What they don't tell you until you're locked in is that success in this job really requires a continuous 70-80 hours per week, including nights and weekends, to prospect, hold appointments, train, do paperwork and network. This makes the "base" salary on par with minimum wage for the hours you will be expected to put in during your first years and your significant other should be prepared for the large time commitment and odd hours this job necessitates. Training during first year is quite intense and you will be required to attain at least 4 separate licenses (2 insurance, 2 securities) before you can begin selling, all of which will have to pay for out of your own pocket, making it a large financial commitment to get started if you're not already licensed. It's best to have a very large "natural market" from which you can source business during your first 1-2 years. Without a large natural market, it is exponentially more difficult to be successful and maintain your monthly production numbers, aka: Benchmarks. Country's benchmarks (quotas) are completely set in stone with no flexibility and are based on a "rolling 3 month" calculation, so a really slow month can cause you to miss benchmarks in future months unless you are able to overcome the lost production in addition to meeting the new months' marks. It doesn't matter how amazing you are as a rep, too many missed benchmarks and they will not hesitate to terminate you. Also, missing benchmarks by any amount can result in $500 to $1,000 per month being stripped away from your base "salary", which makes it hard to recover if you stumble as a new rep. Benchmarks get progressively more demanding during the initial couple years and there is no leeway for newer reps during "slow" periods, such as tax season, back-to-school, Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years, which is unfortunate.
