picture and his bio, and this will allow you to

go in, just click on the resources that he recommends because I know a lot of you are driving or doing

other things at the same time while you're listening, and so I wanted to set-up a format where you can

easily go to those resources and also the links to connect with Sean and just click on them.

So Sean I want to thank you for coming on the show and sharing your failures and your successes with

us and let you know that we really, really appreciate that.

Sean: Hey, man Travis, it is such a pleasure to know you and such a pleasure to be a small part of

what it is that you're doing with Diamonds in Your Own Backyard. I'm humbled and blessed to be here

today, thank you.

End of Interview

Travis: Thank you so much. Listen, I want to remind you to go to DIYOB.com, that's short for

Diamonds in Your Own Backyard, so you can just enter DIYOB.com, and enter your name and we'll

send you the 2013 Business Owner's Guide, From Frustration to $70 million.It's a candid look behind

the scenes at what you need to know to grow your business to incredible levels of success. No matter

where you're at in your business, or even no matter what size you want to grow your business too.

What I'll tell you in the guide is critical to your success and no one’s talking about it because it's not in

their best interest financially. Also when you opt-in, you become a member of the authentic

entrepreneur nation, which is a network of people, tools, and resources that you can trust to grow your

business. This is our private rolodex, mine and Sandra's, that we use and we recommend that will give

you access to as soon as it goes live. One thing I just realized that we didn't include the details about,

which is a project that Sean has been working on that many of you will find interesting. It's a Christian

fellowship and encouragement edification through the ageless wisdom, knowledge, and instruction

found in God's awesome word. Now, I'll place a link to his page for that as well, this way if that's

something that you’re interested in, you can join the cause twice a week.

http://diyob.com/

http://diyob.com/




Now in the next episode, I'll connect you with Joe Pulizzi. Joe writes one of the most popular content

marketing blogs in the world, and we're going to talk about how you can apply some of his strategies to

your business. Trust me when I say you will not want to miss this interview.

Today I want to close the show with an inspirational quote from one of my favorites, Napoleon Hill. The

quote reads, "Cherish your visions and your dreams, as they are the children of your soul, the

blueprints of your ultimate achievements."

This is Travis Lane Jenkins signing off for now, to your success, may you inspire those around you to

take action and go after their dreams too. Talk to you in the next episode. Take care.




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Travis Lane Jenkins

Business Mentor-Turn Around Specialist

Radio Host of The Entrepreneurs Radio Show

“Conversations with Self-made Millionaires and High-level Entrepreneurs That Grow Your Business"

http://www.rockstarentrepreneurnetwork.com/biz-accelerator

http://theentrepreneursradioshow.com/

the entrepreneurs radio show 036 sean patrick mccullough

Small Business & Entrepreneurship