Outside Our Comfort Zones
Newsletter – Monday, July 18, 2011
We have a rule in my family and that is when my brother Barry invites you to join him for an outdoor activity… be afraid, be very afraid! Of course Barry is the brother who kayaks whitewater in Iceland, bikes across the Alps, and cross-country skis in the Sierra Nevadas. He made his choices early in his life – and one of them was NOT to go into the insurance business. I am sure he made the right choice, but then I am also sure I made the right choice for myself as well. I love this business!
Last week, Barry, my kids, and I biked one of the many rails to trails routes in western PA and met our wives at the trail head for dinner. It was a beautiful ride – the wild rhododendron was in bloom and the river running next to us was ‘lazy’. Early on though, Sam started to fall behind the rest of us – and believe me, we weren’t going too fast for him! Realizing that it would take us about 3 hours to go 14 miles at that pace, I started to ‘urge’ Sam along. For the next 7 miles, we had a discussion about how young and healthy he is and how riding a bike on a 0% grade should not be that difficult for him. “After all,” I said, “Look at me, I am an old and out of shape guy and I am happy to be out on my bike.” Once we made it to the restaurant, he was proud of himself. I hope he learned that he can accomplish a lot if he sticks it out and goes outside his comfort zone.
It isn’t easy to push myself out of my comfort zone either. I want Tuscano to accomplish so much – primarily to be more effective when we are working on your business. I want to be better at attracting the business we can write. I want to build better relationships with the people in your office. I want them to feel they can get to know their Tuscano underwriters and trust them. Pie in the sky? Maybe, but if I can ask Sam to dig deep, and learn from Barry to aim high, then yes, Tuscano CAN Do It!
Many of you would like to know if there are any ‘sure things’ out there to be written and I always say "Yes!". Yes, we are writing a lot of restaurants, bars, and taverns, and we are hitting on all types of day care facilities, including adult care. We are also successful at writing water trucks, especially those hauling water to drilling sites. While you are at it, you can send us the contractors who are working on the drilling sites and the work comp portion of your accounts that no one else seems to want, though to be honest, the bigger the better. You can accomplish a lot just by sending your brokerage business to Tuscano!
Happy Trails!
