How A Yale Grad Built A Mission-Driven Insurance Agency

A Yale-trained engineer shares how a family loss turned insurance into a mission, why identity is a choice, and how failure, fit, and focus shape real success. We get practical about interviewing the interviewer, combating lifestyle inflation, and building rituals that protect purpose.

• shifting from engineering to client-centered insurance work
• the financial lifeline of life insurance after sudden loss
• captive versus independent models and client choice
• interviewing the interviewer and vetting culture
• planning for failure to reduce fear and act boldly
• managing lifestyle inflation and choosing priorities
• mentors with aligned values and whole-life success
• finding purpose through quiet, service, and journaling
• five pillars check-in: mental, physical, service, relationships, spirituality
• rituals, accountability, and subtracting to focus

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Transcript

Welcome And Edward’s Background

SPEAKER_00 0:59

Hey, what's going on? I have a very special guest today. It's Edward Pritchett. He's a serial entrepreneur and he's one of the most respected builders in the insurance industry. After graduating from Yale University with a degree in chemical engineering, Edward made a bold identity shift into insurance and went on to build one of the highest performing agencies in the country, producing over$50 million since 2022. His mission now is simple but powerful. Help agents grow, lead, and build something that actually lasts. Edward, thank you for hopping on the hashtag ClockedIn Podcast. The first question is when you moved from engineering into insurance, what identity did you have to let go of? And what identity did you constantly choose to step into? Because I know chemical engineering to insurance is a it's a big jump.

SPEAKER_01 1:50

It's definitely a different jump. Not not one that any of my college advisors would have advised at that point. But Jordan, uh, thank you for having me on here. Just love what you're doing with Clocked In and love that I mean, it's it's clocked in. Like we you said it. We're we're gonna jump right into it and get started. So when I think about like just moving from like we we all, as we go through middle school, high school, get into college, you're you're training for something, right? Like that's the the traditional way that it's been taught is that, okay, I'm gonna be an accountant, so I need to go and get an accounting degree, and then I'll get out, and then I'll be an accountant, and then what, right? So as an engineer, it's certainly one of those things where you're you're taught like you're supposed to think a certain way, you're supposed to act a certain way. This is this is you know, everybody says they kind of laugh at engineers a little bit. Oh, they're they're not the people people, right? No one would ever accuse engineers of being the people people. They're the the the nerds, the ones that are down in the the the work study all the time, in the engineering lab. So, you know, I I had kind of taken on that identity because it was the books I read and the people I surrounded myself with, right? Yeah, that became me. And stepping into a different industry, and I did it because I had to. Great recession, changes, like all these things occurred at one time, and someone said, Hey, try this insurance thing out. Like it will allow you to make the income that you're wanting to make, and you can take care of yourself and your family. And as I stepped into that, I realized I can't just be an engineer anymore. Yeah. That's not who I am. And I don't think any one of us is any one thing. We're an amalgam of so many different things that have influenced and impacted our lives. And so I had to start to remember how did insurance impact me and my family when my mother passed away right after we, right after I graduated from college, what is it like to to help someone out? Like I had to think back to the community service work that I had done and and working with with kids with diabetes and and and all the camp counseling things. Like, you know, as a camp counselor, you know, you're trying to coordinate these 10, 11, 12, 14-year-old kids together and get them to work together and be in a harmonious relationship for a week of summer camp. And what kind of negotiations happened there? So I had to start drawing on other parts of my life. And then the biggest change from my identity standpoint was I had to decide who did I want to become? Who did I want to become as an insurance professional, as a financial services professional? What was I intending to do for my clients? And then I had to start to learn, train, and adopt the aspects of that kind of person. So these are the things that really helped me to shift from, okay, I'm just an engineer to wait, I am so much more. And what can I draw on to really go out and serve a client? I think anybody, no matter what industry you're in, it's not just about whether you're, you know, in sales, not in sales, you're a service provider, you're in customer service, whatever it is that you're doing, that one thing is not your identity. Your identity is like what helps you be the best version of what your customers are looking for, what your clients are looking for, the the people that you're looking to serve, and drawing upon those different things and incorporating that into becoming the you that is gonna be the best version of you for your industry.

SPEAKER_00 5:26

I think that's that's amazing. And for the audience listening, Edward literally just did a step-by-step on how you can kind of recreate your identity. I wasn't expecting you to answer like that, but but it's true. You literally sat there, you go, What am I doing now? And I was I'm sitting there and I'm like, I've been a camp counselor. I've never referenced that as part of my identity, but you're absolutely right. That is the first group ownership where you're you're running groups, yeah, and you're running teams and you're running people, and usually people reference sports. It doesn't even matter, it could be the band, whatever experience you've had, you have a reference to that, and you can create that as part of your future identity. And the best part is, everyone, you can create your identity at any point you want.

SPEAKER_02 6:08

Any point, yep.

SPEAKER_00 6:09

You can do a rechange, you can do, you can do these shifts. So, what was it like for you? Because I know there's a story for after you were graduating Yale, you had the offer from Bane Capital, and you're sitting there, you're contemplating, and there's a lot of stuff going on in that moment. And what really happened? Because I think it's good for the audience to realize like, who is Edward and like what actually happened there, and how did he end up in the insurance? Was it like, was it I I must go?

Family Tragedy And The Power Of Insurance

SPEAKER_01 6:37

And it's like no, it definitely wasn't a must-go. I mean, the the long and the short of it is I graduated in the summer of 2005, and that July, my mother had a brain aneurysm. She lived for about a week afterwards and passed away. Sorry to hear that. She was 51, entirely unexpected. I mean, like, that's that's what an aneurysm, like it just it happened, right? And you know, when when you have your future lined up, like when you when you leave college, there's all the the the career fairs and all the people come on campus and you apply for jobs. And most people hope to leave college with a job in hand, right? And so I I had a job in hand, and I knew that's what I was gonna be doing, but then life decided to throw something else at us. And for my family, we had to make some decisions, you know, as what what what does happen next? And for me, my my family, not only at that time, but even I mean, through to this day, I I came from a very close-knit family. We have big family reunions down in Alabama every summer. That the family reunions that have been going on for the last 60 plus years, right? That's incredible. Family is is the thing. And I knew I had to come back and help my father. I had two younger siblings who were in college at the time, two younger siblings who were still in high school. Oh, wow. And yeah, my my my dad was gonna need some help. And I didn't, the the kids, the siblings that were in college, like they didn't need to interrupt their college career and come back and help. I was at a point, at a change point in my life anyway. So I chose to to come back to Asheville, North Carolina, work with my father, who had an engineering firm at the time. And just just kind of dug in. All right. I dug into like what was going on. I I we were blessed to find out that my mother had actually purchased some life insurance.

SPEAKER_00 8:34

Oh, wow.

SPEAKER_01 8:35

Unbeknownst to my dad. Like she had just purchased it at work. Oh my god. Two policies worth over$450,000. And had it not been for those two policies, like it wouldn't have it was hard, but like it would have been like it would have been horrible. It would have been horrible. Like we would have lost the house, we would like everything because dual income household, right?

SPEAKER_00 8:56

People, yeah. I mean, you're bringing up a really good point here, Edward. People don't realize that, and I have some clients that have told me they're like, yeah, I make my kids and I make and I have policies and all these different things because people don't you don't know what's gonna happen when your family unit gets broken up and your work goes, yeah, are you gonna show up a week later? And you're like, bro, I need more time.

SPEAKER_01 9:18

Like, I don't exactly yeah, and it's and and and I'm not saying that to be callous, right? Like the business is gonna still continue on. Like, like as they say, life does continue on. Like, even when you're no matter what, life is gonna continue to move forward. So if it hadn't been for those policies, we would have been in a very bad place. And this was exactly three months or three years, excuse me, three years before I got into the insurance industry. But it was that experience that opened my eyes to, you know, I'm I'm a 22-year-old college grad. I'm not thinking about life insurance, like literally at all. But that experience awakened me to that. It opened me whenever I talked to the agent who worked with my mom and what she wanted and why she did what she did. Like it's like, huh. Who else, who's having these kind of conversations with other people who might be in a similar situation? So that was the the like a not a catalyst moment per se, but that was the seed moment. That that just kind of planted a seed so that when the time was right, when I was offered the opportunity to actually step into this industry, I was like, yeah, I I want to be that agent who worked with my mom and be able to do what he did for our family after she passed. Because everybody came with their condolences and the pies and the food bakes, and like that's nice. And everybody's around for a little while, but nobody's handing you what is a life-saving financial lifeline uh after someone like passes away. And yeah, like I rate what I do as an insurance agent right up there with doctors and lawyers and these other people who like in in those dire times when everybody else is like, we're with you, we're praying for you, we we're supporting you, we're sending you our love, that's great. Like, I'm not saying that those things are bad. But man, what whenever someone can present you with a financial solution for the situation that you're in, because they helped someone that you loved plan for the unexpected. I just I don't, I can't think of anything else that's like that. And so when I got into the industry and that's really absorbed that as part of the identity of what I was gonna do when I'm in this industry, man, I want everyone to realize this.

Taking Work Seriously And Finding Fit

SPEAKER_00 11:42

I didn't mean to cut you off there, but I want everyone to realize this that is listening. Whether you're in life insurance or you're in any industry, look at how serious Edward's taking this. And look at how serious. No, I'm being completely honest here because if you don't take your work seriously, people aren't gonna take you seriously. But I'm just sharing this for the audience because if you're in a job and you're like, I don't really know, I'm not really sure if I like it, like these are key and tangibles you need to be successful. It doesn't have to mean you have to go on this path, but it means you have to really care and understand your why and really have a great reason for doing what you're doing.

SPEAKER_01 12:18

Agreed 100%.

SPEAKER_00 12:20

Yeah, absolutely. And for you, was it was the first insurance agency you were at the the only one you say that?

Captive vs Independent Agencies

SPEAKER_01 12:28

Or did you no, it wasn't. And and and that goes to just to doing your research. You know, I started in the captive. If you know anything about the insurance world, you can either be a captive agent or an independent agent. So like Jake, Jake at State Farm, I don't know if we like we can use his name, it's kind of common. You know, he's a captive agent, he can only sell and work for State Farm, or you have brokers out there who can look through a multitude of different insurance cares and find like what's gonna be the best and put that into place for that family. And so started off in that captive world, found like I can't really help people the way I want to. And I kind of felt forced and coerced into helping them in ways that I was like, that's not really gonna be beneficial for them. And after about two years, I switched over to the independent side and became a broker and started building my agency from the brokerage side because I really understood then that, you know, if I can have choices for my clients, then my clients can have better choices for their families and we can really develop a game plan for what they're looking for. And you help people get their solution, it's not a sale anymore. You're just provide you're being a solution and providing value directly to them in the way that they're looking for.

SPEAKER_00 13:43

And I really appreciate you sharing that because it's not about captive versus non-captive, it's about people need to realize that when you're in a space and you enter something for the first time, and you might be like, I like this, but this isn't exactly it. There's so many nuances deeper in, right? Yeah. So you don't just go to the doctor and be like, give me brain surgery or fix my broken leg, or like it's a crazy concept. But when we don't understand ideas, we do things at the largest level that we can relate to. So we go, insurance is insurance. You have life insurance. Can I have car insurance too? And they're like, What? Like, maybe like I don't, that's not the that's a different person. But as you get more and more nuanced with things, and I want to share this for the audience so they realize like when you're going into any industry, you might like it at first or you might not like it. That doesn't mean that it's a good or bad industry. And we do these judgments very early on, which I think happen a lot for us, and it can be very challenging.

SPEAKER_01 14:40

Yeah. And that's why I think your environment too, right? Like you said, you can enter an industry from multiple different avenues, right? And the more like if you have the time and the money to really do your research and find like what's the best fit for me, because I know some great people in the captive world. They do an amazing job. They help clients day in and day out, right? And they love where they are at, and it's the perfect spot for them. And same thing on the independent side. But then I know people who are crossed on that, right? Where they're just like they don't like their job because they just felt that the environment isn't conducive to who their identity truly is.

SPEAKER_00 15:19

So, how do you think some of these people who might be listening right now they can save time? Like, should they interview different people? Should they go around? Like, how do you make the best informed decision? This is more like on decision making. Like, how do you think you can make a better informed decision?

SPEAKER_01 15:33

Well, let's let's go back to the post-college graduate, right? You know, as you're graduating, you have those career fairs. If you've been to any major college uh in the US, there's maybe you didn't go to the career fairly, but like the the career, the career fair was there, right? And you talk to different groups and different organizations to try to find like who am I gonna fit in with? It's why people intern, right? Like, let me learn a little bit about this before I commit the next five, 10, 15 years of my life to this organization. But we get into this place of desperation. Yes, I need to make money right now. And then we just we just stick around because while I'm making a little bit of money or I'm making enough money, I I can't rock the boat.

SPEAKER_00 16:18

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 16:19

That's where I have to be willing to step into some of that fear that you and I were talking about the other day. Like, I have to do things that are a little bit scary if I want to be massively successful. Right. One of those scary things is being willing to take the time, take the risk of saying, this place isn't a fit, and I'm not gonna sit here and waste away the next five, 10 years of my life in a place that I don't fit. Let me go look for something else. And when I'm going and doing that look, I'm gonna spend time on it. It's not just like what just the next thing that gives me an offer. Like, let me, if if they're gonna interview you, I think anybody, especially for for for me, our agents are all 1099, they're independent. So it's not like I'm offering them a job, I'm offering them a partnership. So they need to interview the person that's gonna be their business partner.

SPEAKER_02 17:08

Yeah.

Interview The Interviewer

SPEAKER_01 17:09

Find out is this the best place for me? Is this, and you're not gonna know 100%. Like, I'm not saying that you're gonna, you know, the the sky will open and the lights will shine down and you're like, this is the place you're chosen to be. Maybe that might happen for you. And if it does, please let me know. That'd be a cool story to hear about. But you can at least get very close to that, you know?

SPEAKER_00 17:29

Yeah, and I think you brought up a really, really good point there is if you're realizing you're in a place and it's not a good fit for you to go on the offensive. Like, this is something I did. Like, you have to do it. Like, if you have a good, if you have a solid job and it's paying you, but you're not enjoying it, then you go on the offensive to see what else is out there. Because if you don't, then something might shift. You might get a promotion and everyone's like, congrats. But in reality, you know you're just locking yourself further and further into this, these chains where it's like, dude, now I gotta buy the house. Now I got the kid, now I got all this. And it's like, I can't get out. When your opportunity to get out was that moment, as soon as you have a moment of like, wait, is there anything else out there? And it's like you just start looking a little bit and you start having those conversations and start, and the other big thing was that interviewing the interviewer. Everyone's always like, oh, they gotta like me. No, you gotta like them. Like power play. It's not a one-way, one size.

SPEAKER_01 18:28

And it's definitely not a power play. And like, I appreciate like I interview, you know, 50 to 100 people a month that want to work with us. And the ones that I appreciate the most, and the ones that we have the best relationships if we decide to work together, are the ones who have their questions for me. Hey, if I come here, this is what I'm needing, this is what I'm looking for. Is this what I'm gonna get here? Right? Is this the right environment? Like, what's the environment look like? What's the ethos that you guys follow? Like, what's the culture that I'm gonna be stepping into? Because those things matter, right? Uh I I I forget who said it, but one of the you know, business book folks says culture eat strategy for lunch, right? Like you can have the best strategy in the world, but the culture's crap, like it ain't gonna really work out too well for you.

SPEAKER_00 19:17

Absolutely, absolutely. And you're bringing up a good point for even you building your business, but even them stepping into theirs, that there's a big realization for them that like there might be some failure on the way. Like to be able to win big, you might have some failures along the way. What do you think about that?

Expecting Failure And Building Courage

SPEAKER_01 19:34

Because that's I would say I would take away the might. You you will have some failure. If you don't have failures on the way, you're not talking about big success, you're talking about you know, average and mediocre. Yeah, like there will be times I'm dealing with a time for myself right now where like I know that I can fail at what I'm embarking on. Like, and I know what that's gonna look like. And I had to come to a point here recently where I had to accept if I fail, what does it look like? What's life gonna be like? Like I had to live in that spot for just a minute. Because as long as that was this just imagined thing and I hadn't really been there, then I was just I was gonna fear making the right decisions that I need to make in order to see success through. But like if I can say, you know what, if I fail at this, I'm okay. I'm still alive, I still have another chance. I have, I mean, we look at I mean, the the the top pinnacle of success is filled with people who have what? Struggle, struggle, struggle, fail, struggle, struggle, fail, succeeded, struggle, struggle. Like it's just it's it's continue. That's gonna happen. And if I'm not willing to accept that, then I'm not gonna take the appropriate risk that I need to take. I'm not gonna be willing to step out where other people are. Nobody wants sameness. People want something different. People want something that is is special and unique. And the people who are willing to say, I'm gonna try something like that and be willing to fail, knowing that if I fail, I still get to be alive. I still have to go and try it again. So I think that's one place where I have to be 100% like, and it's weird to say it, but 100% okay with that the idea that I am gonna fail.

SPEAKER_02 21:27

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 21:28

But I know I'm gonna continue. If if I do, guess what? I'm gonna learn. Yeah, I'm gonna go and take it to what's the next thing. Because there's just so many people who have, you know, filed for bankruptcy, lost all their money, done like all that stuff has happened, but then look at where they are now. Yes. I guarantee you they would tell you had that not happened, they wouldn't be where they are now.

SPEAKER_00 21:50

Yes. And it it really is a very healthy exercise of looking out a year or two years and being like, what if this really does happen? You know what I mean? Or you're in a job and you're like, what if they fire me? And it's like, I got advice one time from somebody and he he's like, you should prep right now. Like, prepare to be fired tomorrow. What would you do differently? And it's like, prepare your failure today. What would you do differently? Oh man, I'm not, I'm not gonna go overspending. I'm not gonna go doing all these activities. I'm gonna be thinking more consciously, I'm gonna maneuver this. So then when the actual moment happens, you've experienced it in your body 15 times. It's like, game on, let's go. Like, I literally just had a a client where we're doing a coaching call this morning, and he's moving, he's moving into a couple different industries. He's been an entrepreneur, but he had a job and he knew that the end was coming. And I'm like, Oh, like, did you have off today? Like, it's it's MLK day, like, is there anything there? And he's like, dude, I actually got laid off on Friday. Today's my last day. And I'm like, How do you feel? And he's like, I've been ready for this for six to eight months. I'm like, dude, you're a beast. Let's go. Let's go. But if you get caught off guard, because you don't Do the precautions to actually prep, then you sit there and you're like shiving your boots because you don't know what to do. But when you sit there and you go, dude, I'm ready for this. I I've been waiting for this. Like my time is now. It was such an eye-opener for him. So I appreciate the failure comments.

SPEAKER_01 23:15

Cause and what one thing is a lot of people say, like, well, are you call are you calling that to yourself if you think that way? And I would be I would argue that if you're planning for success, failure is a part of that. Right. So I'm I'm planning for all the contingency. I'm not looking for failure, but I know that were that to be the outcome, it's not the end. Because a lot of people, what they do is they think about failure as the end. If I fail here, I'm done. Everything's over. Well, guess what? Now you definitely have called that into existence, right? Like, yeah, if you fail, everything and so now you're gonna make decision more protectionist decisions versus decisions that advance and go out looking to conquer. You're looking to kind of wall up and like you know, hide behind the wall and just make sure that you hold everything where it is. And we stay on the plateau too long, you're gonna die anyway.

SPEAKER_00 24:14

You're not gonna make a change anyway.

SPEAKER_01 24:15

Yeah, yeah.

Prepare For Setbacks Before They Happen

SPEAKER_00 24:17

So it moves you into the change. Exactly. I like that. Now you've seen a lot of agents go from zero to I'm getting from my understanding, like zero to more money than they've made in their life. Like they've started to more money than they've experienced before. How do you think people handle the lifestyle inflation? Because I know that's like money management's an important thing. So, like, how do people think about that?

SPEAKER_01 24:45

So it's one of those things that I don't think is taught very well in many places, right? Like in I'll use the consulting and financial world. Uh kind of the path that I was going down. And you know, it's a world where they say, okay, you come in and you put in your 80 to 90 hour weeks when you're first starting, so that you can become a junior associate, and then you become an associate, and then the goal, the goal is to be a partner. And by the time you're a partner, you're not working as many hours, you're making three, four, five, six hundred thousand dollars a year, you have this great lifestyle. And what happens along the way, though, is as you every step that you, every rung, every step that you move up, you know, you have to have those, the new trappings, right? You know, you you go from Brooks Brothers to to Tom Ford, you know, you go from uh Toyota Camry to BMW to you know Mercedes AMG. Although I wouldn't put a Mercedes AMG above a BMW, but that's neither here nor there. But like there's all these things that you're supposed to do because that's what everybody else does. But what that also does is of course locks you in. Like it that's what keeps you. Like you don't want to, people don't want to lose their stuff.

SPEAKER_00 25:56

Yeah.

Lifestyle Inflation And Money Choices

SPEAKER_01 25:56

And so as that you start seeing the other people around you, you start behaving like them, and then that's why people end up in debt. That's why people end up over-leveraged. And now, whenever that opportunity comes for you to do something unique or different or something that can propel you to success, you're not able to do it. Or I don't even want to say able. You don't want to do it because you're so attached to all the trappings that you have accumulated along your journey forward. So that happens definitely for people in sales who, you know, they come in and they're like, I've never made more than$50,000 or$60,000 a year. They have their first$100,000 a year, and they're like, oh, let me go and get this. And then they have$150,000 a year. Oh, now I can afford some of the best financial advisors that you see out there, like if you're on social media, follow any any financial, they all talk about. And I'll even throw, you know, one of those guys that I agree with some of the stuff and don't agree with the other stuff, but he's kind of the biggest head in the space talking about this. But Dave Ramsey talks about it all the time, right? Live like no one ever lives today, so you can live like no one's living tomorrow. Right. It's like, how can I be? And it's not even just a frugal thing, it's like, what can I hold back from? Like for my, for example, for myself, like one thing that I wanted to make sure my family had was a home, nice home in the area that we wanted to live, but I'm not a big everything else. I was like, what we will spend money on is where we live and the travel experiences that we have have.

SPEAKER_02 27:32

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 27:32

Like I've been driving the same 2019 Toyota Cena minivan since 2019, and it's not going to be changing anytime soon. I don't need any flashy cars or and nothing against flashy cars.

SPEAKER_00 27:44

But that's a big thing to realize because you could sit there and then you get the flashy car and you start to realize like, wait, my family can't all fit in the car. Like again, and now, oh my God, I drove it a thousand miles, just getting needs an oil change, and it's that's the price of our Europe trip. Like, right, you know what I mean? All this stuff adds up, and it's I love how you have give and take, you know what I mean? Because it's not always like you can literally have it all, but you can just choose, hey, I want this to be really elevated. Hey, I want this to be, I want to turn this dial up.

SPEAKER_01 28:16

Everything can't be elevated, and that that's the problem that people try to get every, and that's where the credit and the debt starts coming in. Yes, because everything has to be like, I mean, I've had people make fun of my minivan. I don't care. Yeah, they're not living my life, you know. They they don't get to decide what my family gets to experience and the peace that we can ultimately have because we know, guess what? There's there's money in the bank for the next, because there's a next step. Like I'm not stopping here, I'm going to another level. And when I get to that next level, guess what? I can add some other things if I want, which more than likely I won't add anything else because what's the point? It just it doesn't, you start to see that it doesn't, because there was a time I I loved, I loved this. I love like growing up as a teenager, you know, I had, I don't know if you remember that poster, it was like the big house on the hill, the 10-car garage full like you know, like this is success.

SPEAKER_00 29:09

Crazy car, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 29:10

I I I I bought into it. Like I wanted the the Ferraris and the Lambos and all, but like as I got wise counsel for some great mentors, they were like, look, if you want that stuff later on, you can get it. But I promise you, it ain't gonna make anything happier for you or better for you in the here and now. Yeah. And so just being mindful of that and getting good counsel and coaching around like as I increase my income, once I get to a place that I've never been before, get counsel for someone who has been there.

SPEAKER_00 29:40

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 29:40

Actually, listen because you're gonna make mistakes if you just kind of go off of your how you feel and what you want to do. I want to talk to someone who's making double that whenever I get to those areas so that I can find out like what are the things that allowed you to grow this successfully and look for those people who you really want to emulate. Like it's it's hard. It's it's hard sometime to see behind the the veil and the mask that everybody puts up.

SPEAKER_00 30:06

Well, you're bringing you're bringing up a good point because there's a lot of people where you sit there and you go, Oh my god, they have like there might be someone who's got double the money as you, right? I mean, pretty much the doubling keeps happening to everyone besides Elon. Like, pretty much everyone gets doubled. But but you could look at them and be like, wait, they don't they don't have their family put together. They're on like their fifth wife, and like they don't have their kids in the hat. Like, so there's a lot more elements to people than it's just like, hey, like you make more money. I want to work with like you want to find someone where the values align too. Because I just I just think that's very, very important because it's not just find the first person who makes more than you. It's like, no, no, no. That like I don't want someone who's going out all the time. That's very different than the guy who's going out all the time. You they might both make the same amount, but you just got to realize who who's a good fit and who who might not be the best fit.

SPEAKER_01 30:57

Exactly.

SPEAKER_00 30:57

Which I think is a good thing. And then for you, when did you start to realize this purpose and impact? Because I know as I've been doing this, I've been doing like we're on episode like 290 or something. And I feel like every single time we do these episodes, people are always like, How do I find my purpose? What's my I literally had a call last week with someone and he's like, Yeah, I just want to find alignment. I just want to know what my purpose is. Like, so how do you think people find that? And how how did you kind of find that for yourself?

Mentors, Values, And True Success

SPEAKER_01 31:24

I think the best way to do that is to spend some time with yourself. Spend some time in quiet. I mean, whether it's Maxwell or Robbins, all of them, all the great best books talk about spending that time just in quiet meditation. You know, like we get so busy with life that we don't stop and reflect on what I should be doing? What do I want to be doing? Like getting in touch with that your inner self, so to speak, right? And really asking yourself those questions. Like, what are the things that that excite you and that get you passionate? Right. I I love when you look at the actual definition of passion, like it it comes from this ideal of what you're willing to suffer for. Right? Like, like we we hear the word passion when we all think, you know, love and all that. But like real passion is like, I am willing to suffer for this because that's how much it means to me. Like it is just that core to who I feel that I am. And so spending that time really asking yourself those questions, spending that time, whether it's journaling or or or keeping it in diary, however you want to write it out. But what is it that I am here for? Like that's what we we all ask ourselves that that why question. Why was I created? Why was I my my son, my 10-year-old son asked me that that what why was I born? I I gave him kind of the the biological answer. Like, well, here's why. Because he's at that age where we have to start having those conversations too. But it's like, but what's what's the purpose? And there was a purpose for his birth for me and my wife. But then I said, there's also as you grow up, you're gonna have to ask that question. Like, we have our purpose for why you're here. You're an expression of a love that we have, me and your your your mom do, but you're gonna have to ask that question of yourself, why am I here? What am I here to do? What is is meaningful to me? And then if you can, and when you start to realize that and start acting on that, you start to develop and find those passions and those purposes, right? You can start having that, as as Maxwell talks about, your purpose-driven life. Like this is what I was I was put here to do. I I don't think that that's something that just happens overnight. I think it's something that develops. I didn't start off thinking that I'm gonna be this like insurance agency guy, like in in 17 years. Whenever I started this, it like I got into insurance to meet a shortfall gap, right? Like I didn't have a job anymore and I need to make some income. That got me into insurance. And it took a couple of years in this space to be able to connect what I now do to some things that happened, as I was talking about with my mom, some things that happened before. I was like, oh, this is my opportunity to kind of make good on that situation that happened to me where I wanted to be like that guy who gave us a call and said, you know what, Edith had these policies. I need to meet with you guys to make sure you're taken care of. Right. And so we start have when you're when you're open yourself to that, you're willing to kind of reflect internally and look inward, you start to see that there are a couple of things that you're you're you're really good at. And that, and really good at, I mean, not the the expert or the most educated, but when you're doing it, it just it feels natural. It feels right to be helping or aiding or serving or filling the blank in that way. And now what's the max how can you maximize that in your life with what you do on a daily basis?

SPEAKER_00 35:01

Oh, absolutely. And I think it's so powerful when you start to realize and you take awareness and you start to see this happening daily and you start to implement it into your life more often. You know what I mean? That's the biggest thing I see for people. And like when I talk to clients, it's hey, you want this dream life? Like, what does that look like? And your Saturdays and Sundays should start looking like that. Like you should start to add these activities. And it's like, dude, I really love surfing in the morning. Cool, let's surf right in the morning. Like, I really love helping families. Okay, then we get into service. Like, what does that look like? And how do you start to find this? And I the thing that you said about the journaling and reflecting back on your previous to find the the the connections, I think is huge. Huge. I'm just sharing that so that the audience can grab whatever it is for them so they can start to think about this purpose for them. So I appreciate you doing that. So at Edwards Consulting, we have five pillars: it's mental health, physical health, community service philanthropy, spirituality, and relationships. And I'm gonna ask you today, Edward, where are you at on all these? Just today. It's not, it could be good, it could be bad, it doesn't matter. But for your mental health on a one to 10, where are you at today? Because I think this is really important for people to start to consider.

SPEAKER_01 36:13

I would say mental health, I'm probably around a seven today.

SPEAKER_00 36:16

Okay, why why do you say that?

Finding Purpose Through Quiet And Service

SPEAKER_01 36:18

So I I know I'm in a season in my life where I'm really pushing to expand uh my insurance practice while at the same time starting to wrap up some things that I do in the world of real estate. Like I kind of expanded out too big, yeah, too quickly. And now I'm having to do a contraction so I can get my focus back on the core. And with that comes some anxiety, it comes a lot of extra time that I have to spend working on and developing those things. So, you know, it's it's one where typically I get to spend a lot more time with myself than I am doing right now. And I got to get back to that to start heading back up towards that tan.

SPEAKER_00 37:02

Absolutely. Absolutely. And I think that was such a beneficial share for the audience to realize because more is not always better. Sometimes the subtraction element is really what gives us the clarity of what we're looking for. And like Edward's saying, it is not easy to subtract because there's relationships, there's things, and you're trying to uncouple all of this while keeping everything good. And it's like, hey guys, like we gotta, yeah, it's tough. It's challenging. Yeah. Now your physical health on a zero to ten. How do you feel about that?

SPEAKER_01 37:33

That I'll put it a nine. It's an area that I work on on a daily basis. I have probably more doctors than most people, as healthy as I am, do. You know, I have you know, primary care, longevity, and and physicality, doctors that I just I I separate out that time because I know, you know, at my I'm getting ready to turn 43 here in in just a little bit. Oh nice. And you know, I I want to be able to go out running and playing with my 10, 8, and six-year-olds, you know, and and not not have any issue with that. So uh we actually just did a family race the other day and I still won. So, you know, that I I I count that I count that as a definite win. But yeah, that's that's one of those areas that I just with between what I eat, my level of activity. You know, normally I I have my aura ring on, but it's uh charging right now. But like I I really like to take a very scientific approach to how healthy I am I and how can I make sure that this life that I'm building, I can be around to enjoy it and participate in it for as long as I can.

SPEAKER_00 38:45

Absolutely. I love that. And you start to realize that there's a lot of uh accountability by having more doctors, by having more people in your circle. Like, oh, I gotta check it. But this guy's gonna want me to check it. Like, he's gonna follow up with me. It's gonna be annoying, but like it's helpful. And I'm just sharing that for the audience to realize like, if you have people, if you have no one checking and balancing you, you can eat all the cookies in the jar. Like, if someone's gonna be like, hey man, like the scale reflects a little differently this month, what's going on? Like, you're gonna have that different component. So I I think that's a really good insight. And now, community service philanthropy, how do you feel about that? Because I know that's a little bit different. People land on it a little bit. Whatever works for them, kind of thing.

SPEAKER_01 39:29

I mean, I think for me, I know I there's there's more potential that I can have there. You know, I'd put myself at a five or six right now because I could be doing so much more, but because I have expanded so much and spread myself out into just my business interest, it limits like time is a finite thing. Of course. I have 24 hours just like anybody else. I can get some leverage on that with with staff and and and other people to help me do that. But for me to be able to personally give back in the way that I feel that I should, I have to have more personal time to do that. Um, it's it's one thing to write a check, it's another thing to show up and help, you know, build the walls of the new kitchen for the orphanage. So though those are some areas that I'm looking forward to in this new year that we're in to really be able to expand and grow in that particular area.

SPEAKER_00 40:26

I love that. Because I mean it's all and it I think it's really important of like, how do you want to give back? Like everyone's got their own ideas and decisions and thought processes. And yeah, it's it's what do you actually want to do? And like, especially with your kids' age right now, like if you can get this dialed and hey guys, we're not going on the vacation this year, we're going to do this instead. They're gonna be like, what? And then you never know because the six-year-old might be like, Daddy, this was amazing. Like, I want to do more. And like, then it gets them in their mindset, and it's it's so powerful. It really, really is. And now relationships. This could be family, friends, like whatever business, whatever you think is best. But on your relationships, what do you think you are on a zero to ten?

The Five Pillars Check-In

SPEAKER_01 41:10

I would say relationships right now are probably about a six as well. And again, it it boils back to how much time am I giving? Like relationships cannot be built with money. Relationships cannot be built with gifts or like a promise of something to do in the future. Relationships are 100% like right right after this, before I head to the airport, I have to stop at this biking arena, which is like an indoor trampoline bounce house park, so I can spend some time with my kids before I head away on another work trip. Like I got back from a recent work trip and landed Friday night, went to sleep. My wife had scheduled for us to go out and go hiking in the rainforest here in Puerto Rico first thing Saturday morning. My body said, stay in bed, get some sleep. Relationship said, you better get your butt out there and have the best possible day you you can. Like you just like not even a mask, you just have to like live the best possible day you can have. So that's one of those areas too where when we overcommit, like we we only have so far we can stretch with our various arms. When I'm overcommitted in one, something has to be pulled in. Of course. So this is where by pulling back on the business side of things and said, I'm not doing all, I'm doing one very well. Now I'm gonna have the time, bandwidth, energy to really be able to reach out to one that is vitally important, and that is the relationship side.

SPEAKER_00 42:42

And this is why there's five pillars, because there's very, very, very few people who think they're optimized in all of them, right? It's almost impossible because there's so many gives and takes in our lives, as you're saying, especially when you got a a good-sized family, you got this, you got business, you got there's a lot of elements to it. And it's like if your wife doesn't prioritize that, you're probably like, what are we doing today? And it's like, so it's such a blessing that she was there to even go, hey guys, we're doing this. And you're like, I gotta show up. Let's go. And now, spirituality, where where does that land for you? This could be religion, this could be just meditation, it could be wherever you want it to be. But what do you think about spirituality?

SPEAKER_01 43:22

Yeah, for me, uh, you know, right now in my life, that's relatively strong. I would put it at about a seven. And it's again, it's it's one of those practices that I've incorporated similar to what I do with the physical side of things. And it's one that I want to, of course, continue to strengthen. But like having that daily, like the word ritual is there for a reason, right? Like you have to have certain rituals that form habits that allow it to get deeper and deeper into you, where it becomes where just like this is the area that I live when it comes to my physical health. This is the area that I'm always in when it comes to my spiritual health. And having those habits, I think that the new year, as cliche as it may sound, it's a good time to say, okay, what is it that I want to do every day for these particular areas of my life? Uh and then having accountability partners. Like I have my doctors or my accountability partners when it comes to my physical health, you know, the community at my church, the men's group that I'm part of. I actually started a Bible reading group with all three of my siblings, my wife and a couple of good friends, so that like we're we're on the same app together and we know who read for the day and who didn't, because we're supposed to be commenting and sharing with one another what we're getting from what we're reading that particular day. But it's it's it's having those things that can get us into that rhythm that happens all the time because it's not something that's learned all at once or just figured out in one sitting. It's line upon lion, right? It's it's every year I get a little bit older, I layer certainly. More on top of it, and I get better at this particular aspect of my life. And so it's it's one that again, just like any of them, like time has to be and attention has to be given.

SPEAKER_00 45:11

Absolutely. And I love how you brought in your family, your friends, it just in the spirituality. And it's not like, hey, we got a call every day or hey, we got a thing. It's like we're all on the app. And if you see someone falling off the app, it's like, hey, what's up, bud?

SPEAKER_02 45:24

Like, everything good?

SPEAKER_00 45:25

Everything all right? And that that's such a powerful thing because it's like we're working together without working together. And it's it's a very good way of enhancing it and making it an awesome activity for everyone. So, Edward, this is the end of the pod. Where can people learn more about you? And where can they, yeah, where can they learn more about you and the agency?

SPEAKER_01 45:42

Well, I mean, you can check me out on on YouTube. We have Life Insurance Today is our channel there. Instagram, the Edward Pritchett. Every now and again, I'll throw up a little dance on TikTok at the Edward Pritchett as well. You know, we try to have some fun with it. But then to visit and learn more about the agency, just PritchettAgency.com. Come check out what we're doing. Uh, whether you're wanting to make sure that your family is protected in the best possible way on both the life, retirement, and wealth planning side, or you're looking for a new industry or a new opportunity to build a business that you can be passionate about. Come find out more about what we're doing. And uh happy to share with any anybody that's watching on your podcast, Jordan. I know they're they're gonna already have some mindsets right if they're reaching out or contacting us, uh, if they're following along here.

SPEAKER_00 46:33

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 46:33

Love it.