I'm not sure about you, but for open enrollment this year I averaged between 65 to 70 hours per week. It was a nice reduction from last year's 80-hour weeks!

But one thing I'm struggling with right now is that after all the chaos and hustle and bustle of December, January has got me off to a little bit of a deflated start.

This “Blue January, ” as I'm calling it, doesn't seem to be affecting just me. I've talked to several other brokers who are feeling it, too. We absolutely killed ourselves over the past couple of months, and it seems as though the sense of urgency and the sheer panic in the voices of clients calling to get coverage have fallen away.

We're seeing the next wave of calls being the “I don't have my ID card, ” “I have to go to the doctor and they still haven't processed my application,” and “Why did I get an invoice when I sent in a check?”

We actually had a call yesterday where the woman wanted us to send her a check for $527 since her application had not been processed yet! Never mind that she sent it on the absolute last possible day for Jan. 1 coverage….

As many of us are in this same boat I just wanted to provide you all with some words of encouragement. I had a friend that recently told me when he knew I had a bad day, “Some days you eat the bear and other day it eats you! ”

I absolutely loved this. I've heard of the windshield vs. the bug one, but never this one. We're all amazing fierce brokers who are working in a market we never thought would come. We're the experts in this field, and we're more relevant than ever! Consumers are drowning in misinformation (and information overload) and they're relying on us to help guide them and navigate this system for them.

Just hang in there friends and I promise you that your Blue January will lead to a Green February when all the commission checks start coming in. Hopefully.

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