Nationwide Financial Firm says Spanish-first model lifted growth 10x

Nationwide Financial Firm co-founder Digna Deleon-Morris says the agency rebuilt recruiting, training and leadership around Spanish speakers, helping the business scale to nearly $4 million a month in premium. The firm is now expanding Spanish-language leadership to push more licensed agents into ownership.

Why it matters: - Nationwide Financial Firm is betting that Spanish-first training can unlock a bigger pool of licensed professionals who are already in the U.S. but have been blocked by English-only systems. - Deleon-Morris says the model helps agents move faster from licensing to production and, eventually, agency ownership. - The firm says the approach has already helped hundreds of agents reach monthly incomes of $10,000 to $30,000 or more.

What happened: - Co-founder Digna Deleon-Morris unveiled the Spanish-First Growth Model during a recent appearance on 21st Century Entrepreneurship with host Martin Piskoric. - Nationwide Financial Firm says the organization now writes close to $4 million a month in premium. - Deleon-Morris said she shifted her entire book of business to the Hispanic community in 2023. - William Morris continued leading the English side of the firm while Deleon-Morris focused on Spanish-speaking agents. - Deleon-Morris said that move grew her side of the business roughly 10 times.

The details: - The model moves an agent through one track: get licensed, plug into a production system and then own the agency. - Daily training, roleplay and live support during client conversations all run in Spanish. - New agents are targeted to submit a policy within five to 10 days. - Deleon-Morris said the firm treats an early win as the key to building confidence. - Agents who produce consistently are moved into recruiting, mentoring and training the next wave of owners. - Nationwide Financial Firm says it spends more than $50,000 a month on advertising. - That ad spend generates 2,000 to 3,000 new inquiries, according to the firm. - Roughly 70% to 80% of booked prospects show up to calls, a rate Deleon-Morris ties to structured follow-up. - Over the past decade, the organization says it has helped hundreds of agents earn monthly incomes of $10,000 to $30,000 or more and generate more than $30 million in revenue collectively. - Deleon-Morris said one example involved a 20-year-old licensed man who found her on YouTube, contacted her in Spanish and moved into a multimillion-dollar business two years later. - Deleon-Morris said the pattern shows up often with single mothers who know how to work hard but have lacked the right path. - Deleon-Morris arrived in the U.S. from the Dominican Republic at 17 and took a job paying $5.25 an hour. - She and William Morris previously made millions in another venture, lost nearly all of it in a 2016 collapse and rebuilt around systems other people could copy. - Forbes Los Angeles later profiled that rebuild.

Between the lines: - The Spanish-first strategy is also a recruiting strategy. - By training and promoting agents in Spanish, Nationwide Financial Firm is trying to lower friction for candidates whose skills may be undervalued in the broader labor market. - The firm’s emphasis on duplication suggests the goal is not just more sales, but a scalable leadership pipeline.

What's next: - Nationwide Financial Firm plans to deepen its Spanish-language leadership bench so more agents can recruit and train in the language they think in. - Deleon-Morris said she especially wants to reach mothers working two jobs. - Families and licensed professionals can review the model and request a consultation at Nationwide Financial Firm. - The firm says its products include Indexed Universal Life insurance and annuities. - The company says the system runs in both English and Spanish.