Today, we’d like to introduce you to Heather Jefferson.
Hi Heather, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?
After closing and ending a chapter with my previous insurance agency after 7 1/2 years, I decided to start a new and uncharted chapter and start a newly formed independent insurance brokerage.
Now I’m the proud owner of Heritage Insurance Brokerage PLLC, I opened in December 2019 with a home-base in Mansfield, TX (in the Dallas Fort-Worth, TX area) and I’m also licensed in multiple other states. Fast forward to today’s date I have working partnerships and insurance appointments with a little over three dozen insurance carriers across the US.
Heritage Insurance Brokerage PLLC specializes in all lines of personal lines of insurance, bonds, commercial lines of business, life & health Insurance, disability income insurance, company group health insurance products, and Sports and Entertainment Disability Insurance.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story. Has it been an easy path overall, and if not, what challenges have you had to overcome?
This journey has not been an easy road by no means at all – but it is definitely been worth it. My biggest passion in life is helping others, helping educate others, and sharing my learned knowledge with others.
This is why my chosen path to entrepreneurship is a perfect path for me. The struggle I have experienced is being a woman in the insurance industry, being a minority in the insurance industry, and being a small business trying to find and acquire funding when I initially started my brokerage in December 2019.
The best way I have tried to overcome these challenges — is to try to continue moving and pressing forward regardless of the challenges and tasks around me and presented to me.
There are two famous quotes I try to implement and remember everyday are, “Anything in life worth having is worth working for.” – Andrew Carnegie. And “Success has nothing to do with what you gain in life or accomplish for yourself. It’s what you do for others.” – Danny Thomas.
These quotes are the essences of my work ethic, daily work motivation and drives me to become a better version of me everyday!
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know?
Heritage Insurance Brokerage PLLC specializes in bonds and all lines of personal lines of insurance (Renters Insurance, Homeowners Insurance, Mobile Homes Insurance, Manufactured Homes Insurance, Auto Insurance, Motorcycle Insurance, Watercraft Auto Insurance ~ boats, jet skis, etc., Motorized Auto Insurance ~ golf carts, slingshot, etc.).
HIB also specializes in commercial lines of business (General Liability Insurance, Errors & Omissions Insurance, Professional Liability Insurance, Business Operating Insurance, Business Tenant Insurance, Worker’s Compensation Insurance, Commercial Auto Insurance).
Another sector of business the HIB specializes in and my most passionate product: Life & Health Insurance (group/company, individual and family Term Life Insurance, group/company, individual and family Whole Life Insurance or Burial Life Insurance/Final Expense Life Insurance, individual and family Universal Life Insurance, Universal Index Life Insurance, Annuities, 401(k) Rollovers, IRAs.
More and more clients have started to ask more about Disability Income Insurance, this is if a client gets disable and can not work, yet still would like a sustainable income to continue in the event of an accident.
The last sector of business for HIB is Sports and Entertainment PTD/LOV Insurance (Permanent Disability Disability/Loss of Value), including NIL Coverage (Name Image and Likeness) protecting athletes, entertainers, and all individuals surrounding these athletes and entertainers.
I would like to share with readers a very unique insurance product that would be a great asset to have in their family/business portfolio: IUL or Indexed Universal Life Insurance. The phrase “Be Your Own Bank” has been a very hot and trending topic. As a broker for more than a decade in the insurance industry, I would like to share some insight on this hot and trending topic.
First let’s start off – what’s an IUL? Indexed universal life (IUL) insurance is a type of permanent life insurance that provides a cash value component along with a death benefit. The money in a policyholder’s cash value account can earn interest by tracking a stock market index selected by the insurer, such as the Nasdaq-100 or the Standard & Poor’s 500.
Although the interest rate derived from the equity index account can fluctuate, the policy does offer an interest rate guarantee, which limits your losses or negative exposure to the stock market, which in turn can cap your gains.
These policies are more volatile than fixed universal life policies but less risky than variable UL (Universal Life) insurance policies because IUL (Indexed Universal Life Insurance) does not invest in equity positions/stocks.
Some Key Features/Cheat Codes for IULs:
– Become Your Own Bank and Build Generational Wealth.
– Tax-free Money to Beneficiaries (Death Benefit).
– Permanent Life Insurance – Rate is Locked in for the Life of the Policy.
– Earns Interest/Compounds Interest from the Stock Market’s Index Annually.
– Use IUL While You are Living/ Living Benefits, not Just Given to Beneficiaries After Your Death.
– Cash Account/Cash Accumulation Account (with Interest).
– Have Money Readily Available to You to Reinvest in Other Projects/Real Estate/Retirement/Other Lifestyle Needs.
Is there anyone you’d like to thank or give credit to?
First and foremost, I would like to Thank God for the lessons and knowledge I have learned and experienced in life to prepare me for a time such as this, the level of success I have been able to experience, and the many awards/recognition I have been awarded.
I would like to share this opportunity and give credit to my maternal grandmother, Rosa Lee Jenkins, my maternal grandfather, Woodrow Jenkins, and my mother, Freda J. Hoston. Both of my maternal grandparents were entrepreneurs and owned their own businesses. Both grandparents had very thriving businesses while I was an adolescent and teenager and into my young adult years of life.
While growing up, my grandparents made sure they showed me different levels of their businesses – from writing contracts to ordering supplies, paying merchant’s invoices, accepting payments from clients, paying employees, depositing money into business banking accounts, and investing money to help build nest eggs for the future.
My mother showed me and demonstrated to me a very strong work ethic while I was an adolescent throughout my years in high school. My mother showed me that hard work can afford you opportunities that aren’t given to below-par or average workers.
She taught me to always go beyond the normal or what could possibly be expected of me. My mother was granted the opportunity to transfer/relocate within her company to help train and establish a new division of the company she was working for. And to top all of that – she also completed her college degree, with honors at this same time.
I also rendered acts of service, such as helping less fortunate people by being selfless and showing extreme measures of empathy. My mother has always been an amazing example of the previous mentioned attributes.
In addition, I would like to thank my son, Jaylen Jefferson, for always understanding and caring for me during the late hours and long days of being an entrepreneur. My #1 son! I would like to thank all my family, friends, and clients who have supported me and my business throughout the 12 1/2 years of being in the insurance industry.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.HeritageInsuranceTX.com
- Instagram: @heritage_insurance_tx
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/HeritageInsuranceBrokerage/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/heritage-insurance-brokerage-llc
- Twitter: @HJeffersonAgcy
- Yelp: https://biz.yelp.com/home/B54XzfkgBB2iEPFTFbg8Bw/
- Other: https://www.linkedin.com/in/heather-jenkins-jefferson-mba-a89a556
