How One New Agency Owner Forged a Path to $6 Million and Counting

When Tom Wertish started his independent insurance agency, Options Insurance, he was also beginning a brand new career in insurance. With the support of his agency network, he’s been able to grow his business and expand into new lines at an amazing pace.

When One Door Closes

Before Tom worked in insurance, he worked for a mortgage company. During his time there, he moved up the ranks steadily – until the division was sold to another company and he had to lay off himself and everyone he supervised. Tom took it as an opportunity to switch careers, and insurance seemed like the logical choice.

“From my experience with mortgages, I knew that people don’t often have terrific relationships with their insurance agents,” he explained. “We felt there was an opportunity to start an agency that provided better service.”

With a former mortgage colleague as his partner, Tom began researching what it would take to start an agency. He considered going the captive route, but quickly dismissed that idea. “I wanted to have options for people, hence the name,” he says, referring to the name he would eventually give his agency – Options Insurance.

His path became clear with no policies, no customers and nothing except the “drive and desire to serve well,” as Tom puts it, he started an independent insurance agency. “Now we have about 2,000 customers and we’re growing steadily,” he adds.

Another Door Opens

To get to where Tom is today, he needed a solid business plan, so he decided to focus on a niche, and target preferred business. It was a solid idea, but there was one catch. “I needed to have preferred markets to do that,” Tom says, “so that’s where Mike and his Smart Choice team came in.”

Mike Miller, a state director at Smart Choice, became Tom’s ally from the beginning. “He believed in me and introduced me to our top carriers today,” Tom says.

Of course, Tom believes in options, so before he chose to work with Mike and Smart Choice, he carefully considered the network choices available to him. “We didn’t have a lot of money, and we wanted to grow our business without the weight of a big buy-in or an unlimited cut of commissions,” he explains.

He liked that Smart Choice capped commissions and didn’t take ownership of his book, all while giving him the support of industry experts and access to top carriers. He also liked that if he could find a small mutual or regional carrier that was not part of the Smart Choice network, he’d be free to contact them directly. “It really was exactly what we were looking for,” he says.

One other network seemed appealing…at least at first. However, when he took a closer look, he noticed some concerning issues. “They didn’t seem to care as much about our story,” says Tom. He also didn’t like the big buy-in or restrictions from using other markets, whereas Smart Choice allowed them to access markets outside the network as well. “It felt like there were a lot more handcuffs with the other network,” he adds.

In the end, Smart Choice seemed like the smartest choice. Laying the Groundwork Tom had a plan and the network support needed to achieve his goals, but he still had to put in a lot of hard work. “There was a lot of blood, sweat, and tears, and questioning decisions in that first year.” However, it didn’t take long before he started to see progress.

“Stuff falls into place gradually,” Tom says. “And then, just like dominoes, the pieces start falling in a good way. And before you know it, you’re busier than you ever want to be.” With Mike and Smart Choice’s support, Tom got more direct contracts than he expected. “We got access to a Progressive homeowners contract really early on,” he recalls. “It turned into a platinum contract with more profit sharing, better commissions and everything,” he says.

Gaining Momentum

Growing has involved a multi-line approach, which includes adding life, health and commercial lines. “We’re balancing our book, which is personal lines heavy right now,” Tom says.

Tom knew the homeowners market because of his experience in the mortgage industry, but commercial lines was something new. “We kind of tiptoed into it using the Smart Start commercial lines program,” Tom admits. “I loved that because you could have an underwriter get on the phone, with you or with your customer, and figure it all out.” Thanks to the program, he didn’t have to be an expert from day one. He could just focus on finding the opportunity and let Smart Choice help with the rest. “They made me look really good, and bigger than my agency was at the time,” he says.

Having numerous options has also helped Tom grow his business. When the personal market is challenging, Tom can focus on commercial lines. When admitted carriers won’t take on risks, he can focus on the excess and surplus market. “People are looking for solutions, and a lot of admitted markets have pulled back and are a little more cautious right now,” Tom explains. If he can offer solutions, he can win business, and with Smart Choice’s support, that’s exactly what he’s been doing. As a result, he’s even been able to tackle difficult risks, like a cannabis shop and a snowplow company.