My Boy

I was shuffling through my computer and decided to check out my blog that I haven't touched in over 2 years. Can you tell I'm bored at work? I thought the blog needed some upgrades so here are some fresh pics of my boy Jakob. Enjoy!

Another day...another dollar

It has been awhile since I wrote anything, so I thought I should get to it. It has been a year since I was laid off and boy things have changed. I have a new found respect for people that work commission. I have always thought that I was a hard worker. I always got my job done right and never received any complaints from my managers. In fact, I always ranked pretty high in my work force. Being an insurance agent gives a whole new meaning to the word "hard work". Depending on the day that you ask me, choosing to be an insurance agent is either the best thing or the worst thing I ever decided to do, but no matter what it will always be the hardest thing I ever decided to do. The pressure is unbelievable. Everyday is a fight and when I get home in the evening that is exactly how I feel. I have a year and a half left and then some of that pressure is gone, but I won't be in pressure free zone for four and a half more years. It is just a small period of time when you think about it. I keep thinking back to the presidential election time when they were comparing President Bush's pictures from when he entered the White House and when he left. They said it looked like he aged 20 years. Is that going to happen to me? Things have gotten better lately, last month I ranked #5 in the country for new business policy count among Farmers agents. That was great to hear, but I needed to have a big month to hit goal and in order to get that number I was working 10-12 hour days with little time for my family and friends. I'm still looking for that balance so that I don't get burned out. Right now I feel BLAH, I think I am suffering whip lash from last month. There is no room to let off the gas. Its funny, even Farmers calls it run to day light! This weekend I will working the 1st annual Man Show at the IX Center. It should be fun. I am hoping the even t makes my month because I am already missing part of the hunting season. Time to get back to work.

Let the next quarter begin...

My quarter just finished last Friday and I hit my goal!! I was working like a man on a mission. Everything has been non-stop for the last 2 weeks and I am drained. It was exciting though. At one point Magie looked at me and says "is it going to be like this every month?" I told her no, just every three months. Well she can't say I didn't warn her. Hopefully it won't be so bad in the future. I kind of did it to myself, I held a lot of things back till the last month and then I had to scramble to get everything submitted in time. Its a learning process and I learned my lesson. My goal this month is to get 30 policies done before I have to go to California. This way I will have less stress on me when I get back. I need to have 60 new policies by Sept. 19th. Its not as easy as it sounds, but some agents are closing close to 60 policies a month. I will get there eventually. A lot of hardwork now, but it will payoff later!

Deadline is coming up!

Well the good news is I have been very busy lately... the bad news is that I need 15 more policies by June 19th to reach my quarterly minimum, and 7 more life policies by June 30th. I'm working my butt off! This month is very draining, with the cutoff and with trying to get the new office ready. Right now all I care about is the cutoff, the office isn't going anywhere. It will probably go down to the wire and I will have lost all of my hair by then. Then I will really look like my dad. Haha. Its OK old man, just remember bald is beautiful. Farmers is sending me to California on July 19th. This date has changed three times but now I have received confirmation that it is written in stone. Farmers sends their agents there for a week for training and to see the corporate headquarters. From what I hear it is really nice, everything is state of the art. I have never been to California and where we are going it is about 20 mins from Hollywood. I'm gonna have to take a drive out there and see what all the fuss is about. I'm still living the dream!

The Book and Bean

This evening I have a table set up at a local coffee shop called the Book and Bean. I went in there last week and introduced myself to the owner. I mentioned that I was opening my insurance office not far from this spot and asked if I can set up a table to meet people in the community. He was happy to have me. I am going to be raffling off a gift card for the coffee shop for everyone that registers. I think it will be a fun night. Hopefully it goes well and I can do it again. I love coffee shops, people are always so friendly and they have that fresh coffee scent in the air. Not to mention they have real good coffee!!

Still Plugging Along

I am in the process of starting up a networking group called BNI. I have attended a couple of meeting at other chapters but unfortunately I am locked out of thise groups. The groups are only allowed to have one person per profession in the group. My profession is obviously property and casualty insurance and apparently that position goes pretty quickly. So I was confronted by the area manager and asked if I would be interested in starting my own... at first I thought I'm not sure but I really like how the BNI system works. I was talking another agent that started his own BNI group and he was telling me about 40% of his new business last year was from his group. Thats pretty group. So I'm trying to get that started, so if anyone knows of any professionals that depend on referrals for their business that me know. Here is the website so they can check it out http://www.bni-ohio.com/. Recently at the one BNI group I attended I met a graphic designer and she is going to make some flyers for me. I had to get photographed again to get some shops that she can work with. The photographer... also from the BNI group gave me a great deal. I got about 20 photos for only $100. I will some photos let me know what you think.

Here is the picture that is on the wall at the Farmers Training facility. They hang pictures of all the agents that go career. I am somewhere around the 25th agent to meet all the requirements and go career since the center opened in 2006. According to the records, I now have a 90% chance of making it!