i&a: Tell us a little about you.

Darwyne: My name is Darwyne Lang. I’ve been working in the insurance industry for 45 years. In reality, it’s more like 55 years since my dad was in the business so insurance was a constant topic of discussion at our kitchen table. I’ve dedicated my life to this field, eating, breathing, and sleeping insurance. I’ve built and sold successful businesses in this industry.

i&a: Tell us a little about that journey.

Darwyne: My journey in the insurance business began reluctantly, as it was my dad’s idea. I explored other ventures, like glass framing, which proved lucrative but eventually realized my dad’s path might be the right one. By 20, I was earning over $100,000 annually—equivalent to nearly a million today—but felt unfulfilled.

I moved to Toronto, worked at a head office, and eventually took a leap by buying into their company. Though we sold it to a public firm, I now regret not buying them out. Self-confidence held me back from taking bigger risks.

Later, I started a new insurance company, growing it to 350 advisors. Depending on brokers for revenue made the business challenging, especially during slow periods. Everything shifted dramatically in 1992.

i&a: What changed?

Darwyne: A lady, who we will call Mary, came into my life. My assistant came in and said we’ve had a really strange phone call. Some guy called and was trying to see if he was the beneficiary on an insurance policy. And I said, what’d you tell him? And she said, I told him that I couldn’t speak to him because he wasn’t the owner of the policy. My assistant pulled the file and it turns out Mary had bought a policy a very long time ago. I gave her a call and I said, look, Mary, I got a phone call about whether or not this person was the beneficiary of your policy. She started crying right away. The call was from her estranged husband, he had given her and her young daughter no support and they were now on welfare. The saddest part was that she had been diagnosed with terminal cancer.

We met in person and we worked to set up a family trust for her and her daughter with the insurance proceeds. We also got an advancement from one of the insurance companies she was insured with to see if there was any other help because of her being on welfare. Access to additional medical care. We sent her results to the Mayo Clinic and they came back and basically said, look there’s nothing that we can do. It is terminal. To their credit, they didn’t charge anything. So tragic. The worst part is when welfare heard about the advancement they cut her off. I went down to share what had happened and fortunately, they reinstated her and her two-year-old daughter. I went to go and see Mary in the hospital and there her two-year-old daughter was at the end of her bed and asleep. I told her that everything was in place, we got the family trust set up and it was all going to be fine.

i&a: That must have been really emotional for you.

Darwyne: Even now I get emotional. About a week later, I got this card in the mail and I still have the card today. And she was thanking me for everything I did for her and her daughter. The thing that came to mind at that point is I was in the business for the money. Who takes time to put out a card like that? She’s dying. Her daughter is concerned for her. I called her to thank her for the card because she moved me and I found out that she died. Five days prior to me receiving the card. Wow. So she was on her last days and she’s writing me a card. And I go, you know what, we in the insurance business have to understand what we are. Helping families every single day with what they want and what they want is to know that their family is taken care of. They want to know that if for some reason a bad thing happens to them, at least their family can go on and move on and meet each and every day that’s coming at them.

And so 1992 changed my life forever. How I approach the insurance business, how I approach life.

i&a: Tell us how that changed everything.

Darwyne: I went to the office and I showed them the card. I showed them all the stuff that we did to maker her life better. And I said we’ve got to move forward and make the lives of people around us better. Today. I’m in the business to help the people.

i&a: You shifted your entire philosophy in your business at that time too, right?

Darwyne: I told my employees, you no longer have sales targets on your heads. You have one obligation and the obligation is that I want you to talk to at least three people every day and ask them about their insurance, ask them about whether they feel they’re insured properly, give them the advice behind insurance. Ask them the real questions that need to be asked about insurance. And if they don’t need insurance after you’ve asked all those questions, then tell them they’re good. Don’t try to sell them anything. My belief is if you can serve people well, you will be taken care of. It is the law. If you serve well, you will be taken care of. And I started that company on that basis.

i&a: How did that impact your business?

Darwyne: We grew that company from 0 to over 18 million in revenue over a 10-year period. Whereas my previous company, which was all about commission, took us forever like 20 some years to not even get to 18 million. So what I’m saying is take care of the people around you. Take care of your clients. Make sure they are number one.

i&a: What’s been your biggest lesson?

Darwyne: Mary. She taught me that lesson. And thank God I was paying attention because it would have been easy to walk away from that because I couldn’t sell her any more insurance. She was uninsurable. I couldn’t have got anything more from her. I’ll say this, God was teaching me a lesson and thank God I was paying attention. You actually have to pay attention but how often do we not listen to the signs, not listen to the lessons.

i&a: What advice would you give other entrepeneurs?

Darwyne: I encourage business owners to listen to their heart, listen to the lessons that are around them because one of those lessons could change their world.

i&a: You have a new business called Living as Planned. What does that name mean to you?

Darwyne: It’s really about not just allowing your life to unfold. We don’t set goals. We don’t set aspirations for ourselves, or a lot of us don’t. Some of us don’t plan. You need to take the time to look what’s available to you as a person in the world. If you see something that you want, go for it, but set a plan, set a budget, be realistic, but also have stretching goals to reach for. Anything is absolutely possible for you. Anything is absolutely possible. Challenge yourself. Look outside the box. Don’t be confined by what others have put around you. Yeah it’s out there folks, you just have to search for it. My point is, that don’t let the boundaries of your world that you live in now stop you from your ultimate goals.

i&a: What’s been the hardest thing you’ve had to face?

Darwyne: I think, like with anybody, it’s continuing to believe in yourself, no matter where you are in that time of your life. In the early times in my life, it was about I don’t have the experience, I don’t match up to the greatness of other people. I don’t match up. We are all very special people and we’ve got very special talents. Quite frankly, run with your talents, be proud of those talents and make sure you use them to the best of your ability. As an old guy like me, I look at today and say, here I’m starting a new business and people must think I’m too old for that. They must think I can never do it. We still are our own worst enemies. Thank goodness I’ve got a great partner and she keeps telling me you can do it. No matter where we are in life, we beat ourselves up, we’ve got to go to the positive. Some days it’s tough to do that. If you don’t take time to put in the positive into you who else is going to do it?

i&a: What makes you feel uncomfortable today?

Darwyne: Quite frankly, I feel very at peace. A big part of that is exactly what we just talked about. When you look back on your life, look back at your challenges that you faced and realize what you came through and how you conquered those things. We don’t take enough time to celebrate our great. And rather than looking at the negatives of the world, I would challenge you to make a list of all the positive things that happened to you last week, yesterday, today. Make a list of the stuff you felt you would never be able to overcome, but you did. That’s championship. That is surviving and being successful over those hurdles that you went through. And that is what gets me through day in and day out right now. At 65 years old that says, you know what? I have conquered a lot of stuff and have survived. Who would have ever thought I’d be sitting here talking to you.

i&a: What do you believe your legacy is?

Darwyne: I really don’t care about my legacy. What I care about and I guess it’s in a way a legacy, but I really just care about family. I care that they know I love them. They know that I love them will all my heart. And, that I did everything I could to give them a good life. I’ve had to step away and let them live their life. And I’m so very proud of them. And life is grand. So maybe that is legacy.

i&a: Is there anything you would recommend to our readers, something on the nightstand or a podcast that’s really motivating you right now?

Darwyne: My partner and I start off usually every morning with a reading from Joel Osteen. He’s very inspirational. Yes, he’s God based, I don’t apologize for that because I believe it’s a great way to start the day. We get to have the time to talk and challenge each other during those early morning readings. It gets my day off on the right foot for sure.

i&a: If you could put five things into a mentee box, what would they be?

Darwyne: That’s a good question. A Starbucks $10 gift card. Let’s take that back and make it $20 because you should take somebody with you and have a great discussion. I would put in a great motivational book, I’d say Think and Grow Rich. The number one principle that I gave earlier, serve and serve well. It has to come back some way, somehow. I’d put in there a big soft heart because I want that heart to be thought about loving people, taking care of people around you. Give more people hugs. Tell them you love them. I don’t think you need more than that. I think in my boxes there are only three because if you hand out that love to the people around you, you’re going to be the richest person in the world.

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impact&agency