Job searching is never fun, and it’s all about who you know. So I have an idea (okay, two) and I’m stoked about both.

I’m building a community to connect the impressive people in my network with opportunities in Chicago. Join us.

Netflix, the fastest-growing entertainment company in America, owns no movies. Uber, the world’s largest taxi company, owns no cars. AirBnb, the world’s largest accommodations provider, owns no homes or hotels. But they are the most innovative and disruptive companies in their industries because they own their marketplaces, they own the interface, and they’ve made payment seamless. It’s time for such innovation in the employee benefits industry. 

Serving small businesses as a benefit adviser can be a tough proposition. Small businesses consist of a handful of people wearing multiple hats, so the role of HR is often wrapped up in a job description with other priorities. For advisers, working with small companies often represents the same or more work as a larger company for less commission, simply because fewer policies are being sold. However, ignoring small businesses because of their size is a shortsighted strategy. 

Your technology partner is an extension of your brand and your company, so you need to make sure that they set up both you and your clients for success, initially and throughout the year. Ask about their support structure, and what resources are available to both you and your clients.

In a digital world, social media is a representation of who you are and what you stand for, all on a platform that you control entirely. It’s a massive opportunity that every agency can leverage to its advantage, from both the sales and recruiting perspectives.

As the social media platform designated for business connections and content, LinkedIn use and optimization is a must for benefits advisers — or anyone involved in the insurance industry. Your customers are already talking, so engage in the conversation!

You can’t go a day without hearing predictions of the Twitter’s impending demise, but agencies that ignore Twitter’s potential do so at their own peril. The platform is a powerful tool for sparking meaningful conversations with influencers and prospects. The platform provides a great way to share and curate thought leadership content, and it’s a more personal way of connecting with people than emailing them cold.

 Consumers don’t trust brands. Modern marketing, particularly in the insurance industry, is not about you, your company, or the product or service you sell; it’s about your customers.

Marketing messaging must become customer-centric, not product- or services-centric, and that requires incorporating empathy into every message. It boils down to these two steps:

The insurance industry is on the brink of a talent crisis. The average age of a United States insurance agent is 59. Many will retire in the next decade, and it's increasingly difficult to recruit younger talent. Most people in insurance will tell you they "fell into" their jobs, rather than seeking them out. Less than 22 percent of finance and insurance employees are "truly happy" at work, making it one of the least desirable industries in the country.

The ancient Greek economist, Hesiod, had a low opinion of the young people around him: “They only care about frivolous things. When I was a boy, we were taught to be discreet and respectful of elders, but the present youth are exceedingly … impatient of restraint.”

More than 2,000 years later, we still hear the same tired and overblown rhetoric about how the newest generation just doesn’t get it.

For Maxwell Health, transforming healthcare experiences for real people starts with transforming the way the gatekeepers to that experience - benefits advisors and HR teams - conceptualize and deliver benefits strategies. While

I sat down with Keith Scally to get his perspective on what makes innovation in employee benefits such a unique proposition, the trends shaping the industry, how they’re affecting brokers, and the massive potential opportunity technology can open up to their businesses.  

This is just the first in a series of articles on how UX designers gather, analyze, prioritize and incorporate feedback and the lessons benefits advisors can learn from them.

It’s an “evolve or die” environment for benefits advisers. To grow your business and stay relevant, it’s important to be able to do more with less, and that starts with finding efficiencies both internally and for your clients.

Developed in 1962 by Everett Rogers, The Diffusion of Innovations Theory is one of the oldest social science theories explaining how, over time, an idea, behavior or product gains momentum and spreads through a specific population. More specifically, this theory applies to benefits advisers in terms of how you approach your clients and how your agency delivers innovation in service, processes, and technology.

I think about business growth in threee main intiatives: keep the clients you have, make your current book of business more valuable, and bring on new business. Your entire team - not just your sales team - should be committed to those goals, but they are distinct initiatives, and your incentives and efforts should be segmented accordingly.

In both business and in design, success is not accidental. It’s important to think about every aspect of what you’re building and know your justifications behind a decision.