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!

Passed My Test!!!

Thank God!! I am now an official Farmers Career Agent. The test was difficult but since I studied so much for it I knew it. I had 4 meetings lined up for me pending on me passing the test. I signed my official contract with Farmers 2 days after passing it. They told me I have 90 days to find my office space... in other words get out of the training center. Its great though... I am official. Since I passed my test I now have the ability to offer mutual funds and investment products to my customers. I can do 401k rollovers and Roth IRAs, its pretty cool. I'm just trying to get back into the swing of things now. I stopped trying to sell for about a month and now I have to get everything moving again. Especially since I have to hit quarterly goals, its part of my contract. Farmers is sending me to California at the end of May. They are going to give me the business owners 101 training. That should be fun, but from what I understand I won't have any time to see Hollywood. They are going to keep me busy the whole week down there. Anyways on a different note, I saw my first playoff game ever on Saturday with my dad. The Cavs kicked Detroit's butt by 18 points. I have high hopes for Cleveland to take it all this year. Hopefully they won't let me down again!!

Bought more time

Only a couple of days. I called to see if I could switch my test time to later time in the day on Saturday the 11th but they had no time available. So now my test will be on Monday April 13th. Two more days to study and I am happy about that. I have several different study material that are designed to help me pass the test. Its funny because I will take the practice quizzes from one book and do great and then I will take a practice test from the other material that is supposed to be the same subject matter and I won't do as well. I think they have several trick questions in these test. Its all multiple choice but when you go over these questions it seems every answer is right, I just have to find the answer that is most right. What a headache. I think I am done studying today... let me re-phrase that I am done studying today. I have three appointments tomorrow and one is at 9am. Now that I think about it, I have no idea why I did that to myself. 9am is too early!! A friend of mine that is also an insurance agent, wants me to go and check out some office space with him tomorrow. He wants me to share an office space with him. It sounds like a good idea, we can share expenses and that would be a big help. The space he found is on East 9th downtown. I never thought about going down there. I will go and check it out and see what the offer is, but I am not crossing my fingers or getting my hopes up. To be honest I am still leaning towards have my own branch. We will see what happens.

missing in action?

Maybe just a little bit... I've had my nose buried in a book studying for the last 2 weeks. I am taking my series 6 exam on April 11Th. Needless to say I have to pass, it is a must. My agency is doing as good as can be expected. Its a little slow right now, but I haven't done a lot of marketing since I have been studying. I went and saw some office space this week. Looks pretty promising. I like three spots. Two of them are large enough for me and an office manager. The other spot was large enough for me and 2 others agents to go in together and possibly save money on the rent and expenses. I need to find the other agents still though. The location I like the best was a storefront. It was around 650 sq ft, perfect for me. It was $700 a month all utilities included except electricity. I'm gonna keep looking, I don't know if you have noticed but there is an abundance of office space available. Location is very important to me and although I don't want to drive too far to work, I will if the office location is great to bring in business. Well my little break is over, I have to get back to the studying!!

One for the books

Today was a very historic day. President Barack Obama was sworn in and a new era has begun. I must say I am excited about the changes that may lay ahead. I know the new president has a lot on his plate but I am sure he will at least get us turned in the right direction. It is like a new beginning for everyone. I am looking forward to what this new year brings. Changes are coming, and things can only get better. (I hope) My new career is taking off nicely! I had a meeting last week with the management team and it appears that my hard work so far has not been unnoticed. They have me projected to go career (own my own branch) on March 1st. They told me if I get my series 6 license within the next month that they will lower my requirement of 45 policies to 30 policies and give me $5000 when I do go career to get my business started. Needless to say I was excited and I am up for the challenge. So far I have 14 policies and I have appointments set up for the end of the week. I'm really happy that this is going well for me. I really do enjoy it a lot and I can see the possibilities that this job can bring. Changes are definitely coming this year and so far it looks like it is for the good.

Time is Flying ...as usual

I can't believe its already 2009! Christmas was a blink and news years was just fast. I guess it always goes quicker when you are busy. Well I am a fully licensed insurance agent. Feels good to say that. It was the being n November that I decided to jump into this career and time has flown by since then. I was officially able to sell on December 29Th. since then I have 7 policies under my belt and 3 more appointments this week. I have been very busy lately. I really enjoy my job and I am thrilled at how well its going so far. The goal they gave me was to have 8 policies my first month. The goal I set for myself was 20 the first month. I am really excited about the possibilities that this career can bring me. i have a feeling though that it is going to get much harder. Right now sine I am working out of the corporate office they are giving me free leads, and the leads are great, but I know they are going to stop giving me the freebies soon. I am just starting my marketing plan this week and hopefully it generates some new business for me. I'll let you know how it goes!