Pros
Benefits are pretty good for the agent. Training for staff is good. Up front commission for life products is good. The chat feature is helpful for immediate answers to questions. Systems are streamlined and customers like the ability to know what their billing impact is immediately, so that's good. The district office is helpful. The company is family oriented. The goals as a new agent are manageable.
Cons
No benefits are paid for for your family, they are full retail price. The comissions have decreased, and the bonuses have increased, but almost impossible to achieve without spending tons of money acquiring new policies. Running an office is expensive and the bring home pay for the agent stinks royally. You will work full time, get into debt, go through at least ten people that are lazy, and end up doing all the work yourself, and bring home less than 20k, and that's after the second year. News flash! People cancel when their rates increase by 20 and 30%! Farmers blames their agents for not explaining it enough, or being nice enough. Bull crap!!! I'm spinning my wheels and still bring home around 30k after all the marketing costs, office costs, and oh! They dock your paycheck about $1000 a month for all that junk, and your office expenses are in top of that. That doesn't even include medical. Agency ownership is for people who already have money, and don't want to actively work their agency, but hire someone to work it for them, while they play golf.