To fee, or not to fee? That is an Easy Question!
Starting a one-match fire:
Thanks to my mom, I’m an Eagle Scout. Not everything I learned in the Scouting program has stuck with me over the years, but one skill I remember is how to build a one-match fire.
You probably haven’t thought of it this way, but building a successful agency is a lot like a building a one-match fire. In this case, the match is like your startup money.
Just as a Scout hopes the small flame from a match will grow into a roaring bonfire, you need to use any money you have on hand to build your agency into something that can provide income to you for many years. The last thing you want to see happen is your match to blow out or your kindling to smolder into ashes before your fire gets going.
Or, in the case of your agency, you don’t want to see your business go under before your marketing efforts kick in and give you results.
If you have some capital saved, and you want to use that money on marketing to grow your agency, Firefly might be a great help to you. Our model minimizes your startup and monthly costs, which let’s you use your resources to market yourself and have your best shot at building a “one-match agency.” This is important because if your fire goes out, you can reach for another match and additional fuel.
But if your agency doesn’t get off the ground fast enough, you many not get another chance.
Does Firefly charge fees?
To be clear, we do not have a monthly fee (which is charging money for carrier access, or “just because”)
We do have a modest up-front fee to cover the costs of getting you appointed super-fast.
Most aggregators and networks have a very large buy-in or franchise fee. (We’ve seen amounts from $12,000 to $120,000!) But fees like this can blow out your match right away! If you spend that much money getting set up, you have that much less money to use for marketing or sustaining your agency long enough to truly ignite.
We make our money through our commission split with you. This is why we encourage you to use your resources to grow, rather than giving it to us. The more policies you write and the more you grow, the more we both grow.
What costs will you incur with ANY model?
We’ve found that there are three things every agent must have to be successful, and we require our agents to have them. Without them your office cannot function. They include:
- Errors and Omissions insurance
- A comparative rater (we use EZLynx) and
- A management system (fore Firefly, also EZLynx)
Your cost depends on whether you have your own qualifying E&O coverage already, and how many staff you have (if any) in your agency. You can get exact numbers in our ebook, using this Grow Your Agency link or the button at the top-right of this page.
Other aggregators often charge you a monthly fee that does NOT include these tools. You need them even if you work with an aggregator, which makes your fixed monthly costs much higher than they need to be. (In our opinion!)
Because we make no money on monthly fees, we’re looking for agents who are poised to grow.
Of course, you will incur other costs as you manage your agency, which will depend on how you choose to operate. You can learn more about some of these in our fun blog article “What expenses will I incur when I start my agency?”
Here at Firefly, we know that keeping your start-up costs low gives you the best chance to succeed. Request our ebook if you want to learn more about starting your own one-match agency!