As a member of the NFIB Leadership Council in his state, Erb says he’s happy to be his own boss and a member of NFIB in one of the most business-friendly states in the country.
David Erb is owner of a full service Allstate insurance agency with his wife Natalie in Clinton, Tennessee.
How did you become a small business owner and why?
You get to a certain age and you just can’t work for anybody else. We’re a full-service insurance agency, and we have a contract with Allstate. There are 9,000 other small business owners with Allstate like myself. From my previous careers, I had to travel extensively. When my wife, who also came from the corporate world and was working 80 hours per week, and I started having children, we decided to get out of that rat race and started working for ourselves.
What do you love most about running your own business?
Running my own business. Just being able to make the decisions for myself and holding myself accountable for them. There’s a satisfaction that if I want to take off to go to my girl’s soccer game, I can do it. There’s the freedom to be able to write your own story.
What makes Tennessee a good place for your business?
Even though we do have some other taxes, we have no state income tax. The state is pretty aggressive about heavily investing in its workforce. The entire program that President Obama is touting that he wants is based on a program here in Tennessee. He actually came here to Clinton. We are a very business-friendly state, and not just from a tax standpoint. When a business wants to relocate, they want to make sure there’s a skilled labor force they can hire for different businesses. Tennessee knows that and I think they are way ahead of the curve as compared to other states in the southeast.
How would you rate the overall business climate?
No. 1 in the country. There really is no better state to do business than Tennessee, mainly for the [business] climate. We’re very welcoming and are moving in the right direction—from the different tax incentives that we have here to the willingness of the government to work with the different organizations that do want to relocate here. And, from a regional standpoint, we are within a day’s drive from 80 percent of the population of the entire country. We are smack-dab in the middle of the heartland.
What advice would you give other small business owners?
Slow to hire, quick to fire. A lot of small business people will get very caught up in the day-to-day business stuff, and being able to let go and delegate will save your sanity and save your business.
Why did you join NFIB?
I joined mainly through previous experience with NFIB before I moved to Tennessee. I understand their mission and I see the work, especially sitting on the Leadership Council, of what’s being done day to day. Compared with other organizations, such as the Chamber of Commerce, I get so much more of a bang for my buck [with NFIB].
How has NFIB helped you run your business?
Interestingly, it probably has to do more with a networking standpoint, which doesn’t really get talked about that much. Just being able to meet other business owners, especially if you’re in business-to-business sales, is incredibly valuable.
