A soft market does impact organic growth with premiums falling, thus commissions falling as well. Profitability also suffers with ever increasing expenses due to salary growth of employees and every other expense keeps going up with operating system increases, internet, phone systems, rent. It all adds up and an agent has to keep growing to stay even with expenses.
lonestar, you can sure tell the business owners from the cubicle occupying employees on this article, can’t you? They seem to be angry all the time and jealous of their bosses who are doing better than them. Not one of them had the gumption to start their own business and all of them are just looking forward to their paycheck every two weeks with not much chance for advancement, so they just go off on anyone who has an agency and made a go of it in this country. What a sad existence it must be.
Based on your perpetually sour and argumentative attitude, Agent, my guess would be that owning your own business was your best alternative. I can’t see you playing well with others.
My guess is that you are a Millenial cubicle occupying Progressive entitlement guy. By the way, I have worked at the company level and agency level longer than you have been alive. I decided to take a chance on owning my own business and took on all the responsibilities it entailed.
By the way, my employees think I am a very good boss, my companies all think highly of me so your criticism has little merit.
my guess is that michael could send you a copy of his birth certificate showing he is 70 and you would not only not believe him, not admit you were wrong, but also find a new way to insult him
November 10, 2015 at 4:34 pm
Michael says:
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Wrong again, Agent. Actually, I would guess us to be within 5-10 years in age of each other. I have a lovely office rather than a cubical, am not a Progressive, and foremost, I’m not a guy. I just recognize argumentative and sour attitudes. Surprisingly, once again, you do not know it all.
November 10, 2015 at 1:43 pm
Agent says:
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lonestar, Following is a good one for you. I am sure all the Progressive haters will have a field day with it, but I couldn’t care less.
“It is a false philosophy to say that one man’s success comes about unavoidably as the result of another man’s victimization. What Obama offered was not a solution, but a separatism. He fomented division and strife, pitted one set of Americans against another for his own political benefit. That’s what Socialists offer. Marxist class warfare wrapped up with a bow. Two Americas, coming closer each day to proving the truth to Lincoln’s maxim that a house divided against itself cannot stand. Life is ten percent what happens to you and ninety percent how you respond to it”. Lou Holtz
and we should believe a basketball coach knows all about our political system because…..why now? that’s like dropping a quote from Rupert Murdoch about how easy it is to live below the poverty line.
Basketball coaches are all-knowing. Why would we consult anyone else? If a highly intelligent person such as a basketball coach said it, it must be true. Those who can, do; those who can’t, teach; and those who can’t teach, coach.
This has been going on a while. Non-organic (acquisition) type growth has been crazy wild while agencies that are not acquiring are feeling the effects of an economy that has never really recovered from recession, Obamacare and other regulations preventing businesses from forming or expanding, declining premiums and insurance company cuts in commission.
insecurity, you are right about the Obama economy hurting business all across the country. With an economy mired in 1-2% growth for 7 plus years, excessive taxation, regulation by EPA and other agencies, it is harder for many businesses to make a go of it. That affects our business as well since we are insuring these businesses. It will sure be nice when we get these Progressive Socialists out of office and a pro-growth Republican in office that can start the process of recovery. It will benefit all business.
Yeah, it’s been a disaster for business. After-tax corporate profits are only $1.7 trillion, up from $1.1 trillion in 2008. https://www.bea.gov/iTable/iTable.cfm?ReqID=9&step=1#reqid=9&step=3&isuri=1&903=251. They’ve added 13.5 million private sector jobs since February 2010. I’m not sure how much more of this pain they can stand.
Progressive government is serving business pretty well. There’s no reason to change it.
Just amazing at the excuses on why agencies are failing. Blaming your failure on Obama?! You are either servicing your clients to the point that they don’t want to leave and proving to your prospects why they should be with you or holding down a chair.
Spoken like a true California Liberal. Doesn’t your state have a few problems these days. Need I list some for you? By the way business has been leaving California for greener pastures for some time now. Why is that? Can you enlighten us on that subject?
every state has a few problems these days, and not every single one can be traced back to Obama and low-information voters no matter how many times you spew the same nonsense
I know, let’s have a Presidential lies contest and see who wins for telling the worst.
1. LBJ – “None of our boys will die on foreign soil”.
2. Nixon – “I am not a crook”.
3. GHW Bush – “Read my lips, no new taxes”
4. Clinton – I did not have sex with that woman, Ms. Lewinsky
5. Obama – “I will have the most transparent administration in history”.
6. Obama- The Stimulus will fund shovel ready jobs.
7. Obama – “I am focused like a laser on jobs”
8. Obama – “The IRS is not targeting anyone”.
9. Obama – “It was a spontaneous riot about a movie”.
10. Obama – “I will put an end to the type of politics that breeds division, conflict and cynicism”.
11. Obama – “You didn’t build that”.
12. Obama – “I will restore trust in Government”.
13. Obama – “The Cambridge Cops acted stupidly”.
14. Obama – “The public will have 5 days to look at every bill that lands on my desk”.
15. Obama – “It’s not my red line, it is the world’s red line.
16. Obama – “Whistle Blowers will be protected in my administration”.
17. Obama – “We got back every dime we used to rescue the banks and auto companies”.
18. Obama – “I am not spying on American Citizens”.
19. Obama – “Obamacare will be good for America”.
20. Obama – “You can keep your family doctor”.
21. Obama – “Premiums will be lowered by $2,500 for the average family”.
22. Obama – “If you like it, you can keep your current healthcare plan”.
23. Obama – “It is just like shopping on Amazon.com”.
24. Obama – “I knew nothing about Fast & Furious gunrunning to the Mexican drug cartels”.
25. Obama – “I knew nothing about what happened in Benghazi”.
26. Obama – “If elected, I will close Gauntanamo within 6 months into my term”.
27. Obama – “I will bridge the gap between black and white and between America and other countries”.
And the winner is:
28. Obama – “I, Barack Hussein Obama, pledge to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States of America”.
according to your post, Nixon and Bush only lied one time each. that’s FAR from being accurate and you know it.
November 11, 2015 at 11:10 am
Ron says:
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And yet, the country still stands and has prospered. Amazing.
November 10, 2015 at 11:13 am
Ron says:
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Spoken like a true Conservative. Deflect and blame, deflect and blame, defect and blame.
Some of the best quotes in a movie were from “The American President”. Of course, Republicans and Conservatives would disagree because it goes against their agenda.
“America isn’t easy. America is advanced citizenship. You’ve gotta want it bad, cause it’s gonna put up a fight. It’s gonna say ‘You want free speech? Let’s see you acknowledge a man whose words make your blood boil, and who’s standing center stage and advocating at the top of his lungs that which you would spend a lifetime opposing at the top of yours.’ You want to claim this land as the land of the free? Then the symbol of your country cannot just be a flag. The symbol also has to be one of its citizens exercising his right to burn that flag in protest. Now show me that, defend that, celebrate that in your classrooms. Then you can stand up and sing about the land of the free.” and
“We have serious problems to solve, and we need serious people to solve them. And whatever your particular problem is, I promise you Bob Rumson (the Republican candidate in the movie) is not the least bit interested in solving it. He is interested in two things, and two things only : Making you afraid of it, and telling you who’s to blame for it. That, ladies and gentlemen, is how you win elections. You gather a group of middle age, middle class, middle income voters who remember with longing an easier time, and you talk to them about family and American values and character and you wave an old photo of the president’s girlfriend and you scream about patriotism. You tell them she’s to blame for their lot in life. And you go on television and you call her a whore.”
Agent, I know you are no longer responding to me. But, even if you were, you would have no relevant response.
Why haven’t you left California, Dude? You live in a state with the highest taxation, one of the highest costs of living, ruled by Progressive liberals who want to do more of the same. How many cities out there have gone bankrupt to date due to their free spending ways and burden of public sector unions?
1) I suppose the high cost of living comes from being the 8th largest economy in the world.
2) Two cities have filed bankruptcy in CA. This equates to .42% of all incorporated cities in the state. San Bernardino and Stockton. Both of which were impacted by the housing boom and risky financial investments. San Bernardino also adds corruption from the old school good ol’ boy network that has dominated the power structure for years.
November 10, 2015 at 4:05 pm
Agent says:
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Cal, with Brown, Boxer, Feinstein and Pelosi as your Governor, Senators, Representatives, it is not hard to see why California is in such a mess with the high deficit spending. The last time I checked, the deficit exceeded $20 Billion. Where is that Balanced Budget Amendment for the state? By the way, Texas exports more goods than California & NY combined. You forgot to say the good ol’ boy network Progressive Liberals has dominated the power structure for years.
November 10, 2015 at 4:19 pm
CalDude says:
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The California that Brown inherited on his return to office appeared to be an insolvent, ungovernable mess. California’s finances have been out of wack since the late 1970s, when right-wing, anti-tax activists passed Prop 13, a constitutional cap on property taxes that also requires a two-thirds supermajority vote to raise any tax through the state legislature. Moreover, it was a Republican, Arnold Schwarzenegger, who hastened the recent fiscal calamity by slashing California’s vehicle license fee. Promising to cut the “car tax” keyed Schwarzenegger’s victory over the hapless Democrat Gray Davis in the recall election of 2003. But it also blew a $4 billion annual hole in the budget that Schwarzenegger simply papered over with bond debt.
When the Great Recession struck and the state’s credit rating collapsed, California was in a bind: Its budget shortfall was too massive to resolve with cuts alone. But the state’s intransigent minority of Republican lawmakers refused to raise revenues. Making matters worse, in the same 2010 election that returned Brown to office, Californians tied his hands by approving another hard-line anti-tax proposition that reclassified many state fees as “taxes” and even made closing tax loopholes subject to supermajority rules
Cal, the famous PGA Tour golfer Phil Mickelson, a life time Californian threatened to leave California a few years ago and even put his home in San Diego up for sale due to the oppressive taxation he faces every year on his income. Between the Federal, State, County, School, City, Property, Sales taxes, he is taxed at over 60% of his income. He is about to decide between Arizona, Texas or Florida to move to. Tiger Woods got out of there a long time ago and escaped to Florida so he could protect more of his income. A very wise decision, I might add.
My original response to your post was to adhere to the principal of self reliance and make your own success and own your failures. Having hired, trained and lead insurance agents for over 20 years, it is the only means by which you can economy proof your business.
Furthermore, once again you are evading your original premise. Your statement was that progressive liberals caused the financial woes of California and a deluge of bankrupt cities; both of which are unfounded.
To add to your assumptive is that I live in California and that I am a progressive liberal. Again, both are unfounded and simply a response using divisive rhetoric. Truth be told, I am a second generation Californian that no longer resides in that state as well as a multi-generational GOP member.
Again, own it or leave it. Your success is built on how you serve your clients and develop relationships. Period. There is no political agenda, nor should there be.
Good for you CalDude. You got out while the getting was good. As you admitted, California is an ungovernable mess and the people in charge there have no clue. They would rather save a Smelt Fish than provide water to farmers that need it to grow crops.
A soft market does impact organic growth with premiums falling, thus commissions falling as well. Profitability also suffers with ever increasing expenses due to salary growth of employees and every other expense keeps going up with operating system increases, internet, phone systems, rent. It all adds up and an agent has to keep growing to stay even with expenses.
Agent,
For someone who likes to brag about how wonderful it is to be an agency owner, you sure do complain a lot about being an agency owner.
Agent, and don’t forget, commission cuts do not help agency profitability either.
lonestar, you can sure tell the business owners from the cubicle occupying employees on this article, can’t you? They seem to be angry all the time and jealous of their bosses who are doing better than them. Not one of them had the gumption to start their own business and all of them are just looking forward to their paycheck every two weeks with not much chance for advancement, so they just go off on anyone who has an agency and made a go of it in this country. What a sad existence it must be.
Based on your perpetually sour and argumentative attitude, Agent, my guess would be that owning your own business was your best alternative. I can’t see you playing well with others.
My guess is that you are a Millenial cubicle occupying Progressive entitlement guy. By the way, I have worked at the company level and agency level longer than you have been alive. I decided to take a chance on owning my own business and took on all the responsibilities it entailed.
By the way, my employees think I am a very good boss, my companies all think highly of me so your criticism has little merit.
my guess is that michael could send you a copy of his birth certificate showing he is 70 and you would not only not believe him, not admit you were wrong, but also find a new way to insult him
Wrong again, Agent. Actually, I would guess us to be within 5-10 years in age of each other. I have a lovely office rather than a cubical, am not a Progressive, and foremost, I’m not a guy. I just recognize argumentative and sour attitudes. Surprisingly, once again, you do not know it all.
lonestar, Following is a good one for you. I am sure all the Progressive haters will have a field day with it, but I couldn’t care less.
“It is a false philosophy to say that one man’s success comes about unavoidably as the result of another man’s victimization. What Obama offered was not a solution, but a separatism. He fomented division and strife, pitted one set of Americans against another for his own political benefit. That’s what Socialists offer. Marxist class warfare wrapped up with a bow. Two Americas, coming closer each day to proving the truth to Lincoln’s maxim that a house divided against itself cannot stand. Life is ten percent what happens to you and ninety percent how you respond to it”. Lou Holtz
and we should believe a basketball coach knows all about our political system because…..why now? that’s like dropping a quote from Rupert Murdoch about how easy it is to live below the poverty line.
Basketball coaches are all-knowing. Why would we consult anyone else? If a highly intelligent person such as a basketball coach said it, it must be true. Those who can, do; those who can’t, teach; and those who can’t teach, coach.
This has been going on a while. Non-organic (acquisition) type growth has been crazy wild while agencies that are not acquiring are feeling the effects of an economy that has never really recovered from recession, Obamacare and other regulations preventing businesses from forming or expanding, declining premiums and insurance company cuts in commission.
insecurity, you are right about the Obama economy hurting business all across the country. With an economy mired in 1-2% growth for 7 plus years, excessive taxation, regulation by EPA and other agencies, it is harder for many businesses to make a go of it. That affects our business as well since we are insuring these businesses. It will sure be nice when we get these Progressive Socialists out of office and a pro-growth Republican in office that can start the process of recovery. It will benefit all business.
Yeah, it’s been a disaster for business. After-tax corporate profits are only $1.7 trillion, up from $1.1 trillion in 2008. https://www.bea.gov/iTable/iTable.cfm?ReqID=9&step=1#reqid=9&step=3&isuri=1&903=251. They’ve added 13.5 million private sector jobs since February 2010. I’m not sure how much more of this pain they can stand.
Progressive government is serving business pretty well. There’s no reason to change it.
Just amazing at the excuses on why agencies are failing. Blaming your failure on Obama?! You are either servicing your clients to the point that they don’t want to leave and proving to your prospects why they should be with you or holding down a chair.
C’mon man, suck it up and go write some business.
Spoken like a true California Liberal. Doesn’t your state have a few problems these days. Need I list some for you? By the way business has been leaving California for greener pastures for some time now. Why is that? Can you enlighten us on that subject?
every state has a few problems these days, and not every single one can be traced back to Obama and low-information voters no matter how many times you spew the same nonsense
I know, let’s have a Presidential lies contest and see who wins for telling the worst.
1. LBJ – “None of our boys will die on foreign soil”.
2. Nixon – “I am not a crook”.
3. GHW Bush – “Read my lips, no new taxes”
4. Clinton – I did not have sex with that woman, Ms. Lewinsky
5. Obama – “I will have the most transparent administration in history”.
6. Obama- The Stimulus will fund shovel ready jobs.
7. Obama – “I am focused like a laser on jobs”
8. Obama – “The IRS is not targeting anyone”.
9. Obama – “It was a spontaneous riot about a movie”.
10. Obama – “I will put an end to the type of politics that breeds division, conflict and cynicism”.
11. Obama – “You didn’t build that”.
12. Obama – “I will restore trust in Government”.
13. Obama – “The Cambridge Cops acted stupidly”.
14. Obama – “The public will have 5 days to look at every bill that lands on my desk”.
15. Obama – “It’s not my red line, it is the world’s red line.
16. Obama – “Whistle Blowers will be protected in my administration”.
17. Obama – “We got back every dime we used to rescue the banks and auto companies”.
18. Obama – “I am not spying on American Citizens”.
19. Obama – “Obamacare will be good for America”.
20. Obama – “You can keep your family doctor”.
21. Obama – “Premiums will be lowered by $2,500 for the average family”.
22. Obama – “If you like it, you can keep your current healthcare plan”.
23. Obama – “It is just like shopping on Amazon.com”.
24. Obama – “I knew nothing about Fast & Furious gunrunning to the Mexican drug cartels”.
25. Obama – “I knew nothing about what happened in Benghazi”.
26. Obama – “If elected, I will close Gauntanamo within 6 months into my term”.
27. Obama – “I will bridge the gap between black and white and between America and other countries”.
And the winner is:
28. Obama – “I, Barack Hussein Obama, pledge to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States of America”.
according to your post, Nixon and Bush only lied one time each. that’s FAR from being accurate and you know it.
And yet, the country still stands and has prospered. Amazing.
Spoken like a true Conservative. Deflect and blame, deflect and blame, defect and blame.
Some of the best quotes in a movie were from “The American President”. Of course, Republicans and Conservatives would disagree because it goes against their agenda.
“America isn’t easy. America is advanced citizenship. You’ve gotta want it bad, cause it’s gonna put up a fight. It’s gonna say ‘You want free speech? Let’s see you acknowledge a man whose words make your blood boil, and who’s standing center stage and advocating at the top of his lungs that which you would spend a lifetime opposing at the top of yours.’ You want to claim this land as the land of the free? Then the symbol of your country cannot just be a flag. The symbol also has to be one of its citizens exercising his right to burn that flag in protest. Now show me that, defend that, celebrate that in your classrooms. Then you can stand up and sing about the land of the free.” and
“We have serious problems to solve, and we need serious people to solve them. And whatever your particular problem is, I promise you Bob Rumson (the Republican candidate in the movie) is not the least bit interested in solving it. He is interested in two things, and two things only : Making you afraid of it, and telling you who’s to blame for it. That, ladies and gentlemen, is how you win elections. You gather a group of middle age, middle class, middle income voters who remember with longing an easier time, and you talk to them about family and American values and character and you wave an old photo of the president’s girlfriend and you scream about patriotism. You tell them she’s to blame for their lot in life. And you go on television and you call her a whore.”
Agent, I know you are no longer responding to me. But, even if you were, you would have no relevant response.
I was taught years ago by my grandfather that you make your own success and own your failures.
You vitriolic response is as expected and explains much. Own it or leave it dude.
Why haven’t you left California, Dude? You live in a state with the highest taxation, one of the highest costs of living, ruled by Progressive liberals who want to do more of the same. How many cities out there have gone bankrupt to date due to their free spending ways and burden of public sector unions?
1) I suppose the high cost of living comes from being the 8th largest economy in the world.
2) Two cities have filed bankruptcy in CA. This equates to .42% of all incorporated cities in the state. San Bernardino and Stockton. Both of which were impacted by the housing boom and risky financial investments. San Bernardino also adds corruption from the old school good ol’ boy network that has dominated the power structure for years.
Cal, with Brown, Boxer, Feinstein and Pelosi as your Governor, Senators, Representatives, it is not hard to see why California is in such a mess with the high deficit spending. The last time I checked, the deficit exceeded $20 Billion. Where is that Balanced Budget Amendment for the state? By the way, Texas exports more goods than California & NY combined. You forgot to say the good ol’ boy network Progressive Liberals has dominated the power structure for years.
The California that Brown inherited on his return to office appeared to be an insolvent, ungovernable mess. California’s finances have been out of wack since the late 1970s, when right-wing, anti-tax activists passed Prop 13, a constitutional cap on property taxes that also requires a two-thirds supermajority vote to raise any tax through the state legislature. Moreover, it was a Republican, Arnold Schwarzenegger, who hastened the recent fiscal calamity by slashing California’s vehicle license fee. Promising to cut the “car tax” keyed Schwarzenegger’s victory over the hapless Democrat Gray Davis in the recall election of 2003. But it also blew a $4 billion annual hole in the budget that Schwarzenegger simply papered over with bond debt.
When the Great Recession struck and the state’s credit rating collapsed, California was in a bind: Its budget shortfall was too massive to resolve with cuts alone. But the state’s intransigent minority of Republican lawmakers refused to raise revenues. Making matters worse, in the same 2010 election that returned Brown to office, Californians tied his hands by approving another hard-line anti-tax proposition that reclassified many state fees as “taxes” and even made closing tax loopholes subject to supermajority rules
Cal, the famous PGA Tour golfer Phil Mickelson, a life time Californian threatened to leave California a few years ago and even put his home in San Diego up for sale due to the oppressive taxation he faces every year on his income. Between the Federal, State, County, School, City, Property, Sales taxes, he is taxed at over 60% of his income. He is about to decide between Arizona, Texas or Florida to move to. Tiger Woods got out of there a long time ago and escaped to Florida so he could protect more of his income. A very wise decision, I might add.
My original response to your post was to adhere to the principal of self reliance and make your own success and own your failures. Having hired, trained and lead insurance agents for over 20 years, it is the only means by which you can economy proof your business.
Furthermore, once again you are evading your original premise. Your statement was that progressive liberals caused the financial woes of California and a deluge of bankrupt cities; both of which are unfounded.
To add to your assumptive is that I live in California and that I am a progressive liberal. Again, both are unfounded and simply a response using divisive rhetoric. Truth be told, I am a second generation Californian that no longer resides in that state as well as a multi-generational GOP member.
Again, own it or leave it. Your success is built on how you serve your clients and develop relationships. Period. There is no political agenda, nor should there be.
Good for you CalDude. You got out while the getting was good. As you admitted, California is an ungovernable mess and the people in charge there have no clue. They would rather save a Smelt Fish than provide water to farmers that need it to grow crops.