“When you partner with the right people, you see many benefits – including reclaiming your own personal time.”
Ian Madeley’s story
“My life now: I walk my Labradors two/three/four times a day; I always sit down for dinner with the family; and I don’t work weekends and still earn a comfortable salary”.
Insurance wasn’t his original career choice. Initially Ian wanted to join the RAF as a frogman, jumping out of helicopters and saving people, but “with a big hole in my ear, I failed medical and ended up being an insurance broker”.
Ian Madeley started his insurance career aged 17. Now he has over 40 years’ experience and runs his own brokerage as part of the Momentum network. The decision to become self-employed was not an easy one, “but on reflection, something I should have done much sooner”.
Ian’s first choice of principal partner was mainly due to having a significant amount of business on scheme wordings. As time went on, it became clear to Ian that he should have considered other AR opportunities. He started talking to a friend who ran a brokerage in Stockport.
“[He] said Momentum Broker Solutions was a good choice because of several reasons. They were dedicated [and] there were no conflicts.
“Everything I heard about them was good in terms of their service and the people that work within the environment. Then having spoken with Alistair [Body, Business Development Director] I was comfortable.”
Ian had two options: to become an Appointed Representative or follow the Directly Authorised route. Directly Authorised would require a significant input from him in terms of time, for compliance and regulatory duties.
“I didn’t want to go down that route. I didn’t want to get an office. I didn’t want to employ somebody, so I chose Momentum”.
The best bits of the job for Ian are the people. The way he has built his business means that he can focus on finding out what his customers really need instead of being side-tracked with daily admin tasks.
His switch to Momentum did take some getting used to:
“I had the relationship with the insurers. I rang them, I did the direct deals… and, if there was a problem, I dealt with the insurers.
“Then I came to Momentum.”
Running your own business doesn’t have to be time demanding. When you partner with the right people, you see many benefits – including reclaiming your own personal time. It gives him time to spend with his children, in particular Daniel who has represented the national team in lacrosse.
“It’s taken out a whole raft of work for me. I’d do a presentation, I’d go see the client, do the review, do the presentation and then I’d manage the marketing exercise. [Now] the Momentum team do all that, so it frees up… my time and makes my life a little bit more relaxed”.
Momentum supports you every step of the way when you make the decision to become self-employed, taking control of your own business as an Appointed Representative. We’ve dedicated managers who own their areas of expertise, from finance to broking managers, to compliance.
“My previous AR environment didn’t have Acturis or a structured system that allowed you to manage business. I want my business to be managed in a structured fashion and technology is part of that management.”
Ian is well known in his community for his philanthropic efforts. Every day, he challenges himself to do at least one thing for someone else.
“Mum couldn’t do enough for anybody, and I think it was instilled in me very early on. If somebody needs something and you can do, do it. If somebody asks me a favour, the answer is ‘if I can, I will’. It costs you nothing”.