NIU

Providing insurance quotes

Posted by Stacy on Monday, December 01, 2008 11:09 AM

“One day, son, you'll grow up and take over the family business,” my father used to say to me constantly. In his eyes, he was building a foundation that I would take over and cultivate one day when I was of age. It was his dream to grow old and look upon me with extreme pride as he told all his friends “he took over the family business, and look how he's thrived!” Sometimes I wonder if my dad lives for himself or hopes to live a more fulfilling life through me.

Like most sons whose fathers have dreams of living through their offspring, I wanted nothing to do with the family business. What is the family business, you ask? Selling insurance. See, I'm not the selling type. I don't get any fulfillment by making up insurance quotes off the top of my head then twisting the story around later when I'm wrong. I don't get a kick out of advertising from door to door, or doing it from behind a desk, either, or calling people to interrupt them during their dinnertimes or whatever they may be doing to see if they're interested in one of our great insurance package plans. And nothing about the necessity of insurance or receiving deductibles gives me a thrill.

Besides, I know (but won't ever tell dear old Dad) that his business isn't going to be nearly as lucrative in the coming years as he thinks it is. When it's as easy as it is to get an insurance quote, compare rates, and purchase insurance online, the need for smaller insurance agencies just isn't as great.

Plus, I need to live my own life. I've gone off to college, something Dad said I wouldn't need to do because I was “taking over the family business”. I'm majoring in engineering, which Dad thinks is going to be a useless degree. He thought I should major in something like English or Communications so I can improve on the areas he wasn't so good at. But English bores me and I'm too reserved for Communications. And I've spent enough afternoons and summers working at the insurance agency to have heard all the terms and plans and technicalities, and I'm convinced that I would be bored to the bone if it was the only thing I had to look forward to doing every day.

But I let Dad live his dream of his son carrying on his legacy. And who knows? I may have a change of heart one day and decide insurance is the path for me, if for no reason other than to please my dear old Dad.