The Level Up Podcast w/ Paul Alex
The Hidden Side of Health Insurance Sales — And How Mara Dorne Became the Industry’s Outlier
06 Dec 2025
Chapter 1: What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
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We lost everything. We lost six businesses, six months, the house, the car, the Rolexes. I mean, you name it, quick like that. Like a good wife, I went online trying to lower our household bills. I walk into this room that looked like a multi-level marketing scam. He's like, did you ever hear of this term called residual income? I was like, no. What is that?
Look, basically what you have to do, work really, really hard on the front end, and you get to live off the fruits of your labor. I went six months without making a paycheck. I had this introspective moment of like, it's not everybody out there like you. And that's when I went from making no money to making $92,000 in the next six months.
Hey, guys. Welcome back to the Level Up Podcast. This is Paul Alex. Guys, thank you once again. We are top three in all categories today. Today is actually September 2nd, 2025, and we're currently number one in business. Now, guys, we have a very special guest here. She has a very, very important message for all you female entrepreneurs and male entrepreneurs as well.
But she is the host of a podcast called BILF. Okay. B I L F, which is phenomenal. I love the name. We're going to go into that. She also is currently building her personal brand. All right. But also she is a powerhouse in the actual health insurance industry for having over 17 years of experience coming from no sales experience guys.
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Chapter 2: What led Mara Dorne to the health insurance industry?
So for all you naysayers that say, Hey, I don't got no sales. I don't want to do sales. This story is for you. Okay. In 2008, she actually lost everything. And we should be able to come back from rags to riches now and was able to build a life, what I like to call life by design. Okay. It's going to be a phenomenal interview. All right. Welcome to the show. How are you?
I'm good. Thanks for that intro. You made me sound really good.
I mean, you gave me the info. So I mean, I'm only speaking the truth here, but with that being said to my audience who doesn't know you, Number one, introduce yourself and give us a little background on who you are.
Sure. My name is Mara Dorn. My formal title, which is just a title really, I am a regional sales leader at an insurance company, health insurance company. And my background is exactly what you said. You know, life has a funny way of working itself out even when you think it's not supposed to.
Chapter 3: How did Mara overcome her initial struggles in sales?
So, you know, I come from South Florida, so I'm born and raised here. Well, not here, but a little bit further north. And, you know, my trajectory is I was supposed to be a lawyer. That's kind of what I thought I was going to do. I have both a master's degree and an undergraduate degree in criminal justice. So I thought I was going to be like Aaron Brockovich, who ever remembers who that is.
Chapter 4: What mindset shifts helped Mara achieve financial success?
But that's what I thought I was going to do. We do, we do. Okay, just making sure. So that's where I was headed. And unfortunately, in 2008, when I graduated, the economy had plummeted. And at that time, I was already newly married. I had my first child. And we were desolate. We lost everything. We lost six businesses, six months. We lost the house, the car, the Rolexes.
I mean, you name it, quick like that. But at that point, we were very young. I was 25 years old at that point.
Chapter 5: What are the essential traits of a winning sales culture?
And we were drowning. And like a good wife, I went online trying to lower our household bills. One of the highest bills at that moment were our health insurance premiums. Put an inquiry. And this girl comes. She sells me health insurance. I never thought twice about it. Boss calls me Monday morning and says, hey, you want to come to an interview?
I'm like, I thought this was like a quality assurance call. They were just checking to see how she did. And I walk into like this room that looked like a multi-level marketing scam. There was hundreds of people in this room and they were talking about insurance. And I didn't know, I knew nothing about insurance, zero. And they're going on and on. I jet out.
The guy finds me at the end of the hallway and he's like, well, what'd you think? I'm like, absolutely not. There's no way I'm doing sales. No. And he's like, did you ever hear of this term called residual income? And I was like, no, what is that? And he's like, look, basically what you have to do, you work really, really hard on the front end and you get to live off the fruits of your labor.
I'm like, no, this doesn't sound right. He's like, I'm telling you, but all you need to do is get your 215, which is your health, life and annuities license. And it was a lot more affordable than my master's degree. So I took a long shot and I started. I started in an industry that I knew nothing about. I didn't know that it was predominantly white, older male, had no idea about that.
And I remember like the first day I walk in, I'm young, 25 year old. I always say I'm like the hottest. No, but I was this young 25 year old girl that was, you know, ready spitfire. And I just remember the whole room looking at me like this girl's never going to make it. Never. And I wish that I could tell you that I did really well out of the gate, but that's not the truth.
I failed many, many times until, in fact, I went six months without making a paycheck.
Yeah, that's that's amazing. And that's amazing. Amazing story. So 2008, you go from losing absolutely everything with your former husband. And at that time, 2008, you're 25 years old.
Yeah.
OK, were you a stay at home mom and your ex-husband ran the business or did you guys both run the businesses?
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Chapter 6: How can women navigate a male-dominated industry?
And what was your mindset during that time? I mean, you're a brand new mom. You just got your master's and you were supposed to go to law school. You had all these hopes and dreams of being a lawyer and making it happen. And then for all that to get taken away –
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Chapter 7: What strategies helped Mara build a successful team?
What was your mindset? Were you like, okay, this is it? Like, I'm screwed. Like, walk us through that.
At that time, you know, there was no option. I mean, that's kind of the way that I grew up, that there was no option. And I had a child. So I knew that no matter what was going to happen, I had to take care of my child. That was like do or die. It didn't matter. So I just remember thinking, like, this is crazy, but I'll go back to law school. I'm going to keep going. I'm going to go.
It doesn't matter. So when I got into the insurance industry, I was kind of one foot in and one foot out. And that's why I didn't make money for so long. I wasn't fully bought in. I'm like, oh, sales, you know, it's very cliche. You know, I didn't grow up. I grew up either a lawyer or a doctor was a respectable career, not a salesperson.
So I was kind of teeter tottering like, you know, I still have other options when in reality I had no options.
And to go back to the sales portion, did you have a mentor growing up? Was it your parents? Who basically put you on that mindset of, hey, you either got to be a lawyer or you're nothing?
So my dad died when I was really little. I was six years old when my dad died. He was 38 years old. And young guy, young guy, young guy, not healthy, but ends up dying. We're on vacation, Thanksgiving vacation, dies on Thanksgiving. And I remember coming back from Atlanta. We were in Atlanta coming back to Florida. And my mom just being like she there she was like she just lost her husband.
She's left with this little girl. And my mom put on the face and it was kind of that mentality going forward. Like things happen. It's really sad. But no matter what happens, you have to get back up. You've got to put your face on and you have to move forward despite, you know, the pitfalls and the downfalls that are going to happen.
So I think I always grew up with that mentality that, yeah, life is going to happen. And I experienced it so young, but you know, what goes down has to come up, right? When you're at your lowest point, you can only go up from here. So I kind of grew up with that mentality.
So because your mother, your mother instilled that mentality in you. Is your mother your best friend?
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