Declaration of Independents: Courtney Jacobs

• By: Olivia Overman
• July 1, 2025

Courtney Jacobs

Owner

Insurance Done Right

Biloxi, Mississippi

Born and raised on the Mississippi Gulf Coast, Jacobs began her career as a financial adviser. When her husband became a State Farm agent, she worked for his agency selling life insurance and property & casualty insurance.

However, in 2018, Jacobs started an independent agency because she knew the independent agency world gave her more options. Jacobs has been working to grow her business over the past seven years while also being a member of the Air National Guard and serving her community through numerous organizations.

What’s in a name?

When deciding on a name for the agency, I wanted letters that meant something. Our philosophy here is that we do insurance right. As a consumer myself, I understand and go through some of the same issues and struggles as my clients. That’s why I say to my customers, “Your homeowners premiums went up, mine did too—I go through the same thing and that is why I care.”

Obstacles when starting your agency?

When I opened my agency, I already had five or six years of insurance experience, and I had a good reputation because I wasn’t new to insurance. But as a female independent agent, there was some hesitation from a lot of people. I didn’t have that big brand backing and I was on my own. During my first three years, I was tested a lot. I was asked the hard questions.

Air National Guard?

I celebrated 16 years in the Air National Guard on May 24. The core values that we learn—the excellence in all we do, service before self and integrity first—have helped me build my business and my team.

Biggest challenges?

Access to carriers to bring overall competitiveness to the market and to work through some of the challenges regarding pricing. Where we live, the rates for fire insurance have increased drastically in the last five years. There’s not much we can do about pricing, even with options. That’s been hard because people’s jobs and salaries haven’t changed.

As an agent, I care—I really care. I have to realize that at the end of day there’s only so much I can do. I can’t pay the bills and I can’t change the whole insurance industry myself.

What about flood and hurricane coverage?

We have seen a large impact since the flood rates changed a few years ago, which is counting a lot of people out from some of these bigger homes or projects. And then there’s hurricanes—our biggest cost is the wind insurance down here.

We have hurricanes from June 1 through November 30. While Biloxi has not had a direct hit since 2020, because of our extra exposure down here in the lower six counties in Mississippi, we’re definitely feeling the rate increases. The beauty is that I do have the options as an independent broker, which I do appreciate. But it’s tough because some people just can’t afford it.

All-women staffed agency?  

They just worked out to be the best candidates. There’s some stigma of all women working together—but we work really well together. We vary in age, so there’s a lot of maturity there. We’re all very supportive of each other. I try to hone in on a team environment in my office.

What do you enjoy most about working in your insurance agency?

The flexibility. My kids are very involved in sports. The flexibility allows me to be involved in the things that they do, as well as being able to serve on different boards, in leadership positions in the community, and volunteering—and to balance my military career and my own career.

I also enjoy being able to help people and educate people. Insurance can be scary and it can cause a lot of heartache if you don’t know what’s going on or if some policy is not set up right. Being able to educate people has been the most rewarding thing.

Different types of philanthropy?

For the last six years, I’ve been very involved with the Junior Auxiliary of Gulfport, an all-women’s organization that volunteers and serves the children in our local community through the schools or different partner organizations like United Way or Child Protective Services. We also help with medical needs because some people don’t have health insurance. Anything that the children need, we try to provide. It’s an organization I’m very passionate about.  I was president of the organization 2023-2024 and served on the executive board for four years.

I’m also very active in the Mississippi Gulf Coast Biloxi Chamber of Commerce. I’m on the board for the local division because that’s where my office is located. I’ll be the president next year for that organization. We’ve been able to give grants to the local businesses and teachers.

Also, through the military, we do a lot of fundraising for the homeless or for women’s shelters. Through those different platforms and organizations, I’m donating, I’m giving back, I’m raising money. Just anything that impacts my community for the better.

Agency community involvement?

My team is really big on giving back. Last year, we participated in a local school district’s backpack drive where we bought over 400 boxes of crayons and helped fill the backpacks. I get asked to sponsor things all the time, like different sports teams and local schools. We set up for Teacher Appreciation Week at a few schools every year.

We try to be more involved in homebuyer classes—education is very important to us. We teach the basics of insurance: This is what it’s for, this is when you’re supposed to use it, these are the things you should look out for.

Olivia Overman is IA content editor.