Bet on Yourself
“All things are possible to he who believes.” – Mark 9:23
And there you have it. Let’s get specific in this case and turn that belief in your direction. All things are possible if you believe in yourself, your gifts, your abilities, your talents, and your will to persevere and embrace what makes you unique.
Kyle Flierl has lived this philosophy for most of his life. And it’s worked—just ask him. In Kyle’s own words, his belief in himself and his teams has everyone, as Kyle likes to describe it, “rocking and rolling.” Kyle is a Division Sales Leader, running two offices for USHEALTH Advisors in Buffalo, New York and Charlotte, North Carolina. He’s been in the industry for 7+ years – starting fresh out of school, not knowing a thing about health insurance. But Kyle did know a thing or two about cars, and more specifically, the Ford Lincoln.
Remember the Lincoln – we’ll circle back around on that in a bit.
Kyle’s initial lack of knowledge about health insurance is not uncommon. In fact, it’s a familiar theme for most agents who start at USHA and yet become incredibly successful because, remember, with a little belief, all things are possible.
“My greatest challenge so far in life was definitely getting started with the opportunity here,” says Kyle. “I mean, I started right out of college. I was a 21-year-old kid, didn’t really know anything about deductibles, copays or anything like that. So coming into the industry I had to put my nose to the grindstone, learn everything there was to know about the health coverage, as well as how to talk to the clients we’re helping – and it just was a huge challenge for me. Sometimes it takes a little bit for me to get the grasp of everything, so it took me a good three, or four months to really get comfortable. But while it was my biggest challenge, it was also my greatest accomplishment, getting me to where I am today. If you were to ask me seven-and-a-half years ago if I’d be in the health insurance industry let alone have two offices that I oversee, I would’ve said you’re absolutely crazy! But one thing leads to another. You have to have the confidence in yourself, you have to believe in yourself and take it from there.”
Kyle did take it from there. Very early in his career, he was asked to step into a leadership role and help recruit and build teams in Buffalo and, eventually, in Charlotte. His teams have responded to his leadership and amassed over $55 million in issued business.
Rocking and rolling, indeed.
Kyle says he has always believed in giving back and putting other people’s needs first. He says growing up In Buffalo greatly influenced his character and philosophy on life.
“Buffalo is awesome, says Kyle. “I mean, it’s called the “City of Good Neighbors”, and that’s the name for a reason. The nickname is something I’ve always known about Buffalo and I guess I may have taken for granted, now that I am living in a new city. The City of Good Neighbors isn’t just a slogan, I feel it is truly lived and embraced by everyone who calls Buffalo home. Whether it is lending an extra hand to shovel some strangers driveway during one of our crazy snow storms, or supporting local causes, there is nothing quite like the people in Buffalo. Honestly, I think it relates a lot to our office and overall business model as well – H.O.P.E. – Helping Other People Everyday. That goes hand-in-hand with Buffalo’s nickname. Being there to support one another, whether on someone’s specific team, or not, it doesn’t matter, we are all here to help.”
“Our Regional Sales Leader, James Sackos, gave our Buffalo office the nickname “Buffalo Mafia”, a spin off of the famous Buffalo Bills Mafia. When I asked why, James said, “This office is unlike any other I visit. You guys have such a strong, supportive culture here. You feel it as soon as you walk in the door.” And that is something I am super proud of. Don’t get me wrong, putting up big production numbers is awesome, but having a welcoming, supportive culture means the world to me and I know it does to all of the agents within our Buffalo Mafia, just like it does in the City of Good Neighbors.”
Let’s be honest: it’s a great message to live by. If you live in Buffalo, like the Buffalo Bills, you’re always helping, always circling the wagons—protecting and defending.
But it’s not only where Kyle grew up; let’s also zone in and give credit to the home where he and his older sister Krissy were raised, which had a tremendous impact on Kyle’s character and, eventually, his business model. He might not even be in business at USHA if not for his father’s circumstances, which inspired Kyle to take a chance in life.
“My mom and dad are both W2 employees,” says Kyle. “My mom works for a property-casualty agency up in Buffalo, so I guess insurance is in the blood. But my dad worked for Ford and Lincoln Mercury for about 25 years. Something I think really helped me with choosing my career at USHA is my Dad worked for that car company for a long period of time, but when the recession hit in 2008 and 2009, he got laid off. At 50-years-old, he basically had to start from scratch. I was in middle school at the time, and saw some of the challenges he and my mom went through. They sheltered me from a lot of it, which was kind of them. But, I overheard some of the discussions and stuff they were going through and knew eventually I wanted to get into an industry where I wasn’t going to have to hit that reset button at 50-years-old, no matter what was going on.”
However, before Kyle could find his way to USHEALTH Advisors, he took a detour and saw an unusual opportunity to live out a dream—sort of.
“In college, I worked toward a business administration degree,” says Kyle, “with a concentration in sports management. My passion when I was getting out of college was working for a professional sports team.
The goal of course, was to work for the Buffalo Bills. But toward the end of my college career, before I actually took the position with USHEALTH, I got an internship with the Buffalo Bisons, which is the minor league baseball team in Buffalo. While I was super excited to get my foot in the door in the sports industry, I realized pretty quickly I would have to work my butt off for a good 10-to-15 years to get where I wanted to be. You’ve really got to stack up your resumes, or get to know certain individuals to help you move up.”
“In the first couple of games working for the Bisons, they had a bunch of staffing shortages, and since I was the new guy on the block, they decided to throw me into the mascot costume. So I was running around the baseball field as Bleu Cheese (who competes in the Wing, Cheese, and Carrot Race), and as Buster T. Bison, who is the team’s mascot. I didn’t really know any better at the time, I was just excited to have the opportunity to get involved and see all the stuff behind the scenes there.”
“But then I got home and was talking with my dad, and he’s like, “Hey, how was the game today?” “I told him, “Oh, it was great. They had me do a bunch of stuff. I actually got the opportunity to put on the mascot costume and run around the field. My dad said, “Are you serious?” I said, “Yeah, I was excited about it.” And my dad comes back, “You didn’t go to college for four years to get out and be a fricking mascot.” And that’s when the light bulb came on and I thought, “Oh, you know what? You’re right. I mean, I thought I was excited about it, but maybe I should be looking at something else and get my resume out there.”
Kyle did get his resume out there and realized he didn’t want to take the safe route, as his Dad did, working for a corporation. However, the road to risk-taking was one Kyle had to navigate on the “backroads.”
“I was doing a bunch of interviews, and my dad says, “Hey, you’ve got a lot of opportunity. It’s great. But don’t take any commission-only jobs, and don’t do any group interviews. And, of course, what did I do here, those exact things!” laughs Kyle. “I applied for my insurance license to work at USHA, but my parents had no idea.”
“The only reason they found about it was my New York license showed up in the mail and they said, “Oh, you took that insurance job, didn’t you? I was like, yeah, well, let’s see what’s going to happen.” And then every day when I was coming home after work, my dad was always asking me, “Hey, did you get that sale today? Did you get that sale today?” He wasn’t being a jerk about it, it was kind of that extra kick in the butt that I needed right off the bat, to be like, you know what, I have to make sure I get my butt in gear with this opportunity, make sure when I do come home each day I have that opportunity to tell them I did get that sale and that everything is rocking and rolling.”
Kyle says that while his parents and even some of his friends were on the fence about his career choice, two very important people never wavered in their belief that he could make it. One of those people, of course, was Kyle—remember, it’s all possible if you believe in yourself—and the other was the special lady in his life.
“My girlfriend, Jessica, who is now my wife, was all in,” says Kyle. She told me, “Hey, you’re young, you’re motivated. If there’s going to be an opportunity to do it, this is the time. If it doesn’t work out, we’ve got plenty of time to adjust.” So she supported me starting this opportunity at USHA, always has, and now as ironic as it is, my dad’s getting ready to retire and now he wants to come on and be my full-time recruiter in Buffalo and Charlotte. So it’s funny how everything has changed and come full circle in a short seven and a half years here, not just my dad, but marrying Jessica as well.”
As he lauched his career at USHEALTH Advisors, Kyle’s drive to succeed also meant a focus on something tangible, a Ford Lincoln. To increase his drive to succeed, Kyle made a very public bet.
“As I was growing up, my dad was always driving Ford Lincoln’s and then they came out with the Lincoln Continental. I still had the pamphlet for the car when it was getting ready for the release. In fact, I still have it here in my office. But when I was starting at USHA, I was sitting with Jessica and my buddy and I said, “You know what? If this opportunity is really going to work out, I’m getting a Lincoln within two years. And my girlfriend’s like, “Yeah, sure you are.” My buddy’s like, “There’s no way you’re getting a Lincoln in two years.” So that was always one of my goals getting into the business. I’m a car person, so that was always kind of my motivation.”
With his vision of the Lincoln driving his aspirations, Kyle hit the gas and got to work. Initially, though, it was far from life in the fast lane.
“When I first got started, it was tough,” says Kyle. “We didn’t have a dialer, we didn’t have a CRM. I actually got a stack of 10 leads a week and once I called ’em then it was like, ok, figure it out from there. So there was a lot of self-development I had to focus on, trying to find people to talk to, going through Google, getting lead data that I could really rock and roll with. And then, finally in October of 2017, we got set up with the dialer. I was like, “Oh my God, I have unlimited leads I can call. And then it kind of took off from there. It was right before open enrollment, which was nice.”
Fast forward to 2023, and an invitation from the home office for Kyle to open and grow a second office in Charlotte, NC. Kyle took the leap of faith and is now in his current position as a Division Sales Leader for Buffalo and Charlotte.
Kyle and his wife now live in the Charlotte area, as does his older sister Krissy, who had moved down first with her family, and the expectation Kyle’s parents may make a move as well. Kyle’s other family, his work family, is happy with how things have played out. And Kyle is more than happy to help keep everyone growing and thriving.
“I tell my new agents as long as you have a strong work ethic, you have a decent personality and if you’re not a natural introvert, or you get past being one, you can make it here. You’ll have those tough times where you have to pick up the phone and have uncomfortable conversations, but as long as you’re coachable, I can help you fill in everything in-between. I can teach you all you need to know about insurance. We have our USHA agent website that we designed with all of our training videos. You can watch them 10 times over to help you get better. But I think those three things I mentioned are characteristics that are not teachable, right? You’re either born with them, or they’re instilled in you at an early age. And again, if you give me those three things, I’ll help you take care of everything else. I always have the new agent sitting right next to me. And same thing with our leaders.”
“I’m not a division leader who sits in his office and just combs through stuff and runs numbers. I’m out in the pit with everyone else, unless I’m doing an interview or training. I can’t ask an agent to do something I’m not willing to do and they see that every day, that I’m here, I’m grinding right next to them. I’m coaching through every single phone call when they get a lead transfer. We’re on the line handling all those objections and I have ’em jot down every single little piece of information as we’re going through those pitches. The more you put into this, the more you’re going to get. I mean, if you’re expecting someone to do it for you, you’re in the wrong spot. Make it a goal to outwork that person next to you and everything’s going to take care of itself.”
Kyle says he knows it’s not only working hard, it’s also working on yourself. Personal development is one of the keys to greater success.
“I read a lot of books, says Kyle. “A few books that really stand out to me the most are Atomic Habits and Rich Dad, Poor Dad, just for the personal investing side and the development with all of that. That was a huge thing that helped, because again, just growing up in life, it was always the W-2 career I saw, with my parents working nine to five, not really having to do anything above and beyond that. So coming in and being self-employed and having my own business now was something that I never really learned about. I had to figure it out all on my own. There was a lot of finance stuff. I had to learn about taxes, I had to learn about retirement. I also had to learn to start watching motivational videos, listen to podcasts, read books, anything you can do to better yourself. People can sit at home and binge-watch Netflix or TV shows all they want, but if you’re not continually developing yourself, you’re only going to get so far. Like learning from Atomic Habits, developing those habits on a day-to-day basis that turn into those weekly habits, monthly habits, quarterly and yearly habits is huge as well. And that’s something we really instill in all of our agents in Buffalo and Charlotte.”
Developing a life he can be proud of is important to Kyle and Jessica. Though having a family is a goal one day, the couple does has a fur baby they love spending time with, their golden retriever, Sammy. Kyle says the unconditional love a dog offers is a savior for a self-employed business owner.
“You have your ups and downs with the business,” says Kyle. “But you go home and there’s Sammy, wagging his tail, so excited to see me, to play fetch or whatever it is, and it’s like nothing else matters, right? It’s great. You’ve got the dog, your sidekick with you, your wife that supports you in everything, and so nothing else matters at home, which is nice.”
There’s also that internal unconditional love, loving yourself, knowing that you matter, which is crucial to stepping up and stepping out in life.
“I’ve thought about this, and this is something I talk about a lot with recruits when they’re hesitant about coming into the opportunity and what this career can really do for them. But I tell them, the biggest thing is you’ve got to bet on yourself. If you believe in yourself, and that you can do this, that’s what matters, right? It’s you versus you. Don’t get too deep into your head about the business. Keep it simple. You’ll have ups and downs, but if you can consistently bet on yourself and put in a good day’s work, it’s going to take care of itself. I’ve always bet on myself throughout life.”
And among the bets Kyle made on himself, and for himself, there’s that Ford Lincoln. At the time, his ultimate driving machine. If you recall, Kyle promised himself and announced he’d be behind the wheel of that car within two years after joining USHEALTH Advisors.
Do did he do it?
“I made it,” says Kyle. “I got a Ford Mustang first, then I sold it and used the money to buy the Ford Lincoln. So it took me one year and six months. I remember driving the Lincoln home, my first stop was at my parents’ house and my dad was like, “Are you freaking kidding me? You got this Lincoln?” I still had my pamphlet there, sitting in the passenger seat, and I was reminding him about my goal when I first started with USHA, and how he and my mom just kind of rolled their eyes, and brushed it off. But then there I was, taking my dad in the Lincoln and letting him drive it around. I looked over and saw a little tear coming down his face and listened to him telling me how proud he was of me – and honestly – I still get chills thinking about it to this day. It’s amazing what this opportunity has given me, my wife and also my extended family as well.”
An opportunity Kyle saw, seized, and has built up from day one. A big bet on himself – and a Lincoln – for the win.
Until next time, thanks for taking the time.
Your Storyteller,
Mark Brodinsky
