Meet Dana Artzer | Retirement Advisor Extraordinaire & Author of I’ve Got It Covered

We had the good fortune of connecting with Dana Artzer and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Dana, how did you come up with the idea for your business?
There are actually 3 factors. Honesty, integrity & knowledge As a Retirement Advisor, my clients & businesses always know that they can rely on me and trust the knowledge I bring to the table If you don’t take risks, you will never know the reward. I have been deported from Mexico, held against my will in Holland (rescued by the man who has been my husband for 25 years), Opened my own restaurant (then filed for bankruptcy a year later), started my own personal training business (B0dy Design by Dana) and now I have finally found my niche’ as a Retirement Advisor. Even though I have been through some pretty scary times, God has always been there with me every step of the way. If I would not have taken the risks, I would not be reaping the rewards! When I started in the Insurance/Retirement industry, I was completely lost. All I kept thinking was that if I felt like this then there must be thousands or even millions of people feeling just as lost as I was. It was then that I dove in head first and started to master my capabilities. Here I am 8 years later the CEO of Arizona Insurance & Retirement Services, I work with 20 different insurance companies I have over 500 clients and am working completely by referrals at this point. Life is a breeze if you will just do the hard work.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
I am an out of the box thinker. I know that Health Care, Medicare & Retirement are scary subjects and they are also extremely confusing for most people. I have found that you need to offer “info-tainment” in order for people to actually stay awake at a Medicare seminar lol. In 2014 I created The Cliff & Dana Show which was a comedy show about Medicare. Each year we would have different themes, costumes characters etc… Our seniors LOVED it! We traveled to numerous retirement communities and even some private home parties every year to educate people about the upcoming changes in Medicare. Unfortunately, due to Covid-19 we are no longer offering the show. The fact is, people need someone in their corner now more than ever. I pride myself on being a full service advocate to each and every one of my clients and many of those clients have become good friends. When I first started in the business, I found it very hard to actually get in front of a person to educate them so I had to be creative and think out of the box. I started “gorilla hunting”. That is going directly to the large business Human Resources Dept. and offer my services & seminars. Then after that is when I developed The Cliff & Dana Show. I have been the outside retirement resource for the Chandler Unified School District, Fountain Hills Unified School District , FRY’S Foods and numerous retirement communities for the past 8 years. I am truly blessed to be able to say I LOVE WHAT I DO & I AM VERY GOOD AT IT! I think the biggest lesson I have learned is that I can do anything I put my mind to. Let’s face it, I knew nothing about insurance, Medicare or retirement, heck I don’t even like to talk about any of those subjects! But people need honest answers to their complex situations and that is why I have totally immersed myself in doing what is best for my present & future clients. I had absolutely no idea how to write a book, market that book or get it published. But, I figured it out and I did it with God’s help! I have a fabulous story to tell that really began when I was in my 20’s. Now that I know how to actually write, market & publish a a book, I am getting ready to start on my first novel based on my life story. From running away from home (across the street) with my Barbie suitcase when I was 7 , at 8 I told my brothers best friend I would marry him when I got older (we got married when I was 21), divorced by 23, left with nothing but a trash bag full of clothes while he kept our daughter… I re-married a year later to be able to get custody of my daughter. We went to Ixtapa, Mexico on our honeymoon where he beat me up the first night we were there. After returning to California, I purchased an open ended round trip ticket back to Ixtapa, got to the airport and traded it in for a one way first class ticket… My adventure had begun….This is just a taste of what my life adventures have been. I would love to tell you more!

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
My bestie lives close to me and is very spontaneous just like me. We are 2 peas in a pod. We like to take the day to go hiking and explore new trails. She is very good at finding unusual places for us to go see. I love to go to abandoned houses, buildings and things like that so she will usually throw some of that in there too! We went skydiving for my 50th birthday, Las Vegas for our birthdays in 2020 and this year I believe she said something about hang gliding lol! You never know with us two!

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
My first shout out is to GOD! Without him, I would NOT be where I am today. My second shout out is to my fabulous husband Darby! You literally saved my life and have been my hero ever since! My third shout out would be to my bestie Dominique Dietrich. She was my mentor when I got started in the insurance industry. She has been there through all the ups & downs and trust me, in the beginning of this career there were a LOT of downs. They call us Team Double D 🙂 We are fierce competitors 😉 My last shout out is to myself! I have worked extremely hard to get where I am. There is NOTHING I can’t do if I put my mind to it! When I wrote I’ve got It Covered, I knew nothing about how to write, publish or market my book. But here we are 1 year later and I’ve Got it Covered is in now every state in the US, even Canada, Australia & the UK! You can see the story of why I wrote this book @ www.davapublishing.com. Oh yeah, I also created my own publishing company so I could publish my own book. The book & DAVA Publishing is all to honor my sweet mother Vivian Arleen Ankrim who passed in 2019. DAVA stands for Dana Artzer & Vivian Ankrim.

Website: www.ivegotitcovered.net

Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/dana-artzer-2b2b169a

Youtube: www.youtube.com/danaartzer

Other: www.davapublishing.com