Starting My Own Insurance Agency!

[Gulfman]

My advice is one of you go work for an agency for a period of time. Otherwise I think the lack of experience will be most likely insurmountable.

^^ this...

OP, YOU really must have a ton of money to be able to say "i will hire someone?" Would you really trust someone else to put your reputation on the line?

 

[GXR2]

Hiring someone basically to train you? No..no.. no.

You have to do some soul searching and decide if what you're really seeking is to be a venture capitalist/investor with equity with someone else (with knowledge and experience) running the business, or do you honestly want to run the day-to-day operations?

If it's the latter you MUST go work for an agency (IA is better as THAT'S what you need to learn) for no less than 2 years. Pick a big agency that focuses on training and support.

I'm not going to BS you here and tell you what you want to hear. Insurance is very confusing and there is a lot to learn.

 

[BrooklynIA]

^^ this...

OP, YOU really must have a ton of money to be able to say "i will hire someone?" Would you really trust someone else to put your reputation on the line?

Depends, Was going to try to hire someone who would actually know his stuff haha! but we dont have a problem with going to work for someone to gain experience. I just wanted the best, fastest, and most efficient way to start my own place thats why i asked on which path i should take and i have gotten a decent understanding.

My brother has gotten an offer from Allstate and another insurance brokerage so we are deciding who to go far at the moment.

 

[indienoise]

Depends, Was going to try to hire someone who would actually know his stuff haha! but we dont have a problem with going to work for someone to gain experience. I just wanted the best, fastest, and most efficient way to start my own place thats why i asked on which path i should take and i have gotten a decent understanding.

My brother has gotten an offer from Allstate and another insurance brokerage so we are deciding who to go far at the moment.

If you want to eventually own an IA, work for another independent agent. I went from a captive agency to owning an IA, and there were a few things I wasn't quite prepared for. Make that time really work for you - learn as much as you can! I guarantee you it will not be time wasted and will help you grow your own agency much more quickly.

 

[OldIA]

My advice is one of you go work for an agency for a period of time. Otherwise I think the lack of experience will be most likely insurmountable.

I think it is silly and unwise for people with no experience in the industry to try to jump in like that.

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My advice is one of you go work for an agency for a period of time. Otherwise I think the lack of experience will be most likely insurmountable.

I think it is silly and unwise for people with no experience in the industry to try to jump in like that. You don't even know what you don't know.

You could try to find an agency interested in selling some ownership rights, but wanting to retain income in exchange for managing. I give you this option only because I sold my business because I needed to expand (management software, service help, etc), but needed more working capital/investment income to do it. Since I wasn't willing to put my house up for collateral, I sold. My business outgrew my ability to run it on my own (sales, service, marketing, IT, company interaction, business management, the list continues).