The office is like walking onto Main Street in the 30’s. A fire pole spans from the ground to the blue skied ceiling that’s eerily similar to Caesar’s Palace in Vegas. A popcorn machine sits in front of a wall exposing a few painted bricks and an old school car with the license plate reading ‘Joyest.’ Employee placards are displayed proudly with ‘addresses’ marking the start date for their length of service. Joy Estes has one outside of her office reading, Joy’s Junction, 1982.

Joy Estes, the owner of this place, greeted us with road atlases and hugs in a State Farm jersey. Here are a couple questions we asked her about being an insurance agent.

Why go to such extremes to decorate your office this way?

This is where most of your life takes place when you’re awake. Why wouldn’t you want it to be your dream? I try to make it nice for everyone.

What’s an insurance agent do?

In a nutshell, I help individuals, families, and businesses select insurance policies that provide the best protection for their lives, health, and property. I love what I do because I get to be the hero. I get to be the solution. When someone gets in an accident, the doctor tells them they have a problem by diagnosing what’s wrong. Their lawyer outlines their problem for them. The banker is going to tell them they’ve got the problem. Well guess what? I’m the solution to their problems, because I’m the one with the checkbook. And I get to be their hero when I cut their check, instead of the goat.

Right now the insurance business is probably one of the only businesses to be doing well in these economic times. Why is that?

There’s no other business where your clients and revenue compounds and stacks upon each other. It’s all built on relationships. If I can build a good relationship with a client at the start, that will create a long lasting revenue stream. Because everyone needs insurance. So you work really hard at the start to get the clients, and be the solution to their insurance needs, and then it gets really easy for them to renew. Because no one wants to change their insurance once they’ve signed on. It’s too much work. So you just have to make sure that they’re happy, and by a result of them being happy, you’re happy because you’ve got a new check coming in every month. It’s a great business to be in.

You were the first female to be admitted to West Point. Mind telling us how that happened?

Yes, I was the first female to be admitted into West Point Military Academy. It started in high school. I got really good grades and I really excelled in athletics. One day I got a letter addressed to Jim Estes, not Joy. They must have thought I was a boy! I decided to roll with it and apply anyway. On July 4th, 1976 I became the first woman to be admitted. I started with about 200 other girls in the program. Then I got a call from my high school volleyball coach, asking me to come back to Arizona and marry him. So I did. I dropped out after eight weeks in the program and ran back to Arizona to marry this guy. But, it didn’t work out. I wish I could say I graduated from West Point, but the story didn’t happen that way.

What other qualifications do you need to be an insurance agent?

This business is about people and relationships. You have to be able to build trust with people. I’m a hugger. I hug everyone who walks in my doors. I hugged you guys, didn’t I?

You did.

I graduated from NAU with an elementary education degree. My dad hired me as a staff person. After awhile he suggested I get my own agency. So I started the process of becoming an agent with State Farm, taking an aptitude test, going through training and interviews, and they awarded me with my own agency opportunity. At 22, I got my first client, Edith Brown. I’ve been in the business for 27 years now.

After college, California author Rick Barrera found himself out of a job. Although he helped establish a store, under the tutelage of a retail marketing guru and mentor, and was well on his way to buying it, the opportunity instead went to the family of the owner. The son of a restaurateur, Rick set out to find a way to
communicate all that he had learned in his life, to the world in need of inspiration, and coaching in the tumultuous world of sales.

What came of his attempt are numerous books about scrupulous marketing, something Rick sees as lacking in today’s society.

“Integrity,” says Rick, “Is key to everything. It’s clarity of values, doing what you say you’re going to do.” Rick’s books offer his method of selling without misleading, gimmicks, or dishonesty. Rick focuses on a customer oriented sense of business, where seeing from the customer’s point of view is vital. Everything from the connotation of words used, to the empathy required to understand the
fickle choices of customers. When asked for advice to those searching for their path, Rick offers this: “Even if you don’t have financial success for some reason, make sure to enjoy every day of what you’re doing.”

At 47, Sandi Serling decided to start riding motorcycles. She is not an action junky, nor is she crazy, but her love of the motorcycle is palpable. On her 46th birthday, the self-employed P.R. agent jumped out of an airplane; halfway down, she thought, “I want to ride a motorcycle.” “To be successful in your work,” Sandi says, “You need to be a bit of a maverick.” Sandi uses motorcycles as a metaphor of what she does; the motorcycle is risky, much like self-employment, but risk is rewarded with great gain.

A vivacious extrovert, Sandi loves the attention she receives from riding, noting that her bike has helped land a, client or two. “If you’re not passionate about what you do,” Sandi warns, “You’re life is going to be miserable.” Passion is an important concept for Sandi, because as a publicist, she must be able to embody those things she represents. Success, in Sandi’s eyes, leaves no stone unturned, and no path unexplored. Sandi is in the process of exploring those paths, and judging the smile and constant laugh that accompany her, the exploration has been considerably joyful.

At 22, living at home after graduation and working for a large financial services corporation as an account executive, Brian did not find his passion, but rather found vital experience in the corporate world. After a few years, including a short stay in a log cabin in Wisconsin, Brian accepted a transfer opportunity to Phoenix. After four years with his initial company Brian followed one of his mentors into what he thought would be a diligent business move. This company soon folded his division and Brian received his first severance package. This led to a Phoenix Coyotes game and a Jobing.com advertisement that would change the course of Brian’s life forever.

Although Brian intended to use Jobing.com to find a job, he instead found himself working for Jobing. The first day, in Brian’s words, was “atrocious,” but the second day, which brought his first sale, set in motion what would soon become not a job, but a passionate career.

Since that day, Brian has advanced from the sales floor to his current position, Senior VP of Operations. Along the way, he has seen a company grow from humble beginnings into something unique in the corporate world: an efficient, effective entity that has not lost even an ounce of personality. The man has seen himself through college, through many jobs, and now finds himself with the ability to help others feel the sense of satisfaction he feels every day at work.

Brian’s passion is palpable, and he offers advice to anyone coming from humble beginnings. “I don’t have rich parents. If I want to make anything of my life and provide for my wife and two daughters, I need to plant a flag and go out and get it.”

This motto, combined with a positive attitude, is a true mantra of success.

Twenty years from now, 99% of the people you know will have a life that is more difficult than the one they are living today. They will work harder and longer, have more responsibilities to worry about and will be stuck in a “this” and then “that” mentality. (”This” meaning a job that brings no fulfillment but is financially rewarding and “that” meaning the passion or dream that they can pursue once “this” is completed.) The problem is that they never get to “that.”

A mere 1% will figure out some way to make their lives easier and will not be stuck in the “this,” then “that” mentality. So how do we make life easier and enable ourselves to pursue a career that will leave us happy and fulfilled?

Ever since Melissa was a college graduate she has been fascinated with networks. She owned a word processor before they even hit the market! Her first job out of school was rewriting computer manuals for corporations, which to some of us, sounds like torture. Her fascination with computers, and their potential networking abilities, made her life much easier.

Twenty years later she is still fascinated with networks and has transformed her passion into a career. Her concept of “Networlding,” is named after her best selling book on Chicago’s Amazon for a year straight. Networlding is the science and art of making meaningful connections and leveraging those connections in new and powerful ways.

For most of us, we already have a sense of networking and have practiced it in some kind of way. But let me say right now that networking is not shoving your business card or resume into someone’s hand. Rather, it is based on growing relationships with others who have similar and complementary values and interests.

The main thing that we took away from this interview is that networking is so simple in its approach that it is often overlooked. We don’t think about who the ten people are in our primary circle. We often do not keep in touch with people that are somewhat weak ties. And why should we?

Melissa would argue, for many simple reasons. The whole concept is simple to understand, simple to implement and even more simple to execute. The only thing that you need is a desire to understand the importance of networlding and how to practice it. With that, I am going to do my best to convey what we learned from our interview with Melissa.

Melissa understood from an early age that networks make life easier. Networking is your life and your life is your network. This means the connections you make in the present will be to ones to help you in the future. Whether it is a reference for a job or a casual acquaintance, your contacts and connections will be the people you go to to make your life easier. They are your network and the life you lead creates that network.

Let me ask a question that Melissa posed to us.: “How many “Oprah’s” do you need in your network?” Before you answer, think about ten people you want in your network and what roles they will each play within your primary circle. Think about the qualities that they posses and how this will make your life easier. Now, how many “Oprah’s” do you want in your network?

As much as I’d like to have, maybe, 5 “Oprah’s” in mine, the answer is one. Most people say they don’t need anyone else in their network. Why? Because we can only connect with so many people regularly at one time in our lives. We also know about the need for a variety of characteristics and qualities of the people within our circles. Oprah is a great connector, but what about negotiation? Or what about knowledge? Accounting? These are also people that you would want in your circle because it strengthens the ability of your network and will make your life easier.

On the topic of weak ties, there is no excuse as to why you shouldn’t keep them with the tools that are available today over the internet. Myspace.com, Facebook.com, as well as Linkedin.com allow you to connect with people that you otherwise would not be able to connect with. Oftentimes, these people that you have weak ties with are the ones that can get you a job!

Also, researching useful ways to network will be beneficial to building your relationships. More information regarding these networking lessons are available by signing up for a newsletter on the Networlding.com website!

The lesson is that networking is the secret to making your life easier and work better. And if you want that freedom, start now.

Other Related Interviews

On a rainy day in the middle of summer in New York City, huddled under the umbrellas that we bought on a street corner for $2.99 each, we made our way to the CBS building at 51 W. 52nd Street, the home of Cushman and Wakefield. Cushman and Wakefield was founded in 1917 in New York City, and is the world’s largest privately held real estate firm. Since its inception almost eighty years ago, it has now expanded to doing business in 192 cities in 58 countries, with over 11,000 employees. One of those employees that is about to take the world by storm is Andrew Ackerman.

After spending some of the fourth of July weekend with Andy in which we were able to have some fun on his boat on the Long Island Sound, meeting him at the office was a different story. Instead of “Andy” coming out of the black marble high rise CBS building, it was “Andrew Ackerman” extending handshakes and hellos with us. Of course he was still “one of us,” but the 23 year-old Sports Management major out of Ithaca College was all business in his conservative suit, neatly ironed white shirt, $130 tie, and his dad’s Rolex watch.

He has been with Cushman & Wakefield for two months now, and has quickly learned that the commercial real estate business is all about first impressions. You have to always be looking your best because you never know when a client could be ready to be shown a property and ready to deal.

After making fun of him a little bit for being “business like” and asking about the Rolex, we crossed the street to a local deli and got some sandwiches for the interview.

Andy started out at Ithaca College as a linebacker on the football team, where he enjoyed playing and watching sports and majored in Sports Management. Thinking that a job in sports was best for him, he managed to land an internship with World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) to see if he fit the profile. After being sure that he wanted to land a job in sports before the internship, the experience he saw there was that people in the industry had low pay, working 9-5, and evaluated Nielsen ratings. How boring! He came to the conclusion that he did not like it after all and wished to pursue something else.

What this did for him was save six months for him after graduation, where he would have started in sports and been unhappy and essentially wasted time finding a career that fit him best. This example is applicable to all college students considering entering a field or a career, where you should gain experience before you make up your mind on what you want to do. I think that what Andy did with getting the internship and realizing that the business side of sports wasn’t for him despite his love for the physical side of the game is something that all students should do while opportunities are available in school.

So Andy graduated college, and set off to go on a road trip through the West Coast, starting in Seattle and going down the California Coast because he had never been to California (sounds familiar). After the trip, Andy returned to New York City where he proceeded to interview for jobs.

He found a home at Cushman and Wakefield, where he beat out guys that had gone to Harvard, Princeton and other Ivy League schools. How did he do it? “You have to be very honest with the person you are interviewing with because they can see right through you if you’re not. You also have to let them know that you are coachable, and willing to learn. You have to have a personality for the job you are applying for, and in this job it is outgoing and thick skinned. Also, at the end of the interview try practicing saying “I want to work for you. You won’t find a harder worker than me, I have loyalty, I’m coachable, and I will work hard for you.” If you can say this and follow it up with a good firm handshake at the end, then there’s a good chance you’ll get the job.”

Now Andrew is in a job that he takes pride in doing, where he works at a brokerage that he feels is responsible for contributing to rebuilding the economy after the 9/11 strike. His job has the possibility to make a lot of money by leasing out space to clients, and also allows him to utilize his entrepreneurship skills because it is like he is running his own business. His job is to find clients that would want to lease a space, and once he starts to find those clients he can expect to see those checks rolling in. Not bad for a guy that failed his driver’s license test twice before passing.

One piece of advice that he gave us before we were done with the interview was this:

A way that he tries to find clients is to give them phone calls and informs them about available space in the city. I have found his methods both useful and humorous. One tip is to call before 7:30 am, before the secretaries are there so you can talk directly to the CEO of the company. “Once the secretaries are there, they won’t let you talk to them.” The second tip is to call a number that is not the CEO’s number but is within the office, so that when the call is transferred it shows up as an in house call to the secretary.

Hmmm. Definitely helpful for those that cold-call people, like the PTP team.

We met up with Lisa down on Fifth Avenue in New York City. We were running a little late after catching a bus. Unfortunately, once we got off the bus we had to walk three blocks in the pouring rain. And I mean it was pouring! Tamir and I tried to take cover as we made our way to her office on a Thursday evening and when we arrived we were sopping wet. After a futile attempt at drying off in the bathroom, and some odd looks from Lisa’s co-workers, we managed to start our interview with a sympathetic Lisa.

Lisa told us that she was a Theatre and English double major with a minor in Medieval studies at Drew University, an intimate liberal arts school located in northern New Jersey. After graduating and moving to New York City, she wanted a career in the theatre. She started working in stage management at the Lincoln Center in their educational department. At the same time she was also doing freelance stage management for dance companies. After a year and a half of freelancing, she realized that she needed a more steady paycheck to survive in the expensive city.

She went to work for an arts non-profit organization that had nothing to do with anything she’d done in the past. In her first month she got to yell at Tony Randall and apologize on behalf of her boss to Beverly Sills. She started to question what she really did for a living. After the non-profit failed to raise enough of the essential grant money, Lisa was laid off.

A friend referred her to a mom and pop comedy and music agency, where she worked for five years before getting laid off again. At that point she thought about leaving New York City to go back to school at Temple University to get her master’s in Medieval Studies. That’s when she opened the New York Times and saw an ad that would take her to where she is today.

It was an open sales position for an entertainment agent. She needed to find a position that could pay her bills but she wasn’t sure if she was qualified. She handwrote a cover letter and faxed her application materials to the agency, not really expecting to hear back. Two hours later the phone rang. They were looking for someone just like her that had experience in the college market. Ten years later, Lisa is the President of the University Division for the Greater Talent Network.

Her agency is the “Porsche” of the speakers’ world. She covers the “fun” speakers and her job is to book them at universities across the U.S.. Notable speakers include: Lance Armstrong, Donald Trump, Michael Moore, Ben & Jerry (who give away free ice cream at their speaking engagements), along with hundreds of others that appeal to college markets across the nation.

Lisa is excellent at getting on the phone and getting people to promise her huge sums of money to have a famous person show up at their event to speak.

When asked about her advice to students, here is what she had to say:

“Be polite to people on the phone and don’t chew gum while talking to them.”

“If you have an appointment with someone, call or email them to confirm before you go.”

“Don’t send “cute” emails in a business context.”

“It’s better to be the best, most conservatively dressed person in the room than the most memorably dressed.”

“Find stuff that makes you want to get up in the morning, and even if you don’t think that it will be a good career move, do it.”

After the interview, Lisa was kind enough to supply a book to us entitled “What Should I Do With My Life?” by Po Bronson. The book is very similar to what we are doing and I encourage any of you that like reading stories about the paths of people to pick up a copy today. Also visit his website, he has some very inspiring stuff on there so check it out at www.pobronson.com.

We met with “Hoss” in his office on W. 44th street in New York City, where he told us his story of how he ended up at Atlas talent agency. He described the whole thing in his “Mid-Atlantic” accent, which resembles that of Bond…James Bond. So if you can picture Pierce Brosnan telling the story it will give you a better idea of what I we were hearing.

John “Hoss” Hossenlopp majored in History and attended Lafayette College, located in Easton, PA. John described Easton as the place where people who couldn’t get into Princeton or Dartmouth go. While in school, Hoss thought that he wanted to be an investment banker or a lawyer of some sort, perhaps to follow in his father’s footsteps, who was a high-powered corporate attorney in London. But when he graduated he found that there were only limited opportunities available in those industries. If firms were hiring then, they certainly were not hiring students from Lafayette.

After graduation Hoss had a number of different jobs just to get by and of course have enough money to go out at night. He reconnected with a college classmate whose father was Howard Stern’s agent. The acquaintance suggested that he interview with her father’s firm. Not seeing any other alternative, he did so.

He was hired for as an assistant in the commercial department, which he really enjoyed, While Don Buchwald and Associates (DBA) was no William Morris or ICM, Hoss received some great experience at a mid-tier talent agency.

He was in his first real job, and was doing something that could potentially lead to a career. The opportunity then arose for Hoss to move into the company’s promotions department. He jumped at the opportunity, recognizing that the voiceover business was a high growth area. He worked as an assistant to two agents, who gave him a client to work with. The client was Paul Turner, the “voice” of the Howard Stern show. He was told that he could focus on the radio imaging business, but that there was no money in it, but that the experience would be beneficial.

Hoss took that advice and turned the three radio stations that he was responsible for into into thirty stations, then into eighty, and soon enough, two hundred. He now does business with over one thousand radio stations across the country, and has stake in every major market city around the world.

He and three other agents left Don Buchwald & Associates in 2000, and despite a lawsuit on their tails, managed to form Atlas Talent Agency. Six years and one lawsuit victory later, Atlas has become the market leader and a dominant force in radio and television station imaging. They represent over 500 clients, 100 of whom specialize in radio and television imaging (most of their competitors have less than 20 clients working in that field). They also have a hosting department, an on-camera department, some theatrical clients, and have even done film deals, most recently the smash hit Ice Age 2.

Hoss’ primary focus remains representing people who are the voices of radio stations. His clients are people that use their voice to create the segues that you hear between the music.

Hoss’ favorite part of his job is finding his radio actors work.

“To give an opportunity to people to make enough money with voiceover so they can pursue their theatrical aspirations is what gives me the most joy. Also, building someone’s career, regardless of if they have a theatre degree. My life’s work is helping clients retire from their day jobs and do voiceover full time.”

When we pointing out that a history major had little to do with being a talent agent, Hoss begged to differ. Hoss made an interesting point about history’s place in business:

“The beauty of the history major is that you always learn from your past. Understanding this is something that has really helped me out in business. You learn by what has gone on before, and it’s the best gauge of what is going to happen in the future.”

Needless to say, I have a newfound respect for history majors.

The most important thing regarding one’s education is that you take something out of the experience and the information that you learn.

One thing that we found out is that a voiceover actor can make as much as You can make as much as $2 million a year! This, of course, is not common but is possible with a fine-tuned instrument and the necessary experience.

When we asked Hoss about mistakes he had made he told us that one time he had elected not to represent a talent based on his inexperience. He said that he has gained a reputation equal to that of American Idol’s Simon Cowell in the sense that he sometimes turns voiceover clients down based on his own reservations. He explained that he once turned down a client that would later become one of the top voiceover actors in the business. At the time, Hoss felt that the actor was not ready.

Hoss’ advises that anyone who wants to get into the voiceover business needs to get experience first. While he does develop talent internally, he only does so if a talent has a proven record or a very strong demo tape.
“Gaining experience, is like flight time. You have to get hours behind the mic, just like you would a plane.”

His advice to students regarding college was:

“Find out what you want to do. Don’t go into something just because you have to find a job. Figure out what your strengths and weaknesses are. Then don’t take “no” for an answer. Being persistent will almost always reward you. You are rarely faulted for being persistent.

Other Related interviews

Brandyn was our tour guide for a day which would prove to be the most eventful and memorable experience of our whole trip. Brandyn introduced us to a variety of people and took us to the Nike basketball gym, the Jordan building, and the infamous Nike Kitchen (not the place where you cook food, but the place where they make Nike shoes from scratch). We also saw Lebron James walking the Nike campus and even got to shop at the Nike employee store where everything was 50% with no sales tax, thanks to Oregon state tax law.

Originally from Atlanta, Brandyn played college basketball at Fordham University before landing an internship with Nike.

In his internship, he was responsible for picking out outfits from “the closet” to give to magazines for their models to wear. He took pride in the fact that something that he picked out was published on a magazine cover.

Highlights from his first year at Nike include going to MTV’s Video Music Awards, the NBA’s All-Star Weekend, meeting Michael Jordan, and sending out Nike gear to rap artists like Fat Joe and Jadakiss.

Postscript: Brandyn Cooper is now in charge of NBA Sports Marketing at Nike.

Other Related Interviews

Cory Shakarian is an Account Executive for the Los Angeles Clippers, after working for ten years with the San Francisco Giants. He has only been with the organization for a couple of months now and is getting a feel for the culture and how things are done around Staples Center. His ultimate goal is to climb the ladder to a management position within the Clippers organization.

Originally from Northern California, Cory got away from the laid back California lifestyle when he attended the University of Michigan, the same college where his parents met, and where his grandfather played football with former President Gerald Ford. With this family history, and being an athlete himself in high school, Cory’s appetite for sports would be satisfied by Michigan’s “Big House” and the infamous “Fab Five” Men’s basketball team. He decided to walk onto the baseball team where he played for the first two years at the Division I level. He obtained his degree in Sports Management and Communication. He admitted that his degree was a very good choice for people who want to work in sports.

The summer of his senior year, Cory traveled to Florida to be with his Dad. Once there, he obtained an internship with the Florida Marlins baseball team. This was his introduction to professional sports. After that summer he graduated from Michigan and returned to Northern California, where he worked for Smith Barney cold-calling for brokers. He did that for about a year and realized that sports was more of his style of work. He began networking with people he knew and was able to get informational interviews with all of the major sports teams in the Bay Area. Each one had a small window of opportunity, and at 23 years old Cory accepted a position with the Giants making $10 an hour. His responsibilities included answering phones and servicing accounts.

He did that for about ten months before he was hired on full time. Cory said that although the job caused him to go into a little bit of debt for a while, that it was the stepping-stone into his career in the sports industry.

“Communication is the most important skill that I took away from my degree. Public speaking to five or ten people about ideas you have is important. Also being able to write a marketing piece is crucial.”

“Internships are important. My internship was key for me landing a job later on. While you’re in school I’d highly recommend that you get an internship because after you graduate you’d like to earn a salary. How do you get the internship? You just network, talk to your family and friends in your hometown to ask them if they know of anybody.”

“When I interviewed with an executive from the Oakland A’s, he told me people have to be willing to sacrifice, and that’s financially. He said that you have to come into the organization with the attitude that you’d be willing to pay someone for the right to work in their organization. School doesn’t teach you how to work in a professional organization, but getting work experience does.”