While visiting family on vacation in Florida, I decided to tag along with my dad for his annual appointment with our family’s long time State Farm Agent. During the appointment she fired off a line of questioning and in the back of my mind I was thinking, this is starting to sound a lot like a job interview. She began sharing what the State Farm Agency opportunity was all about. She spoke passionately about the profound difference she is able to make in the life of her customers, and of the advantages running her own business afforded her family. Though I wasn’t looking at the time, I knew my current placement was a job, not a career. Thus began my reflecting on what the life of a State Farm Agent could provide.Soon after, I fully committed to my professional development and put myself in a position to one day become a State Farm Agent. Within the three weeks following that vacation, I relocated from Texas to Florida. While working through my two weeks notice in Dallas, I studied in the evenings and obtained the licensing required to begin working under the same Agent that sold me on the opportunity. The following four years spent learning under one of the top Agents in the enterprise flew by as fast as the previous three weeks. By the end of my first year I was fully licensed to sell everything State Farm offered, from securities to mortgage loans. The more I learned, the more I wanted to know. As I earned more responsibility in the agency—particularly in regards to recruiting, hiring, and developing new team members—I knew I had found my calling.I will always be thankful for the investment my family’s Agent made in me. From small businesses to small families, I am now able to play large part in making sure their live’s continue to go right. I call the chance that Agent took in me an “investment.” She calls it “paying it forward.” Regardless what you call it, I look forward to doing the same.