Posted Under: Entrepreneurship, Our Heroes

Today we are talking to Tim Gaspar who is our next guest under the “Our Heroes” series.  For number of years Tim sold insurance and even though he enjoyed the work, he felt uneasy that someone else held the keys to his goals and ambitions. He knew early on that he was an entrepreneur at heart and wanted to be 100 % responsible for his career and its results…this motivated Tim to start up Gaspar Insurance Services, a full service insurance agency. Let’s delve deeper into Tim’s success story…

DD: Who you are and what kind of corporate job were you at?

TG: I was at a 40 person insurance agency for five years from 2001 until 2006 as a producer. My job was to sell insurance for personal and commercial insurance prospects. It was a little like having my own business already as I had to find my own customers and the job was 100% commission. Prior to being a producer at this firm, I owned a small party rental business for about 5 years. I think I am an entrepreneur at heart, when I was younger I typically preferred to pursue my own ambitions to make money as opposed to work for someone.

DD: What made you leave the job? When did you realize that you want to be an entrepreneur & why?

TG: I definitely knew I was an entrepreneur at heart early on. The problem with the insurance firm I worked for and most other jobs for that matter are the fact that somebody else holds the keys to your goals and ambitions. I knew that no matter how much I sold or hard I worked I wouldn’t truly “own” what I was doing. At the end of the day, I wanted to be 100% responsible for my career and its results.

DD: What did you do to break the corporate jail? How did you prepare yourself for the employee to entrepreneur transition?

TG: Leaving the corporate world or your “day job” is definitely the hardest part of the process. I took close to a year planning out my business step by step. I also started cutting back financially and creating a larger financial cushion and making sure not to create additional financial obligations (I am a firm believer that financial obligations like car payments, credit cards,etc are what keep most people from leaving their corporate day jobs.).  The initial 6 months were CRAZY! ha-ha, but that’s in a good way. I worked 15 or 16 hours a day, 7 days a week but it was fun. It was a whirlwind but it was fun. I didn’t always know exactly what I was doing, some things you figure out as you move along.

DD: What are your top 5 tips for employees who want to be entrepreneurs but are hung up on something?

1.) Get over the fear! Just do it! 2.) Make your strategy and plan everything out on paper. 3.) Get a mentor who has already done what you want to do. 4). Get the support of your customers or whoever your customers will be, start lining them up now. 5.) Take it day by day once you are out the door. You won’t have all the answers but if you work hard things will work out.

DD: How are you now? Are you still in same business, and how do you feel?

TG: Yep, sure am. I feel great. I have days that are frustrating, tiring, and stressful but as a person I feel great. I wake up excited to go to work and I am very happy that my business has my name on it.

DD: That’s Tim Gaspar, founder of Gaspar Insurance Services. Tim explains that the initial days were a whirlwind but because he loved what he was doing it was fun! He didn’t always know exactly what he was doing but figured things out as he moved along. “Take it day by day once you are out the door. You won’t have all the answers but if you work hard things will work out.” I agree with Tim that it’s crucial to take things slowly…learn as you go along and persevere through the challenges to reach your goals!

Success to all!