Almost 40 years ago I became an insurance agent. In the beginning, I was just “in the insurance business”.

It would be several years later that the “insurance business got into me”.

What changed was that I went from working at the insurance business to pay my bills and working in the insurance business to help the people that needed what I had to offer. While both of those might sound similar, the reality is that I didn’t enjoy the business very much at the beginning.

40 years later, despite many ups and downs I really enjoy what I do and even more as I help new agents/brokers get into the business and/or build their business.

One of the great mentors I had in the early years of my insurance career was a fellow by the name of John Savage. Although we never met in person I listened to and read everything he wrote about the insurance business, marketing and life in general.

“Before you speak make doggone sure you improve upon the silence” was one of John’s favorite sayings.

Something that stuck with me to this day is John’s observation that there are really only “4 types of people in the world”...

• The uninformed Incompetent
• The uninformed competent
• The informed incompetent
• The competent Informed

Most people are competent but uninformed.

If you want to hear one of John’s great talks you can find it here on YouTube

These are timeless concepts that apply to today’s online marketing as well. Whatever you are marketing, on or offline…

• Learn your craft - really be a professional
• Be proud to be of service to those that your product/service benefits
• Never try to sell somebody something that doesn’t fit them

I hope next week is your best week ever. If you need help with your health insurance, it's open enrollment time, feel free to contact me.