Let's set the scene.
I'm 24 years old with a little over year of insurance experience and 4 years of commission-based sales experience (I was a furniture sales rep and a social media analytics tools sales rep). I'm licensed in property, casualty, life, accident & health. I primarily focus on property & casualty. I work for a primarily captive agency with some other lines at various carriers for alternative markets, special circumstances, etc. We're #1 in our state and in the top 10 in the country in our brand, so I feel very happy where I work. I also dabble in commercial and have a genuine passion for property insurance over all other types. I'm growing at beyond the rate I've been expected to grow at, so that's great.
Now let's go to where I am now in my career with the hurdle I've coming:
I've been working on building a network, trying to branch out and meet with more real estate agents, mortgage loan offers, and attend networking events.
I've got some relationships early in the stages of building and so far looking promising. I have an amazing boss that mentors me along with many coworkers who have been very successful in this step. Some have recently branched out and succeeded and others made this their big step a few years ago; so I'm getting plenty of various input. One thing me and a coworker (who is also 24) have noticed is a struggle to use our natural networks to our advantage. I live in Michigan, we have the highest auto insurance rates in the nation due to our magically, crazy, unlimited personal injury protection laws and credit-driven rate structure. So, it's quite safe to assume a lot of people under 26 in our state are with their parents for auto insurance still. In my natural market (i.e, friends, acquaintances from prior-to-insurance, former classmates and coworkers, etc.) I have mortgage officers.....in different states. I have real estate agents.....in different states. And the ones I have in this state are not people I want my clients associating with me necessarily based off that individuals' work ethic. So, of course, all people very close to my age (20-26ish) -- so I can't use step to sell much insurance or get networking going too much.
I'm attending a networking event Tuesday, a bit nervous as it's a very unique one for me. I'm openly gay and this is a LGBTQ+ professional networking event -- I'd like to get another LGBTQ professional in my network, but definitely not a requirement. I've literally been calling agencies for mortgage officers and real estate agents, trying to set up appointments to meet one on one and discuss what I can do -- and I've got 3 appointments set up over the next 2 weeks; thank goodness!
Any advice for a 24 year old who's doing very well but wants to do better, has a natural network that is kind of lackluster because of their age group or professional behavior?
I'm 24 years old with a little over year of insurance experience and 4 years of commission-based sales experience (I was a furniture sales rep and a social media analytics tools sales rep). I'm licensed in property, casualty, life, accident & health. I primarily focus on property & casualty. I work for a primarily captive agency with some other lines at various carriers for alternative markets, special circumstances, etc. We're #1 in our state and in the top 10 in the country in our brand, so I feel very happy where I work. I also dabble in commercial and have a genuine passion for property insurance over all other types. I'm growing at beyond the rate I've been expected to grow at, so that's great.
Now let's go to where I am now in my career with the hurdle I've coming:
I've been working on building a network, trying to branch out and meet with more real estate agents, mortgage loan offers, and attend networking events.
I've got some relationships early in the stages of building and so far looking promising. I have an amazing boss that mentors me along with many coworkers who have been very successful in this step. Some have recently branched out and succeeded and others made this their big step a few years ago; so I'm getting plenty of various input. One thing me and a coworker (who is also 24) have noticed is a struggle to use our natural networks to our advantage. I live in Michigan, we have the highest auto insurance rates in the nation due to our magically, crazy, unlimited personal injury protection laws and credit-driven rate structure. So, it's quite safe to assume a lot of people under 26 in our state are with their parents for auto insurance still. In my natural market (i.e, friends, acquaintances from prior-to-insurance, former classmates and coworkers, etc.) I have mortgage officers.....in different states. I have real estate agents.....in different states. And the ones I have in this state are not people I want my clients associating with me necessarily based off that individuals' work ethic. So, of course, all people very close to my age (20-26ish) -- so I can't use step to sell much insurance or get networking going too much.
I'm attending a networking event Tuesday, a bit nervous as it's a very unique one for me. I'm openly gay and this is a LGBTQ+ professional networking event -- I'd like to get another LGBTQ professional in my network, but definitely not a requirement. I've literally been calling agencies for mortgage officers and real estate agents, trying to set up appointments to meet one on one and discuss what I can do -- and I've got 3 appointments set up over the next 2 weeks; thank goodness!
Any advice for a 24 year old who's doing very well but wants to do better, has a natural network that is kind of lackluster because of their age group or professional behavior?
