The next day however, I ended up getting an interview with another local insurance agency to got to work for them. Now this was a much smaller, family run agency, with an owner who had been thinking about how he could retire sometime soon. Turned out, I was exactly what they had been looking for. My wife and I met with the owner and his wife, heard what they had to say, listened to the story of the agency, negotiated a couple things, and I started working with them the next day.
The new agency was a much better fit for me. There was a relaxed, family atmosphere, and the owner of the agency was more willing to help me learn the ropes. We had an initial two or three year plan for me to learn the business, for him to then retire, and for me to take over as owner. But sometimes our plans can be disrupted.
To make a long story short, the owner was diagnosed with very serious health issues shortly after I started. And so, we worked together to develop a plan for the next several months to keep the agency going while he received treatments. During this time, I found myself all alone most days, meeting customers and learning what I could about the business in what I would call an intense, concentrated manner. When the owner returned to the office months later, after successfully fighting his health battle, we accelerated the ownership transition period to about a month.
And now, after many long hours, several sleepless nights, and a short journey into a new industry, I am the owner of my very own insurance agency.
