COVER STORY
'why' home & family
"MY FAMILY IS MY
"
Courtney Jacobs owns a business, but she’s a wife and mother first
BY JENNIFER GENTILE
Short-term sacrifices have started paying off for mompreneur Courtney Jacobs. Time has been the biggest concession for the wife, mom of two and owner of IDR Agency as she launched her Biloxibased insurance firm. “Two years in, I have figured out how to obtain a healthy balance, but prior, it was hard,” Jacobs admits. “When working hard to build your business from scratch, every second counts.” Life since starting IDR has been “hectic” and “nonstop,” but Jacobs says she wouldn’t change a thing. Above all, she’s determined to show her children and future grandchildren that they aren’t limited by their environment or societal pressures. “We can be and do whatever we choose to,” she says. “It just takes work and strategy.” Juggling various life roles also requires consistent support, which Jacobs has in her husband, Bryan. “He picks up a lot of the pieces when I cannot be in multiple places at one time,” she says. “We make an amazing team.”
LIVING THE GOLDEN RULE
Personally and professionally, Jacobs’s life philosophy has served her well: Be a good person, and treat others how you
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February 2021
would want to be treated. Insurance can be “confusing” and “foreign,” she says, so her aim is to make it accessible and understandable. “There is a need for good people with honest practices in the industry, and I figured why not me?” she says. “I have always wanted to help people, so I am here to help with their insurance needs and questions.” Before opening IDR, Jacobs worked in financial services in several roles. She also remains a part-time member of the Air National Guard with 11.5 years of service to date. A genuine love of people underpins everything she does. “I sincerely care; this is what makes my business different,” Jacobs says. “My family is my ‘why,’ and I will continue to make them proud.” First and foremost, Jacobs says, she is a wife and mother — and she appreciates the gravity of those roles. “There are two little beings that think the world of me no matter my flaws or shortcomings, and I am the mirror they see life through,” she says. “It brings me much joy to witness their learning and innocence.” What kind of example does she strive to reflect for Carsyn, 6 and Bryan Jr. 3? “Get that degree. Start your business. Learn that trade. Do not be afraid to do what makes you happy.”
