Today we’d like to introduce you to Ross Dixon.
Hi Ross, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I grew up in Atlanta and went to high school at North Atlanta High School and then attended college at Clark Atlanta University and Graduated Georgia State Class of 2005. In college, I was able to really learn about myself and was able to land a contract running a sales team for the Charlotte Observer in North Carolina. I really didn’t know what I wanted to do with my life at the end of my contract with them but I knew that I loved sales and meeting new people. I ended up moving back to Atlanta and got the opportunity to work with The Atlanta Voice Newspaper, where I really got my business chops from learning from Mrs. Janice Ware and her husband Jim Washington of the Dallas Weekly. I was able to network with a lot of the business owners as I was in advertising there and created a foundation to start my own marketing and consulting firm on Edgewood at the Mural Office in 2009. It never felt like I was trading my time for money when I started Diamond Roots (marketing and consulting firm) and I recruited an awesome team that allowed us to grow into a player in the marketplace for urban marketing. When I first married and had my daughter, I thought it was time for me to pivot to have more time spend with my family. I decided to go into the insurance industry because the system is built around perpetuity.
At the time leading up to my pivoting out of my marketing firm in 2014, I was consulting for Nationwide and Farmers Insurance and one of tasks was the consultation of assisting Nationwide agents acquire book of businesses from those business owners looking to sell their business. As I interviewed prospective selling broker, I was able to learn the end game and the business of insurance and I just saw the opportunity to build a legacy with an asset that was easily transferrable. In school and college, I was taught on how to be an employee and a debtor but I knew that financial literacy was key to business expansion and being an individual in Atlanta that never had those resources growing up and understood the value of information wanted to be a resource of information to my community I grew up in. I think my passion has grown since I gotten into finance in the sense that I love sharing information about the financial industry that it has let me to studying and acquiring my Series 6, 63, and 65 to acquire more knowledge on how individuals and business owners can build intergenerational wealth and mitigate their risks while doing it. It has allowed me to better service my insurance clients without confusing the market and focuses truly on organic growth.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
When I pivoted from a successful marketing agency owner to working for an insurance agent in 2013, people thought I was dumb and crazy. The back story was that although I was working for the Nationwide agent that I had did a million-dollar-plus acquisition for, I only learned that part of the insurance industry. I had no idea how to run an agency and sell an insurance policy. I had to start over, I had to humble myself and took a major pay cut as going from owner to employee. Because I seen the end game of selling an insurance agency, I knew what I was working toward, I always remind myself the struggle was only temporary as learning the game is just a part of the process. I embraced the process; I love the journey.
Great, so let’s talk business. Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
My business is based on relationships and collaboration. We love to share our knowledge for both mitigating personal risks and financial risks. I think I am best known for just being a person that is going to do me regardless. I always was a person to bet on myself. I am most proud of my brand because we maintained independence. Although it is advantageous at times to go through a captive situation like a State Farm or Allstate but we took the less traveled, more difficult route of maintaining our independence so we could truly control the direction of our agency. We have more products and strategies for insurance and financial investments that most people are just not aware that exist. E.G. Conservation Easement and Tax Avoidance this has allowed Ted Turner to become one of the largest Land Trust owners in the United States and my firm specializes in this strategy.
Where do you see things going in the next 5-10 years?
My industry is going to become more difficult for people to get started in due to artificial intelligence. The amount of data that exists on the internet allows AI to give a far better quote on risk that an individual has at a quicker pace than a human could ever accomplish. What will still be needed are customized strategies from experts that will allow individuals to mitigate both personal and commercial risks to plan their own journey.
Contact Info:
- Email: rdixon@rossdixonagency.com
- Website: www.rossdixonagency.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rossdixonagency/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/RossDixonAgency
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/dixon_agency
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jzq9b72_nsM
Image Credits
Davonne Lay
