Local business: former NRL star Ben Creagh new GIO Wollongong owner

Nick and Jen Creagh have sold the GIO Wollongong business to their son, former St George Illawarra Dragons player Ben Creagh. The couple started the GIO insurance business in Fairy Meadow 11 years ago and decided to transition into retiring to spend more time travelling.

For their son Ben, it’s a new challenge. He debuted for the Dragons in 2003 and retired in 2016. But he’s no stranger to leadership, having captained and co-captained for four years, being part of the 2010 NRL premiership winning side, and being a three-time Dragons Player of the Year. He’s also worked as a financial planner in Sydney for many years.

For the next year, Nick and Jen will help Ben transition into his new role as business owner.

Jen shares their story…

Your son Ben is taking over the business and you and your husband Nick are transitioning into retirement. How has that transition come about?

Ben came into the business with the plan of either deciding to take it over or just have a little trial run to see what he thought of it, and he loved it. So at the end of last year, when we were looking to sell the business on, we actually sold it across to Ben. So from October last year, he's taken it on in a full time capacity. And Nick and I have now stepped back and we're working part time for him.

We're sort of transitioning through this time, just slowly easing out. So Nick’s in here three days a week, and I'm in here two days a week, so that's good. And we'll probably continue doing that for the rest of this year.

He’s just put on a new person who's now qualified and authorised to sell the product from this week. She's done all her compliances and courses. She'll now try it out and see if working here is a good fit for her as well.

Later in the year, Ben will look at putting on another person, and then Nick and I will slowly fade away. We’ll probably officially fully retire next year.

It means it’s less stressful for Ben too. He’s got a lot to learn. It takes a few years to get a handle on all aspects of it.

So when did you establish the GIO Wollongong agency in Fairy Meadow?

We started it 11 years ago. We'd been interested in setting it up, so we looked for a good location. They wanted us in Wollongong itself, but at that stage they were doing all the mall renovations and there were parking issues. So we thought Fairy Meadow is a very good option and it’s not too far away. And the local community are very supportive of their local businesses around here.

We rented the premises, and then GIO and Suncorp fitted out the agency. We bought a little parcel of clients just to start us off, so we had a little bit to get going. And then in no time, we were able to build up a good list of clientele over the years.

How far do people travel to visit you in Fairy Meadow?

A lot of people like the face to face, but there are few other insurance companies that have that face to face these days. Back in the early days, you had a couple of agencies who did it. Everyone else, you had to get on the phone with.

When people realised they could actually come in to us and speak to a person, that attracted a lot of people. So they all went out of their way from Kiama to Helensburgh.

A lot of people would pass through. They'd be down here for work from up in Sydney. We always made sure we looked after them, so they were always more than happy to come back down.

What are some memorable moments from throughout its history?

Back in the early days we had conferences with all the other agency owners, because they're all from regional areas. That was always wonderful to get together with our peers and fellow agency principals, and talk about where we do things differently.

We were always learning. Some of them had been running their businesses for many, many years, so we were always keen to soak up any information we could from them. At the two-day conferences you'd get all this feedback and updates on what was happening within the company and then have that social time to really get to know all the other agency owners. Then, if ever we had issues, we'd always be on the phone to each other asking “how did you sort this problem out and what did you do?”. That was probably the nicest part of it, just having that connection and that lovely bond with all the other agents. They were very nice people and all very supportive of each other, which is lovely.

There's always changes happening within the Suncorp group, whether it was technology changes or just rules and regulations changes.

When did Ben come into the business?

We officially employed him about this time last year - February. He's had to do all of his compliances, learn all the program systems and do a lot of training within our programs. They do lots of exercises to learn how to sell the product, because there are a lot of products that we sell. It took about four weeks to go through all of those courses and then he was compliant and authorised to sell the product.

It’s the same with Teresa. She started early February and she’s just finished everything now. So it took her roughly four weeks to get through it all too. And now she's able to start doing some face to face with our customers.

Ben was convinced that, yes, he loved doing this. This is what he'd like to get his teeth into. And we were selling it regardless, because it's a good little business. There were a few other people interested in it within the Suncorp Group. So we knew it would be passed on to good people to take it over and look after our clients. That was an important thing, because we wanted to make sure our clients would be looked after. Ben knew the importance of that. He’s very good with all of our customers here. He loves it.

He’s brought in a lot of technology. He's doing a lot of Facebook and advertising. We're not tech savvy at all. He’s really motivated to grow the business and get it really going.

Was it an easy decision for Ben? He’s had to make some big career decisions during his life, starting from choosing between the Wollongong Hawks NBL side or St George Illawarra Dragons in his younger years. How different was buying the business?

The injuries forced the end of that career. Then he was working up in Sydney and the travel was pretty demanding, especially with a young family.

He was doing financial planning up there. So the timing was right to allow him to be closer to the kids. This just worked out perfectly.

What skills do you think he’s brought into the business from his career in the NRL and his four years in leadership roles as captain and co-captain?

I’ve seen that leadership skill come through just with the training of Teresa. He’s very disciplined, very motivated, and he has a young energy and enthusiasm.

When we bought the GIO Wollongong business over 10 years ago, we were still keen and enthusiastic, but we were at the tail end of our careers. We could have kept it going another five or so years just the two of us. But it’s only ever been the two of us, so we haven’t been able to have holidays and go off and do things. We thought if we leave it too long, we’re going to miss our chance.

What are Ben’s plans for the future of the business?

It’s about bringing in new people, new ideas and expanding the exposure of the business through advertising. He’ll be sponsoring local sports clubs and getting involved in the community a little bit more.

We're just so happy it’s going to a local family and that we were able to pass it onto our son. Not many people are that lucky that their family wants to take over their business. We’re very happy about that.

You can learn more about GIO Wollongong, located two doors down from the One Agency JD Property Agents in Fairy Meadow, by visiting the GIO website or connecting on the GIO Wollongong Facebook page.

To learn more about buying, selling or leasing a property in Fairy Meadow and surrounds, contact Joanne on (02) 4285 7400.

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