Man of the Tweeple

While in school, he became interested in radio, though, and changed his major to business. After graduation, he looked for radio DJ jobs all over the region — and wound up disappointed with the wages most of them offered.

“You hear these people on the radio and think they’re making millions, but there wasn’t a lot to be earned in the radio industry, especially to begin with,” he says.

So, in 1998, Schweitzer started working with his father, servicing agents at the firm where his dad worked at the time “to get my feet wet,” he says. He started taking taxation courses and spent a lot of time watching his father in action. “Having someone to work alongside with, day-to-day, who has been in the business, was a big help,” Schweitzer says.

And he insists it’s not weird working so closely with his family all these years. “We really are a family business,” he says. “It’s nice because we all get along, and it’s our business. It’s not like we have employees coming in just to punch a clock, not caring.”

Today, Schweitzer often finds himself feeling like the dad he grew up with. The career’s flexible hours allow him to attend his kids’ events and coach games — but often also mean nighttime catch-up sessions. “Growing up, our dad was always involved,” he says. “We never saw, though, at night, when we went to bed, that he was back on the phone, getting work done. And that’s kind of what I do now.”

Business 2.0

But Schweitzer’s not exactly like his father, considering he’s just as likely to be on new-school Twitter as he is on the old-fashioned telephone. He recently added a new client, thanks to a Facebook friend from high school who referred him to her retiring father. When Schweitzer asked her what made her refer him, she said he was just the first to come to her mind, since he showed up in her Facebook feed every day.

“I really find the social media does help us become part of our community and stay top of mind,” he says. “More people are turning to smart phones and Google to find you, and that’s only going to increase as younger people start needing financial services. If people in this business don’t make it a point to get on these platforms today, then they’re going to miss out.”

Schweitzer likely won’t be one of those people, especially now that he has an iPad. The device has already come in handy in his personal life — he used it to entertain his daughters with videos and games during a snowstorm power outage recently — but he also plans to use it for business. He’s working on more sophisticated presentations, but for now, he takes it out during meetings to show prospects his winning video and demonstrate various financial calculators.

“I can show them the calculations right there and then email them a copy of the results,” he says. “Instead of, you know, the old yellow pad or something.”

To view Jeffrey Schweitzer’s entry that won Life Insurance Selling’s LIFE NOW! video contest, go to www.LifeHealthPro.com/lifenow.

Corey Dahl is managing editor of Life Insurance Selling.