Discover how a YMCA program director turned a severe recession into an opportunity for success in our latest episode featuring Eric and Brad VanVleet of VanVleet Insurance. Eric recounts his inspiring journey from starting out at the YMCA to owning his own successful insurance agency, thanks to the invaluable mentorship from community stalwarts. Brad adds depth to the narrative by sharing his early experiences with manual labor, which cultivated his work ethic and appreciation for education. Together, they explore the importance of early job experiences and community connections in shaping one's career.
Ever wondered how football can shape not just a family legacy but also professional paths? Hear firsthand from the VanVleets about their rich history with the sport, including playing football at the University of Dayton. Eric and Brad share heartfelt stories of playing under legendary coaches and the pride of watching Drew, Eric's son, become the starting quarterback at UD. Learn how the discipline, challenges, and lessons from the gridiron have influenced their business acumen and leadership styles, making them formidable in both fields.
Family businesses often come with their own set of dynamics, and the VanVleet Insurance agency is no exception. Listen as Brad discusses the evolving leadership within the family-run business, the importance of mutual respect, and the influence of their athletic backgrounds in fostering a collaborative environment. We also delve into pressing issues like rising insurance premiums and the need for proactive community development in Richmond, Indiana. This episode promises a rich blend of personal stories, professional insights, and community-focused discussions that you won't want to miss.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Michael Allen from Manpower.
We are a national brand, yetlocally owned franchise.
We are familiar with thechallenges businesses face.
It's tough recruiting andretaining qualified employees.
That's why working withManpower is a smart,
cost-effective solution.
Our entire focus is talentacquisition.
We'll manage your hiring andtraining and provide ongoing,
customized support.
Since 1966, we have been yourcommunity-invested partner,
(00:24):
uniquely positioned to helpeliminate the hassles and save
you time and money.
Let us help contact Manpowertoday.
Hello and welcome to the Hubpowered by Manpower of Richmond.
I'm your host, michael Allen.
Here on the Hub, we interviewlocal businesses, community
partners and various specialgifts, and our mission here is
to share and spotlight uniqueand untold stories of companies,
(00:46):
organizations and people whoare making a difference in our
community.
So today I have with me Ericand Brad VanVleet from VanVleet
Insurance.
Speaker 2 (00:57):
Welcome, guys, thanks for having us, thank you.
Speaker 1 (00:59):
Great to be here.
So I really appreciate youjoining me today and I've known
both of you for quite a whilenow and maybe maybe, eric, you a
little bit longer and I wasreally intrigued about doing
this interview because I workedfor many years with my dad in
business local family businessand your business is the same
(01:23):
and father and son workingtogether and I just thought it
would be really neat to kind ofhave a conversation and kind of
share some of the similaritiesand what it's like to have a
family business but also, youknow, work with your father or
work with your son, so I waspretty excited about doing that
today.
Before we get into that, one ofthe things that I do on this
(01:45):
podcast is kind of a traditionis we ask you about your first
job, the first job you ever had.
So I know it's going back alittle bit.
Speaker 3 (01:57):
Can you remember that long ago Dad.
Speaker 2 (02:00):
We're going back pre-electricity, but go ahead,
yeah, so do you remember whatthat was oh?
yeah, I sure do.
In fact it had everything to dowith where I'm sitting here
today.
I got out of Miami Universityin 1972, and there's a
full-blown, very seriousrecession and you couldn't find
a job.
And a gentleman that I hadgotten to know through the years
(02:20):
, dave Blackman, that ran theRichmond YMCA and Dave said I'll
hire you as a program director.
So I was a poli-sci, majorpre-law at Miami, came to
Richmond and was a programdirector at the Y and got to
know the finest group of peopleback in those days in the
seventies business people allcollected down at the health
club Really neat people names,great names in the community and
(02:44):
those folks really befriendedme and actually pointed me in
the direction of owning my ownbusiness.
Insurance introduced me to myfirst insurance job and to this
day I'm very indebted to thosefolks for taking an interest in
my life as a young man and thosewere neat times.
Speaker 1 (03:03):
So you're right out of college and get this program
directors.
Do you remember what you weremaking then Like $14,000 a year
was pitiful.
Speaker 2 (03:15):
I should have been in a food line, but it was a job
and, frankly, in 72, that was avery severe recession.
It was a lot of people weregetting body slammed back then.
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (03:26):
Interesting, eric.
Do you I mean Brad do youremember your first job, like
you know, like I mean even goingback to, like high school years
or whatever.
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (03:35):
So you know, dad again always told me the
importance of having a job andso I've always had a job, summer
jobs, and they were usuallymanual labor.
So I've always had a job,summer jobs, and they were
usually manual labor.
So I did lawn care and thenprobably the first like real job
for an employer was actuallysome rally construction.
I worked on the concrete crew.
Speaker 1 (03:53):
Okay.
Speaker 3 (03:53):
So that was the summer before I went off to
University of Dayton.
I worked in, you know, slingingconcrete.
Speaker 1 (04:02):
When I look back at jobs like I like that when I had
when I was younger, I reallykind of looked those in with a
lot of endearment.
Today, I mean maybe when youwere doing them you maybe didn't
like it that much, maybe youdid, I don't know, but I'm
really thankful foropportunities like that.
I mean, when you kind of lookback, I mean, were you happy
that you did some manual labor?
Speaker 3 (04:24):
I'm.
I'm very happy I did.
I learned so much.
I learned that's not what Iwanted to do with my life, so I
wanted to go to college and getan education and work with my
brain and maybe not my back asmuch, but it was a great
experience.
I love the hard work.
I love, you know, interactingwith different people, and lawn
care jobs were always great, soI've instilled that, hopefully,
(04:46):
in my kids.
My children are working, myson's working out at Forest
Hills Country Club right now.
He's a college student and sothat's his summer job Again,
meeting great people, and I lovethe lessons you learn through
that.
Speaker 1 (04:58):
Yeah, that's awesome.
So both of you are pretty wellknown in this community and
through your business, butprobably on real personal levels
as well.
But I think it'd be good foryou know our followers, just to
kind of recap.
So, like Eric, why don't youjust share a little bit about
(05:18):
growing up?
You know kind of where you wereborn and where you grew up and
just what kind of what broughtyou to Richmond.
Speaker 2 (05:26):
Actually I was born on the East Coast.
My parents were Cornell gradsand dad got transferred or took
a job out here with NatcoNational Automatic Tool Company,
which no longer exists.
So I got here when I wasprobably 10 years old, went to
test middle school, which was areal eye-opening experience.
(05:48):
Back then there was a lot ofdivision socially between the
haves and the have-nots, so itwas a unique world.
I used to have to pay kidsmoney to get my gym shoes back
and that little experience gotme in the weight room at the age
of 12.
And I've never stopped.
I'm still in the weight roomthree or four nights a week.
(06:09):
I still think somebody's goingto come take my tennis shoes.
But after getting through that,I went to the high school
because I started weightlifting.
Dealing with that adversity, Iended up being a wrestler and on
the football team and I was ona mythical state champion
football team which then changedthe trajectory of my life
because I thought I was afootball player.
(06:30):
So I went to Miami University,was a walk-on.
I, bo Schembechler, was mycoach.
I walked into his office as arecruit and he looked at me and
he said you're a little blank,you can't play football here.
That upset me so I thought I'dprove to him I could.
He was probably right.
In the long run I did make thefreshman team as a walk on.
(06:52):
I did earn a little bit ofmoney, but I got my knee ripped
out at the end of my freshmanyear unholy triad.
So my career was over.
So now I had to take stock at18, 19 years old.
What was I going to do?
I obviously was on my way tobecoming a professional football
player, making millions ofdollars, and quickly figured out
that wasn't going to happen.
So I got, became pretty seriousabout being a student, actually
(07:16):
read books, talked toprofessors, really got into it.
I was a poli-sci major andreally enjoyed that and was on
schedule to go to law school.
But we got into the Vietnam War.
The war was raging and everybodywas going to grad schools to
stay out of the draft and Icouldn't get in.
The closest I could get was aSalmon P Chase night school in
(07:39):
Cincinnati and that wasn'tlooking good.
So I ended up taking a job atthe YMCA.
As I said earlier, that was theonly offer I had because 72 was
so severe in terms of recession, and then with the great folks
that took an interest in me andcoached me up.
(08:01):
They suggested I get in theinsurance business.
Bob Broscheid, great names,wonderful people.
I'm still very grateful to allof them for taking an interest
in a young man that didn't knowanything and put me on a
trajectory to start my ownbusiness.
Speaker 3 (08:15):
You might talk about the first business you started
before insurance.
Oh, gasoline Alley, yeah Gosh,I'm glad you told me that.
Speaker 2 (08:22):
Yeah, I apparently had a pension for always wanting
to own my own business.
That was like a nightmare, brad.
I'm sorry to brought that up.
So I read in a magazine about ado-it-yourself car repair shop.
I thought it was a brilliantidea.
So you could come in and rent abay for $8 an hour and I'd have
all the equipment you could fixyour own car.
I barely drive a car, let alonefix a car.
(08:45):
I missed the whole point aboutyou're supposed to know what
you're doing when you start abusiness.
That seemed a little irrelevant.
I was in love with the idea soI did that.
I set it up in a garage, I hada gentleman help who actually
knew things about cars, and wedid that for 12 years and I was
an absolute, unmitigated failure.
Speaker 1 (09:05):
Twelve years now.
I'm sorry.
12 months, Okay, 12 months.
Speaker 2 (09:09):
That went 12 months yeah.
Speaker 1 (09:10):
If you did 12 years, I wouldn't call that a failure.
Speaker 2 (09:14):
Twelve months of unmitigated failure, I think we
raised $19 in revenue, closedthe business and that started me
on my trajectory in insurance.
Speaker 1 (09:24):
Did you learn a little bit about cars, though,
in that?
Speaker 2 (09:27):
12 months I did and how little I know, and brad
would attest that I apparentlylearned he's not a car guy.
Speaker 3 (09:33):
No, I don't even wash them, let alone barely drive
them?
Speaker 2 (09:37):
I don't, but it was an important lesson in life and
you learn a lot from failure,probably more from failure than
you do success somewhere inthere.
Speaker 1 (09:45):
There, I think you met somebody and you got married
, though, didn't you?
Oh, my wife.
Yeah, I think we need tomention her.
Speaker 2 (09:52):
Yeah, we certainly do because she's been the rudder
on the boat all these years.
We dated in the fifth, sixthand seventh grade.
I moved to Richmond, indiana,which caused an interruption in
our serious love life.
In the fifth grade and wedidn't reconnect till my senior
year in high school she came tovisit my sister and as soon as
(10:12):
we did it was game back on and Igot married in the middle of my
senior year at Miami and beenmarried 52 years, had two great
kids with Brad and Shannon.
Speaker 1 (10:24):
Yeah, that's awesome.
Well, it's refreshing to knowsomeone that's been married that
long and that's a testamentProbably more of your wife than
you, absolutely, I would agreewith that, Brad.
How about you?
Speaker 3 (10:41):
So I'm a Richmond guy through and through born and
raised, born right here inRichmond, indiana, grew up going
to, you know, charlesElementary, tess Middle School.
Speaker 2 (10:51):
Richmond.
Speaker 3 (10:51):
High School, Graduated from Richmond High
School went off 45 minutes awayto the University of Dayton, so
I've never been too far, had agreat college experience,
playing football, getting agreat education.
I was a marketing major.
It's where I met my wife and Iwould definitely say she's my
(11:12):
better half.
Kelly is an amazing person andshe was elementary education and
came out of school and wegraduated and I came right back
to Richmond so I'd hadinternships working for State
Farm.
My wife was obviously teachingand so we had to make a decision
on what to do.
So I said you know, I caneither work for another company
(11:33):
or I can come back and learnfrom my father, as I thought,
learn from the best.
So I made that decision.
I moved back to Richmond andthen, quickly, my wife and I got
engaged and, within about ayear of graduating from college,
married and then she made thedecision.
It's a tough decision becauseKelly's from Fishers, Indiana,
so Richmond's a little differentthan what she was experiencing
(11:55):
with all the growth andprosperity of Fishers.
But I can tell you Kelly reallyreally enjoys Richmond, loves
the ability to get involved andbe connected to the community.
She's really, really gotten init and feels like she's a part
of of Richmond.
So, and luckily, I was able torecruit her to join our business
, and so Kelly has really beenthe game changer in our business
(12:17):
.
She does the marketing, she'sour HR director, she does so
much, so that's really kind ofwhat fueled the agency.
So, again, just backtracking,Kel and I decided to move here
right out, you know, a yearafter college and we've raised
two kids, and so I guess we'rewhat we call boomerangers, or
I'm a boomeranger.
(12:38):
I grew up and raised left andmade the decision to come back,
and I think it's been a greatdecision for us and our family
and we love being here.
Speaker 1 (12:46):
Tell me well.
I definitely got to know Kelly,probably the most working with
her on the Boys and Girls Clubboard and I got to know her
there and respect her immenselyjust through her efforts there.
How many years did she?
I've never talked to her about.
How many years did she teach?
Speaker 3 (13:05):
Oh, geez, she was teaching before we had kids.
So once we had our second child, so Drew's our oldest and then
Brynn, so she probably taught,for she taught for a year in
Indianapolis and then probablytaught for five or six years at
Seton Seton Catholic and lovedit.
So it's it's kind of neat tosee the kids that she taught
(13:26):
that are now grown and nowthey're having kids and getting
married.
It makes us feel pretty old.
So Kelly brings a uniqueperspective to the insurance
industry.
She's very structured, veryorganized, as you would expect
as a teacher, and so Dad and Iare more big picture.
We have these grand ideas, butKelly can come in and she can
actually make sure things happen.
And she comes in with a plan,just like a teacher would, and
(13:51):
she writes it out and again shebrings the structure to Dad and
I.
Speaker 1 (13:57):
I can't help but ask you a little bit because I
wasn't really in a position, Ididn't really follow it.
But tell me a little bit aboutplaying football over at UD and
I mean what position you playedand how it all came about.
You going there a little bit.
Speaker 3 (14:13):
So you know we're, I would say, an athletic family.
As my dad mentioned, he playedfootball at Miami and so I grew
up idolizing him and I wanted toplay college football as well.
So we were always taught havegoals, work really hard to
attain them.
And so I worked really hard atfootball and wrestling in high
school and my goal and my dreamwas to play Division I college
(14:35):
football.
In my mind I was going to get afull ride and didn't quite get
a full ride.
University of Dayton isDivision I but it is a
non-scholarship program so I hadto pay to go to school.
But I wouldn't have traded thatexperience for anything.
Absolutely loved everythingabout University of Dayton.
It is the purest form offootball because it is high
(14:56):
level and we play greatcompetition and everybody there
is there to get an education andthey're just passionate about
the game.
So there's no competition aboutwho's getting more money, who's
got the scholarships and intoday's world the NIL.
That's unheard of really at theUniversity of Dayton.
So I loved it.
I played linebacker.
(15:16):
I was a two-way player atRichmond.
I was a fullback and alinebacker, loved that
experience, had great coaches,great teams, a lot of success on
on on Leibold field and, uh, Iwas lucky enough to to get
recruited by uh Dayton and MikeKelly was the coach there.
Mike Kelly is probably, uh, oneof the most renowned coaches.
He was the winningest active uhcoach in college football when
(15:39):
he retired.
Um, I don't know what hiswinning percentage was, but it
was like 87%.
The guy is just absolutelyamazing.
So Mike Kelly, and then RickChamberlain was the defensive
coordinator.
He later took over the program,but we won our conference just
about every year I was there.
I got to travel all over thecountry playing high-level
football Again not getting ascholarship to do it, but I
(16:01):
always say I learned just asmuch on the football field as I
did in the classroom Highcharacter, unbelievable coaches.
So I loved it.
So what's really cool is my sonwas able to follow me and he is
now playing at the Universityof Dayton.
He and I are a little different.
I was a linebacker.
I always said if there was awall, my coach told me to run
(16:21):
through it.
I was going through it.
Drew's a quarterback and helooks at that wall and says,
well, why would I go through itif I can maybe go over it or
around it?
And so he thinks a littledifferent.
I guess I was the stereotypicalmeathead and he's more the
thinker, and so he's going to bea sophomore and he's right now
the starting quarterback atUniversity of Dayton.
(16:42):
He's having a very similarexperience.
The head coach there now is aguy that I played for, so that's
really neat.
His name is Trevor Andrews, orI played with I shouldn't say
played for I played with him atthe University of Dayton and now
he is the head coach and nowhe's coaching my son, and Drew
was his first recruit.
So it's kind of cool fullcircle.
He's at our kitchen tablerecruiting Drew out of high
(17:03):
school and now he's there havinga great experience as well.
Speaker 1 (17:07):
It's probably with any position, but you know,
playing the quarterback position, don't you think that he's just
like man I, I really, reallywant to play.
I mean because you're theleader out there for your team.
Oh yeah, and I would think, ifyou're not getting the
experience that on the playingfield as a starter, that would
(17:27):
really be tough.
I would think for that position, probably others too, but being
in a leadership role like thatseems like it's a lot of
pressure, but you just reallywant it too.
Speaker 3 (17:41):
It is, and that's a unique position, because you can
only have one quarterback.
You've got a lot of defensiveplayers, a lot of linebackers, a
lot of offensive linemen.
You typically play withmultiple running backs, but for
the most part there's onequarterback on a team.
So he went in as a truefreshman, as I mentioned, had a
great experience.
I got to start four games andnow this year looks to be to be
(18:01):
the starter, but drew's a quietleader.
He's not the kind of kid thatwants all the attention.
Uh, he's going to lead byexample, and that's one thing
that I was always taught and Itry to pass that on to him.
Um, so he doesn't want to be inthe limelight and again, um, he
just wants to lead by exampleI'm sure I might add he'5", 225
pounds and a kid can throw yeah.
Speaker 1 (18:23):
Well, I'm sure you guys are excited about getting
to see some games this year andI assume you try to go to all of
them.
Speaker 3 (18:29):
Oh, we don't miss a game.
Yeah, tailgating is a lot offun.
Speaker 1 (18:32):
At that level, you want to be there all the time.
Yep, so that's awesome.
Let's see that's awesome.
Uh, let's see the decision.
Well, let's go back a littlebit eric about when you started
your company.
You know, because you justdidn't start an insurance
(18:52):
company one day, you, I thinkyou're actively involved at a
job in insurance and workingsomewhere else, and so what kind
of led you to the point thatsaid hey, I want to have my own
business and you know my ownWell again it was those
gentlemen at the healthconnection.
Speaker 2 (19:09):
It took an interest in me.
They actually laid out a gameplan, said learn the business.
One of them opened the door forme for a local agency and I
worked there probably for six,seven years, learned a business,
spent a lot of time inclassrooms getting designations
because I knew how importantthat would be.
And then at age 31, againfollowing the architecture of
(19:32):
these gentlemen that were mymentors, I started Van Fleet
Insurance in 1981.
Speaker 1 (19:45):
Van Fleet Insurance in 1981.
So when you first opened up thedoors, you know how many staff
did you have, or was it just youand a desk?
Speaker 2 (19:49):
I started with a lady , Joan Bartle, and I started it
together.
There's just the two of us andno clients.
It's a tough road, a lot ofbroken glass, because in the
insurance business you'redealing with little incremental
commissions as revenue, so youhave to run around the May poll
I'm going to say six, seven,eight years before you
substantially make any money.
(20:10):
So it's a real hard road tosurvive for those years and
that's.
We lived on my wife's salaryand she was such a champ to
suffer with two kids and amortgage because we could have
qualified for food stamps in theearly part of it.
And that's really whatseparates a lot of people from
starting agencies.
It is brutal not to make anymoney for years and years and
(20:33):
I've commented to several folks,in this age of inflation I
don't think we would have lastedtwo months now, but back then
we were living on my wife's$20,000 a year salary with,
again, two kids and a mortgage,and seemed to survive.
Speaker 1 (20:46):
Yeah, I don't think people realize how tough it is
to start a business.
And just because you own abusiness, people, I think, make
a lot of assumptions about whereyou stand financially.
You know, I, I remember when Igraduated high school in 1982,
uh, manpower at that time was mydad and two other people and
(21:08):
although he was making whatmaybe uh qualifiers for student
loans would consider a goodincome, um, we had no, no money
for me to go to school.
I didn't qualify for aid andbut there was no additional
income to help me go.
So, you know, I went, I went towork right away as a manpower
(21:29):
attempt at imperial products,which is now called quonex, and
but that was a form of educationin and of itself.
And so I've, you know, didn'treally go full-time to Ball
State to like 85, you know.
But I think all the things Idon't think I was mature enough
at the time that would havegoing to college right away
(21:51):
would have been good for meanyway, and and I was going
part-time, whatever, but butjust experiences leading up to
that, I think, really helped medown the road.
But, brad, you talked a littlebit about joining your dad, did
(22:12):
you feel like?
You know you saw your dad inthe insurance business and that
seemed lucrative to you.
I mean you were interested inthat.
Was there anything else thatwas kind of vying for your
interest at that time, or wasthat kind of what you wanted to
do?
Speaker 3 (22:28):
Well, the NFL, you know.
Of course I thought I was goingto go play professional
football.
I was going to ask you thatquestion, but I wasn't sure I
was going to work that in.
Speaker 1 (22:35):
But I mean let's put that on pause a minute.
I mean, when you're in college,like that, I mean you've got to
be dreaming a little bit.
Oh, maybe I can go pro.
Speaker 3 (22:45):
Yeah, of course, again, I probably had no
business even thinking that, butin your mind when you're a
teenager, early 20s, yeah,everybody thinks they're going
to be a professional athlete.
So, unfortunately, that didn'twork out for me.
So I had to realize I needed a,or I did realize I needed a
(23:12):
real job, had to support myselfand I had a significant other in
Kelly and I knew we wanted toeventually get married.
So, in order to see or I guessthe negative side of it without
having an insurance license, soI was basically the yard boy.
I mowed the lawn at the office,I helped clean up, I painted a
lot of stories, sandblasting theold building on South A Street.
So I was always around it, Iwas always in it, I knew it was
(23:35):
there, but I didn't reallyunderstand what my father did.
I just knew he was wellrespected in the community and
he made a living that was ableto support our family.
So, yeah, after graduating Ikind of looked at some different
options and I thought you knowwhat?
I'm a Richmond guy, I don'twant to live in a big city and I
wanted to come back and Iwanted to learn from him and I
(23:55):
wanted to work in the familybusiness, so came back and
joined him in 2001.
And we were at South A Street Ithink we had seven employees and
so kind of humble beginningsand my dad always likes to tell
the story started in the in thedirt floor basement of that
building on South A and weworked up to the first floor and
then we worked up to the secondfloor and then by the end my
(24:17):
wife had joined us and we puther in the attic.
So we had to finish the atticand we were literally busting at
the seams.
We had no more room on thatlittle building on South a and
we were starting to see somegrowth.
And again, I think the timingwas around, maybe when Kelly
came in and I had been thereseveral years and, as dad
mentioned, I mean, it takes fiveyears to really learn the
(24:37):
business, and so I had beenthere for five years and
starting to get my own momentumand building up my own clients.
And so we had an opportunitythat a building came to our
attention.
Kind of a funny story, but therewas actually a bank on the east
side of town and it was FirstMerchants at the time and we
(24:57):
were working with FirstMerchants on a health savings
account and one of the ladiesfrom the bank just happened to
mention in a meeting that thatbuilding was going to be up for
sale, so we weren't going to beable to find her on East Main.
She was going to be up on theirChester location.
And so Dad and I looked at eachother immediately and said well
, what are the plans with thebuilding on the east side?
And she gave us a name and anumber and said we need to
(25:27):
contact you know this individualand they'll let you know.
And so dad immediately did,called this gentleman and got a
price and he just said I'll takeit.
And so that was that.
We bought the building.
That was gosh 2014, I believe,maybe the end of 2013.
I think we bought it inDecember and by February of 2014
, we had already renovated,moved into it and then by 2017,
(25:47):
we were putting a 3000 squarefoot addition on the back of it.
So we went from humblebeginnings my father working in
the dirt floor, the basement onSouth A Street to 20 years later
having seven employees and Ithink 40 years now from when he
started the agency in 1981, wenow have 21 employees.
We have a whole health division, several personal lines agents,
(26:11):
commercial agents specialize inbusiness, personal lines,
health, life, really everythinginsurance.
Speaker 1 (26:21):
And on your website everybody looks so good in those
pictures that that you took ofeverybody that's on your site,
everybody looks great onphotography is an amazing.
Yeah, it looks you all lookgreat there.
I was looking at and I was.
I was going to ask how manyemployees you have, because I
was just from counting thepictures.
I'm just going to say about 16to 20.
Speaker 3 (26:38):
Yeah, 21 and with an intern.
So we have a summer internhelping us out right now.
Speaker 1 (26:44):
So, Eric, when did you decide that it was time to
kind of hand over the reins ofthe leadership to your son?
Speaker 2 (26:53):
You know, symbolically, when we went into
the new building in 2013, thelargest office I really insisted
Brad take that, becausesymbolically, I think that
mentally, I was saying thatwe're passing the baton.
I always believe that eachperson has their time in the sun
, so to speak, and I recognizethat I had my time and it was
(27:17):
his time.
I'm glad I see a lot ofbusiness.
People struggle with passingthat baton on to others kids,
spouses and it's reallyimportant you do that to
continue the business and he andKelly have done superbly well.
As, I use the metaphor, theydrive the bus.
I'm in the back and that'swhere I should be.
(27:38):
I'm 74 years old.
It's their time and they'vereally grown it.
They've done things I couldnever dream of, so it's been
very, very enjoyable.
It's been a great journey so itwas.
Speaker 1 (27:52):
It was kind of a plan , things like you guys,
something you just talked about,or I don't know, call him in
the office one day I mean, yeah,it takes time, you know, it's
almost the football, thing, thecoaching.
Speaker 2 (28:04):
Thing.
I think we both said you know,that's how it works in football,
it's your turn.
You coached up, right?
I don't even know if it wasprobably unspoken, but we both
came out of a footballbackground where, hey, it's your
turn.
Speaker 3 (28:21):
You earned it.
You're the starter, let's go.
Yeah, I think we do an agencymeeting every month and my dad
would always run those meetingsand that was kind of the handing
of the baton, as he said.
You run the meetings.
Now this is your turn.
You stand up there and that'skind of when things started to
change Cause.
Then, when you, when you have,when you're forced to take that
leadership role and talk to theteam and give them direction, it
just naturally happens, and sothat's when Kelly and I were
(28:41):
able to kind of put our spin onthings per se and is where we're
at today.
Speaker 1 (28:49):
So, eric, it was never really like it's like hey.
I've had my run and here you go, son.
Speaker 2 (28:56):
Yeah, just kind of a natural ebb and flow, not really
an architectural plan, so tospeak but it did work out well
because I never there was.
Speaker 3 (29:05):
I didn't ever come in , uh, with everybody looking at
me like, oh you know, brad's incharge now.
So you know, when I started Iwas just selling home and auto
insurance.
I mean, I started from the verybottom.
I was literally at one point,kelly and I would come in on the
weekends because, again, wewere struggling, young family
and we'd clean the office toearn some extra cash.
(29:26):
So we were very similar, wewould do everything, and so I
just as over time again I'vebeen doing this for over 20
years, first five years justtrying to figure out what I was
doing and how to do itEventually got into commercial
insurance and then, as I gotinto commercial, a little bit of
group health insurance and andthen we kind of figured, hey,
we're getting big enough, weneed to actually create
(29:46):
divisions, we need to havespecialists.
One person can't do it all.
And I think that's when webrought in Kyle Zeidel and Kyle
turned, you know, basicallytransitioned and created a, the
whole health division and thebenefit division in our office,
um, but he was a big piece ofthat, um.
So, yeah, it was.
It was a slow process and it.
It just took a natural um,natural time and and I think
(30:11):
everybody just um it, it justmade sense.
It just worked again.
There was no just one day.
This is the way it's going tohappen.
It just just uh, and I thinkthat's probably a more natural
way to handle that.
Um, and dad's still involved,comes in every day, so it's not
like he left.
I would say we, we, we leadtogether, uh, between kelly,
(30:31):
myself and my father and and,like I said, kyle's a big part
of that yeah, it's with.
Speaker 1 (30:37):
For me and my dad it just seems like it just kind of
like it was uh, it evolved, itevolved, and just one day, all
of a sudden, I was doingeverything you don't even
realize it and then, and then hesaid, you know, I think, his
son, I think we need toofficially call you the
president of the company nowbecause you know, and and he was
always gracious about it and,uh, and he was always gracious
(31:01):
about it and that transition wasgreat and very supportive of me
.
So working together as fatherand son, I mean, would have been
some of the rewards of gettingto have that unique relationship
.
And what could you think of acouple things just to comment on
(31:22):
that?
Speaker 2 (31:22):
yeah, I mean you raise your son and daughter and
and brad's easily one of my mostvaluable possessions, if you
will and it's wonderful to berubbing shoulders with him for
22 years and watch him do well Iyou get a pride.
I'm a pinch myself about everyother day when I watch Ian Kelly
(31:43):
run the agency the successthey've had.
It's just a blast.
I think very few people haveenjoyed that journey and I feel
very blessed that I've been ableto see him flourish and do so
well, and Kelly as well, becausehe and I are spilled glass of
water uh, I couldn't find thefront door, but kelly has been
(32:04):
fantastic, given a structureddirection, strategies underlying
tactics, so the chemistry'sbeen terrific and it's a
beautiful thing to watch yeah,dad and I have a unique
relationship.
Speaker 3 (32:16):
We're very similar and I think understanding each
other's personality really helps.
Neither one of us have thisdominant personality and I would
assume you and your father arevery similar.
You just mesh, you just go.
Well, we have the same thoughts, the same feelings and we
respect each other and we listento each other, and so in that
regard, it's just easy.
(32:37):
It's just.
I don't know anything differentand it's nice to have a coach
there.
I can always go into his officeand bounce an idea off of him.
He's always supportive, alwayswilling to help and encourage,
and I love that.
He's always willing to let usgo in the direction we want to
go in, never wants us to changeor do something different.
Speaker 2 (33:01):
You know, and I would also say don't you think a lot
of that comes up both of us fromfootball, because that's what
you're taught as a team player.
You surrender to the uh, to theteam, the team goal.
It's not about me, it's littlelittle, me big, you yep, yeah,
and, and we both have boughtinto that philosophy and I think
that served us extremely wellin the business world.
Speaker 3 (33:22):
Yeah, we don't have big egos and again I think that
is because of our athletics.
It is about the greater good ofthe agency.
We want to create this machinethat is running on its own.
It's not about one piece, it'sabout the whole machine
operating.
And sometimes you've got totake a little piece and change
them in and out and keep itgoing, but we've the whole
machine operating.
And sometimes you got to take alittle piece and change them in
and out and keep it going, butwe've.
We've built a machine over 40some years, do you think?
Speaker 1 (33:47):
being in the insurance business relationships
, I would I make assumptionshere, but I think, probably
right that relationships arereally huge when it comes to
insurance.
You know people trusting youand making sure that you know
they're being heard and lookedout for.
(34:09):
And being from this communityand growing up in it, do you
think that's been an assetthat's helped in your business
to grow?
I'd say it's number one, ohyeah.
Speaker 3 (34:20):
Number one.
We are a relationship business.
Again, we sell an intangibleproduct.
We're selling a promise.
It's not shiny, it's not fun,you don't get to take it home
with you.
It's a piece of paper, and sowhat we sell is us.
When you buy an insurancepolicy from VanVleet Insurance,
you're buying Eric Kelly andBrad VanVleet, and so we stand
(34:41):
behind that.
We're very proud of that.
That's why our name's on thebuilding and we want to uphold
that respect and reputation inthe community.
So we're very, very proud ofwhat we've created over 40 years
.
And you're right, it'srelationships.
We want to get right back topeople.
Our doors are always open.
We take pride in customerservice.
We do things like customerappreciation events.
(35:01):
We had 700 plus people at ouroffice last summer for a party
for our clients, just a way forus to say thank you.
It's free to them.
So those are the types ofthings again, having somebody
like my wife in marketing whocan plan it all.
Dad and I pretty much just showup.
But those, you know, those arethe kind of things you don't
find in a lot of businesses andwe understand that.
(35:25):
And again, and that's what youcan do in a small town like
Richmond, indiana is give backto the clients, be supportive,
and we want our people again.
We know it's about the peoplein our agency, so we want high
character, we want great peopleand we can teach them the
insurance business, but we wantpeople that are going to look
out after other people's bestinterest.
Speaker 1 (35:47):
I'm sure that insurance is something that most
people probably don't like thethought of having to pay for it,
no, but they're sure glad theyhave it when something happens.
Speaker 3 (36:00):
Nobody likes insurance until they need it
Right, right.
Speaker 1 (36:03):
And Eric, I remember this.
This was quite a few years agonow, but I remember like my
mother had part of this treefall in her home and cause all
kinds of interior damage to herhome.
And I mean you were there atthe house, you know, just the
same day it happened, justtrying to reach out, and you
(36:24):
probably don't even rememberthis, but I mean I remember
coming over, because it's kindof a big deal, this tree falling
on my mom's house and drivingover there and there you were
walking around and talking toher and trying to just reassure
her that things were going to beokay.
So I appreciate that and that'skind of what you want to bring
(36:44):
to the table when you're workingin a community like this, and I
think you guys probably do thatvery, very well.
How do you deal with theinsurance side, where you know
it seems like the premiums arealways going up even faster than
inflated inflation At least itfeels that way.
(37:05):
Do you think that?
Is that a true comment or isthat a misnomer on my part?
Speaker 2 (37:13):
I would say that we react to the marketplace.
We've been late.
It's interesting you bring thisup because we are part of the
national conversation oninflation now, very much so.
The homeowners across ourentire industry was up 22% this
last year.
But I think we mirror what'shappening with material labor
(37:34):
rates et cetera.
But we have been late to theparty raising it.
And boy have we, like I said,become part of the national
conversation.
And it's tough because we gotto spend a lot of time
explaining that, because everytime somebody opens the mail,
their head snaps back with theserate increases.
And again, not just us, theentire industry has to deal with
(37:56):
this.
Speaker 1 (37:57):
Because I think some people think that you guys are
sitting around your conferencetable thinking, okay, what are
we going to change?
How much we're going to changefor raise the car insurance this
year?
But you have really you don't,dad, and I have zero influence
influence in that whatsoever,but I think that people, don't
you think people, oh yeah some,I'm not everyone, but that's
(38:20):
probably a little bit of uh yeah, I think you have to work
through with people.
I think oh you got.
Why you guys you?
Speaker 3 (38:25):
know, doing this to me yeah, yeah, they take it
personal.
Think it's.
You know, us, our agency andand you're right, we have no
control over it.
It's the industry, it's themarket.
I mean, we are officially in ahard market.
It is a tough time out there.
Everyone's going to continue tosee prices go up.
Inflation is number one.
We have these conversations ona daily basis.
Again, it's not a fun topic.
(38:45):
We're all sick of hearing aboutinflation, but it's affecting
everywhere the gas station, thegrocery store, when you go out
for a meal at a restaurant, andalso your insurance premiums,
and there's also the number ofnatural disasters that have hit
this country are increasing.
We give the number in 2023, Ithink the industry anticipated
eight catastrophic claims, and acatastrophic claim is defined
(39:07):
by a single incident with over abillion dollars paid out, and
we've heard somewhere between 20and 30 catastrophic claims in
just one year, in 2023.
And you look at Hawaii and thefires and you think of
hurricanes hitting the South,and so we all are in this 2023.
And you look at Hawaii and thefires and you think of
hurricanes hitting the south,and so we all are in this
together.
And so when things like thathappen even though it didn't
happen maybe in Richmond,indiana.
(39:28):
It hits the industry and we allfeel it because of reinsurance,
and so the reinsurance costs goup and then the premium goes up
for all of us.
Speaker 1 (39:37):
But where you live in the country can have a negative
or positive impact on what youpay for insurance.
Definitely Look at Florida.
Speaker 3 (39:46):
I think the average homeowner premium in the state
of Florida, we heard, is over$6,000 for a homeowner's premium
here.
It's maybe $1,200 in Indianaand so it is going up.
But it's going up everywhere,but it is a percentage of kind
of where you're at the weatherpatterns.
And so the Midwest iscontinuing to get hit with hail
(40:07):
and wind.
It's unfortunate but we'reseeing it, and so insurance
companies unfortunately havelost money on the homeowner
product, on property insurance.
Auto continues to rise due toclaims, due to the cost of
material parts, labor rise dueto claims, due to the cost of
material parts, labor.
Speaker 1 (40:26):
So it kind of leads into a couple of one of the
couple of questions I want toask about kind of emerging
trends in the industry.
Is there any?
Is there such a thing?
Is there anything that's kindof changing what it used to be
and is moving to well?
Speaker 3 (40:36):
definitely this hard market is something that we've
never seen.
I mean, dad's been doing thisfor over 40 years, I've been
doing it for over 20 years andand we've never seen.
I mean, dad's been doing thisfor over 40 years, I've been
doing it for over 20 years andwe've never seen a market like
this.
So this is something we'venever experienced, the hardest
market we've ever been a part of.
Unfortunately, rates are on therise for everyone, every
company, every place.
(40:56):
There's no avoiding it.
So, again, not a fun topic, butwe're going to continue to see
it.
So that's probably the numberone thing to anticipate is just
rising costs from the insurancecarriers.
Speaker 2 (41:12):
We spend a lot of time counseling with clients
talking about incurring largerdeductibles, taking more risk to
keep your costs down, and thatseems to be working for some if
they're willing to do that.
But you look at where thenation is.
I remember this statistic 60%of Americans don't have $1,000
in their savings account.
(41:33):
So that can be a tough sale tosome folks because they don't
have the residual money to payfor a larger deductible.
But we have to have thoseconversations with folks.
Speaker 1 (41:45):
So what should?
Is there anything specificallythat I should be thinking about
this year or next year regardingmy insurance needs?
Is there something that that Ican be doing to kind of get out
in front of it, in front of theissues?
Speaker 3 (42:01):
Yeah, having conversations.
So again, that's what we sellis that we are a local agency
and we want to be risk managers.
So we don't want to sell you aproduct, we want to be there for
you.
We want to talk to our clients.
We want to help them workthrough this hard market and
find solutions.
You know, that's the differentwith working with Geico you're
going to not have the samerepresentative when you call and
(42:23):
you can't maybe get thosequestions answered, and so you
can literally walk into ouroffice, schedule an appointment,
give us a phone, phone call andwe're going to, we're going to
talk to you.
So that's that's.
Number one is talk to youragent, have a conversation, you
know, figure out a way that youcan manage your risk, which may
be taking a higher deductiblethat someone else may not be
(42:43):
able to do.
So everyone is different inthat and we just want to be
there to help you, educate youand advise you moving forward.
Speaker 1 (42:52):
What about career opportunities within the
industry?
Are they strong, are they Imean?
Speaker 2 (42:59):
is it a?
Speaker 1 (42:59):
good field for someone to go into today.
I mean, if they're trying tothink about, you, know what kind
of job they want to do, butthey're out of college.
Speaker 2 (43:08):
It's still interesting.
It's always been referred to asthe backdoor profession.
Who goes in the front doorwishing to be an insurance agent
, and I wasn't.
I was a backdoor entrant, but Ithink Brad would agree it's a
really cool profession.
I enjoy people.
(43:28):
You got to have good peopleskills.
You got to know how to read aroom, great communication skills
and it's got a lot of depth andbreadth as far as the
intellectual part.
Knowing these contracts and thepromises, you can have a PhD in
insurance and we go to seminarswith very sophisticated topics
(43:48):
talking about commercialinsurance, general liability.
We had a major fire in thistown, a tradeway fire that
affected a lot of people andresulted in tons of litigation.
So it can get very complicatedbut it's a very cool profession.
I recommend it to anybody thatlikes people, that has good
communication skills.
(44:08):
You got to hard work.
It's not a get rich quickscheme that you're doing right
out of the gate.
It takes a long time.
It's got a long incubationperiod, but but not everybody is
a producer, the one or an agent.
Speaker 3 (44:22):
I mean there's so many different areas in the
insurance industry.
If you want to be an adjusteror an underwriter or an actuary,
you know there are tons ofopportunities.
Insurance companies are allsearching for help right now,
again in those in those fields,from underwriting so they're
usually working behind the deskworking with agents like ourself
to an adjuster who's out, youknow, writing checks on these
(44:47):
claims.
So it's a great industry, tonsand tons of opportunity.
I wish more young people would,would be interested in it,
because this is a field that'scontinuing to grow.
I just think when you say theword insurance, sometimes it's a
dirty word or it doesn't havethe sex appeal of some other
type of IT positions.
But again, you can do justabout anything under that
(45:09):
insurance umbrella.
Speaker 1 (45:11):
Right.
Well, I mean, at some point intime someone's going to be in
some type of a car accident orthey're going to have some type
of catastrophic thing thathappens at their home, or
they're going to have a healthevent where they're glad that
they have a good plan that justhelped to relieve some of the
stress of that.
I mean, you're already goingthrough something stressful and
then worrying about how it's allgoing to be managed and taken
(45:34):
care of.
That's where you guys can comein and really kind of help
alleviate some of the anxietyand some of the frustration.
When those things happen.
There's still going to be somethings out of all of our control
, but to be there for people andhave empathy for them, I'm sure
that's a big part of it.
Speaker 2 (45:51):
It is Coaching, nursing, supporting people.
It's all wrapped up.
Speaker 1 (45:58):
So both of you have decided.
You're invested in thiscommunity.
You live here and say that mostof your business is from this
region.
You know, this community stillstruggles with challenges, which
(46:20):
sometimes really baffles me.
I see some things that I'mincredibly encouraged and I see
other things and I'm thinkingwhy it has to be that way.
I mean, what are your guys'thoughts about that?
What are some of the thingsthat are maybe concerning you
about the community, some of thethings that you see as some
(46:41):
positive things happening on thehorizon?
I mean, since you both livehere and you're you know I mean
Brad, you spent your whole lifehere outside of college or
whatever I mean.
what are your guys' thoughts onthat?
Speaker 2 (46:54):
One theme I really like the work that Dr Hicks from
Ball State has a PhD and he'sdone a study on Rust Belt cities
and I think he's done someexcellent work and it's there's
a theme there of depopulation.
He, as Dr Hicks says you canovercome a lot of things, but
you it's very difficult toovercome depopulation.
(47:17):
So I would like to see aconversation in our community
about how we can stall that,stop it, interrupt it, because
it has major ramifications toour tax base, our school system,
our image, our housing.
It affects almost everythingand I don't know if people
(47:37):
realize that that is maybe thetop of the mountain as far as
our challenges.
And I'd like to begin aconversation.
I'm actually setting some thingsin motion with some community
leaders now to discuss how wecan deal with depopulation.
Let's make that part of ourconversation, because the baby
boomers, of which I'm one we'reabout 22% of the statistical
(48:01):
cohort here in Richmond andwe're leaving the scene and
we're also the richestgeneration to come along.
So you're going to see anaccelerated depopulation in a
particular group that you don'twant to lose because they have
the money, they write the checks.
So we need to get out ahead ofthat we need to talk about that
(48:21):
conversation.
I'd like to see us have more ofa D-Day type of view of our
challenge.
It's a great community.
It's got a lot of great rawmaterial, but I think it's go
time.
We can't be sitting on ourhands right now.
This is a time to move ahead.
Speaker 3 (48:43):
What's your thoughts?
I would agree, Obviously, wemade the decision to come back
here.
Love Richmond, love the smallcommunity, love everything it
offers.
To be able to get involved andbe a part, be in the social
fabric of Richmond, Indiana, Ithink, is really neat.
I agree, though, we have tostop looking in the rearview
mirror.
We got to start looking in theout, the front windshield, and
(49:04):
we got to start thinking aboutthe future.
So I would just challenge ourcommunity that we have to
continue to grow, and we say thesame thing in our business if
you're not growing, you're dying.
And so we've got to figure outa way to better ourselves as a
community, to find growthopportunities, to take advantage
of that, Because, again, we doit in our business every day and
(49:26):
we have to do it in Richmond orwe're going to continue to
shrink and die.
So we need to again be positive.
We have a lot, Richmond has alot to offer, and so I think
sometimes we're our own worstcritics of our community, but
there's a lot of positives andwe need to focus on those things
and then, hopefully.
So I think sometimes we're ourown worst critics of our
community, but there's a lot ofpositives and we need to focus
on those things and thenhopefully you know I was really
(49:47):
involved in the youngprofessional group and the brain
drain obviously is trying toget young people to come back to
this community.
Housing obviously is a hottopic right now, but there also
has to be jobs for people towork and so we have some great
employers at Reed and Belden andRichmond Community Schools I
think are our three largestemployers, and so we need those
people to not only work here butlive here, and I think that's a
(50:10):
struggle because I think, ifyou looked at the percentages, a
large percentage of thoseemployees are driving outside of
Richmond after 5 pm.
Speaker 1 (50:20):
I mean, there are companies making investments.
There's two I'm I'm just Idon't want to forget somebody,
I'm probably am, but I know likeAnchor Ingredients and
Liberation Labs.
There have facilities that areunder construction and coming
close to being completed andthey're going to be employing
people.
You know, I I work with a lotof different companies in this
(50:42):
community, as you do, and, um, Ido think housing is an issue,
because it seems like there's alot of people that work at these
companies that do not live here, especially those that we their
upper management professionalpositions.
They choose to drive here everyday instead of live here, and
(51:05):
so maybe it's part of thecommunity itself, maybe it's
having somewhere to live.
I just spoke to one gentleman atthe chamber event that we were
both at recently and he is in anew company and he's struggling
to find a home and this you know.
He wants to bring him and hiswife and his three children here
(51:27):
, but he's having trouble, um,you know, finding somewhere to
live, a house.
I spoke to a young man at mychurch who went to high school
with my boys and he recently wasmarried a year ago and they
want to come back to richmondand live struggling to find a
home.
I mean, that's not the onlyissue, but it's just ironic that
(51:50):
some of the people I've talkedto recently are having trouble
finding places to live.
So, and you can't just put ahouse somewhere tomorrow, you
know.
So I would love to see a moreaggressive move toward some
development in that area and andI just I'm not I could be a
(52:11):
little bit uninformed in thatpart, but I don't I don't see a
lot of it happening right nowyou know, that's why I love the
theme.
Speaker 2 (52:19):
We need a strategy in the community and that's why I
come back to depopulation,because that fits right into the
housing, it fits into the taxbase, it fits into the shrinking
school system.
We're a community that has apoverty rate of 21%.
We have double the nationalaverage poverty rate.
We have one of the lowest percapita incomes in the state of
(52:39):
Indiana.
That all changes if we can workon that theme of growing the
community or at leaststabilizing it.
But we're projected to keeplosing population and the three
of us know the people you'relosing are the ones you don't
want to lose.
They're the financially mobileand social and they can afford
(53:01):
to live in these outlyingcommunities and drive in.
We lose so much for thiscommunity when people make a
decision to live outside thecity limits.
So again, I'd like to createthat conversation, that D-Day
concept in our community aboutwhat we need to do.
So we're all on the same page,because we know we recently had
(53:21):
an event with the housing thatsurprised all of us when it
didn't pass right, and I thinkthat's because we're not all on
the same page and we need towork on that yeah, I would.
Speaker 1 (53:32):
I would have thought that something like that before
it comes to a vote.
You already know it's passed.
They should already have that'severything has been worked out
behind the scenes that you knowthat this is going to all the
support behind it.
Speaker 2 (53:50):
It it went down by a larger margin than I ever
imagined.
I was totally shocked, yeahyeah, yeah, I, I uh.
Speaker 1 (53:59):
I admittedly was not as informed on the whole project
as I wished I was, but it was.
You know, living out in thefringe of Richmond, sometimes I
don't follow some of thosethings as well, as far as things
like housing and what's goingon in the school system,
especially since my kids aregrown and gone and have kids of
(54:21):
their own now.
So that part, sometimes I get alittle disconnect, but it's
hard to keep track of everything, though, isn't it, it sure is.
I mean you know you want to beinvolved in all these things,
but you've got your business torun and you have family and you
want to go to your son'sfootball game.
I mean, life balance is tough.
Speaker 3 (54:41):
It is tough.
I just am one again.
I don't know all the details ofthat either, but if I can
support anything that bringsgrowth and prosperity and
opportunity to the community,I'm all for it.
So that's all I needed to see.
It's an opportunity for morepeople to live in Richmond,
indiana.
Let's support it 100%.
Let's figure out a way to makethis work Right.
Absolutely.
Let's support it a hundredpercent.
Speaker 1 (55:01):
Let's figure out a way to make this work Right.
Absolutely Well, fellas, Ireally appreciate you sitting
down with me today.
I've enjoyed talking to both ofyou.
Is there anything that youwanted to share before we kind
of sign?
Speaker 2 (55:12):
off.
I just share that.
We're all gym rats and we'veall seen each other in the gym.
So, this was like a locker roomdiscussion.
It was a lot of fun.
Speaker 1 (55:23):
It was a lot of fun, very comfortable.
I appreciate both of you andthe investment you've made in
our community and you representour community very well.
Thank you, michael Allen fromManpower.
We are a national brand, yetlocally owned franchise.
We are familiar with thechallenges businesses face.
It's tough recruiting andretaining qualified employees.
That's why working withManpower is a smart,
cost-effective solution.
Our entire focus is talentacquisition.
(55:46):
We'll manage your hiring andtraining and provide ongoing,
customized support.
Since 1966, we have been yourcommunity-invested partner,
uniquely positioned to helpeliminate the hassles and save
you time and money.
Let us help.
Contact Manpower today.
Michael Allen from Manpower.
We are a national brand, yetlocally owned franchise.
We are familiar with thechallenges businesses face.
It's tough recruiting andretaining qualified employees.
That's why working withManpower is a smart,
cost-effective solution.
Our entire focus is talentacquisition.
We'll manage your hiring andtraining and provide ongoing,
customized support.
Since 1966, we have been yourcommunity-invested partner,
(00:24):
uniquely positioned to helpeliminate the hassles and save
you time and money.
Let us help contact Manpowertoday.
Hello and welcome to the Hubpowered by Manpower of Richmond.
I'm your host, michael Allen.
Here on the Hub, we interviewlocal businesses, community
partners and various specialgifts, and our mission here is
to share and spotlight uniqueand untold stories of companies,
(00:46):
organizations and people whoare making a difference in our
community.
So today I have with me Ericand Brad VanVleet from VanVleet
Insurance.
Speaker 2 (00:57):
Welcome, guys, thanks for having us, thank you.
Speaker 1 (00:59):
Great to be here.
So I really appreciate youjoining me today and I've known
both of you for quite a whilenow and maybe maybe, eric, you a
little bit longer and I wasreally intrigued about doing
this interview because I workedfor many years with my dad in
business local family businessand your business is the same
(01:23):
and father and son workingtogether and I just thought it
would be really neat to kind ofhave a conversation and kind of
share some of the similaritiesand what it's like to have a
family business but also, youknow, work with your father or
work with your son, so I waspretty excited about doing that
today.
Before we get into that, one ofthe things that I do on this
(01:45):
podcast is kind of a traditionis we ask you about your first
job, the first job you ever had.
So I know it's going back alittle bit.
Speaker 3 (01:57):
Can you remember that long ago Dad.
Speaker 2 (02:00):
We're going back pre-electricity, but go ahead,
yeah, so do you remember whatthat was oh?
yeah, I sure do.
In fact it had everything to dowith where I'm sitting here
today.
I got out of Miami Universityin 1972, and there's a
full-blown, very seriousrecession and you couldn't find
a job.
And a gentleman that I hadgotten to know through the years
(02:20):
, dave Blackman, that ran theRichmond YMCA and Dave said I'll
hire you as a program director.
So I was a poli-sci, majorpre-law at Miami, came to
Richmond and was a programdirector at the Y and got to
know the finest group of peopleback in those days in the
seventies business people allcollected down at the health
club Really neat people names,great names in the community and
(02:44):
those folks really befriendedme and actually pointed me in
the direction of owning my ownbusiness.
Insurance introduced me to myfirst insurance job and to this
day I'm very indebted to thosefolks for taking an interest in
my life as a young man and thosewere neat times.
Speaker 1 (03:03):
So you're right out of college and get this program
directors.
Do you remember what you weremaking then Like $14,000 a year
was pitiful.
Speaker 2 (03:15):
I should have been in a food line, but it was a job
and, frankly, in 72, that was avery severe recession.
It was a lot of people weregetting body slammed back then.
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (03:26):
Interesting, eric.
Do you I mean Brad do youremember your first job, like
you know, like I mean even goingback to, like high school years
or whatever.
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (03:35):
So you know, dad again always told me the
importance of having a job andso I've always had a job, summer
jobs, and they were usuallymanual labor.
So I've always had a job,summer jobs, and they were
usually manual labor.
So I did lawn care and thenprobably the first like real job
for an employer was actuallysome rally construction.
I worked on the concrete crew.
Speaker 1 (03:53):
Okay.
Speaker 3 (03:53):
So that was the summer before I went off to
University of Dayton.
I worked in, you know, slingingconcrete.
Speaker 1 (04:02):
When I look back at jobs like I like that when I had
when I was younger, I reallykind of looked those in with a
lot of endearment.
Today, I mean maybe when youwere doing them you maybe didn't
like it that much, maybe youdid, I don't know, but I'm
really thankful foropportunities like that.
I mean, when you kind of lookback, I mean, were you happy
that you did some manual labor?
Speaker 3 (04:24):
I'm.
I'm very happy I did.
I learned so much.
I learned that's not what Iwanted to do with my life, so I
wanted to go to college and getan education and work with my
brain and maybe not my back asmuch, but it was a great
experience.
I love the hard work.
I love, you know, interactingwith different people, and lawn
care jobs were always great, soI've instilled that, hopefully,
(04:46):
in my kids.
My children are working, myson's working out at Forest
Hills Country Club right now.
He's a college student and sothat's his summer job Again,
meeting great people, and I lovethe lessons you learn through
that.
Speaker 1 (04:58):
Yeah, that's awesome.
So both of you are pretty wellknown in this community and
through your business, butprobably on real personal levels
as well.
But I think it'd be good foryou know our followers, just to
kind of recap.
So, like Eric, why don't youjust share a little bit about
(05:18):
growing up?
You know kind of where you wereborn and where you grew up and
just what kind of what broughtyou to Richmond.
Speaker 2 (05:26):
Actually I was born on the East Coast.
My parents were Cornell gradsand dad got transferred or took
a job out here with NatcoNational Automatic Tool Company,
which no longer exists.
So I got here when I wasprobably 10 years old, went to
test middle school, which was areal eye-opening experience.
(05:48):
Back then there was a lot ofdivision socially between the
haves and the have-nots, so itwas a unique world.
I used to have to pay kidsmoney to get my gym shoes back
and that little experience gotme in the weight room at the age
of 12.
And I've never stopped.
I'm still in the weight roomthree or four nights a week.
(06:09):
I still think somebody's goingto come take my tennis shoes.
But after getting through that,I went to the high school
because I started weightlifting.
Dealing with that adversity, Iended up being a wrestler and on
the football team and I was ona mythical state champion
football team which then changedthe trajectory of my life
because I thought I was afootball player.
(06:30):
So I went to Miami University,was a walk-on.
I, bo Schembechler, was mycoach.
I walked into his office as arecruit and he looked at me and
he said you're a little blank,you can't play football here.
That upset me so I thought I'dprove to him I could.
He was probably right.
In the long run I did make thefreshman team as a walk on.
(06:52):
I did earn a little bit ofmoney, but I got my knee ripped
out at the end of my freshmanyear unholy triad.
So my career was over.
So now I had to take stock at18, 19 years old.
What was I going to do?
I obviously was on my way tobecoming a professional football
player, making millions ofdollars, and quickly figured out
that wasn't going to happen.
So I got, became pretty seriousabout being a student, actually
(07:16):
read books, talked toprofessors, really got into it.
I was a poli-sci major andreally enjoyed that and was on
schedule to go to law school.
But we got into the Vietnam War.
The war was raging and everybodywas going to grad schools to
stay out of the draft and Icouldn't get in.
The closest I could get was aSalmon P Chase night school in
(07:39):
Cincinnati and that wasn'tlooking good.
So I ended up taking a job atthe YMCA.
As I said earlier, that was theonly offer I had because 72 was
so severe in terms of recession, and then with the great folks
that took an interest in me andcoached me up.
(08:01):
They suggested I get in theinsurance business.
Bob Broscheid, great names,wonderful people.
I'm still very grateful to allof them for taking an interest
in a young man that didn't knowanything and put me on a
trajectory to start my ownbusiness.
Speaker 3 (08:15):
You might talk about the first business you started
before insurance.
Oh, gasoline Alley, yeah Gosh,I'm glad you told me that.
Speaker 2 (08:22):
Yeah, I apparently had a pension for always wanting
to own my own business.
That was like a nightmare, brad.
I'm sorry to brought that up.
So I read in a magazine about ado-it-yourself car repair shop.
I thought it was a brilliantidea.
So you could come in and rent abay for $8 an hour and I'd have
all the equipment you could fixyour own car.
I barely drive a car, let alonefix a car.
(08:45):
I missed the whole point aboutyou're supposed to know what
you're doing when you start abusiness.
That seemed a little irrelevant.
I was in love with the idea soI did that.
I set it up in a garage, I hada gentleman help who actually
knew things about cars, and wedid that for 12 years and I was
an absolute, unmitigated failure.
Speaker 1 (09:05):
Twelve years now.
I'm sorry.
12 months, Okay, 12 months.
Speaker 2 (09:09):
That went 12 months yeah.
Speaker 1 (09:10):
If you did 12 years, I wouldn't call that a failure.
Speaker 2 (09:14):
Twelve months of unmitigated failure, I think we
raised $19 in revenue, closedthe business and that started me
on my trajectory in insurance.
Speaker 1 (09:24):
Did you learn a little bit about cars, though,
in that?
Speaker 2 (09:27):
12 months I did and how little I know, and brad
would attest that I apparentlylearned he's not a car guy.
Speaker 3 (09:33):
No, I don't even wash them, let alone barely drive
them?
Speaker 2 (09:37):
I don't, but it was an important lesson in life and
you learn a lot from failure,probably more from failure than
you do success somewhere inthere.
Speaker 1 (09:45):
There, I think you met somebody and you got married
, though, didn't you?
Oh, my wife.
Yeah, I think we need tomention her.
Speaker 2 (09:52):
Yeah, we certainly do because she's been the rudder
on the boat all these years.
We dated in the fifth, sixthand seventh grade.
I moved to Richmond, indiana,which caused an interruption in
our serious love life.
In the fifth grade and wedidn't reconnect till my senior
year in high school she came tovisit my sister and as soon as
(10:12):
we did it was game back on and Igot married in the middle of my
senior year at Miami and beenmarried 52 years, had two great
kids with Brad and Shannon.
Speaker 1 (10:24):
Yeah, that's awesome.
Well, it's refreshing to knowsomeone that's been married that
long and that's a testamentProbably more of your wife than
you, absolutely, I would agreewith that, Brad.
How about you?
Speaker 3 (10:41):
So I'm a Richmond guy through and through born and
raised, born right here inRichmond, indiana, grew up going
to, you know, charlesElementary, tess Middle School.
Speaker 2 (10:51):
Richmond.
Speaker 3 (10:51):
High School, Graduated from Richmond High
School went off 45 minutes awayto the University of Dayton, so
I've never been too far, had agreat college experience,
playing football, getting agreat education.
I was a marketing major.
It's where I met my wife and Iwould definitely say she's my
(11:12):
better half.
Kelly is an amazing person andshe was elementary education and
came out of school and wegraduated and I came right back
to Richmond so I'd hadinternships working for State
Farm.
My wife was obviously teachingand so we had to make a decision
on what to do.
So I said you know, I caneither work for another company
(11:33):
or I can come back and learnfrom my father, as I thought,
learn from the best.
So I made that decision.
I moved back to Richmond andthen, quickly, my wife and I got
engaged and, within about ayear of graduating from college,
married and then she made thedecision.
It's a tough decision becauseKelly's from Fishers, Indiana,
so Richmond's a little differentthan what she was experiencing
(11:55):
with all the growth andprosperity of Fishers.
But I can tell you Kelly reallyreally enjoys Richmond, loves
the ability to get involved andbe connected to the community.
She's really, really gotten init and feels like she's a part
of of Richmond.
So, and luckily, I was able torecruit her to join our business
, and so Kelly has really beenthe game changer in our business
(12:17):
.
She does the marketing, she'sour HR director, she does so
much, so that's really kind ofwhat fueled the agency.
So, again, just backtracking,Kel and I decided to move here
right out, you know, a yearafter college and we've raised
two kids, and so I guess we'rewhat we call boomerangers, or
I'm a boomeranger.
(12:38):
I grew up and raised left andmade the decision to come back,
and I think it's been a greatdecision for us and our family
and we love being here.
Speaker 1 (12:46):
Tell me well.
I definitely got to know Kelly,probably the most working with
her on the Boys and Girls Clubboard and I got to know her
there and respect her immenselyjust through her efforts there.
How many years did she?
I've never talked to her about.
How many years did she teach?
Speaker 3 (13:05):
Oh, geez, she was teaching before we had kids.
So once we had our second child, so Drew's our oldest and then
Brynn, so she probably taught,for she taught for a year in
Indianapolis and then probablytaught for five or six years at
Seton Seton Catholic and lovedit.
So it's it's kind of neat tosee the kids that she taught
(13:26):
that are now grown and nowthey're having kids and getting
married.
It makes us feel pretty old.
So Kelly brings a uniqueperspective to the insurance
industry.
She's very structured, veryorganized, as you would expect
as a teacher, and so Dad and Iare more big picture.
We have these grand ideas, butKelly can come in and she can
actually make sure things happen.
And she comes in with a plan,just like a teacher would, and
(13:51):
she writes it out and again shebrings the structure to Dad and
I.
Speaker 1 (13:57):
I can't help but ask you a little bit because I
wasn't really in a position, Ididn't really follow it.
But tell me a little bit aboutplaying football over at UD and
I mean what position you playedand how it all came about.
You going there a little bit.
Speaker 3 (14:13):
So you know we're, I would say, an athletic family.
As my dad mentioned, he playedfootball at Miami and so I grew
up idolizing him and I wanted toplay college football as well.
So we were always taught havegoals, work really hard to
attain them.
And so I worked really hard atfootball and wrestling in high
school and my goal and my dreamwas to play Division I college
(14:35):
football.
In my mind I was going to get afull ride and didn't quite get
a full ride.
University of Dayton isDivision I but it is a
non-scholarship program so I hadto pay to go to school.
But I wouldn't have traded thatexperience for anything.
Absolutely loved everythingabout University of Dayton.
It is the purest form offootball because it is high
(14:56):
level and we play greatcompetition and everybody there
is there to get an education andthey're just passionate about
the game.
So there's no competition aboutwho's getting more money, who's
got the scholarships and intoday's world the NIL.
That's unheard of really at theUniversity of Dayton.
So I loved it.
I played linebacker.
(15:16):
I was a two-way player atRichmond.
I was a fullback and alinebacker, loved that
experience, had great coaches,great teams, a lot of success on
on on Leibold field and, uh, Iwas lucky enough to to get
recruited by uh Dayton and MikeKelly was the coach there.
Mike Kelly is probably, uh, oneof the most renowned coaches.
He was the winningest active uhcoach in college football when
(15:39):
he retired.
Um, I don't know what hiswinning percentage was, but it
was like 87%.
The guy is just absolutelyamazing.
So Mike Kelly, and then RickChamberlain was the defensive
coordinator.
He later took over the program,but we won our conference just
about every year I was there.
I got to travel all over thecountry playing high-level
football Again not getting ascholarship to do it, but I
(16:01):
always say I learned just asmuch on the football field as I
did in the classroom Highcharacter, unbelievable coaches.
So I loved it.
So what's really cool is my sonwas able to follow me and he is
now playing at the Universityof Dayton.
He and I are a little different.
I was a linebacker.
I always said if there was awall, my coach told me to run
(16:21):
through it.
I was going through it.
Drew's a quarterback and helooks at that wall and says,
well, why would I go through itif I can maybe go over it or
around it?
And so he thinks a littledifferent.
I guess I was the stereotypicalmeathead and he's more the
thinker, and so he's going to bea sophomore and he's right now
the starting quarterback atUniversity of Dayton.
(16:42):
He's having a very similarexperience.
The head coach there now is aguy that I played for, so that's
really neat.
His name is Trevor Andrews, orI played with I shouldn't say
played for I played with him atthe University of Dayton and now
he is the head coach and nowhe's coaching my son, and Drew
was his first recruit.
So it's kind of cool fullcircle.
He's at our kitchen tablerecruiting Drew out of high
(17:03):
school and now he's there havinga great experience as well.
Speaker 1 (17:07):
It's probably with any position, but you know,
playing the quarterback position, don't you think that he's just
like man I, I really, reallywant to play.
I mean because you're theleader out there for your team.
Oh yeah, and I would think, ifyou're not getting the
experience that on the playingfield as a starter, that would
(17:27):
really be tough.
I would think for that position, probably others too, but being
in a leadership role like thatseems like it's a lot of
pressure, but you just reallywant it too.
Speaker 3 (17:41):
It is, and that's a unique position, because you can
only have one quarterback.
You've got a lot of defensiveplayers, a lot of linebackers, a
lot of offensive linemen.
You typically play withmultiple running backs, but for
the most part there's onequarterback on a team.
So he went in as a truefreshman, as I mentioned, had a
great experience.
I got to start four games andnow this year looks to be to be
(18:01):
the starter, but drew's a quietleader.
He's not the kind of kid thatwants all the attention.
Uh, he's going to lead byexample, and that's one thing
that I was always taught and Itry to pass that on to him.
Um, so he doesn't want to be inthe limelight and again, um, he
just wants to lead by exampleI'm sure I might add he'5", 225
pounds and a kid can throw yeah.
Speaker 1 (18:23):
Well, I'm sure you guys are excited about getting
to see some games this year andI assume you try to go to all of
them.
Speaker 3 (18:29):
Oh, we don't miss a game.
Yeah, tailgating is a lot offun.
Speaker 1 (18:32):
At that level, you want to be there all the time.
Yep, so that's awesome.
Let's see that's awesome.
Uh, let's see the decision.
Well, let's go back a littlebit eric about when you started
your company.
You know, because you justdidn't start an insurance
(18:52):
company one day, you, I thinkyou're actively involved at a
job in insurance and workingsomewhere else, and so what kind
of led you to the point thatsaid hey, I want to have my own
business and you know my ownWell again it was those
gentlemen at the healthconnection.
Speaker 2 (19:09):
It took an interest in me.
They actually laid out a gameplan, said learn the business.
One of them opened the door forme for a local agency and I
worked there probably for six,seven years, learned a business,
spent a lot of time inclassrooms getting designations
because I knew how importantthat would be.
And then at age 31, againfollowing the architecture of
(19:32):
these gentlemen that were mymentors, I started Van Fleet
Insurance in 1981.
Speaker 1 (19:45):
Van Fleet Insurance in 1981.
So when you first opened up thedoors, you know how many staff
did you have, or was it just youand a desk?
Speaker 2 (19:49):
I started with a lady , Joan Bartle, and I started it
together.
There's just the two of us andno clients.
It's a tough road, a lot ofbroken glass, because in the
insurance business you'redealing with little incremental
commissions as revenue, so youhave to run around the May poll
I'm going to say six, seven,eight years before you
substantially make any money.
(20:10):
So it's a real hard road tosurvive for those years and
that's.
We lived on my wife's salaryand she was such a champ to
suffer with two kids and amortgage because we could have
qualified for food stamps in theearly part of it.
And that's really whatseparates a lot of people from
starting agencies.
It is brutal not to make anymoney for years and years and
(20:33):
I've commented to several folks,in this age of inflation I
don't think we would have lastedtwo months now, but back then
we were living on my wife's$20,000 a year salary with,
again, two kids and a mortgage,and seemed to survive.
Speaker 1 (20:46):
Yeah, I don't think people realize how tough it is
to start a business.
And just because you own abusiness, people, I think, make
a lot of assumptions about whereyou stand financially.
You know, I, I remember when Igraduated high school in 1982,
uh, manpower at that time was mydad and two other people and
(21:08):
although he was making whatmaybe uh qualifiers for student
loans would consider a goodincome, um, we had no, no money
for me to go to school.
I didn't qualify for aid andbut there was no additional
income to help me go.
So, you know, I went, I went towork right away as a manpower
(21:29):
attempt at imperial products,which is now called quonex, and
but that was a form of educationin and of itself.
And so I've, you know, didn'treally go full-time to Ball
State to like 85, you know.
But I think all the things Idon't think I was mature enough
at the time that would havegoing to college right away
(21:51):
would have been good for meanyway, and and I was going
part-time, whatever, but butjust experiences leading up to
that, I think, really helped medown the road.
But, brad, you talked a littlebit about joining your dad, did
(22:12):
you feel like?
You know you saw your dad inthe insurance business and that
seemed lucrative to you.
I mean you were interested inthat.
Was there anything else thatwas kind of vying for your
interest at that time, or wasthat kind of what you wanted to
do?
Speaker 3 (22:28):
Well, the NFL, you know.
Of course I thought I was goingto go play professional
football.
I was going to ask you thatquestion, but I wasn't sure I
was going to work that in.
Speaker 1 (22:35):
But I mean let's put that on pause a minute.
I mean, when you're in college,like that, I mean you've got to
be dreaming a little bit.
Oh, maybe I can go pro.
Speaker 3 (22:45):
Yeah, of course, again, I probably had no
business even thinking that, butin your mind when you're a
teenager, early 20s, yeah,everybody thinks they're going
to be a professional athlete.
So, unfortunately, that didn'twork out for me.
So I had to realize I needed a,or I did realize I needed a
(23:12):
real job, had to support myselfand I had a significant other in
Kelly and I knew we wanted toeventually get married.
So, in order to see or I guessthe negative side of it without
having an insurance license, soI was basically the yard boy.
I mowed the lawn at the office,I helped clean up, I painted a
lot of stories, sandblasting theold building on South A Street.
So I was always around it, Iwas always in it, I knew it was
(23:35):
there, but I didn't reallyunderstand what my father did.
I just knew he was wellrespected in the community and
he made a living that was ableto support our family.
So, yeah, after graduating Ikind of looked at some different
options and I thought you knowwhat?
I'm a Richmond guy, I don'twant to live in a big city and I
wanted to come back and Iwanted to learn from him and I
(23:55):
wanted to work in the familybusiness, so came back and
joined him in 2001.
And we were at South A Street Ithink we had seven employees and
so kind of humble beginningsand my dad always likes to tell
the story started in the in thedirt floor basement of that
building on South A and weworked up to the first floor and
then we worked up to the secondfloor and then by the end my
(24:17):
wife had joined us and we puther in the attic.
So we had to finish the atticand we were literally busting at
the seams.
We had no more room on thatlittle building on South a and
we were starting to see somegrowth.
And again, I think the timingwas around, maybe when Kelly
came in and I had been thereseveral years and, as dad
mentioned, I mean, it takes fiveyears to really learn the
(24:37):
business, and so I had beenthere for five years and
starting to get my own momentumand building up my own clients.
And so we had an opportunitythat a building came to our
attention.
Kind of a funny story, but therewas actually a bank on the east
side of town and it was FirstMerchants at the time and we
(24:57):
were working with FirstMerchants on a health savings
account and one of the ladiesfrom the bank just happened to
mention in a meeting that thatbuilding was going to be up for
sale, so we weren't going to beable to find her on East Main.
She was going to be up on theirChester location.
And so Dad and I looked at eachother immediately and said well
, what are the plans with thebuilding on the east side?
And she gave us a name and anumber and said we need to
(25:27):
contact you know this individualand they'll let you know.
And so dad immediately did,called this gentleman and got a
price and he just said I'll takeit.
And so that was that.
We bought the building.
That was gosh 2014, I believe,maybe the end of 2013.
I think we bought it inDecember and by February of 2014
, we had already renovated,moved into it and then by 2017,
(25:47):
we were putting a 3000 squarefoot addition on the back of it.
So we went from humblebeginnings my father working in
the dirt floor, the basement onSouth A Street to 20 years later
having seven employees and Ithink 40 years now from when he
started the agency in 1981, wenow have 21 employees.
We have a whole health division, several personal lines agents,
(26:11):
commercial agents specialize inbusiness, personal lines,
health, life, really everythinginsurance.
Speaker 1 (26:21):
And on your website everybody looks so good in those
pictures that that you took ofeverybody that's on your site,
everybody looks great onphotography is an amazing.
Yeah, it looks you all lookgreat there.
I was looking at and I was.
I was going to ask how manyemployees you have, because I
was just from counting thepictures.
I'm just going to say about 16to 20.
Speaker 3 (26:38):
Yeah, 21 and with an intern.
So we have a summer internhelping us out right now.
Speaker 1 (26:44):
So, Eric, when did you decide that it was time to
kind of hand over the reins ofthe leadership to your son?
Speaker 2 (26:53):
You know, symbolically, when we went into
the new building in 2013, thelargest office I really insisted
Brad take that, becausesymbolically, I think that
mentally, I was saying thatwe're passing the baton.
I always believe that eachperson has their time in the sun
, so to speak, and I recognizethat I had my time and it was
(27:17):
his time.
I'm glad I see a lot ofbusiness.
People struggle with passingthat baton on to others kids,
spouses and it's reallyimportant you do that to
continue the business and he andKelly have done superbly well.
As, I use the metaphor, theydrive the bus.
I'm in the back and that'swhere I should be.
(27:38):
I'm 74 years old.
It's their time and they'vereally grown it.
They've done things I couldnever dream of, so it's been
very, very enjoyable.
It's been a great journey so itwas.
Speaker 1 (27:52):
It was kind of a plan , things like you guys,
something you just talked about,or I don't know, call him in
the office one day I mean, yeah,it takes time, you know, it's
almost the football, thing, thecoaching.
Speaker 2 (28:04):
Thing.
I think we both said you know,that's how it works in football,
it's your turn.
You coached up, right?
I don't even know if it wasprobably unspoken, but we both
came out of a footballbackground where, hey, it's your
turn.
Speaker 3 (28:21):
You earned it.
You're the starter, let's go.
Yeah, I think we do an agencymeeting every month and my dad
would always run those meetingsand that was kind of the handing
of the baton, as he said.
You run the meetings.
Now this is your turn.
You stand up there and that'skind of when things started to
change Cause.
Then, when you, when you have,when you're forced to take that
leadership role and talk to theteam and give them direction, it
just naturally happens, and sothat's when Kelly and I were
(28:41):
able to kind of put our spin onthings per se and is where we're
at today.
Speaker 1 (28:49):
So, eric, it was never really like it's like hey.
I've had my run and here you go, son.
Speaker 2 (28:56):
Yeah, just kind of a natural ebb and flow, not really
an architectural plan, so tospeak but it did work out well
because I never there was.
Speaker 3 (29:05):
I didn't ever come in , uh, with everybody looking at
me like, oh you know, brad's incharge now.
So you know, when I started Iwas just selling home and auto
insurance.
I mean, I started from the verybottom.
I was literally at one point,kelly and I would come in on the
weekends because, again, wewere struggling, young family
and we'd clean the office toearn some extra cash.
(29:26):
So we were very similar, wewould do everything, and so I
just as over time again I'vebeen doing this for over 20
years, first five years justtrying to figure out what I was
doing and how to do itEventually got into commercial
insurance and then, as I gotinto commercial, a little bit of
group health insurance and andthen we kind of figured, hey,
we're getting big enough, weneed to actually create
(29:46):
divisions, we need to havespecialists.
One person can't do it all.
And I think that's when webrought in Kyle Zeidel and Kyle
turned, you know, basicallytransitioned and created a, the
whole health division and thebenefit division in our office,
um, but he was a big piece ofthat, um.
So, yeah, it was.
It was a slow process and it.
It just took a natural um,natural time and and I think
(30:11):
everybody just um it, it justmade sense.
It just worked again.
There was no just one day.
This is the way it's going tohappen.
It just just uh, and I thinkthat's probably a more natural
way to handle that.
Um, and dad's still involved,comes in every day, so it's not
like he left.
I would say we, we, we leadtogether, uh, between kelly,
(30:31):
myself and my father and and,like I said, kyle's a big part
of that yeah, it's with.
Speaker 1 (30:37):
For me and my dad it just seems like it just kind of
like it was uh, it evolved, itevolved, and just one day, all
of a sudden, I was doingeverything you don't even
realize it and then, and then hesaid, you know, I think, his
son, I think we need toofficially call you the
president of the company nowbecause you know, and and he was
always gracious about it and,uh, and he was always gracious
(31:01):
about it and that transition wasgreat and very supportive of me
.
So working together as fatherand son, I mean, would have been
some of the rewards of gettingto have that unique relationship
.
And what could you think of acouple things just to comment on
(31:22):
that?
Speaker 2 (31:22):
yeah, I mean you raise your son and daughter and
and brad's easily one of my mostvaluable possessions, if you
will and it's wonderful to berubbing shoulders with him for
22 years and watch him do well Iyou get a pride.
I'm a pinch myself about everyother day when I watch Ian Kelly
(31:43):
run the agency the successthey've had.
It's just a blast.
I think very few people haveenjoyed that journey and I feel
very blessed that I've been ableto see him flourish and do so
well, and Kelly as well, becausehe and I are spilled glass of
water uh, I couldn't find thefront door, but kelly has been
(32:04):
fantastic, given a structureddirection, strategies underlying
tactics, so the chemistry'sbeen terrific and it's a
beautiful thing to watch yeah,dad and I have a unique
relationship.
Speaker 3 (32:16):
We're very similar and I think understanding each
other's personality really helps.
Neither one of us have thisdominant personality and I would
assume you and your father arevery similar.
You just mesh, you just go.
Well, we have the same thoughts, the same feelings and we
respect each other and we listento each other, and so in that
regard, it's just easy.
(32:37):
It's just.
I don't know anything differentand it's nice to have a coach
there.
I can always go into his officeand bounce an idea off of him.
He's always supportive, alwayswilling to help and encourage,
and I love that.
He's always willing to let usgo in the direction we want to
go in, never wants us to changeor do something different.
Speaker 2 (33:01):
You know, and I would also say don't you think a lot
of that comes up both of us fromfootball, because that's what
you're taught as a team player.
You surrender to the uh, to theteam, the team goal.
It's not about me, it's littlelittle, me big, you yep, yeah,
and, and we both have boughtinto that philosophy and I think
that served us extremely wellin the business world.
Speaker 3 (33:22):
Yeah, we don't have big egos and again I think that
is because of our athletics.
It is about the greater good ofthe agency.
We want to create this machinethat is running on its own.
It's not about one piece, it'sabout the whole machine
operating.
And sometimes you've got totake a little piece and change
them in and out and keep itgoing, but we've the whole
machine operating.
And sometimes you got to take alittle piece and change them in
and out and keep it going, butwe've.
We've built a machine over 40some years, do you think?
Speaker 1 (33:47):
being in the insurance business relationships
, I would I make assumptionshere, but I think, probably
right that relationships arereally huge when it comes to
insurance.
You know people trusting youand making sure that you know
they're being heard and lookedout for.
(34:09):
And being from this communityand growing up in it, do you
think that's been an assetthat's helped in your business
to grow?
I'd say it's number one, ohyeah.
Speaker 3 (34:20):
Number one.
We are a relationship business.
Again, we sell an intangibleproduct.
We're selling a promise.
It's not shiny, it's not fun,you don't get to take it home
with you.
It's a piece of paper, and sowhat we sell is us.
When you buy an insurancepolicy from VanVleet Insurance,
you're buying Eric Kelly andBrad VanVleet, and so we stand
(34:41):
behind that.
We're very proud of that.
That's why our name's on thebuilding and we want to uphold
that respect and reputation inthe community.
So we're very, very proud ofwhat we've created over 40 years
.
And you're right, it'srelationships.
We want to get right back topeople.
Our doors are always open.
We take pride in customerservice.
We do things like customerappreciation events.
(35:01):
We had 700 plus people at ouroffice last summer for a party
for our clients, just a way forus to say thank you.
It's free to them.
So those are the types ofthings again, having somebody
like my wife in marketing whocan plan it all.
Dad and I pretty much just showup.
But those, you know, those arethe kind of things you don't
find in a lot of businesses andwe understand that.
(35:25):
And again, and that's what youcan do in a small town like
Richmond, indiana is give backto the clients, be supportive,
and we want our people again.
We know it's about the peoplein our agency, so we want high
character, we want great peopleand we can teach them the
insurance business, but we wantpeople that are going to look
out after other people's bestinterest.
Speaker 1 (35:47):
I'm sure that insurance is something that most
people probably don't like thethought of having to pay for it,
no, but they're sure glad theyhave it when something happens.
Speaker 3 (36:00):
Nobody likes insurance until they need it
Right, right.
Speaker 1 (36:03):
And Eric, I remember this.
This was quite a few years agonow, but I remember like my
mother had part of this treefall in her home and cause all
kinds of interior damage to herhome.
And I mean you were there atthe house, you know, just the
same day it happened, justtrying to reach out, and you
(36:24):
probably don't even rememberthis, but I mean I remember
coming over, because it's kindof a big deal, this tree falling
on my mom's house and drivingover there and there you were
walking around and talking toher and trying to just reassure
her that things were going to beokay.
So I appreciate that and that'skind of what you want to bring
(36:44):
to the table when you're workingin a community like this, and I
think you guys probably do thatvery, very well.
How do you deal with theinsurance side, where you know
it seems like the premiums arealways going up even faster than
inflated inflation At least itfeels that way.
(37:05):
Do you think that?
Is that a true comment or isthat a misnomer on my part?
Speaker 2 (37:13):
I would say that we react to the marketplace.
We've been late.
It's interesting you bring thisup because we are part of the
national conversation oninflation now, very much so.
The homeowners across ourentire industry was up 22% this
last year.
But I think we mirror what'shappening with material labor
(37:34):
rates et cetera.
But we have been late to theparty raising it.
And boy have we, like I said,become part of the national
conversation.
And it's tough because we gotto spend a lot of time
explaining that, because everytime somebody opens the mail,
their head snaps back with theserate increases.
And again, not just us, theentire industry has to deal with
(37:56):
this.
Speaker 1 (37:57):
Because I think some people think that you guys are
sitting around your conferencetable thinking, okay, what are
we going to change?
How much we're going to changefor raise the car insurance this
year?
But you have really you don't,dad, and I have zero influence
influence in that whatsoever,but I think that people, don't
you think people, oh yeah some,I'm not everyone, but that's
(38:20):
probably a little bit of uh yeah, I think you have to work
through with people.
I think oh you got.
Why you guys you?
Speaker 3 (38:25):
know, doing this to me yeah, yeah, they take it
personal.
Think it's.
You know, us, our agency andand you're right, we have no
control over it.
It's the industry, it's themarket.
I mean, we are officially in ahard market.
It is a tough time out there.
Everyone's going to continue tosee prices go up.
Inflation is number one.
We have these conversations ona daily basis.
Again, it's not a fun topic.
(38:45):
We're all sick of hearing aboutinflation, but it's affecting
everywhere the gas station, thegrocery store, when you go out
for a meal at a restaurant, andalso your insurance premiums,
and there's also the number ofnatural disasters that have hit
this country are increasing.
We give the number in 2023, Ithink the industry anticipated
eight catastrophic claims, and acatastrophic claim is defined
(39:07):
by a single incident with over abillion dollars paid out, and
we've heard somewhere between 20and 30 catastrophic claims in
just one year, in 2023.
And you look at Hawaii and thefires and you think of
hurricanes hitting the South,and so we all are in this 2023.
And you look at Hawaii and thefires and you think of
hurricanes hitting the south,and so we all are in this
together.
And so when things like thathappen even though it didn't
happen maybe in Richmond,indiana.
(39:28):
It hits the industry and we allfeel it because of reinsurance,
and so the reinsurance costs goup and then the premium goes up
for all of us.
Speaker 1 (39:37):
But where you live in the country can have a negative
or positive impact on what youpay for insurance.
Definitely Look at Florida.
Speaker 3 (39:46):
I think the average homeowner premium in the state
of Florida, we heard, is over$6,000 for a homeowner's premium
here.
It's maybe $1,200 in Indianaand so it is going up.
But it's going up everywhere,but it is a percentage of kind
of where you're at the weatherpatterns.
And so the Midwest iscontinuing to get hit with hail
(40:07):
and wind.
It's unfortunate but we'reseeing it, and so insurance
companies unfortunately havelost money on the homeowner
product, on property insurance.
Auto continues to rise due toclaims, due to the cost of
material parts, labor rise dueto claims, due to the cost of
material parts, labor.
Speaker 1 (40:26):
So it kind of leads into a couple of one of the
couple of questions I want toask about kind of emerging
trends in the industry.
Is there any?
Is there such a thing?
Is there anything that's kindof changing what it used to be
and is moving to well?
Speaker 3 (40:36):
definitely this hard market is something that we've
never seen.
I mean, dad's been doing thisfor over 40 years, I've been
doing it for over 20 years andand we've never seen.
I mean, dad's been doing thisfor over 40 years, I've been
doing it for over 20 years andwe've never seen a market like
this.
So this is something we'venever experienced, the hardest
market we've ever been a part of.
Unfortunately, rates are on therise for everyone, every
company, every place.
(40:56):
There's no avoiding it.
So, again, not a fun topic, butwe're going to continue to see
it.
So that's probably the numberone thing to anticipate is just
rising costs from the insurancecarriers.
Speaker 2 (41:12):
We spend a lot of time counseling with clients
talking about incurring largerdeductibles, taking more risk to
keep your costs down, and thatseems to be working for some if
they're willing to do that.
But you look at where thenation is.
I remember this statistic 60%of Americans don't have $1,000
in their savings account.
(41:33):
So that can be a tough sale tosome folks because they don't
have the residual money to payfor a larger deductible.
But we have to have thoseconversations with folks.
Speaker 1 (41:45):
So what should?
Is there anything specificallythat I should be thinking about
this year or next year regardingmy insurance needs?
Is there something that that Ican be doing to kind of get out
in front of it, in front of theissues?
Speaker 3 (42:01):
Yeah, having conversations.
So again, that's what we sellis that we are a local agency
and we want to be risk managers.
So we don't want to sell you aproduct, we want to be there for
you.
We want to talk to our clients.
We want to help them workthrough this hard market and
find solutions.
You know, that's the differentwith working with Geico you're
going to not have the samerepresentative when you call and
(42:23):
you can't maybe get thosequestions answered, and so you
can literally walk into ouroffice, schedule an appointment,
give us a phone, phone call andwe're going to, we're going to
talk to you.
So that's that's.
Number one is talk to youragent, have a conversation, you
know, figure out a way that youcan manage your risk, which may
be taking a higher deductiblethat someone else may not be
(42:43):
able to do.
So everyone is different inthat and we just want to be
there to help you, educate youand advise you moving forward.
Speaker 1 (42:52):
What about career opportunities within the
industry?
Are they strong, are they Imean?
Speaker 2 (42:59):
is it a?
Speaker 1 (42:59):
good field for someone to go into today.
I mean, if they're trying tothink about, you, know what kind
of job they want to do, butthey're out of college.
Speaker 2 (43:08):
It's still interesting.
It's always been referred to asthe backdoor profession.
Who goes in the front doorwishing to be an insurance agent
, and I wasn't.
I was a backdoor entrant, but Ithink Brad would agree it's a
really cool profession.
I enjoy people.
(43:28):
You got to have good peopleskills.
You got to know how to read aroom, great communication skills
and it's got a lot of depth andbreadth as far as the
intellectual part.
Knowing these contracts and thepromises, you can have a PhD in
insurance and we go to seminarswith very sophisticated topics
(43:48):
talking about commercialinsurance, general liability.
We had a major fire in thistown, a tradeway fire that
affected a lot of people andresulted in tons of litigation.
So it can get very complicatedbut it's a very cool profession.
I recommend it to anybody thatlikes people, that has good
communication skills.
(44:08):
You got to hard work.
It's not a get rich quickscheme that you're doing right
out of the gate.
It takes a long time.
It's got a long incubationperiod, but but not everybody is
a producer, the one or an agent.
Speaker 3 (44:22):
I mean there's so many different areas in the
insurance industry.
If you want to be an adjusteror an underwriter or an actuary,
you know there are tons ofopportunities.
Insurance companies are allsearching for help right now,
again in those in those fields,from underwriting so they're
usually working behind the deskworking with agents like ourself
to an adjuster who's out, youknow, writing checks on these
(44:47):
claims.
So it's a great industry, tonsand tons of opportunity.
I wish more young people would,would be interested in it,
because this is a field that'scontinuing to grow.
I just think when you say theword insurance, sometimes it's a
dirty word or it doesn't havethe sex appeal of some other
type of IT positions.
But again, you can do justabout anything under that
(45:09):
insurance umbrella.
Speaker 1 (45:11):
Right.
Well, I mean, at some point intime someone's going to be in
some type of a car accident orthey're going to have some type
of catastrophic thing thathappens at their home, or
they're going to have a healthevent where they're glad that
they have a good plan that justhelped to relieve some of the
stress of that.
I mean, you're already goingthrough something stressful and
then worrying about how it's allgoing to be managed and taken
(45:34):
care of.
That's where you guys can comein and really kind of help
alleviate some of the anxietyand some of the frustration.
When those things happen.
There's still going to be somethings out of all of our control
, but to be there for people andhave empathy for them, I'm sure
that's a big part of it.
Speaker 2 (45:51):
It is Coaching, nursing, supporting people.
It's all wrapped up.
Speaker 1 (45:58):
So both of you have decided.
You're invested in thiscommunity.
You live here and say that mostof your business is from this
region.
You know, this community stillstruggles with challenges, which
(46:20):
sometimes really baffles me.
I see some things that I'mincredibly encouraged and I see
other things and I'm thinkingwhy it has to be that way.
I mean, what are your guys'thoughts about that?
What are some of the thingsthat are maybe concerning you
about the community, some of thethings that you see as some
(46:41):
positive things happening on thehorizon?
I mean, since you both livehere and you're you know I mean
Brad, you spent your whole lifehere outside of college or
whatever I mean.
what are your guys' thoughts onthat?
Speaker 2 (46:54):
One theme I really like the work that Dr Hicks from
Ball State has a PhD and he'sdone a study on Rust Belt cities
and I think he's done someexcellent work and it's there's
a theme there of depopulation.
He, as Dr Hicks says you canovercome a lot of things, but
you it's very difficult toovercome depopulation.
(47:17):
So I would like to see aconversation in our community
about how we can stall that,stop it, interrupt it, because
it has major ramifications toour tax base, our school system,
our image, our housing.
It affects almost everythingand I don't know if people
(47:37):
realize that that is maybe thetop of the mountain as far as
our challenges.
And I'd like to begin aconversation.
I'm actually setting some thingsin motion with some community
leaders now to discuss how wecan deal with depopulation.
Let's make that part of ourconversation, because the baby
boomers, of which I'm one we'reabout 22% of the statistical
(48:01):
cohort here in Richmond andwe're leaving the scene and
we're also the richestgeneration to come along.
So you're going to see anaccelerated depopulation in a
particular group that you don'twant to lose because they have
the money, they write the checks.
So we need to get out ahead ofthat we need to talk about that
(48:21):
conversation.
I'd like to see us have more ofa D-Day type of view of our
challenge.
It's a great community.
It's got a lot of great rawmaterial, but I think it's go
time.
We can't be sitting on ourhands right now.
This is a time to move ahead.
Speaker 3 (48:43):
What's your thoughts?
I would agree, Obviously, wemade the decision to come back
here.
Love Richmond, love the smallcommunity, love everything it
offers.
To be able to get involved andbe a part, be in the social
fabric of Richmond, Indiana, Ithink, is really neat.
I agree, though, we have tostop looking in the rearview
mirror.
We got to start looking in theout, the front windshield, and
(49:04):
we got to start thinking aboutthe future.
So I would just challenge ourcommunity that we have to
continue to grow, and we say thesame thing in our business if
you're not growing, you're dying.
And so we've got to figure outa way to better ourselves as a
community, to find growthopportunities, to take advantage
of that, Because, again, we doit in our business every day and
(49:26):
we have to do it in Richmond orwe're going to continue to
shrink and die.
So we need to again be positive.
We have a lot, Richmond has alot to offer, and so I think
sometimes we're our own worstcritics of our community, but
there's a lot of positives andwe need to focus on those things
and then, hopefully.
So I think sometimes we're ourown worst critics of our
community, but there's a lot ofpositives and we need to focus
on those things and thenhopefully you know I was really
(49:47):
involved in the youngprofessional group and the brain
drain obviously is trying toget young people to come back to
this community.
Housing obviously is a hottopic right now, but there also
has to be jobs for people towork and so we have some great
employers at Reed and Belden andRichmond Community Schools I
think are our three largestemployers, and so we need those
people to not only work here butlive here, and I think that's a
(50:10):
struggle because I think, ifyou looked at the percentages, a
large percentage of thoseemployees are driving outside of
Richmond after 5 pm.
Speaker 1 (50:20):
I mean, there are companies making investments.
There's two I'm I'm just Idon't want to forget somebody,
I'm probably am, but I know likeAnchor Ingredients and
Liberation Labs.
There have facilities that areunder construction and coming
close to being completed andthey're going to be employing
people.
You know, I I work with a lotof different companies in this
(50:42):
community, as you do, and, um, Ido think housing is an issue,
because it seems like there's alot of people that work at these
companies that do not live here, especially those that we their
upper management professionalpositions.
They choose to drive here everyday instead of live here, and
(51:05):
so maybe it's part of thecommunity itself, maybe it's
having somewhere to live.
I just spoke to one gentleman atthe chamber event that we were
both at recently and he is in anew company and he's struggling
to find a home and this you know.
He wants to bring him and hiswife and his three children here
(51:27):
, but he's having trouble, um,you know, finding somewhere to
live, a house.
I spoke to a young man at mychurch who went to high school
with my boys and he recently wasmarried a year ago and they
want to come back to richmondand live struggling to find a
home.
I mean, that's not the onlyissue, but it's just ironic that
(51:50):
some of the people I've talkedto recently are having trouble
finding places to live.
So, and you can't just put ahouse somewhere tomorrow, you
know.
So I would love to see a moreaggressive move toward some
development in that area and andI just I'm not I could be a
(52:11):
little bit uninformed in thatpart, but I don't I don't see a
lot of it happening right nowyou know, that's why I love the
theme.
Speaker 2 (52:19):
We need a strategy in the community and that's why I
come back to depopulation,because that fits right into the
housing, it fits into the taxbase, it fits into the shrinking
school system.
We're a community that has apoverty rate of 21%.
We have double the nationalaverage poverty rate.
We have one of the lowest percapita incomes in the state of
(52:39):
Indiana.
That all changes if we can workon that theme of growing the
community or at leaststabilizing it.
But we're projected to keeplosing population and the three
of us know the people you'relosing are the ones you don't
want to lose.
They're the financially mobileand social and they can afford
(53:01):
to live in these outlyingcommunities and drive in.
We lose so much for thiscommunity when people make a
decision to live outside thecity limits.
So again, I'd like to createthat conversation, that D-Day
concept in our community aboutwhat we need to do.
So we're all on the same page,because we know we recently had
(53:21):
an event with the housing thatsurprised all of us when it
didn't pass right, and I thinkthat's because we're not all on
the same page and we need towork on that yeah, I would.
Speaker 1 (53:32):
I would have thought that something like that before
it comes to a vote.
You already know it's passed.
They should already have that'severything has been worked out
behind the scenes that you knowthat this is going to all the
support behind it.
Speaker 2 (53:50):
It it went down by a larger margin than I ever
imagined.
I was totally shocked, yeahyeah, yeah, I, I uh.
Speaker 1 (53:59):
I admittedly was not as informed on the whole project
as I wished I was, but it was.
You know, living out in thefringe of Richmond, sometimes I
don't follow some of thosethings as well, as far as things
like housing and what's goingon in the school system,
especially since my kids aregrown and gone and have kids of
(54:21):
their own now.
So that part, sometimes I get alittle disconnect, but it's
hard to keep track of everything, though, isn't it, it sure is.
I mean you know you want to beinvolved in all these things,
but you've got your business torun and you have family and you
want to go to your son'sfootball game.
I mean, life balance is tough.
Speaker 3 (54:41):
It is tough.
I just am one again.
I don't know all the details ofthat either, but if I can
support anything that bringsgrowth and prosperity and
opportunity to the community,I'm all for it.
So that's all I needed to see.
It's an opportunity for morepeople to live in Richmond,
indiana.
Let's support it 100%.
Let's figure out a way to makethis work Right.
Absolutely.
Let's support it a hundredpercent.
Speaker 1 (55:01):
Let's figure out a way to make this work Right.
Absolutely Well, fellas, Ireally appreciate you sitting
down with me today.
I've enjoyed talking to both ofyou.
Is there anything that youwanted to share before we kind
of sign?
Speaker 2 (55:12):
off.
I just share that.
We're all gym rats and we'veall seen each other in the gym.
So, this was like a locker roomdiscussion.
It was a lot of fun.
Speaker 1 (55:23):
It was a lot of fun, very comfortable.
I appreciate both of you andthe investment you've made in
our community and you representour community very well.
Thank you, michael Allen fromManpower.
We are a national brand, yetlocally owned franchise.
We are familiar with thechallenges businesses face.
It's tough recruiting andretaining qualified employees.
That's why working withManpower is a smart,
cost-effective solution.
Our entire focus is talentacquisition.
(55:46):
We'll manage your hiring andtraining and provide ongoing,
customized support.
Since 1966, we have been yourcommunity-invested partner,
uniquely positioned to helpeliminate the hassles and save
you time and money.
Let us help.
Contact Manpower today.
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