One thing that I absolutely believe in is the power of a positive thinking. For many, it’s a difficult task to stay positive, especially during difficult times. The world can sometimes be a very cruel place, and while we may not be able to control certain aspects of our lives, we do have the ability to control how we react to situations.
I tend to think that our mind is like a garden. Positive thoughts are the beautiful flowers that everyone loves while negative thoughts are weeds that no one likes to see. If we don’t take care of our garden, the weeds will grow and overtake the flowers. Taking care of a garden takes work and we need to constantly water and care for our flowers. When the flowers start to wilt, we need to study the flower and its environment to identify what’s causing it to deteriorate. Once we identified the problem, we either need to take steps to rectify the issue or accept the circumstances and replace that flower with one that will better adapt to the environment it’s in. Weeds on the other hand can thrive with very little effort. In fact, weeds grow very well by doing absolutely nothing. If you constantly weed the flowers out of the garden, it becomes habit and doesn’t take much planning or even thought to keep the garden looking great. However, if you do nothing and let the weeds over take the garden, it will take much effort and hard work to get the garden back into it’s beautiful state it was once in.
While it’s not always easy for some, it’s important to weed out the negative thoughts from your mind to allow the positive thoughts to flourish. The sooner you rid yourself of these negative thoughts, the better. Otherwise, these negative thoughts will spread like wildfire.
Negative thoughts can and will limit your potential. If you constantly tell yourself you can’t do it or you are not good enough, well, you likely are setting your own limitations on what you feel is possible. However, if you take the mindset that a certain challenge will only make you stronger or that you are good enough to at least try, you may just find yourself accomplishing things that you never thought possible. You will also fail repeatedly in life…and that’s ok. Take each failure as a learning lesson and move on. It’s fair to be upset or unhappy about a situation, just don’t let yourself down by over-generalizing the situation and telling yourself that you are incompetent.
It’s funny that I relate my mind to a garden as I am a terrible gardener… seriously. I can’t even keep a cactus alive. I have a serious lack in talent for plant care. However, what I should really be doing is learning from each plant that dies under my care and work towards becoming a better gardener. I know that I could take care of a plant, so what’s stopping me? Likely my mindset.
So how does any of this relate to growing my business? I am in a very difficult business of selling insurance. Want to know how hard it is? Next time you are with a friend, bring up the subject about the importance of protecting their family and see how quickly they try to change the conversation. I recently purchased a camping trailer and I am considering putting a sign up that says, “Life Insurance Agent on Duty”. No one will bother me this way! Does this rejection bring me down? Absolutely not. I have learned over the years to accept it and to expect it. If anything, the only thing that bothers me is thinking what could happen to this poor family if the unthinkable happens and they haven’t taken the time to plan? That motivates me to get out there and help more people plan for the unexpected and help them better understand insurance. I have always liked helping others, ever since I was a young child. Insurance has given me the opportunity to help those at a time when help is needed most. When I first started in the insurance industry back in 2006, I was 23 and in no way believed I would be selling insurance for the rest of my life. Being that I was a wholesaler helping hundreds of advisors at that time. It didn’t take long for the claims to start coming in. These claims were what helped me see my job for what it was and brought passion and purpose to what I do. Now, I couldn’t see myself doing anything different.
Another example on how positive thinking has helped me grow is by way of receiving referrals from my existing clients. Many advisors have the mindset that they are annoying their clients by asking for a referral. I find that there may be a deeper issue, maybe their product knowledge isn’t up to date or they are selling based on price and not really adding much value. They need to identify why they feel the way they do and work on ridding themselves of this negative thought. I truly believe that my clients are the ones helping their family and friends by referring them to me as they are going to be well taken care of. If they don’t work with me, there is a good chance that they won’t find another advisor with the same level of professionalism, expertise and integrity as myself.
So how am I growing my business? Simple, by believing in myself. Whenever I doubt my ability, I stop and ask myself, what is making me think this way and what can I do about it? I reflect after every client meeting to ask myself, what did I do well and what can I improve on in the future? If I make a mistake (and that happens!), I work on putting systems in place to prevent that same mistake from happening again. I don’t ever allow myself to think that I can’t do something, rather I choose whether I put the time and energy in learning that new something. We have a choice, and that choice is how to react and move forward towards the path we envision for ourselves. Positive thinking is a wonderful thing, but it does take work. You may be surprised what you can achieve.
By Jeff Romansky
CHS, CPCA Principal, SecurePlan Insurance Solutions
Jeff started his insurance career in 2006 by helping hundreds of insurance advisors grow their business by providing them with comprehensive advice, consultation and training. After nine successful years, he decided to take his knowledge and start his own practice to ensure his clients are getting the best advice. His office is based in Grimsby, ON and he serves clients throughout Southwestern Ontario and the GTA.