Nobody starts at the top. Every salesperson with a thriving, well-known book of business started somewhere small — usually somewhere nobody else wanted to be. And if you are early in your career, or stuck trying to figure out where your niche even is, here is something that might change how you think about it:
Your first niche is not your destination. It is a door. And there is another door on the other side of it.
Let me show you what that looked like for me.
It Found Me Before I Was Looking for It
A friend asked if I could insure a rental property in Detroit. At the time, Detroit had a reputation that was hard to shake. People were buying up properties dirt cheap, doing minimal cleanup, and renting them out to tenants. These were landlords, not flippers — and some of them did not have one or two houses. They had thirty. Forty. More.
I went to look at one of the houses to confirm it was insurable. To the north, south, east, and west were burnt-out shells. I was driving through parts of the city that looked like war zones. But I found a carrier who would write the coverage. And then the referrals started.
Here is the thing — I did not go looking for that niche. It found me. Am I proud that my early clients were slumlords? Honestly, not entirely. But that work got me into insuring investment properties — rental homes, apartment complexes, commercial buildings leased to tenants. In the insurance world it is called lessor’s risk, and it became what I do best.
“People who do the same thing talk to each other. Get known inside one world, and that world will open every door.” — B
The Knock on the Door
I want to tell you about the moment that taught me the most — not about insurance, but about which doors are actually worth walking through.
I was doing well with my slumlord book. Word had gotten around. If you had a property nobody else would insure, you called me. I was the guy. One day, a new client came to me with a stack of properties right here in Detroit — junk properties, rough condition, but insurable. I wrote the policies. The money funding the transaction was coming from an account down in Miami, and once I took my commission, the rest went straight to the carrier. Clean transaction. Or so I thought.
A few weeks later, there was a knock on my office door. Federal government. They had seen a large chunk of money move from a Miami account to a small insurance guy in Clinton Township, Michigan, and they wanted to know what was going on. Turns out those properties were being used to launder money. I had no idea. I was just writing policies.
I sat down with them, showed them the paper trail — money came in, minus my commission, went straight to the carrier. I was clean. They knew it. They moved on.
But I didn’t.
That knock shook something loose in me. I started asking myself: Is this really the referral base I want to build? Not because I had done anything wrong — I had not. But because I realized I had been so focused on finding clients that I had not thought hard enough about which clients. I started researching. I started shifting. And that shift led me somewhere better.
“Sometimes your niche doesn’t just teach you the business. It teaches you about yourself.” — B
Walking Through Each Door
Here is how the path actually unfolded, one door at a time.
Slumlords led to vacant properties — because a lot of those rundown houses sat empty between tenants, and vacant policies were something most agents did not want to touch. Vacant properties led to apartment complexes — because landlords who owned vacant properties often owned multifamily buildings too, and once they trusted me, they brought me everything. And apartment complexes opened up an entire commercial market I never would have found if I had started there.
Each niche was a stepping stone. Each one built credibility, built relationships, and built a referral network that pointed me toward the next level.
This is not unique to insurance. If you are in heating and cooling and you start by servicing the old residential units nobody else wants to deal with — the 1970s split-levels with ancient ductwork — do not be surprised if that reputation leads a property manager to call you about a twelve-unit building. And do not be surprised if that building leads to a commercial contract.
“Your first niche doesn’t make you who you are. It just makes you ready.” — B
Riches Are in the Niches — But You Have to Get Your Hands Dirty First
There is a version of this advice that sounds nice but skips the hard part. The hard part is this: the doors that lead somewhere usually start out looking unglamorous, uncomfortable, or beneath you.
Slumlords were not something I put on a business card. But that work kept the lights on, built my book, and got me to where I needed to be. Everybody in your office chasing the same corporate accounts is a sign — not that there is no opportunity left, but that opportunity is sitting somewhere nobody wants to look because it requires getting your hands dirty.
“Riches are in the niches. And sometimes you’ve got to get your hands dirty and do what everybody else doesn’t want to do.” — B
If you are in heating and cooling and everybody in your office is chasing corporate accounts, ask yourself where nobody is looking. In insurance, mainstream carriers want mainstream clients — average home, average auto, average risk. Fine. But what about the properties over a certain value that nobody in your agency is going after because they assume there are not enough of them? That is a niche. That is yours, if you want it.
How to Find the Next Door Yourself
You do not have to wait for a niche to find you the way mine found me. You can go looking. Here is where to start.
Talk to your vendors and carriers. Sit down with your reps and ask them directly: What products are not being fully sold right now? Where do you wish more agents were active? They know exactly where the gaps are. They are just waiting for someone to ask.
Look at what people are complaining about. When clients call your competitors and get turned away, where do they end up? That frustration is a map straight to your niche.
Follow the referrals nobody is chasing. In real estate, first-time homebuyers using assistance financing programs get passed over constantly because the deals require too much hand-holding for too little payoff. But pair up with a lender who works those programs, and suddenly you have a steady stream of buyers who are desperate for someone who will actually take them seriously — and who will refer every friend and family member once you come through for them.
Look at your own experience. What have you sold before? What do you actually understand? A former contractor who gets into insurance knows construction. That is a niche. A nurse who goes into financial planning understands healthcare workers. That is a niche too.
The research does not have to be complicated. It just has to be intentional. Most salespeople never ask these questions. That is exactly why the gap is still there.
What Is Waiting Behind Your Next Door
I felt it when I moved into apartment complexes. I understood that world — the risks, the concerns, the language landlords spoke. And when I walked into those meetings, I was not just another insurance agent. I was the guy who got it. That is a different conversation entirely.
That is what you are building toward. Not just a book of business — an identity in the marketplace. A reputation that works for you even when you are not in the room.
You do not have to become what you are selling. You do not have to stay in a niche that does not feel right forever. It is okay to shift — just do your research before you do, the way I did after that knock on my door.
But you have got to start somewhere.
“Get your hands dirty. Ask the questions nobody else is asking. Go where nobody else is going. Walk through the door and see what’s waiting on the other side.” — B
Your first door might not look like much from the outside. Mine certainly did not. But walk through it anyway. There is another door on the other side, and you will never know what it leads to until you do.
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This post is adapted from Salesperson’s Platbook by B, available now. If this resonated with you, reach out to DBG to learn how we help salespeople find their niche, build their reputation, and open the next door in their business.
