williamjones

With the changing landscape in the personal lines market due to the hard market, personal lines agents may be thinking about diversifying their revenue.

Gonyo has worked every role in an independent agency—from working the front desk to producing—before starting her own agency at 32 years old with “minimal money in a tiny little office,” she says. Today, Blue Line Insurance has four branches and 15 employees, 14 of whom are women.

A desire to keep her family’s fourth-generation agency family-owned drew Megan Carroll into the business. 2/12/2025 5:00:00 AM

How independent agents can add value through comprehensive consultation and risk mitigation.

When Beth DeLaForest, president and owner of Aspire Insurance Group in Hudson, Wisconsin, launched the agency in 2014, she knew she had the chance to set an intentional culture—one that was different from those she’d previously experienced. DeLaForest’s insurance journey started when she moved out at 18 and needed to pay rent while in college…

To keep premiums affordable, homeowners carriers are excluding coverage for what used to be standard covered perils. Cosmetic hail damage is one of those coverages that is increasingly becoming excluded.

In 2017, Carroll became a part owner and president of Stein Agency, a process in which she has stepped up professionally and grown into a leadership position while learning the ropes of agency management and p&c insurance.

​As we head into a new year, there’s no better time to equip producers with foundational insurance industry knowledge and concepts.

Regular attention must be paid to keeping underlying coverages in place without any gaps, offering higher umbrella limits and recommending uninsured motorist/underinsured motorist coverage.

Most leaders not only navigated market conditions they had never personally experienced, they also did so while leading a workforce that hadn’t either—a workforce that was busier, under more pressure and dealing with more stress than ever.