I plan on taking the life, health and accident exam in CA next week, and was wondering what are the next steps? I plan on doing this in my spare time, first to purchase life insurance for myself and then to be the agent for my family and friends. Can I contact the insurance company directly and submit applications and get paid through them? Or do I have to sign up with a general agency and work through them? Any suggestions or stuff to look out for?
New life agent in CA - where to start part time?
- Thread starter lexi34
- Start date
How much amount of time are you going to invest in prospecting for new business and selling insurance on a consistent basis? Are you going to work 20 hours a week? 10 hours a week? 1 hour a week? Or just do this business on the fly, whenever you feel like it? How much money or effort are you going to commit to this venture? How are you going to market yourself? Are you going to network? Are you going to go door to door? What are you planning to do?
I know a lot of people who just do this on the fly. They don't do anything except sit at home and wait. They don't make enough money to even earn a return for the cost of their licensing fees. And the only company who would take on these type of agents are Multilevel companies like WFG, Primerica, etc because these companies have no quotas, no expectations.
So depending on your answer, I can better point you to which direction you need to go.
I know a lot of people who just do this on the fly. They don't do anything except sit at home and wait. They don't make enough money to even earn a return for the cost of their licensing fees. And the only company who would take on these type of agents are Multilevel companies like WFG, Primerica, etc because these companies have no quotas, no expectations.
So depending on your answer, I can better point you to which direction you need to go.
- Thread starter
- #3
@Mike007 Mainly do business on the fly without marketing myself to anyone aside from my friends/family. I had some spare time and wanted to learn about the insurance side so I took the 52 hour course. I figure if 20-30 people just buy term insurance at a yearly premium of $500 and I make around $10k from the whole thing that's fine. If it's half or a quarter of that, that's fine too. I'm basically looking for something closest to an independent agent where I would keep the most commission and have no benefits yet be able to sell from a variety of providers. (banner, prudential, protective, trans, etc.)
You'll need to work with a general agency to write most of those companies since those carriers don't contract directly with agents.
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- #5
@Tahoe Ray which companies do contract directly to agents?
All of the mutuals, like Ohio National, Mass, Guardian etc. but their term premiums may be higher (not always).
You should just find an agency to align with. You'll still get paid full comp (at least you should) as they normally make their profits on overrides/bonus that you wouldn't be eligible for in the first place. You can even contract with multiple agencies and/or have multiple writing numbers with some carriers.
The agency isn't going to tell you what to do or have any real control (assuming that you're talking about the big term carriers like you mentioned) over your day to day.
After all, you're independent.
- Thread starter
- #7
@Tahoe Ray that sounds exactly like what i need to look for. Any agency recommendations?
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