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My
Story
A lot of people think that successful companies are just
“hatched” or born. One day you go to bed and the next
day a new Starbucks pops up. Well that story is somewhat
true, at the pace that great organization is expanding,
there will be one on every corner. But Starbucks didn’t
start yesterday, it started all the way back in 1971 –
over 30 years ago.
There is a sequence or a process of evolution to all
great organizations, struggle then victory, painful
growing experience then success, it rarely happens any
other way. The story of John Navin and Financial Designs
is fairly similar.
I attended college at Truman State University in
Kirksville, Missouri. It was a wonderful place with new
experiences to be explored, new people to meet, and the
joy of going to school 7 hours from home. The college
lessons were great but what I truly enjoyed were the
sports of wrestling and rugby – and let’s not forget the
fraternity life (a front to drink beer under age and
meet new people).
Four and a half years later, I wasn’t exactly on the
“Deans” list and I was ready to get out of scholastics
and into real life. After I graduated, I moved back to
Chicago, Illinois.
The first job landed was at a company called Safety
Kleen. It was a great organization, a Fortune 500
Company; they offered all the benefits to those seeking
to become a “Corporate Man”. I worked long hours,
achieved three promotions in the first year and became a
sales manager. The feeling of achievement certainly out
weighed the fatigue and the lack of balance….at first.
But then the issue began: The more successful you were,
the better the numbers had to be, and the less they
seemed to appreciate you. Upper management didn’t care
about your ideas, they already had them all. You
couldn’t change anything for the better since it may
rock the boat somewhere and people and their well being
were not the number one concern - money and hitting
quota were. This was a good company, not as good as
Starbucks but a decent organization. In the process;
however, I realized it was about the numbers and not
about helping people.
So, after four years of trying to make the world a
better place, I promptly received a demotion (amazing
what happens to your attitude when your vision changes)
and that totally burned out feeling had arrived – it was
time for me to move on. Mind you my wife was at home
Pregnant!! When the “great job” went away it definitely
left a void. We were accustomed to a nice lifestyle,
used to living on $110,000/year (we thought that was
huge), having four weeks paid vacation, a company car,
and all the benefits. The real trouble began when it
sank in that we were making a buck but spending two.
There was Big Trouble Brewing. Somehow I didn’t see that
we were in trouble!
The “Big Man on Campus” turned into the small, deflated
man who drives his parents extremely used car… he
couldn’t afford one. What a lesson! But when you have a
dream and a desire to have something more, it will
appear. It may not be in the form you are expecting, but
it will show up. This is the first step to entering the
Insurance industry.
A year into selling health and life insurance for a
company called Design Benefit Plans, I begain utilizing
my great energy, sales ability, and talents to help
people and life started to look better. But shortly
after that first year, I discovered a few eye opening
experiences. It was nice to have helped get my family
get out of debt, buy my own car, and get stable, but
something seemed weird. I discovered at that time the
way they were operating their business was faulty. We
could only sell one company’s product with two or three
different options. They kept raising the prices on
premiums, their claims were slow in paying, and agents
would come through the door only focusing on what they
could sell today, not concerned about creating a
lifestyle and certainly not concerned about the benefit
to the client. When you put those items together you
have a recipe for disaster. Yes, you can guess what
happened next…the company I worked for went bankrupt.
Well here we go again, what to do now? The only thing I
could think of, being convinced that my future was going
to be bigger than the past, I started FINANCIAL DESIGNS
INC. I went to my wife and said “I know this sounds
crazy, but I want to spend $15,000 (which we didn’t
have) on a seminar system”. She said “Well John, I
believe in you, go for it”. So away we went.
The first year was spent contacting existing clients and
taking care of their issues outside of just health
insurance. We added some more benefits into the mix as
well - life insurance, disability, and long term care
products. About 2/3 through my first year someone said
to get my securities license and sell mutual funds.
Makes sense to me. I studied my butt off and passed the
test. Once I got licensed to sell securities, the
seminar aspect exploded for me. I quickly discovered
that the art of speaking gets better the more you do it
(we’re still in demand to speak at libraries, churches,
civic groups, and for the general public).
This is when I also started to become a student….a
student of life - reading books, diving deep into
concepts about financial strategies, learning ways to
improve not only my client’s lives, but mine. The more I
discovered, the more value I offered my clients, and the
more joy came in. It was, and still is, extremely
exciting to see people set a goal, invest for it, and
achieve it. It is getting the call or note that says,
“Wow, John you changed my life, Thank you!” The more
success you seem to achieve the more you want to help
other people do the same.
These small steps of success catapulted me into the next
phase of growth. It was about 5 years ago in the year of
1998. I was thirsting for more knowledge and it came in
the form of a business and personal coach. Joining the
Corporate Strategies and Solutions program, and working
closely with one of my mentors, Bill Bartlett, was
extremely rewarding and beneficial. Bill has taught me
more about sales, life, and growth than any other man.
Our weekly meetings on personal development still hold a
dear spot in my heart. I have worked on and off with
Bill since our first meeting and I will always be
blessed having him as my first coach.
The second coaching program I was involved with was
Strategic Coach and Dan Sullivan. Being a member of
their program for three years taught me how to think
like an entrepreneur. Creating our process and
systemizing all of our benefits so clients can really
understand how the program works. Under their guidance,
the team (forgot to tell you over the past couple of
years we added employees) created our flagship product
“Destiny By Design”, a program designed to help clients
discover what they truly want, analyze their strengths
and dangers, create a plan, position assets, and monitor
progress. All of our programs have a proven track record
and work tremendously well.
Currently I am being coached by two additional groups:
One of which is Buffini and Company whose focus is
primarily on developing relationships and working
exclusively by referral. This program has been a pillar
in our company for the past two years and we have
implemented such novelties as the “pop-by”, database
management, proactive client contact, client parties,
and sending clients ‘items of value’ to let them know we
appreciate them. The other coaching group is called
Glazer-Kennedy. They are helping us to incorporate ways
to further expand our message to a more diverse group.
The processes and systems that we created have proven to
be extremely successful, leading us to higher demand.
The Glazer-Kennedy group is helping us create a platform
which can be delivered world wide.
The desire to always be better, thirsting for knowledge,
helping people, and realizing that we are only on this
earth a short time drives us to make our future bigger
than our past. It is my hope that you take a moment to
join us for an upcoming tele-seminar, a live seminar,
complete your income analysis, have us conduct a tax
saving strategy, or just sign-up to come in for a visit.
Whichever way you feel more comfortable to learn more
about us, please do.
I look forward to meeting you soon,
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