OAA is 20! And as we enter into our second 20 years, I'm really excited about the future. In fact, I think the future for the independent insurance agent is bigger in the going forward than it's ever been in the past.
You may know I've got a podcast called Uncaptive Agent, The Future of Insurance, where I've been interviewing people all over the country and throughout the industry. And what's really fascinating is everyone I've talked to shares my same perspective: I haven't found a pessimist yet! And so I'm super excited about the next 20 years.
I think that we've proven at OAA that together, your agency and all the others that are affiliated with us, we are the best group in the whole country at satisfying what insurance companies need.
We've been attracting smarter and better agents as we go along, and that's going to power the growth for everybody. At the same time, the OAA team has never been stronger.
We have incredible partnerships with our strategic partner carriers - we are not only their growth engine, but their profit engines. And that's going to continue.
So we were like every other independent agent, out there selling as many insurance products as we could, as fast as we could, looking over our shoulders and staying up at night, wondering if we're going to be able to keep the markets that we needed to stay in business.
Are you thinking of starting a business as an independent insurance agency? Let me tell you about our experience.
I went to a seminar called the dynamics of sales management in San Antonio, Texas in 1997, and I met this guy who was talking about just blowing it up in the insurance business. I was really intrigued, so I went to lunch with him and learned of this organization called Strategic Insurance Agents Alliance. The opportunity to become a master agency for SIAA was presented to my partner, Ken and I, but we couldn't take advantage of it because three of our five insurance companies had threatened to fire us by the end of the year if we didn't hit production goals.
And all those things together give me tremendous confidence that the next 20 years are going to be a lot better - I hope you'll be with us for the journey!