New to Insurance and would like some help

[boldest7]

Hi all and thanks for reading my post. I am new to insurance and I honestly do not know where to start. I have a cousin who sales insurance from home and she made me very interested in the possibility of doing it mainly because she stated that she makes her own schedule and she says she does pretty well working 15-20 hrs a week ( making 1,500 a week or more) but im starting to think she was just bragging to me lol b/c when I ask her for help she never picks the phone up after leaving her many voicemails ( sorry for the vent session btw)

But I was thinking about getting a life, health, variable annuity license in Georgia since I will be moving there in the next few weeks. I know for sure I can get it but I honestly don't know how I would go about getting a job or finding a broker after that.

One thing that I can say about myself is that I use to work in underwriting and I do love helping people even though I have no sale experience.

To prevent this from being a long drawn out post I will just once again say thanks for any suggestions and I'm sorry I did not give to many details... I really do not know where to start.

 

[Markthebroker]

Here are a couple of pointers, though I am sure others will jump in and contribute many more.

Start calling and interviewing different brokers and be VERY clear about your expectations of training, and your background. My guess is that it may be tough with no sales experience, but someone on here may correct me. You have underwriting experience which is a big plus. Look around the office, you will see if the people seem happy, how well organized the office is, etc. Go online and check their reviews from customers. After dealing with small businesses for 18 years, I have found that how well reviewed a business is from the public, often reflects how well run it is on the inside. Not always, but almost always.

Good luck.

 

[Travis Price]

My suggestion is to really sit down and think about what you want to do in insurance. How you approach FE is different than Med Supps is different than annuities.

Secondly, don’t get lied to.. you will not make $1500 a week working 10-20 hours, year one/day one.

While we’re on the topic of money, you’re going to need some. First for licensing, which will be 2-300. Then, for marketing; which starting out.. bootstrapped, is 1-3k. Maybe you’ll get set up with someone awesome up front, but I’d be suspicious of almost everyone that wants to recruit you.

A lot of people fail out because of money or lack of plan. Don’t be them.

 

[Mike007]

Find out what you want to do and get one license at a time. No point in getting all kinds of licenses only to quit 3 months later. Add more license as you become more experience and know for sure you can make it in this industry. I say avoid your security license at all cost until years down the line. Maybe 5-6years later. At least until you mastered the other products.

You have to decide whether you want to be an employee (working for someone) or be an agent (often times, it is self-employed). These are two different things, it requires 2 different kinds of mindset.

The easiest thing about this industry is Sales. The most difficult thing in this industry is Marketing. You have to find your own clients. If you don't know how to find clients, you will starve to death. It sounds simple but it isn't. It is hard and it is expensive to find people to sell insurance to. Majority of people failed because they lack the skills or funds in the Marketing department to sustain success.

Working for someone else with a guaranteed paycheck is not the same as trying to find clients with your own money, setting up appointments, and attempting to close a deal day in and day out. With with more rejections than sales.

 

[MVI]

If your goal is to help people then insurance is a great field. There are alot of opportunities to serve your clients.

If you are just starting out I would encourage you to get a salaried job in an established office being their CSR (customer service representative). Learn for a year or two and move on.

During your time as a CSR you will learn very quickly what you like about the industry and more importantly what you do not like.

 

[Markthebroker]

If your goal is to help people then insurance is a great field. There are alot of opportunities to serve your clients.

If you are just starting out I would encourage you to get a salaried job in an established office being their CSR (customer service representative). Learn for a year or two and move on.

During your time as a CSR you will learn very quickly what you like about the industry and more importantly what you do not like.

If your goal is to help people, then I would expect to see you when I do volunteer work in the jails, the rehabs, habitat for humanity, Samaritan house, or the shelters I volunteer at. I always take issue when someone goes into a profession where they can make a lot of money so they can "help people". It makes me a special kind of suspicious. It's like when corporations run commercial about how they care about helping and the community. I generally avoid doing business with companies like that.

My experience has been usually only stupid people say how smart they are, weak people say how strong they are, and liars say things like "honestly, I think that...". So, whenever I hear how someone gets into real estate or insurance because they want to help people, my first thought is that they are a phony that wants to help themselves. Just my 2 cents.

 

[Travis Price]

I would disagree. For some people, purpose is equally important, if not more so, than money.

For example, I work in government full time as I’m building a book. I’m fortunate enough that my salary is decent, but I also heavily advocate for what’s right for the citizens I serve.

I can have selfish motivations for doing something, such as money or working less over time, and still enjoy helping people navigate a confusing part of their needs and advocating for them.

They are not mutually exclusive; nor is it disingenuous.

 

[BADTROUT]

If your goal is to help people, then I would expect to see you when I do volunteer work in the jails, the rehabs, habitat for humanity, Samaritan house, or the shelters I volunteer at. I always take issue when someone goes into a profession where they can make a lot of money so they can "help people". It makes me a special kind of suspicious. It's like when corporations run commercial about how they care about helping and the community. I generally avoid doing business with companies like that.

My experience has been usually only stupid people say how smart they are, weak people say how strong they are, and liars say things like "honestly, I think that...". So, whenever I hear how someone gets into real estate or insurance because they want to help people, my first thought is that they are a phony that wants to help themselves. Just my 2 cents.

I do like helping people... and the more I do help people, the more money I make which gives me the more ability to help people. I use it to finance my altruistic endeavors. Now I do agree with your thinking though... I am a disabled vet, and a Christian myself... It for some reason really pisses me off to see the guy begging for beer money using the "im a vet" as a sales pitch, for that matter anyone. Or someone slaps a fish sticker or a cross to their storefront window and says buy here because I am a Christian. It feels icky. So yeah, my point is that although I can make fat stacks in insurance, I do ABSOLUTELY love to help people.

 

[Chazm]

But if you won the lotto, would you do your insurance work for free?
I mean, you love helping people right?

 

[goillini52]

“You will get all you want in life, if you help enough other people get what they want.” - Zig Ziglar