This article will cover some important advice for your online life insurance business that I had to learn for myself.
This is stuff nobody told me, but is crucial information for those looking to get into the game or are currently building their online life insurance business.
Tip #1: Once you have your bills covered, start investing your time (not your cash)
For me, I started selling aged life insurance leads that I purchased. After 18 months, my as-earned income was enough so I could cover all my expenses. Instead of selling full time, I learned to blog efficiently. I invested my time to teach myself how to generate my own leads. Now my blogs are growing basically on auto-pilot and bringing in some healthy commissions each and every month. Currently I’m focusing my time on other areas like strategic relationships and media buying.
Notice the trend? I’m investing my time to grow my business. I”m not buying more leads to make more money which is what I always thought I had to do. I’m investing my time to learn new skills and hone the marketing skills I already have.
Tip #2: The first 2 years will be tough – be prepared!
I’m not talking 2 years from the time you get your license or buy your first lead. I’m talking 2 years from the time you placed your first policy from an internet lead.
I’ll admit, during the 1st 2 years, I looked at other opportunities. I wasn’t totally sold on this business. I looked at my income making 3:1 – 5:1 ROI every single month and thinking to myself, this is going to take forever to get to the place I want to be. Especially since we’re advanced 75% so that 3:1 ROI suddenly looks a lot like a 2:1 ROI with an “I owe you” 10 months later. However when those months 10, 11 and 12 commissions start stacking on top of each other combined with your as-earned income, it gets a lot easier.
You have to plan to be broke for the first 2 years. By broke, I mean just able to pay your bills and re-invest in your business. The 95% that don’t make it in this business can’t stomach sacrificing 2 years to build a business.
For me, this business isn’t just any business, it’s a lifestyle business. One where you can work from wherever and whenever you want. That was the most appealing aspect to me and what got me through it.
Tip #3: You’re going to piss people off
I know I frustrate a lot of agents and consumers with my marketing.
I’ve had agents report me to life insurance companies legal departments for false advertising (which I wasn’t doing). I’ve had others pretend to be consumers to extract information from me and waste my time. I’ve had others bad mouth me on my advertisements and guest blog posts. The reason agents do this is because I’m actually “in the game”. I’m out there busting my butt and they’re on the sidelines in a sense “shouting” at me. I know I’m not the only one that can attest to this – every life insurance marketer I know has to deal with other agents. It really is unfortunate.
You’re also going to piss off a lot of consumers. If you’re marketing right, you’re going to get complaints. You can’t build a road without paving through a meadow. You can’t send a mass e-mail without getting a complaint. You can’t write a truthful high risk article without a consumer complaining how unfair it is. You can’t load your aged leads in a dialer and call 500+ people per day without someone threatening to report you for violation for DNC.
Get used to pissing people off.
Tip #4: If you do something more than once, automate it
I used to do EVERYTHING within my business. I didn’t want anyone to handle something that could reflect poorly on me. However, there’s only so much time in the day and I eventually learned to let go.
There is no time for repetitive tasks. You’re the brains behind your business and you shouldn’t be doing these types of things. Your time should be spent on higher level issues to build your business.
Take the time to create Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) for EVERYTHING you do in your business and then delegate it OR automate it with technology.
(with Data Raptor coming out, this will increase a lot of agents efficiency instantly)
I have a Virtual Assistant that works 40 hrs/week for me in the Philippines. I pay her $3/hr and she kills it for me. The reason I’m getting so much value from her is she follows my instructions to a “T”. Everything gets done the way I want it to because I wrote the manual. If she leaves me, it’s an easy replacement because everything is already outlined.
My SOP’s grow every week.
You ever want to sell your business? Better have SOP’s in place to keep it running (and a detailed database of clients/prospects). Investors buy well oiled businesses, not 2nd jobs.
Tip #5: Cash behaves like water when marketing online
It seeps out the cracks. Online life insurance marketing money doesn’t work like the money you pull out of your wallet.
It flows around from vendor, to services, to webmaster, to consulting, to technologies, in and out of Paypal – you name it. If you don’t plan for how much cash you want to have in your business at the end of the month (after paying yourself), chances are it seeps out the cracks.
I used to spray money all over the place because I couldn’t let an opportunity pass me by. I see a lot of newly successful agents do this as well. They start making a lot in commissions and start spending without knowing how much they’re actually spending.
As long as you’re aware of this trap, it shouldn’t be tough to avoid it.
Bottom Line
I could probably get to 20 tips off the top of my head, but I’ll save some others for another day. Hopefully a few of these hit home with you guys.
