In 2017 I started doing some research about how video can change business. I wanted to dive in deep and see if I could see how it could impact our business.
I ran across this guy named Ryan Hanley who was working at Agency Nation at the time. He had started his insurance career inside an agency and was what I refer to as the content and video guru. This man committed to content and especially video when it wasn't popular.
I mean this was like 5 years ago before Youtube was even taking off like crazy. He wrote the book content warfare which has changed so many lives including mine. You can buy it at the link above.
I want to take you along the journey of how Ryan Hanley changed our agency, my life, and my families future forever.
As I mentioned in 2017 I started studying video and specifically what Ryan Hanley had done and was still doing to change an industry.
I wanted to change lives through flood education and I wanted to use content to do it.
So I started studying some of Ryans strategies and his videos. As I mentioned he was the original video guru. He did 100 insurance videos in 100 days. This record stood until a great insurance agent out of New York named Mike Crowley did 101 videos in 2019. It took nearly 10 years for some one to beat this record.
It wasn't so much about the record as it was the dedication and consistency that Ryan put into his work that got my respect.
Anybody can pick up a camera and record a video but to do it everyday for 100 days takes a special individual.
Ryan was changing lives through his blogs as well. As I continued to read his work I knew this was the kind of strategy that I wanted to build our niche flood education market on. I wanted people to feel like I was reading minds because when they had a question I already had an answer.
So in 2018 I did a 30 day challenge to see how video could change our business. I did 30 videos in 30 days and then I looked at the results.
The results blew me a way. Ryan had been telling people for years about the impact video could have but no one was listening.
So like Ryan I decided to commit to video but I was going to do it for a year. 365 days of flood education videos. Honestly I thought I was going to run out after 10 days. However using the strategies that Ryan Hanley has taught me over the years kept it going. Half way through our year challenge I decided to start blogging and podcasting.
2019 ended and we had done 365 flood education videos in 365 days, 150 flood blogs in 150 days, and a 100 flood podcast in 100 days. Staying focused on what Ryan was still teaching me without him knowing I decided to keep going.
In early 2020 I had the opportunity to meet Ryan Hanley in person for the first time. To come face to face with the man that had such an impact on my life was unreal.
When I returned home from meeting Ryan I decided to dive deeper. I wanted to keep the videos going to 500 but I wanted to create 1000 pieces of flood education content in 2020.
In early 2020 I had the opportunity to be a guest on Ryan Hanley's podcast and what an honor it was. The opportunity to thank someone who had such a big impact on me.
So we are now half way through 2020 and Covid has thrown off our plan a little bit but we recently hit 500 videos in 500 days. I have decided to keep going to a 1000 videos. Who knows maybe I look back one day and say we did 10,000 videos of flood education content.
I look back at when I ran across Ryans content for the first time and I look up today being the president of The Flood Insurance Guru with a brand that reaches multiple countries.
I realize it never would have been possible without the mentorship of Ryan Hanley and the friendship he gives me everyday.
You can hope to come close but no one will ever beat the original Ryan Hanley.
So to him I say thank you for doing what others would not.