How much cash should I have to start?

[Life Hawk]

You need a mentor. Someone to help you along on a daily basis, and to give a kick in the seat of the pants as needed.

Preparation for the mechanical and financial aspects of the business is of great importance, but failing to plan for the mental and psychological aspects of it, will kill you.

Very few folks are wired properly for the rejection right off the bat... and it will end you quickly if you don't have help in place.

 

[LostDollar]

You need a mentor. Someone to help you along on a daily basis, and to give a kick in the seat of the pants as needed.

Preparation for the mechanical and financial aspects of the business is of great importance, but failing to plan for the mental and psychological aspects of it, will kill you.

Very few folks are wired properly for the rejection right off the bat... and it will end you quickly if you don't have help in place.

I am glad to see you made this post.

Because of op's comments about working weekends and renting a car, I had thought about making a post saying something like :
(Caveat, not an agent)
In addition to obtaining the leads, I think it would be useful to you to look at
-- a system for managing the leads and the way you move around your territory
--having a system for emotional support
--having a system for technical support

but I decided that would probably be stretching it for non-agent comments.

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

My reasons,

There were some very lengthy discussions a few years back about ways to organize and use your leads and to organize call patterns in your territory. It seems to me like a systematic approach to these issues would be especially important to op.

I know what it is like to have an "open" sales territory and being unable to use it because of fear. I think op could easily loose a weekend to that type of thing if he does not have a plan in place for coping with it. Then with a weekend where sales activity doesn't take place, there now is encouragement for no sales activity to take place next weekend.

You can see from posts here that new agents are often confronted with technical situations, either dealing with product knowledge or with sales technique in how to respond to a customer in some specific situation. Again, the ability to obtain a concise focused answer to the issue would be very important for op with his limited sales call time.

My take anyway. But all of you responding are covering those issues as you talk.

 

[Todd King]

I'll agree with Travis. You can certainly do this part-time. However, expect part-time money as well. Because you are not doing it full-time, don't go thinking that you'll make a certain percentage of full-time money. Let me give you an example:

Let's say as an agent, you could make $5K per week if you worked 5 days per week. That's an average of $1K per day. Don't think you're going to make $2K per week working 2 days per week. It just won't work like that. You're going to be limiting yourself, so things won't "flow" like they would if you were doing it full-time. It's hard to jump in and out of this business on a weekly basis. Your head/thoughts and your appointments won't be in the game before you have to switch to your full-time/non-insurance job.

One of the biggest factors in being successful in this business it consistency. Consistency in leads, setting appointments, selling...everything! Even doing it part-time, you best do it consistently if you want consistent results.

Once again though, it can and has been done. Will you be able to? We'll see.

 

[Travis Price]

One of the biggest factors in being successful in this business it consistency.

Ain't that the truth that I learned the hard way. You can always decrease marketing, but if you let it lapse you're kinda screwed until it starts back up.

 

[Life Hawk]

Starting up part time in this profession is like pushing an anvil up the hill for most people. I understand there are those who have and there will be more that can do this, but frankly, there are more reasons to take the deep dive as opposed to toe dipping.

If you are the kind of committed soul that this profession requires why hobble yourself with a foot in two mind sets. Men don't multi-task well. Scientific reasons for this, if you believe in things like science.

This is a brain breaking, emotional rollercoaster work that takes the stubbornness of a Missouri mule and the Rough Rider approach of Teddy Roosevelt (a man's, man).

Part-time work here is not what you should start with... but that's just my 2 cents worth, and with inflation your not really even getting the full 2 cents.

 

[DonP]

I'll agree with Travis. You can certainly do this part-time. However, expect part-time money as well. Because you are not doing it full-time, don't go thinking that you'll make a certain . .percentage of full-time money. Let me give you an example:

Let's say as an agent, you could make $5K per week if you worked 5 days per week. That's an average of $1K per day. Don't think you're going to make $2K per week working 2 days per week. It just won't work like that. You're going to be limiting yourself, so things won't "flow" like they would if you were doing it full-time. It's hard to jump in and out of this business on a weekly basis. Your head/thoughts and your appointments won't be in the game before you have to switch to your full-time/non-insurance job.

One of the biggest factors in being successful in this business it consistency. Consistency in leads, setting appointments, selling...everything! Even doing it part-time, you best do it consistently if you want consistent results.

Once again though, it can and has been done. Will you be able to? We'll see.

Of course it can be done . I might bench 500lbs but the odds are against it .Its so tough to make a living full time much less p/t.

Starting up part time in this profession is like pushing an anvil up the hill for most people. I understand there are those who have and there will be more that can do this, but frankly, there are more reasons to take the deep dive as opposed to toe dipping.

If you are the kind of committed soul that this profession requires why hobble yourself with a foot in two mind sets. Men don't multi-task well. Scientific reasons for this, if you believe in things like science.

This is a brain breaking, emotional rollercoaster work that takes the stubbornness of a Missouri mule and the Rough Rider approach of Teddy Roosevelt (a man's, man).

Part-time work here is not what you should start with... but that's just my 2 cents worth, and with inflation your not really even getting the full 2 cents.

I would never do this part time . Ive heard so many successful agents say that you can have no plan b . I agree with this .You must attack this as your family’s life depends on it . Buy 1000 b dm leads for $2 each and knock them all . Work from 8 am till 8 pm m-sat

 

[Travis Price]

If you are the kind of committed soul that this profession requires why hobble yourself with a foot in two mind sets. Men don't multi-task well. Scientific reasons for this, if you believe in things like science.

Namely, because 99% of the people IN this business don't understand this business, so 99.9% of people coming in don't know if they're going to love this business.

Coming in with 10k will make 90%+ go broke.

I'm not saying you don't need to be committed to this thing, but ffs... That's more risk than I'd be interested taking on.

That being said, FE is a totally different business. Over 65 is a lot less stressful and push, push, push... we're growers, not show-ers. That's my opinion, take it for whatever.

I think Sat/Sun is going to be an issue.

I think you COULD work FE during the evenings, but like I said.. risk-wise, rushing in blind is a foolish move.. again, just my opinion.

The biggest issue, imo, is that Life/health is different, but has gotten better, than P&C.

P&C you can grab a job and learn this business with a salary + comm, easy.

Life, you're thrown to the deep end fast. Swim or drown. That's tough for anyone.

 

[KRobby]

To start out I'll be working part time, only on the weekends, until I'm closing enough consistently to quit my job and focus on FE full time. I plan on buying fresh DM leads, and I'll need to rent a car to go on the appointments.

How many leads should I buy every week if I can only work 2 days a week?

I've go $10k set aside for the business so far, should I continue to save or is this enough?

Once you know your numbers you can use them to form your projections. Just buy a couple hundred or so over the next few months, see where your metrics fall, and then have some fun figuring the math. For some further assistance I believe Mr. Duford has plenty of videos on this topic. For FE, I don't think you need more than 10k in cash to know where your future stands.

 

[Spin]

Thank you everyone for your thoughtful responses.

Here's a little bit about my background:

Back in 2012 I got my first real sales experience, working on commission only, selling home security systems door to door, M - Sat, from May - Oct. Due to the amount I had to learn, and the personal growth required, I didn't sell much, average just over 1-2 per week, which was the minimum to stay in the program, although I worked my ass off the entire time and was 1 of 5 first year reps, of about 30 total, to sell 3 systems in 1 day.

In 2013 I was burned out on door knocking so I tried some cold call phone sales and hated that.

During all of this I had been working almost exclusively on commission, maybe one phone gig had some low hourly pay along with it, but as you all know, being both broke and new to sales is often a recipe for failure, and not an experience I want to repeat.

So fast forward to now, I've got steady work and income, savings, and I feel like I've gone through at least some of the newbie learning curve. As for the car rental, I have a motorcycle, but in this Phoenix heat I'm not sure I want to show up for appointments covered in sweat.

I've watched a ton of @Rearden 's videos, have his book, and am also going through @Todd King 's FE101 program.

 

[Travis Price]

So fast forward to now, I've got steady work and income, savings, and I feel like I've gone through at least some of the newbie learning curve. As for the car rental, I have a motorcycle, but in this Phoenix heat I'm not sure I want to show up for appointments covered in sweat.

I mean, I think you should have a car.. but I think renting is going to be a bitch on your bottom line. It doesn't have to be anything awesome, just presentable. FE is usually low income to lower middle, so your car will fit right in.

Selling isn't the newbie issue... Leads are...

1) Doorknocking is real in FE, people will pretend like they never sent you that mail-in when you call.
2) Them mailing in leads is still "Cold calling" because most people will "forget" they sent them to you.
3) FE is a needed product, most of these people's families can't afford a funeral. However, most of these guys are really short-sighted. So you'll be selling them on something their family absolutely needs. The other issue is persistency. You're going to have to manage a "chargeback" fund as well, because they will happen.

I'm not trying to dissuade you. I'm just telling you the reality. I did industrial routes for a very short period of time and you have to have some real testicular fortitude to work in FE (and eventually you'll want to jump into DSNP, because it's the same basic market) but I think you have a lot of things that are going to be uphill battles.

Being part-time isn't directly that issue, but your availability part time will be.