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06/25/2025 · 5 min read
Dan Kitajima built a $17M captive agency, then his carrier non-renewed $6M in policies right after he signed a $20K monthly lease. The forced jump to independent gave him market access across twelve carriers, higher close rates, broker-fee transparency, and a more profitable book per premium dollar.
06/18/2025 · 5 min read
Survive insurance agency adversity by documenting every core process, removing problem clients before they cost more than their revenue, and treating acquisitions as a way to buy infrastructure (not just clients). Ben Bucher built multi-state agencies on lessons learned during near-collapse.
06/12/2025 · 5 min read
BJ Hill built Summit Insurance to $18M in premium in Loveland, Colorado by running his agency like a championship basketball team: culture in the daily reps, structured 90-day onboarding, accountability without blame, sharp self-awareness, and grit that outlasts talent.
06/05/2025 · 5 min read
Pick one or two commercial verticals, learn them deeper than competitors will, and build referral pipelines with CPAs, commercial bankers, and attorneys serving that niche. Specialty books renew at higher rates, escape price competition, and compound lifetime value the way personal lines never do.
06/05/2025 · 5 min read
Spend 70 percent of every call understanding the client and 30 percent presenting solutions. Treat every no as data, not defeat. Use CRM and automated follow-up at 30, 60, 90, and 180 days to amplify the relationship, not replace it. Continuous learning is the only consistent production predictor.
06/05/2025 · 5 min read
David Carothers built his Tampa commercial agency by hiring baseball coaches, teachers, retail managers, and veterans, never other insurance agents. Screen for character (coachability, persistence, work ethic), then train product knowledge in-house through scripts, role plays, and mentor pairings.
06/05/2025 · 5 min read
Fix insurance commission chaos by reconciling every carrier statement against your contract terms, integrating commission data with your agency management system, and going into contingency negotiations with clean numbers. Most agencies are owed thousands they will never collect without the data.
06/05/2025 · 5 min read
Insurance agents lose paid leads because they quit after two contacts. Fix it by calling within five minutes, running a coordinated multi-channel cadence (text, email, phone), and installing a 90-day email nurture sequence. Most policies bound from internet leads close on contact five or later.
06/05/2025 · 5 min read
Build a personal media operation by picking one platform, batching short videos monthly, and hiring a small media squad (a part-time editor and a videographer) to handle distribution. Content pre-sells prospects, amplifies referrals, and compounds without ongoing ad spend.
06/05/2025 · 5 min read
Use five Cialdini influence principles to build trust and close more insurance: reciprocity (give value pre-call), targeted social proof, authority through specific outcomes, small early commitments, and genuine liking discovered in the call.
06/05/2025 · 6 min read
Peter Fournier built a recession-proof mortgage protection business by partnering with real estate agents, mortgage brokers, and loan officers who already serve new homeowners at the moment they feel most vulnerable. A scripted referral ask plus a 90-day client follow-up closes the loop.
06/05/2025 · 5 min read
Dave Williams scaled a multi-million dollar agency by treating recruiting like a sales funnel, hiring for mindset and training for skills, defining explicit cultural values instead of assuming them, and building team wellness as a performance driver. Most owners hire reactively, take whoever shows up, and lose those hires fast.
06/05/2025 · 5 min read
Override the cognitive biases costing your agency money by running a pre-mortem before any major decision, keeping a decision journal you review quarterly, seeking structured input from people who disagree, and using the 10-10-10 framework (how will I feel in 10 minutes, 10 months, 10 years) when urgent.
06/05/2025 · 5 min read
Jay Bregman could not get hourly insurance for drone gig work, so he built Thimble to fill the gap. The lesson for agents: identify client segments where available coverage is genuinely awkward, position early as a distribution partner for solutions that fit, and deploy technology to cut friction in buying.
01/30/2025 · 6 min read
Direct mail still beats digital in tough markets because competition has collapsed and physical mail forces active engagement instead of passive scrolling. Target life events (home purchase, business filing, vehicle registration), time the drop to the trigger, and keep client communication warm so retention holds when carriers exit.
01/15/2025 · 7 min read
Risk Genius and Milo apply machine learning to insurance policy analysis and small business underwriting. Use AI for pattern recognition and document-heavy work, protect human time for trust, advocacy, and claim-time judgment. Agents who split work that way scale into underserved small business markets.
01/14/2025 · 4 min read
Chris Cheatham left law to build Risk Genius and Milo because insurance policies are pattern-recognition-heavy legal documents, exactly the work machine learning is built for. AI now reads policies, flags gaps, and makes small business insurance scalable. Agents who use the tools beat agents who treat them as threats.
01/08/2025 · 6 min read
Build referral partnerships only with partners whose clients need what you provide and whose clients you can serve back. Hire for directional feedback orientation, value-added persistence, and genuine client curiosity instead of credentials. Track every referral in both directions for 90 days, then prune what isn't producing.
01/07/2025 · 4 min read
High-efficiency agencies hire for non-obvious traits (genuine curiosity, comfort with delayed gratification, defenseless feedback intake, personalized persistence) and build referral partnerships that hold through market cycles. Ryan Schaffer's 2008 mortgage survival proved relationships outperform volume when conditions turn.
12/25/2024 · 6 min read
Ramis Hakim's final expense playbook runs on three things: ultra-specialization down to a single demographic and benefit structure, core values that are behavioral standards not wall art, and a lead system tuned to the exact ideal-client profile.