Somewhat circling back on this - this thread has a lot of good arguments. I think Bevo made a good point in that, we can't forget that the agency is taking 99.9% of the risk - and that is a huge risk.
Thinking through it even more - I bet most agents that get hired there barely sell anything and the OP may be one of the better producers. Therefore, the agency likely loses money on a lot of agents, so if they profit on a few, good for them.
I never intended the idea that the agency is giving a "raw deal" or being unscrupulous - rather, that the OP should know that there are good opportunities out there for the indy agent.
Yes, leads are hard to generate, especially at scale. But for the average agent, even below average agent, it's not that hard to generate leads via a direct mail house or telemarketing. Expensive? Yes. But you wouldn't be the first to spend $450 to get 20-30 leads and hope to sell 2-3 as a new agent. Sure, you won't sell 85 new policies until you budget expands to market more, but you can survive.
My first few years selling, I worked a 2nd sales job on and off (it was a flexible 1099 sales job). It slowed me down (significantly) on building the Medicare business, but it put food on the table.
