“We ask staff what we should keep doing, what we should stop doing. We even tell interviewees that if they want micromanagement, they’ve come to the wrong place, but if they want autonomy, come on in.” —Chris Ball CEO FROM ZERO TO $20 MILLION Reliance Group boasts seven companies at its headquarters in Burnaby, British Columbia By Dennis H. Pillsbury Photography by Melanie Maganias Nashan “The people you meet
Agency of the Month
“We’ve been very involved in the community for a long time, so it just seemed natural that our advertising and marketing should be funneled directly to nonprofits.” —Ben Rathbun President CELEBRATING COMMUNITY, EDUCATION, AND DIVERSITY Michigan agency finds success as an education company that sells insurance By Dave Willis, CPIA Photography by Arturo Paulino Many people working in the insurance industry—perhaps most of us—did not have designs on
Agency of the month The Aspire Insurance Group team. From left: Chloe DeLaForest, Marketing; Caryn Weingartner, Agent; Beth DeLaForest, President; Adam DeLaForest, Chief Financial Officer; Kaitlyn Jensen, Agency Manager; and Whitney Elsen, Personal Lines Account Specialist. GOING REMOTE WITHOUT BEING REMOTE Relationships are key to success in the virtual world for this upper Midwest agency By Dennis H. Pillsbury • Photography by Lynn Donaldson Beth DeLaForest started her insurance career
Agency of the month The Hitchings Insurance Agency team outside their Findlay, Ohio, office. PEOPLE OVER POLICIES Ohio agency focuses on empathy for everyone’s situation By Dennis H. Pillsbury There’s an adage often ascribed to Andrew Carnegie that says “shirtsleeves to shirtsleeves in three generations.” Clearly, Andrew Carnegie—or whoever actually said this—hadn’t spent much time around independent agents. Among the hundreds of agents whom I’ve interviewed, there were quite a
Members of the Florida Risk Partners team. From left: Grayson Carothers, Andrea Carothers, David Carothers, Kyle Houck, Nicole Medina, and Jeramie Van Acker. ACHIEVING COLLABORATION Florida Risk Partners lives up to its name by establishing a true partnership with each client By Dennis H. Pillsbury Back in 2016, David R. Carothers, CIC, CRM, wasn’t even dreaming of having his agency appear on the cover of Rough Notes magazine. That’s because
