Rope is a very versatile tool. With rope, you can hang a bear bag, rescue a friend who fell off a cliff, help someone climb up to a new ledge, tie down your tent in high winds. Simply put, a rope is critical on the trail. It is insurance that protects you if you need it.

 

Insurance for your business is similar. You hope and pray you don’t need it, but it is invaluable if you do. There are several types of insurance your business might need: property, casualty, auto, errors and omission, and key-man life insurance. The specific list is determined by the business and the individual. Most businesses have insurance; the challenge is to understand what insurance is needed and what is covered.

 

In Colorado, after years of drought and wildfires, we faced times of extreme rain. These events highlighted for both individuals and family business owners how good (or in many cases, how bad) their insurance coverage really was. In one year (actually in about a four-month period) we used our car insurance (my husband was hit by a drunk driver and the car was totaled), our property insurance (a tree fell on our house), our boat insurance (the same storm that caused the tree to fall created waves that sunk our boat), and our health insurance. The only insurance we didn’t use that year was life insurance—thankfully.

 

One additional note on insurance: Understanding the fine print is critical. Weather happens, and one day we had over eight inches of hail in about one hour. At one office building, the rain blocked the drain pipes that lead water off the roof, and about three inches of water flowed into the top floor. Water was flowing out of electrical outlets, ceilings, and any place it could go. However, since the roof didn’t “fail” the insurance company was denying the claim for one of the tenants. Each of the other insurance companies paid, but not that one. The fine print in the policy indicated that it didn’t cover water if there was no damage to the roof.

 

Yes, there are many horror stories about insurance companies. Some of these can be avoided by reading the policies, asking questions, and not making assumptions about coverage. Insurance is essentially like the bear bag we use when hiking. We don’t anticipate running into that bear, and they are usually as afraid of us as we are of them. However, things can happen. We bear bag our food—all of it. Insurance offers the same kind of protection for your business.

 

Excerpted from The Backpacker's Guide To Business Success by Janna Hoiberg.

 

 

If money were no issue, how would you spend your time? Would you get up and go to the same job each day? Change jobs? Would you sit around and watch TV? Would you give more to the community? Spend more time with family?

 

In the past few weeks there have been a number of articles and social media posts regarding retirement. Most likely the frequency isn't up, yet my awareness has been heightened. I have seen comments by those who say that they never plan to retire, that retirement is the biggest mistake they have made, or that they fear they can never retire due to finances.

 

To me "retirement" is one more step on my journey through life. Retirement is defined by Wikipedia (You know the internet is always correct!) as "the act of leaving one's job and ceasing to work." That is a horrible definition. Let's have some fun in redefining the concept of retirement.

 

Retirement isn't:

• Ceasing to work (Work is part of life. Ceasing to work is called death.)
• A time to check out of life
• A time to sit on my rocking chair and do nothing
• An absence of thinking
• An absence of being involved with passions or interests
• An absence of facing life's challenges

That time in life when you decide that you can reap the results of years of planning and can have the independence you desire can be called retirement, but it shouldn't be defined as Wikipedia has coined it. It takes years of preparation.

 

Retirement is:

• No different than running a business - it takes planning and consistency.
• Starting to plan as early as possible - preferably in our 20's.  Remember Stephen Covey's quote: "Begin with the end in Mind."
• A time that allows us true freedom to:
  • Start a new venture
  • Work in the same job that we love
  • Mentor those in younger generations that are craving the leadership skills and knowledge that we posses
  • Spend more time with family and friends
  • Travel if desired
  • Give back to the community in ways that couldn't easily be done while working full time and/or raising a family
  • Whatever else comes to mind

I have a friend that owns a business that has been very profitable and an ongoing concern. He also has another business, more of a ministry, that focuses on the needs of others. This ministry is one that could take him around the US and the world helping people in so many ways due to the needs he has identified. He doesn't want to "retire;" what he does want is to transition to this other business which excites him and has great upside potential. What he does want is the financial independence to make different choices.

 

My friend, like many of us, wants to pick the ending of one season, the beginning of another, and the choice in transition. Retirement should be another season, another beginning, and another transition just like many we have made before. The question is: What are you doing to plan your transition and how does that impact the decisions you make today?

 

Have you ever had a perspective that you wouldn't release? Did it turn into a fear that became unfounded? Recently I realized that my own "view of things" blinded me to joy and potential, and left me in a state of fear.

 

My husband and I have owned a lake house in New Hampshire for over 25 years. There are many stories, memories, and experiences from that lake house, and it has always been our dream to spend summers there when we stop working full time. (Notice I didn't say retire.) In preparation for that time we will be remodeling the cabin over the next few years. The first step is building a garage so we can take a vehicle to New Hampshire and leave it there. Watch out Hertz, your profits will tumble when we stop renting cars!

 

Part of this process has required taking down some trees so we can fit this garage, and it was stressing me out.  When a tree is cut there is no going back. Was this the right thing to do? Were there other options? Would I like it once the trees were cut? Was the garage in the right place? (There wasn't any other choice, but that didn't change my fear.) What would the neighbors think? My mind kept going through all the bad stuff, all the fears, all the negatives.

 

The day they started cutting, I was 2000 miles away in Colorado and not able to see what was happening or what it looked like. My fear remained with me.

 

Two days after the trees were cut I needed our local handyman to stop by and check on something for me. In talking with Horace, he commented on how GREAT the place looked with the trees down. What? The place looked GREAT with the trees down? What a perspective.  What a new concept. It had never crossed my mind that the place would look even BETTER without the trees. I was almost in tears as he shared this freeing perspective. It was as if 1000 pounds was released from my shoulders.

 

How often are we carrying more than we need in our business environments and our personal lives? I was given a gift by Horace that day: a gift of removing my blinders and looking at things from a new perspective. Where are your blinders? Is someone offering you another perspective on your customers, your business environment, your fears?  Are you listening?

 

Taking off my blinders allowed me to start having fun with the garage project. I have since seen the result, and Horace was right. It does look good. How much nervous energy did I needlessly expend in wondering (and yes, I'll admit it, worrying) and driving those around me crazy?

 

Where are your blinders? What do you need to do to remove them and allow yourself a fresh perspective?