Cover of You Don't Own Your Agency. It Owns You.

You Don't Own Your Agency. It Owns You.

You Don't Own Your Agency. It Owns You.

By: Pete Poggi
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If you own a P&C insurance agency doing $2 million to $5 million in annual premium - and you can't go 90 days without answering a client's email, your team freezes when you're unreachable, or being away makes you anxious - this show was built for you.

Here's the truth: If your P&C insurance agency can't run without you, you don't own it. At best, you're a producer with equity.

Real ownership isn't book size. It isn't revenue. It's freedom. It's control. It's building something that runs without you - and outlives you.

Pete Poggi grew a personal lines P&C insurance agency from $3 million to $180 million in 84 months - without commercial lines, without cold calls, and without becoming a prisoner to his own business.

He did it by installing systems that removed owner dependence at every level and created leadership depth that didn't require him in the room.

What You'll Discover
Each episode features real conversations with P&C insurance agency owners who have scaled to $50 million, $100 million and beyond - plus solo episodes where Pete shares the exact recruiting, training, and management frameworks that took his agency from owner-dependent to owner-optional.

This show is for the P&C insurance agency owner who has outgrown being a producer but hasn't yet built the team and systems to step away. If you're ready to stop being owned by your insurance agency and start owning it - this is your show.

About Pete Poggi
Pete Poggi is the founder of John Galt Insurance and creator of the Million Dollar Producer training program for P&C insurance agents. He is also the author of the bestselling book "P&C Insurance Accelerator: How To Build an 8 Figure Agency Without Relying on Cold Calls, Outrageous Franchise Fees or Outdated Sales Tactics," available on Amazon and Audible.

Learn more at www.PetePoggi.com2026 Economics
Episodes
  • Why a $5M P&C Agency Owner Stopped Producing

    Why a $5M P&C Agency Owner Stopped Producing
    20 Oct 2026
    Gerry Rivas opened a captive insurance agency in September 2019. Then COVID hit, the agency did not grow, and he had to sell it.

    He walked into his interview at John Galt Insurance and said it straight: "I'm just like an epic failure right now." He told Pete and Kyle he was not there to reinvent the wheel. He just wanted to follow a system that works.

    Today he and his wife Kimberly run a $5 million book that has grown about 30% year over year since they started. And when Gerry went back into his own agency, he made a choice most owners will not make: He stopped producing, and put that time into his team and his referral partners.

    What you'll discover in this episode:
    • How one referral partner turns into three more introductions, and why that "stacking" is what got him to a million dollars in production
    • Transactional versus relational: The test that tells you which one you are
    • How he hires producers on commission, and what he says to the candidate who walks in asking for a $100,000 salary
    • Why he interviews people all year long, even when he is not hiring
    • The question that changed how he manages: Would you like working for you?
    • Why he signs two to three new referral partners every month now that he is not producing
    Pete Poggi grew a P&C insurance agency from $3 million to $180 million in 84 months. Personal lines only. No cold calls. He now works with independent P&C insurance agency owners who are stuck between $2 million and $5 million in premium and cannot scale past themselves, teaching the systems, hiring standards and referral relationships that turn a top producer into an agency owner who actually owns their agency.

    If this one helped, follow the show so you don't miss the next episode, and send it to an agency owner who is afraid to hire.

    Learn more at www.PetePoggi.com
    Show more Show less
    54 min
  • How a 24-Year-Old Makes $50K a Month Off Car Dealerships

    How a 24-Year-Old Makes $50K a Month Off Car Dealerships
    13 Oct 2026
    Caleb Harris is 24 years old. He started in door-to-door life insurance, lasted about three months, and then took a job as a captive agent with Indiana Farm Bureau Insurance.His plan there was simple: Find the top agent and copy whatever he does. That agent took him to a car dealership in Ohio and showed him how it's done. A year and a half later, Caleb left to start his own independent agency, Ora Insurance.Today he writes about 50 new households a week through car dealerships, and his agency brings in $40,000 to $50,000 a month in revenue. His record is 82 in one week.So why did he DM Pete on LinkedIn? Because, in his words, if people go with you over $5, they'll leave you over $5.What you'll discover in this episode:
    • The one question he asks at every new dealership: "Does insurance ever come up in the sales or finance process for you guys?"
    • Why speed, and doing what you say you'll do, beats every other agent who walks in the door
    • Auto retention vs. home retention, and why Pete told him to replicate his model on the homeowner side
    • His biggest mistake: Not hiring his two virtual assistants sooner ($5 an hour, found on Fiverr)
    • How he turned dealership salespeople into his marketing reps
    • The first hire that didn't work out, and why Caleb says it was his fault, not the hire's
    • His five-year goal: An agency that runs on its own, doing $10 million a year in revenue
    Pete Poggi grew a P&C insurance agency from $3 million to $180 million in 84 months. Personal lines only. No cold calls. He now works with independent P&C insurance agency owners who are stuck between $2 million and $5 million in premium and cannot scale past themselves, teaching the systems, hiring standards and referral relationships that turn a top producer into an agency owner who actually owns their agency.If this one helped, follow the show so you don't miss the next episode, and send it to an agent who is making good money and still doing everything themselves.

    Learn more at www.PetePoggi.com
    Show more Show less
    35 min
  • How a Broke P&C Agent Built a $30M Agency

    How a Broke P&C Agent Built a $30M Agency
    6 Oct 2026
    Chris Cole built a $30 million P&C agency and was the number one agent in his company for a few years. Two and a half to three years into owning that agency, he was broke and foreclosing on his house.His words: "One day I woke up broke, the only way out was for me to start selling $100,000 a week in premium."Chris came to insurance from pharmaceuticals, through State Farm's training program, where a new agent takes over an existing book and manages it. So when he opened his own agency, he managed it. Performance was bad, because nobody was setting the pace. He let his salespeople go, put two or three support people around himself, and sold $300,000 to $400,000 a month on his own for about six months. Then he brought salespeople back in, and scaled.Pete and Chris go back to 2009. Today Chris runs a virtual assistant company, and he is open about where VAs fit in an agency.What you'll discover in this episode:
    • The one-call close, and the "extended time" idea behind it
    • Why his team treated renewing clients exactly like new business, and got retention closer to 92 to 93%
    • Why the owner has to become the pace setter before stepping back
    • The bar he set for new producers when he was selling $80,000 to $100,000 a week
    • Why adding more salespeople can leave every salesperson worse off
    Pete Poggi grew a P&C insurance agency from $3 million to $180 million in 84 months. Personal lines only. No cold calls. He now works with independent P&C insurance agency owners who are stuck between $2 million and $5 million in premium and cannot scale past themselves, teaching the systems, hiring standards and referral relationships that turn a top producer into an agency owner who actually owns their agency.If this one helped, follow the show so you don't miss the next episode, and send it to an agency owner who is stuck managing instead of selling.

    Learn more at www.PetePoggi.com
    Show more Show less
    58 min
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