4 Years Later, You guys were right

[KandKsmommy]

So it has been almost 4 years since I started on the forums and began working as a licensed broker having spent 3 years able a CAC and SHIP.

When I started on the forums I had mentioned working under another agent and doing commission splits.

You all cautioned me against it and advised me to go on my own. You told me I would be building up a book that someone else owns. I said the owner agreed to sign over my books if she ever planed to retire.

God was I naive. Fast forward March 2024 she pulls me into her office to say I was taking over the business. I was in shock and panicking. She presented me with a sales agreement to pay her $129k to buy MY OWN BOB. I was in shock.

I told you all I could trust her. She was like a friend to me. You all warned me. Sorry I didn't listen. Hopefully this can serve as a warning for someone else.

 

[DonP]

So it has been almost 4 years since I started on the forums and began working as a licensed broker having spent 3 years able a CAC and SHIP.

When I started on the forums I had mentioned working under another agent and doing commission splits.

You all cautioned me against it and advised me to go on my own. You told me I would be building up a book that someone else owns. I said the owner agreed to sign over my books if she ever planed to retire.

God was I naive. Fast forward March 2024 she pulls me into her office to say I was taking over the business. I was in shock and panicking. She presented me with a sales agreement to pay her $129k to buy MY OWN BOB. I was in shock.

I told you all I could trust her. She was like a friend to me. You all warned me. Sorry I didn't listen. Hopefully this can serve as a warning for someone else

Sorry to hear that . Money and friendship don't mix . You have to have contracts in place . You must get paid direct from the carrier always . Your friend saw all the money you were making her and wanted it all

 

[Chazm]

You must have been paid a salary. Or free leads.

 

[somarco]

@KandKsmommy sorry you got roped into this arrangement. Don't beat yourself up. Honest people want to believe everyone else is just like them.

I was taken advantage of more than once in my career. It is a tough lesson to learn . . . even more so when you repeat the mistake.

My biggest mistake cost me $50k . . . about half was legal fees the rest was lost commission due to the time it took to battle my former employer.

I am sure many of the agents here are pulling for you to give it another try and succeed beyond your wildest dreams. It can happen when you try.

You have a lot of talent and much to offer clients. Go for it.

 

[WinoBlues]

So it has been almost 4 years since I started on the forums and began working as a licensed broker having spent 3 years able a CAC and SHIP.

When I started on the forums I had mentioned working under another agent and doing commission splits.

You all cautioned me against it and advised me to go on my own. You told me I would be building up a book that someone else owns. I said the owner agreed to sign over my books if she ever planed to retire.

God was I naive. Fast forward March 2024 she pulls me into her office to say I was taking over the business. I was in shock and panicking. She presented me with a sales agreement to pay her $129k to buy MY OWN BOB. I was in shock.

I told you all I could trust her. She was like a friend to me. You all warned me. Sorry I didn't listen. Hopefully this can serve as a warning for someone else.

This should be a sticky in a Newbie forum.

 

[LostDollar]

So it has been almost 4 years since I started on the forums and began working as a licensed broker having spent 3 years able a CAC and SHIP.

When I started on the forums I had mentioned working under another agent and doing commission splits.

You all cautioned me against it and advised me to go on my own. You told me I would be building up a book that someone else owns. I said the owner agreed to sign over my books if she ever planed to retire.

God was I naive. Fast forward March 2024 she pulls me into her office to say I was taking over the business. I was in shock and panicking. She presented me with a sales agreement to pay her $129k to buy MY OWN BOB. I was in shock.

I told you all I could trust her. She was like a friend to me. You all warned me. Sorry I didn't listen. Hopefully this can serve as a warning for someone else.

if the arrangement was fairly informal and you did not have to sign any non-competes when you started this arrangement, you may have the ability to just walk out the door, get a small office, and take at least some of those folks with you. if you are "the face" the clients are used to dealing with, you could have a very strong advantage there, even if this agent would try to hire someone else to replace you.

Best wishes for your continued success.

 

[rousemark]

if the arrangement was fairly informal and you did not have to sign any non-competes when you started this arrangement, you may have the ability to just walk out the door, get a small office, and take at least some of those folks with you. if you are "the face" the clients are used to dealing with, you could have a very strong advantage there, even if this agent would try to hire someone else to replace you.

Best wishes for your continued success.

Apparently she can do that. The problem is unless she comes up with the cash, she leaves her book of business and all her renewal commissions behind.

 

[axeman462]

Ouch.

Have you gone Indy since then?

 

[LostDollar]

Apparently she can do that. The problem is unless she comes up with the cash, she leaves her book of business and all her renewal commissions behind.

Here's the picture that was in my mind when I made the comment:

--------------------------------------------------------

Last year during my saga of finding an agent to sell me an annuity, I was driving up a street near my house around 5pm and I saw a sign for an insurance agent which included "life" in the line items, so on a whim I stopped and went hunting for his office.

The door was unlocked so I went in. It was an older office, a bit on the ragged side. The reception desk was empty, but there was a light on in his office and I heard him on the phone, so I just sat down to wait.

He was starting to have a challenge coming up with different ways to tell Mrs Franklin she was going to save $1K or $2K on her insurance, but the call finally ended.

He did not sell annuities but I got to see something else. Kgmom talks about agents getting referrals from financial planners. This was the reverse and it was so smooth, and it came about as the result of a totally unexpected meeting between two people and the turn of a conversation.

He said his wife worked with a financial planner for their finances, spoke very highly of the guy, and gave me his card. Just like that. (That one did not work out either but it gave me another set of experiences talking about annuities with financial people.)

So I thanked him and apologized for keeping him late. He then pointed to his desk where he had a 2-4 inch high pile of file folders and said he had to be there for awhile anyway.

He visited with me briefly. It turned out he was primarily a P&C agent who had left a major carrier a second time and was starting his own independent office. He told me those folders were some of his clients with the former carrier who wanted to come with him in his new business.

I later had reason to mention him (the p&c) agent in a nextdoor post to someone looking for an auto agent, and there were at least 3 of his clients that chimed in on the thread talking about the concern he had for them as clients.

That type of concern is exactly the same thing I have seen k&k'sM express in some posts here.

And the overall conversation with the P&C guy is what led me to make the comment I did to k&k'sM.

-------------------------------------------------------

So what you are telling me is that the Medigap/PDP world is enough different than P&C that k&k'sM can't go out the door and then start contacting those former client people and writing them with new business?

I can't remember exactly where she is -- but if it is a smaller community in the northern part of Maine, I can certainly see how the cash demand for a new startup against a limited prospect pool outside of her current agency could be a serious problem.

 

[LostDollar]

Apparently she can do that. The problem is unless she comes up with the cash, she leaves her book of business and all her renewal commissions behind.

But there is a flip side problem to that problem too which almost all of you guys (agents) have expressed in many posts.

The longer she waits to Buy at stated price, Attempt to buy at a lower price, Sue for breach of contract, or Leave; the worse her current problem is going to get.

If she can manage her finances to make it work, somarco's very, very brief life experience summary in his post above suggests (to me) the path that many agents (based on reading a lot of posts here) would now consider the best approach for her current situation.