David VS Goliath Podcast – S1 – Episode 19 – Justin Eggar – Fiji on my mind

Speaker 1:
Coming up today on David vs Goliath.

Justin Eggar:
I’m confident he’s going to crush it.

Adam Degraide :
Justin is a man of international renowned, clearly.

Justin Eggar:
That’s a lot to unpack in two minutes, Adam.

Adam Degraide :
Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious.

Speaker 1:
Welcome to today’s episode of David vs Goliath, a podcast dedicated to helping small businesses leverage technology, to not only help them compete against their large competitors, but win. Your host is currently the CEO of Anthem Business Software, a free time Inc 500 recipient and a serial entrepreneur with a passion to help small businesses everywhere find, serve, and keep more customers profitably. Please join me in welcoming your host, Adam Degraide.

Adam Degraide :
Hey everyone, it’s Adam Degraide with another episode of David vs Goliath podcast. We are so glad to have you today. We have Justin Eggar, the CEO of Quantum Assurance International, trying to change the way insurance is done all throughout the country, and maybe even the world as time goes on. So this should be a really, really fun interview. Today’s episode is brought to you by Anthem Software, built specifically for small businesses to help you find, serve, and keep more our customers profitably with their all-in-one marketing, software, and consulting platform. Take the 122nd tour today at anthemssoftware.com. This is a visual podcast as you know, we’re being featured regularly on Rumble, and we are so grateful for that. Hundreds of people subscribing every single day. Plus we’re also on YouTube and Spotify if you like watching the podcast. And then any listening application you can imagine from iHeartRadio to Google podcast, Apple podcast, we’re there as well too.

Adam Degraide :
And you can visit us online at davidvsgoliathpodcast.com. There you can subscribe to receive email updates about the podcast, as well as apply to beyond the podcast in a brand new feature, Ask DVG. Go to the website, look for either the button on the top or the second slider on the homepage, it says, Ask DVG right there, fill in your information, question comes to me, and we might be featuring it on a future episode of David vs Goliath. Well with no further ado, let’s get right into it today with Justin Eggar, from Quantum Assurance International. Justin, welcome to DVG.

Justin Eggar:
Thanks so much, great to be here.

Adam Degraide :
Justin, I know you may know this about me, but just like you, I had a passion for the independent insurance world many years ago. I started a company called Astonished Results. Feels like a different lifetime in many respects. Worked with over 5,000 users on our software. So I’m very familiar with the space, but it’s going to be an interesting discussion because I saw a seismic shift even back then when I was in the industry. And that was over, my gosh, over eight years ago at this point in time, nine years ago. And you have been in there obviously trying to change in the forefront, but that before we get into exactly what you do, I want to start with where you grew up, because it looks like you grew up in a place that I want to go vacation in, and hopefully the world gets a little normal here eventually so I can get there.

Justin Eggar:
You have to wait until after COVID.

Adam Degraide :
Fiji Islands. And so tell everyone a little bit about where you came from and how you ended up starting Quantum Assurance. I think they’re going to love the story.

Justin Eggar:
Yeah. Well, I appreciate that Adam. And it’s funny we talk, I have several people that were part of your Astonished organization and it’s co hearing what you guys did. And so always fun to unpack that one, because you guys were the forefront of insurance technology before it was sexy if you will.

Adam Degraide :
Yeah, as people always said, we were the disruptors or the rebels with a cause, is what I used to tell people who we are.

Justin Eggar:
So Fiji, it’s one of those things that people ask me where I’m from or where I was born, and I just say, [inaudible 00:04:14], I don’t even answer the question anymore because it’s an multi-hour conversation trying to unpack all of that. And so when I was young, I was born in Suan, South Korea, and my parents were missionaries, but my mother she taught English to the president’s bodyguards. In ’79, around the time I was born, all of the bodyguards were assassinated, there was a big kind of coup that occurred at that point in time. And my family decided that it was a good time to get out or dodge and maybe do something that wasn’t quite as risky if you will. And somehow that led to Fiji.

Adam Degraide :
Escape.

Justin Eggar:
Obviously we all know why, why not Fiji, is the question. And it’s a cool experience. So I didn’t grow up, like all societies there’s stratification and foreigners that come usually have more means that the locals, in its own way third world, and so they’re growing by leaps and bounds doing all the right things. But some of those roads are not paved, let’s just be real. So, but it was cool because my existence between kind of three and 15 years old was in Fiji, coming back occasionally to the US, but I grew outside of a village. And so it’s funny because whenever we’re talking about mindset and points of view and how we’re all formed, I think that every human being’s unique, everybody had a different thing, a different Genesis, a different way that they’re created. And I like mine, it was a fun experience and I would not change it.

Adam Degraide :
It’s awesome. And so from there you came to the states, and as I was reading, you had various degrees and other things that you worked in. You worked in the corporate world for a little bit before transferring over into insurance. Tell us a little bit about that.

Justin Eggar:
So after high school, it got a thing in my mind that I was like, I going to join the military. This was in ’97, I graduated from high school. And so I actually joined the Navy in ’97 and I spent five years in. So I had pretty cool tours in Iceland and in Italy. And so I lived in Sardina, Italy for a while. And just a really incredible experience. And it’s funny to this day people are like, “Thank you for your service,” and I’m like, “Don’t thank me, thank you for paying for the experience that I had. It was super cool.” So I did that, but while I was doing that, one of the things that kind of stood out to me in the military, and it is just the way it is, you’re replaceable, you have to be. You can’t have a military where you irreplaceable people, that would not make sense, right?

Justin Eggar:
But that’s also one of the reasons why after 911 in kind of soul searching, I was like, I want to figure out how I can be irreplaceable in life. How can I actually make a mark on people and create that kind of longevity, if you will? And so after I got out, I went to college in Virginia and left that joined the corporate world directly after college, and worked a company that was transitioning from New York down to the Raleigh Durham area, if you’re familiar with RTP and North Carolina. And so I kind of cut my teeth in the corporate world there.

Justin Eggar:
And also along the way I realized I really wanted to be a business owner, I really wanted to be an entrepreneur, because we get to create, we get to create our own thing. There’s something so beautiful, and sexy, and exciting about having something that’s your own. Kind of like owning a house or owning a building and you can paint whatever you want to, or put up art, or demolish a wall. When is your business, you get to really leave a mark on it. So I went through the corporate world, and around 2010, I stepped away from that and started preparing for an insurance agency that I opened in 2011.

Adam Degraide :
Now, were you a captive agent at the time, or were you an independent agent at the time?

Justin Eggar:
I was a captive agent. I’m kind of thankful that I was. The captive…

Adam Degraide :
[inaudible 00:08:20]. You can learn a lot from their world, there’s no doubt about it. And there are also fantastic marketers, which you and I know has been a great challenge for a lot of independent agencies. It’s the fact that marketing is not their core strength, right?

Justin Eggar:
Absolutely.

Adam Degraide :
But through the captive carrier, they’ve got the big TV budgets, they’ve got the big radio budgets, they’ve got the big internet budgets.

Justin Eggar:
Yeah.

Adam Degraide :
So they can feed a local office a little bit better than an independent shop who has to feed themselves.

Justin Eggar:
Absolutely. And brand does matter. But one of the things, the captive insurance, and it’s funny, depending on the industry, captive can mean different things. I’m talking about the state farms in all states and farmers, and whatever else is kind of out there. These companies in their own right, they’re kind of puppy mills, but I’m glad I was one of those puppies because this world can be so complicated. The reality is that a lot of independent agencies that walk into the space, they never get the training that they need, they miss out on a lot of the structure that’s created on the captive side.

Justin Eggar:
And a lot of what heard around that time, when we stepped into the captive world and kind of learned from the ground up on that side, we’ve taken that that’s informed a lot of our thinking on the independent world now and thinking, how do we help our agents succeed? How can we increase kind of the success ratio of agencies in the industry and that kind of stuff? And there’s a lot to be learned from that world. I don’t think it’s the right tool, I think that the independent world is hands down the best most ethical choice out there because giving clients options is always the correct thing to do. But from an experience standpoint, I wouldn’t change that experience, it was phenomenal.

Adam Degraide :
We had a chance to work with a handful of captive agents that also owned independent agents. And as you know, that’s very, very rare. And it was nice to be able to see that balance and that blend, and you’re right, training was a big piece of it, marketing was a big piece of it, lead gen was a big piece of it, branding was a big piece of it. But I’ve always loved working with independent agents because they can provide you with alternatives, you can always get a quote from a captive, and this is not the bash captives carriers they perform a great service.

Adam Degraide :
But when you go to an independent, you can get multiple quotes from multiple different carriers, and then it can weigh your options. And then it really comes down to who do you want to be serviced by at the end of the day. And that was always fascinating.

Justin Eggar:
Mm-hmm (affirmative).

Adam Degraide :
One of the things that I think is important for people to understand, so you started as a captive, how did you end up, as in, did you end up getting an independent agency first or did you start Quantum Assurance International right out of that?

Justin Eggar:
We started right out of that. And so I joined a captive carrier in 2011 and really over the ensuing years became one of the top agents in the country in production. And so my agency was doing a lot more than the average agency. But along the way, as we kind of became top, one, two, three in production in the country, four out of 10,000 agencies for this company, I realized it was kind of fruitless in its own regard as a salesman that was selling a limited product, and I wasn’t really creating the value that I wanted to in the ecosystem.

Justin Eggar:
And so sometime around 2016, 2017, I started to have this kind of growing feeling that there has to be a way that an insurance agent can create more value for the consumer. And that led in 2019 to exiting the captive world, the kind of the lockdown captive world, and founding Quantum. And that was really, we touched a little bit on the independent side prior to that with just trying to understand it, but September 1st of 2019, when we founded Quantum, was really like our first step into it. It was our first foray into kind of embracing the independent world, we founded Quantum and we went full tilt, if you will on it.

Adam Degraide :
I love the concept of Quantum, there’s similar things that are out there obviously, but Quantum has a unique perspective on it because what you’re trying to do is you’re trying to empower people even myself. If I had a business and I wanted to add an insurance agency component to it with a large customer base, so all I’m doing is feeding other people’s insurance agencies, I could own my own if I did something with you. And it’s fascinating to realize exactly what would you do. Let’s say for example, you went into a car dealership. Car dealership was a great example.

Justin Eggar:
Mm-hmm (affirmative).

Adam Degraide :
Because they have tons and tons of customers. They have a large database, they have loyal people, they’re great marketers, otherwise you’re not going to be a car dealer.

Justin Eggar:
Right.

Adam Degraide :
They obviously wouldn’t have a car dealership if they weren’t great at service. That seems to me like it would be a logical fit, something like that for Quantum Insurance, where you could come in and say, “Hey, take your customer base, take this and add this and we’ll handle it,” without getting too salesy, because that’s not what David vs Goliath is about. Help people understand what Quantum Assurance International actually would do in that situation?

Justin Eggar:
Yeah, absolutely. Well, thank you. I’m not too salesy of a guy, I just enjoy kind of straight communication. I think that we have that in common Adam. So when you look at our agency model, so we have a 1099 agency model where people become Quantum agents or add a Quantum office onto what they’re doing. And really we believe that there’s not a one size fits all approach to that, and so it’s allowed us to, not only build out agencies where it might be a three or four person shop that’s core, kind of a local agent because they’re passionate about that, but it’s also allowed us to build out relationships with dealerships and title companies, and a variety of other organizations.

Justin Eggar:
Because really at the end of the day, we’re trying to figure out how do we make businesses stronger? How do we make better businesses out of it? How do they become more lucrative? How can they maximize the cash flow that that’s coming through it, every vertically, if you will? And then combine that with the resources that we provide behind the scene to make it an easy transition for them. So the service that we do, the turnkey operations, that kind of stuff. So in a dealership, like you mentioned, they have a massive consumer base already, and so it’s really easy to get in there and get in front of them. And the nice thing about what we do is providing the technology component of it, really their job is just teeing the stuff up. And then once the stuff is sold, we have teams on the back end that take care of it and make it easy. And so, and meanwhile, the dealership was able to kind of maximize this other line of revenue that, that right now they’re giving away to somebody else.

Adam Degraide :
Yeah, totally. I think it’s fascinating. I think it’s a very, very interesting business model, and one that I think is definitely. When you look at how fast the world is changed, and even an industry like insurance or real estate, I mean the need to have consolidated processes, automation, training products, almost like in a box. I remember the days, you remember Circuit City.

Justin Eggar:
Mm-hmm (affirmative). Yeah.

Adam Degraide :
I remember Comp USA. I used to go into Comp USA and they would always have this your office in a box. Or this solution in a box. I always felt there’s something to that because when you think about whether you’re starting your own business, we have a lot of entrepreneurs that own their own business that listen to David vs Goliath or watch, we have aspiring entrepreneurs who want to knowing their own business. And when you listen to Justin’s story folks, what’s so fascinating about it is that he’s been through a plethora of experiences in his life to bring him to where he is to create a product that’s really in a box that he can walk into somebody and say, “I can give you value on day one.”

Adam Degraide :
He was in the Navy, he has those experiences, by the way, thank you for your service. I know people say that all the time, but thank you for your service.

Justin Eggar:
Pleasure is mine.

Adam Degraide :
I interviewed Dr. Stanley [inaudible 00:16:19] last week, who was also in the Navy and I thanked him for his service. My current COO at Anthem Software was a former Navy man. So I thank him in the service. My grandfather, Gene Degraide was a Navy man. So the Navy run in my blood. I was not a Navy man, but I definitely have a lot of respect and appreciation for it. And you think about how life brings us all to these different places, where you get to a place and you can start your own business. And that’s where magic really can happen. Now, Justin, I got to take a quick break from our sponsor, but when we come back, you can’t be doing this alone. I want to talk to you about your team when we come back. Stay tuned, here’s a corporate message from our sponsor Anthem Software. We’ll be right back.

Speaker 4:
Anthem Business Software system is designed to specifically help small businesses just like yours, find, serve, and keep more customers profitably. We do this by providing you with the most powerful software automations and marketing services to help your business compete and win in this ever changing digital world. Take a short video tour at anthemsoftware.com. (music).

Adam Degraide :
And we’re back with Justin from Quantum Assurance International. Justin is a man of international renowned, clearly. And if you walk around Fiji folks, there’s actually pictures of him saying he once lived there. No, I don’t know if that’s true or not. That would be pretty cool if that actually was true. You walk around [inaudible 00:18:06].

Justin Eggar:
I’m never taken those down since then, Adam.

Adam Degraide :
I just always wondered, if you go back to the place where you grew up, people have their own houses, Lincoln’s first schoolhouse. They must have Justin’s first hut.

Justin Eggar:
It was not elaborate, so not much to see there.

Adam Degraide :
But I think it’s awesome. And you’re the first person I’ve ever interviewed in any of my businesses that has lived in Fiji. So I have to bring it up. Now, you’re not doing this alone at Quantum Assurance. One of the things we love to talk about here is, you need a plan with goals, obviously you have a plan in goals, you need the right people, the right tools, the right process, your people use the tools Justin, and then you have to have courage to start it and get out there and do it. So how big is your current team right now at Quantum Assurance International?

Justin Eggar:
So we founded Quantum a little over two years ago. And as of right now, we have around 100 people in our D2 side, so direct employees of Quantum. And so think technology, and HR, and all the different components that we offer. We have about 200 people on our agency force, that fall under our agency channel. So some decent growth.

Adam Degraide :
Decent growth. That’s the understatement of the century. My instincts tell me you’re going to make it into the Inc 500 within about a year from now, I would imagine. Assuming you did, this is a little known unknown fact for people that are starting their own businesses. You have to do at least, at the time that we’re recording this interview, I believe it’s $100,000 a year in your revenue in your first year. And then three years later, they basically divide your total revenue by that number you did in year, and assuming that you are over 100,000 equals your percentage of what they value that, and that places you on the top 5,000.

Adam Degraide :
I have had the privilege Justin of making to the top 500 three times, actually five times, five or six times in three different companies and I’ve been blessed to do it. So one of the things we try to do here at David vs Goliath is educate people on how they can do those things. Look it up, that’s how you do it. But obviously clearly you’re on your path to being one of the fastest growing in America so congratulations to that. How many partners do you have right now, and then how many people do you have in management?

Justin Eggar:
So partners. So when you think about what we do on the insurance side, the Quantum side of the house, we have carriers that we work with, and we have 60 carriers that we’re currently aligned with that are part of our offering. And then we have agency force. And on the agency side, we rolled out the agency model mid last year, mid I guess, a year and a half ago now. And then in the first year brought on 50 agencies. And I think that we’re trending for 180 agencies, new agencies in 2022. It’s kind of a baseline.

Adam Degraide :
Awesome.

Justin Eggar:
And you know Tommy, I think Tommy always over delivers on what he does. And so I’m confident he’s going to crush it.

Adam Degraide :
Well, we know Tom’s going to be watching this interview…

Justin Eggar:
I think so.

Adam Degraide :
… Very carefully. So Tom, a lot of pressure on you Tom.

Justin Eggar:
[inaudible 00:21:18].

Adam Degraide :
I wish you the best my man. And actually does, he eats pressure for breakfast, as they say. And it’s interesting Justin though, man, many people can’t relate to the fact that you started in 2019 and you’re already over 100 W2 employees. That is massive growth. So you must have some tips and suggestions for other people that are growing at a fast pace. How are you hiring and recruiting right now, and then do you have a specific training for process to get people in and get them up and running quickly? I think people would be fascinated to learn what your process is going from zero to 100 in less than two years, two and a half years, whatever.

Justin Eggar:
And there’s a couple components of that. And a lot of it was learned years ago kind of while we were in that 2017, 2018 phase of trying to figure out what I wanted to be when I grew up. The reality is, is that you are not a real business owner, you’re not really creating a sustainable organization until you have other talents around you, right? And so until you have other team members that can carry that. And so when you look at the breakdown that we have, the best employees that we have are oftentimes referrals from other employees. And so a lot of our best talent that we have in the organization, somebody looked at their friends and said, “This person’s a high performer. I think that they’re a cool cat. And so let me send you their name.”

Justin Eggar:
And so that’s a pretty strong referral strategy for us. Obviously, there’s all the other ways of LinkedIn and a million different ways that you can tag somebody these days. But I love getting referrals from our current team members and kind of deepening that. And so I say referrals is one of those things. [inaudible 00:22:58].

Adam Degraide :
Can I interrupt you for a second?

Justin Eggar:
Go ahead.

Adam Degraide :
Now is the official title they’re cool cats?

Justin Eggar:
They can be cool cats, yeah. Why not?

Adam Degraide :
I would like to hear, I got this cool cat. We need more cool cats. How about a hip dog? Why not?

Justin Eggar:
I’ll hire both. I mean, I’ll be honest, it’s pretty open to me on I’m hiring dogs and cats.

Adam Degraide :
You said at the point though, referrals are great, right?

Justin Eggar:
Mm-hmm (affirmative).

Adam Degraide :
What a great resource when somebody loves working with you, because I don’t call it working for me, working with me, there’s nothing I like better when they come to me and say, “Hey, I got this cool cat or this hip dog, and I think they’d fit in perfectly.” Now when you get them, Justin, obviously you’re, you’re hiring in clumps of people I would imagine to grow that fast.

Justin Eggar:
Right.

Adam Degraide :
So training, do you have like a director of training or what’s the process of once someone… How do you onboard somebody there?

Justin Eggar:
We do. And so to go back to kind of our growth phases, as a business owner, realizing that you shouldn’t be wearing every hat is an important part of kind of your growth trajectory. When you have five people you’re going to, when you have 10 people, you’re frequently going to wear so many hats. But the more you grow, learning that there shouldn’t be stuff that’s on your plate and that somebody else should own that, is pretty critical. Education’s one of those things. And the reality is that to get the best out of team members, you have to have people that are dedicated to working with them and driving the best out of them.

Justin Eggar:
And so we have the education that exists for our W2 team members, and then we have a lot of education on the agency side to make that very turnkey if you will. But we invest, a new team member coming on board, we invest four to five months of education depending on the role. So some roles like IT, if you’re an engineer, a programmer, you’re going to walk in with the skillset already, you’re going to walk in with some stuff and you might, you might bone up a little bit, but it’s not the same thing. But if you’re coming into insurance, doing sales service, working with commercial, all this different stuff, if you’re new agent coming on board, we have a pretty successful training program that’s really geared around how do we get you up and improve your time to profitability, where you’re coming in the door and you’re a successful functional unit in whatever the role is that you have pretty quickly.

Adam Degraide :
I’ll tell you, man, one of the things I try to do is duplicate myself as much as I can.

Justin Eggar:
Mm-hmm (affirmative).

Adam Degraide :
So and I don’t like really training, and in a lot of ways I don’t like training people, but training is essential.

Justin Eggar:
Right.

Adam Degraide :
So we find that [inaudible 00:25:28]. If I’m trying to teach a new hire, okay, how are we going to send out emails or queue of social media for one of our clients, or train them on how to use the CRM tool, or what’s the purpose of the CRM tool that we built for them?

Justin Eggar:
Right.

Adam Degraide :
Building those libraries, not only for the external side to our client base, right, how they use it, but building that library on the inside’s important because if I do it once, I’ve done it, I don’t have to do it again. So it’s a really great way to replicate yourself and do that. Now, what are some of the tools, mentioned training the agents, obviously it’s going to be important how to get there to profitability. What are some of the tools that Quantum are right now is doing to market themselves, and then what are some of the tools you’re providing to the agents in two minutes or less?

Justin Eggar:
Absolutely. And real quick, let me go back. We have over 700 video segments that we’ve recorded for education. So props to Caitlin, and Amanda and their teams and all the work that they do to make education a successful thing for us. So thank you. So what we’re doing with marketing, what we’re doing around technology, that’s a lot to unpack in two minutes, Adam.

Adam Degraide :
Obviously there are highlights. We’re doing this, we do this. And you don’t have to get into details.

Justin Eggar:
We do a lot in social media. We do a lot with kind of blog posting. We have podcasts. We have a variety of different ways. I think that there’s a ton of great ways to reach consumers and agents and whatever else it is. So we try and match the medium to whoever we’re targeting. And so some of our segments, we drive on social media, like Facebook or Instagram, some of our segments we’re driving it on LinkedIn. And then obviously we do a whole lot of kind of paid search and organic stuff that we’re working on as well. So from a marketing perspective, we do a lot on that side.

Justin Eggar:
What I love about the agency force is that the stuff that we’re doing to grow the Quantum brand, they’re a benefactor of that thing. So as we drive and as we move to make Quantum a household brand, we want it to be recognizable like that for everybody.

Adam Degraide :
That’s great.

Justin Eggar:
When we pop on your Facebook, or Instagram, or TikTok, or wherever we’re reaching you, we want you to have that moment of recognition where you’re saying Quantum. But in doing that, that trickles down to our agencies as well, because when somebody sees us and they go search online, there’s a lot of benefit where I want that traffic to go to a local agent. If that’s how the consumer wants to interact, let’s drive that all day long. And so we do a lot on the marketing side, but that’s one of those things that like it’s ever changing. You do so much on the marketing side as well. And so you can probably school me on that with what we’re doing right and wrong, but we’re always trying to increase our value prop there.

Adam Degraide :
Look at that, you did that in under two minutes. I don’t know what was so difficult about that. You did a great job there.

Justin Eggar:
Well, thanks Adam.

Adam Degraide :
But we’re going to take another break from another really important corporate sponsor. But when we come back from this break, Justin, I want to talk about a few things. Number one, you talked a little bit about training and how you do that, I want to talk about, so are you involved in any charities, are you involved in anything philanthropic? I don’t even know if that’s the word. I keep using that word, I don’t think that’s the right word. I’m going to have to look that up. Huh?

Justin Eggar:
You got it. You nailed it down.

Adam Degraide :
Did I?

Justin Eggar:
Philanthropic, yeah.

Adam Degraide :
All right.

Justin Eggar:
[inaudible 00:28:42].

Adam Degraide :
Philanthropic. All right. Good. It’s a big word for me. It’s a big word for me Justin.

Justin Eggar:
Mm-hmm (affirmative).

Adam Degraide :
And then I also want to talk about, it takes a lot of courage, man, to do, follow your life’s path to end up to where you are today. Because I know there’s so many people watching right now that have a fire burning inside them and they haven’t made that final step. So we’re going to talk about that in a second. But here’s another message from another important sponsor right here on David vs Goliath. I’m your host, Adam Degraide. This is Justin from Quantum Assurance International, and we’ll be right back.

Speaker 5:
Norris Capital has an exciting new program we offer to equipment and software dealers. It provides you the appearance of a private label, Captive Financing Program, we call it our financial services. Using our financial services, you can offer your customers your own financing program, including industry specific payment calculators, and unique payment options. Norris Capital administers a private label program tailored to you and your customers needs. Learn how we can help you reduce receivables and qualify for your own private label finance program. (music)

Adam Degraide :
And we’re back again for our final segment. As you can imagine, these breaks are quick for you, Justin.

Justin Eggar:
Pretty quick.

Adam Degraide :
They’re a little over a minute for my listeners and watchers, but for you, they’re like lightning fast. I want to talk a little bit about some things you might like to do for fun and some philanthropic work that you might do as well, too.

Justin Eggar:
Yeah.

Adam Degraide :
Is Quantum Assurance involved in that? Are you personally involved in any of that? I always love to ask my guest because I think it’s a really cool thing to talk about.

Justin Eggar:
We are from a variety of perspectives. And so corporately we have engagement teams in the organization and so they’re constantly looking at the local areas around us and things that we can do. And so you’ll find that when there’s time of need, we’ll go out and will provide backpacks for students. There’s a bunch of stuff that we do on that end. But I try and drive it from the front line team member perspective. I have my own stuff that I donate to and that I’m a part of, but I try not to force that on the rest of the team members.

Justin Eggar:
I really want what we’re doing to be embraced from the bottom up, if you will. And so those teams will come to us and they’ll say, “Hey, for the next quarter, this is our focus that we have in the organization.” And so we’ll frequently have kind of focus points for a quarter, or six months, or a year where we’re focusing on one area and then frequently it’ll shift after that, where we’re going somewhere else as well. But there’s so many good charities to donate to. And as a business owner, being active in your community and making sure that you’re giving there is super important.

Adam Degraide :
And it totally is. Now, do you have any hobbies or things you like to do for fun? Are you just pretty much a workaholic? I have a blend. So on David vs Goliath, I’ve had a blend. I’ve had people who love that and I’ve had people that are like, “Not really. Works my thing,” and that’s cool too.

Justin Eggar:
One day when I grow up, I want to be more interesting than I am and I’ll have all these hobbies. I work a fair amount and I have a six and a seven year old. So I married my wonderful wife, Caitlin, as part of this journey with us. And then I have a six and a seven year old. And really my life is so full that I couldn’t figure out how to add more right now. And so we travel a fair amount and so we get to work remotely. Occasionally, I love experiences, so I’m not a possession person, I’m an experienced person. And partially because I grew up as I did, I didn’t have anything, right, living outside of a village, I didn’t have a bunch of material possessions. But what I did have is kind of a full heart and lots of experiences.

Justin Eggar:
And that’s left a mark on me into this point in time. And so most recently we took the kids to Maui and we stayed in the Napili Bay, up on the Northwest side. And the kids got to swim with turtles. But being able to give them that experience is meaningful to me. And so that’s really what my life is about, is work and the passion I have. I think that we’re doing something great at Quantum and creating opportunity. I love local entrepreneurs, I love local businesses, and so our agency model is really built around trying to help local agents thrive and grow. I think our economy, our country needs that. And so I’m really passionate about that, and then on the flip side of that, my children and my wife take all my time my friends.

Adam Degraide :
That’s awesome, man. I got to tell you, you work because you want to be able to give back to your community and provide an awesome life for your family, and the freedom to be able to go and work remotely is fantastic. One of the huge benefits…

Justin Eggar:
Yes.

Adam Degraide :
… Of being an entrepreneur, especially in 2022, there’s no doubt about it. Now courage. I talk about this all the time. David the shepherd boy had five smooth stones.

Justin Eggar:
Yeah.

Adam Degraide :
Story in the Bible’s fascinating. I don’t know if you know that or not.

Justin Eggar:
I do.

Adam Degraide :
But he only needed one to slay the giant.

Justin Eggar:
Right.

Adam Degraide :
And I liken it to courage. And so when you think back to the time where you were captive agent, you had all this life experience, the Navy, all of your childhood experience behind you, there’s a moment that happens in an entrepreneur where they say, not only am I going to think about this, I’m going to do it and I’m going to do it better than anybody’s ever done it. And that the shingle goes up on whatever they’re doing and they step out and do it. For you, what was the intangible that helped you do that?

Justin Eggar:
Courage is an interesting thing. I don’t know if you have it, I don’t know if you’re tangibly thinking about it. You know what I mean? It’s like one of those things that when you think of a battlefield and somebody going off and giving their life to save all their friends and their colleagues on the battlefield, frequently that decisions like that, you know what I mean? The courage is there all along, and then they’re just acting on that thing. You know what I mean? And so I would love to say that I have all this massive courage. It doesn’t kind of manifest itself in my life like that. In my life, I feel passionate about something, I’m like, I have to do this. It has to get done. Nobody else is going to do it the right way. And so, and then I do that thing, you know what I mean?

Justin Eggar:
So when I started my own business, one of the things that, possibly the only reason I was successful outside of my wonderful wife Caitlyn, possibly one of the only reasons is that I never second guess myself. And so the entire journey, I was putting one put in front of the other and figuring out how do I do that next thing, how do I end? And nowhere along the way was I thinking, is this a good idea? Maybe that’s a good idea or maybe that’s a good thing or not to not second guess yourself, who knows. But that’s one of the things that led to success and that’s one of the things that drives us today, failure’s not an option, right? And so like there’s no giving up on this thing, we’re going to make it happen one way or another.

Justin Eggar:
And whether I have to walk across the country barefoot and whatever that thing is, I’m do that thing to make sure it happens. And I think that when you’re trying to do something great, when you’re trying to do something, don’t consider your other options. And looking back on the experience I’ve had as an entrepreneur, I am so thankful that I made that change. And looking back on it, there’ve been just as many bad times as good times, there’s been so many. So don’t walk in with Pollyanna glasses on thinking it’s going to all be super easy, but that’s not the journey that you’re signing up for, you’re signing up for a journey to make a difference, to make a change, to buy into something bigger where you’re making an impact, and so an impact that you’re frequently not going to make somewhere else.

Justin Eggar:
And when you’re fully resolved and you buy into that, then there is no option but forward. And I think that you probably experienced that as well, Adam, with building Astonished and your other organizations. When you have this thing inside of you that has to come out, you just let it out and then you’re not going to second guess yourself, you’re going to run that ball.

Adam Degraide :
If you don’t let it out, it’s going to burn inside of you there’s no doubt about it. It’s funny you say that you don’t think about courage. I know that. I used to always have a saying, I’m very proud of my humility. I’m just kidding. It’s a joke, it’s not a joke. But at the end of the day, man, there is courage involved in it, whether we’re consciously thinking about it or not…

Justin Eggar:
Right.

Adam Degraide :
… There’s something inside of us. And if you’re watching and listening right now, and you’ve got that little voice in the back of your mind and that gut of you saying that there’s something more for you, don’t ignore it.

Justin Eggar:
Mm-hmm (affirmative).

Adam Degraide :
It’s there for a reason and I believe that there’s a higher purpose calling you out to be awesome. And one of the quick questions follow up to that, and it doesn’t have to be a long answer, but the very first night you put your head on your pillow after you started Quantum Assurance International, how did you feel?

Justin Eggar:
I mean, honestly, I felt great. I sleep like a baby, so there’s probably been five times in my life where I didn’t have a good night of sleep. And so when you start something, it feels great. You know what I mean? All this energy built up, all this excitement built up. And so the feeling of birthing an organization, of bringing it to light is such an incredible one. And usually when you’re starting off, those are the easy days, because there’s so much excitement there, there’s so much energy there that that’s the easiest time of your organization. The hard time comes later, it doesn’t come day one.

Adam Degraide :
No it doesn’t.

Justin Eggar:
Day one, you’re like, “This is going to be so easy. I’m going to crush the world.” And you think it’s going to be massively way easier than it probably will be if you’re actually trying to create value. It’s down the road in 30 days, 60, 90, a year, two years, when you’ve been grinding for so long, and that happens frequently, right? You know what I mean? Even Elon Musk or even whoever else, they are grinding nonstop. And I guarantee you there’s days where they’re like, “Man, that was a full day.”

Justin Eggar:
Years of doing that, months of doing that, whatever that thing is, that’s the hard part, right? So our minds are fickle creatures where we don’t like pain as human beings, evolution, life, has kind of taught us that we should shy away from pain. And so what ends up happening is that people start off well, and then a little while in, after they experience that pain a little while they, they take their hand out of the fire. But to accomplish greatness, you have to keep your hand in the fire for a long time. And you [inaudible 00:39:48].

Adam Degraide :
Like Meshach, Shadrach, no. Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego…

Justin Eggar:
That’s right.

Adam Degraide :
… In the old Testament, they wouldn’t bow down. They were thrown in the furnace.

Justin Eggar:
Yep.

Adam Degraide :
They didn’t die. And it’s in the furnace that change happens in your business. Now, Justin, did you have a good time being on DVG? Because I had a good time interviewing you.

Justin Eggar:
Super good time. I always enjoy hanging out and we’ll have to do it again soon, Adam.

Adam Degraide :
Yeah, you know what I’d love to do, I’d love to have you back in maybe a year or so.

Justin Eggar:
Yeah.

Adam Degraide :
We could check on the progress of Quantum Assurance International because I’d love success stories. Justin, thank you so much for joining us today.

Justin Eggar:
Pleasures mine. Thank you Adam.

Adam Degraide :
All right, listeners and watchers, another amazing edition. Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious edition David vs Goliath is in the can or in the bag, however you want to say it. Next week, you never know who’s going to be here, but I promise you this it’ll be a ton of fun. We’ll see you soon and have a great day. (music)