Donny Woo is the founder of Combined Benefits, a full-servicebenefits, commercial, payroll and HR consulting firm established 30years ago.

Paul Wilson: How did you get started in thebenefits industry?

I started as a life insurance agent when I was 22 years old. Iwas working in the restaurant industry and a friend said, “I knowthis guy who's making a lot of money in life insurance sales. Wouldyou be interested?” And that's how I got started.

After a couple of years, I moved over to employee benefits andalso gradually began working with retirement plans. During the last10 years, we've also moved into P&C, we opened up a payrollcompany about four years go, and we also started an HR consultingfirm last year.

PW: What are the biggest challenges you'redealing with right now?

Managing the agents— recruiting and hiring good agents and thentraining and retaining them. And marketing is another bigchallenge—trying to get my company's name out there so I can bettercompete with bigger shops.

As far as regulation, California just passed a single-payer billand I don't know what will happen with that. What I do know is Ihave a client base and if I don't sell to them, someone elsewill.

PW: What keeps your clients up atnight?

HR, compliance, rules and regulations. They just can't keep up,especially here in California. I see a lot of lawsuits, too,because some employers just don't know what they're doing. Somesmaller companies just don't have a competent HR person to helpmanage their employees. Bigger companies usually have their HRdepartment set up with a competent HR director. We generally focuson smaller companies—anything under 100 employees. I'd say there'sa huge need in the 20-50 employee market. In smaller companies,business owners often wear many hats—accounting, sales, HR. Whenyou don't have many employees, you don't generally have manylawsuits. But once you get to 20 or 40 employees, we see a lot ofissues.

PW: How are you and your company takingadvantage of the current changes and opportunities in theindustry?

There are always going to be challenges. We can't controlregulations or the law, but we can adapt and innovate. I seeadversity as a business opportunity.

We began making technology a part of our platform about six orseven years ago. We outsourced it to a third party and we use theirsoftware. It took us quite a bit of time, a year or two, to finallyget our clients set up and implemented in the system. That wasquite a challenge. Our clientele aren't really technologycompanies—a lot of them are distributors and wholesalemanufacturers. So the challenge is having them begin adopting andusing the technology.

We've just have to train the clients and adjust mentalities tounderstand you have to adapt because that will help your bottomline.

PW: Why do you believe a comprehensivesolution like the one you offer is so important? What are theadvantages?

There are many different opinions out there on this. For years,many people have said that it's best to specialize. In a way, thisis true, but customers today are looking for a streamlined process.They're looking for convenience and fast results. They don't wantto shop around for different vendors. The key to providing acomprehensive solution is you have to do a great job from the verybeginning. Once you earn their trust, they're going to trust youwith other things.

PW: Do you see more brokerages moving inthis direction?

I think eventually, it's going to move to the all-in-one model.It's hard to survive on just one thing. But we don't know what willhappen in the future or what lies ahead for the health insuranceindustry—many people in the industry, both on the broker andcarrier side, are predicting single-payer within the next 10 or 15years. Who knows?

PW: Does that scare you or is it justanother opportunity?

Of course it scares me, because 50 percent of my business is inthe medical insurance industry. But again, you have to keepadapting and innovating. That's why we get involved in lots ofdifferent things. The next opportunity we're going to explore isthe personal line.

I've been doing this for about 30 years now, our company hasbeen around more than 20 years. We have a huge client base, but weonly sell them group insurance. We haven't tapped into personallines or life insurance. Boomers are retiring and there's hugeopportunity there—a massive wealth transfer. Somebody has to do it;why not us?

But you don't want to wait too long to adapt. You'd betterfigure it out now and start preparing. That's the key.

PW: How do you deal with all the noise anddecide what's worth pursuing?

A lot of it is learning from experience. For a while, we hadseparate CRM and CHRS systems, which required a lot of doubleentry. We learned from that and transferred to an all-in-oneplatform. That streamlined everything and it's saved a lot oftime.

You sometimes make mistakes; you just have to make sure youdon't repeat them.

PW: Any advice on working with diverseworkforces?

In California, we have a very diverse culture. I have a Chinesebackground, and I would say 50 percent of my employees are Asian. Ithink you start from the management and owner side of things. Ofcourse, we do everything by the book and make sure we don't violateanything. But also, it's just a matter of respecting each other andconstantly communicating with your employees. Let them know youcare for them and are here for them. That's our approach.

PW: What advice would you give someonewho's interested in joining the profession?

I would tell them this is a hidden gem. You'd be lucky to getinvolved with this business. I'd tell them my personal story. I hadpretty much dropped out of school and was working at a restaurant.I didn't know anything better until I was introduced to thisopportunity and grabbed it. It was the best thing that everhappened in my life. I enjoy my success, I enjoy building acompany, helping our employees, helping our clients, and earninggood money. Where else can you find that type of career?

PW: You mentioned Zenefits earlier. Whatdoes the word “disruption” mean to you?

Opportunity. I'm glad this industry got disrupted; it's broughta lot more opportunity, so embrace it. If you innovate and continueto work hard, your business will grow. I'm not afraid of that word;I love that word.

PW: Who are your favorite innovators orsources of inspiration?

I've always admired Ben Feldman on the life insurance side.Ben's philosophy was always to simplify the sale and really carefor the client.

And Conrad Parker, the founder of Zenefits is another one. Imean, I didn't like the way he ran his company, but the idea behindZenefits was amazing. I never would have imagined a technologycompany could disrupt our industry the way they did. That isamazing.

PW: A lot of brokers are good at selling,but struggle when it comes to running their businesses. What areyour keys to success? How do you find good people and create astrong culture?

I went through challenges just like any other agency. I camefrom a sales background, where we know how to manage clients, notemployees. When you start an agency, you usually start with two orthree people who help you with administration while you go out andsell. But once your company starts growing, you begin adding moreemployees, and it becomes more complex. You have to hire competentemployees and continuously provide training and make it challengingfor them. We're working with five or six different generations inthe workforce and the ways each one communicates and engages iscompletely different.

I had a huge turnover about three years ago, and it ended upcosting me almost one-fifth of my revenue. So I learned the hardway. After that, we started rehiring and retraining and we ended upchanging about 80 percent of our workforce. When it happened, Ialmost wanted to quit this business. I'd had enough, and I'm sure alot of agency owners have gone through similar things.

But we've restructured, found and retrained the right employees,and we've made things challenging and fun for them. I now havefewer employees than I did before, but they're doing a lot morework and accomplishing more for us.

PW: Finish this sentence: The key tosuccess in this industry going forward is…

To keep innovating and challenging yourself. Don't give up. Findyour passion and continue to find success through your hardwork.