St. Patrick’s Day, the holiday where everyone is Irish for the day and the green beer flows. Being Irish myself, I look forward to this day every year to celebrate my heritage that I am so very proud of! Many people participate in the joyous festivities every year. If you are planning on partaking be sure that you are prepared to have a safe celebration. First things first, arrange to have a designated driver. Simply put, do not drink and drive. No amount of fun is worth the trouble this can get you in and the harm it can place … Continue reading

February was an important month at VAST, as it was our first of many team-building seminars with Simply Superior Consulting. They are a leadership and organizational development firm located here in Marquette, MI. Simply Superior has helped guide our team in the past toward goal setting, and this year they were invited back to once again collaborate with all of the VAST employees. Prior to our meeting, each VAST employee individually completed a Meyer-Briggs assessment to determine our grouping of 16 varying personality types. This was eye-opening for most, and at the forefront of many conversations leading up to the … Continue reading

Every year the Zen Committee at VAST designs a special 12-week fitness challenge to encourage our team members to get the year started on the right path of health.  We develop a new theme each year as a fun way to get people interested and to laugh along with the scenarios we present.  For example, we’ve used “The Olympics” and “Mt. Everest” as themes in the past. The theme we chose this year is “The Oregon Trail” based on the computer game made popular in elementary schools in the 80’s and 90’s.  Team members have 12 weeks to move their … Continue reading

Value, by definition, is the importance, worth, or usefulness of something.   VAST team members hold great pride in bringing value to our clients.  Value is what we do at VAST, essentially it’s a big part of who we are. You may ask, how does VAST bring value to our clients?  And, what does “value” mean to VAST?  Let me give you some examples. Over the past year we worked with a client and several carriers to develop a safer system for their sprinklers in the case of a fire. Previously, the sprinklers weren’t capable to extinguish a fire completely by … Continue reading

VAST is very much invested in each of its employees in ways not all employers are. Being an employee of a company that truly cares about you in all aspects of life is refreshing and motivating. They care, support, and encourage you to grow not only in your career, but also as an individual. For example, what employer pays you to read a book?  VAST does! Each year, management carefully selects a book for the employees to read that is focused on personal and business development. Once read, you do a report on the book that helps to identify the … Continue reading

Being the “new employee” sounds scary doesn’t it? To explain the feelings I had, I would use the words nervous, scared, anxiety, or panic. Most people change careers a couple of times in their lifetime for many reasons. Some of them being more pay, moving locations, following a dream, or simply because they need a change. When I was looking for a new career, I was focusing on having the opportunity to grow internally within the company. I also wanted to focus more in business as that was my degree in college. Insurance wasn’t an industry I thought I would … Continue reading

Have you ever felt like you are so busy at work you just do things to get them off your desk (correctly of course J), but you may not actually have a deep understanding of WHY you are doing it?  The WHY behind the what you do is so important.  I’m so thankful VAST encourages taking time for business acumen each week. Otherwise, it may get lost in the stack of other things going on. Everything is so fast paced these days, including insurance.  The role of an account manager here can be so transactional, but it’s important to take … Continue reading

At VAST, we love any reason to celebrate, but who doesn’t?  Once a year, at one of our monthly celebration lunches, we celebrate all employees who have a milestone work anniversary that year.  Milestone anniversaries are every five years of employment.  In addition to ordering lunch in, we also put together a slideshow with pictures of each person.  Thanks to years of past events, social media, amazing spouses and family members, we are able to put together a photo slideshow (including some awesome music) that never disappoints! This year, we are lucky to be celebrating several employees: Five {5} Years: … Continue reading

Helping your employees maintain a healthier lifestyle isn’t as hard as it may seem. Many employers want to know what they can do to help keep their claims down and employees healthier. One good thing I feel that is beneficial is to offer Lunch ‘N’ Learns for your employees. This is an opportunity to enjoy a relaxing lunch while learning new techniques and recipes. Like the idea but not sure where to begin? Appointing a person or a committee in your organization is a great place to start! Here at VAST, we have a committee called ZEN that helps set … Continue reading

BEST PRACTICES – PRESS RELEASE VAST retains its Best Practices status, once again becoming a part of an elite group of independent insurance agencies around the United States.  This status comes by participating in the Independent Insurance Agents & Brokers of America (IIABA) Best Practices Study group.  The annual survey and study of leading independent insurance agencies documents the business practices of the “best” agencies and urges others to adopt similar practices. Since 1993, IIABA and Reagan Consulting, an Atlanta-based management consulting firm, have joined forces to study the country’s leading agencies in six revenue categories.  The agencies comprising the … Continue reading