Are you an Entrepreneur at Heart?
The insurance industry is one of the greatest industries. In what other industry can anyone – and I mean ANYONE – have the opportunity to make as much income as they want and where the only limiting factor is one’s own effort?
Being still relatively young in the insurance industry and quite young for having as many years under my belt as I do, I often get questions and comments like:
“Why in the world did you chose a job in insurance?”
“You must have a family member in the business.”
“Insurance is so boring, how can you stand it?”
I do have a family member who was already in the business – my father, so that statement is true. However I totally disagree with the idea that insurance is a boring profession. I find the work challenging, the people I work with are amazing, and the competition in the marketplace is exciting and invigorating. But the main reason I chose CAREER – not just a job – in insurance was because of the opportunity for personal and financial growth, a sense of fulfillment from being able to SERVE clients, and of course the ability to continually increase my income with no virtually ceiling.
There is really only one reason why anyone in insurance production fails is because they are not walking, talking, living and breathing as an ENTREPRENEUR! I have a friend that owns an extremely successful agency with locations across multiple states and he simply refuses to hire anyone into a production role who is not an Entrepreneur. Individuals who are Entrepreneurial at heart are those that do not begrudgingly trod to work when the going gets busy or challenging, but rather spring in to office with a bounce in their step eagerly awaiting the opportunity tackle the challenges of the day. The entrepreneur does not simply clock in at 8am and clock out at 5pm, but rather they are always thinking of their business – or book of business – and how they can improve and maximize its potential. This is the beauty of the insurance industry – you CAN continually improve upon your book of business and continually reap the benefits of those improvements. What else could be better?
Many, many insurance agents/brokers are living proof that the insurance industry is one of the greatest businesses to be in if you are looking to work hard for “X” period of time to then live the lifestyle you want for the rest of your life. Many captive carriers use this as the carrot on the end of the stick that they dangle in front of new and prospective agents. My biggest word of advice to such new and prospective agents is to look at the entire landscape of the industry and see where you would fit best – for most it would be in the Independent Agency model if they can gain entry to it.
Matthew Davis, MBA, CPCU, AAI
President
GDI Insurance Agency, Inc.
