You need experience and insight into any industry you want to pursue and insurance is no different. However, you need more than technical experience and education to become an independent insurance agent, you need to have the right personal traits, too.
Become an independent agent
Succeeding as an independent insurance agent requires passion above all else. Becoming an independent insurance agent, acquiring the right education and training, investing time and money in opening an agency, and more time and money marketing your agency is hard work. Passion will give you the drive to grow and keep pushing yourself. Now you just need the skills, experience, and personality?
Experience and education
Most of your education in the insurance industry will happen from experience working as a captive agent or working for an independent insurance agency. While a Bachelor’s Degree is not always a requirement for employment, a degree in insurance, business management, finance, or similar disciplines will certainly give you an advantage.
Our recommendation here at AAI is to have at least two years of experience working in the insurance industry, either as a captive agent or an independent agent.
Personality traits
While you acquire and perfect your skills through experience and education, we often can’t teach the right personality traits. A successful independent insurance agent should be:
- An Entrepreneur
- A good salesperson
- A good listener
- A good communicator
- Creative
- Outgoing
- Personable
- Driven
Get a turnkey business model to open an independent insurance agency
While the above may seem like a tall order, the insurance industry has a lot of potential for a lucrative and rewarding career. When you are ready to open an independent insurance agency, AAI has a turnkey business model to help you hit the ground running and grow your agency bigger, faster, more efficiently.