Need Advice on What to Do with My Career?

klew347

New Member
12
Hello all,
I'm looking for some help or maybe direction on what might be my best option for what I need in the insurance industry. I am pretty new into insurance and sales together. But I do know how well one can do in the insurance business if you learn how to work it. So here goes where I'm at.


About 6 months ago I started in insurance sales with Aflac. I knew pretty quickly that Aflac was not where I wanted to spend a lot of time trying to sell and make a career. What I did like was the flexibility on how I could control my schedule.

I also work another job that requires me to be able to be a places on short notice, so it was easy for me to make these other appointments with the way I could operate my Aflac schedule. But to be honest I'm not making enough selling Aflac for me to spend hours upon hours pounding the pavement and cold calling on small businesses that don't pay for the gas I spent getting there.


And now I was introduced to NAA through I guy that used to sell Aflac with me. I knew something wasn't right with NAA and since joining this forum and doing research on them I learned very quickly that NAA is something I probably don't want to associate my name with. But again it was flexible with my schedule and they provided me with leads, but from what I gathered on this forum those leads are garbage anyways.

Also I know if I'm selling insurance there are residuals and better commissions then what they are offering. So I think I will be walking away from NAA.


So Aflac and NAA provided the flexibility I need but not the income I need or credibility to stay with/commit to. And I don't need to be making a lot of money right now as much as I need flexibility. I'm a 28 year old single guy with no debt. But that doesn't mean I'll work for free either. I know what my time is worth.


Which brings me to my problem. Is there anyway for me to work in this business, control my schedule the way I need to and still be able to make a living. Should I go independent, and look into doing Med Supp sales from home? Or is that to much of a risk not knowing a lot or not having much experience?

Should I try finding an independent agent that might be flexible with my schedule in either P&C or L&H? Really not sure what to do so I thought I would use this forum for advice. There seems to be a lot of experience and a good amount of people on here that might actually want to help.

Sorry for the long thread, and thanks in advance for any advice/help.
 
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Hello all,
I'm looking for some help or maybe direction on what might be my best option for what I need in the insurance industry. I am pretty new into insurance and sales together. But I do know how well one can do in the insurance business if you learn how to work it. So here goes where I'm at.

About 6 months ago I started in insurance sales with Aflac. I knew pretty quickly that Aflac was not where I wanted to spend a lot of time trying to sell and make a career. What I did like was the flexibility on how I could control my schedule.

I also work another job that requires me to be able to be a places on short notice, so it was easy for me to make these other appointments with the way I could operate my Aflac schedule. But to be honest I'm not making enough selling Aflac for me to spend hours upon hours pounding the pavement and cold calling on small businesses that don't pay for the gas I spent getting there.

And now I was introduced to NAA through I guy that used to sell Aflac with me. I knew something wasn't right with NAA and since joining this forum and doing research on them I learned very quickly that NAA is something I probably don't want to associate my name with. But again it was flexible with my schedule and they provided me with leads, but from what I gathered on this forum those leads are garbage anyways.

Also I know if I'm selling insurance there are residuals and better commissions then what they are offering. So I think I will be walking away from NAA.

So Aflac and NAA provided the flexibility I need but not the income I need or credibility to stay with/commit to. And I don't need to be making a lot of money right now as much as I need flexibility. I'm a 28 year old single guy with no debt. But that doesn't mean I'll work for free either. I know what my time is worth.

Which brings me to my problem. Is there anyway for me to work in this business, control my schedule the way I need to and still be able to make a living? Should I go independent, and look into doing Med Supp sales from home? Or is that to much of a risk not knowing a lot or not having much experience?

Should I try finding an independent agent that might be flexible with my schedule in either P&C or L&H? Really not sure what to do so I thought I would use this forum for advice. There seems to be a lot of experience and a good amount of people on here that might actually want to help.

Sorry for the long thread, and thanks in advance for any advice/help.

The changes will make your post a lot easier to read and you will get more responses.

First you are going to have to decide what you want to sell. You mention both L&H and P&C. Those are as different from each other as night and day. Think more in terms of building a business and a career as opposed to simply making money.

Regardless which of the two you decide on, then pick an individual product and literally become an expert on it before moving into offering other products. One of the main reasons new agents fail at this is that they enter the business trying to be all things to all people. That is a formula for disaster.

You mentioned Med Supps. I believe that they are one of the easiest kinds of insurance to sell and the commissions and renewals will give an agent a strong income base to start with. However, it is an area of insurance that you will have to be an independent agent to be successful in. If you start with a company as a captive agent you are going to struggle trying to make sales.
 
Thanks for the changes. It is a lot easier to read like that.

I am looking at this as a career sense and not just a paycheck. But I am also working on building another career in a completely different industry. It just doesn't offer a steady stream of work at this point in time.

I guess I'm not sure what I want to sell as I haven't really dealt with either area.I am more interested in L&H for my own knowledge but think P&C might fit what I'm looking for. I am aware of how different they are but not knowing how differently each side works to accompany my needs is what I need to know, and I was mainly thinking of going captive for the training but not sure if someone will accept my flexibility needs.

And Med Supp is something I know nothing about, but the more I read these forums the more it might be the avenue to follow to fit me.

I was considering making appointments with local agents in each and sitting down and talking with them about their side of the industry. Not as an interview but just honest advice.

By now you probably can see I'm not sure where I'm heading and kinda confused, but that's why I'm trying to reach out and see what kinda advice there is to be giving. I know the way I was going about it wasn't working.
 
Thanks for the changes. It is a lot easier to read like that.

I am looking at this as a career sense and not just a paycheck. But I am also working on building another career in a completely different industry. It just doesn't offer a steady stream of work at this point in time.

I guess I'm not sure what I want to sell as I haven't really dealt with either area.I am more interested in L&H for my own knowledge but think P&C might fit what I'm looking for. I am aware of how different they are but not knowing how differently each side works to accompany my needs is what I need to know, and I was mainly thinking of going captive for the training but not sure if someone will accept my flexibility needs.

And Med Supp is something I know nothing about, but the more I read these forums the more it might be the avenue to follow to fit me.

I was considering making appointments with local agents in each and sitting down and talking with them about their side of the industry. Not as an interview but just honest advice.

By now you probably can see I'm not sure where I'm heading and kinda confused, but that's why I'm trying to reach out and see what kinda advice there is to be giving. I know the way I was going about it wasn't working.

I think you will find P&C a lot more restrictive of your time than L&H. Although I have never done P&C I believe that there is a substantial amount of service work associated with it.

If you would like to kick around Med Supps please feel free to give me a call. I've been doing it for eighteen plus years, 573.544.4091.
 
I got into the insurance biz 3 years ago and I too was 28 years old. One thing though, I couldn't imagine trying to work 2 jobs because ultimately insurance will lose out if you don't make time to cold call or market.

My first year SUCKED! I was captive for my first ~1.5 years and not even 1 year in I had to move in with my parents. I couldn't pay my bills. When I went independent I started making a little bit more money and I was able to move out. Then the ball really got rolling, and eventually residuals started coming in. Now, I'm 31 and I made more this year than I ever have before and I know because of residuals I will easily top that next year. I'm still not making what I would consider a lot of money, but I hope to get there.

The one problem you might have is training. I too would recommend Med supps AND/OR MAPD's but you need to learn to do it right, and most importantly how to market it correctly.

I was fortunate enough to get training for free from a guy that I still work closely with today and I'm not sure if I would have made it without him.
 
Thanks Frank, I will probably be giving you a call this week and explain a little more abut what I'm trying to do here.
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I know its going to be a lot of hard work doing both, but I'm wiling to try it and see what happens. I'm already changing my career from one I had for 10 years so unfortunately I already moved in with my parents to make this transition easier for me.

So hopefully I can come up with a game plan and get me rolling in the right direction.
 
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Since you are in an insurance forum, I would suggest that you should pursue your career in selling insurance or adjusting claims. You can choose different fields like life & health and property & casualty insurance.
 
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