Who Built What
Regarding President Barack Obama's statement about small businesses quoted in Laura Mazzuca Toops' blog article, “Did You Really 'Build That By Yourself?'” (propertycasualty360.com, July 20): I grew up in a lower than middle class family, never finished college and started in the insurance business in 1972. It has been a great business for me as I started my agency in 1976 with no mentor or help from anyone, but a lot of calls to insurance companies asking for a contract and a lot of calls to area businesses asking for a chance to win their confidence. The first few years were very tough. There wasn't much money coming in the door and I was trying to support myself, but the hard work, 7 days a week, paid off.
Some of our younger peers still do not have it as hard as we did back in the '70s trying to start a new insurance agency. Now they can get assistance from carriers or borrow money to buy an agency. In the '70s, there was no firm to loan you money to buy an agency or any monetary assistance from carriers. Thanks for jumping on this and getting various viewpoints!
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