Lindeman is the face of BP’s R&R Insurance

Jill Lindeman laughs as she runs down her “to-do” list at R&R Insurance Agency in Blooming Prairie.

“I am an agent for everything except for life and health insurance,” she said. “I’m usually the one sitting out front at my desk, because I like to see who’s coming in, to greet you.”

Carl Peterson, who owns R&R Insurance, does the life and health insurance.

Though Lindeman is not licensed in those areas, she can provide quotes, make changes and take payments.

“I also am the IT person, I order the supplies, I vacuum the floors … I don’t know what else,” she laughed.

A 1997 graduate of Blooming Prairie High School, Lindeman has worked for Peterson since January 2012.

“Judy Froman used to work here,” she said, “and I worked at U.S. Bank, which was connected right next door.”

Froman suggested Lindeman apply at the insurance agency; what kept her there for more than a decade is “being available for my kids, who are still in school.”

She and her husband Nathan have two kids, and live just west of town.

Insurance can involve asking difficult questions, “but when you live in the same town as most of these people, you have a little bit of insight on some things – but not all, because Blooming Prairie has changed, too,” Lindeman said.

Though she’s been in the insurance business for nearly 15 years, “I haven’t really decided what I want to be when I grow up,” she laughed.

She enjoys the job, though, especially “just visiting with people – and not necessarily about insurance.”

She and Peterson have discussed the future of the business, and the possibility of her assuming ownership.

It has the potential to be a delicate situation: Her brother, Jay Klemmensen, owns Eagle Prairie Insurance, also in Blooming Prairie.

While they occasionally talk shop, it’s “just about insurance in general,” Lindeman said. “We have different approaches to a lot of different things.”

There are plenty of opportunities to differ, as the insurance business grows ever more complex.

“It’s harder to find companies for placement in different situations, and what you have to cover now versus what isn’t covered, what was covered prior … Insurance has changed a lot,” she said.

R&R Insurance sells personal auto, commercial auto, homes, farms, commercial insurance, crop insurance and more.

Since COVID, dwelling replacement costs have more than doubled, Lindeman said, “so all your expenses have been increased, across the board.”

That means taking things on a case-by-case situation, she said, “and we always have options and can talk things through.”

As people wade through the decisions, Lindeman said she has some firm suggestions.

“Your liability limits to others, you don’t ever want to go with the state minimums” for auto insurance, she said, “because there’s not enough coverage there if you are the one to cause an accident.”

The other thing, Lindeman said, is “we don’t prefer people to go to a policy on their home that doesn’t have replacement cost … because most people couldn’t afford to rebuild something” without it.

The rising prices have prompted more comparison shopping, and helping with big life decisions can bring its own kind of pressure.

“Sometimes I worry whether I have the right options for everyone,” Lindeman said, “but that’s why we have training, and why we have those options.

“Nothing makes me happier than when a customer tells me he trusts me.”