Lemon Bars and "Business Prototyping"

Had a team member quit rather unexpectedly Friday morning-moving back to Portland. It came like a gut punch, but after a weekend of reflection, it's an awesome time to circle the wagons and draw in the dirt. I'm taking this opportunity to rethink everything we're doing. I'm taking myself through a process I'm calling "business prototyping"- rethinking my agency from the consumer's perspective. I buy things too you know. What would I want/expect from an insurance agent/agency?

What is the most ideal way to set things up? What does that service experience look like and feel like?  How many people(employees) do I need to create that experience? What is the perfect way for a local insurance agency to operate, market themselves and engage with customers? What kind of sales process is both helpful to clients, and feels thoughtful and value-added? After the prototype is on paper, then we'll apply budget constraints, regulations, and any other absolutes, but I plan on camping here in the prototype phase for the next few days. No need to immediately recruit to feed our original model. Maybe a great chance to shift gears.

Over thinking it? I don't think so. We've been fortunate to have a lot of success up to this point without this kind of brainstorming and reflection. That's mostly due to our earnest and values though. I'm learning that that's not enough based on what we're trying to do and be for our clients.

I'm making an awesome batch of lemon bars out of the lemons from Friday morning.