I Thought I Was Selling Books. God Was Building a Leader.

Seven summers, thousands of doors, and the lessons that shaped the leader I am today.

Leadership From the Field | Patrick B. Samuels

Who would have thought that a young kid from Texas, traveling across the country, knocking on strangers' doors, and trying to earn enough money to pay for college, was actually preparing for something much greater?

At the time, I certainly didn't.

I thought I was selling books.

I thought I was learning how to make money, operate a profitable business, and pay my way through Texas State University.

But looking back, I believe God was doing something much bigger.

While I was trying to make a difference in other people's lives, God was developing the person He wanted me to become the entire time.

And it took me years to fully appreciate just how valuable those experiences would become.

Seven Summers That Changed My Life

Before I entered the insurance industry, I spent seven summers working with Southwestern Advantage, selling educational products door to door.

Every summer, I would pack my bags, travel to an unfamiliar part of the country, and spend 13 weeks working in neighborhoods where nobody knew my name.

We worked approximately 80 hours a week.

Monday through Saturday. Twelve-hour days. Sundays were our only day off.

I would knock on roughly 100 doors a day, make around 30 contacts, and spend my time trying to earn the opportunity to sit down with families and talk about their children's education.

Imagine being a college student, hundreds of miles away from home, walking through neighborhoods in the summer heat, introducing yourself to complete strangers.

No guaranteed paycheck. No comfortable office. No customers waiting for you.

Just your work ethic, your attitude, and your willingness to get up the next morning and do it all over again.

And I did that for seven summers!

During those three-month summers, I would earn anywhere from $10,000 to $25,000 selling educational books.

That money helped me pay my way through Texas State University.

For a college student, that was a tremendous opportunity. But it came at a price.

Every dollar required sweat equity.

I had to learn how to manage expenses, control my time, improve my skills, develop relationships, and operate a business that could actually produce a profit.

And there were plenty of days when things didn't go according to plan.

I experienced rejection. I had conversations that went nowhere. I made mistakes. I questioned myself.

But I also learned something that I don't think I could have learned sitting in a classroom.

Success wasn't simply about how hard I worked. It was about the person I was becoming through the work.

A Door in Cookeville, Tennessee, That I'll Never Forget

One summer, I was selling in Cookeville, Tennessee.

I had another bookman following me in the field that day. That's what we called ourselves at Southwestern Advantage.

My responsibility was to demonstrate the sales process and help him learn how to approach families, start conversations, and present our educational products.

We were walking through a neighborhood, knocking on doors, when we approached one particular home.

I knocked.

When the gentleman opened the door, I immediately felt intimidated.

He was probably 6'4", weighed around 300 pounds, and had swastika tattoos across his body and face.

I'll never forget my initial reaction.

I began making assumptions about who this person was, what he believed, how he might treat me, and whether he would even be willing to listen.

I thought this could be one of the most uncomfortable conversations of my summer.

And for a moment, I had a decision to make.

Do I allow my fear and assumptions to determine what happens next?

Or do I demonstrate the process I had been teaching?

There was another young man standing behind me, watching what I would do.

And I realized something.

If I was going to teach someone how to lead, I had to be willing to demonstrate it myself.

So I introduced myself.

"Hey, my name is Patrick. Nice to meet you."

I explained why I was in the neighborhood and asked if we could find a place to sit down and have a conversation.

And we did.

I began asking questions about education, his circumstances, and what he was looking for.

I listened to his answers.

I learned about his story.

And as the conversation continued, something changed in me.

I stopped focusing on my initial impression and started focusing on understanding the person sitting across from me.

Now, having a respectful conversation with someone doesn't mean agreeing with their beliefs or overlooking what certain symbols represent.

But that experience challenged me to recognize how quickly my assumptions could influence my willingness to listen.

I had already begun predicting the outcome before I had even asked the first question.

And had I allowed that thinking to make the decision for me, I would have missed the opportunity to understand whether our educational products could help him.

That experience taught me a lesson that has followed me throughout my career.

You cannot determine someone's needs before you've taken the time to understand them.

Stop Judging the Opportunity. Start Understanding the Person.

Think about how often this happens in business.

We look at someone and assume they can't afford what we're offering.

We approach a business owner and decide they're probably too busy.

We meet a potential customer and assume they aren't interested.

Sometimes we make these decisions before we've even introduced ourselves.

And when we do that, we're allowing our assumptions to determine the outcome.

That day in Cookeville reminded me that my responsibility wasn't to decide for someone else.

My responsibility was to show up prepared, ask questions, listen, and determine whether I could bring genuine value to their life.

If the product could help, I needed to explain how.

If it wasn't the right fit, I needed to respect their decision.

But either way, I wanted that person to feel that I had treated them with integrity.

That was the beginning of a lesson I would continue learning throughout my career.

You cannot communicate value until you understand what someone values.

And you cannot understand what someone values if you're doing all the talking.

I Was Learning to Operate a Business Before I Knew I Was Becoming a Business Owner

When I look back on Southwestern Advantage, I realize how much of my business education happened outside the classroom.

I learned that revenue and profit weren't the same thing.

I learned that working more hours didn't automatically make me more productive.

I learned that relationships could open doors that persistence alone couldn't.

And I learned that being successful required far more than knowing how to present a product.

It required discipline, planning, personal accountability, and a willingness to continually improve.

I could knock on 100 doors in a day, but if I wasn't getting better at communicating, asking questions, and understanding people, I was missing opportunities to grow.

I could work 80 hours a week, but I still had to manage my expenses and make sure my business was profitable.

Those lessons helped pay for college, but they also prepared me for the responsibility of running a business.

Today, when I think about the agency we're building at Samuels Insurance Group, I see how much those summers influenced the way I approach leadership.

I'm no longer just responsible for my own production or the families I personally serve.

I have the opportunity to develop other agents, help them discover what they're capable of, and teach them the same principles that helped shape my career.

And that's where the real return on my investment begins.

God Was Developing the Leader Within Me

Sometimes I wonder what that young college student from Texas would think if he could see where those summers would eventually lead.

I thought I was traveling across the country to sell educational books and make enough money to pay for school.

But God was using those experiences to teach me how to communicate, serve, persevere, and lead.

Every rejection taught me resilience.

Every difficult conversation challenged me to grow.

Every family I met gave me an opportunity to learn something about people.

And every time another bookman followed me in the field, I was learning that leadership carries a responsibility greater than my own results.

Looking back, I believe the return on those seven summers has been tenfold through the development of the leader within me at Samuels Insurance Group.

Not simply because of what I've earned financially, but because of the opportunities I've had to help other people grow.

The same young man who once knocked on strangers' doors is now helping others develop the confidence to walk through those doors themselves.

And that's something I don't take lightly.

I believe God was preparing me for that responsibility long before I understood what He was doing.

The Greatest Return Was Who I Became

At Samuels Insurance Group, our core values are:

SERVICE | INTEGRITY | GROWTH | LEADERSHIP

Those seven summers helped me understand what those values look like in practice.

Service means putting another person's needs before your desire to make a sale.

Integrity means doing what's right, even when no one is watching.

Growth means recognizing that every experience can teach you something if you're willing to learn.

Leadership means demonstrating the standards you expect others to follow.

I spent seven summers trying to build a profitable business.

But through that experience, I was also building the foundation for something much greater.

So here's my encouragement to anyone working toward a dream, building a career, or going through a season that feels more difficult than you expected.

Don't underestimate what God may be developing in you through the process.

The long hours, uncomfortable conversations, challenges, and sacrifices may be preparing you for responsibilities you can't even see yet.

I thought I was selling books.

God was building a leader.

And today, I get to take what I learned and use it to help protect families, develop leaders, and build legacies.

That's a return on investment I could never have fully appreciated as a college student.

Patrick B. Samuels
Samuels Insurance Group
Protect Families. Develop Leaders. Build Legacies.