Halfbreed07 wrote:Hmm imagine what ppl would say if they found out about what happened to him in guardian general...
But he was a boss salesman!
https://www.guardian.co.tt/article-6.2. ... b6b37d764dJames Rose proves that persistence pays offby
20160518
This isn't really a rags-to-riches story; it's more like a slacker-to-success story. It's about how one young man decided to find purpose in his aimless life–and how he went from earning $25 an hour driving a truck to being among the top four earners in one of the nation's top insurance companies, in just 18 months.
The funny thing is, it almost didn't happen.
James Kerron Rose never finished secondary school. He went to class with a half-bottle of rum in his bag. He got into fights, often.
"If someone interfered with you, you could come to me and I would fix it. I partied a lot," he said.
He followed his impulses into trouble. His mother covered him with tears and prayers.
"It's not a good lifestyle," he warns. With all the negativity surrounding youth today, especially young men, Rose wants everyone to know starting off on the wrong track doesn't mean your final destination is disaster.
"I could have been one of 'those' young men. But I want them to know it's not too late. You don't have to start off on a particular path to be successful."
Rose studied Mechanical Engineering at UTT. He never finished that, either.
He drifted through life. He was trucking in a quarry in Valencia, when, out of the blue, his partner ground to a stop and announced, "You have to sell insurance!"
"He used to be an agent, and was an excellent salesman. He saw something in me." Rose, however, couldn't see that same thing in himself.
He resisted. "I didn't want to hear that. First, I didn't know anything about it, and second, there's a stigma about insurance. Nobody wants to talk about loss."
But his friend insisted that he offer his services to one of the nation's top agencies. "He literally took me by the arm and dragged me inside.
When I walked up those stairs, I probably wasn't the most polished. A man gave me a funny look...," he laughs ruefully as he remembers. That look alone almost made him change his mind, but he persisted.
"If I'm one thing, it's open-minded. I just wanted to find out how the company works," Rose said.
What he discovered blew him away.
"I could pay a premium of a few hundred dollars, and if something happened to me, my family would get a million dollars.
If I'd died the day before, all my family would have was $5,000. I wanted the best for my son. Sign me up!"
He began working with the agency on commission, but for him it wasn't only about earning, but about spreading his newly-acquired knowledge of financial management.
"I made sense to me; I wanted to see how many other people it made sense to," he said.
He was motivated not just by the opportunity to help other people protect their own families, but also by the desire to offer the best life to his five-year-old son and seven-month-old daughter.
He started in September 2014, and by December was Agent of the Month twice-over, both for the number of settled cases and highest level of commissions.
He was Agent of the Month four times, and was named Rookie of the Year... not just for his agency, but for the entire industry.
His achievements were so high that the top strata now seems inadequate to contain him. "The highest category for awards is 300 applications. I completed 600."
In his first year he qualified for the Million Dollar Round Table, keeping company with just one per cent of agents around the world, and bringing $2 million in business to the agency.
He was the only agent (non-manager) to qualify for the Chairman's Club Palladium, which only a handful of industry members achieve.
While most agents only see one or two potential clients a day, he has seen as many as six. "The company's mission is to eradicate poverty and create wealth... so why are you only seeing one person a day? What are you doing with your 24 hours?"
His workload has become so great that he is now assembling a team of three or four young agents to support him.
Rose's easy smile and engaging personality, backed up by a sincere desire to help clients prepare for their family and their future, is part of his recipe for success. "I honestly believe that the only reason some people haven't taken out a policy with me yet is that they just haven't had a conversation with me.
I can help them see how to create a legacy, to understand the value of their dollar. Why work for 40 years of your life and put aside nothing?"
Determined to leave the folly of his youth behind him, he has dropped "Kerron", the name by which his beleaguered schoolmates knew him, and is now known professionally as simply James. He is modest about his achievements. "Honestly, I don't really think of myself as doing anything spectacular, but people who know me from before always say, 'Wow, you're doing plenty!'"
Looking back at a photo of his youthful self is like looking at a stranger, and he's cool with that. "Everyone has a choice; either you want to do this, or you want to do that. There is no neutral zone. Right now, I just choose to do the better thing. And I haven't really tapped into my best... yet."
Roslyn Carrington
