Today we’d like to introduce you to Kurt Kelley.
Kurt, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
Working for a large corporation out of college was stifling to me. After three years, my wife and I had saved enough to allow me to take time off for law school while she continued to work, The education was great, but the work left me surrounded by people often at their lowest point. I practiced both criminal and family law. Too much of my legal work was unpleasant as I was often surrounded by people at their lowest ebb in life.
In 1996, I was invited to join Mobile Insurance which was run by my stepfather and mother. They wanted to retire, so I bought Mobile from them in 1998. By finding a niche we could focus upon, we were able to grow. Our focus is ensuring mobile home parks and dealers and my stepfather had left the company with a solid foundation. We started in Texas and have since expanded nationwide. We have a staff of 15 and a nice place to work. The business continues to grow.
As insurance is basically contract law, it’s fit me well. Every day brings new challenges due to the complexities of the business. And as a small business operator who manages money, marketing, people, and many operations, I’m constantly challenged and engaged.
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
When I purchased Mobile in 1998, the manufactured home industry was at a historical peak. That year there were 48,000 new manufactured homes sold in Texas. An industry financial crunch hit hard in 2000 and by 2001, there were only 4,000 new manufactured homes sold. We had to expand our focus on mobile home park owners who weren’t facing such a terrible pull back and expand geographically to survive.
Then in 2001, the insurance company with whom we placed 90% of all of our business elected to withdraw from writing the business we placed with them. We had to place virtually every customer we had with a new insurance company over the next twelve months. It created work hardships for us and coverage hardships for our clients who were generally paying more for less. It wasn’t any fun giving bad news to clients for 12 straight months. However, we focused on being the best we could be and offering the best coverage available and survived.
Mobile Insurance – what should we know? What do you guys do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
We are a niche commercial insurance agency and ensure more mobile home park owners and dealers than any other agency in the country. Our employees know our customers and our business very well and that sets us apart. New clients have often tried to purchase proper coverage via general lines agencies and been pleasantly surprised once they get in contact with us simply because we know our business so well.
Over the years, we’ve been a great partner for many small business owners. The contact us about operational, legal and insurance issues and rely on us greatly. This has allowed us to create a pleasant professional work environment that’s in turn great for our employees. We foster an environment conducive to employee well being because we truly value the long-term institutional knowledge that long-term employees have. Most of our employees come to work for us and stay for many years which is mutually beneficial to them and Mobile Insurance.
What moment in your career do you look back most fondly on?
Having an employee tell me that coming to work at Mobile was one of the best things that ever happened to them. Having a customer tell me that if we hadn’t insured them so well prior to a catastrophe, their business wouldn’t have survived is a close second.
Contact Info:
- Address: 25775 Oak Ridge Drive, Suite 110
The Woodlands, TX 77380 - Website: MobileAgency.com
- Phone: 281-367-9266
- Email: kurt@mobileagency.com
- Instagram: Mobile Insurance Agency of Texas, Inc.
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