When I was young, my goals and dreams were so big! I was the youngest of eight children so when my dad died suddenly of a brain aneurysm when I was four, we were devastated. Of course, I didn’t know anything about life insurance at the time, but when I was older, I came to acutely understand that his small whole life policy didn’t even begin to cover our family’s finances.
I saw how hard it was on my mom to suddenly be not only a single parent to all of us kids, but also to not have any kind of financial buffer. Even at such a young age, seeing what my mom was going through, gave me my first understanding of how important life insurance is to a family.
As I grew older, I became convinced that the only way to be successful is to follow the traditional “college to corporate” route. My mom drummed that into our heads, so when it came time to go to college, we went!
At the time, I thought I was doing all the right things to find success. I thought I had everything all figured out. I married my high school sweetheart, Mary, and we both got “good” jobs. I worked as a pharmacist and she taught for the Austin (TX) Independent School Association.
We felt average and ordinary, but we didn’t know any better. We thought our plan for a better life was working. But something wasn’t right. What we thought was good employment was really a dead end. We felt like there had to be something else out there that would allow us to live the kind of life we wanted, but we had no clue how to find it.
Then, my oldest brother told us about Primerica. It was like a light went on for us! What we saw at the business overview convinced us that this was our shot to do something extraordinary. It was more than the chance to make a potentially unlimited income. It was about being able to positively impact families in our community in a way I wished someone would have done for mine when I was a kid.
Primerica gave us the opportunity to be in business for ourselves but not by ourselves. We found out right away that the support system is truly unmatched. We had local mentors in the office we worked out of, but also a whole company behind us all the way. It’s just incredible!
For the first four years or so, we just supplemented our full‑time careers with Primerica part‑time. But we kept seeing all these successful leaders, living great lives and enjoying the freedom that comes from making what you’re worth. At the time, we’d just had our first daughter. She was born premature and Mary quit her job to take care of her. That put us down to one full‑time income plus our growing part‑time business. We realized that we had to make a choice: Stay where we where and struggle or give Primerica – which was rapidly bringing in a good amount of money – our full attention.
We chose Primerica and it changed our lives! In our first year full‑time in the business we made six figures and opened our own office. Three years later, we were earning more than a half a million dollars annually.*
Our experience is proof that if you work hard and commit to helping families and building a business, you can find unlimited success here. I feel like the number one thing that attracted us initially and keeps us coming back day after day is Primerica’s crusade to help families become properly protected, debt free and financially independent. No one cares as much for the middle‑income market like Primerica does. I’ve witnessed first‑hand how much this company and its leaders truly care about the people we serve – not about how much money we can make.
We not only help families prepare themselves for the future, but we also offer them good financial education so they’re better equipped to make healthy financial choices. That’s the foundation of what we do – showing people how money works so they can change the way they handle it!
A lot of Mary’s and my dreams have come true because of Primerica – and we see the positive impact we’re making on the families in our community every day. We’ve been so blessed because we believed in ourselves and in this business enough to give it a shot. The future is incredible – and we can’t wait to experience it!
Carlos & Mary Gonzalez
West Lake Hills, TX
*The cash flows stated are not intended to demonstrate the earnings of typical RVPs/representatives. Rather, the cash flows that have been cited reflect the potential that comes with building your business, and there is no guarantee that you will achieve any specific cash flow level. Most RVPs/representatives do not achieve the levels illustrated. In the 12‑month period ending in December 2008, Primerica’s sales force consisted of approximately 100,000 life‑licensed representatives, to whom the Company paid a total of $622,000,000 in compensation, an average of $6,220 per licensed representative. Average RVP earnings are typically higher. Actual gross cash flow is, among other factors, dependent upon the size and scale of a representative’s organization, the number of sales and the override spread on each sale, and the ability and efforts of you and your downlines. Having said this, Primerica provides a tremendous opportunity for individuals who work hard and who desire to develop a business with strong income potential.