We recently connected with Steven LaBroi and have shared our conversation below.
Steven, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. We’d love to hear about the early days of establishing your own firm. What can you share?
Setting up the LaBroi insurance Group, was a process that started with just learning myself. I was involved with several partnership businesses where I invested in the company or was the chief sales person in some other companies to assist friends and associates in their visions. I decided that I needed to pursue my own dream. I first began by obtaining the proper licenses to be able to sell Insurance. This process takes time to study and take the appropriate test. Once that process was secured I began to talk to others in the business and various types of insurance practices – Franchises, independent, group marketing companies, and individuals selling insurance directly. I realized at my age and the personal needs of my family that becoming an independent agent and establishing an agency as my company structure was the best way to proceed. I have had years of business experience in marketing and sales and also have a strong network of people to speak to nationwide to support my efforts. I went to Secretary of State to begin setting up my Corporate structure LLC and calling upon the IRS to get my tax ID numbers, then going to the internet and getting my DOMAIN name for my websites. After obtaining my LLC and Tax ID number then I could set up my Bank account where funds would be deposited. At this point in the Insurance business as an independent agent/agency, you must find carriers/insurance companies to represent. I found that you have to go through wholesalers called independent Marketing Organizations (IMO’s) or Field Marketing Organizations (FMOs) companies that directly contract with insurance companies and will support me with training and resources I can take to the market. A MArketing strategy can be done by my company or services purchased by the IMO/FMOs you sign up to work through. An insurance agency is a sales business and you can recruit others to sell under you or go at it by yourself and build a team to support your efforts. I chose to build a Team or direct hires and vendor companies to help me establish an Online firm. We work nationwide through online services which are now more prevalent than ever since the Pandemic. Technology like ZOOM and Electronic applications with electronic delivery of insurance policies make this possible. Starting a firm is a matter of research and questions. Do you set up an office or work from home? this is also a matter of start-up funds vs expenses. A business plan or a balance sheet or a mentor who is already in the space is also a good place to get practical information.
Steven, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
I got into the insurance industry in a natural progression. My educational background is a degree in banking and finance from Morehouse College and worked my entire career in Sales, marketing, and entrepreneurship. I love sales and marketing because I realized it was the discipline that brought the money to the company from which the company operates and profits flow. The stockholders rely on the top line for the health of the company to create a healthy stock price for stockholders to win. I love the accountability of that responsibility. I got into the insurance industry by virtue of it being the two things I love sales and finance. I also studied from a curiosity standpoint questioning why other cultures have Life insurance and my culture looks at it so different or if we have it just for burial/funerals. When as I discovered it has more powerful uses. As I did my research (world wide web) I discovered that the insurance business a 150-plus-year-old industry has been set up to create a true estate plan and real generation wealth transfer via its tax benefits and guarantee of the contract aka policy. It is just knowing how to write it and what to ask for when making the purchase. I continued to study and found ways to customize and create benefit where I as the agent and my client wins for themselves and their families. This is important since a policy is set up to pay for over a long period of time. It must be right especially since it is approved based on age and health. Also, interesting enough I share/teach that there were over 60 black-owned insurance companies until integration after segregation was disbanded by law those companies began to close due to less business by the people who supported them to start. This revelation to me led to me writing a book to disclose these details called “Build Your Human Equity Line of credit, The Secrets to Creating a Lifetime of Assets in any Economy” It opens the eyes of people who did not know these possibilities existed.
We solved a problem for most of our clients to insert and close the gap of having Life/Wealth building insurance products that can actually be used while you are living and also passing along to the next generation to support generational wealth and estate transfer of wealth. These products truly help with the issue of risk management in our lives. Everyone lives with risk which is why they force you to buy Homeowners and Auto insurance which protect the asset (home and automobile) when there is a loan on each. Life insurance is NOT mandatory, but you are the asset that needs protecting and if you know how to use it while you are living you can leverage it as collateral, which is what we teach.
When clients and their families know these facts they create more efficient financial foundations in their portfolios. The real Generational Wealth discussion is not products and assets it is EDUCATION. We share lifetime strategies that can be put in place to ensure 3 to 4 generations are secure through assets, estate plans, wills, and trust. Manage in your favor against the factors you cannot change – politics, taxes, economies, emergencies, tragedies, etc. Most are not predictable but all historically understood can affect our lives.
Insurance industry is over 150 years old in the United States and a major gap in true understanding of my culture overall. Do not ever buy product, by strategy.
What do you think helped you build your reputation within your market?
My reputation in this business is built on education and teaching a method of buying Life insurance through the MACRO approach, looking at your overall money management process – Debt, Spending, retirement, assets accumulated, and income. This will allow us to manage things in a way to find – Surplus Dollars or Free cash flow to purchase another asset in Life insurance products. Life Insurance is under tax code 7702, which makes it an asset depending on the product and how it is designed. Most agents sell products that the client never knows how to implement in their lives, it is paid year after year and when they look at it it can not be used the way they need it to be used or money gets tight and it gets dropped. incorporation of this guaranteed contract is important to understand for YOU and your family specifically. This is why strategy is more important than the product. We help you place these tools in the right place in your portfolio and then show you how to apply them to your life.
Can you open up about how you funded your business?
Hard lessons on funding your company through revenues (money your earn from sales) or building business credit to have access to other people’s money (OPM). When you use revenues to build business funding you are relying on clients to always buy from you regularly to reinvest profits back into your business and possibly not able to pay yourself while you are building. Most companies start this way. However, if you set things in place to build business credit by finding alternative funding sources setting you up with credit cards, lines of credit, asset funding, etc. It can be started simply by using your personal credit to leverage some credit cards on your business and then setting up trade lines or Net accounts with services you need to buy anyway. Office supply companies, fuel, and almost all companies authorize credit and as you pay them back you get a score called a paydex score just like your credit score for consumers, but this score will tell banks and creditors if your business is creditworthy for Bank lines of credit, vehicles, and funding business expansion, etc. Building business credit allows you to operate your business as an independent funding operation separating your personal liability from your business. You must separate your personal from your business.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://labroisurancegroup.com
- Instagram: @labroiinsurancegroup
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/slabroi
- Linkedin: Steven LaBroi
- Twitter: @labroiinsurance
- Youtube: labroi insurance Strategy Expert
- Other: https://stevenlabroi.com
Image Credits
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