Today we’d like to introduce you to Lela Smith.
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
My story didn’t start with a college degree, a perfect career plan, or even a clear picture of where I wanted to end up.
In 2009, right out of high school, I went straight into the medical field. I didn’t go to college—I went to work. I learned by showing up, figuring things out, taking opportunities when they came, and constantly pushing myself toward whatever was next.
In 2015, that next step took me into medical device sales. I was building a career, growing professionally, and doing what I thought I was supposed to do. I had stability. I had a paycheck. I had a path.
And then COVID happened.
I was laid off, and suddenly the security I thought I had disappeared. Looking back, that moment could have easily become the point where I played it safe. Instead, it became the moment that completely changed the direction of my life.
In November 2020, I decided to bet on myself and become self-employed.
And I wish I could say that immediately meant freedom, flexible schedules, and working whenever I wanted—but that isn’t how entrepreneurship works.
The beginning was a grind.
It was early mornings, late nights, uncomfortable conversations, networking when I didn’t feel like networking, following up when people didn’t respond, hearing “no,” questioning myself, and still waking up the next morning and doing it all over again.
But I learned something during those years: sometimes you have to give up a little freedom in the beginning to create a whole lot of freedom for your future.
And while I was building a business, I was also building a family.
I had both of my children during my self-employed journey. I learned how to be a business owner and a mom at the same time—two roles that will humble you very quickly. There have been seasons when I felt like I was crushing it and seasons when simply keeping everyone alive, answering emails, and making it through the day felt like an accomplishment.
But becoming a mom also gave the grind a completely different purpose.
I wasn’t just building a business anymore. I was building a life where I could have more ownership of my time. Where I could be present for my children without having to ask someone else’s permission. Where my income wasn’t limited by someone else’s idea of what I was worth. And where my kids could grow up watching their mom take a risk, work hard, fail, get back up, and keep going.
I’m still building. I’m still learning. And there are still hard days.
But when I look back at the 18-year-old who went straight to work without a college degree, the woman who was laid off and didn’t know exactly what was coming next, and the new business owner who just kept showing up—I realize that none of those seasons were wasted.
They were building me.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
When you start a sales-focused business, you are not always handed a book of business. Nobody guarantees your paycheck on Friday. Nobody is standing over you telling you to make the next phone call or follow up with the person who hasn’t answered your last three messages.
You quickly realize that you are the sales department, marketing department, customer service department, accounting department, administrative assistant, and motivational speaker—all at the same time.
And some days, that motivational speaker has a very difficult audience of one.
There were months when income wasn’t predictable. There were conversations I was sure would turn into business that didn’t. There were people who told me they were ready and then disappeared. There were countless follow-ups, unanswered calls, networking meetings, early mornings, late nights, and plenty of rejection.
And rejection feels different when it’s your business.
When you’re working for someone else, a bad sales month is frustrating. When you’re self-employed, a bad sales month can make you question everything.
Am I good enough at this?
Did I make the right decision?
Should I go back and get a “real job”?
Then there’s the comparison.
You see someone else hitting a milestone while you’re struggling. Someone else’s business seems to grow overnight while you feel like you’re working twice as hard just to move an inch. You see everyone else’s wins without seeing the years of work, rejection, and uncertainty it took to get there.
One of the biggest lessons I had to learn was that motivation isn’t enough to build a business. Discipline is.
You have to make the calls when you don’t feel confident.
You have to network before you have a success story to tell.
You have to follow up when you’re worried about being annoying.
You have to ask for the sale.
You have to ask for referrals.
You have to keep putting yourself in rooms where nobody knows your name yet.
And you have to learn how to hear “no” without allowing it to change what you believe you’re capable of.
Because in sales, you can do everything right and still not get the outcome you wanted. You can give someone your time, educate them, answer every question, follow up, and still watch them choose something—or someone—else.
So you learn to keep going. And eventually, you learn that consistency compounds.
One conversation turns into a client. One client introduces you to someone else. One networking relationship turns into five referrals. Someone you met two years ago suddenly remembers what you do and calls you.
Slowly, you start realizing that all of those days when it felt like nothing was happening were actually building something.
You were building a reputation.
You were building relationships.
You were building confidence.
You were building a business.
And did I mentioned somewhere in the middle of building all of that, I was also building a family.
I had both of my children during my self-employed journey.
Motherhood added an entirely different layer to entrepreneurship. There were seasons of building a business while pregnant, working around babies, daycare schedules, sick days, appointments, sleepless nights, and all of the unpredictability that comes with raising young children.
There were days when I felt like I was crushing motherhood but falling behind in business. There were days when business was going great and the mom guilt hit hard.
And there were plenty of days when I felt like I wasn’t doing either one particularly well.
But having my children also made my “why” much bigger.
I wasn’t building a business just to make more money. I was building something that could give me more ownership over my life and my time—the ability to build a career around my family instead of constantly trying to fit my family around my career.
That perspective made the early grind worth it.
Because that’s the part of entrepreneurship people don’t always talk about: the life you want later often requires sacrifices from you now.
In the beginning, you may work more hours than you ever did for someone else. You question yourself. You make mistakes. You learn expensive lessons. You hear “no” hundreds of times.
But eventually, if you stay consistent, some of those seeds start growing.
The phone calls become relationships.
The relationships become referrals.
The referrals become clients.
The clients become friends.
And eventually, you look around and realize you’re standing inside something that once existed only as an idea and a huge leap of faith.
Today, I’m still building. I’m still learning. I’m still setting bigger goals. And there are absolutely still days when entrepreneurship is hard.
But when I look back at the 18-year-old who went straight to work without a college degree, the woman who was unexpectedly laid off, the brand-new business owner trying to figure out where her next client would come from, and the mom trying to build a business in the middle of the beautiful chaos of raising two children—I realize something:
None of those seasons were wasted.
The rejection wasn’t wasted.
The uncertainty wasn’t wasted.
The long days weren’t wasted.
The uncomfortable conversations weren’t wasted.
Even the failures weren’t wasted.
They were building the confidence, relationships, resilience, and discipline I needed for the next season.
I used to think success meant reaching a point where things finally became easy.
Now I think success looks a little different.
And maybe the biggest lesson I’ve learned since November 2020 is that you don’t have to have everything figured out before you start.
Sometimes you just have to be willing to bet on yourself, show up when it’s uncomfortable, keep going when nobody is applauding yet, and trust that the work you’re doing today is building something your future self—and your family—will be grateful for.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your business?
Health insurance has a reputation for being confusing, overwhelming, and about as exciting as doing your taxes—and that’s exactly where I come in. I specialize in helping self-employed individuals, families, small business owners, and people in transition understand their options and find coverage that actually makes sense for their lives. I’m not here to throw insurance jargon at you or shove everyone into the same box. I ask questions, learn what matters to you, and educate you so you can make a confident decision. What I’m most proud of is that I’ve built my business largely through relationships, referrals, and trust—people send their friends, family, clients, and colleagues to me because they know I’ll take care of them. My brand is professional, but it’s also personal. You’ll probably see some leopard print, a sunflower, a little humor, and a whole lot of real life mixed in with insurance education. At the end of the day, I want to be known as the health insurance person you actually want to call.
Do you have any memories from childhood that you can share with us?
My favorite childhood memory is when my parents, my grandma, and I visited Jamacia. My dad was a new co-owner of a restaurant, and we were going to check it out and make sure things were running smoothly. While we were there, we danced, we ate, we rafted on a bamboo built raft and overall experienced the culture of Jamacia.
Contact Info:
