In this episode Ryan is excited to welcome Rick Holmes, President of Lakeshore Benefit Alliance. Holmes is here to discuss the hallmark steps of securing seed funding to build your startup.
Holmes is a 31-year veteran and expert consultant in the employee benefits and health insurance industry. He covers a variety of topics: what seed funding is, how to determine how much to raise and how long it should last, what material is needed to raise it, and what types of investors are a fit for your early-stage startup.
Take a Chance
People are prone to feelings of uncertainty, self-doubt, and a lack of confidence when considering starting their own business. There can be a great deal of fear associated with failure.Nevertheless, Holmes was more concerned with preserving control over his vision of success than with avoiding failure. It was a natural progression for him to become an entrepreneur.
By starting a business, he took control of his time and benefited from his efforts.
What kept me going was that I never let anything in life stop me from taking chances to make the business successful.
Seed Money
A startup’s seed financing process (also known as seed capital, seed money, or seed funding) is the first step in raising capital for a business. As part of seed money, investors invest their capital in exchange for equity stakes in the company.
Considering Holmes’ background in disability and life, their situation was a little different. The insurance companies wanted Rick’s business to succeed because the more success he had, the more successful they were. As a result of this relationship, they were willing to give Rick his seed money.
The key is to invest that seed money in the right areas of your business. It is essential to building recurring revenue. The advice Rick gives is to keep your expenses low and spend a lot less than you earn.
By keeping our expenses low and staying debt-free, we can simply be lean and mean when things get tight.
Cold Calling
Even the most outgoing agent can find cold calling challenging. To reach one prospect, agents need hundreds of leads. As Holmes points out, there is no substitute for activity.
An agent’s ability to uncover a client’s needs and build a relationship is a particularly important characteristic. Rick advises not to waste the business owner’s time. Learn as much as you can quickly and make new friends.
My famous line is...the purpose of the call is to have an opportunity to meet you and nothing else but make a new friend.
Secondary Business
As healthcare costs rise, Gap Insurance continues to rise in popularity with agents and groups alike. The purpose of gap policies is to supplement medical coverage and help offset medical expenses related to inpatient and outpatient care.
Holmes states their gap insurance is often referred to as their secondary business. Our goal is to be able to demonstrate that we can be a solution to the rising healthcare costs for our agents.
Gap insurance is just so untapped, and no one has heard about it.
In Conclusion
A successful insurance agency requires a lot of time, effort, and investment. Passion and desire are important when it comes to sales, service, and growth strategies.
What’s Next?
Be sure to tune into next month's episode as we continue our discussions with the best leader in the industry.
Connect
Thanks for listening to the Insurance Leadership Podcast. Be sure to visit us at www.insuranceleadershippodcast.com to join the conversation, access the show notes, and discover our fantastic bonus content.
If you want to keep up with all the ILP episodes, make sure to follow us on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Instagram for news and upcoming episodes.- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/insurance-leadership-podcast/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Insurance-Leadership-Podcast-113678804143075
- Instagram: @insuranceleadershippodcast
Leave a Review
If this podcast has made you a better leader, you can help share it by leaving a quick Apple Podcast review. You can visit Apple Podcasts Insurance Leadership Podcast or on your iOS device and then go to the “Reviews” section. There, you can leave a star rating or click on “Write a review” to share something you’ve gotten out of this podcast.
Thank you for sharing!
What's Next
Make sure to catch our next month's episode as we explore further in conversation with Chad Hogan from Quotit. We'll be exploring the fascinating impact of artificial intelligence on the business landscape.
Thanks for listening to the Insurance Leadership Podcast. Be sure to visit us at
Stay updated on all ILP episodes by following us on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Instagram for news and upcoming episodes.
Leave a Review
If this podcast has made you a better leader, you can help share it by leaving a quick Apple Podcast review. You can visit Apple Podcasts Insurance Leadership Podcast on your iOS device and then go to the “Reviews” section. There, you can leave a star rating or click on “Write a review” to share what you learned from this podcast.
Thank you for sharing!