Today we’d like to introduce you to Johan Farigua
Johan, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
I was originally born in Bogota, Colombia. I moved to the US in 2000. I grew up in Orlando Florida where I attended UCF and was working on a degree for computer science. I was looking forward to graduating and getting a job where I would make 60k-70k per year. While going to school I started working part time at the front desk at LA Fitness. One night I was talking to the GM there who was only 23. He had a really nice BMW, owned a nice home, and he seemed the have everything anyone would want. So one evening we were talking late at night and I asked him how much money he was making in sales…. and he showed me his computer screen that showed he made $120k the previous year. I asked him where he went to school and what was his degree in…. and he told me he was a high school drop out and never went to college. I couldn’t believe it. I couldn’t believe that he was making more than I would with out a degree. But he told me something that stuck with me forever. He said that when you get into sales, it can be the easiest lowest paying job, or the hardest highest paying job, but that is completely up to you.
I decided to move from the front desk. to sales, where I outworked everyone who was there and became a top sales person. I was working a lot and making good money, so I decided to drop out of school to pursue sales full time. It was a big risk but it paid off. I got promoted to assistant manager and eventually a GM, and was making $120k per year my self by the time I was 25. However, I eventually realized that I it would be really hard for me to ever make more then that. I had hit a ceiling and I wasn’t ready to settle. That week I spoke to my roommate, Chris George who had got into health insurance sales, and he showed me that in his first year in health insurance sales he was making twice as much as I made after seven years at LA Fitness. This is all I needed to see to realize that I needed to make a career change. That week I put my two week notice in and started working on my license for health insurance.
I started a new career in health insurance in 2017. I did not know anything about health insurance at first , but I knew how to become successful, I just had to work more hours and practice more than anyone else, which is what I did. I became a very good insurance agent, was able to help a lot of people and make great money. In 2018 I was promoted to Field Training Agent with a team of 4 agents, but by the end of 2018 I had 53 agents on my team and over 15M in sales. We went from being the #80 team in the country to #2 company wide. By the end of 2019 we were #1 team with 100 agents and 28M in sales and in 2022 we did 100M in sales with 200+ agents in Orlando alone. We had so much growth that we decided to expand to other markets, to give other people an opportunity to be successful as well. We opened an office in Satellite Beach, Stuart, and Charleston South Carolina. We decided to come to Charleston because it is a fast growing city in America, and we had some of our best leaders who were willing to move and start an office from scratch.
We opened an office on King St in Downtown Charleston in November of 2022 with Vincent Speziale and Jalel Bagga making the move first, along with Ilie, Mark, Jill, Gio and Hunter. The office started with just a handful of people, but we knew we would build fast with the great opportunity that provide. Since then, we have grown to have over 30 agents and a lot more in the process of getting licensed. We have grown so fast that we are looking to expand to a bigger office where we can fit 100+ agents which we will be able to grow to in the next 2-3 years.
The success I had in my company allowed me to have success elsewhere. Since I was making decent money at LA Fitness at 20 years old, I was able to purchase my first home when I was 21. I bought a small 3/2 home in Orlando, FL where I lived with a roommate. After about 2 years I decided that I wanted to upgrade to a bigger home, so I bought a 2 story house in Oviedo and rented out the first house I bought. Another 2 years later I sold my first home, and used the profit as a down payment for a bigger home in Windermere. This was a short sale that seemed like a fun project. So by the time I was 25 I owned 2 houses and had already sold 1. I enjoyed the fixer uppers specially while I lived in them since I would add things that I liked my self. In 2018, I bought my dream home on a big lake, and rented out the other 2. in 2021 when the market was hot, I decided to sell both of the rentals where I got so much equity that I was able to use that money to buy 4 condos, and 2 air bnbs. Now in 2023, I own 8 rental condos, 2 air bnbs, my personal home and I also bought a house for my parents, as well as a commercial property in Daytona beach. This wouldnt have been possible without the discipline and drive that I had when I learned about sales and how working hard can make you more money. I have been working hard since that day. 12 hour days, 55+ hour weeks since I was 19 years old.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
No it has not been a smooth road. There are many obstacles that I’ve faced. When I was at LA Fitness I had to learn to be an adult faster than everyone else. I had friends who were going out and partying on the weekends while I had to work 8am to 8pm Friday, Saturday and Sunday. I felt like I was the odd one out since I had responsibilities.
I also struggled with dealing with the stress of having so much responsibility. As my team grew, my issues grew, and I struggled with anxiety and “balance”. I lost relationships because I wasnt present at home since I was always either at work, or working from my phone. I eventually realized I needed professional help because the stress was not going to change, so I just had to learn how to deal with it. I decided to see a doctor and got on anxiety medication, and then started seeing a therapist which was the best decision I ever made. The combination of both helped me by allowing me to understand my thoughts better and not let it affect me.
I’ve also deal with struggles with betrayal, disappointment, lies, accusations, personal problem, relationship problem, enemies, money problems, friendships, stress, and much more. But this is all part of the process and it cant be avoided, just had to learn how to deal with it and get through it.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know?
We work for an amazing company called US Health. My branch is ABC Farigua Division. We help small businesses and individuals find affordable health insurance since most people in America are over paying and dont have many options. We focus on helping the clients, finding them their best option by educating them, not selling them, and we benefit from how long the client keeps a policy for. This is why we have a vested interest in the client getting the right plan, not just the most expensive one. We are the only insurance company that offers both private plans AND market place plans. Competitors can only offer the latter.
I am the most proud of working for a company that cares about people not just money. We care about helping the clients, providing great products, great customer service and we take pride in always doing the right thing.
I want the readers to know that we are different. We are legitimately good people , who work in the relationship business. Our company is a people business not a financial business. We want to help you, create relationships, stay in contact with you, and be your direct agent for any health insurance needs so that you don’t have to go online and be bombarded with phone calls from people trying to sell you crap insurance to make a commission.
What would you say have been one of the most important lessons you’ve learned?
I’ve learned to be patient and care about legitimately helping people. ” Make a sale make a dollar, make a friend make a fortune”. I’ve made a lot of friends along the way by just being a good person and being patient. I haven’t been pushy or offended anyone. Ive been patient and just being good to people and if they buy, they buy. This allowed me to make friends who mentored me with real estate. Friends who referred me to their friends and help me grow my business as an agent. And friends who have decided to work with me and help our company grow to the size that it is today. It all stems from being good to people.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://abcfariguadivision.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/johan.farigua
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/johan.farigua
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCtnzO8TSTzyJcjIqhiuq_nA
