I want to buy insurance from this guy
I mean, look at this site: Brilliant!
Unless you’ve been lurking on the edges of Chamber of Commerce meetings you don’t know what a typical insurance agent looks like. Me, I know not only from those Chamber meetings but also all those years I spent hanging out at my dad’s insurance conventions. I’m used to a big slab of cheese on top of my insurance sales pitch. I’m talking guys who call women “little lady” and are used to throwing their weight around.
I’m scared of most insurance guys. Did I say scared? I meant hostile towards.
So this guy? I met him at a meeting today and he introduced himself as “a not entirely for profit insurance agent.” And that, of course, got my attention. Plus Brett and I were just whining about insurance (again) because that’s what freelancers are prone to do so my ears perk up any old way when I hear the word. Plus he has a kick-ass business card, which he handed to me along with a sticker that says BUY LOCAL COLUMBUS like on the front of his web site. Hey, he had me at “not entirely for profit” but the sticker and stellar biz card put me over the top.
I don’t know if his insurance will work for us (I’ll let the insurance expert aka Brett figure that out) but his heady dose of “be who you are and the work will follow” was a soothing balm to my troubled soul. Because if an insurance guy can head off cheesy and make a living, there is hope for the rest of us.
(By the way, the only thing more cheesy than an insurance guy is a financial planning guy. Which, by the way, is what my dad does now only he works with clients whose financial hem I cannot touch so it’s a special brand of cheese now. A unpasteurized triple cream, if you will, served in Provence by alabaster virgins.)
Chuckling audibly at this post — particularly your version of the stereotypical, polyester-clad insurance agent with the comb-over and bad breath.
(Here’s a line from my old bio: ‘a nontraditional agent in an industry traditionally filled with suits and stiffs.’)
Those guys make my job A LOT easier…
The phrase I like to use when talking about brilliant is ‘not-only-for-profit.’ I.e., there’s a purpose behind everything we do (and don’t do) and it’s not just about $$$ — it’s about being profitably principled. Doing well by doing good. Etc.
Our two ideas:
(1) Only work with people we believe in; and (2) do something worth talking about.
Simple as that.
Best part about this biz, though, is that it’s inherently social. And I LOVE subverting the traditional agency model and using insurance as a social tool to connect with like-minded folks over shared passion and values, building relationships, and working collaboratively towards the common good!
It was a pleasure meeting you today, Dawn; looking forward to getting to know you a bit better in the future. Cheers!
Me too.