LOCAL PROFILES
Elie Taylor: Liberty Mutual Insurance

Much like nature, business abhors a vacuum. Even if an entrepreneur is the sole employee of his company, he still must continuously forge and strengthen relationships with clients, regulators and the business community. Such relationships form larger networks of business people, all of whom contribute to one another’s success and to the growth of the economy.

Elie Taylor, now an insurance agent for Liberty Mutual in Las Vegas, has been a salesman since before he was old enough to vote. At age 17 he sold movies at Blockbuster, followed by a stint as a tire salesman. When adulthood broadened his opportunities, Elie (pronounced E-lye) decided to become an insurance agent. While serving his clients in the insurance industry, Elie took a Real Estate class, and he immediately felt at home among the Real Estate knowledge base and professionals, which eventually inspired him to earn his Real Estate license. In each of these positions, from retail to Real Estate, Elie learned volumes about the interconnectedness of the business community.

Elie used this accumulated knowledge to open a successful Web-based business connecting loan originators to mobile notaries. Elie understood that many loan originators in his home area of Southern California were handling loans in distant parts of the country. Their clients needed notaries public—or preferably notary public signing agents—to verify the loan documents and witness the signings. Since the loan originators were hundreds or, in some cases, thousands of miles from the actual signings, the clients were often left to their own wits to find mobile notaries. Elie, along with a friend, discovered and then filled a market need.

The company created a network of professionals that allowed loan originators in Southern California to contact mobile notaries across the country. When a loan originator requested a notary for his or her client via Elie’s Web site, Elie found a mobile notary near the client’s home. The notary would drive to the client’s house to sign the documents. Elie charged market rate to the loan originators and transferred the sum to the mobile notary, less his company’s fee.

Everyone involved was happy with each transaction. The loan originator and the REALTOR^® got the benefit of a smooth transaction, while the notary public got a phone call offering easy money. According to Elie, “The notary made $65 for driving to somebody’s house and signing a paper. That’s a pretty good deal.”

Elie’s notary solution company served as a hub for the intricate relationships involved in interstate Real Estate transactions. Moreover, he entered the market at the perfect time. The Federal Reserve had cut interest rates again and again to hedge the economy against the disastrous events at the end of 2001. The succession of rate cuts stimulated the Real Estate market into a predictable frenzy. The demand for loans skyrocketed accordingly, particularly among the small loan offices that comprised Elie’s primary clients.

Rather than selling Real Estate or loans directly, he chose to sell peripheral services that were necessary for the booming market. Likening the Real Estate boom to another California frenzy 150 years in the past, Elie quips, “I was the guy selling shovels at the gold rush.”

The comparison to the gold rush is an apt one. According to Elie, “Southern California was a hotbed for Real Estate loans. In Los Angeles and San Diego everybody was talking about Real Estate.” Not only did the local market boom, but California investors were buying property nationwide. Elie’s company facilitated signings in states ranging from New York to Hawaii.

Elie was able to earn six figures from his home computer by asking simple questions regarding the market, such as “What’s missing?” and “What services are needed?” Since he didn’t complete college, he considers the notary solution company to be his college project. On a larger scale, Elie says “The business world is my college education.”

While he was connecting loan originators to mobile notaries, Elie concurrently worked in Real Estate in Las Vegas. When the Real Estate market finally softened, he decided to return to the insurance field.

When Elie interviewed for the agent position at Liberty Mutual in Las Vegas, his future boss asked how Elie intended to acquire new leads—a typical question for any sales-oriented job. Without hesitation, Elie replied, “Real Estate.” Although he now earns his keep in the insurance industry, Elie maintains deep roots in the Real Estate community. His face is a common sight among REALTORS^®, title professionals, escrow officers, and the whole spectrum of Real Estate professionals. Although his ideal occupation would be as a Real Estate professional, his skill set is tangential to his passion. “Real Estate is my first love,” Elie says, “but I’m better at insurance.”

Liberty Mutual is the perfect fit for Elie. As a Fortune 100 company with offices in more than a dozen countries, the company maintains close relationships with more than 9,000 community and business organizations. These relationships serve as a basis for granting discounts to his insurance customers. The company’s ties are so broad that finding discounts for most clients is easy. Government employees, educators, union workers—a wide range of people are eligible for incentives. Liberty Mutual shares Elie’s belief that relationships are the key to a professional’s success, both as a businessperson and as a human being.

Elie personally maintains close ties to both National Association of REALTORS^® and Greater Leas Vegas Association of REALTORS^®. He offers an insurance discount to any member of either organization. He routinely speaks at meetings, putting himself in front of hundreds of Real Estate professionals in order to show them that he is a man of Real Estate and a kindred spirit.

As a Real Estate professional himself, Elie understands that buying a home is one of the most stressful events in a person’s life. The Real Estate professional is tasked with being the point person for the entire process. Elie is therefore committed to helping REALTORS^® make the home buying experience as smooth as possible for their clients. For example, when REALTORS^® refer a client to him, Elie performs helpful tasks like notifying lien holders and the Department of Motor Vehicles about the client’s change of address.

As a result, many Real Estate professionals keep Elie’s literature in their offices and refer his services to their clients. The relationship is the perfect match; families who buy and sell homes tend to be financially stable enough to comprise Elie’s target market.

Few entrepreneurs have understood the power of business relationships like Elie Taylor. In his youth as a retail salesman, and also in his professional careers in Real Estate, insurance and business management, Elie treats every client and every colleague with care and respect. Each relationship is a thread, and Elie weaves his business into a smooth but nearly indestructible stitch. Through sturdy relationships, businesspeople such as Elie hold together the fabric of our economy.

Elie can be reached by calling (702) 239-9161, or e-mail him at elie.taylor@libertymutual.com.

Photography: Britt Pierson