monroeins

Well, I am a middle man, so I am not the insurance company. I am just the access point to the insurance companies. Like most entrepreneurs I know, I sort of stumbled into it. I bought a house when I was young and had about $50,000 of equity in it. There was a very small insurance agency (about 400 clients) that went for sale around the corner for me. I took out a $30,000 loan, bought it a ran it for a couple years. I sold that company, and then started my current one.

In regard to being a drop out. Being young has been difficult. I have had to fight for legitimacy for a long time. My industry is dominated by old white guys, and it took a long time for insurance companies and clients to take me seriously. In the end though, money talks and people take me seriously now. :-)

One of the surprising things I have discovered is that most companies are not REALLY committed to be the best. The most important thing my company has done to be successful is that we have consistently sat down every two weeks and had a meeting with one topic- How can we be better? Very, very few companies actually do that, and I am convinced it is what has made us better. Small incremental steps of improvement that add up to a better run organization. That barely beats out the importance of hiring the right people. That is the second most important thing we have done.

We did $254,000 in 2010 and grew to $2,800,000 in 2013. That is commission revenue, so in actual sold insurance premiums we were at close to $10,000,000 in 2013.

This is a great question! My attorneys have been so valuable. The problem is that them and accountants are expensive. My advice is not go to a big firm. My attorneys really worked with me in the beginning and charged me very small amounts because I think they saw that I was going to grow and it would be worth it for them to invest in me. Sell to them. Tell them to hook you up now and when you get bigger you will stick with them. A lot will go for that.

I wish I would have had a better understanding of our accounting early on. It starts out that accounting is a hurdle. Something that you have to do for the IRS. The sooner you can use it as a tool to understand your business the better. Get a good, cheap book keeper to save money, and then use an accountant for big picture stuff.

Also, find a mentor. Most entrepreneurs don't mind giving advice to someone starting out. They can be more valuable than accountants and attorneys sometimes.

Maybe you are right. I read Jack Welch's book and he warns to stay away from it. The thing about a commodity business is that as soon as someone else can do it cheaper, everyone switches. It pushes margins really low. In a non-commodity industry, you have the ability to charge more by providing a better product or experience.