My advice? Go work for an independent agency first.
Going from captive to independent is liberating, but you really need to understand how it all works. There are a lot more moving parts than with a captive agency.
Working in it first will either reinforce your decision or help you realize it's not what you want to do.
Money does not fall from the heavens in insurance anymore, so don't let that be part of your decision. You can build wealth over time though, as with any business you work hard on.
Once you establish credibility (at an independent) and build up relationships, you absolutely can get standard market appointments day one without needing an aggregator or cluster. I posted in another thread (https://insurance-forums.com/community/threads/aggregate-cluster-offer-thoughts.110433/#post-1453734) as it was along the same lines. If you don't have enough experience, the decisions you make early on, can cost you a ton of time, headaches, and money.
All that aside, if you are TREMENDOUSLY motivated, disciplined, and easily can absorb information, I think you can make the jump now, as long as you know you probably won't make money for at least a couple years and it's going to be a lot of hard work. I'd tell you that there is a tiny fraction of the population (maybe 1-2%) that nails all three prerequisites to going from captive to independent, with little experience, and becoming a success. MOST WILL FAIL. Make sure you want it bad enough to disregard failure as an option.
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