How do benefits brokers stay sane?

Prioritize and delegate

Achieving a work/life balance takes effort, especially when you love what you do! Finding the right equilibrium isn’t about the number of hours you devote to one or the other. It’s about establishing a general set of priorities and committing the time you have outside of work toward improving and maintaining what’s important to you.

We’ve built an extraordinary team, knowledgeable in every department so team members have the flexibility to create their own schedule. This allows team members to take time outside of work and not stress over missed calls, emails, etc. We have created and maintain a positive work culture and hire members that understand and believe in our mission, goals and values.

Delegating the small stuff and outsourcing has played a major role in our productivity. Our producers have tapped into technology using webinars to educate clients, assist with open enrollment questions and Skype or conferencing technologies for renewal meetings. We are in the process of implementing a virtual health application for our clients that offers a concierge service 24/7/365. This will be instrumental in our productivity for 2019, delegating customer service to a virtual assistant that can assist in claims, ID cards, billing issues, etc.

Marcy S. Heath, health care strategist, InoVentive Solutions

Just unplug

Never be afraid to take time off. When I go away in the summer to the beach, my message is “I will be unavailable until the date I return back.” I let them know who can help them internally and I don’t feel guilty one bit. Life is too short to not spend time with family.

Jim Blachek, partner & owner, The Benefits Group, LLC

Forget “balance”

I don’t believe in work-life balance. I’m not sure what that even looks like. It’s all life and it’s never balanced. Something will always require more attention and take the rest of it “out of balance.” I’d rather focus on staying present, connected and engaged. I do that by meditating daily, managing my workload so it doesn’t overwhelm me, and playing a lot!

Amy Evans, president, Colibri Insurance Services

Know your strengths

Don’t attempt to be all things to all people. Know your strengths, pick your niche, and do it well. Go home. Call your Mom. Life is short.

Gina Chmielewski, president, Benefits Strategies, Inc.

Trust your team

Build a team based on excellence and trust. Our entire organization steps up to ensure that our teammates can unplug and return with a clean inbox.

Ben Conner, president & CEO, Conner Insurance

Let it pass

Short-term periods of unsustainable imbalance followed by lighter, more balanced periods. What I’m trying to say is that, personally, I don’t find balance to be effective at all. It ends up just being mediocre efforts on both sides.

Christopher Wirth, ancillary benefits resource, Nelligan Associates

Honor thy schedule

Never break the 11th Commandment: “Honor thy schedule!” I find that the reason so many professionals have trouble balancing work and life is because they don’t create a daily and weekly schedule, let alone honor it.

I look at it from the perspective of scheduling a business meeting or even a family vacation. If you’ve scheduled a business meeting with a client for 10 a.m. on a Tuesday, you’d show up, right? You honor it. The same can be said if you plan and pay for a large and expensive family trip to Disney World. You’d put it in your schedule, and you’d honor your schedule. You’d never schedule an in-person business meeting over your trip to Disney since you’re going to be out of town. Balancing both work and life simply comes down to discipline and commitment to creating and honoring thy schedule.

Eric Silverman, founder, Voluntary Disruption

Weekends are off-limits

When I first started, I promised my wife that I would not work weekends in order to keep the family work/life balance. So I extend my workday by starting earlier. Awake by 4 a.m., gym at 4:30 a.m., and business emails then begin by 5:45 a.m. I’m working until dinner time most week days. Thus, I get to sleep early and wake up early during the week to add extended time.

Daniel M. Giusti, co-founder, Legacy Benefits Group LLC

Alignment, not balance

The term “balance” implies competing interests striving to get equal weight. Shifting the paradigm to work-life alignment makes a subtle but important distinction in my “quality by design” approach.

The first step requires the identification of critical quality attributes in your life and specific targets for them.“Specifications,” in engineering lingo.

The second step is to view life as a process to be optimized towards meeting those specifications. Not just one of them, or one at a time, but all of them, simultaneously. This forces true integration of decisions on a daily basis and anticipation of what is truly important.

Nancy C. Sajjadi, founder and principal consultant, Life Quality by Design, LLC

Focus on what’s in front

The key is to be present in the moment, avoid distractions and focus on what is in front of you. The culture of your organization plays a big part in the equation. If your company’s internal focus is making money and increasing profits, that tends to increase work stress and drives leadership to do more with less. When you take care of those in your charge, help them maintain balance and focus efforts on providing value for your customers, the rest takes care of itself. You need to disconnect from your phone and recharge yourself as often as you recharge your phone’s battery.

Peter Abitanto, EVP & COO, Customized Benefit Solutions, Inc.

Make your values clear

I have always said, “This is my job, not my life.” As a passionate employee benefits insurance agent for over 22 years who has served our association at the highest level, I give from my heart.

If your clients and prospects are aware of your values and what your “why” is, you only have to explain once. I have never done my job for the money; I do it to make a difference in the lives of people I meet everyday. Just be nice and be you.

Work-life balance—it’s not work when you’re doing what you love!

Denise VanPutten, key client account executive, Keyser Insurance Group

Minimize “life” distractions

My thoughts come from the perspective of someone who works from home. We’re in an industry where having a physical office space isn’t exactly required, since most of the time we’re meeting clients and prospects at their office. But usually there’s one or two days each week that I work completely from home.

I decided to build a virtual team because many people crave the type of work/life flexibility (no commute, low overhead, spending all day in your PJs, etc.) that being a consultant offers. That said, when you do work from home, it has its own set of built-in distractions. The doorbell rings, the dogs start barking, and then the baby cries. Sometimes it can seem like there’s too much “life,” and not enough “work” getting done.

My preference for being productive is to get an early start while the rest of my family is still asleep. I can usually get at least an hour or two’s worth of work done from my home office before the kids need to head to school. If I do end up working from home for the entire day, I always take at least half an hour to eat lunch with my wife and spend a little time the baby.

Chris Wolpert, owner and principal, Group Benefits Solutions

Work it out

My work/life balance is focused on being responsive to the needs of my clients, prospects and family. I am definitely prepared each morning after a vigorous workout.

Even when I travel out of town for presentations or meetings, I am usually ready for a run before I start my day. After a satisfying workout, my body and mind are able to focus on the business and activities of the business day ahead. I am also always ready for my family at any given moment.

Wayne Sakamoto, Health Insurance Interactive, Inc.