Hello, I'm new to the fourm and just started with State Farm about 2 months ago. I've noticed that most of the work we do to sell our policies can easily done from home using a lap top and phone. I'm a female soon to be married and would like to be able to work from home selling insurance so I can be with my children. Has anyone managed to do this selling Property and Casualty Insurance?
Yes, but....
1. Check with State Farm. They probably still require you maintain an office. This doesn't mean you can't talk to people from home though.
2. Being home with the children means you are not home working. Sorry, I tried this for a while. To focus on the job, you have to at least mentally not be at home.
3. To be successful, you'll need to learn to separate your home life from your work life. You can do this and work from home, but it requires a lot of discipline. Many try, few succeed. There isn't anything in your way of doing this but yourself.
4. If you work from home, make sure you have office hours and home hours. If you don't, you'll find that you are at home more than in the office (mentally speaking). This will lead to very low production.
I sell auto from home during the weekends. Its my after-hours service. Works mainly for dealerships, who are having trouble with their sale when the customer either doesn't have insurance yet or just wants a better deal.
I would agree with Dan and urge you to check with State Farm. I can't imagine any DM being ok with any agent working from home. The first couple years are critical and will form your habits for better or for worse. I am starting my brokerage as we speak and I'm doing it from home for the next 9-12 months. I've been in this business for 12 years now and the difference is staggering between getting up and going to the office, and waking up in the office. Plus I miss the competitiveness of my co-workers. Hope that helps a little.
Hi everyone, I am in school currently getting my P and C license, but I want to work for myself at home. Can anyone tell me how I would go about getting in touch with the different auto insurance providers to get contracted with them to become a provider. I am in Louisiana and I would appreciate any advice anyone could give. Thanks very much.
Agree with Dan working from home is not easy.
Currently my office is run out of my home.
Separating home from work is not as easy as it sounds.
Very tough to stay motivated to work when home is just a few steps away.
It has worked pretty well keeping expenses down. but to really be successful and become a larger agency will require a move on my part.
It takes a dedicated "home office" to be successful. I've tried P&C in both environments and have to say that having proximity to the customer and their property is very important. The learning curve involved in selling at home is so much longer. I much prefer having a private office for sales activities.
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Hello, I'm new to the fourm and just started with State Farm about 2 months ago. I've noticed that most of the work we do to sell our policies can easily done from home using a lap top and phone. I'm a female soon to be married and would like to be able to work from home selling insurance so I can be with my children. Has anyone managed to do this selling Property and Casualty Insurance?
I recently sold my captive agency of 20 years and have begun the process of forming an independent agency. During my career, I made the same observation as you, that a lot of what we do could simply be done from home.
As I start my new career, I will be working from my home for a period of time, but ultimately I will have a physical location(s) once I meet my short term goal and have enough cashflow to support rent, utilities and staff. You really have to ask yourself why you want to and what advantages working from home has over working from an office.
I think WORKING from home is a lot like WORKING OUT from home. It sounds like a great way to save money while getting the job done but I do see some potential drawbacks. When you go to the gym, you only have 1 reason to be there, when you are home, there are a lot of things that MAY distract you from your work.
You have to look at your envirement. I am a single parent with teenage children. They are at school for most of the day, and work some nights. When they get home and see I am working, they know they need to be quiet. This would NOT have worked if they were under 10 years old as they would require too much of my attention and are a little harder to keep quiet on demand.
Also, remember that P&C is very high maintenance and your clients will need your assistance frequently. I think there are a fair amount of Life, Health and Financial Service agents that can effectively work from home for the long term, but P&C is a totally different animal.
I hope these constructive thoughts will give you some additional things to consider as you move forward and good luck with your new venture,
It will not work for way too many reasons to list. It's all about volume and service and you just cannot do enough from home to be effective. Either get in the game or get out it will save your sanity. If you want to work from home focus on selling commercial or health. You can effectively do these lines from home, auto and home is a completely different animal and I do mean animal.
Before working with any insurance product, you will need to secure the appropriate licenses. Every state has a department of insurance that governs the issuance of insurance licenses. There are several corporations that offer training materials and classes to prepare future insurance agents for the exams necessary to receive these state insurance licenses.
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Last edited by sanvister : 10-23-2009 at 10:56 AM.
Before working with any insurance product, you will need to secure the appropriate licenses. Every state has a department of insurance that governs the issuance of insurance licenses. There are several corporations that offer training materials and classes to prepare future insurance agents for the exams necessary to receive these state insurance licenses.
Where did this response come from?? I don't think anyone questioned whether a license would be required or not, just whether working from home would work or not. Hummmm
Where did this response come from?? I don't think anyone questioned whether a license would be required or not, just whether working from home would work or not. Hummmm
It was a reply to angel4decale further up the thread.
I recently sold my captive agency of 20 years and have begun the process of forming an independent agency. During my career, I made the same observation as you, that a lot of what we do could simply be done from home.
As I start my new career, I will be working from my home for a period of time, but ultimately I will have a physical location(s) once I meet my short term goal and have enough cashflow to support rent, utilities and staff. You really have to ask yourself why you want to and what advantages working from home has over working from an office.
I think WORKING from home is a lot like WORKING OUT from home. It sounds like a great way to save money while getting the job done but I do see some potential drawbacks. When you go to the gym, you only have 1 reason to be there, when you are home, there are a lot of things that MAY distract you from your work.
You have to look at your envirement. I am a single parent with teenage children. They are at school for most of the day, and work some nights. When they get home and see I am working, they know they need to be quiet. This would NOT have worked if they were under 10 years old as they would require too much of my attention and are a little harder to keep quiet on demand.
Also, remember that P&C is very high maintenance and your clients will need your assistance frequently. I think there are a fair amount of Life, Health and Financial Service agents that can effectively work from home for the long term, but P&C is a totally different animal.
I hope these constructive thoughts will give you some additional things to consider as you move forward and good luck with your new venture,
Were you an Allstate agent? Did you get forced out? I understand that is happening to a lot of their agents.