Episode 153: Amazing Agency Legacy Continues with Monica Elsom

Welcome to the Unstoppable Profit Podcast. Wherever you are today, if you're starting with nothing or are well on your way to the success you desire, with the right people, processes and promotions in place, you will be unstoppable. And now I'd like to introduce your host, Mike Stromso.

Hey, everybody, it's Mike Stromso, the Unstoppable Profit producer on the Unstoppable Profit podcast. And today is a very special episode because in my travels in the industry, as a nationally recognized author, speaker and coach for the insurance industry, and being exposed to so many talented people within the insurance industry, from time to time, I come across people that I learn more about. And their story just not only captures my heart, it reminds me why after 35 plus years as a proud independent insurance agent, why I love this industry. And when I run across those people, I definitely want to get them onto the podcast and learn more about their story. Because our guest on the podcast today is just a phenomenal business story, a phenomenal agent, and the story behind what she's done so far is something that I wanted to get everybody to hear because it is just amazing. And the more I've gotten to know Monica, the more I admire who she is as an agency leader, as a mom, and somebody who's taken what was dealt and done the best that she could with it. Now she's at the forefront of agency leaderships in the areas that they do business. And I'm proud and honored to have on the podcast today Monica Elsum. Monica, welcome.

Thank you, Mike, for having me today. I appreciate it.

You are welcome. And as I got to know you, I learned more about your story. And after I got to know you and learn more and more about your story, I was just like, wow, always thinking back, what would I do if I were in that position? And after learning how strong you are, how much you have a never say die attitude, that might be the wrong choice of words, but forgive me on that, but you know, you just never stop and you let nothing come before you and the mission that you are on for your team, for your family, for your communities. And I admire that. So. So, just for anybody who may not know your story and know anything about you.

You know, the agency that you lead has been around for many, many years, say since 1935, but you always haven't been in the insurance business, right?

Right. I started in clothing manufacturing. So it's what I went to school for, what I wanted to do in life. It's something I didn't get to do just the fun side of it. I ended up working with the manufacturers factories overseas. And I loved what I do. I did love being busy, love taking care of people and, and owning what I do. So that was my life from there. You know, I had kids. I have two beautiful, beautiful kids. We moved up to Oregon. My husband was an insurance. We had a company move him up here.

He bought an agency for them a few years later and then ended up buying that agency from, from the other agency. That's right.

So that's how we ended up with our first agency. I would help them in the background accounting, go through reports, stuff like that at home while I was taking care of my kids. And then unfortunately he died a few years later.

And I did what anybody would do in my position. I, you know, I had kids, young, young kids. I had to take over step in the agency. I had employees, I had customers that I really wanted to take care of. So I jumped in, I learned the industry, I got licensed.

And just kept moving. There was, there was no other option at that point. We had a plan and I wasn't going to falter on that. I was going to keep moving forward. And I have grown to love the industry, I really do. I work with great people. I have a great team. We all work together. We have managed to grow this business since I've been in. And we work together, which we're an office of women, so we always laugh about that. We really collaborate. When one person has an issue, we all have an issue. We sit down, we talk about it, we work it out. If we have an issue with a customer, we sit down, we work it out and we move forward. So, I mean, I never knew I would be here, but I'm so happy where I am.

Wow.

Yeah. And that's what I, if you will see in you, you just find a way. And if it doesn't work out, then you collaborate with your team about it and you find a way to continue to move it forward. And that's why you're at the pinnacle of achievement in the insurance agency business in your communities. I mean, you know, you do business with some very high level, publicly recognized entities in your local area because of who you become. But let me go back just a little bit. So.

We never expect to lose a loved one.

And it happened for you very unexpectedly.

Your husband died of a heart attack.

And if I'm not mistaken, he was actually on business away from home when it happened. So you weren't like right there when it happened. You had that distance between you and shall I say.

Well, you didn't know what to say. You didn't know what to do, and you weren't even licensed at that point, correct?

Nope. Nope. And that's, you know, that's one thing.

I really engage with a lot of women's group because.

It'S something I like to talk to people about. And, you know, we weren't prepared. My husband was 52. I mean, we were not prepared for this. He was actually. We have another office in Brookings, Oregon. So he was six hours away.

And. Right. It's. Your life is flipped over in one day. Right. You get this news and your life just turns around and you don't really have it. You don't really have time to process. Right. I had my team that had to be paid. I had these two businesses. I needed to step in and learn as fast as I could. And thankfully I had a great team in place that helped me do that. We've leaned on each other over the years and, and each of us have helped. I mean, yeah, I was licensed within.

A few months, but at the time that it happened, you were working in the agency a little bit, just trying to help with the books and stuff or nothing at all?

Not the day to day. I was not here at all. Day to day I was, you know, he would bring or he would send stuff home for me to work on, you know, reports or something, accounting wise. And I would happily do it.

So, yeah. But the day to day, I had no idea. I just stepped in and luckily the agency owner beforehand.

Flew back here and worked with me for a few weeks and took lots of notes, learned the systems and moved forward. That's all you can do.

Wow. So tragically losing your husband at age 52, not being licensed.

An insurance agency business that you're responsible for, team members that you're responsible for.

Payroll needing to be met. No experience in the agency business, but you found it from within yourself.

No other option after losing your spouse, to jump in, take reins of the agency, getting licensed in less than two months and moving things forward. How did you do that?

You know, a lot of people do ask me that. It's, you know, that's always the big question is how did you do it? But you do you just. Right, that's your gut tells you, you step in and you do what you need to do. I have kids at home. I. I can't. You know, we poured our life savings into what we did with this business, and I'm not going to step out now. I'm going to learn it and we've grown and I love it.

So you made it. I mean, we all make a commitment. I've been with my Bride, we married 28 years now. It's going to be 32 years later this year and we make a commitment to each other. So you made a commitment to your husband and you're fulfilling that commitment on an ongoing basis even though he's not along to witness what you've accomplished. So that's the ultimate commitment in my mind and again, one of the many, many reasons why I wanted to make sure that everybody heard your story and learned about what an amazing agency entrepreneur you are and the amazing things you're doing in your communities. We'll get to that in just a minute. So congratulations for.

Just doing what you needed to do because you wanted to fulfill that commitment not only to your husband, your late husband, but to your kids and to support them and your teammates and being there for your teammates. And in an industry, if you are listening to this or watching this in your outside of our industry, uh, you know, I remember because I've had 35 plus years of experience in the insurance agency business and you know, I remember the old days, they used to joke, do you go golfing with the doctors on Wednesday?

And you know, I thought about that for a while after I kept hearing that and I'm thinking they don't understand how difficult this industry is. Is it easy, Monica?

It's not an easy industry.

No.

Right. That's why I'm so thankful to have such an amazing team, because we're all learners, which is amazing to me because we're all form readers, we're all learners. We discuss every week we meet and we go over little nooks and crannies of the business or a different carrier. So we all lift each other up and support each other and that makes a world of difference in whatever you do in life. Really?

Yeah, absolutely.

So you don't have a good team, right?

Yeah. Together everybody achieves more.

Right.

Teamwork makes the dream work, as you said. So congratulations on building and continuing to grow and develop.

An industry leading team. So congratulations on your success there. So one of the things that is most important to you and I know because we have had these discussions and getting to know you better about how important your team members are and community is to you Share with us a little bit about what's on your heart concerning your communities and anything else related such because you live in a small town.

And it's really important to you to take Care of the people in your communities.

Right. So everybody in our office belongs to some organization and they go out and volunteer their time.

And we all love it. We all, you know, we collect clothing, we do food drives, we love to do things for people.

I myself am on a board for a treatment center. So actually it was a treatment center my husband was on the board for and I ended up taking over his position. I've been on it since the get go and I, and I love it. Supporting teenagers and young adults in their community and outside the community. It's a growing business also. So I'm there to volunteer and support the best I can.

And yeah, I mean we love our community and we do what we can. We love shelters, we love going out and helping the shelters. I think in two weeks we're doing an animal drive. We're going to have animals in our front office which should be interesting.

So hopefully we can get some animals adopted out into the community also.

That is fantastic. And I love that about the fact that you are understanding of the fact that the people who trust you with their insurance trust you because of who you are in the communities and that's just fantastic. And I know you've been widely recognized in various local publications as well for your work in the communities.

And who you are as a woman owned business and woman led business and that's fantastic. So, so talk to us a little bit about why that's important to you and some of the other people who have also recognized the amazing things that are going on at Prineville Insurance.

Right. So we have been recognized quite a bit lately. It's a good feeling especially because we do work so hard and a lot of times these are end up about me because I'm the business owner and a woman business owner which I appreciate. But it's about my team. Right. For me it's, it's. I'm nothing without my team.

But yeah, we've been recognized as one of the top 20 growing businesses in central Oregon. And then yeah, I mean we've, I've been recognized as a leading business woman, a woman business owner which is a good feeling because I, all I want to do is help people and grow my business and grow my team. So it's, it's important to me and doing good things only helps all of us.

Well, it's well deserved recognition being a top 20 independent insurance agency in the marketplace that you do business in. And the sky's the limit because you're also licensed in multiple states, are you not?

Right. So we're licensed in 10 states, so we help people all over. And it's the magic of zoom today. Right? Yeah. Right. So the nice.

Wait a minute.

Zoom. Zoom What? Zoom.

Right.

Is that a verb or.

Right. Video conferencing.

Right, right, right.

So it's nice, you know, we used, I used to be driving over the mountain all the time, meeting with customers and it's very nice to be able to, you know, on a whim, get on a video conference meeting and talk to someone face to face. So. And that's the magic of insurance. You don't have to be right here in the same town. You, you can be anywhere today and as long as you're licensed, help our customers.

Yeah. Well, people continue to come back to Prineville Insurance because I've also identified and as I've continued to learn and I look at the amazing reviews about you and looking at some of the articles about what you've accomplished, just great stuff. Congratulations. But you know, people refer to and do business with people that they know, love and trust and obviously you're well trusted and so many people in your communities, based on everything I've read, also trust you. So great job. And you continue to exercise what we call the law of reciprocity by giving back without the expectation of something in return. That is fantastic as well. So well done.

Monica Elsum, thank you very much. So appreciate it.

You're welcome. So, yeah, I mean, when I first learned about your story and I heard about, oh my gosh, just within the last, what, six, seven years roughly, you lost your husband suddenly and you weren't even licensed, you weren't even working in the insurance agency business. And you know, because of your attitude and who you are and who you become, you said, I've got to take this on. I made the commitment to my husband and to my family and for my family, I'm going to do this and then I want to do it for my communities and for my teammates. I mean, at the core of really what the independent insurance agency business is and who, you know, an entrepreneur is. Congratulations on what you've accomplished so far and so, so proud to have gotten to know you better. And I can't wait to continue to watch your story develop and what an honor it is to know you. Thank you.

I appreciate that. Yeah, I mean, I am passionate about what we do and protecting people and I think hopefully that shows through to our customers. And yeah, we are here to stay and we are growing and yeah, love it.

Well, fantastic and well, just thank you for your great attitude and your community contributions and everything else. And as we begin to wrap up today, do you have anything else you'd like to add about what's going on now or the possible future?

As I say, we've got new team members coming on. We're growing. So I mean, this is great to get out there and get recognized because we're here and ready to serve our customers and our community. So thank you for having us on. I appreciate it.

You're welcome. Thank you for being who you are as an agency entrepreneur, as a mom, as a female business leader in your communities and all of the things that you're contributing. I know you're involved with other agency organizations out there just doing amazing things. And thank you for making a difference in other people's lives through those efforts as well and the well recognized accolades that you have already received. I am sure there is more coming after that and our great encouragement is just continue to do what you do and be who you are because it is an amazing story and thank you for being willing to share it right here on the podcast.

Thank you, Mike.

All right, Monica. Hey, thanks everybody for joining us today. If this is your first time on the podcast, welcome. My name is Mike Stromceau, also known as the Unstoppable Profit Producer. And in working with agents over 35 plus years as a proud independent insurance agent, I've gotten to know many people and it's now my privilege to know Monica Elsum and learn more about her story. Again, if this is your first time on the podcast, welcome. Please Visit us@unstoppableprofitpodcast.com you can subscribe there so you won't miss one episode of our podcast and you can find us out there on all the podcast channels, on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and on our YouTube channel. Just go to YouTube and search Unstoppable Profit Producer and just look for the videos and you can watch the replay of this podcast and many others that we've been privileged to have a hand in. And again, you know what a an honor it is to get to know people more in the industry like Monica who are doing great things and you know, sometimes we hear about other people that are up levels but it is really the core grassroots of our industry where those special stories lie and getting to learn more about Monica and hers. I am honored and privileged. Thank you Monica. Keep doing awesome stuff until next time everybody get out there, make a difference, be unstoppable and and leave no regrets. We'll see everybody on the next episode.

Thank you for listening. If you would like to listen to more episodes or share this podcast with someone you care about, please visit www.unstoppableprofitpodcast.com now go out and make a difference. Be unstoppable and leave no regrets.