What do I do now?

[scagnt83]

If he plans to stay and keep getting screwed.... dont say who it is...

If he plans on standing up for his self worth and making a change.... say it for everyone to hear...

 

[scagnt83]

I'm going to as direct as possible. I'm stuck with a brokerage that takes advantage, barely pays and overworks. I only have a Health License as of right now (In the process of adding Life) with great experience with MA or MAPD but not much else. Which I'm sure is by design. I haven't seen commission in so long I forget It existed at one point, the leads are so recycled and stepped on, I almost know them by name. If you do sell, high chance you're selling someone else's business. I have exhausted every option, every resource, every line of communication, every favor and every opportunity to attempt to stay with this brokerage and make it work. For almost 3 years, I have drug myself through the mud waiting on a promised land that never comes. It's just met with a "Work harder, get more sales" in an environment that's so difficult to survive in I feel like I'm going insane. I've lost my apartment, I've lost my car, I've spent more money trying to keep this job than I ever did working it.

I've been a Top provider at any job I've ever had. I started selling insurance a month before my first AEP and was in the top 3 at the brokerage with the highest retainment to boot. The problem is, I have no idea where to go from here. As an agent, you always have a ton of people looking to hire you. Who do you pick? how do you know what to look for so it doesn't happen again? I know I need my release, But do I have to be communication with the new FMO in order to do that? I feel like I've been kept in a box and unable to grow or learn anything of the industry. I have to somehow bridge the gap between paychecks and If they don't give me a release then It's back to something else for the time being I guess.

The thing about having an insurance license.... is that you dont have to work for someone else or rely on someone else to make a living.

You are a business owner. Not an employee. Start acting like it.

Yes, you are in a tough spot.

Yes, you likely need a release to keep selling the same carriers. But maybe not.

Also, after 6 months of no sales, you dont need a release anymore. You are free to move contracts as you please.

There are plenty of carriers out there, I doubt you are contracted with all of them.

There are also other products our there to sell.... with other carriers.

Get your life license, that opens up more carriers and products.

Most importantly, stop relying on other people to be successful in this business.

Get advice and guidance from agents who are not trying to recruit you. Trusting a recruiter is like trusting a Kia dealership about the best car.

 

[TheCowboy]

The thing about having an insurance license.... is that you dont have to work for someone else or rely on someone else to make a living.

You are a business owner. Not an employee. Start acting like it.

Yes, you are in a tough spot.

Yes, you likely need a release to keep selling the same carriers. But maybe not.

Also, after 6 months of no sales, you dont need a release anymore. You are free to move contracts as you please.

There are plenty of carriers out there, I doubt you are contracted with all of them.

There are also other products our there to sell.... with other carriers.

Get your life license, that opens up more carriers and products.

Most importantly, stop relying on other people to be successful in this business.

Get advice and guidance from agents who are not trying to recruit you. Trusting a recruiter is like trusting a Kia dealership about the best car.

You're one of the only people on the thread who seemed to actually have read my post. Thank you.

 

[TheCowboy]

As for everyone else, you sound like a bunch of school girls trying to get the new details on some High School rumor. I may be new to insurance but I'm damn sure not new to running a business. I expected to find grown men who were either looking to give advice or Agents that may have good information. But this is the exact problem with the industry. Everything is close-knit, almost xenophobic in nature. People just find their honey pot then huddle in the corner then turn and burn the new agents and either rake in the profits or destabilize their brokerage. I tried to come from a place of humility and understanding. But when grown men are more worried about what FMO that did this than any answers that would actually help me escape, it's a terrible look.

It's not my brokerage, it's their parent company that I wish to not offend. At that point I'd probably just have to leave the state and even then probably would still have difficulties getting accepted somewhere else. Burn all your bridges and you end up on an island.