The 1st Memo

Welcome to the 1st Monday Memo. Our own Blog about what is happening in the industry that may impact on your business.

Whilst the 1st couple of blogs will be more of an introduction to us, as we go on we will be providing information that we hope assists in the running of your business. Our blog will not only be in this format but we will do some You Tube live sessions as it is sometimes better hearing the words than seeing them.

Pretty exciting times in our business. We have our first birthday this Saturday 30th Sept 2012! Yes a year has passed since opening the doors. Our business plan for year one was very clear. Like all start up businesses, 'Survive!' Not only have we obviously achieved this we have thrived and grown more than expected. On pure numbers our realistic thought was to end our first 12 months on par with where we started, to know we will finish well ahead is a great confident boost going into our 2nd year.

Many wouldnt know that this first 12 months we have operated almost remotely and with nil advertising and marketing. We did this for legal reasons and to respect our previous employer. Naturally this was going to be a challenge, however knowing we had to operate in a certain manner it forced us to think outside the square and source other regions and industries.This has also given us the time to hone our value proposition to our clients without impacting on business within our own back yard. (Not to say others are guinea pigs) To have had the freedom to roam into other regional centres and see how they have responded to our level of service and our obvious desire to genuinely assist them has been so pleasing.

More about our value proposition in a couple of weeks.

Let's give you an insight on who we are. We are a family run company based in The beautiful Manning Valley of NSW. Having spent most of our early career in Queensland family ties drew us back to this patch of paradise. 8 years in The Insurance industry was spent in QLD. Starting with GIO in Toowoomba our director Jeremy (Jay) quickly became one of the leading product sellers and leaders within the domestic sales group. Winning top sales KPI in a goup of over 150 for 3 of the 4 quarters in his first year in the industry. (The 4th quarter he says he was dudded. He came 3rd but only because he was relief team leader on a number of occasions) From GIO to Suncorp then over to broking with Austbrokers on The Gold Coast. This was a valuable insight on broking and client services on a business level, however as enjoyable as it was we felt it was important to gain an understanding of how underwriting and the insurance side operates. 4 years was then spent with Lumley Insurance as a developer and underwriter. This experience helped understand why Insurers select risk and how they price it. It also helped with understanding claims and what an insurer is looking for. We then moved to NSW to work within a brokerage leading up to the time when we could start our own company. It's this mix of skills and true diligence to customers that we believe will help us reach our business goals.

Thats a snapshot of our industry background. Prior to Insurance we were in the media. Still are actually. Nikki & Jay are both freelance voice over artists with Nik doing work as 'voicenow' from our home studio. Both spent many years in the radio industry. Jay was still in it whilst working in Insurance on The Gold Coast. He spent 3 years as a weekend breakfast announcer on GOLD FM. It was great to do it as a hobby once more. We have 2 beautiful daughters (Sienna & Jasmine) who lighten up our lives.

Family is the key to our business. Again this is part of our philosophy which we will tell you more about in a fortnights time.

So to finish our first blog we are proud of our achievements in our first year. We have had the opportunity to work in some fantastic parts of NSW and meet some wonderful people. To cap off year one we were finalists for 2 awards in The Manning Valley Business Awards last Friday. Never expecting to even get this it was more a chance to write down how we went year one. To have the independent judging panel view our business plan and strategies and give them a big tick is a great confidence boost heading into year 2. Congrats to all the winners.

Hope you will find interest in our blogs as we evolve and if you would like a topic discussed in detail please let us know via email, facebook or twitter.