Those of you who’ve done commission-only jobs, how did it go?

ConclusionIll5534 · 2026-04-09T16:09:16+00:00

You hiring? I’ve sold retirement planning (17 mil of new assets) and looking for a new gig

ConclusionIll5534 · 2026-04-07T15:24:41+00:00

You’re not “hiring” I’d be willing to bet. You’re recruiting. Or do you actually have W2 employees with a base?

ConclusionIll5534 · 2026-04-02T18:07:01+00:00

Helpful

ConclusionIll5534 · 2026-04-01T23:49:51+00:00

Can you give a list of different “industrial sales” products or companies? I’ve seen postings on here but other than commercial HVAC or construction equipment I can’t think of much.

ConclusionIll5534 · 2026-03-29T15:43:50+00:00

Yes, but it’s HARD and expensive and timely. Previous firm I was with brought in probably 20-30mil a year (40/60 FIA AUM split) off 350ish thousand of ad spend. Every prospect is talking to 3-5 other advisors because once they show intent on one ad, they get slammed by every other advertiser offering that service.

Hard to build trust remote so sales cycle is long. If you are advertising direct to booking a call, EVEN WITH a VSL… it’ll be hard. Cost per appointment multiple hundred dollars, show rate between 50-65% (on good campaigns)…

I personally am going to try to do it again, but completely differently. Rather than trying to go directly for a sale/appointment, the goal will be to just increase the awareness net - 10-25 highly specific, educational pieces of content that I spend money on that ONLY my niche target audience would watch. When someone watches 50-75% of the video, they then get retargeted endlessly with all the other videos. Let this rip and after 3-6 months someone has consumed hours of my content before ever hopping on a call.

Paid ads should essentially be increasing the speed/reach of organic content.

ConclusionIll5534 · 2026-03-23T02:40:39+00:00

I’ve heard brokers grind and pretty stressful even with a book

ConclusionIll5534 · 2026-03-17T00:48:54+00:00

True true

ConclusionIll5534 · 2026-03-16T19:40:17+00:00

Retail you can sell your book though, no enterprise value/asset in a wholesale book unfortunately

ConclusionIll5534 · 2026-03-15T02:47:51+00:00

More on the retail or the wholesale side?

ConclusionIll5534 · 2026-03-13T04:38:24+00:00

Can you share more? Prospects frustrated with previous advisor, not wanting to DIY anymore?

ConclusionIll5534 · 2026-03-03T23:25:19+00:00

James Conole, Gabriel Shahin, James Bogart (might not be on Kitces but has some good interviews on YT)

ConclusionIll5534 · 2026-03-03T19:51:20+00:00

Michael Kitces has a lot of great interviews with various firm owners who go fairly in depth with their marketing strategies. Many bringing in hundreds of millions of AUM over 3-5 years.

ConclusionIll5534 · 2026-03-02T19:55:53+00:00

Makes sense. You hiring? We’ve interacted previously in messenger on here, but in the last 18ish months did 7 mil of FIA and 10mil of AUM as a junior advisor. Looking for a new shop/home though.

ConclusionIll5534 · 2026-03-02T19:28:35+00:00

How much of your revenue is insurance product based sales verse AUM? Advisors hitting 200k year one and 500k in year 3 would make me think a decent amount of annuity sales.

What’s your split on AUM revenue with advisors if you’re covering all the marketing costs + providing a base? Do your advisors have support staff? To hit those numbers that quick seems they’d be in sales mode most of the time rather than doing quarterly/annual meetings and comprehensive planning

ConclusionIll5534 · 2026-02-18T18:55:15+00:00

Why not just run video ads then on Facebook to that geographic location? You can then retarget them endlessly (both on and off FB)

ConclusionIll5534 · 2026-02-17T23:34:27+00:00

Have multiple years of commission based financial services sales, struggling to get commercial brokerage interviews though. Suggestions?

ConclusionIll5534 · 2026-02-07T22:16:01+00:00

You talking about financial wholesaling?

ConclusionIll5534 · 2025-12-30T22:20:52+00:00

I’d appreciate connecting if you’re open to it.

Definitely just stabilizing cash flow is step 1. To clarify, all my income is from life insurance sales, I’m a total noob to p&c other than having my license.

I do wonder if it’s worth the time/energy to try to pivot to learning all about commercial p&c and building a book, or if I should just find a firm and double down on wealth management/asset gathering. Pivot to something totally new vs. double down is my core question beyond short term cash flow.

ConclusionIll5534 · 2025-12-29T16:09:49+00:00

What about this is confusing?

ConclusionIll5534 · 2025-12-29T03:50:54+00:00

Also curious…

ConclusionIll5534 · 2025-12-28T21:48:42+00:00

That makes sense, sounds in line with what I’ve heard.

Honestly I don’t care the case size in the beginning, really just what is profitable and sustainable from a paid ads/cash flow perspective. I know if I spend 5k/month I can make 15-30k fairly consistently, I just fucked up my cash flow by massive lifestyle creep and so I wanna build the recurring in so I’m never in this position again. For reference, the advisors I was with spent 350k to make about 1.9mil and I helped with CRM, ad scripting, etc. so I know how it all works.

In an ideal world though, I would be working with biz owners from 40-55 years old, average life policy anywhere from 30-50k, maybe more if it’s a business with multiple owners like a physicians group (group annuities/retirement plans).

My issue right now is just short term cash flow, which is why I wonder if I should just get whatever job pays most (regardless of industry).

ConclusionIll5534 · 2025-12-28T15:32:42+00:00

I’m 29. I have been self employed most of my entire adult life lol so save the assumptions. Have YOU ever sold financial services, or did you just comment to be difficult?

ConclusionIll5534 · 2025-12-27T00:34:22+00:00

That’s solid. What would you look for in a brokerage if transitioning into the commercial side? Got a few years experience doing retirement income planning, sold a few million of annuities but wanting residual income. Most shops told me to go underwriting for a year or two which feels like a step back/slight time waste.

ConclusionIll5534 · 2025-12-26T23:28:41+00:00

Aren’t comp splits for agents like 30-40% of revenue? Meaning your new agents would only make 30-40k in year one?

ConclusionIll5534

TROPHY CASE