Two Jacksonville brothers and entrepreneurs recently celebrated their First Coast-based company's tenth year of enormous success and consecutive expansion.
Brothers Michael and David Miller, from Mandarin, founded Brightway Insurance, one of Jacksonville's highest-grossing companies. The company is expected to reach $1 billion in revenue by 2018.
"It's a transformative company where customers can actually love their insurance," Dave said, speaking to First Coast Connect.
With $300 million in annual sales and 115 offices spread out over nine states, Brightway Insurance has grown tremendously over the last decade, even through the height of the "great recession."
It is the fastest-growing company in Jacksonville in terms of revenue according to the Jacksonville Business Journal, and was featured in the Inc. 5000 list of the fastest growing companies in the country.
Even without traditional advertising, the company has grown 50 percent per year every year it's been in business.
Michael Miller said an important part of the business is giving customers the kind of experience they deserve in an era when companies convince their customers to go a certain route, even if it's not in their best interest.
"When it's great for the consumer, the carrier, the employer," Michael said, "It's like rolling a boulder downhill versus pushing it uphill — it just works."
Brightway offers auto and home insurance, but currently does not offer health insurance.
"Right now, where we are in the marketplace is where we need to be," Michael said. "We would rather stay laser-focused on what we're best at."
David Miller said the equalizing force of smaller companies lies solely in knowledge and planning.
"Even without the resources of billion-dollar companies, a well-conceived idea can be extremely powerful," he said.
