Independent, Not Alone.

Really two words come to mind and that is life giving. In this crazy market that we’re in I honestly don’t know where I would turn, who I would call, who I could seek out for advice. It’s not like I can call the agency down the street and ask them, I don’t think that would go very well. But the group really does create an atmosphere and environment for sharing of information, sharing of ideas. It really does feel like a family. I am able to pick up the phone, send a text or an email knowing that the other agent is going through the same thing I’m going through , may see a light at the end of the tunnel, may be able to get some advice, some perspective that I haven thought of yet. A lot of the agents have been doing this a lot longer than I have so they have been through other markets, they have been through the ups and downs more so than I have and be able to seek out that wisdom and being able for them to share it with me and vise versa being able to share it back it really is life giving.

It means a lot of things, it means someone has your back, someone is there managing relationships in the background which if you have some kind of issue and you need to draw upon them Erin can say yeah here’s this carrier, here’s the person you need to call to handle this issue. It means insulation from market pressures so when they’re dropping commissions and terminating agents, we are often shielded from that or the last ones to kind of be on that list and that’s something that I wouldn’t have gotten otherwise. It means being part of a network of other agents that you can talk to and share your challenges with, and you can benefit from their experience. For me it means fast forwarding my agency probably three to five years from where I would have started had I not started as a SIG agent and the effect of that is huge.

Compared to other groups and models out there that seem to take a lot away from the agent, and almost limit their opportunity as you looked long term, well what I found was the precise opposite with SIG that their focus was on the agent. It’s an agent center model but yet you’re part of a larger group of like-minded entrepreneurs and individuals. Our carriers know us, and they respect us. They want to align with us because of the type of business we are writing but more the type of agencies and agents we attract There is a lot of opportunities out there and they are vastly different than what SIG is offering and I’ve seen too many individuals take a short-term approach that may be easier, it may more financially lucrative in the short term but without taking that long-term approach or missing what I believe is a tremendous opportunity to really build your own agency as an entrepreneur how you wish to build it with the freedom and flexibility that SIG gives you.

It’s like you’re operating on your own every day but then at the same time you feel like you have ten or twelve allies behind you that you feel like you’re marching with.  The best part about the group is that you have the independence to run your business, so I don’t hear from the group every day but then if I need them, they are there, and I can reach out to them at any moment.