Business: Jaime Zavala Country Financial
Address: 1811 Diehl Road, Suite 100, Naperville
Phone/website: 630-328-5059, www.countryfinancial.com/jaime.zavala
Owner: Jaime Zavala, 47, of Aurora
Years in business: 8
What does your business do? “I do insurance and financial services. … In a nutshell, I offer the regular auto, home, life, commercial insurance. And I focus on the retirement products, 401K, IRA, Roth, annuities,” Zavala said.
What’s your business philosophy? “I like to put people in a better position. … I was brought in by a good friend of mine who told a story about a family that was not advised correctly. They were business owners, got into a car accident and lost everything. They had to sell everything. They didn’t have the proper limits (in their insurance policy).”
What’s your background? “I used to work for AT&T, one of the dinosaurs selling Yellow Pages. … I did that for nine years. … They were downsizing. I went to work for a client in Cicero, an employment agency. They needed bilinguals. … I’ve been in the insurance industry a little over 11 years. … If you take care of the people, this industry will take care of you. That’s the bottom line. I’ve been blessed with really nice customers. … I started this business from scratch. You meet a lot of people.”
Any home insurance tips? “When I started, the whole policy was supposed to be about rebuilding your home. Now, that’s going away. … Replace means if a branch hits your roof, they’ll replace damage caused by the branch. But people don’t know there’s a limit. … If there’s a complete demolition, does the owner have enough (coverage) to rebuild it?”
And life insurance? “Some don’t have any life insurance. I ask, ‘How do you feel about that?’ My job is to uncover the needs and try to offer solutions.”
What’s the difference between whole life and term life? “Term life is super simple. Term, you rent. Whole life, you own. With renting, you’ve got nothing. If something happens, you have it. If nothing happens, the money’s gone. Whole life is like owning your home. You get some equity, you can borrow from there. If nothing happens, you can take the money out. … Which one do you think will always pay? Whole life. Term has an end. Whole life does not. It’s how long you want to pay for it. I have a lot of clients who only pay to age 65, that’s it.”
What do you like best? “Meeting new people, meeting clients, helping them, helping anyone I can help. That’s the best. It gives me gratitude to get phone calls from the south suburbs or Joliet or Rockford. They were referred to me. … I also like paying for a claim. It’s the best feeling when someone calls, opens up a claim and I say, ‘Don’t worry about it.'”
Any negatives? “Finding employees. That’s a challenge, if you talk to any business owner now. People just don’t want to work. It’s like they want to do your job with no experience.”
How did the virus impact your business? “Even though COVID-19 was happening, business was still happening. Thirty-five percent of my client list is business owners. During COVID-19, I only lost two (clients). People thought 2020 was going to the toughest. The challenge was 2021. People were still very skeptical about spending. 2022 comes in and people were spending.”
Is Naperville good for business? “Yes. I’m a member of the (Naperville Area) Chamber of Commerce. It’s a good town to do business. Because Naperville is a good town, people from different towns come in and want a piece of the pie. So, I have to be double or triple more aggressive and make sure people know me. And, hopefully, because I’m a business in Naperville, they use me. To sustain my business, I am always working.”
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Why choose you? “It comes down to exceptional customer service, to be able to respond right away, the way you talk with people. You do business with the people you like the most.”
Any financial advice? “Put your max contribution into the 401K. Second, open up a Roth (IRA) because Roth is tax-free at the end. Try to insure your retirement.”
What’s your advice for someone starting a business? “Make sure you share your ideas with your spouse. … You need somebody to support you, listen to you, help you and find ways to also promote the business. I’m lucky. My wife loves social media so she promotes my business. … Being accessible is the key. Be likeable.”
If you know of a business you’d like to see to profiled in Down to Business, contact Steve Metsch at [email protected].
Steve Metsch is a freelance reporter for the Naperville Sun.