Home Sweet Home

This is from Josh,

It is fantastic to have my family home. I am so thankful for all of the friends and family who took care of my wife and kids while they were down in Florida. As Michele posted in her last blog, I have had some big news. I was brought in for a meeting to the Area Field Office here in Knoxville last Wednesday to let me know that I will be inheriting a good sized book of business in downtown Farragut, TN. For those of you in Florida, Farragut is actually part of Knoxville, but has it's own township.

I am elated at the opportunity that has been presented to me, and I am excited to finally have an opportunity to have my own business and experience all of the good and bad that comes with it. I didn't sleep much the first week or so, and it turned out to be a blessing in disguise that everyone else was down in Florida b/c I was able to work ALOT of hours. Last Friday was a particular blessing for me as I was able to accomplish probably the 2 biggest obstacles I will face during the time prior to opening my office.

The first was my team. I have been able to interview several people and that I will be hiring the 3 team members that were working in the former Agent's office. They are a great team and were really starting to hit on all cylinders the past few months and I am excited about the plans they have to really get off the ground running on July 1st. I and my leadership were worried because the entire team had extremely high base salaries and I had to restructure their compensation plans to a lower base salary and a higher commission structure. Each person on the team is excited about the opportunity to earn more money and aren't put off at all by taking a cut in their base salary. They are truly a great group of individuals and will provide wonderful support that most new agents don't get b/c they are trained not only in the insurance industry but also in State Farm specific products.

The second thing was purely God's evidence that he is involved in this process. Farragut is definitely the "high rent district" of Knoxville and I had narrowed my office locations down to two possible locations. After a week of negotiations I had the best deal I could come up with. I was getting a beautiful 1300 sq ft space for $16.50/ sq ft which is good for Farragut. When I went back to the other location whose last offer was $2300 per month for well over 2500 sq ft which while per sq ft is good is much more than I could afford. When I went back to tell the gentleman thanks for spending the time with me his wife told him to give me the space for $1800 per month or about $8 per sq ft. That is right, less than half of what I had done. God is good and is showing that he will always provide and care for us. I will post pictures of the office soon!!!

Thanks to all of those who have been praying for us through this time.