Trace Johnson considers success as a constant journey of skill-set mastery, improvement, and finding significance to where he can provide value. Before his success, he was coming out of high school with a few different colleges interested in joining their football programs, his grades hindered that opportunity to do so. Trace Johnson continued to abide by the social norms of going to school, getting good grades, and eventually a job.
Johnson had to work to pay his bills. However, he ended up getting fired in every job he got. After going from job to job, getting fired from almost every job, because he knew it wasn’t where he belonged. He struggled with authority, and he needed a place with empowerment. He knew he was meant for something bigger. He wanted to create a life by design not by default, so he found an opportunity where he got to live life on his terms, and from that point on he became unemployable. He eventually landed on an opportunity. These were Door-Door sales. He knew that this would be a vehicle to start a new life on his terms. He then moved to Chicago but failed terribly. Door-to-door sales turned him away from sales. Trace Johnson went back to Arizona, where he had to start over again.
The Upsurge
Just before Trace Johnson gave up on sales, he met a friend who is currently his mentor, Dustin Venekamp. Dustin Venekamp had just relocated to Arizona, and was opening up his new agency in financial services, and from the moment he stepped in Dustin Venekamps office, he knew his mission and his vision was something he had to be a part of, and hasn’t looked back since. Trace Johnson figured out that he had to give it one more try as well. With motivation from his mentor, he started over; everything now added up and made sense. Trace Johnson learned a valuable lesson of trusting the systems and the processes.
Johnson stands out in his Industry
Trace Johnson considers himself unique in the industry because he has provided a culture where people who struggle to get better can get better together. The goal is always getting 1% better every day. He emphasizes developing relationships outside work. Trace Johnson believes in counting on other people as much as they count on themselves. He is “people first”. He believes that thinking about other people first is what makes us different in the industry.
