Career Opportunities for Working Remotely/Home-Based Businesses

I think we can all agree that the labor market post Covid has been difficult.  Even though the unemployment rate has dropped to pre-covid levels of about 3.6% there are still many workers who have been displaced for many reasons.  Maybe they left their post during the initial lockdown from the Coronavirus pandemic and have not returned.  Perhaps these folks found another job or simply changed careers.  If they were close to retirement age maybe they decided to retire instead of trying to find work. Maybe they were forced into retirement.  Whatever the case may have been, many people were, and still are uncertain about their jobs.  Certainly if you had the type of a job where you had to report to a specific location such as a Doctor, a Nurse, a Chef, or a Postal worker, that may have been difficult since you would have to adhere to all of the Coronavirus protocols in order to stay safe.

The best kind of job would be one you can do from your home.  This is why so many people have started home-based businesses.  They don’t have to report anywhere. They can walk from their kitchen to their home office.

Due to the high demand of home-based businesses and the need for residential properties the real estate market has been on fire.  It seems to be slowing a bit however the demand is still very high especially here in Florida.
One of the best home-based businesses in my opinion is my job.  I am a career Health Insurance and Medicare Agent.  I have one of those jobs where I can do most of my business remotely.  Within the Health Insurance and Medicare industry most, if not all of the Insurance companies allow the agent to enroll folks into Health Insurance and/or Medicare utilizing an e-Sign program.  For those agents that are familiar with and have embraced this e-Sign process they have been well rewarded.  The reason is simple.  The old way of doing business was to drive to the prospects home or office with your laptop computer and proceed to do business.  The new way of doing business using the e-Sign process, an agent can do far more business since he/she can schedule appointments every hour on the hour and have the opportunity to speak to many more people.  The e-Sign process allows an agent to help many more people than if they had to drive to their homes or offices.  Case and Point:  Before the Coronavirus maybe I would be able to visit 2-3 people per day.  As an agent that uses e-Sign nearly 100% of the time I was able to book anywhere between 6 and 10 appointments per day.  I had appointments every hour on the hour.  I embraced the e-Sign process and I’m so thankful that I did, and the e-Sign programs are very user friendly.  I noticed during the pandemic many people did not want to meet face-to-face like they used to.  Once Covid was here, remote business processes became extremely valuable.  People could now have their agent enroll them and all they would need is to be at their computer with an email account and an email address.  Once the prospect is at their computer, they can review plan benefits and enroll in a plan which is a very easy process.

So, how does one become a Health Insurance and Medicare Agent?  First you will need to determine if you are a sales-oriented person.  If you enjoy working with people on a one-on-one basis, you’ll probably be a good agent.

Starting out today as an Agent is much different than when I started. You will need to get licensed to sell Health Insurance.  You will need to contact an Insurance School and you will need to pass the course and the exam. The license you’ll need is the 215.  There are many schools to choose from.  Now, if I were starting a new career as a Health/Medicare agent I would probably find a good FMO or MGA.  These are Field Marketing Offices and Master General Agents that will sign you up under them and then you will get the much-needed support required when starting out as a new agent.  Once you feel you are a competent Agent you can always break away from these organizations and become an Independent Agent.  FMO’s and MGA’s have certain requirements so you would need to get all of the fine details.  This is usually the better option if you’ve never worked in the industry since there is a pretty steep learning curve.  If you plan to write Property & Casualty business i.e.: Auto and Homeowners, in addition to Health and Medicare I would probably discourage you from doing so. I would probably encourage you to focus on just Health and Medicare.  Perhaps you can find a P&C Agency and be their Health/Medicare Dept.  I’ve seen many agents align themselves with a good P&C shop and be the Health/Medicare professional.  You would have to be very proficient and knowledgeable about your business if you are trying to gain the customer’s trust.  If you are a good agent this type of arrangement can work out very nicely for both you and the P&C Agency since you can also refer business back to the agency.  In any case, if you decide to embark on a new career of course make sure and do plenty of research to make sure it’ll be a good fit.  Talk to agents that are in the business. That can help too!!

Call Gary to discuss your best options.

MediGapX is your source for Medicare and Health Insurance in Florida

GARY KORNBLUH, MEDICARE SPECIALIST AND HEALTH INSURANCE AGENT

561-305-5949 Cell 24/7
954-532-2060 Office
954-388-7801 eFax

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