I am clueless as to how the Insurance field works when it comes to captive vs independent, how commissions work, how to go about getting appointed, and the ins and outs. I recently got licensed in Kentucky for life and health. I started working for an Independent broker that focuses on . Basically I have 14 years experience in the health field and have knowledge how Insurance works from the billing aspect. I have been in direct sales for about 7 of those years.
I recently had to close my business down due to loss of a large group of Ortho doctors finding out they could provide the same services that I offered through their clinic and bill directly for those services. I am in a small college town of about 120,000 and this clinic is basically the only ortho group in town. In my previous line of business, 95% of the business was based around referrals from this group.
This being said, I am pretty much grounded to this location for about 9 more years due to my daughter and am starting completely over with this career change. The broker I started with is basically a 3 man operation. Going into this, I did not know if I would be able to sit for the state test due to a mistake I made 15 years ago and this was known by the broker hiring me.
Long story short, I was able to sit for my test, have been appointed though 3 of the major carriers, and am producing business for this brokerage. The broker paid for all of this and is paying for internet leads but I am getting further referrals from those leads. He is paying me hourly at a rate of $12 and I am putting in about 50 hours per week.
I feel like I am indebted to him for taking the risk of not possibly getting licensed, plus I was desperate to break into the industry and make sure I could at least feed my children. There really is no elaborate training that I have been through, and does not look like there is going to be in the future. I am just looking to see if anyone has any advice on my next steps, as I feel I could do very well in this industry, but I feel as if I am not getting the most of my abilities and I am not making what I feel is fair for my work involved, as he gets all the commission and renewals, even the new referrals I am bringing from the leads provided. Any advice?
Licensed in July. I worked at another part time job while studying for the exam. Basically when I came on board, having knowledge of how medicare works and insurance basic from previous career experience, he through me in the fire calling lead and selling within a week. I learn information quickly and was trained by an assistant at the office. Our office focuses mainly on T65 leads and ACA leads. No life insurance leads at all.
A prime example of what I have done recently on a lead that came in:
She is being released from a group plan involuntarily and I was able to sell her a plan. She then setup an appointment with 18 of her fellow retirees that are also coming off the group plan. I was able to sell to 16 of the 18. I mentioned about a split with this. He stated that once we get through open-enrollment, we will look at commission. I have offered to pay back what he has invested and also pay for leads in a couple different conversations. Just to be told the same thing about making it through open enrollment and evaluating from there.
As mentioned in my original post, I feel like since he took a risk on me from my past, I owe him but how far does that go before I am being taken advantage of?
How does one become Independent where I can achieve what I feel I can?
If I am already appointed through the companies, do I have to go through process again if I was to try to go independent?
Whats the financial situation look like for a person going independent without a book of business?
Basically, I had all my finances in the previous business that busted and am starting off with nothing financially. It is what it is. I had the will to try and it didn't work out the way I wanted due to unforeseen circumstances. I am the type that when I go into something I go ALL in. I definitely have the confidence to succeed in this industry, the motivation, but the financial means is a different story. And not knowing the ins and outs of the business is holding me back I feel. Anywhere to research on my own? Looking for insight on how to move up the ladder.
I recently had to close my business down due to loss of a large group of Ortho doctors finding out they could provide the same services that I offered through their clinic and bill directly for those services. I am in a small college town of about 120,000 and this clinic is basically the only ortho group in town. In my previous line of business, 95% of the business was based around referrals from this group.
This being said, I am pretty much grounded to this location for about 9 more years due to my daughter and am starting completely over with this career change. The broker I started with is basically a 3 man operation. Going into this, I did not know if I would be able to sit for the state test due to a mistake I made 15 years ago and this was known by the broker hiring me.
Long story short, I was able to sit for my test, have been appointed though 3 of the major carriers, and am producing business for this brokerage. The broker paid for all of this and is paying for internet leads but I am getting further referrals from those leads. He is paying me hourly at a rate of $12 and I am putting in about 50 hours per week.
I feel like I am indebted to him for taking the risk of not possibly getting licensed, plus I was desperate to break into the industry and make sure I could at least feed my children. There really is no elaborate training that I have been through, and does not look like there is going to be in the future. I am just looking to see if anyone has any advice on my next steps, as I feel I could do very well in this industry, but I feel as if I am not getting the most of my abilities and I am not making what I feel is fair for my work involved, as he gets all the commission and renewals, even the new referrals I am bringing from the leads provided. Any advice?
Licensed in July. I worked at another part time job while studying for the exam. Basically when I came on board, having knowledge of how medicare works and insurance basic from previous career experience, he through me in the fire calling lead and selling within a week. I learn information quickly and was trained by an assistant at the office. Our office focuses mainly on T65 leads and ACA leads. No life insurance leads at all.
A prime example of what I have done recently on a lead that came in:
She is being released from a group plan involuntarily and I was able to sell her a plan. She then setup an appointment with 18 of her fellow retirees that are also coming off the group plan. I was able to sell to 16 of the 18. I mentioned about a split with this. He stated that once we get through open-enrollment, we will look at commission. I have offered to pay back what he has invested and also pay for leads in a couple different conversations. Just to be told the same thing about making it through open enrollment and evaluating from there.
As mentioned in my original post, I feel like since he took a risk on me from my past, I owe him but how far does that go before I am being taken advantage of?
How does one become Independent where I can achieve what I feel I can?
If I am already appointed through the companies, do I have to go through process again if I was to try to go independent?
Whats the financial situation look like for a person going independent without a book of business?
Basically, I had all my finances in the previous business that busted and am starting off with nothing financially. It is what it is. I had the will to try and it didn't work out the way I wanted due to unforeseen circumstances. I am the type that when I go into something I go ALL in. I definitely have the confidence to succeed in this industry, the motivation, but the financial means is a different story. And not knowing the ins and outs of the business is holding me back I feel. Anywhere to research on my own? Looking for insight on how to move up the ladder.
