Ep. 562 Getting to Know Your Rancho Mesa Family: John Turner

President of Rancho Mesa Insurance, David Garcia, interviews Assistant Client Manager, John Turner, on his upbringing, personal life, and professional career.

Show Notes: ⁠⁠⁠⁠Subscribe to Rancho Mesa's Newsletter⁠⁠⁠⁠

Host: ⁠⁠⁠⁠David Garcia

Guest: John Turner

Editor: ⁠⁠⁠⁠Jadyn Brandt

Music: "Home" by JHS Pedals, “Breaking News Intro” by nem0production

© Copyright 2025. Rancho Mesa Insurance Services, Inc. All rights reserved.

Transcript

Dave Garcia: Hi, you're listening to Rancho Mesa’s StudioOne™ podcast, where each week we breakdown complex insurance and safety topics to help your business thrive. I'm your host, Dave Garcia, and today I'm joined by John Turner, an Assistant Client Manager here at Rancho Mesa in our Construction Group. John, welcome to the show.

John Turner: Thank you.

DG: All right, John, so let's just jump into this, all right. Where did you grow up, John?

JT: I grew up in San Diego, California. I'm a fourth generation San Diego.

DG: No kidding.

JT: Yes.

DG: There's not too many families that can say that.

JT: Only a handful. Yeah.

DG: How did your original fourth generation family, was it military or what got them to San Diego?

JT: There was, over 100 years ago, there was, about 100 years ago, there was a flood in New Orleans that, you know, that took out most of the city. And so they took a train out west and then end up out here though and in Logan, built some property, built their own houses and everything.

DG: That's awesome. I love how you said New Orleans. How did you say that again?

JT: New Orleans.

DG: Yeah. Okay, cool. So you grew up in San Diego. What high school did you go to?

JT: St. Augustine Catholic High School.

DG: Okay, so you're a saintsman, right?

JT: I am. Through and through. Very much so.

DG: Yeah, for life, I know. I know a lot of other saintsmen. They absolutely, they're saintsmen for life. So during your high school years, what types of things did you participate in high school?

JT: I was a lineman, you know, for JV and for varsity football. I was also the, believe it or not, captain of the track and field team or the field part where I did discus and shotput. I was a peer counselor for a couple years and I was a junior class president before I became the vice president uh of the whole school for ASB.

DG: Wow that's really impressive.

JT: And then a little bit of drama on the side just doing some poetry reading some Shakespeare stuff.

DG: Wow so you were a busy guy in high school, sounds like.

JT: Yeah, very much. Oh, yeah. I was doing 12 -hour days at the school. We'd get to the gym at 6, believe it or not. And then I wouldn't even leave until like 6 p.m.

DG: That's awesome. I love that. So outside of work, what do you like to do?

JT: Well, when I'm not with the family, what I like to do is play around in the kitchen and then also do a little bit of bartending on the side for people. And then also work on my you know my ‘73 Roadrunner. I’m pretty much done restoring.

DG: Yeah no kidding, so you're actually able to do the work on the roadrunner yourself?

JT: Youtube, yeah.

DG: You know I can't, I have a difficult time like nailing a nail so to somebody that can build a car is pretty impressive. So do you have any other hidden talents John?

JT: If I look at your spice cabinet, I could probably make a cocktail for you just the way you'd like just by looking at your spice cabinet.

DG: Really?

JT: Yeah. I can tell your favorite profile, though, just based off of COVID was long. So I took like a hospitality course and part of the hospitality tour of course to increase my customer service skills, though, was a whole bartending course. And so I can look at your spice cabinet and design a cocktail just for you.

DG: No kidding. Well, we may have to take you up on that one day.

So when you and the family get a chance to get away, do you have any, like, favorite vacation spots?

JT: Going to, New Orleans would be nice. You know, when time affords it, but overseas, those, Lisbon, Portugal, that was probably like my third favorite place on Earth. It's just beautiful. It's just a big, giant Point Loma.

DG: Really?

JT: That's the best way to describe it, but cheaper.

DG: What made you go to there in the first place?

JT: We, I went, we were going, we were doing the whole European thing. And so we had gone to France for the holidays and went to London and then we like, we're in like Portugal, Lisbon. And it was just, you know, my wife just suggested though. And it was just, it's a beautiful, beautiful. Everyone's so friendly. Everyone's really. Everyone, you know. And so no one was looking to me funny at all. Everyone was just like, yeah.

DG: Do you speak any languages?

JT: I used, when I used to work in China, I learned Chinese a little bit, though, but that was like almost like 20 years ago. I know enough T.J. style of Spanish. I know, I know good English and I know bad English.

DG: Okay, well, you just teed me up here. You know, you worked in China.

JT: Yeah, I was underneath the, I was working for the embassy, though I was teaching embassy employees’ children you know a lot of different you know games things like that and also it was a lot of international delegates from other countries so they asked me to teach them English over I want to say that was in 2006 I did that from about May till I want to say September I was in Beijing.

DG: What was that like?

JT: It was different. China was a lot different like then. I mean, that was the only time I felt like a rich person at the time. It was like, you know, one American dollar to eight of theirs. And so, you know, we had like a driver and like all the meals were like, were underneath like $2. And it was good. There was some hardworking people. That was a good time.

DG: Wow. I mean, we're not even begun hardly here, John, and I'm already like, wow, I've learned so much about you. This is really awesome. And I'm about to ask a question that you may have already answered, but what's something about yourself that most people don't know?

JT: Let's see. Some of the people that don't know, that I and very good in the kitchen, me and my wife. I think I really would say I can probably make you whatever you'd like. Obviously food allergy, though, but I'll still figure it out. And I think I've mastered a chocolate chip cookie. I think no one else probably in the Western Hemisphere can make a chocolate chip cookie better than me and my family. Like me and my wife, we like make our chocolate chips. We're very specific. We smoke our butter. We smoke our salt. Yeah, it's a very almost like religious practice that we do like once a year.

DG: Okay, what, you know, Jadyn over here is producing this. You know where we're going with this, Jadyn, right? We're going to have to taste some of these chocolate chip cookies at some point, John.

JT: Well, see, after my, after my full probation period is done, maybe we can talk about it.

DG: There you go. There you go. So who's been some of the most influential people in your life?

JT: One would probably be my Scoutmaster, probably when I was like younger, Scoutmaster Stanley, who was now a deacon, and he really taught me a lot about, you know, take me out in the middle of the woods and just say, hey, figure it out. So that really helped me a lot in terms of knowing about self -reliance. And then another big influence would probably be Simon Seek. He's kind of like a social media kind of like positive type of guy who really talking about the “five whys”, which is a really good way to like live your life and just really, just in general though, the thing is one of the foundations of the Sigma 6. So I would say, yeah, those are probably the biggest influences in my life.

DG: That's cool. And through all that, what's one of the best pieces of advice anybody's ever giving you?

JT: Yeah, that would be like I heard from Simon Seek, if you ask the question, for any problem you have, if you ask the question “why?” five times in a row. So the best way I say is like if something, if there's an issue, if you ask, well, why did that happen? And then you ask it again like, well, why did that happen? And if you do that five times in a row, you will get to the source of, you know, whatever, you know, ailment there may be. And I come up with a solution, though. So I really will use that, though, when I feel like I'm in a bind.

DG: Yeah. Wow. Do you use that technique on your wife? Because I could see her saying, John, if you ask me another question.

JT: No. My wife doesn't do anything wrong. And she is wonderful. And I thank God every day for sending that angel to me.

DG: Perfect. Great answer, John. Yeah, exactly. So if you could like magic wand and instantly learn a new skill, like what's something you'd love to be able to do that you can't currently do?

JT: I would guess that would be healing you know I mean somehow like healing people like maybe like something like medical though that could just quickly be able to be--like not like be like a surgeon--but if

I could if someone had a kind of cut and I could just magically stitch it real quickly just you know fix someone medically like right away like just like almost like EMT that would be kind of cool.

DG: You know, for me, it's like my cabinet's so empty of things that I can do. So the, what would I like to do is a big list. I'd like to sing. I can't sing. I'd like to be able to play an instrument. Can't play an instrument. I like to cook. Can't cook. I'd like to be mechanical. I'm not mechanical. So, John, you're pretty complete as a person, you know, like when you're trying to, like, heal people, that's pretty good. That's so far down my list of the basics. So, glad to hear. If I know if I need something, I'm coming to you for sure.

So if you weren't working in insurance, what do you think, what career path do you think you'd be on?

JT: I would probably be, if I wasn't insurance, I'd probably be in law. I mean, I went to law school for a few years before my grandmother, my mother got sick. That made me drop out of like law school. So, if I wasn't insurance, I probably would have probably kept pursuing that.

DG: Yeah, you just seem like somebody that's always on a quest to learn.

JT: I'm trying.

DG: Yeah, I think that's really admirable. So tell the audience, John, how long have you been with Rancho Mason now?

JT: I've been with Rancho Mesa since August of 2025. Yeah, so a few months.

DG: So you're relatively new. And what motivated you to join Rancho Mesa?

JT: I really like the culture of here of like it's you know we do a lot of like high-end accounts but because of the team network they have set up makes the stress of this industry a lot more reduced I do like how it's while you're on the clock you're going to work hard but once your shift is over Kim wants you out of here she doesn't want you spending your Saturdays and being here missing dinner with the family and I really do like how the you know the folks above me though do care about the individual and their well-being along almost you know if not even like more than they do the named insured yeah it's just like take care of the employee and the employee will take care of the named insured and I do like that philosophy.

DG: That's great I'm really pleased to hear that. What are one or two areas of your role that you really enjoy?

JT: One of my two areas of the role is interacting with both, you know, our client coordinators, Sean and Amy, the fact that I have like a team to work with, not all the weight is just on one person. And that we're doing everything as a team effort makes things so much easier from what I'm used to when it's kind of like, even when I had other agencies though, like I, you know, had an account manager though, but I really didn't feel like I was doing things on my own. I feel like most of the things I do, even from doing just a COI, it's a whole team effort. I love the network of, you know, of, you know, companions we have together to get a task done. I really do like that a lot.

DG: So, you know, John, we really encourage people here to extend themselves and try to grow within their roles and responsibilities. So in light of that, what areas are you looking to grow your career here and within your group, the construction group, or have you set your sights on anything? You're an assistant client manager right now in the construction group. So what are some of your career aspirations?

JT: Well, I am on the pathway to be an account manager, though. Like as we grow more, like on a risk management field, that would be something I would like to come across. I do have My ARM designation, I do have an associates in risk management, and being able to utilize that more for the agency, though, would be, you know, would be nice, though, because I would be able to learn a lot more and be, you know, it was more really interesting.

You know, a lot more responsibility, but I think you'd be a little more creative in helping out the clients.

DG: Yeah, it sounds like with your background, you know, you’re somebody who has challenged yourself from high school on. And we're looking for that here. You know, as an agency, we're growing, creates more opportunities. And as you transition into that client manager role, then you're now the team lead for the assistant client manager, client coordinator. And, you know, I know you'll be a great, do a great job of coaching them up.

So here's a question I always like to ask. And it's, granted, you've only been here since August, so it's pretty new for you to answer this. But if you were to be out Saturday afternoon with your wife and you run into somebody and they asked you where you worked and you said Rancho Mesa, and they said, well, what is Rancho Mesa? How would you describe Rancho Mesa to a total stranger?

JT: Rancho Mesa is a company to me that definitely puts the client at ease when it comes to dealing with this whole insurance rigmarole. It's tough. You know, it is a finance industry and it could be a stress to know that if something was to happen to your business, that to be relieved that Rancho Mesa will come in and get you squared away. Not just that, they will also prepare you, you know, and kind of help you avoid ahead of time. You know, like that's the best one thing I do like about, especially like with the, with your producers, though, they're really being advocating for the clients and preparing themselves for, to, to avoid risk, you know, as soon as possible, though, you know, with that, you know, having people, you know, stretch on like the, on the, on the, on the job site, though, I've never heard of that.

I've been in other, it's, I've never heard of things like that. Like, the things you guys suggest for your clients are, are really good to help avoid rest, though. So I like you guys are pioneers when it comes to that.

DG: Yeah. So one of my goals, John, is our culture, as you probably know. And it's a culture when Char and I started the company, it's really, really important to us. You mentioned it a little bit with, you know, Kim's attitude about, hey, you know, when you're here, we expect you to work, but we don't expect you to work all night long and all weekends and things like that. So if you, just from what you've seen so far in three words, how would you describe, how would you describe Ranch Mesa's culture? What three words come to mind when you, when we ask that question?

JT: Enthusiastic, patient, and teamwork, if I can say. I know that one, I know that one's not about, so

there's really big on the teamwork is, I mean, we have a coach. We have, you know, we have our catcher. We have our, we have our pitcher. I mean, we have, it's a whole, we have like all the bases covered. You know, when that ball is thrown, everyone is just on point, ready to go. That's how I think. You know, the squad operates.

DG: Yeah. I love all your sports analogies. I'm a sports guy, as you know, our conference room is called the clubhouse and the other one's called The Dugout. So, yeah, we're very much into sports. So, John, we're going to be wrapping up here. We've asked you a lot of questions, find a lot of really interesting things. Is there something else you want to talk about or share before we close out today?

JT: I'm really grateful for the opportunity to speak with you today just and be working with these great people. Also, a side note, I do love how I get to go out on walks with all the young folk, how during our break, we all get out and walk. I don't know why. That's like one of my favorite parts of my day. I know it may sound funny, but just going out and just walk in the, you know, like the courtyard with everyone. I'm about a half mile every day out.

DG: You know, it's funny. I'm pleased to hear you say that. You know, that started probably now about eight or nine years ago. And originally it was called the seventh inning stretch. And that's how we just felt like, okay, you know, as we're growing as a company, it's important to interact with different groups of people that you're not working with side by side and um that has it's stuck you know and it's nice to get out of the office and it's uh we we're our offices are located it's a beautiful area without traffic you know so you can get out get in the sunshine walk chat with people get to know them a little bit better so I do think that that is a pretty cool thing and I will admit it was not my idea. But I'm all for it and it's, I know it's good because it's stuck. You know, people aren't tired of it. So I'm glad to hear you say that anything else, John, before we close out today
JT: No, I'm really, that's all I think I would like for now. I'm just looking forward to, you know, how years to come and everything is going to go and how I grow here with everyone.

DG: Yes. Well, we love having you here, John. I really appreciate you stepping out today and talking with me. I always, you know, I've talked to a lot of our people, some that have been here for 10, 15 years, and I always find out something that I thought I should have known that I didn't know. So, John, I've got a long list of things, starting with these chocolate chip cookies that we're going to catch it. So, John, I just want to thank you again for joining me in StudioOne today and choosing Rancho Mesa for your career.

JT: Thank you. I'm grateful. Thank you.

DG: And thanks for tuning in to our latest episode produced by StudioOne. If you enjoyed what you heard, please share this episode and subscribe. For more insights like this, visit us at RanchoMesa.com and subscribe to our weekly newsletter.