IBFM Spotlight

THE REWARD OF FREEDOM

As we celebrate another milestone in our journey, we shine a spotlight on one of our esteemed colleagues who has been an integral part of our company’s success story for the past seven years. With dedication and perseverance, Paul has not only contributed significantly to our organization’s growth but has also savored the myriad perks and rewards that come with being a valued member of our family. As we delve into Paul’s journey, we uncover the essence of fulfillment and satisfaction that resonates through the history of our workplace, reflecting the true spirit of commitment and passion. Join us as we applaud Paul’s achievements and delve into the enriching experiences that define our vibrant workplace culture.

We asked Paul about his life before InsBOSS and what that was like.

“Before InsBOSS, it was challenging every day. I had to work quite far from my residence. Before I worked with InsBOSS, I was based in Quezon City and then I commute every day to Makati. That’s more than three hours of commuting back and forth. One of the reasons I chose the company is because in the beginning when we weren’t working from home, it’s at least a lot closer compared to my previous work, my previous companies in Makati and Ortigas. Commuting takes about 30-40 minutes. Before working with InsBOSS as well, I didn’t have a lot of wiggle room, so to speak, with the positions that I took. You have a specific set of rules. You follow it to the death even if most of them seem arbitrary. When you start with a position, it’s already predetermined what promotions you can take compared to what we have here in the company. There’s a lot of paths to your targets, the position that you want in the future. I guess the biggest difference would be the support in what you’re doing. Here, we’re a lot closer to the company owners, we’re a lot closer to our clients. You can talk to them personally. That’s something that you don’t really get to do with your common big corporations and other companies.”

Paul started with us on January 2018 and was recruited by he [sic] former coworker who was then working InsBOSS. Paul, who was employee number 5, started as a Virtual Assistant. He says he didn’t have a background in insurance but Joe and Chris were really good at training and teaching insurance even if you have no knowledge in the field.

He says they’re able to impart the general idea behindinsurance, the processes, and what it takes to be a successful virtual assistants

Paul, as many see him now, is an expert at what he does. He exudes an aura of sophistication and knowledge. But that wasn’t always the case as he says that the start of his InsBOSS journey wasn’t easy.

“It was challenging. I fared better here compared to my previous company. That doesn’t mean that it’s a walk in the park. You really had to work hard for you to be successful. In the beginning, since I didn’t have any exposure to insurance prior to working with the company, I was reading and struggling a lot.

Even after training, I’m still trying to understand the complete process. But as long as you’re motivated, you learn the trade with enough experience and dedication. Soon enough, I was promoted to Trainer, at least part-time in the beginning. I was still a virtual assistant for the first half of the shift. The second half of the shift, usually, I take over training. Finally, when we had enough people for me to transition my previous accounts, that’s when I became a full-time Trainer. Even when I was a Trainer, I was still learning a lot. I didn’t have any experience in insurance, and I didn’t have any experience in trading. But, I liked to tell stories. It was something that was natural to me. I like to break down complicated concepts and explain it to other people who have little idea of what those concepts are. At least that helped a lot because one of my passions really is educating and teaching other people. Fortunately, Chris has a ton of experience in training. He was my first mentor.”

“Chris and Joe were really instrumental to my success with the company. At most, we were four in the training team, but the people changed a lot. I was the only one that was constant in the training team. Before we formally became the training team, the learning and development department nowadays with our core members. It was only until I think two years ago that this team was formed. Most of the time before, I was the only one handling training. There were periods of time where I would have someone assigned to the department, but then either that person gets reassigned to a different department or some of them left the company as well. It’s just that I love this department that I was able to stick around. Fortunately, all those hard work and all those challenges paid off. Now I was entrusted with this responsibility to lead the Learning and Development team.”

Throughout his journey at InsBOSS, Paul has seen how the company grew from a handful of members to where it is now.

He saw how the company’s ethos evolved over time. As [an] organization, our Vision is to bring freedom to every life we touch. Freedom can be defined in many ways, but we simplify it by looking at freedom as having choices. The freedom to work anywhere, the freedom to spend time with family and friends, the financial freedom that comes with having a job and building a career. Paul is no stranger to the freedom we provide to our members as he recently spent some time in the US.

“I was there for three months. I stayed mainly in Longview, Washington State. I stayed with my sister and my brother-in-law. We were able to travel as well to Las Vegas and San Diego, California.”

We asked him if he was able to still do his work while he was there.

“Yes, definitely. Since our setup is not just work from home, work from anywhere actually. I was using a laptop. Even if I was traveling out of state, during my trips to Las Vegas and San Diego, I was still actually working due to our freedom schedule. I didn’t have to follow a fixed set of hours every day. It didn’t really affect my enjoyment of the trip. I was still able to fulfill my duties with the company. The flexibility of this kind of setup is something that you don’t really find elsewhere. It’s very rare to have this kind of freedom that allows you to do the stuff that you want. I’m very thankful for our management. They understood exactly what the employees needed. They’re very pro-employee in their approach to managing.”

We also asked him if he thinks this is something other IBFMs would be able to enjoy.

“I believe so. It depends on their roles. Of course, if you’re working with a client, with your broker or your agent, you’re bound by a fixed schedule. But still, you can travel. It’s just a matter of adjusting to the time zones. If you can talk to your client, you can have those flexibilities. There are some tests that are not time sensitive. I guess that depends on your arrangement as well as your client. For other support roles, I don’t see any problems with most positions in the support team. Especially if you’re not in operations. I believe that’s something that is being enjoyed by other family members as well, not just me. I know a few who already traveled as well outside the country while still fulfilling their obligations with the company.”

When asked about what he thinks of our vision of freedom, he mentioned what the Execs have said in the past that the primary investment of the company is with the employees.

“They take care of their employees in such a way that they really want us to have a better life. We’re living in a developing country, but at least it’s a start for us to have something that you usually see only with other developed countries like this kind of work schedule. They’re very forward-thinking. One of those aspects is freedom. Freedom means more choices. It means you don’t have to worry a lot about the stuff that you might miss out on if you’re working on a strict schedule. Or you’re

working on the traditional schedule similar to most companies. For me, that’s a big deal. Even though we might not have the highest salary, we’re probably at the median. We’re not too high and not too low. But the freedom that you get, working from home, working from anywhere, the time that you save from commuting and other stuff related to commuting to work. You can use those in other areas of your life to improve, to get additional time with your family. It’s worth it even if you’re probably not earning as much, but it’s the balance of work and life basically.”

Before we wrapped up our interview, we asked him one last question, “What message do you have for other IBFMs and how can they enjoy the freedom we provide?”

He responded with, “As Peter Parker’s uncle once said, with great power comes great responsibility. Don’t take this for granted. It’s only going to work if we make this work, if we do our part. And you don’t abuse this freedom, then you continue to get to have this kind of freedom. Even though we might be a little less strict in some aspects of our responsibilities, our tasks, it doesn’t give us the right to slack off. It doesn’t mean that we’re just going to coast with our work. All we still have to do is do your best for your clients or for your team. And if that is what your supervisors or your managers see, the company will reward you as well. So always, despite all the freedom that we get in this kind of schedule, we have to cherish it. We have to make sure that we take care of everything so that we get to continue to enjoy the benefits of this kind of setup.”