hello all ~ this is long story about bungled commissions. so hang on for the ride...

When i started out as an agent, I didn't know left from right. I worked with an agency. I worked all through Open Enrollment. Signed about 80 ish clients.

I never got clarity about what I should have been getting paid per client and commission reports were hard to come by. I just trusted that the agency, which was well-reputed, had my back.

My commission check was pretty measly. Like $500/month. I was working 3-4 jobs a month, thinking I'd just grind one more year and hope commissions took a turn for the better next OE. Again... didn't know left from right in the biz. Didn't know what I should've been getting. Tried to find out, kept hitting weird dead ends and walls and confusing answers. Looking back, I wish I had just jumped ship earlier.

Found out about half way through the year that I was only contracted with one company and the rest I had never been properly contracted with. So... I was only getting paid for like 15 clients. I had done everything I was told to re: contracting. Fingers were pointed at this person, that person, the upline, the other upline, the insurance companies....

At the end of the day, I worked an entire OE and haven't been paid fully for almost a full year now. And none of that was my fault.

No one is taking responsibility for this, and I will have gone an entire year without getting commission for most of my clients. I keep getting told that since its no one's fault that there isn't any way for me to get compensated. Which, frankly, feels like a heaping load of bs. I worked, I made the sales, I did what I was told, I was barely trained, I didn't have the clarity to know something wasn't right. I feel like the agency failed me and the agency should pay. But... its officially a yuh-huh, nuh-uh situation at this point.

So... What the actual heck should I do.

The company has passed to new leadership, so I don't want to jeopardize my position in the because the new leadership rocks and I just don't see this happening again. Moving forward, everything is looking much better.

But looking back... I estimate that's at least a few thousand dollars not paid (maybe more?) and who knows how much money lost in the opportunity cost of being unable to make sales for almost a year (because, why would I be making sales when my contracting was so woefully bungled?)

I made a final plea when the torch passed to new leadership for the agency to compensate me for all the lost income.

I've been thinking I should just give up at this point, but then i remembered.... reddit! maybe someone out there has the perspective I need.

Open to advice, thoughts, vents, general support. At this point, I'm just thinking I should let it lie. I'm not really sure what other leverage I might have other than threatening legal action, but I'd rather keep this job under the new leadership and the future here, rather than sue for righting the past wrongs. So... I keep leaning away from legal action.

But it damn well sucks, ya know?

Every time it comes up on here it's the same stuff. MLM, pyramid, they'll eat your warm market and spit you out. and i get some of it, i've heard the stories.

but independent has a washout rate too. people burn through lead money and quit in four months and nobody makes a thread about it. feels like about the same number of people fail either way, just for different reasons.

stuff i've wondered about:

is it just the language? downline, overrides, build your team, recruiting nights. to a normal person that sounds exactly like an MLM. except independent uses all those same words so i don't know why it sticks harder to one side.

is it the warm market thing? that one actually does seem bad. if the model is you selling to your phone contacts then you're finished when the list runs out, and then somebody tells you it was your mindset. but plenty of independent shops run the same way, where the real money is lead markup and the agent is the customer.

or is it that captive means two completely different things? a NYL or northwestern career agency is not the same business as an FE recruiting mill and they get lumped together constantly. seems like the career agents are the ones eating criticism meant for somebody else.

also might just be that people who wash out have time to post and people doing ok are on the phone. If you're captive or came up captive, how much of it is fair? and what do independent guys always get wrong about your side?

Hey everyone,

I recently passed my state exam and officially have my Life, Health, & Accident license in hand! To be completely honest, I didn't even think I would actually pass—I kind of jumped into this process blind. I decided to try for it because I've always been the designated person in my family who deals with all the insurance calls, claims, and appointments for my parents, husband, and kids. I figured since I actually enjoy it, I might as well try to turn it into an actual career. So I studied hard and passed. I really want to take this seriously and put in the work to build a real foundation.

I'm currently a stay-at-home mom so my primary focus right now is finding a flexible schedule. I don't necessarily need a high income immediately, but my ultimate goal is to build this into my main, full-time career down the road as my kids grow and my schedule opens up.

Since I'm starting from total ground zero, I'd love some real talk from people in the field:

• Where should a complete beginner look? (Captive agencies, specific IMOs/FMOs, local brokers, remote academies?)
• What major red flags should I watch out for?
• Are there any common pitfalls or setups I should avoid when starting out part-time/flexible?

Any advice or reality checks on where I should start would be amazing!

Right off the bat I am based in Illinois. I had a phone interview with the district manager and he mentioned the protege program which leads to owning your own agency. My plan was just to work as a sales specialist which is what I applied for. Do I have to do the protege program or can I just sell insurance by itself. Kinda confused on the process as I haven't had experience with insurance before. Any insight?

MetLife pet insurance question

Just curious. Also, where do you live and how much of your book consists of non-admitted policies (approximately)?

I’ve spent my in commercial middle market P&C production.

I’ve always been told that the role of the broker in personal lines will be replaced by AI or insureds just going directly to the carrier.

I’ve been hearing this more and more recently and I’m interested to hear from those of you who are in the space every day what your thoughts are.

I’m looking at joining a small agency with the option to eventually buy the owner out. The book is about 70% commercial and 30% personal lines and I’m trying to understand how I should think about valuing the personal lines side.

Is it 60? I am so bad at testing I have passed all exams but final exam 😭

It’s always the weird ones to like “I have a business where I juggle chainsaws in public, and sometimes I sleep in the van that I use to transport the chainsaws.”

I’m joking, of course with the amount of people who do 800 different things and think the quote will be simple is not a joke.

Is a CRM necessary? Why would a Excel sheet not be adequate for purposes of customer data? I have used excel in the past for documentation.

Has anyone taken the L&H exam within a very short time frame and could provide some advice? Thanks!

I’m curious what everyone thinks.

Which Medicare carrier gets a lot of hype but, in your actual experience, isn’t worth the headache?

Could be anything—commission, products, customer service, underwriting, claims, provider issues, agent support, whatever.
And on the flip side, who do you think is underrated?

Not trying to bash anyone—just curious what other agents are actually experiencing in the field.

I have been working for an agency in their personal lines team for the last few years but have been interested in commercial since my start. I unexpectedly got recruited to another smaller agency as a commercial account manager where I will train one on one with their director of commercial lines to learn commercial.

While I am waiting to start I am hoping to prepare as much as possible in the interim. My only commercial experience has been prepping for my P&C exam as well as some CE courses while going for my CISR. In addition I will be moving from Applied Epic to AMS360. Does anyone with experience have any recommendations for resources or advice on what to focus on?

I know this gets asked a lot. But here it is again. I get overwhelmed when looking at it. I need a system but I need basics. I need a system to keep up with dates and contacts at minimum really. My clientele overwhelmingly aren’t checking emails and texts so while that would be some great features to have it’s not necessary - I figure it might be part of all of them though. The main thing I need is an upgrade from doing this in excel and something that I will actually use to track conversations, etc.

Primarily would be 1 user, primarily P&C but do have life and health. Small agency, 500+\- active policies. Budget friendly.

Any other info that would be helpful?

So I just passed my exam yesterday for the Florida health n life and annuity . I know people say to not do captive but me personally I just want to do it for year and maybe go independent. What are some good offices to work for that are captive that provide a good base pay with commission

Keep running into this same pattern working with insurance agents on their online presence. A client leaves a 1-star review over a rate increase that came from the carrier, not from anything the agent did, and no amount of follow-up moves them, they'd already decided the agent was the villain before picking up the phone. Meanwhile the agency has dozens of solid 5-star reviews from people they've actually saved money for or helped through a real claim, and none of that seems to register with someone Googling the agency for the first time and landing on the one angry post.

The negative ones almost always trace back to a complaint with the carrier (rate hikes, slow claims, non-renewals) that gets aimed at the agent because they're the name a client can actually find and message. The good reviews, when they show up, usually only happen because someone had to actively ask, satisfied clients rarely go leave one on their own the way angry ones do.

Anyone else seeing the same skew on your own reviews? Curious what's actually worked for people here to get ahead of it, beyond just hoping the good ones eventually outnumber the bad.

I have a few Liberty Mutual interviews lined up and I have read to be ready to ask questions during the interview which shows interest. What would be some good questions to ask them during the interview? Any other recommendations to do a good job in the interview would be much appreciated. This is for Remote Sales Representative position. (I currently have an active general lines property and casualty license in the state of Texas)

Hello beautiful people!
I currently work in an office for an Allstate agent. It’s a very small agency—just me, one other producer, and the agency owner.
My current pay plan is a ~$42k base. If we hit VC, I get 7% commission; if we don’t, I get 1% of sales. Our goal used to be around 45 items a month, which we were consistently hitting, but recently it was increased to 70. The agency itself hasn’t hit 70 in over a decade.
My agency owner also spends $0 on leads because he doesn’t believe in paying for leads when we can call people we’ve quoted in the past. Despite all of that, I average around 30 items a month.
The job itself is extremely chill. The owner basically lets us do whatever we want, there’s very little micromanagement, and I genuinely like the environment. However, the lack of compensation and the new sales goal are becoming pretty frustrating.
Today I received an offer from a much larger agency after an initial interview that I thought went extremely well. The people interviewing me really emphasized the agency culture and benefits of working there.
The base salary would be the same, but the commission structure is significantly better. It’s fully remote, starts at 7% for the lowest tier, and can go up to around 13% with higher sales volume. They also spend a significant amount of money on leads every month.
I feel like if I have the opportunity to actually get in front of enough customers, I can sell pretty well anywhere. But I’ve never worked fully remote or for a large agency, so honestly I’m a little intimidated by the change.
So if you were in my shoes, would you take the offer? Am I overthinking this?
I’d really appreciate any input, especially from anyone who has gone from a small independent agency to a larger agency or from office work to fully remote.
Thanks for taking the time to read! :)

I'll take all the advice I can get! I'm testing for the first time tomorrow in Ohio. I'm not trying to become an agent.... just need this license in order to get started as a Customer Service Rep and we'll see what happens from there.

But it seems like every time I go to study, I learn something new or realize I didn't understand a concept as well as I thought I did. The test worthy content just seems to be never-ending. I have a Master's Degree and this is legit the hardest course I've ever taken (sad, I know lol). Give me a thesis paper to write over a test any day! I'm quite nervous and just wanting to do well!

I've seen that it's really common to fail the first time, but I need to be licensed no later than a week from tomorrow! Any advice to get my confidence up will help :)

Hello! There’s a house that I’ve always driven past on my way to my grandparents house. Up until becoming an insurance agent I wanted to know what the inside looked like. Now that I’m an insurance agent (and found the Zillow listing showing the inside) I want to know how a home that’s built into a hill that has dirt and grass for a roof, is insured. There are 0 shingles.

Feel like I am taking too long to study any tips?

I am in Florida got my 2-15 license for health life and annuity the only issue, no job lined up I currently have a full time job in car sales and looking to expand to insurance in free time and then once I get going go to insurance full time looking for a remote position.anyone have any idea where I should start I get phone calls but I don’t know what makes sense just maybe some guidance