If Monday becomes the heaviest day of the week, think about change

Introduce yourself in a few words..

My name is Nikolay Vasilev and since 2001 I have been an insurance agent.

In the first years of my career, I worked only in the field of life insurance, as my path went from agent, through team manager, to agency manager. 

In 2008, I focused my attention on health insurance. Initially, I was an ordinary “apprentice” at one of the big brokers and helped in servicing their clients. A year later, on the recommendation of my former CEO, I was contacted by one of the large insurance companies with a proposal to take over one of their life insurance offices to strengthen and develop it in the right direction. I fulfilled the commitments I had taken - from a fading office, I managed to build it up to an office with the highest average premium and the highest average productivity based on the number of agents. In 2012, I returned to the career of an insurance agent, while during this time I continued to develop health insurance as a main business line. Currently, over 90% of my portfolio is in this business niche, and my clients have been some of the global and European giants in IT sector and robotics. For 13 consecutive years, I have held the title of best agent in health insurance, and four times (from 2021 to 2024) I have been VIP agent for Bulgaria (premium income of 1 000 000 leva), and since 2018 for the CEE region.

Since 2021, I have been a volunteer at The Human Safety Net – a global volunteer initiative, with our efforts in Bulgaria aimed at supporting the activities of the Foundation “For Our Children”.

In October, I launched “The Bulgarian Dream with Nikolay Vasilev”. A completely independent event, with no corporate presence even as advertising and entirely at my own expense. 😊My idea is to show and prove to young people that there is a Path and opportunities for development in Bulgaria as well. The fourth edition is scheduled for 11.10.2025.

 

How would you describe your career in a few words?

I can describe my career in one word:

Cardiogram.
But as they say in the financial markets, the trend is upward.

What was the most important choice that shaped your path Inyour life?

It was the year 2000 when I made the categorical decision that I would no longer work for a salary and employment contract. I was fully aware and completely clear about what awaited me, because I knew what it meant to earn your own money, to build a market, and for clients to determine how much and what you know, i.e. they determine your worth.. When you say “I am worth and deserve more” you must be ready to prove it in practice.

I didn’t know that I would become an insurance agent. Quite by chance, I was connected with the sales director of the largest life insurance company in the world, we had two meetings and… That’s how it has been for 25 years.

What would you like to know at the beginning of your career, but no one told you?

They gave me everything I needed at that stage – training and adequate support. Everything else was my concern. The insurance agent, by the meaning of the law, is a free profession, de facto personal responsibility is my own development. And every help I received I valued highly.

How can a person understand which profession is suitable for them?

I don’t have a precise answer or recipe for this question. Everything depends on the personal qualities and desires of the specific person.

I have had people with serious resumes and experience come to me, aiming to become managers and even build insurance agencies. Only a few of them survived. In my opinion, before a person makes a decision, they should familiarize themselves with the specific field, taste the position firsthand before they make a decision. As I noted, I never thought I would become an insurance agent! I knew I wanted to receive what I deserved. I knew I didn’t want to work at a desk… This is also a choice – to reject things we don’t want to do.

Another option is to use the experience of a proven career consultant. In communicating with such professionals, a person can clarify their ideas and thoughts and more easily reach their niche. (there was such a practice before 1989, although it was very controversial)

Which skills according to You will be key in the next 10 years?

Technologies are already a normal part of our lives. My mother even learned to work on a computer at 60 years old.

I think that some of the most important and valued qualities will be the so-called soft skills.

I see how qualities like discipline, adherence to order and rules, responsibility, flexibility, critical thinking, abstract thinking, creativity, loyalty are becoming harder to find. And the employers I communicate with daily are primarily looking for this – people they can rely on and trust. Qualities that artificial intelligence cannot possess. 😊

How to build a network of useful contacts without appearing interested?

Everything in this life is a kind of deal. Even our intimate relationships. If we make deals “at any cost”, we have doomed long-term relationships to failure in advance. A person must free their mind and communicate freely and calmly, without the unnecessary tension that there must be some benefit.

This is very clearly noticeable in social networks. When someone starts to flatter me more than necessary, always agrees with me, likes every nonsense I post, that is an initial yellow card for me. In 100% of cases, when I refuse to take advantage of a product or service offer, those people suddenly lose interest in me, my posts, and the opinions I express. 😊

Be open, with a free mind, sincere, as it is fashionable to be authentic, create contacts without ulterior motives and you will be surprised how big the World is.

And perhaps two very important things – express a competent opinion only when it is competent! And do not use artificial enhancers to create new contacts. Be first and foremost human!

What is the biggest mistake you have made in your career, and what did you learn from it?

I have made many mistakes and still make them. There are no perfect people!

The important thing is to learn our Lessons and not to stumble over the same stone twice.
I have often overtrusted, made elementary but fatal mistakes in communication, I easily get fired up and make decisions under the influence of emotions… I struggle with some vices, others I don’t want to correct.  

How to recognize a toxic work environment and when is it time to leave?

There is a lot of abuse of “toxicity”.
Let’s start with the fact that first we have obligations and then rights. It’s good to first clarify the definition of toxicity and only then to reflect on it.

When someone intrudes rudely into my personal space – that is toxicity.

When someone undermines my personality – that is toxicity.

When someone creates intrigues – that is toxicity

When my manager wants me to fulfill my commitments qualitatively and on time – that is not toxicity.

When I am reprimanded for being undisciplined, ruining the team and/or not fulfilling my commitments – that is not toxicity.

And so on, and so forth.

On this topic, it is best for psychologists to speak.

What would you do differently if you could start over?

Every step, right or wrong, that I have taken in my life and in this business has taught me something. In other words, I am the result of all these steps. I am satisfied with what I have achieved and I would hardly do anything differently.

How to maintain our motivation in times of stagnation?

You cannot be motivated all the time. It’s like being constantly smiling. Personally, such people make me very uneasy.

I often compare motivation to the initial spark, when we start the engine. From then on, the driving and moving forward is taken over by the whole machine.

It is quite normal for a person to need…stagnation. Even I am in such a period at the moment. We can compare it to moving by inertia. A time to catch your breath, to look around, to clear your head… Another of my favorite maxims:

Step back to see!

(the Chinese probably said it before me)

…and when you rest, you will see and gain new strength.
 

How to achieve a balance between professional and personal life?

There is no such thing as balance!

For me, it is a scale that is in constant motion. It depends on which side the priorities will weigh. It depends on where one is on the Path.

Almost six years ago, my wife was the victim of a serious accident. Months of recovery followed. The moment I was told that she was injured, everything in my life changed abruptly.

When is it time to change our career, not just the job?

Maybe when we lose the thrill?

When you lose interest, desire, when Monday becomes the heaviest day of the week, when you see no meaning or pleasure.. Then you become a burden both to yourself and to the team.

If you had to give just one piece of advice to people seeking success, what would it be?

Goal – start –  patience - don’t stop.

When I have worked with agents, we have set their goals together. That is, these are their own goals and we have chased them together. Many have given up precisely due to lack of consistency and patience.

What is Your definition of a “successful career”?

Be where you wanted to reach!