IAM2479 – Founding Partner Helps Baby Boomers Navigate Medicare and Supplemental Coverage

Danielle Roberts

00:00 - 00:24

insurance is full of language like deductibles and co-pays and co-insurance. And a lot of people don't know what those things mean. So if you want to sell something that's really just an educational sale where people need it anyway, but you're explaining the product to them so that they can, you know, just not feel so overwhelmed. Lots of great businesses, that's what their business is about is explaining something that people don't understand and then solving that problem for them.

Danielle Roberts

00:24 - 00:26

And so that's worked out very well for us.

Intro

00:28 - 00:53

Are you ready to hear business stories and learn effective ways to build relationships, generate sales, and level up your business from awesome CEOs, entrepreneurs, and founders without listening to a long, long, long interview? If so, you've come to the right place. Grush values your time and is ready to share with you the valuable info you're in search of. This is

Gresham Harkless

00:53 - 01:02

the IMCEO podcast. Hello, hello, hello. This is Gresh from the IMCEO podcast, and I have a very special guest on the show today. I have Danielle Roberts of Boomer Benefits.

Gresham Harkless

01:02 - 01:03

Danielle, it's awesome to have you on the show.

Danielle Roberts

01:04 - 01:06

I'm so excited to be here. My pleasure. Thank you.

Gresham Harkless

01:06 - 01:21

No problem. Super excited to have you on. And what I want to do is just read a little bit more about Danielle so you can hear about all the awesome things that she's doing. And Danielle is a founding partner of Boomer Benefits, a national top producing agency that specializes in Medicare related insurance products across 47 states.

Gresham Harkless

01:22 - 01:47

Her team helps baby boomers navigate Medicare and choose suitable supplemental coverage. She's a member of the Forbes Finance Council, where she writes about Medicare retirement and personal finance and is also a past president of the Fort Worth chapter of the National Association of Health Underwriters. Her agency was recently named the 2019 Health Insurance Advisory Firm of the Year by Finance Monthly. Congratulations.

Gresham Harkless

01:48 - 01:50

And are you ready to speak to the IMCO community?

Danielle Roberts

01:51 - 01:52

I am. Let's do it.

Gresham Harkless

01:52 - 01:58

Let's do it. So the first question I had was to hear a little bit more about what I call your CEO story and what led you to start your business.

Danielle Roberts

01:58 - 02:19

Yeah, so I worked in staffing right after I graduated from college. I had a journalism and English degree and quickly found out that you can definitely not live on that and also pay back student loans. So journalism is a lofty, ideal career and a lovely thing, but you can't make a lot of money at it. And so I went into business.

Danielle Roberts

02:19 - 02:39

I got a job with a staffing firm and I worked for a really amazing entrepreneur. His name is Steve Smith. He runs Cornerstone Staffing here in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. I started with his company when he had five employees and now they have like a hundred employees and there's offices all over the Metroplex and really just learned so much while working in that industry.

Danielle Roberts

02:39 - 03:02

But after about 10 years or so, I had some burnout working as a district operations manager and staffing something you may know is that people are very unreliable product so you might put them on a job and they don't show up and then the client is mad and You can do that for so long. So I knew I had always wanted to run a business. I enjoy sales and and was sort of an entrepreneurial kid along with my brother.

Danielle Roberts

03:02 - 03:21

We used to knock on doors and wash cars and we sold earthworms to fishermen. Like, I mean, if there was a way to make a buck, we did it when we were kids. So a friend of mine had an interview, a group interview with an insurance firm. And she asked me if I wanted to go along because I had mentioned to her that I was interested in owning a business.

Danielle Roberts

03:21 - 03:44

And I thought, insurance, you know, It's pretty non glamorous, but sure, I'll go and just see what it's all about. And then I went to the presentation and totally fell in love with the idea. I thought it sounded like a great business where you can honestly provide help to people who truly need it. And at the same time, you can earn a good living and you don't have to worry about your product sitting on the shelves or spoiling.

Danielle Roberts

03:44 - 04:00

It's a, you know, a great business in terms of being able to start it on the side and not have to worry about some of the investment things. There's not a lot of startup costs. So I got my license, which isn't that hard to do in any state. You can go and get an insurance license.

Danielle Roberts

04:00 - 04:23

You can usually take a three day course and then take an exam afterward and The course is quite good to prepare you. I started my insurance agency by bootstrapping it. I literally drove out to business parks and knocked on their front door and asked them if I could quote their group health insurance and left my business card. I targeted small businesses so that they would be hopefully willing to give me a chance.

Danielle Roberts

04:24 - 04:46

And sure enough, they did. They would call me back when their group health came around and I started writing that type of business. That eventually evolved into selling individual health policies because sometimes the business owners would decide they couldn't afford to offer group health insurance, but they needed to set it up for their own family. And then what happened from there is people were asking all the time after I would set them up, hey, do you know anything about Medicare?

Danielle Roberts

04:46 - 04:55

Because my dad is turning 65 or my mom is turning 65. And that stuff is ridiculous. You know, it's so hard to figure out. So we went and learned how to do that.

Danielle Roberts

04:56 - 05:31

We found quickly that Medicare is a terribly big beast with four parts and 10 supplement products and way too many choices. One of those things that you learn about as an entrepreneur is giving someone too many choices is not always a good thing and definitely Medicare does that to the American public. So we learned how to educate people on Medicare and slowly over time we phased out the whole group side of our business and now we just work with individuals who are turning 65 and need help with their Medicare. We do education and we teach them all the things about what the government provides and that's how we make our living is to sell the supplemental products to them on the back end.

Gresham Harkless

05:33 - 05:38

Nice, I absolutely love that. I am too an English major as well, and I too

Intro

05:38 - 05:38

saw

Gresham Harkless

05:38 - 05:55

the journalism industry and where that's going, and I decided to do digital marketing websites, so go figure. But the good thing is that you need communication everywhere, and as you've definitely shown that, been able to grow your insurance practice, communication is something that you can use in every single industry, and it kind of sounds like you've been

Danielle Roberts

05:55 - 05:55

able to do

Gresham Harkless

05:55 - 05:56

that.

Danielle Roberts

05:56 - 06:09

Yeah, you can apply it to pretty much any career. So if you go to college kids and you're not sure what to do and you can't really find a major that excites you, a good old liberal arts communications degree is definitely something you can apply anywhere.

Gresham Harkless

06:10 - 06:29

Yeah, absolutely. And I love the fact, too, because I think sometimes I always say the the true measure of a genius is being able to take something that's complex and be able to kind of communicate it well to people that may not understand or maybe have so many other things going on. It kind of sounds like you're doing that for, you know, Medicare and those type of industries as well.

Danielle Roberts

06:30 - 06:49

Yeah, you break it down into words that they can understand, right? So, you know, insurance is full of language like deductibles and co-pays and co-insurance. And a lot of people don't know what those things mean. So, if you want to sell something that's really just an educational sale where people need it anyway, but you're explaining the product to them so that they can, you know, just not feel so overwhelmed.

Danielle Roberts

06:50 - 07:00

Lots of great businesses, that's what their business is about is explaining something that people don't understand and then solving that problem for them. And so that's worked out very well for us.

Gresham Harkless

07:00 - 07:11

Nice. That's great to hear. And I know you touched on, you know, some of the products and services that you guys have. Um, do you have anything more to add about that or what you feel kind of sets you apart and makes you unique or what I call your secret sauce?

Danielle Roberts

07:11 - 07:28

Sure. So in this industry, if you're working with the Medicare products, there's your traditional Medicare supplement, which is just a policy that pays after Medicare to take care of some of the things that you would normally have to pay like deductibles and co-insurance and co-pays. And then there are Medicare Advantage products, which are private insurance.

Danielle Roberts

07:28 - 07:53

So people can opt not to get their benefits through the federal government and instead to get those Medicare benefits from a private insurance company with a network. And that sort of rolls the whole product into one thing where you can get your drugs using the same ID card as you can go to the doctor. And that's very familiar to people. And then of course there's drug plans, um, which are super confusing in Medicare and we can sell those as well.

Danielle Roberts

07:53 - 08:14

And then we sell a little bit of related products like dental insurance because Medicare doesn't cover, uh, dental vision and hearing. I don't know why they figured that when they created a healthcare system that people 65 and older suddenly wouldn't need dental vision or hearing products. They need it more than anyone else. Um, but we sell some of those products and occasionally a little bit of life insurance too.

Danielle Roberts

08:15 - 08:42

The big thing that's been the secret sauce for us, and of course everyone who is a really successful entrepreneur, I think you know that the secret sauce isn't really the secret sauce in a lot of businesses. It's the same thing you might be putting forth a hard effort or keep going or persistence. But for us, it's been amazing client service. So, anybody who enrolls with a Medicare insurance policy, that is not the end of it.

Danielle Roberts

08:42 - 09:08

They will have claims get denied because the doctor miscoded the bill. They will enroll in a plan without checking to see that it covers one of their medications and then they're calling you to see Your UN agent then can help them switch to another product that does cover that. Sometimes they're standing at the pharmacy at four o'clock on a Friday and they really desperately need their medication over the weekend and the Part D company refuses to fill it. And these are all things that will literally make your hair fall out.

Danielle Roberts

09:08 - 09:09

It's so difficult to deal with.

Gresham Harkless

09:09 - 09:35

Yeah, that makes perfect sense. And it's funny, you hear across different industries, like how people don't value customer service or they take it for granted, but to do, and it sounds so small, but it makes such a big impact to be able to get back to the person when they call or pick up the phone when they call and be able to get them the right, you know, information or to the right people. Because a lot of times people just are looking for peace of mind and being able to pick up the phone and know a number and a person that they can talk to helps out tremendous.

Gresham Harkless

09:35 - 09:46

So I love that secret sauce. I wanted to switch gears a little bit, and I wanted to ask you for what I call a CEO hack. And this might be an app, a book, or a habit that you have, but it's something that makes you more effective and efficient.

Danielle Roberts

09:47 - 10:12

Okay, so I am a complete podcast junkie, and it has revolutionized everything I've ever done in my business. I was watching a training video on Leadpages, which is a software that you can use to create landing pages for your website. And they had an interview with a lady named Amy Porterfield. You may know of her.

Danielle Roberts

10:12 - 10:33

She runs a podcast called Online Marketing Made Easy. And in that podcast, she talked about Facebook ads and a little bit of marketing. And I was just, she was so helpful with the information that I immediately went and it was the first podcast I'd ever had. I had to actually get on my phone and figure out how to download this app called Pod Cruncher.

Danielle Roberts

10:33 - 10:55

And the very first month I ran up this huge data bill on my phone because I didn't know that you could just download the podcast. Instead I was streaming them live. Which very much upset my brother when the bill came in. And so and then of course I learned how to work with all these, but I have followed her podcast and that has led me to so many other amazing podcasts.

Danielle Roberts

10:55 - 11:08

And so one of my daily habits is when I get up in the morning and I'm doing my hair and putting my makeup on, I'm listening to a podcast. Usually can knock one out right doing that. And then I get in my car, I've got about almost a 30 minute commute and I can listen to another one.

Gresham Harkless

11:09 - 11:17

Absolutely. And thank you, Amy, for doing that. Well, no, that makes perfect sense. And like, yeah, definitely.

Gresham Harkless

11:17 - 11:23

Because a lot of times people listen to podcasts, they're on the go, they're doing something anyway. So you can just, you know, pop on headphones and then listen to

Danielle Roberts

11:23 - 11:24

whatever

Gresham Harkless

11:24 - 11:35

your guilty pleasure might be or any kind of business insight might be. So now I wanted to ask you for what I call a CEO nugget. And this is a word of wisdom or piece of advice, or if you can hop into a time machine, what would you tell your younger business self?

Danielle Roberts

11:36 - 12:03

My first thing that I would tell my younger business self is to feel more confident and not rush out and partner with people that you don't know their work ethic, which is a mistake that I made early on. I think a lot of new business people, it feels so much better if you had another new business person and you've got two brains, but unless you know that person very well, that can really backfire on you because I have a work ethic that was completely different. than the people that I originally partnered with.

Danielle Roberts

12:03 - 12:25

And also, they were of the mindset that we take home everything we bring in, and you can never grow your business if you're not willing to invest in your marketing. And my second piece of advice is run your own race. don't get into that comparison mindset. I have new agents in the business that find me on LinkedIn and send me messages all the time.

Danielle Roberts

12:25 - 12:56

And sometimes they'll say like, could I pick your brain for a minute? They'll ask a question. But a lot of times what I hear them say is, how can I ever succeed when there's people out there like your business and a couple of other call centers that are friends of mine actually in the same industry, but also my competitors and they're so overwhelmed at the fact that we write a thousand applications a month that they think that they could never get a piece of this pie and You really can't go into it

Danielle Roberts

12:56 - 13:27

with that because you're comparing yourself in this moment to a moment 15 years down the road with that business and You absolutely can carve out a piece of that niche for yourself. You can find an area of where you can stand out or a way that you can stand out, or you can just put good old elbow grease into it like we did. When I built that business, there were tons of people way ahead of me. There were agents that had been in business for 20 years that I knew through the association, and I remember thinking the same thing, like, I'll never get there.

Danielle Roberts

13:27 - 13:31

And of course we did, and we've been very successful at it, but we just started where we were.

Gresham Harkless

13:31 - 13:44

Absolutely not. I definitely would echo that. And a lot of times when you are, you know, staying true to yourself, no one can beat you at your own race, because if you are staying true and being authentic to yourself, then it doesn't matter what anybody else is doing, because they can't do what you do like you do.

Gresham Harkless

13:44 - 13:44

So

Danielle Roberts

13:44 - 13:47

that's right. Nobody else can be you. So you got to remember that.

Gresham Harkless

13:48 - 13:57

Absolutely. So now I wanted to ask you my absolute favorite question, which is the definition of what it means to be a CEO. And we're hoping to have different quote unquote CEOs on the show. So Danielle, what does being

Danielle Roberts

13:57 - 13:57

a CEO

Gresham Harkless

13:57 - 13:57

mean to you?

Danielle Roberts

13:57 - 14:23

I think for me, it has really in the end, it's resulted in being an example to others of what is possible. So I've noticed that as I have worked to grow this business and then put in the time and money to build the service team and seeing the client's reaction to that, We've taken that same approach and then addressed it with our employees. And we want for them to come to work every day and love their job.

Danielle Roberts

14:23 - 14:38

We want them to have adequate time off to spend with their families. We just increased their time off to three weeks as standard vacation here. We, at the end of every year, we look at our profits and we invest back into our employees. We often do pay raises or increase the benefits.

Danielle Roberts

14:38 - 15:11

And a lot of that is I want to be an example to them the same way that Steve was an example to me in my former career. I want them to see what is possible and what you could do if you started with nothing and then went and applied that. And I've told them all the story about sitting in my car in 2005 and getting ready to go into the office and being dreading the phones and having to pound the streets that day. And I remember thinking, I just, I can't wait until I have $500 a month coming in and this business, and then I'm going to be like the real deal, right?

Danielle Roberts

15:11 - 15:12

Like then I will be legitimate.

Gresham Harkless

15:13 - 15:22

Absolutely. And so I truly appreciate your time, Danielle. What I want to do is pass you the mic, so to speak, and just see if there's anything additional you want to let our readers and our listeners know, and then how best they can get ahold of you.

Danielle Roberts

15:23 - 15:34

Okay, awesome. I also read a book recently called Atomic Habits. It was really a good book. I think that, I forget, James something or other, but you could find it online.

Danielle Roberts

15:35 - 15:51

And that was really good at analyzing your day and putting in building habits out of repetition. It was a really interesting book and I've been able to apply some things there that I think have made me more productive. Highly recommend that book if you have a chance to give it. And then we're super easy to find.

Danielle Roberts

15:51 - 16:03

Anywhere you go, it's Boomer Benefits. So boomerbenefits.com is our website. I also have a personal brand website, which is daniellekroberts.com. So if you want to read more about the entrepreneurial journey, you can check that out.

Danielle Roberts

16:03 - 16:15

And on any social media, you can find Boomer Benefits. And on LinkedIn, you can find me at Danielle Kunkel, which is my maiden name. So feel free to connect. And I'm always happy to answer questions for other up-and-coming entrepreneurs.

Gresham Harkless

16:15 - 16:21

Awesome. Awesome. Awesome. We'll make sure to have those links in the show notes as well so that anybody can follow up with you, but truly appreciate you, Danielle.

Gresham Harkless

16:21 - 16:23

You're rocking and rolling, and I hope you have a phenomenal rest of the day.

Intro

16:23 - 16:35

Thank you. You too. Thank you for listening to the I am CEO podcast powered by CB Nation and Blue 16 Media. Tune in next time and visit us at imceo.co.

Intro

16:36 - 16:48

I am CEO is not just a phrase. It's a community. Want to level up your business even more? Read blogs, listen to podcasts, and watch videos at CBNation.co.

Intro

16:49 - 16:59

Also, check out our I Am CEO Facebook group. This has been the I Am CEO podcast with Gresham Harkless Jr. Thank you for listening.