“I gotta dump these thoughts somewhere….. ”
It started last Monday, October 7, 2024. Then now it’s Saturday, October 12, 2024. And what have I done about it?
Monday was another one of those “cataclysmic events”…
… that moment in time when you are still hopeful and looking for a reason to stay at a “job”.
And then BAM!
You just realize, “This is REALLY not working out for me anymore. The unnecessary, petty, unprofessional stuff is WAY too much, if some higher up person in the corporate ladder is messing around with my ACTUAL hours worked, why show up for a job?”
It has gotten to that level of pettiness (well, the Department of Labor might call that wage theft). I remembered the HR Director telling me (after I submitted a lengthy HR Report, backed up by the harassment documentation and screenshots, she said if it’s too much, because I have already put in my two weeks notice, she offered that I have the option, and I “will still get paid those last two weeks”).
Monday was that day, that I took their offer, in writing. And I also wrote that I hope that I will ALSO get paid the commissions I earned from the $31,000+ sales that I did also (backed up by documentation as well).
“Salary + Commissions” is not “Salary + Commissions” if they don’t ACTUALLY pay the commissions!
I’m not running away FROM the job anymore, but now running TOWARDS a career that would help other people – not just help a corporation that fatten their profits on the backs of the hourly wage employees.
Yesterday, I learned from a former client’s wife, that my client has passed away.
It was her reaching out to me last August, and then me helping out, that triggered me to reinstate my professional license. To go through all the motions that I’ve done since, in order to be compliant.
I got my license reinstated and got email notification on it definitely last 9/30/2024, Monday.
I scheduled an Online Appointment with the new IMO the next day 10/01/2024, Tuesday.
10/02/2024, Wednesday – the next day interview with the CEO lasted about an hour, getting to know each other, and seeing for both parties, if there is a “fit”.
That IMO was my choice because the co-owner, his son, whom I’ve spoken to before, was candid “just do good business”.
10/03/2024, Thursday – I got email notification the I have been approved to partner with the IMO.
10/04/2024 Friday – I completed sending my contracting paperwork through my IMO with 9 carrier companies. Also received documentation on what my Commissions would be for those 9 Carriers (Insurance Companies).
- also had to get Errors and Omissions Insurance as these companies require those too.
- also had to complete an Anti-Money Laundering (AML) Course, which was a requirement for the 9 Insurance Companies that I will be contracting with. (Uploaded Certificate of Completion and my E & O Coverage)
- also, because I want to avoid CE Education fines in the future, I went on ahead and enrolled for courses that are “Class Equivalent” CLEQ and figured I’ll complete them all – occupy my brain with something else, in order not to “sulk” on that choice that I had to make last Monday. And STILL be productive. These courses, you actually have to comprehend in order to pass to the next lessons. They were actually good, and so I thought I would be blogging about those too, because it’s good to know for consumers.
10/05/2024 Saturday, I finished the last several courses. Courses ranged from 2 hours to 7 hours.
- knowing what I know in how humans process information, there’s only an amount of time and information our brains can take, and then level of comprehension decreases. That’s why I took breaks too.
- Now in hindsight, in order for me to reinstate my license, I had to take 24 hours CLEQ Continuing Education (CE) Courses, with 3 hours for an Ethics and Law Course:
- 08/30/24 – Ethics and Law for Texas Insurance Agents – 3 hours
- 09/03/24 – Introduction to Life Insurance – 4 hours
- 09/04/24 – Life Insurance Policies – 7 hours
- 09/05/24 – Health and Accident Insurance – 5 hours
- 09/06/24 – Life Insurance Ownership and Beneficiary Designations – 5 hours
- Then the CE Courses requirements that I have to complete between now and two years onwards:
- 10/04/24 – Anti-Money Laundering (AML) Practices for the Insurance Producer: Recognizing Red Flags – 2 hours
- 10/08/24 – Ethical Practice Standards for Today’s Producer – 4 hours
- 10/09/24 – Introduction to Indexed Products – 6 hours
- 10/10/24 – Annuity Suitability and Best Interest Standards – 4 hours
- 10/11/24 – Life Insurance Underwriting – 4 hours
- 10/12/24 – Health Insurance Programs for Seniors – 2 hours
So in terms of all the CE Requirements, I am now all fully compliant until 2026.
And if you are reading this …. what do you do when you are HIT with something that is emotionally disturbing?
Do you cry? Sulk? Tell someone?
Or, do you ask God what to do next?
(That’s what I did).
Nothing happens on earth unless ordained by God.
It went through His Permissive Will.
ALWAYS, for a reason.
I texted my client’s beneficiary yesterday, she said she was waiting for her husband’s (my client) death certificate.
Now that I have my license back, I can truly help her and her family too.
These Continuing Education Courses also would help anybody know how to help and the boundaries set by laws and regulations, on how we can help.
When I revisited this “reinstatement journey” from my previous post, the circumstances that transpired also from my job just pointed and pushed me to taking those many little steps.
I handwrote those steps that I needed to take, then took and applied action on them, to get them all done. While I still had a job.
I loved that job, the “helping people” part of it.
But like what I wrote in my final bye bye letter, “today is my last day”, I wrote that the numbers I produced for their company cannot be cancelled by gossip or harassment. It’s just there.” Anyway, it remains to be seen if they will pay me my commissions on my $31,000+ sales. My son told me to “talk to a lawyer, that’s an easy win.”
I always believe what God said “Vengeance is mine, I will repay.”
Of course I am grateful for lessons learned, both good and bad.
10/09/24 – Wednesday – I got my first Insurance Company Contract. I gained access to their Portal and test drove it. There was another AML Course required so I went on ahead and completed that too. That was a Company AML Course, so it got done as well. They are also based in Austin Texas.
10/11/24 – Also spoke to their Partner Support team, and also created a flyer I want to use, but wanted to submit it to them first for approval, since that is in our partner contract.
So with all these ranting above being said, it is…
All Systems Go!
I’m glad I did a blog post for posterity here – because that is what I am going to use, to rebuild my insurance website back! 🙂
Time flew. I thought I’d just post time-stamped comments here, because I think it would be useful someday, for those who would like to get their license reinstated (or for those who want a new license), how long it actually takes. I log activities also in a little handy physical calendar (old school that won’t run out of battery power). Remember the suggested “flyer design” I submitted exactly last week? I emailed the same Carrier Company #1 for an update on it, and then got an immediate response that they did not receive it last week.
And then so, I remembered …. SMTP.
Send Mail Transfer Protocol.
That’s an issue/phenomenon that I have seen with CRMs.. or Ticket Systems. (Remember, I have the developer license for the Ticket System that I have implemented here too and at the AGDT website?) – I’ve tested the functionality of the Ticket System to death and saw and understood how it worked.
If in a CRM or any Ticket System or (Software as a Service Platform), the customer / user of the platform has that option to input their own “Reply To” email address. But in the actual “envelope” details of that specific email transmission, the ACTUAL from, IS DIFFERENT. It goes through SMTP. Send Mail Transfer Protocol. Protocol in order to avoid or minimize spoofing.
Anyway, what I did was “copy the specific and exact email address”, forwarded the original email with the attachments, and that’s when I received a response.
In hindsight now, I remember the same thing with the TDI when I followed up end of September on the status and they said they sent me an email (with an attached letter, which I ALSO never received). It’s a CRM issue I think, in general, when you send an attachment with it.
So either attach it in an old school email. because now I can say that maybe if an email HAS an attachment, it is when deliverability becomes an issue.
When one sends an email on a regular route and it is NOT delivered, there is an automatic message that is received saying “Undeliverable email”:
Can you imagine a CRM receiving “bounced” emails or “undelivered” email notifications?
That’s one issue that a Ticket System that is within your domain solves.
Anyway… I also got notification that my Contract Applications with 10 other Insurance Carriers have been sent out. Woohoo! 🙂
I also got notification from my printing company vendor that my brand marketing tools are on their way. I should have them all this time next week. Part of it will arrive on Monday.
Ads will go out when I have my Carrier Contracts approved. That way I have more options for the people that I will be helping. 🙂
In the mean time, I’ll go back to working on my own offline CW CRM App.
The features I finished on it are:
1) Leads
2) Carriers
3) Activities / Calls Logs
4) Health Conditions – still adding and developing this – there are paid options (other SaaS platforms) but I want to build something for the Carriers I am going to be contracted with. I’ve finished building a “search functionality” on it so if I type on the search box for example “cancer” with a subcategory “brain” – it populates the companies and probable decision (based on each company’s underwriting guideline”. That’s handy for a field underwriter to have, to minimize research time getting quotes for a health condition which most probably would get declined. I don’t think I’ve published any screenshot of my app, but here goes, just so you’d see what I’ve done. (Copyright on it, so all good to go too :-)). It will continue to be the Work In Progress as I add more health conditions on it. But, you get the picture of what my brain produced. 🙂 (It’s not the entire app, just a portion of it)