We live in the Hurricane State – Florida. Mind you all states on the East Coast and on the Gulf of Mexico could be called the Hurricane States. But it seems that a number of major insurance companies have decided they no longer want to write home owner insurance in the State of Florida – and have been canceling or not renewing policies left and right.
Dan was my insurance man for more than a decade. He was a sharp intelligent experienced insurance agent – that had a very large agency – and he tied his work life to one major company. By Large Agency – he had maybe 20 paid employees on his staff – between Insurance Agents – and clerical or processing staff.
Over the decades Dan had become one of the most successful independent agents with his firm. He had thousands of customers – and when you counted the condominiums his agency insurance – maybe that number jumped to well over 10,000 home owners.
In essence he built a large successful business. And then all of a sudden – boom – the insurance company he represented pulled the rug out from under him. They told his 10,000 policyholders – “so sorry we won’t renew you.”
For Dan the hand writing was on the wall – as more and more policyholders we not renewed – his base of home owners insurance collapsed in on him – and these same policy holders were going to take their auto insurance and other casualty insurance elsewhere.
What did he do? Simple. Dan retired. He sold his agency to someone else – and took his retirement from the company he represented – and guess what – he’s still in business under another corporate name – (maybe he doesn’t own the new corporation) – in the same location – with some of the same staff – writing insurance policies for and with other companies.
In essence – the insurance company he had put his faith in for decades – had gone stupid on him – by issuing the non-renewals. Dan squeezed his lemons – and got to drink his own lemonade.
In network marketing – all “independent distributors” are much like Dan. We are at the mercy of the company we work with “non going stupid on us.”
The problem is once a company does go stupid on us – they have the right to terminate our check if we cross recruit – or try bringing in our current customers into another program. For some companies – you can bring over people you personally recruited, and anyone who is not an active customer with the current company.
Other companies try out of desperation to not allow you to work any other program – in any way.
So what are your choices?
Realistically – if you are about to bolt from the current company you were building an income stream with – sell that income stream to a third party. Only then should you consider beginning to build with a separate entity.
What do we have to learn from the story of Dan The Man? Simply this – there are many industries in which “independent distributors” are at the mercy of a company potentially “going stupid on you” – and you have to be prepared to rebuild.
How do you prepare now? Maintain an up to date “A List” of all folks you work with – including their snail mail address – phone number – e-mail address – and fax phone number. Update that list every few months. E-mail that list just to keep in touch monthly – not tio recruit them into another program – but to keep the “relationship” going.
Another term for “network marketing” is “relationship marketing.” If you are gong to be successful in the networking industry – you are going to keep your “relationships” growing.
