Would Love Some Advice

[oldinsuranceguy]

Take a job at a smaller agency that sells personal and commercial lines and life/health. This way you'll be exposed to all lines and you can see what interests you the most.

Don't worry about the cold calling thing. Plenty of agents don't do much of it and find a way to be successful.

 

[M.loss]

Thanks to everyone taking the time to help send me in the right direction. I do believe I was able to private message though.. I guess I'm not positive if it actually went trough because I'm still leaning to navigate this site. DivineFoodie let me know when you have a moment if you got my message. Thanks again!

 

[insurance1822]

#1 - Don't go captive (unless you're an anomaly like Todd02 who writes $489,000/month in personal auto with 1 carrier...and rumor has it that he doesn't have any staff but employs a small group of unicorns & leprechauns)

#2 - You CAN be successful in this P&C business and it's 100% up to you (like anything else in life.)

#3 - Start with personal lines unless you have a great mentor

#4 - Stick with it & you WILL make a lot of money over time

#5 - If you 100% put your mind to it...you WILL make great money within 3 years.

#6 - everything else can be found on this forum.

 

[M.loss]

#1 - Don't go captive (unless you're an anomaly like Todd02 who writes $489,000/month in personal auto with 1 carrier...and rumor has it that he doesn't have any staff but employs a small group of unicorns & leprechauns)

#2 - You CAN be successful in this P&C business and it's 100% up to you (like anything else in life.)

#3 - Start with personal lines unless you have a great mentor

#4 - Stick with it & you WILL make a lot of money over time

#5 - If you 100% put your mind to it...you WILL make great money within 3 years.

#6 - everything else can be found on this forum.

So you're saying I should start off as an independent? If so, I would think that would make it much harder to make any money in the beginning. Not to mention the training I would receive working for a company. I am a single mother and need to at least make something in the beginning in order to pay the bills... I'm not looking for anything miraculous in the first couple of years, but the training I would receive as well as the base salary would seem worth working for a company until I actually fully understand how things are done and where I am best suited in the business. Maybe I don't know what I'm talking about.. But then again that's why I posted this thread lol.

 

[rccola]

So you're saying I should start off as an independent? If so, I would think that would make it much harder to make any money in the beginning. Not to mention the training I would receive working for a company. I am a single mother and need to at least make something in the beginning in order to pay the bills... I'm not looking for anything miraculous in the first couple of years, but the training I would receive as well as the base salary would seem worth working for a company until I actually fully understand how things are done and where I am best suited in the business. Maybe I don't know what I'm talking about.. But then again that's why I posted this thread lol.

I asked a similar question a few months back regarding Indy vs captive. With 50k in capital, 3 agents (only one with experience), and a solid business plan, I was still strongly advised to go captive until I learned the ropes. I took the advice and am very glad I did. Base salary + commissions while learning the ropes = a lot less stress.

 

[todd02]

I asked a similar question a few months back regarding Indy vs captive. With 50k in capital, 3 agents (only one with experience), and a solid business plan, I was still strongly advised to go captive until I learned the ropes. I took the advice and am very glad I did. Base salary + commissions while learning the ropes = a lot less stress.

Hence the reason why you should go captive, insurance1822 is just a 12 year old kid still at his computer Facebook stalking me and probably should seek some help from substance abuse as he keeps asking to ride my unicorn and fiancé....

 

[DivineFoodie]

Thanks to everyone taking the time to help send me in the right direction. I do believe I was able to private message though.. I guess I'm not positive if it actually went trough because I'm still leaning to navigate this site. DivineFoodie let me know when you have a moment if you got my message. Thanks again!

Sent you a message

 

[M.loss]

As I do appreciate everyone's opinion on here, going independent right out of the gate really makes no sense for me. I will say that getting that kind of advice from insurance1822 makes me worry about the guidance he may be giving others. But then again, I guess if those people are taking the word of one person and doing no research they are setting themselves up for trouble anyway... But thank you todd02 for your advice. It's greatly appreciated!

 

[MikeM.]

So you're saying I should start off as an independent? If so, I would think that would make it much harder to make any money in the beginning. Not to mention the training I would receive working for a company. I am a single mother and need to at least make something in the beginning in order to pay the bills... I'm not looking for anything miraculous in the first couple of years, but the training I would receive as well as the base salary would seem worth working for a company until I actually fully understand how things are done and where I am best suited in the business. Maybe I don't know what I'm talking about.. But then again that's why I posted this thread lol.

You are not going to get any contracts from any P&C insurance companies without having a large book of business already. In fact, you would be even lucky to find any cluster that would even accept you. So going independent is not even an option or a very, very slim odds at this point for you.

Chances are, you'll have to go find a local independent agent and go work under him/her as a producer. That's the only way an inexperience person with no book of business can get contracts to more than one P&C companies. Other than that, go exclusive/captive agent, which is easier to get a contract but it has it's own set of flaws/downside.

 

[M.loss]

I zero desire to be independent right now or anytime soon for that matter. But thank you for your feedback.