Another commentary on co-working. We often confuse the building and the amenities with the space. But in Co-working the focus should be the people. After all, in this environment the workers chose to be there. This is different from a business where the business chooses the employees.
Here’s the first of several posts I’m writing on co-working spaces. It’s a new and exciting concept for the new information age entrepreneur. It could be the way we work in the future. It gives back the social aspect of work to the independent contractor.
Tell me again how great our current health care system is when I can’t afford to go the doctor and have to scrape up the money to buy overpriced prescriptions. Tell that to all the employers that have to cut employee health coverage every year to be able to afford it. The only good thing about this economic down turn is that it may force some changes on this monster.
Surprise, I’m changing agencies again. I’ve given up on Banker’s and am now talking to a company called PMA / USA (Performance Matters Associates) They specialize in workplace insurance or what is sometimes called voluntary benefits. They go to companies and sell life and health policies to the employees. Sounds like a much better gig. No marathon phone sessions calling people who don’t really want to hear from you. We get the call from the HR department and meet anyone interested on their breaks. I expect this will mean more interested people but I’ll really have to see. Banker’s sounded good at first too. If everything goes well I’ll start in a few weeks.
How would our friends know we cared if we weren’t mean to them now and then?
I got this from the latest Wired Magazine.
1> Get an Ice Tray and freeze some ice cubes.
2> When the ice starts getting solid put some mentos in them. Position them so that they are totally encased in the ice cube.
3> Once the cubes are totally frozen you can add them to your victim’s glass of diet coke.
4> When the cubes melt down enough for the mentos to contact the diet coke, the drink will overflow with foam. Much hilarity will ensue at this point.
I haven’t tried this myself yet. Feel free to give it a shot.
I recently had a surprising meeting at work. We had a meeting to give us the latest updates on following the new rules on selling insurance. One section of the meeting was on advertising and how the rules affected us. Insurance advertising is heavily regulated and any published ad must be reviewed by a small army of lawyers. We drifted into the subject of web advertising and guess what. Due to the requirement that any advertisement must be reviewed we cannot create any of our own advertising. If we want to advertise we must use the company approved items. So basically we cannot put anything original on our web pages about ‘national company’ life. In fact, we have been asked to not even list the company name on our personal sites. That includes blogs and any social site. They consider any listing of the name an un-reviewed advertisement. We can only say that we are ‘insurance agents for a national company’ in our current employment sections. Wonder how that affects on-line resumes? Is it still considered advertising if it is negative? It would be funny except they are serious and our jobs hang on keeping our licenses. There are still a lot of people that don’t understand the web.
After seemingly years of denial of the importance of Twitter, I finally signed up. I’m going to try it. I got a software offer that made me. So, there, I’m on it now. I haven’t found everyone yet but I’ll add all of you as I find your links. I started with Austin, Jose, and Geeksouth. I’m at @andserve if you are interested.
Combined Insurance no longer owns me. Truthfully, they never really paid me very well. So, I have moved on. I signed the papers Friday to start working at Banker Life and Casualty. I start my training on Monday. It should be a good move. I like their lead structure a lot better. We’ll see if that helps the bottom line a little.
I was pleasantly surprised today when the official insurance license came in the mail. The state of Tennessee has granted me the right to sell health and accident insurance. Watch out world. Starting this week there is one more person selling insurance.
Yes, everything worked out and I passed the Health Insurance exam for TN. The exam was on Nov. 25th. I’m waiting until the state completes the paperwork and I receive the actual license. Until then I can’t start the job. I’m continuing to study the sales material and get everything back on track that was late while I was in Nashville. Another milestone passed on my new job direction.
