We are everywhere. We are at the MRT exits, we are at the booths in shopping areas and we go door-to-door. Just when you thought you’re safe in office, we are visiting your colleagues at your work place. When you skive, we are on your insta/facebook ads as you’re scrolling through social media, We are texting you, and we are calling you (Ughhh, who still make voice calls these days?) You can run but you can’t hide. We are everywhere!

This is my candid take on why anyone should consider joining one of the most annoyingly endearing professions. Everyone kind of knows someone in their network who is an insurance agent. But do you know why they choose to be one, though?

1) Control of time

Tired of working your 9-to-5? Welcome to the world of 5-to-9! You no longer have to subscribe to the corporate doctrine of working 9am to 5pm. You get the privilege of working from 5pm to 9am should you choose to. Work 8 hours a day? Why not 16? That’s freedom right there.

To the uninitiated, “Control of time” = Having a fun time not working. Yes, yes, you can live your life like a retiree, no one will judge except your agency manager. The “control” has got more to do with effectiveness rather than lifestyle: Spend as much, or as little time you want to grow your clientele, serve your clients well and achieve your goals. Take the rest of the year off perfecting your golf swing if that excites you.

Conversely, if you want to level up fast and achieve more, with the same 24 hours we are all endowed with, you can commit more hours in a day towards your craft. Want to rise up the ranks or make your ideal annual income? Commit more hours to effective actions. That's control right there.

Perhaps instead of wanting to be an insurance-sales superstar, you aim to be a supermom or superdad. Being able to attend to all developmental milestones and career objectives is quite very possible. The catch? Good scheduling and planning to exert control of time you have. You may have to exercise some self-control to not nap when your kids are napping!

2) Unlimited income potential

The sky is the limit, whispered every self-respecting agency manager hoping to tattoo that phrase into their team mates’ consciousness.

How hard you work is how much you get...

Income commensurates with your effort...

Before you conjure up grandiose image of swimming in money, unlimited can mean any number from zero to infinity. Have you ever been so broke as a new insurance agent that you called your girlfriend to send you $50 just so you can top up your ez-link card because you know you don’t even have that amount in your account to use NETS? I have. Have you ever had days where with a stroke of signature accompanied with the submission of a cheque, you made $45,000 in one day? I haven’t, but my colleagues have. 😂

There’s serious money to be made, but it’s got to be accompanied by serious effort and serious patience. Income becomes a function of doing enough of the things you’re supposed to do as an insurance agent. This can turn out to be the highest paying tough job, or the lowest paying easy job. Best part is, it’s your choice.

3) Career Progression

Isn’t it frustrating to have your career advancement being pegged to an arbitrary peer apraisal system? Does “career progression” increasingly refers to intangible outcomes like “personal growth” with “leadership experiences derived from leading a project”? Fret not, advancements aren’t limited by your colleagues turn for their promotions and progress comes with very tangible outcomes.

When you meet KPIs, you get promoted. Simple as that. You never have to second guess when that promotion is coming or the pay raise you might get. Met the requirements to be an Executive Senior Financial Consultant? Good job, here’s your promotion letter and a 25% pay raise. You’re 35 years old and met the requirements to be a director? Congrats, here’s your promotion letter, here are the perks, and have fun explaining to your peers how you became a director without selling your soul to the devil.

4) Bosses

Why report to 1 boss when you can have 200 bosses? Welcome to my world where I’ve got 200+ clients to be accountable to! If you don’t want to be bossed around, why not have 200 of them such that you won’t feel anything anymore?

In all seriousness, bosses in any healthy work place settings are supposed to be our mentors, to offer us guidance, to help us grow in our chosen field. Imagine having access to 200+ perspectives on how to live life as you serve and grow with your clients. These are opportunities for personal growth everyday. Some days when I feel down, I get to call on some of these clients of mine to get new inspiration and ideas. Pretty cool to have a team of mentor-cheerleaders at my disposal as I navigate this career of mine.

5) Community

Name me a job that pays you base on your ability to kay-poh (being nosy). In this business, the more kay-poh you are, the better your results.

Having access to financial planning knowledge is one thing. Being able to apply it in a way that is highly relevant to the individual client is another. Being kay-poh enough to understand how much they earn, how much they save, their relationship with their parents, how they view their relatives, their hopes for their children, their fears, dreams and aspirations will serve us well.

Everyone wants to be comfortable and to have enough financial resources. What is comfortable and how much is enough? If time-value of money calculations are the science of financial planning, being able to ask good questions in an encouraging manner to facilitate such conversations is the art of financial planning.

To be privy to these HTHT kind of conversations means a certain depth to the relationship you have with your clients. You think you’re good at being kay-poh? Would you like to become good at being kay-poh? Perhaps this is for you. As you grow in this career, your pool of good friends increases, How’s that for community?

6) Freedom

Nope, it isn’t just about the freedom to choose your job title:

• Insurance agent

• Financial consultant

• Financial planner

• Financial doctor

• Financial architect

• Supreme general of financial planning and design

We can call ourselves whatever we want but what we do is match financial products from financial institutions to clients, as solutions to their current or future situations.

What kind of challenges would you like to work on? What kind of clients would you like to serve? We have the freedom to define our scope of work, and build a practice to yield us the greatest satisfaction. Sometimes in our work place, we usually don’t get to choose what we want to work on. We almost never get to choose who we want to work with or the customers we serve. Here you get that choice.

You really like running and working out and is always networking through your gym and running buddies? That’s an opportunity right there. You vibe most with doctors and dentists? Why not serve them? Being in insurance for a while and you find yourself drawn to the area of intergenerational wealth transfer? Why not develop the skillset to set yourself up for a more fulfilling career based on your professional interest?

You define your career, not just your job title. I know there are plenty of us insurance agents having fun with our job title and it gets cringey sometimes. I guess we’re trying our hardest to define what we really do. I can’t say much about the Supreme General though, but I bet it looks sweet on a namecard.

Conclusion

This is a beautiful business with lots of opportunities to be explored. I am more than happy to share with you my experiences if you’re considering quitting your job to be an insurance agent. It doesn’t have to be right now. I’m just being cheeky.

If the above seems to be your cup of tea, check out how we equip our new planners for success right here.

If you'll like to know more about me, check this page out.