what's up and welcome back to my channel
i know i know i know it's been a little
while since i have put out insurance
content but that changes today today is
going to be your beginner guide into
picking an agency that makes sense for
you and how to get licensed a little
background on me i do have three
licenses i started with my life accident
and health license working at new york
life and then i moved over to property
and casualty working for an independent
broker
and then i moved again to a bigger
independent broker where i still sell
life accident and health property and
casualty and now i am a licensed real
estate agent so it has been a long eight
years but i do have the experience and
hopefully my knowledge helps you get to
where you want to be in your new
exciting field of insurance so before we
even talk about licensing because you do
not do that on your own we are going to
interview insurance is extremely
different depending on where you live i
also do want to preface that i have
never worked for a direct writer
i am a little biased i'm not a huge fan
of direct writers direct writers would
be a geico an allstate library mutual
and amica so i personally have always
preferred independent agencies and that
is because you can write with multiple
carriers when i started with property
and casualty insurance i left the life
accident in health side and decided i
wanted something that wasn't as
corporate i obviously love marketing
here we are on youtube and working for
someone that's a direct writer or more
corporate you really can't do anything
you can't post anything at all so i did
decide to go to a mom-and-pop shop with
three offices and we worked with about a
dozen insurance carriers so this is
where people get kind of mixed up with
insurance
you have your car insurance through
progressive and that is a carrier but i
am your agent aaron noguera and i work
at bearing star insurance agency so the
agency has an agent that shops insurance
carriers for you and then i write you
with progressive so agency agent carrier
i like the freedom and flexibility of
having a unique family and home and
autos and being able to place them with
anyone i want if i was working for an
example amica i wouldn't be able to do
that i live in new england amica doesn't
love coastal business and this is an
example i i don't know i don't write
with amica but they might not like
coastal business so they might decline
me living on the water we're working for
an agency i work with multiple coastal
carriers so i can write that business
which makes sense living in
massachusetts especially the south coast
so i would say those are the two cons of
working with a direct writer is it's
very corporate you have to run through
the chain of command and you are limited
to one carrier so one product and if the
product does not fit the client then you
lose the business
working for an independent agency like i
currently do i work with over two dozen
carriers so the chances of me losing
business are very slim we are larger i
think we have 12 to 14 offices but our
culture is very family oriented which i
like so we have the structure of
management and we have the departments
in place but it's not an agency that i
have to run everything i do by each
department and then nothing ever gets
done because it takes so long to go
through every department once you narrow
down where you want to work whether that
be an independent agency or a direct
writer that's when you want to get into
the fun interview questions like what
their company culture is like if you are
someone that needs to be micromanaged
then being an insurance consultant
probably isn't for you sales is the land
of the free as long as you're bringing
the business in then you shouldn't
really need to be coached if this is
your first time sales position then you
are going to want someone to really hold
your hand and micromanage you
i'm not that type of person i do well
being thrown out into the wolves and
then figuring it out my previous agency
was really great about celebrating
everyone's birthdays and making sure
that we had company functions but that
was also because we were pretty small
where the agency i'm working at now is
huge we're all over mass all over
connecticut based out of boston
so we're big we can't be celebrating
everyone's birthdays and i'm still
working from home two years later so
that's going to be different for every
agency i can't speak on that another
important question is what turnover is
like at this agency with life insurance
specifically they hire everyone
i hate receiving dms and people are like
oh my god i just got hired at new york
life
they take anyone and everyone because
they expect you to sell to your friends
and family and either you burn yourself
out and hustle hard for two years or you
just die out and guess what they got the
business they got the policies from your
friends and family and you
and you're gone and then they're gonna
have another agent that has been in the
business for longer service your work
so turnover is very high at life
insurance companies i'm not sure about
health insurance companies i really have
never worked on that side of the
industry but as an insurance consultant
this is really important if turnover is
high that means that management probably
stinks or they're promising you the
world and delivering you nothing so
don't be afraid to ask questions during
your interview you are interviewing them
even more than they are interviewing you
they need you you don't need them next
question you want to ask is what your
support system will be like i am
extremely blessed at the agency i
currently work at where our
infrastructure is awesome i have a
service department i have a support
department and i have a quote and issue
department quote and issue department
sorry i think i said that way too fast
so this is important as a sales
associate as an insurance consultant
because your main focus is bringing
business in not servicing it they need a
service department to make sure your
business stays where the hell it is
that's not your job ever so don't get
caught up in servicing clients make sure
they have those departments in place one
of the best things about my agency is
the quote and issue department so i
bring in the clients i gather all the
information neatly on an excel
spreadsheet and i send it out to q and i
q and i then has the extensive knowledge
of every carrier they put all the
information i gathered into a database
and then they send me back the best
carriers for my clients and then i
present it so having a quote and issue
department also frees up
so much of my time i can't imagine if i
had to quote everything that i was
bringing in i also think management is
extremely important because we are so
big we do have two different sales teams
spread across massachusetts and i don't
even know about connecticut i'm just
speaking on our mass offices
so we have a director we have a manager
we have manager support so there is
always someone that i can reach out to
if i need something at any given time
which is crucial with insurance it's a
very very stressful job i don't care
what anyone says you have homes closing
you have lenders demanding binders you
have realtors that need flood quotes
it's never ending so make sure
management is there and going to be
there to help you with everything that
you need especially if you are just
starting out commission
i have some people ask how much i make
i'm not answering that i feel like
that's very rude to ask and personal
commission
is important to go over with every
agency that you are interviewing with at
my last agency i didn't make anything in
commission i thought it was great i
really did but the way that their
structure was it just capped me into
making bare minimum
so when i interviewed with my current
agency i was blown away i was blown away
at how much commission they were giving
me at renewals they were giving me when
my old insurance agency wasn't doing
that so never settle definitely
interview just to get an idea of what
different commission structures are like
at different agencies so i did mention
renewals not everyone gives you renewals
i know renewals are very common in life
accident and health side of the industry
but for property and casualty not so
much having obtainable bonus structures
is definitely important as well i'm a
competitive person i love seeing the
numbers of my peers that way i know what
numbers i need to target who is on my
hit list that i want to get ahead of for
the next month so make sure if they do
have a bonus structure it's obtainable
not that you need to sell 600 policies a
month make sure that the bonus structure
makes sense if there is one
if there isn't ask them why there should
be bonuses i would never work for an
agency that didn't put a little bit of
pressure on an insurance consultant to
get ahead now we're done with the major
points of interviewing if i missed
anything make sure you leave it in the
comment section down below i'll be sure
to answer
so let's get into licensing when i
started at new york life did i say i
worked for new york life i worked for
metlife did i say new york life i never
worked for new york life i started as an
admin assistant i was still in college i
worked my way up to the team manager i
managed three financial advisors and
then i got licensed in life accident and
health so when i worked for metlife they
paid for me to take classes they paid
for my practice exams they paid for my
study material they paid for my testing
they paid for my license a good agency
will invest in you i have never heard of
an agency that doesn't pay for all of
that so please do not go get licensed on
your own dollar and then go get hired
somewhere when i decided to switch over
to property and casualty it was the same
thing they paid for everything i hope
you guys can't hear that fire alarm
going off once you are licensed you will
have continuing education requirements
so
my agency pays for those classes as well
i do not pay for anything out of pocket
i believe within the first year you need
60 continuing education credits and then
the next three years is 45
i could be wrong i could definitely be
wrong that could be mass specific do not
hold me accountable to that but i know
it is somewhere around there as far as
studying goes take the practice exams i
read the book once i took every quiz at
the end of the chapter and then when i
was not sitting there reading i had
youtube vocab on constantly washing
dishes folding laundry like i didn't
watch tv that was my main focus and then
i was taking practice exams there are so
many apps that you can get on your phone
on your ipad there are programs if you
want to work off of a computer the
resources are endless i would say
dedicate a month to two months to
studying i believe every agency gives
you like three months to get licensed it
could be something shorter like i said
i've been licensed for about eight years
so things could have also changed i
think that covers the basics of getting
licensed and finding the insurance
company for you i can't harp on this
enough but if i missed anything and you
have any questions you can leave a
comment down below or you can send me a
dm on instagram at ironheartbreak i am
very responsive so if this video was
helpful and you want to see more
insurance content make sure to like this
video and subscribe to my channel and i
will see you guys next time