May 16, 2025 • 27 mins
Caroline Biesalski introduces the episode by meeting the CEO of Maverick App, setting the stage for an exploration of its business impact. Steve Wallace joins the discussion, sharing his journey from bartending to becoming a tech CEO, and delving into the art of relationship building and sales in the digital age. Steve imparts lessons from his leap into the tech industry, emphasizing the balance between faith, family, and entrepreneurship. The conversation turns to Steve's vision and goals for Maverick App's future. The episode provides listeners with Steve's online contact information and parting advice, concluding with closing remarks, a special offer, and a teaser for the next episode.
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(00:00):
You can meet them in person, you get the idea.
(00:04):
But I still had to do it.
And something happened.
I met the CEO of Maverick App and he and Ibecame friends.
And I bought the service as an insurance agent.
And next thing you know, all the things that Iwas manually doing, the software was doing for
(00:24):
me.
It was building lists for me.
It was automatically doing outreach to thepeople on the list for me.
It was following up for me, and I'm not tryingto plug the software, that's not what we're
here for, but it factored into my businessvery, very, very well.
And simultaneously, my practice took off.
(00:44):
Welcome to Inspired Choice Today.
I'm your host, Caroline Biesalski, here tobring you authentic stories, surprising
lessons, and powerful takeaways to fuel yourjourney in business and life.
In each episode, I'll take you from oneinspiring guest to the next, blending their
experiences with my expertise to uncoverpractical strategies you can use right away.
(01:09):
Whether you're starting out or stepping up,stay tuned for insights and actionable tips
that make a difference.
And stick around until the end for a specialfreebie just for our listeners.
Hello, and welcome, inspired podcast community.
This is your new episode.
(01:29):
My name is Caroline, and my today's guest isSteve Wallace.
And I'm so happy that you are here today.
How are you doing?
Hey, Caroline.
I'm great.
I'm great.
Thank you so much.
I'm excited.
Thanks for having me on.
I'm looking forward to our conversation.
Oh, likewise.
And I would love to introduce you to theaudience.
Of course, you transitioned from bartending tobecoming a dynamic force in business and sales.
(01:55):
Starting your journey behind the bar, yourrelentless work ethic and passion for learning
led you to a degree in small businessmanagement and marketing.
You later excelled in insurance and financialservices, building a thriving career by
supporting small business owners.
Driven by innovation, you joined Maverick App,helping develop groundbreaking prospecting
(02:19):
processes.
Anchored by faith and family, you balance yourprofessional success with your roles as a
devoted husband and father, embodying hustleand growth.
Welcome to the Inspired Choice Today podcast.
Oh my goodness.
What a bio.
Steve Wallace.
Thank you so much, Caroline.
I appreciate that.
It means a lot.
(02:39):
I'm blessed by your presence today, by yourknowledge and wisdom.
And my first question to you is, how has yourtransition from bartending to business shaped
your approach to sales and relationshipbuilding?
Great question.
I think any bartender worth their salt or whoknows what they're doing is spending their
(03:05):
entire shift building relationships with theregulars.
I mean, think of it this way (03:10):
You go to a bar or a restaurant, it doesn't matter where you
sit, and the food is amazing, the drinks arefantastic, and the service is terrible.
How likely are you to go back?
I would never go back.
Bingo.
But if you flip it around, let's flip thedynamic around and say the service was amazing.
(03:36):
As a matter of fact, you had such a niceconversation with your bartender or your waiter
or waitress that this is somebody who you wantto come back for and say, hey, I'd love to hang
out with you outside of this context.
You're a good person.
But the food was terrible, the drinks tastedreally bad, and the environment wasn't that
(03:57):
great.
Would you go back?
Yes.
See, that's a really interesting example, isn'tit?
Right?
So I think any bartender or server who's payingattention is spending most of their time
building relationships because they deep downknow that people will come back for them, not
for the product.
Now in the business world, there absolutely isan element of needing the products to work.
(04:24):
Otherwise, what are people buying other thanyour smiling happy face?
But the transition from bartender to businesswas actually pretty natural for me.
I just needed to work on some soft skills totranslate relationship building into sales or
into consulting or into solving problems forpeople.
(04:45):
And those were the skills that I didn't reallyhave.
I had learned a couple of bread crumbs andgolden nuggets along the way, but I had to
refine them to make them fit into the businessworld.
But the relationship building came verynaturally to me because I was doing it for so
long.
I understand.
And now I want to say, well, in my mind,there's so when I translate this from the from
(05:11):
the bar or restaurant to the to the salesthing, then I, I always I always think sales
nowadays are often on on phone or in a in aonline conference like we are doing this
podcast now, and the the bar thing is inperson.
(05:32):
What would you say is the the difference?
The difference between a bar in person versusZoom and screen sharing and all these different
things.
Right?
Yes.
I think the biggest thing, maybe not thebiggest, but one of the biggest components or
elements of a conversation like this ismirroring.
(05:54):
It's really important to be leaning in andpaying attention, turn your ear, you know, show
the person that you want the sounds they'remaking to be channeled right to your brain.
I think not sitting back and being all likethis, this body language and mirroring convey a
(06:16):
deep sense of purpose and actively listeningthat you can do in person, but it's much more
natural to pick up on the energy of the personand the body language of the person simply by
being physically with them.
It's easier when you're with them.
So when you are virtual like this, I think it'simportant to go kind of over the top and sit up
(06:40):
straight and be present and pay attention.
You know?
That's one of the biggest components I wouldsay needs to be present in a virtual call.
Yeah.
I see because, you know, I was not speakingbefore this.
I started or I trained the last three years.
(07:01):
And also because this is not my motherlanguage, it's always my excuse.
Right?
And the podcast is my training.
And there is a difference between having aphone call or seeing the person or not.
So it's like when you say you want to speak onstages or so, there's a difference.
You speak wonderfully, by the way.
(07:22):
I've listened.
And what I actually like, and I wish Americanswere better at this, I'm holding myself to a
higher standard, is people who aren't from hereand don't speak English as a mother language,
when they articulate our words, they're socrystal clear because you've practiced.
And over here, we just fumble through them.
(07:44):
We have slang, we speak too quickly, we don'tenunciate.
And these are skills that you have to havereally figured out in business in order to
communicate effectively with one another.
Right?
So my hat is off to you.
You speak wonderfully.
Thank you.
And I learned it with song with lyrics in songsbecause, yeah, I was 13, and French is my first
(08:11):
foreign language.
And I can tell you I give you an example, butit's off topic.
But what you said, I can relate to this.
So I train this, songs.
And one of the words is transatlantic.
And you know how long transatlantic trans thisteam or transatlantic.
I had to I had to practice this
word, but I
(08:31):
don't know this as well.
That's a long word with a lot of similarsounding consonants, vowels, and components to
it.
Yeah.
So thank you for pointing this out.
Okay.
I have another question for you as well.
What inspired you to take the leap into thetech industry with Maverick app, and how has it
impacted your career?
(08:53):
Oh, this is
a longer answer.
Is that okay?
Yes.
Of course.
Great.
I ran a successful insurance practice.
I have to go back further.
I started in insurance at an agency that I wasnot happy at.
(09:13):
Here in the States, I don't know if you'refamiliar, but if you leave an agency and an
insurance company and go to another one, it'sagainst the law for you to reach out to your
already existing clients to redo the sameinsurance that you already did.
It's not in the client's best interest.
Okay?
If they reach out to you and say, hey, I'd liketo buy more or I'd like to buy something
(09:37):
additional, that's totally fine.
Right?
But as a young insurance agent in my 20s, itwasn't like all of my clients needed a lot of
insurance.
You know, they might, half of them just boughtsomething just to help me out.
Right?
So I didn't have a book of business that wasparticularly big, and then what I did was I
(10:01):
left that agency and went to another.
I couldn't go back to the old clients andresell them.
Not legally anyway.
Right?
And then I did it again.
And then Caroline, a fourth time.
So it's pretty common in the financial servicesspace.
People leap from one place to the next.
(10:22):
Mine was as much about failure, and failingforward and learning as it was finding the
right place for me.
So I went from one place that I was successfulat, but not the right place, to another that I
was unsuccessful at, but the culture was good.
So it was a mix of things.
Anyway, every time I do that, my job is now tobuild a new book of business without having an
(10:47):
existing book of business.
So as you can imagine, I had to get really,really good at reaching out to people and
asking them to meet with me to solve problemsfor them.
And I did.
I got really good at opening cases for myself.
I became a good cold caller.
We call it walk and talking, walks and talks.
(11:10):
I could knock on doors and introduce myself topeople.
Caroline, I would talk to a wall if it wouldtalk back to me, and I did.
And what that did was, unintentionally, itturned me into a prospecting business
development monster.
I became really good at it, but it wastime-consuming.
(11:33):
So fast forward to the last agency I worked at,and at this point, I've paid my dues, I'm
hitting the leaderboard, I'm successful, butit's still taking a long time to do the work
that I do.
Finding a new client is time-consuming becauseI have to figure out who to reach out to.
Right?
This is the fourth agency, I need new people.
(11:55):
Then I need to do the outreach to them, andthere's a lot of different ways to do that.
You can do it on LinkedIn, you can pick up thephone and call them, you can send them
messages, you can email them, you can meet themin person, you get the idea.
But I still had to do it.
And something happened.
I met the CEO of Maverick App, and he and Ibecame friends, and I bought the service as an
(12:22):
insurance agent.
And next thing you know, all the things that Iwas manually doing, the software was doing for
me.
It was building lists for me.
It was automatically doing outreach to thepeople on the list for me.
It was following up for me, and I'm not tryingto plug the software, that's not what we're
here for, but it factored into my businessvery, very, very well.
(12:45):
And simultaneously, my practice took off.
It saved me all the time that I was spending onthe tedious tasks that I had done at multiple
agencies and did it for me.
So now I could redeploy or reallocate all ofthat time and spend it on higher-value
(13:08):
activity.
Yeah.
It's okay.
Yes.
There was something at the window, and I don'tknow what it was.
Maybe
That's alright.
That's alright.
So, okay.
So the...
The long story short of it is, after some timeof using the software, the CEO asked me to join
(13:28):
the team and take on a leadership positionbecause I was doing so well with it.
The transition for me was actually unexpected.
It was a leap of faith, completely unexpected.
It took a long time for me to decide, but I'msomebody who seeks out change and seeks new
ways to improve myself, improve my family'soutcomes, and try new things.
(13:52):
Moreover, if I'm not uncomfortable, I'm notcomfortable.
If that makes any sense.
I like to be in uncomfortable positions.
And fast forward a little over two and a halfyears, here we are.
Here we are doing a podcast interview, and I'mso blessed talking to you because that reminded
(14:14):
me when you talked about the four agencies, theone where you really had fun.
But maybe this was like the bar with thenot-so-good food in it.
But the service was good, the fun was there,and, yeah, you come back.
You like to come back.
That's right.
That's a good way to think about it.
(14:36):
I love it.
I love it.
Thank you so much.
Of course, I have another question.
Let's have a look.
How do faith and family influence yourentrepreneurial drive and
So let's start with decision-making.
Entrepreneurial drive is a little bitdifferent.
Decision-making, it's faith first.
(14:57):
I like to follow the phrase, I like to put myfaith foot forward.
So I lead with that in a lot of my meetings.
Not everybody believes what I believe, that'sokay, but that is how I'm going to map my
behavior.
So, what I'd like to think is that when I makea decision, it's going to be in the context of
(15:19):
what is best for my faith.
How do I represent what I believe through thisdecision?
So, if a decision that I'm about to makeviolates or is in complete disagreement or
otherwise paints a picture of me in a way thatdoesn't connect to my faith, I'm not going to
do it.
(15:40):
Right?
But if it does, I'm gonna go that direction.
Right?
So an idea, a very common idea in my world, istithing.
Tithing for the church.
Some people agree with it, other people don't.
They might not believe what I believe, but I'mon the side that does.
I do give to my church.
Right?
And I think that saying otherwise woulddisconnect me from my faith.
(16:02):
So I like to follow the principles that Ibelieve in.
As far as my entrepreneurial drive, it's awhole different conversation because it's
difficult to bring faith down intoentrepreneurship except to say that as an
entrepreneur and as a sales leader, I meet witha lot of people.
(16:24):
And my one and biggest hope is that when peoplesee me, they see somebody who's filled with joy
as a result of what he believes.
That's what I hope, and I hope they see thatand are inspired to then share that with others
in their business.
I hope they see my faith and my family and thejoy that we have, and I hope that empowers them
(16:49):
to do the same in their life.
This was the best I ever heard.
No.
There were sentences, you know, what you said.
So acting, let's say, acting according to yourbelief or in harmony—no.
In harmony with your faith.
You said this because, yeah, it's like astandard.
(17:10):
And I know this, people say, oh, it has to be awin-win or a win for everyone in a deal.
You know?
We know this, but I never heard this beforewith faith.
And then you said something.
What was it?
Ah, the reflection.
You did not use the word.
But when people see, they see the joy thatcomes from your faith, or
(17:38):
Yes.
Something like that?
Yes.
When people look at me and my family, I hopethey see the joy that we have as a result of
our faith and are empowered to do that in theirbusiness and with the people they meet as well.
Wow.
This sentence alone, the joy as the result ofyour faith.
Yes.
(17:58):
Oh
my goodness.
This is so good.
I never heard this before.
This is so good because everyone, okay,everyone is searching for results or let's say
better results.
Sure.
In order to have better results, we must thinkdifferently or sow something different than
before.
Like sowing and reaping.
(18:19):
You know, this sowing and reaping.
And now you give the answer just like that.
The seed you have to plant is faith, havingfaith every step of the way.
No.
I translate faith.
And joy every step of the way.
Yeah.
And, you know, Caroline, I think this doesconnect to some people listening to this might
(18:40):
say, well, Steve, this is awfully fufu and woowoo.
Let's get practical for a second.
That's okay.
Choosing faith and joy in all of the thingsthat you do can be reduced all the way down to
losing a deal.
If you're meeting with a prospect and theyhaven't bought from you, somebody who's filled
with joy and somebody who's filled with faith,when they lose that deal, you know what they're
(19:03):
gonna think?
There's somebody out there better, more readyand more worth my time than that person.
Not in a disrespectful way, I wish them luck.
Not working with me is a decision they've madethat's good for them.
If that's good for them, then everybody'shappy.
Wonderful.
I'm glad you gave it thought.
But there's somebody out there with more money,values my work more, and is worth more of my
(19:27):
time than the other person.
Somebody with joy and faith is going to decidethat.
And guess what?
It happens.
You attract exactly this person.
Exactly.
Exactly.
And I'll tell you what.
So I'm I'm I'm a salesperson through andthrough.
I I like to get metaphysical.
(19:50):
I like to get, I like to get what's the word?
I can't even think of it.
Philosophical.
I like to get philosophical, but I'm asalesperson, which is very tactical.
You have to do the work.
And I'll tell you that anybody in a sales orbusiness development role, they have to do
things in faith.
(20:12):
If you were to make a cold call, you don't knowif someone's gonna answer the phone.
You don't know if they're gonna say yes to youor no to you, but cold callers do it anyway.
They believe that there is an outcome for themthat will happen eventually.
That's faith.
You starting your podcast, your first year,writing a book about it and submitting it to a
(20:34):
publisher.
Congratulations, by the way.
You doing that, it wasn't an act of knowingwhat was going to happen before it happened.
It was an act of faith.
So we're all demonstrating faith in some way.
Just a question of what way is it.
That's so true.
(20:54):
So I'm blessed and impressed and speechless.
But I can add to that.
Of course, the best definition of faith I everheard is faith is loyalty to the unseen.
And this is true because you see it in yourimagination first, and then you act on it.
And I would also say you are guided.
If you have your faith and you believe, you areguided.
(21:16):
So you cannot be wrong.
There's nothing wrong about you to call someoneand to serve, to render a service or to offer
to offer us.
I know I'm in sales too, but you don't seethis.
You don't you don't see I sell you my I soldyou my podcast interview.
(21:37):
Sure did.
Yeah.
You came.
You said yes.
And everyone is selling all the time.
Right?
Absolutely.
Mhmm.
And there's no shame in that.
I think people get they have this negativeconnotation with sales.
No.
It's the opposite.
Salespeople just want to help other peoplesolve problems.
They're heavily impact-driven and helpingpeople-driven.
(22:00):
And if they happen to get paid along the way,that's a home run.
In addition, that's the top on top.
Thank you so much.
Okay.
I have a next question for you.
It's about your goals.
Do you set goals for yourself or intentions?
And what is one of your next projects?
Absolutely.
(22:21):
Great question.
I do set goals.
I set big-picture goals for the year.
I set smaller, more tactical goals by thequarter.
So I tend to focus on the quarter goals becausewhen you stack them together, they help you
reach the goal for the year.
(22:42):
Right?
There are people out there who follow thismethod called the 12-week year or the 7-week
year, and it's basically just taking youractions that you have to do and prepare them a
certain way to be ready for the end of theyear.
I'm not sure if you're familiar with the book,but I'm a follower of those methods to an
(23:02):
extent.
My big project that I'm working on internallyat Maverick App is to help other people build a
business development system that they caninstall in their business like a light switch,
(23:25):
where they put it in, it's up and running, andnow they sit back and make sure the software's
running correctly, of course, but take themeetings, sit back and take the meetings.
So it's, are you familiar, Caroline, with theItalian mob movies?
(23:47):
I'm gonna make him an offer he can't refuse.
The Godfather?
Yeah.
I think so.
Yes.
Mhmm.
That's what we're going for here is to buildout a system that when people see it, it's an
offer they can't refuse.
So I'll be working on that for the next fewmonths.
I love that.
Thank you so much for sharing.
And I have a dear friend of mine.
(24:08):
He—he—no.
I have to smile.
He calls himself or—or people call him Maverickas well.
That is why I—I love the name so much.
We know the—the movie, of course.
The movie and what else?
And yeah.
There's the definition of the word as well,which is what—what it—what it means is a really
(24:29):
compelling definition.
And I'm probably paraphrasing, but it's anoutside-the-box independent thinker who's not
really a rule follower, which is, by the way,that's who I am.
That's my personality archetype.
So it works out really, really well.
I love it.
I love it.
Okay.
(24:50):
Thank you so much.
Okay.
I'm impressed.
And now I would like to know, where can we findyou when we want to reach out to you after
listening to this episode?
Absolutely.
Best way to reach me is on LinkedIn.
I'm Steve Wallace, chief sales nerd at MaverickApp or Steve Wallace, Wallace Business
(25:13):
Consulting.
Those both work.
I'm also available and can be found atsteve@maverickapp.io.
I love it.
I'll take a look.
I put the links in the show notes, of course.
Excellent.
Thank you so much for our interview.
I could talk for hours, but I respect yourtime, I think.
(25:34):
And now it's time for your final thought to theaudience, please.
Yeah.
Absolutely.
Thank you so much.
This is incredible.
To the—to the people who listen to thispodcast, I—I hope you continue listening.
Caroline is a—a wealth of value because she'sbringing some incredible people to the table to
share their thoughts with you.
(25:54):
My thoughts for you today are simply about—mythoughts for you today are simply that consider
what you're looking for in your business.
Are you trying to grow it?
You probably are.
And I would suggest to you that you—you thinkyou need leads, you don't.
You need conversations with people because mostof the time, people won't actually buy from you
(26:18):
until they trust you.
Go back to the bartender analogy.
They'll come back for great service.
They won't come back for bad service.
So a relationship must exist.
And so put leads away, put the idea that youhave this aching need for people who are ready,
willing, and able to buy from you.
(26:40):
That's what a lead is.
And just have conversations, build trust, andthen at the end when you've built trust, simply
ask, hey, can I help you with this, this, orthis?
And reach out to me.
Let me know what your outcomes are.
I'd be willing to bet you find moreopportunities.
Thank you so much.
(27:00):
I learned so much.
I have to relisten to it again, of course.
Right.
Wow.
Thank you.
And see you in the next episode.
Thank you for listening to Inspired ChoiceToday.
I'm thrilled to have you on this journey ofgrowth and transformation.
Don't forget to hit follow or subscribe to stayconnected and never miss an episode.
(27:23):
And here's something special.
Grab your free 20-minute breakthrough sessionwith me.
It's designed to help you kick start or levelup your business.
Just check out the show notes for more.
Until next time, keep making those inspiredchoices.
See you in the next episode.
You can meet them in person, you get the idea.
(00:04):
But I still had to do it.
And something happened.
I met the CEO of Maverick App and he and Ibecame friends.
And I bought the service as an insurance agent.
And next thing you know, all the things that Iwas manually doing, the software was doing for
(00:24):
me.
It was building lists for me.
It was automatically doing outreach to thepeople on the list for me.
It was following up for me, and I'm not tryingto plug the software, that's not what we're
here for, but it factored into my businessvery, very, very well.
And simultaneously, my practice took off.
(00:44):
Welcome to Inspired Choice Today.
I'm your host, Caroline Biesalski, here tobring you authentic stories, surprising
lessons, and powerful takeaways to fuel yourjourney in business and life.
In each episode, I'll take you from oneinspiring guest to the next, blending their
experiences with my expertise to uncoverpractical strategies you can use right away.
(01:09):
Whether you're starting out or stepping up,stay tuned for insights and actionable tips
that make a difference.
And stick around until the end for a specialfreebie just for our listeners.
Hello, and welcome, inspired podcast community.
This is your new episode.
(01:29):
My name is Caroline, and my today's guest isSteve Wallace.
And I'm so happy that you are here today.
How are you doing?
Hey, Caroline.
I'm great.
I'm great.
Thank you so much.
I'm excited.
Thanks for having me on.
I'm looking forward to our conversation.
Oh, likewise.
And I would love to introduce you to theaudience.
Of course, you transitioned from bartending tobecoming a dynamic force in business and sales.
(01:55):
Starting your journey behind the bar, yourrelentless work ethic and passion for learning
led you to a degree in small businessmanagement and marketing.
You later excelled in insurance and financialservices, building a thriving career by
supporting small business owners.
Driven by innovation, you joined Maverick App,helping develop groundbreaking prospecting
(02:19):
processes.
Anchored by faith and family, you balance yourprofessional success with your roles as a
devoted husband and father, embodying hustleand growth.
Welcome to the Inspired Choice Today podcast.
Oh my goodness.
What a bio.
Steve Wallace.
Thank you so much, Caroline.
I appreciate that.
It means a lot.
(02:39):
I'm blessed by your presence today, by yourknowledge and wisdom.
And my first question to you is, how has yourtransition from bartending to business shaped
your approach to sales and relationshipbuilding?
Great question.
I think any bartender worth their salt or whoknows what they're doing is spending their
(03:05):
entire shift building relationships with theregulars.
I mean, think of it this way (03:10):
You go to a bar or a restaurant, it doesn't matter where you
sit, and the food is amazing, the drinks arefantastic, and the service is terrible.
How likely are you to go back?
I would never go back.
Bingo.
But if you flip it around, let's flip thedynamic around and say the service was amazing.
(03:36):
As a matter of fact, you had such a niceconversation with your bartender or your waiter
or waitress that this is somebody who you wantto come back for and say, hey, I'd love to hang
out with you outside of this context.
You're a good person.
But the food was terrible, the drinks tastedreally bad, and the environment wasn't that
(03:57):
great.
Would you go back?
Yes.
See, that's a really interesting example, isn'tit?
Right?
So I think any bartender or server who's payingattention is spending most of their time
building relationships because they deep downknow that people will come back for them, not
for the product.
Now in the business world, there absolutely isan element of needing the products to work.
(04:24):
Otherwise, what are people buying other thanyour smiling happy face?
But the transition from bartender to businesswas actually pretty natural for me.
I just needed to work on some soft skills totranslate relationship building into sales or
into consulting or into solving problems forpeople.
(04:45):
And those were the skills that I didn't reallyhave.
I had learned a couple of bread crumbs andgolden nuggets along the way, but I had to
refine them to make them fit into the businessworld.
But the relationship building came verynaturally to me because I was doing it for so
long.
I understand.
And now I want to say, well, in my mind,there's so when I translate this from the from
(05:11):
the bar or restaurant to the to the salesthing, then I, I always I always think sales
nowadays are often on on phone or in a in aonline conference like we are doing this
podcast now, and the the bar thing is inperson.
(05:32):
What would you say is the the difference?
The difference between a bar in person versusZoom and screen sharing and all these different
things.
Right?
Yes.
I think the biggest thing, maybe not thebiggest, but one of the biggest components or
elements of a conversation like this ismirroring.
(05:54):
It's really important to be leaning in andpaying attention, turn your ear, you know, show
the person that you want the sounds they'remaking to be channeled right to your brain.
I think not sitting back and being all likethis, this body language and mirroring convey a
(06:16):
deep sense of purpose and actively listeningthat you can do in person, but it's much more
natural to pick up on the energy of the personand the body language of the person simply by
being physically with them.
It's easier when you're with them.
So when you are virtual like this, I think it'simportant to go kind of over the top and sit up
(06:40):
straight and be present and pay attention.
You know?
That's one of the biggest components I wouldsay needs to be present in a virtual call.
Yeah.
I see because, you know, I was not speakingbefore this.
I started or I trained the last three years.
(07:01):
And also because this is not my motherlanguage, it's always my excuse.
Right?
And the podcast is my training.
And there is a difference between having aphone call or seeing the person or not.
So it's like when you say you want to speak onstages or so, there's a difference.
You speak wonderfully, by the way.
(07:22):
I've listened.
And what I actually like, and I wish Americanswere better at this, I'm holding myself to a
higher standard, is people who aren't from hereand don't speak English as a mother language,
when they articulate our words, they're socrystal clear because you've practiced.
And over here, we just fumble through them.
(07:44):
We have slang, we speak too quickly, we don'tenunciate.
And these are skills that you have to havereally figured out in business in order to
communicate effectively with one another.
Right?
So my hat is off to you.
You speak wonderfully.
Thank you.
And I learned it with song with lyrics in songsbecause, yeah, I was 13, and French is my first
(08:11):
foreign language.
And I can tell you I give you an example, butit's off topic.
But what you said, I can relate to this.
So I train this, songs.
And one of the words is transatlantic.
And you know how long transatlantic trans thisteam or transatlantic.
I had to I had to practice this
word, but I
(08:31):
don't know this as well.
That's a long word with a lot of similarsounding consonants, vowels, and components to
it.
Yeah.
So thank you for pointing this out.
Okay.
I have another question for you as well.
What inspired you to take the leap into thetech industry with Maverick app, and how has it
impacted your career?
(08:53):
Oh, this is
a longer answer.
Is that okay?
Yes.
Of course.
Great.
I ran a successful insurance practice.
I have to go back further.
I started in insurance at an agency that I wasnot happy at.
(09:13):
Here in the States, I don't know if you'refamiliar, but if you leave an agency and an
insurance company and go to another one, it'sagainst the law for you to reach out to your
already existing clients to redo the sameinsurance that you already did.
It's not in the client's best interest.
Okay?
If they reach out to you and say, hey, I'd liketo buy more or I'd like to buy something
(09:37):
additional, that's totally fine.
Right?
But as a young insurance agent in my 20s, itwasn't like all of my clients needed a lot of
insurance.
You know, they might, half of them just boughtsomething just to help me out.
Right?
So I didn't have a book of business that wasparticularly big, and then what I did was I
(10:01):
left that agency and went to another.
I couldn't go back to the old clients andresell them.
Not legally anyway.
Right?
And then I did it again.
And then Caroline, a fourth time.
So it's pretty common in the financial servicesspace.
People leap from one place to the next.
(10:22):
Mine was as much about failure, and failingforward and learning as it was finding the
right place for me.
So I went from one place that I was successfulat, but not the right place, to another that I
was unsuccessful at, but the culture was good.
So it was a mix of things.
Anyway, every time I do that, my job is now tobuild a new book of business without having an
(10:47):
existing book of business.
So as you can imagine, I had to get really,really good at reaching out to people and
asking them to meet with me to solve problemsfor them.
And I did.
I got really good at opening cases for myself.
I became a good cold caller.
We call it walk and talking, walks and talks.
(11:10):
I could knock on doors and introduce myself topeople.
Caroline, I would talk to a wall if it wouldtalk back to me, and I did.
And what that did was, unintentionally, itturned me into a prospecting business
development monster.
I became really good at it, but it wastime-consuming.
(11:33):
So fast forward to the last agency I worked at,and at this point, I've paid my dues, I'm
hitting the leaderboard, I'm successful, butit's still taking a long time to do the work
that I do.
Finding a new client is time-consuming becauseI have to figure out who to reach out to.
Right?
This is the fourth agency, I need new people.
(11:55):
Then I need to do the outreach to them, andthere's a lot of different ways to do that.
You can do it on LinkedIn, you can pick up thephone and call them, you can send them
messages, you can email them, you can meet themin person, you get the idea.
But I still had to do it.
And something happened.
I met the CEO of Maverick App, and he and Ibecame friends, and I bought the service as an
(12:22):
insurance agent.
And next thing you know, all the things that Iwas manually doing, the software was doing for
me.
It was building lists for me.
It was automatically doing outreach to thepeople on the list for me.
It was following up for me, and I'm not tryingto plug the software, that's not what we're
here for, but it factored into my businessvery, very, very well.
(12:45):
And simultaneously, my practice took off.
It saved me all the time that I was spending onthe tedious tasks that I had done at multiple
agencies and did it for me.
So now I could redeploy or reallocate all ofthat time and spend it on higher-value
(13:08):
activity.
Yeah.
It's okay.
Yes.
There was something at the window, and I don'tknow what it was.
Maybe
That's alright.
That's alright.
So, okay.
So the...
The long story short of it is, after some timeof using the software, the CEO asked me to join
(13:28):
the team and take on a leadership positionbecause I was doing so well with it.
The transition for me was actually unexpected.
It was a leap of faith, completely unexpected.
It took a long time for me to decide, but I'msomebody who seeks out change and seeks new
ways to improve myself, improve my family'soutcomes, and try new things.
(13:52):
Moreover, if I'm not uncomfortable, I'm notcomfortable.
If that makes any sense.
I like to be in uncomfortable positions.
And fast forward a little over two and a halfyears, here we are.
Here we are doing a podcast interview, and I'mso blessed talking to you because that reminded
(14:14):
me when you talked about the four agencies, theone where you really had fun.
But maybe this was like the bar with thenot-so-good food in it.
But the service was good, the fun was there,and, yeah, you come back.
You like to come back.
That's right.
That's a good way to think about it.
(14:36):
I love it.
I love it.
Thank you so much.
Of course, I have another question.
Let's have a look.
How do faith and family influence yourentrepreneurial drive and
So let's start with decision-making.
Entrepreneurial drive is a little bitdifferent.
Decision-making, it's faith first.
(14:57):
I like to follow the phrase, I like to put myfaith foot forward.
So I lead with that in a lot of my meetings.
Not everybody believes what I believe, that'sokay, but that is how I'm going to map my
behavior.
So, what I'd like to think is that when I makea decision, it's going to be in the context of
(15:19):
what is best for my faith.
How do I represent what I believe through thisdecision?
So, if a decision that I'm about to makeviolates or is in complete disagreement or
otherwise paints a picture of me in a way thatdoesn't connect to my faith, I'm not going to
do it.
(15:40):
Right?
But if it does, I'm gonna go that direction.
Right?
So an idea, a very common idea in my world, istithing.
Tithing for the church.
Some people agree with it, other people don't.
They might not believe what I believe, but I'mon the side that does.
I do give to my church.
Right?
And I think that saying otherwise woulddisconnect me from my faith.
(16:02):
So I like to follow the principles that Ibelieve in.
As far as my entrepreneurial drive, it's awhole different conversation because it's
difficult to bring faith down intoentrepreneurship except to say that as an
entrepreneur and as a sales leader, I meet witha lot of people.
(16:24):
And my one and biggest hope is that when peoplesee me, they see somebody who's filled with joy
as a result of what he believes.
That's what I hope, and I hope they see thatand are inspired to then share that with others
in their business.
I hope they see my faith and my family and thejoy that we have, and I hope that empowers them
(16:49):
to do the same in their life.
This was the best I ever heard.
No.
There were sentences, you know, what you said.
So acting, let's say, acting according to yourbelief or in harmony—no.
In harmony with your faith.
You said this because, yeah, it's like astandard.
(17:10):
And I know this, people say, oh, it has to be awin-win or a win for everyone in a deal.
You know?
We know this, but I never heard this beforewith faith.
And then you said something.
What was it?
Ah, the reflection.
You did not use the word.
But when people see, they see the joy thatcomes from your faith, or
(17:38):
Yes.
Something like that?
Yes.
When people look at me and my family, I hopethey see the joy that we have as a result of
our faith and are empowered to do that in theirbusiness and with the people they meet as well.
Wow.
This sentence alone, the joy as the result ofyour faith.
Yes.
(17:58):
Oh
my goodness.
This is so good.
I never heard this before.
This is so good because everyone, okay,everyone is searching for results or let's say
better results.
Sure.
In order to have better results, we must thinkdifferently or sow something different than
before.
Like sowing and reaping.
(18:19):
You know, this sowing and reaping.
And now you give the answer just like that.
The seed you have to plant is faith, havingfaith every step of the way.
No.
I translate faith.
And joy every step of the way.
Yeah.
And, you know, Caroline, I think this doesconnect to some people listening to this might
(18:40):
say, well, Steve, this is awfully fufu and woowoo.
Let's get practical for a second.
That's okay.
Choosing faith and joy in all of the thingsthat you do can be reduced all the way down to
losing a deal.
If you're meeting with a prospect and theyhaven't bought from you, somebody who's filled
with joy and somebody who's filled with faith,when they lose that deal, you know what they're
(19:03):
gonna think?
There's somebody out there better, more readyand more worth my time than that person.
Not in a disrespectful way, I wish them luck.
Not working with me is a decision they've madethat's good for them.
If that's good for them, then everybody'shappy.
Wonderful.
I'm glad you gave it thought.
But there's somebody out there with more money,values my work more, and is worth more of my
(19:27):
time than the other person.
Somebody with joy and faith is going to decidethat.
And guess what?
It happens.
You attract exactly this person.
Exactly.
Exactly.
And I'll tell you what.
So I'm I'm I'm a salesperson through andthrough.
I I like to get metaphysical.
(19:50):
I like to get, I like to get what's the word?
I can't even think of it.
Philosophical.
I like to get philosophical, but I'm asalesperson, which is very tactical.
You have to do the work.
And I'll tell you that anybody in a sales orbusiness development role, they have to do
things in faith.
(20:12):
If you were to make a cold call, you don't knowif someone's gonna answer the phone.
You don't know if they're gonna say yes to youor no to you, but cold callers do it anyway.
They believe that there is an outcome for themthat will happen eventually.
That's faith.
You starting your podcast, your first year,writing a book about it and submitting it to a
(20:34):
publisher.
Congratulations, by the way.
You doing that, it wasn't an act of knowingwhat was going to happen before it happened.
It was an act of faith.
So we're all demonstrating faith in some way.
Just a question of what way is it.
That's so true.
(20:54):
So I'm blessed and impressed and speechless.
But I can add to that.
Of course, the best definition of faith I everheard is faith is loyalty to the unseen.
And this is true because you see it in yourimagination first, and then you act on it.
And I would also say you are guided.
If you have your faith and you believe, you areguided.
(21:16):
So you cannot be wrong.
There's nothing wrong about you to call someoneand to serve, to render a service or to offer
to offer us.
I know I'm in sales too, but you don't seethis.
You don't you don't see I sell you my I soldyou my podcast interview.
(21:37):
Sure did.
Yeah.
You came.
You said yes.
And everyone is selling all the time.
Right?
Absolutely.
Mhmm.
And there's no shame in that.
I think people get they have this negativeconnotation with sales.
No.
It's the opposite.
Salespeople just want to help other peoplesolve problems.
They're heavily impact-driven and helpingpeople-driven.
(22:00):
And if they happen to get paid along the way,that's a home run.
In addition, that's the top on top.
Thank you so much.
Okay.
I have a next question for you.
It's about your goals.
Do you set goals for yourself or intentions?
And what is one of your next projects?
Absolutely.
(22:21):
Great question.
I do set goals.
I set big-picture goals for the year.
I set smaller, more tactical goals by thequarter.
So I tend to focus on the quarter goals becausewhen you stack them together, they help you
reach the goal for the year.
(22:42):
Right?
There are people out there who follow thismethod called the 12-week year or the 7-week
year, and it's basically just taking youractions that you have to do and prepare them a
certain way to be ready for the end of theyear.
I'm not sure if you're familiar with the book,but I'm a follower of those methods to an
(23:02):
extent.
My big project that I'm working on internallyat Maverick App is to help other people build a
business development system that they caninstall in their business like a light switch,
(23:25):
where they put it in, it's up and running, andnow they sit back and make sure the software's
running correctly, of course, but take themeetings, sit back and take the meetings.
So it's, are you familiar, Caroline, with theItalian mob movies?
(23:47):
I'm gonna make him an offer he can't refuse.
The Godfather?
Yeah.
I think so.
Yes.
Mhmm.
That's what we're going for here is to buildout a system that when people see it, it's an
offer they can't refuse.
So I'll be working on that for the next fewmonths.
I love that.
Thank you so much for sharing.
And I have a dear friend of mine.
(24:08):
He—he—no.
I have to smile.
He calls himself or—or people call him Maverickas well.
That is why I—I love the name so much.
We know the—the movie, of course.
The movie and what else?
And yeah.
There's the definition of the word as well,which is what—what it—what it means is a really
(24:29):
compelling definition.
And I'm probably paraphrasing, but it's anoutside-the-box independent thinker who's not
really a rule follower, which is, by the way,that's who I am.
That's my personality archetype.
So it works out really, really well.
I love it.
I love it.
Okay.
(24:50):
Thank you so much.
Okay.
I'm impressed.
And now I would like to know, where can we findyou when we want to reach out to you after
listening to this episode?
Absolutely.
Best way to reach me is on LinkedIn.
I'm Steve Wallace, chief sales nerd at MaverickApp or Steve Wallace, Wallace Business
(25:13):
Consulting.
Those both work.
I'm also available and can be found atsteve@maverickapp.io.
I love it.
I'll take a look.
I put the links in the show notes, of course.
Excellent.
Thank you so much for our interview.
I could talk for hours, but I respect yourtime, I think.
(25:34):
And now it's time for your final thought to theaudience, please.
Yeah.
Absolutely.
Thank you so much.
This is incredible.
To the—to the people who listen to thispodcast, I—I hope you continue listening.
Caroline is a—a wealth of value because she'sbringing some incredible people to the table to
share their thoughts with you.
(25:54):
My thoughts for you today are simply about—mythoughts for you today are simply that consider
what you're looking for in your business.
Are you trying to grow it?
You probably are.
And I would suggest to you that you—you thinkyou need leads, you don't.
You need conversations with people because mostof the time, people won't actually buy from you
(26:18):
until they trust you.
Go back to the bartender analogy.
They'll come back for great service.
They won't come back for bad service.
So a relationship must exist.
And so put leads away, put the idea that youhave this aching need for people who are ready,
willing, and able to buy from you.
(26:40):
That's what a lead is.
And just have conversations, build trust, andthen at the end when you've built trust, simply
ask, hey, can I help you with this, this, orthis?
And reach out to me.
Let me know what your outcomes are.
I'd be willing to bet you find moreopportunities.
Thank you so much.
(27:00):
I learned so much.
I have to relisten to it again, of course.
Right.
Wow.
Thank you.
And see you in the next episode.
Thank you for listening to Inspired ChoiceToday.
I'm thrilled to have you on this journey ofgrowth and transformation.
Don't forget to hit follow or subscribe to stayconnected and never miss an episode.
(27:23):
And here's something special.
Grab your free 20-minute breakthrough sessionwith me.
It's designed to help you kick start or levelup your business.
Just check out the show notes for more.
Until next time, keep making those inspiredchoices.
See you in the next episode.
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