I Believe

Posted on April 14, 2011 by Kim

On an ordinary Friday night a few weeks ago, one of my Promark agents, Jenn, lost her husband. Mike was 34 and collapsed and died from a perforated ulcer. It is a senseless loss since he’d been to emergency care twice with stomach pains and was sent home with antacids and a pat on the back. Someone please explain to his 4 year old, Lilly, how different things could have been if someone had paid attention and done what was right and necessary to help Mike.

The Promark family was suddenly brought back to a place of grieving and shock that we experienced when Len passed just two year ago. We’ve been here before and we’ll be here again I would imagine. We learned before that if we hug each other, stand by each other, help each other, and care for each other, we’ll get through it together again. I know with confidence that Jenn will have first-class support and care from her Promark family because I experienced nothing less.

Every time someone we know dies, those of us in the insurance industry are struck by the fact that what we do matters. Every time we deliver a check to a grieving family, we realize that our clients’ lives are forever changed by a decision we helped them make at a time when things weren’t as difficult or fearful. If you ask Jenn, she’ll tell you that what she does matters and makes a difference. She’s just lived the reality of it. So did I. If Len hadn’t had insurance, I wouldn’t be in a position to write this blog or try to give away $20 million.

One of my agents in Seattle, Washington, Ilyas Nuri, wrote me an email recently. I quote:

‘You have to believe in what you sell.’

That’s an interview requirement from the old days. If you don’t see the value of life insurance, don’t come on board.

So, back when I first joined Promark, I had to really look in the mirror, and I mean literally/physically look in the mirror, and ask myself, do I really believe in life insurance? Do I believe in the value this financial protection brings to the table? Do I really believe that I might actually die tomorrow, heaven forbid, and that I need to be prepared today?

9 years and never once looked back.

I believe.

I believe, too.

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Introduction to ProKids Workshops

Posted on March 15, 2011 by Kim


 

For more information on how to schedule your own ProKids Workshop,

please contact Erika Usher:

 

Erika Usher | ProKids Coordinator | 714.513.2500 ext 105 | eusher@thepromarkgroup.com

 

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Earning the Business

Posted on February 18, 2011 by Kim

Someone emailed me this article last week.

I quote: “In life insurance, we have a product that most people need but that is sold in a way that makes them not want it and not care about who they buy it from. The door is wide open to anyone willing to try new approaches with a very old product.”

This is what I’ve been chewing on for a year now.  How do you take a product that people really need, but hate to buy, and mix it into a corporate mission to give away a boatload of money to charity?

It’s popular marketing these days for a company to say, “when you buy from us, we donate a percentage to [enter socially conscious non-profit of your choice].”  But with Promark, I’m not looking to find customers by giving to charity.  I’m just giving the profits to charity, period.

I don’t want Promark to sell people things they don’t want or need.  I don’t want them buying from us because we give all the profits to charity.  I want them to care that they bought stuff from us because we were people that earned their business.  That we earned their trust because we care more about their financial needs than just pushing a sale and we’re smart, skilled professionals that give great guidance.

So, we’re working on ideas that combine earning the business and giving away $20 million as two independent but symbiotic pursuits.

One of our new approaches is our ProKids Workshop™.  It combines giving away money to local kids’ sports teams and clubs while giving some great guidance to the parents about their financial journey.  We’ve gone overboard to make sure the workshops are short, fun, interactive, and very helpful.   (Here’s a link if you want to know more.)

So far, the response from the parents has been great.  It’s a new program and it’s taken way longer to get off the ground than I’d hoped, but I believe in it and think it’s gonna do a lot of good for everyone involved.

The article again:  “The door is wide open to anyone willing to try new approaches with a very old product.”

My mind doesn’t stop thinking about how wide that door could open.  The wider the door, the more money I can give away.  As long as we earn the business.

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When is Enough Enough?

Posted on February 17, 2011 by Kim

“Why do you want to do this?”  I get asked that a lot.  Run a for-profit company and then give the money away?  Doesn’t that defy the reason you’d run a for-profit company?  And what’s wrong with keeping the money?

I have no ideological argument against keeping the money.  No beef whatsoever.  People go into business to make money and keep it.  It’s part of the American dream.  I applaud the dream and applaud when people put hard work and ingenuity into play and amass a great big pile of money for themselves.  Go Team Capitalism.

What if I told you I have enough?

Enough is defined by Free Online Dictionary as “sufficient to meet a need or satisfy a desire; adequate.”

I wonder if there are people born with a gene that says, “once I have enough, I’m good”.  If that’s the case, count me in that group.  I’m not talking about a Vow of Poverty where everything is shared in common.  I am talking about being satisfied that my needs are met such that I can give freely of what’s left over.

It’s easy for me to sit here writing this, knowing that Len left me with insurance that will pay my bills.  I get that.  Most people don’t have that luxury and I don’t for a minute take the privilege for granted.  My point is that when I didn’t have a lot of money, I still had a sense of enough.  I grew up in a middle class parsonage where learning to be satisfied with enough was a way of life.

Having enough (or rather a sense of enough) is liberating.  If I don’t need an extra couple of million dollars (or thousands or hundreds), why not give it away?  What if the joy of giving away money, to meet another’s human need, is the greatest high a person can feel?  Watching a person be freed from struggle, hunger, pain or sadness because of my money is a sacred honor.

In the spring of ’09, we built a well in Len’s memory in a small village in Kenya for people who were dying of thirst.  Literally.  We put a plaque on the wall next to the spigots that said, “Len’s Well”.  The village had a dedication ceremony and I flew there to cut the ribbon.  Then, they had me hand out the first jugs of water from the well.  I stood there in the mud, presenting a big plastic bucket of water to a teenage orphan with AIDS.  I’ve never had a moment in my life where I was so humbled and honored.  I don’t know that life gets any richer or sweeter than that.

There’s great freedom and joy in having enough.

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