Nibby Priest -Life On Purpose

Living at Mile Marker 803.9 of the Ohio River in Downtown Henderson KY

What is generation Y ?

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– The Silent generation, people born before 1946.
– The Baby Boomers, people born between 1946 and 1959.
– Generation X, people born between 1960 and 1979.
– Generation Y, people born between 1980 and 2009

Why do we call the last one generation Y? I did not know, but a cartoonist explains it eloquently below…Learned something new today!

Generation Y

(This was shared with me by one of my co-workers via an email.  I do not know who to credit this to but it is NOT my original work.  I found it very cute though.)

What are you doing in your non-profit or business to market or be appealing to the generation Y?

Enhance your FireFox Browser with Add-Ons

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Writers Note:  Since writing this blog in January 2011, I have totally ditched using Firefox and started using Google Chrome. Look for a new blog coming soon about my thoughts on use chrome especially with as a independent insurance agent.

We have quite a selection of Internet browsers that we can use now days.  I use a collection of several.   I am required to use Microsoft Internet Explorer with many insurance related sites simply because that is what they require.  Our agency management software at GoVaughn.com Insurance (AMS360 by Vertafore) will only work inside of IE.  Hopefully that is going to change soon.

Insurance company websites such as the Progressive foragentsonly.com site are another example of ones that will only work in IE.  The insurance industry in general seems to be uniquely woven into the Microsoft Internet Explorer experience to many agents dismay.

The Google’s Chrome Internet browser seems to be working quite well for me.  It is fast and looks like a browser I will be using more of in the future.

firefoxThe browser that I use most often is FireFox.  Below are some add in programs that work in conjunction with FireFox.  Many even work with Google Chrome but none of them work with Microsoft IE (Internet Explorer).  Check them out and let me know which ones you like.

Add-on’s are programs that help your browser do and look the way you want it to. Many times they are free and quite beneficial. Below are a collection of several that I like and use inside of FireFox.

Adblock Plus stops advertisements from appearing on your pages. Sweet and simple. Regain control of the pages you like and not be annoyed by obtrusive online advertising.

IE View – Lets you make FireFox your default browser but then when a site requires IE it will automatically switch to IE and load the site. Example when we need to run our Vertafore Management System AMS360 the site only works in IE. If we type the url in FireFox it automatically invokes IE and loads the site in IE. https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/35/

Readability a simple tool that makes reading on the web more enjoyable by removing the clutter around what you are reading. This is also nice when you want to print a book like PDF of just text on a blog or site. https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/46442/

Screengrab captures what you can see in a window, entire page or just a section. Saves webpages as images either to file or clipboard. https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/1146/

Smart Bookmarks Bar this little tool hides bookmarks names and just shows icons so you can squeeze more in. Bookmark names will be displayed on a mouse over. https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/4072/

Easy YouTube Video Downloader Ever need or want to download a YouTube video? This handy tool allows you to do so. It is updated often and works quite well. I use it a lot for church media work. https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/10137/

What are some that you like? Do you use other browsers? Which ones and why? I seem to be totally over using IE (Internet Explorer).

Is Faxing Dead?

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trash-faxFirst, I believe faxing a document is dead.

Second, we still have client/policyholders than require us to fax information to them.

With that said our solution is simply this:

GoVaughn.com Insurance has used for a long time a service called ImpactFax.com. They are very inexpensive and we have to have NO HARDWARE. It is like a hosted faxing solution. We highly recommend.

We probably are the only insurance agency that does not have a faxing hardware or machine in the building. We totally rely on www.impactfax.com for all our outbound faxing.

Our telecommunications provider (norlight.com) provides us with direct dial inbound fax numbers for our entire staff direct to our email.

Don’t make a mistake and buy equipment that you have to maintain and troubleshoot inside your office.

Have you noticed less dependence on the fax machine in your office?  

Have you made it a point to ask before you fax if a email attachment might work better?

“Can we get to business?!” by Charles Wasilewski

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(Back in early August I received a call from a very kind gentleman Charles Wasilewski from Aartrijk.  He asked me about doing a webinar about social media.  This was my first presentation done completely in webinar form.  We did it on September 2, 2009 –what a great experience!  Below is a blog he posted to the Aartrijk site about one of the questions that was asked in the webinar.  I have reposted with his permission. I hope you enjoy reading. Nibby)

Charles Wasilewski

That partly-excited, partly-frustrated-sounding question popped out at me from among several dozen when I was moderating a Webinar (”Social Media 101: Get Your Agency on Facebook and Twitter” presented by Insurance Journal) in early September.

The Webinar was presented by Nibby Priest of Vaughn Insurance Agency Co., who is among the most-active insurance producers I know in using social networking.

The question came while Nibby was showing how to get a personal Facebook page started. This is one of the  most-popular things to do on the Internet. After all, Facebook has 200 million-plus members and is among the top 5 most-visited Web sites in the world.

When I read the question, I sensed that the agent asking the question was impatient with all the “personal” Facebook material, and wanted to get to the important stuff: how to use Facebook to market and sell.

I’ve felt the same frustration in the past — until I realized that the personal nature of Facebook is what makes it popular and captivating for millions. Facebook isn’t like advertising or direct mail or an e-mail newsletter or a Yellow Pages ad. It’s not really a marketing tool or tactic to be pulled out of the marketing plan and executed.

It’s something very different: It’s a technological way to carry out social relationships online.

Facebook is popular because it allows people to:

– connect person-to-person

– choose people, brands, organizations, causes, and advertisers they want to connect with online … and shun or ignore those they don’t

– easily search and find people from their past and present to build relationships going forward into the future

So, for me, a lesson of “Social Media 101: Get Your Agency on Facebook and Twitter” was a reminder that social networking is about talking with people, not merely sending out business messages via advertising or marketing. I’m as big a fan as anyone of advertising and marketing, but Facebook requires a different approach. It requires a commitment to joining a community, providing value, presenting information and perspective, and building relationships.

The great hope of social networking for marketers is that when members of the community are ready to buy, they will find you — even seek you out — because they know you and know what you know.

– Charles Wasilewski

This blog is from The Aartrijk Group website please click to the site to see the comments.

Charles also is a incredible poet. Nibby is enjoying his book of poems Far As The Curse Is Found: Poems In Six Places.

To say the least.  Charles is a great guy to work with.   He is a gifted wordsmith!