Predicting a partnership breakup is pretty easy to do. Look at a partnership and identify whether one person is disproportionately responsible for the work/success and/or compensation is disproportionate to value. If balance does not exist in both areas, a significant partnership dispute is just a matter of time. The only questions are when and how volatile. I believe just about every set of partners I have ever met that have been in this situation but were not ready to have

If you are taking over leadership in an agency or brokerage, it is important to know and not be afraid of taking the following necessary steps: Be Strong. One of the biggest mistakes I see is a new leader easing slowly into a command-and-control desk. Flipping a switch and being a bull in a China shop upon assuming the throne is not the solution (unless the agency is truly broken) either. But many successors think they have years to gradually make improvements. You don’t have

Over the last four weeks, I've had a series of interesting experiences involving larger and otherwise more sophisticated agency leaders failing. The common denominator was their Do-It-Yourself (DIY) approach. Failure is expensive in both money and time. These DIY leaders spent between $100,000 and $500,000, all in, for their failures and wasted a minimum of one year's hard work -- others' mistakes consumed more than a year. On the other hand, the clients I have assisted did n

This is not an estate financial planning advice article. This is a practical advice article about the small stuff that eats up time. Every family's situation is different and therefore, every estate and family's reactions to dealing with the estate is different. Some estates have administrators that do most of the work. Some estates are probated which may make life easier, or harder. What follows are just some ideas that may make your heirs' lives easier, meaning taking less

Trait 1: Much has been made of business owners, excluding those in the tech world, being in the age range of 55-60 years. Usually, when this is the subject of an article, the author pontificates about how dire the future is because owners, in whatever industry, will all be soon selling out. This is poppycock! The average age of business owners and farmers has been the same for at least the last 30 years. The sky hasn’t fallen yet because of this, and it won’t fall tomorrow be

I have unfortunately worked with the families, estates and partners of several agency owners who have passed away. Most, but not all, of the deaths occurred unexpectedly. In all cases, the person who passed left their families, estates and partners with far more problems than necessary. So my question to you is this, if you passed away tomorrow, would you leave the people around you with unnecessary problems? Agency Value One of the absolute worst situations I absolutely drea

I overheard a mother angrily arguing with her daughter at the airport a few weeks ago. When I turned to see what was going on, I expected to see a middle-aged mother with her 20 year-old daughter. I was very surprised to see the mother was at least eighty and the daughter at least sixty! I guess it is true that you never stop being a parent, no matter how old you or your children are. Parents are always parents and most parents never stop worrying about their children. Such w

Unjust rewards are the top issue of contention in the partnership disputes I've witnessed. In most situations, at least one partner believes his efforts are not being duly recognized (financially or otherwise) and/or the other partner is being grossly overcompensated for sub-par results. Either way, the build-up of resentment and frustration can crumble an agency. When partners find themselves in such a situation, the first step toward resolving the problem and saving the age

“Don’t Have Partners.” --Mark McCormack, What They Don’t Teach You At Harvard Business School “Partnerships often finish in quarrels.” --Benjamin Franklin, The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin Many words of wisdom suggest avoiding partnerships. However, if a partnership is inevitable, forethought and precaution can help make it an amicable and profitable relationship. Benjamin Franklin continued to write in his autobiography, "I was happy in this, that mine [partnership

Much has been written about how 2nd and 3rd generations generally lack the success of the agency founders. Writers have inked many pages describing how subsequent generations grew up too easy and hence do not have the drive to succeed, they do not have the work ethic, they are not tough enough, and the reasons go on and on. I have seen this scenario repeated so many times. Every generation since at least Socrates lamented the quality of the coming generation. I even recently

I am ecstatic to report that more and more agencies are signing Buy/Sell Agreements. Congratulations to these agencies! If your agency is considering instituting a buy/sell, I emphatically recommend the following steps: 1. Include a precise definition of "value." When a buy/sell agreement is triggered, a value of the agency will need to be determined and at least five major definitions of value exist. Several of these definitions even have sub-definitions. Different definitio

An independent insurance agency, from a company’s perspective, is a salesperson. The agency is the person selling their product. The company needs and wants to know then, whether that salesperson is likely to still be selling insurance in one year, two, or ten. Whether an agency has a perpetuation plan largely determines whether the agency will still be selling insurance in five to ten years. Therefore, companies want their agencies to have perpetuation plans so they know who

In my experience working with insurance agency owners, most have a difficult time planning for retirement. For a variety of reasons, most wait too long. Many agency owners seem to forego planning because they are having too much fun enjoying sales, their position, and the money they are making. Then, almost overnight, the fun evaporates, and they decide it is time to leave. I have seen this happen many, many times. Sometimes I have, like others, seen the change coming over th