Pathways with Amber Stitt

Learn, Unlearn, Relearn, and Transform: The SHFT Approach with Fabian Serrano

• Amber Stitt

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🎙️ Welcome to another episode of Pathways with Amber Stitt, where we explore the journeys and insights of industry leaders and innovators. 

💬 Today, we are excited to have Fabian Serrano, the founder of SHFT Insurance, join us for an enlightening conversation. 

🛫 In this episode, Fabian shares his personal and entrepreneurial journey, emphasizing the significance of mentorship, community, and the perpetual evolution of mindset in both personal and professional realms.

👫 Fabian reflects on the lessons learned from his parents and mentors, highlighting the necessity of 'reaching up'— seeking knowledge beyond our immediate influences. 

🗝️  He breaks down the concept of SHFT—Shaping, Habits, Form, Transformation—and how honing in on the right habits can lead to profound personal and professional transformation. 

📈 Fabian and Amber also discuss the evolving landscape of the insurance industry, emphasizing innovation, technology, and the importance of personal connection with clients. 

👀 Whether it's about unlearning outdated habits or embracing change, this episode is packed with valuable insights for anyone looking to lead and transform in their respective path.

🏡 Throughout the episode, you'll hear inspiring anecdotes about leadership, personal development, and the art of balancing professional success with personal fulfillment. 

💡 Regardless of whether you're an entrepreneur, a leader, or someone looking to elevate your mindset, this conversation offers valuable insights and actionable advice. 

📻 Tune in, let's dive into this engaging dialogue with Fabian Serrano!

📽️  To watch this episode: https://youtu.be/2-SmeaOgm20 

#pathwayswithamberstitt #amberstitt #timelessvitalitypodcast #fabianserrano #shftinsurance

🔗 To connect with Fabian:

📲 SHFT Insurance website: https://shftinsurance.com

📲 SHFT Podcast: https://shftinsurance.com/podcast

📲 SHFT on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SHFTINSURANCE

📲 Fabian on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/fabianaserrano

📻 Thank you for tuning in to Pathways!

🔗 Connect with Amber on Social Media:

📲 Be sure to visit Amber's website:

www.AmberStitt.com

And remember, let's take action today!!!

Fabian Serrano [00:00:00]:
I think something that people need to know is that you surround yourself by so many different people right as you're coming up, but you're going to have to reach up. Like my mom, for example, or my father, they mentored me, but up to a certain point, they couldn't mentor me to be in the position I'm in now. That's not...

Amber Stitt [00:00:17]:
No, it's not arrogant. It's just, there's sometimes limits. And as you have more experience in, like, a subject matter, expertise or whatever it could be, they might not have that in their arsenal, their DNA. So we have to continue evolving that.

Fabian Serrano [00:00:30]:
Our communities and mentorship's so important. You know, I remember about 10 years ago, I started to do that kind of thing again. I was reaching up. I was like, all right, I think I've hit a moment here, or hit a point here where I'm like, "This is it. I need to kind of start looking outside of the box." And one of my mentors told me this. He goes, "Look, I think sometimes instead of thinking that you need to learn something new, you might just need to unlearn something."

Fabian Serrano [00:00:56]:
And that's something that...that's a very good concept for people to...think about it. We're raised by our parents, our siblings, or whatever, and we come up and we learn all these things, and some of them don't serve us anymore. They just don't.

Amber Stitt [00:01:10]:
You have to be OK with that, and not feel bad about it.

Fabian Serrano [00:01:12]:
No, and at first I would feel kind of bad about it because I'd be in that loop. I'd be like, "Well, so and so taught me this and this." But it's like, okay, it's not working for you. You got to learn something different. You got to unlearn that. You got to get rid of that. Some of them can be habits.

Fabian Serrano [00:01:25]:
Some things are bad habits. You gotta get rid of them. They're not shaping. That's what SHFT stands for, by the way. SHFT, S, H, F, T. Shaping, Habits, Form, Transformation. That's really what...

Fabian Serrano [00:01:36]:
Yeah, that's the concept. It's like, if you can hone in on those habits that will create shape in you, they will form transformation. And it's so true. It is so true. But I couldn't get to that point unless I was starting to reach out and to reach up and to really try to figure out who can help me in those situations.

Amber Stitt [00:01:54]:
I love that. Hello and welcome to Pathways. I am your host, Amber Stitt. And today we have Fabian Serrano with us, the founder of SHFT Insurance. Welcome to the show.

Fabian Serrano [00:02:05]:
Thanks for having me, Amber. I appreciate that.

Amber Stitt [00:02:06]:
Thanks for being another insurance nerd caring about risk management.

Fabian Serrano [00:02:11]:
Right.

Amber Stitt [00:02:11]:
It's not always the glamorous job. Right?

Fabian Serrano [00:02:13]:
No, it's not super boring.

Amber Stitt [00:02:15]:
It's not boring. You're an innovator in technology, you say?

Fabian Serrano [00:02:18]:
That's right. Yeah. Try to keep it fine.

Amber Stitt [00:02:21]:
So we met through a community, there's a 10X community out there, and so we were doing our own learning, innovating ourselves. And so that's how we met. So I'm glad that we were able to connect that way. Community is a big thing, and I know that's important to you. I do want to talk about your story, your origin story, how you got into insurance planning, because I think it's more than just helping people buy insurance. And was this always something that you thought you'd be in commercial insurance?

Fabian Serrano [00:02:50]:
No. I knew I'd be solving problems.

Amber Stitt [00:02:53]:
Yeah.

Fabian Serrano [00:02:54]:
Because that's what insurance is about, commercial insurance specifically. And so I knew that for sure. I just didn't know I'd be in insurance. It's just one of those fields. You're just like, "Insurance really seems kind of boring." And I'm not a boring person in personal life.

Amber Stitt [00:03:07]:
Nope.

Fabian Serrano [00:03:08]:
Yeah, maybe I can be, but I like to keep things exciting and things like that. And so insurance just...it's kind of like one of those things where it's just almost not really symbiotic with the character that I have. But, yeah, it's crazy.

Amber Stitt [00:03:21]:
I think that's important because it can be daunting in my world. I talk about disability and death, "Would you like to insure against that?" Commercial might be a little bit easier, but I know people can sometimes try to skip steps with that. And it's all so important. And we'll talk about that more. But you also talk about innovating and staying on top of things. And so I think you're similar to me where we want to keep innovating in providing the most efficient meetings as possible. And I think some of that has come with our personalities.

Amber Stitt [00:03:50]:
We might just be more, "Let's get things done," more of an attitude.

Fabian Serrano [00:03:53]:
Yeah.

Amber Stitt [00:03:53]:
Versus, let's just kind of fluff it out and talk about it. We want people to take action. So I know that's where part of our bond comes from. Now, did you grow up thinking, "I'll be an entrepreneur, I'll sell insurance." How did this even become a thing?

Fabian Serrano [00:04:06]:
I want to say, yes. Growing up, I saw my dad own a business. He ran a furniture business, and he...I mean, he was involved in it for a large period of its growth. And I remember seeing him opening up the warehouse, turning all the machines. Having his conversations with his employees, and then just getting to work. As I got older, that was the thing that I really enjoyed seeing, was someone from the top sending the message down, giving that inspiration, having those conversations, giving the direction, but then also getting involved in the legwork. I think a lot of us have kind of started trying to steer away from it.

Fabian Serrano [00:04:43]:
There's a lot of talk out there where if you're the one doing the work, then you're really not running a business. And I get some of that. Of course, you want to scale, and you want an enterprise that isn't just you, but you also have to lead from the front. You know what I mean? And so I saw a lot of that. And starting off in the workforce, so to speak, insurance was the first thing I jumped into and so I tried to kind of embody a lot of that in the agency that I worked for, but it was very difficult to do that because in that agency, there were just a lot of, "This is the way we do it."

Amber Stitt [00:05:13]:
"Antiquated" is the word I use.

Fabian Serrano [00:05:15]:
Yeah. And so it was a little challenging, but as the years progressed I kind of figured out my way, figured out where I fit in, and I just started to kind of double down on some of those skills that I had already learned and developed as I was coming up.

Amber Stitt [00:05:29]:
When you're talking about seeing your father in action, you can't scale everything away. Got to show up and lead and I think a lot of your teams need to see you and see that you care, that you're not just, I call it, "On the show." And I'll say this. In consulting meetings, when the leader just floats up like a balloon, a red balloon up into the sky with a visionary, that's their role, but you got to come and still participate.

Fabian Serrano [00:05:49]:
Yeah.

Amber Stitt [00:05:49]:
Part of it also, though...yeah, go ahead.

Fabian Serrano [00:05:51]:
Sorry to cut you off, but I also think the consumer, the customer needs to see that, too. I think it's so important for your client, your prospects, the people out there whom you would like to do business with, they have to see that, too. I mean, it's okay. I get it. I see, certain people I know work hard, and then I see them loafing. At that point I'm like, "Hey man, they deserve it. Right on." But if all I see is just partying, or loafing around and I'm just like, "Okay, disconnected."

Fabian Serrano [00:06:18]:
Yeah. People want to see hard work. They really do. They might comment otherwise, but the reality is you really want to see that, and I think the prospects want to see it. So that's also important for them to see, too.

Amber Stitt [00:06:28]:
I just had this visual. You think of a restaurant, go into the restaurant, and the ones that have been around for a long time, you see the owner, they're walking the room, "How's your dinner?" It's almost like, take that into the corporate world, or in a private setting, or whatever it could be. That's probably that element of that community. I know that a lot of the episodes I've had this year, I've met a lot of people all over the globe, and there's this community vibe where there's ultimate happiness with being able to be connected. And I think that's probably like that visual coming out of just some of those interviews I've had. You're equating it to that. I think that's why it's probably necessary for the leaders to be around from a branding perspective, too.

Amber Stitt [00:07:06]:
The consumer, the client wants to see that.

Fabian Serrano [00:07:08]:
100%.

Amber Stitt [00:07:09]:
Yeah. They're the people who are seeing success.

Fabian Serrano [00:07:11]:
I mean, people say that all the time, but it's so true. You're in the people business. You need to relate to people. People need to see you, they need to know who you are. It's 1,000% true.

Amber Stitt [00:07:18]:
On my show, because of my community of colleagues, we talk a lot about next generation. There's a lot of focus on some of the younger people coming into my industry, or your financial services. There is this disruptor talk, there's these buzzwords we have now. Do you think that you were seeing some of the old processes and systems and that's why you have become passionate about innovating and modernizing the industry? Is that kind of where it came from? Was the experience on the job? We hear about it a lot. We want to pull more people in because they're growing up in a different way than 20 years older than them. But is that where it started, or do we have to make some changes here?

Fabian Serrano [00:07:54]:
Yeah, absolutely, 100%. Our industry is really based on old concepts, old philosophies and some of them still work to this day, but most of them are really becoming outdated and that's part of shift. That's the concept there. What's even crazier is this, I was talking to someone about this in our industry recently. This is so true. The old way was a brick and mortar office, right? You fill it up with agents, you pay for a lot of advertisements. Phones ring, everybody answers, everybody makes money, cool, whatever.

Fabian Serrano [00:08:24]:
And then there's this guy or gal at the top and they're making overrides, or whatever. With social media where it's at today, with technology streamlining everything that we do, there's no more paperwork, some more filling out. One agent, one person can kind of do all that. And you don't need a brick and mortar office. You can literally be in Tennessee tonight, you can be in California next week, you can travel to Hawaii with your family, all while writing business.

Amber Stitt [00:08:50]:
To me that is success. Financial freedom, or whatever that is for you.

Fabian Serrano [00:08:54]:
That is. And so to answer your question, that's a lot of the inspiration. That's really where SHFT in that concept comes into play. Because you see a lot of these old ways and a lot of people in our industry are still stuck in that, "This is the way we do it." And it's like, "No, it's not. It's not the way you do it."

Amber Stitt [00:09:11]:
I think you and I are in this realm of it's more important to have more behind the scenes maybe that you're not showing off like that big office, the luxury. I mean, sometimes people that truly want to be face-to-face, that's where they get their flow. Sure, there might need to be a space for that, but success used to be that fancy office, all this staff, and then like you said, that person up at the top. Now we've kind of figured out a way to how do we get the most tax efficient as possible, scale where it needs to scale, but then have more opportunities for your family and your friends.

Fabian Serrano [00:09:44]:
Yeah, 100%.

Amber Stitt [00:09:45]:
And you don't have to show it to the world to then get that pat on the back. Like you're giving yourself that validation because you've done the work, but you don't have to show it off in a sense. And we even follow Grant Cardone and some of the things and the wild things he talks about, but he's very much, "You might think I'm flashy," but everything he does is to have a tax advantage opportunity while participating with family and friends and bringing the business along for the ride and making it symbiotic, but he's getting to do multiple things with it. It's more like the velocity of money. How do we make this $1 work for us multiple ways? And we control that narrative.

Fabian Serrano [00:10:21]:
Right. 100%. Funny, because Grant talks about why he does some of that stuff, and one of the reasons he says he does that is for his competitors. He wants them to see what he's up to.

Amber Stitt [00:10:30]:
Free advertising.

Fabian Serrano [00:10:31]:
Yeah. Which I completely get. But, yeah, to your point it's, I think for me, the biggest flex is being able to take your family where you want to still conduct business from wherever you're at and to run the day-to-day that way. I think that, to me, is a huge flex. You know, just recently we took off to El Salvador. I was on the phone with a prospect.

Fabian Serrano [00:10:49]:
We wrote a deal, went to Lake Tahoe, same thing. And it's like, I'm traveling, I'm taking my family out, we're doing things, we're staying busy, we're staying active. I'm staying active. I'm able to go to the gym and do all these other things. And at the same time, I'm not missing a beat. I will say this, that is not for everybody, though.

Fabian Serrano [00:11:08]:
Some people can't do that, and that's okay, too. But that's really not the audience that I would be speaking to, if I'm honest with you. But, yeah, I love where you're going with that.

Amber Stitt [00:11:17]:
And that's where I think part of that SHFT podcast that you have started is the shift in the mindset. But it's ultimately up to you to decide what you want that to be.

Fabian Serrano [00:11:26]:
Yeah. 100%.

Amber Stitt [00:11:28]:
So I know that's something new. So congratulations on that, because I knew you before, and now after.

Fabian Serrano [00:11:32]:
Yeah.

Amber Stitt [00:11:33]:
The launch. Yeah. What's your angle, insurance or more? What are you going to do with that?

Fabian Serrano [00:11:38]:
So the SHFT podcast is the name of the podcast. And really what I wanted to emphasize on, Amber, is just mindset. You know what I mean? There's so many people on this planet. All of us have something to learn. And I think that when we've learned the thing we need to learn, I think now we're most qualified to teach the thing. Whatever it is.

Fabian Serrano [00:11:57]:
And so for me, that podcast, I just want it to be a collaboration of people who've learned the thing that they needed to learn and then who want to share it. That's it. Whether it be a business owner, a teacher, or whoever. It doesn't matter. I want to have an ecosystem with the podcast that it's not so much business related, it's more of a mindset, you know what I mean? Because that's what SHFT is all about. It's all a mindset. You know, for me, SHFT is very, that's my agency name, SHFT Insurance. It's really selfish.

Fabian Serrano [00:12:25]:
I'll be honest with you. It's a selfish name. It's a selfish agency because it has everything to do with me. It embodies who I am and what I stand for and what I've experienced and everything I've accumulated over the years in this industry, and in life, in general.

Amber Stitt [00:12:40]:
So let's talk a little bit about risk management. Boo-hoo, that sounds really boring. But no, it can be exciting to take control of protecting yourself with less stress and part of insurance products and planning can help you with that. But I think it goes even a conversation before that. So you talked about getting into the business, you got into insurance. But when you move into the protection mode, if you start things in advance and really look at what do I want ultimately, like, "What's the flex for you?" But plugging in the safety nets, that allows us to have more opportunities to travel, do different things and have that less stress in our lives. And that's why Pathways of Peak Performance with my podcast is really to find ways to introduce to my audience people that can help fill in the gaps, so that we just have more well-rounded, just better days on a day-to-day because life does happen, things can happen.

Amber Stitt [00:13:33]:
So with you going into commercial insurance, it can be one of those topics that people can shut down a bit and they don't want to think about the bad things, or what can happen, or to pay for products, and they just kind of shut down there. Are there any ways that you've instilled, are there any, I guess, stories behind your message of why you are helping people with their insurance planning? Are there any lessons learned where this is really like where you become a big advocate to help people protect their lives and their businesses?

Fabian Serrano [00:14:03]:
Yeah. So, recently when I went to El Salvador, we went to go look at and see where my mom grew up. And so, we're traveling around and I'm talking to my mom and I'm asking her questions about little things and where she came up and her story. And everyone has a story, right? Everyone has these things that have inspired them either to leave their country and start a family elsewhere. That's a hard thing. Think about that. My mom was, I think, 20 years-old.

Amber Stitt [00:14:30]:
Without resources, like we have.

Fabian Serrano [00:14:32]:
Yeah. And so she needed to leave. Because that was going to put her and then the next generation in position to win. And so I tell you this because everyone has a story. Everyone has a reason for why they started a business. Everyone has history. And so, one of the things that I do is when I'm working with the prospect, or somebody that is interested, the first thing I really need to know is am I able to solve your problem? But one thing I also do is I get to know that individual.

Fabian Serrano [00:15:00]:
I want to know them on a personal level. Like, "What's your story? What drives you? What's your motivator? Is it family? Is it money? Are you taking care of your grandmother? Like, what are you doing?" And so I get involved with that. And then so through that, I'm able to kind of understand what's their motivator and then I make the segue into things because now I've made them more relatable to them and their story. So I have so many different stories about that kind of a thing, but that's really what I try to do. We're definitely going to talk risk management. We're definitely going to talk about the things that you can do to really protect yourself and all that stuff.

Fabian Serrano [00:15:33]:
But none of that really hits, or sticks if I'm not relating it to like, "Hey, why are you even in business?" Like, "Why?" Like, "What's the point?"

Amber Stitt [00:15:41]:
Well, I'm hearing you customize, and I think there's a lot of bad actors in our industry that try to hit high volume in a way that they're just going to go, "Okay, yep, you need umbrella. Yep, you need this." But there's a way to build off of that. And some of the strategic partners I have now, do walk people through...they don't sell homeowners insurance, but they will say, "Here's why you need XYZ limits." And they go, "I literally have never been told this before." They just know they have to get it, or they have to get the auto insurance, but they don't know the why behind the levels. And we just allow it to happen and just say, "I don't really understand it.

Amber Stitt [00:16:13]:
So, yes, just tell me what I need." So I like how you customize the box of necessary tools versus just a checklist of items.

Fabian Serrano [00:16:22]:
The point you're making with coverages and things like that, it is wild to me how many people out there are still just not educated on the different levels of coverages that one needs and what you currently have. And it's wild to me. It's like, yeah. What it tells me is that there aren't enough agents out there really taking the time to educate. I'm not trying to put anybody out there, but it's the truth. I mean, it's evident. That's an indicator. That's what that is.

Fabian Serrano [00:16:48]:
It's an indicator that we're not taking the time. Instead, what we're doing is we're order takers.

Amber Stitt [00:16:53]:
Yeah.

Fabian Serrano [00:16:53]:
"Oh, this is what you have. Okay, here, let me compete." And it's like, that's not doing them a service. You know what I mean?

Amber Stitt [00:16:58]:
Yeah. And I suppose it's partly the consumer's fault too. I don't know when this began to be a thing, but we've talked about antiquated processes, but we kind of nod our heads to "Yes, we need these things. We need to invest in these places." We've been told this savings account, whatever terms we've grown up with, doesn't necessarily mean you need to stop paying attention to what's happening around you. And I get it, you're not always going to have the bandwidth to learn all the products. As a consumer, you got things to do. That's what you're hoping your advisor, your agent is for.

Amber Stitt [00:17:27]:
But I think as a society, stopping for a moment to participate in your own lives must start there.

Fabian Serrano [00:17:34]:
That's a power move. Yep.

Amber Stitt [00:17:36]:
I mean, and I get it, we're busy.

Fabian Serrano [00:17:38]:
Yeah.

Amber Stitt [00:17:38]:
There's also a lot of distractions too. So working with teams that can help you, educate you, and as life changes, you can update and add on. So let's talk about how your team. Have you built your team to lead these people? Like, how did your company help others with this process?

Fabian Serrano [00:17:55]:
The way we run our organization is we use a lot of backend support. So there's technology and then we have VA's that really help us with all the mundane stuff. So, what that gives me an opportunity, in the team, an opportunity to do is to talk and to really start building those connections with our prospects and our clients. And through that communication, where we're really going to find out what the problems are, what the issues that that organization may have, and then we just get to work and we just get to solving the problem. And I'll be honest with you, I have turned down more people. To me, it's not considered bragging, but I have turned down more people than I've actually done business with.

Fabian Serrano [00:18:34]:
And there's a lot of reasons for it.

Amber Stitt [00:18:35]:
But is it because they might not want to participate in the work of the conversation?

Fabian Serrano [00:18:41]:
Yeah, some of it has to do with the stages that they're at. It's interesting, but when you're starting a business, the mindset's very different from when you're...money. Well yeah, so you want to cut corners, or you want to really keep the pencil sharp in certain areas. And I get it. It's completely understandable. I get it. I understand it.

Fabian Serrano [00:19:01]:
But, when you have an enterprise and you're generating several millions of dollars a year, you think a little different. Now you're like, wait, "Okay, so how do I protect that business?" And then that's really where I come into play. It's that when you're making that shift from, all right, real small business running and gunning to now, like, "Okay, we have something here of value, how do I protect it?" Well, then that's where we come in, and that's where we can help that organization out, and then sometimes we can't. Maybe it has nothing to do with the owner's mindset, or maybe it just has to do with, "Hey, look, you don't really have an issue here that I see we need to fix at this point, it would just be me, you want to work with me," that's fine, too. But we do that. I do that from time to time.

Fabian Serrano [00:19:47]:
You said something earlier. You said something about volume. I'm a numbers guy, 10X, right? All that cool stuff. But I've done the volume.

Amber Stitt [00:19:54]:
I have high volume. I have multiple meetings a day. It's like a physician's office, technically, with my day, because of sitting at a desk. And we're digital. We can do that.

Fabian Serrano [00:20:02]:
Yeah.

Amber Stitt [00:20:02]:
So it's still nothing wrong with volume of efficiency in our meetings, educating people efficiently.

Fabian Serrano [00:20:07]:
Right. Yeah, you can scale that. But, for me, I don't want to deal with a lot of customers. I want to deal with a smaller group, a smaller crowd, a more specific group of clients.

Amber Stitt [00:20:19]:
It reminds me of a time when I was an employee of my brother's firm, and he brought in Dan, I forget his last name, but he owned a couple different companies, and he then traveled at the time, and he would say, "How to get referrals." And we hired this person to speak to us about referrals. And it sounds very salesy and pitchy, but you want to work with people that you enjoy working with and as you cultivate that, there's going to be this love of what you do. It's just like a spouse, or a partner, you want to have some core values and similarities there.

Fabian Serrano [00:20:48]:
Right.

Amber Stitt [00:20:48]:
So there could be transactional work. I do a lot of transactional work. Insurance planning is my main thing, disability and life insurance. But you want to have amazing conversations while you can with people from all over and enjoy that. And so if there's just not alignment there, I think it's okay to say that personality doesn't work. Just like choosing your own physician, your provider doesn't work, go find another one. That's okay too.

Fabian Serrano [00:21:09]:
Right.

Amber Stitt [00:21:09]:
But having that open-mindedness to say, "Okay, what do I want this to look like?" But then you can really hone in over time. Was it always like that for you, or was there a period at the starting point? Because I think we all kind of go through that. This is great, but now we can really choose. Once we've done some of the work in our business, it's not always like right away.

Fabian Serrano [00:21:28]:
It's like what we were talking about previously. You know, everyone has something to learn and when you've learned it, you're now qualified to share it. Yeah. So I can say that with 1,000% confidence, because I've been the volume guy, I've been the guy who just took on as much business as he could, and it doesn't work in the long-term. You mentioned something right now about it's comparable to picking the right partner. How true is that? You pick the wrong partner, you're not going to have a happy life. You're just not.

Amber Stitt [00:21:56]:
You can't change people.

Fabian Serrano [00:21:58]:
No.

Amber Stitt [00:21:58]:
You can understand them better. But yeah, we can't change our spouse, or partner. Nope.

Fabian Serrano [00:22:04]:
You pick the wrong clients, you're going to have a miserable experience and so that matters. It is important and I believe that there's a business out there, they can serve just about every type of client and so to that point I'm like, "I know somebody will handle it and take care of it. I'm just not the guy for it."

Amber Stitt [00:22:20]:
On that note, moving into more of the leadership route, I know that you and I, I would assume, believe that having people mentor us is important. And then having the menteeship/mentorship, is there anything that's really been insightful within the last 12 months for you that's just kind of changed at all for you? You want to share?

Fabian Serrano [00:22:39]:
Well, as it pertains to mentorship. I mean, yeah, I think something that people need to know is that you surround yourself by so many different people right as you're coming up, but you're going to have to reach up. Like my mom, for example, or my father, they mentored me, but up to a certain point, they couldn't mentor me to be in the position I'm in now. That's not...

Amber Stitt [00:22:59]:
No, it's not arrogant. It's just, there's sometimes limits. And as you have more experience and like, a subject matter, expertise, or whatever it could be, they might not have that in their arsenal, their DNA. So we have to continue evolving that in our communities.

Fabian Serrano [00:23:12]:
And mentorship's so important. I remember about 10 years ago, I started to do that kind of thing again. I was reaching up. I was like, "All right, I think I've hit a moment here, or hit a point here where I'm like, this is it. I need to kind of start looking outside of the box." And one of my mentors told me this, he goes, "Look, I think sometimes instead of thinking that you need to learn something new, you might just need to unlearn something."

Fabian Serrano [00:23:38]:
And that's something that's a very good concept for people to think about it. We're raised by our parents, our siblings, or whatever, and we come up and we learn all these things, and some of them don't serve us anymore. They just don't.

Amber Stitt [00:23:53]:
You have to be OK with that and not feel bad about it.

Fabian Serrano [00:23:54]:
No, and at first I would feel kind of bad about it because I'd be in that loop. I'd be like, "Well, so and so taught me this and this." But it's like, okay, it's not working for you. You got to learn something different. You got to unlearn that. You got to get rid of that. Some of them can be habits.

Fabian Serrano [00:24:08]:
Some things are bad habits. You got to get rid of them. They're not shaping. That's what SHFT stands for, by the way. SHFT - S, H, F, T. Shaping, Habits, Form, Transformation. That's really what...yeah, that's the concept.

Fabian Serrano [00:24:19]:
It's like, if you can hone in on those habits that will create shape in you, they will form transformation. And it's so true. But I couldn't get to that point unless I was starting to reach out and to reach up and to really try to figure out who can help me in those situations.

Amber Stitt [00:24:36]:
I love that. What are your favorite books right now?

Fabian Serrano [00:24:39]:
Oh, man. So I even gifted these books to my brother. So, "Think and Grow Rich". I love it. I read that one in literally one session. And it's funny, because that book really doesn't talk so much...I mean, it talks about money, but there's a concept there. It's like a mindset concept that I really loved about that book. "The Power of One More" by Ed Mylett.

Fabian Serrano [00:24:58]:
That is an incredible book. I mean, that book probably almost got me to tears about 2 or 3 times. He shares so many different concepts in there. But "The Power of One More" is, I'll be honest with you, I want to credit Ed Mylett in his book for the experience I had with my father.

Amber Stitt [00:25:15]:
You want to talk about that?

Fabian Serrano [00:25:16]:
Sure, yeah. With my dad, it was literally that "one more." Like, if I had not made that one phone call.

Amber Stitt [00:25:22]:
Right.

Fabian Serrano [00:25:23]:
It would have been a completely different experience. And because of that concept, "You know what, just make the phone call." I've called him before. I've called my dad before. He never answers. And this, that, and the other. But I did it anyway, you know? From that came a gift, Amber. It was a gift. I called my dad,

Fabian Serrano [00:25:41]:
and from that conversation, he shared insights with me I'd never heard him share. And I got to hear his peace. I got to preserve his peace, because I recorded that conversation. That's so crazy. And it was all because I just decided to do it one more time. And that's the power of it, you know? And so I love that book. That book, I'd recommend that to anybody. I recommend you get the audiobook and the book.

Fabian Serrano [00:26:04]:
You know what I mean? So you can just really digest it and just really eat it up. What other books? There's some others out there.

Amber Stitt [00:26:10]:
I think like "Atomic Habits" I could listen to and it's like, "Yes, yes, again." So I think that this book sounds like it's one of those.

Fabian Serrano [00:26:16]:
Yeah.

Amber Stitt [00:26:16]:
And, in your work day, there's a little tug that says, "You should go do this." And you're like, "I don't want to do that right now." Like that hard conversation. There's books about doing certain things at certain times of the day to kind of get things over with, whatever. But when there's that little intuition, that little tug, and it could be a business idea, too. Give yourself some quiet time and some grace there. I think we're always moving so fast that sometimes some of the real answers are just within, but we're not listening, because sometimes we Just have to feel it, too. And we're not ready to feel some of that emotion.

Fabian Serrano [00:26:46]:
I love that. It's so true, Amber.

Amber Stitt [00:26:48]:
But if you wouldn't have. If he hasn't answered and you wouldn't have made the call, then you would have had a different outcome last year.

Fabian Serrano [00:26:55]:
Yeah, 100%. I heard this a while ago, taking a step back is a power move, and it's so true. When you put pause, you just press pause for a little... we're not saying stop. We're not saying let all ambitions out the window. We're just saying pause. Just stop for a second.

Fabian Serrano [00:27:13]:
Assess what's really important. It's a power move. It is a huge power move because it gives you clarity on what you really want to focus on versus what doesn't matter. You know what I mean?

Amber Stitt [00:27:23]:
Public speakers say pausing on stage, power move, active listening, sometimes just say nothing and just wait.

Fabian Serrano [00:27:31]:
Yeah.

Amber Stitt [00:27:31]:
So I feel like that pause because of like the dopamine hits that we get with all of our social media. I think we feel like we have to answer. I think you are young enough to remember when you have the cordless phone, or the wall phone with the cord.

Fabian Serrano [00:27:44]:
Yeah.

Amber Stitt [00:27:44]:
The phone would ring. We would go, maybe to rush to go get it, but we didn't always get it. We could let it ring now. We don't allow ourselves to not hear the ding and respond to the text. We don't have to respond in 30 seconds. So if you can pause and kind of put it on hold for a moment, showing some patience there. I know I make some of the better moves, whether it's writing something out, a negotiation of sorts.

Amber Stitt [00:28:05]:
Sometimes if you just pause and give yourself some space from it, you come back with better answers and better delivery on your communication.

Fabian Serrano [00:28:12]:
100%, I agree with you on that.

Amber Stitt [00:28:15]:
So before we wrap up today, any takeaways? I mean, you already have a few, "unlearning", we talked about pausing and some of the things that have helped you along your way. From a leadership perspective, what could you give someone, little action item to take on today to show more leadership within maybe themselves or their business?

Fabian Serrano [00:28:33]:
I would probably say get out of your own way. You know what I mean? Really get out of your own way. That's a hard pill to swallow sometimes for some of us. I mean, there's so many things. I mean, if I really wanted to share something to someone in leadership, it would just be lead by example. You know what I mean? But try to learn as much as you can. So many of us think we figured it out and I'm proof that we always have something to learn. Sometimes that's the differentiator.

Fabian Serrano [00:28:58]:
It's just taking the time to just scale up and just learn something new.

Amber Stitt [00:29:01]:
Investing in yourself.

Fabian Serrano [00:29:03]:
I think that's probably the best investment one can make. We didn't talk too much about money, but money is a tool. Look, you don't take any of this with you. Nothing that we accumulate, you take with you. So don't have a fear of losing it, have a fear of not using it and so use the money that you have access to as a tool. Don't be dumb with it, but use it as a tool. Use it to increase your skills. Yeah, for me, that was probably one of the biggest game changers, is I started investing more in myself.

Fabian Serrano [00:29:32]:
Whether it was buying a $5 book to read "The Million Dollar Line", whether it was going to that seminar. Sometimes I would go to a seminar and I wouldn't even learn anything from the seminar. I would meet somebody, in fact, that's kind of how you and I met. We both participated in a program which is a great program. You learn a lot too there, but it's the people that you're going to be in proximity with, and so that's super important. That's another thing, proximity is huge. You put yourself in the same spaces as others who are thinking like you, who are reaching up and looking forward.

Fabian Serrano [00:30:08]:
And so the other thing, too, would be to just set yourself some goals and then continue to add to those. And if you set the right goals and they're big enough, they'll pull you into the future. Does that make sense? They'll pull you into the future. Yeah, it's kind of like a vacation. When you have a vacation scheduled for February, you're like, "Okay, I got to go to the gym. I got to look this way. I got to be able to...

Fabian Serrano [00:30:29]:
I got to go buy this. I got to buy that, because I have this thing going on in February." I know that sounds funny, but it's true. Something's pulling you into the future. And I really do believe that some of these successful people we hear about that live so long is because they always had things they had a vision that was just pulling them into the future. They couldn't die.

Amber Stitt [00:30:46]:
That what you just said, kind of pulling that forward. Make sure you're not hanging around people that will just pull it back, pull you back. And sometimes it's hard.

Fabian Serrano [00:30:54]:
It is.

Amber Stitt [00:30:55]:
But I think when you let that work within protecting yourself and your immediate people that are important to you and pushing towards those goals, that's where the X factor can come from. I know you've seen it. I've seen it, too. Once you invest the time and the money and let things happen. So thanks for sharing the SHFT mindset with everybody today and sharing your stories.

Fabian Serrano [00:31:14]:
Courage over comfort. Courage over comfort.

Amber Stitt [00:31:16]:
All right, more to come. We'll see you soon.

Fabian Serrano [00:31:18]:
Right on. Sounds good. See you soon. Bye.

Amber Stitt [00:31:21]:
Thank you for joining us on this episode of Pathways. For more information about the podcast, books, articles, the blog, and so much more, please visit my website at: www.AmberStitt.com And remember, let's take action today! Thank you for listening!