Homegrown: Jackson Insurance Group

Oct. 16--TUPELO -- Darnell and Letisha Jackson are partners in life -- and work.

The husband and wife are co-owners of Jackson Insurance Group, which "graduated" last year from an incubator office in the Renasant Center for IDEAs into a larger space downstairs in the building.

"But we're needing more more now," said Darnell. "That's a good problem to have, though."

Jackson Insurance Group sells life and health insurance to individuals, families and business through a variety of companies.

The company got its start in the back of Letisha's mind when she was working as a general insurance agent and Darnell was working as a supervisor at an area manufacturing plant. They started small -- very small.

"Then about two years ago, we got into the incubator office because working from home on the kitchen table wasn't working," she said with a laugh. "Then a year ago, we decided we needed office space where people could come and see us, and we were blessed to be able to move downstairs."

Also among the services Jackson Insurance Group offers is dental and vision insurance, Medicare supplements and retirement planning.

"We also can provide private health insurance to small businesses who want to offer their employees insurance, and we cater to individual clients as well," Letisha said.

"There's no one size that fits all -- we can find the plan that fits them best."

Darnell said their dream years ago was to take their time and let their vision develop. After all, the Great Recession had just begun, and starting a business was the farthest thought from many people's minds.

"We didn't want to be like anybody else, and were willing to wait," he said.

With Letisha's insurance background and Darnell's supervisory experience, they were confident and determined to see their plan come to fruition.

"When we first started out, we had a different name for it, but it didn't click," he said. "We were like, what do we want people to know about us? So we knew we were a team as a husband and wife, and we decided just to call it Jackson Insurance Group. We knew it was like no one else's vision, but it was our vision for who we were and what we wanted to do."

The Jacksons didn't have all the resources they needed at the start, but slowly worked to get what they needed to get the business started. They were willing to make sacrifices to make it work. Both are licensed to sell insurance and continue to pursue continuing education and training courses.

So are the Jacksons where they want to be with their business?

"To be honest, we had a plan set forth, but we realized we need to restructure," Letisha said. "And after about a year, we're where we thought we would be -- even farther than we actually thought."

dennis.seid@journalinc.com Twitter: @dennisseid

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