470. Is Insurance still a great opportunity? My honest answer

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What's in this episode:
In this episode, Michael walks through the two questions he asks every agent before any career decision: what do you want your life to look like, and what do you want your business or career to look like? He explains why expectations from every carrier, captive or independent, will only increase year over year, why agency owners need to understand their compensation plan page by page, and why go-getters willing to go all in will always find opportunity, no matter how the rules change.

[00:00] Every opportunity is what you make of it
[01:00] Why State Farm agents keep asking this question
[02:00] No one can tell you if it's the right opportunity
[03:00] What do you want your life to look like
[04:00] Why your business has to match your life goals
[05:00] The grass is green where you water it
[06:00] Expectations only increase, every single year
[07:00] You will be asked to sell more, every year
[08:00] Are you on board with where the industry is headed
[09:00] Agency ownership means all gas, no brakes
[10:00] Should you go captive, independent, or shop around
[11:00] Ad break: Weaver Sales Academy Summer Sizzle Sale
[13:00] If you're staying, know your compensation plan
[14:00] Understand your plan page by page and multipliers
[17:00] What to do if agency ownership isn't for you
[19:00] Are you going to maximize the opportunity

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Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Every opportunity is what you make of it. Every opportunity. The grass is not greener on the other side. The grass is green where you freaking water it. Hey, welcome to the insurance buzz. My name is Michael Weaver, and I am flying solo today. And I know, I know that the episodes are better with Courtney. I get that, but I'm flying solo today, and I want to talk about one thing that is on your mind right now, potentially, because I have had this conversation with over 30 agents over the last 30 days. And the question they have posed to me is is this still a good opportunity? Is this still a good opportunity? Now, transparently, a lot of these conversations have come from State Farm agents with the news that was recently published with compensation changes, benefits being taken away, retirement packages no longer being uh part of the compensation package. But look, State Farm's not the first company to do this. They're not going to be the last company to do this. Uh, multiple captive carriers have already made changes to their compensation plans. They're continuing to make changes to their compensation plans. And even on the indie side, companies are making changes to compensation plans. So at the end of the day, I wanted to have a very honest and transparent conversation with you right here that's very similar to the conversations that I've been having with your peers that have reached out and I've been able to take the time and have some one-on-one coaching calls with them. And I have some questions. And so, first and foremost, I want you to know that no one is going to be able to tell you whether it's a good or great opportunity or whether it's the right opportunity for you or not. At the end of the day, you are the one that has to make that decision. You have to be the one that says, yes, this is the career for me, this is the business for me, this is the future for me. Or is something else a better fit? Is taking another path, another road, the right option for you? And that's the only and look, at the end of the day, you are the only person that's going to be able to decide that. Just like the 30 plus agents I've talked to, before I go into the conversation with them, the very first thing I say is, I am not going to tell you what you should do. I am not going to tell you what you should do. Only you can decide that. But I do have a series of questions I've been asking that have been very helpful. I've received a ton of positive feedback from them. And so I want to pose a few of these questions to you right now. And so one of the very first questions I've been asking is what do you want your life to look like over the next five, ten, fifteen, twenty years? What do you want your life to look like? What do you want your life to look like? And to piggyback off of this, question number two, what do you want your business or career to look like over the next five, ten, fifteen, twenty years? So what do you want your life? What do you want your lifestyle to look like? I'm serious. Are you working from home? Are you traveling wherever you want? Are you semi-retired? Like, what do you want your life and lifestyle to look like? And then what do you want your business or career to look like? Because this is really important. Because if you determine your life looks like this, but then your business looks like something different, and they kind of butt heads, that's not a good situation. So we got to make sure that we or you have to make sure that you understand and have a really clear picture on hey, here are my goals and here are my dreams for life. And I got to make sure that I have a business or career that supports that goal. What I want my life, my lifestyle, my life with my spouse, my life with my kids, wherever you're at in life. You have to make sure your business or career support that life and that lifestyle and that goal and dream that you have. And that's why those are the first two questions I pose. Because at the end of the day, it's not the question of is this a good opportunity anymore? Every opportunity is what you make of it. Every opportunity, the grass is not greener on the other side. The grass is green where you freaking water it, where you fertilize it, where you seed it. That's where the grass is green. That's where the grass is thick. I have a nice, I have a nice yard. And I work the heck out of that thing every single spring and every single fall. But the grass is not always greener on the other side. The grass is green where you're working the grass. And I want to reiterate that. But to be able to know what you want your life to look like, you need to take some time right now and figure out what I want my life to look like. What are my goals? What are my dreams with life? What do I want my lifestyle to look like? What do I want my relationship with my spouse to look like with my kids? And then what business or career is going to support that? That's really, really important. So that's why those are the first two questions I ask. Now, another question I've been asking a lot of agents that have been reaching out. We all understand, or you should understand, that expectations are going to be at an all-time high and they're only going to increase every year. There is never a year that's going to go by moving forward where your carrier or the company you represent is going to get complacent and be like, you guys, know what? You had a great year last year, put your feet up on the desk, watch golf for the next year, we're good. That's never going to happen. When you are 50% over year over year, guess what? They're going to expect 75% the next year. And then 100%, like they're they're just going to continue to move the goalpost. And so my question is right now, if you know what the future is going to look like, or you're anticipating what I'm saying right now, that you're going to have to be a production machine. That is what your agency is. You are a sales organization and you are going to be asked and required and expected to sell more than you've ever sold. And then the year after that, you're going to be expected to sell more than you've ever done. You're going to be expected to grow your business. You're going to be expected to grow your team size. You're going to be expected to spend more in marketing. All of these are what I'm expecting the future of an insurance agency to look like. Insurance agency owner, producer. You're going to have to become a sales machine. My question for you is, do you like the vision? And do you like the path of where you're going with that? There is no like, there's no confusing like what the future is going to look like. Like the writing is on the wall. You can fight it if you want to. But that's going to be a really hard fight. And I have a feeling you're going to get left behind. And so my question for you is if you know that that is where where the future's headed, if you know that's where the future of agency ownership is headed, are you on board with that? Or do you need to take your skill sets that you've learned and go to another career or go open up another business in a different uh industry, different sector? Because if you're in the insurance industry or financial services industry, what I just said is going to be true. And so, again, every opportunity is what you make of it. And so, but you have to make sure that you're on board with the opportunity at hand. And the opportunity at hand is you are going to be a sales organization that is going to be asked to perform year over year over year. And expectations are only going to increase. So let's just define reality right there. Do you like the idea of that? It's a simple yes or no. And if you don't like the idea of that, what business or career can you go to where you can take your skill sets? Now I'll tell you, in the land of entrepreneurship and business ownership and agency ownership, like it doesn't matter what business you are running or operating, you're gonna have to go full till. All gas, no brakes. Doesn't matter what industry you're in, what sector you're in, what type of business you're running, I don't care what you're running. It is all gas, no breaks all the time. Period. Point blank. Stop. That's it. That's what you signed up for as a business owner. That's what you signed up for as an entrepreneur. Now if you decide, Michael, I like this, I like this opportunity, I like this business. Then the question I've been getting asked is, well, Michael, should I go, should I go captive or should I go independent? Again, that's a decision, or should I go with another captive carrier? Look, at the end of the day, that is a decision you're gonna have to make. Now, if you're not super happy, it doesn't matter again what carrier you're with right now. If you're not super happy with the changes that your carrier is making, go shop around. Go shop around if you want to. Go shop around. If you have a proven track record of success, yo, you can pretty much be an agent with whoever you want on the indie side, another captive side, broker side, it doesn't matter. If you have a proven track record of success, go shop around, see if you can get a better deal. Uh producing the type of policies that you want to produce, uh running the future agency that you want to run. Does someone else have a better agency opportunity for what you envision you want to do? Cool. Go do that. Most importantly, and this is what I want you to take away from this, is it does not matter what carrier you are with, it just doesn't. As I said earlier, expectations are going to only increase. And so no matter who you are teamed up with, no matter who you are representing, no matter whether you are a captive insurance agent or you are an independent insurance agent, the number one thing I'm going to tell you right now is you better know how you get paid. Let's talk about something really important right now to you in your office. Right now, expectations are at all-time high, bonuses are harder to hit, commissions are getting cut, your team is underperforming. Sure, maybe they've been trained in the past, you might be even invested in training right now, but they're not doing it. Not only is that costing you money in the future, that's costing you money right now. But not only money, stress, anxiety, panic, all the things that do more damage to you than need to be done. And it can be fixed. That's the best thing. You don't have a process or framework right now. That's what we do at Weaver Sales Academy. We've worked with over 17,000 insurance professionals just like you across the country. It is our eighth birthday. We have a summer sizzle cell that I'm excited to share with you. Instead of $4,200, it's only $29.97. That is over a $1,200 savings. The average agency that works with us sees a 40% lift by day 90 of working with us in auto fire and life insurance. Not only that, if you're hiring, we're able to get brand new hires up and selling in less than five days for you. Make sure you click the link below, book a call with my team, and let's make sure that you crush not only your summer goals, but also Q3 and Q4 so that you don't have to worry about panicking during the holiday season, working more hours. I want you to be able to spend time with your family and friends. And most importantly, I want you to make sure that you're making the money that you deserve to make. Click the link below. Other than that, let's get back to the show. You see, all carriers, it's a game. It is a game. Life is a game. And all carriers offer compensation packages. And they have all these different compensation packages and different things that you can do to earn more money. So no matter what opportunity you're in, no matter what carrier you're representing, whether you stay or whether you go, whether you change or whether you leave, it does not matter. You better understand how you get paid. So if you have not taken the time, if you're like Michael, I'm in it. This is my future. I've got so much invested in this. I like the direction I'm going. I've got a tremendous team. I'm scaling. I'm bought into the future. I believe in what we do. I believe in the change that we make. I believe the impact that we make. I got into this to change people's lives. I'm sticking with it. I'm not going anywhere. This is my ask of you right now, as an agency owner, as a business owner, as an entrepreneur. You better take some time. Take a day or two out of the office. Get it on the calendar right now. Read how you are compensated. Understand that thing. Understand it page by page. Understand the multipliers, understand the expectations, understand what causes you to lose money, understand what causes you to maximize money. And you better create a plan to maximize your compensation that the carrier is giving you. That is the name of the game. Yes, they're going to continue to, by the way, change the rules. They're going to change how you get paid. They're going to change how much they're going to pay you. They're going to change the expectations. They're going to move the goalpost. So this is something that you need to put on your calendar. If I were you at the beginning of every year or when a change is made, hey, I need to understand how I'm paid. I need to understand how my business is paid. I need to understand how I can maximize commissions. I need to understand how I can maximize revenue. I need to understand the rules of the game so that I can freaking dominate the game. That's what you have to decide. It's not, is this still a good opportunity? It's are you going to maximize the opportunity? Are you going to make the most of the opportunity? Is this the opportunity that you want for now and in the future? That is the question at hand. It's not, is this still a good opportunity? Of course it is. It's still a great opportunity. That's why there's literally hundreds of thousands of insurance professionals across the country. The rules continue to change. The carriers continue to change. Like, period. That's not going to, that's not going to stop. Do you like the direction it's headed? Do you want to be a part of the direction it's headed? And if that answer is yes, then you better learn the rules of the game and learn how to maximize your compensation. That is the biggest tip I can give you. Year after year after year, they're going to change it. The rules are going to change, your bonuses are going to change, whatever, variable comp it's all going to change. And how you maximize your pay. Little tweaks here and there. If you are going to continue to work in this industry, take two days, get it on the calendar right now, and read through your entire compensation package and understand front to back, page to page, how you get paid, the rules of the game, and how you maximize your compensation. Because as we always say, sales cures all. When you are making money, everything seems to be better. And at the end of the day, if you're like, yo, Michael, this is great, but this this shit ain't for me anymore, then what is for you? What skill sets have you developed? What skill sets have you learned that you can go and now operate something else, run something else, start something else. Maybe you maybe you go into more of a career where you're now working for corporate America or something else. I have no idea. But if agency ownership isn't for you, because that's across the board with every carrier, you're all gonna have your rules, doesn't matter again on captive or independent side. Now that doesn't mean that one carrier doesn't offer a better opportunity for you. Period. That's true. You may be aligned with another provider, you may be aligned with another opportunity in the space, and that is fair. That is fair. Or you may be aligned with just the opportunity at hand that your carrier's giving you right now, and that's fair too. Or the third option here is you're not aligned at all anymore, and you gotta go do something else. And that's what you have to decide for yourself. But no matter what you decide, you gotta go all in, all gas, no breaks, like all in mentality. The next five to ten years is going to be insane. I I I think it's gonna change so much that none of us can even fathom how much our world is going to change. But I can promise you, the go-getters, you right now listening to this, because you want to get better. If you're still with me right now, look, you're you're already doing something different than uh 99% of people out there. You're a go-getter. You're someone that wants success. You're someone that's going to do whatever it takes. And I applaud you for that. So now you just have to pick your lane and you have to run as hard as you can down that lane. No excuses. No excuse mentality, understanding the rules of the game, maximizing compensation, and go out and freaking dominate the game. So at the end of the day, I'll end with this. It's not, is the opportunity still good? The question is, are you going to maximize the opportunity that's in front of you? Whatever that looks like and whatever aligns with you. With that being said, as always, time and attention is by far, without a doubt, your most important asset. My most important asset. Time and attention, baby. I appreciate you spending it today with me on the buzz. Go out and make it great.