Stop Waiting for Permission: How to Step Into Your Power and Build a Bigger Life

What an informative conversation with Aurora Mullet, who's an agency owner and nationally recognized California property insurance specialist with extensive expertise Life properties, and insurance market dynamics. Since 2014, she's worked alongside homeowners, insurance professionals, carriers, and policy makers to help navigate California's evolving insurance landscape. Her work span evolving insurance landscape. Her work span expands her work spans legislative advocacy, agent education, wildfire risk modeling, and public speaking. Known for combining deep technical knowledge with practical rail wide solutions, she's passionate about advancing the insurance industry. She is also a business owner with lots of great strategies and tips to share. So here's Aurora. Welcome to the Power Up Your Life podcast brought to you by Govan and Women. I'm Kelly Resendez.

And I'm Mandy McAllister.

And we are joined by our amazing guest and and dear friend of mine, Aurora Mullet. How are you today?

Awesome. How are you guys?

Doing great. Well, we'd love to hear a little bit about your background in your own words.

So I have been in the insurance industry now for twenty eight years. I've gone all over the spectrum from logging people into their computers is how I started it, and then went into service Mandy then underwriting and then sales, and it's just been kind of back and forth throughout. But the majority of my time has been spent as an agency owner and a wildfire, advocate here in California.

Yeah. That's incredible. Incredible. And that's really you know, I'm excited to dig in because not only are you a business owner that has scaled, I think you've had maybe an exit or two, and then you've also been in acquisition mode too. You also really have become a thought leader in the industry. So share a little bit more. Let's start there with how you got involved in really becoming a thought leader Mandy advocating for homeowners, which I'm guessing has also increased your business at the same time.

Yeah. I mean, becoming the expert, I think, always helps elevate you in whatever space that you're in. But it really was just I don't like the word no. And so when someone just tells me, well, I don't know what to tell you. That's just the way it is. I go, well, that may be the way it is right now, but if it stays that way, nothing's gonna get done. And so after knocking on a lot of doors and talking to a lot of legislative people, I just took it upon myself to start really getting deep down into how insurance is rated, how it's backed, how it's brought to market, the broken parts of our insurance code, and, it just kinda took off from there. So I one of the very first pieces of legislation I worked on is the moratorium for the state. So that's when there's a big wildfire, insurance companies can't cancel people for a year or two year depending on the proximity to the fire. And so from there, it just kind of snowballed. Well, if we fix that, then now we need to go fix this, and we need to go so that's how I just kinda stumbled into it. And, again, it's just been if if somebody doesn't step up in our industry to fix it, we're all just gonna fail. We're we're just gonna fall apart even worse, and we're gonna be a second Florida. And so I just couldn't watch that happen after the amount of time that I've spent.

Yeah. I I mean, if nobody's willing to do anything, then there's no change that's ever gonna happen. So high five for you for for stepping into that role. And, you know, I spent the bulk of my career in medical device sales, and I can say on the health care side, it really is insurance that that's the tail that wags the dog. So it it really is that, you know, big piece of, change that needs to happen. Right? So, I now am mostly a multifamily investor, and I have seen my poor friends in Florida, like you mentioned, get rocked with the changes that have happened in insurance premiums, and I've seen it too in my Midwest portfolio. I'm hoping you'll take out your crystal ball here here for me, Aurora. Many of our our listeners are investors. You know, in terms of the huge spikes that we've seen in your crystal ball, and I understand you are not a soothsayer Mandy this is not professional advice, but what what do you think is gonna happen in the world of insurance premiums for people who are investors like me just across The United States? Yeah. The I mean, it's gonna be as a total switch in the mindset of you no longer are gonna go to Farmers or State Farm or Allstate and get those policies anymore.

You're gonna have to change your mindset that non admitted is the new marketplace, the new protection that you have, and then learn how to mean. So non admitted companies are they're not they're not, the Department of Insurance can't tell them what to do. They have a lot more rate fluctuation. They can come in and say, we were really unprofitable last year, and we're gonna raise our rates a 110%. Whereas an admitted company in the state has to go to the Department of Insurance, show them a bunch of things, and then get approval to get that rate, and it's 6.9% is the rate that can be done. So widely vast in how they're able to monitor their risk, how they're able to provide that risk out to the marketplace, how fast they can correct if they make a bad underwriting decision. So that is really where that marketplace has run to. So you can get a lot you can get a lot more comprehensive policy through these nonadmitments as well Mandy a lot of times pay less because you can schedule them all on instead of having 19 different policies. You can have one policy with 19 locations listed on them.

That's awesome. Well, I think that's the one thing you know, it seems like with AI and with some of the data that we have that we would see improvement in some of this risk, you know, world. Because, like, for example, I lived in Granite Bay, California, right, which is a small town not near the wildfires. And we were seeing some of my friends, including myself, get affected by the wildfires that were up in Placer County and other areas. But, like, how how are insurance companies, like, utilizing AI to be able to help them be a little bit better? Because it doesn't make sense to me. How did they not know I wasn't in that area? Why why would it have affected somebody we know personally got canceled? I actually referred him to you because he was like, how does this make sense? Like, I'm I'm not even in the fire zone.

Yeah. So Rocklin and, Granite Bay, they're all what's called the WUI, so the the wildland interface area. And so that means that you're backing up right to where the bulk of the fire risk is. And so it shares a lot of the same terrain, water resources that as you start going up into Kelly Dorado Hills and up into Auburn, you're utilizing the same systems. And so what they've seen is that our water resources in California are not strong enough to fight these massive fires. And so they start looking at, okay. If we have to take so much risk here, we have to then start reducing the risk in the other areas. Again, because of the prop one zero three that says an insurance company cannot go more than six point or it's technically 7% without a hearing. So all the insurance companies do 6.9% to avoid hearing and get through. So they had to start mitigating older homes. They had to start mitigating those areas that are surrounding it. And so before you know it, we had until about six months ago, we would have brand new built homes, a 100% wildfire compliant, but the system models would say, nope. That's in a wildfire adjacent area, and they would only have the option of the state program.

Wow. I I learned a new term today, woo wee, and I find it hilarious that our girl, Kelly, is related to something that's woo wee. Isn't that weird as hell? But so, Aurora, I wanna make a little bit of a left hand turn. So you you are a lady business Power. A big piece of our listenership and a big piece of members of GoBundance Women are you know, is what we are. Right? We're all lady business owners. So you don't just start with an idea of starting a business and then become this huge evolved, you know, thought leader that you've become. You know, walk me through some things when you felt like it was over, when you felt like you were stuck, when something had to change. What are some things that you did that were kinda actionable for our listeners that helped get you unstuck, that helped you, you know, get to that next level?

I really just deep dived in to knowledge basing. If I was going to be able, you know, I'll bring it back to both Kelly and I. She was, my manager and my mentor at Paramount Equity Mortgage when we both worked there. And I remember continually going and bringing these programs to leadership, not her, but, you know, previous ones, and continually being told, like, oh, that'll never work. It'll never move the needle enough. It'll never do, you know, these things. And me knowing my industry went, well, this is literally how these massive agencies that are quartering you every day to buy this business have built their model. So it does work. And so Matt Dawson once told me when I asked him, on an exit, Mandy he's I asked him, what can I do different? And he said, grow some fucking balls. And I was like, okay. And I walked out of that annoyed at first, right, because I'm like, are you kidding me? I've spoken Up, but I went, okay. I'm not gonna I'm not gonna let my ego step in here. I'm gonna listen to what he means by that. And I went back to another thing that Kelly had told me of, you need to change how you speak so that you can express your language in the language that they can hear. And so I took those two things Mandy I said, okay. Who are my audience moving forward going through this? And it is the community members, and it was legislative members. And it was, how do I change my knowledge? How do I change my speak? How do I change my presence to really be able to step out there and start the leadership portion of this instead of just saying, well, 20 people told me my idea is not gonna work, so I guess I'll just go sit back down at my desk. Right? And I think that that's probably one of the biggest things that I see even now as I'm mentoring younger females in this space is they go, yeah, but they just keep telling me that's just how it's done. And I say, well, then prove them wrong. Create a case file and show them how yours can bring them that value. Don't just think it in your head. Speak their language and show them how you get there. And I think that if we stop allowing other people's voices to determine where our next trajectory is, that's the only way that you're gonna get yourself from an idea of a business Mandy to actually being the leader of that business and the trajectory and being the thought leader in that business.

Yeah. No. That's incredible. Like, I literally kinda got chills because how often are we sheep? Right? The number of of Americans, especially, I'm not gonna go into what I'm referring to directly. However, the number of people that just do what other people tell them rather than saying, this does not make sense. This does not make sense. So many businesses can be founded on that idea. So you didn't just go out and create an insurance agency. Right? You also were Life, how do we really create a value proposition and solve a problem that so many people don't know about, which is really in the wildfire space, which California, like, if you aren't familiar, like, the whole state. Whole state's a little bit messed up. Whole state. So that's incredible. So going into scaling the business and thinking about acquisition and other things, who do you need to be in order to kinda take that role? Because for a lot of people, they might think about growing a business, acquiring one, or preparing for an exit, which you've done both. You know, like, who do you need to be? What mindset, what strategies do you really need in order to do that?

Yeah. You know, I can speak for me, it was I needed to stop having a 100% of everything planned out to make an action. Because I would overthink it Mandy I would test model it Mandy I would go back and Your. And I have a really good friend who's in this industry too, and he would just be like, I'll figure it out afterwards. Like and and r two my you know, like, I would sit with him and I'm like, but what about this Mandy what about that? He's like, yeah. I'll I'll figure out a way for my team to take care of it. And it it's being in the room with people who have lost that fear or shed that fear where you really start going, okay. Even if I fail, I've always figured it out. I'll just pit it. I'll just make sure that I turn this into a lesson, and I apply it moving forward Mandy don't make the same mistake again. But you have to be okay to make the mistake first.

The Power Up Your Life podcast is powered by GoBundance Women. I could tell you stuff about it or you could hear from some of our members. Here you go. GoBundance has connected me with an amazing group of entrepreneurial women

that I can learn from and support and grow together.

GoBundance gave me a boardroom of sisters who refused to let me settle. You know, within the first two months of me being a member,

I enrolled someone to help them with their high ticket sales. I got double back my investment within the first, you know, sixty days of being a member. So it was it's incredible. You guys are just amazing, and there's always somebody to look up to in in, in GoBundance, so I love being a member.

That's why you owe it to yourself to check out Women. Love that. Awesome. I think it's yeah. So so important to to be willing to, you know, act, ready, fire, aim. Right? There's a there's a book called, The Psychology of Money that has this principle that I love that you don't need to be perfect. You just need to be reasonable enough. And that has really helped me move on some things that really kinda echoes what you were saying there. You know, I wanna kinda double click on this and in the vein of identity and, you know, how your identity has changed as you've gone. Right? And especially when it comes to, you know, do I belong here, imposter syndrome stuff that we hear from a lot of female entrepreneurs and investors. Talk to me about, you know, when you have that type of a feeling, if you ever have, and and how you kind of get your way out of that.

Yeah. I I it it happens less and less now, because I know walking in, I'm going to be one of the most knowledgeable people in the room. I think a few years ago Women I first started my agency Okay. And I would walk into, agency conferences with these massive agents Mandy, you know, they've got billion dollar I mean, million dollar agencies behind them. And I would sit in the room Mandy I was so quiet, and I would absorb, but I almost felt like I haven't earned the right to say something at that moment. And it was probably two conferences, and then I was sitting there Mandy someone said something, and I just went, okay. But have you ever thought that if you just tweaked it this little bit Mandy they're like, no. And then they came back and they're like, we got, we got over 1,200 leads in the first month by switching just that little bit of language to it. And that was kind of the click moment for me where I went, okay. I don't need to remain silent. I may not know everything that they do, but maybe they don't know everything that I do. And so finding that inner voice and just that respect for yourself and all the hard work that you put in, being able to just say it unapologetically. If anything, Kelly has taught me that. Just just say it. You know? Don't be a jerk, but just say it. Speak up.

Yeah. And I think, you know, Mandy, you hit on something important. I so many people believe that the most successful female business owners or whatnot don't struggle with confidence, imposter syndrome, whatnot. We all do. But what we what we don't do is we don't let it hold us back. It just becomes kinda that voice that we just push forward on as well. So, well, Aurora, we got to spend some time together at one of our GoBundance retreats this summer where we really took space to kinda work on what's next. How has it helped you to kinda pull yourself out of the business and work on the business? We see a lot of people still operators, So they're, like, so in the business that they can't take that higher level view and make some decisions about what's coming next. What kinda came out of that for you giving yourself that space?

Yeah. The, there was one piece that has really changed a lot for me over since I left, and it was a calendar idea of stripping my entire calendar and rebuilding it around the things that bring me peace throughout the day, that center me back, that allow me to breathe and take a moment. I was my hands are in so many different businesses now that I was constantly feeling overwhelmed, and I felt like I was just sitting here going from, you know, this laptop to this nonprofit, and I felt like this all day long. And in the meantime, I was going, okay. Well, I don't have time to go sit out and walk the dogs for the forty minutes that, you know, at lunch now. I gotta work through my lunch, and I don't have time to go sit on my front porch and watch my birds eat the worms that I buy them excessively. Right? So I just stripped all of that out and putting it back in to put those moments that allow me to just take a breath, think through. Right? Because I'll have ideas constantly all day long as I'm working through a process that if I don't take those moments to then go, I'm gonna go walk the dogs Mandy I'm gonna think about how I want this to play out, then nothing will get done for me. Because all this live in that I have to operate. Operate. I have to answer that email. I have to answer that phone Kelly, and then I'm just useless at that point at the end of the day. And I feel like I just spun my circles and worked twelve hours and got absolutely nothing done.

Oh, my girl, preach. Because I I when I quit my day job, I thought I had real estate at the middle of everything, and I had all these, you know, spokes on the wheel that that helped me do other things that all came back to real estate. And I was playing whack a mole the whole Life. You know? And Dan Martel wrote a book, Buy Back Your Time that, there were the his concept that if you grew up kind of addicted to achievements, then you like, that is an addiction that you then have to break. And in high performers like you, it sounds like you would just grind and grind and grind because that's how you found your success, and yet you gotta kinda detox from that that past that is untrue. You know? So thank you for sharing that because I think that that is, you know, for us multi passionate folks in the world of Up. I call it ADD. Some call it multipassionate. You know? But, you you really you you gotta figure out the things that fill your cup. And, you know, I'm curious what steps have you taken since that summit to, you know, build this life that puts you in a place that you can do bigger things.

Because I am also multipassionate. I had to my clock my my alarm clock on my phone looks like a schizophrenics at this point, and there's one going off right now. But that's the only way that I can do it because especially when I'm working on legislation, my brain is going you you know, I'm test I'm testing this wildfire model to see if it holds up Mandy the premiums, Mandy I'm going through all this stuff. And that can take two hours, and I'm working on that. And in the meantime, I haven't gone to the bathroom. I haven't gotten my, you know, cashews, my water. And so giving myself that structure, I am now getting way more done. So it it's it I had to just, again, like I said, completely strip that down and rebuild out my day, down to as little as like, it'll remind me to brush my teeth first thing in the morning. Because my thing is I always just come over Mandy I, you know, I get on my thing. And then before I know it, it's 09:30, and I haven't eaten. I haven't brushed my teeth. I haven't fed my dogs. So it just becomes a chaos circle. So that's been that's been my biggest gift to me is to recognize that with having ADD ADHD, I am not gonna remember and refocus myself like most people do. So instead of beating myself up about that every day, I just had to give myself a course of, I'm not weak because I have to use an alarm. But in my head, I had convinced myself I was.

Yeah. I love that. And I I kinda call it, like, I love variety. I hadn't I mean, I think we're all kinda saying the same thing. Right? Because, like and I do a really great job at sharing a lot of times with other people what they can do to create that life experience. And then I look at my calendar, and I'm like, oh, so cute that you're so good at helping other people. And mine mine looks like it's, like, one solid block since Monday at 7AM. Yeah. So, Aurora, this has been absolutely awesome. First and foremost, thank you for the work that you do to support homeowners. You know, I I don't think most homeowners know that on the other side of change that there's somebody passionate that's an advocate that's looking and saying this doesn't make sense. So thank you so much for that. The one thing that really stood out for me the most and is such a reminder because so many women are waiting for things to be perfect before they take action. And you really you really kinda shared that that is not the way. Like, you've gotta be willing to try and then iterate and iterate and iterate, and it might not be there. That was super important. And then, you know, I love just the fact that you touched on, you know, we've had this opportunity for fifteen years to work with one another through a very you know, I was there from Yeah. Very few employees to over 1,600 today and watching that business change. But learning from one of our founders exactly what you said, like, you've gotta you've gotta just step into your power. I'm not gonna say what he said, but I think that's really what it is. It's Life throwing your shoulders back and being like, I am going to speak, and I am going to share what I feel, but it also requires that you educate yourself. And I know you've really done that. You put in the put in the work to know what it is that you do. Mandy, what what stood out for you?

I I love that path through imposter syndrome is to really know all you can know so that you know that your opinions are so well formed that that there's no reason to feel like an imposter. But the thing I loved most, Aurora, was, you know, when Your story when the guy, you know, told you that news that you didn't wanna hear about yourself, you you thought, don't let my ego get ahead of me in this because it's so easy as ego driven beings to just be a little, you know, hurt by that and not wanna move forward and just wanna flip a table and vent to a friend. Right? So good for you for for figuring out how to make the change in that.

Yeah. So, Aurora, thank you so much for sharing everything today. How can our listeners support you? What's a resource connection? How do they get a hold of you?

Yeah. Life, I've kind of solidified everything through one website now, and it's aurora at hyphi I n s dot com. K. But especially for investors, we're in 32 states, and, we have a hefty amount of markets that a lot of other brokers don't have because being a thought leader means that when a new product comes into play, the insurance companies come to you first to test it, to give feedback. So we get a lot of early access and get a lot more leeway that, many other agents don't. So if you find yourself stuck with a property or a look you know, anything, just have basic questions, I'm always here as a resource for that too. But if you if you need some insurance on your investments, let me know.

That's amazing. Well, thank you for joining us on the Power Up Your Life podcast, and we look forward to seeing you on the next episode. Thanks, Aurora.

Thanks for joining us today on the Power Up Your Life podcast. If you got value from today's episode, make sure that you like and subscribe and send this episode to someone who needs to hear some wins like this. If you need to power up your business, head over to Power Up Your Life Now where you can see all of the resources that our team has to power up your business. We'll see you on the next episode.