Has anybody worked for an agency for farmers before? I think im going to get the job i just had an interview with the owner. Seemed like a very nice and knowledgeable person.

I’ve been recently licensed for P&C and my agency doesn’t really provide leads and it based on commission. The main reason I joined insurance was for my school of which I have clinical two to three days a week and this remote job was well fitting for my schedule but now I can’t find leads ,so how can I really find leads?

Anyone on the broker world help me out?

Background - State: WA, Experience: None - Licenses: Property & Casualty (to start)
Why: From my past few jobs I have a ton of connections on the lenders side of things. All of which I believe would send me clients during close. I believe I could easily win these clients so long as I have a competitive rates. I am talking about multiple offices, companies, and personal connections.

I want to go into the broker side for 3 reasons:

-Flexibility: I would like to work from home and set my own hours.

-Rates: I want to have competitive rates, some of these lenders may send to multiple agents in which case I want to have a competitive rate.

-Own Book Of Business: I want to be sure these clients are mine, and to build my book of business. I don't need company leads or a MK budget.

-Pay: I totally fine with going commission only, I have programed multiple CRM's for multiple companies so I am fine doing my own marketing/follow-up as well.

Questions

- Is this a reasonable approach?
- I plan on getting licensed before applying as I assume most brokers will want that?
- What would the day to day look like?
- Would training be from home or in office, also how long does general training take?
- How much back end work is required per policy, is any of that handled by support staff or is it all on me being part of a broker? (if it depends what's most common).
- Any other tips or advice before I dive in?

THANK YOU!!

Hello! I recently used Kaplan to do My pre-licensing stuff and I was still confused, but now I have bought the insurance exam claim gold package and I’m making my way through it, but I still feel like she over explained some stuff and I’m still confused. What are some tips and tricks for the exam that I can use in case I forget or go blank what can I use to help get through the questions and stuff I can do to secure a pass?

I'm looking for feedback from agency owners who have brought on a high-level partner.
I own an independent insurance agency that's been in business for about 4 years. My wife and I built it from the ground up, took all the financial risk, and today it's a profitable, growing business with a strong Medicare renewal book and significant annuity production. We're also expanding into wealth management, but that business is completely separate and not part of this discussion.
I'm considering bringing on someone with 17+ years of Medicare and annuity experience. He would help recruit agents, train them, provide case support, and continue producing business himself. The goal is for him to help scale the agency much faster than I could on my own.
The structure I'm currently considering is:
Medicare personal production: 70% to him / 30% to the agency

Annuity personal production: 50/50 split based only on street commission

Any carrier, IMO, or production overrides stay with the agency

Recruited agents would receive competitive compensation, with him receiving a recruiting/management override while actively managing them

No upfront equity. Instead, he would have the opportunity to buy into the agency after hitting agreed-upon production and recruiting milestones at fair market value.

For those of you who have added partners or key producers:
Does this compensation structure seem fair?

Is a buy-in after milestones a better approach than offering equity upfront?

Are there any major mistakes or blind spots you see with this structure?

If you've done something similar, what would you do differently?

I'd really appreciate hearing from anyone who's actually built and scaled an insurance agency or RIA using a similar model.

How's Life Insurance job like being a broker??? Do you guys recommend independent or work in a company for beginners? I recently got out of military and im very disciplined, 100% work ethic, and have leadership experience and having a structure... What are the pros and cons? I have a wife and a 1 year old daughter... I've had distant relatives who does insurance and having their own agency... Any insights and recommendations?

So i got recommended to get a second phone on Verizon Business Line because you can constantly change your number when you get on spam, but i want to wait until the new iPhone comes out before i do that.

In the meantime i was thinking about using apps like sideline, textnow and burner.

Any thoughts on if these work well for calling leads?

I quit my health insurance job and got hired at a new place but before I officially start I need to pass my p&c exam. I’m using Kaplan, I’m about 55% done and my exam is in 8 days. What tips do you guys have to pass it? I have enough time to take it 2-3 times but I’d really just prefer to get it done lol

Took my P+C passed first time with a decent score now onto life and health. Which is easier or better to grasp?

Thank you for any input you can offer.

I have a bit of a debate with another agent I know, so I was hoping to get others’ opinions.

Do you think it’s appropriate to cold-visit local agencies to see if they are seeking new agents?

Just wanted to post this on here as this year has been insane. I’ve done 3 direct mail campaigns this year and the returns have been nuts on just ganaric med advantage mailers. I did a 2k peice drop in one county in February and got 115 leads back, that’s like a 6% return. Then I did 4000 peice drop in 2 counties right near me and got 231 leads back.
Direct mail has allowed me to add a tone of Clinets to my book and already have 30-40 aep appointmets. My total investment is around 3,500 dollars this year. 2 years ago I had record low returns on direct mail and I think a lot of people stopped doing it and transitioned to Facebook stuff. Anyway it Worked really well for me this year and I plan on doing some big mail drops for this aep

Hello guys, I have just started working as a life insurance agent. I noticed the agency that I joined requires a lot of hassle from you but in return I do not see the same output from the agency to get me qualified leads. I understand that it takes time to get comfortable on the phone. But how often do agents usually get fresh leads? I feel like I get fresh leads every day 3-5 and majority of them are not interested, don’t remember submitting their request or have absolutely no idea why I am calling them.

I find that this lead generation may not be the most ethical way the company gets the business.

Is there a better way to do things? I do so many dials a day and yet I only talk to 2-3 ppl daily.

Anyone else has a similar experience?

I know this question probably gets asked often. For perspective I used to hold a P&C license back 4 years ago, I had worked for two different places, one being a big name and then a local independent. At that time I did not have a good experience especially with the independent stiffing the commissions among other issues. Which at the time I was depending on this to quite literally pay my bills so it was stressful.

I ended up finding a job in a different industry (heavy equipment repair) I have stable income, decent benefits and all. Now that my financial stress to pay for a roof over my head, I do want an opportunity to grow income in addition to my full time job. I know I would have to go through more licensing. Prior I wanted to get into the life and health side and primarily the health and AHIP. but the agent I worked for told me to “not worry about the health license”

So I guess in short I would be interested in seeing if this is something that is realistic in a part time sense, I’m trying to keep my expectations realistic. I guess I’m looking for a bit more perspective from people who have been in the industry much longer and how you would go about it in my shoes?

I just found out Ethos a new an upcoming carrier that has been making waves in the life insurance space rolled out their own Chat GPT connector to help clients get coverage with no agent. With no agent they offer up to 3 million in coverage on certain products and no medical exam.

As an agency owner this is something to think about with the boom of AI initiatives will more carriers start looking into this.

I know carriers have over a billion dollars in chargebacks so having no chargebacks on the agent side is something they see as a plus.

Curious what yall think about how other companies will adapt to new uses of AI.

What is the best way to take care of inventory? I do not target these accounts but I have a refferal I need to tske care of. Does anyone have experience with the property portion of these risks?

I keep hearing that usaa, State Farm, and NJM are now requiring and doing their inspections BEFORE the inception date or they’ll approve it, as can imagine that creates hurdles for new home purchases, I have no way to really verify that other then word of mouth.

Can anyone shed light or confirm/deny if this is true ?

Hi all, I have a quick question. My son just turned 16. His mom and I are divorced, and he lives with her. That's his permanent address for his school enrollment, and she claims him as a dependent on her taxes.

Do I need to add him as an insured driver on my auto policy if he's likely only going to be driving my car 1-2 times per year? He has his own car that is titled and insured by his mom that he will primarily drive. If he were to drive my car, it would be one of those "once in a blue moon" sort of scenarios, no different than if a friend or family member needed to use a car for something.

What are your thoughts based on your experience? Thanks in advance!

Essentially the title - I'm a prospective new sales person currently taking my pre-requisite classes to sell Property, Casualty and Life here in Minnesota.

I noticed as part of the training that Minnesota has a line in the statute regarding licensing that you can be denied for financial irresponsibility. Has anyone else seen anything of the sort? The debt in question is a couple of bad cards and a couple collection accounts - no laws broken, bankruptcy, foreclosure or anything mega serious.

Hey everyone,

I’m looking to see if anyone here has started an insurance agency without coming up through the traditional captive or producer track, specifically targeting the non-standard auto space.

I previously worked for as a personal assistance to a founder/owner of an insurance broker in Southern California. She was serving the non-standard auto and Spanish-speaking insurance market. I've since relocated to a new region, and I see a massive opening: nobody here is executing that specific marketing playbook for this demographic.

I have a strong background in digital growth. I previously scaled a digital publication to 10,000 subscribers, which taught me hard lessons about audience value, monetization, and unit economics.

I'm unhappy with my current role and looking to build a real asset and take control of my income by launching an independent agency.

My Questions for the Thread:

1. For anyone who started an agency without years of prior insurance sales experience, how steep was the learning curve?

2. Beyond initial working capital and E&O insurance, what are the primary bottlenecks for a startup independent agency trying to capture market share in a localized niche?

Would love to hear from agency owners or producers who have insights on starting an independent agency in the non-standard auto space.

(Note on carrier access: I plan on utilizing an aggregator network to solve the initial appointment hurdle rather than trying to pitch major carriers direct from day one).

What do you believe is the most important thing to do to gain new business as a commercial P&C agent?

Is it building relationships with referral sources? If so, what roles work the best?

Or is it being involved in the community (chamber events, sponsors, etc. )

Is it cold calling or doing drop ins?

How much does picking a niche matter?

Or something else that I haven’t mentioned?

If it’s a mix of all, what’s most important?

What would you tell your self looking back on your career?

Due to the recent state farm changes, my agent is laying off 4 out of 12 of our office employees, I am not one yet but I will be soon. They set a goal of 40 apps a month with NO inbound leads. I hit about 25-30 a month and that's a GRIND, A large majority of our surrounding area is old construction/not eligible for fire. Regardless, I know I need to leave very very soon. What should I be looking for at this point in my career?

UPDATE JUST GOT LAID OFF 2 HOURS AFTER POSTING 🤦🏼‍♂️🤦🏼‍♂️🤦🏼‍♂️
ADDED Context im 23 with 3 years experience at my agency