We met with Joe of Guardian Insurance Solutions — an independent agency in Hilliard, Ohio — for the first episode of our Backbone series. We asked the questions people actually search before opening an agency: what does it cost, what should I know going in, how do you survive a hard market, what does a normal week look like. We recorded six short conversations across the whole arc.
This is the full episode in one place. The six Parts cover Joe’s path from a cold start to a working agency: how he went straight independent without prior property-and-casualty experience, where his first 50 clients actually came from, why he opened a physical office, what almost broke him early on, the carrier-lineup reality nobody warns new agents about, and what he’d tell anyone thinking about starting today.
If you’re considering opening your own agency, this is the kind of detail that doesn’t show up in a generic business book. If you’re already in the space, the recap below is for anyone in your circle who’s wondering whether to take the leap. Read all six Parts in order, or skip to the one that answers your question first.
Going straight independent (Part 1)
Joe went straight independent — no captive stint first, no property-and-casualty background to lean on. He came in with sales experience and started from there. His first carrier appointments came through a hybrid approach: a few direct, the rest through a network. He started with Indium out of Westerville, then moved to Smart Choice, which he calls a game changer for the agency’s growth.
The honest version of how it went: “Got told no a lot in the process, but that’s kind of what trickled into a network.” On network contracts, he flags the terms to actually look at — exit fees, commission caps, and who owns your book if you leave. Looking back, he calls it the right call.
The first 24 months’ money (Part 2)
First two years: roughly $50,000 to $80,000 in revenue. Joe was still working another job alongside the agency. He didn’t purchase leads. Opening overhead landed around $1,000 to $1,500 a month once rent and tech fees were accounted for. It took him about two and a half years before he could quit the other job and go all in on the agency.
Where his first 50 clients came from: “My contacts in my phone. That’s it. I literally hit them up: this is what I’m doing.” Everything was natural — networking events, coffees, dinners, beers, whatever got him talking to people.
Why he opened a physical office (Part 3)
The first office wasn’t a choice. To get a LexisNexis node ID for running reports, agencies need a physical, lockable location — a privacy requirement. That forced the first space. After COVID, Joe chose to reestablish an office, but not out of necessity: he had the funds, he was rooted in Hilliard, and it was too good a deal to pass on. It also gives him a place to meet his team and build camaraderie.
What the space actually does day-to-day, in his words: “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.” Walk-in traffic might be one or two a year.
Partnerships and what almost broke him (Part 4)
What Joe wishes someone had told him before opening Guardian: how much work it would take. “The work was nothing short of intense for years.” If he could go back and do one thing differently, it’d be the people he started with. He’s been through partnership changes since 2019 and says he’d have been more diligent about who he was signing up with. He’s still in business with a partner — a much better one this time. He’s not the solopreneur type.
What almost broke him wasn’t the agency. It was the home life he was going through at the time. He stayed dialed into the company, sacrificed at home, and doubled down on the agency. That eventually turned around and rebuilt the home life along with it.
Building a carrier lineup and surviving a hard market (Part 5)
How tough it is to build a competitive carrier lineup is the step Joe says aspiring agents don’t even ask about. In the first two years, he was leveraging two to four carriers to grow a book of business large enough that the rest would talk to him. The threshold he names is specific: “It wasn’t until about the first two million of premium that the majority of carriers actually started to give you the time of day.” That two-million mark became Guardian’s working goal early on.
Timing helped. He entered a soft market and hit a hard one in late 2021–2022 — carrier shutdowns, underwriting restrictions, algorithms changing — driven by fraud on the contractor side and used cars holding their value after COVID. Guardian wasn’t big enough to feel the rate pressure on its existing book, so the reshop wave became new business for the agency.
Hardest part, best part, and his advice (Part 6)
Hardest part: managing a team of agents and protecting the integrity of what gets sold. Joe is explicit that integrity is huge in the space, and the wrong hire — someone focused on the next paycheck — can affect the agency without owners even realizing. Most rewarding: flexibility. The income is residual, which means he doesn’t have to pick up the phone from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. He has four young kids at home and enjoys the time with them. None of it works without the staff.
Advice for anyone starting: whatever you think the work is, it’s going to be more. Get more extroverted than you feel. Cold calling isn’t required — “the contact list in your phone is a beautiful place to start.” Lock in referral partners. Gyms, sports teams, churches — Joe calls them watering holes — drive growth. He doesn’t do pressure sales. And: have a lot of fun.
What Episode 1 adds up to
Joe went straight independent without industry experience, leveraged two to four carriers to push past the $2 million threshold, survived a hard market driven by fraud and post-COVID turbulence, and stayed dialed in when his home life was unraveling.
Almost seven years later, with four kids at home and a team that runs without him, he ends the interview with three words: “have a lot of fun.”
That’s not a blueprint. It’s just the version he lived.
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.
Read the full episode: Part 1 · Part 2 · Part 3 · Part 4 · Part 5 · Part 6 · The Backbone Series
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