Are There Any Faith-based Christian IMO/FMO's

[sshafran]

And 99.9% of you couldn’t do what I do now. The competition will be a piece of cake if this is a good representation of the industry.

You're a peach.

Again, thinking like this will set you up for failure. You should assume that other agents out there are better than you, more experienced than you, have deeper pockets for marketing than you, are smarter than you, and more ethical than you.

At that point, you sharpen your skills and go to work - and work hard until you really are better.

Can you do it? Maybe.

 

[dosomething410]

DHK, that was exactly the type of advice I was looking for. I greatly appreciate it. I'm sure you all will see another dumb question from me.

With my personality, and where I am located, I do think Final Expense would be the better way to go. I will start investigating that.

As for other licenses, I took the same approach I am taking now. Solidify my knowledge in one area before moving on to another. That is why I did the Life only at first. I do plan on expanding (Health, FINRA, etc.).

My apologies again to everyone for the "snakes" comment. Here is what I have discovered. The "shady" organizations have the best SEO. Just about every IMO I've found via Googling, has had very negative reviews on here. Family First is the one I looked at this morning. So a newbie does a search, looks for reviews on the first page results, and ends up in this very forum stating how bad the organization is.

Thank you to those who gave constructive advice and cared enough to dig out what I really needed to know.

 

[DHK]

I would also recommend checking out Dave Duford's (Rearden on the forums) YouTube channel. I know you can contract under him too, but I'd definitely take advantage of this free resource. And yeah, you can trust his information.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC3wY7KRI5DsQ2XYYoX95Qhg

 

[VolAgent]

I would also recommend checking out Dave Duford's (Rearden on the forums) YouTube channel. I know you can contract under him too, but I'd definitely take advantage of this free resource. And yeah, you can trust his information.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC3wY7KRI5DsQ2XYYoX95Qhg

You're just saying that because of how he dresses in his videos.

 

[Josh]

My apologies again to everyone for the "snakes" comment. Here is what I have discovered. The "shady" organizations have the best SEO. Just about every IMO I've found via Googling, has had very negative reviews on here.

Part of the problem there is you're also believing everything you read on the internet. Any company that does a fair bit of recruiting will get trashed on here. I started off with NILICO (AIL) and people routinely trash them on here. I had a very different experience than the bad reviews on here. Does that mean they're wrong and I'm right? Of course not, it's just a different experience. A lot of the shops will "hire" people on straight commission and are just recruiting mills. A recruiting mill that has someone not work out is going to have someone that is going to want to go online and trash them, even if the recruiting mill was only guilty of giving anyone with a pulse a chance to work with them. Of most of the companies you'll read bad reviews on, I probably know several agents that have done very well with them.

A part of your "ethics ahead of profits" thing is a bit of a loaded question too.
- If someone isn't selling the least expensive product available, is that unethical?
- Should agents factor in their compensation when deciding which companies to represent?
- Should you sell whole life or to term and invest the difference?
- Should you constantly take service calls from a customer you make very little money on or should you refer them directly to the carrier?
- Should an agency contract anyone with a pulse and give them all and equal opportunity to succeed or should they turn away people that want to work with them simply because the agency doesn't think they'll work out?

I'm sure the list goes a lot longer, but a lot of what you may consider an ethical dilemma *may* be more subjective. I grew up Christian and have many friends that are very active in their beliefs. With that being said, there does seem to be this persecution complex that white american Christians seem to have. I don't understand where it comes from other than blowing a few things radically out of proportion and some of the way churches teach do seem to villainize any non-believers. As has already been mentioned, most people are actually pretty fair and honest with their fellow man (and women). Most people don't give to flying hoots what religion you are when it comes to business. Most people (appropriately) keep their religion separate from business. Most of the people in this country identify as Christian and I don't really think any significant portion of the population has any bias against them, until they start bringing it up.

If I may be so bold, I think your view on Christians/religion may be just a crutch because you don't know what you don't know. Personally, I would 100% ditch any view you have on it about religion and just treat it like business. If you want to study everything, ask questions, learn about the business, then go home and pray/talk to your pasture/whatever about it then obviously that's your personal (and respectable) choice, but take a look at this thread as an example and imagine how different it would have been if you would have simply said "Looking for an honest/reputable IMO/FMO to help me get started in the business".

 

[WinoBlues]

You're just saying that because of how he dresses in his videos.

OK, that took me a second to get that. Funny!

 

[BADTROUT]

There isn't a litmus test for Christianity, we are all imperfect, or there would have been no need for Jesus Christ. Judging business direction in best guided by your walk with God, rather than what someone proclaims themself to be.

In a forum of sales people, many will tell you they are the best, the best products and services, better than the rest in some cases... in prison, you would be surprised at how many innocent people there are...

My point is, a sales organization that labels themselves as a faith based sales organization is just about as likely as meeting an innocent person in prison. They are out there... and even if you did find one, every employee may not share the same vision of the founder... and even if they do... remember we ALL fall short of the glory of God.

 

[djs]

Basic problem is the statement ethics over profits. These are not mutually exclusive. What you are looking for is a company that operates in an ethical way. If they make a profit, then they will stay in business and open their doors tomorrow. If they lose money, they are not actually ethical, simply because they won't be open tomorrow and haven't done the right thing for the client, by being there when they are actually needed.

Don't confuse ethics and profits. Nothing unethical about being profitable. In fact, there is something unethical about a business not being profitable in the long run. The only way to do that is by taking other peoples money and not providing value for it.

Next problem is ethics are in the eye of the beholder and not determined by the individual themselves. What you need to do is define what standards you are looking for and go for those.

Insurance is usually perceived a bit as 'unethical' because they tend not to take on known losses. For instance, a terminally ill person tends to have a hard time finding life insurance, even though they may need it the most. Is it unethical? Not in my book, but others may tend to think so. Is it putting profits in front of ethics? Not really. In reality, they are watching out for the rest of the policy holders because if they take on the known loss, they have to raise rates on every one else to pay for it. Is that ethical? Depends on your point of view.

I think what you are looking for is a company that deals with people in a fair, open, honest manner that has a set of standards that they uphold.

Dan

 

[sshafran]

Basic problem is the statement ethics over profits. These are not mutually exclusive. What you are looking for is a company that operates in an ethical way. If they make a profit, then they will stay in business and open their doors tomorrow. If they lose money, they are not actually ethical, simply because they won't be open tomorrow and haven't done the right thing for the client, by being there when they are actually needed.

Don't confuse ethics and profits. Nothing unethical about being profitable. In fact, there is something unethical about a business not being profitable in the long run. The only way to do that is by taking other peoples money and not providing value for it.

^ This.

Good stuff.

 

[VolAgent]

OK, that took me a second to get that. Funny!

I know DHK is a good sport, but I didn't want to push that too hard.