THE INSURANCE ADVISOR

This was the case for Smart Choice Colorado State Director Olga Ivchenko , who was living in the Eastern region of Ukraine when the conflict with Russia began back in 2014.. Fluent in Ukrainian, Russian, English, German and Spanish, Olga opened a travel business.. I was hesitant because I had the agency, a new baby and was still so new, but I finally agreed and went to Territory Manager training at the home office a few months later.. and is now the State Director.. Despite all the dark clouds she’s endured, Olga’s family and Smart Choice have been the rays of sunshine that have helped her through it all – providing income, stability, and a place to call home.

state director

Sometimes, in life, the clouds roll in, and sometimes those clouds come in the form of tanks, bombs, and heavily armed soldiers. This was the case for Smart Choice Colorado State Director Olga Ivchenko , who was living in the Eastern region of Ukraine when the conflict with Russia began back in 2014.
Olga and her brother were born and raised in Ukraine. She graduated high school and went on to earn a Bachelor’s degree in International Relations and a Master’s in Languages. Fluent in Ukrainian, Russian, English, German and Spanish, Olga opened a travel business. She had met and married her husband in college, and they had a 2-year-old when, suddenly, the bottom dropped out beneath the young family.
“We thought we could just go on vacation for a few weeks – I packed one bag,” Olga recalls of her family’s decision to leave her home. “We had no idea the conflict would become that serious or last so long. I have never been home again.”
After bouncing around with friends and family, eventually landing in Kiev for a few months as it was further removed from the fighting, Olga and her husband made the difficult decision to leave their native country for the United States. Fortunately, her grandparents had been living in Colorado for some time and helped the family file the correct paperwork to come to the U.S. as refugees.
In the fall of 2015, Olga found herself in a brand-new country with a small child, knowing only her grandparents. She and her husband managed to continue to run their businesses remotely for a time; however, the difficulties with the difference in time zones as well as the headache of reporting income from a foreign country made them reconsider their employment options in the United States.
“I’m a work-a-holic,” Olga explains. “I was up from 11 pm to 5 am running the business back in Ukraine, then was up at 7:00 a.m. with my baby. We knew we needed to make a change.”
A friend of her grandfather’s suggested Olga consider the insurance business as she had the benefit of being skilled in many languages and would be able to serve a variety of clients.
“It was certainly not my dream to be an insurance agent,” Olga laughs. “But I thought I’d give it a try. The licensing and certification process was so very difficult. I remember reading the licensing manual with a dictionary right next to me because I had to look up so many words! It took quite a bit of time but, luckily, I passed the exam on my first try. If I hadn’t, I’m not sure if I would have tried again!”
Armed with her license and background running a business, Olga started her agency in 2018. She considered going the captive route but after reading the contracts, she was turned off by their limiting aspects. Having already been a successful business owner before, she was attracted to the independent model and set out contacting carriers to get appointments.
“They didn’t want me,” Olga recalls. “It was challenging and discouraging. They’d say, ‘call us back in two years when you’ve had some experience and an existing book of business,’ but how could I get experience without any carriers to offer?”
The need for market access drove Olga to begin researching networks . Her first call was with one of our competitors who also didn’t like the fact that she was so green, not to mention the steep up-front buy-in cost that she could not afford. Her next call was to Smart Choice and then-Colorado State Directors, Janet and Craig Olmstead.
“It checked all the boxes so I thought it would be a good fit,” she explains. “No up-front fees, carrier access, owning my book... I signed up in February 2018 and I have never looked back.”
Shortly after joining the network, Janet and Craig hosted a state meeting and asked Olga if she could stay a little longer after the meeting so they could chat with her.
“My heart stopped,” Olga said of the conversation, which she remembers vividly. “I could not figure out what I had done wrong. I was so sure I had messed up I was seriously considering other careers!”
Turns out the Olmsteads wanted to ask Olga if she’d like to become a Territory Manager in Colorado as they needed some additional help.
“I was super fresh and so new to the industry I wasn’t sure I should accept their offer, but they promised to mentor me as long as I needed. I was hesitant because I had the agency, a new baby and was still so new, but I finally agreed and went to Territory Manager training at the home office a few months later. I fell in love. Everyone was so nice, and it felt like being around family. I couldn’t be more grateful for all the support, especially from Janet and Craig.”
For over five years now, Olga has been successfully running the state of Colorado for Smart Choice and is now the State Director. She continues to run her agency and has hired two Territory Managers to assist with helping her Smart Choice agencies grow and be successful. She had a goal to hit triple digits in agency partners in the state last year, but when Russia invaded the Ukraine in February of 2022, she was focused on helping her brother and his family leave the country. When her family finally made it to Colorado in the fall of last year, Olga could finally breathe again.
Between the war and Covid, during which Olga gave birth to her second child, she has never forgotten how fortunate she is to have a career that helps her provide for her family. “I woke up every day during Covid just thanking God that I had a job when so many others did not.”
Despite all the dark clouds she’s endured, Olga’s family and Smart Choice have been the rays of sunshine that have helped her through it all – providing income, stability, and a place to call home. #J-18808-Ljbffr

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