We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Kali Somerville. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Kali below.
Alright, Kali thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Risk taking is something we’re really interested in and we’d love to hear the story of a risk you’ve taken.
I started in the insurance industry in 2013. I was recently and suddenly a single mom of a 10 year old. I knew that getting a part time job wasn’t the answer. When I started, my goal was to make an extra $1000-$1500 a month working on my own time. I never expected to make a career out of this industry. Initially there was no risks. The worse case scenario would be that I would learn more about life insurance and how it works while still being able to work my full time.
The first big risks that I took was transitioning from full time to part time. After working insurance part time for the first four years, in 2017 I decided to pursue my career in insurance on a full time basis. That’s where the risks began. I had no idea what it took to be self employed on a full time basis. I learned very quickly that being an entreprenear is not for the weak. During the first three years of being part time I struggled with the transition. I got evicted, I had two cars repossessed, I had to rent a room.
Then in June 2019 I took the second big risk in my career and decided to work with another insurance company. Thank God that I did! Today I manage a team of over 1000 licensed agents across the country. I’ve been able to build a massive insurance agency because I decided to take risks. Along the way I lost a lot of material things but I gained resilience, grit, and tenacity. I learned the art of not quitting no matter how bad it looks. I’ve learned that the only way to truly grow is to have your back up against the wall and know that me and God are all I got.
Kali, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?
I am a mother of a 22 year old in college and I’m a life insurance broker. I have the ability to shop around over 30 insurance companies and match clients with a policy that makes sense for their situation. Most agents have access to one or two companies which really doesn’t serve the community at large. Unfortunatley, insurance is a product that you have to qualify for and if the agent is limited to a couple of companies then chances are they may not find a product that the potential client can qualify for or afford. That leaves a lot of people uninsured against the one thing that is sure to happen. People don’t like to think about it but all of us are going to die at some point. Life insurance is truly the last love letter that you can leave your family. It allows them the ability to grieve without worrying about the monetary loss that often occurs after a loved one dies.
In addition, to traditional insurance policies I specialize in products that can provide income during retirement and products that allow you to Be Your Own Bank. There are also policies that have living benefits which the policy holder can take money out of the policy if they become seriously ill and there are policies that give you all your premiums back at the end if the term period if the client doesn’t die. Life insurance can seem like a complicated space but if you work with someone that takes time to help you understand, its pretty simple.
Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?
The first six years of my career I spent working with a company that sold me a bunch of dreams that I literally couldn’t cash. I ended up getting evicted, I had two cars repossessed, and I lost everything that I owned. Somehow through allof this I knew that everything that I was going through wasn’t for me but for someone else. I don’t know how I knew that and most of the time that I told myself that, I didn’t believe it. Through these trials is when I began to get closer to God. I kept pusing doing what I needed to do to make ends meet. I drove Lyft (because I needed a car, they have a rental car program) , I did Door Dash, I did Instacart. I used these things for fuel to change my situtation. I hated delivering food, I hated being a taxi driver (thats literally what I was when I was driving Lyft), and I hated delivering people’s groceries to them. I knew that there was a better life to be lived and for some reason, I wouldn’t give up.
Four years after losing everything, I make more money than 1% of the country. The biggest blessing in all of this is not that I have only changed my life financially, I’ve assisted numerous other agents change their lives financially. All because I refused to give up!
What’s been the best source of new clients for you?
The best source of new clients for me is leads. I mostly use leads that come from social media. Basically a lead gives you more shots to find client. The client has seen an ad on social media and has filled out a form saying they are interested in buying life insurance. Every person that comes from a lead may not be interested. There are still people that I call and say they aren’t interested. However, there are still people that will be interested in life insurance.
When I started in the insurance industry I worked with a company that only focused on selling to friends and family. Thats a great way to start, however eventually you will run out of clients. Leads allow for a consistent flow of potential customers that will never end as long as you continue to invest in buying leads on a regular basis.
Contact Info:
- Website: usunitedlife.insure
- Instagram: kalisomerville
- Facebook: Kali Somerville
- Linkedin: Kali Somerville
- Youtube: Family First Life Team Fury