<p><a href="http://www.freedigitalphotos.net/images/view_photog.php?photogid=345">Image: Carlos Porto / FreeDigitalPhotos.net</a></p>

I’m single this Valentine’s Day, and according to Romantic Comedy Law, I’m required to spend the holiday eating cookie dough ice cream, crying and adopting a 79th cat.

I’m not going to do any of that. Not only because I’m actually a dog person, but also because I’m pretty much single by choice. Why? Because I loathe dating down to the very core of my being.

Everything about a first date sucks. The requisite Starbucks meet-up. (Because nothing says romance like coffee breath.) The “Who pays? Should you pay? Do I pay?” awkward wallet dance. The inevitable weird story bomb.

It’s easier and 700 times more enjoyable for me to just spend Friday nights on my own — watching movies, taking advantage of the empty grocery store, playing with my dog, reading a book.

But, unfortunately, Mr. Right isn’t going to just show up on my couch. (And if he did, that would be utterly creepy.) If I want to find someone who likes to yell all the answers to “Jeopardy!,” make up stories about other people at restaurants, and re-enact the “Top That” routine from “Teen Witch” (or is at least able to put up with the fact that I like all those things), I’m going to have to get out, endure those crappy dates and meet people.

The same goes for producers. I’ve got to assume that meeting new prospects isn’t always the greatest activity in the world. It’s not easy, day in and day out, to chat up strangers — some hostile, some bizarre — in hopes of landing a client. I’m sure there are days — weeks maybe — when it’s easier to hang out in the office or go back to the usual client well instead of bothering with that dry-chicken-and-bland-rice networking lunch. I certainly wouldn’t blame you.

But avoiding it isn’t going to put dinner on the table. (Thanks to the industry’s high turnover rate, there’s no shortage of former agents who can tell you that.) And it’s definitely not going to help the millions of Americans who lack appropriate life insurance coverage and need your help. Many of the successful producers I interview regularly say the secret to making it in this business is to simply see the people — get out of the office, find prospects and talk to them.

So let’s both vow to start getting out of our comfort zones and meeting new people. You, because your career success and the financial security of many Americans depends on it. And me…well, because I don’t want to watch eHarmony and diet pill ads on Friday night television for the rest of my life.

Happy Valentine’s Day!

 

Corey Dahl is life channel and social media editor for LifeHealthPro.com and managing editor of Life Insurance Selling.