Insurance guru turns bad experience into thriving business

Serial entrepreneur Steve Herrig has made millions mostly by being in businesses in and around insurance for some 35 years. He started his career — after a short stint painting houses — selling insurance in his early 20s.

But back in the mid-2000s, when he ran a human resources outsourcing entity in Sarasota and Manatee counties, one side of the industry specifically irked him: insurance. His peeve was over firms that underwrote and provided workers' compensation insurance for Herrig’s sector, professional employer organizations.