Episode 36: How Bozzuto Insurance Continues to Build a Family Legacy.

What if you could transform a fledgling family venture into a thriving business legacy? Join us for an engaging conversation with the Bozzuto brothers—Tony, Allen, and Bryan—as they recount their individual and collective journeys in growing Bozzuto Insurance from their father’s solo endeavor into a successful brokerage. Tony, the CEO, Allen, the Chief Business Development Officer, and Bryan, the CFO, share their unique paths and pivotal experiences that led them to embrace the family legacy, highlighting the importance of retention and sales in cementing the agency's foundation.

What role does family dynamics play in business success, and how does one balance personal and professional relationships? These are the questions we tackle with the brothers as they navigate the nuances of working alongside family. Candid conversations bring to light both the perks and challenges of blending familial bonds with business, offering insight into maintaining harmony amid disagreements. Discover how they keep the business talk in check during family gatherings and how the strength of their relationships helps sustain their business growth.

In the final segment, we focus on the future, reflecting on the hurdles of expanding a family business and the strategies for building a lasting legacy. The Bozzuto brothers discuss the importance of nurturing a strong company culture and recruiting new talent to fill the shoes of the retiring generation. They share their aspirations for the next wave of family members, underscoring the need for passion and dedication to carry the torch forward. Through their experiences, they provide valuable lessons for other family-run businesses looking to leave a meaningful impact.

To learn more about Bozzuto Insurance Services, visit the website HERE.

Chapter Summaries:  

(00:00) Three Bozzuto Brothers Discuss Family Business
The Bozzuto brothers share their journey in managing Bizzuto Insurance, specializing in commercial insurance and expanding into personal lines and group health.

(13:54) Journey of Family Members in Business
Growing up in a family business, siblings share memories and paths to eventually embracing the insurance industry.

(27:40) Balancing Family and Business Relationships
Family-run businesses have benefits and challenges, including candid communication and balancing work and personal relationships.

(36:21) Challenges in Family Business Growth
Family-owned insurance business faces growth challenges, recruitment struggles, and the need to educate about insurance as a career.

(42:53) Building a Family Business Legacy
Culture's role in retaining employees in family businesses, emphasizing values, maintaining a family-like atmosphere, planning for the future, and acknowledging previous generation's support.

(48:54) Lessons Learned From Family Business Legacy
Growing up in a resilient family, acknowledging unique contributions, and the success of Bozzuto Insurance through hard work and dedication.

To learn more about the Capital Region Family Business Center visit our website HERE

Transcript

Steve Fleming: [00:00:00] Hi, my name is Steve Fleming, CEO of River City Bank, which was founded almost 50 years ago as a leader in a family business, myself and a longtime board member for the Capital Region Family Business Center. I understand firsthand how incredibly important family businesses are to our economy and the unique challenges they face in sustaining from generation to generation.

I think that you'll find this podcast series informative. Entertaining and even humorous at times. That's why our family business, river City Bank is proud to support this podcast. I hope you enjoy today's episode. 

Alan Bozzuto: We all have a part in it. So it's nice to be able to, you know, even with my uncle and his input pros of working together is, is being able to see and build this empire that our dad left for us, see, succeed and do great.

And I think that's an awesome thing. And, and, you know, having family dinners and we do wine nights with, you know, the wives and the [00:01:00] kids and I think it's just a really neat thing to be a part of a business that family orientated and is all, all together.

Natalie Kling: Hello and welcome to a Seat at the Table Trials and Triumphs of Family Business. Brought to you by the Capital Region Family Business Center, helping family businesses to grow and prosper. I'm Natalie Mariani Kling, your host, and a fourth generation family business member. I am so excited to join you around the table for real conversations about what it's like to grow up in, become a part of and navigate the complexities of a family business.

Special thanks to another family business, river City Bank for their generous support of this program. What does it look like when success truly begins with family values? [00:02:00] How do siblings with equal ownership and different experience levels determine goals and growth and navigate business while also being committed to the love between each other?

How do you make peace with joining a family business when it was never part of the plan? This and much more on today's episode with the Bozzuto Brothers of Bozzuto Insurance Services, a Sacramento based insurance company that's grown to serve clients from San Diego to Oregon. Today we are very fortunate to have three Bozzuto brothers in studio who are owners and run the business with your uncle, right?

Yes. We should mention him. What's his name? 

Bryan Bozzuto: Steve. 

Natalie Kling: Okay, Steve Bozzuto. And so I'd like to begin with having each of you introduce yourselves, your names, your role at the company, and how long you've been in the business. 

Tony Bozzuto: Start with the oldest. Alright, kick it off. I'm Tony. I'm currently the CEO and I've been with Bozzuto for almost 21 years.

It'll be [00:03:00] 21 years this year. Started in end of oh four and Steve Bozzuto was already with the company. I know he is not here, but. He had been with the company, he's been there now, I think close to 27 years, and I co-manage operations with him and my brothers have different roles in the agency, but it's a little bit about me.

Alan Bozzuto: I'm Alan Bozzuto, and I'm CBDO for the company and head of sales, managing the sales producers that we bring on, educating them, training them on how to sell. 

Bryan Bozzuto: Bryan Bozzuto the youngest. And actually, I just realized during this conversation that our seniority and age is also our seniority in the business. I've been in for, uh, seven years this October, one of one of the newest ones coming on.

And a few years back I started taking on more of the, uh, the counting role, which, which, uh, tumbled into now where I'm holding as, uh, the CFO and, and making sure and taking care of the financial health of the company. 

Natalie Kling: Alan? Yeah. How long have you [00:04:00] been in, I forgot 

Alan Bozzuto: to mention 15 years. 

Natalie Kling: Okay, great. Okay, so like many first generation family business founders, your dad got into insurance in the Sacramento area out of college working for farmers, and pretty quickly started his own office, made enough money to hire some employees, and then realized that to really have all the tools to help people, you needed to be a broker, which is not easy because you have to kind of court.

These insurance companies and they have to get to know you and your makeup of business. And then in 1981, he started Bozzuto Insurance. Is that about the right timeline? 

Tony Bozzuto: Um, essentially he started in 81 as farmers and then Okay. Within the eighties, you know, he slowly began brokering business as well. They had a little bit more flexibility on what they could do as, as farmer's agents then, and, and so yeah, he managed, he had kept the captive side of the business for a long time too.

Until he sold the farmer's book. But yeah, 81 was when he first got into [00:05:00] insurance and Farmers is Mike Bozzuto insurance agency. And then it morphed into brokering. 

Natalie Kling: And now it seems like there's no personal or business insurance needs that Bozzuto doesn't serve you guys. Do you offer so much. So give us a perspective of, of how many people you serve or kind of how, how the business has grown and where it is now.

Bryan Bozzuto: Well, I mean, I've, I've got the last seven years in, in perspective, and by that point, Tony actually is the one that, that headed up and started our personal lines department and, and really got that on the brokerage side as far as expanding. And that became a, a pretty big aspect to our clients. But we've grown primarily in the construction industry and, and that's where the bulk of our clients have, have originated.

And, and that's just. Really blown up in, in the sense of the size of the companies we, we now work with and, and the range that they have. And, and that's kind of helped expand our, our services and our businesses. We now have the benefits [00:06:00] department, like, like you manager, there's pretty much nothing under the umbrella of insurance we, we won't cover.

And that's just always been in essence to the growth of our, our client base and the size of the clients we serve and, and how we can better accommodate them. 

And just to expand on that a little bit, I can't take full credit for starting the personal lines department. That was probably more of a collaboration with dad.

'cause we had done personal lines before and then there was a time period where he didn't have, he had sold that book. And uh, I came on and we talked about it more. I was like, there's, you know, there's a real need here for this. You know, we can. Work with our commercial clients since we are a majority commercial business, but work with them on taking care of their personal needs.

Again, what I will take credit for though, is starting our group health department. I did do that from the ground up. We never had a group health department at, at some point it was outsourced for a little while and I was like, well, let's, you know it's starting to, starting to make some traction. Let's work on seeing what we can do to bring this in-house.

Get that, get that side of the business going. So the full makeup at this point is about 85% of our business comes from commercial insurance, [00:07:00] meaning insurance for businesses that we service throughout California, and then 10% or so in personal lines. So like the home and auto business and 5% group health.

Natalie Kling: Okay. And for people who aren't familiar with insurance. How can you describe the size of the company when your dad started in 81 versus the size of the company today? 

Bryan Bozzuto: Oh, well, I mean, I guess by number of employees. You know, it was just him on a solo mission for a few years, and then as, as things began to grow, you know, he'd slowly bring on some support staff and then realized, you know, support and sales are in, you know, in tandem.

In our business it's retention is as much as important. If not as much as, uh, sales is, 'cause we gotta continually grow too. So then he started bringing in sales producers and then that grew to, I think we're around 20 or so employees, 21 employees. You 

Alan Bozzuto: also gotta remember that when he started he was solely personal lines.

Yeah. So the [00:08:00] volume was a lot greater volume, but premiums were a lot less. We've built an agency with commercial businesses, expanding revenue, growing, you know, our books of business and, uh, making it a much larger company from when he was in Farmers in, in the eighties. 

Tony Bozzuto: Yeah, that reminds me too, the other day I actually met someone, I believe, one of the executives at JP Morgan and.

Came up to me afterwards when he, when he hear my name, he goes, you're dad, Mike Bozzuto. He goes, yeah. He goes, I remember when he was knocking on my door selling my insurance. That's in the eighties. So that's, that's, uh, yep. It's, it's crazy to think that changed too and, and what the grind is like compared to then, to what it is now.

And to think that he was up till, you know, 7, 8, 9 o'clock at night, pounding on doors. You know, you're, you're faxing everything or, or meeting in person. And, and now the growth of, of how much you can reach just by picking up a phone or, or, you know, sending an email and, and how much that's drastically drained, [00:09:00] changed the business too.

And then, you know, on the growth factor, it all comes down to premium. You know, when you're, when you're working by yourself or farmers and you're just starting out, 2, 3, 4, $500,000 in premium written is, is pretty good. And, and then through the times as you're growing, you're, you're really. 1, 2, 5, 10, $20 million in premium.

And that's where really you start realizing, okay, well we need employees. And that's, that's what feeds all that. So yeah, we're at 19. Now, you two employees, not including owners. 

Natalie Kling: Awesome. Awesome. Okay. I would love for each of you to describe your dad in your own words. He's retired now, right? Didn't now. A lot of family business, you say retired with air quotes because you know, these guys have a hard time letting go.

So is he actually retired and then well answer that first maybe. 

Bryan Bozzuto: Yeah. Yeah. He's actually retired now. There's several years where he was. Quotes retired. He is officially retired now. Yeah. 

Natalie Kling: Good for him. Okay. So, yeah, so I'd love for you to each describe your dad in your own [00:10:00] words. You know, maybe what you, how you saw him growing up and how maybe if that's changed or how, how you see him now and what you, what you think has really made, made him successful in business.

Bryan Bozzuto: I mean, I could start with that. I mean, just growing up from, you know, a small age, I'd say I'd probably sum it up. Uh, and one or maybe two words, but the one that comes to mind right now is discipline. You know, he was very disciplined, very much in tune with his, his business. You know, he was very much involved with the employees, the staff, and just there, you know, he was there Monday through Friday.

He would take calls after hours, you know, if somebody got a claim on their home, you know, they're, they're calling him on his cell phone. And he'd take those calls, you know, and so he was very disciplined and diligent in, in making the business be successful. Not only for those that he worked with, but for our family too.[00:11:00] 

Alan Bozzuto: Expand on that as well. Compassionate, loving, you know, he really cared about what he did and, and, and his clients. And I think, you know, when you talk to anybody that's met or knows Mike, they always say how much of a nice of a guy he is and if he really cares about, you know, helping people out and making sure that they're well protected with their business or personally with their personal assets or, you know, whether it's their home and autos.

Bryan Bozzuto: Yeah, really just to add dedicated, committed, genuine. Just basically, you know, like I said, supplemental to, to what they said. 'cause you need those three to be disciplined and, and, and to be, uh, empathetic, I suppose. He did have a, a lot of, a lot of empathy or, or does I should say, does have a lot of empathy and, and cares for, for what he does and really puts his, his heart and soul into it.

Natalie Kling: Sounds like he's, he's a bit of an extrovert. 

Bryan Bozzuto: Yeah. Yeah. He's a trained extrovert. 

Natalie Kling: Oh, really? 

Bryan Bozzuto: First, yeah. I think he's naturally an an, an introverted [00:12:00] person, but Oh, 

Natalie Kling: funny. He 

Bryan Bozzuto: does. He is not, it's, it's odd. He's not shy to talk to somebody either. 

Alan Bozzuto: The funny thing with this business is a lot of it's over the phone, right?

I mean, he did go out and meet with people, but he wasn't the guy that was in, in the associations or putting himself out there with, um, you know, the rotaries and, and the chambers. He was more reserved with that. He had his friends and his groups and, and, um, but it was, you know, a lot of this kind of business is over the phone.

You don't have to be so upfront if you don't want to be. 

Natalie Kling: Mm-hmm. 

Alan Bozzuto: Yeah. 

Natalie Kling: And did you guys grew up in the Mormon church, is that right? We did. And how much of faith do you think played into his way of dealing with people? 

Tony Bozzuto: Probably the cornerstone would, would be my input on that. I, I think it probably everything he did centered around faith.

Natalie Kling: Mm-hmm. 

Bryan Bozzuto: Yeah. Yeah, a hundred percent. I mean, they instill a lot of good values, you know, family centered [00:13:00] values, treating people with respect and kindness, so, you know. Yeah. A lot of that, I'm sure, made him the man that he is. 

Natalie Kling: Yeah, I, I mentioned that because just in talking to you, Tony, before the, the, this recording, it sounds like he, just to emphasize everything you've already said, really cared about people and was always talking to people and always making sure that people spreading the good word, probably in all areas.

Right. So, and, and, and it's interesting because we have had. Different family businesses that, that have had faith as a cornerstone and it, it absolutely influences how they deal with people, how they work with customer service. So I can imagine that, that, that did have an influence. And my next question would be, how did it influence you guys and how you work with people and how you see business?

Bryan Bozzuto: I'd say that just was instilled upon us by the way we were raised. You know, our parents [00:14:00] were very good people. They were, they always had meal on the table for us. They always had a roof over our head. Made sure that we were involved in activities and doing things 

Tony Bozzuto: community-wise. Church-wise, I'd say it was also a very focused faith, so to say.

'cause I know he can get caught up on a, on a lot of blind faith where it's like, oh, everything's gonna work out right, no matter what. And yeah, I don't think my dad ever had that. And I, I certainly personally, through, through my experiences with faith, faith, I've never had that. It's always been a, a pinpointed, targeted.

If I do this, if I work at this, achieve these, I have faith that I will get the desired outcome. And, and I think that's, that's a pretty strong distinction there too, because I don't think he ever just had faith things would work out. I think he had faith that if I pounded doors till 9:00 PM I'm gonna get the sales I need and I'm gonna be able to support my family.

So, but in the work. Yeah, 

Natalie Kling: totally. It's like the old parable of the guy on the roof during the flood asking God to save him and he sends him the boat and Yep. [00:15:00] He said, why didn't you, he doesn't get in and says, why didn't you save me? That's such, that's such a great discernment. I appreciate that, Brian.

'cause yeah, it. So many of these founders did exactly that. They just hit the pavement and didn't stop mm-hmm. For so long. And so to have that combination with faith is really important for these younger generations too, because there is sometimes this idea of like, follow your bliss and the money will come, or, you know, it's, it's like, which is, which is great with, with the kind of discipline and work ethic that.

But I think all of our founders showed us. Yeah. 

Bryan Bozzuto: Well, I think nowadays too, we get a lot, uh, we get real caught up on instant gratification and where we can make that quick buck, but you forget that there's, you know, you may see a lot of these people making, making that success story for themselves, but you're not seeing the hard work and the dedication and the discipline that they're putting behind that 

Natalie Kling: a hundred percent.

Yep. My son was talking last night about being a YouTuber, and I'm like, oh [00:16:00] God. It's 

Tony Bozzuto: a lot of work. The margin. It's 

Natalie Kling: a lot of work. Don't forget. Yeah. 

Tony Bozzuto: I'm just throwing a few hundred dollars into crypto and hoping it turns into tens of millions. 

Natalie Kling: Yeah, exactly. Exactly. So your dad ran the business full-time, your mom raised your family and worked part-time in the business for a while.

What are your memories of growing up in the business, you know, of going to the office or meeting clients or just as a kid, what was your perspective? 

Tony Bozzuto: Oh, they definitely worked us in the summer, 

Natalie Kling: like all good founding parents. 

Tony Bozzuto: Yeah. I, uh, I remember always enjoying it. We'd go to the office at practically two buildings down from where we are now, and just doing simple internet searches on companies and, and CSLB on, on when there were comp expires and putting those lists together.

Have probably been like fourth, fifth grade doing that and putting those together and, and just doing that in the summer. And then, you know, other than that, just, you know, yeah, they, they [00:17:00] did, I'd say mom was probably more full-time by the time I was in grade school. She, she put in, she. Quite a bit of hours.

And then I don't think she really slowed down a lot of data injury. A lot of data. 

Bryan Bozzuto: Yeah. Well, back then there was, at least when I was going, I, I didn't really get a lot of exposure, you know, with the office until probably high school, you know, mid, mid high school later, later high school years for me personally.

But, you know, even back then it was all paper and fax, you know, so a lot of filing, you know, a lot of the typewriter typing on typewriter, you know, pulling files for people, helping people out. Filling out applications, things like that, you know, so just paperwork stuff kinda set us down there at the base and, all right, here's what I need to do today.

Clean it up. 

Natalie Kling: Uh, it's so I can, it's so nostalgic, those memories. 

Tony Bozzuto: Yeah. I keep a coloring book in my office for my daughter. 

Natalie Kling: Exactly 

Tony Bozzuto: asking to come to work. Cute. 

Natalie Kling: What were each of your journeys in getting into the [00:18:00] business? Did you personally see it as something you wanted to do or was there, was it a winding way there?

I'd love to hear each of your stories. 

Tony Bozzuto: I stayed away for as long as I possibly could. Insurance was not in my cards at all. I, uh, I originally hadn't intended to do a full, full 20 and retire from the military, and that was probably one of my, my hardest deci decisions was at the end of my, my first five year term was to deciding to, to stay in or, or to, to get out.

And after battling with that for a few months, I, I elected to, to get out. Go rejoin the civilian world. And, you know, probably, probably one of the best choices I've made thus far. 'cause I wouldn't have my, my two kids and my wife if I didn't and stayed in and I, I stayed away even more when I got out. I didn't just get into the family business, I went into the propane industry.

Actually, I, uh, worked at a plant just filling barbecue tanks, [00:19:00] you know, got my license, started driving delivery and, and started managing the plant for. For the owner who liked to spend a few months outta the year in, in the Philippines. So that was always a lot of fun, a lot of great experiences there. So I was there for another five years.

It was a good solid 10 years. Yeah, I was 28 and went in the Marines at 18 and went in the family business at 28. He had a family propane business, so I saw his kids coming to work and starting to work there. And you know, I'd always hear my mom and dad, Tony and Alan talking after spending all day together.

I'm. Kind of fun. I guess. I spent time with my family. If only on you then though.

Natalie Kling: Oh, good. We'll circle back to that.

How about you, Tony? 

Bryan Bozzuto: Yeah, I, let's see. I got in, I think when I was 24 and same thing. I didn't have really. Any interest one way or the other? I wasn't necessarily opposed to it, I just didn't really give it a lot of thought. You know, [00:20:00] after, after high school, I worked a couple of different jobs at construction for a little while.

I a restaurant, lived in Italy for a little bit and then when I got back, got a job at a bank, didn't really like that much and I guess probably. Probably in my early twenties. My dad was, you know, he's always, he's all in, he's in all of our ears, always about it. You know, some, some form or fashion or another religion.

Like, Hey, you know, 

Natalie Kling: what were some of the things he would say? 

Bryan Bozzuto: I mean, he just, you know, family business, he's work with, work with the family. There's a lot of opportunity here. It's insurance is, you know. Probably one of the most stable and recession proofed, you know, proof types of industries, especially to get into sales.

You can build a, a great book of business because of the residual income it compounds when you add on more new accounts. And you know, just kind of the whole spiel about insurance and why it's such a great business to be in. Meeting people, learning [00:21:00] about people's businesses. You know, there, there's a level of.

Cer, you know, there's certainly a level of relationship building in our business, but there's also a lot of education that is required to learn about other people's businesses to learn how to really properly affect them. Right? And so, so, you know, all those things kind of meshed together. And I got out.

He is like, Hey man, just come try it out. You know, you're not, the bank's not working out. Just come over here and try it out and see what you think. You don't have to, you know. I got married to it right out. See what you go. So I got in from the ground floor. I came in as a customer service rep, um, unlicensed.

So I was doing the backend service work for our account managers and people that would service clients. And then about a year into that, I ended up getting licensed and just going straight into sales from there. Work on building a, a book of business. 

Alan Bozzuto: I think dad's intent was to always have his sons be in the business and take it over.

Bryan Bozzuto: He certainly wanted it. Yeah, he [00:22:00] certainly would've loved that. Yeah. What do you mean would've, I mean, did I dunno? I'm out done. No, he certainly, he certainly was an ambition of his to work with his, with his boys. Yeah, absolutely. 

Natalie Kling: What about your mom? Did she have an any sway or influence either way? 

Tony Bozzuto: I think she just loved having us around, so that made her happy alone.

But I think she always wanted us to do what, what we wanted to do. That was just an added benefit if we got to work with her. For her. 

Natalie Kling: Yeah. 

Tony Bozzuto: Yeah. 

Natalie Kling: And, and we should mention your mom has passed, right? Mm-hmm. Yeah. Two years. Two years. Okay. I am sorry. And, and also what a huge part of this, I'm sure she was, sounds like, and, and always as so many women of founder businesses do, they kind of keep it all together so that the, the guys can run the business and, and grow it in the way that they can.

So she's an important player here. She was the shining 

Bryan Bozzuto: light of the company. Put that [00:23:00] mildly. Everybody loved her. Always had a smile on her face. Always engaged with the employees. So we have, actually, we have the, at our annual company events, we just did it the first year. This year we have the Denise PTO Legacy award.

We give, we 

Natalie Kling: what a great legacy. Okay, Alan, your turn. 

Alan Bozzuto: So me, huh? Yeah. I never want, like Brian never wanted to be in the insurance industry. I thought I was gonna live on a farm up in, I don't know. But what is that? The triangle up there? Humboldt County or something like that. But yeah, so outta high school, I traveled around.

I had a VW bus and, and lived in Arizona, you know, traveled and did a road trip to Arizona and just kinda lived off of the land and whatever else I could get from couch to couch. And then I ended up going to school at Sierra College for a year and a half, and then I transferred over to. I had a, a buddy of mine that I was living with at the time, and he wanted to move, he was in real [00:24:00] estate and had a buddy that owned this multimillion dollar house up in east, in the East Bay area in San Ramon.

And he said, come, come live with me. You can have the flat out back. And so I did that for a while, going to school, radio, broadcasting, and I was kind of all over the place. I liked playing music. I was into music, you know, I put on open mics and uh, Java cafes and stuff like that. Then from there I moved to San Francisco and I went to State College, city College in San San Francisco for a year finishing up.

I never actually graduated, but I was more or less going for fun and to gain knowledge and, and radio broadcasting and recording music. And I, you know, started my own little recording studio at my house at the time in San Francisco. I lived in the Sunset District, and then I picked up my first job, I think when I was.

Well, my first real job when I was like 23, 22 at Albertson's, as in at the [00:25:00] grocery store. Mm-hmm. As a bagger, and then worked my way to the deli. And then from there I said, this isn't what I wanted to do. So then I worked for at and t selling cell phones and internet for one of the authorized retailers in, in the city.

And then after I did that for a few, a couple years, I ended up moving back home and had a couple odd jobs that was a lube tech at an oil stop. Changing oil and, and getting into trouble. And, and at one point I got pulled over by the, by the police and got a DUI and I said, I think enough is enough. And I said, I think I can either go down this road or voice in, you know, in the back of my head has been telling me, go to work.

Go to work for, and, you know, and insurance. Insurance. And he's been telling me that for a while, but never listened. And so I think that was the kind of the breaking point where I kind of hit rock bottom and I said, well, what am I doing here? I can, I can continue to go down this path and work, you [00:26:00] know, odd end jobs or I can see what this whole insurance gig is about.

I think I was 28 when I started too. Same age Brian was ironically. And so, uh, yeah, he just threw me right into the, the bullpen making calls and I got my insurance license and, and the rest is history really. I just took off. And just sold and sold and sold. And I was kind of a, just a sales producer for a long time until roles kind of changed over the years.

And, and that's it 

Natalie Kling: for all the creative souls out there. How have you navigated being in something that you thought you would never be in, which takes a totally different mindset and day in, day out. Schedule and the part of you that is creative and. Wants to, loves art and, and all the things. 

Alan Bozzuto: I still play music.

I'm actually playing tomorrow at a buddy's house. We're putting together an album we've been working on for the [00:27:00] last couple months. Nice. So I still get to play my music as far as insurance goes, I enjoy, I'm a, I'm an ex extrovert, you know, I'm a people person. I love to go out and meet people. And so with insurance, I get to meet business owners that do you know well from themselves.

Not every client is a friend, but a lot of 'em become friends. And so going out to dinners and hanging out with them at their homes and building those relationships and bonds and, and meeting different people, I, I enjoy traveling to LA for business or up north or you know, the Bay Area or wherever it is, so you're not just in the office typing on a keyboard.

I get that, that excitement still. 

Natalie Kling: That's great. Do you, do you feel at peace. With it all. 

Alan Bozzuto: I mean, there's a lot of, it's not, it's not easy and it's a very stressful job and you have, you know, you have a lot of clients that are great and pay their bills and never hassle you, and you got those clients that hassle.

You call you when you're on vacation. And, [00:28:00] and so there is, it's a give and take. It's, there's a pro, you know, there's pros and cons to all of it. I think the pros outweigh the cons and building an empire and, and oddly enough to say with, with my family and brothers, most people would probably. Kill each other by now.

But you know, it works for us. And I think, you know, I think if we can continue this growth and build an empire, our kids or, or we'll be able to do well for ourselves, whether we eventually sell the company, the kids, take it over. I think it's a neat thing to do. 

Natalie Kling: That's great perspective. So with that in mind, talk to me about the challenges.

What are the, what are the best parts and what are the challenges of working together as a family? 

Tony Bozzuto: I think one of the benefits we have coming into it is that we're kind of spread out a little bit. I don't think we ever really had that rivalry be maybe these two. They're a little [00:29:00] closer in age, but I came, you know, I'm, I'm eight years old in front of Tony, so.

I think that might help a lot. 'cause you know, I've seen siblings that are a year, two, three years apart and they can either not mesh at all or, or they mesh really well. And I think we just kind of had that separation to where it kind of helped with, uh, us working together. 'cause, 'cause I have seen it go both ways and I think we've, we've like an said mended really well with all of our strengths and we're all.

Relatively fairly different too, as far as you know, who we are. And so that brings in a lot of different perspectives into the conversation, which, which makes it, you know, interesting. Mm-hmm. And, and a little bit, I think more malleable 

Alan Bozzuto: Yeah. To work together. We all have different roles, so I mean. Stay in your lane.

You know? I mean, as long as everything's working well, it's good. So, you know, a lot of times we may not, I mean, I might not talk to Brian for a day or two. He's doing his thing. I'm doing my thing. Same with Tony. Me and Tony maybe [00:30:00] work a little bit more together, not because we're closer in age, but because he's been in the sales side, manage the sales department.

I've kind of taken it over. So there's a lot of. Questions or help that I might get from Tony. So we kind of mesh a little bit more, maybe talk more, but he's also doing other things as well. So in this business, as long as you're just sell, you know, producing and doing what you're doing, there's really not much to talk about.

Bryan Bozzuto: Yeah, I'd say one of the. I don't really want to say it's on or anything like that, but one of the challenges is when we're having conversations with each other, you know, in the office, because we are family, we're very close, we speak direct and we speak bluntly. And if we're around people, you know, they may, they may take that as, they may take that the wrong way.

They may think, Hey, we're, we're having a, a major argument, or we're at, you know, we're, we're at each other's throats. Or, why, how, why is he talking to him like that? You know? Like, well, it's just really how we talk. I mean, we're just family, you know. But on the flip side, at least for me anyways, we were fortunate as a [00:31:00] family to, to grow up with a very family-centric upbringing.

And not only immediate family, but extended family. We were fortunate to know all four of our grandparents for a long time. I even knew my great grandma for a very short period of time when I was little. We have, you know, a cu a lot of cousins and uncles and aunts that are local that are close, that we would have family get togethers with family reunions.

And so, you know, we were raised with family being a very strong part of our, our upbringing and DNA. And so for me anyways, you know, it can be difficult at times to separate work and family, but at the end of the day. We are, we are our family, and we share that level of respect with each other. And remember, at the end of the day, no matter how much we might be at each other's throats or in disagreement, we're still family.

We still love each other and we're gonna work through it. 

Tony Bozzuto: It's funny what you said on the first part, [00:32:00] though, uh, a little bit of a con. You, you seemed hesitant on that. 'cause I was, I was, I was to look for 

Brian Bozzuto: the word. I didn't know a good word. 

Natalie Kling: I was thinking of that 

Tony Bozzuto: exact same situation and I was thinking of it as a pro.

You know, we, we get to be direct with each other. We don't have to be like, oh, this is the big boss dog. Sure. Beat around the bush and try not to hurt feelings. It's, you know, much more direct, which I, I think that's always, you know, it might be the marine side coming outta me, but always. Gotten to, you know, achieve objectives better and faster when you're direct and not trying to, you know, step on anybody's toes.

Natalie Kling: Yeah. What would you say, Alan, pros and cons? 

Alan Bozzuto: Well, the pros is we get to spend time with each other. We get to bounce ideas off each other, work together, watch this agency grow, and, and we all have a part in it. So it's nice to be able to. Even with my uncle and his input and the pros of working together is, is being able to see and build this empire that our dad left for us and see, [00:33:00] succeed and do great.

And I think that's an awesome thing and, and being in family and, you know, having family dinners and we do wine nights with, you know, the wives and the kids and I think it's just a really neat thing to be a part of a business that that is family orientated and is all altogether. Cons. Oh, that I outweighs the pros.

I'm just, no, I'm joking. Cons. Just like they said, I think, you know, we have, we have monthly partner meetings and, and round tables and we butt heads on ideas and, and, and sometimes we don't always agree. Is that a con? I don't know. You know, I think that's just business. It's hard to say. Yeah. I don't know if there's a lot of cons really, you know, or 

Natalie Kling: challenges.

Are there certain challenges? I 

Tony Bozzuto: just came up with one con. I think our wives despise it. 'cause whenever we get together for wine dinners and anything else, we all start talking insurance. And guess what the best conversation in the world is? It's not insurance. [00:34:00] 

Natalie Kling: Yep. That happens. That it really bleeds over.

Right. It's difficult. Do you, so you guys make a conscious effort not to or is it just kind of, well this is going, 

Alan Bozzuto: this is how it's, it happens. It's better. Mess happens. Get up and eye look from, you know, the girls might give us an eye look and we'll just pick, okay, we're done. 

Natalie Kling: Yeah. 

Alan Bozzuto: Table this. Yeah. Yeah.

Challenges challenging to just grow a business in general and to make what we want it to be. It's, it's, every day's a challenge, right? Life's a challenge. Business is a challenge. Definitely tough to come to work and, and, and have that motivation and drive and, and make, you know, make, make our future ambitions come true and, and see not easy, right?

Bryan Bozzuto: Yeah. Yeah. What. Sorry. No, I was, I was reminiscing while they were talking because that, that brought back a couple of other memories in and I think about it. I was like, yeah, dad would call me all the time at like eight, nine o'clock at night. Hey, just thought of this about work. I'm like, [00:35:00] why are you calling me so late about work?

What is happening right now? They can't wait until tomorrow. And that's probably the biggest challenge. Just separating, you know, work and family. Again, is it a challenge? Is it a pro, you know, just. Depends on how you 

Tony Bozzuto: all, how you look at it. One, one distinct reason why I got rid of a home office. I don't, I don't work when I go home.

I got an office at at work and when I need to work, I go in and work. I don't care if that's at midnight, 5:00 AM or a normal workday. If I, if I need to get stuff done, I go into the office. I, I always try to keep that separation conversation. I don't consider bleeding if we're just talking. We're just talking.

Natalie Kling: How do you navigate if you do butt heads and you haven't gotten to the solution yet and you're feeling passionate about it in your own way, and then you have to go to the 6-year-old birthday party or the, you know, why night or the whatever it is. How, how do you, how do each of you navigate [00:36:00] that? 'cause it, 'cause it happens, I think for everyone, right?

Uh, just as humans, but certainly within a family, it's intensified. 

Tony Bozzuto: Bury it deep inside and never talk about it. 

Natalie Kling: It's the military in 

Tony Bozzuto: That's right. I don't, I mean, me personally, I'm, people describe me as a, a flat liner. I don't really have a lot of ups and downs like a heartbeat monitor. So it's always been, I guess, relatively easy for me to separate things and, and to not get overly emotional.

So, I mean. To double that. I don't think we've ever had a situation where we've disagreed so much to a point to where it was gonna be an issue trying to bleed into a family event or something like that. So I, I think we've been fortunate in, in that realm. But, you know, for me there is that separation and into what Tony's point was earlier.

I mean, at the end of the day we're, we're all family and, and I mean, not love him today as a CEO, but I still love him at this event as [00:37:00] my brother. So yeah, 

Bryan Bozzuto: there's life's 

Tony Bozzuto: too 

Alan Bozzuto: short. Life's too short to be. 

Bryan Bozzuto: Yeah. On the flip side of that, you mentioned the word passionate and Alan and I are very passionate individuals and impulsive, and that's been something for me that I've had to, you know, kind of just hone in on and do the best I can to pause and, and.

I think how I'm gonna articulate what I wanna say and it's a work in progress. But, but yeah, same thing. Similar to what Brian was saying, I think I've gotten much better at compartmentalizing. Just, okay, work is, work, hash out well, we gotta hash out there and, and at home, at family functions, at whatever, just hanging out, you know, that's, that's different.

Separate it's family. 

Natalie Kling: Mm-hmm. You agree, Alan? 

Alan Bozzuto: Yeah. I think at the end of the day it's, you know, family first. What's, what happens is gonna happen. And that's also why we come down to a vote, right? So if, if at the round table [00:38:00] we, we all want to do something and we're not all in on it, then it comes down to vote.

We revisit it later. 

Natalie Kling: Are you guys equal owners? 

Tony Bozzuto: Yeah. For, for the most part, we're, we're in a process of, of purchasing out over time, so the three of us remain equal and then it just gradually increases while the other one gradually decreases. 

Natalie Kling: Sure. What have been some of the biggest challenges you have faced as a family or as a family business?

Bryan Bozzuto: Probably growth. Just trying to get to the next level. You know, it seems like you see some growth and then you hit a plateau and you gotta figure out, okay, why, why are we stagnant? What, what's, you know, what changed from this revenue level to the next? And how do we, how do we get past that? So finding ways to navigate growth, but also overhead, you know, finding.

Good employees and you know, in our business you have to have, for the most part, a [00:39:00] licensed and experienced person in insurance because, especially on, mostly on the service side, they're, they're coming into a book of clients that they have to service and that they have to know coverage. They have to, you know, know the processes and procedures and culture fit our culture model.

That's a big part of what, what is important to us is, is maintaining and developing our, our. Culture in-house and you know, we have a core values team that helps do that. Comprises of volunteers of employee, you know, employees can volunteer into that team and beat monthly to discuss culture, discuss company events and things like that.

But I, yeah, I'd say, I'd say for me, those, those are my two biggest challenges. Finding, finding good people and people who are experienced and licensed can jump into a role that we need and, and growth change. 

Tony Bozzuto: I think has always been one of my biggest ones. And, and I'm at an advantage and a at a disadvantage at the same time because, [00:40:00] and, and this is any business cycle, right?

There's a point to where it, just, to Tony's point, can get stagnant or, or stay put in one place and, and making that adoption. So I come in with, with potentially advantage of, of seeing things. That could change or be different. And then on the disadvantaged side of not having the experience that some of the other individuals have who know, okay, this has, you know, doesn't work good, look at it, or whatever.

Or, you know, we've never tried this or, or whatever it may be. So I think just trying to implement change and, and perhaps not doing things how they've always been done and, and what can we do that's different on, on expansion and growth. 'cause that's. Always been like one of my, my big drives coming in is, okay, we've had a nice, great gradual growth, but what can we do to blow it out?

What can we do to just expand it and blow it outta the water? And so I'm always thinking that larger agencies, which then you, you look at, well, we're not a larger agency. There's a lot of restrictions there. And, and it is, but so it's just trying to pick and choose. [00:41:00] Where can we change, can we adapt? And then having the experience, especially Steve with the wealth of knowledge he brings in too, to, to really set you back and go, okay, here's what, you know, what we can look at what we can't.

And, and now really trying to take my focus and seeing from the, the financial standpoint now seeing the financial health of the company and, and being in charge of that, of, okay, where can we, where can we really take some growth? Where, where can we really use these funds and, and take off? I 

Alan Bozzuto: think to expand on Tony too, what Tony was saying and some of the challenges in the, in the agencies and the growth of the agency is account managers are, are retiring and there's no one coming behind them.

There's the younger generations aren't learning how to do this type of work, so hiring becomes a lot more difficult or having to hire outta state. Retaining a good account managers is difficult 'cause they get headhunted by the, the big. Corporate Gallaghers of the world and everybody else. And so being able to find that balance and being able to find our niche within, [00:42:00] you know, our account managers and what we can offer them, been tough.

And I think that's where growth becomes a little bit more difficult is because it, it's just hard to find those, those employees that well one, stay and two know what they need to know. Without having them grow organically up through paying front desk to certificates, to now being an account manager, which we do as well.

But yeah, I think the workforce, like a lot of my clients will say in the construction industry, no one's teaching trades anymore. The kids are going to school for whatever it is, and a lot of kids maybe. That aren't school savvy, don't have the opportunity or the knowhow. There's not a lot of trade schools out there.

They're not, and I think it's getting maybe better nowadays, but people don't know where to go. And so we need to educate people where to go to find these different industries, make the younger generation aware of what's out there and the opportunities that are out there to be able to help all workforces.[00:43:00] 

Bryan Bozzuto: There's certainly a lot of opportunity in insurance. You can go many different avenues down insurance path. It doesn't have to be on the broker side only insurance companies have a lot of departments and areas that kind of meet different levels of experience and expertise, you know, but service and sales and in, in a retail brokerage like us have to cohesively work together.

It's a balancing act because you can't, can't grow if you don't have the back office to service it. And you can't retain if you don't have. Service level to take care of the needs of clients. And so it's, it's a juggling act. You know, you gotta, you gotta find that happy medium where you have the right amount of people and the right amount of growth to be able to continually see that, that rise.

Natalie Kling: Mm-hmm. 

Tony Bozzuto: Something I was gonna say earlier that I, that I forgot when we were talking about, you know, how we got into this in the first place, it goes back to the struggle with finding ta, finding talent. If you ask any insurance professional, is this what you wanted to get into? And it's all, no. Everybody got dragged into it [00:44:00] one way or another.

I think we have. Yeah. You either fell into it or you got brainwashed into it like a 

Natalie Kling: Well, yeah. You certainly don't see any high school graduate, especially boys saying insurance. For me, that would, that would be, yeah. Although I just did have this vision of you guys going to high schools and, and, and giving them your dad's spiel on how they, how insurance is really the grid.

It's the Right, it's the best. Yeah. It's the best path. 

Bryan Bozzuto: Yeah. Yeah. We're fortunate though, because Sac State does have a, a risk management program. It's, uh, related to the insurance, you know, industry. And so that's, that's been a, a really good program. You know, a lot of insurance companies and insurance people have been able to tap into that market, you know, tap into that, that base of, of students that are maybe going through that.

And we've been fortunate enough to find some sales people through that program as well. So, you know, there, there certainly is information out there. There's programs out there. Like Alan said, you know, getting the right, getting the right educ, educate, you know, getting, getting people educated on it, [00:45:00] getting people, um, interested in hearing and talking about it will open up.

Natalie Kling: How important is culture in retaining people? 

Bryan Bozzuto: We hired a culture, that's the primary thing we're looking for as a cultural fit. They may be lacking experience in insurance that's, in most cases, trainable. Figure that out. But yeah, I mean, culture is is huge. It's real important for us. We've tried to emanate that same family aspect that we have with each other, with our staff, you know, families first.

And we wanna make sure we can do the best we can to take care of, you know, things happen, emergencies come up, we get it. And do the best we can to accommodate with those things. Make sure that, you know, we're having events together. We're, we're, we're seeing each other. You know, a lot of, like Alan said is a lot of our, a lot of our staff is remote now, but we still do, I think a pretty good job of, of getting that face to face connection.

Natalie Kling: Do you do that once a year or how often? Try to 

Bryan Bozzuto: do [00:46:00] two to three times a year. We'll fly everybody out while our annual company event, and then we can do one or two, definitely one, one other time in the year or maybe two. Spend a few days to a week long and, and have lunches, dinners, events. 

Natalie Kling: When you say you hired to culture, what values do you look for?

BryanBozzuto: Well, we're looking, we're looking for integrity on, you know, someone who's gonna have a level of integrity and honesty. Good 

Tony Bozzuto: communication skills. Yeah. We want people that really prioritize helping others. 'cause I mean, that's, that's the number one. And, and not just, you know, their clients, but to also be there for, you know, their, their counterpart support.

If, if there's another a EM that has a question or, or anything like that, we like everybody to, to want to help and be a team player and to put in where they need to. And I, I think that's a big part of the culture. 'cause I mean. You have somebody that, that doesn't fit the right culture, who isn't empathetic to a degree or, or willing to [00:47:00] help their teammates, let alone just their, their clients, then, then you get, you lose a lot of cohesion and, and, and that can start to break down and, and people start thinking it's hostile.

They don't wanna work there, they don't like anybody. And that can break down. So on, on top of, you know, the integrity and, and all that for sure. But definitely hopeful. Yeah. Willing to serve. 

Natalie Kling: Mm-hmm. You're not alone. I think that's one of the biggest challenges for all businesses, but especially family businesses, because you do want, because you work together and you have a certain dynamic, you want people to fit into that dynamic and, and, and be able to join that dynamic.

And, and, and it's, it's specific and it's, it's challenging, I think, to figure out how to do that well. Mm-hmm. And, and inclusive, right. Two more questions. One is, what are your hopes and dreams for the business? Do you want to hand it down to the next generation? 

Bryan Bozzuto: I think it's too soon to answer that question.

I mean, we don't know. I [00:48:00] mean, Brian's got young kids. My kids are a little bit older. They don't seem to have much interest in it right now. So I think right now our focus is just to grow. Our focus is to grow and develop a, a bigger and better company that our dad. Started, and Steve, Steve also had a big part in the help of and growth of that company.

And with my dad while he was there, it, it, he's still there, but while, while he was coming up working with my dad, a big part of that growth too. So I think that's, at least for me is my ambition and goal is to just continue to see it succeed and, you know, be bigger than it was. 

Alan Bozzuto: Yeah, time will tell. I wanna retire in 15 to 20 years, so whatever that works, 

Tony Bozzuto: I better get to work that I got.

I got the big grand dreams and so, you know, I would, I would absolutely love to have, you know, at, at least my kids have passed it down too. I know your kids definitely don't seem, they're smart. My youngest, maybe youngest into it. He's my. Yeah, but 

Natalie Kling: not having interest tracks. 

Tony Bozzuto: Yeah. Uhhuh it does, you know, it's [00:49:00] a legacy and our, our dad was, is fortunate enough that we got into it to carry his legacy on.

And, and I, I would love to see, for our legacy to be carried on and I would love to see a large, a large growing for, for that to be carried on, not just in our brokerage, but ideally. I mean, I, I would love to really get into. Growing vertically and horizontally in, in the industry and start a couple other businesses that all supplement each other and, and to really expand out that way.

So that's, that's my 20 year, 30 year, 40 year dream. So fun, so exciting. Have a real empire. Five six Companie one, one umbrella to, to let the takeover zero. Empire Trade Market. Brian. Yep. 

Natalie Kling: No, no. 

Tony Bozzuto: Alan's out in 10 years. 

Natalie Kling: Yeah. Step one, I'm not gonna, how do, how do we systemize this? I'm not 

Alan Bozzuto: gonna step on those ambitions.

You can do whatever you'd like. I'll support it. 

Natalie Kling: Yeah. What would you guys, when, when your dad listens to [00:50:00] this, what would you like him to know? What would you like to say to him? 

Tony Bozzuto: Oh man. 

Bryan Bozzuto: Thanks for never giving up. Yeah. I'm just super grateful for the man that he is. The man that he and my mom were the people that he and my mom were in raising us.

Yeah. A lot of debt of gratitude for them and for, for the people that they are giving us this opportunity. And really having the desire to see us succeed in it as well, and, and being the support that he has that he is and has been even still, you know, to this day. 

Alan Bozzuto: Yeah. Thanks for never giving up on me pops.

Tony Bozzuto: Yeah, I, I mean, Dito and just, you know, the exemplar example he set. For, for not just business, but family and, and always, always, uh, being there nothing that he left us in need of. And, you know, we were blessed to have that kind of upbringing and, and to see that example of, of family and, [00:51:00] and, uh, being together, especially in today's world, you know, you just don't, don't get that with, with parents living that long together.

Alan Bozzuto: Yeah. You know, growing up I didn't appreciate my parents as much 'cause they were too nice. And they were, and they, and they, and I wanted to rebel and be bad. And they, they, you know, they, they didn't like it, but they always put up with me. And so, you know, as I got older I realized how awesome and how much my parents cared and loved, uh, all of us.

And you know, especially my mom had the biggest heart, my dad too, but different, he was more stern. And really as I got older, appreciated everything that they did for us and how much they cared for us and, and accepted us for who we are. We're all different, you know, Tony, Brian, myself, and they didn't, even though I was the middle child, the black sheep with a child, they never gave up on me.

And, and it's honest, honest [00:52:00] truth. Unwavering. Mm-hmm. 

Tony Bozzuto: Yeah. For the record. My different is the best. I just, I just wanna, 

Natalie Kling: I mean, if we had to choose. Okay. I lied. One more question. This is the question we ask all of our guests. Is the success of Bozzuto insurance due more to hard work or luck? 

Tony Bozzuto: Definitely luck. Oh, oh, sorry.

Maybe for you. No, absolutely hard work. It's funny. What's that saying? The harder I work, the luckier I get. 

Natalie Kling: Hmm. 

Tony Bozzuto: Yeah, 

Alan Bozzuto: I like that. If it was to luck, we wouldn't have an agency because it takes dedication, determination, and a lot of hard work to, to keep this boat afloat and to, and to grow it the way we want 

Bryan Bozzuto: to.

Alan Bozzuto: Sure. There's 

Bryan Bozzuto: a little bit of luck sprinkled in there. Every now and then we call that pops. It takes a village. 

Natalie Kling: Well, great, you guys, thank you [00:53:00] so much for sharing your story and for being willing to be open and give other family businesses some hope that they're all they, they too can work together to build something greater than themselves.

Sure. Pretty awesome. Absolutely. Thanks.

Thank you for listening to a Seat at the Table Trials and triumphs of family business. If you like what you heard today, please be sure to subscribe. Post a positive review and share with another family business owner. For more information about the Capital Region Family Business Center, visit cap family biz.org.

That's Cap family BU s.org. You can also follow us on Facebook at Capital Region Family Business Center and on Instagram at Cap Fam Bizz, BIZ. If you know of other family businesses that have a story to share, please contact the Family Business Center [00:54:00] at. info@capfamilybiz.org. That's BUS. We're grateful for the support from River City Bank to make this program possible and special thanks to Guy Raz from how I built this for a wonderful closing question that's become one of our favorites.