Service is key for new local insurance agency

Salgado opens second office in West Liberty

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Helping his clients no matter what the need, Jose Salgado will open his first branch office in West Liberty on Monday, May 3, unveiling the Jose Salgado Insurance Agency.

Located at 127 E. Third Street, the Independent Agent has been serving customers for 16 years through his Columbus Junction office and says he already has a lot of individual and business clients in the West Liberty/Iowa City area.

He said setting up an office in West Liberty made a lot of sense, calling the community “a perfect fit” and pointing out the city is continuing to grow. He said the area promises to be “a big market” and notes while he specializes in dealing with Spanish speaking clients, he is just as likely to serve English speaking clients as well.

The agency carries dozens of different companies in shopping for the best deals for home, business, auto and life insurance, while also carrying recreational policies for boats, motorcycles, ATV’s, recreational vehicles and more.

Salgado says he plans to be in his office at least three days a week, pointing out it will be open from 9 a.m.-5:30 p.m. Monday through Friday and on Saturday from 9 a.m.-1 p.m., utilizing his younger brother, Victor, who now has his license and has been involved in the business the past three years, to occupy the facility the other three days.

Trained and once employed as a welder, which he says is something he enjoys doing, Salgado hails from Mexicalli, Mexico, just over the border of California, where he grew up in what he called a “poor family” of six brothers and sisters and as the second oldest.

“I had never thought about coming to the United States,” he said before he ran into a recruitment tent for Tyson Foods (then Illini Beef Packers), enticing him to go to Columbus Junction, where he said he had decided to “go for a year,” vowing to return to his fiancé and later wife of 31 years, Maria. He not only went back for Maria, but went back to work for Tyson for seven years, jumping to a position with Hon Industries in Muscatine for the next eight years.

Salgado started dabbling in selling real estate and rental properties while living in Columbus Junction and, a year later, selling insurance, admitting, ”I didn’t know what I wanted. I was doing a lot of things and none of them real well.” But he worked hard at selling for Farmer’s Insurance for five years before deciding he didn’t want to be limited to just one company, creating his own independent insurance agency where he could sell for dozens of companies, finding the best deal for his clients.

Salgado says he’s put all his other business ventures aside to solely serve his clients and points out he has a lot of pride in finding the right fit for a client and is willing to help them with just about any problem, most of the time free of charge. From helping them fill out a permanent resident application, citizenship paperwork or translating a document, the newest businessman in town says he simply loves to help people.

“I wish I would have had help when I came to America,” Salgado said, noting he was evicted from a home he was renting for a year after being told by his landlord she had sold the home after just five months. “Now, I know better,” he said. “It’s little, but important, things like that I can help people with.”

He said building trust is key to his business, noting he uses a giant monitor that is on display at his desk facing the customers as he works on their orders to insure they understand what they are buying.

Salgado said he’s a proud father of two grown women, both Drake University graduates (the youngest soon to be) who are jockeying toward key business roles, noting they are the first descendants form his family to get college degrees.

“We told them all along they were going to college, no questions asked,” he said, noting both he and his wife (an employee of Hon) have worked hard all their lives, sometimes working two jobs “to pay the bills.”

He said he’s anxious to meet area residents, get involved in the community and learn more and more about West Liberty. While Salgado offers a unique service in providing dual-language opportunities for his clients, his main role is simply to build relationships in the community and is thankful that his landlord, Jose Zacarius, has helped give him that opportunity.

He knows additional help will be needed in the future, hoping to be able to add a dual-language office assistant down the road.

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