Carla Santos Jackson

I definitely attribute my success to my hard work and my tenacity to overcome the adversities that have been placed in front of me. I've dedicated hundreds of hours of working overtime, working past 5 o'clock, working weekends. One of the things I've had to work on is never declining a phone call, never declining a text message, never declining an email, and always being there for my customers. That constant availability and dedication to my clients has been key to my success. Even when facing personal challenges like breast cancer, I've maintained my commitment to hard work and being present for the people who depend on me.

The best piece of advice I've ever received is to just be a little bit better than you were yesterday. It's about doing a little bit more than you did yesterday and doing it a little bit better than the way you did it yesterday. This advice has really stuck with me and I've used it in both my professional life and my personal life. I even tell my kids this every day when they go to bed: make it count. I think that's probably the best advice I could give someone professionally and even personally, because it's about continuous improvement and making each day matter.

I would say it's a wonderful career and it's very rewarding. That was one of the things I wanted when choosing a field - I wanted to go into something where I felt like I could help someone. I also sell life insurance, which is a field that's very rewarding in itself because you're essentially helping families deal with grieving a little bit easier, knowing that they're not going to have to worry about the financial side of things. For me, it's very rewarding. I definitely let anyone know that wants to join the field that it's a field that can be very flexible, especially for a modern-day mom with kids and a modern family. It provides substantial income where you can contribute to your household in that sense and also be present in your family's life. The amount of balance that it provides is incredible, and for me, that's been a huge factor.

The biggest challenge in my industry right now is dealing with rising premiums and the economic pressures people are facing. With what's happening in our economy, people are having to decide whether it's more important to have insurance or feed their families. That's really scary. The amount of people who are deciding to buy groceries instead of paying insurance and then getting into accidents is happening a lot more now. Therefore, our premiums are just going through the roof because of the amount of claims that are being made. It can be very challenging. Another challenge is that after COVID, a lot of companies have been going remote, and while that's become the norm, it's sometimes difficult when people want to communicate with me in person and it's just not possible. On the opportunity side, I think the biggest opportunity right now is in life insurance. People just don't know enough about it, or they think they have enough coverage, or they think they know what it is but they really don't. I think it's a huge opportunity to help educate the public. Life insurance can create generational wealth, and I think that's tremendously important. Our children and our children's children need to have something to stand on in their adult life because of all the damage that's been created in this generation.

The values that are most important to me are definitely accountability and integrity. Integrity is a big one for me, both at work and at home. I work in sales, so it's always important to have that integrity, and it helps build trust. Trust is another core value for me. I think you've got to be able to trust your team and the people around you. If people don't have any integrity, how are we supposed to trust them? Those values are a huge part of everything, and I think things don't really function like they should if those things are not a part of the machine.