This is Part 3 of our Backbone interview with Joe of Guardian Insurance Solutions in Hilliard, Ohio — why he opened a physical office instead of going fully virtual.
Why open a physical office?
Honisto: You opened a physical office in Hilliard instead of running this virtually. Why?
Joe: Even that had some hurdles to get through. When you first start an agency, you need to go after a node ID — it’s called a node ID, so you can run reports. That’s through, typically, LexisNexis. LexisNexis requires a physical location. We originally wanted to do this remote. Did not go that way, because if we didn’t have a physical office and have a lock and a key — privacy essentially is what they’re looking for — we would have never been able to get our node ID. So we found an office to get the node ID, and then through COVID was when we kind of shut down, went more virtual. But I chose to reestablish an office space. I had the funds, I had the community. I’m born and raised in Hilliard, so I’m rooted here. And it was just too good of a deal not to take it. It’s not that we necessarily needed it; it’s just it was a great deal to have a home base, essentially. And as you establish a team, it’s great to have a meeting location, build camaraderie, and go through future plans.
Honisto: What does the storefront actually do for you that working from home wouldn’t?
Joe: It does nothing other than gives me a spot to meet. Most of the time, I talk with carrier reps. Other than that, sometimes it’s just a nice space to get away from the kids and home. It brings some quietness, some focused time on work. The amount of walk-in traffic that we have might be one or two a year. Because of our commercial space environment, we’re not a spot that people go research and want to knock on our door to try and come in. For a client perspective, it’s really nothing. We can do this virtual. But from a carrier perspective, carriers do like to have a physical spot that they can come meet you at. A lot of our carriers that we work with, I do meetings here because I have this spot. That makes it nice.
Honisto: Now, if you were starting out today, same call?
Joe: I don’t think there’s anything, in my almost seven years of doing this, that I would have done differently right now. It’s great.
About the business: Guardian Insurance Solutions is an independent insurance agency in Hilliard, Ohio, serving personal and commercial clients across the Columbus area. Reach them at guardianinsuranceohio.com, 4694 Cemetery Rd #406, Hilliard, OH 43026, or 614-451-7100.
Related: Part 1 · Part 2 · Part 4 · Part 5 · Part 6 · Backbone Spotlight · The Backbone Series
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