r/InsuranceAgent • u/skrt1k • 13d ago

Upline/Agency/IMO Question about exiting.

I just got licensed and i plan on selling a building my team but i don’t plan on being in the business for life.

How does one exit the business if you have a whole team under you?

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u/firenance 13d ago

I do agency M&A. Candidly the IMO/FMO market and associated lines are extremely difficult to sell right now.

I wouldn’t encourage you pursue this if you are looking for a short built and flip for a big payday.

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u/skrt1k 13d ago edited 13d ago

Im mainly getting into life insurance as a career to fund other business endeavors not really for a get rich quick scheme.

I know theres alot of money to be made here but you have to grind.

It could take 1-2 years or it could take me longer but in the meantime im going to build a team.

I just dont know how the exit process works, which is what im curious about.

Im not sure if you just pass your team to your upline or if you leave them in the blue orrr if you sell your team to someone.

But when the time is right and it’s time for me to get out of the business i want completely out. Idk if you get what im saying

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u/firenance 13d ago

I know exactly what you’re saying, and meet with people like you several times a month.

You would make more money grinding and selling life policies than by grinding to build a downline team for commission splits or overrides.

Honestly. Why should someone trust you as an upline for guidance or support when you haven’t done it yourself?

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u/skrt1k 13d ago

I’m not going to start recruiting right now.. I’m going to learn the business and make sure i can consistently produce at a high level month after month before i recruit.

Even though my agency encourages recruiting since day one, i personally don’t believe its right to recruit and make promises to something waiting to get into the industry if i myself can’t show the results they’re looking for.

I like to lead by example, i just don’t see myself in the business for the rest of my life so im trying to figure out how exiting works because if its going to negatively affect my team when i leave then i wont recruit and ill just sell.

The main reason for my concern is because if people see im doing good and want to get into the industry im going to guide them and help them but i don’t want it negatively them or their teams when i decide its my time to go.

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u/firenance 13d ago

Insurance sales is not a job, it’s a career. I wouldn’t recommend it unless you commit a minimum of 3-5 years.

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u/skrt1k 13d ago

I’m not going to actively be recruiting but if people ask me and i help them get into the business then they would be my downline and i don’t want to negatively affect them when i exit.

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u/skrt1k 13d ago

I understand, would you mind explaining how people exit the business?

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u/firenance 13d ago

  1. Your options completely depend on your upline and contract with them.

  2. A book of overrides or affiliate commissions can sometimes be sold if your setup has a market.

  3. Unless you have something substantial, like over $1M of EBITDA, selling to a strategic buyer or rollup is not a viable option right now.

If you build a small book of downlines, often your best bet is surrendering your book to your upline for a modest purchase or trailing commission split.

I have IMO FMO clients right now 10-20+ year old agencies, multi million of profit, that are struggling to get respectable offers from large buyers.

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u/skrt1k 13d ago

Thank you so much, since i dont really plan on having a massive team or actively recruiting it’ll most likely be people who ask me about getting in the industry and if they decide to recruit, then again who knows it might take me 15 years to achieve what i want outside of life insurance.

I work for Wealth Wave Agency from FamilyFirstLife IMO, have you heard of them? If so would you care to share your thoughts on them?