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Late March 2005, I was approached by a Farmer's DM about the"Small Business Opportunity of a Lifetime." Like most of us, I was filled with promises of great sucess only to have my life turned completely upside down 1.5 years later. Although I was prepared for many long hours including cold calls, marketing, studying, soliciting, etc., I was not aware that Farmers required more money from me than my commissions could possibly cover. Farmers requires all agent to pay for schooling/licensing out of your own pocket. So, plan on spending about $1,000 of your own money before spending 1 day as an actual Farmers Agent. Next, plan on spending another $1,000 out of your own pocket to pay for FFS Licensing/Testing. You'll spend at least $2,000 in your first month, but I assure you that your commission that month will not be anything close to that amount. In fact, plan on at least the first 6 months of earning ONLY 12% of $100 renters/auto policies, once per year. If you've made it this far, congratulations, you've been snared in the Farmers Agent Trap!! At this point, you've spent too much $$ to quit, and Farmers knows this.
Also, plan on your DM telling you to just keep working and things will work out. The entire time he/she will give you examples of ONE agent who actually made it, but never tell you about the other 99 who don't. Just like the Agent progam itself, the training is very much "sink or swim." You'll learn most of what you need to know after making mistakes that will cost you money or the client all together. The point of this story is to be weary of something that sounds too good to be true and read the fine print. Before starting with Farmers, I was in pretty good financial condition. However, under my DM's "Guidance" I took out a couple of small business loans and opened business credit cards accounts. 2 years later, I am now $30,000 in debt. Part of this debt includes the subsidy that an agent has to pay back to Farmers. (This is part of the trap to keep you under their finger.) 15 of us became agents at the same time, all of us are now doing something else.
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