Another quick newbie question…

[WolfOfInsurance]

Hey all, as you may know by now I’m new and waiting on my Life license approval from TX.

Question:

Do I need to sign up to work under another company or can I do my own thing?

I’ve been planning to get started with
DigitalBGA but I found out they require you to be licensed in 7 states min (although I may do that) I’m wondering if there’s a way I can just sign up to the insurance companies myself and just do my own thing?

Im not sure the terminology for what actually is
DigitalBGA? FMO or something like that?

Also, does anyone have a list of the costs for non resident Life license costs by state? Looking for the cheaper states to get to the 7 state mark.

Thanks again guys, I’m getting there..

 

[adjusterjack]

Also, does anyone have a list of the costs for non resident Life license costs by state? Looking for the cheaper states to get to the 7 state mark.

There are services that handle multi-state licensing. See which one works best for you.

State Requirements | NIPR

Nationwide MultiState Licensing System | CSBS

 

[Markthebroker]

 

[titeye]

Hey all, as you may know by now I’m new and waiting on my Life license approval from TX.

Question:

Do I need to sign up to work under another company or can I do my own thing?

I’ve been planning to get started with
DigitalBGA but I found out they require you to be licensed in 7 states min (although I may do that) I’m wondering if there’s a way I can just sign up to the insurance companies myself and just do my own thing?

Im not sure the terminology for what actually is
DigitalBGA? FMO or something like that?

Also, does anyone have a list of the costs for non resident Life license costs by state? Looking for the cheaper states to get to the 7 state mark.

Thanks again guys, I’m getting there..

Don't take this the wrong way, but your questions suggests that you may not be quite ready to do you own thing. That doesn't mean you have to work with DBGA. There are plenty of reputable agencies on here that will take you by the hand and help you out.

 

[WolfOfInsurance]

Don't take this the wrong way, but your questions suggests that you may not be quite ready to do you own thing. That doesn't mean you have to work with DBGA. There are plenty of reputable agencies on here that will take you by the hand and help you out.

I totally agree. Was mainly asking for future reference as I’ve always run my own businesses and later on I may move onto doing my own thing if it’s worth it.

Although there seems to be a ton of benefits of working with a solid team. But I’ve just always been a lone wolf in business. We’ll see how it goes and plan accordingly.

 

[titeye]

I totally agree. Was mainly asking for future reference as I’ve always run my own businesses and later on I may move onto doing my own thing if it’s worth it.

Although there seems to be a ton of benefits of working with a solid team. But I’ve just always been a lone wolf in business. We’ll see how it goes and plan accordingly.

Good luck on your career. If I can make a suggestion, focus on being revenue driven, instead of cost driven. As you probably have been told, the reason DBGA wants you licensed in a minimum of 7 states is to increase your lead flow opportunities. Their leads come in from all over the country. Since they are a telesales agency, the more states that you hold a license in, the more likely you will be successful in telesales. If you only license in your resident state, telesales is no longer a model for success. You MUST work in the field. Most of the other agencies specialize in field sales. The choice is still yours, but hopefully you see a bit more clearly how many licenses are required to succeed with either course of action. Don't worry so much about costs of the license. Research which states generate the most leads. One sale will pay for the costs of getting licensed in 7 states. I have been licensed in 17 states since 2017. I promised myself that one of these days, I am going to pick up the phone more often. The point is, those 17 states costs me a total of $900 every 2 years. That's only $450 annually. If I can get motivated and disciplined to work no fewer than 30hrs/week, I would consider adding more states.

 

[WolfOfInsurance]

Good luck on your career. If I can make a suggestion, focus on being revenue driven, instead of cost driven. As you probably have been told, the reason DBGA wants you licensed in a minimum of 7 states is to increase your lead flow opportunities. Their leads come in from all over the country. Since they are a telesales agency, the more states that you hold a license in, the more likely you will be successful in telesales. If you only license in your resident state, telesales is no longer a model for success. You MUST work in the field. Most of the other agencies specialize in field sales. The choice is still yours, but hopefully you see a bit more clearly how many licenses are required to succeed with either course of action. Don't worry so much about costs of the license. Research which states generate the most leads. One sale will pay for the costs of getting licensed in 7 states. I have been licensed in 17 states since 2017. I promised myself that one of these days, I am going to pick up the phone more often. The point is, those 17 states costs me a total of $900 every 2 years. That's only $450 annually. If I can get motivated and disciplined to work no fewer than 30hrs/week, I would consider adding more states.

Yeah, I can see it’s totally necessary to get licensed in more states going the telesales route. I’m planning to run the TV leads, so I’ll need 12+.

I’m setting up a Corp, so that’s why I was a little concerned about costs as my business needs to be licensed in those same states.

Do you know any FE insurance company that would pay me to my company name without my company being licensed in each state?

If that’s a requirement, I’ll do it. Just looking at options as I would rather invest in leads than state fees being a new business.

Thanks for the advice.

 

[titeye]

Yeah, I can see it’s totally necessary to get licensed in more states going the telesales route. I’m planning to run the TV leads, so I’ll need 12+.

I’m setting up a Corp, so that’s why I was a little concerned about costs as my business needs to be licensed in those same states.

Do you know any FE insurance company that would pay me to my company name without my company being licensed in each state?

If that’s a requirement, I’ll do it. Just looking at options as I would rather invest in leads than state fees being a new business.

Thanks for the advice.

Someone else will have to chime in to answer this one....

 

[Tahoe Ray]

Yeah, I can see it’s totally necessary to get licensed in more states going the telesales route. I’m planning to run the TV leads, so I’ll need 12+.

I’m setting up a Corp, so that’s why I was a little concerned about costs as my business needs to be licensed in those same states.

Do you know any FE insurance company that would pay me to my company name without my company being licensed in each state?

If that’s a requirement, I’ll do it. Just looking at options as I would rather invest in leads than state fees being a new business.

Thanks for the advice.

You're unlikely to have it both ways. Keep in mind that it isn't a company name (DBA) so much so as it is a separate entity with a different tax ID. That's going to be your issue.

Sit down with an accountant and discuss this. One option (and this is not tax advice) is to have a separate personal account (you should have separate accounts anyway) that is paid commissions which are systematically swept into your business (corp) account.

It is not clean but a good accountant will be able to reconcile those payments via your corp. So you can get personally licensed in a dozen states and the corp license as you go., eventually reassigning all comp directly to the corp.

It is not preferable to do this but with proper guidance, you can make it work from a tax perspective and then as you earn money, start licensing the business in the states where you're making the most revenue and move down from there.

Paying an accountant a few hundred will be cheaper than 12 corp licenses. At least out of the gate. Ultimately, you just want the corp getting all of the comp.

Good luck.

 

[WolfOfInsurance]

You're unlikely to have it both ways. Keep in mind that it isn't a company name (DBA) so much so as it is a separate entity with a different tax ID. That's going to be your issue.

Sit down with an accountant and discuss this. One option (and this is not tax advice) is to have a separate personal account (you should have separate accounts anyway) that is paid commissions which are systematically swept into your business (corp) account.

It is not clean but a good accountant will be able to reconcile those payments via your corp. So you can get personally licensed in a dozen states and the corp license as you go., eventually reassigning all comp directly to the corp.

It is not preferable to do this but with proper guidance, you can make it work from a tax perspective and then as you earn money, start licensing the business in the states where you're making the most revenue and move down from there.

Paying an accountant a few hundred will be cheaper than 12 corp licenses. At least out of the gate. Ultimately, you just want the corp getting all of the comp.

Good luck.

Seems doable, although if I signed on with an insurance company and start producing good volume under my personal name, then switched it all to the business 6 months later, I would assume that would get tricky because of the chargebacks that will start to roll in.

Meaning I’ll have chargebacks coming in on my personal contract that I won’t be signing any new business to make up for as it’s now running under the business.

Obviously, I’m assuming that’s how it works. Please correct me if I’m wrong. Thanks.