Professional Q&A: Joan Curtis

Meet Joan Curtis, principal owner of MVP Insurance. With her focus on relationships and networking, she has made friends and clients all over the state. With her exciting career as an entrepreneur in many different industries, Joan has made a difference for many people and businesses. Read on to hear more about Joan’s passion for protecting people.

Q: Do you live in Edmond, work in Edmond, or both?

A: I have lived in Edmond for 30 years. And I work in Edmond, technically, because I can work all over the state.  

Q: Where did you grow up and go to school? 

A: Arizona, mostly Phoenix. I graduated high school in ’87. I went to college at UCO for one semester and quickly realized that it wasn’t for me.

So, being an entrepreneur doesn’t necessarily mean you have to have a college degree. You can learn a lot of skills outside of that, I’m natural with sales and relationships and things like that. And I quickly realized that a degree wasn’t necessary for me. 

Q: What did you do before MVP Insurance?

A: I was with Farmers Insurance for three years; before that, I was a stay-at-home mom of four kids. Once they were in school full-time, I was like, what will I do? 

I had done odd things and done marketing a lot when the kids were little. Most moms do a side hustle.

I’d worked for a direct sales company at the time, and I was very successful in it. I was one of their top people and made a pretty nice living on the side from that. So after that company sold, I left that company. But I knew marketing, and I knew sales, and I kind of just worked for people; they would contract me to do different things.

I came upon insurance through Farmers, through an agent that hired me as a producer just to see if I even liked it. And I told her, I said, I’m going to own my own agency.

Then after two years, I said at the end of this year,  I’m going to leave. And so, at that time, I pulled the trigger on it and went to farmers and realized very quickly farmers, as an agent versus a producer, had their contracts a little off, and decided that farmers being captive wasn’t what I wanted. And then Brent Brown had reached out to me, concerning marketing and doing some things, and when I met with him, I shared with him how I build a business through relationships, and so we became friends through that, and so when he wanted to hire someone, it was right at the time I was ready to leave Farmers, and then the rest is history.

Q: What do you like most about your job?

A:  First of all, I love being an entrepreneur. I’m unemployable. I love the freedom to go and do what I need. And to be able to help people how I choose to because I’m not obligated to a boss per se. 

The reason I love insurance is because I am very much a mom.As a mom, I love protecting people. I always say I speak insurance fluently. It’s my second language. So when somebody comes to me and they don’t know what they have, they don’t understand,  the cheapest rate isn’t always the best situation. Especially if you have things to protect or, if you’re somebody who owns several homes or you have a business, those are things that are assets that could be exposed in the event that something suddenly and accidentally happens that causes injury or financial loss to someone else.

So, being able to help people walk through on their worst day ever, knowing they’re protected, is great.

Q: What’s something you’re passionate about in your personal life?

A:  I am very into the Word of God, and I love to study the Word of God and to share and teach the Word of God. I’m also really involved with my church. 

We have kids and dogs, so I’m in that realm. My daughter just got married in April, and so I have a grand dog now, so this is a big deal. 

And then honestly, I love working. I’m pretty creative. I love to do social media, TikToks, things like that for fun.

My kids think it’s cringy. But I like connecting with people online and helping them there to understand how social media and marketing work.

Marketing is kind of a hobby for me really. I just love messages, and I love words, and I love how people, receive information and like if the message actually meets who it is trying to hit. 

Q: What is your number one tip for other professionals, either for work or life in general?

A: Don’t take yourself so seriously because, at the end of the day,  It’s really about your family.  I’ve never met someone who, when you ask, “What’s important to you”? that family isn’t number one.

If you’re working really hard for your family, but you’re not seeing your family because you’re working really hard,  then it doesn’t line up. You’re really in charge of what you do and how you do it, and I always say everybody’s a volunteer, even if you’re paid, you’re a paid volunteer here. So, I want to make sure your work life and your home life are balanced because I want mine to be balanced.

So if you’re a business owner and you want to own a business because you want to be able to take care of your family,  then learn to say no to people if it doesn’t line up with that.