You weren't built to build someone else's dream.
Built Different Financial Group is a family of agents and agency builders who decided to bet on themselves. You'll get proven systems, real mentorship, and a team that wants to see you win.
You bring the work ethic and the heart. Together we help families protect what matters most, and we help you build an agency with your name on it. This guide walks you through who we are, the tools you'll use, and exactly what your first 30 days look like.
Welcome to Built Different. Stop for a second and let this sink in: you just did what most people only talk about. You bet on yourself. That takes real courage, and I don't take it lightly.
This agency was built on one belief. You weren't built to build someone else's dream. Here, every call you make, every family you protect, and every person you bring alongside you builds something that's yours.
I won't pretend the road is easy. Some days the phone feels heavy and the no's pile up. I've lived those days. What carried me wasn't talent. It was people who believed in me and a refusal to quit. You'll have both here. I'll lead by serving you, tell you the truth, and never ask you to trade your integrity for a sale.
Your story matters more than you think. What you've walked through is what will help a family trust you at their kitchen table. Show up, stay coachable, put the client first, and keep going when it's hard. Results follow the person who refuses to stop.
I'm grateful for every person who joins this team, and I believe you're here for a reason. Wherever you're starting from, you're enough to begin. Let's go build something that lasts.
Our story, what we believe, the people leading the way, and the families we serve.
Too many good people spend their whole careers building someone else's name and walk away with nothing that's theirs. Built Different exists to change that. We're agents and leaders protecting families in all 50 states, and we build agencies our people actually own.
Every day, a family sits down with one of our agents and walks away knowing their home, their income, and their legacy are protected. That's the work. The bigger story is who's doing it: everyday people who bet on themselves, learned a proven system, and grew into leaders. When you build a team here, you're not running a branch of someone else's company. You're building your own agency, with a family behind you that wants you to win.
Build something that's yours. Live it as who you are today, because people are helped by who you're being, not who you're becoming. Leave a legacy others can stand on.
Families who need protection they can actually understand. Homeowners, parents, retirees, and small business owners who want someone to explain their options plainly and then do what's best for them.
People ready to bet on who they are right now. You don't need to have it all figured out. Who you are today is enough to start, and we'll help you grow from there.
Four pillars hold this agency up. Everything we do, from your first training to the way we serve a family, comes back to one of these.
Families come first. We protect them completely through life, health, and retirement, and we do what's right for them even when it costs us the sale.
Every agent gets a system, training, and coaching to get better every week. Nobody here has to figure it out alone.
We raise up leaders who build teams of their own. Leaders here go first and serve first.
Business that stays on the books, income that holds, and a legacy you can pass on.
Your culture, coaching, playbook, and team.
Agent portal, onboarding, scripts, and training resources.
Carrier contracts, LINK tools, events, and recognition.
Not sure who to ask? Start with your upline. If they can't help, they'll know who can.
We protect a family completely, through life, health, and retirement. You don't have to learn it all on day one. Most agents start in one area, get good, and add more as they grow.
If something happens, the family keeps their home and their income.
A health scare doesn't turn into a money problem.
The money lasts as long as they do.
Group policies that let business owners cover their employees, plus key person coverage, buy-sell funding, succession planning, and executive bonus plans.
Using cash value life insurance to help clients pay off debt and turn those payments into capital they control.
The IMO behind us: what Lasting Mark does, and the tools, events, and recognition you get as part of the Lasting Mark family.
Built Different is your agency, your culture, and your team. Lasting Mark is the IMO that powers us. They bring the carrier contracts, technology, events, and recognition. We bring the leadership, the playbook, and the day-to-day coaching.
Full contact details are in the Lasting Mark Onboarding Guide.
See your onboarding and contracting status, plus your team's submitted and issue-paid business. Training, leads, recruiting, and marketing support live here too.
Built-in dialer, automated emails and texts, and sales pipelines.
Issue-paid reporting and analytics for you and your team, so you can see what's working.
Contracting issue? Submit a ticket inside LINK. Help pages: lastingmark.com/contractingsupport and lastingmark.com/agentservicesupport
Lasting Mark's annual event for agency owners. Training, a 2027 growth plan, time with top producers, and a gala.
Rewards high producers and builders who write across a mix of carriers and put the right product in front of each client.
Recognition for personal production and team building. Hit the top of Legacy Awards and you unlock Prestige, where you can reset and climb again for badges your peers can see.
The team we train alongside, and the portal, tools, and coaching you get because of it.
Empower Life Group was founded by Dana Nesen and, like us, is part of the Lasting Mark family. We partner with Empower so you get their training, tools, and community on top of ours. Their own line says it best: "Empowering you is what we do."
"People are grown here, not gathered."
"Leaders who build leaders."
"We build systems, not sugar highs."
Honest information before you commit.
Built Different and Empower Life Group are partners, and the agent portal is something we share. As a Built Different agent, you get full access. It's where a lot of your day-to-day training lives, and if it helps an agent sell, it's probably in there.
The 2026 final expense telesales script, an aged-lead opener, an objection field guide, and an 8-lesson video series that walks you through all of it.
A step-by-step setup list: CRM, dialer, texting, quoting tools, and everything else you need before your first call.
How to set up LINK+ and the WAVV dialer, use the callback feature, and protect your numbers from being flagged as spam.
Final expense terms, underwriting basics, the cost of funerals, and veterans benefits, in short sheets you can pull up mid-call.
A vetted list of lead vendors and the lead partnerships we share, so you know where to buy and what to expect.
The live training schedule and team sales training, so you always know what's on and when.
Portal access comes with being part of this partnership. Tell your upline and we'll get you set up. Once you're in, sign in at agents.empowerlifegroup.com.
Between Built Different and Empower, you get tools most agents never get. Some of these run on AI, and all of them are built by people who sell every day.
Drop in a call recording and get a grade, your top three things to drill, and the exact lines to practice before your next call.
An AI coaching system for agents. It runs your morning plan, your night close, and your weekly review, and it learns how you work.
Daily boards that show who on your team to reach out to, your weekly numbers, and where you're tracking against your goal.
Courses you can work through at your own pace, from your first script to running your business.
The daily habits that drive results, like feeding your pipeline every week, tracking every number, and keeping a chargeback reserve.
Monthly calls for team builders on leadership and agency growth, led by Brian Askins, Roger Short, and Dana Nesen.
Ask your upline which of these to start with. Most new agents begin with the scripts and the Call Review Coach.
Where the team talks, trains, and celebrates. The agents who win here stay plugged in.
Day-to-day team chat, wins, questions, and announcements. You're added to the Lasting Mark Slack when you onboard.
Our training home, with scripts, courses, replays, and the live training schedule.
Follow, and share your wins. Your posts recruit for you.
| Day | Meeting | Time (CT) | Hosted by |
|---|---|---|---|
| Monday | Lasting Mark Launch Call | 8:30 AM | Lasting Mark |
| Empower All Hands | 9:15 AM | Empower | |
| New Agent Onboarding | 2:00 PM | Empower | |
| Tuesday | Tactical Sales Skills | 10:00 AM | Empower |
| Built Different Recruiting Zoom | 4:00 PM | Built Different | |
| Wednesday | Call Review, FEX Training Room | 10:00 AM | Empower |
| Thursday | Life Insurance Academy | 9:30 AM | Lasting Mark |
| Advanced Market Training | 10:00 AM | Empower | |
| Built Different Team Call | 2:00 PM | Built Different | |
| Meet the Partners | 4:30 PM | Lasting Mark | |
| Friday | Empower Training | 10:00 AM | Empower |
| New Agent Onboarding | 12:00 PM | Empower |
The systems our top agents use every day, how we sell, and how to represent the brand.
You won't have to build anything from scratch. These are yours from day one.
Our CRM backbone. Your leads, pipelines, calendar, and follow-up all live here.
Appointment confirmations and after-the-sale messages go out automatically, so nobody slips through.
Seventeen sections covering scripts, CRM setup, carriers, referrals, and client care. Your field manual.
Which carrier fits which client, at a glance. Use it before every quote.
What each carrier will accept for a client's health and history. Check it before you submit so the application doesn't come back.
Mortgage protection, living benefits, and final expense scripts, all built on NEPQ.
A simple way to turn every policy into introductions to the people the client loves.
We don't do pushy. Every conversation starts with the client's problem, not our product. These frameworks show up in every script and every training, and service and sales always stay in separate lanes.
Jeremy Miner's questioning method for sales. You ask, they talk, and they sell themselves on the solution.
Our objection handling system. Calm, respectful, and focused on what the client actually needs.
The podcast and training library from Roger Short and the Lasting Mark team. Sales skills, mindset, and seeing every call from the client's side.
Lasting Mark adds its Training Center and Medicare Sales Playbook on top of this, and Life Insurance Academy runs live coaching every Thursday. Training days and times are on the Weekly Rhythm page.
If it has our name on it, it should look and sound like us. Ask for the logo files instead of grabbing one off the website.
Montserrat for everything.
Plain language. No buzzwords, no jargon, no em dashes, no overselling.
Your first 30 days, your path to owning an agency, and who to call when you need help.
You own your book of business out of the gate. That part is already yours. This page is about how far you take it, from writing your own business to leading a team of your own.
Write your own business. Learn the system, stay consistent every week, and grow your book.
Start building. Bring on your first agents and coach them while you keep producing.
Lead leaders. Your agents are building teams of their own, and you develop them.
Run a full agency with leaders across the country.
You can move up through personal sales, team building, or both. Promotions are based on issue-paid business over a three-month cycle. Your upline has the current requirements for each level.
We celebrate wins every week, big and small. First sale, first $10K month, first agent recruited, first leader promoted.
Top producers and builders earn a seat at the Empower Elite Retreat in Las Vegas. Monthly telesales bootcamps also put you in the room with top producers.
Climb the Legacy Awards for personal and team sales, earn Prestige badges, and qualify for Elite Council and the gala at Beyond the Mark.
Save this page. When something comes up, here's where to go first.
| If you need help with | Go here |
|---|---|
| Anything at all, your first stop | Your upline |
| Contracting or appointment issues | Submit a support ticket in LINK |
| Contracting questions | lastingmark.com/contractingsupport |
| Agent services | lastingmark.com/agentservicesupport |
| GHL, logins, or automations | Callback support support@callbackcrm.com |
| Leads and marketing | Speak with your upline about lead vendors |
| Commissions and pay questions | Commissions are paid per carrier, so check with each carrier |
| Trevor Tipton, Founder & CEO | trevor@builtdifferentfinancialgroup.com 623-230-9507 |
| Our website | builtdifferentfinancialgroup.com |
Don't sit on a problem. Asking for help early is a strength here, not a weakness. Every leader on this team was new once.