Today we’d like to introduce you to Julie Brown.
Julie, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
I believe it was the law of large numbers that dictated, Julie Brown, from a family of twelve siblings, would choose to go into the insurance field. Today she is the founder and President of SDI Staffing. Her desire for flexibility and challenge led to a professional choice where she can apply an extensive background as an insurance agent and office operations manager. Ironically, it was an automobile accident that led her to a successful role as an industry personnel supplier.
Growing up in San Diego’s Clairemont area can easily be imagined as the ultimate California experience. Julie Brown fondly recalls holding summer beach fires every Friday night at Mission Bay by the Highway 5 Visitor Center. She described the Mission Valley area where her current office is located as a wide-open farmland with a trailer park under the freeway construction of I-805. Her family would visit friends at the trailer park on a Sunday outing.
An automobile accident at the end of Julie’s high school education suddenly gave her a new perspective for a future career. As she was unable to continue to work in retail, her sister-in-law, who worked in insurance claims, told her about a new evening shift at GEICO and that led to an initial position with them as a Document Collator. She quickly learned her role and moved to become a Policy Processor then on to Customer Service. During this period, she finished high school and started college at UCSD but after a couple of years she sought a different experience by transferring to the University of North Carolina. Although, she finally sought to return closer to the West coast experience she had grown up with, Julie still counts herself as a Tarheel fan.
She moved to Orange County from UNC to return closer to America’s finest city. Insurance was now a bona fide career as Julie capitalized on experience obtained as a personal lines agent in Chapel Hill to obtain another position in the same type of position. Her frequent weekend forays south, though, finally convinced her that she belonged back in San Diego.
Andersen-Allen Insurance, a local independent agency, hired her for their personal lines but she quickly moved into commercial lines and then ultimately moved to become the Office Operations Manager. Julie soon became known for computer skills she acquired with the Agency Management System allowing her the opportunity to share her skills and knowledge. Julie expressed thanks to Rick and Jackie Andersen along with Tom Burke for their generous support and mentorship that fueled a love for learning of her chosen industry. While working at Andersen-Allen, Julie completed her degree at UCSD with a Bachelor in Sociology and minor in Economics.
It was after the Andersen Agency merged with Rubin Insurance that Julie left to join Westland Insurance as a Commercial Lines Customer Service Representative (CSR). As she was getting ready for work one morning, Julie recalled watching the morning news and it showcased an author of a book espousing how people could fulfill successful careers as temps. Excitedly, she shared her epiphany for a flexible career with her mother-in-law, Nancy. Her mother-in-law, matter of factly, responded that Julie should find the temps and manage the business. An entrepreneur was born at that minute and with few regrets for her choice she shared a formula of success.
Fortuitously, the national convention for temporary staffing services was held in San Diego two months after the temp author’s news program aired and Julie signed up to learn all she could about the business of temporary employment. The convention provided valuable feedback. She took the leap to her own business with financing from a second mortgage and despite a few difficult payroll periods, never looked back.
Has it been a smooth road?
No. Her decision to start her own business was a difficult one. At twenty-nine years of age, a new marriage just three years in the making, one toddler and another on the way, she took a leap and opened the company on a shoestring budget of $10,000. This in itself would be quite challenging for most. But the real challenge was marketing her company and herself to both insurance professionals — to staff their offices with temps and to find a pool of available candidates to place in those positions. At the time, temporary staffing was commonplace, but not specifically for the insurance industry. This was a niche that she was marketing to her clients. She had to prove:
1. She knew about insurance and the industry.
2. There was a need for insurance temps.
3. She could recruit qualified insurance professionals to place in those jobs.
She would often hear, “What do I need temps for?” or “You can’t find what I need.” Even still, she continued to market the company and its services at industry meetings and events and it paid off. Twenty-three years after starting the business, she and her company are still in demand by the insurance industry.
She also struggled with financing and even had a couple of bankers think she was “just the Secretary” and they needed to meet with the Business Owner.
So let’s switch gears a bit and go into the SDI Staffing story. Tell us more about the business.
SDI Staffing specializes in placing candidates in Direct Hire, Temp-to-Hire and Temporary positions within the Insurance, Banking and Financial Services Industries throughout California.
I set out to be the name my clients would think of when they needed staffing and we are seen as an expert on staffing in our Niches and I am proud of that.
We speak insurance and banking!
How do you think the industry will change over the next decade?
We feel our clients depend on staffing employees to get through busy seasons and to support major projects, and business growth. The flexibility staffing provides gives our client companies a competitive edge in matching resources and payroll to the needs at hand.
We have seen a shift in that our clients in our industries use us more for long-term temp assignments like medical and maternity leaves as well as long-term hires. The industries that we serve have a shortage of skilled, experience talent so they rely on us to provide an additional stream of candidates to consider.
Contact Info:
- Address: 3717 Camino Del Rio SO, Ste 100
San Diego CA 92108 - Website: www.sdistaffing.com
- Phone: 888-528-8367
- Email: recruiter@sdistaffing.com
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sdistaffing/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/sdistaffing
- Other: http://www.proactivecareersearch.com/
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