For Belinda Beh, the profession of an insurance agent is often misunderstood – even by the agents themselves.
As a relatively new agent at the age of 27, Belinda believes many other young agents start out with a very wrong idea of what the job is about.
“I’ve heard of some who are doing this because they want to drive a fancy car, or to have enough money to go on holiday for three months and not have to worry about work or money.
“But I don’t quite agree with that approach. The journey of life is very long. Even if you can retire at 27, what will you do? It’s better to benefit others, to help people,” said the former marketing executive.
And that’s where Belinda finds the most satisfaction from her job – helping others.
“When you get to help young families with their financial planning, to see people benefit from what we do, that is very satisfying,” she said.
“It’s a service industry. We are always going around meeting people, or helping people handle (hospital) admissions and claims.”
Belinda joined Prudential as an agent after growing disillusioned with her marketing job with a telecommunications company.
Her job now still requires her to go “market canvassing” (going door-to-door looking for sales) twice a week. She still clocks in to the office at 9am every day for briefings, and on top of that she still has to constantly seek out referrals from friends and even strangers.
So it’s not all flexi hours with big money like some people think. Belinda says you have to work hard for it.
However, with the chance to help others and take charge of her own life, Belinda is more than happy with her career decision.
“We were told from day one that this is a tough business. But as long as you have a passion to help people – like they say, ‘mission before commission’ – then you will be able to make it,” she said. – By Ian Yee
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