There comes a time to share your own journey. So I’ll keep this intro brief.

Everyone has a story, including me. 🙂

I am Mark Brodinsky – it’s my story – and this is Storytelling for Business.

“If you wanna make the world a better place, take a look at yourself and then make a change. I’m starting with the man in the mirror.” – Michael Jackson

It was not that long ago I heard a great line from one of the people I’ve featured on this storytelling blog. That line is, the only constant is change.

Well, ain’t that the truth. I’ve told nearly 140 stories, which are currently featured on the USHA Careers website under the Culture button, (https://www.ushacareers.com/blog/), as well as my worldwide blog, (https://markbrodinsky.com/storytelling/).

Today, the change is that instead of sharing someone else’s story, I’m sharing mine. I’m humbled, excited, and a bit scared. Those are all really the same emotions that most of my storytelling subjects experience before they speak to me.

I’m no different than you. We’re all human. So take a seat and buckle up, this could be a wild ride.

First, how about a short preview of what’s to come? I’ll play a word game with you then fill in the details later. Words like: stutter, 180-degree turn, commitment, freedom, residual income, television, separation, divorce, daughters, stroke, death, author, storyteller, personal development, mastermind, new wife, success, failure and oh yea, You Matter.

Hmmm… this ought to be interesting. And I’m writing this in real-time, meaning I promised myself I’d let my thoughts flow and not think too much about what I wanted to say, but speak from the heart. That’s how I write most of the stories for the company… from the lips of my storytelling subject, to my ears, to my mind, to my heart, before my fingers run across the keyboard, and then there it is… art. Or at least I hope it’s accepted as such by you, the reader.

Let’s get the basics out of the way, my name is Mark Brodinsky. I come from a warm and welcoming place where I lived for about only nine months… my mother’s womb.;) Actually, I was born in Baltimore, Maryland, and grew up with my mom, my dad, my sister, and later with a dog named Archie. Those are the basics, the black and white of all of this. But the good lord knows we all live our lives in color… the shades in between the black and white of any human existence.

So let me fill in a few more blanks, then we’ll take a look at some of the colors.

First of all, I came to this wonderful opportunity at USHEALTH Advisors in 2015, after talking with my Regional Leader, Stephen Koncurat, (an outstanding human being I’ve known for 20+ years now), and also being truly honored to have the chance to talk to our CEO Troy McQuagge, prior to making the leap of faith. I knew Steve and Troy from a former, similar version of this company, where I had served as an agent and leader for nearly ten years. Then I took a break and moved into another area of insurance, life insurance, only to return “home”, to where Troy, Bill Shelton, Dean Whaley, Randi McQuagge, the late Karla McCombs and others had taken up residence.

I’m now a $5 million + individual producer here at USHA, after writing about $8 million in policies at the former company and a ton of life insurance in a four-year gap between the former entity and this one, as I journeyed back here… to where I always belonged, at USHEALTH Advisors.

Alright, there are your numbers, so let’s fill in the colors.

Now, I bet you didn’t know, because most don’t, that I can barely say the word, “deductible.” I have a speech impediment, one I didn’t realize I had until sitting in Mrs. Cherry’s class in the 4th grade. When she asked a question about the document signed in 1776 to declare our independence, I knew the answer, so I raised my hand. Then I froze. I felt my tongue and throat seize up and at that moment I knew if I started to say the words Declaration of Independence, it was going to come out, D-D-D-D-Declaration. I may have had this issue before, but I was 10 years old by then and because I still remember the moment so vividly, I believe it was the first time it happened. To this day, I don’t know why that seemed to be the genesis of it all.

That stutter, though no one rarely heard me do it, affected my life for the next decade and then some. The words I would shy away from, the choices I made in school, the friends I hung out with, the girls I never spoke to, the theater plays I never took part in. Even, at the age of 22, when I became a local TV producer at WJZ-TV in Baltimore, I still suffered. I really wanted to be a reporter, but was too afraid to try, for fear of the words or names I would have no choice to say with letters like S, and B, and D, which I believed would have me seizing up in front of a live audience, before I could get them out of my mouth. Though I eventually realized my dream of being on TV, it took several years of working there and working on myself before building up enough courage to take the leap into being a feature reporter, because then the words I would use were my own, not locations or names of people I knew I would have to say and couldn’t alter by using different words.

I tell you this story for a reason… our struggles are our gifts the world will fall in love with. My stutter helped shape me, it happened for a reason, and so like many of you, I had a challenge to overcome when I started in the insurance business. We all have challenges. Everyone you will ever meet in your entire life is going through something, that was just one of my somethings.

Once I got into this business, there it was, one of the key words you have to say over and over to be able to have an intelligent conversation about health coverage… deductible. You’re kidding me, right? But if you want something bad enough, you find a way. Especially when you burn the boats and have no plan B.

And I wanted this… bad.

It was when my oldest daughter Sophie was only one-year-old, that I made the move from TV to health insurance. The TV biz was eating up all of my time. As children are for most parents, Sophie was my driving force, I was hell-bent on not missing her growing up. I passed my insurance exam, gave two weeks notice, became self-employed and dove into this business. It was tough. From TV to health insurance? My former co-workers thought I was nuts, and the underlying sentiment when they said that to me, without them using the words, was that I would fail. Back then the business we do now was all face-to-face, no virtual meetings. It’s probably why, on the top of the box where I stored much health insurance pitch books for my in-person presentations, I wrote myself a message which read, “Failure is not an option”. Every time I opened my trunk to get my supplies I had to reach that message.

Every single time.

It kept me going. Through all the hang-ups, the ghosted appointments, the applications that got declined, the colds I got where I could barely speak above a whisper, the car accidents I was in, the self-doubt, the weeks with no income… it kept me going.

Failure is not an option.

Though I quickly learned, as so many of you have here at USHA, that failing is a good thing because it’s necessary to get better, try, fail, try, fail, try, fail… and embrace the suck until that suck becomes success. Just don’t give in to failure.

So I taught myself to pause a beat before I was to say the word “deductible” and get it out smoothly, (most of the time), without stuttering in front of my clients. I built a mental muscle with that practice and with many others, so my speech got better and better. If you want it bad enough, you find a way. I read books on positive thinking, I listened to audio, I watched videos, I steeled myself to pound my way through every obstacle and set back and soon enough I was the # 1 agent in my Division. I won trips, I won prizes, I was awarded bonuses and I had the freedom to be at every event my daughter Sophie, and then my daughter Emily, took part in.

I knew what I wanted. I had a vision. I re-engineered my brain. I opened my heart to help clients. I helped, I served, I had unwavering support from Stephen and my other leader at the time, Brian Zimmerman… and I won.

TV was in the rearview mirror. And I took with me the pride of a job well done there, and the Emmy Award I had won just a few years earlier, and put that in a nice spot on my shelf, right next to my first health insurance agent of the year award for my division.

It still brings tears to my eyes today to think back on those early days in insurance. Whether virtual or in-person our greatest enemy is not the marketplace, a prospective client, the economy, or the government. It doesn’t matter what happens in the White House, it matters what happens in your house. Our greatest enemy is the brain matter between our own ears and the inability to tap into the depths of our hearts.

That was then, going back to 2001 – 2011, a long run… but this is now.

And now was my return to Troy and company in 2015.

Having worked on myself for years by this time, starting a blog, writing a few books, selling a ton of insurance, and joining a Mastermind group, which literally changed the trajectory of my life (highly recommend you take part in one), I was ready to come home to USHA and do it again. I did just that, launching another very successful run here again with Stephen Koncurat, now as my Regional Leader and my Division Leader, Jamie Blumberg. I even started this blog you are now reading in March of 2016 as part of my mission, this higher-purpose I realized, which is to positively impact the lives of a Billion people, through insurance, through storytelling, through writing, through speaking and more.

But just like you reading this, I know life is not a straight line, it zigs, it zags and occasionally it gets turned upside down, as we hang on for dear life, hoping not to slip into the abyss.

For me, this moment came in September of 2016. My marriage of 18 years ended. I accept my part in all of it unwinding. Every relationship, from business to personal, demands attention, nurturing, and open and honest communication. Everything affects everything.

So it ended and I was devastated.

Let me say this, I’ve had the privilege of interviewing many people here since 2016 when these stories began. And I understand now, from my own experience, and even more so from so many of yours, that you always have a choice, a choice to turn devastation into education. It just doesn’t happen overnight.

I’ll share some lessons here because I learned them the hard way. And it’s sharing our scars that can help others to learn, perhaps to mend from our traumas, encourage, or at the very least create another perspective on others’ lives.

My lesson to you is don’t give in and don’t give up. I nearly did, professionally and personally. I was a Field Sales Leader at the time of my separation and after being here at USHA for only 16 months, I stepped back to be an agent.

Mistake.

I wanted to be there for my daughters, to focus on their intense pain in all of this. But continuing to lead and to serve the agents on my team would have also helped distract me, more so empower me, and still so early in the game here at USHEALTH, and still living on advances, not hurt my income as well. I spent way too much time in personal solitude, feeling sorry for myself, reflecting on everything in my life, and playing the guilt card way too hard.

Mistake.

Not a smart move because as much as you want to cower in the corner, we all are part of a social tribe and we need one another. We also need to forgive ourselves and forgive others. Don’t do trauma and heartache alone. Keep moving, always keep moving. The core of emotion is motion.

And motion creates momentum.

I still focused on my daughters, I learned to lean heavily on my mastermind group and a few close friends, (special shout-outs to Rob Commodari, Mark Pallack, Pete Kohlasch, Ann H and Julie B), and got myself back on track.

I got a more intense workout routine, increased my reading, my watching and sharing of inspirational videos, I created a Meetup called, Change Your Mind Change Your Life, I kept writing these stories, published my second book, The Sunday Series, and oh yeah, sold a lot more health insurance, and by the start of 2018, I was back in leadership, eventually making my way to a promotion as a Satellite Division Sales Leader.

I learned, as so many of you have here at USHA, that the thrill and joy of helping lead others and seeing them succeed and thrive, makes you better and fuels your own resilience. It’s a great ride, another good run, dare I say a great run, extremely productive.

During this time I even uncovered another way to inspire others through a story I heard, about a You Matter card. I created my own cards and started handing them out. I was soon experiencing and learning day by day that the deepest principle of human nature is the craving to be appreciated. My You Matter movement began.

But then, another September to remember. On Labor Day, 2021, my dad called me in tears. My mom had apparently suffered a stroke and the ambulance was on the way. If I told you know that my mom had passed on, it might make sense, since it’s not uncommon following a sudden health collapse like that one. Fortunately it was a mini-stroke and she survived.

What I didn’t see coming was with my mom still recovering in a rehab facility, my dad had started to decline, rapidly, and only 40 days after my mom’s stroke, my dad died.

It was crazy how things progressed, how fast it all happened. But things that have never happened before, happen all the time.

History never repeats itself, but man always does. Not this time. I wasn’t about to step back from my journey with USHA. This time I was ready. I had built myself up to handle those 40 days and way beyond. I was built for this struggle. I didn’t bail on my business or my team and I kept going. And it is one of the greatest gifts in the world to work for a company like USHEALTH Advisors, to be self-employed, to have built residual income and more, to cushion myself and my family against the unexpected but eventual setbacks in life.

Things don’t happen to you they happen for you and it’s never a matter of if, but when.

My point in sharing all this is exactly that. You are in the right place, at the right time, with the right company, and as Troy would let us know, the best company in America, bar none. The success I’ve experienced at USHA, through the many agents and clients I serve, the income I’ve made, and the people who have become friends and family, are life-changing and life-affirming.

And let’s not forget the freedom to be there for those I love the most. Remember my initial reason for becoming self-employed? I helped create life, (Sophie), and I was not going to miss that life growing up. I have two daughters now, Sophie and Emily, whom I adore. And because of my opportunity here at USHEALTH, and even before that at the former company, the power to make my own schedule, to be my own boss, to help and serve amazing clients, to control my time, and to realize significant income, even while I sleep – these things made it possible for me to be there for my girls – and those moments are priceless.

I never miss or have missed a thing. The soccer games, the piano recitals, the holidays, the family gatherings, the vacations, the graduations. And the other standouts, like watching Sophie’s soul-fulfilling singing performances and musicals in high school, or coaching Emily’s softball team from the time she was four years old, to then watching her pitch Varsity softball as a freshman. Because of this opportunity at USHA, and despite the setbacks, my daughters have thrived. It’s a gift and because of the ability to earn a great income here, first Sophie, and now Emily in a month, graduate college without a dime of debt or student loans. That’s a big win. As well as the fact that their mom and I have a very good relationship. And we dog share, so I still get to spend every other week with my boy, Ollie. 🙂

The joy just keeps on coming… and wait, there’s more.

To top it all off, with my career success and my continual and never-ending quest to make myself better, I attracted an amazing and beautiful new woman into my life. Stephanie Hamburg and I were married, (first at the courthouse and then eloped to Jamaica), in late summer last year. I learned over the past decade that if you want to find the right person, become the person you want to attract first. What a Godsend she has been in my life. She’s one of the main reasons I’ve moved back from Virginia to my hometown of Baltimore, to fully engage in the next chapter of my life.

I know this story wasn’t about all the phone calls I have made, the leads I contacted, the referrals and introductions I have received to build my business. Instead I wanted to let you know who I am, where I came from and what I’ve come back from, to prove a point about what it takes to make a two-decade-plus run in this business, but more importantly, just the other-worldly opportunity that Troy and company have built here. Troy helped save the former company before I even started there. He stepped out of retirement, to kick-start and shepherd this one. He’s a visionary and is doing exactly what he is meant to do, to change lives for the better. His air is rare, you just don’t see leadership and caring like this in the marketplace today. I know he’s reading this because he reads all the stories, and yes Troy I’m singing your praises, and with good reason, because none of this would exist without you lighting a match to this flame. And Troy knows and lives that deep principle of human nature, that others matter and he wants to make sure you know it too by using his gifts to change the lives of others.

Thank you my friend.

So, let’s wrap this extra-long tale with this final thought. If I interviewed you for this blog, then you know I always ask you to narrow all we talk about down to one thing. What’s the one thing you want to share? To make sure others know about you? That maybe you want to be remembered for?

So I will challenge myself to do the same and take a good, hard look at the man in the mirror.

The one thing my friends, through all the challenges, setbacks, traumas, happiness, joy and all that I’ve been able to experience with my time in these health insurance businesses, ESPECIALLY today at USHA, which still continues to be a focus in my life, is that there is no place I’ve ever been that makes you feel so special, so appreciated, so valued and so loved. My $5 Million Milestone celebration was just that, a day where I felt so good because everyone made me feel that way.

Here at USHEALTH Advisors I know that I Matter. And because of that, I want to pay it forward every day of my life and let you know something I feel from the deepest place in my heart.

You Matter too.

With love and tremendous gratitude… until next time, thanks for taking the time.

Your Storyteller,

Mark Brodinsky

“Everything is sales.” – Morgan Housel, Author, Same as Ever

Discipline, focus, setting goals, working hard. We could end the story right here when it comes to being successful in business, but where do these traits come from?

We learn them the hard way. If it were easy, everybody would do it.

Just ask Michelle Hensley and her boys. Try a little Tang So Doo, like the Hensley family has and see how those skills transform your life, including your ambition and drive. Tang Soo Do is a Korean martial art that uses the hands and feet to block and deliver blows, similar to karate. It’s a martial art that has its lineage back over 2,000 years.

If you want to be successful, you can’t always simply look at the present and ahead to the future, the greatest lessons for learning, come from looking back, at history. The Tang So Doo martial art has stood the test of time and served the Hensley family quite well, thank you.

“My son Noah started it with his Dad when Noah was around 4 years old,” says Michelle. “He got his first degree when he was seven and second at age nine. Nick and I started later and Nick was also 4-years-old when he began, he got his first degree at age seven as well. I got my first Tang So Doo degree at age 42, then a second degree at age 44, and followed up with a third degree at age 47.”

Martial arts teaches life skills you need for almost anything, and goes a long way to explaining why Michelle’s journey at USHEALTH Advisors has been one of great success, having long surpassed the big USHA milestone of $5 million in individual insurance sales in her career – all with discipline, focus, setting goals and working hard. Sprinkle in a bit of belief, or a lot of belief in yourself, and there you have the recipe for success. And Michelle says it’s not only success in sales, but also success in being able to leverage the opportunity of being self-employed and to be there for her boys.

“My greatest accomplishment is being a mom to two amazing young men,” says Michelle. “They’re my world. They’ve always been my why. That’s why I’m thankful for this opportunity in health insurance that I’ve built over all these years. I was always able to be involved in their lives and have the flexibility to still do my work, and to be there for them, because they are my heart. I’m so very proud of them. My youngest , Nick, is now 21 and is in the Air Force serving our country, and then my oldest, Noah, is actually soon to be 25, and just seeing them bloom and blossom, that’s truly my greatest accomplishment. And I’m thankful for Troy McQuagge and everybody in the home office at USHA, for developing this kind of opportunity twice over. Just being able to have that flexibility and making a good income by helping people in the right way and seeing that grow and then helping and teaching others to do the same thing.”

Michelle’s experience speaks volumes, especially for those just coming into the industry. She has a wealth of knowledge to share, having been in the game for some time now. Michelle was part of another health insurance venture that Troy helped turn around nearly 30 years ago.

“It was a challenge to start because when I started in 1995, I uprooted my life,” says Michelle. “I was living in North Carolina, funny enough, that’s where I’m back now. But I moved to Georgia, did an interview, and came on board in this industry, again with the previous company Troy built, but took a leap of faith at that time, just like most people do now, and the challenge was to build my business, not knowing where I was going and not knowing anyone at the time who was doing that.”

“I got married, had my two boys through all of that too. I did, down the road, get divorced a few years ago, and sadly enough, my ex-husband recently passed away. So the challenge is, again, to be there for my boys through all of that and seeing how that has affected them. But business-wise, the challenge is still making it happen every day. But it’s a good challenge. It’s something that stretches you to see the strength you have amongst any kind of obstacles, and to build yourself in that way. I’m always telling everyone, even agents, I say, “look, if you’re not failing, you’re not doing the right thing, because failure leads to growth and you have to do that to win.” Because the only way you really fail is when you quit. So just navigating through all of that and still continuing to battle is a daily challenge.”

As it is with anyone who wants to accomplish something of value, taking leaps of faith has been part of Michell’s existence. She was an only child growing up in Martinsville, Virginia, in a small town only about 45 minutes from where she now lives in North Carolina.

“I ended up working with Dunn and Bradstreet, my first full real job in Greensboro, North Carolina,” says Michelle. I was the one who called all the companies and got the information, kind of like we do on our end, but I would interview companies, owners CEOs, and CFOs to gather information so I could actually write about the company and put those reports together that vendors and everybody else, banks and what have you, use to see if they wanted to send credit or be a vendor or that kind of thing.”

“That is actually how I transitioned into sales, interestingly enough, because I never thought I would be in sales, just never thought I would be, it’s not my personality. I was doing so well with the reporting aspect. But they had an opening and wanted me to interview to be on the sales team, so I figured, why not? It’s not going to hurt. Go for it, try it. Believe in yourself. So that’s what I did. Did very well there. But then I had met at the time, my fiance, who ended up moving to Atlanta, and they didn’t really have a spot for me in Atlanta with Dun and Bradstreet. So I took another leap of faith, had enough money saved and decided to give my notice. I interviewed and took on a position with what was then a different version of Midwest life insurance. I figured why not take the risk and believe in the product. I had kind of an inroad with some of the businesses with my Dun and Bradstreet background, so I got my license and never looked back.”

New location, new business, new life. Change is inevitable, growth is optional. Michelle embraced her new beginnings, embraced the suck, and got to work. It’s easy to say, harder to do, but Michelle says she was up to the task, and her strategy for success was to not complicate things.

“I kept it simple,” says Michelle. “I actually absorbed, listened, and asked a lot of questions. Back then it was face to face, not virtual, so I rode around in the car with my trainer, questioned her, listened to her and whoever else was doing well, and I put blinders on. Again, you’ve got to obviously believe in the product or service you’re dealing with, but you’ve got to put a lot of belief in yourself. I kind of shut all other doors. I just said, “Okay, I’ve uprooted. I’ve moved to a different area, moved away from home.” Not knowing anyone at the time, I really loved talking with companies. I was used to that and I really enjoyed sitting down with everyday people. I just put a daily, weekly, monthly goal together for myself, and I constantly asked, “Hey, how am I doing? What can I do better? What can I do more? How can I raise the bar?”

“I looked at who was doing the best or the most production and kind of mimicked them to ask questions and see if I could compete against them. And when I got promoted to being a training agent, that actually helped me. I think when you teach, you learn, you become better. You’re really sharpening your own skills because you want to bring along someone else. And I’ve constantly told the new agents, I want them to end up being better than me, then I know I did my job, so I want you to be better than me. And that way we can all grow together. So that’s kind of been my strategy. It’s pretty simple. And the funny thing is, even now when we’re pretty “techy”, I am in my 29th year, and I have kept record of every single appointment from year one. I know my very first appointment and I wrote it in my daytimer. So I’m old school, and new school.”

Michelle’s new school of learning came when she was there, at the beginning, for USHEALTH Advisors back in 2009. She was one of the first new agents/leaders when Troy McQuagge took the helm nearly 15 years ago and was once again ready for the constant of life, and change, as she dove in head first and has helped to grow the company significantly, even as the process and strategy shifted. Michelle was smart enough to realize nothing stays the same.

“I’m like, okay, hey, let’s go. Here I go again, jump in with both feet,” says Michelle. “It was an adjustment, as we moved from in-person to the virtual world of sales, and there’s parts of it I miss. You still can obviously do some face-to-face appointments locally. But I found as you’re growing and progressing, it was nice to use your time, and more quality time in the virtual world. You’re not having to drive and run yourself ragged, or maybe drive two hours to get stood up. I did not miss that. So to be able to sell in different states, it broadens your horizon of how many clients you can talk with. And that’s great. Hey, the world’s changed. People actually expect that they want it this way, quick, easy, let’s zoom, let’s do a a screen share. You’re being more efficient and able to work with more people. So it was a transition, but it was a good one. It was a lot of learning. And I think it helps with new agents coming on board too, because that’s kind of what they’re used to and working this way.”

Having been self-employed and worked in insurance for an extended period of time now, Michelle shares the benefits of the one thing you can’t put a price tag on when it comes to working for yourself… time, and the ability to “create and make time” for what is important to you.

“I always tell people this career saw me through every phase of life,” says Michelle. “And will probably continue to do so. There was pre-marriage, marriage, children, and unfortunately divorce. But it’s interesting and fun to see how life has progressed through all of this and how what you do for a living is intertwined into the rest of your life. And so what you do is not separate, it’s part of who you are, which is kind of neat. So yeah, my boys are used to seeing me, what I do, they love the fact I have always had flexibility, a great income and the residual income.”

Helping, serving, and growing… the things that provide purpose and meaning in life and Michelle embraces every piece of it.

“It just gets better and better,” says Michelle. “It’s so great to really exercise your muscles of your own faith and ability and adjust and see what you’re capable of. There’s no ceiling. And that’s again what I tell agents. It’s like, look, the sky is not even the limit. There is no ceiling. This career will help you develop who you are internally and who you can help, not just your fellow agent, but the client you’re talking to and changing their lives as well. It’s a very rewarding thing to know that what you’re doing is so important. No one likes to talk about health insurance, but it’s a necessary thing. And we’re here to guide them.”

It’s guiding clients to find the best healthcare solutions and guiding agents, especially the new ones, who come to the opportunity at USHEALTH Advisors, and to help them to thrive. Even though she recently transitioned from leadership to working as an agent, Michelle has helped and can still help so many agents with one of the secrets to success in this business – paying attention to history – meaning learning from Michelle’s experiences of what to do and what not to do, since history is one of the greatest educators of all time.

“Just leave all your nuances and your thoughts of insurance at the door,” says Michelle. “Retrain your mind as if you’re an advisor, a detective, asking questions of your clients. It’s funny because things that they talk about in our company meetings are things I always say when I’m speaking to someone. 90% of what you’re doing, you’re going to be educating a client. Yes, the act is selling, but that’s actually the final act of it, it’s not most of what you’re doing. You’re actually putting people in better health plan solutions. You’re really just educating. Health insurance is a complicated issue. So I tell the agents, make it simple. Talk to your clients like your neighbor. Just have a conversation. In fact, whomever you talk to, realize that’s a new friend you’re making.”

“Tell your clients, “Hey, I’m here to help.” Let’s kind of chitchat a little bit about what your situation is and let’s see, we’ll put the puzzle pieces together to find the right plan for your needs. And if not, I’ll hold your hand and show where you need to go. But keep it simple because things that are new, it’s our human nature to tend to complicate them. A new agent thinks, “I need to know everything before I do anything.” I say, “no, you don’t.” I don’t know everything and I’ve done it for years. Let’s take it one step at a time. And I explain to the agents, your clients will actually teach you. You can learn from them because you’re there, having a conversation. You’re going to learn and gather what they’re looking for to help you guide them, and that teaches you where you need to go and how you put plans together and things like that.”

Life is always like a puzzle and Michelle, like any one of us, is always trying to make the pieces fit. So while she navigates a new world, back near her hometown where she started, she is making sure that not only her business thrives, but those she loves thrive as well, because the puzzle can change from day to day.

“The thing is just knowing that you can streamline your mind on what you’re really focused on,” says Michelle. “And with my boys, they’ve been amazing. It was only five years ago, they were in high school and college. And so they’ve been supportive of everything as well. Nick just came back from combat training in Texas. The first week of April he is supposed to go to Jordan. He’s going to be deployed there. He works on radar systems for jets. And Noah helps produce acts, in fact, he’s an acrobat in Dolly Parton’s Pirate Voyage Show in Myrtle Beach. He graduated with a degree in physical science. He wants to get his masters, maybe in physical therapy, but he’s into fitness. He can do amazing things. He’s a certified parkour coach, (parkour is a sport that uses balance and power to overcome obstacles). I’m so very proud of both of my boys, they are so close.”

Michelle says, “Another wonderful change that came into my life and stole my heart is a wonderful man, Bobby. Bobby and I connected in 2019 when he messaged me… we went to high school together and he still lives near the area in North Carolina. We dated long distance for years in the beginning… because of my planning on moving to be closer to my parents and my son Noah. I was so excited about one day being local so I could also be closer to Bobby. It took longer than planned due to COVID and the housing market situation which was very hard!”

“All I know is to be able to make more special memories and build a relationship with him and with our families is my deepest desire. The thought fills my heart every day. God blessed me with this opportunity to do just that, to be able to work anywhere helping others to continue to have a good career but most importantly it affords me to have a full life surrounded by the people I love most. My family, my amazing boys and my honey, Bobby.”

The circle of life continues and Michelle says she made her recent move as well to be closer to her parents because she says she wants to be there for them as they get older.

“Like I said, I’m an only child,” says Michelle. “I have two aging parents and so to be there for them and move here, meant stepping out of leadership, which was very hard for me to do. I didn’t want to leave leadership, but stepping out and just concentrating on myself and building, that is key. My parents are still in the same house that I grew up in. My dad is 81. My mom will turn 80 in July. They both have a lot of medical issues, but they’re getting along. I just know that being the only child I want to be close to them before it gets too late. So there’s a lot of sacrifice. But you have to go with what your gut and your heart tell you, knowing it’s not necessarily always a permanent thing. I mean, change is constant. You’ve got to be flexible and believe in yourself. That’s really what it boils down to.”

So many experiences, in her personal life and business, and so many more to come. Michelle’s story is her own, but we all can learn from what others have been through, and overcome and then are willing to share. So Michelle is ready to impart some of her greatest wisdom.

“What I want to share with anyone is no matter who you are, you’re valuable, you have a lot of worth. And if you can just improve one person’s life in some way, you’ve made a huge difference. It’s what I used to always tell my boys, because no one is perfect. You will make mistakes. Learn from them, move on, be forgiving, be compassionate. Take every challenge as that, and if you can improve or touch someone’s life to make it better, give them a smile, whatever it is, that to me is the greatest legacy, bar none. So it’s like our HOPE mission, helping other people everyday. That’s it, the basics.”

“If you can give even a smile to someone, give hope to another person, in some form or fashion. It’s not money that makes all the difference. Your possessions don’t matter, or where you live, it doesn’t matter. They’re nice and it’s nice to have things like that. But how you affect someone else’s life is what matters. Because like my dad’s always said, nobody’s an island. No matter what you say or do, I don’t care if you think they don’t hear or see you, they do. You’re going to affect somebody which is going to affect somebody else. It’s a domino effect. So do it and be willing to change as well.:”

Because like Michelle says the only constant is change. And if you can weather every storm, and yes, you can, if you believe in yourself, then you win.

Until next time, thanks for taking the time.

Your Storyteller,

Mark Brodinsky

“Success is measured by how high you bounce when you hit the bottom.” – General George Patton

Since coming to USHEALTH Advisors Jordan Shaked has always strived to be at the top of his game and at the top of the leader board when it comes to being an all-star agent at the company. Since joining USHA in April of 2018, Jordan has produced more than $8 million in individual sales, consistently writing more than $1 million every year, including just a few years ago, when he wrote $2.4 million in a single year.

Talking about and seeing the success Jordan has earned is easy, but talking about how he got to the doorstep of USHA is a bit harder. Yet by Jordan sharing his struggles, we all learn and become stronger. Jordan says he works hard to do the right thing. It’s hard to believe it was just a few years ago, before he found USHEALTH Advisors, that trying to do the right thing nearly cost him his life.

Courage can have consequences, good and bad… though as you look back, you understand it’s the only way to thrive. Nothing happens to you, it happens for you.

“It was one night in 2015 in Coconut Creek, Florida, and I saw this girl was getting beat up by a guy,” says Jordan. “I didn’t even know her, but I decided to intervene. I ended up getting jumped by 20 people and needed emergency brain surgery. When I got to the hospital, they told me I was ten minutes away from dying. And getting past that, I was in a pretty deep depression because I couldn’t really do much. I always worked out, always took care of myself and kind had to lay low for about six months. Healing up from that, dealing with the depression and getting myself out of that hole was definitely my greatest challenge up to that point in life.”

“I got hit in the head with a gun during that brawl, that’s what happened. Cracked my skull and had air leaking into my brain, but I had no idea and thought I was fine. When the fight was over I was thinking I’m going to call this girl, make sure she’s ok, I’m going to go home. My buddy was the one who had some cuts on his face and I told him you’ve got to go to the hospital. But it ended up being me, the one who was in pretty bad shape… he was okay. Through that whole thing, to be honest, I kept a positive outlook on everything. I was in the hospital and they told me that they had to transport me to a different hospital for brain trauma. It’s like four in the morning, I’m ready to go into surgery. I was ok with it. But my mom walks in crying and that’s when it kind of hit me like, all right, this is probably a little more serious than I thought.”

“After about 6 months I was finally able to get back into the gym and started feeling good physically and mentally. A month or two later, my fingertips in both hands went numb. I started seeing my neurologist again to figure out what was going on. After about a month of testing I was misdiagnosed with MS. So after I finally started getting back to myself, I heard the words multiple sclerosis, not really knowing what it meant. After doing some research I felt like my whole world was collapsing… again.”

“I started seeing a chiropractor three times a week. I had a ton of swelling in my neck and after a few months of work with the chiropractor  and countless MRIs the numbness went away. My last MRI showed I had two herniated discs in my neck and it looked like MS on the MRI due to all the swelling. Once I got the clean bill of health is really when I got a different outlook/prospective on life.”

“As much as people can be there for you, they can’t really understand what you’re going through. I mean, I almost lost my life, but the way I thought about it was I’m here for a reason. I don’t know what it was at that point in time. But I remember sitting in the hospital bed, I was in intensive care and I had ESPN on that same weekend that this happened to me. I saw that a soccer player got head-butted or something, had the same exact surgery for a fractured skull, and he ended up passing away. So that day I had an epiphany. I was like, I’m meant to be here, right? God wants me on this earth for a reason. I mean, after those events I always strived hard to become the very best version of myself.”

It happens more than most of us want to admit, constantly questioning the things going on around us, on the outside. Too often it takes a dramatic circumstance to stir an awakening for us to then look inward and work on what we can control, the inside. When that happens, by growing, we learn we already have all the answers.

“I really love taking people to the next level,” says Rebecca. “Besides just teaching them about our products, I love teaching period. I think I wanted to be a teacher in my younger life and I’ve created these different courses here to educate the agents, from insurance 101 to marketing 101.”

Rebecca says it comes naturally – her desire to show others the way – because she learned so much from the man who led her family, her dad.

“The whole thing made me a stronger person and it made me appreciate life way more because I could have lost it. Now I have a wife, I have two kids. I have a family that I never thought I could have and a career that I love.”

Jordan’s success in building the career that he loves comes from a strong work ethic. His consistency in annual production at USHA comes from putting in the reps in every part of his life, whether it’s at the gym, the other place Jordan loves to be…

…or working with USHEALTH Advisors, it’s a discipline Jordan says he learned from the man he loves, his father. Jordan says it was his dad’s example and his story that taught him some tough life lessons.

“My father is a saint, he’s taught me everything,” says Jordan. “Before I was born he got into some trouble with a few of his Israeli friends while he and my mom were living in New York. So he ended up needing to go back to Israel. That’s why we moved to Israel when I was about a year old. And then when we came back, I was about seven. I remember after we got back from Israel and growing up for those few years in New York, before we moved to Florida, I remember seeing my dad only once or twice a week. I was still young, but I always wondered why. So later in life my dad told me his story, told me everything. It helped when I started getting into some trouble in high school, and then in college, which I never finished. He told me the story of everything that happened to him and I realized he had been living at a halfway house and coming home on the weekends.”

Jordan says it was also seeing his dad work so hard that instilled that same drive in him to make things happen.

“My dad worked for an audio-video company,” says Jordan. “He started as a rookie, pulling wire and he worked his way up to be one of the best project managers. I mean, he took companies from nothing to million dollar companies. So it was good to always see the way he worked and the way he appreciated his clients, his customers, whatever he needed to do to get the job done. And so growing up he always wanted me to have a job. I wasn’t the type of kid where they were handing out money to me whenever I needed it. He was like, if you want something, you go and you work, you go make money and you buy things yourself. My dad and my mom, I mean both of them are super hard workers. My mom’s been a teacher. She always worked hard so we could go to nice camps and stuff like that. Seeing how they both worked, how they provided for us, it definitely instilled that in me.”

And Jordan needed those examples, because when Jordan walked in the door at USHEALTH Advisors, after working at an audio-video company just like his dad did, it was shock and awe.

“Oh dude, it was rough,” laughs Jordan. “My first day, I mean, I walk in and I was so intimidated. Everyone is on the phones, it sounds like everyone knows what they’re talking about. And to be honest, now, if I went back, probably people didn’t know what they were talking about. It’s funny how intimidating it was to be in a sales room. I mean, I had a desk, I had a cube, and I was just going over this pitch back and forth and I got on the phones, had no luck. So driving home my first day, I forgot who I called, I think it was my mom. I was like, this isn’t for me, this is not for me. And she said, “just give it a chance.” And then I ended up speaking to my older sister who was in grad school in England and she was in a sales job, just to kind of help make some money. And she said to me, “listen, everyone there is there to help you. No one there is talking sh*t about you. Everyone’s there to help you out and you’ve always made friends everywhere you go, you know how to talk to people.” She’s like, give it a try. And that kind of opened up my eyes. If she could do it, I for sure can do it. And that next day I set up two appointments for my sales leader, they closed, and then the next week I was literally writing business on my own.”

“That first week was definitely tough. And you know how it is when you first start. So my first week writing, I issued 20,000 in AV, (annual volume). And then obviously Thursday night, Friday morning, everything, all the weekly production, goes back to zero. So I started bugging out. I was like, all right, let’s see if I can do it again. I asked myself, is this just a one-time fluke or am I actually decent at this job? But I had the hardest work ethic. I was in the office at 7:40 am before anybody, and I was leaving work at 10, or 10:30 pm, every single night, and this is after everyone had left. So I’m kind of teaching myself at this point. I had the help of others and stuff during the day, but at night I was literally learning on my own and teaching myself what works and what doesn’t. Obviously it’s trial and error. You get on the phone, you mess it up, you mess up the phone call, you know what you did wrong. So I was kind of teaching myself and I grew really fast from just that practice alone.”

Now, for Jordan, growth is the goal, personally and with his team as a Field Training Agent with USHEALTH Advisors, showing others how success is developed, day by day.

“When a new agent comes in I train them the way I would want to be trained, not sticking them on the phones right away,” says Jordan. “They need to understand what we’re selling, what our competition is. So I have them sitting in while I’m making dials, while I’m kind of training them and dialing at the same time. But the first week is just learning our policies in and out. And then after that we get them on the phones and we’re also teaching them, an hour or two during the day, who our competition is and how our business is run. So I mean it’s really just having that one-on-one with them, or if you’re having multiple agents sitting in a room and discussing everything, rather than just sitting with them on the phones and dialing right away.”

“Not everyone learns at the same pace. Myself, for example, I understood when I messed up a phone call why I messed it up and I changed it. But not everyone operates on that same timeline. So I mean, everyone needs a certain type of training with what they’re good at and with what they’re not so good at. So everything should be individualized.”

And it’s not just the individuals in his USHA family Jordan is responsible to care for, it’s also his personal family, the center of Jordan’s world.

“It’s why I do all of this, my family,” says Jordan. “I ended up meeting my wife Danielle on Bumble, believe it or not, and we hit it off right away. She’s the love my life. I looked at her and I just knew!

“We got married in August of 2019 and then we had Mia, my first daughter. Amazing. She’s our first child, but it was tough. It was right before Covid hit. So we had a Covid baby. No one helped us. We were on our own trying to juggle that and work at the same time. It was definitely tough. It put a strain on our marriage as I’m sure it did with a bunch of other people. But we got through it and I mean, and it’s beautiful. We had our second daughter, Emma, February of 2023. So she just turned one. She was a premature baby, six weeks premature. She was in the NICU for a week.”

“When we were able to bring her home after that week, my dog Mac who was my best friend, I got him in college when I was 19, got diagnosed with lung cancer. I had him for 12 years at that point and I just, I can’t explain it… it was so tough, trying to balance life with a premature, newborn baby, just getting her home and then knowing my dog was going to pass away. It was a lot. I got into another deep depression, didn’t really know how to handle my emotions.”

“Then Mac passed away and it’s still hard. And now I try to look at the beautiful things, the beautiful parts of it. Mac had some time with our newborn, Emma. He loved her, loved both the girls. It’s always going to be a loss deep in my heart, but I mean, as a man, you have to suck it up. You have to be there for your family. You have to go out and provide. It was a dark last year for me for sure. It was a down year for my business.”

A down year. But let’s put life in perspective for a moment and look back at how Jordan has responded.

First of all Jordan’s not alone. Everyone you will ever meet in your entire life is going through something. And Jordan’s something might be different than what you are experiencing in the moment. But the year before all of these life events happened, Jordan had produced $2.4 million in business with USHA. Last year, the “down” year, as Jordan refers to it, Jordan wrote only, $1.1 million! For many USHA agents, $1 million in business in a year is a dream not yet realized, and Jordan has already done that multiple times since coming to the company, even during the year he was facing several tough personal challenges.

Remember, it’s not what happens to you, it’s how you respond to what happens to you. And Jordan has not only responded, he’s excited about the future. He’s coming back full force.

“And so last year wasn’t the best,” says Jordan, “so I made it a point to say that 2024, it’s going to be a new year, right? I’m going to freaking kill it. I’m going to run, I’m going to hit the ground running and just kind of let last year be. It now lives in the past.”

To thrive in life, it’s constantly one foot in front of the other, kicking aside the obstacles and the adversity as they come, but always moving forward. Looking back, Jordan is slowly realizing he has done just that. He’s already faced a near-death experience and is still going step-by-step, every day, taking care of his business and his family.

“Obviously in life, everyone goes through their own things,” says Jordan. “You have to pick yourself up. You have to get out of that rut, whatever the case is, and just pursue what you’re meant to be on this earth for, right? So I mean now that when the whole brain surgery thing happened, I always said I’m here for a reason. It was my family, they are my destiny, to have these beautiful girls and be there and watch them grow up and walk them down the aisle someday. So no matter how hard things can be, it can always be worse, but you can always pick yourself up and just strive to be the strongest and best version of yourself.

A philosophy to live by. No matter what, pick yourself up… and keep moving forward.

Until next time, thanks for taking the time.

Your Storyteller,

Mark Brodinsky