I own a health benefits consulting firm which caters to small companies, entrepreneurs, and non-profits, with 13 employees. We have 1400 clients. It's a mix of white collar and blue collar clients. We work on health insurance, dental insurance, and other benefits. Supporting the community is important me, I advocate the importance of lower health care rates on behalf of his clients.

EDUCATION | BS in Marketing from the University of Maryland in 1985, an MBA from George Washington University in 1990, and later a JD and LLM in taxation from the University of Baltimore

HOW TO GET STARTED | Nothing worthwhile comes easily. The road to success is long and it comes with many hurdles. A person should have reasonable expectations and understand that hard work will be necessary. Also, an individual must have a sense of urgency...time does not wait for anyone...

MUST HAVE TRAITS | A person must be persistent, moderately intelligent, compassionate, determined, able to read people, creative, and optimistic.

how I got started | When I got out of college - I had gone to the University of Maryland - I wanted to stay in the Washington D.C. area. My first job, though, was horrendous. It was in insurance and it was an awful experience. I never wanted to work in insurance again. I decided I wanted to go to law school, and went at night, and, however, wound up at a local HMO during the day. I finished law school, got my JD, took the bar, but decided law wasn't for me. I learned at the HMO that most people don't know much about their own health benefits and that's what made me want to do this. I wanted to help people. That was my approach.

why this job?| My approach is to assume the client, or prospective client, knows nothing about health insurance. Then inform them. People need to know what to do, how to handle, their health benefits. I can be their voice. No question is stupid, as far as I am concerned. Good health is important to a great life. The most common questions we get are about price - i.e. why is the premium so expensive? Other hot button issues include prescription benefits. Even if you are generally healthy, you may still have some regular prescriptions to fill from the doctor. Other questions concern catastrophic insurance. Will this policy actually work if I am sick or hurt? With the health-care debate in Washington, people are more concerned than ever. They want to know what will happen. Every proposal, every other day, has a different spin. No one knows what's happening and it makes them upset. We're in Gaithersburg, Md., just outside of Washington D.C. We have 13 employees. My wife is a partner in the firm too.

why I love this job!| I like people. Everyone needs to have meaning in their life. This gives me meaning. It's about making other people feel more secure. I also enjoy being able to work with my wife, even though we have different schedules, etc. Someone still has to pick up the kids from soccer.

my typical day| There's a lot of business to do. There are 13 of us in the firm. I get about 75 e-mails a day. A lot of customer calls. It's very, very intense. A lot of times I have new sales to work on. Or customers who are considering renewing a plan, or changing a health plan. Or I have to take a call from an irate client and walk them through a problem. Or take a call from a happy client who thanks me for helping him. A typical day can be all over the board.

what they are | The biggest challenge right now is the healthcare legislation moving through Congress. The legislation under discussion may completely change the system as we know it. That's the biggest thing right now. With challenges, there are opportunities. But we still don't know what the opportunities will be with this, or what the biggest threats will be. We have to keep up on that.

all about growth | All of this change in healthcare will create opportunity. We're positioned well, I think, for growth, should change come. A lot of my creative time is spent envisioning what will or what can happen.

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