Starting your own business and becoming an entrepreneur means different things for different people. For Carl Schuessler, the entrepreneurial itch meant that he wanted control of his career, his future, and most importantly, himself, but he also wanted to help others. He took his background and his motivation to make things easier for people and created a business that focused on helping businesses fight the unnecessary costs of healthcare.
A Career Start
Carl Schuessler hails from Augusta, Georgia, but was raised in Macon. Early on, he was introduced to the meaning of hard work and dedication through his parents; his father worked as an OBGYN and his mother stayed at home to focus on raising the children.
Schuessler attended the University of Georgia, earning a degree in Risk Management and Insurance & Estate Management. Once he graduated, he knew that he wanted to do something different with his career. He started out at Northwestern Mutual as a Wealth Management Advisor. He helped clients by providing customized financial solutions tailored to their individual needs.
After working there for 14 years, Schuessler felt that he wanted more and wanted to make a name for himself. He started to feel that pull towards entrepreneurship and starting his own business; he didn’t want to feel pulled by the arm of corporate America, so he took action into his own hands.
“It was then that I decided to research all risk mitigation techniques on my own. What I discovered was a great entrepreneurial push to create multiple cost containment methods intended to attack small segments of the healthcare system. However, no one was attempting to bring all of these methods together into a common, cohesive plan of attack.”
In 2002, Schuessler started Benefit Strategies, LLC, and focused solely on insurance, risk management and employee benefit consulting. The company helps improve clients’ cash flow, saves them money and retains top talent with well-structured employee benefits and financial planning solutions. As Benefit Strategies began to take off, another company approached him. Lockton Companies, the world’s largest independent, privately-owned global insurance broker, went to Schuessler and asked him to join them. He joined the team, saying that he took on many cases and learned a lot; he was also still able to maintain his own business while doing so.
Eventually, Lockton wanted him to be more engaged with their practice and during his time there, he served as Vice President; at the same time, he was also coaching his kids’ sports teams. With balancing his position at Lockton, his own business, and his family, Schuessler realized that he wanted to build a business around his own lifestyle, rather than a lifestyle around his business.
Read the full article here → MEET CARL SCHUESSLER, THE FAMILY MAN WHO HELPS COMPANIES SAVE MILLIONS IN HEALTH INSURANCE COSTS
