Elevate The Hustle

Insurance agency owners: How Greg May launched a specialty casualty MGA from scratch with his brother, said no to the opportunity three times, and bound their first policy in under five months. Want to grow your insurance agency without burning out or selling out? Book an intro call with Elevate Teams: https://calendly.com/elevateteamsllc/introductory-consultation ═══════════ In Episode 25 of Elev...

In this episode of Elevate the Hustle, Stan Meytin and Dom Piccirillo sit down with Kim Ades, founder of Frame of Mind Coaching and one of the most respected executive coaches in the entrepreneurial world. Kim started selling back massages on Cape Cod at 10 years old, built simulation-based assessments that tested every measurable trait in high performers, and discovered that emotional resilience...

In this episode of Elevate the Hustle, Stan Meytin and Dom Piccirillo sit down with Ryan Hanley, 20-year insurance industry veteran, founder of Rogue Risk, board member at Linkora, and one of the most polarizing voices in the independent agent space. Ryan grew up collecting recyclable bottles at 5am to make $40 before school, got fired from every corporate job he ever had, and somehow became the p...

Insurance agency owners: How Jon Spaugy spent 16 years building one of the most connected networks in the independent insurance world, and why the agents who stay personal are the ones who survive what's coming. Want to grow your insurance agency without burning out or selling out? Book an intro call with Elevate Teams: https://calendly.com/elevateteamsllc/introductory-consultation?utm_source...

Insurance agency owners: How Kevin Panter built a $20M independent insurance agency in a Georgia county of 27,000 people, and why he keeps saying no to private equity. Want to grow your insurance agency without burning out or selling out? Book an intro call with Elevate Teams: https://calendly.com/elevateteamsllc/introductory-consultation?utm_source=youtubeeth&utm_medium=marketing&utm_camp...

Most people build a business to find freedom. Liz Mershon built five and was still a prisoner. In Episode 20 of Elevate The Hustle, hosts Stanley Meytin and Dom Piccirillo sit down with Liz to unpack the unfiltered story of how she sold her car at 22 to fund her first business, built Miami's most iconic production studio where Shakira, Oliver Stone, and Paramount Pictures all worked, scaled 5...

In Episode 20 of Elevate The Hustle, hosts Stanley Meytin and Dom Piccirillo sit down with Neil Krauter to unpack a career that started with peanut brittle sales records and a keg party that changed everything, leading to a $40 million book of business, a firm built from scratch, and adventures that would make most people's heads spin. At 18, Neil made a decision: retire by 40. What followed...

Most people talk about building something. Andrew Nigri had the audacity to actually do it. In Episode 19 of Elevate The Hustle, hosts Stanley Meytin and Dom Piccirillo sit down with Andrew to unpack the unfiltered story of how he walked away from a stable role, launched his own insurance agency from scratch, and built a referral-driven empire in one of the most complex and competitive niches in t...

"This company has survived the Great Depression, multiple wars. When you really think about what it takes to navigate business for that long, it's really insane." Connor Lynch runs a 107-year-old insurance agency in South Florida. His grandfather bought it in the 1940s. His dad took over in 1969. Connor became CEO of Plastridge Insurance in 2019. Every week, private equity firms cal...

"No one grows up wanting to get into insurance, right? It's not on your vision board." Before Kenneth Mantuo Jr. was building a multi-state insurance agency and trying to make the industry sexy, he was chasing a very different dream: the NFL. He played football since he was seven. Pop Warner. High school. College ball. Then overseas in Germany for a year. Came back. Trained harder....

"We knew the need before they knew the need." Before Troy Chakarun was helping scale one of the fastest-growing firms in insurance, he was making cold calls, sorting mail, answering phones, and getting yelled at by strangers at Merrill Lynch. His first job in business? Picking up a phone book and calling dead people. Not exactly glamorous. But it taught him how to sell, how to handle rej...

"This is not the ceiling for me. I need more, I want more, and I've always worked for that." Gabriela Rodriguez started as a virtual assistant in Venezuela in 2017. $1 an hour. Paid in a collapsing currency. Her first client? Cold calling people in Mexico to book appointments. She got removed from the placement—couldn't hit the goals. But she didn't give up. She got placed...

 The best investment you can ever make? Yourself. "I took a 70% pay cut at 25 just to get my foot in the door. Whether I made money at it or not, it was going to provide me tremendous value long term." David Ragno started at Travelers crunching big data and analytics—making good money, safe career path, comfortable future. Then he walked away from it all to work an entry-level role at Ke...

"I promoted myself to COO. See, when you don't want to promote me, I promote my damn self."  Sonya Horton started as a receptionist at a Brooklyn livery cab brokerage in the '90s—answering phones for quarters and dimes, reading BOP policies on the train, learning insurance line by line because there was no ChatGPT, no LinkedIn, no shortcuts. Just work ethic inherited from immig...

"In Sales, the better you work, the harder you work, the more input you have, the better output you get. There's a level of justice to it."  Matt Naimoli knew he was built for entrepreneurship before he even knew what that meant—and a career aptitude test in elementary school that made him cry proved it.  From Division I catcher at UVM to Liberty Mutual's top 1-2 sales rep in t...

"If it doesn't keep you up at night and you're not excited to go to work on Monday, then it's not your thing. It's not your why."  Cari Gelber spent 20 years in events, hospitality, and the music industry—touring with bands, nearly landing a Disney movie deal, and selling out nightclubs in Manhattan. Then she pivoted into insurance staffing with zero experience, said...

"I was determined to play at the highest level, and I did."  Al Sica is talking about Division I baseball—but he could just as easily be talking about insurance M&A. Today, he's the founder of Sica | Fletcher , the #1-ranked insurance M&A advisory firm in the country, with over $19 billion in agency deals closed since 2014. 🏆  In episode 9 of Elevate the Hustle, Stan and Do...

"You never lose. You either win or you learn."  That's the philosophy printed on Mike Stromsoe's favorite travel shirt—and it's the mindset that took him from working nights at a bowling alley bar to building and selling a multi-million dollar insurance agency. 🚀  In episode 8 of Elevate the Hustle, Stan and Dom sit down with Mike Stromsoe —founder of UPP (Unstoppable Pro...

 "If you're not growing, you're dying."  That's not just a saying—it's Keith Captain's operating principle as President of FirstChoice , the #1 largest insurance network in the country. 📈  In episode 7 of Elevate the Hustle, Stan and Dom sit down with Keith Captain —former sports management student turned insurance claims adjuster turned network president—who&ap...

"I don't even know where the F your office is. I just need to know that I can get you."  That's what Rich Nesbitt's client told him when he was nervous about going fully virtual. 💻  In episode 6 of Elevate the Hustle, Stan and Dom sit down with Rich Nesbitt—34-year insurance veteran, owner of Johnny Walker Insurance, and a guy who went from knocking doors for $12,000 a ye...

"I quit my job, bought a house, and bought a franchise all in the same week. We had 45 days to make the mortgage."  That's how Jay Wolfberg went all-in on insurance. 🔥  In episode 5 of Elevate the Hustle, Stan and Dom sit down with Jay Wolfberg —, founder of We Insure 's largest franchise at $32M in premium, and now President of We Insure, one of the fastest-growing insurance...

"I was making someone else a lot of money. I was making good money, but the amount of money I was making someone else was considerably more."  That realization changed everything for Allen Hudson. ⚖️  In episode 4 of Elevate the Hustle, Stan and Dom sit down with Allen Hudson , founder of Community Risk Advisors . Allen was running a $65 billion insurance program when he realized the cor...

"A lot of people get paralyzed and they don't make a decision, but that's a decision."  Rob Bowen learned that in the Navy. At 50 years old, he decided to stop waiting and start his own insurance agency. 🎖️  In episode 3 of Elevate the Hustle, Stan and Dom sit down with Rob Bowen , Navy veteran, owner of Patriotic Insurance Group , and one of Elevate's very first clients....

"Do you know Kelly Bailey?"  If you're in Florida insurance, the answer is yes, and you're probably best friends. (And if not, you will soon.) 🐝 In episode 2 of Elevate the Hustle, Stan and Dom sit down with Kelly Bailey —founder of Hive Recruiter and serial connector who turned decades of "side hustle" placements into a full-time business.  They dig into:  Why fear...

“A giraffe walks into an insurance conference…”   Sounds like the setup to a joke, right? Except this actually happened. And we were the ones who brought it. 🦒   In this first episode of Elevate the Hustle, founders Stan Meytin and Dom Piccirillo tell the real story behind the 16 foot giraffe they brought into the FAIA conference in Orlando—and why it wasn’t just a stunt, it was a statement about...