Miami’s Insurance Queen: How Brianna Built #1 Office From the Ground Up

Paul Alex: Hey, guys, and welcome back to another Level Up podcast with Paul Alex. Guys, we have a phenomenal guest. Look, for all my agents out there that are in the healthcare system, okay, that you sell insurance. You help a lot of people, right? Well, I got a superstar. I am sitting right next to her right now, okay? Today's guest is a powerhouse in the insurance game. She goes by the name of Brianna. She's from Miami. She's built Miami's number one health insurance office from the ground up, guys, starting from training agents out of her apartment. That is called the trenches. Building something in the mud. I love that. She's helped her team close over $60 million in sales, leads with faith and discipline and lives by the mission helping other people every day. That's what I'm talking about. Get ready to hear how she went from ground zero to the top. Let's welcome Brianna to the Level Up.

Brianna: Thank you so much. I'm so happy to be here.

Paul Alex: Oh, man, I'm ready to dive in. I mean, just off the conversation we're talking about, you know, talking about self-help, talking about personal development. What have you done? Tell a little bit about yourself, a little bit of background to get us started right before you actually found insurance? Who is Brianna?

Brianna: Wow, that's a loaded question. But I feel like God placed me in insurance. It wasn't something that I was seeking. I grew up in Miami, born and raised, moved to Orlando with a group of friends that got into the insurance space, tried to get me into the insurance space, and I wasn't bought in on it. I grew up with very traditional parents that just wanted me to be a doctor, a lawyer, really nothing in between. Sales was not really glorified until I feel like recently. So I was in school to do that. And as soon as my friends did convince me to get my insurance license, I got a full ride scholarship to the University of Miami. So I said, I'm not doing it. I'm out. I moved down to Miami, graduated in May of 2018. And I just wanted a gap year. And that's what got me into insurance. And this gap year, I didn't know how else to make money while fueling my travels. I just really wanted to travel. And I heard about the concept of residual income. And I feel like that's what did it for me. Once I planted that seed in my head that how hard I work this week will not only pay me this week, but it'll pay me in years to come. I know that I am relentless when it comes to the pursuit of what I want. So I knew I would just bust my butt working really, really hard to make my dreams happen. So in that year, my goal was to build residual income of $4,000 a month to have steadily coming in while I was in law school. And in that year, I believe I built it to be about $7,200 a month while I was kind of half-assing it because I was traveling. So I called my dad. I'm like, "Dad, I'm sorry, I'm putting off law school for one more year. I'm going to give this one more year and see where it goes." And in that year, I just got my own WeWork space and then I would work out of my living room most of the time and I would just focus. The same way I tell my agents to work right now, I did that by myself in the trenches and I did really, really well. And that's kind of what birthed my office on accident. I was doing really good and I had a lot of friends ask me, "Hey, what are you doing? Can you teach me?" And here we are.

Paul Alex: I love that. So from beginning to end, when did you start?

Brianna: I started, so I graduated May of 2018. I didn't open up my own office until 2020, literally March 2020, right before COVID.

Paul Alex: Right before COVID.

Brianna: Yeah.

Paul Alex: Wow. I feel like 2020 changed a lot of people's lives.

Brianna: Oh, yeah.

Paul Alex: But you started in a time where a lot of people would have fear to get into sales. And you went all in. Was it because your friends had the influence or you've always been like that? You've always been decisive. Have you always been like, "Hey, I'm going to make this happen"?

Brianna: That's a really good question. I feel like I've always been like that.

Paul Alex: Yeah?

Brianna: Yeah.

Paul Alex: And why is that?

Brianna: My dad.

Paul Alex: Your dad?

Brianna: For sure.

Paul Alex: What did your dad do for a living?

Brianna: My dad was a Vietnam vet. And a Navy fighter pilot.

Paul Alex: Ah, that's what it is.

Brianna: Yeah. He's a winner.

Paul Alex: Yeah.

Brianna: He is a winner. And he raised me. I mean, we grew up with money, but he never gave me anything that I didn't need. He was fair. So if I wanted a watch, I'll never forget this. I wanted a watch. And he said, "OK, I'll go buy a watch from Kmart." And he looked at like the ugliest $5 watch that there is. And I was like, "Dad, I can't wear that." And he's like, "Well, what does a watch do?" I'm like, "Tell the time." He's like, "Does that tell the time?" I'm like, "Yeah." He's like, "So there you go. Anything past that, you work for." And he made me go home and do a bunch of chores. And that's always how he was. So I started working really young. I started working at 15 at a diner that I could walk to from my dad's house. And while he was gone a lot of the time, he was gone four or five days a week, I would just work whenever he was out of town.

Paul Alex: Traditional values. Showed you at a very young age. I can relate to that. I worked since 15 and a half. Bought all my cars in high school. I loved muscle cars. I would never take a dime from my mom. I come from a single mother household. We were in poverty. It was insane. But it showed me good work ethic. And that's awesome that your dad did that for you. Because same thing, I talked to my wife, Brittany. And we're going to have a boy here in the next three months.

Brianna: Congratulations.

Paul Alex: Thank you. And it's the same thing. My brother-in-law is currently at my house right now. And he asked me the other night, he's like, "Hey, dude, what's your plans for your son coming up?" Because it's coming up. And I'm like, "Dude, everything. I'm going to get him into sports. I'm going to show him common sense. I'm going to show him everything that I didn't have the opportunity as a kid." And what do you plan on doing with that topic? Do you plan on making him work really hard for stuff? Do you think you're going to spoil him?

Brianna: Oh, yeah. No, no, no, no, no. He's going to work. Trust me. Because if I work, my family works.

Paul Alex: Brittany, on the other hand, I did give her the option. I was just like, "Hey, babe, we're married now. You don't got to work if you don't want to." But she's incredible.

Brianna: Yeah, she's the sweetest person in this world.

Paul Alex: So with that being said, I like it. This is a good start. So a lot of people, when they start entrepreneurship or they go into sales, I always hear, "Well, I'm not good at sales. I'm not an extroverted type of person." Do you think that comes because they might come from the wrong environment? They might be around the wrong people? What do you say behind that? Because you hire a lot of people, you've trained a lot of sales individuals. So you know what characteristics a good salesperson has and a bad salesperson has. So what is your opinion on that?

Brianna: With my field, it's different because health insurance is not a sale. It's a necessity.

Paul Alex: You're selling me now. You're selling me now. That was smooth.

Brianna: Okay, I got you. So with me, I hire people just based off if I look into their eyes and I feel like they're a good person. And if I feel like you're a good person and you will put helping people first, you will make money. And if you put money first, you'll scare the people away. Because when it comes to health insurance, people just want to feel taken care of. They want to feel like you're paying attention to the conditions that they need covered. They want to feel like you're listening to them. A lot of people who are looking for health insurance outside of open enrollment, they just lost their job. They're going through a divorce. Whatever the situation is that just caused them to lose coverage. Maybe somebody got sick in the family. So that is what has them thinking about wanting to get health insurance. So if you're a caring person that puts people first, you'll succeed and it'll be really rewarding. And if you're not, then I don't hire you. That's what I base it off of.

Paul Alex: And let's say you're superstars because you are the sales leader of your organization. I mean, you didn't get lucky by getting your office specifically to $60 million in sales over a short amount of time. I mean, 2020, we're only five years in, right? So what would you say are the top three traits that your top salespeople have?

Brianna: Number one, coachable. You have to be coachable because our system is honestly flawless. I got six people that just started with me this week. We landed Sunday, haven't slept. And I give my new guys everything I got. And I know that eventually I'm going to scale and I'm going to be too big probably that I'm not going to be able to do that. But I'm really enjoying this phase where I'm super hands-on with training them on everything. And as long as you listen to what I tell you to do, I want it for most people more than they want it for themselves, which would probably be number two or number three. But I want it for you that badly. So if you listen to me, I will steer you to success. So number one is definitely being coachable. Number two is being disciplined. When motivation wears out, your habits have to continue to be routine. And I talk to people about this all the time. I think with discipline comes emotional consistency. I'd probably couple those together. So if on your worst day, you have the same habits that you have on your best days, you are in control of the outcome. If you let your emotions dictate your behavior and your habits, then you're going to wait to have a good day to make money. And then those good days are never going to come.

Paul Alex: Absolutely.

Brianna: And number three, I feel like believing in yourself and wanting it for yourself more than the people around you want it for you. And that's what stops a lot of people. It's just that confidence and that lack of belief.

Paul Alex: Right. In the very beginning, when you started in 2020, would you say that you were scaling as much as you're scaling now in your business and sales?

Brianna: For sure. Not as quality as I'm scaling now, because back then everyone was losing their job. So I had a lot of people reach out to me that I felt like weren't fit for it, but they were just like, "I have no other option. Everything is shut down. Please, I need to put food on the table for my family. Will you help me?" So I brought a lot of people on and tried to do whatever I could with a lot of people that ultimately ended up realizing that it probably wasn't for them. Some people have the 1099 mentality. Some people don't. But now I've never been happier with where I am at right now as far as a core group of people goes and the quality of the people that I'm bringing on. So I might get just a couple people a month, but those couple people are studs. My guys are hitting metrics that everyone in the company renders almost impossible to hit. If you do $250,000 in issued business in your first 13 weeks, that's really, really good. My guys are doing eight or nine with no help. The guys I'm bringing on right now are just studs.

Paul Alex: And do you have a young team?

Brianna: Yes, I do.

Paul Alex: What's the age range?

Brianna: Mostly in the 20s. But I'm trying to bring on a wiser crowd. I'm trying really hard. I just hired a guy this week who is a teacher of one of the 20 that I have. Very cool. And I'm trying to test it out. It's just a lot of work. So it beats up a lot of the older generation's body.

Paul Alex: Energy.

Brianna: Yeah. Energy, right? You've got to have that willpower to be a greater version of yourself if you wanted to hit those 18-hour days. But that comes back down to the food you eat. It comes down to your habits. It absolutely does. It comes down to working out. I had a whole lesson about that today. Your work ethic is not just about what you do in office. It's about what you do outside of it. Who are you hanging out with? What are you feeding your brain with? Are you just watching mindless stuff? Are you reading books and listening to podcasts? Are you having a hard time falling asleep because you're doing what you're not supposed to be doing right before you go to bed? Or can you just put your phone down and be with your thoughts? Wake up in the morning and journal before you pick up your phone. All these little things add to energy, which I think would help anybody no matter what age you are. But our generation is blessed to talk more about this stuff, I feel like.

Paul Alex: No, absolutely, especially with social media. Especially if a person like you, you go on social media, you talk about your experience. You have that level of authority now over the mass audience in the United States where you can actually talk about this, right? Compared to someone that doesn't have the social proof. And yeah, they could talk the same thing you're talking about, but it doesn't hold that much weight. Right? Because you have that level of success. So what would you say, since we're talking about success, how do you define success?

Brianna: I'd say being happy and living in your God-given purpose. I think that my purpose is to help people. So for me, I make a lot of money, but you can ask my boyfriend, you can ask anybody what I do with that money. I usually put it all back into the business or give it all away. So I don't define success by how much money I have. I define it by what I'm doing with it and how happy I am. So I'm happy because of how I help others. And I'm happy because I feel like God has given me blessings that I am using to fulfill whatever his will is for me. And I'm trying to pray to be very in tune with that. So to me, that's success. Because to me, success is not on earth, right? It's wherever I'm going to go after this. And I'm hoping it's to heaven. So I'm trying to live a life that gets me there. And that will be successful to me.

Paul Alex: Well, with me, I always go into, I don't hope for things. It's going to happen. You're going to make it happen.

Brianna: I love that.

Paul Alex: Right, that's right. And if you look at Emilio's sweater, turn around Emilio. [Emilio turns to show the back of his sweater] Read that real quick.

Emilio: [Reading from sweater] It's gonna work or it's gonna work.

Paul Alex: It's gonna work or it's gonna work. We make it happen. So at the end of the day, you will make it. Especially with your purpose. Your purpose is to help people. You help people, guess what? You're going to have an abundance of wealth. That's just the way it goes. I learned that a long time ago. But with that being said, I really like something that I'm going to touch on about being successful in all aspects of life. We have a couple friends in common, right? Tommy, Sierra.

Brianna: Shout out to Tommy Sierra. You guys are great. Love you guys.

Paul Alex: But there's something that their mentor and a person they work with, Andy Elliott, always says. Life by design. Right? What does life by design mean to you?

Brianna: Hmm. I think it comes down to what you just said, that whatever I want to happen, it's going to work or it's going to work. But then I think it also goes back to what I tell a lot of my agents. If you try to only be successful here, all of your eggs are in this one basket. So what happens if you have a bad day? You feel like you have a bad life. So you need to make sure to my guys that you are a good son. You need to make sure that you're a good boyfriend to your woman. You need to make sure that you're a good friend to your people. You need to make sure you're praying. You need to make sure you're going to the gym because you need to do something for you. You need to be working on who you are. So, for example, I'm the leader of the office and I tell them all the time, if the office went down tomorrow, I'm okay because I'm a good daughter and I'm a good girlfriend and I'm a good dog mom and I believe in God and I know that he's got me. All my eggs aren't in this one basket because I work on every aspect of who I am.

Paul Alex: I love that. So when you are constantly working on yourself, you're never going to feel like a failure because in general, you're still winning.

Brianna: Yeah.

Paul Alex: And I think a lot of people get lost in the sauce. I did. I got lost in the sauce in the past seven years back in 2019. Fell into deep depression. And then 2024, the best financial year I ever had in my life, but I was lost in the sauce. Why do you think? Well, it's not why do I think. This is the reason why it happened. I was managing two portfolio companies, two eight-figure portfolio companies. I ended up taking one-on-one business consulting. I had a business partner take $200,000 away from me. I had another business partner almost completely destroy one company.

Brianna: Wow.

Paul Alex: And actually, the one good thing, the saving grace, was I met the love of my life. That's a big thing. And got married, which was huge.

Brianna: Do you think you would have met her if you weren't in that vulnerable place? Or fallen for her if you weren't in that vulnerable place?

Paul Alex: That's a great question. It was the right time, right place. I was about to move to—no, we met before that. We actually got married last year in 2024, but we met towards the end of 2023. We started dating towards the end of 2023. So the deep depression happened in 2024 and it was because I let go of myself. I was 40 pounds overweight. [To Emilio] Emilio, did you give them a copy of the book yet? Can you grab a copy of the book real quick so I can show the audience? In the book, I actually gave it to a couple other guests earlier today. I'm going to give you guys two copies. Just read it whenever you have time. It's a short read, but it's really good. It's everything that happened up to this year. But if you look, guys, I want to show the camera. If you look at this person, I was 40 pounds heavier right here. And you can tell I had a freaking round ass face, dude. I mean, it is completely different person. But dramatically, I had a friend, Big Mike, Planet Mike. That's his nickname. He's the one who put everybody on to Mike. So I actually had to do with my gut. But see, the thing is, I never paid attention to health because I would always go to the gym. I was always like almost like a power lifter. I could move weight. The thing is, I stopped going to the gym. I stopped eating real food. I started eating processed food. I started ordering a lot of Uber Eats. Convenience, right, guys? Since COVID. And then on top of that, I was stressing about work.

Brianna: For men, what makes this? Testosterone.

Paul Alex: My T-level was at 300, guys. It was at 300. I was just like, wow, why do I feel so emotional?

Brianna: Right? All that estrogen.

Paul Alex: Crazy. It's crazy what you don't know. Until Mike was like, "Dude, let's do some blood work." Did the blood work, found out. Dude, low on T, estrogen's through the roof. I was in a dark place. I told one of my doctors, I was just like, "Dude, what's wrong with me? Medication is not working anymore." And medication, guys, let me explain to anybody that goes into deep depression. Medication is just a temporary patch. It is literally a Band-Aid. It is not for you to live on.

Brianna: I agree.

Paul Alex: Okay? It's to have you push through and then figure it out. So I was on it for four years. For four years. And it allowed me to function. I was very chill, as everybody likes to say.

Brianna: And what four years, 2020 to 2024?

Paul Alex: Yeah.

Brianna: Okay.

Paul Alex: Yeah. I was taking a low dosage of Prozac.

Brianna: And why did you start in 2020?

Paul Alex: In 2020? I was still in law enforcement in 2020. I had PTSD. I worked at the Oakland Police Department, one of the most dangerous cities in the world.

Brianna: Thank you for your service.

Paul Alex: Thanks. I loved it. I loved being a first responder. It was awesome. But I was battling my demons through there. We were talking about the spiritual world, right? And went through PTSD. Went through a lot of hard stuff, which then I forced myself to grow into entrepreneurship. I used all the pain and built a couple cool things, right? But until then, I was just like, "Dude, something's wrong with me. Let me talk to a doctor." Now, with everything that's happened in the past couple years with big pharma, it's coming to light. Guys, do your research. I know a lot of you guys, I can talk a lot about that in the health insurance. Do your research. It's big money. You might be giving these medications, and guess what? On top of more medication, more medications. Bullshit. No, no. There are things coming out now in this world where people can actually help you. They can biohack you. The word that everybody likes to use. Just like my friend, dude, no, I guarantee you, Paul, it has to do with your gut.

Brianna: And he was right.

Paul Alex: I had a messed up gut. I wasn't processing. Because that affects your hormones too. It affects everything.

Brianna: Yeah. It affects everything.

Paul Alex: So after we optimized myself, I got on TRT. And I know a lot of people are skeptical. A lot of men out there, they're like, "Dude, I don't want to get on steroids." Guys, you need testosterone. If you're low on T, it's because you're eating junk. And now in 2025, more than ever, there's a lot of 20-year-olds that have low testosterone because all the bad food out there. Wingstop, McDonald's, Wendy's. And then you feel like, "How come I don't have energy? How come I'm depressed? How come I'm not in the mood to do anything?" It's because you have low testosterone. So you have to take these blood tests in order to figure that out, right? So Mike saved my life. He really did. I've been off meds for the past four months.

Brianna: That's incredible.

Paul Alex: I feel like I'm back in my 20s. I have the clarity. I'm just locked and loaded.

Brianna: No, it's great.

Paul Alex: So to go back to what you were saying, Emilio can attest to this. I always say success is not defined by just finances. We can all make money, every single one of us. Yes, I believe that. But at the end of the day, what's it worth if you're depressed, if you're empty inside? So I'm a big believer in that, and being around good people. Tommy Sierra, my wife, Mike. I'm very, very cautious with who I am around. Because the one thing I will tell you, Brie, the one good skill that I took from being a detective, I read people very well. So I have that gut intuition, just like you, where if I meet somebody, I can tell, "Yeah, this person will stick with me for a very long time." And then I can tell when somebody has bad energy. I'm like, "No, you're here for the wrong reasons. I don't want you to be part of my position." It's a great gift, right? So let me ask you this. Tell me the part about starting training your team in your apartment. Did people think you were crazy doing that?

Brianna: Yeah, I'm sure.

Paul Alex: I mean, not people are open to open their home to train people. So what made you think of that?

Brianna: Again, I didn't think of it. I was just doing well. So I have a friend, his name is Nelson. He was doing well with me. Shout out to Nelson. He was doing well with me. And we were kind of like each other's accountability partner. And it was more so his network at first that was like, "Hey, I'd like to learn about what you guys are doing." And they just needed a place to work. And this is before we got a WeWork space or before we had an office. I was like, "Okay, come to my house eight in the morning. I open the doors for you." And this was a hard transition for me because I was a very successful personal producer. So I had trained a dialer that was—shout out to Mel. She was amazing. She was from the Philippines.

Paul Alex: And explain what a dialer is.

Brianna: So somebody who would call the leads that I would buy and set appointments for me.

Paul Alex: Perfect.

Brianna: And where most people go wrong with a dialer is they just figure that they're going to have the talent that they have. And that's not the case. You have to be very, very hands-on with them every day. When you stop checking their work, they stop caring. So me and her every single morning would have a call. We talk about what our goals are for the day, what the intention is for the day. Dialing as many calls as we could could get mundane. So we would set our purpose, right?

Brianna: We call people in 31 states in four different time zones. We're going to make 500 calls today. If we're lucky, we'll talk to 50 people. So we have the opportunity to spread light and love to those 50 people that we get on the phone with. And if you think of it like that, you get excited. You don't mind that no or that bit of rejection because I'm looking for that person that needs me or even the person who's giving me a hard time. I'm going to push past that to help them because I found purpose in it rather than just let my ego get in the way and fear the rejection.

Paul Alex: Right.

Brianna: So me and her had a great team. She would tell me what my appointments were for the day and I'd live my life outside of that. So it was a tough transition for me at first because I went from living life on my terms and traveling to, okay, come to my house. But if I'm going to teach you how to do this, I'm going to teach you how to do it right. So you don't have a dialer. You got to grind from 8 in the morning.

Paul Alex: I love that.

Brianna: So they'd get to my house at 8 in the morning. We'd grind all day until 8, 9, 10 p.m. I would actually train them to put a deal under somebody in Orlando because I wasn't their leader. And I'm so respectful to the hierarchy that I would train them, help them pitch the deal to have a leader ultimately take over it and let them split the commission 50-50 and not even take any of the commission off of it.

Paul Alex: That's amazing. You're a servant leader.

Brianna: So when it came time to pick a leader to step up, it was kind of the obvious choice that I cared so much. Everyone just knew like, okay, I've already been acting as if I've already been buying them lunch, giving them coffee, giving them leads even though I didn't make an override off them. I was already doing all of that. So everyone just kind of picked me. But it wasn't until, funny enough, that I lost my mom in 2023. So imagine I was a leader for three years and it wasn't until I lost my mom in 2023 that I feel like I picked to be a leader for the first time.

Paul Alex: Wow.

Brianna: So those three years was just a lot. It was a lot of go, go, go. I mean, they just flashed before my eyes. A lot of success. I'm very grateful for all of it. But I was definitely getting lost in the sauce for sure.

Paul Alex: For sure.

Brianna: And then after I lost my mom in 2023, I was so depressed. Like, it was really, really bad. That's what I was telling him. Like, God bless him for being as strong as he is. I was not. I was down bad.

Paul Alex: Right.

Brianna: And I went to my office and I told them I'm done. I'm walking away. I can't do this. You guys should not follow my lead because I don't know where I'm going right now. And they turned to me and said, "No, we're not letting you leave. We're bringing you back in here. We're sending you to the gym. We're making sure that you eat." Because I was like, I don't know how small I was, but at least 20, 30 pounds lighter than what I am right now. They were making sure that I eat. "We're taking you to church. We're getting you in therapy. Like, we're going to help you." And then a couple months after that, I remember it clicking, like me just being there and being like, okay, I don't want to be anywhere else. And that was the first time that I felt like I chose to be in leadership. And since then, it's been very black and white for me. Like, I don't take any, I don't drink coffee. I don't drink energy drinks. Like, I don't do anything crazy to keep me going. But I'm there from like 7:45 in the morning until 10 p.m. most nights, and I just have so much energy for it because it's what I love to do.

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Paul Alex: That's amazing. And the fact that you lost someone that you love that was there since you were a kid, man, God bless you. Seriously. Because I'm very close to my family. My mom, yeah, she's a little chihuahua with a lion's voice. But at the end of the day, I love you, Mom. All right. Don't get mad. Don't get mad, please. But yeah, when I lost my dad, actually, that was in 2020. That was part of the reason why I got depressed, my biological dad. I lost my biological dad. And then my mom had a mini stroke. My stepdad went on dialysis. It was just like the people that I grew up with. It was one after the other, one after the other. And then the biggest needle mover, guys, in 2019, the beginning of it, the beginning of like the worst feeling ever where you don't want to even get up, dude. And you're like, dude, what is wrong with me? I never felt this in like 28 years, 29 years. And at the beginning, a DUI. It sucked.

Brianna: Wow.

Paul Alex: Bad. Yeah, I can imagine. So, guys, if we could come up from tragedies in our life, you guys can do it too. Whether you're listening to this, you're going through the worst moment of your life, trust me, there will be a light at the end of the tunnel. That's what I tell everybody. Use the pain, go ahead, and just push through. It will get better. So, let's go ahead and talk about what's something about the insurance business that beginners always get wrong?

Brianna: Easy. I feel like I'm tying this into my previous answer, but that it's about money. It's not. It's about helping people. If you go into the insurance business just to make money, you're not going to make any. You're not going to survive.

Paul Alex: Nope.

Brianna: And if you go into, and you're going to get lost. Let's say you do beat the odds because you're super talented and you make money. You are going to become lost, depressed. You're not going to have a purpose. I don't care what anybody says. We're all children of God. At the end of the day, you have a purpose to, in my opinion, to serve other people or to be kind to one another. I don't believe that people are innately bad. I mean, you've probably seen a lot more than I've seen. That's just my optimism. So I believe that if you come into the insurance business and you prioritize helping people, you're going to love it. And if you come into it because there's so much money right now, the insurance industry is producing more millionaires than any other industry in America. In our company specifically, Troy McQuig, our CEO, he has produced more self-made millionaires in his sales force than any other sales force in American history. Like just really incredible. So of course it's easy to get lost in how lucrative it is.

Paul Alex: The flash.

Brianna: Yeah, for sure. But you'll get lost. If you prioritize just helping people, it's sustainable. You're going to make a lot of money. You're going to be happy doing it. You're going to be a good person. And I feel everyone gets that wrong. They come into it just for the money.

Paul Alex: No, absolutely. So let's talk about mindset real quick.

Brianna: Okay.

Paul Alex: With me, I feel like I had to go through the trenches of being a detective, being a police officer, almost dying multiple times in my prior position in law enforcement to build me up to face what I face on a daily basis with entrepreneurship. Because as you guys know, entrepreneurship is not meant for everybody.

Brianna: No.

Paul Alex: You need to be solution driven.

Brianna: Yeah.

Paul Alex: So since you have faced adversity yourself, you've been in the darkest moments losing a parent, which is very heartbreaking. When you face doubt or hard times, what do you tell yourself to keep going now?

Brianna: That's a really good question. I pray.

Paul Alex: You pray.

Brianna: Yeah. And it wasn't just losing my mom. I lost my aunt that I was really close to when I was five. Then I lost my uncle that I was really close to when I was about like seven. Then I lost my other uncle. Then I lost my grandpa who I was super close to. And he was killed. That was very sudden. And I lived with them at the time. That was a lot. Then I lost my other uncle. Then I lost my grandma who was my world. Then I lost my mom. So I don't think that I would naturally be the kind of person that just faces adversity so headstrong because I'm naturally very emotional. Like I'm naturally very soft. I'm very sentimental. I'm very empathetic. Like I feel someone's pain and I cry for somebody else probably more than I cry for myself.

Paul Alex: Yeah.

Brianna: And it was life that made me tough and gave me thick skin. And I look at all of that as a blessing, one, because I believe they're all in a better place. So it's easier for me to find that light. And I think that's why I believe in God so heavily. If I didn't believe in God, I don't know if I'd be here. Like, actually, that's how much depression I probably would have felt. So when I have to face adversity now, it's just really easy to be like, I've been through worse. Like, I got to keep going. It's just a habit for me now. I got to get up. I got to keep going. I'll pray. I'll turn to God. God's close to the brokenhearted. And more than anything, I just feel like your little habits, Atomic Habits is a good book. I feel like the habits that you have work for you or against you. So when I know that I'm down bad, I will do a workout. I'll read, I'll journal, I'll try to—we live on the water—so I try to spend time just looking at the water and being grateful for what I have with my dogs. All these little things that make you want to keep going. And then I think of the people who depend on me.

Paul Alex: Wow.

Brianna: And then I'm like, okay, I got to show up for them. So on my worst days, I'm notorious for no one will know. Like I'm very good at putting on that face to show up and be there for you and you will sense no difference in my energy.

Paul Alex: Likewise. No, I feel you on that one, Bree. I think it's a superpower. I think it's a superpower that you have emotional intelligence, to be honest. You're very aware.

Brianna: Thank you.

Paul Alex: Which is unique because a lot of people are not.

Brianna: They are not. They're not able to read people. They're not able to go ahead and be like, yo, I need to get past this because a lot of people rely on me. I've been through worse.

Paul Alex: I think one of the needle movers that you said, I like to call, is it can always be worse.

Brianna: Yeah.

Paul Alex: We're breathing. We have food on the table. We have people that love each other, right?

Brianna: Yeah.

Paul Alex: At the end of the day, there's so many people that are like, "Oh, dude. Oh, why does that have to happen to me?" I'm like, bros, quit with that BS.

Brianna: I know. That drives me nuts.

Paul Alex: It can always be worse, okay?

Brianna: Yeah.

Paul Alex: You have a few people tell you no. Did you die, bro?

Brianna: Did you die?

Paul Alex: But I'm also very solution-oriented like you.

Brianna: Very. Yeah.

Paul Alex: I'm, that's a very, honestly, it's a pet peeve of mine. I'm very patient. That's a place where I'll lose patience. You come to me with a problem. You come to me with a solution.

Brianna: Speaking to the choir.

Paul Alex: Let's make it happen.

Brianna: Yeah. Solution-driven. Let's go.

Paul Alex: Yes. So what would you tell people right now that possibly they're like, hey, I like Brie. I may want to try insurance. What would be the first step if let's say somebody wanted to be recruited by you?

Brianna: Reach out to me on the Usha Miami Instagram. So USHA underscore Miami. DM us and say that you're looking for a life change. I only bring on people who are 100% serious about making a 100% commitment because I give you 100% of me. And if you are, then I'm willing to help anybody change their life the way that my life has been changed.

Paul Alex: And based on your most successful agents and recruits, what characteristics are you looking for? And I know we talked about characteristics. But once again, this is a very beginner-friendly podcast where it's people that need self-help, mindset, people that are looking for different sources of income, opportunities, and just an uplift. So they heard your story. What traits are you looking for?

Brianna: I'd say somebody who is coachable. And just to elaborate more on that, if you come into my office, I'm going to give you a script to read. I'm going to give you free leads that are very high quality that I buy, that the conversion on is great. And I'm going to tell you how to work them. I'm going to send you to the gym, whether you like it or not. We have a gym break and I'm going to send you to the gym. I'm going to watch what you eat. I call it positive peer pressure.

Paul Alex: Yeah.

Brianna: And I actually got a lot of that from Andy and Jackie and the Elliott group. I now make people sign a mental waiver. Like, are you okay with me calling you up? Are you okay with me positively peer pressuring you? I'm not going to tell you to go out and drink. I'm not. And I used to make those mistakes in the past. But on this path now, I only want to call people to be a better version of themselves.

Paul Alex: Absolutely.

Brianna: So whatever your beliefs are, I don't inflict my beliefs. So I have a lot of Muslim guys in my office that if that's your belief, go pray. I'm going to send them to prayer and not get distracted by their work all day. I just want you to be coachable so that I can help you become the version of yourself that I'm going to believe in you to be. That'll make you and your family and everybody proud.

Paul Alex: So what I'm hearing is, Brie is here to level you guys up. Okay, Brie, so what's in the future? What are the cards in the future in front of you? You're very solution-driven. Obviously, if you're very solution-driven, you've been able to have this much authority, much impact and influence on people. You have a vision for the future. So the next 12 months, what do you see?

Brianna: Oof, that's easy. 2024 was a rebuilding year after everything I lost in 2023 when my mom died. This year, everything is just aligning, especially after getting coached one-on-one with the Elliott group. I'm going to blow up this year, but I'm going to blow up my vision. I know I'm going to make it happen, no matter who says it's impossible, is to bring on a good amount of people while not sacrificing the quality of the people that I bring on.

Paul Alex: Nice.

Brianna: And have a team that moves as a unit the way that these guys do in Arizona. A team that pushes each other to level each other up. A team of leaders that are all just encouraging each other to be the best version of themselves. Not convenient friends. Real friends that are calling you out. "Hey, lock in." I want that. And I'm going to have that. People that their work life is so integrated with their personal life that their wives are excited that they're coming to work with us because we're making them a better version of themselves. A real community that's not just about insurance. End of 2025, I'm going to make it happen.

Paul Alex: Yeah. It has to work or it has to work.

Brianna: It's going to work. It's already working.

Paul Alex: Love it. Love it. No, that's great. And it goes back to culture.

Brianna: Yes.

Paul Alex: Culture is everything in business. And I've always preached that ever since I started entrepreneurship. I was like, I want to build a badass team. I want people to be happy coming to work. And they just push it to the limit, right?

Brianna: That's awesome.

Paul Alex: So let's talk about social media real quick.

Brianna: Okay.

Paul Alex: You have a great social media following. I've looked at your content. I looked at Usha's content. Any plans on expanding on personal brand? What do you think about personal branding?

Brianna: Yeah, I have to expand on that. Speaking of culture, I have a great culture. So it's really easy for me to get caught up in just the entertaining stuff that we post. But I was getting some great feedback from Trey. And I know that you can go to my page and you don't really know what we do. So I want to expand more on making it clear what we're doing and how we're actually helping the people that we're bringing on. Not just that we have a good time, because yes we have a good time, but we have a good time because of what we're doing which is helping people. And personal branding, I shied away from that in 2023. I was huge on social media before and then I guess I just didn't feel comfortable being in front of the camera all the time because I felt broken. Now I feel healed. So I would like to expand the way that you have.

Paul Alex: Okay. So social media branding, growing on that. Here's one question. And I usually talk about this in the very beginning, but I was caught up on your journey. Your journey is very, very good. Small wins. Give us a client success story. Someone that you guys have helped through your service that you're like, dude, this story's fire. This is why we do this.

Brianna: I was just talking about it today. I have a lady client. Her name is Felicia. I don't know if I can say her name, but her name is Felicia. She lived in Georgia. And she was just the sweetest. Everybody that she had talked to before she talked to me treated her like a dollar sign, treated her like there was just money to be made. And she just wanted to be explained her options and educated on getting health insurance. I have the kind of conversations with my clients that you were having about big pharma. I have had women get on the phone with me and talk about how all they have is migraines as a preexisting condition. I'm like, okay, what medication do you take for that? And it's a medication that treats men's prostate. And I'm like, have you looked up this medication and what it treats? And then I will explain to people, your doctor facilities make more money off pharmaceutical companies than they make off you. That's why they're so quick to write you prescriptions. Don't just take everything that you get. So this is the kind of relationship I built with Felicia and she ended up getting cancer. She beat it. But in the process of getting cancer she was really taken care of and she sent me the most beautiful testimony about how she feels I helped save her life.

Paul Alex: That's awesome. I love that. You're making a bigger impact than just selling health insurance and that's what it's about.

Brianna: Exactly. And a lot of our health insurance is health-based, so you get discounts the healthier you are, so you get more coverage for less. I can't tell you how many people I've saved so much money. They were paying like a mortgage for their health insurance, like $2,600 a month out of Nevada.

Paul Alex: Wow.

Brianna: And I'm getting them insane coverage for like $600, $700, $800.

Paul Alex: Yeah. For a grand? For health insurance? That's insane.

Brianna: And then I'll get them a plan for like $800 or $900 with more coverage. And they will cry and be like, "The difference that you're saving me monthly is going to help us get our son a tutor."

Paul Alex: 100%.

Brianna: "It's going to help us go on a family vacation that we feel like we haven't been able to afford." Like just really beautiful stuff. We had one guy. This is still beautiful, but it's more cool. We had one guy who was 32 years old overcome a stress because he was an entrepreneur. This was Nelson's client, so the guy that I started with. He sold him a critical illness cash benefit payout that, God forbid he were to be critically ill, he'd get $90,000. So he's 32 years old, he has a stroke, but he's fine. Calls Nelson, he's like, "Yo, I just had a stroke." Nelson's like, "Dude, are you okay?" And he's like, "Yeah, I'm fine. But if I could show that I had a stroke, can I get that check?" Showed that he had a stroke, got the $90,000 check, and went and had fun with it.

Paul Alex: Wow. I didn't even know that was possible.

Brianna: Yeah.

Paul Alex: Guys, many of you guys have a stroke. My stepdad had like two heart attacks last year because he doesn't follow the rules with dialysis. Dude, you can't be drinking Celsius. What's wrong with you? With that being said, okay, I'm not going to bring personal business into this. Pablo, I love you. No, it's good to know. I mean, I guess my parents are away. I'm just saying. Okay? All right, guys. Now, to wrap up this awesome interview with Bree. Bree, this is the level up, okay? You're going to have 100,000 people per day download this episode when it comes out. It's going to be cool, right?

Brianna: That's awesome.

Paul Alex: We're currently ranked number one in business. Today we're ranked number 19 in all categories, number 19 in all categories, which is awesome. We're even ranked number 19 in the Philippines, which is pretty cool because we had a guest. There's a lot of hustlers in the Philippines.

Brianna: Yeah.

Paul Alex: We had a guest that was going to start credit card processing and just target Filipino-based businesses. But here's the smart part about this, and this is why I love interviewing entrepreneurs because you think outside the box. He's going to name his business Pinoy Business and then he's going to hire virtual assistants from the Philippines that speak the language and only target Filipino businesses. I was like, that's genius.

Brianna: That is genius. Genius because they feel comfortable with the language. Foundation. Instant trust.

Paul Alex: That is genius, right? So hey, you don't know what you don't know.

Brianna: That's true.

Paul Alex: Right? Okay cool. So audiences right here speaking to this camera. Let them know. Give us some words of motivation so they can level up in 2025 as well.

Brianna: I'd say it comes down to your habits. Your habits either work for you or against you. And you have the power to change everything in your life just with the daily little things that you don't think matter that compound. A little journaling of gratitude every single day will mean at the end of your worst day ever, when you feel like you have nothing to be grateful for, it's going to force you to think about the fact that you're breathing. It's going to force you to think about the fact that you live in America, that you have access to electricity. It's going to force you to be grateful. And I think that success comes through manifesting and the law of attraction. I think that you attract what you put out there. And if you can make a bunch of daily habits like cold rinsing, like research what's good for you the same way that you spend time watching Love Island. I just said that today. I was like, stop watching Love Island. Take the time to research what makes you a better person the same way you take that time to research what's going on in other people's lives. And if you work on yourself and your mind and your body the same way that you work on all this mindless stuff and get rid of distraction, you will become 1% better every single day. And at the end of this year, you won't even recognize who you were today. And don't wait to get started. If you wait to be perfect, you'll never get started. Just start right now.

Paul Alex: Boom. Just something for you today and that's the level up. Guys, love it. Brie, where can my audience find you?

Brianna: Instagram. Brie Matthiesen. B-R-I-M-A-T-T-H-I-E-S-E-N. It's a really long name. And then the business Instagram is USHA underscore Miami.

Paul Alex: Awesome. Awesome. Are you doing any keynote speeches anytime soon in Miami?

Brianna: No, I'm not. Not anytime soon.

Paul Alex: You need to speak. People need to hear it.

Brianna: You'll look for me in the future.

Paul Alex: Thank you. Guys, that wraps up this phenomenal interview. Make sure to leave a five-star review on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and on YouTube. Guys, push us to top five in all categories. Come on. We need to be next to Rogan, guys. Come on. Let's make it happen, right? Emilio, come on, dude. Push it to the limit. With that being said, guys, thank you. We'll catch you on the next one.

Brianna: Thank you.

Paul Alex: Thank you.