In 1993, I opened my own insurance agency with $1,000 in a checking account and no plan B. I’d taken a job as an insurance rep right out of college, and less than a year later, I started the business.

I was nowhere close to an expert, but I’d learned enough about the insurance world to feel confident getting started. My first sale was a general liability policy for a plumbing company: a $6,000 premium. The carrier paid me a 15% commission and on a Friday morning, I woke up to the $900 I had made.

Monday, I woke up and thought, “I guess I have to do that again.” That’s it. That’s the business philosophy I started out with. A friend used to call what I was doing “slinging hash” –– the daily grind of cold calling and selling one policy at a time. 

That agency was the starting point for what would eventually become Venbrook. More than 30 years later, I still use that phrase to describe what building and sustaining a successful business looks like day to day.
I didn’t have the most experience or talent in the room back then, and I still don’t believe that’s what separates people who build something successful from people who don’t. In my experience, success comes down to something much simpler: outwork everyone else, consistently. 

Consistency is the differentiator 
Plenty of people can work hard for a month, or even a year. But far fewer are willing to work harder than everyone else consistently, without anyone watching or applauding.

One of our most successful leaders at Venbrook just turned 70 and still outworks colleagues half his age. What sets him apart isn’t a single great year or standout accomplishment. More so, it’s the fact that he’s shown up the same way for decades. This level of consistency compounds in ways a hot streak never could. It’s also, frankly, hard to compete with. When someone is doing great work every single day, and the person across the table isn’t willing to match the effort, the gap between them –– in terms of what they’re able to accomplish –– eventually becomes enormous.

That’s true of an individual career, and it’s true of a company. Lasting businesses aren’t the ones with the flashiest quarters, but the ones applying the same effort long after initial motivation wears off. 

It shows up in how you serve clients 
I grew up playing basketball, and one big lesson that has stuck with me from those early years is that you get better by putting in the work nobody sees –– the early morning workout session, or those extra 15 minutes of solo practice when the rest of the team heads out. 

The same is true in business. When you’re consistently outworking the competition, it shows up in tangible ways: you know a client’s business better because you’ve spent more time in it, and you can bring them solutions faster because you’ve already done the digging. Early on, that speed and depth was the only real edge we had against firms with more resources. Ultimately, it’s how you build a strong reputation. 

It’s what I look for in people 
I credit much of our growth at Venbrook to recruiting genuinely great people, the kind who’ve already built a track record of working harder than everyone around them. When I’m evaluating whether to bring someone into the business –– whether that’s a new hire or company we’re considering –– I’m not looking for the most polished resume in the room. Most of the time, I’m looking for alignment: do we see the work the same way? Are they willing to put in effort when no one’s tracking it?

I’ve learned that alignment only happens if you have the hard conversations early on. Be clear about what you expect from someone, and just as clear about what they should expect from you. I’ve made plenty of mistakes on this front by skipping that step, and the clear lesson each time: talent can get someone in the room. It’s the willingness to keep showing up, even when it feels difficult, that determines whether they build a lasting career.  

There are no shortcuts 
People always ask for the secret to building and sustaining a successful business. If there is one, it’s not much of a secret at all: consistently outwork the people around you, especially when no one’s watching. Everything else –– growth, the team, the reputation –– comes from doing that long enough.