Page 186 - The UnCaptive Agent

ON YOUR OWN: AGGREGATION OR AGENCY COACHING 159

do appoint you, which will still be very difficult and
stressful. On your own, still having to feed companies,
you will get to participate in the independent agent’s
traditional sleep-robbing worries. Because you still must
hit minimum production targets, you will be limited
in the number of carriers that you can represent. This
limitation will, in turn, make you less competitive com-
pared to agencies who represent a greater assortment of
insurance companies. This will put additional pressure
on you to feed the mouths that you do have. In turn, it
will be difficult for you to ever achieve the level of profit
sharing and bonus income that other agencies in your
marketplace are receiving. Whew! No wonder starting
an agency from scratch all by yourself, and running it
alone, is so hard!

The Age-Old Dilemma

While things have changed, and it is possible to start
an insurance agency and get insurance carrier contracts
by yourself, the old dilemma of having enough volume
with all your companies to sleep well at night contin-
ues. The dilemma of having enough business to receive
profit sharing at the same level as your competitors
still remains. And in addition to that, as a new agency
founder, this complexity of business management and
carrier management will take your time and attention
away from the more important task of producing new
business and learning the skills of how to manage mul-
tiple insurance companies, loss ratios, and the books of
business that come to your agency, while also learning
the skills of hiring and supervising employees and mak-
ing the telephones ring through marketing. Managing
the complex systems that you now need to be profitable
in the modern insurance agency will all take your time