Pros
Tremendous long term upside for those willing to work hard, network constantly and leverage your existing relationships within your local community. Ideal for someone who can spend 2-4 years building a business from scratch before being able to live off of the revenues - meaning someone who is just out of college or someone who has a working spouse. Total commissions will continue to grow as long as you continue to make the effort to grow your book. If you can survive those first few years, you can make upwards of $250k in 5 years, and it only grows from there. I know some old timers (60 and over) who now work only 3 days a week, continue to grow their books, and continue make more than $500k a year.
Cons
This is not like opening a hamburger restaurant franchise. Becoming a profitable Insurance Agency owner requires a very long lead time and lots of money to acquire new clients. You must be prepared to buy internet leads, buy local advertising and network with local small business owners, real estate agents, auto dealers, escrow agency owners, mortgage loan officers, and mortgage loan processors. Unless you buy an existing book of business, it may take 2-4 years to build a book (from scratch) that generates enough new business & renewal commissions to make ends meet. Before he launched his own agency, one of my most successful local competitors saved up $500k in order to be able run negative cash flows (of up to $20k/month) for his first two years, before his book of new & renewal commissions covered his operating costs. Product differentiation and price competition from other insurance companies gets more difficult every day. Closing rates of new prospects can be as low as 2-8%. If you cannot deal with lots of rejection this career is not for you. Fintech competition is poised to grab more and more of the insurance middle market. Long term success at this point in time will require the ability to build a high quality book to meet the needs of clients who have unusual needs. Multi-million-dollar-homes, small businesses, high umbrella liability coverage needs, multiple cars, multiple homes etc.