Arco Insurance moves to a new location, although the building is much older than the one on 7th Ave. It was located on what is now the Staples Center Parking Lot. Dad continues to see growth, now exclusively focusing on Commercial Clientele.

Working at Bragg Crane, in Paramount Calif, I was changing the oil on a Peterbilt. It was raining, the drain was plugged, I had water up to my chest while laying on a creeper underneath the big-rig. Because of the dripping water and warm oil, the 5-gallon oil filter slips from my hands, drenching my clothes, head & face with warm oil, mixed with water. While watching the oil and water continue to drip onto my glasses and face, I said to myself, “I’m not going to do this the rest of my life.” I pull myself out from underneath the Peterbilt, tell my manager that I quit. I drive home on a torn-up blanket in my 1969 Plymouth Roadrunner. Arriving at my $85.00 per month apartment in Anaheim; unemployed. In retrospect, this was one of the largest life changing decisions I have ever made.

On January 26, 1981, while watching the Super Bowl between the Philadelphia Eagles and Oakland Raiders, Dad suffers a massive heart attack. It catapults myself into the driver’s seat of the Agency with only 7 years of experience.

The defibrillator paddles were introduced earlier that year, saving Dad’s life. On the way to the hospital the Paramedic turns to me and states, “Your Dad is one tough SOB. It’s nice to save one once in a while.” They worked on him for 45 minutes until he could be moved. After recovery, Dad lives a very energetic 21 additional years.

With Dad out, I have to do the financial work plus run the office, continue the marketing, work on new & renewal business, visit clients, & help our 2 employees. The books were computed by “Safecom”, out of Seattle WA. I learned to tear the paper invoices apart, the pink copies were stapled together, mailed to “Safecom”, the yellow copies we kept. Check stubs the same way. Journal Entries were put on a JE sheet and that was included. After mailing, it took 2 to 3 weeks for the General Ledger and reports to come back. Then I would manually reconcile them to the previous month’s reports, comparing them to the Agencies General Ledger.

Gordon Biles, an agent that worked at Arco, was Dad’s friend and he saved my butt. I would call him with my questions, sometimes 3 or 4 times per week. He knew the answers and was very patient with me. He guided me through it all until Dad came back, about 9 months later. Gordon was a lifesaver.

Payroll was computed manually. The Feds gave the Agency a small, perforated coupon book with round circles on it. I would fill in the circles, like a ballot, take the percentage of that individual tax, then subtract it from the Gross Payroll amount due the employee. Each tax had a separate percentage and circle. I would then type a check payable to the Bank, take the check and the perforated Fed Tax form and deposit it into the Bank. Every employee’s payroll was completed this way twice per month. My weekends disappeared; 50–60-hour weeks were the norm until Dad returned at the end of the year to take this over…but I learned the business side of the Agency. It was hard.

Before Dad recovers and comes back to work, I lose Dad’s 4 largest accounts: Cochran Izant, Western Security, International Wallboard and National Dyeing Incorporated. Being tied up in knots over these huge losses, I confess the bad news to Dad, while still in the hospital. Dad makes this classic comment. “Well, son, are the lights still on?” “Sure” “Are you making payroll?” “Yep” “Do you have enough to pay the bills?” “Of course,” “Well, Hell son. What’s the problem? Don’t worry about it, we’ll make it back!” I laugh….

Dad recovers and returns to handle the financial items, explained above, while I lead the Agency into a new and exciting era. Focusing on niche marketing; initially targeting Pharmacies, Printers, Silk Screeners & Embroidery. It works pretty good, I start writing a ton of new business, while obtaining new carrier appointments.

The Agency is growing, Re/Max accounts are opening across the State; the Real Estate boom has started in earnest.

I travel the width & breadth of Calif from 1984 until the bust in 2009; 25 years. I take my daughter, Julie, with me for 5 of those years. We write hundreds of Real Estate offices, employing tens of thousands of RE agents. It is the most rewarding niche I ever found. I was invited to many Re/Max social events. The highlight was the National Re/Max Annual meeting in San Francisco, in the early 1990’s I think. One of my long-time clients, Re/Max Valencia, obtained the largest RE/MAX volume award in the Nation. It’s true, and they announced my name from the pulpit as their Insurance Broker. I was stunned to hear that from the last row in the room.

Computers are new and the Agency invests in its first program, Redshaw. It reduces the time to issue Certs, typewriters, white-out and carbon paper are finally thrown away. I have to come into the office every Saturday to do a 2.5 hour backup of the computer system.

Around this period of time, the manual payroll process was eliminated by outsourcing all payroll to a payroll service that computes the tax percentages and sends the Agency paper evidence. Saves me countless hours every month. Our first payroll company is ADP. ADP sends a monthly report, which is imputed into the computer.

Redshaw soon burns out from lack of memory and is overwhelmed. I travel to Coeur d’Alene Idaho and after testing it, purchase Agency One Software, replacing Redshaw.

Pacific National, purchased by Highland Insurance a few years earlier, files for Bankruptcy & liquidates. They issue 60-day notices of cancellation on 2.5 million in premium. I contact every major carrier to replace Highland. Luckily, Hartford appoints me. I manually move the 2.5 million in premium, the last account being bound only 15 days before the 60-day cancellation date arrives. That was a close one.

Not really understanding why, I start purchasing Non-Resident Licenses in all states with the carriers we have appointments with. It will be a life saver within a decade.

Outgrowing the condo in Laguna Hills, the Agency moves into a newly constructed office Building on Bake Blvd, in Lake Forest, Calif. It is 5,000 sq ft; one story.

Agency One burns out. After careful consideration, I decide to design my own Agency Management Software System. I call it “Hunter”. It’s a huge undertaking, but the results are worth it. In 2 years it is up and running, all client data is stored in house and is used extensively until 2023.

The Re/Max real estate industry has peaked and is leveling off.

The economic recession kills the Re/Max program overnight as the housing market implodes. Re/Max offices across the state either close, file BK, or just go broke. 75% of all licensed RE agents in Calif cancel their licenses. It’s epic. In response, I start another niche marketing program, Home Medical Equipment Dealers, or HME. We go Nationwide with it. Now the Non-Resident Licenses come into play, which are ready to go.  Wade Millward, my youngest son, starts with the Agency. Conventions are now a yearly item, but on a Nationwide basis. Instead of Long Beach & Anaheim, we go to Atlanta, Las Vegas, etc.

Due to the poor California economic and political climate, I decide to move the office to Highland, Utah. The Calif Corp is dissolved, the HME program is taking off, sales are coming back.

I finalize construction on the new 10,000 office building in Highland, Utah. With space to grow, we establish ourselves in the new area, writing other Nationwide niche programs to diversify.

Growth reaches new levels, new carrier appointments are made, volume increases. The move to Utah was pivotal in reducing operating expenses and improving the bottom line. We go paperless and sell all of our 15-5 drawer file cabinets. I don’t know if I’m happy with that decision or not.

Wade decides to branch off on his own, leaving the Agency. The Hunter Management System needs to be reprogrammed, so I start the process all over again. I’m not looking forward to it. I start with the Accounting portion first. Business is showing steady growth due to the different nationwide niche programs Adam has developed.

Adam is appointed CFO, obtaining many new carrier appointments and designing new Niche marketing programs. I concentrate on the Agencies finances, as my father did before me. Adam is now handling the day-to-day operation of the Agency, a 3rd Generation Millward. What a ride this has been!

Now my son, Adam, is running the Agency; I’m doing the Finances. I look back and think that many decades ago; the situation was reversed with my Father doing what I do now. 

Time flies, as seconds turn into minutes, hours into days, weeks, then years; life shortens with every breath we take. 

When I started in 1974, selling and servicing our Insurance clientele, nothing had dramatically changed, other than the contracts themselves, since INA wrote the first Ocean Marine policy in America, circa 1799. The typewriter, telegraph and  phone were invented, but the paper processes had remained the same. 

When Dad started in 1947, the processes basically remained unchanged until he retired in 1987; that’s 40 years! Typewriters, phones, whiteout, carbon paper, paper policies received and sent, had remained the same. However, since 1974, the Insurance Industry has changed more than it did in the previous 200 years; by far.

After Dad had worked 40 hard years, thinking of learning new technology, including Computers, Software, Auto Computer Quoting, Fax Machines? Forget it.  He was done. Time to get out while the time is right; and he did. 

My situation was different. The changes hit me right in the face, in the middle of my career. I had no choice, I had to change and absorb it, like it or not. 

Electronic computers came into being, phones went digital. Fax Machines, Computerized Accounting & Management Systems Software? All paper copies of policy documents went electronic. What? It was hard to understand what Email was, let alone the staggering array of technological advancements that never seemed to cease. Individuals growing up in this new era do not understand how hard it really was…

For the first time in history, paper files were destroyed for electronic. White out, carbon paper, typewriters, all gone. Snail Mail is replaced by electronic ACH Bank Deposits and Checks. 

Policies are not mailed, but electronically sent via email to Clients and Agencies. All client data is stored now in the “cloud” but TMA still have copies on our server at work, but that is rare. 

When calling Carriers, you have to go through a multitude of artificial answering devices to talk to an underwriter. Its nuts…and it has gone too far. Clients and Agents still like to talk to real people, that know what they are doing. 

What will be the changes in another 50 years? Who knows? It could remain the same with improvements; or other systems will be invented that make this comparison look like childs play. Maybe it will reverse and the advantage of paper over digital/electronic will come back? 

But the one thing I have noticed is the Baby Boom generation has seen the most unrelenting, continuous upheaval in change in the Insurance Industry since it started in America.  At times it stretched the ability of understanding. Was it good or bad? Probably a little of both. 

With this missive, I bid you goodbye, wishing the best for those that pass after me. May your involvement in the Insurance Industry be as rewarding, difficult and productive as it has been for me.  

I fare thee well, as you continue to work in this fascinating industry! But always remember;