Today we’d like to introduce you to Matt Mishler.
Hi Matt, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
How LionRock Was Born?
For over 13 years, I was the guy who did everything “right.” I climbed the corporate ladder like I was supposed to. I chased title after title, believing the next promotion, the next raise, the next corner office would finally give me that feeling we’re all searching for, fulfillment. Purpose. Peace.
But every single time, I was left empty. I reached the top—high six figures, executive level, and I remember thinking, “This is it?” I had what most people dream about… and still, I felt like I was suffocating.
After three years at that peak, I made the scariest, most liberating decision of my life: I bet on me. I resigned. No backup plan. Just faith, grit, and a fire in my gut that wouldn’t let me die with potential still in the tank.
What followed? …..it was a storm.
I tried everything. Car rentals. Dropshipping. An online merch store. I tried opening a gym and got into fitness coaching. I dabbled in solar. At one point I was literally driving through the countryside hunting for unused wooden pallets to flip near the Orlando airport. I was hustling, no doubt. But I was also getting humbled, hard.
Then one day I stumbled upon an opportunity within the insurance space. And for the first time, I saw it. The vision. A scalable model that could change lives, including mine. Not just financially, but spiritually. A business where I could help others like me, people who were burnt out chasing corporate carrots, build a six-figure income without selling their soul to the grind.
So I locked in. My brother and I started from my house, along with my fiancé Oriana by our side. No big funding. No fancy office. Just a deep belief that we were being called to build something real. Something right.
The beginning was brutal. We fell behind on everything—house payments, car notes, bills. I lost two cars to repossession. But I never lost the vision. Not once.
And then momentum hit.
Within 7 months, we were doing $1M a month in sales.
In our first full year—2024—we did $9.2 million.
Now in 2025, we’re on pace to break $40 million.
All from a living room, a dream, and a relentless refusal to give up.
LionRock was born out of pain. But it lives because of purpose. And we’re just getting started
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Has it been a smooth road?
Not even close. The road’s been anything but smooth, but I wouldn’t trade it for anything, because every bump, every bruise, every late night and gut punch molded me into the leader I needed to become.
In the beginning, we were flying blind. I came into this business with vision and fire, but no real map. Lead sourcing was one of the first major battles. We were dependent on a lead company that we had originally partnered with, and at first, it worked. But as we started growing, the quality dropped, the pricing shot up, and the relationship started to feel more like a chokehold than a partnership. Eventually, they were overcharging us for what was clearly low-converting leads, and I had to make one of the hardest calls: cut ties.
That separation was painful, not just because of the financial hit, but because of the emotional ties we had built. But it had to be done. Not every relationship you start with is meant to follow you into your future. That one no longer served our mission.
So we made the leap, became our own in-house lead vendor with a partnership with a trusted friend and Colleague that I knew I could trust fully. It felt right, and it felt aligned with our deep history both as friends, work colleagues, and now business partners. We built the systems ourselves. We learned the game from the inside out. We started testing, refining, and now, we own our pipeline. Nobody controls our flow but us. That independence came at a cost, but it gave us the freedom we needed to scale on our terms.
And then there’s the reality of this space. You deal with poaching. You pour into people, develop them, lead with love and intention, and some still leave, some get swayed by shiny objects, some forget where they came from. That stings. But I’ve learned to bless and release. We’re not for everyone, but we’ are for the right ones.
Finding office space was another war in itself. We bounced around, outgrew some places, and got priced out of others. We eventually found our spots, but it was never simple. The market was wild, and we needed spaces that matched our energy, growth-minded, gritty, and full of light.
And mentally? I’ve been tested more times than I can count. There were seasons where everything was on the line, house behind, cars repossessed, bills piling up—and I had to look my fiancé Oriana in the eye and say, “I know it looks crazy right now, but we’re going to make it.” , and there were times that she had to remind me of what we were building and that we were on the right path. And thank God, we did.
The truth is, I’ve been broke. I’ve been tired. I’ve been alone in my thoughts wondering if I made the biggest mistake of my life. But I’ve also been blessed beyond what I could have imagined because I never quit. I kept showing up. And I surrounded myself with people who wanted to win the right way, through faith, through service, and through integrity.
So no, it hasn’t been smooth, but smooth roads never made skilled drivers.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
What do I do?
I help everyday Americans protect their families financially when the unthinkable happens, death. I run LionRock Financial Services, a fast-growing national life insurance agency that specializes in final expense protection for lower and middle-class families.
What we do is simple: we ensure that when someone passes, their loved ones aren’t left with the burden of funeral costs, medical bills, or scrambling to find money just to get through the next month. But what we really do goes deeper than policies and premiums—we bring peace, dignity, and financial stability to grieving families, at a time when they need it most.
What do I specialize in?
My gift is in seeing what can be—not just for clients, but for people in this industry. I specialize in helping agents, especially those who come from struggle, from burnout, from past disappointments—build six-figure incomes while still living in alignment with their faith, their families, and their future vision. No hustle-and-grind trap. Just intentional growth, leadership, and systems that work.
We’ve built an entire in-house lead generation system so our agents are never chasing or cold-calling. We attract real families looking for real help. That’s part of what makes us different. We’re not just salespeople, we’re servants.
What am I most proud of?
Honestly, it’s the team. Seeing someone come in broken from a toxic work environment or tired of just scraping by… and within months they’re paying off debt, providing for their families, and stepping into who they were born to be, that’s everything to me. We started this company from my house—me, my brother, and my fiancé Oriana. And now we’re pacing to do $40M this year. But the most powerful thing? We’ve done it the right way. With faith, integrity, and a commitment to making sure everyone wins.
What sets us apart?
A few things:
We don’t recruit and forget. We lead.
We don’t run our business on hype. We run it on results.
We’ve built a culture that feels like purpose meets performance. You’re not just working with us, you’re building something for your future family, even if you haven’t met them yet.
And we’ve had to fight for every inch. I know what it’s like to fail. I know what it’s like to lose. But I also know how to rise. And that energy, that resilient, relentless, redeemed energy is in the DNA of everything we do at LionRock.
What do you like and dislike about the city?
What do I like best about our city?
I’m originally from a little town called Mendon, Michigan. Less than a thousand people. I graduated high school with just 36 people in my class. So when I say Orlando opened my world up, I mean it.
I moved here a little over 20 years ago, and I’ve never looked back. Orlando is home now, no question about it. What I love most? It’s the energy. The people. The diversity. The opportunities that feels like they are all around you. You can walk outside in the middle of December and feel the sun on your skin. You can be out on the water one day, in the city the next, or hiking a trail with your dog right after a business meeting. It’s a place where dreamers are welcome, and that matters to me.
This city gave me the space to build something from scratch. To grow a business that started in my home and is now changing lives across the country. And honestly, I’ve fallen in love with the community here. Good people. Hardworking. Diverse stories. Big hearts.
What do I like least?
If I had to pick something, it’s the pace sometimes. Things can move so fast here that people forget to slow down and breathe. Oh, and traffic, sure. Tourists, sure. But it’s more than that. It’s easy to get caught up in the chase and forget to just be, to enjoy the relationships, the quiet moments, the reason you started in the first place. I’ve worked hard to not let the grind of the city pull me out of alignment with my faith, my family, and my peace.
But overall? Orlando’s been a blessing. It took a small-town kid with big dreams and gave me a canvas to build a legacy. And for that, I’ll always be grateful.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://lionrockfinancial.jobs/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/matt_mishler8?igsh=MTRweTQ1cG96ZGtnNQ%3D%3D&utm_source=qr
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/share/157NQphHhD/?mibextid=wwXIfr
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/105559355/admin/dashboard/
