Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Tom Valdez. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Tom, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Was there an experience or lesson you learned at a previous job that’s benefited your career afterwards?

The insurance industry is brutal. It’s very entrepreneurial and often times you don’t have a regular salary. It requires that you have lots of conversations with people, that are potentially uncomfortable. It requires a lot of putting your offer on the table. It requires that you hear “No” a lot. You don’t know when you will get paid or how much. For these reasons and more, over 80% of insurance professionals quit in the first 3 years – many in the first 3 months.

Of course, I didn’t want to quit, lose, or drop out – I’m notoriously stubborn, just ask my wife! So I was trying to figure out how to stay in this brutal industry and garner some success.

So one day while I was working for a particular insurance company, I was sitting in a training held by one of the sales managers of that company. And he said something that still sticks with me today: “The best way to stay in the industry is to stay in the industry.”

It was such a simple but profound statement. And as my brain started processing what that meant, I realized the truths in it. Staying in the industry means that I’ll get smarter, better, and more efficient over time. It also means that people who don’t have enough faith in me now will have more faith in me later. It also means that more people will know about my business as time goes on, which will give me more people to help. It also means that because I run my business ethically and morally with good intentions that people will see the difference in working with me. The only reason I wouldn’t succeed in the long term would be because I dropped out due to discouragement or funding. I was determined to stay in the industry, and that’s why I’m still in it.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers

I got into the financial services industry in 2011 after leaving a brief career in pharmaceutical research. I was instructed by the firm that recruited me to get a life and health insurance license, as well as securities licenses from FINRA that enabled me to sell investments. After working for a few companies and getting a feel for the industry, I decided to specialize in health insurance and Medicare in 2016.

Currently, I help self-employed individuals get health insurance, I help seniors and disabled individuals get Medicare coverage, and I design benefits packages for small companies. I love what I do because it allows me to make hard concepts simple for my clients. I also love it because, as a broker, I partner with several health insurance companies to find the right fit for my clients, which allows me to be unbiased. Because I am paid by these companies, I don’t charge my clients a dime. So, at the end of the day, I can create win-win scenarios. To me, this is the dream.

Are there any books, videos or other content that you feel have meaningfully impacted your thinking?

I’m pretty sure I didn’t know how to spell “entrepreneur” when I became one for the first time in 2011. I had no idea what it would take to become a successful one, and I wasn’t even convinced that it was a good idea. As I learned more about financial services and accepted that I was a “salesperson” – I told myself, based on generalized ideas, that I could not be successful in my role because I am an introvert.

Sometime around 2017, I started looking for resources for introverts who were entrepreneurs. I felt like I was looking for a book that taught fish to climb mountains – it didn’t seem likely that I would have have any success getting help. But one day I stumbled upon a podcast for introverts and this guy named Grant Cardone was being interviewed. He sounded like an extrovert to me, but he described how he’s actually an introvert and how, if you caught him offstage, he wouldn’t have a whole lot to say to a random stranger. And then he talked about how he still became massively successful in business. Then later, I discovered Ed Mylett, who also became a successful entrepreneur as an introvert.

Following the lives of these two guys on social media began to give me hope that I had the potential to make it happen. I wasn’t a fish trying to climb a mountain. Some shifts in my mindset began to occur and I began to acquire the skill, focus, and work ethic that I knew I needed to make my business successful.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

I think the root of resilience is determination – which is a framework that is developed internally from the start of whatever you’re doing. By 2016, which is the year I started Valdez Insurance Solutions, I had bounced around a few different insurance and financial companies, not really seeing a great path to do what I wanted to do – which was serve my client with good products that they needed in an ethical manner. I was frustrated that I couldn’t find a company that aligned with me perfectly…probably because I’m an idealist. My wife and family had seen this too.

When I decided to focus Valdez Insurance Solutions on Medicare and health insurance, I was challenged by a family member on the phone: “What makes this different?” I couldn’t really put it into words on the phone because I honestly didn’t know the Medicare world inside-and-out at that point. I just knew that I could do it. It was just a feeling.

After I hung up the phone, I told myself, (resilience starts on the inside!) that I wasn’t going to give up on it. Even if I had to die trying, I was going to make it work. Then I told the same thing to my wife for accountability and to give her some assurance.

It was a good thing I had those conversations because the first 9 months were brutal. I got beat up, chewed up, spit out, and only had a handful of dollars to show for it all. It was extremely discouraging. But I knew that I had what it took, and I promised myself that I wasn’t quitting. So I kept going – putting one foot in front of the other and doing the best thing for potential clients, even if that meant not working with me.

Just like many entrepreneurs experience in their first 5 years, there were good months and bad months, but in those first 2 years there were definitely more bad months.

A lot of people are scared of the trial-by-fire experience because there is no security in it. There’s no warm fuzzies. But if you build the framework of determination, get some support from loved ones – even if it’s just a little – your business will be able to weather the storms that come your way.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.valdezinsurancesolutions.com
• Instagram: @valdezinsurance
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/tomvaldezinsurance
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tomvaldez/
• Twitter: www.twitter.com/valdezinsurance