A Letter From Our CEO

A Successful Year, Driven by Intentional Decisions and the People Behind It

Every year, I really value the opportunity to get our team together, even if it is just for a day. It gives us the chance to step away from the day-to-day, look at the business honestly, and talk through what we are learning. For us, the second half of the year is always busy. Q3 and Q4 move fast, and when you are operating at that pace for months at a time, you start to see very clearly where things work and where they do not.

That busy season is usually where issues surface. Processes get stressed, communication gets tested, and gaps show themselves. We take notes, push through, and keep serving our clients. Then Q1 becomes our opportunity to slow things down, take what we learned, and figure out how to improve so we are not running into the same problems again.

What 2025 Showed Us

A big focus of the day was reviewing 2025 and the priorities we set going into the year. We had five key initiatives that really mattered to us, all centered on helping our departments grow, evolve, and operate at a higher level. Over the course of the year, we added account executives, built out an eligibility team, launched a tech team, expanded our compliance team, and formalized our business development efforts.

Two years ago, we were largely sales and service. Fast forward to today, and we are operating with eight departments, each with multiple people who are getting better at what they do and taking real ownership of their roles. That kind of progress does not happen accidentally. It happens because people care, because they put in the effort, and because they are willing to grow.

One initiative from last year that I am especially proud of was becoming less involved in the day-to-day operations of the business. As an entrepreneur, it is easy to unintentionally become the bottleneck. That reality became very clear in late 2025, when my son was diagnosed with leukemia, and I had to step away unexpectedly for six weeks.

During that time, the organization did not slow down. We continued to bring on new business, run open enrollments, and support our clients. The business did not just survive without me; it performed. That experience reinforced something I already believed but had never seen so clearly. This company is built on people who show up, take responsibility seriously, and do the right thing regardless of circumstance.

Listening to Our Team

Another thing I was really proud of last year was the feedback we received through our company surveys. What I love about those surveys is when employee feedback and leadership feedback are aligned. When we are all seeing the same challenges and opportunities, it tells me we are looking at the business honestly and working toward the same goals.

We took that feedback seriously, and it showed. By nearly every metric we track, 2025 was a record-breaking year. We brought more businesses into our book of business, increased average company size, improved retention, and grew the number of lives we serve. Across the board, it was our strongest year yet, and it was driven by intentional decisions and a team that cared deeply about doing the work the right way.

Where We’re Headed

We spent a lot of time talking about 2026 and what we want this next year to look like. A major focus is continuing to formalize and strengthen our departments, making sure each one has the structure, clarity, and support needed to keep improving. We have

implemented the Traction EOS system across the organization to bring more consistency and accountability to how we operate.

One of our biggest priorities moving forward is becoming better insurance professionals. Insurance is a complicated and often broken industry, and the organizations that succeed long term are not the ones that simply quote a few carriers and compare them on a spreadsheet. The ones that win are the ones who truly understand insurance, who can read and interpret data, and who know how to apply that knowledge in a way that actually benefits clients.

At 19:21, we are committed to doing our part to make the industry better by being better ourselves. That means deeper training, clearer expectations, and continued investment in our people. We want our team to be confident not just in what they are selling, but in what they are advising. When clients and policyholders trust us, we take that responsibility seriously.

As we move into 2026, we are focused on continuing to grow, continuing to learn, and continuing to take great care of the people who trust us. We know what got us here, and we are committed to carrying those values forward as we build what comes next.