Today is 12/27/2025 and my name is Steve Valencia. I am what you would refer to as a “small shop” located in a rural location. I have owned my agency since 1996. And over the years, “as a small agency with a small book” I have had to be a “street fighter” of sorts to find markets nearly every single day of the week. 

When I entered into the business as an independent agent, I worked for a man named Trent. Back then, I was young and had plenty of energy. “Piss and vinegar” as many would say! 

Back then, just beginning to raise children,  I had the obligation to provide for my family. And,  going to work for an already well established insurance agency was like catching fish in a barrel. They had decades of goodwill and a huge book of business. 

But even then, I would get to work at sometimes 3:00am in the morning and Trent “was alredy there!” The guy worked more hours that a man should. 

During the day just outside his office door, there was always a line of staff waiting to speak with him. And, it made sense him getting to the office so early. He could not get his own production taken care of during the normal office hours. 

Trent spent most of the normal work day providing answers to the staff. Questions like, “Who wrote a certain line of business or what applicaitons do I use?” “What questions do I ask the prospect? Who do I go to? Where do I find a market?” and more…

I said to myself, “I will never be like that” and…one day I found myself being just like that. It’s not the way things should be. 

Then, as my book grew, so did the need to hire help. And, those thoughts of Trent killing himself putting in so much time. So, I started to create a Spread sheet. That was an absolute no cool thing to do. So, I decided to build a repository of my MGA’s so that I could remember, or rather, look up the line of business with Insurance Companies that I had direct appointments with and with Managing General Agencies. 

As I started to build out the beta version of the site, man an Agent would call me looking for markets. I said to them, “I am not a managing general agent and cannot allow you to put business through me but, if you have a few minutes I will share something with you that I believe you will like. 

I remember saying to one agent, “Do you have three minutes?” (at that time the links to MGAs and Wholesalers we assessible without having to register) So, I asked the man, are you on the website? “Yes” he replied.  

“Ok, click on the link that reads Managing General Agents. Then, type in the LOB, line of business (insurnace type) you are looking for.” There was a few seconds of complete silence and then he said, “Are those all MGAs?” I said “yes!”

“Do all those MGAs write that type of insurance? “Yes” I replied but it does not guarantee the risk you want to insured is eligible. I said, click on this particular MGA because I set up the categories that I place with them. 

Now, click on the Staff tab and type in the Line of business once again