Man, it is done. After three weeks of pulverizing, cramming, beating into the head’s worth of information, I am now a licensed insurance agent. It was a long, strange trip, but it’s now complete. Now, at the start of next week, I go into the field to perform my skills I was trained to do with my District Manager. I’ll have to clean my car up and tune it up for some serious driving. I am so grateful to get such a great job like Combined Insurance. I mean, this is the perfect job to use to build my business. First off, I will be doing some driving all around the counties in my area; Kankakee, Will, Iroquois, Vermillion, and Ford. This is a perfect way to get an awesome network me to go Diamond in my business. Also, Combined Insurance has almost the same levels of achievement as what by business does, so my goal is to go Diamond in both endeavors. I even get a ring when become a Diamond, or they call it Grand Diamond, but it is quite a bit smaller than the ring I get in LTD. It is a nice ring, but smaller and much cheaper than that of the gigantic ring that LTD gives me when I achieve Diamond. And too, Combined goes by the same exact principles LTD goes by, or at least they say they do. Either way, this the job I am going Diamond, with an income of an average of $1,000 a week, I can keep my PV level at 300 every month, build a team with all the area I cover, and just build some serious belief. Now, some of you may think, “Well Bryan, you have a great job that has such a great package of benefits and money on top of that, why do you want to fool around with some business on the side?” I’ll tell you why, yes, the money is good and I can live comfortably without the business I am in, but as I said before, I am not signing my own paycheck, and therefore, I am not in control of my cash flow. You always have to remember, even if you make such much money that it’s coming out of your ears, if you are not signing the paycheck that means someone else is in control and they can take it away from you anytime they like. If may not it’s true, oh believe me, it’s true. In fact, the state of Illinois says any business can terminate an employee without reason. If you don’t believe me, look in the Illinois constitution. I mean, Combined seems like a great company, but I saw the other side of them when the teacher of my first class got fired literally in front of not only me, but by the rest of the classes eyes. Before that had happened, the company was making out that it was a heaven for corporations, but in the end, heaven has no place in the corporate world, the devil rules the roost. Finally, another reason why I am not giving up my business is simply this: my business was the reason why I got this opportunity. LTD gave me the strength and ability to overcome fear and doubt in my life to accomplish this such feat. I am forever in debt with LTD, if you thought that no one could pull me away from them before, the glue has gotten much more stickier now because no one can tell me to quit. I see this as a path to freedom, a path for financial independence. Just think, to not live your based around a dollar bill, it can be done. That is one of my goal, I mean, I don’t want to be rich just so I can tell everyone I am rich, or compare money on a table to say, “My stack is bigger than yours!”, I want to be rich so I can never make a decision based on a dollar bill again. I just to be able to do something, and not think how much it’s going to cost me or will this make me go broke. All it does is take financial responsibility and changing your thought process. Even if there are people that don’t want to do what I am doing as far as my business goes, I would love to help people accomplish their path to financial glory. However, I’ll automatically tell them that the business I am in is the best vehicle for that, but if there is a venture someone wants to do, I would help them as much as possible and give them the proper tools to accomplish so. Anyway, I think I may have gone on a tangent here about my business, but it seems good anyhow. As far as the training went, it was like being in a college course and boot camp at the same time. The trainer literally pour information into your faster than you can get it to stick. Plus, the stupid license exam I kept getting a sixty-eight when the passing score was seventy. I think I was the only person ever in their history to get two straight sixty-eight scores, and the environment I was in taking the exam was in what it looked like was a prison. I mean, there were cameras almost in every direction, you had to put all of your personal belongs from your pockets into a locker so you cannot cheat. However, I snuck in my shamrock and cross for luck the third time, because I did not want to be back in there again! Also, I prayed, not just once but twice, which helped considerably as well. And then, on the third try, I passed with flying colors. I take it three times the charm, and thank God because those tests are not cheap. The licensing tests are $103 a pop, but I will have that paid back in a matter of a few weeks. The insurance license alone is $180, and it has to be renewed every two years. I think I am going to keep it even after I retire from the insurance industry, it will be my backup. I remember one of the trainers was a Cub fan and he kept giving me crap with me liking the White Sox, oh well, there were a ton of Cardinal fans in the class, being a lot of people in the class were from Missouri or southern Illinois, so I had a bit of backup behind me, because my second favorite team is the Cardinals, mainly between them and the Red Sox. Anyway, besides the learning, or more like cramming, the classes and the people were fun. The hotel I stayed in was awesome, it was called the Wingate, a hotel specifically designed for business trips. There was no pool, but a whirlpool that was nice, and the continental breakfast was the best, I don’t think I ever ate that good for breakfast as I did while staying there. All in all, for all the pressure of the learning and tests, I wouldn’t mind doing it again. However, you were not allowed to drink alcohol in the hotel, and you couldn’t bring a woman in your room either. Also, they said that friends and family weren’t allowed to visit you either, which I thought it was weird, but it was their policy. I had no problems with their policies, because I didn’t drink, even when some people were drinking in the bar near the hotel, and I am single and plus I don’t sleep with co-workers. I had a roommate the first week, then he cut after me and him took our licensing exam. I felt bad for him, he failed both parts of the exam we took, while I passed one and failed the other. He said he was leaving to go home for the night and was going to come back the following night, he never showed up. I was suppose to be paired back with another person, but the trainers never really went through it so the remaining two weeks I was solo, which I loved because I had a nice comfortable room to sleep in and keep the temperature like an ice box without someone complaining! In other words, I am grateful, blessed, whatever you want to call it on getting this opportunity. I can see now my goals being accomplished, I feel nothing can stop me. The thing I would have to say about is that no matter what obstacle gets in your way, or who tells you you’re nuts on trying to achieve something, you have to do is protect your dream, hold it in a safe place in your mind, and not let anyone steal it from you. It’s our dreams that keep us going in life, it’s not money, love, or even food, it’s a dream. That is all I have to say about that. By the way, after seeing the power of a prayer, I should pray everyday up until October for the White Sox to win another World Series. Let’s see who God favors more! Ha, just kidding, nah, I think I will do it.
