History of the Burnham System

      

The time:  1:43 am
The date:  August 18, 1976
The place: 297 Ashland Ave #21, Southbridge, MA

From a deep sleep, I sat bolt upright and, surprised, exclaimed, "with my help, any CPCU candidate can pass any CPCU exam."

And, with that thought, I started The Burnham System.

But, I then earned $10,000 per year and had no savings, so I needed funding.  So … I sought funding from my favorite venture capitalist.

"Dad, I've got an idea.  Here's the deal:  If you front me $250, I'll be able to get it off the ground.  If  I make money at it, I'll repay you 100% of the first year's profit up to $500.  If I don't make money, you'll lose your investment."

Dad ventured his $250.

In May 1977, I told Dad, "The taxman would say I lost money, but since I'm going to continue, here's your $500."

When the idea struck me, I instantly figured 12,000 exams times 20% (I thought I should easily be able to get 20% market share.) times $125 (price per candidate per exam) times 60% (To allow for my passing guarantee since every patron was guaranteed he'd pass--plus my expenses.) would leave me with $180,000.  I figured I'd be rich.

That first year, from August 18, 1976 to the end of May 1977, I worked over 100 hours every week. 
I had Thanksgiving dinner with my family.  I spent Christmas eve and morning with my family. 
I had dinner with my best friend and his wife one evening in February. 
I had no other social engagements.  I didn't date … not even once! 
I worked.  I ate.  And I slept … about 5 hours per night.

And I wrote The Burnham System for the entire CPCU.

In my spare time, I also prepared for and passed three more CLU exams.

You have no idea how deeply envious I was of Jon's mother whose retirement party I attended in June of 1977. 

I took the summer off except for my full-time job at Burnham Insurance Agency, which I'd had for the past one and one-half years.

That August (1977) I started all over again, improving The Burnham System, enhancing it as I could, and updating it to reflect the Institute's changes.

My first year's sales (about $18,000) improved slightly in my second year.

Then disaster struck.

The Institute junked the entire CPCU curriculum and started again from scratch with a much improved 10 part program.

In the third year of The Burnham System, my sales declined as I was only able to write 5 of the 10 new parts … including the then-impossibly difficult Part 8.  In the fourth year, The Institute junked the Part 8 and went to much easier, clearer books.

In order to focus on The Burnham System, I left work at Burnham Insurance Agency on 12/31/79.

The next big change was when I started Burnham and Nale Insurance Agency with Nancy Nale.  We opened March 5, 1984.

After 10 years (from 8/76 to 8/86), the annual revenues of The Burnham System had only doubled--to about $36,000.

Then, maybe because the agency was doing well, maybe because I was dating seriously, maybe because lady luck decided I deserved it, sales started to take off …  and I do mean they took off. 
In three years my income went from being in the lowest 1% of all US workers to being in the top 1%.

In 1989, I decided to expand my course offerings. 
First, I added INS 21, 22, and 23.  Then ARM 54, 55, and 56.  Then AIC 33, 34, 35, and 36. 
And I just kept adding courses until finally in fall of 1998, I'd prepared The Burnham System for all 60 of the Institutes' courses and all 5 CIC courses and had started on the CLU/ChFC courses. 
In fact, from 8/97 to 8/98 I added 21 new courses!

Over the years, there were many other changes at The Burnham System. 
In 1980, I switched from photocopies of pages I typed on a correcting Selectric to a Radio Shack computer using Scripsit for word processing with a 55 cps impact printer. 
And, Midge did my typing -- or at least most of it. 
Every day she came home from work and typed what I'd written and made corrections as I rewrote my own writing.

Then in 1989, I switched from Radio Shack to an Intel 286 computer with Professional Write word processing. 
Then, in 1994, we switched to Microsoft Word. 
At that point I stopped typing and my staff did the typing of my material and corrections for me. 
In 1992, we had a customer data base (based on Foxpro, designed for us) and I had our system made Y2K compliant. 
 

In 2004, we  upgraded our database again to help us provide even better service. 
Our database provides an even greater level of security with your personal information and enables my staff to provide you with the service you've come to expect in a timely manner.

Today, I work on a laptop that goes everywhere I go, I communicate with my staff and clients by email, and keep over 70 courses up to date.

Life is good.

 

 

 
   

I wish you, my patrons, every success ... always,

Ray

 

If you have any comments or suggestions to make,
please feel free to contact us. 

Just click here! 

 

 

 

  

For immediate assistance, please call 1-888-BURNHAM (1-888-287-6426) or email my office at info@BurnhamSystem.com or email me directly at Ray@BurnhamSystem.com.

 

Last updated:  05/19/2009