Mike Beaulieu

Senior account executive
Soucy Insurance Agency
Woonsocket, Rhode Island

At 34, Mike Beaulieu is already a seasoned businessman. He owned a restaurant for four years before pivoting into an insurance career at the agency where his mom has worked for more than three decades. Now? “I can’t see myself doing anything different for the rest of my life.”

BACKGROUND?

Atwells Ave. is the Little Italy of Providence. I’ve built a large client base there by targeting the hospitality industry. Because of my restaurant background, clients feel comfortable with me—I understand their exposures and how to best protect them. When I go in and have a conversation, it’s not someone just blowing smoke.

INSIGHTS?

I constantly have conversations with people, especially in the younger generation, who are thinking of starting a business. I’ve made a lot of friends who never even became clients. We all need to make money, but that is definitely not my first priority. That’s important to me—knowing that I help people first and make money second.

PERPETUATION GAP?

If young agents see a pattern where independent agencies are being bought out by large firms—that’s not going to be an industry that’s attractive to someone who has an entrepreneurial heart. Young people who are invested in this industry want to look toward ownership.

FUTURE OF THE INDUSTRY?

An uncle of mine always said, “Pick a career that’s never going away.” He was a postmaster, and he thought that was never going away. Insurance is a great career. It’s unfortunately an aging industry, but it’s not going away.

FUTURE OF INDEPENDENT AGENCIES?

We’re seeing so many of these family-run agencies that have been around forever—agencies that started in the ’20s, ’30s, ’40s that are just going by the wayside. They’re getting bought out by these big conglomerate agencies, and then they become a totally different thing. Some of the agencies that are buying them are larger than the carriers we work with. You lose a lot of that personal touch in that process.

WORK/LIFE BALANCE?

I love the flexibility. I have two little kids [Olivia, 5, and Mikey Jr., 3], so if one of them is sick, I can move stuff around. It’s not like a typical 9-5. I can put the kids to bed at night and then jump on the computer and return a couple of hours’ worth of emails, get some quoting done or follow up with clients. The clients love that—they’re up on their computers or cell phones. I’ll send out an email at 11 o’clock at night, and within a half hour I have a reply and they’re asking me to get back to them. So I’m there for my clients, but family always comes first. My kids know a lot of my clients—we frequent their restaurants and their garages. They’re both great kids. And they’re smart—they don’t miss a thing.

Photo by Luke Copping