As a young man, David Miller wanted to make a difference. So, he sold insurance.
It doesn’t sound like a noble choice. But then Miller starts talking about it.
“Insurance products, when done right, save people’s lives,” he said. “You’re protecting people and the things that are their biggest assets.”
It wasn’t enough, either, to simply do a great job of selling insurance. When Miller and his brother, Michael, co-founded Brightway Insurance, they redefined the business model.
Agents represent policies from more than 120 insurance companies.
It means, Miller said, customers “get the right coverage, the best rate and complete confidence in knowing you never have to do that again, because we do it for you.”
The company was founded in 2003 in Jacksonville as Miller Insurance Group. It became Brightway Insurance in 2008 and began franchising that same year.
Brightway offers home, auto, flood and umbrella insurance, but a whopping 65 percent of the business is homeowners’ insurance.
Miller said Brightway writes “some crazy number like one out of every two” policies for homes sold in the Jacksonville market.
By the end of 2014, Brightway had 115 agencies in 10 states and annual sales revenue of $367 million.
That year, the company was named one of Entrepreneur magazine’s Top 500 franchises. Forbes named it the ninth Best Franchise with less than $150,000 in entry costs.
Eventually making his way to insurance
Miller was born in Jacksonville into a close-knit family. It’s something that brought him back to the city after graduating from Florida State University and figured into him later partnering in business with his two brothers.
The youngest, Daniel, opened his own Brightway agency soon after the elder brothers started the company.
As a young man, Miller always had big ideas, but at first, not much direction.
He graduated from FSU with degrees in political sciences and social sciences.
“It was very broad,” Miller conceded. “I joke that I could have gone to law school or shined shoes.”
It was actually in the back of his mind to enter law school — he loved public service and was president of student council in high school.
But, Miller went to work first. Insurance was his third job.
His first was as a recruiter for an IT company where, he said, “they never hired anybody.” He became disenchanted and “probably too big for my britches” and was fired after nine months, something he agrees he earned.
His second job was selling copiers.
“The disconnect was, I didn’t really believe in what I was doing,” Miller said. “And, I wasn’t particularly successful.”
It was while Miller was calling on business owners from Orange Park to Middleburg, trying to sell them a copier they didn’t need, that one man finally asked if he’d ever thought about getting into insurance.
The man worked for Liberty Mutual Insurance, a place Miller said had integrity and employees who had worked there for 30 years.
“They really cared about helping people,” he said.
He quit his job and signed on.
Bringing a new way to the market
Miller became a top agent and would go on to manage offices in Alabama, Mississippi and Tennessee. But after 11 years, he wanted more.
“I had a young family. I was making a terrific income. I had everything going for me,” he said. “But I felt so strongly in what I was doing that I really felt like I had no choice.”
He picked up a book of business from another retiring agent in Jacksonville, partnered with his brother and they became an independent agency.
From the beginning the brothers wanted to address what they saw as a systemic problem in the insurance industry — one company never has the best policy for every person in every situation.
“If you’re an agent and your job is to help people, part of that is finding the best thing for them,” Miller said. “With only one brand, you can only help people one out of 10 times, maybe.”
Independent agents, on average, have about six companies who underwrite for them.
Miller wanted to be the Home Depot of insurance companies — a retail experience where every option is on the shelf at one location.
Brightway benefited from being the first company to market with the idea.
Today, Miller doesn’t know if it would be possible to replicate that, competing against an established company like his own.
“We worked really hard in the beginning,” he said.
The franchise part of the business came later.
The Millers structured it so franchise owners would have back-office support from the Jacksonville corporate office — company branding, technology tools, the servicing of existing policies and negotiating contracts with carriers.
That leaves agents free to focus on selling policies.
Miller sees the company one day growing to all 50 states. But his goal is not to be bigger, it’s to be better.
One question he’s asked a lot is “What’s your exit strategy?” The answer is, there isn’t one.
“It’s like asking in life, ‘what’s your endgame.’ Well, I’m going to die,” he said. “But do you focus on that? No you focus on living life. We’re going to always focus on being the best we can possibly be.”
(904) 356-2466