Women Entrepreneurs: #16 Mitzi Like

Even with all the administrative chores that come with the title of chief executive, Mitzi Like is one of the top salespeople at her agency. The top managers at 38-person LBW Insurance and Financial Services plans every day so she can spend some time with customers. “I like seeing people,” she said. “I get to go to different businesses every day, step into their world and see what they are doing. That’s our fun – going to different places and analyzing stuff.” LBW sells the major lines of commercial insurance – liability, property, employee benefits, health and worker’s compensation – as well as personal auto and home policies. But the agency has built its business by specializing in several niche insurance types, including coverage for entertainment companies, construction, distribution and manufacturing and restaurants. One of Like’s newest niches is dance studios and competitions. She said it grew organically from the agency’s entertainment work. “We hired a producer (salesperson) who has a young son with hits on YouTube. He had access to a couple of dance associations, so we got a couple of carriers to write endorsements for those studios that belong to those groups. We’ve got a lot of traction in that niche,” Like explained. In the overall entertainment business, LBW handles insurance for shell corporations and production houses, as well as audio visual, special effects, lighting firms, prop houses and even auto shows. “We aren’t writing policies for Warner Bros., but a lot of production policies are written in Santa Clarita,” Like said. “That’s because the Santa Clarita Valley is like Hollywood north now.” Family connections Like’s father ran a large insurance agency in the San Fernando Valley, and after graduating from college, she worked for a time at an insurance carrier, and then at another Valley agency owned by her cousin. In 1982, she got together with her dad to launch what is now LBW. The family link remains strong, as her sister and brother-in-law still work at the agency. Like said her gender has never been much of an issue, as the industry has plenty of female brokers. However, she believes that when selling to other women, “it might have given me an edge.” “What does set myself apart is that only a few women are the main owners of an insurance agency,” she continued. “You may have a lot of female accountant managers or minority owners of family businesses, but only a few majority female owners.” When faced with difficult decisions, Like works by consensus. She meets with her management teams, puts the problem on the table and finds a solution the group thinks will work. “I get the people who know the most about it for a quick huddle,” she said. “Nobody knows everything. There are so many ways to do things in the insurance field, you need those huddles.” One of most fun aspects of running LBW is the chance to witness the success of clients. For example, the company has some tech clients on the frontier of software development, and LBW has worked with carriers to write new clauses in their policies rather than using boilerplate language from 20 to 40 years ago that no longer applies. Like herself has visited museums where inventions and products from clients were on display. The same experience awaits her at the local cinema or theater. “We’ve got some A-list movie stars (as clients); we’ve had some shows that have all the moving parts,” she said. “I’ve gone to concerts where clients perform. That’s fun. … But it also happens at restaurants and breweries who are clients.” Like finds her Valencia location ideal, in part because the healthy local economy has lent upward momentum to her business. In May, a poll by the Los Angeles County Business Federation found Santa Clarita was rated the most business-friendly municipality in L.A. County. The only client she could name was the same city of Santa Clarita, which recently renewed a five-year contract with her agency. “We love the city,” she said. “We’re here and we talk all the time with them. Our city is fabulous.” The business book that Like most recommends is “Raving Fans: A Revolutionary Approach to Customer Service” by Ken Blanchard and Sheldon Bowles. The book examines Pike Place Fish Market in Seattle, which, after a near bankruptcy in the 1980s, emerged to become a tourist attraction and successful retailer. The book has inspired Like to look at her business from the customer’s perspective. “OK, we sell insurance policies and people pay premiums. What else are we doing for them?” she asked. Like’s daily challenges come back to managing her time to provide face time with those customers. “The biggest thing I keep having to remember is I can’t handle everything,” she said. “There’s a reason 38 people work here. We are constantly trying to spread workloads so clients get the best treatment.” – Joel Russell