"An Entrepreneur is someone who sees an opportunity and rather than talk about seizing it someday, gets up immediately and takes hold of it"
Matthew Davis is the President of GDI Insurance Agency, Inc. His passion and purpose in life are to help everyone he meets secure and achieve their dreams – both friends and clients alike. Matt is an owner of three companies, a real estate investor, and possesses stock and cryptocurrency holdings. Matt lives in Turlock, CA with his wife (Leigh) and their five children (Eric, Ellie, Emma, Clark & Kate).
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Table of Contents
Thank you so much for giving us your time! Before we begin, could you introduce yourself to our readers and take us through what exactly your company does and what your vision is for its future?
Matthew Davis: I am the sole owner of GDI Insurance Agency, Inc., which is a retail insurance agency/brokerage located in California focusing on General Business, Construction, and Agriculture related clients.
Over the past decade or so our industry has witnessed an ever-accelerating rate of consolidations, acquisitions, automation, and technological advances that have removed the human touch from the client experience. However, unlike many other B2C and B2B industries, retail insurance has suffered in the wake of automation over customization – where many clients expect tailored solutions in a marketplace where suppliers are pushing harder and harder to provide commoditized solutions.
We have found that the key to success is in the inefficiency of human to human communication and manual reviews of client needs and wants, and going forward it is our firm belief that to succeed in the future technology and automation must be married to human interaction and not be used as a replacement for it.
NO child ever says I want to be a CEO/entrepreneur when I grow up. What did you want to be and how did you get where you are today?
Matthew Davis: I entertained a few different careers during my childhood; everything from being a Doctor and a Teacher, to also being a Consultant who would go in a tell others how to run their businesses.
It was through failing to attain a position in a ‘tier 1’ or ‘tier 2’ consulting firm after business school that I eventually gravitated back to the insurance industry where I get to consult with businesses all day long – I’m just compensated through insurance commissions instead of consulting fees.
Tell us something about yourself that others in your organization might be surprised to know.
Matthew Davis: I absolutely LOATH accounting and long meetings; later of which I tend to do more often than not.
Many readers may wonder how to become an entrepreneur but what is an entrepreneur? How would you define it?
Matthew Davis: An Entrepreneur is someone who sees an opportunity and rather than talk about seizing it someday, gets up immediately and takes hold of it. There’s always fear and risk, but fear is reduced when you calculate the risk quickly and do not ruminate on it.
What is the importance of having a supportive and inclusive culture?
Matthew Davis: I don’t know about the term “inclusive” as it seems to possess more and more of a political tenure, but a culture that is supportive of the operations’ overall goals and the individuals who are committed to working toward attaining them is critical.
How can a leader be disruptive in the post covid world?
Matthew Davis: By being open and steadfast in one’s beliefs and the beliefs of the organization, customers will gravitate to where they know and trust what they’re being sold is what they’ll get. Most leaders are straddling the fence on many issues – both within their industry and societal – which causes them to hesitate on many topics. And the disruptors will have confidence and the ability to move more quickly when an opportunity arises.
If a 5-year-old asked you to describe your job, what would you tell them?
Matthew Davis: I work with an awesome team of people who spend each day working to improve the lives of those we serve.
Share with us one of the most difficult decisions you had to make for your company that benefited your employees or customers. What made this decision so difficult and what were the positive impacts?
Matthew Davis: I had to remove the founding generation of my family from the business. It was necessary and in the end the best decision I could have made, but it was heart-wrenching during the process of executing it.
What made the so difficult is that the family member (my father) had been my personal role model for the majority of my life. So when the decision had to be made, it was accompanied by necessity to realize that he is just a human and not the mythical figure I had held him to be.
Leaders are usually asked about their most useful qualities but let’s change things up a bit. What is your most useless talent?
Matthew Davis: My most useless talent… probably my ability to recite oddball move lines.
Thank you so much for your time but before we finish things off, we do have one more question. If you wrote a book about your life until today, what would the title be?
Matthew Davis: “Winning Through Constant Failure”
Jed Morley, VIP Contributor to ValiantCEO and the host of this interview would like to thank Matthew Davis for taking the time to do this interview and share his knowledge and experience with our readers.
If you would like to get in touch with Matthew Davis or his company, you can do it through his – Linkedin Page
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