Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Rachel Williams. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Alright, Rachel thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Let’s kick things off with your mission – what is it and what’s the story behind why it’s your mission?

State Farm’s mission is to help people manage the risks of everyday life, recover from the unexpected, and realize their dreams. I started with State Farm during a time my mom was suffering from cancer. My mom had a life insurance policy that allowed my family to stay in our home, my brother and I to stay in college, and my dad to not have to worry financially about what was next after she passed away. My mission in my business is to educate customers on the risks they face and give them solutions to minimize financial blows from the unexpected that can happen, like losing a parent or spouse, having a house fire, getting into a car accident. I want my customers to sleep better at night knowing their families are well protected.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I got my start in the insurance industry as an auto underwriting intern for State Farm in 2006. I fell in love with the company, and went on to work in a State Farm agent’s office while I was finishing up my undergraduate studies in business administration at the University of Missouri-Columbia. When I graduated, I went home to St. Louis to attend graduate school at Webster University where I studied Public Relations. I worked full-time during the day for State Farm as a Mortgage Loan Consultant working with agents and their customers all over the country. During that time, I got to know the agents I worked with and hear incredible stories about the impact they had in their customers’ lives from delivering a life insurance check to a widow to meeting a family in the middle of the night who just lost everything they had in a house fire to chatting with customers who just wanted to stop by to say hello. I fell in love with the opportunity of being able to help customers and grow my own business. I opened my very own State Farm agency in Chesterfield, MO in February of 2016 before moving to Olivette in December of 2021. Olivette is a growing area, and I’m so grateful to be a part of the community. My agency offers auto insurance, home insurance, life insurance, health insurance products such as short-term and long-term disability, business insurance, pet insurance, mortgage financing, and investment products. We aim to be a one stop shop for our customers, and education is our biggest priority. My agency team is a family, and we strive to treat our customers like family as well.

How did you put together the initial capital you needed to start your business?

The early years of starting a business are tough! When I knew I would be pursuing my dream of owning a State Farm agency, I saved as best I could for about two years. That savings helped me pay my personal bills when I wasn’t generating enough profit yet to pay myself in the early years. Aside from personal savings, I was able to fund the marketing and overhead of my business early on with the use of a business line of credit. I’m happy to say I was able to pay that debt back, but it took 4 years!

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

I’ve experienced a lot of loss in my life. I lost my mom to cancer during my senior year of college. I lost my last living grandparent in June 2022 and my dad in August 2022 after a 3 year battle with cancer. I think having the strong family that I did is what has allowed me to be resilient and keep going. My grandparents were people that dealt with all kinds of adversity I can’t even begin to fathom, and they made an incredible life for themselves. My parents taught me to be independent and strong, but they taught me that family is everything above all else. My resiliency comes from wanting to make my family proud- both those that went before me and now my own family, mostly my 2 year old daughter, Sloane.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://insurancequotestlmo.com
• Instagram: insurancequotestlmo
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/rollingwithrachel/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rachelnwilliams/
• Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/rachel-williams-state-farm-insurance-agent-olivette

Image Credits
my headshot was taken Randall Kahn