INTERVIEW How VICKI GUNVALSON balances a thriving life insurance business with being outrageous on The Real Housewives Of Orange County. 12 InsuranceNewsNet Magazine » February 2019 THE SELF-MADE, REAL HOUSEWIFE OF ORANGE COUNTY INTERVIEW icki Wolfsmith was a At the time of our interview, the latest money and in order for me to do that I 28-year-old single mother controversy from the show stemmed from needed to stay focused and do what I do of two children, working Gunvalson’s accusation that fellow cast best. So many people were just fine taking as a self-taught bookkeeper member Kelly Dodd was using cocaine. care of what they were doing. for her father’s construc- Not for the first time, rumors swirled that I was raised very privileged. My father tion business outside Chicago. Gunvalson might be fired from the show, was very successful. So I wanted that for She described herself as a child of privi- but then again, she has been stirring the my children and I wasn’t going to wait Vlege who had few options in her life at that pot for 13 seasons. for a man to give it to me. Which is dif- point. But when she talked with a friend In this conversation with Publisher ferent than a lot of the women on the about her life as an insurance agent, a Paul Feldman, Gunvalson revealed why Housewives. A lot of the women have door opened. she is so driven and how she deals with acquired their wealth from their men and She went through that door with noth- the Vicki haters of the world. there’s a cost for that. ing but tenacity and it led her all the way I want to control my own paycheck. I to becoming Vicki Gunvalson, the vil- FELDMAN: What got you into the want to have full control of what I do and lainous vixen of The Real Housewives Of business? therefore I can go to bed at night know- Orange County. ing that I’m never going to be dependent In fact, she calls herself the OG of the GUNVALSON: I had a girlfriend sell me upon a man ever. And I think that’s what OC because she is the only original cast life insurance on my soon-to-be ex-hus- my viewers have really liked about watch- member still on the show 13 years after its band and I asked her how much money ing me, as I do own my own home and debut. And through it all, she has main- she made on it. She told me $600 and I I do like nice trips and I do give back to tained a life insurance and retirement was floored because it took me two weeks my community and I have raised my kids planning practice, Coto Insurance and to make $600 doing the accounting at my with no college debt. Financial Services in Southern California. dad’s construction company. So, it’s been a great example for people Gunvalson now has a staff of 12 in her She said they were always hiring at who do want to work hard. You can do it office and about 30 agents in the field. Western & Southern Life in Elmhurst, Ill., all. You can make dinner for your family Although her agency provides an array and so I went over there. every night. You can have everything — I just stay focused on being true, being ethical, being a good advisor for retirement planning and doing the right thing. When you do the right thing, the right thing does you... of services, such as Medicare products, They told me what I needed to do to you just have to learn to work for it, right? health and life insurance, she personally get licensed. I did it and I became the first sells fixed indexed annuities. woman agent who was hitting the num- FELDMAN: How are you getting leads? At 56, she is still driven even after bers out of the park every single month. Do you get leads from the show? building an agency and surviving the I didn’t understand why these people crazy life of a reality TV show. When we weren’t working hard. They were satisfied GUNVALSON: No, I do sit-down dinners. spoke with her, she was filling in for two with $40,000 a year in the early ’90s. I I do a 10,000-piece mailer and from there employees at the height of health insur- used to make $50,000 or $60,000. I do a dinner and a presentation and I get ance open enrollment season and still It was exciting that I didn’t have some- leads. The Housewives show, depending made time for an interview. body telling me what my paycheck was upon on what episode we’re in, can be re- Her next step is franchising her prac- going to be. I could take care of it myself ally good or it can be really bad. tice to duplicate the practice. She finds and that’s what set me outside the realm I just stay focused on being true, being it difficult to recruit people as driven as of being a normal advisor. ethical, being a good advisor for retire- she is, but she is a rare person who can ment planning and doing the right thing. balance the demands of a network TV FELDMAN: What motivated you early When you do the right thing, the right reality show, while serving clients, man- on? thing does you — my father told me that aging a growing business and doing all of a long, long time ago. And I like what I do that well. GUNVALSON: I needed to make a lot of and I’m really good at it. February 2019 » InsuranceNewsNet Magazine 13 INTERVIEW THE SELF-MADE, REAL HOUSEWIFE OF ORANGE COUNTY DailyCeleb.com/Sipa USA/Newscom DailyCeleb.com/Sipa I stay focused and I’m not distracted by the Housewives or personal things. I don’t show up for work on that. I have a stack of clients right now, prob- ably 50, that I have to get to right now because they’re waiting for me. And that makes it feel like a sense of responsibility and I’ve got to stay in focus. FELDMAN: How many seminars are you doing? GUNVALSON: We have done two or more per month for the past 13 years. FELDMAN: A lot of people would be surprised that, at your level of ce- lebrity and business, you are doing seminars. GUNVALSON: I know, I know, but I do it because the fixed indexed annuity isn’t residual. So I have to work as hard every year as I did the previous year. FELDMAN: FIAs have had a bit of con- troversy about them. What do you think about that? Kelly Dodd, Vicki Gunvalson, Meghan King Edmonds, Shannon Beador, GUNVALSON: We don’t have any con- Heather Dubrow at the “The Real Housewives of Orange County” troversy with fixed indexed annuities. Premiere Party and 10 Year Celebration, in Los Angeles. When you design the right one and it’s an increasing one that helps with inflation, there is no controversy. It is what it is. You coming in because they need help with edited and what the last episode was. But put the money in and it gives you an in- their retirement. I think for the most part it’s giving me come stream. We vet them out. And if we can see brand recognition. And I know people It’s just like a pension. When they take that they’re there for a free dinner or to know me from that, whether it’s good or the word “annuity” out of their brain and meet me, then we ask them to leave or we bad. I think it’s good but I was successful put in the word “pension,” most people escort them out. If they can’t afford a din- before the show, so I don’t know where it who retire understand that. ner, then they are not going to be a client would’ve been. I love what Tom Hegna says, “The hap- of mine. piest people in retirement are the ones FELDMAN: You have a huge audience who have income, not assets.” Bingo! FELDMAN: How much are you doing of people who either love you or hate That’s what I tell my clients. I have been in annuities now? you from week to week. Some of it telling them for 12 years that when you can be pretty awful. How do you deal have income in retirement, increasing GUNVALSON: I’ll close about $15 mil- with it? lifetime income, you will be happier than lion this year [2018]. And that’s work for the person who own apartment buildings. six months — so that’s pretty good. I don’t GUNVALSON: I don’t care about the It’s like a light bulb goes on when you work November to February and I don’t haters because they’re behind a computer tell them you’re going to give them life- work when I’m filming. I have to work and they don’t bother me. time guaranteed income. That they’ll around my filming schedule. It’s a lot, so If somebody hates me to my face, I’m never run out of money. I’m stressed out all the time. going to ask, what did I do wrong? How did I hurt you? I am sorry, but for the peo- FELDMAN: Are you getting people in FELDMAN: Has the Real Housewives ple who watch me on a TV show thinking the door because you’re a celebrity show helped you with business or has they know me, they don’t know me.