Do You Like Your Job?

Yes your boss is the customer, but that is with anything in life. Without customers you have no income or you have no job.

Yes you answer to the insurance carriers as well, but the guys here forgot the major entity you answer to and they are the most important: The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services otherwise known as CMS and you answer to your State Office of the Commissioner of Insurance otherwise known as the OCI. CMS regulates your pay for Part C and Part D commissions and marketing and the OCI regulates your competency that you are doing your job correctly. Both of these government entities can suspend and revoke your Health Insurance license and end your residuals and career immediately.

That is the point of getting a license is so the government has total control over us all. If you are a libertarian or an anarchist you may have problems handling this.

This industry was a dream career to be in until 2009. CMS created 150 anti-agent marketing and selling regulations that year. CMS gave us the Scope of Appointment form, made selling C and D over the phone illegal, standardized and in most cases greatly reduced commissions for C and D plans sold, enrollment periods for Part C plans, and so many regulations on marketing C and D that will make your head spin. Many Medicare agents that weren't established prior to 2009 left the industry since then and went into different insurance careers or left the insurance industry all together.

Then in 2011 Congress passed legislation forcing all MA carriers to institute networks with their MA plans and that was the start to the end of PFFS MA plans which agents preferred to sell because PFFS MA paid exactly the same fee schedule that Original Medicare did to healthcare providers and agents could sell a stand alone PDP plan on top of that and made commission selling separate C and D policies. With MA or MAPD PPO and HMO plans the commission is identical, so you make no extra money selling the Part D with MAPD plans.


Shocker that negative sally is here to say the industry is bad.

You are bat sh*t crazy if you think there are less Medicare supp/ma agents today than prior to 2009. In 2009 I could see T65's 3 months out and sign them up right then. There are so many agents now that I have to see the 5,6 and 7 months out. You know why? Because it's a lucrative business. It's easy to work for yourself, take off when you want and make well over $100k.

Well that is of course except you. You obviously can't cut it in the industry because all of your post are negative and how you can't make any money selling these products.

I'm not sure what your goal is here on the forums. To make sure new agents don't become Medicare agents? Hell I can get on board with that if you just want to keep new people out to make more $ yourself. But if it's genuine that you think the industry is too hard to make money, do us all a favor and quit. More money for me. I heard Uber is a cool gig
 
New Medicare agents are coming out of the woodwork now. People from every industry are giving it a shot in my area. Guess they must of seen how nice we all had it and want to give it a try, hope they all fail miserably. Ha
 
Shocker that negative sally is here to say the industry is bad.

You are bat sh*t crazy if you think there are less Medicare supp/ma agents today than prior to 2009. In 2009 I could see T65's 3 months out and sign them up right then. There are so many agents now that I have to see the 5,6 and 7 months out. You know why? Because it's a lucrative business. It's easy to work for yourself, take off when you want and make well over $100k.

Well that is of course except you. You obviously can't cut it in the industry because all of your post are negative and how you can't make any money selling these products.

I'm not sure what your goal is here on the forums. To make sure new agents don't become Medicare agents? Hell I can get on board with that if you just want to keep new people out to make more $ yourself. But if it's genuine that you think the industry is too hard to make money, do us all a favor and quit. More money for me. I heard Uber is a cool gig

In a 2014 video posted by SMS with guest speaker Chris Westfall, Chris has said that in the past 5 years 42,000 insurance agents have left the industry compared to that year of 2014. Go to the 16:15 mark of the video to hear Chris cite the statistic.



Chris Westfall's "Why sell Medicare supplements" video posted on Youtube has many thousands of views and many people see this as an opportunity to start in the Medicare industry without understanding all the problems that we all face. I'm just trying to be helpful for these new agents who think this industry is all about rainbows and sunshine. The new administration under Trump may deregulate our industry (God I am hoping Tom Price and company does) and bring back our industry to the glory days of the late 90s to late 2000s.

Seeing that CMS has dropped the 48 hour rule for Scope forms is a positive start in the right direction. Let's hope these deregulations continue. I don't think our industry is bad, I'm just telling new agents that our industry is very challenging due to the excessive rules and regulations that we must follow. It's best that new agents fully understand the hurdles we must overcome before they invest their time and money to start in this career only to find out a few months later of all the problems in it. We all must weigh the Pros and the Cons with everything we do in life.

I have 11 years of industry experience and I don't want to leave, but yes I'm having moral debates with myself because I am struggling to get clients like many of us are. I'm in my first 4 months and I'm torn over doing this part time and getting a part time job to pay my bills or going to work for a major insurance carrier like UnitedHealth Group, Humana, or Anthem that pays a very nice salary. I want to maintain my license however in hopes that the Trump administration will eventually deregulate our industry from the Obama era of excessive regulations. Chris Westfall recommends that I stay independent, but I can always quit working for the insurance carrier when the time is right and rejoin the independent broker community. I'm sure you guys would welcome me back with loving and open arms. lol

On a side note, I don't see why you guys view a local Wisconsin broker as your direct competition, because I am only licensed in the State of Wisconsin. I am no threat to your book of business and most of you guys who are licensed in multiple States avoid Wisconsin like the plague.
 
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In a 2014 video posted by SMS with guest speaker Chris Westfall, Chris has said that in the past 5 years 42,000 insurance agents have left the industry compared to that year of 2014. Go to the 16:15 mark of the video to hear Chris cite the statistic.

Christopher Westfall SMS Senior Marketing Specialists Sales Summit Webinar - YouTube

Chris Westfall's "Why sell Medicare supplements" video posted on Youtube has many thousands of views and many people see this as an opportunity to start in the Medicare industry without understanding all the problems that we all face. I'm just trying to be helpful for these new agents who think this industry is all about rainbows and sunshine. The new administration under Trump may deregulate our industry (God I am hoping Tom Price and company does) and bring back our industry to the glory days of the late 90s to late 2000s.

Seeing that CMS has dropped the 48 hour rule for Scope forms is a positive start in the right direction. Let's hope these deregulations continue. I don't think our industry is bad, I'm just telling new agents that our industry is very challenging due to the excessive rules and regulations that we must follow. It's best that new agents fully understand the hurdles we must overcome before they invest their time and money to start in this career only to find out a few months later of all the problems in it. We all must weigh the Pros and the Cons with everything we do in life.

I have 11 years of industry experience and I don't want to leave, but yes I'm having moral debates with myself because I am struggling to get clients like many of us are. I'm in my first 4 months and I'm torn over doing this part time and getting a part time job to pay my bills or going to work for a major insurance carrier like UnitedHealth Group, Humana, or Anthem that pays a very nice salary. I want to maintain my license however in hopes that the Trump administration will eventually deregulate our industry from the Obama era of excessive regulations. Chris Westfall recommends that I stay independent, but I can always quit working for the insurance carrier when the time is right and rejoin the independent broker community. I'm sure you guys would welcome me back with loving and open arms. lol

On a side note, I don't see why you guys view a local Wisconsin broker as your direct competition, because I am only licensed in the State of Wisconsin. I am no threat to your book of business and most of you guys who are licensed in multiple States avoid Wisconsin like the plague.

You are only 4 months in. Ramen year 1. McD's year 2. And at the end of year 3, if you aren't eating steak, THEN go work for a carrier.

Use the search button, there are a ton of threads on how to make this work. But if you didn't think you were going to starve for a year, you were wrong.
 
You are only 4 months in. Ramen year 1. McD's year 2. And at the end of year 3, if you aren't eating steak, THEN go work for a carrier.

Use the search button, there are a ton of threads on how to make this work. But if you didn't think you were going to starve for a year, you were wrong.

How much weight do most agents lose 1st year ;)
 
In a 2014 video posted by SMS with guest speaker Chris Westfall, Chris has said that in the past 5 years 42,000 insurance agents have left the industry compared to that year of 2014. Go to the 16:15 mark of the video to hear Chris cite the statistic.

Christopher Westfall SMS Senior Marketing Specialists Sales Summit Webinar - YouTube

Chris Westfall's "Why sell Medicare supplements" video posted on Youtube has many thousands of views and many people see this as an opportunity to start in the Medicare industry without understanding all the problems that we all face. I'm just trying to be helpful for these new agents who think this industry is all about rainbows and sunshine. The new administration under Trump may deregulate our industry (God I am hoping Tom Price and company does) and bring back our industry to the glory days of the late 90s to late 2000s.

Seeing that CMS has dropped the 48 hour rule for Scope forms is a positive start in the right direction. Let's hope these deregulations continue. I don't think our industry is bad, I'm just telling new agents that our industry is very challenging due to the excessive rules and regulations that we must follow. It's best that new agents fully understand the hurdles we must overcome before they invest their time and money to start in this career only to find out a few months later of all the problems in it. We all must weigh the Pros and the Cons with everything we do in life.

I have 11 years of industry experience and I don't want to leave, but yes I'm having moral debates with myself because I am struggling to get clients like many of us are. I'm in my first 4 months and I'm torn over doing this part time and getting a part time job to pay my bills or going to work for a major insurance carrier like UnitedHealth Group, Humana, or Anthem that pays a very nice salary. I want to maintain my license however in hopes that the Trump administration will eventually deregulate our industry from the Obama era of excessive regulations. Chris Westfall recommends that I stay independent, but I can always quit working for the insurance carrier when the time is right and rejoin the independent broker community. I'm sure you guys would welcome me back with loving and open arms. lol

On a side note, I don't see why you guys view a local Wisconsin broker as your direct competition, because I am only licensed in the State of Wisconsin. I am no threat to your book of business and most of you guys who are licensed in multiple States avoid Wisconsin like the plague.

42k agents may have left the industry but how many joined? Most don't make it one year.

I didn't know you're only 4 months in. If I can give any advice, yes it's tough but it gets easier man.
I'm telling you, I made $16k my first year. I sucked. Big time.
I found my niche and this is the easiest money I've ever made in my life. It took me about 18 months to find it.
 
42k agents may have left the industry but how many joined? Most don't make it one year.

I didn't know you're only 4 months in. If I can give any advice, yes it's tough but it gets easier man.
I'm telling you, I made $16k my first year. I sucked. Big time.
I found my niche and this is the easiest money I've ever made in my life. It took me about 18 months to find it.
thanks Chazm. Helped manage my expectations. I know I get irritated if my expectations aren't matching up with reality.

Were you full time first year?
 
The problem there is that you still aren't working for yourself. You answer to the customer. You answer to the companies for whom you write. If you're married you answer to your wife and kids for being unavailable for fourteen hours a day (maybe).


You can fire companies and you can fire customers.. :yes:

You can fire your wife too.... but its a lot more expensive! LOL


Adjusterjack,
That is true of any business and of any family. Almost every business in the world has customers and they must answer to those customers. Every husband in the world has to answer to their wife, and their kids, etc. no matter if they own a business or not.

When you work for yourself, you are in control, you make the decisions, you reap the full benefits and full consequences.

You service that customer how YOU decide to. You work the hours YOU decide to. And a big difference in our business, is that you can take on only the customers that YOU want... and you can fire the problem clients if you want as well. You can fire the problem carriers if you want.

But owning your own business is not for everyone. It takes discipline and motivation, especially in the early years.

But any solo insurance agent working 14 hour days is doing it wrong.
 
thanks Chazm. Helped manage my expectations. I know I get irritated if my expectations aren't matching up with reality.

Were you full time first year?

I was full time. But my old boss let me pick up some shifts at Universal Studios. So that help me a little bit. But I was 29 years old and I actually moved in with my parents for about eight or nine months. I was broke. Counting quarters in my room to pay my bills.
 
You can fire your wife too.... but its a lot more expensive! LOL


Adjusterjack,
That is true of any business and of any family. Almost every business in the world has customers and they must answer to those customers. Every husband in the world has to answer to their wife, and their kids, etc. no matter if they own a business or not.

When you work for yourself, you are in control, you make the decisions, you reap the full benefits and full consequences.

You service that customer how YOU decide to. You work the hours YOU decide to. And a big difference in our business, is that you can take on only the customers that YOU want... and you can fire the problem clients if you want as well. You can fire the problem carriers if you want.

But owning your own business is not for everyone. It takes discipline and motivation, especially in the early years.

But any solo insurance agent working 14 hour days is doing it wrong.

Unless you work the Medicare market between October and early December.
 
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