“You may delay, but time will not.”
Benjamin Franklin
“Time you enjoy wasting is not wasted time.”
Marthe Troly-Curtin
The above quotes might seem contradictory, but both lead to the conclusion that as much of your time as possible should be spent as you wish, whether you use it productively or in ways that could appeal to only you. Either way, there’s a special message to entrepreneurs: You can — and should — seek better work-life balance with franchising.
Flexible business ownership is the key here, such as what you can find as the owner of a Freeway Insurance franchise.
The Reality of Work-Life Balance in Franchising
Small business work-life balance might seem as rare as a winning lottery ticket. But it’s possible if you own a family-friendly franchise that grants the gift of more time, among other valuable benefits.
The first element that makes this possible is that your day doesn’t have to start at nine in the morning and end at five. At least not every day. Unless you want it to. You can plan your schedules in ways that accommodate your own needs as well as those of your clients.
When you own an insurance franchise, the “shop” doesn’t open and close by stated hours on the sign on the door, like most retail businesses. Or if it does, there are other team members to welcome the walk-in trade while you honor pre-scheduled appointments.
The goal is flexibility even more than freedom. If you get one of those incredibly rare lottery tickets mentioned previously, you have true freedom. As a franchise business owner, you have responsibilities, but the power to be flexible in how and when you meet many of them.
Creating Your Ideal Schedule
So, how does this concept of flexibility work as an insurance agency owner? It’s all about franchising time management.
You’re the boss, but your clients are really in charge. You quickly pick up on their best hours of availability and adjust your schedule accordingly. That might mean you can get the kids ready for school and drive them there, make appointments and sales pitches during the day, be home for dinner, and meet with prospective policyholders after they get out of work in your early evening.
Or at least that might be how things work out most days. But you take the occasional three-day weekend just because. Or work one Saturday because you felt like taking a day or two off midweek.
That’s flexibility — and a degree of freedom. It doesn’t mean that you can sleep in late, leave early, and take long vacations whenever you wish. (Unless you own a passive income franchise, but more on that later.)
The key here is to set realistic expectations as a business owner and to enjoy the work-life balance with insurance franchising.
Leveraging Systems and Automation
The idea of achieving entrepreneurial work-life balance is not a new one. More people work from their homes (or the local coffeehouse) today than ever before. Remote work is not just a possibility but a no-brainer since the internet puts the workplace, your clients, and the world at your fingertips.
Do you have a smartphone, a laptop, and a kitchen table? Then add comprehensive training, ongoing support, and a menu of preferred insurance brands, and you have the basic tools of an insurance agency owner with one of the fastest-growing franchises for entrepreneurs. Over time, you’ll likely add employees and a common workplace, but that’s likely not your immediate need.
You can integrate customer relationship management (CRM) tools that streamline your business and make it run more efficiently, even when you’re not on deck. This can include automated marketing systems and artificial intelligence technologies, such as a chatbot interface on your computer to initially interact with prospects before you or other qualified humans take over.
Become an insurance agency owner through a franchisor that understands and has incorporated such technologies, and the time is yours to spend as you see fit. That’s what flexibility (and work-life balance) is all about.
Building a Business That Runs Without You
That should be the goal of all entrepreneurs who seek financial freedom with an ideal work-life balance. You have other places to be, other things to do. Get your business to the point where you have the flexibility to better control your time allocation.
On rare occasions, entrepreneurs own a passive income franchise. In such cases, they have deep pockets and can immediately hire all of the talent needed to run the business without them.
If your own pockets aren’t quite so deep (like most first-time business owners), you can still get there at a slower pace, over time. Here’s how.
Develop a Talented Team
Remember that starting point, where your business consisted of a phone, a laptop, and a kitchen table? While you might very successfully start your business this way, as its sole employee, you probably won’t stay in that status.
As you find clients and get larger and more frequent commissions, you wisely invest some of your earnings into hiring talent. At first, you might focus on recruiting the most affordable employees. But with patience, guidance, and the proper training, some of those “rookies” will become valuable.
And as your business continues to grow and prosper, you can afford to hire higher-priced talent into top management positions. The more that this happens, the less you’ll have to do. So concentrate on growing, educating, and leading that team.
Take Advantage of the Insurance Model to Develop Passive Income Streams
With some businesses, you sell a customer a grommet and maybe never see them again. One customer. One sale. Hopefully, someone else walks in the door soon. Maybe they buy two grommets.
The insurance industry isn’t like this. First of all, virtually everyone needs personal line coverage of some kind. Auto insurance is mandatory almost everywhere in the U.S. You can’t get a home loan without homeowners coverage. A growing number of property managers demand renters insurance before they’ll let applicants sign leases.
Furthermore, this coverage tends to grow and expand. If you sign someone to a policy for their first car, they’ll be back when they get that initial career job and can afford a pricier vehicle. At the same time, they let you sign them up for their first renters insurance policy. Then they buy their first home…
See how it works?
Now consider selling life insurance to someone in their 30s. Chances are good that they’ll still be paying premiums on this policy in their 50s, 60s, and well beyond. And you’ll be earning commissions on every premium. Even on days you take off. That’s called recurring revenue, and you’ll have entire passive streams of it when you own a successful insurance agency.
And don’t forget all of the previously mentioned technology that makes your business more sustainable even when you’re not around. You can work remotely at 2 a.m. if the weather’s bad, and then hang with the kids hours later when it turns into a snow day.
Family Life and Franchise Ownership
Do you have a spouse? Kids? Part of work-life balance is finding time away from the business to spend with loved ones. But another winning move might be to bring them into the business to some extent.
Can your spouse make sales calls or balance the books? Can they put in a few hours on occasion? Or are they coming in as full partners, rolling up their sleeves and doing as much as you do? Whatever the case, you have the flexibility of sharing both the workload and your home responsibilities in whatever arrangement works best for the family.
The family business is also an ideal place and opportunity to expose your children to your own work ethic and to let them help out in ways that are relevant to them. This process might start by letting them hang out at work with you on days when they’re not in school. Let them see what goes on, and explain to them what this thing called insurance is all about, in ways they can understand.
As they get older, the agency might be their first after-school job. In this way, you can spend more time with loved ones. It’s family time even when it’s work time. Who knows? Perhaps one of the kids — or a favorite niece, nephew, or sibling — will become motivated to play a bigger role in the family enterprise and perhaps even take it over when you’re ready to retire and gain real freedom.
Start Balancing Growth and Personal Life From Year One
The establishment of better work-life balance with franchising isn’t a “someday” concept. It’s a strategy you should be working on from the moment you launch your enterprise (and even before).
Begin by finding a franchisor who places as much emphasis on work-life balance as you do and has put together the tools and strategies to make it a reality. Adopt those digital technologies, and find ways large and small to get that balance right. Ask the franchisor for guidance.
In addition to accessing all of today’s digital tools, place the highest value on your policyholders. You’ll develop, over time, a loyal client base and passive income streams through recurring revenue.
When your clients start to seek you out for additional products, this is the definition of a truly sustainable insurance business model.
Wellness and Personal Development
How healthy is it to be chained to your desk from early morning to the evening hours, at least five days a week, and worrying about the business even during off-hours? That’s certainly not a goal of better work-life balance with franchising.
A much superior alternative is to incorporate time flexibility into your schedule so you can work out, eat better, spend family time, or simply take a long walk around the block and not think about work for half an hour.
The choice is yours when you develop your own franchise work hours by managing time to your advantage. Make it a priority to maintain your physical, emotional, and mental health even while you grow your business, build wealth, and look forward to a rewarding retirement.
You can do it all if you become a Freeway Insurance franchise. Begin your plans with a phone call to one of our franchise representatives at 1-877-822-3024 to discuss your options.
We’ll show you how top-tier training, ongoing support, and access to leading insurance brands and state-of-the-art technology add up to a highly rewarding career and ideal work-life balance. In addition, we’ll show you franchise-ready markets all across the country.
Call us today.
