A wise person by the name C.S Lewis once said that hardships often prepare ordinary people for extraordinary destinies. Almost every highly successful person alive today can confirm this statement. Some of their testimonies are even available online such as the success stories of Steve Harvey or Oprah Winfrey among others. Such people have some things in common such as the value of hard work and the will to keep going without giving up.
Highly successful people are often looked up to because of their success stories and every success story has some sort of adversity or hardship that the individual overcame. Such is the story of Steve Holbrook who currently has a mega insurance empire, a beautiful family and is considered a huge success by today’s standards. However, Holbrook’s life journey is one that is riddled with dark moments but he does not let that define him.
Weathering the storms of life
Holbrook is a Canadian born in Calgary, Alberta on May 17, 1981. He was born to parents Malcolm and Serena Holbrook who also have a daughter who is two years younger than Steve. He was diagnosed with an inflammatory bowel disease called Crohn’s disease when he was just two years old. This meant that his troubles started out earlier than most people in life.
The severity of the illness saw him in and out of the hospital. At one point the disease interrupted around-the-world sail trip organized by his school and attended by 60 other kids. The trip was supposed to last 10 months but Holbrook had to be airlifted to a hospital during the 7th month and he spent the remaining few months recovering.
Despite the challenging health issues, Holbrook was still full of life and even attempted the University of Alberta, where he pursued Bilingual Bachelor of Commerce (French and English). He majored in international strategy and minored in business law. He completed the course and graduated in 2004.
In 2005 when he was just 23 years old, Holbrook ventured into the life insurance industry. He launched his own insurance business rather than seeking employment and like most of his peers because he was driven by the desire to make it in life and become somebody. He had a desire to build a business that could help people. The insurance business was doing really well by the third year and Holbrook had already employed 10 agents. However, his health while he was around 28-years-old took a turn for the worse and he was hospitalized. During this time he underwent major surgery, lost about 8 feet of his bowel and his business took a hit although his team managed to keep the business afloat.
The turning point in Holbrook’s life
The major surgery was a key turning point for Holbrook and he resolved to live life to the fullest, to be committed to God and work as hard as he could if he made a full recovery. As fate would have it, Holbrook
eventually recovered and started working harder than ever before. Eight years after that, the business had grown from just 10 licensed representatives to more than 250 licensed insurance reps and 10 offices across Canada and the U.S.Holbrook currently has a beautiful wife Lissa Holbrook and three children whom he thanks God for. He has also made sure that he and his family are prepared in case he suffers another attack but medical expenses are probably not anything for him to worry about since he earns a seven-figure residual income.
Holbrook’s role in his business is to attract, train and mentor leaders. He has been coaching insurance representatives for more than 14 years now where his leadership training focuses primarily on mindset and mental toughness. He also runs a successful blog through which he is mentoring a strong online community of individuals that are determined to improve their lives. Holbrook’s focus in the blog is to help his audience to grow their identity, change their habits to improve their lives and also set goals that will allow them to be intentional about their focus.
Holbrook maintains that he did not get where he is alone. We also look up to his mentor Ed MYlett who also happens to be an Instagram influencer.MYlett is also one of Holbrook’s close friends. He also claims that he learned his impressive work ethic from his dad and his grandfather, My Papa Lojz who hails from Yugoslavia. Steve’s grandfather escaped a war in his country back in the 1950s and moved to Western Canada where he launched a masonry company.
Holbrook’s story is just another example of the power of perseverance and how far a person can go if they do not quit. It is also a reminder that life will always have challenges and the best thing to do is to face it head on without quitting.