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In honor of the late Zig Ziglar, I have been listening to his program, “A View From the Top,” for the past couple of days. If you haven’t heard it, it’s a great program chock full of timeless nuggets of Ziglar gold. One point that really struck me this morning was “you have to give to live”.

Now, I don’t know if Zig actually coined that phrase or not, and chances are he didn’t. Nevertheless, he eloquently rolled it up into a larger message about the joy that comes from giving. It caught my attention because the theme fits perfectly with the upcoming holiday season, but also because of something I have noticed about several independent agents I know personally: They love to offer a helping hand to those in need.

I know that’s not exactly the image of our industry, but it’s closer to the truth than they may think. The agents and advisors I know :

• Take their responsibility to look out for the interest of the client very seriously and act accordingly every day.
• Offer advice and suggestions to their colleagues through social media, articles, blogs, email and good old fashioned conversations with contacts acquired over their career.
• Are active in their communities through various fraternal organizations, charities, youth programs, local sports, fundraising drives, etc.

Obviously, some are more active in such things than others. There are a few bad apples too, no doubt. However, by and large, independent agents and advisors are caring and helping community leaders, neighbors and friends.

I had a chance to witness this first-hand last week. Our office hosted a fundraising event for a local Christmas charity for kids. We had an estimated 500 kids, parents, grandparents and others pass through our office for the opportunity to donate cash and toys for needy children, and to tell Santa what they wanted for Christmas.

It was an honor and a joy to be a part of something like that. I was very proud of our company and our industry that night. Special events like that occur every week across our great country, and local independent insurance agents and financial advisors are often right in the middle of them.

Winston Churchill once said, “We make a living by what we get. We make a life by what we give.”

I kinda like that.