Photo: Chris Yarzab, CC BY 2.0
/ Our story
Smart Choice gave us the carriers.We built everything it takes to scale.
A proudSmart Choice agencyTwo founders with no insurance background, no book and no contacts. Smart Choice gave us access to the markets on day one. What we added was the machine around them: the systems that let a small team handle a large book, answer every lead fast and keep the clients we win.
What Smart Choice gave us
The carriers. Appointments a brand-new agency could never get on its own, support from the state team, and contests worth chasing.
What we built on top
Our own CRM, AI phone agents that answer when we can’t, every sales call coached the same day, and a website that finds clients for us. Seven people doing the work of a much bigger agency.
/ Where we are
$5.5M
premium written
#4
nationally, Smart Choice 2026 Leadership Agents Contest, top new agency
800+
businesses and families insured
5.0★
every Google review, on both of our offices
50
states we are licensed in
/ How it happened
Two years of doing it by hand, then a year spent fixing that.
2023
First policy written. Two founders, no book, no contacts, and a lot of cold leads nobody else wanted to work.
2024–2025
The grind. Every lead called, every quote chased, almost all of it placed through Smart Choice carriers. We got licensed in all 50 states so we could take on good business wherever it came from.
2025
Started building our own software, AI included, to fix the breaking points the grind had shown us.
Jan 2026
Service got its own desk, split out from sales. Clients stayed with us longer.
Aug 2026
Doubled the sales team, launched a rebuilt website, and switched on our own AI phone agents and call coaching.
Sep 2026
Ranked #4 nationally among new agencies in Smart Choice’s 2026 Leadership Agents Contest.
Oct 2026
Moved the whole agency onto our own CRM.
/ Who we are
Kevin Kelsey
Founder and Principal Agent
Fifteen years editing television, Emmy-nominated for The Muppets Mayhem, before he sold a policy. He writes the software the agency runs on himself.
“I’m a storyteller. Editing taught me how information is framed. With a client I start with why they came to us, solve the real problem rather than just sell a policy, and get the whole story so I can present their business to the underwriter in the best possible light.”
Joe Gorman
Co-founder and President of Commercial Lines
Came up through construction and HVAC sales, not insurance. Went out on a limb to become the agency’s first dedicated salesperson when there was no sales team at all, and now leads it, insuring contractors and businesses all over the country.
“Smart Choice gave two outsiders the carriers. Our job was to build the agency around them, so every lead gets called, every client gets looked after, and a small team can act like a big one.”
/ What we built
Most agencies grow by hiring. We grow by building.
Our own CRM
Every lead, call, email, quote and policy in one place, and it tells each agent what to do next instead of waiting to be told.
AI phone agents
Calls after hours, on weekends and when every line is busy get answered. The lead or service request is on the right person’s desk before the office opens.
Every call coached same day
Every sales call is reviewed the same day it happens, with specific coaching on what went well and what to work on, instead of a quarterly review.
Paperwork that reads itself
Applications, policies and emails get read automatically, so the details an agent needs to quote are filled in before they pick up the phone.
Follow-up that never forgets
Renewals, check-ins and coverage reviews go out on time, written for each client, so nobody falls through the cracks as the book grows.
A website built to be found
Free tools owners actually use, like decoding what a contract or a lease requires. When owners ask an AI assistant who to call, more of them are told to call us.
A brand people go looking for
Insurance is boring. We say so, out loud, and back it with service good enough that every Google review on both of our offices is five stars.
/ The team
Seven people, across Los Angeles and Dallas.
Justine Elgner
Commercial Lines Account Manager
Valerie Gorman
Commercial Lines Account Manager
/ Where we work
Los Angeles
US Bank Tower633 W 5th St, 26th FlLos Angeles, CA 90071Dallas
Republic Center325 N Saint Paul St, Suite 3100Dallas, TX 75201Running a business?Reading this as an agent?
Tell us what your business does and what your contracts require. A licensed human reads it and replies the same business day.
Looking at this from inside the network, or just curious how two outsiders got here? Kevin will talk through any of it, on or off the record.
Talk to Kevin
kev at boring.insureBoring Insurance Agency is an independent insurance agency. Figures on this page are approved for publication as of October 2026; the contest standing is dated because contest standings change.