Ten Years of Building Something Different

The best business decision I ever made looked completely irrational at the time. 

Ten years ago, I filed the LLC papers for Foresight Insurance. But the real business didn't start until July 2016 when I secured my appointment with ERIE Insurance and decided to build a scratch agency from absolutely nothing. 

That decision to start with ERIE, with zero existing clients, was probably the best business decision I've ever made. But none of that mattered without the willingness to bet on myself when logic said I shouldn't. 

Take the Chance on You 

Starting my own insurance agency has been the hardest thing I've ever done professionally. For years, I was severely underpaid compared to what I could have made working for someone else. There were months when staying in corporate America would have been the "smart" choice. 

But here's what I couldn't see then: the biggest advantage of owning your agency isn't just the money, it's owning your time and your freedom. 

You get to choose what to do, when to do it, without asking for permission. When something isn't working, you can change it immediately. In corporate America, changing anything requires navigating bureaucracy and convincing people who don't own the consequences. 

That freedom alone has been worth every difficult early year. 

Insurance Is a Hidden Gem 

There are few businesses that provide what owning an agency does: 

Work-life balance on your terms. Monday through Friday if you want weekends off. Or work weekends if you prefer. Your choice. 

Two income streams. Cash flow from running the business, plus you're building an asset you can sell. Most businesses can't be sold because they don't generate recurring revenue like insurance does. 

Steady, compound growth. Real estate and mortgage might bring higher returns per transaction, but insurance offers consistent growth that compounds exponentially if you focus on relationships over transactions. 

But here's what most agents miss: insurance isn't about selling policies, it's about education. Every difficult conversation becomes an opportunity to teach clients something they didn't know about their coverage. That educational approach is what turns transactions into relationships, and relationships into recurring revenue. 

From Technician to Entrepreneur 

The biggest shift I had to make was moving from "What work needs to be done today?" to "How must the business work so it produces results without me?" 

Here's the proof systems work: Since May 2024, my entire team has been on a four-day workweek. We're completing the same volume of work, same tasks, same sales numbers, in four days that we used to do in five. That only happens when you build systems that work without you being the bottleneck. 

Why This Matters Beyond Insurance 

Whether you're building any service business, the principles are the same: 

Freedom comes from systems, not just revenue. Revenue without systems just buys you a more expensive job. 

Recurring revenue changes everything. Design your business around relationships that generate ongoing value. 

Education beats persuasion. When clients understand what they're buying and why, they become advocates instead of transactions. 

Bet on yourself before the math makes sense. The best business decisions often look irrational from the outside. 

To Everyone Building Something 

The hardest part isn't figuring out what to do. It's having the courage to do it, especially when logic says you shouldn't. 

What I've learned is this: the math always catches up when you bet on systems over shortcuts. 

Take the chance on you. 

–Michael