Being in a sales role for an insurance software company, some days are very draining. People can be rude and let’s face it, I am tenderhearted. We all know that most of the time you can’t choose your circumstances, but you always have the power of choosing the way you react to your circumstances. For a work activity, I was given the assignment of choosing one habit from the book, “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People”, written by Stephen Covey. I chose the first habit, Be Proactive. To be honest, I didn’t put much thought into reviewing the other habits. Didn’t even look at them. I quickly chose the first habit with the attitude of “I don’t care which one I read. I’m just going to choose one and get it over with”.

When I sat down one evening (the night before the project was due), I began reading the words while my mind was thinking about a million other things. It wasn’t until a few pages in that I thought, “Wait a second. Maybe I should pay more attention”. I related to this chapter not just through work, but through my personal life as well. While we all may interpret this chapter differently, let me tell you what it means to me.

To be proactive means to be self-aware.

Very quickly this chapter touched on the fact that you are in charge of your own feelings. This is what caught my attention. Anyone who knows me well also knows that I am intelligent, kindhearted, and loyal, but I also over-analyze everything, am anxious at times, and often focused on the negative. I never thought that a project for work could change my outlook on who I am, who I need to be and how I feel.

It is important to be more aware of choosing proactive words, not reactive words. Instead of saying “I have to go to the gym”, say “I am going to the gym”. When pertaining to my sales role for an insurance software company, it is important to not dwell on the customers we lose, but on the potential we have to grow and the prospects we have to gain. A small change can make a huge difference in the way your mind thinks and how it makes you feel. Talk positive and try to keep your focus only on what you can control.

So, smile more. Do not worry about tomorrow. Do not focus on what you cannot change. Be proactive in being positive. Be proactive in making things happen. Be proactive in using positive language and you will feel a difference internally and also positively affect the lives around you. We have so much power over the way we feel. Be proactive in engineering your life.

Jenna Price is an insurance agency management system consultant with Jenesis Software. She can be reached by email at jenna@jenesissoftware.com and loves to chat so drop her an email with questions and comments about this article or just to say hi.

Good news! Jenesis will be exhibiting at the PIANC 2017 Annual Conference in Clemmons, NC on August 16th & 17th. Here is the link if you would like to register. We hope to see you there!

If you are an independent insurance agent, you are probably familiar with the term Agency Management System or CRM. Today, most agencies are using a management system to help manage their day to day activity within the office, but there are some of you who have yet to jump on the agency management system train. Although I would love to tell you all the reasons why you should be using an agency management system, I want to go deeper and talk about why you should be using a system that offers a hosted version.

I work for Jenesis Agency Management System and we just recently decided not to promote our desktop version and focus solely on our hosted version. In the last year, every agency that has signed up with Jenesis has chosen the hosted option and each week we are moving many of our current customers from desktop to hosted. Pretty cool!

There must be reasons why…

• Advantages
  • No need to buy hardware (or a server) – When you purchase a hosted agency management system you do not have to worry about where you are going to host your system. The system’s team will be taking care of that for you. Probably in a large data center somewhere.
  • No need for backup assistance – This goes hand in hand with the bullet above. When your system is hosted, the company is taking care of backing up all your data for you. No need to worry about a tragic loss!
  • You can login from anywhere, anytime – This is a pretty cool point. With a hosted version you do not need to be in your office to access the agency management system. As long as you are somewhere with internet access you are good to go! And if your internet goes out, just link up to your hotspot to continue working.
  • Accessible from your Laptop, Tablet, AND Smartphone – This is my favorite point. How awesome it is to be able to pull your tablet out at a conference or the airport to manage your business without the hassle of a laptop.
  • Faster & automatically updated – Most of the time Hosted versions operate much faster and provide better service. Not to mention your system is automatically updated to the most equipped version over night!
•  Disadvantages
  • Cost extra –  But there could also be cost savings. Confusing, I know. You are saving money on data backup, no expensive server is needed, etc. I listed this as a negative reason as to why someone may not choose to move to Hosted, but I believe that all of my points listed above greatly outweighs this one small disadvantage. We all know you get what you pay for.

In closing, I want to encourage you to explore all of your options when choosing the correct agency management system for your agency. Don’t be afraid to spend a little more than you budgeted for. My advice to you is to always go Hosted. Less worries and better features.