Do You Like Your Job?

mvpadjuster

New Member
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Simple question really, do you like your job? Are you happy when you get home at the end of the day?
I currently work on the carrier side in claims and am burnt out. Sometimes its seems harder to pay money out than it is to bring it in. My days are a stream of angry insureds, bullheaded claimant attorneys, and overbearing management looking over my shoulder trying to ensure I don't pay too much.
I worked as a pre65 health insurance producer prior to this gig and am considering going back to the agent side. I'm not worried about the money, that will come. But is working for yourself all it's cracked up to be?
 
Simple question really, do you like your job? Are you happy when you get home at the end of the day?
I currently work on the carrier side in claims and am burnt out. Sometimes its seems harder to pay money out than it is to bring it in. My days are a stream of angry insureds, bullheaded claimant attorneys, and overbearing management looking over my shoulder trying to ensure I don't pay too much.
I worked as a pre65 health insurance producer prior to this gig and am considering going back to the agent side. I'm not worried about the money, that will come. But is working for yourself all it's cracked up to be?

Short answer, yes.

Long answer (you asked for it) hells yes! Being an independent agent is the best job in the world.

For 20 years I had what many would consider a dream job. I sold motorcycles for a living. I made great money, had great health insurance, company truck, even free gas, and all the motorcycles, ATV, and watercraft I wanted to ride anytime I wanted to. And I loved it for 15 of those twenty years. But those last five were a grind.

So what was wrong with the dream job? Two things. Structured hours that were pretty inflexible and I was working for someone else. Selling motorcycles in Indiana meant no days off all summer and twiddling your thumbs all winter. It got to be a grind after I had a family and kids.

As soon as I jumped into insurance with no safety net and 100% commission (I was 75% commission at Honda but that felt different) I knew I had to get out there and work like I never had before. And I did. But it felt like I was on vacation every day. The freedom of working for yourself was like breaking out of shackles. If my son had a little league game on Wednesday at 4:00 I just put it on my appointment calendar and went to it. How cool was that?

The money was my first year was good. A little better than I had made before but really less because no free truck and I had to pay for gas for the first time in 20-years. BUT my 2nd year a wonderful thing happened. I was better at selling insurance. I gave myself a raise just by selling more. That was the first year I ever made over $100,000 and that was on a crappy commission level (had no idea at the time) and the first year that I earned an insurance company convention trip. I was having fun.

Selling insurance is the greatest way to make money in the world. It's not perfect. Some customers will frustrate you. Some insurance companies will disappoint you. But overall it's great. The power of renewals is an amazing thing. You give yourself an automatic raise every year you are in business even if you don't increase your sales just by those renewals building up like a big money ball.

after 16-years of personal production A business partner and me started our agency 4-years ago. That was originally a side project that grew way beyond what I expected and for the past two years it has taken me completely out of the field other than maintaining my base. That is a whole other side that is very rewarding in a different way. It's great seeing new guys come into the biz just like I did 20 years ago. But they don't all succeed. Many will fail.

So my advice...if you are working for someone else and you look around and see yourself as the hardest working guy in the building, you will probably be better off working for yourself in insurance.

But if you want to get into insurance just because you are burnt out and you want something where you are your own boss...you may or may not have the drive to succeed.

If you get into it, make sure you get with a group that can help you succeed. The lack of training kills new agents more than anything. Get in with a good positive group and if you have the personal drive and can communicate well you will love the biz and do well. BUT no guarantees.
 
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Scott (Newby), your post above should be required reading for anyone new to the business. Only thing missing were the before and after pictures where you slump and have a hang-dog look on your face while selling motorcycles, and after, where you are smiling and look 20 years younger.

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Simple question really, do you like your job? Are you happy when you get home at the end of the day?
I currently work on the carrier side in claims and am burnt out. Sometimes its seems harder to pay money out than it is to bring it in. My days are a stream of angry insureds, bullheaded claimant attorneys, and overbearing management looking over my shoulder trying to ensure I don't pay too much.
I worked as a pre65 health insurance producer prior to this gig and am considering going back to the agent side. I'm not worried about the money, that will come. But is working for yourself all it's cracked up to be?

If you take the plunge, you'll never need to deal with *management* again.

That, in and of itself, should sell you on it.
 
I currently work on the carrier side in claims and am burnt out. Sometimes its seems harder to pay money out than it is to bring it in. My days are a stream of angry insureds, bullheaded claimant attorneys, and overbearing management looking over my shoulder trying to ensure I don't pay too much.

Maybe you should try first party property claims. That's how I spent the last 9 years of my career and I loved it. I had a small percentage of angry insureds, had only two lawyer files out of 6000 + claims, but I did finally retire due to management micro-managing.

But is working for yourself all it's cracked up to be?

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).
 
Scott (Newby), your post above should be required reading for anyone new to the business. Only thing missing were the before and after pictures where you slump and have a hang-dog look on your face while selling motorcycles, and after, where you are smiling and look 20 years younger.




Oh I smiled in those days too. This is me the day after I accidentally exploded a van.
 

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Maybe you should try first party property claims. That's how I spent the last 9 years of my career and I loved it. I had a small percentage of angry insureds, had only two lawyer files out of 6000 + claims, but I did finally retire due to management micro-managing.



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:
 
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