No Sure Which Way to Go

[vindem]

i have had my P&C, Life and Health licenses for over a year now and was accepted by allstate to open an agency. but some people are telling me i should open my own agency and have more products from different companies to sell. I'm new to the business but eager to learn. I have alot of friends and business people that are waiting for me to open but im afraid allstate might give higher premiums and i will lose the business. The plus with joining allstate will be all the classes i would have to take to learn. Is learning the business something that gets easy as time goes on? can anyone give me some advise on this?

 

[Josh]

Re: Not Sure Which Way to Go

Also on the plus side of Allstate is great training, support, and co-op money. There are also huge bonus potentials and a support team that is paid to help you.

With Allstate you will win some business and have great branding, without them you'll have more options and zero agency recognition.

I had a great time with Allstate (managing a small agency), but you probably want to spend some serious time with some agents in your area helping you figure out if it's a good fit for you. Allstate is a great fit for folks who have a plan and the financial wherewithal to really invest in their career, but if you don't have those, you can fail and fail big.

How far along are you with Allstate? Have you considered spending some time working for a local Allstate agency just to get a feel for it?

 

[vindem]

Re: Not Sure Which Way to Go

been approved with then for some time now...debating if i should buy a book of business or start myself..im confident i can get start a business from scratch but it'll be making small steps to get to where i want to be and a much smaller investment.
i recently went thru a divorce, which kind of messed up my credit a little..so i need to get that sorted because the securities exchange wont accept me until i have everything resolved on my credit...that's another reason why im thinking of going on my own.
what do you think?

 

[vindem]

been accepted for about a year now. i went thru a divorce which messed my credit up a little bit. the securities exchange wont accept me because of that. allstate said they would wait till i clean it up so in the meantime im debating which way to go. but being i am new to the business i need to figure out how to start a company and which bigger companies can i get to stand behind me. and how do i do that? like i said before, i do have friends and alot of big businesses waiting for me to open. I just dont want to make a mistake and put my company and investment at risk. Can i ask how long you've been in the business and do you have your own company?

 

[Josh]

If I were you I would walk on the Allstate deal, but because it's a bad deal, but because it sounds like it's a horrible deal for you. I'm also not sure if they've gone over this with you, but you need at least $50k liquid cash (at least they did).

What makes you think this is a good industry for you? It sounds like you need to talk to someone local and/or a cluster. Another good guy for you to talk to would be djs on here.

 

[vindem]

yes, they said i needed to have 50k, but that was a scratch agency. if i wanted to buy someones book im sure i would have to come up with more..but the incentives given when your goals were met, were really great.

i know two people in my area that have a statefarm agency. one is in n.y. and they both make a great living. i've always been good with talking to people and i did have a business a few years ago. something totally different than insurance and built the business to almost half a million dollars in two years. i enjoy doing sales. its kind of a challange to me. im nervous but excited at the same time..i'd be good at it. i did most of the sales and landed alot of big companies to go with my service...we had airborne express, post offices in n.y. and jersey, DHL, budweiser...i didn't know how to make my way to the right person to talk to but trial and error taught me well. then i worked on my pitch and more or less got 90% of the companies i talked to..

 

[JP Savage]

I've been captured and am now very happily independant. Some people like to bash the captured world but I believe the captured world works for some. Josh has a great idea, if you can see if you can work with some local allstate agents to start learning.

There are pro's and con's to both the captured and independant roles. A lot of that will depend on what type of agent you are.

 

[vindem]

i've been trying to find a job on line with an insurance company so i can learn before i jump into owning a business. i dont know the first thing about writing a policy. is there a trick to getting a job in the office or doing sales? i was looking to being an independent agent for any company. working strictly on commission. made up a resume and been sending it out. is there a good site on line to look for a job? and i see alot of companies hiring for a life agent. not sure if i want to jump into that right away..

 

[HomeService]

I actually like the captive, some don't. I like the security of it. "Captured", now that is great!! Thanks for that, it's very descriptive and it reminds me we are all minions working for the man!! hee hee
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i've been trying to find a job on line with an insurance company so i can learn before i jump into owning a business. i dont know the first thing about writing a policy. is there a trick to getting a job in the office or doing sales? i was looking to being an independent agent for any company. working strictly on commission. made up a resume and been sending it out. is there a good site on line to look for a job? and i see alot of companies hiring for a life agent. not sure if i want to jump into that right away..

career builder, craigslist, indeed, google "great insurance jobs". It's all the same companies over and over, and yes, life managers recruit non stop. High turnover, there. It's not for everyone.

 

[JP Savage]

Personally captured was a good start for me. But I didn't like the restrictions, therefore the independant has proven to be a great move for me. If you don't have any experience writing business I would highly recommend trying to get on with a local agent. But be careful, if I had a producer come to me and ask me for a job and tell me he was going to get experience from me and then leave, I might think twice about bringing you aboard.

Also, do you have experience working for commission only?