Page 215 - The UnCaptive Agent

188 THE UNCAPTIVE AGENT

been a better time to start a new independent insurance
agency. We have a strong and robust national econ-
omy, which bodes well for commercial insurance. The
population of the United States is growing every year,
which means that every year there are new prospects
for the personal insurance agent. Technology is making
the difficulty and drudgery of our business—like rating
and quoting insurance policies—easier. Technology is
making it possible to find clients that need the unique
products and services we sell in our agencies. Technology
is also making it possible for agents who used to confine
their marketing activities to their local community to sell
insurance across the United States. It is allowing them
to specialize and become unique subject matter experts
in the U.S., building larger agencies than ever before.
The rise of Agency Development Organizations like
SIAA and One Agents Alliance, as well as some of their
competitors, has made it easier than ever before to actu-
ally start an insurance agency from scratch. Some, like
ours, have made it possible for the startup agency to be
paid as if it were a huge national insurance agency, mak-
ing growth all the easier. This additional compensation
comes in the form of profit sharing that small agencies
typically never receive, and in the case of OAA/SIAA
members, national bonuses and national profit sharing
based on their membership in a $9 billion organization
with the industry’s leading organic growth rate.
A unique generational shift in the ownership of inde-
pendent agencies is underway, creating an opportunity
for new agency owners, and new insurance agencies,
to arise. A time like this has never occurred before. In
the next five to ten years, at least half of the employees
and owners in the independent agency system will
retire according to a variety of studies. According to
the 2018 Independent Agents and Brokers study that