Today we’d like to introduce you to Nichelle Jones.
Nichelle, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
I started my agency ten years ago after being laid off returning from vacation. I have worked as an HR professional, an insurance underwriter, and a large brokerage account manager. All my previous corporate roles position me to understand my clients whether they are HR or benefits managers, self-employed, or retired employees seeking health-related benefits on their own. I like the hands-on personal touch I can have with each of my clients, the ability to adapt to business or regulatory changes like the ACA, and being a personal advocate to retiring consumers who have been on employer benefit plans for decades and need personal advice and ongoing assistance with Medicare options and enrollment.
My agency also specializes is supplemental insurance plans like disability, international health, long-term care insurance. We also reach consumers and businesses where they are and growing and adding benefits and services as needs arise as one single source. Lastly, we have a variety of alternative health plans for those not happy with the current choices in traditional health plan markets.
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
Definitely not! The Affordable Care Act changed both individual and small business health plans causing my agency to shift and adapt to meet the needs of clients while also staying up to date as the regulations changed. Like many small business owners, I had to learn to concentrate my business on clients that not only wanted my products but also wanted a business advisor or personal advocate to guide them on an ongoing basis. Building trust and loyalty along the way has been critical to growing my agency and gaining referral business.
With commission cuts with the ACA, I was able to contract myself as an employee benefits counselor to large and national organizations for benefit fairs and enrollments, which allowed me to continue to use my 20+ experience year to a large scale audience on my schedule while balancing the needs of my smallest clients and businesses.
So, as you know, we’re impressed with Jones Health and Benefits – tell our readers more, for example what you’re most proud of as a company and what sets you apart from others.
Jones Health and Benefits provide relationship-based, customer service experience in developing health care insurance solutions that meet the challenges faced by Retirees, Employer Groups, and Self-Employed. We create, advise, and administer employer group benefits plans and related services for a variety of industries and companies’ sizes. For Retirees, we provide hands-on Medicare education, advice, and enrollment assistance, along with ongoing advocacy while they retire from the workforce. For Self-Employed, we become your personal benefits manager to make sure individuals and families have the best affordable health benefits secured.
Additionally, we provide non-traditional health plans for those looking for alternative options to their health care and wanting choice outside of the traditional insurance model. We service both traditional and non-traditional occupations with health, disability, life, and supplement insurance options. Based in Atlanta, we are licensed in several states in the SE to include Texas, North Carolina, and South Carolina. I am most proud to be a woman-owned business with ten years of agency ownership with over 20+ years of industry knowledge to advise and navigate my clients through their health-related benefits needs.
So, what’s next? Any big plans?
In the future, I want to continue to grow my agency by adding clientele and staffing. I look forward to life after COVID is defeated or treated like any other chronic illness with strong survival rates so we can get back to regular face to face engagement with clients and employees. A big change with Open Enrollment this season for 2021 benefit and health plans will be a switch to more virtual and electronic benefits communications and enrollment with limited in-person contact.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.joneshealthandbenefits.com
- Phone: 7706680797
- Email: info@joneshealthandbenefits.com
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