No Sure Which Way to Go

[vindem]

i dont think it would be the best thing for me to say.. if im going to be in sales, im going to have to tell my future employer what they want to hear.
as far as working on commission only, when i started my business the last time, i didnt have a dollar in the bank. was married with a kid on the way. was extremely eager to make money and huslted. i bought a pressure washer from a catalog for a few hundred and started a car detailing business. didnt make alot of money, but made enough to put food on the table. from there i got the idea to wash trucks, decks houses...trucks washing was money that i had to show and decks and houses were cash in my pocket. got alot of companies with alot of trucks and vans that were cleaned on a weekly basis. airborne express was a 6 figure income for the year working 5 days a week, a few hours each time. now i do have some money in the bank so i dont think commission would be a problem.

 

[Josh]

It sounds like this might be the right industry. If there are any shops in your area I would actually call them up and/or walk in and tell them that you're thinking about starting an agency, but you want to get a feel for the industry first. Any Allstate agent in his right mind would take you on a commission only basis, same thing with *most* P&C shops. You probably are going to have to commit to 6 months to a year. If you can afford to, at least a year. You might try it for a few months and realize it's just not a good fit or you may find you love it. I have a relative that recently retired as a school teacher and wasn't sure if she wanted to substitute part-time. I gave her what I thought was more conversational advice than anything else (although I meant it) and told her that she could just try it and see if she liked it. She went for it and thanked me later (for what I thought was fairly obvious advice) and said it was great and she's glad she just tried it.

You might also want to offer to just be a CSR (albeit low paying), but that will give you more experience with the more mundane functions of an office and a good foundation to know what's going on. One of the reasons why MacDonald's franchises do so well is that they are run by folks who have ran every position in the store and there is something to be said for that.