When dad’s the boss

Darrell Cavanaugh had more than supporting his family in mind when he opened his State Farm Insurance business. He wanted them to become a part of it.

After spending 28 years traveling the world as a sales representative for technology companies, Cavanaugh sees a family business as allowing him to focus on the things most important to him.

The firm, which has been in business for six months, sells various forms of insurance under the State Farm logo.

“This is a long-range plan for myself and my family. My motivation is helping people and doing it on a local basis,” Cavanaugh said.

His wife, Debbie, and children Devon, Danielle and Dustin, couldn’t be happier with the idea.

“It’s good to have him home,” Debbie said.

The office is decorated with art pieces made by Lagunans and a custom surfboard carrying the State Farm logo, which gives the office a bit of local color.

The office environment is a new setting for the Cavanaughs to interact as a family, and the transition has been easy.

“There’s strong trust with family; we can speak openly,” Darrell said.

“Thank goodness we’re close. We’ve always been close,” Debbie added.

The Cavanaughs’ oldest daughter, Devon, 25, handles commercial sales for the agency.

“We keep it lively and fun,” she said.

After working in the escrow business, Devon volunteered for her new position.

“Why would I work for someone else down the road when I can work for my Dad,” Devon said.

Sister Danielle, 23, said a sense of stability has been a key advantage to working with her family.

“It’s easy for us to communicate, because we all know each other well,” she said. “Everything works; we all get along.”

For brother Dustin, a 21-year-old marketing major at the University of Arizona, a summer internship with the family firm is a valuable experience.

“I’m learning business while helping out my Dad,” he said.

Tasked with research assignments, Dustin said the fact that he’s working for his family motivates him.

“You don’t have all the stress of working for someone you don’t know,” he said.

The challenges of starting a new business have been shared with mutual support among family members.

“We’re starting from scratch,” Darrell said. “We never expected this was going to be easy.”

A former basketball player at the University of Nevada at Las Vegas, Darrell has maintained his drive to succeed.

He is the president-elect of the Monarch Beach Rotary Club, on the board of directors for the Laguna Outreach for Community Arts, co-chair of the Ambassador’s Laguna Beach Chamber of Commerce and an affiliate member of the Laguna Beach Board of Realtors.

Darrell sees his new business as something that could outlive him.

“I may do this another 20 years, but the children could keep this going for 50 years,” he said. cpt.16-statefarm-CPhotoInfo0T1S07GV20060616j0vh86ncDON LEACH / COASTLINE PILOT(LA)The Cavanaugh family, left to right, Debbie, Devon, Darrell, Dustin, Danielle and granddaughter Elliot, gather in the conference room of Darrell’s State Farm Insurance office in Laguna.