Only 25% of businesses survive 15 years or more.

May 25, 2023 by Sheryl J. Moore

According to the U.S. Small Business Administration, about 1 in 5 small businesses fail in their first year.

In fact, nearly 50% of small businesses fail in the first FIVE years.

After 10 years, about 65% of businesses have failed.

Only 25% of businesses survive 15 years or more.

Eighteen years ago, I got my walking papers from Principal Financial Group.

I was a single mom, with three kids, and no child support. I needed work.

But, the only two insurance companies in Des Moines that had competitive intelligence roles were the company I’d left eight months before (now, Athene for annuities, and Global Atlantic Financial Group for life insurance), and the company that had given me my pink slip that day.

What on earth was I supposed to do?

I needed to feed my kids, pay my mortgage, and get insurance for my son, to cover his annual surgeries.

I did the only thing a desperate Iowa gal could do, and cashed out what was left of my 201(k), to support myself while I started my own business.

I paid $50 to become a CEO, and bought “HTML for Dummies.”

***************Wink, Inc. was born.**************

I developed our AnnuitySpecs tool from my dining room table. I will NEVER forget the feeling when Lynn B. Thurgood, CLU, CAS became my first subscriber!!

I remember when I pitched AnnuitySpecs to a room full of people at Midland National Life Insurance Company, and Bryce Biklen, CLU signed the bottom line with a condition: I must hire an employee if the Sammons Financial Group Companies’ rate changes became too much to manage on my own.

It didn’t take long.

Victoria Grossman became my first employee, when I was coming off of three days with no sleep, changing caps/pars/spreads on the Veridian series of annuities. She became my partner in (insurance) crime.

Before long, I bought a sales report from a guy who wore kilts and a dickie (NOT joking!!), and it is now the premier source of life insurance and annuity sales, “Wink’s Sales & Market Report.”

Then, we built LifeSpecs for people needing data on life insurance products. And “Wink’s Index Intel Report” was developed thereafter.

Now- I have ten employees, thousands of subscribers, and a bunch of street cred.

Thanks for keeping us afloat for nearly two decades, everyone. I love each, and every, one of you. Without you, I’d have a heckuva time making insurance awesome. Happy birthday to Wink!! -sjm