E73: Innovation22 Speaker Highlight - Jacob Neighbors

In this episode, James talks with Jacob Neighbors, President of The Simmons Insurance Group.

To learn more about The Simmons Insurance Group, visit https://www.simmons-insurance.com/.

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Episode Highlights:

• Jacob shares his backstory and what he is doing now at The Simmons Insurance Group. (2:31)
• Jacob talks about his relationships with his father-in-law and how he and his brother-in-law came to take over the family business. (6:32)
• Jacob explains that it took them several approaches, including organic production, partner networks, and agency acquisitions, to grow the business from $3 million to $10 million. (10:47)
• Jacob believes that it is important for the agency owner to be the production leader in the first $2 million of revenue but after that, the owner should move out of selling to allow for more growth, (16:43)
• Jacob explains that certain things happen along a business's lifecycle that empowers its growth. (22:24)
• Jacob elaborates on how to maximize the value of your business by bringing something special to the table, like market segments. (27:30)
• Jacob explains that your finances are the score that is kept on your performance, which is what people recruit for. (34:18)
• Jacob shares that he is passionate about family businesses and that more content and supports for family businesses in the insurance industry especially. (35:58)
• Jacob mentions what he has planned for his keynote for Innovation22. (40:25)
• Jacob explains that valuing the business that you're going to acquire correctly and understanding the drivers that other people may be looking at is an important step toward acquiring a business. (43:40)

Key Quotes:

• “In my mind, it's that that $2 million revenue hump is the first major hump to get over, and getting out of selling is really the kind of the most tactical way to move your business to the next level." - Jacob Neighbors
• "As every business grows and becomes successful, there are certain things that happen along the lifecycle of a business that continues to empower its growth." - Jacob Neighbors
• "Valuing your business appropriately is really critical for scaling it. Because if you're going to eventually push out stock options and bonuses to key staff and employees, or potentially new partners, I think it's just really important that you value it correctly so that you have a really good handle of what you have." - Jacob Neighbors