Today we’d like to introduce you to Sarah Springer.
Hi Sarah, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
I went to high school in a small town called Teague. After high school, I had no plans for college because no one in my family went, and I did not think I could afford it. I worked mornings at a dollar store, and evenings as a carhop at Sonic until midnight. After 1 year of that, and barely being able to afford my apartment at $350 per month, I was fortunate to have a mentor tell me she thought I was too smart, and she questioned why I didn’t go to college. I told her I could barely afford my rent, so higher education was out of the question. She let me know there were scholarships and grants available to people like me who were the first in their family to attend a university. She helped me fill out applications for financial aid, and I was able to get enough financial aid to cover my tuition at a small junior college in Corsicana. Before I left for junior college, she advised me to stay laser focused, get involved on campus, and there was a possibility that I could get a scholarship to go to a university. She was right. Two years later, I had a full ride to Texas A&M.
I majored in education at A&M and worked nights waiting tables to cover my rent and other living expenses. After graduation, I was a 4th and 5th grade math teacher for 6 years in the 5th ward. While education was rewarding, I didn’t like living paycheck to paycheck and realizing that new car, or homeownership was probably something I could never attain as a single woman. After 6 years of teaching, I decided to move on to an entry level 8th month stint in a difficult sales role that required me to door knock on 50 small to medium size business a day. After 8 months of missing every sales goal, I was beyond depressed. I can say that is one of the lower points in my life because I was questioning everything. I doubted myself as a sales professional, and debated going back to teaching, even though I knew I wouldn’t be happy. The next thing I knew I had all these meetings pop up on me calendar, so I knew I was going to be terminated soon. Apparently, you can’t work in sales and miss all your goals for 8 months! When I knew they were going to fire me, I started going through all my messages on LinkedIn and replying to all the messages I had – “Hi there! Is this opportunity still available?”. At that point, I wasn’t looking for my forever job, I just needed to pay the bills until I could find my next move.
Enter Goosehead Insurance. I went into this role with the BIGGEST chip on my shoulder. Insurance agent? EW! After a few months of hitting goals, and earning bonuses, I warmed up to the idea that this could be a decent career. I especially liked that how hard I decided to work was a direct reflection of my paycheck, something that was absent in education. After about 2 years in that role, I was promoted to manager, and was selling insurance, as well as managing a team of 15 agents. Fast forward to now, I left the corporate role, bought my own agency, and am now a business owner. From the dollar store and fast food to a business owner – it still doesn’t feel real on most days.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Aside from the road to insurance, I would say the biggest struggles in this role were in my first 2 years. You can’t just sit around and hope someone calls you for insurance – you have to hunt. This means calling on all your friends and family after you have been an insurance agent for 3 days, asking them to let you quote them and trust you with their biggest assets. That’s just what gets you started. I had very few friends that were homeowners at the time, and a lot of my family doesn’t live in Texas, so this was a challenge for me – my own Grandma (Memal) wouldn’t even let me quote her auto insurance!
What some might view as a challenge was actually a huge benefit. Because I didn’t have and leads to call, I was forced to get out and find them. For about 2 months straight, I set over 200 meetings with mortgage lenders and real estate professionals all over the greater Houston area. I took them to coffee, lunch, happy hour, or even for a mani-pedi appointment. I was able to grow an extensive network of referral partners over the course of my first two years to build the referral base I needed to launch my business. About 3 years later, even Memal let me sell her auto insurance.. I finally did her home insurance a few weeks ago!
Appreciate you sharing that. What should we know about The Sarah Springer Agency?
I am an owner of a Goosehead Insurance Franchise. For clarity, imagine you worked as a cashier at a Chick-Fil-A, and then one day you turned around and bought your own Chick-Fil-A, that’s what I did.
As a broker at Goosehead, I can quote over 50+ A rated companies to make sure I find the best coverage and price overall. My favorite thing about Goosehead is that we sell on value, not price. This means we don’t offer poor coverage – we’d rather let you call another agent for that because we care more about making sure you are covered properly. We pass on business all the time because there are just certain things other brokers will do, that we won’t – like cover your house or personal property at actual cash value or give you liability lower than the value of your home. I can help with home, auto, investment properties, builder’s risk, flood, jewelry, motorcycle, boat, and more.
What probably sets Goosehead apart from other brokers, is that we are a billion dollar, publicly traded company. This means we have influence, and certain agreements with carriers that other smaller brokers do not have. One example (of many) is that another broker might run you quotes with a carrier, and it tells them the zip code is ineligible, but it would not be ineligible if Goosehead was your broker. It also means we have a fully staffed service team rated 5x higher than State Farm who can help as a personal liaison during the claims process or assist you when you are in a pinch and just need an ID card asap, but your agent is sick, or out of office. Because we are so big, we also have processes in place to get ahead of claims before they happen. This includes storm tracking and sending all our policy holders their policy number and claims hotline before a storm even hits.
What has been the most important lesson you’ve learned along your journey?
I think the most important lesson I’ve learned along this journey is that business ownership is a marathon, not a sprint. It’s really important to be kind to yourself – enjoy the highs and embrace the lows because it’s all a cycle and part of the process.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.goosehead.com/agents/tx/houston/sarah-springer/?t=w
- Instagram: sarahspringer281
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BearaSarah
- Get a free quote: http://goosehead.com/Sarah-Springer
