Need Help!! Just Starting, What to Expect!?!

[LGilmore]

tresden,
Anything's possible both good and bad. Your odds are much less than 10% for what you're shooting for. Your confidence is great, but there's a fine line between confidence and stupidity.

So much is going to depend on what markets you can enter and find success. Is it possible? Yes. Is it possible to win powerball? yes.

Good luck man. Your story and your mindset isn't new to anybody here. Everyone wishes you the best, but understand your story isn't special. The odds are far worse than 10%. The reference to 10% is the percentage still in the business a few years after starting.

This is both the best and worst business in the world, just depends on what time, day or hour it is.

 

[Tresden]

What would you guys have to say about Unum? There is another opportunity for me to work selling disability insurance to companies going through brokers. Is there any differences in this field or is it the same game?

 

[Josh]

What would you guys have to say about Unum? There is another opportunity for me to work selling disability insurance to companies going through brokers. Is there any differences in this field or is it the same game?

There are differences, but there is nothing you're going to run into that is much better than that Lilly deal. If you can get $50k/year as a w-2, with benefits and expenses, before you even get to commissions you'd have to make $70k-$80k as a 1099 just to match that, let alone if you'd actually sell something and make commissions. Odds are Lilly will train you if they're going to lay out that kind of coin, so you might as well milk that for all it's worth.

You ever watch deal or no deal and see some moron walk away from $135k to go after the million, then end up going home with less than $1,000? Well, you might be punching yourself in the face by not just taking the nice stable job offer.

Let me be this direct: You'd be an absolute nut to not take the Lilly job. Yes you can make more money elsewhere, yes there are other opportunities, but that Lilly deal is not a bad gig.

Also, the Unum deal, if you're talking about being a carrier rep, you're signing up for a whole world of hurt. I've worked as a carrier rep and it's a blast, but you need to actually be an agent first if you want brokers to respect you and rep your product. Of course, if it's the right product and a solid company they might do it anyway, but if you want to do well at that gig you should have already been an insurance agent.

 

[sokybrian]

What would you guys have to say about Unum? There is another opportunity for me to work selling disability insurance to companies going through brokers. Is there any differences in this field or is it the same game?

Tresden,
I don't know how long you've had your name in the hat for insruance companies to pull - but you've go an offer from MM, you've got an offer from E Lily, and now Unum....

By the time you graduate, you will have an offer from every insurance company and financial services organization out there. I don't know why all these companies are so desperate for agents because when you look at your state DOI agent list it goes on for days.

Point is that the longer you keep your "name" out there as a prospect for them you will have offer after offer - that really won't be an offer. I used to sell real estate to snow birds in Fla and we called it selling the "Florida Myth". You will find, as I did in the insurance biz, that these companies all sell you a "Mythical" future that happens for one in 1000. They will take your project 200 after you are gone and market to them, and someone 53 years old will get the commission. That's the game, and they know you won't last.

I'm not really sure why companies throw these kind of numbers out to folks interested in the biz. They are always unrealistic, and the funny thing is that the person being recruited knows they are, but can't help but want to believe it. I'ts like the forbidden fruit. "He said I could make 400K in 10 years!" Just think of how crazy that is. If it was that simple wouldn't everyone be doing it? They are like vultures, it just amazes me. - But don't get me wrong, I fell for it too, and it was a real pain to get out of. You read more on this forum and you will find that most of us have been there. Live and learn.

I made the transition from RE to INS. I was a RE Broker and owned a Century 21 company in the 90's. We had to recruit too, but we could not exagerate the numbers because the agent was an expense to the company, especially if they did not produce. But, INS seems to be different that way.

Don't get me wrong, I currently love what I do. But as one poster previously posted, you will have several careers. If I had a chance to learn the biz for $50K plus commish, there would be no question. Most of the rest of us on this forum did not have that luxury, and learned the biz on the streets.

From now until you graduate, go to every keg party you can, get laid as much as you can, pass your classes with a just good enough grade to graduate, eat lots of pizza and forget about sleep. Keep the card of the Eli Lily rep, and throw away the MM, and others that promise you retirement at 33. 7 Days after you walk across the stage, give Eli a call and learn the biz in a way that very few agents get a chance to. That's why you spent all this time in school. You've got lots of time, now go party...

And change your phone number now, because they won't leave you alone.

SokyBrian

 

[BNTRS]

Ok, even though I'm in the Lilly camp, a few things.

Medicaresolutions, no Tresden would not need 70-80k in income to match the Lilly offer, two things:

1. The math is exaggerated, it's an extra 7% (roughly), but he also gets a federal tax deduction which does decrease the overall tax bite of 1099 income (he deducts that under his schedule C), we need to be more honest with business owners about these numbers.

2. If he's working at Mass most of the income he's making will leave Mass paying the employer share of FICA, all of the major career companies have this offer.

Now there is truth in the fact that at Lilly, he gets $50k head start.



Now, Unum...eh...

Being a wholesaler in this business could be pretty sweet. There are a lot of companies trying to recruit college grads for these jobs...turnover is high. The suggestion that you need some sort of industry experience is sound advice, there's no way you are going to come in out of college with no industry experience and expect agents and financial advisors to take you seriously. You haven't lived their lives, and will lack some serious knowledge to relate with them, no amount of training prep will fix this. Additionally, not having letters following your name will most likely hurt your chances for success.

 

[Josh]

Ok, even though I'm in the Lilly camp, a few things.

Medicaresolutions, no Tresden would not need 70-80k in income to match the Lilly offer, two things:

1. The math is exaggerated, it's an extra 7% (roughly), but he also gets a federal tax deduction which does decrease the overall tax bite of 1099 income (he deducts that under his schedule C), we need to be more honest with business owners about these numbers.

I'm not 100% on what the Lilly deal is, but every time I've worked directly for a carrier or as a carrier rep I've been paid miles, phone, benefits, etc. Those little perks alone were worth $15k-$20k, and that's before we even talk about FICA or marketing.

 

[Tresden]

I'm not 100% on what the Lilly deal is, but every time I've worked directly for a carrier or as a carrier rep I've been paid miles, phone, benefits, etc. Those little perks alone were worth $15k-$20k, and that's before we even talk about FICA or marketing.

who are you referring to when you say "carrier"?

 

[Josh]

who are you referring to when you say "carrier"?

Insurance carriers, the company. When I've worked as a salaried w2 employee there were a ton of perks that came along with it.

In your situation, Unum would be a carrier and you'd be a carrier rep if you worked with them, but the same perks would most likely apply to the lilly gig.

 

[jdeasy]

I'm not 100% on what the Lilly deal is, but every time I've worked directly for a carrier or as a carrier rep I've been paid miles, phone, benefits, etc. Those little perks alone were worth $15k-$20k, and that's before we even talk about FICA or marketing.

Before I got into insurance I was working a job with a salary. It was $45,000/yr. Plus, I was a field rep. and they paid for all expenses, mileage at the CONNUS rate, they paid my phone bill, my computer bill and bought me a laptop, my cell bill, my postage, all office supplies, etc. I didn't pay for anything, paper, ink pens, whatever, they paid for.

I also had full medical and a pension plan. I figured it was really about an $85,000-$90,000/year job.

I have to make that much now to have the same standard of living.

 

[Tresden]

Well, thanks for all the advice. You guys have definitely helped to shed some light on a situation that was otherwise in the dark due to a vast misrepresentation of the industry by my recruiters. I think what I am going to do is get my L&H license, intern with them this upcoming semester to gain experience and put it on my resume while I continue interviewing for other positions. I'll feel it out and if it happens that I am one of the few than I'll stick with it after I graduate. But the probability is leaning towards me leaving after I graduate to a better and more stable opportunity. Thank you guys again for all the details and I hope this thread can help someone else at some point down the line. I'll keep you guys posted and informed on what happens as it comes assuming these threads don't die!

All my best