We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Kela Trishaan. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Kela below.

Kela , thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Before we get into specifics, let’s talk about success more generally. What do you think it takes to be successful?

Being successful is relative to the individual. You first have to define what success means to you in order to create a plan to attain it. For a long time, my definition of success was the typical climbing corporate ladders and expanding on my title. I did that a lot in my 20s and was never really happy. I worked a lot of hours and never really had time for myself. As I got older I realized I wanted more stable employment, and I wanted to be able to enjoy my life outside of work, but still be successful enough to be financially independent. As I started being more intentional about what success looks like for me, I started to create a life that looked like what I’d envisioned, thus living out my idea of success.

Kela , before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I’m a licensed field adjuster. I’m on the front lines, inspecting homes to determine coverage for insurance claims, writing estimates and walking my insureds through a difficult time in their life. I had a really rough start in the industry, coming in with no experience whatsoever, couldn’t even tell you what a baseboard was! I did go through a formal training but I learned a lot on my own, through trial and error and working with vendors. I also did a lot of googling and looked up what I could on YouTube.

During the pandemic in 2020, I found myself working from home with an infant. I had to temporarily put field inspecting on hold due to the lack of daycares, plus we were quarantined. I needed an outlet, so I started making YouTube videos. I didn’t really have a clear cut plan yet so I was doing all types of videos, hygiene, how to deal with problematic friends, etc. One day, I decided to set up the camera and vlog a day in the life working from home and I got some pretty decent views and feedback. From there, I started to do more of those videos and also I’d sprinkle in more focused insurance videos like “what to expect if your vehicle is a total loss” and “things to look out for if you have a homeowners claim”. Through these videos I discovered there is an audience for staff adjusters, so I used it as an opportunity to document tips and tricks for staying on top of your desk and dealing with stress as an adjuster. I basically tried to become what I was looking for on YouTube in those early years, and I’m grateful for the small community I have now that tunes into every upload.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

There was a point early in my adjusting career I considered giving it all up and looking for something else altogether. A lot of it was simply feeling overwhelmed in a fast paced industry with little to no support from my management team at the time. Although I did take a break during the pandemic (still stayed in insurance but took a temporary desk job), I knew that I wanted to give field adjusting a try again but with a fresh outlook and at a different company. I wanted to give myself a fair shot in this industry because although it’s not an easy one, there is a lot of opportunity to move around to different departments once you have enough experience and the flexibility of being a field adjuster was very appealing especially with me being a mother to a young child. It was the best decision I’ve made and I feel like if I hadn’t given myself the permission to try again, I wouldn’t have the life I have now, and I wouldn’t be able to help new adjusters on their journey.

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

One thing I’m super diligent about these days is taking time for myself. In this industry it’s so easy to fall behind on simple stuff. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve gotten so caught up in work that I skip lunch or a workout and honestly, that’s a no no. In order to do my best work I need to take the best care of myself. For example, I take regular breaks to get up and have a drink of water and look away from my computer. I take my PTO instead of letting it build up and allow burn out to set in. This alone has allowed me to do a better job and thrive because I’m no longer pouring from an empty cup.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://instagram.com/kela_trishaan?igshid=MTNiYzNiMzkwZA%3D%3D&utm_source=qr
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCrbUmpDLrwY8wCak2zgLWjA