Independents' Day

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The alliance comprises 60 regional "master agencies," midsize independents like Hyland, Block, & Hyland, which aggregate the premiums of dozens of smaller agencies in their area. (In total, SIAA wrote $2.1 billion in premiums for 2001.) The master agencies also provide technical assistance, helping their smaller partners adjust to the on-line quoting and claim-processing systems now required by most carriers. In return, they receive a percentage of the smaller agents' commissions and an initial membership fee that varies depending on the region.

In addition to providing access to insurance companies, the alliance offers members other benefits, according to Mark Berset, president of Comegys Insurance Corner, a master agency in St. Petersburg, Fla. "If you're the top dog in your organization, you really have nobody to talk to," he says. "A little guy will often call me with thoughts on automation or how to handle contracts if he's hiring somebody. My issues may be bigger ones, like how to benchmark against others in the industry, and that's when I call SIAA." But it's also a lot of work for the master agencies. Hyland says the demands of serving the small agents have overwhelmed the five staff members he assigned to the task. Still, it's worth it, he says. "With the alliance, people don't feel so isolated; they don't feel so alone. What we have created is a support mechanism for all of us."

The Soloist's Solution

The Alliance: Women in Consulting (www.womeninconsulting.com)
Founded: January 1998
Members: 128 solo business consultants in Silicon Valley and the San Francisco Bay area
Driver: Successful soloists can juggle only so many clients alone

The alliance called Women in Consulting started as a high-powered group of Silicon Valley elite determined to work on their own terms. The 12 founding members had left management positions at Apple, Adobe, Silicon Graphics, and NeXT. No wallflowers, these women. They departed the corporate world to seek their fortune as solo business consultants but on a schedule that also let them watch their kids play soccer. "We're not seen as contract workers," says member Lisa Goldman, a former employee of Apple and NeXT. "Nor are we a bridge to getting back into the workforce when the kids are young. We're serious about growing our businesses." As soloists, that is.

But it didn't take the women long to see that to get good work they couldn't go it alone. They needed one another. "Many of us are in marketing, so in theory we're competitors," says Kate Purmal, president of WIC, which was officially organized as a dues-collecting nonprofit in December 2001. But more often WIC members, who now number about 128, collaborate on some level.

The most exciting development Purmal has witnessed is WIC members' pitching customers together, creating some formidable alliances in the field of integrated-marketing services. One such alliance is called Rain Maker. Another handful of WIC members took their alliance to the next level and created a company of soloists known as Indigo Partners. (See " The New Face of Self-Employment," November 2001.)

Purmal, who left a management job at Palm in 1998, exemplifies what's possible when soloists put their heads together. She recently started her own alliance, called the Driver Group, with three other WIC members who were intent on capturing more business. "My clients ask themselves, 'Can she handle the demands of a larger project?' There's value to the client in my being more than an individual -- the ability to scale and greater depth." One of her partners is a "brilliant" marketing strategist. Another is a copywriter. The third specializes in business partnerships. The partners meet once a week, and all carry Driver Group business cards. (Purmal set up the group as a limited-liability corporation to avoid having to buy additional liability insurance.)

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