From a Facebook Message to a Full-On Partnership

Ten years ago this month, Travis and I sat down in a borrowed conference room to talk about teaming up. We didn’t know exactly what we were building yet, but we knew it was going to be different.

At the time, I had already been running JDC Insurance Group for five years. Travis was over at Country Financial, racking up awards and turning heads.

I’d tried to bring him over before, but the timing wasn’t right. I’d always tell him, “If we ever join forces, we could take over the world.” I said it half-joking, but I meant every word.

What I didn’t expect was a Facebook message in April of 2015.

Travis asked me to review a contract from another agency he was thinking about joining. I remember sitting there thinking, “Dang… I missed my window.”

But I gave him my honest take, no fluff, just what I saw.

A few days later, he called and said, “If they don’t deliver, I’m coming to work with you.”

We met that weekend in a real estate office conference room loaned to me by my friend, Stacy Wampler. We sat in there for three or four hours just hashing it out, two guys with no legal team, no big plan, just trust and transparency.

Travis had two conditions: 50-50 ownership, and a new name. JDC Insurance Group didn’t fit the vision of a partnership.

He was right.

So on Monday morning, we signed the deal and officially launched The Insurance Alliance.

Here’s the wild part. That same real estate office where we met? That’s his office now. Talk about full circle.

To anyone looking from the outside, it might seem like a simple business story. But it’s been anything but simple.

In the last ten years, we’ve gone from two guys sharing an idea to owning companies across three continents—America, the Philippines, and Colombia.

That’s not a brag. It’s a statement about what’s possible when trust is real and visions align. We didn’t follow someone else’s blueprint.

We drew our own.

And Travis, just real quick, I still remember those lunches at Mama Antonia’s Pizza, sitting across from you and dreaming about where this could go.

We didn’t just talk about the future. We went and built it.

One of my favorite quotes is, “You’ll overestimate what you can do in a year, but you’ll grossly underestimate what you can do in ten.”

I don’t remember who said it, but I’ve never found anything truer. This journey with you has proven that over and over again.

The last ten years have been wild, gritty, fast, and unforgettable. And somehow, it still feels like we’re just getting warmed up.

Here’s to what’s next.