Retiring from AF

[AFRET14]

Long story short, I am retiring from the Air Force in March 2014. I possess a Bachelors in Business and about 8 years of management experience. I spent 6 of my 24 years of active duty as a recruiter and thoroughly enjoyed sales. For the past 2 years I've been a human resources director of sorts (First Sergeant) for a recruiting unit which has rekindled my enthusiasm for sales. My question is this, what steps do I need to take between now and retirement date next year to set myself up as an agent? My wife and I would like to relocate to either Las Vegas NV or Phoenix AZ (we currently live in South Carolina). How is the best way to get training? Should I become involved with one of the larger companies (State Farm, Allstate) which from what I have been reading on here is akin to signing away your life and tossing $100K into the debt pool. Being an independent agent sounds exactly what I would like to do but without the training I am a bit skeptical. I was a successful recruiter and have been trained in both Professional Sales Skills and AIDA but I feel while insurance sales and recruiting share similarities (selling intangibles) they are also vastly different. Any insight to help me navigate these confusing waters would be greatly appreciated.

 

[HomeService]

Yes, you may wish to get training first from a large captive company, but find one where you do not have to invest a bunch. Find one where you get trained in their office and where they don't want you to go get your own office. Maybe somebody like Liberty Mutual or something. I am fairly certain the goal at Farmers is for you to have your own office and invest a bunch, possibly also the case at State Farm, but lately I noticed Allstate is recruiting to have agents buy existing books, or agencies, which is of course a big investment.

Going indy from the beginning is tough without training. You may wish to become a producer under an indy agent, there's that route as well, let him or her train you.

 

[Cornelius]

Short story get licensed in Life/Health then series 65. You can do that now in SC.

 

[xrac]

Short story get licensed in Life/Health then series 65. You can do that now in SC.

Sounds le he is looking at P&C. In your situation I would get my P&C license and find a producer position at either a captive or INDY agency. Once you know the ropes either go INDY and start your wn agency r look for one to buy. The perfect situation would be to find an INDY that you could eventually buy not or buy out.