Forgotten Wealth

We've all done it at least once. Deep in thought you instinctively grab a calculator from your desk and hastily figure the value of your agency to see what you could get for it on the open market. Come on, be honest...you've done it. Hell I've done it weekly depending on how the month is going. There's nothing wrong with it either, eventually selling the business is a big part of why we all bought into this deal we call an EA Contract.

But I wonder how often we consider what happens to an agency over a long period of time. Too often we think with a "Here and Now" mentality. Let's face it, we're in America...the instant gratification country. However, if the agency were held for say a period of 19-years, and grew by an average of 5% per year, the numbers get pretty sizable toward the end of that period.

Now, if you never tried to grow your agency at all in that period, and merely factored in the rate increases over that time, you'd probably come close to growing by an average of 3%, assuming higher than average retention, but for illustration purposes and to keep the math simple, I'm sticking with a 5% average over a 19-year period.

For this example, let's assume we own a $500,000 book of business valued at $125,000 (0.25 x 500,000)in year one. That same busines will be worth $131,250 the next year, a difference of $6,250 or roughly $520 a month. Continue out to the 19th year, and your $125,000 investment will be worth $315,868. Not bad, not great, but not bad either. Add to it over 1.6M in 1099 income over that period and you've got nearly $2,000,000 gross, or a $105,000 annual average for 19-years on a $125,000 investment. Where else can you do that?

$500,000 Agency with 5% Growth Over 19-Years

Year Yearly
1 $525,000.00
2 $551,250.00
3 $578,812.50
4 $607,753.13
5 $638,140.78
6 $670,047.82
7 $703,550.21
8 $738,727.72
9 $775,664.11
10 $814,447.31
11 $855,169.68
12 $897,928.16
13 $942,824.57
14 $989,965.80
15 $1,039,464.09
16 $1,091,437.29
17 $1,146,009.16
18 $1,203,309.62
19 $1,263,475.10

The point here isn't how much it's worth, but that we tend to forget about the equity our agency builds on a monthly basis. This would come in really handy, say for determing a price when you do sell...(don't have a set price based on the date of the contract, consider the time it will take to get the deal closed. Three months later could be a few thousand in your pocket).

It's also reassuring to know that your agency is more than just a 1099 income stream, it's should be building revenue in the form of equity as long as you own it.

"Happyness"

One recurring attribute of people who have happiness (or inner peace and contentment) is the attribute of being grateful and appreciative for what is all around them. This is an attribute that all of us could well cultivate, for it changes how we feel. Our upsets tend to melt in the face of gratefulness. This is completely contrary to the current media emphasis on what is wrong. That emphasis is unhappy, so why would I want to limit myself to just the problems?

I just finished watching Will Smith's "The Pursuit of Happyness" and highly recommend everyone in sales watch this film. It humbled me. It reminded me what a privilege it is to be in the position I'm in at Allstate.

A lot of people would love to be in my shoes and have the things that I have. I have a great family, friends and I still have my health. I live in a great town, with excellent people and have a nice home.

But the thing that struck me the most about this film was the opportunity I have that most people do not have. I have the opportunity to make millions of dollars. Literally; millions of dollars. That's an opportunity most Americans don't have and may never have.

The scene in "Pursuit of Happyness" that kind of brought it all home, so to speak was Will Smith's (Chris Gardner) first day as an intern with Dean Witter...and he's narrating the scene by explaining what was set before him: OPPORTUNITY "Compete with twenty other guys for one position, over a six-month period by telemarketing financial prospects in San Francisco's financial district." It wasn't the daunting circumstances he was under that impressed me. It wasn't the fact that he did it alone, with no support from home. It was that he was doing it all for nothing...no pay. But he saw that, as an opportunity. Do we?

He had to generate $800,000 in commission during that six-months (for someone else) and do it all for FREE just to get his opportunity. I doubt anyone in Allstate would have taken a position with the company under those circumstances, but I bet there are still people in America today who would. It's all about perception.

Oh, by-the-way, he was homeless, sleeping in shelters at night with his son, and trying to make ends meet, all while trying to be the best of a class of twenty, just to get an opportunity to make some money at some future date. Unbelievable!

I have the opportunity he worked so hard to achieve and I've taken it for granted most of my 12-years as an agent.

Sure our job isn't easy, but nothing worth having really comes easy anyway...does it? It's not easy, but my friend, it's a lot easier than most jobs our grandparents did...and it pays very well when we do it well.

What more could you ask for in life? I suspect if I went to work one day, and my opportunity was taken away from me, I'd learn very fast to appreciate the days I worked at Allstate.

It's easy to assume the worst and quite the opposite to assume the best as we trudge through this world we all live in. I'm tired of being so critical and negative, so jaded and discontented. We have be given a lot of opportunity as agents in this profession...I'm going to start making the most of it.

New Claim Process Sucks

I was just on the phone for 25 minutes turning in a simple auto claim...anyone paid the extra $70 bucks for the warm transfer and had success with it?

This new system is crap IMHO...

Motivation

Alice came to the fork in the road.
"Which road do I take?" she asked.
"Where do you want to go?" responded the Cheshire cat.
"I don't know," Alice answered.
"Then," said the cat, "it doesn't matter."
- Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland


Whether you think you can or whether you think you can't, you're right.
- Henry Ford


We are not in a position in which we have nothing to work with. We already have capacities, talents, direction, missions, callings.
- Abraham Maslow


The only limits are, as always, those of vision.
- James Broughton


Obstacles are those frightful things you see when you take your eyes off your goals.
- Unknown



Even if you're on the right track, you'll get run over if you just sit there.
- Will Rogers



Aim at nothing and you will hit it every time.
- Unknown


First we form habits, then they form us.
- Rob Gilbert


We cannot control life's difficult moments but we can choose to make life less difficult. We cannot control the negative atmosphere of the world, but we can control the atmosphere of our minds. Too often we try to choose and control things we cannot. Too seldom we choose to control what we can -- our attitude.
- John Maxwell

Marketing Ideas for Allstate Blue

Anyone have an idea or two how to market for Allstate Blue Clients? I assume it's a high risk policy, with the ability to retain the clients better do to more enchanced pricing...

I used to run ads in the classified section that read: "Big Name Car Insurance For About $39.00 a Month" and it worked really well.

I hope we can write a ton of this, considering our less than 10% close ratio on Line 10.

Thought please...