Telesa Echols

I attribute my success to perseverance, never giving up, and learning from my mistakes. I teach my students that fail doesn't mean what the word sounds like - it means your first attempt in learning. We all learn by making mistakes. One of my most defining moments was with a student who wouldn't do right for anyone at all, and I could not allow myself to let this baby go down the wrong path without providing the help and support that I know I could provide. I started meeting him where he was at and talking with him individually. One day he told me, if you feed me, I will do better, I'll do my work, I'll stop picking. He said bologna and bread and mayonnaise. I got a refrigerator, put it in my closet in that school, and every day that baby came in and he did his best. I had no idea that he was hungry all the time, but once I found that out, that's one thing I'll always cherish - the moment that I realized that I could help this baby and do something and make a difference in his life. He taught me that don't give up, and I realized that I had to do something different with him, and I did. That was my most crowning moment I ever had in my life, my most defining moment, and that was in my first year teaching. I'm 15 years in now. I also believe that the more you give, the more you give back. I enjoy helping and not only just making sure people know the value of life insurance, I enjoy just educating people about what's out here and how to continue to help families grow and be able to succeed in life.

The best career advice and mentorship I've received came from Ms. Johnson, who was my mentor in my first year of teaching. The school gave me a mentor because I was in my first year teaching, and to this day now, I still call her and run things by her and ask questions about it. Ms. Johnson was very influential in my life, and we still talk to this day. I'll call and say, what do you think about this? What do you think about that? And she'll give me her suggestions or ideas. I love the idea of being able to bounce ideas off of other people, but she's been the most influential one. She helped me develop strategies to support challenging students and become a stronger educator.

Don't give up, that's the first thing. Do not allow mistakes or maybe setbacks keep you from continuing on your path. Set goals and strive to reach those goals. And when you reach those goals, set the next set of goals to take it even farther. And don't let fear stop you from starting whatever you decide you want to do. Once again, fail is just your first attempt in learning. Never let it stop you from continuing on.

One of the biggest challenges is time management and missed opportunities. We have to continue to be on the scene, per se, or out there, or exposed to more. There are so many opportunities out here that we just don't step out and get involved with. Taking advantage and creating the time to actually get out there and invest in your business, invest in yourself, can be a challenge when you have so many other things going on. If you're not managing your time well, you're gonna miss those opportunities to get out there and be exposed to more and be able to meet more people. People lack the awareness of urgency about what this industry can offer for them. The more exposure we have with the public, the community, we're educating people, we're educating families, giving them the information they need to make an informed decision. When I go to events, I tell them, I'm not here trying to sell you anything, I'm here to provide the education, and if you want any follow-up, then I have a sign-up sheet for additional information. Time management, exposure, and missing opportunities to get out there to meet and expose people to more educational materials that could help them and help protect their families.

The values most important to me are compassion, service, perseverance, and family. I believe strongly in helping others improve their lives and giving back to the community. I enjoy family time - I have 1 daughter and three granddaughters, ages 13, 10, and 5. I love family time when they come over. Like, they were over this past Saturday, and we have movie days where we watch movies together. I love horror movies, and my daughter and the oldest granddaughter, we three have to plan time for us just to find horror movies where we don't infringe on the little ones that's not ready for that. We pick days and times, and we go out and eat, and maybe catch us a movie. If we don't get together at one house, I don't go to her house, she comes to my house. I also care for my 76-year-old father - I wake up about 4 o'clock every morning, get my day started, get dressed, cleaned up, prepare food for my dad. He's sitting at the table by 5:15. I believe in intentional living - don't just be out here doing things, but do things intentionally where it has a purpose behind it. I've been reading books about successful leaders to empower myself, including Intentional Living, Laws of Leadership, and John C. Maxwell's Developing the Leader Within You 2.0. I also read different scriptures, going to different Bibles, and my Sunday school book where I research information. The rewards come naturally just from sharing, caring, and doing something, whether they're given on paper or handed to you or spoken out loud.