Cheers to 25 Years of Smart Choice

CEO Newsletter

Twenty-five years. It seems like yesterday, and also a lifetime ago that I was struggling to establish a small start-up company, in hopes of helping other independent agents like myself. Starting a new business is a huge leap of faith — one that not many are willing to take. There are innumerable risks, especially if you have a family to support, and it’s an incredible amount of work. It’s not just the day-to-day of running the business, it’s the work you have to keep doing on yourself to evolve and grow so your business can survive the natural changes that come with the passing of time. It’s countless hours spent planning and worrying, and days, nights, and weekends spent toiling at the office.

What made everything worth it to me — was knowing that I was starting a business that’s intent was to make other business owners’ lives a little easier. I always wanted to make sure that whoever we hired to join our business understood the real meaning of what we were trying to accomplish. In the early days, we spent many days and weeks around conference tables discussing the future, and all of the uncertainty surrounding our company. I realized early on the importance of investing in the people who worked for me – the people who became my family. I wanted everyone to work on themselves and grow too. Because if we didn’t all grow together and work toward the same common goals, then we would be siloed, and the vision would have never come together. We did things like take turns learning and presenting new technology, reading books together, going on retreats, and sharing meals together. We sent interns and part-timers to college, and if someone wanted to learn a new skill, then we sent them to classes to learn it. I told everyone they were free to sign up for master classes, workshops, conferences, and anything else they thought would help them improve and contribute to growing Smart Choice as a company. Many of those people are still here today — having started out in basic part-time roles, they now hold positions in upper management because they continued to grow and remain committed to our vision.

We often hear from our partners when they visit Smart Choice, that it feels special here, and it’s true. It is special here. I have stressed time and again the importance of investing in people and building relationships – and it’s something I believe we do well here. We have cultivated a culture of growth, and of doing the right thing for our partners. And we have continued to bring in the people we see who share those values and principles. But without our agency and carrier partners putting their faith and trust in us, none of this would have ever been possible. I look at where we’ve come from, and I’m humbled by the number of you who have been with us long-term, and those of you who have only recently decided to partner with us.

Smart Choice is here today because of the many special people who were and are dedicated to building this business. In this issue we have a featured spread of our employees and their years of service. It’s incredible to see how much growth we’ve seen in the last five years, and I think you’ll enjoy seeing how far we’ve come. This place has been my heart and soul — my family, my friends. In fact, we have a number of employees whose children were just in elementary school when we started up, and over the years they have come in as interns, and later as full-time employees when they decided they wanted to stay and be a part of this business. And to my great joy, last year, my own sons decided to join us in the field in California. As a father, I can’t tell you to amount of pride it brings me to see my sons joining the business to continue this legacy.

I don’t know who I would be without Smart Choice, but I know I couldn’t have imagined the amazing experiences I’ve been given, the number of incredible people I’ve had the pleasure of working with, or the number of lasting friendships I would form. I want to express how grateful I am to each and every one of you who have chosen to partner with us on this journey and to promise you that we will never waver from our primary commitment to the independent agents in the world as we move forward.

Cheers to 25 more years!