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We all know the story of David and Goliath. I’ve been thinking about the classic matchup of the underdog vs. the giant and I’ve been wondering, did the Philistines think Goliath was too big to fail? Did they believe Goliath was unbeatable; or had they just never imagined an opponent like David?

I like David because he was the youngest son in his family and so am I. In fact, David was poised to take over the family sheep-herding business until that whole giant-slayer business happened. I wonder where I might have ended up if I had faced a Goliath in my teens?

When I joined the Tuscano Agency, the other employees (all 6 of them) must have thought, “Here we go!” For the first few years I suppose they were right; I was the boss’s son but knew next to nothing about insurance or running a business. Thank God I had people around me that wouldn’t cut me any slack! Even though Tuscano is a much bigger organization today than we were 30 years ago, we live by our TusCANo Can Do It attitude in the face of adversity.

So what happens when the small fish in the pond starts to grow? You swim to a bigger pond! Transforming Tuscano into a regional wholesaler has been one of our biggest challenges to date. We have been intentional about markets, capitalizing on our talent to underwrite and broker, and building new relationships. Yes, it feels like starting new in many ways.

We continue to get more support from our carriers so we can be competitive in all territories, but it has been a big job, and more of a challenge than I first anticipated. Things are starting to turn our direction as we get used to this new ‘pond’. Recently, we wrote a used car dealer in Virginia, a schedule of dwellings in New York, a restaurant in Maryland, and a demolition contractor in Connecticut. We are still limited in that we don’t have all of our markets in position as we would like, but we continue to push out our core products to all of the 17 states that we are licensed in. It’s worth doing well, so we are taking the time to do it right.

Trucking is one of the classes we love to write. Whether it is a coal hauler or someone hauling sand for the gas industry or a steel hauler or a dry goods van, we have been able to help. Not just because we have great markets, but also because we have talented underwriters that understand the nature of the transportation industry and who love helping you and your client. Trucking is one line where we are seeing a lot of growth in this year, and we are diligently working to expand our writing territory.

We also love writing personal lines! Send us your dwelling fire, homeowners, collector cars, mobile homes, and personal umbrellas for fast quoting and a lot of underwriting support. The Tuscano Personal Lines Team is eager to slay your personal lines insurance giants with their Can Do It attitude.

After all, success is the child of audacity.