If you want to start an insurance company you must know that the first thing you need is an insurance agent.

That is because your company needs a license that certifies that you are familiar with several business-management tasks including accounting and marketing, etc.

In addition to this, you need to be legally allowed to sell insurance products under your company’s name. You might also need to apply for a business loan to buy a franchise. I’ve found a good article with information about this at Ehow.com

If you want to be an insurance agent first of all you need to pick which insurance agency you want to be under. For example Farmer's Insurance has a whole section of their site dedicated to how to become an agent: http://www.farmers.com/becoming_farmers_agent.html