Small Business Finalist: Rookie Small Business: Secure-All Insurance

Location: 510 Bay Isles Road, Longboat Key

Business start date: June 2009

First job ever: George Ceshker got his start in the workforce as a delivery boy for a dry-cleaner; Sandra Ceshker got a job at Toys ’R Us when she was 12. “I told them I was 14,” she said. “I had so much fun.”
Something you wish you knew when you started: “That we could compete with companies that have deep roots in the community,” Sandra Ceshker said.

Typical day on the job: The day begins with troubleshooting: updating information, addressing claims and gathering additional details needed for policies. They spend the next few hours making contact with people who need quotes. Then, they go shopping: for the best policies, that is.

Favorite way to spend a day off: On the water, whether on the beach or on their boat.

Business idol: George Ceshker admires Warren Buffett. “Not just because he’s so successful but also because he’s an honest man,” he said. Sandra Ceshker looks up to her father, Robert Smith, who founded Secur-All Insurance, and her brother, Adam Smith, who went into the business more than 25 years ago, “for starting something really good.”

Biggest challenge: “Every client is a puzzle,” Sandra Ceshker said of the many factors that can affect insurance policies. “It’s putting the puzzle together.”

Where do you see your business five years from now? “I see us as the No. 1 insurance agency on Longboat Key,” George Ceshker said.

Number of employees when started: Two

Number of employees today: Two