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The Moment It Happened

Written by Aaron Pinkston, Tue, Feb 23 2010

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A few years ago, it happened to me. When people talk about a moment of inspiration, it sometimes sounds like Prometheus coming down from the mountain and throwing his spark onto an able body. Next thing you know, the roaring flames that cannot be quenched burst into existence. That is not how it happened.

I started learning about the insurance business as an insurance agent. I soon had a chance to manage a diverse group of over 600 agents. In my efforts helping them improve their business, I learned something crucial. I learned the most common problem they had was finding the right people to talk with.

Embarrassingly, It took me a little longer to realize that insurance shoppers had the exact same problem. Neither insurance shoppers nor agents had the tools to find people and know they were the right ones before engaging in the sales dance.

My moment of inspiration came when I realized that both buyers and sellers of insurance had the same problem. It came down to murky information. But I’m here to tell you that Prometheus did not visit me that day. Instead, I had been working for the last few months or so gathering tinder and kindling. When trying to light a fire by rubbing a stick between my hands didn’t work, I carved a fire bow. When that didn’t work, I needed something else. I had a hard road ahead of me at a time that was personally inopportune.

While working full-time as an insurance agent and finishing my college degree during nights and weekends, I finally realized that the problem was the same. I talked with other people I worked with, people in other businesses, and even my neighbor about the idea. They all latched onto the basic idea, but were quick to point out different problems. I wrote them down and addressed them one by one. With apologies to all the potters out there, now that I had a piece of clay, I could create something that looked pretty or something that could carry water. I wanted both but didn’t see how that was possible.

As our family began to deal with a health crisis, I somehow saw opportunity for the seed of an idea – that if the little bits and pieces didn’t start coming together now, in a concrete way, they might never. I worked privately on each problem and expanded the bits and pieces into something useful, only talking with others now about isolated parts when I needed specific insight or advice. Like a dried up sponge in water, I saw the project slowly take on life and shape. I realized that its usefulness was its flexibility and ability to let the water flow through it.

That, in a nut shell, is how Clarifinancial came to be. It takes time to learn how to build a fire and time to gather all the resources you need. Once you have those resources, you might not even know what to do with them. Even once you get the first spark, building it into something that everyone can see takes patience, skill, and humility. That work continues today.