Think-Thank-Thunk

Much has been said about Primerica. Still, many have questions. Is this a company I can trust? Do I have to recruit people to make this work? Will the products actually help people? Can I really make a living doing this and maintain my self respect?

The rest of this page is devoted to answering those questions.

But I need your help. Do you have a story to share? Are you currently, or have you ever been a Primerica representative? If you have some experience actually working with/for Primerica there are hundreds of people who need to hear your story. Please email me at chris@3thinks.com with a report detailing your experience. I will then post your story on this page for the world to read and learn from. I may edit for spelling and grammar, follow up with clarifying questions or add headings, but beyond that you’re experience will be posted as is.

Please do not contribute (email) if you are still in the decision making process, or simply want to voice an opinion. The place for questions and/or observations from outsiders is in the comment section below. Good or bad, positive or negative, I will only publish stories from people with actual experience. Please do not email me with your opinions if you haven’t experienced Primerica in some capacity.

My hope is that we can collaborate here to create a valuable resource others can use to make educated decisions about Primerica and the business opportunity they offer.

And now, let the truth be told:

3/22/09–With Primerica 2 Months: How it all Begins:
By Eric

An Introduction
I recently got on board with Primerica about 2 months ago. I am currently working for AT&T and had a business customer come in inquiring about certain types of PDA devices. Upon giving the customer all of the information I had on the certain device, he advised me that he still had time left under his current contract with another cell phone company & that he would have to wait & switch & I obviously understand the situation & thought that would be it. I noticed the gentlemen had a large championship style ring & asked him if he had won a Superbowl. He said he had not, & although he didn’t necessarily need to share the information with me, he explained how it was an income recognition ring from his company. I found it rather interesting, thanked the gentlemen for his time, & gave him one of my AT&T business cards for the future.

An Invitation
A few days later I get a phone call from the customer randomly. He explained to me that he liked how I was very explanative with him & not pushy like normal sales people even when I knew I wasn’t getting the sale that day. He asked me if I planned on being with AT&T forever & I thought about it & said no. He briefly continued to explain to me furthering the conversation from before that his company helps people build their own business’s & become financially sound. He then asked me if I’d be interested in coming down to a company overview seminar to find out a little bit more about a company called Primerica. After some thought I accepted & went down for the company overview called a “Fire your boss” seminar, led by one of the founders of the company who was currently a National Sales Director.

The Presentation and Compensation
I sat through the presentation (which I found very informative & inspiring) explaining how the company helps people learn how to become financially sound & improve the quality of their life. The way they explained the commission makes sense, & here’s where most people’s views of Primerica seem to go sour. They pay like Real Estate, or a travel agency. There’s a broker, who under him has sales managers, who under them have agents & sales reps. When The agent makes a sale, the sales manager gets an over ride, & the broker gets an over ride as well of course.

Though with real estate, the broker never wants the sales rep/agent to become the broker, because then he wont be able to make commissions & the successful agent will probably end up going elsewhere. With Primerica, the company WANTS you to succeed. There are a lot of different tiers & promotions, & the top of the ladder is a “Regional Vice President” with the company, & the entry position is an agent.

The gentlemen who came into my AT&T store & invited me to come on board was a Regional Vice President with the company for over 20+ years. It’s easy to tell that the gentlemen is clearly established, successful, & did not need to spend any of his time dealing with a young 23 year old AT&T sales rep. But he did. My Regional Vice President (RVP), in the time that he has available & in the time that I have available, has shown me a great deal about the company, the financial industry, & how to become financially sound.

Why is this?

Building a Business of Your Own
Well if I become successful & do business for the company, for him investing his time with me, of course he will make an over-ride, which, I have no problem with. But the beautiful thing about Primerica is, he has a vested interest in my success, because if I do continue working my way up the ladder with Primerica, eventually get my own office & become a Regional Vice President, there’s incentive for my Regional Vice President having trained me & shown me the way to get to that point.

With a Real estate company, they want you to continue working for them & selling forever.

Now, of course, people bring up “pyramid” & Amway, & stuff like that. To that I say, “What business is not a pyramid?” I work for an AT&T authorized retailer. AT&T pays my company, my company pays my store owner, & my store owner pays me. My store owner never wants me to have my own store or take over them. My present company isn’t showing me how to own my own business, or become financially independent.

Helping People
With my first client, my first appointment, we were able to help a client paying $865 a month for less than $1 million worth of cash value life insurance he had over 4 policies. We were able to help him cut his monthly premium down to $265/mo for the same amount of coverage with $25,000 on both of his children. That’s over $7000 a year we were able to save the client, plus the investment opportunities we’re able to offer. Most people don’t know what they’re getting & what they’re paying for with insurance, & Primerica helps people understand & gain a better perspective of where they’re spending their money.

Yes there are other aspects to the business such as recruiting & training, but in what business do you not train & bring in new people that you want to share your success with. While most companies are downsizing, Primerica is always expanding & looking for good new people who would like to either; A) Learn how to become financially independent and/or B) Help others become financially independent & sound.

You get out of it what you put in. Most people do not succeed at lots of things in life because they don’t put forth the right effort. Nothing will be handed to you in life as you travel on & you have to work to put in time to see results. If you ever have any questions, don’t hesitate to e-maill me @ evan.snow13@gmail.com

Hope this helps you out there

Are you giving your kids every advantage?

A little over a year ago I took a graduate class designed to, “. . .introduce educators to links between brain research and success in the classroom.” I learned a lot. The brain is a wonderfully complex and fascinating piece of work. And we still have a long way to go before we understand everything about it.

But one thing that we do know is that food (otherwise known as nutrition) plays a critical role in determining if learning will happen.

So, as a teacher, can I tell who is eating well and who isn’t? You bet I can. I see it in kid’s energy levels. I see it in their ability to focus. It shows in the quality of their work.

There is absolutely no doubt well fed kids have more opportunities to learn than kids that aren’t. Why? Because well fed kids have the energy and building blocks to adapt to the stress of learning. And by “learning,” I mean changing–not simply nailing a test on any given day. Learning sticks.

Now, don’t misinterpret the seriousness of my tone. I strongly believe the best learning activities and environments are always interesting, engaging and, well. . . fun darnit. But learning is still stressful. Real learning challenges, stretches and stresses the brain–just like lifting weights puts stress on muscles.

Good stress (eustress as opposed to distress) forces the brain to adapt, to learn and to get stronger.

Brawn: A metaphor for brains

Serious athletes get it. To get bigger, faster, or stronger, athletes (and their coaches) have invented millions of ingenious ways to stress musculature and respiratory systems, in effect, injuring themselves slightly along the way. The athlete understands growth comes not from stress, but from the body’s response to that stress. The better the adaptation, the more efficient the growth, the better they are able to perform.

The focus isn’t on the work out, it’s on the change that takes place after the work out–on a cellular level. Athletes know how to feed (and heal) stressed cells.

At the most basic level, athletes control a process of repeatedly injuring and then nurturing anatomical systems. The game (and the fun) is in the adaptation to stress. Successful athletes understand that you can’t build strong cells without smart nutrition.

So what’s the difference between learning and adapting? Nothing. But there is one thing everybody should keep in mind:

Adapting to natural growth requires high quality raw materials

A kid’s mind and body is even more stressed than an an elite athlete’s–simply because it’s growing. You can actually see physical changes in a child in very short time increments.

The important thing to consider as it relates to learning is those same growth spurts that trigger you to shop for longer pants and bigger shoes are also happening inside that kid’s skull.

Feed the brain and you have an opportunity to affect the remainder of that youth’s life–in a big way.

Consider the following, from Teaching With the Brain in Mind, by Eric Jensen:

“In the past decade or two, compelling studies have shown the clear effect of better nutrition. In fact, the long-term impact of nutritional supplements (given to children from birth to age 7) is significant. Not only did children who received supplements score higher in quantitative thought and expression, reading, and vocabulary 10 years later, but also, when researchers followed up with these children between the ages of 11 and 26, they had improved socioeconomic status compared to the control group. Research strongly indicates that improved nutrition leads to improved cognition.”

Jensen goes on to say that nutrition is an area where we can easily make a positive difference. Like saving money for retirement, a good early investment will have a positive and lasting effect throughout a child’s life. Talk about paying dividends!

“The foods we serve,” Jensen says, “are not just feeding a child’s daily energy requirements, they are shaping the child’s brain.”

Researchers suggest the following for parents who want to give their children every opportunity to learn:

• Sufficient protein is absolutely essential in the early years because, aside from water, the growing body is made of more protein than any other substance.

• 2. Minerals and trace elements, including iron, zinc, and selenium are essential to ensure proper mood regulation, reduce fatigue, and improve concentration.

• 3. Vitamins A, B, C and E are essential for brain maintenance, protective effects, vision, strength, and memory.

• 4. Essential fatty acids (EFA’s), especially omega 3 and 6 play an integral role in cell membrane function and the development of the brain and eyes.

• 5. To work fast, brain cells need a fatty coating called myelin. Deficiencies in protein, iron and selenium impair mylelination of axons, which reduces mental efficiency.

• 6. Although food sources (such as leafy green vegetables, salmon, nuts, and fresh fruits) are the best way to get the vitamins and minerals that support optimal brain function and development, supplements can help to make up for a diet that is lacking.

• 7. Hydration is important to the brain’s normal development and function. Water should be available throughout the day.