It used to be the $1 million ceiling. That was the level of revenue at which an individual performing agent with a few helpers had to become a business with different people handling different clients and responsibilities. Everyone still worked for the agent, but the agent no longer made every decision.

However, running an agency as a business doesn't automatically result in growth and a high quality of professional service. By the time the agency reaches $2 million, it runs into another "invisible ceiling."

An agency valuation I completed recently came in considerably lower than the agency owners expected. The reason? Their balance sheet was very poor and they were materially out of trust: Meaning that their ratio of Accounts Receivable + Cash to Accounts Payable was less than 1. The agency principals were quite upset that I would decrease their value for this reason. They retorted, “We always pay our companies on time, our companies have never been hurt by this, our customers have never been hurt by this, and our CPA has never found fault with this practice. You're the only one who thinks it matters!”