One Year of Experience 25 Times

Time does not equal experience.?Experience comes from lessons learned from life (and in our discussion - business).?If you learn your first lessons, but do not push yourself to the next level of professionalism, expertise, and knowledge, you will stay a first year agent. ?

I have met business owners who have been in the business for 25 years.?They think they have 25 years of experience, while in truth, they have one year of experience 25 times.?

They have never grown past their first year.?They make the same presentations they made 25 years ago, they meet the same quality people they met 25 years ago, and they are expending the same effort they expended 25 years ago.?In essence, they have not grown.

Most students go from the ABC’s to “see, spot, run” to War and Peace.?Imagine a graduate student learning his ABC’s again for the 25th year in a row!?It’s ridiculous!?Yet there are thousands of business people, sales people and managers all around the country that treat their practices in exactly the same way.

The first three years in the business are the hardest.?At that point, you start to build on the foundation of the first three years.?If you are not building you are in a transactional business.?You will be stuck in the first year forever, always running hard to make a good year.?Think Groundhog Day.

There is an important truth to remember here.?You deserve to make money based on the value you to bring to other people.?Hopefully you bring awesome value so you will deserve to make awesome amounts of money.?

This concept has been lost from most of society today and is the reason that get rich quick schemes never work.?The schemes focus on getting rich.?You can’t get rich until you give rich.?Think value!!?The business owner who does not raise his value can’t raise his income.?Remember, there are only three ways to grow a business - more clients, clients with bigger purchases, or clients who buy more frequently.

If you are not growing your business by working with clients who buy bigger products and services, then the only real way for you to grow is by having more clients. ?

Let’s take an example.?You are in your first year as an insurance agent and your average commission is $500 per sale.?If you make 100 sales, you’ll earn $50,000 first year commission besides any new agent bonuses.?100 sales a year is a high case writer in any agency.

If, over the next five years you constantly upgrade your skills, abilities, and client base, and you now earn an average of $2,000 per new client, you can double your income for half the amount of new clients - not including renewals and any other bonuses the company offers.?You can earn double the income for half the effort because you have made yourself more valuable to your clients.?Your clients are happy and want to see you successful because you have added more value to their life.

Now, think about the guy who has not built upon his initial foundation.?He is still at $500 per average case.?To double his income, he will need to double his effort and make 200 sales per year.?That’s a lot of hustling. ?

Let’s look in the future another 5 years.?You continue to grow your practice and your service.?You have continually educated yourself in the business.?You are a professional and recognized by many for your knowledge and expertise. ?You now earn an average of $5,000 FYC per case.?If you do the same fifty cases per year, you will earn $250,000 not including bonuses, overrides and renewals.?You are putting in half the effort you did in your first year and earning five times the first year commission.?Business flows naturally and you enjoy working with high caliber clients.?You are admired by other professionals for your knowledge and the value you bring to the table.

Let’s see what is doing with Mr. “I know everything I need to know. I don’t have to grow.”?He is in his 10th year of the business.?Let’s give him a little growth also.?Let’s say his average case now pays $600 first year commission per case.?To equal $250,000 FYC he would have to close 416 cases.?That’s closing eight cases per week.?He has a huge load that requires a lot of running around.

Creating a plan to become a professional as part of your personal development is a smart business decision.?If you are not increasing your knowledge, you are not becoming more valuable.?If you are not creating more value for the client, you don’t deserve to make more money.

You have untold opportunity in business.?However, the opportunity is there for those that are willing to take the initiative.?If is for the business people who are fully engaged and playing their game to win.?Commit to building each and every year.?The first year is too difficult to keep repeating it year after year.?Make sure when you hit 25 years as a business person you’re not looking back regretfully wondering if you really only have one year of experience 25 times.