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WINNING IN WORK AND LIFE
C
asey Ryals, recently published author and agency manager for Hall County Farm Bureau Insurance, once called an acquaintance in Kentucky for advice on how to meet the needs of clients while making a profit. Ryals — who sells home, life, farm, and auto insurance — always knew that putting the customer first would get him further in his career. He was unprepared for the advice he got, though. “He [my acquaintance] told me a story about his son, who had died of cancer, and he was talking about life insurance,” said Ryals. “He said, ‘I want to be, for every client that I come in contact with, like my son’s agent was for him. My son had a life insurance policy and that guy who sold my son his life insurance made sure that [my son’s] family was taken care of… that’s the thing that steers me.’” That piece of advice shaped the basic,
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STORY BY M. GILLAN RITCHIE
fundamental principles that Ryals still applies to his day-to-day operations as an insurance and risk management professional. It was also that piece of advice that shaped the idea for Ryals’ newest book long before he realized he even wanted to write one. Ryals’ newest book, Last to Least, focuses on self-management and helps readers create a new direction for winning in work and life. Ryals’ book encourages readers to uncover what is guiding their professional journey and how to enjoy higher work productivity and satisfaction. “When people start thinking about their work, they almost always have this sense that surely there’s something more,” Ryals said. “It’s like you fell asleep during the climax of an epic movie, only to wake up and watch the credits roll… Then we look into our future and we start to wonder, ‘Which career will give me what I want? Is it too risky to start my own business? Is it too late to go back to school? Will a degree even
help me at all?’” Ryals can speak from personal experience. Years ago, he was enrolled at the Medical College of Georgia, and he was making good grades. But during his clinical, he realized that medicine was not his calling. Ryals had a friend who was in the insurance business at the time who felt like Ryals would be successful in the industry. “Like most people do, I just needed a job. Nobody grows up thinking, ‘I want to be an insurance man one day,’” Ryals said. “I got into it because I had a buddy of mine that was in [the] insurance business … he was like ‘man, I think this is something that I think you’d enjoy.’ And I thought that I’d do that for a little bit until I find something that I really want to do. But what I realized is that what I do love is people.” When Ryals managed his first office with Hall County Farm Bureau Insurance, there was an employee that ranked third from last across the entire company. Ryals started lay-