Q&A with
LINDA McCANN Linda McCann, CPCU, AAI, CPIW is a consultant with Bay Shore Insurance, an independent agency specializing in trucking insurance. She retired as president of the Salisbury, MD agency on Dec. 31, 2023. During her 40+ year career in insurance, Linda served on the IA&B Board of Directors, IA&B Government Relations Committee, and as an instructor. Q. You and your husband started your agency from scratch in 1985. Tell us about those first months and years in the business! What was it like, and how did you persevere? A. Our first year was pretty brutal. My husband Bill and I started the agency because we both lost our jobs at the same time when the agency we were running was purchased. Fortunately, we had enough savings that would enable us to pay our normal bills for about 18 months without any income. Our thought was that if we could survive for 18 months, we had it made! We were so fortunate to have so many industry people offering help, encouragement, and assurance that we took the plunge. We initially shared office space with a local entrepreneur who owned the building. We had one furnished office, and I had a desk in the reception area. Rent was cheap because I also answered the owner’s phone and took messages for him. We needed cheap. We had one company that offered us a contract. We purchased a typewriter, two calculators, and office supplies. We had a phone line installed, bought two signs, joined IA&B, purchased an E&O policy, and were off to the races. At the end of our first month in business, we had written one General Liability policy with a premium of $250. We were on fire! 8
By the end of 1985 we had made a (small) profit, and I was able to draw a small salary, enough to make my car payment and buy groceries! In the almost 40 years we’ve been in business, we have always shown a profit at the end of the year. Now, some years we ended up cutting our salaries so we would be profitable, but the agency was never in the red. We are very proud of that accomplishment. You ask, how did we persevere … we had no choice! We had a child, a mortgage, and car payments. Our philosophy is “you do what you have to do to succeed.” We are both high achievers; failure is not an option. Once we got through the first year, we had obligations to our clients, as well as the companies and brokers we represented. We believe in living up to our obligations. Q. Bay Shore Insurance specializes in commercial transportation insurance. How did you develop that niche, and how has that market evolved over the years? A. The first insurance job I had was with an agency that specialized in “trucking” insurance. I met my husband through my job; he was working for a trucking company that our agency insured. We married a year after meeting, and within two years the agency had expanded greatly. My
MARCH 2024