| The story of a recovering banker who became 'King of Title'
V ince Cassidy hasn’t been in title insurance long, but he’s already making an impression and being seen as a Trendsetter within the industry.
 “I’m blessed to be able to work with some great talent and to have built a competitive company with a good reputation,” Majesty Title’s “King of Title” said (jokingly referring to himself as King after updating his Linkedin Profile.) “I have good people. I’ve recruited some wonderful folks. They’re all much more seasoned than I am in this business.”
When he opened nine years ago, Vince had one office in New York and one in Tampa, Fla. As the business matured he opened a second office in Tampa.
“A small agency didn’t like what they saw in the future and instead of going it alone, they became part of Majesty in 2014,” Vince said. “That’s what small agents have to consider in 2015 and beyond. Is it worth expending money to be compliant or should they become part of a company like Majesty, where we have undertaken the investment to be compliant. A small agency owner could probably sustain a living being part of a bigger company like Majesty. Or, most likely, they will fold because the expense to be compliant is too exorbitant.”
He doesn’t plan to stop there, either; all future new offices will be geographically around the hub of Tampa, with an emphasis on the west coast of Florida. He intends to have the satellite offices supported by the main office in Tampa for technology, processing and examination. The satellites would focus on closings and relationship management. That’s what Vince says is his role in the company he founded — to develop the strategies and provide the tools to his team.
Vince came into the title insurance industry via JP Morgan Chase.
“I’m a recovering banker,” he said. “I had a 25-year career in the banking industry with JPMorgan Chase. Right after college, I took a week off and went into banking.”
After 25 years and a 4th merger with another bank, Vince had the choice of transferring to Chicago or New York, or leaving the business.
“I was in my mid-40s and I thought that was a great time to see if everything I learned, all those skills they taught me — I was running a $175 million business for them – I wondered if it really applied to running a small business, or was it just big corporate stuff and it just doesn’t transfer,” he said. “It was really a challenge. It was a challenge to see if I was full of it or not.”
Before starting Majesty, he intended to strike out on his own and help a title underwriter achieve efficiencies by merging platforms and integrations – something he had responsibility for in the banking industry. A 20-minute conversation later, though, and he was researching opening a title insurance agency. Although he didn’t know the first thing about title insurance, he researched the industry and became intrigued.
 “It occurred to me the agency model never really evolved,” he said. “There are a lot of smart people in there for a long time without a high dependence on technology. There’s an older set of people in the business, without much youth coming in. There wasn’t a heavy focus on training, marketing or branding.”
He opened Majesty Title on June 26, 2006, and has loved it. He now has three offices and 20 employees.
“If I had known then what I know now, I would have done this a long time ago,” Vince said. “My quality of life is better. I have a better relationship with my family, a better relationship in my community. When I used to work for the bank, I was fortunate to work with good people at a great job, but I didn’t know what I made until one day a year. Now, I know every day. I can make changes quickly. If I see an opportunity to invest, I can do that without waiting for approval from an investment committee to spend $200,000. I’ve never slept better because I surround myself with great folks.”
Even in 2008 when the market crashed, the business didn’t suffer a loss of revenue—in fact it has not had a year without growth. According to Vince, underwriters and agencies were focused on their expenses. Vince was focused on growing “the top line.” He picked up well-seasoned industry professionals and a bulk of business, and many of them are still with Majesty today.
“Culture is very important to my company,” he said. “When I talk to people about joining my company, I tell them you have to fit our culture. If you don’t fit our culture, I don’t care what your resume says or what business you bring. If you affect my culture, you affect 20 other people.”
There are four principles each employee must accept on their first day, he said. The first is “Clients pay our salaries.”
“We work for our clients,” Vince said. “Nobody owns a client here. The attitude is the company owns the client. We all sell and we all service. If we put the client first, we’re going to be fine.”
The second principle is you have to be open to being coached. Vince said the way he wants his clients serviced may not be the way someone else has done it in the past. However, he emphasizes a belief in open, honest and direct communication. He’s willing to be coached, as well as coach his staff.
“The third thing is you can only control your attitude,” he said. “You don’t control the weather. You don’t control your partner. You don’t control the economy. You don’t control title rates. When you come every day with a positive attitude and a passion to execute, we will create excellence.”
The fourth principle is to have fun and enjoy your work.
He said he will do his best to equip his team with the best tools available to succeed. When he came into the title insurance industry, he noticed a lack of technology and wanted to make sure it was embraced at Majesty. He wanted his team to utilize the latest technology to communicate with their clients. He offers online ordering with instant confirmation of title number, real-time order status monitoring and electronic delivery of title commitments.
The company is 100 percent paperless post-closing and records electronically in all counties accepting eRecording. Clients can access their closing documents via a secure server, all files are shredded and the paper is recycled. He made sure his title software integrated with all his lender-clients’ LOS software and he’s connected to several portals.
His client-facing mobile app was built in-house. It was designed as a solution for small lenders who can’t invest in the large portal technology. He said he kept the app in-house to customize it to his needs and keep control over it.
“Companies succeed for one of three reasons in my opinion,” he said. “You either innovate like crazy like Apple; you’re a low-cost provider like Wal-Mart or there’s something intrinsic you focus on that people will pay for. My closing fees are not the lowest. I don’t want to be a low-cost provider. There’s plenty of business out there.”
 Vince also encourages his team to work outside the office in the community and said community is a really big part of the company. Employees can earn vacation time for donating their time as well as blood and platelets. Over the years, Vince has donated more than 50 gallons of blood and platelets and is on the bone marrow registry.
He also sits on the Tampa Hillsborough Expressway Authority, to help the Tampa area address its transportation woes, sits on the Board of Greater Tampa Chamber of Commerce and was one of the founders and currently a board member of GulfShore Bank in Tampa.
In his, limited, free time he and his wife of 33 years like to travel together. They met when they were six hours old, reconnected as teenagers and have been together ever since. They were born in the same hospital and were in the nursery at the same time. He was born late on Nov. 19th and she was born early on Nov. 20th. They have two daughters — one works for Majesty and the other teaches students with special needs.
“I like to talk to executives in transition. These are people that had great jobs and made really good money. Now, all of a sudden they’re not in the job they used to have and they’re trying to figure out what to do,” Vince said. “I tell them there is no security with a W-2. The only security is what you create -- you have to ask yourself that question, ‘Am I really good or is this all fake?’ The ones who believe in themselves build things, the ones who question themselves should look for a W-2.
"If you really are good, there is far less risk in building something, because 99 percent of the people, when put to the challenge of going from corporate to entrepreneur, will say that’s not for them. That should tell you 99 percent of the people will not be your competition.”
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