TRE:60 - Today’s show is a look into the insurance world with Lorena Tomasini. She and her mother run MALM Insurance in Miami, Florida. Lorena runs a podcast and a digital agency to help people like you and me sort out all the confusion of health and life insurance, and help us keep ourselves and our families protected. Get the full episode details and transcript: https://bit.ly/2YFo00O

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3 Main Takeaways:

1. Don’t give up too easily because there will be many things that try to stop you.
2. Don't put all your eggs into one basket. Diversify your income streams and opportunities.
3. At the end of the day, we do business with people. Not computers. Make it easy for your clients to find you and work with you online, and be personable.

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Show Notes:

2:34 - How did MALM Insurance come together? You said you work with your mother in this business?

• Lorena was studying business administration and finance in college and started working for her mom one summer.
• She really liked how she was able to help people fill out critical paperwork.
• It was much more than a sales job, as she had to approach it as an entrepreneur.

5:36 - How do you go about making insurance “interesting” for the clients you serve?

• They converted their business into a fully digital/phone service which made it way more convenient to serve their clients.
• She uses stories through her podcast to help people understand the value MALM provides, and to keep it interesting for people.

8:30 - What are all of the services you help people with?

• Health insurance to protect your pocket in case anything happens to you.
• Life Insurance with living benefits which helps people who have critical illness during life. It allows you to use part of your death benefit for your medical bills while you’re still alive.
• Lorena had to deal with her father getting cancer, and saw first hand how hard that can be on a family financially.

11:11 - How has the transfer to a fully digital insurance agency worked out for you?

• Lorena had to retrain herself how to conduct interviews over the phone instead of in-person.
• They leverage email and online signature tools to make things easier.

11:42 - You’re doing a lot of cool things in the insurance space with the podcast and the move to digital, and a lot of business owners are trying to figure out how to come online. Do you think your mother could figure it out on her own?

• Lorena says that while on average most agents in the insurance space are in their 50’s or older and they may not have the same technical know-how as she does, she thinks a lot of people give up way too early.
• She says to stay consistent, just be patient and don’t give up too easy.

15:22 - How long were you putting up content before you started seeing people come to you and started getting results from it?

• She doesn’t really track that but she thinks at least 6 months before people will really notice.
• They did land a big client from LinkedIn that saw their content.
• There are ways to repurpose your content and share it in different ways so you don’t always have to come up with new stuff.
• 30 views on a video may not seem like much, but in the real world that’s 30 calls she didn’t have to make (and probably a lot more due to the numbers game of cold-calling.)

26:36 - Perils & Pearls. What’s the biggest peril you’ve had to overcome as a rising entrepreneur and the pearl of wisdom you gained from that experience?

• Back in 2008 the insurance companies were hit very hard. They were providing mortgage protection insurance and when the housing crisis happened things were tough.
• She says she diversifies a lot more now and works with multiple providers to make sure she has options for her clients and also isn’t putting all her eggs in one basket.
• Your “why” is what is going to drive you through the tough times.

36:16 - What are some things as a business owner you’re excited about right now?

• Reaching out to new people and creating new “centers of influence”.
• There are new products and changes in health insurance that are going to be positive and will help people get better care.
• She thinks this changing time is going to help a lot of people switch gears and reevaluate their lives and careers.

39:51 - With your insurance, what areas do you serve?

• Lorena is bilingual in Spanish and English. She serves the entire state of Florida and also in Nebraska. She is also interested in getting her license in all 50 states.
• www.malmins.com or malmins22 on all social media. Call or text Lorena at 786-236-1719.

47:30 - If you could go back 5-10 years ago and sit down with yourself for 2 minutes, what is one pearl of wisdom you would leave for yourself?

• Do more than what you think you need to do and don’t underestimate how long it’s going to take. Be patient.

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Get the full episode details and transcript: https://bit.ly/2YFo00O

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