Brady Sterk, Farmers Life Agent

10/02/2025

I took this picture of a leaf transitioning colors and noticed how intricate the design is of this single leaf to make sure it receives nutrients to exist as part of the larger branch and tree.

This is such a good reminder at how important the little processes and habits we build are in life and in business. If we skip the small steps, the larger parts of our business won't work. The big relationships we want to nurture, won't stick around.

We can't expect a tree to grow by skipping the small bits. Trees don't just magically appear 30-40 feet tall with full leaves. They go through every small growth process and, over time, become the beautiful trees we see everyday.

We need to follow the same framework. Remembering that the small steps are equally, or even more important than the big steps!

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07/28/2025

Last night I did some maintenance on my car. I have posted about this before, but with me, it is always a different car, and a different project, which is a story for another time..... 😆

Yesterday's project was brakes on a 25 year BMW, my current daily driver. Thankfully, none of the bolts complained and the job itself was relatively smooth. What caught my attention was the state of the brakes I removed....

I have done plenty of brake jobs in my life, and this one stands out. There is an unfortunate practice that many people may or may not be victim of, which is called pad slapping. Essentially, only the pads are replaced with no service done, or replacement of the rotor.

Of course, this is the cheapest, and theoretically easiest, way to do a brake job on a car. But is it effective? I mean sure, the car will still stop, the brakes will function well enough that most people may not notice. Well, if you do this practice more than a couple of times, you end up with brakes like the ones I took off my car yesterday.

There was plenty of pad life left on the pads, but there were gouges in rotors, uneven wear on the pads and uneven contact of the pad to the rotor. My brakes worked, but they certainly were not optimized. Ultimately, this could have created a bad situation if I needed full brake power and I'm really only getting 65% of the braking power I should have!!

This was a reminder that in business, doing the cheap and easy thing, isn't always the best choice. These decisions can compound over time and end up creating the possibility of a catastrophic failure.

This even goes for life, not just business. If we compromise in small ways, we may look at ourselves years later and think, what happened? Why did my life crash?

This is good motivation for me to intentionally look at my businesses and make sure I am not compromising in the small things!

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07/01/2025

A couple of weeks ago I watched a Nascar race. I know, super exciting! Something interesting happened towards the end of the race though that was pretty neat....

It is seldom I have the chance to watch a race from start to finish and this particular race was at the tricky triangle of Pocono Raceway in Pennsylvania. As the strategy of each racer built over the race, fuel mileage became part of the equation in the final stage of the race.

The leader, Chase Briscoe, had been leading for a good portion of the race, but the commentators were concerned that he would not be able to make it on fuel. They were all but convinced he would have to pit from the lead or simply run out of fuel on the last lap and lose the race.

This is where something cool happened. In that final run of the race, Chase started to work on saving fuel by letting off the throttle earlier in the corners, and rolling through the center of the corner nice and smooth, rather than using the brakes to slow the car. From the lead, this seemed to be a risk as Denny Hamlin was closing in second place. Chase had to save fuel and keep enough speed in his own car to stay in the lead.

Well, what ended up happening is that his fuel saving efforts actually improved his lap times! He gained speed by 'going slower'! He was able to keep Hamlin behind him and save enough fuel to make it to the end and win the race!

Before the race even started, Chase had mentioned ex*****on as a problem for him and his team. This race was a test of that ex*****on. He could have easily pushed his car trying to get away from Denny Hamlin, but if he did, he wouldn't have saved the fuel needed to get to the end. He even said at the end of the race, after he won, that this was a huge challenge for him to be disciplined and stay true what needed to be done.

I was talking with my esteemed colleague Drew Faloon, CFP® about this the other day and we realized that we can do this in our own businesses sometimes. We are just pedal to the medal, slamming gears, pushing to the absolute limits, thinking we are rocketing ahead! When in reality, we are losing ground and may run out of fuel all together!

It is so important to execute in our businesses and remember that letting off the throttle and going through our processes smoothly, being disciplined to our processes will help us reach our goals faster than we think. Burning out by pushing the limit every single day does no good for our clients or ourselves, even if it feels like it.

So lets go out this week and hit our marks, be smooth in our processes and execute the plan!

06/12/2025

The other day a close friend of mine and I had a one-to-one meeting. She asked me if I had lost weight. I can assure you, I have not. If anything, I have put on a couple pounds of dad bod this year. What she said after I explained this had an impact on me. She said, "I think it's because you're happy."

Wow, what a profound statement. Over the last few years of changing careers, companies, starting a business, having a baby, important people in my life passing away, life has been heavy. Stress has been secretly showing through many aspects of my life, though I hadn't noticed it. My complexion has likely changed through these many life events.

Now, with my most recent change, I now have the most clear direction I ever have on my path forward in my career. I am focused and ready to go. I love what I do and look forward to work and the grind, which hasn't been the case the last few years. And people notice.

People notice when we aren't at our best, no matter how we try to hide it. This served me a good reminder that we only have so much time on this earth. Why not have joy? Why not do the things we love? Why not follow our passions?

So, no, I have not lost physical weight, but have gained something much more valuable than a smaller number on the scale.

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05/15/2025

Mr. River was sick last week.

We questioned whether we should bring him in or not and were indecisive. He got sick Monday night with a fever and nasty cough and by Friday had not improved much, but also hadn't gotten worse. Ultimately, we went to the doctor Friday and immediately he was diagnosed with an ear infection and croup cough. We got prescriptions and were on our way! A few days later and he is nearly back to 100%.

This got me thinking....how often do we get 'sick' in our businesses? We see a slump in productivity, low sales, low drive, whatever it is and we just try to ride it out. Is that really the right option? In River's case, maybe he rides it out a few more days and gets better, or maybe not! All it took was a 10 minute evaluation from a professional to get him headed in the right direction quickly!

We should treat our businesses the same way! A 'business cold,' if you will, can certainly go away after riding it out, but could also get much worse! Why not meet with other successful business owners, entrepreneurs and coaches? Why not educate yourself and find a way to get out of that 'cold' faster? Your business is worth it!

My lesson from this experience is to have a system in place for 'colds.' For Mr. River, if he isn't showing drastic improvement within 3 days, we are going to the doctor to see what's up. The same should role for my businesses. I don't have it fully lined out, but after a set amount of time without setting a meeting or making a sale, I need to meet with a trusted partner to help me evaluate my situation and find what the 'prescription' is to get back on my feet.

03/10/2025

This boy just keeps growing! He is walking now and getting in to everything we don't want him to. It is easy to be frustrated when he repeatedly sticks his hand in dogs' water bowl, or knocks over just about anything, but why should I be frustrated? This is how he is learning. He isn't afraid of much and is willing to take risks, well, because he doesn't know what's risky!

This is such an interesting thing to think about. As we grow up and learn about life and risks and scary things, we tend to try fewer and fewer new things. I say this to myself and think, a lot of those 'risky' things that I am too afraid to do, likely aren't really as scary as I make them out to be. Why not take the risk and knock over the proverbial cup of water? Why not build a business? Why not follow a dream? A passion?

I am so thankful to be a father to my son River. I am grateful that his life has caused me to look inward every single day and learn something new about myself.

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01/28/2025

Last weekend I took on a project......

Since my wife and I bought our house in 2016 we have not had a door for the stairs to our basement. For the most part, this has never presented a problem. Insert a 1-year old boy into the equation, and we are having a different conversation. He has been determined to fly down the stairs and that just isn't a great option.

My wife and I then decided to go to our local Restore to find a door. We found one, at a great price, but it was a blank slate. No holes, no notches for the hinges, nothing. Our frame was also a blank canvass. Yes I could have called a contractor versed in power tools to solve this problem, but alas, I like to learn and work with my hands. I learned to use a router and a few hours later on a ice cold weekend, a door had been hung!

In sales we are taught to calculate our worth and not do things that cost more time than it would cost to have someone else come out and do it for us. In some instances I agree with this concept. In other times, I feel that learning a new skill and challenging myself to a new project is worth the extra hours. Without these fun projects, how do we improve? How do we grow? Yes, things arise that I will have to pay a professional to do, but not in every case. I want to teach my son that he should challenge himself, learn something new, grow and not just buy himself out of every problem.

10/29/2024

The joy and wonder of a child amazes me each day as I watch my son River grow. There are very few things, if anything he is afraid to touch, look at, laugh at or be mad about. Everything is new and exciting!

This makes me wonder, why am I not like this more? Every opportunity to meet someone or try a new thing should be exciting, not annoying, scary or a burden. Being a father to my sweet little boy teaches me something new every single day and helps me grow into a better, more authentic man.

Thank you son, for making me better.

09/16/2024

This month is Life Insurance Awareness Month. Life insurance has a special place in my heart as I have seen, first hand, how it can affect a family. I know how life insurance has helped people when the worst has happened and I know how not having it has negatively impacted families when the worst has happened. To me, Life Insurance is a non-negotiable for my family.

I have shared before a similar post regarding my son River. He is now nine months old and is so amazing. Being a father is the greatest blessing I have received in this life. I pray that I will be able to live a healthy, long life and be able to see him grow to be a G o d fearing man and be a better man than me.

I also know that life is fragile. Any day could be my last. If the worst were to happen to me, I want to know that my wife and my son will be taken care of. I will not be a passive husband and father. The responsibility I take as is to provide for my family. I lead my family through my faith and I will invest eternally. Eternally investing, does not mean financially, as none of that matters when we pass on. However, being able to provide for my family, even in death, is of utmost importance to me. I want to make sure that my death is not a burden on my wife and son, regardless of when it happens.

08/20/2024

I had the opportunity to go shoot some clays with some other Comparion agents last week!

Mind you, I have only been shooting once in my life and it was not with a shot g u n. There was certainly a learning curve, but going from never firing something like this before, to actually hitting some of the clay pigeons, was awesome!

This was a great reminder to try new things and enjoy life!

Thanks to Comparion for putting this on for our top agents from June!