StudioOne at 500: Reflecting on Growth and Looking to Rancho Mesa’s Future

In honor of reaching our 500th episode, Rancho Mesa's Alyssa Burley and President Dave Garcia discuss the history of StudioOne™ and plans for the future growth of Rancho Mesa.

Alyssa Burley: You’re listening to Rancho Mesa’s StudioOne™ podcast, where each week we break down complex insurance and safety topics to help your business thrive. I’m your host, Alyssa Burley, and today I’m joined by a co-host, Rancho Mesa’s President Dave Garcia.

Dave, welcome to the show.

Dave Garcia: Alyssa, man, I am so excited to be in StudioOne today and talking to you about this huge milestone.

AB: Yeah, so we're excited to record our 500th episode today. And we're taking this opportunity to give our listeners an update on what's new with Rancho Mesa and what we see in our future. But first, I think Dave, you wanted to talk a little bit about the podcast in general, is that correct?

DG: Yeah, because as the listeners know, I'm the oldest person in the company. And so podcasting to me was something I saw on my phone, but didn't really understand how it worked. And so I thought it'd be kind of fun just to go back in time and talk about how did we even get this thing started? So Alyssa, do you, your memory's probably better than mine. How did we get started way back when?

AB: Yeah, so that's interesting that you say that. And I do want to point out that this is our 500th episode. That is a huge milestone. So I did a little bit of research before today's episode and I found some interesting statistics. So Riverside says that only 90% of podcasts reach episode three. Okay, so that's pretty easy, right? But even fewer actually reach episode 20. Okay, that seems pretty reasonable, right? You know, you do a couple of episodes and then it kind of trails off. But another company or organization, Podmatch, says that podcasters have about a 10% chance of reaching episode 50. We blew that out of the water, I think maybe our first year or just after we had been doing this for a year.

Now, what's even more impressive is that reaching episode 200 is only done by 2.52% of podcasters. I don't even know what the statistics would be for episode 500, but that is a very, very small percentage or likelihood that anybody is going to get to episode 500. So I'm really excited about that. And it's really just because of the people that we have here, our team here in this department, all of our sales team, everybody who participates, all of our guests, we could not have done it without them.

DG: Yeah, I'm really, really proud of that. And when you see those statistics, you realize that we're probably serving a great audience that we've lasted this long, that we're committed. We're just a company and agency that believes in hard work. And this has become less hard work because we've gotten really skilled at it. And it'll be fun to now talk about, well, how did this all get started and what got us to 500. How we started, we would not have gotten to 500. We made changes along the way. Yeah. So, Alyssa, remind my poor memory. This was pre-COVID?

AB: It was pre-COVID. Wow. So, we actually recorded the first eight episodes in the fall of 2019. So, we had gone to, I guess it's an expo or a conference called Landscapes, and it was in Louisville, Kentucky and Drew Garcia, your son, he actually interviewed a couple of carriers, clients and non-clients about the landscape industry. And our very first episode was with Cody Kamek from Landcare Management Services and I think that they're out of Texas. So in January 2020, we now had a few episodes that we had edited and we decided, okay, we're going to release an episode every month, and we had eight interviews, great.

That was going to give us eight months’ worth of content is what we thought, and that gave us eight months to come up with four more topics, and then we would have our first year completed. So I thought we were doing great.

But we decided very quickly that doing an episode every month was not enough so we started off with just the one and then we decided okay we needed to have more episodes so I started reading the articles that our team writes every week and you know it was okay they're not great I don't even know if some of them are still on the website at this point but by April 2020 we had started reading articles, and we decided they're going to sound a little bit better if I'm actually interviewing the author of those articles. So I think by May of 2020, we were doing an episode a week, I was interviewing the person who wrote the article, and then we quickly realized we probably should be doing two episodes per week, one with the author of the article, and then we were also going to do one that was client services related. So we could talk about the services that we were providing, our HR portal, the SafetyOne app. Well, we didn't have it at that time, but you know, so anything that our client services team was doing.

So now we are, we're recording two episodes every week. And, you know, it's just gotten better from there. And you know, what's funny is at one point we were thinking, Okay, how are we going to come up with enough topics to have two episodes a week? And now we actually have too many episodes already recorded, right, Megan? That we're booked out for over the next month. So there is no shortage of topics to talk about. And that's pretty exciting.

DG: Yeah. I'm really excited about that. And Alyssa's being a little modest. And she was really the catalyst behind this, her and Drew coming to me saying, "Hey, let's do a podcast."

And I was saying, I know what that is, but how in the world do you do it? And they were able to put it together really quickly, as she mentioned. And then I think because of our specialization and really demanding our producers really understand those marketplaces that they're in, asking them to become pros, pros within those industries and write articles that are specific to the industries that they're serving. This was just a natural flow from going from a written article, you know, I guess, segue, and again, I'll give Alyssa and Drew a lot of credit here.

We realize as time goes on, people absorb their information in a lot of different ways. In my generation, I'm in my 60s, and we still like to read. Another generation might prefer to listen and another generation might prefer to just watch the video. So we thought at the time it would be good to try to kind of touch on all of those. Podcasting was the first venture down that. So I'm totally excited. I think it's gone from the guest reading their article to Alyssa really having an interview with them so that they really understand the content. So I couldn't be happier. Can't way to see where it goes.

AB: Yeah, and you know, what's interesting is, you know, we had planned to do the podcast like right before COVID, and obviously we had no idea that it was coming. But I think once everybody kind of went home and they were not in the office, the podcast really gave us another way to reach people that, you know, maybe people are at home, they're working, but they're listening to podcasts. And so it just gave us another way to reach those people.

DG: Yeah, and it was, you know, just digression of it back into the COVID days. I remember reaching out to Rob Darby, who's the president of Berkshire Hathaway, home state companies, large work comp carrier here in California, good friend. And we just talked about COVID. He and I just got on the line together. He was, you know, remote, I was remote. And that is still one of our all-time biggest plays of any one podcast.

AB: It is, still.

DG: Yeah, and it occasionally gets a play even today.

AB: It does.

DG: So, you know, we adapted to the COVID time and it really kind of accelerated the whole process of us doing podcasts and providing information to people in different kinds of venues. But funny story now, you're probably wondering, well, where did podcast. So listen, give us a little, give us a little background on how we started doing our podcast.

AB: Yeah. So, so like mentioned earlier, our first eight episodes, we recorded those at landscapes, right? But we knew that if we were going to continue this, we were going to need an actual space to record them. So it just happened that early 2020, We were actually opening up a second office. So our main office was in Santee, which is just a suburb of San Diego. And so we were going to open up another office in La Mesa, which is like five, 10 minutes away. And so when that group that was going to move to the La Mesa office actually moved, it opened up some offices, some space in Santee. And so we were able to actually convert our Executive Vice President Daniel Frazee’s former office into a recording studio. So that was really a game-changer for us because it gave us a space to record on a regular basis. You know we could have everything set up all the time. We didn't have to you know try to set up everything just to record. So that made a huge difference for us.

We did have some challenges though in that space. So if you're familiar with the area Gillespie Field is an Airport and we weren't too far from it. And so we would literally have to stop the podcast while the plane flew over and then we would just resume as soon as it was gone and even we had construction going on in the space next to us. And so we were constantly dealing with, you know, big trucks and backup alarms and all of those fun things that you get on a construction site, we were dealing with, we had all the noises.

So when we did move to our current location in Mission Valley, we actually got the opportunity to build out the studio that we're recording in today. And it really makes us appreciate how nice the studio is because we dealt with a lot of other things in the old studio. It's just part of the Rancho Mesa fabric now. It's just part of our history.

DG: Yeah, we have a gorgeous studio here now. We've got cameras, we've got monitors, we've got soundboards on the walls, we've got a producer's desk. It's pretty exciting and we feel like over those five years, six years now. We've really come a long way in being able to produce the podcasts and videos.

AB: Yeah. All right. So, Dave, you mentioned earlier that one of our early podcasts, you did virtually during COVID. So, do you want to talk a little bit about who we'd like to bring in as guests? I mean, sometimes it's just Rancho Mesa people, right? But oftentimes, we do bring in third parties. So, do you want to talk a little bit about guests coming in or maybe doing the interviews virtually?

DG: Yeah, I think that what we wanted to do was tap into different expertise in different fields. So we've had attorneys come in to talk about contractual language. We've had different safety experts come in and talk about tips, financial experts when it's on our surety side. But two that I remember the most, one was Rob Darby, which I mentioned earlier on the COVID side. But then I got an interesting phone call one day from a carrier that we work with that's homebase is in Wisconsin. And it was ahead of their claims department who had been listening to our podcast and reached out and said, "Hey, can I be on your show?"

And I'm like, when he said that, I'm like, "Oh, I have a show?"

I didn't even really realize that. Oh yeah, yeah, of course you can be on my show. So he wanted to kind of tell the story a little bit about what he felt made his company unique and claims handling this worker’s compensation care. So we you know we went back and forth with questions and then maybe two weeks before we were going to tape it he said, “Hey can I bring a third person in? He's our head of our claims and he's in Pennsylvania.”

And I'm feeling like wow I'm syndicated now so I'm going to be in Mission Valley one guy's going to be in Wisconsin and the other guy's going to be in Pennsylvania. I say okay, but then I've got to go see my boss to listen and say, “Hey, is this something we can do? Like, can we really have people in from two different states at the same time and make this work?”

And she's like, “Of course, it's easy, it's nothing to it.”

I'm like, okay, cool, let's do it. So that was super fun and really enjoyed it. We had the cameras up and running and we were looking at each other. It's kind of like a Zoom call, but we're recording it. And it was just fascinating. And I know they now use edits from that podcast in their onboarding process with some of their new claims examiners. So that was really just another cool story.

AB: Yeah, that was probably one of the first or maybe the first episodes where we had multiple people all in different locations. And it sounded great.

DG: Yeah, you wouldn't know it. You for sure wouldn't know it. And we probably could have made that a podcast because we did have the video as well. So yeah, that was a check that box. We can do that for sure. And then we've had, and listen, do you want to talk on this or do you want me to talk on getting to know different people?

AB: So the Getting to Know series is where we get to talk to employees and get to know a little bit about them. So funny enough, these episodes get the most plays out of any other topic by far. And I do think that it's because people want to know about the people that they're working with. It could be our clients that are listening, it could be carriers, it could be strangers. But I do think that people really enjoy learning about other people and how they get it in the industry and what they like to do in their free time, it just makes us feel more real to people. So I think that it's one of our better episodes when we get to actually talk to somebody that works here.

DG: Yeah. I've been fortunate to be the interviewer for those different episodes. And it's all voluntary, so we don't force anybody to do it. But I've worked with some people here, we're in our 26th year and I've talked to some people that have been here 15, 20 years. I thought I knew pretty much everything about them. And then we get into this conversation and I find they were a black belt in Taekwondo when they were a kid. And I'm like, hang on, what? And so, I think one of our core values here is we believe that insurance and life should be a people business. And so just the better that we know our clients, our carrier partners, and most importantly our employees, the better we all are for that. So I thoroughly enjoy that. I try not to twist people's arms to come in and do it, but it's so fun to find out where they grew up and what are their likes outside of work and things like that. So that's been just an awesome series. And then because of its success, we've extended it outside to some of our clients and carrier partners and just gotten to know them on a different level. So we did not see that coming at the start, I would say that.

AB: Yeah, yeah. So along those same lines about getting to know us as individuals, do you want to talk about your latest venture, Dave's Dugout?

DG: Yeah, thanks, Alyssa. Thanks for plugging in. So Dave's Dugout as a separate podcast channel and just briefly I guess it's a tribute. I grew up in a baseball family and my father was very influential to me and I realized in growing up I was around him a lot in the summer times because he was out managing in the minor leagues and at the end in the major leagues and I would spend just months on end with him and I was in the dugout a lot in the clubhouse, in the bullpen, the outfield, infield. And he was a really terrific, common sense leader of men. And as I've gotten older, I realized that so much of who I am today was because of things I learned just observing how he handled situations.

So in an effort to kind of get some of those stories out, to maybe help people, their stories that, so that those podcasts are three, four minutes.  They're kind of somewhere around baseball story type thing, but there's a little life lesson in there. Maybe it's applicable in business, in your home life, or just how you treat other people. Maybe you'll find some, you know, happiness and use in it. So we're going to continue that. And the ultimate goal is bringing other people in to share their dugout stories with me. And so if you're listening to this and if you listen to a couple of Dave's dugouts and kind of get the feel for them, you feel like you've got something to share, absolutely call me, love to have you in the dugout.

AB: Yeah, I'm really excited about those and we've only heard good things about each of the episodes. So make sure that if you're listening today that you check out Dave's Dugout, you should be able to find it on all of the major channels.

DG: Yeah, and if you really want to have a good laugh, the cover jacket, the picture for it, is the only picture of my father and I in baseball uniform that exists. I was 16 years old. My dad was managing in El Paso, 1974. And you can give me a hard time about how long my hair was. But so if you, for no other reason, look it up just so you can tease me about that picture.

AB: Oh yeah, we're excited about that.

DG: Yeah, it really does look great. So now that we've talked a little bit about the podcast, how we got started, do you want to talk about what's going on with Rancho Mesa and all the exciting things that are happening?

DG: Oh my gosh, I actually kind of got chills just then when you said it that way. Yeah, I really do. We're super excited. You know, we We're just putting the final paint touches on our expansion here in Mission Valley. So we're going to have the entire floor. We just added what we're calling the East County Lounge, just kind of a communal area where people can go in, relax, play a board game, have a meeting, talk it over with their coworkers, different clients, friends, family, whatever, and then just added a ton of additional space. So I know you know, we're looking to hire 30 plus people. And that's pretty exciting, don't you agree?

AB: Oh yeah, absolutely. So we recently published an article that talks about the expansion. And the reasons why we're expanding, you know, a lot of companies right now, unfortunately they're getting purchased by larger insurance agencies. And that's not the case for us, we're growing, we're growing organically and we're looking for good people here in San Diego and we're making a really nice place for them to work. We have a great culture, great atmosphere and we're just really excited to move into the new space and to welcome some new people.

DG: Yeah, it's a wonderful place to come every day and if you're out there and you're looking for different opportunities. You know, look us up on the website, come by the office, doors always open, love to have you here. But it's really exciting because to me, it just feels like we're at this next cusp of the next stage of Rancho Mesa.

And we operate in 22 states right now, all from San Diego. We've got a producer and his client manager on an airplane right now heading to Seattle to visit one of our clients. It's just totally exciting stuff going on here. So the space somehow has just made it 3D. It makes it feel real. And so we're here to stay and we're here to remain independent. We are not going to sell our agency. We've got 12 partners now. I'm excited about that, watching young people kind of embrace their careers and grow within Rancho Mesa. It just makes Rancho Mesa bigger and stronger and allows us to provide more services and resources to our clients. So it's a win-win all the way out.

Along those lines, we just continue to build out a suite of services. Let's just touch briefly on some of the things that you've got planned for the year.

AB: Yeah, so as many people know, we do have our SafetyOne platform and it includes a website and a mobile app, and it's based around safety, trying to make sure that our clients are training their employees and everybody has all the information that they need, but we're always adding new enhancements. So we're listening to our clients, we're listening to what they need, and we're adding some really cool features, so we're excited about that.

In addition to, we for workshops and webinars every single month, live and recorded, just to try to make sure that our clients are educated, they know what's happening in the industry and they can provide safety trainings to their employees. So we're excited about all of the different services that we offer to our clients and know that we're going to continue to constantly improve. We're not static over here.

DG: Yeah, definitely not static and definitely not static inside either. We really want to encourage our employees to kind of reach for the stars in their professional careers and their personal lives to try to give them a platform of knowledge and education and encouragement to go out and be the best version of themselves. So quarterly we do try to bring somebody in to conduct some kind of a workshop for us from time management skills all the way to nutrition. So we're always looking for those topics that our employees find engaging but beneficial. And that's just, for me, that's one of the most exciting things. It's just to watch somebody come in and then just their eyes get open and they're like, "Wow, okay, I can really go places here." And they can because as we grow, it just creates more and more opportunities within the company. So that's probably one of the things I'm most proud of is that opportunity. If you want to come in here and really see where you can go, I think we're the runway for you to do it.

AB: Yeah, and I think it's important for people to understand that, you know, we're hiring people with experience, but we're also looking for people who want to change their career and really want to get into insurance or, you know, maybe you're in accounting or, you know, media communications. We have positions available. It's just, we're not just looking for experienced insurance people. We've grown so many people that had no experience, but, you know, we've taught them the Rancho Mesa way and some people have been here for, you know, their entire careers, that's pretty cool.

DG: Yeah, and we do an engagement survey each year to just try to put our finger on the pole so we don't want to just drink our own Kool-Aid. We really want to know what are the employees thinking, what do they need, what do they want. And this last time we just did it in November, I think this past year. And listen, what were some of those numbers like?

AB: We were in the 90th percentile in most of the things. Most of them, I think we’re like 97-point-something percent satisfaction in a lot of different areas and you know we've been posting on LinkedIn those stats so check out our page on LinkedIn if you want to know all of the results. But I was really I can't say I was surprised but I was pleasantly surprised to see how high those numbers were and keep in mind this is a third party that administered this survey We had nothing to do with the questions or, you know, the answers, so that really makes me feel good that what we're doing, it's what people want, you know? They're happy to be here, and I think our people see that we're trying to make a culture that makes people feel comfortable, and they want to be here. And I think that's evident everywhere that you look at Rancho Mesa.

DG: Yeah, a lot of attention to detail, try to make everything really nice for them. And you know, one number that really jumped off at me too, Alyssa, during that was, I think it was 85% of our employees have all been here longer than five years.

AB: Yeah.

DG: And I'm super proud, I don't know if there's another business of any sort that can say, wow, you just don't lose people. And we don't, we lose them when they retire. That's pretty much when they leave us. So, but we know we're the type of people that we know there's another level, you know, we believe in the one of one that you can't not reach, but that's what we're striving for. So we don't know what the next, if we were at 97.2, we want to know how do we get to 98?

So, you know, we're looking to do that on an ongoing basis and you know, just to have a, obviously I've been here the longest, I couldn't do this alone. It's the group of people that's here and it's a shared mentality of really good people who want to work hard and give something back and just kind of make it a better place and keep it a people business. So I'm sorry, I can go on and on about all that. So thank you so much. 500 episodes, that's incredible.

AB: Yeah, I think your comments was a great way to end this 500th episode. So thank you so much. We'll see you at the next 500. Well, I'm sure that we'll hit our thousandth. That's what you say. 1000th episode.

DG: Yes. Yeah. So stay tuned. Follow us. Talk to you soon. Bye.

AB: Thanks for tuning in to our latest episode produced by StudioOne. If you enjoyed what you heard, please share this episode and subscribe. For more insights like this, visit us at ranchomesa.com and subscribe to our weekly newsletter.

Rancho Mesa Hosts SafetyOne™ Workshop for Human Services Industry

Author, Megan Lockhart, Client Communications Coordinator, Rancho Mesa Insurance Services, Inc.

On Friday, March 1, 2024 Rancho Mesa hosted Improve Your Human Services Operations with the SafetyOne™ Mobile App at our Mission Valley office.

The workshop was presented by Alyssa Burley, Partner in the Media Communications and Client Services Group with Rancho Mesa. Burley detailed how application of the SafetyOne platform can bring organization operations to the next level with features such as mobile forms, audits, and a library of toolbox talks.

Burley shared examples of how the platform can be tailored to the human services industry and improve efficiency by digitizing paper-based processes and streamlining communication within the organization. Attendees were also able to participate during the presentation by scanning QR codes and testing out the different features for themselves.

To learn more information about getting started in SafetyOne, clients can reach out to their client technology coordinator, or join the waitlist for a new account.

2023 Reflections: Rancho Mesa Milestones and Triumphs

Author, Alyssa Burley, Partner, Media Communications and Client Services Group, Rancho Mesa Insurance Services, Inc.

Rancho Mesa had an epic 2023. From moving offices to celebrating huge company milestones, the year was full of excitement for our team.

Launching SafetyOne™

Rancho Mesa launched it’s very own proprietary safety mobile app, SafetyOne™, in January kicking off the year with client demonstrations, trainings and webinars designed to get users up to speed quickly. The official launch was a colossal endeavor. After several years of research, planning, development, and focus group input, the mobile app and website was released to Rancho Mesa clients. We’re currently at 999 users and will soon cross the 1,000 user mark.  

Moving to Mission Valley

In typical Rancho Mesa fashion, the first day at the new Mission Valley office could not be just another April morning. Dubbed Opening Day, as a nod to the start of a new baseball season, the morning was carefully orchestrated to build excitement for the new space, the team would call their second home.  Smiling faces eagerly arrived and waited outside the office doors like they were anticipating entering a concert venue. As 8:00 am rolled around, “cel-e-brate good times, c’mon” could be heard coming from within the new office. As the banners were moved from the doorway and the crowd was let inside, the word “wow” could be heard over and over like seeing one of nature’s wonders for the first time. People hugged and shook hands as they explored the new space. Little touches like the naming of The Clubhouse (large conference room) and The Dugout (small conference room) to the concessions sign in the lunchroom all reinforced the feeling of Rancho Mesa’s team spirit.

Attending Summit Club

After settling into the new office, it was time to relax at Summit Club.  Every year, this trip is attended by the agency’s top producers, leadership team and admin staff who have reached certain milestones. June was the perfect time to escape to the St. Regis Deer Valley in Park City, Utah. For five days, attendees relaxed and explored the natural beauty of the area while strengthening their relationships with other Rancho Mesa team members.

Celebrating 25 years

Once the team came back from Summit Club, it was time for the entire agency, carrier partners and a few original Rancho Mesa clients to celebrate the company’s 25th Anniversary.  Held at the Skybox at DiamondView Tower in San Diego, CA on a warm July evening, the celebration overlooked the city’s baseball stadium and downtown’s stunning skyline. Guests enjoyed a look back at Rancho Mesa’s 25 years through a heartfelt video that featured the story of the agency’s beginning.

Earning the National Best Practices Agency title

In August, for the 17th year, Rancho Mesa was named an Independent Insurance Agents & Brokers of America (Big “I”) National Best Practices Agency. Of the roughly 35,000 independent insurance agencies in the U.S., only about 150 across the nation were chosen in 2023. In California, Rancho Mesa is among about a dozen agencies to earn this distinction.

Giving Back to the Industry

Throughout the year, team members were encouraged to develop their industry knowledge through earning new designations, researching and writing articles, and participating in the StudioOne podcast. As a result of their efforts, many appeared on third-party podcasts, as webinar expert panelists, and speakers for various events.

Along with developing industry expertise, our team is also encouraged to take on leadership roles within various organizations. For the second year in a row, Christina Haake has accepted the role of Secretary of the PWI San Diego. Jeremy Hoolihan has joined the Independent Insurance Agents & Brokers of San Diego board. Andy Roberts has been elected President of the Surety Association of San Diego for 2024. And I, Alyssa Burley, continue to serve on the National Association of Women in Construction San Diego board.

Our team not only volunteered their time with industry associations but also throughout the community. We supported organizations like Nativity Prep, MAAC Project, Family Health Centers of San Diego, United Cerebral Palsy of San Diego and many others.

With an incredible year behind us, Rancho Mesa is grateful for our clients and partners for their support. The success and excitement of 2023 leaves us hopeful and optimistic for the 2024 year to come.

Rancho Mesa Expands Ownership Welcoming Four New Partners

Author, Lauren Stumpf, Marketing & Media Communications Specialist, Rancho Mesa Insurance Services, Inc.

Rancho Mesa is excited to introduce its newest partners to the ownership team, Account Executive Jeremy Hoolihan, Account Executive Kevin Howard, Accounting Manager & Office Administrator Lori Stone, and Media Communications & Client Services Manager Alyssa Burley. These individuals have been offered ownership stakes in recognition of their contributions and dedication to Rancho Mesa’s success.

Unlike traditional practices that limit ownership to account executives, Rancho Mesa has extended this opportunity to key support staff members, acknowledging success is a collaborative effort that involves contributions from every department.

"I’m so excited to welcome Jeremy, Kevin, Alyssa and Lori as new partners. This obviously represents how much they have all meant to the business success of Rancho Mesa but also just what amazing people they all are. They are not just business partners to me but, most importantly, friendships I cherish." said Dave Garcia, President of Rancho Mesa.

Rancho Mesa's commitment to recognizing achievements at all levels not only celebrates its team members' accomplishments but also signifies a commitment to promoting a workplace where every individual, regardless of their role, is empowered to contribute to the company's overall success.

Employee Spotlight: Alyssa Burley Reappointed Into NAWIC Board of Directors

Author, Lauren Stumpf, Marketing & Media Communications Specialist, Rancho Mesa Insurance Services, Inc.

On the evening of September 21, 2023, the National Association of Women in Construction (NAWIC) San Diego Chapter hosted their Installation Dinner at the Bali Hai Restaurant in San Diego, CA. It was a momentous occasion as Alyssa Burley, Rancho Mesa's Media Communications & Client Services Manager, assumed her role on the NAWIC San Diego Board of Directors for the 2023-2024 term.

Since becoming a part of NAWIC in 2017, Alyssa has demonstrated remarkable leadership, consistently exceeding expectations in all her roles within NAWIC and Rancho Mesa.

We extend our heartfelt congratulations to all the newly appointed NAWIC officers and board members. Rancho Mesa takes great pride in supporting supporting women in construction.

About NAWIC San Diego Chapter
The National Association of Women in Construction (NAWIC) San Diego Chapter, chartered on April 30, 1959, is very active and involved in the construction industry and the community. For over 65 years they have been providing education, professional development, networking and more to their members. Learn more at www.nawicsd.org.

Celebrating 40 Years of Impact: UCP's Annual Celebrity Waiters Luncheon

Author, Lauren Stumpf, Marketing & Media Communications Specialist, Rancho Mesa Insurance Services, Inc.

BHHC and Rancho Mesa employees pictured at 40th UCP Celebrity Waiters Luncheon.

On Friday, September 22, 2023, United Cerebral Palsy Association of San Diego County (UCP) hosted their 40th Annual Celebrity Waiters Luncheon on Coronado Island, CA.

The highly anticipated event showcased San Diego firefighters, local personalities, the San Diego Padres' Swinging Friar, celebrities, Hollywood look-alikes, and generous supporters against the stunning backdrop of Coronado Island overlooking San Diego Bay.

Event proceeds benefit UCP’s mission to assist people affected by cerebral palsy and other disabilities.

Rancho Mesa’s Dave Garcia, Lori Stone, Alyssa Burley, Sierra Stone, Whitney Chiriboga, Kristi Kamenski, and Lauren Stumpf were honored to attend as guests of Berkshire Hathaway Homestate Companies.

Rancho Mesa looks forward to this event each year and is a proud sponsor of UCP and its mission!

About United Cerebral Palsy of San Diego County
Since 1958, UCP is an agency committed to advancing the independence, productivity, and full citizenship of people affected by cerebral palsy and other disabilities. Working throughout the years to improve services with every step, UCP has program centers in San Diego and Escondido that provide assistive technology, children's services, equipment recycling, family support, grants & funding, respitality, and more. For more information, please visit www.ucpsd.org.

SafetyOne™ Adds Multi-Language Translation to Mobile Forms

Author, Lauren Stumpf, Media Communications & Client Services Specialist, Rancho Mesa Insurance Services, Inc.

The SafetyOne™ Desktop & Mobile App released a new feature that translates external mobile form pages on the client website to 136 languages.

This feature exists on the following two pages:

1. When an external user fills out a mobile form accessed via a QR code or browser link.

2. When an external user views their final report.

For those not yet familiar, Rancho Mesa clients have the ability to collect data using mobile forms via the SafetyOne™ app. These customizable forms can be completed through the mobile app, by scanning a QR Code, or clicking a link in an email. Having mobile forms accessible via QR code or a link allows non-app users to easily complete your company’s forms and submit data electronically.

For example, you can quickly and easily collect visitor information by creating a mobile form and placing its QR code at the entrance of your jobsite or facility.

Some Rancho Mesa clients put QR codes on their company vehicles. They ask their drivers to scan the QR code, and complete a quick vehicle inspection before taking the vehicle. This makes collecting mobile form data simple, and anyone can do it because the mobile app is not needed to complete the form, it is complete on the mobile device’s web browser.

Our developers recognized that not everyone is comfortable filling out mobile forms in English, so they added the ability to translate the mobile forms that are accessed through a QR Code or URL.

The person completing the mobile form can choose from any of the 136 languages, and the form will translate any dropdown list, check box, or prefilled option. Once the form is submitted, it is translated back into English for the SafetyOne™ administrator to review on the admin website. 

So, if you think the end user may prefer another language, consider customizing your mobile forms with predetermined options, so they can choose from your list and the system will translate it for you.

Listen to StudioOne™’s podcast episode 310, as Rancho Mesa’s Alyssa Burley and Megan Lockhart discuss the new mobile form updates in detail.

Opening Day: Rancho Mesa Employees Are Welcomed Into New Home

Author, Lauren Stumpf, Media Communications & Client Services Specialist, Rancho Mesa Insurance Services, Inc.

Monday, April 25, 2023 was an exciting day for the Rancho Mesa family, as the company officially moved into their new office location in Mission Valley, San Diego, CA.

Three years ago the office separated into 2 locations to accommodate growing staff. Now, the new location’s spacious layout has allowed all employees to finally be reunited under one roof.

President Dave Garcia’s vision was brought to life thanks to Char Garcia, Kim Vasquez, Lori Stone, and Alyssa Burley.

Rancho Mesa's Media Communications & Client Services team Alyssa Burley, Lauren Stumpf, and Megan Lockhart had the honor of recording the first episode in the new StudioOne™ on opening day. The three reflected on the office’s opening day and highlighted exciting new features of Rancho Mesa’s new home. Listen to episode 302 below.

The Future of Risk Management: Rancho Mesa Launches SafetyOne™ Mobile Application

Author, Megan Lockhart, Media Communications and Client Services Coordinator, Rancho Mesa Insurance Services, Inc.

Rancho Mesa Insurance Services, Inc. would like to formally announce the launch of its very own SafetyOne™ Mobile and Desktop Application, a platform that will allow clients to integrate risk management with mobile convenience.   

In our continual commitment to meet our client’s needs, Rancho Mesa will be discontinuing our previous risk management platform to make way for new technology. SafetyOne™ will allow companies to effectively manage their safety and risk management needs directly through any mobile device. 

“I’m so excited about the launch of our SafetyOne™ app. Our amazing client services team has spearheaded the implementation of SafetyOne™,” Dave Garcia, President of Rancho Mesa, said. “Personal training, on-demand videos, and regularly scheduled webinars will ensure quick understanding and use of the SafetyOne™ App for our clients.”

SafetyOne™ is designed to carry out an effective safety program within your organization. With a variety of features, clients can administer tailgate talks, perform safety observations, complete mobile forms such as incident reports, and access company policies and files all from their mobile device.

“The SafetyOne™ App is really going to streamline our clients' safety programs through real-time data and intuitive technology. Plus, with minimal setup required, we expect clients to start using it right away," Alyssa Burley, Media Communications and Client Services Manager, said.

Rancho Mesa is looking forward to offering clients a unique risk management experience as well as a library of online safety training courses to assure they are best equipped to manage their risk.

“We’ve had a focus group of clients using it for the past six weeks and their reactions and excitement have been off the charts. We’ve been working for the last several years to create a mobile app that has the ability to assign trainings to employees, conduct those trainings in the field, and then digitally track their completion,” Garcia said. 

With the new platform officially launched, Rancho Mesa’s client services team will begin reaching out to clients directly to start their personal onboarding process into the new platform.

Looking Back at 2022 and Forward to 2023

In episode 269 of Rancho Mesa’s StudioOne™ Safety & Risk Management Network Podcast, Rancho Mesa's Alyssa Burley and President Dave Garcia look back at some of Rancho Mesa’s accomplishments in 2022, and hint to new exciting upgrades to come in the new year.

Transcript

Alyssa Burley: Hi, this is Alyssa Burley with Rancho Mesa's Media Communications and Client Services Department. Thank you for listening to today's top Rancho Mesa News. Brought to you by our Safety and Risk Management Network StudioOne™.

Welcome back, everyone. My guest is Dave Garcia, president of Rancho Mesa. Today, we're going to look back at some of Rancho Mesa's accomplishments in 2022 and maybe give some hints as to what's on the horizon for 2023.

Dave, welcome to the show.

Dave Garcia: Thanks, Alyssa, super excited to be here and talk a little bit about 22 and maybe forecast a little bit into 23.

AB: [Laughs] So, at the end of the year, we like to look back at our progress and take note of what was successful and maybe what wasn't. So we combed through our data to find our top podcast episodes published in 2022 and out of 103 episodes, the number three most popular episode on the list was number 175, California Prepares to Restore COVID pay, and in that episode my guest was Kevin Howard, our account executive who specializes in commercial insurance for roofing and solar contractors. Now, the number two episode on the list was number 166, Getting to Know Greg Garcia, account executive who specializes in landscape, and our number one episode published in 2022, was episode number 183, Understanding the Dart and the TCR Rates, where I actually interviewed Lauren Stumpf, our media communications and client services specialist.

DG: Wow.

AB: So, I know that's a lot. So looking at all of the episodes that we've done, is there an episode that we did in 2022 that stands out to you?

DG: You know Alyssa, I recognize like, I think this is episode 269. So, it's just amazes me what a great job you and your team have done in putting all these together, and there's any number of episodes that stick out in my mind, but if I had to just choose one, I would say it's not one in particular, but it's getting to know the Rancho Mesa family series of episodes.

AB: Yeah.

DG: It’s been so enlightening to me. I mean, I've interviewed some people here that have worked here for over 15 years, and I'm actually still finding out things about them that I had no idea about, and then there's a lot of the younger, newer people here that I find their backgrounds just crazy interesting. So I think it's those episodes, I feel like this real connection with them and I think we do get to know each other more on a personal level than just a business level. So, I think it's the getting to know the Rancho Mesa family episodes. They're probably my favorites.

AB: I agree, and those get a lot of listens when we do the “getting to know” that individual person, because I think people are really interested in that.

DG: Well, you know, there's just so many, like hidden talents that you're just, people don't just volunteer, you know, on a day to day basis. And I'm finding that we have musicians here, we have singers here, we have craftspeople here, we have martial artist-

AB: Bakers.

DG: Bakers, yeah. I mean, there's just a long, long, long list of really talented people. So, it's really fun.

AB: Yeah, I enjoyed those episodes. So in addition to publishing two podcast episodes per week, our team is also writing articles and in 2022 our account executives wrote over 60 industry articles covering everything from COVID-19 to the dual wage thresholds, in order to educate our clients and the greater community for that matter, about the things that can affect their insurance premiums.

So, why do you think these articles are having such an impact on businesses?

DG: You know, Alyssa I think the articles really impact the business community because the topics that the producers choose are very timely to what's going on in different industries, whether it's a change in that particular industry or maybe it's an overlooked coverage for that industry, or just a better enhancement to a coverage for that industry. I know it's impacted that because I get people reaching out to me that say, hey, I’ve just read this article, and they don't work for Rancho Mesa and they’re not a client of ours, they could be one of our carrier partners. So, it's educational but I think everything we do here at Rancho Mesa, we look at it kind of like an iceberg. There's the obvious, you know, like we're going to publish these articles and that's great, and then there's the not so obvious intent of the article.

And the intent of the article started way back when what we really wanted to do was specialize, and then we wanted to educate our producers within their industries, in part by forcing them to really dig into the actual specific areas of their industries and then write about it.

AB: Yeah.

DG: And then you and your team said, hey, that's great, but let's take those articles and turn them into podcasts as well. So there's so much below the surface of just publishing articles and I know there's many agencies that purchase their articles that they publish and you know, that's all well and good but I think for us we're looking at it in much more than just a “me too, we published an article,” we really want to be the authors and we challenge, you know, our producers to really be the specialist that we want them to be within their industry.

So I'm super excited about what we're going to produce next year.

AB: Yeah, and it shows that they're actually doing the research and they're writing these articles so that not only do they become the subject matter expert, but that they can talk intelligently to their clients about it.

DG: Yeah, and it falls too as they talk with the carriers, you know, when they're negotiating terms for their client and they're speaking from a very high insurance level on the areas of insurance that they're trying to place, that underwriter feels a lot more comfortable in maybe applying a few additional credits because they're talking to somebody that really understands.

AB: Absolutely. So not only does Rancho Mesa try to provide our clients and the community with information, but we're also involved with organizations that directly have a positive impact on people. Our construction group's Vice President, Sam Clayton, is involved with an organization called the East County Posse, and they help to provide a hand up to people in need, and many of our employees volunteer their time. They coach, they mentor, and they provide administrative support to local organizations. How has Rancho Mesa helped the community this year?

DG: Well, you know, Alyssa I think that's always been near and dear to Char’s and my primary goal when we started the company was to make sure that we were focused on, you know, being good business stewards and then having a positive impact within our community, encourage our employees to take leadership roles in different organizations and give their time is very rewarding.

I know you're very involved with Network. Christina Haake here is with the Professional Women in Insurance. We've always had somebody on the board of the IBA, so we really encourage people to do that. Additionally, you know, we volunteer our time, we have different people that coach youth sports, go down to Father Joel's and serve lunch work at the San Diego Food Bank, you know, things like that.

So we always are encouraging those things and then we understand, too, that we have a financial commitment to our community, and so what we do is we target 5%, which is a large number of our profits go back into the community the next year in different forms, all the way from sponsoring a Little League team to sponsoring a golf tournament to spirit of the Barrio with Family Health Centers to Mack Project and their soirée every year.

So we're excited to do that, and it really pleases Char and I that when we look back, we've now given out more than $1,000,000 back to the San Diego community. So we're super proud of that.

AB: Yeah, that’s amazing.

DG: Yeah, and we look forward to the second million. Now, when we did it, we didn't really think it was that impactful, you know, but we know that we want to spread it around, you know. So, it's little sprinkles here and there, but overall, we want to try to impact and change the lives of those people in San Diego community that are less fortunate than we've been here at Rancho Mesa.

AB: Yeah, that's great, and Rancho Mesa not only gives back to the community, but every year the company actually takes a group of employees who have either reached a particular performance threshold or for the administrative staff, have reached certain anniversaries to what is called Summit Club and this past year, the team went to Sedona, Arizona, and I got to attend.

The next group will visit Park City, Utah, in 2023. Where will the next Summit Club be held?

DG: Well, of course, that's a very guarded secret. So we although we have picked the destination, there's only a couple people here within the company that know where that destination is going to be and we hold the kickoff meeting offsite every January for the entire company, and as part of that kickoff meeting we’ll be announcing where the next Summit Club is and what the dates are.

It's usually a Wednesday to a Sunday and I think the thing that's, and you mentioned it a little bit earlier, that's a little bit unique to us is a lot of sales organizations have reward trips for their sales people or in our industry, the producers. And when Char and I started the company, we never really felt like the producer had any bigger impact to the company than any other employee. And so one way that we could define that and make sure that that occurred was to make sure that non-producers were included in these trips. So, what we decided on 25 years ago was that every fifth anniversary of every staff person, so their fifth year, their 10th year, their 15th, they would attend the same trip as the producer with their significant other.

So, the producer has to qualify for it. The staff person qualifies by tenure within Rancho Mesa. I'll tell you what, that's given me more great memories than anything we've done, and when we can walk in and talk to different people about, hey, remember the Jeep ride in Sedona? Remember fly fishing up in the, you know, the Tahoe mountain range and things like that.

It's super fun, and it seems to build that family feel around here.

AB: Yeah, I agree.

DG: Yeah. It's not just all about the producer. So we're excited. So I cannot announce where we're going yet. It will announce that January 6 that our kickoff meeting, I think this year there's three or four non-producers that will be attending, so they'll be excited to find out where they're going. And you know, it's funny, as we grow, that non-producer list grows.

AB: Yeah.

DG: Right? We never really thought that through. We've been very fortunate that people honestly don't leave Rancho Mesa. So we've, we've got people, non-producers here with 15, 20 years of tenure so they've gone on these trips three or four times and they kind of stack. So, you got your five year people, first timers, your tenure, second timers, 15.

So it's super awesome. It's Lori Stone here, who's also our director of accounting. In addition to that, she helps me organize these trips and does a lot of the planning. So when it was a smaller group, it was a lot easier.

AB: Yeah.

DG: Now that it's a larger group, it's a little bit more challenging. But Lori's always up for that challenge.

AB: Yeah, she can really pull off the amazing-

DG: Yeah.

AB: -Feats.

DG: Yeah. You go and you and you just feel like you're king or queen for that five days.

AB: Absolutely, yeah. Alright. So Rancho Mesa also has a big anniversary coming up in July 2023. What will the agency be celebrating?

DG: Yeah, so I mentioned it a little bit earlier, 25. So it'll be our 25th anniversary and I can't believe where the time has gone. You know, when Char and I started this company 25 years ago, we had no idea whether we would be celebrating the second anniversary, and here we are 25 years later and super, super excited about that. So we're really looking forward, we've got a big event planned in July. We'll just be celebrating all of it together again. So it would be super exciting. Looking forward to the next 25.

AB: Yeah, absolutely. We're excited. And you know, 25 years in business is a huge accomplishment and a testament to the leadership team, the dedicated employees, and of course, our clients who put their trust in Rancho Mesa and that trust translates into a successful agency. So, how did the agency do overall in 2022?

DG: So overall, in 2022, we had a really, really good year. We had our largest new business year ever. So that was exciting. Some of our younger producers just had exceptional years and our veteran people all contributed. So that was really, really exciting. The challenges that we've all have gone through over the last couple of years with the impacts of COVID, I think we're still trying to adjust to that. But I think as time has gone on, we've managed that transition really well. So I'm really proud of that fact. So overall, Rancho Mesa had a terrific year. We grew, we were profitable, so we're looking forward to 2023.

AB: Yeah, and we've definitely had a growth spurt this year. The surety group has doubled along with the growth in our green team and our admin staff. We're nearly out of space again. So back in March of 2022, we announced that Rancho Mesa would be moving into a new office in San Diego's Mission Valley, giving us the opportunity to bring everybody back from the Santee and La Mesa offices into one location.

How close is that dream to becoming a reality?

DG: Well, you know what? It's a lot closer than it was last March. I'm going to tell everybody if we don't have any delays, we'll be moving in March 10th and opening the doors that following Monday, March 13th. So it's just around the corner. I couldn't be more excited. The space will be phenomenal. Char has done an amazing job and in designing it and furnishing it and all of those things.

But I think the piece of furniture, so to speak, that's been missing are the people, and I'm most excited, as beautiful as that office is going to be, I'm super excited to bring everybody back into one office and just feel that that energy that that brings.

AB: Yeah I think everyone is looking forward to that.

DG: Yeah, across the board, you know, that's going to mean changes in commutes for some people. Some will get shorter, some get a little bit longer but I think overall the impact is going to be phenomenal, and I can't wait, you know, I can't wait. 2023 is going be a really busy year.

AB: Yes, absolutely. And with the anticipated move to Mission Valley, our client services group has already begun hosting a monthly workshops at the Mission Valley Library that's located just a few minutes’ walk from the new office. In 2022 we've hosted over 50 workshops and webinars as part of our client services offerings. What's new for client services in 2023?

DG: Well, I know where you're going with that. So in addition to some more terrific workshops and webinars, we have something kind of cooked up that we're going to launch that I'm not going to mention today for 2023. We’ll announce that at our kickoff meeting. I will give you some hints. To my knowledge, this is a tool for our clients to be able to use that no other agency that I'm aware of in the United States offers to their clients, and I think it's going to be super impactful for them. And the best part of it is our client services team, Alyssa, which you lead, is going to be the team that's going to be implementing this new tool. So enough said about that, super excited about that.

You guys will not have a boring 2023 producing videos and podcasts and editing articles and conducting workshops and trainings and all the other things, but we are going to add one more thing to your plate, just not going to see what it is.

AB: [Laughs] I know and we are very excited. We will be announcing very soon what is coming up, so we're really excited about that. So there are so many things to be proud of over the last 12 months and so much to look forward to in 2023. And I am just excited about the New Year and everything that it's going to bring and I think that you are as well.

DG: I'm pumped. And if you can't, you know, see me through this mic you can certainly hear me. I can't wait. It's going to be crazy busy, which is how I like it.

 AB: Yeah.

DG: And you know, we've trademarked long time ago One of One™, because we're always trying to reach that next bar. We don't know what the bar is, and it doesn't exist because our challenge here, which I challenge everybody is think out of the box, dream your dreams, and let's achieve those dreams together, and I think 2023, when you just rattle off the first six months of what's going to happen, that's enough for 25 years of work. But we're going to get it done in six months. So I'm super excited about 2023. Ready to turn the page, let's go.

AB: All right. I love it. So, Dave, it's always a pleasure and thank you for joining me in StudioOne™.

DG: Thank you, Alyssa and one thing that we didn't mention is that the new office, you're going to have your own studio built out as a studio only.

AB: Yes.

DG: So, super excited to launch that. You'll see pictures, everybody.

AB: Yes, we are getting a dedicated studio.

DG: Yeah, It's going to be awesome. Thanks Alyssa for your time today.

AB: Thanks, Dave.

This is Alyssa Burley with Rancho Mesa. Thanks for tuning into our latest episode produced by StudioOne™. For more information, visit us at ranchomesa.com and subscribe to our weekly newsletter.