I’ll spill the beans up front: In my opinion, the best work from home job for high school graduates or people with just some college is to be an insurance agent.
Here’s why:
First, let’s take a look at what’s important for talented people in a work from home job:
1. Good pay (for people who work!)
2. Unlimited income potential.
3. Flexibility
4. Job Security.
5. Business/entrepreneurship factor.
Now, let’s look at how things stack up for car insurance sales professionals:
1. Good pay.
Sales is and always will be the highest-paying profession in the world. There’s nothing so good it doesn’t have to be sold. Good sales people are professional problem solvers. And solving problems will never go out of fashion.
Top sales producers are routinely the highest-paid people in any business organization – often making more than the CEO himself. And good CEOs want it that way.
Now, in the car insurance industry, it usually takes a long time to get there. But no one will be holding you back: Ultimately, you’ll get paid based on what you bring to the company.
If you’re skilled on the phone, if you understand how to qualify and close a new customer and renew and upsell your existing ones, if you can master the modern tech tools that help today’s agents process contacts and leads and reach people, you can do very well in the car insurance field.
Today, brand-new car insurance agents typically make between $15 and $22 per hour to start, while in training, as a base wage. But the real earning power is in commissions and bonuses, which are based on the amount of car insurance premium you can bring in the door every month.
2. Unlimited Income Potential.
This is where things get really interesting: Insurance is a recurring purchase – like subscriptions. Policies renew every six months to a year. Which means you, as an insurance agent, get the potential for residuals. That is, you get paid again on insurance policies you sold a year ago.
This is your incentive to take great care of your customers. Stay in touch, and try to build some loyalty. Make the customer think of you as “my insurance agent.”
You won’t get all of them to renew every year. A few of them die, stop driving due to age or disability, or they go off responding to an internet ad to get a cheaper rate. But if you’re good, and you take care of the customer, and you educate your customers about value rather than just price, and about the importance of protection rather than just the cheapest premium, most of them will renew.
And you get paid again.
On top of the commissions you earn from new sales.
Rince and repeat.
Those residuals mean your income naturally increases every year.
And you’ll be better at sales. So you’ll close a higher percentage of calls next year, too. And that pays dividends in future years as you get better and better and handling objections and closing new business.
You’ll also be better at selling value, not just low premiums. So you’ll be earning a better commission for each new customer. Because the protection is worth it!
And you’ll earn residuals on those policies as well.
And as you gain more loyal clients – ones who recognize that value is more important than price.
They’ll buy better cars. They’ll finance cars, and they’ll need to buy more insurance, like comprehensive coverage.
A few will have accidents, or get a DUI. Or two. They’ll need insurance, too. And they’ll have to pay higher premiums. And that boosts your income, too – even though we don’t want those to happen.
Your loyal customers will bring business your way, too, through referrals. Earn their business and loyalty by being a great agent. And then just ask. Good things happen when you’re on the phone!
Can you see the snowball effect I’m getting at here?
That’s how you slowly but surely build what we call in the insurance industry “a book of business.”
And that’s worth something.
Successful career agents retire on that stuff.
Not bad for a work from home job.
And you don’t need a college diploma.
All you need is good character, some basic intelligence, and the willingness to get on the phone with people, or get with them face-to-face and talk with them about their money. Show them protection has value. Show them what your insurance protects. And then ask for the sale!
“So, can I sign you up?”
With me, it’s usually car insurance. But it’s the same thing with just about any other line of insurance as well.
Where’s the income limit? There is none!
Your residuals build and build each year. You can earn a great living. A few years of hard work, and you’ll be out-earning most of your college-degreed friends.
It happens.
3. Flexibility.
After you’ve established yourself in sales… of any kind, really, there’s no profession that will give you more flexibility to live your life how you want.
Want to work from home? Awesome. Lots of people do in this business. I launched SelectSR22Insurance.com from my basement myself.
Want to take a week off to spend time with the kids? No problem. I work harder than anybody, but I might see you and your kids playing with my kids at the soccer field. (I might be making some business calls on my cell phone from my lawn chair, but I’ll be there!)
Have a family crisis and you need to take some time off to deal with things? No worries. The leads will be there. And if you’ve been at it a few years, you’ll have residual income coming in. So you can still pay the bills and keep the lights on.
I’ll be honest: You’ll need to bust your tail for a good while to make it happen. You’ll need to work a lot of hours. You’ll need to make some investments into your business. You’ll need to make some sacrifices. But if you can do those things, the flexibility is there when you need it.
And all from a work from home job.
4. Security.
Lots of people make the mistake of confusing having a job with security. But that’s not true by a long shot.
Look at all the silent factories in the Rust Belt. Every one of them laid off thousands of workers, and devastated thousands of families.
These were all good, hardworking people. They didn’t deserve to get laid off. It happened through no fault of their own.
Same thing with coal miners. And thousands who worked for the Dot Com companies in Silicon Valley in 1999.
And the people who worked in the restaurants and the retail stores and the service businesses that supported all these people and their families. They got laid off, too.
And unlike insurance agents, most of them didn’t have residual income to take up the slack. Maybe they had six months of crappy state unemployment insurance that paid a fraction of what they were earning before.
Know what all those people didn’t do?
They didn’t stop driving!
Meanwhile, you know who will always be able to find work? Who will always be in demand?
People who know how to sell!
People who can reach out and find people who need a problem solved, and who can match those people with a solution.
People who can show people that value is more important than price.
People who can help others take action solve their problems, and benefit from the value that they provide.
People who are willing to talk to strangers, get a hundred “no’s” without losing heart, and get to a lucrative YES.
People like insurance agents!
Folks, once you have some sales skills in place, and you know the fundamentals of prospecting, selling value, and closing, you never have to worry about losing your job. You don’t need to be unemployed for more than a long weekend. If that.
If you’re a good salesperson, people in all kinds of businesses will be clamoring to hire you.
No matter what the economy does.
And no matter if you have a college degree or not.
5. Business/Entrepreneurship Potential.
A work from home job is nice. But there’s opportunity and potential for much, much more!
Want to build a business of your own? Create something with lasting value that you can pass on to your children?
Create an asset where you magnify the income from your efforts through leveraging the efforts of other people?
Want to be a source of employment and prosperity for five, ten, fifty, a hundred, or a thousand families in your community?
A career in insurance provides the potential to do precisely that.
In fact, depending on your goals, talent, and willingness to work hard, I’ll give you the tools to do all of that as soon as you’re ready.
All with no college degree.
6. The Best Work From Home Job for People With No College
Folks, there’s no doubt in my mind: The very best work-from home job for people with no college is sales – and insurance sales in particular. Why insurance?
Because it’s affordable. That means you can sell to anyone. You don’t need to pester your rich uncle and his friends. You don’t need to have a Rolodex of wealthy friends and family to make it through your first year.
This is why so many middle class and working class young people try and fail as financial advisors: They don’t know anybody with a million dollars in investable assets willing to take their call.
But I bet you know a lot of people who own cars!!!!
AMIRITE?!?!?
I sure do. And I’ve got leads coming in every day. I need good people to follow up on them, and make them clients.
With or without a college degree. With or without money in your family.
If you’re already an experienced car insurance professional, I definitely need you. I’ve got leads galore that need to be closed. Many of them higher-premium SR22 leads that pay above average commissions, and who need experienced, knowledgeable professionals to give them the best possible advice.
If you’ve got a current property and casualty license, and you’re looking for a broker that has free leads ready for you to work, I need you to send your resume to [email protected].
I also need some good people to start their own businesses, replicating what I do.
Best of luck in all your endeavors, and I’ll see you on the road!
Steve “Mr. Insurance” Ludwig
CEO, Select Insurance Group
For Further Reading
Select Insurance Group Franchise Opportunity Brochure
