I have had great learning experience from doing work with my mentor. Not only was the focus on finances it was the whole business field in general. Also there was an important need for communicating with other people. I have had a great learning all this information about people and how to understand them. The strongest tool available is listening with two ears, using that information you hear, and talk and respond to their questions. Let people talk, because people love to hear themselves talk about what they love. My mentor and I listened to this guy talk about gold and the economy for a good 45 minutes before we left because we took an interest in what the man talked about and it started off as a simple conversation about how they price gold (this was a cash4gold worker at Tanforan).
This job requires skills and initiative, you cannot be afraid to go and talk to others because that is the basis of the whole operation. It is here in this field that I can take the confidence that I can feel and apply it and talk to others, be interested in what they do, and then try to help them out of the are in debt or the know someone else that does. I had a wonderful time trying to apply what I learned and I hope to do so in the future.
Wednesday, May 15, 2013
The 8 Hour Day: 2013 May 1 Part
This is a collection of the activities completed on May 1, 2013.
As I am in dire need of additional hours with the year closing on in, I met with my mentor to observe the process he uses in recruiting people to be on his team in order to refer the Worth Account to others. The day started off as one of my routine days. After 5th Period I went down to the donuts shop and got myself a tea and waited to be picked up. My mentor arrived and we proceeded to talk about what I would be doing that day. He would give me a basic Taxes 101 and Business 101 lesson to understand more about finances. I was quite ecstatic because instead of going to the same kind of seminar over and over, I would be given scenarios to apply what I'v learned.
By the second hour we have started my mentor's errands of picking up his mother from church and so along the way we talked business. Since I mentioned I go to the donuts shop a lot for tea he asked if I was familiar with the owners. Unfortunately not, because connecting with business owners are the main parts about being an agent for Worth Unlimited. It is about networking and connecting with others to get their interests out and see if they have the drive to become and agent or take a look at the software. We then went to Starbucks to kill some time and we talked more about businesses and their strategies in gaining customers. The main topic was the Starbucks drink sizes that trick people into paying less or more, tall is the small, and Grande is the large, and how it could confuse people.
Third and fourth hour after dropping of his mother we went on down to the office. Along the way my mentor told me about a scenario that he had just encountered when showing the product to a customer. He was a 50 year old accountant married to his 50 year old teacher of a wife with four kids, a junior and freshman in high school and two twins in middle school. The man and wife were being stubborn and he told me three main things were wrong with their arguments about not taking the program. First the man was afraid that paying his mortgage faster would include a risk of losing his money if the house was lost in a disaster. Second my mentor mentioned something that caused the wife to worry, and third was that the man threw his financial plans into a paradox. This first part stumped me for a while but I figured out that even if the man lost the house he was still responsible for the mortgage. Second was that with four kids and a 25 year mortgage at age 50 would leave no income at retirement so paying it off faster would be very beneficial. Thirdly was that by not paying the mortgage off ahead of time he would be taxed a smaller amount every year, however to get this smaller tax he would be paying more than he should so it goes against his whole "not paying it off faster" ideal. The second and third things took me quite some time to realize and I needed a lot of hints. By the time I figured it out we had been at the office for almost the end of the fourth hour.
The fifth hour we talked about being a business owner because by being an agent, you are an independent business owner essentially. You are your own boss because if you become an agent you are trying to gain commissions and there is no quota that has to be made. Essentially it was all about things I learned in Economy but I had forgotten about them so it was a good jog down memory lane. The most important were the start off costs, which was the agent fee for signing up ($149) which you would get back after your first commission if made within 30 days, and $20 worth of business cards for people to contact you with. Then there was just making connections and networking, which is my mentor's favorite part of the job, and finding out what makes people do what they do and to try and see if they are a potential agent or customer.
The sixth hour, his appointment came in, and he was around 50 years in age I'd say, an old Filipino man that had previous work with insurance and banks. My mentor would talk about what the program does, and then he would listen to whenever the man would speak and use what he says as an influence. I basically watched and saw how the man slowly turned and got more and more interested into the product.
By the 7th hour the man was interested and would be going to the next seminar which is on the 17th of May. Afterwards I went over with my mentor about what they talked about and how he convinced him because it was a hard convincing. He told me about the 4 types of people, those who take charge, energetic, lazy, or quiet. The man was a very take charge kind of guy and they are the most difficult to get on your side, but when they break they have such a good time and will agree with what you do.
The end of the 8th hour I got a quick review about what went down today, and helped my mentor pack up his papers and equipment for the day. It is a very conversational job and I am really interested in it.
As I am in dire need of additional hours with the year closing on in, I met with my mentor to observe the process he uses in recruiting people to be on his team in order to refer the Worth Account to others. The day started off as one of my routine days. After 5th Period I went down to the donuts shop and got myself a tea and waited to be picked up. My mentor arrived and we proceeded to talk about what I would be doing that day. He would give me a basic Taxes 101 and Business 101 lesson to understand more about finances. I was quite ecstatic because instead of going to the same kind of seminar over and over, I would be given scenarios to apply what I'v learned.
By the second hour we have started my mentor's errands of picking up his mother from church and so along the way we talked business. Since I mentioned I go to the donuts shop a lot for tea he asked if I was familiar with the owners. Unfortunately not, because connecting with business owners are the main parts about being an agent for Worth Unlimited. It is about networking and connecting with others to get their interests out and see if they have the drive to become and agent or take a look at the software. We then went to Starbucks to kill some time and we talked more about businesses and their strategies in gaining customers. The main topic was the Starbucks drink sizes that trick people into paying less or more, tall is the small, and Grande is the large, and how it could confuse people.
Third and fourth hour after dropping of his mother we went on down to the office. Along the way my mentor told me about a scenario that he had just encountered when showing the product to a customer. He was a 50 year old accountant married to his 50 year old teacher of a wife with four kids, a junior and freshman in high school and two twins in middle school. The man and wife were being stubborn and he told me three main things were wrong with their arguments about not taking the program. First the man was afraid that paying his mortgage faster would include a risk of losing his money if the house was lost in a disaster. Second my mentor mentioned something that caused the wife to worry, and third was that the man threw his financial plans into a paradox. This first part stumped me for a while but I figured out that even if the man lost the house he was still responsible for the mortgage. Second was that with four kids and a 25 year mortgage at age 50 would leave no income at retirement so paying it off faster would be very beneficial. Thirdly was that by not paying the mortgage off ahead of time he would be taxed a smaller amount every year, however to get this smaller tax he would be paying more than he should so it goes against his whole "not paying it off faster" ideal. The second and third things took me quite some time to realize and I needed a lot of hints. By the time I figured it out we had been at the office for almost the end of the fourth hour.
The fifth hour we talked about being a business owner because by being an agent, you are an independent business owner essentially. You are your own boss because if you become an agent you are trying to gain commissions and there is no quota that has to be made. Essentially it was all about things I learned in Economy but I had forgotten about them so it was a good jog down memory lane. The most important were the start off costs, which was the agent fee for signing up ($149) which you would get back after your first commission if made within 30 days, and $20 worth of business cards for people to contact you with. Then there was just making connections and networking, which is my mentor's favorite part of the job, and finding out what makes people do what they do and to try and see if they are a potential agent or customer.
The sixth hour, his appointment came in, and he was around 50 years in age I'd say, an old Filipino man that had previous work with insurance and banks. My mentor would talk about what the program does, and then he would listen to whenever the man would speak and use what he says as an influence. I basically watched and saw how the man slowly turned and got more and more interested into the product.
By the 7th hour the man was interested and would be going to the next seminar which is on the 17th of May. Afterwards I went over with my mentor about what they talked about and how he convinced him because it was a hard convincing. He told me about the 4 types of people, those who take charge, energetic, lazy, or quiet. The man was a very take charge kind of guy and they are the most difficult to get on your side, but when they break they have such a good time and will agree with what you do.
The end of the 8th hour I got a quick review about what went down today, and helped my mentor pack up his papers and equipment for the day. It is a very conversational job and I am really interested in it.
"Seminar for P&C Insurance Agents" Part 3
"Seminar for P&C Insurance Agents"
16 January 2013
Hour 3
This is the last section of the seminar. It is all about signing up to become an agent and refer the program to potential clients and get a commission for it. It is not exactly selling because you just know of the program and you believe it would help the person. That is why the people invited today were mainly insurance agents that dealt with people that would be in debt and thus the extra money incentive and the chance to get more references and clients. After I helped sign up some people to become agents and refer the program to others. At this point I cannot become an agent because I was not 18 at the time, but I did the computer work for that day.
16 January 2013
Hour 3
This is the last section of the seminar. It is all about signing up to become an agent and refer the program to potential clients and get a commission for it. It is not exactly selling because you just know of the program and you believe it would help the person. That is why the people invited today were mainly insurance agents that dealt with people that would be in debt and thus the extra money incentive and the chance to get more references and clients. After I helped sign up some people to become agents and refer the program to others. At this point I cannot become an agent because I was not 18 at the time, but I did the computer work for that day.
"Seminar for P&C Insurance Agents" Part 2
"Seminar for P&C Insurance Agents"
16 January 2013
Hour 2
Now the presentation has begun and it a basic introduction. The software is introduced as a financial GPS for easy terminology with the target audience is anyone with debt, big or small, mortgage or loan. Then there is the incentive for people to share about the program, no selling. This is the first part of the recruitment stage. Now there is some credibility established. Worth Unlimited started as a mortgage company in Utah in 1997. They began a test program in 2005 for people to pay off their mortgages faster and the homeowners were 20% ahead of the schedule to pay it off. In 2008 they received an Entrepreneur of the Year Award from Ernst and Young, one of the top companies in finances. This gets people interested and then he starts getting more in depth about how the program works. It uses no personal information, all that is needed is how much and when you are paid, the rates and cost of your loans, and your expenditures. Then it takes this info, throws it in some formula and out comes the expected date the loans will be paid off if the plan is followed. It tells you when to pay and how much extra to pay to the penny to efficiently pay off the debt. This is what amazes me about the software and why I continue with this project.
16 January 2013
Hour 2
Now the presentation has begun and it a basic introduction. The software is introduced as a financial GPS for easy terminology with the target audience is anyone with debt, big or small, mortgage or loan. Then there is the incentive for people to share about the program, no selling. This is the first part of the recruitment stage. Now there is some credibility established. Worth Unlimited started as a mortgage company in Utah in 1997. They began a test program in 2005 for people to pay off their mortgages faster and the homeowners were 20% ahead of the schedule to pay it off. In 2008 they received an Entrepreneur of the Year Award from Ernst and Young, one of the top companies in finances. This gets people interested and then he starts getting more in depth about how the program works. It uses no personal information, all that is needed is how much and when you are paid, the rates and cost of your loans, and your expenditures. Then it takes this info, throws it in some formula and out comes the expected date the loans will be paid off if the plan is followed. It tells you when to pay and how much extra to pay to the penny to efficiently pay off the debt. This is what amazes me about the software and why I continue with this project.
"Seminar for P&C Insurance Agents" Part 1
"Seminar for P&C Insurance Agents"
16 January 2013
Hour 1
First seminar of 2013, and second full seminar I have been to. The speaker for this event was Jason Brown. This is mainly an introductory seminar to recruit others into referring the Worth Account to others and be paid to do so because most of the attendees of the seminar are agents that deal with insurance or mortgages or loans of some type. My job is to be an attendee and to pay attention to the questions and problems people have about the program. This hour is basically waiting for all the people to arrive to the event. It is not a large group because this is a session for people to bring in and introduce to the next seminar next month, but they don't know that yet.
16 January 2013
Hour 1
First seminar of 2013, and second full seminar I have been to. The speaker for this event was Jason Brown. This is mainly an introductory seminar to recruit others into referring the Worth Account to others and be paid to do so because most of the attendees of the seminar are agents that deal with insurance or mortgages or loans of some type. My job is to be an attendee and to pay attention to the questions and problems people have about the program. This hour is basically waiting for all the people to arrive to the event. It is not a large group because this is a session for people to bring in and introduce to the next seminar next month, but they don't know that yet.
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