In the adjusting world, doing common things with uncommon attention and effort is an investment. It’s an investment in yourself, and an investment in your career. The uncommon adjusters I mentioned above will never lack for work, and guaranteed they command pay commensurate to their value. The message I’m trying to pass on in this blog post is that you can do this too. Coach Dungy points out that it’s a choice. We make a choice when we do the minimum, and we make a choice when we’re excellent.

There’s an elephant in the room, and we’ve been working around it for years. I’m talking about the “wild West” process of hiring a new adjuster. It’s a real problem. This difficulty of accurately assessing a prospective new-hire’s ability, and the lack of a viable, unbiased, meaningful measure of that competency has plagued the industry for decades.

To put this kind of damage in perspective, consider that only two hurricanes in America’s history surpass $15 billion in damage – Hurricane Andrew of 1992 with $23 billion, and Hurricane Katrina of 2005 with $45 billion (click here for the top 12 costliest hurricanes of all time). Hurricanes Ike, Wilma, Frances, Jeanne, Hugo – all have been surpassed by this spring’s weather.

Conclusion: if you wish to make $150k/year, your time is worth $255.68/hr! When you realize your time is worth $255.68/hr, it gives you a completely different perspective about how you invest your time.

Rather than rooting for more catastrophes, I’ve turned my attention to growing in my value to the industry. This way – busy or slow – I’m always in demand. I no longer feel desperation and the need to root for tragedy just fades away. It’s part of a life philosophy I’ve been consciously trying to adapt; being in control of and responsible for my life and the results of it, rather than feeling like a victim of circumstance (e.g. busy or slow seasons).

Not long ago, I asked a good friend of mine – who happens to be a CAT Manager for a large, national claims company – to give me a list of the “top 10″ things that bug him as a CAT Manager.  I thought you’d enjoy this as much as I do, so here it [...]

It’s my opinion that we can’t click with everyone, but we can sure earn their respect. Everyone’s in this game for results. Respect your Storm Manager’s job, and earn his/her respect by showing results.