Summary
A very old agent once said, "I have learned that in this business you need to specialize." Somebody else once said, "Get a high tolerance for ambiguity, you will be a lot happier." That is good advice for agency entrepreneurs. It definitely takes a horse of many colors to successfully manage an agency over the long term, so anyone thinking about doing it needs to prepare themselves for getting good at things they have never done - and very quickly.
Analysis
Trends in rapidly increasing premium products can throw a wrench into too much specialization because clients evaporate and go bare. That means one's plan should include remaining flexible and open to new training on additional lines of insurance so a sale can be made when the demand arrives. This means enormous uncompensated demands on time - learning new products.
The author correctly acknowledges the need for skin like raw hide. Ethical behavior from clients, carriers and competing agents tends to follow more economic model than appreciation of experienced placement. Many learn the hard way that price should be a secondary consideration to accepting a bid. Clients attempting to "simplify" their lives by using one agent for placing many highly diverse policies risk buying coverage they do not understand or that is not properly bid. This is especially true with one fee brokerages that have lower incentive to bid v. renew coverage. When we have a ferociously "buyer's market" like now in Self Funded Employer Stop Loss, the employer loses big when his agent simply renews.
