Tired of the Garbage

[GreenSky]

I'm officially burned out. I'm tired of the underwriting of health insurance, tired of contacting seniors about their medicare supplement rates when they actually have HMO plans and are too stupid to realize that nobody can be cheaper than zero premium, and tired of legislation that is aimed to put me out of business.

Am I the only one sick of this crap?

Rick

 

[Newby]

I'm officially burned out. I'm tired of the underwriting of health insurance, tired of contacting seniors about their medicare supplement rates when they actually have HMO plans and are too stupid to realize that nobody can be cheaper than zero premium, and tired of legislation that is aimed to put me out of business.

Am I the only one sick of this crap?

Rick

I understand burnout. That's why I left the Powersports Industry and got into insurance to start with. When I made that huge life change it definitely gave me a major energy boost and was the right move.

But within the insurance industry there are so many channels. Why don't you just totally change your focus to something all new to you? Long-Term Care, annuities, final expense, business insurance, etc.

There are people making great money with any one of these products as their focus.

That or total jump into a different career field.

Deciding to change careers is just like deciding to get a divorce. If you just occasionally have a real bad day or even a bad week...you need to stick it out. But if every day you dwell on how life would be different (better) if you made the change...it's time.

 

[somarco]

too stupid to realize that nobody can be cheaper than zero premium

This is not my market, but there was a company out of FL that was actually less than $0. You got your MAP plus a refund of your part B premium.

Note I said was . . .

They are no longer offering this plan.

As for your other comments, stuff happens. I have been doing this for over 30 years and there are days when I just want to go do something else. You know, like ask if they want fries with their order.

Problem with that is, I don't speak Spanish.

I left the business about 6 years ago for close to 3 years. Did a LOT of things totally unrelated to health insurance.

Now I am back and wish I had never left.

As bad as this is some days, there are other industries & jobs a lot worse.

Go pour yourself a tall cold adult beverage then come back tomorrow. You will feel better.

 

[Crabcake Johnny]

If you're bunt on selling - hire.

 

[senior-advisor-indiana]

I quit insurance about 3 or 4 times per year. Who doesn't get fed up every once in awhile? I for one am tired of the idiots that return a card saying they want to save $300 a year when the morons have a $0 premium plan.

 

[Crabcake Johnny]

It's called 4 vacations a year. Two down, two more to go with me.

 

[wildcat]

The problem I have is my lack of focus in regards to a carrier. The agents I know who make a do real well in health ($250k and up) seem to focus on one carrier, and show only a few plans, and go after either group or IFP, not both. This allows them to crank out the apps. They send everyone to the same online application link, they know the underwriters and csr's. I swerve back and forth too often, which takes time away from my marketing.

You guys in the mid west may know of some Anthem (captive) agents who are doing this. I hear many of them are writing 80+ app per month. Although I don't know their situation; leads, service etc. because they are captive.

Am I off track here in my thinking?

 

[Crabcake Johnny]

As you're in this biz for a while you really see the benefits of representing multiple carriers. However, when you're new there's no better way to kill your chances of getting off the ground then trying to offer 8 different companies.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with being captive when you start - just represent good products. But I agree that a total focus on one company usually works best for newer agents.

 

[David C]

Wildcat has a great point. I learned years ago , (the hard way) that it really is a much simpler, happier, and profitable life by focusing on one to two carriers for life and one to two for major med. And make sure that one of those life carriers has a good disability plan. You can't be all things to all people and worrying about having the cheapest term makes no sense.

 

[Crabcake Johnny]

There's always the exception - the rule is the top agents in the country for any line of insurance are captive. Some UGA agents did over 2.5 mill in a year. Aside from Wesley I've never known an indie health agent to write anything close to that. Ethics aside regarding Mega, these guys were simply work horses and loved the atmosphere.

What independent agents are missing are office fun, contests, competition, accountability and embarrassment. Yes, it's embarrassing to walk into the office with no deals and watch other agents turn in stacks of applications. They all look at each other and say; "so who's the loser?"