Some industries simply make a profit, and others inspire and motivate everyone who comes into contact with them. We bet you’ve never thought of insurance as one of these, but there’s one company that’s on its way to making you reconsider. Ranked in Orlando Business Journal’s Top 25 Women-Owned Businesses in Orlando, Florida. Inspired Insurance is soaring to the top, and it’s no wonder considering the woman behind the brand, President Jessi Park.
For Park, she didn’t always envision herself working in insurance—quite the contrary. She’d gotten her degree from the University of Central Florida (UCF), and was working as a Director of Marketing for many years. One day, they pulled her into the conference room, and simply let her go. So, after many months of searching online, she was desperate.
Park made a profound and straightforward decision: to treat her current reality, however much it differed from her dreams, as a valid avenue forward in life, one rife with limitless potential for growth and accomplishment. She reluctantly accepted a job in insurance sales in January of 2017, after being on unemployment for five months.
Despite having fallen into the industry almost by accident, Park has managed not only to achieve success within it but to build a brand that’s reaching even further forward.
Opportunity Comes Unexpectedly
Park has faced numerous challenges throughout her life and throughout her corporate career journey. She worked during the day as an administrative assistant and went to college at night. After accumulating over 65k in student loan debt, the first job she was offered out of college was administrative assistant jobs making only $3 more per hour.
“It’s normal to have student loan and credit card debt and all these things,” Park said. “I actually was laid off in 2016, and that wasn’t the first time. No matter who I pledged allegiance to, it was always that I was seemingly disposable.”
For nearly half a year, she didn’t get any job offers at all. It was enough to make anyone feel disheartened. And while this could have derailed her life goals, Park didn’t let it define her future. Instead, she channeled her energy into finding and pursuing success wherever she was able, even if it wasn’t the place she wished it would be.
“I’m supposed to be a marketing director, not working in sales,” Park said. Nevertheless, she pushed on and decided to try a different approach. “That’s where my mindset had to shift,” she explained. So she found herself accepting a position in sales.
Faith and a Mindset Shift
One of the things Park had on her side the whole time was a belief in her own abilities. She knew she wasn’t being valued at her jobs that she had more to offer, and she was tired of feeling disposable. Once her mindset changed, she committed herself to reaching her potential and finding success in the unlikely health insurance field.
She progressed quickly in the field, though there were always challenges to overcome. Thanks to a healthy outlook and a focus on what could be instead of just what was, she began setting goals for herself. She worked steadfastly towards those goals and quickly achieved more than she’d even expected.
“I didn’t have family, didn’t have financial support, didn’t have anyone giving leads to me,” stated Park. She said that she realized that she could hit a specific goal with the same energy, so that’s what she focused on. “I gave myself 1.5 years to write a$1 million in sales, and I actually achieved that goal in eight months,” she added.
How Jessi Park Went All the Way Up
“Adaptation” is a word that comes to mind when considering Jessi Park’s life and career path. Her ability to see plenty where there only appears to be little is crucial for her personal philosophy and outlook. She specifically attributes much of her success in business and in life in general. She has cultivated an inspiring mindset of seeing beyond apparent limitations and finding the abundance sitting just out of view.
Aside from helping her personally, this outlook has formed the basis for a new business vocabulary. This was one of her own, in which the goal is not merely to sell but to help clients see—and achieve—something more significant than they’d ever envisioned. And her track record proves that all this “abundance” Park is seeing isn’t just a mirage. Once, she was $65,000 in debt and needed food stamps to feed her family. Now, she’s built a successful insurance agency in just four years; she’s living proof that a change of mind can change the future.
In signature fashion, Park eventually decided that working for someone else was too limiting. So she walked away from an $80K job offer to set up her own firm and expand and excel in the industry on her own terms.
Now, Inspired Insurance is a huge success, but Park has no plans to stop there. She likes to recruit and teach agents how to follow her lead and help them become as successful as she is.
So, what’s next for Park, apart from dominating the industry and recruiting agents worldwide? Well, she’s written a book, Soul Beneficiary, which hits shelves in January of 2022, one which will help others adopt her growth mindset and hopefully find similar success. She is also launching an online course to help agents scale their businesses and an apparel line too.
Considering her inspiring story, lessons learned, and the expertise she’s gained, she hopes to help professionals understand how to build a six-figure agency in as little as a year themselves.
About Jessi Park
Jessi Park, President of Inspired Insurance and author of Soul Beneficiary, helps thousands of clients find the best policy for them, carrying over 200 carriers to choose from. Think you have what it takes to lead with heart in the insurance field? Contact Jessi Park at www.inspiredinsurancesolutions.com/
