NY: I spent the last seven years prior to that working for United health care and just helping individuals and small businesses find health insurance. I worked in various departments and my way up to management. Essentially, after so many years and trying to help business directly over the Internet, with the way health care was changing, I and a group of other people were all laid off in Indianapolis.

NY: February 28^th of 2009.

NY: It’s strange because you hear about people getting laid off and you think, “I hope that they’re strong.”   But you just don’t know how it feels until you go through it.  I was a little unsure. I think I did panic at least a little at first but panicking wastes a lot of your time.  I learned that I would have to buckle down and do something about this.  I went through part of my severance package included out-placement services so I had someone helping me write a great resume and prepare an actual marketing agenda for my career move.  But the health care industry wasn’t hiring and my experience was in insurance. I was licensed in over 40 states but I couldn’t even get an interview.  And that was really hard because how do you find a legitimate interviewing anyways?  How do you find something or make something out of nothing.

I had just moved to Chicago a month before I was laid off. So, here I am – I’m was commuting to Indianapolis but how do I meet people when I don’t have a job?  So I reached out with the tools I had.  I looked into what I could and creating things out of nothing reading the material that I had.  I owe it all to my MacBook.

NY: I did! And you were talking about finances and, you know, my Dad used his first money to pay for his house.  He taught me well plus my experience with financial services – I’ve taken many retirement planning and financial services classes and teaching other people how to manage their finances. So with the acquisition of United healthcare and the previous company, I had quite a bit of money built up in retirement and I also had an IRA and pretty beefed up savings.  But when you are used to having that, you feel really weak without it.  And I had a car payment.  You don’t need a car in Chicago.

This lease alone being 18 months – to do this for 18 months at this cost…

NY: Yeah, November of 2009.   I had this big dream for this insurance website I’d one day like to launch.  I attended these webinars about whether to incorporate or open an LLC?  It’s just such a lost place on the web when you first go on.  And if you don’t have the connection of referrals, you don’t trust anybody.  I’m not going to go to just anybody and ask them how to form my business.  I felt the need to research it myself.  Upon finding out that the best thing to do was to incorporate so that I can get investors to buy into this idea along with a business plan, that’s what I did and that’s the move I made.

But it’s kind of evolved because as I was on the web and was learning all these things I knew I needed to know in order to make my dream happen.  I meet people and I’ve been teaching classes and doing moderation for the American College for financial adviser and I worked with three or four classes a week of about 20, 30 agents who were literally knocking on doors.  And they come from the same background I had and yet I’m so engaged online. I found how can I help them with what I’ve learned with other people.

Twitter has kind of been that connector to everything.  I was on LinkedIn.  I was on Facebook.  I just didn’t – your not going to meet new people that are going to help you and you’re going to help them in this reciprocal relationship that’s really life-changing until you make those connections.

NY: The objective of AelloLUXE is really to help anybody – a lot of the financial services or health care industry are in what you would call a regulated industry.  They are apprehensive to engage in social media.  I know that it can be done – and I’ve been to conferences where I’ve met those who are behind the different brands like Humana – there are banks that are also regulated that have been successful with social media.  But I think that a broker or an insurance agent doesn’t necessarily have those funds like you were talking about.  I found that there is that need and even just here with small businesses in general, I’m willing to share what I found out.

It’s so funny because I think, “Hmm… everybody knows this.  It’s on the web so anybody can read it.”  But we all apply things differently.  I just happened to pick technology very quickly.  So what I wanted to do with AelloLUXE was help people build blogs.  And what I can’t do, outsource to my great network of people I’ve met.  Whether it be graphics, designing information… I mean I know a great girl who can take a PowerPoint and make it look beautiful and display information.  So I want to be able to share those great resources with other people and also apply what I know and what I’ve learned to help others create a web platform.  A place where they can contain what they do and what they specialize in and leverage their business.  That’s what AelloLUXE is all about.

NY: It is.  You have to have a burning desire to learn more and be interested.  And if you don’t know it, figure out.  Or find someone who can help you.

NY: Yes.

NY: Right now, I have so far worked with physician and dentists.  Helping them with not only a web application but what application they can schedule appointments with online that eventually we can integrate into social media.  But it’s all, for example, HIPAA compliant.  So the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act protects information, your medical information. So everything I do with doctors, physician, and medical related field have to be used within that realm.  That it’s not going to share too much information.  And those doctors need to make sure with me that the content is okay.

The other type of client I have is a mortgage company and helping them with ad placement with Facebook, getting a Google place set up, a Facebook plays page, and all the geo-location services that are out there, and how you integrated into the campaign that will be something that is really conversational.  Not just out there that looks pretty.  A better way they can talk to other people, engage with those that are visiting them at that location.  Also getting statistical information of “who’s visiting me?”  “How do I target market better” based on my end-users or my clients that are coming here.