Today we’d like to introduce you to Kirk Faubel.
Hi Kirk, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
After spending 23 years in corporate America, I was ready for a change. Community engagement has always been important to me even going back to my high school days volunteering at youth sports camps. I found that in much of corporate America, the support to the community was often dictated by the corporation and offered little flexibility to support the causes most important to me. At 43 years old, I decided to make a career change and bet on myself a bit and worked for a company that did customer audio and video work. I had a great time and had some great experiences including designing glow in the dark lighting plans for some franchises that were a part of a national trampoline park chain. I also had to learn an entirely new skill set as I was responsible for finding my own leads, something I was never responsible for in the past. The idea of going to events and meetings with people I have never met before was intimidating for someone who is relatively introverted. Through some local Chambers of Commerce and other networking groups, I was able to find some mentors to help me meet the right people. One of those people eventually convinced me to give insurance a try. In the beginning the pandemic in mid-2020, I had a brilliant idea to leave the insurance job with a base salary and become an independent agent starting from scratch with not a penny on income. The trust I built from networking and the relationships I built along the way paid huge dividends in helping me get up a going quickly and I would not change a thing. Owning my own business, I support what is important to me and work my office hours around events at my daughters school or other charitable events I am involved in.
Alright, 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?
Started my business in a global pandemic with absolutely zero income and no desire to take on significant debt to start my business. I worked a couple of part time jobs so I could purchase a computer and buy some office furniture.
High inflation and severe weather had a huge negative impact on the property insurance side specifically which caused even the biggest insurance companies to narrow their eligibility and a lot of smaller carriers to exit the state or go out of business so the available carriers I had went from about 15-20 down to about 5 or 6 at the the toughest time.
Cost of owning a business continues to the biggest challenge and determining when I should hire some help.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about Kirk D Faubel Insurance Advisorss?
I own an independent insurance agency. That means I work with many insurance companies rather than being restricted to one specific carrier. I primarily work with personal lines property and casualty insurance helping people insure their homes, autos, condos, apartments, boats, RV’s motorcycles and 4 legged friends. I work with a lot of great carriers like Liberty Mutual, Travelers, Nationwide, Progressive, Geico, National General by Allstate and many more. This allows me to not only find a competitive price for my customer, but also can match unique coverages to unique situations.
What my clients like the most is proactive communication on how to prevent claims and how to protect themselves when storms do come through. They like that I am local and understand what coverage is needed here and they may run into me at a school event, local restaurant or just walking my dog down the street.
Because I am a small boutique agency, I am the only employee when means clients work with the guy with his name on the door so people appreciate my expertise and consistency.
Before we go, is there anything else you can share with us?
As I mentioned, being involved in my community is a big part of my why. It is not my goal to be the biggest insurance agency or to be ultra wealthy, having the ability to be actively involved in my kids lives and to give back to the community is far more rewarding to me. I am currently the chair of the board for the Kirkwood-Des Peres Area Chamber of Commerce. I volunteer in my nine year-olds school as much as I can on field trips. I also am a director for a local non-profit called the Kirkwood School District Foundation where I chair the “Enrichment Grant Committee.” In Addition, I teach Sunday school and usher at my church. I love to be involved and hope to make someone else’s life better.
In my free time, I love to spend time with my family taking in local scenes, Cardinals baseball, Green Bay Packers football, anything outdoors and we are a Lego family spending many hours putting together large Lego sets including the Titanic. I also love taking pictures, I have a wall of pictures in my office that are all my shots.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.faubelinsurance.com/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/share/17bqVbHxQG/?mibextid=wwXIfr
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kirk-faubel-219b2133/
