Jeff Lehman  

This is Lead. Empower. Grow., a podcast featuring entrepreneurs who lead productive teams, empower their communities and grow successful businesses on their own.

Today's guest is Cindy Rivera, National Marketing Director, and she shared her story all the way from coming to the US with little more than hope in her pockets through the triumphs and challenges of finding a successful career in health care, which is where she still works full time — even though, on the side, she's helping families find financial security with life insurance. Cindy, and I covered the usual Lead. Empower. Grow. topics and themes — the greatest hits, you could say — we talked about the challenges of building your own business, the importance of putting the client first, which is the First Financial Security difference, and the transformative power of finding a supportive professional network, which is what Cindy found here. So that was nice.

We had a great talk, and I can't wait for you to hear it. So let's go to it.

Thank you for being on the podcast. Cindy. Thank you for reaching out. And I just want to know your origin story, or how you got to FFS? Or did you have jobs before?

Cindy Rivera  

I came here in the US way back in 2001, you know, to search for the American dream. I actually settled pretty early in life. I was married at the age of 19. So I didn't really finish my education. And I just feel bad to be dependent on, you know, from in-laws. Yeah. So we tried to look for that American dream here.

So basically, when when I got here, I had no legal documents. I came here as a tourist visa. And it was, it was tough, you know? Through friends, family friends, I was able to be introduced — I do have a nursing background. I was on my third year of nursing career when when I stopped schooling — so I was able to have the chance to work in a residential care facility for seniors It's actually a six-bedroom facility. And again, because I had no proper, you know, legal documentation, at that time, I was working seven days a week with basically low low pay, you know? Right?

Jeff Lehman  

Yeah. Difficult. Yeah. That's a tough time. Yeah. Yeah. Everyone needs a break. Gosh, yeah.

Cindy Rivera  

So for me, it was really big deal. Because if you can dollar to pay, so it was a big amount, it was a big help. I was the breadwinner. My my family is not well off, you know. And with that salary, and I had to free housing and food, I don't really have to worry, I was able to support my only sister finish up her college. And at that time, my I had to leave my first born. She was actually about one and a half years old when I left her is obviously I can't bring her here. Know what to take care of. Right. So I had I had to go through that. When I was working as a caregiver, back then, I love studying. You know, I was I was always on top of my, you know, school when I was younger.

Jeff Lehman  

Yeah. And

Cindy Rivera  

I studied a lot of things, I discovered that insurance is a really big deal here in the US. Like being has insurance and so right I even American health care insurance, because I was scared. You know, what if I had to go to the emergency room, you know, like, who's gonna pay 1000s of dollars? I don't have that. That time, I didn't know that. They're not going to really force you to pay. Because in the Philippines, it's it's a way, way different. The facilities over there, the hospital, they won't even accept you. You have to pay the deposit first,

Jeff Lehman  

you had some more upfront thing. Yeah, yeah, front.

Cindy Rivera  

And in the middle of the treatment, if you're not paying your balance, you're gonna stop it something like that. Yeah. So So I learned that and then I had the opportunity to be introduced into a different brokerage. So I was there for about maybe two to three years. And I didn't really like it because they're not really client focus, you know, focus on recruiting agents. And at that time, it's hard for me to succeed because I don't have that credibility. You know, like, who's gonna believe me, you

Jeff Lehman  

know, yeah, you're building everything. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, I know. That's so hard. Yeah.

Cindy Rivera  

And In the end, I do believe that, you know, recruiting is really a good thing to build your business. But at the same time, you we have to really make sure that we're also thinking what's the best for the client? Absolutely. Yeah. Without the service. I mean, it's such a failed approach to have like a really big team. But you're not really doing the service to the client. Don't treat me exactly. Yeah, it's not my thing. So

Jeff Lehman  

it's, yeah, yeah, it's what I love about FFS are like, why we try? It's part of why the podcast exists, too. And a lot of my job messaging is like, Yeah, cuz we want, there is so much out there. That isn't. The recruiting only heavy focus is like it takes away ultimately lose your eye on the prize, you lose the point of it. By if you're not giving clients the best. If you're not actually meeting their needs. It's like, well, then what are we actually doing here? That's our that's our purpose. We're trying to protect people here. We all get in. Most people want to help they don't, you know, just want to if they wanted to just make a big team that. I don't know, just to make a bigger team, you could do that in any industry. I don't know. It almost has nothing to do with insurance by then. You know, yeah.

Cindy Rivera  

I was there for like two to three years, but I kept my licenses. When I finally got my work permit. I was able to find a company that, you know, I can use my insurance license. I started as keyer, believe it or not. Okay. Asians and then doing claims. And if you believe it or not, I'm still working there full time right now. Oh, yeah. Yeah, yeah. Therefore, I'm 17 years. Wow, great. But I was able to work my way, a little bit, you know, on the upper side of claims processing going into sales. So I became one of the account manager for the senior market doing Medicare. Because of that, you know, keeping my license?

Jeff Lehman  

Yeah. And goings up with your early residential care. Work, right? Yeah.

Cindy Rivera  

Yeah. And then one time, a friend of mine introduced me to someone that's already a broker with FFS. And she told me that it was really a good company. And they said, unfortunately, I just, I'm just done with recruiting, you know, it's not me. Yeah, this, this agent told me that well, you can go ahead and just do it, you know, by selling you don't really have to recruit. So I, we had a mutual understanding of okay, I will join FFS. But just to let you know, don't expect any recruits. You know, I will, I had the opportunity to review the company. At that time, it was actually 2008 When I joined. No, 2000 no, sorry. 2015. Okay, yeah, yeah, August of 2015. And I saw their products, you know, the products are really great. With with seeing benefits and things like that, ya

Jeff Lehman  

know, kind of knew a little bit of furniture. Yeah. Yeah. So I fell

Cindy Rivera  

in love with the products. So I did you know, because of my, because of my background with health insurance, doing apples to apples comparisons, right. Yeah. But to do that, the same concept with FFS, and it was great. So I fell in love with the product. And then when I attended my first convention, on 2016, because they already done their convention and the 2015 that really changed everything for me. So my first convention is the one that really did. You know,

Jeff Lehman  

I love that. Amazing. That's such a good yeah, because that's always it is I hear that story a lot. But it's always so exciting. Because you get there in Vegas, and it's like, I get this and then you're like, oh, yeah,

Cindy Rivera  

like, wow, I mean, these people came from nothing, you know, from on to becoming someone you know, like, why why are they like that? I mean, if they were able to do that, I can do that too. You know,

Jeff Lehman  

so that kind of mindset. Yeah, yeah. And I'm not positive about the history I'm pretty sure even though I write about it, but 2015 would have been right around when Korean Victoria like really shut up, I think right, they would have like really, but I am not positive because I wasn't here at that time. But I feel like 2015 is something where it's like Korean Victoria, we're really hitting a stride then but just trying to picture it. You've touched on so many great things there that I'd love to talk but I love that you had the long history and still are working you know in other side of it Insurance and, and your perspective on the product first. I mean, it all makes sense.

Cindy Rivera  

Not only the convention itself, but I felt the culture, the culture way, way different from where I was. On the other company, you will be noticed if you're a rising star, you know, if you're doing something, you can even approach the higher up. Yeah,

Jeff Lehman  

I know what you mean. Yeah. That's a good because, yeah, I talked to many agents who started with a different company that and they weren't satisfied there. And then they love us. Because the same way I love us, which is because it's client focused in helping and serving and financial security. And you know, but I, myself had never worked at another one. So it is, I'm always kind of like looking in the window when you guys are talking to me like that, where it's like, I hear about it. And I'm like, Well, I'm I guess I'm just glad on this side over here. Yeah. And the culture is, I never tried to take it for granted. You know, if you know what I mean, where it's like, well, it still always impresses me. And so I loved in the podcast, everyone's you know, so service oriented. such nice people.

Cindy Rivera  

Yeah. And even though we all compete, you know, friendly competition. Yeah, it's natural. Yeah. It's helping to, to help that someone to go up. You know,

Jeff Lehman  

yeah, yeah, exactly. Yeah, yeah, competition. It's like sports, it can be

Cindy Rivera  

for you. It's not, it's not like the others, where they will call you for points and recruits, you know, in FFS, they will really care for you. They will, you know, ask you how you are, if you needed help, if you know, things like that. So

Jeff Lehman  

good. And love hearing that. That's why we're always trying to restructure things or at least make ways that like, we can emphasize the selling with like, producer plus, and things are like success tracks or like just trying to make it easier. I don't know. That's just my whole job. Just trying to make it easy for people. There's, there's so many different aspects.

Cindy Rivera  

I know success jobs. Oh, yeah. No. Yeah.

You said you doing before it? Yeah, it was 2015.

So wait, before we don't even have like trainings. Yeah.

Jeff Lehman  

Yeah. Yeah, I know. Exactly. Yeah. Calling

Cindy Rivera  

for carriers, you know, plugging in on their webinars. So I was really that and that's the same thing. I was telling my my team, you know, like, right now, everything's there. It was, like, laid out to you one by one, what you need to do. Where do you want to start? You know, when I started, I had to do everything, you know, yeah. Although home office really helpful.

Jeff Lehman  

But we just hadn't built up that kind of stuff yet.

Cindy Rivera  

I still have the carrier to get, you know, information in a product on seminars, you know, things like that.

Jeff Lehman  

Absolutely. Yeah. I always like or hearing about that wild west period that like wilderness back then, because I came in 2019. But I I've talked to plenty of agents who were like, yeah, and back then, you know, we didn't have anything that we had now, like people, of course, we're trying to help. But like, we as a company, we're still building ourselves too. And like, how can we? So it's just so nice to see how far we've come, you know, with success tracks and, and the technology and our our IT department, the apps? The app? Yeah, yeah. I love that perspective from you. Yeah.

Cindy Rivera  

There's not really, there's, I mean, you can't really make an excuse, right? There's that side of it, too. Is here to help you grow.

Jeff Lehman  

Yeah, there's that side, too. Yeah. But yeah, did you so that would have been super, like we said, 2016 and 15? Was there a long trial period of challenges? Or did it take a long time for you to? I mean, you were doing full times and then FFS part time, so was just what did those first months or years look like? Where were you like, really? All in? When

Cindy Rivera  

I started something and they really put my heart into it? Yeah, to be honest with you. It took me I started August of 2015. I became Regional Marketing Director, December of 2015.

Jeff Lehman  

Well, yeah, you really hit the ground running. Yes. And they actually hit first.

Cindy Rivera  

diamon 2018 of November.

Jeff Lehman  

Yeah. Amazing. Okay, good. Yeah. So,

Cindy Rivera  

I mean, it took me three years, but again, I'm working full time. And, and the reason for that, you know, a lot of a lot of my uplines even even Phil and Debbie, the home office. They know I would really wanted to quit. The only reason I'm saying on my full time job is a medical issue.

Jeff Lehman  

Right, right. Right. Right. The benefits and things. Yeah, yeah, that makes sense. Yeah. Oh,

Cindy Rivera  

it's for my firstborn daughter. She had a very rare type of cancer. She was diagnosed when she was 15 year old. And yeah, it was it was it was really rare. So her case keeps on coming back every two to three years. My health insurance coverage is really awesome. I can't compete, you know? Yeah. For for someone buy it, you know, on an individual is. That's

Jeff Lehman  

good though. No, I'm so glad you got to stay with them and you got that coverage still. Yeah, we're happy to even just have you part time. You know, like, that's, we don't mind, you keep that coverage. That's nice. You're gonna need it right.

Cindy Rivera  

And even though it's it's only part time, I take FFS very seriously.

Jeff Lehman  

I can tell ya, FFS change,

Cindy Rivera  

not only my life, but people that I know. It's a very great company. It really cares not only for its own agents, but for, you know, people. Yeah,

Jeff Lehman  

often, even just recently, some of my past interviews have been like talking about, you know, that just even helping people beyond insurance or like, whether it's helping clients, even be unjust a product or like people that aren't even my clients. It's like, Yeah, but and I got to, like, hook them up with something because they really needed it. There's always those stories. Do you have any? Like, I know, you're talking about a change people in your lives, lives, change people, you knows lives and yours? And do you have anything that comes to mind? Or like, any stories or any anecdotes that are like this? I can speak to that, like, this is how it changed this person's life, or this is how it changed a client's life. It's okay, if you don't, but it's wondering if you could, if anything came to mind?

Cindy Rivera  

Yes. So I've been doing FFS since 2015. And for that long time, I build a build a book of business that was pretty solid, out of that book of business, I would say I have won that claim. But I do have about more than 10 acceleration for living benefits. And you if you really think about it, the acceleration itself are really helpful. Not only, you know, helping the family itself, providing because, you know, when when person was sick, but my my biggest story to tell is for the debt, for the debt claim that I had. This client was 67 years old with one pass away, we were able to get her life insurance in annuities, you know, for for her retirement, passed away, unexpectedly because of COVID Perfectly healthy client and passed away after two to three months of hospitalization for COVID. The client followed my advice of setting a trust, you know, because she have about seven home cares. Yeah. And then, on top of that, she has about maybe seven or eight properties like house yeah, houses. So she did followed my advice to set up a trust, but the trust wasn't set up correctly. Yeah. Unfortunately, everything went into probate. Up to now it is under probate. And the client left two kids, one of them is 27. One of them is 25. doesn't know anything about the business. And they were crying because they can't touch the money for the business. It was frozen due to probate, and they can't even sell the business. Because if you if you read the will, the client wanted the business to be intact for her legacy, you know, for the kids or grandkids to come. Oh, yeah, they don't have any money to pay the employees. And because of the life insurance that we were able to set up for her. Along with the annuities. We were able to get some of that money to continue the business. It was awesome.

Jeff Lehman  

Thank God, we had that little safety net that plan because gosh, I can't imagine how frustrating is not even the word but to know that it all got locked away or locked up just in we were so close. The trust was there, but it just wasn't quite right. Yeah. And then But then to have the insurance and annuities we've been to save at least a little bit of the day.

Cindy Rivera  

I mean, if you really put your shoes in their shoes, I mean, the time of

Jeff Lehman  

grieving process. Yeah. already. It's such a difficult Yeah. And

Cindy Rivera  

at the same time, they're worrying about, you know, how to continue the business. How can they even continue themselves,

Jeff Lehman  

you know, you know,

Cindy Rivera  

they don't have they don't have any outside job, you know, they they work inside their company, because they're trained by their mom, but they never really think that that will happen, you know? Yeah,

Jeff Lehman  

I knew gosh, I knew and that's why I love you agents out there because It's like, it is such a, it's the grieving time, it's the hardest time. And then to think it's hard enough for me to wrap my head around financial, like trusts and Dino insurance and all this heady stuff that you know, that we need experts like you for and so you got to be grieving and then also to be like, and I don't even know what how to what, you know, God, and then you guys stepping into like the column you know people who are just like your to help happy to help. I know it led me do it got it so nice. Yeah. For such an important time for people. Yeah. Yeah. Love that story.

Cindy Rivera  

He Thank you. I just I just wanted to let everyone know, whether it's brand new agents or new agents that they don't have to be scared, you know, they are in a very good place. There, this is a very good company, we have products that we can offer, with, you know, for for clients out there, depending on their needs. I know there's a lot of challenges, a lot of people are saying that, you know, they don't have time, they're busy. And, but if you wanted to really change your life and change the lives of others, you have to start somewhere he have to figure out and for me, I was blown away by not only what insurance can do, there's a lot of issues about retirement going on right now. And a lot of people are taping they are prepared, but they're not really prepared. So that's where I'm really deeping dive into it is more on planning for the future. Yeah. Because we don't know what the future holds. You know, it might not be debt. But what if you know, taxes? Yeah, or Yeah,

Jeff Lehman  

no, no, it ends up being like your best case, because like, God forbid, death, but you still have to think, Oh, I just kind of want money when they retire. We don't want yeah, I want to be able to live in network. Yeah, that's at least the baseline, we got at least plan for that. You know, then there's of course the other unthinkable things that we are protecting, but, yeah, retirement, I feel like does kind of slip. Or at least in planning it. That's why we need you guys, it is hard to look to how much will I need? Or, you know, think about all that stuff? Yeah, I just

Cindy Rivera  

wanted to, you know, share with them to not be scared. Yeah. It's like, like myself, I have come here in the US. As a no one. You know, like, I don't have any friends. I don't have any family. Yeah. You know, but I was able to get by right along the

Jeff Lehman  

storm, and really build yourself. Yeah, more than just get by and seen. And you you had that courage to make that leap? Here a great example for that. And I love that message of don't be scared, because of course it's right.

Cindy Rivera  

And maybe maybe a lot of a lot of agents, especially the brand new ones, they are scared of sales,

Jeff Lehman  

rejection. Yeah, to raise that point of view, again, based

Cindy Rivera  

on my personal experience, if you learn how to be a great listener, you know, being able to discover more about your client, it helps really well, I always tell my team to what my mentor Victoria Lee always telling us, we don't go and meet people as an insurance agent. You know, we we are financial strategies. And our job is to be a good listener, ask questions, find more information, to be able to know what they need, and what their plans and insurance agents to sell you life insurance or whatever insurance you need. Our role being a financial strategist is to find what will be their gaps or what will be needed when the time they retire. And job is to help them feel that gap. Yeah, yeah, exactly. Yeah. When I realized that they have a change perspective of seeing you as an insurance agent. Yeah, don't

Jeff Lehman  

be scared. I love so many messages in there. Don't be scared for financial strategist and just yet listening, listening in number one, that's the number one scale of almost any part of life. But definitely, if you're gonna make it in this business, and not even just make it but you know, it is hard. Like you were saying, it's hard to find time we're all busy. But if we can just remember to reorient and be like, I'm just gonna sit in front of the person and really help them we're gonna listen, try to figure out the best way to plan for their future. One step at a time, you know, one client at a time. It's, it's easy to get overwhelmed, but don't be scared. Just focus on helping one little thing at a time. That's true. All right, that was awesome. Thank you so much. Thank you so much for being on Cindy. Yeah.

And thank you all you listeners out there as always for tuning in to another episode of Lead. Empower. Grow. To hear more stories from entrepreneurs just like Cindy. You can listen through our past episodes on our feed or at firstfinancialsecurity.com under the podcast tab. And, of course, subscribe wherever you get your podcasts to listen to new Lead. Empower. Grow. episodes the moment they air. Thank you for your support. It makes these conversations possible. And we look forward to bringing you more stories that will inspire you to lead, empower and grow.