I first met Teodorica “Cheody” Fortunato when I volunteered for a local high school drama production. I visited her nearby office to sell ad space in the printed program. I was welcomed to her office and she immediately supported the high school. More than a year later, I visited her office a second time. Again, she was welcoming and supportive. As I found out about her background, it was easy to see her success as an entrepreneur.
Cheody and her seven siblings were born and raised in the Philippines. Her family was balanced by a strict, disciplinarian father in the military and a nurturing mother who was a homemaker. All eight children have college degrees; Cheody’s degree is in business. According to Cheody, education was emphasized in her family, “That belongs to you, nobody can take that away from you.” From her parents, she learned the value of working hard and never taking anything for granted.
After she and her family moved to the United States, she owned a restaurant and also became a real estate agent. She still has her real estate license but works on referrals only.
In 2014, Cheody was a recruiting manager at Farmers Insurance. As she highlighted the benefits of operating a Farmers Insurance office to candidates, she was convinced it was right for her too: “This is a really good platform.” She would be able to grow with the company, make a difference and really help others. She studied for and passed all required tests and received the four prerequisite licenses. Then, she took over a small book of business, about 150 “orphan” accounts that needed a qualified agent for servicing. After one year as a recruiter, she opened her office in December 2015.
It seems like operating a Farmers office is the best of both worlds because you’re a business owner but you’re also affiliated with Farmers.
The thing about Farmers, what I like the most, is that we’re not captive, we’re exclusive…big difference. We give Farmers the first opportunity to write a particular risk. They analyze it; if they say it’s risky and it’s not good for our business, then, I’m appointed to many different carriers, so I will send it to a different carrier outside of Farmers. It gives me a chance to go outside and still fill the need of the prospect and I don’t have to send anybody away. And that’s a wonderful thing.
Just like everything else, you have to take care of your own. If I need some help, it’s up to me to reach out to them, but that’s how I learn and how I train myself. And there are seminars like University of Farmers which I went to for a week. It’s all terms and information, but the biggest thing is the actual hands-on experience. Because there’s nobody there to help me, I’m forced to survive and learn. And insurance is very interesting; every step of the way you can learn. There are so many different types of insurance and I have the opportunity to write commercial, general liability, employee practices liability, I can write life, I can write health, medical, dental.
Are your clients mostly individuals or do you also work with employers?
We can work with employers; in fact, we welcome the opportunity to work with employers if they have group insurance.
So you’ve been in this office for two years. What has it been like working in Lakewood?
I’m right in the corner of Lakewood, near Cerritos. So far, so good. I know my neighbors here. The first thing I did was to get to know the people around me. I keep the place clean because I can’t stand a lot of litter around. One person’s action contributes to the whole group. If I don’t take the initiative of picking up trash, you’ll see this place full of papers and stuff like that.
What differentiates your office from other Farmers offices?
This office is a “Smart Office” meaning it’s fully equipped to run the business and there are two full-time licensed agents, myself and my business partner, Jack Castorena. Jack is a business owner himself, an independent contractor for FedEx and manages trucks in the Ground Division. He started with one truck and now he’s got 20 trucks. He’s a family man, he’s got three kids, best person ever, just a class act.
Both of you are business owners outside of Farmers. That must keep you busy.
More than enough. I love to multi-task, thinking I’m Super Woman. But, being a business owner is a double-ended sword because you have to do everything and sometimes it’s very challenging. Because if you’re dealing with clients, they all have different personalities, they all have different attitudes.
When you became a business owner did you face negativity or did you get positive feedback?
In fact, I was pushed, “Hey, you can do this. If anybody can do this, you’ll be the best person to do this.” They look at me as being so sociable and personable, but I’m a very shy person. But sometimes I just become so passionate. It could be a negative because I get emotionally involved and invested in it. Sometimes you just can’t do that. Especially when you’re dealing with clients who complain that their premium is too high or, “I’ve been paying this and I don’t get anything back.” But, what if? The question is, “What IF something happened to you?” Would you have $20,000 laying around to help your family? If you have money to take care of yourself and your family, then you don’t have to buy insurance. And, if you are sued by somebody, if you have enough money to defend yourself and pay all the legal fees, then don’t get insurance. Self-insure yourself.
Insurance is a very interesting career and business all in one. But you have to share your knowledge. My bottom line is sharing because I was on the other end; I used to think insurance is all the same. It’s not all the same and it depends on who is the agent and who has your back. You want to think that this person is somebody who would really care about you if something happened to you and you’re protected. So you need to go line by line and explain it to them. I don’t want to have that feeling…you know, if they call me and I say, “I’m sorry you don’t have that coverage.” It’s going to break my heart.
We have the Farmers Friendly Review Service where we look at your different policies and, on top of that, we also want to consider what you have planned for your future. A lot of people don’t have life insurance. You know, we insure cars, we insure homes, we insure even cell phones, but we fail to insure the most important part which is life…YOU. You know, some people look at it very negatively. Even my culture, back home, we’re not allowed to talk about life insurance because they see it as planning for their death. So when I became an agent, it just opened up a whole different world for me. The moment you have life insurance, it doesn’t matter if it’s term or what, you create an instant estate and it protects you at the same time. If you get permanent, it has an investment to it. And there’s so many different types so we can find you something; it depends on your budget, it depends on your situation. Your situation will be different 20 years from now, let’s say you already paid your home, so you don’t need as much insurance anymore. Or the kids are grown and they’re done with college. We can help you with that and design a plan commensurate to your current situation.
I try to explain to them that there’s a lot of options where you don’t have to sacrifice the coverage. I want you to be insured the way I am insured because I care about you. Obviously, the price is an issue. I’m not trying to sell you the policy, I’m trying to sell you coverage.
When you’re a realtor, we start with affinity, you get a discount. You’re a senior, you get another discount. You bundle, you get another discount. You have more than one car, you get another discount. You have a home, another discount. We stack all this up; we raise your coverage so, at the end, it’s to your advantage. You just communicate to me who you are and it’s up to me to ask you all those questions so that we can arrive to something favorable to you.
A lot of the agents are retail, and that’s the other thing that’s interesting about this agency, we’re personalized. So if you become my client, you call this office, you get either one of us here. You don’t have to go through a series of recordings and voicemail. And the other thing too is you can call me anytime. I’ve got insureds who call me on the weekends or at 5 in the morning. I help them if they’re in an accident, I’m helping them get their insurance policy. What I’m saying is it’s all personalized, we do care and we want to help you. You become our family. We want to see where you’re at and help you.
It’s rewarding when you helped somebody and then they refer others to you. I helped someone get their home 20-some years ago and yesterday she called me and said, “I have this friend whose got a son, he’s thinking of buying a home. When they asked me, I said I have a real good friend and she’s the best, she’ll take care of you. She’s not only about the commission. She will make sure that you’re happy. And she doesn’t compromise.” And so I’m getting a referral for that. And they’re my insured too. They insured their boat, their home, their cars and everything. And we became friends and stay connected. So, that warms my heart and that, really, to me, is my best reward for doing what I do. It’s the biggest compliment ever. And all these material things…you’re not going to take any of this when you leave this place to the next. What you take with you are the warmth of the friends, the family, the love, what you’ve created around you, and what difference did you contribute to the community and to the people around you.
Cheody saw an opportunity to help people and went for it. She builds her business by strengthening relationships; she shares her knowledge to help her clients find the best coverage. Cheody is not just an awesome agent and entrepreneur; she’s a wonderful person.