Leaving Current Employer/no Non-compete

[mygoal2012]

Thank you so very much. Everyone has such great advice and I promise to listen. I wanted to hear what seasoned agents had to say. Most of you have been on both sides of the situation. I was going to leave over a year ago, but there were things going on that made it impossible for me to morally decide. I have been the office manager, sub-producer and janitor for 5 years. My employer promised to pay me comission on policied I brought in, but when they came in he did not and never did. Before I started writing he sent me an email with the percents I would earn. My employer doesn't come to work but once a month and isn't doing any work from home. The reason I know this, is that he doesn't know how to process it. I have put together manuals everytime we have had a system change with step-by-step directions. He says he doesn't need to know, that's what I'm for. It has put him blind in the water. He has went out to find any business in 5 years. 60 percent of new business is "chased" by me. The reason he doesn't pay be he says is due to the snow storm we have a couple of years ago. He took a major hit because he wrote things that shouldn't have been written at all. The next downfall was he did rate type changes on all policies(even if they had just been updated) effective renewal. What he didn't know is the Ho was going to do the same because of the snow storm. Policyholders were sometimes paying 3 and 4 times the amount they were and running out the door. He depends on me for everything so the last 1 and a half we might see him for 2 hours every two weeks. I thought he was a broken business owner that needed someone to help give him a boost and so I did everything I could to help him. He didn't want to hire more staff. He tells me I do it all anyway and get it done and we have a csr, so why change it? He has given up completely. When I take on having a job, I take it seriously. I will do whatever I can to help the people around me suceed. He has told me to my face he has given up and that I bring in enough new policies to keep up afloat. I do have ethics and morals. It has not been easy for me to get to this point. I knew (before i found out he is selling his book) that if i leave the door closes. If the door closes the other person I work with will be out of a job with a new 2 month old baby(husband)unemployeed and my boss because he refused to learn out to process even the simplest of things would be a fish out of water and drown. I'm not boss bashing person. I wanted it to work. That is why I work 9 hours a day and only get paid for 7.5 on policies that are his, because I care. He knows I work sometimes 60 hours a week plus weekend, but doesn't pay me for it and never has and sends me things to do after hours. I even work weekends. Then someone said to me "if you doing it all now, why not open your own agency?", so now I am. The csr is coming with me as well.

 

[somarco]

Avoid the "wall of words" and break up your post in to paragraphs.

 

[hello..]

Thank you so very much. Everyone has such great advice and I promise to listen. I wanted to hear what seasoned agents had to say. Most of you have been on both sides of the situation. I was going to leave over a year ago, but there were things going on that made it impossible for me to morally decide. I have been the office manager, sub-producer and janitor for 5 years. My employer promised to pay me comission on policied I brought in, but when they came in he did not and never did. Before I started writing he sent me an email with the percents I would earn. My employer doesn't come to work but once a month and isn't doing any work from home. The reason I know this, is that he doesn't know how to process it. I have put together manuals everytime we have had a system change with step-by-step directions. He says he doesn't need to know, that's what I'm for. It has put him blind in the water. He has went out to find any business in 5 years. 60 percent of new business is "chased" by me. The reason he doesn't pay be he says is due to the snow storm we have a couple of years ago. He took a major hit because he wrote things that shouldn't have been written at all. The next downfall was he did rate type changes on all policies(even if they had just been updated) effective renewal. What he didn't know is the Ho was going to do the same because of the snow storm. Policyholders were sometimes paying 3 and 4 times the amount they were and running out the door. He depends on me for everything so the last 1 and a half we might see him for 2 hours every two weeks. I thought he was a broken business owner that needed someone to help give him a boost and so I did everything I could to help him. He didn't want to hire more staff. He tells me I do it all anyway and get it done and we have a csr, so why change it? He has given up completely. When I take on having a job, I take it seriously. I will do whatever I can to help the people around me suceed. He has told me to my face he has given up and that I bring in enough new policies to keep up afloat. I do have ethics and morals. It has not been easy for me to get to this point. I knew (before i found out he is selling his book) that if i leave the door closes. If the door closes the other person I work with will be out of a job with a new 2 month old baby(husband)unemployeed and my boss because he refused to learn out to process even the simplest of things would be a fish out of water and drown. I'm not boss bashing person. I wanted it to work. That is why I work 9 hours a day and only get paid for 7.5 on policies that are his, because I care. He knows I work sometimes 60 hours a week plus weekend, but doesn't pay me for it and never has and sends me things to do after hours. I even work weekends. Then someone said to me "if you doing it all now, why not open your own agency?", so now I am. The csr is coming with me as well.

Well I only made it half way through this lol but it sounds like you just need to quit and move on. Regardless of how he treated you, don't take it out on his son in law that is now going to own it.

"Treat others as you would like to be treated"

Even if this guy beat you with a flail 8 times a day it still wouldn't justify stealing from the new guy. You were the one who kept working there...

 

[mygoal2012]

Thank you so much for all of the advice. One thing I had planned to do was not tell anyone I'm leaving or hunt them down after I am gone. If someone asks where I am or went to I was just going to leave a number so they could contact me on their own if they wanted to. Its a very small area and if one person knows that I have left or that I have my own agency the news will spread quickly, because of the type of policies that I deal with. Is it still wrong to write them if they come to me?
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It wasn't about how he treated me, but the policyholders. I have seen him do changes on policies that were just wrong. Like making a house or building bigger than it was then added another 20% on top of that. He would even do this stuff mid-term. There weren't any improvements to the home or anything, he just did it. His favorite things to do is to scare an elderly spouse in to making changes that weren't needed. This was done mostly to widows who had never dealt with the insurance policy before. I can't work for someone I don't trust, but I don't want to do anything myself that would be wrong too. I want to make sure I start out on a honest good foot. I want advice from seasoned agents who have seen it all and new agents who are in the middle of starting up. Thanks again!