OWNERS NOTE: Kirk Maberry– State Farm Agent has sponsored WNYNewsNow.com from Day 1, receiving a prominent position on our website. In addition to financial support, Maberry has served as a valuable WNYNewsNow “family member.” We can’t thank Kirk and his hard-working staff for having our backs, and we have theirs too.
JAMESTOWN – “Kirk, you like people. This is what you’ll be doing.”
During a recent interview with WNYNewsNow, local State Farm Agent Kirk Maberry detailed his journey towards becoming an insurance agent after a mentor told him that he’s a person who cares about people.
“(Being an insurance agent) is truly all about helping folks, and I like that part of it,” Maberry said. “Selling the insurance policy is less of a drain, because you know what you’re doing. You’re really putting yourself in a position so if something really bad happened….”
Maberry was a real estate appraiser prior to the 2008 mortgage crisis, and from 2006-08, he said his business was hurting. At that point, the mentor of his was a State Farm agent. Maberry said that the mentor turned his name in as a reference to become a State Farm agent.
“It was flattering, so I went through the process, and I was approved, but it was in Texas, and I was on the Gulf Coast,” Maberry said. Maberry explained how State Farms was hesitant to set up shop for him on the Gulf Coast due to Hurricane Katrina and other storms that previously hit the coast.
Maberry detailed how him and his family weren’t impressed with the inland part of Texas. When researching potential locations for a State Farm location, the City of Jamestown kept reappearing.
The insurance agent stated that he once came to Jamestown years ago while working for an oil company. Maberry said that his brief experience in Jamestown convinced him to show his wife that the area would be a great fit for their family.
“This is a beautiful place. Whatever you think of Jamestown, NY, it is a very pretty place,” Maberry said. “This is the most beautiful place I’ve ever lived.”
Maberry said that he and his wife were impressed with Southwestern Central School when looking for what school district to reside in. Maberry added that his wife’s family lives in Philadelphia, which meant she could live closer to her family.
“We just said, ‘Hey, let’s do it,'” Maberry said. “All my kids went through Southwestern. Great school, really prepared them for college, and they’ve made great friends. It’s just been a wonderful, wonderful move.”
Maberry detailed how he’s been in Jamestown now for 10 years, and through that time, State Farm has incorporated approximately five agents in the Greater Jamestown Area.
Maberry talked about how he sold a couple of life insurance policies to a few young men around 10 years ago, and they passed away due to opioid overdoses.
“To be able to, at least, take care of that piece with the moms and taking care of the funeral expenses, that ended up being a big deal,” Maberry said. “I had one of them tell me, ‘Kirk, I couldn’t have physically sat down and written the check to the funeral home. It would’ve killed me.’ So she was just very thankful.”
“It’s a terrible moment, but it does give me some satisfaction that, at least I could take care of that piece, so that they could just mourn and not have to be burdened with paying for a funeral.”
Maberry said that there are also very good things about being a State Farm insurance agent, such as making sure that customers are being taken care of when they have an accident. He also explained that he likes that he can help people directly as they work on filing claims, rather than them having to deal with multiple departments.
The insurance agent said that he works very hard to remember what he does have in life. Maberry detailed how he has a nice life, and that he doesn’t need to strive to build a “million dollar” life like agents in bigger cities do.
Maberry said that, this past summer, he realized that he wants the people around him to grow further in life, and that he wants to grow the number of associates that he has. Both will remain goals of his in the next decade.
“I want my associates to be able to get to a place where they can purchase their homes and nice cars,” Maberry said. “I want to see people who are my associates, who’ve helped me get to where I am, also take in that bounty. They do OK, don’t get me wrong, none of them are starving, but I want them to live well. They’re starting to get there.”
“I’m at a point in my life where that’s going to give me a lot of pride, and I’m going to feel good about that. I’ve become a lot less selfish. Ten years ago, I was like, ‘I wanna make all of that money.'”
When asked what advice Maberry would give people, regardless of where they are in life, he told people to keep their ears open.
“I would encourage everybody to listen to your parents, listen to your friends, listen to your people around you,” Maberry said. “When they tell you stuff that you may not necessarily want to hear, they probably know more about you than you may know about yourself or you may have forgotten about yourself.”
Maberry gave people two additional pieces of advice, both of which were unsolicited.
“Businesses, advertise with WNYNewsNow. And buy life insurance!”
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