How Do I Choose a Specialty?

[scwisher]

Hello and thank you for reading my post.

I am ready to begin the process of obtaining my license and I am befuddled by choices!

I live in NJ and it seems pretty clear that selling health insurance in my home state will be like beating my head against the wall. Should I obtain a license in a different state? Can I do that without being licensed in my home state? If so, is there a particular state or states that are under-served or seem to have more demand?

I have been reading quite a few posts in this forum and feel confident that health insurance is the way to go. It's too bad I live in a guaranteed-issue state, but it seems that may not matter, if I seek a non-resident license elsewhere. NJ's Dept. of Banking and Insurance website is not very helpful to someone who doesn't know what they're doing.

On the other hand, perhaps I should pursue Life or P&C. I'm not sure how to make that decision, short of asking people like you who have expert knowledge in each of these fields.

Thank you in advance for your help.

 

[GonnaFlyNow]

first choose between either:


property and casualty

OR

life/health


that's the most important decision to make right now.

you do have to be licensed in your state of residence first.

don't choose a "specialty" until you've been licensed at least a year or two.

you won't know what you enjoy until you've learned more.

your "speciality" should be the product area that you enjoy the most and that you believe in the most.

 

[Clint]

Here are a couple links



NJ Licensing info: Producer Frequently Asked Questions

NJ license FAQ's: Producer Frequently Asked Questions

 

[DHK]

There's a combination of choices to make.

I would not arbitrarily choose a product line without knowing WHO you are going to market to.

If you have a large enough market with a great process to put people through, you'll have a sustainable business.

 

[scwisher]

first choose between either:


property and casualty

OR

life/health

Thanks for responding.

In NJ, Life exam and Health exam are separate. Does that mean the licenses will be separate too? Again, with NJ being a guarantee-issue state, won't it be difficult for me to sell health as a brand new independent? It looks like IHIAA will be a lot of help, but will it be enough for a noob like me?

I haven't seen as much support (so far) for brand new life insurance agents or property/casualty. Reading posts on this board makes me think working for an agency is a waste of my time. Besides, I need to keep my day job for a while. Any advice/help is greatly appreciated!

 

[Crabcake Johnny]

If you choose health you will indeed need to sell in other states but before you pull the trigger you'll need a marketing plan...and a realistic one. Are you going to buy leads? Drive traffic to your site? Telemarket? Far too many agents pull the trigger before mapping everything out.

All that said, selling health online is arguably easier than selling life online - unless you just want to sell term.

 

[scwisher]

There's a combination of choices to make.

I would not arbitrarily choose a product line without knowing WHO you are going to market to.

If you have a large enough market with a great process to put people through, you'll have a sustainable business.

To be quite honest, I was planning on purchasing leads for whatever line I get licensed for in my home state to start. Then I was planning on adding other lines so I could be more comprehensive in my offerings. Finally, I plan on obtaining licenses in other states and branching out that way.

NJ has 8.5 million residents so I figured size of market would not be a concern. As for a great process, well, I don't have that part figured out yet. I WAS thinking Pajama Man, but now I think maybe that's a bad idea. There's always Rob Liano, but I haven't contacted him yet! Not sure if he wants to talk to someone who's not even licensed yet.

Any further guidance you can offer is vastly appreciated!
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

If you choose health you will indeed need to sell in other states but before you pull the trigger you'll need a marketing plan...and a realistic one. Are you going to buy leads? Drive traffic to your site? Telemarket? Far too many agents pull the trigger before mapping everything out.

All that said, selling health online is arguably easier than selling life online - unless you just want to sell term.

Thanks for responding. Yes, I plan to primarily purchase leads as I will be attempting to start off part time and I don't want to waste too much time finding leads. If I had some help getting a site built, I could work on tweaking that and driving traffic to it.

Could I even get my feet wet selling health in NJ this way? Or can I get licensed in other states immediately after getting my NJ license? I don't mind spending a little money up front to get started, I practically had my checkbook out to send the Pajama Man $5,000 to get this sort of information! But now that I found you knowledgeable people here, I am hoping to navigate my way to success!

I really appreciate you folks taking the time to help me out.

 

[Tom Highway]

I've often wondered something about this. If you get your life and health license, should you be a generalist, or should you really specialize?

Let me explain a little further. Right out of the gate, I was a financial advisor, and I have my series 7, series 66, and my life and health license. I did it all, but mainly focused on investments and bonds. That did not work.

Lately, I've been focusing on MA/Med Supps (hopefully a LOT more med supps than MA as I get through AEP) and final expense. I have the opportunity to do both of these, in addition to cancer insurance and long term care insurance to individuals and to businesses.

I think this is getting too spread out, and won't let me really focus on one thing.

So, is it better to take a couple of things, like the med supps and FE, and focus on those two and become proficient at all aspects of it, or is it better to diversify into all these differents things to sell, and spread your risk?

 

[Crabcake Johnny]

Thanks for responding. Yes, I plan to primarily purchase leads as I will be attempting to start off part time and I don't want to waste too much time finding leads. If I had some help getting a site built, I could work on tweaking that and driving traffic to it.

Could I even get my feet wet selling health in NJ this way? Or can I get licensed in other states immediately after getting my NJ license? I don't mind spending a little money up front to get started, I practically had my checkbook out to send the Pajama Man $5,000 to get this sort of information! But now that I found you knowledgeable people here, I am hoping to navigate my way to success!

I really appreciate you folks taking the time to help me out.

Well....$5,000 buys a lot of leads - at $7 per lead average that's 714 leads. Although it's easy to argue that if you don't know what you're doing buying leads is a waste of time.

But yes, once you get licensed you can go to a site like National Insurance Producer Registry and get licensed in almost any state online.

Here's your timeline:

1) Get your license

2) 3 to 4 weeks later you should have all of your appointments. During that time it should be intense study on your products and underwriting guides

3) Buy leads once you're trained and appointed - about 2 full weeks of buying leads to build your pipeline

4) Start submitting business around 6 weeks after you've received your license, then deals have to be approved and you have to be paid.

It's around 6 to 8 weeks from the time you're licensed to the time you'll receive your first commission.

Part time does not work. I would not recommend it but that's up to you.

 

[scwisher]

Part time does not work. I would not recommend it but that's up to you.

Are you saying that I cannot be successful if I only work nights and weekends? And does that apply only to health insurance or to being an insurance broker in general?

I do not expect to make $60k in 6 months. I expect it will take some time before I can build a book of business that would support that level of income. If I could build up a cash cushion and a book of business supporting that level of income, I could afford to quit my day job and go full time.

My goal is to be able to work from home as an independent broker providing insurance solutions to people who need them. If I can help cut through the jibberish and explain options to people in plain language, I believe I can succeed...and sleep at night.

Am I going about this the wrong way already?