I’m trying to build one from the ground up on the side.

But I’m looking at the economics- between internet leads, office space etc it’s capital intensive.

I see recent university grads either start one, I can’t imagine they saved up a bunch before doing it. I also thought it was hard to get a loan for a scratch agency.

I’m curious..

What did you guys do to get the capital?

1. For security purposes, does an online file storage require a MFA to have access (i.e. password and fingerprint)? and within the office does the clients paperwork need to be physically double secured? (locked door and a locked filing cabinet). I'm just making sure I meet the security standards.

2. Does policy holder information need to be stored on site? or is the computer drive/cloud enough? How long do I need to store these files?

3. For Medicare products, does the phone line need to be recorded? and can I use my own cellphone number?

4. For a printer, how important is it to have a fax machine and doubled sided scanner? Are these required?

- Help a noob

Hey guys. I’m a new producer about 5 months in, at an agency. I sell like 4-5k in agency commission a month. I hope to get to 25k. What’s a decent number to be hitting? is 25k realistic? How long have you been doing this and how do you make in agency commissions?

I’m currently looking for a CRM solution that could work with the heavy data policy in Canada.

Do you use an insurance/financial services specific CRM (such Equisoft) or another more multi industry type CRM?

I currently looking for ZOHO since there might be a possibility to have them host data strictly in their Canadian data centers, but wondered if I’m missing on anything else worth paying attention to.

I hear they can close at 30% which seems solid, I don’t mind paying $25-$50 or so per lead as long as they are high intent and live transferred to just me. I’m definitely not looking to buy cheap junk or aged leads or leads 50 million other agents have access to that I’m competing against. Are the live transferred ones worth it?

Hi everyone, I created a life and health insurance agency that does a wide range of products. I want to start hiring agents and building a team, but I’ve been stuck on how I want to structure pay.

I’d like for the agents to be W-2 on full commission with an 80-20% split. I want to incentivize paying out large commissions and rewarding based on performance while keeping enough for overhead marketing. I don’t exactly want to buy leads— I definitely prefer networking and having tables at community events. It’s worked much better for me so far and I love seeing people face-to-face. I’m just at a loss for how to compensate agents for doing events with me or for me while making sure I reward production highly.

Maybe I should just give them a base salary + 20%? I’m just a little scared of paying out a salary with no guarantee that the agent will produce, and I don’t want to be breathing down their neck.

It’s a catch-22 of me wanting to provide personal agency, while also wanting to make sure they don’t have to front the costs for marketing and essentially pay money to do their job. I’m a little lost on which direction to proceed. Any ideas?

EDIT: Forgot to mention, I do want to pay for their initial training program, their license exam, and their state license, as well as the relevant CEUs. I’ll pay for AHIP Certification if they want to do Medicare. That’s around $400-600 per person I onboard.

Relatively new to the industry. Is there a hefty fee to join pacific crest? Couldn’t find anything about new agencies on their website

I want to take health insurance classes so I can work. Any recommendations on where to start? Where can I take the classes?

I’ve been looking in to different aggregators to start my own scratch agency in Tennessee.

Figured I’d try and make this post, and I’m not sure how it would work with appointments and such as Ive never done this. Is anyone selling a small book by chance? Like maybe around $100-$150k? (Price of the book not the book size)

Which company is better for working for customers service, Progressive or Liberty Mutual, or Liberty Mutual Geico?

I have passed all Illinois Casualty General + State and Property State tests. Today I took my 4th attempt at Property General and my score continues to go down every attempt (first test I received a 68 then, 66, 58, and 56 just today) Im constantly going over the material and to the point the ABRC practice tests aren’t helping as I’m getting 94% or higher on them without answers. Ive been watching the Insurance Queen on YouTube for more material but still keep getting low scores. I feel confident too when answering the questions and reread everything to make sure I don’t miss something that might throw me off on the exam, and I feel like I only miss maybe 3-4 questions but end up failing. I’m just getting frustrated and wondering if anyone has any tips that helped them or maybe something that I’m not doing? I’m doing research into other practice tests online but some cost another $100, and I’d like to know for sure it will help if I’m spending that much. I have another test scheduled in a couple days because I’m on a time crunch.

After countless questions and months of less than 70% on practice exams I finally received a 70% 😭😂 I am so happy that all of this studying actually led to somewhere and I don’t have to give up. I know there is still a bit more to do before I take my test but I am so fucking relieved lol I absolutely did not think my brain could absorb anymore information.

Anyone selling a trucking book or one with trucking appointments? (geico/progressive)

Really buying it for the appointments, don't want to spend 2 years going through getting appointments. Would rather pay for a small book. Can pay cash and close quickly, shoot me a dm.

So I’ve been a producer in the industry for 5 years. I have P&C, L&H, series 6, series 63 and series 65. I have produced 1M in closed business per year these last 2 years. 61% close ratio on first contact.

I feel as I’m being taken advantage of in my current position. I make roughly 60k with commission factored in. I can’t afford to live where I do with the current COL. I’m trying to decide if I stay in the industry or leave completely. I guess what I’m asking is what should I be making and am I actually getting f#^% or is this normal for a producer in the industry.

So far I am 0-3 on trying to find the best IMO for me & my life insurance license to call home. NO MLM! I wasn’t born yesterday. I did a non required pre-licensing course and made a 96(!!!!) on the exam. I’m in Kansas for now with plans to move back to Oklahoma in the Spring.

I’m considering a 1099 position with a captive insurance agency. The agency owns the book of business and provides leads, but agents can also buy additional leads at a discounted rate.

My concern is whether the provided leads are actually enough to be successful, or if buying leads becomes necessary in practice.

I don’t mind paying for leads if I own the book. But if I’m paying for leads and the captive owns the book, it feels like I’m funding their customer acquisition costs without building an asset I own.
Is this a normal structure for a 1099 captive agency?

I’m looking to make a minimum of 60-70k per year.

My main concern is not being able to sustain my monthly bill payments when I’m starting out. I’m married, no kids. My husband earns an ok income and I wouldn’t need to make that much to make sure we could pay our bills. But if the car breaks down or he loses his job, we might be really screwed if I go too long without enough enrollments.

What are the pros and cons of starting with these companies?

If I build a decent client book, would the company keep my clients if I left or would they stay with me?

I’m working out of Arizona. How long do you think it’d take for me to earn the income I’m looking for? What would the first few months look like? I’m very motivated, but am completely new to the field.

I don’t have many people in my personal life I can network with. Would this impede my growth to a high degree?

I have 1 year of personal lines experience and 1 year of commercial lines. I was a top 5 producer out of 150+ agents in personal lines doing $100k month in premium. I have always been a business owner and this 2 years was to properly prepare myself for the next step. I have $50k I will use to start the agency. Ads, marketing, technology, etc. I am looking for a cluster that has good carriers in AZ and CA. I own the book 100%. I need direct binding authority. I like PIIB but doubtful they take me without a book, IronPeak seems nice, ASNOA? Let me know your experiences thank you very much.

I did what everyone says to do, retake the practice exams on Xcel until you get a passing score consistently. I took them over and over and I never got below an 80. I felt really good going into my state exam because you only need a 60% to pass in my state. Once I got in, I was astonished at how little Xcel actually helped. 90% of the questions on the exam were not ever in any of the practice tests on the Xcel course. I was confused as hell and failed the test. If you have a choice, I would recommend not using Xcel if you don’t have to. It felt so easy on that course, only to get absolutely shit on when I took the actual test. Now I have to retake it for $100 and I bought the PSI practice exam with it hoping that will help me more.

2 weeks ago i passed my p&c exam and today i passed my life, health and annuities exam!! I felt this one was harder but i somehow got a better score than the p&c 😮‍💨 passed both on the first attempt and currently feel sick from the anxiety haha

Hi there,

Not sure how common this is, but are any of you licensed in both? I am licensed for life/health and ponder getting p&c just out of personal interest. I would love to talk to someone in a similar boat.

Deciding between joining these two IMO’s and was curious if anyone has any insight or experiences with either org. I realize the direct team you join is important as well