Building a brokerage from scratch

Four-year-old insurance company celebrates a birthday and its founder's journey

People

Apr 24, 2018 Share

Reaching a four-year anniversary is a good reason to celebrate, especially for a broker who started his own insurance company with zero clients and no revenue, and now has 1,400 clients and four offices across Canada.

Andrew Clark (pictured) is the president and CEO of ALIGNED Insurance, and he spoke to Insurance Business about his entrepreneurial journey, maintaining a work-life balance, and what makes ALIGNED stand out from its competitors in the market.

Tell us about your career trajectory. How did you end up in the insurance business, and president and CEO of ALIGNED Insurance?

I got into the insurance business because of my personal experience being helped by the insurance industry. When I was 21, I was involved in a car accident and sued for $2,200,000. It opened my eyes to an industry that, at its core, is really about helping other people and I knew I wanted to be part of that.

While still in university, I started my CIP and began applying to online ads. I was fortunate to have been hired by Aon where I spent three years before joining Marsh where I spent seven, and became an SVP before resigning to start ALIGNED. Thanks to the great people I was fortunate to work with at both Aon and Marsh, combined with my academic and industry designations, I felt well-equipped to launch something.

What is the most fulfilling aspect of your work?

Helping other people – whether it’s sharing knowledge with a client or helping a colleague win a deal, helping others is what I have always found most fulfilling.

What have been some of the challenges of starting your own insurance brokerage?

Starting a business with no revenue and no clients comes with countless challenges, but the biggest is just personally having limited time and energy. Despite working six to seven days per week and typically 12 hours each day, there is always something else I could be doing to help the business. Setting personal and professional boundaries and finding balance within that has been, and continues to be, the biggest challenge since launching.

When you look back at ALIGNED’s history so far, what would you say are your proudest moments? There have been numerous amazing moments, but formally launching our ownership plan that makes all current and any future employees, including assistants, finance managers, advocates, real owners in ALIGNED is one the proudest single moments as it is a cornerstone of the type of brokerage and culture we are building. Being named one of the top 10 brokerages in Canada and winning best brokerage under 10 people last year and now having nearly 1,400 clients and four offices across Canada have been highlights too!

How does ALIGNED differentiate itself from competitors?

From day one, we very intentionally built ALIGNED to be different from the typical brokerage which is articulated in our 18 points of differentiation.

Of most interest seems to continue to be our fixed fee/0% Commission option that we offer which allows clients to select their level of service based on various attributes of service and the corresponding compensation we receive.

What notable changes in the insurance industry as a whole have you seen that have impacted your work, for better or worse?

Client expectations around turnaround time have definitely increased and we’ve had to become more effective and efficient with our processes and time to ensure we meet or exceed their expectations.

If you weren’t working in the insurance space, what would you be doing right now?

If not for insurance, I would likely be a ski instructor at Whistler or somewhere else in BC.

Retiring insurance professionals take valuable knowledge with them

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