I am so, NOT a Summer fan. I hate the heat with a purple passion. I am more of an Autumn in Edinburgh kind of person, to be honest. I really, really, don't like sweating before I wake up in the morning. I prefer to snuggle with the blankets a few minutes longer and then maybe talk to the dog about the possibility of getting up and taking her for a walk. Summer, to me, is way too much work to breathe. This summer, however, things are a bit different than they were last summer. I should back up and tell you what has happened to me just before, during, and after the big, bad, pandemic, so you'll understand my hatred of all things over 100 degrees Fahrenheit.
Before the summer of 2020, I worked from home, so being asked to stay home and social distance was really never a problem for me. What was a problem for me, was when the sales and prospects of insurance sales dried up and I was forced out of my job. The good news is, I had not been renewed as a teacher from the fall semester (why is that a good thing) and I was able to live off the money the district had to pay me because the principal chose to lie about me, and my union rep not only found the lie, she exploited it to the point that I was given full contractual pay throughout the school year. That would be until June 2020. Summer meant applying for jobs, working out, and getting prepared for another job where I would be questioned about what I brought to the table even though my 20+ years of being a professor weren't enough. Online work isn't "work" to many people. You have to be out there sweating it out or at least trying to make the best of the season...but I hate the season.
I began working for an insurance company sometime in March I think, but by June when they closed their doors. I was out of work and hadn't spent the money I was given, so I was able to live off of it until it went away, then I filed for unemployment, and we all know what happened then. Donald Trump was in the Office and we got not only our original money but another $300 a week to boot. Yes, the summer of 2020 was not bad! Not bad at all. Then reality hit, and I was forced back into the workforce, but just like everything else, no one was going to work. I was forced to work for literally half the pay that I was used to making, but at least I wasn't spreading germs you know, that so very much matters! It was summer again, out of work again, beating the streets again...in the heat again, driving and trying not to look like I was drenched after I left the comfort of my car's A/C. I live in Oklahoma!
Fast forward to the fall of 2021, I was again teaching, and again, I was lied about, but this time it only took about eight weeks! By the end of September 2021, I was placed on Administrative Leave while the school "investigated" the allegations about me being a serial killer or something to that effect. I may have exaggerated there, but it's for dramatics, and it works. I was lied about, I let my union rep know, he took the ball and ran with it, and in the end, I was released from duty, but paid through the entire year for being ridiculed needlessly and put through unnecessary duress. I had parents calling my house and threatening me because I write about murder. I'm a freaking published NON-FICTION NOVEL author, and my Master's degree in English Literature and another one in Creative Writing should have been a clue before they hired me, but the books on Amazon bearing my name could have been another clue! Here's a thought, when a teacher you're about to hire hands you one of her books to read and you KNOW she writes about murder, it shouldn't come as a surprise to you when a parent of a student is telling you so! Your answer is, or should be, "Yes, she's published, isn't that exciting?"
Anyway, by the spring of 2022, I decided to go back to work since I could do so. I was hired by a major insurance company that most have never heard of. They deal with catastrophic events; I wanted to learn to become a desk adjuster. I was promised I could be. I was not given that opportunity. The woman who hired me decided to hire her best friend and she terminated me after 30 days. No worries, I have good-ole unemployment to get me through the summer right? (and the last of what the school district owed me.) I should have written another book, I have no idea why I didn't. I just stayed inside and worked out, read books, and applied for every claims adjuster job possible. I was never hired.
A trading company hired me to be a financial back office person, with the promise to move me up onto the trading floor. That didn't happen. After my 90th day on the job, I was approached by two department heads to move into their departments. So I could not actually do that, my own manager fired me without cause so I couldn't apply for another six months. She had just made the Board of Directors and wanted to flex her little boo-bear muscles to the men she had beat out (paid out) of the position. They were furious, I was unemployed. This time, I took the severance and stayed home and wrote: "Of Kilted Pleasure". I didn't waste any time either. I put it out there and got it published!
About the first of February, I got a call from an insurance man who wanted to go full-blown Claims Adjuster in the future, and he wanted me to help him do that. OK. I liked the sound of that. I worked for him, examining claims before he submitted them to the actual Claims department. I have NO IDEA why he didn't go the traditional route of just learning the modules and putting in the time, but there are lag times in Claims, and he didn't want to just quit his day job. Well, it didn't take me long to discover his...shall we say... discrepancies? When I brought them to his attention, I was out of a job. Go figure. No severance, and since the unemployment claim from the last year hadn't run its course, I was FLAT out of luck! That's OK, luck is for the Irish. I have God! Jesus makes sure I'm OK. ALWAYS
I looked into becoming a full-time full-fledged Independent Claims Adjuster. Turns out it's not hard to do. You don't even need much experience either. That made me happy. I connected with over 200 employees from all the different agencies on LinkedIn. I found Chris Stanley at I.A. Path, Matt Allen at AdjusterTv, and Master Adjuster James Mathis; I call them the Three Amigos. Together, they helped me find the videos for training, the modules, the programs, and all the free stuff so I don't have to put out any money while I waited for the right to file for unemployment. I still had a bit of money in the bank, and my sweet daughter Laura took an outside job making more so she could pull more weight than she had in the past. Let me just say she has really stepped up to the plate on this one. So proud.
So, right now, as it sits, on June 2, 2023, I'm a licensed Claim Adjuster in the States of Oklahoma and Texas. I am State Farm Auto certified, and about to become State Farm Property certified. I missed the cert by 2 questions. I'll take it again after I learn how to measure a room correctly for new flooring. There are Facebook groups that help you, there are thousands of great people in the industry willing to help, and they give of themselves just for the asking. I am so happy I am making this change. I will be one who helps others as much as I possibly can. It's cliche to say "We are all in this together" but if the pandemic taught me anything, it's that we can do a hell of a lot more than we used to do for one another.
I don't say this lightly. It's no fun being broke. But, I've learned to live for so long on so little that I can do just about anything with next to nothing. I don't overspend. I don't buy things I don't need. I eat at home. I don't go anywhere. I am on the computer learning the industry from the time I get up until the time I go to bed, and it's OK, I may end up being "deployed" from my desk and working seven days a week and 12 hours a day for the next year, and I may end up working less; but the fact is, I'm finally able to say that my summer will be GREAT. One of the reasons is because I'm not stepping out into it, but other than that...I have a plan, and the plan is to drill down as much as I can to learn the auto claims side to a fine science. I'm learning to examine, review, estimate, and make decisions and I know more about my car now than I ever did. I KNOW what the 16 digits on my VIN actually mean!
I guess what I'm saying is, when you have a plan and it gets disrupted over and over again, and you can't figure out which way is UP, you can turn to self-employment as an Independent Adjuster with a minimal upfront cost. You can be hired onboard a company, or work for several at one time. There are too many options, and the pay is really really (no, seriously) really good. The average first-year adjuster without experience can make over $60,000.00 on the conservative side. No, I'm not kidding. The average first-year teacher in Oklahoma makes $36,000.00; let that sink in for a minute. The first-year cop in Oklahoma makes $44,000.00 with no experience but they have to have a degree and pass training. With the Claims Adjuster route, you don't.
Here, go here and see what it's all about: www.adjustertv.com (Let Matt know I sent you. He'll laugh)
Go here too: www.iapath.com (Tell Chris I say hi)
This is a field adjuster. I work from my desk in my jammies. People will send me photos of the damage.
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