It's happening. For real this time. I'm using #Web3 as it was intended! insert goofy emoji face
My name is Linda Rey. People typically call me by my first and last name. It started when I lived in Atlanta, GA from 1990-1999.
I've been in the financial services industry for almost 40 years. BUT, my first love is marketing.
My insurance experience spans 30+ years. I used to own an insurance agency and I sold my interest in 2017 and started my true entrepreneurial journey.
My experience while owning the agency includes but is not limited to managing the Commercial Lines Department, new business development, agency branding, and networking.
My professional experience includes (in no particular order):
- Sales and marketing strategies
- Underwriting
- Implementing management concepts
- Personnel Development
I cut my teeth in my father’s insurance agency in the mid-1980s with a typewriter, carbon-copy paper forms, and a mad dash to the post office to snail-mail applications via certified mail!
I was determined to blaze my own trail after college and start a new adventure. In 1990, I moved to Atlanta and dove headfirst into a successful career.
Despite trying to NOT pursue a career in insurance, I landed a position with a reinsurance corporation as an Ocean Marine Underwriter.
After 9 years, I returned to Sleepy Hollow, NY in 1999, and re-joined my father’s agency. (I just couldn't let insurance go.)
I assisted with technology upgrades, building the brand, and networking with community and business organizations to expand the agency’s visibility.
In 2000, I earned my professional licenses including Life & Health and Property & Casualty Broker, and 6 & 63 securities licenses.
In 2009, I discovered social media and I was hooked. My talent at building business using 21st-century tools, alongside old-fashioned selling and networking efforts, resulted in an 800% increase in revenue.
After (FINALLY) exiting the insurance field, I launched a new venture with my partner, Trevor. We created Aurora Consulting, a Commercial Financing Brokerage to help business owners expand their business with unique and cost-effective business credit financing solutions as well as commercial mortgages.
When the pandemic hit, the business shut down as Lenders scrambled with the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP).
As true entrepreneurs do, we pivoted and sought to help business owners learn the fundamentals of business financing and how to apply for the SBA’s Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL).
We had enough experience with how to apply for a business loan, so our knowledge helped to enlighten business owners who were navigating the very confusing EIDL process.
Aurora Consulting developed a national reputation assisting business owners all over the country and helped to secure almost $70 million (that we know of) in disaster funding for small business owners.
You can find us on YouTube (I know, so Web 2) where we try to have fun talking about an otherwise very dry topic, business loans. If it weren’t for the props we introduce during the show, even we'd struggle to stay awake. www.Youtube.com/LindaReyandTrevor
After being introduced to #Web3 in 2022, I launched an #NFT project dedicated to small business mistakes, that we not only made ourselves in our career, but saw frequently while assisting small business owners to secure disaster funding.
I turned it into a #Web3Business project called Biz Glitch.
I've been professionally recognized by various organizations including 914Inc. Magazine, Westchester County Business Journal, Sleepy Hollow Chamber of Commerce, American Association of University Woman, Westchester Hispanic Chamber of Commerce and Westchester Magazine, and Institute of Applied Human Dynamics.
My community contributions include various community and county organizations such as Sleepy Hollow Chamber of Commerce, Rotary Club of the Tarrytowns, Westchester Association of Insurance and Financial Advisors, Westchester Association of Women Business Owners, Food Bank of Westchester and Westchester County Association.
I've been featured in various publications including Fortune Small Business, The Insurance Journal, Independent Agent, American Agent & Broker, Journal News, Westchester Business Journal, and Westchester Magazine’s 914Inc. etc.
I got my first paid writing gig as a contributor to the Equifax Blog Channel from 2010-2014.
We live in Roxbury, Connecticut. We have no pets but we do marvel at the wildlife that strolls and saunters through our back yard including bears, bobcats, and foxes OH MY.
You can find Trevor and me at www.AuroraConsulting.biz.