Today we’d like to introduce you to Lucas Boyd.

Lucas, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
The BSBD brand as it’s known today really starts in the summer of 2011 with the merger of Firewheel Insurance and the Barnett father and son duo, formerly of Alliance Insurance in Dallas. That merger created a new brand, consisting of 5 advisors and 4 service folks at that time and has grown in 6 short years to 25 employees and an annual revenue of 3x what it was when the doors opened. This growth has come from bringing in the right personnel in a way in which hasn’t disturbed our commitment to servicing our clients’ needs. Our agency is merely scratching the surface, in my opinion, because much of the personnel growth has come in the form of young (by insurance standards), ethical, yet aggressive advisors and service people. We’ve been very careful in our recruitment, nothing has been forced because we’re very protective of our brand and our culture. The culture is one which has bred a fun and exciting environment for everyone involved. I believe that model will allow us to continue growing in a very healthy, profitable manner.

Something new to our agency as of 2016 is a benefits practice. In August, we hired a benefits advisor and are having great success in that area. Our goal is to give our clients as much as they need from an insurance products standpoint.

We’re also excited to be opening a brand new office in Turtle Creek (mid-August) which will add a great, 2nd office dynamic to our firm. We’ll immediately have 7 employees in that office; we feel it will only add to our recruitment offering and appeal to clients as well that like meeting us face to face.

We love where our agency is today, but the best is clearly yet to come.

We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
I’d be lying if I said it’s been a perfectly smooth road. It’s cliché to talk about “growing pains”, but with growth, comes trial. Our commitment to keeping the clients’ needs at the forefront of the BSBD culture has allowed us to progress in a productive manner. As long as we don’t take our eyes away from the client, we’ll be able to maintain the growth trajectory we’re on, without disturbing the important service side of our business.

So, as you know, we’re impressed with Boyd, Shackelford, Barnett & Dixon – tell our readers more, for example what you’re most proud of as a company and what sets you apart from others.
There are really 2 sides to this story; how we look from the customer viewpoint and how we look to the rest of our industry.

For our customers, we’re very much a generalist agency that puts a focus on service. Each advisor we have has a different niche and skillset, but that creates some nice diversity within our portfolio and allows us to maintain a large menu of providers. We’ve had a lot of success working in sectors such as Construction, Oil & Gas, Hospitality and Manufacturing. We’re certainly not limited to that, however, since we’re so lucky to work with the best regional and national insurance companies operating in our marketplace.

In terms of the way BSBD looks to the rest of the insurance world? I hope we’re known as an agency on the move; an agency that brings in quality personnel and takes great care of their clients. I believe folks are starting to take notice of what we’re doing, and I have some partners that deserve everything that’s coming to them. We want to be known as a firm that’s doing something different, also. The insurance industry has looked the same for many years, I’d like us to be a large part of changing that. Our Dallas office will be a great example of that progression, at least for us; it will be an environment that’s light-years ahead of what insurance offices have looked like the last 50 years, from a rooftop putting green to a wine cellar in the basement. We want to be different and create a fun environment for employees and customers, but I can’t stress enough that we will continue to keep the customer’s needs at very top of our priority list.

What sets us apart? It’s not hard to see. We have a number of wonderful veterans in our office that have created a great foundation for growth, but we’re different because of our youth. We’ve hired 10 employees in the last 2 years under the age of 35 and will continue to do so, as long as they’re the right fit for the job.

So, what’s next? Any big plans?
I really like to believe that the sky is the limit for BSBD Insurance. Our plans for the future include expansion to our offices in Plano and Dallas both. But, I’d also like us scale this thing a bit and grow our brand in other large hubs around Texas. We won’t do that unless it makes sense of course, but as our brand grows, we feel there might be more and more of those opportunities.

Our goal is simply to grow this business, the right way, and to protect our culture along the way.

Original article was published by VoyageDallas.com you can view the original article here.