Hidden Gems: Meet Michael Cyrino of Medicare Mike Team

Today, we’d like to introduce you to Michael Cyrino.

Hi Michael, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today.
My story is not one that is necessarily linear, but all paths led me to the same road. Growing up, I was largely raised by my grandparents. While I had a mom and stepdad, both were semi-functioning alcoholics, and both worked, so “home” for me wasn’t necessarily “normal,” but my grandparents were active in their church, volunteerism, philanthropy, etc.

Like my favorite business icon, David Meltzer, growing up was all about achievement. Anything less than an “A” was unacceptable, and my future was pre-defined as ‘doctor, lawyer, or failure.’ It was a wild time, and I am so grateful for my experience because these roots shaped me and set the stage for me to be an entrepreneur.

Looking back, my stepdad was, for lack of a better term, a hard ass. He constantly pushed me to be better, achieve more, work harder, and so on and so forth. At the time, I didn’t realize it, but that work ethic he instilled in me ultimately would be the foundation for being an entrepreneur.

So fast forward a bit. In high school, I worked full-time, finished at the top of my class, and got accepted to every college I applied to. I was on the fast track to the dream, but it wasn’t mine. After a semester of college, I dropped out and got a job. I quickly realized maybe this dream wasn’t mine but someone else. I rebelled. I was partying, drinking, doing everything I was told I couldn’t do… my life motto has long been, tell me I can’t and watch me do it.

A big piece of this puzzle is my aunt and uncle, and this is where everything comes full circle. My aunt was a Yale PhD Grad, professor, and all-around accomplished professional. My uncle, a Harvard undergrad and master’s grad, is a successful business coach. Throughout my life, they always played an integral role. They themselves never had kids and prioritized travel experience and freedom, and although we only saw each other once or twice a year, they were always the idols I looked up to. They were what I strived to be, not my immediate family circle.

My uncle B, a towering stature man, was intimidating to look at but gentle, my aunt a fiery force to be reckoned with, small in stature but a big domineering personality who climbed the education ladder and is virtually unstoppable. At 20, we got together for a family reunion. To this point, they were involved in my life, but my mom made it incredibly difficult for us to be “close,” so now, as an adult, this was their chance. At the reunion, my uncle looked at me, his big teddy bear self, and said, hey Michael, let’s go for a walk. As we walked down the beach, we talked about goals, ambition, quality of life, and what I wanted. I didn’t know at the time, but this was the turning point in my life.

Arguably, this was the first time someone asked, what do you want, what do you want to accomplish. He then offered to help me get into the University of New Mexico, where my aunt was a professor, and they lived full-time (I was living in California at the time). We talked for probably an hour, and little did I know, that talk would shape my entire future. Two weeks later, I packed up my 350z (not much), and with little more than a $1000 credit limit, a few bucks in my pocket, and a dream, I left California, my family, and all I’d ever known to go back to school at 22.

When I landed in New Mexico, life began. I enrolled in school, I got a few jobs, and I busted my ass to finish school in 3 years. During my last year at UNM, I got a job at the Presbyterian Healthcare Foundation. This is where my healthcare journey began. Hired as a temp to work on in-kind donations for a fundraising event, I learned the importance of philanthropy in the healthcare space and beyond. This was my first exposure to philanthropy.

From there, I was tapped by my mentor turned adopted “Aunt” Linda to assist as one of the founders of what would become known as the “Luminary Circle” program, which was a concierge service designed to provide high-level services to major donors to the hospital. I worked on the program for 2 years and saw firsthand the impact that service has on not only members’ experience but their overall healthcare journey. Before this, I had no idea how impactful service could be.

Following that, I graduated and moved to Arizona. With a business degree in hand, I went back to what I’d always known: operations. Within weeks, I realized I possessed operations and missed the people world. I was quickly hired by an insurance carrier and worked as a Utilization Data Analyst. Then, when that company lost its state contract, I went to work for another carrier who asked me again one of the most important questions of my life. “how do you feel about philanthropy?” Call it the Universe, God, whatever you will. I literally fell into my next job at a job fair with a health insurance carrier.

For 5 years, I served as the Community Relations Rep responsible for $2M annually in corporate giving. I had the coolest job in the world. I gave money to non-profit orgs and was tasked with building impactful community programs. I can’t think of a cooler job besides mine now. After several years, I decided it was time to change, and I wanted more, so I moved to our captive sales team. This was really my first sales job, and it was an experience.

It was at this point I went from seeing only the best parts of healthcare to seeing the dark, deep underbelly of healthcare. Where people are numbers, and their value is only measured by their utilization rates and how much they cost insurance companies. I went from LOVING healthcare to, frankly, hating it. Coming from a place of service, my soul was crushed seeing how people were frankly lied to, misled, and treated by the system. The customer service was non-existent, and members were treated simply as pawns. I knew there was a better way, and I was bound to change the way members interacted with the system.

Less than a year in, I walked into my boss’s office and tried to quit. I will never forget, he and I shared a long dialogue where he told me how much he appreciated my ideas, service, and frankly, it wasn’t something we could accomplish at a corporate level. At the end of the conversation, he looked at me and said, “Michael, you’re going be one hell of a broker and change the system. Just don’t quit yet.”

Confused, I walked out of his office, bought my LLC, and The Medicare Mike Team was born. Four months later, I was laid off and given a healthy severance, and that is where it all began.

Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not, what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Being a skydiver, I use to love compare being an entrepreneur to a good skydive. You train and train and practice and practice. You know your EP (emergency procedures) and are prepared to execute with instinct on split-second precision when things go wrong.

You practice and practice, get on the plane, and when you jump, it’s all smiles and fun. You’re free! You laugh, high five, experience something few ever will arch, reach, pull, and bam! Beautiful canopy. Your square, stable slider is down, and you glide your perfect canopy, in perfect weather, to a smooth landing, safely on the ground, only to pack it up and do it again. In the worst-case scenario, your parachute doesn’t open properly. Maybe you have a cutaway, but you have a reserve canopy, and you’re fine.

The reality, however, is that that’s not the case. The first part, absolutely, but then you go to pull and realize not only do you not have a canopy, but you have to sew it on your way down, and when you get it sewn, the landing area is lava, and tornados are swirling waiting to twist up your canopy so you have to find an alternate landing area, but that one is full of sharks, and another is full of spiders, and there is no real good place to land so you have to kind of make the best of what you’ve got.

All jokes aside, being an entrepreneur is the BEST thing I have ever done. Ask anyone who knows me, and they’ll tell you my most proud accomplishment is my business, but it’s not been easy. Start-up is hard. Revenue generation is tough. There is no backup plan. Leaning accounting, operations, sales, marketing, etc. You are all of those things, but that’s the obvious part. The biggest struggle is the mental game. I am a huge believer that, as a society, we don’t talk about mental health nearly enough. Particularly MEN’s mental health and maybe a smaller subset, entrepreneur men’s mental health.

The initial stress and pressure are, can I do this? Am I going to be, ok? Am I going to keep the lights on today? Then you stabilize a bit, and for me, I get seen as an expert and the go-to. Then, the imposter syndrome kicks in. Am I doing enough? Did I make the right choices and give the right advice? THEN you scale. And you are responsible for employees and their families.

There is a TREMENDOUS pressure on entrepreneurs, and I would argue that managing mental health is the biggest struggle for me. You really have to dig deep every single day to make sure you show up your best. I have done it tired, sad, broke, hurt, sick, and everything in between. The number of days I have woken up and said, I just don’t want to today is insane. I can’t track the number of times I have battled self-doubt, taken losses, made mistakes, had to FACE MISTAKES, and pulled myself off the ground. And then the loneliness. So many days, you feel alone. The late nights, the early mornings, the time spent solo brainstorming and trying to build.

It is a LONELY road for a while, but you have to keep going. Make no mistake about it: I am beyond fortunate to have an incredible support system. Family, friends, fiancé, etc., but make no mistake, this is a lonely road. No one will love your business the way you do, and no one really knows what goes on in your head. It’s a battle, day in and out, and a rough road.

My best advice for other entrepreneurs is that your CPA, Legal Counsel, and team are all very important, but your most important teammate is your therapist. Find one. Confide in one. Take care of your mental health. And know, you’re not alone. Keep going.

I appreciate you sharing that. What should we know about the Medicare Mike Team?
We are a concierge insurance brokerage focused on building a lasting, long-term partnership with our members. Every member is treated to an exceptional member experience and truly becomes part of the “Team.”

With more than 100 years of combined experience in the healthcare sector across the team, we have seen enough to know that it is always changing, and we must continue to be lifelong learners. We pride ourselves on being not only in tune with industry changes but also delivering exceptional value and expertise to our members at all phases of retirement. From day one till the very end, we are here to service your medical needs and be a resource for all other things related to retirement.

When we meet with members, we often share that we do one thing and do it well: Medicare. But along with that, we have a network of trusted and vetted partners who are able to support in all aspects of retirement planning. From financial advisors to real estate brokers, RV Repair services, funeral directors, assisted living, and more, we take extreme pride in ensuring we are the quarterback of the team and can be a valued resource for everyone.

What we are most proud of to date, is I have built this agency on 1 premise. Everything we do is with a heart of service. That alone encompasses all we do and has led me to my most proud “Stat” which is a 90%+ retention rate of membership year over year and almost 50 5 star google reviews from verified members.

How can people work with you, collaborate with you, or support you?
In a nation of 48,000 health insurance brokers, we strive not to sell but to service. If you are a member looking for a new brokerage to service you, put your best interest first, and always get a no-BS, straightforward answer, give us a call and allow us to show you why we are known for “Medicare done differently.”

If you are a business who interacts with Medicare beneficiaries, and employer who has employees retiring, a provider office, who needs help retaining members and keeping up with the ever-changing Medicare rules, give us a call. We are happy to provide an in-service and see if we can help you grow.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.medicaremiketeam.com
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/medicaremikeaz
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/medicaremikeaz/

Image Credits
Michael Rodriguez (@Randomlyfe)