‘World’s best boss’ takes his staff on £400k holidays and gives cash handouts

Mark Neilson grew up in a working-class family and says treating his team will pay off in the long run – motivating them to earn more money for the company

A man has been dubbed the ‘world’s best boss’ after reportedly shelling out £400,000 from his own pocket to treat his staff to holidays along with giving cash handouts.

Mark Neilson, who claims he was poor growing up, follows a recognition-based philosophy and would rather splash the cash to reward hard work than see it collecting interest in his bank account.

The boss believes that in the long run, his generous methodology will pay off because his workers will be more motivated and in turn, earn more money for his life insurance agency.

This year alone, Mark forked out £82,000 sending 50 people to Iceland, treated dozens of people to a five-star stay in Cancun and handed out £61,000 in cash.

“I like to give back and help people realise their goals,” he said.

“The reality is that if I motivate people to do their jobs well, or if there is a contest that motivates them to make a little bit more money, they work harder and stick around.

“I want people to stay for 10 years, not 10 months. That helps me.

“And not just in a monetary sense – it’s incredibly rewarding seeing people build their confidence and grow.

“My favourite thing ever is to take people who have never had a shot or never had an opportunity to make money and show them how to.”

He says that’s what happened to him after growing up in a trailer in Alaska and then living with his mum in Utah.

“I worked so hard and never earned more than £650 a week until someone showed me how to make money,” he explained.

“That’s what I want to show people. It is really cool to watch people get what they want out of life.

“That’s what keeps me young. You don’t stay young if you hang out with people who have already done it all.

“Seeing someone progress and learn a new skill that enables them to reach their goals is what I get the biggest kick out of.

“You might have someone who has only ever earned $500-a-week (£400) cleaning houses.

“All of a sudden they’ve earned $2,000 (£1,600) in a day and they can get the car they’ve always dreamed of.

“It’s incredibly rewarding and is what keeps me going.”

Mark says he grew up in a working-class household and lived between Alaska – where his late father Jon, 67, worked as a fisherman and sold fireworks – and Utah, where his mother Sherry, 63, worked odd jobs including as a hospital administrator to support the family.

Neither role was well-paid and he spent much of his childhood helping his parents make ends meet.

This carried on into his early adult life where he worked “really hard” in an array of jobs including as a waiter and valet attendant.

When the global recession was in full swing, a then 21-year-old Mark applied for every single job on Craigslist, including selling life insurance for AO, part of American Income, which itself comes under the umbrella of Globe Life.

He liked that the company worked directly with union members, as well as military veterans and other public servants such as firefighters, teachers and police officers.

After a successful interview, they took Mark on and he quickly took to the industry like a duck to water, repeatedly landing record sales which saw him catapult up the ladder to eventually train the firm’s managers how to run their own teams.

Around five years ago, he ditched training to build his own insurance agency within AO and scale it.

It recruits people, many of whom have never worked in the industry, and trains them, before allowing them to work on a commission basis.

Mark currently has dozens of people – whose previous jobs ranged from doctors to homemakers – working for his agency remotely across the states.

During its first year, the business reportedly made $1.8million in sales, a figure which has allegedly grown exponentially to $12 million this year.

As the agency expanded, so did Mark’s position and he is currently a partner with the company.

Speaking about what he thinks makes a good salesperson, Mark cited three qualities: “You’ve got to be a little driven but I think the biggest qualities are to have a really good attitude, be coachable and work hard.

“I think those are the three things.

“If you have a great attitude every single day you show up, you work hard every day, and you’re coachable.

“We can help teach you and train you on how insurance works. It’s not rocket science, it’s nothing crazy.

“We have systems and scripts and processes that are written by the top producers and the top people in the company.

“We have training classes four or five times a week, you can jump on, we have Zooms that you can jump on with top producers or anybody in those markets you want to see.

“So as long as someone brings their A game consistently then anyone [who works for them] can be a success and make a ton of money.”