For some reason....I'm pretty sure you were the fat kid that never got picked for anybody's dodge-ball team but told their cousins they were team captain.
Didn't play dodge-ball, but I did play hockey!
insurance1822, so your telling me you don't offer anything other than retail products directly to customers? Are you licensed in just one state? Do you not specialize in any particular industry.
I beleive in diversefying, such as owning and operating a local agency in Los Angeles, with a notable company like Farmers, but then serve as specialist in the national market place when it comes to motion picture production insurance, events and entertainment services. As a specialist, I am looking to either retail or wholesale those products. Since I do not want to deal with the headaches of selling personal or commercial lines and health or life products in my non-resident states, I just outsource all those leads/referrals in those states to my partner relationships with various GA's, where I still benefit from owning expirations and earning commissions on new business and renewals without doing much of the work. Most of the time, I use the money I make from non-resident states to put back into my local agency and serving as a insurance specialist. It's really the best of both worlds, if you ask me.
Any how, the guy who started this forum should venture out on his own, but if the agent, who he is working is providing all the leads, then I might would stay. It can be expensive buying leads when you first start out on your own.