Success in any venture begins with the proper mindset. As a new insurance agent, there are five key "truths" about the insurance industry and your role in it that will help ensure you have the correct mindset and the best chance at success.

Truth No. 1: You are a salesperson.

In order to be a successful insurance agent over the long haul, you have to accept your role as a salesperson and you need to be good at selling. No, sales does not mean selling someone something they do not need, or otherwise manipulating or taking advantage of someone. When you sell, your objectives are to help people, to be a trusted advisor, and to educate and lead people down the path they need to go. For example, if you are talking to a qualified prospect with a young family and you don't convince that person to protect the family with insurance, it's your fault that person's family is not protected if disaster occurs. You did not do your job as a salesperson. The bottom line is: you need to get great at selling by both making sales a study and by finding out what the most successful agents do, and then doing the same things.