[MUSIC PLAYING] I was down one day. Really down. I was working my butt off. I was putting in 18 hours a day. And I thought to myself, there's got to be a better way. And I said a prayer. And out of the blue, I kid you not-- it gives me goose bumps every time I talk about it-- the name Wendell Grimm popped into my mind. So I grabbed the phone book. We had phone books back then. And I opened it up, and the name Wendell Grimm Insurance and Realty was in there. So I thought, well, I'm going to call that man and talk to him. I called. He said, no, I don't really have any interest in selling the agency at this point. You know, he was like, I don't know why you want to buy my agency, we're just this little thing. And then I told him the story of how the name came to my head. Over lunch that day, we struck a deal, shook hands, and within two months I owned his agency. His story of his life is so inspiring, and it was inspiring to me and many other people, that I've passed it on to my own kids. Wendell was about four years old, and his brother was about six. His parents both passed away, so he was an orphan. Wendell had an uncle who lived in Pittsburgh. And at that time, his uncle could only afford to take Wendell's brother, being an older child, and said he couldn't afford to handle a younger child. He stood there and watched his brother and his uncle drive away. And that memory stuck with him his entire life. From that point on, he made up in his mind that, no matter what in his life, he could accomplish it on his own and survive on his own. He inspired me to make sure that I don't make excuses to myself. Wendell was not an ERIE agent. He was an independent agent. We had, at that time when I acquired his agency, there was 12 carriers. So I saw a lot of opportunities there in what I could do with his agency to really take it into, you know, the new world. We moved into Uniontown, and then we continued on to grow to the three locations that we have currently. Wendell was an inspiration. His inspiration was it doesn't matter where you come from, who you are, what you do. If you put your mind to anything in this world, you can accomplish it. So as long as you stay on track with your life and do what's right, everything else falls into place. [MUSIC PLAYING]
