November 18, 2024
I recently had the pleasure of joining Danielle Sprouls on her podcast, “Unscripted Pivots,” where we talk about my entrepreneurial journey, the launch of ATW Advisors, and the story behind my new book “So She Did.”
As a guest on this empowering platform dedicated to Women That Flourish (WTF), I shared some insights about breaking out of comfort zones, embracing authenticity, and leveraging social media to build meaningful professional relationships.
Listen to the full episode here.
Transcript
Danielle Sprouls: Hello, WTF friends, and welcome to Unscripted Pivots. Ever encounter an experience that just left you shaking your head, saying, what the wtf, right? Sure, we all have. But what if you took that unscripted pivot and you transformed it into a moment of empowerment? We are here in this podcast to turn those setbacks into setups. I’m Danielle Sprouls, your host, certified executive coach, and the creator of the WTF Community, where WTF stands for Women that Flourish. And yes, I am the WTF lady.
Danielle Sprouls: This podcast is your ignition. It’s a place to awaken your potential, embrace unscripted changes, and just step into your power with courage and passion. Like you, I’ve navigated life’s unexpected turns, and I completely understand the power of starting over again. Every Wednesday, we’ll be sharing inspiring stories from women just like you, along insights from thought leaders and visionaries in the business, personal growth, spirituality, all of it. And guess what? We are now on YouTube, so be sure to subscribe to my channel at Unscripted Pivots to see the women behind these voices.
Danielle Sprouls: So, are you ready to embody your WTF self and pursue what truly fulfills you? Let’s dive in, ladies. Grab your favorite snack, get comfortable, and welcome to today’s episode of Unscripted Pivots. Hello and welcome to another episode of Unscripted Pivots, where we explore the transformative journeys of women that flourish today. I am thrilled to introduce our guest, and I love this woman, Skylar Romines. Skylar is a powerhouse in the commercial insurance industry and the brilliant founder of ATW Advisors, with a career spanning 17 years in commercial Insurance brokerage, Skylar made a bold leap to establish her own firm, advocating for business owners with unparalleled expertise and integrity.
Skylar Romines: Thank you. That was quite the introduction. Can I just bring you around with me everywhere from now on? That would be awesome. Just come to every meeting with me and do that before we start talking about anything. That would be great.
Danielle Sprouls: And it’s so true, right? All of it’s true and then some. And we’ll dive into all of the greatness that makes you you. I usually start the episodes telling the listeners how I met who, you know, I’m interviewing or chatting with. And we met at a Crew Orange county event. We probably met before. The first recollection of me meeting you was when we were kind of like going in and we were sitting there in that auditorium and there was a panel discussion and you just like kind of popped in and you sat to my left.
Danielle Sprouls: And I was going through some crazy stuff at the moment, but in those five or ten minutes in our whispering conversation, I got to know a little bit about you and what I knew right then and there is, I wanted to know more. You had like, you know, mentioned you had a book going on and that was always, you know, it’s on my to do list. And some things that, you know, you saw on the horizon. And I said, this is a woman on the move and boy, are you on the move. 2024 has brought so many new adventures your way.
Skylar Romines: So, yeah.
Danielle Sprouls: What inspired you after a successful, like 17 year career in commercial insurance brokerage, to start ATW Advisors and tell the listeners how you came to choose that name?
Skylar Romines: Sure. So the name was, you know, something that I thought about for a little while. You go through a lot of different ideas, and then you, you know, you get on the Secretary of State website, or you start Googling and realize, like, I can’t have this name. I can’t have that name. That’s already taken. So there were a few that I really wanted before that that ended up not being options, but I ended up loving ATW and what ATW stands for. Because a lot of people ask, they’re like, do you have partners who are at and w. What does this mean?
Danielle Sprouls: Yeah, sure.
Skylar Romines: And what ATW actually stands for is all the Way. And that kind of represents a few different things for me, right. In terms of how we serve our clients. And kind of our slogan, if you will, is we’re with you all the way. Right? We want to represent your firm in the best possible light. We want to be with you from the ground up, want to be really involved in your core business. And so that’s kind of a critical thing.
Skylar Romines: And then, you know, on a personal note as well, and I don’t share this with as many people, but since we’re here, for me, it also represented, you know, my leap, like you mentioned, from 17 years in corporate America, big brokerage, et cetera, into entrepreneurship. And for me, it was like, we’re doing this all the way, right? We’re burning the boats, so to speak. There’s nowhere to go back to. We quit the job. We’re taking the leap, and we’re doing it. And sink or swim, we’re going all the way. So it represented a few different things for me, and I think it’s really special. So I’m glad you asked that.
Danielle Sprouls: It’s so funny, because I wouldn’t even say that there’s just one or two of us. There seems to be this movement in that direction mostly. I mean, I’m more cognizant of what women are doing than what the guys are doing. Maybe they’re doing this too, but where we’re really coming into our own space and taking our skill sets and our relationships and, you know, building our own fortune. I mean, our own way. Right. And so. And what I’m going to say about that is not at the expense of the companies or relationships that we had intact. It’s more of an expansion than it is a replacement.
Danielle Sprouls: And what I’ve noticed about your journey right out of the gate is all the advocates that you have at your side, including the people that you used to work with, which is a testament to their support in your Journey. Right. So it’s not one of those, like, you know, showing somebody the finger while they’re showing you the door. It was more like, you know what, I’ve got something else to offer and I want to work alongside. So you’re leaving something where you felt inspired and trained and educated and you just, you know, you’re like flying the nest and there’s so much support for you in that space. And that really, really is great to see.
Skylar Romines: Thank you, Danielle. Yeah, that means a lot to me. And it’s something that I was actually really nervous about and had to be really intentional about. Right. Because this kind of niche that I’ve carved out with ATW is something that’s different than what we’ve had in our industry before. And I wanted to be able to represent my prior clients who were asking for this service.
Skylar Romines: And just to get a little bit into the background of what ATW does. We’re different than a brokerage or an owner’s insurance rep firm. So a lot of people will call it insurance consultancy. But it’s really a little bit different than that where we’re truly involved in the client’s core business to a degree that I’ve never seen another firm do before. And I had clients on the brokerage side who were asking for referrals for this for a couple of years. And I kept saying, it doesn’t really exist. Right. No one is doing that.
Skylar Romines: And so finally it got to the point where I started thinking, God, if no one is doing this, someone needs to, and if someone needs to, why not me? Right? And that’s kind of how ATW was born. That mixed with the fact that I’ve always wanted to work for myself, but it was never the right time. And you know, you have these self doubts and there’s always something going on and you wait till this, you wait till that, and then it ends up never happening.
Danielle Sprouls: Hey, everyone, did you know that over 850,000 podcasts are being launched every year? That’s because podcasting is a powerful way to connect with your audience, build your brand and grow your business. And trust me, having a podcast can bring immense value to your business by creating a deeper connection with your listeners and establishing you as an authority in your field.
Danielle Sprouls: I just want to take a moment to give a huge shout out to podcircle and my amazing podcast manager, Kyle Cummings. Honestly, I couldn’t do this without the incredible talent and expertise behind me. Whether you’re thinking about starting a podcast or already have one, but need that extra support from a specialist, podcircle is the way to go. Podcircle not only offers top notch support, but also has its own podcast specifically designed to help both new and seasoned podcasters. So if you’re looking for expert guidance and professional advice, podcircle and Kyle Cummings have got you covered. Check out their [email protected] to learn more and let him know that the WTF lady sent you. Now back to our episode.
Danielle Sprouls: You know, that’s so insightful of you to recognize the gap that existed and to fill it. Right. And so it’s not duplicative in many ways to other things that are going on. I could see where there’s some hesitancy where somebody thinks you may be taking a little bit of a piece of their piece, but the way that you’ve just articulated it shows that it really is not even just like an add on. It’s a necessity.
Danielle Sprouls: And I think that you’re going to be leading the charge in this. There probably will be people that will follow over time because there’s. The demand is going to be that great. But you’re at the forefront. You’re like literally a pioneer, okay, in this space. And that, you know, for that it’s like, you know, it reminds me of the title of your book. So she did. So she did. Right? Let’s morph a little bit into your book.
Danielle Sprouls: So, you know, for those of you listening, this woman is just fascinating and she just rolled out a book. You know, I think it was within weeks of rolling out her company. I mean, 2024 for Skylar has been explosive. Like literally so explosive. The book is fantastic. And getting back to our crew Orange county relationship, a lot of the stories within there are testaments to the journey of the women that were with crew.
Skylar Romines: Sure, you touched on so many different things there, Danielle. So I’m going to try to address them all. But I’ll go back to one thing first, if I can, which I think is really kind of interesting, is we did meet through crew and, you know, I was thinking before we started the podcast today, like, what might come up. You know, you’re always kind of wondering what things you might touch on. And I thought about, like, my first impression of you versus probably what your first impression of me was.
Skylar Romines: And this is something that’s a little bit vulnerable for me to share. And I was kind of blow drying my hair and thinking, like, do I get into this? And then I thought, you know what, like you mentioned, 2024 has been a critical year in my life. I actually just did a Twitter post about this this morning. So it’s funny that you mentioned it, but my life has changed more in the last year, year and a half than it did in the 35 years before that. And I can say that, like, without any question or hesitation.
Skylar Romines: And that includes even the year that I had my twins, you know, almost 11 years ago now, or anything else. You know, any major life event that I’ve gone through doesn’t compare to everything that’s changed for me in the last year. And the thing that really changed, that settled that emotion was just a mindset shift, right? Of just realizing that you can literally do anything that you want to do. You just have to freaking do it.
Skylar Romines: And you have to do it scared and you have to do it lonely sometimes. And you have to do it not knowing, you know, knowing that there’s a beginning and an end, but not being able to see the next stone in the path or even, you know, breaking down the stones and laying them as you go. You have to be willing to kind of solve all these problems in real time and figure out what to do.
Danielle Sprouls: I think. And, you know, I’ve undergone a lot of changes in 2024. As well as, you know, and I think that one of the things that I got comfortable with is making failure my friend instead of my foe.
Skylar Romines: I love that.
Danielle Sprouls: I love that that’s really what it boils down to. And, you know, when you are as experienced as, you know, you, as me, and what we’ve been doing for a long time, and we’ve got a very, like, you know, established, stellar relationship, it is not an easy leap to get down to, oh, my God, I don’t know what’s going on. And to know you’re going to falter and you’re going to get some egg on your face.
Danielle Sprouls: You mentioned Twitter. What did. Is that what you wrote on? So do we still call it Twitter or is it called X? I don’t even know. I mean. And guys, let me tell you, she’s prominent on this site, and from what she has shared with me, just in our casual conversations, it wasn’t one of those things that she necessarily pursued, but she became a little bit of a star in this space.
Skylar Romines: Yeah, thank you. I don’t know as far as I’d go as far as to say a star, but I appreciate that. It’s really weird. I started working on LinkedIn maybe a year and a half ago and just kind of posting regularly. And I had never really utilized social media before, and someone had told me, like, just post every day, post about insurance, post about risk management, post a little bit about yourself.
Skylar Romines: You know, what was the term that they use? 70% value, 30% viral. So basically what that means is, like, give your knowledge, right? The last 17 years of your career that you’ve shared, 70%, focus on that, 30%, just focus on you. Let people get to know you for you, because that’s what people really like on social media, right?
Skylar Romines: You don’t want to be. When you’re building your personal brand, you don’t want to be just this business brand. That’s an important piece of it. You also have to let people see, you know, know, little bits and pieces of who you really are, and that’s how they feel connected with you, and you build real relationships. Right? And that’s critical.
Skylar Romines: So I really started on LinkedIn, and then people kept saying, you know, because my business is largely focused on commercial real estate as well. And people started saying, you have to get on Twitter because there’s this corner of Twitter called Retwit, and you have to connect with people there, and there’s so many opportunities.
Danielle Sprouls: Oh, so you were encouraged?
Skylar Romines: Yeah, I was encouraged by several people, but for some reason when he spoke to me, it spoke differently. Isn’t that funny about life? Like, sometimes we can get the same message from different people, but you hear it from one person better than the other.
Danielle Sprouls: The teacher appears when the student is ready. That’s right.
Skylar Romines: That’s right.
Danielle Sprouls: Okay.
Skylar Romines: And, you know, so I said, fine, I’ll try it. I’ll try it for a month. I’ll try it for three months. I’m not going to put a lot of time and energy into it. I’ll repost. I started by reposting my LinkedIn posts on Twitter. I was like, I’ll do that for a while and see how it goes.
Skylar Romines: And I kind of just like you alluded to. I didn’t expect anything of it. I don’t know how to grow a platform. I’m not a professional in this space in any way. I just kind of got on and, and was being authentic and felt a little bit more comfortable on that platform than on LinkedIn to let more bits and pieces of myself come out versus just the business side. And for whatever reason, you know, I kind of got adopted into this retwit real estate Twitter community pretty quickly. I don’t have a huge following. I mean, I have like 8,500 followers or something.
Danielle Sprouls: No, but that’s, that’s a lot in a short time. But you also alluded I was asking you about it because I’m not on that, that app whatsoever. To tell you the truth, I had the same feelings that you did. And from until recently, I was just on LinkedIn. I mean, that’s where we did business and that’s where we got educated, networked. But you, you did something in New York recently. Like, don’t you. I mean, there’s like, I mean, you’re, you’re more involved than just like you posting by yourself, right?
Skylar Romines: Yeah, but I mean, I did. I got invited to. There was a real estate Twitter gala in New York in April. I got invited to that. I don’t know. It’s a big deal, but it was a huge deal. It was a great opportunity. I met so many amazing people. And I.
Danielle Sprouls: Can I stop you? I’m stopping you right here because you said, oh, I got invited to a real estate Twitter. Okay, we’re gonna call it X gala in New York. And I don’t know why. And I wanna say BS to that, BS to that statement. And we do that so quickly because, you know, you may not yet have fully understood the value that you’re bringing, but that’s a testament to the real, to the reality.
Danielle Sprouls: You bring value. That’s why you were invited, Skylar, because they see you as somebody, something to say, and you make the platform better. You may not be the biggest person on X, yet you’re eligible to Y E T. But I’m going to say, you know, we women tend to downgrade the great things that are happening around us. And when we have evidence outside validation and evidence, we’re like, oh, yeah, no, no, no. Shame on that. Okay, we’re not doing. I do it, too. You just did it. And I want to call BS on it, okay?
Skylar Romines: Thank you. I’m going to say something that sounds a little cheesy here, but it’s the God’s honest truth. And it sounds crazy again, because we’re going back to, like, it’s Twitter, and people write that off so easily. The first three clients who signed with me with ATW were either directly from Twitter or referrals from Twitter. My pipeline before I left my brokerage career was seven figures directly off of Twitter and the community there and some of the friendships that I’ve built there in the last. And I’ve only been on six or seven months.
Skylar Romines: I mean, I haven’t had a long tenure there, but even in just launching the firm, I reached out to a lot of friends who have had entrepreneurial journeys and are a step or two ahead of me. Several of those people who gave me some of the best advice when I was getting ready to make the leap were friends from Twitter. And so, again, it sounds crazy, but kind of this network I’ve built, and it’s almost, you know, I was always a nerdy kid. I didn’t have the best family life growing up. Like, I’ve always kind of been fiercely independent and done everything on my own.
Skylar Romines: And I will say the Twitter and Retwit community, and this is where it gets a little cheesy. Bear with me. But it’s the truth. It’s one of the first times in my life and crew, actually, I would put into this category as well, where I actually feel like I have a community that has, like, engulfed and supported me. And I have so much support. And I, you know, for the first 35 years of my life, never really felt that way or had that. And it’s like the most incredible experience, and you just don’t know where your people are going to come from.
Danielle Sprouls: I mean, you’re just shining. You’re just absolutely. You’re glowing. You’re glowing with gratitude. Not just success. You’re glowing with gratitude. That’s evident to me.
Skylar Romines: Yeah.
Danielle Sprouls: Did you want to talk about anything about when you were younger or anything like that? I mean, it was not easy, like you said. It just wasn’t. You know, we don’t need to dive too much. I mean, I know her. I know her personally. But what I love is that the connections that happen when, like you said on X today, you know, I’m nobody special. Like, I didn’t get. I wasn’t born with a silver spoon. I wasn’t, you know, given a position that was elevated.
Skylar Romines: I joke that I just don’t have a comfort zone anymore because I’ve just. I’ve beaten the whole thing down to a point where it’s just gone. Like, all those walls are knocked down. I don’t know what a comfort zone even is. Right. You just have to. Again, it goes back to being so comfortable with yourself. One example I always give is, don’t give me the person who is at XYZ point in their life or has achieved XYZ success because I don’t know where they started. I don’t know what they did to get there. Give me the person who is so confident in themselves and such a strong and resilient individual that you could drop them off naked in the forest without a phone, without any money, without anything, and they’re gonna claw their way back and figure out how to be successful again. That’s the person I want in my corner.
Danielle Sprouls: Yes, absolutely. And that’s who you are. And you know what? I’ll add to that. You just reek of authenticity.
Skylar Romines: Thank you.
Danielle Sprouls: This is why you have so many allies. And like your army, your Skyler army continues to grow. No, because you are as authentic as it gets. And I like the Raw and the realness. I wanna jump back to the book. Cause I don’t wanna. First of all, everybody go buy that book. It will be in the. It’s on Amazon. It might probably through your website too. It’ll be in the show notes. But I want you to talk a little bit about the women that you chose to interview for your book.
Skylar Romines: Yeah, so I was coming up on my 36th birthday and I had been playing around with this book for a little while and I had a moment where I thought, okay, I need to. I had done the first version of the book. We’ve talked about this a little bit. I’d written the first version of the book with all of my own thoughts and all of the statistics and no stories and you know, first time author learning things the hard way.
Skylar Romines: You know, kind of just throwing yourself into the deep end of the pool and figuring stuff out as you go. You know, big mistake there. If you’re going to interview people for a book and include their stories in the book, interview them first and then backfill the rest of the information around it. But I didn’t do that. I did it the other way.
Skylar Romines: So I started thinking about who am I going to include in here? And had a few people who I talked to personally who I knew I wanted to include. And then I thought, okay, here’s what I’m going to do. Because I got to a point with the book where I’d put just enough time into it that I was sick of putting time into it if I wasn’t really going to do something with it, you know.
Skylar Romines: So I was like, I either need to really decide that I’m going to finish writing this book and I’m going to publish it and it’s going to be a real thing, or I need to walk away from it and rededicate this time and energy that I’ve been putting to this project to something else. Because it can’t just be this dead end. And I kind of, you know, broke down, had a conversation with God. And I know that’s, you know, may not resonate with everyone, but for me, it’s a very important part of my life.
Skylar Romines: And I was like, hey, I need about 30 women who have great stories who are either founders, CEOs, like you said, project managers, surveyors, people who are out in the field, people who are in these male dominated industries who have a story to tell. And I told God, and I talked to God this way, maybe everybody doesn’t, but I said, I need 30 women in the next two weeks or I’m not doing this.
Danielle Sprouls: All right, so did you. Did they write in their experiences or was this like a phone call? How did you collect the information?
Skylar Romines: We did video interviews. I had a couple I met with in person, but I interviewed women from all across the country, even one woman in the uk, so wasn’t able to meet with everyone in person. So most of them were just zoom video interviews.
Danielle Sprouls: So you got to see the body language attached to the story. Yeah, and that must have been powerful because one of my episodes a couple episodes ago, I asked a very simple question to a few women at a couple different events.
Danielle Sprouls: It was really random, the one I was doing and nobody knew. Anyway, I said, if you could go visit your 18 year old self, what would you tell her? And when I had the opportunity to see the facial expressions really, really change, it was something else. So I could only imagine speaking to somebody like, you know, for more than one minute and, you know, sharing the intimacy of that space and even the celebration, the highs and lows that come with them going down, you know, memory lane.
Danielle Sprouls: Thank you so much for coming on. It was a pleasant thank you for tuning into unscripted pivots and joining the WTF women that flourish community today. And when your next WTF moment hits, remember this, you are built to flourish. Please help spread the word, share this episode and if inspired you. A five star review would mean the world to me. It’s a powerful way to help us reach more people just like you.
Danielle Sprouls: In the show notes you will find all guest information and if you’re thinking about working with a coach, I’d love to hear from you. My website is unscriptedpivots.com there you will find not only my calendar, but WTF highlights and resources designed to empower you. Until next time, face challenges head on, knowing you’re meant to flourish through every pivot. See you soon.