Episode 21B - The Power of Gratitude in the Insurance Industry

MicroCast

The Power of Gratitude 

Being in insurance can be a challenge, to say the least.  We have to balance personal lives with our careers, manage through complex relationships, get people to notice us when the field of people who want attention is crowded, and deal with the uncertainties of businesses that combine with each other, go under, or fail to perform like we think that they should.

Having said that, there is quite a lot to be grateful about when we think about the decisions we made to chart our careers, run our businesses, and form relationships with colleagues in the insurance industry.  Being grateful and appreciating what is good about the industry, our careers and our relationships has a number of positive benefits.

Being grateful makes you a happier person.  Research reveals that if you just spend 5 minutes a day writing down what you are grateful for that increases your feeling of long-term happiness.

People that express gratitude are generally more well-liked.  Social capital never hurts, and gratitude tends to make us nicer, more trusting, more social, and more appreciative. As a result, we have more friendships and better business relationships. 

Grateful people tend to progress further in their careers.  Gratitude can make you a more effective manager or team member, help you network, increase your decision-making capabilities, increase your productivity, and help you attract others to you. The result is that you move up the ladder quicker and your workplace becomes a more friendly and enjoyable place to be.

An attitude of gratitude promotes health.  Insurance careers can take a toll on your health with lots of travel, eating on the road and long hours.  Research shows that grateful people are generally healthier, so it’s good to get all the help we can.

At Convey, we have thousands of producers and independent agencies that use our portal services to interact with each other and get educated, master agency networks that we have automated, and dozens of carriers and vendors that streamline their marketing and communication through our services.  Knowing what we know about the insurance industry brings to mind some things that all of us should be grateful for.

The insurance industry creates entrepreneurs. I’ve been an entrepreneur for most of my career, owning my own businesses since 1995.  Independent agencies and master agency networks are also business owners and entrepreneurs.  Without needing significant start-up capital, thousands of you left the comfort of your jobs with carriers and vendors to start businesses and create revenue streams that have afforded you very good lifestyles.  Many of you have provided jobs for your families and for a lucky few, you’ve been able to sell your businesses creating generational wealth.

The industry is constantly evolving. We’ve seen many new opportunities to serve your customers with a wide breadth of new products.  We’ve seen businesses needing to protect themselves from cyberattacks, to mitigate large risks and use insurance to keep their business up and running if they get sued or cover a wide range of unique assets.  Evolving industries like insurance grows, creates opportunities for everyone, and ways to keep expanding our businesses.

It’s never boring. When you have rapid and on-going change in businesses or evolving technology that increases business risk and changes in the marketplace, you have to stay on your toes.  You exist in an industry that requires you to be learners, strategists, become nimble, and forward thinking.   

We develop long-lasting business and personal relationships.  People in insurance like to get together at events, at regional meetings on trips and in the field.  Although most of yo