Surviving? How about thriving? - Medicare expert succeeds in going solo, despite COVID-19
Launching your own business is always a risky proposition.
Megan Canaday chose to do it in March – right when the coronavirus pandemic started heating up in the U.S.
The 42-year-old proprietor of Canaday Agency Senior Solutions, an independent Medicare insurance broker in Festus, not only has survived but thrived.
Canaday offers the full range of Medicare plans and options from all 10 of the major Medicare insurance carriers in Missouri.
“They are going to do everything they can to offer plans that are competitive and will work for their clients,” she said.
The Farmington native moved to Festus to start a Farmers Insurance agency more than 10 years ago. She shifted to Medicare consulting in 2016, working for Hovis & Associates, a longtime local financial services firm.
Then came her big move this spring. “My entrepreneurial spirit started peeking out,” she said.
The pandemic has mostly eliminated her usual face-to-face, kitchen-table meetings with clients. Instead, they meet over the phone and rely more on technology. Canaday uses the tools at medicare.gov, the official Medicare website, to design the right coverage for each client.
“Now (the pandemic) is forcing the Medicare-eligible (age 65 and older) to use technology in ways they haven’t, or didn’t want to use it in the past,” she said. “It’s surprising to me that they’ve been (so) positive about that. It’s worked well. I’ve only had a couple of people that I had to kind of hand-hold through that.”
She added that while the phone-and-online approach can require more meetings than in-person work, having that option has helped her start strong with her new business.
“I think it will probably change the future of how I do business, of giving that option. I think it’s for the good. And also on top of that, I think the carriers have really improved their ‘virtual’ ability.”
