Personal Investments That Can Back Up Your Business

Personal Investments That Can Back Up Your BusinessBy D. Smith

Those who put away their fears and step out into the risky world of small business take on many hats.  Most often, these folks become the worker bees, the accountants, the human resources office and a myriad of other titles all in one fell swoop which begins with the creation of their business.

Sometimes, this very stressful and work-heavy lifestyle is almost preferred to the moment when the business begins to grow and others come underneath its umbrella.  Up until that moment, failure would be highly personal.  Sure, it would be horrible, but at least other families and lives wouldn’t be irrevocably altered by the business ceasing to exist.

Many business owners find relief through making personal investments which will back up their business if the worst were to happen.  While this isn’t foolproof, it certainly would provide a much needed cushion in the event of some catastrophic event negatively affecting the business.

General Investing

General investing is immensely important to anyone, but even more so to the business owner.  It is preferable to take a diversified approach, spreading investments across bonds, stocks and mutual funds.  Also, spreading the wealth, so to speak, allows for one type of investment to make up for any losses incurred in another area.  These investments can provide a secure backing for business ventures.

Life Insurance

Life insurance is often undervalued, but it is truly integral to the business owner.  Heaven forbid that something unexpected happen and a business owner pass away, leaving his or her family and employees in limbo.  A good policy would allow the business finances and time to recuperate and get back on its feet while logistics were worked out, as well as protect the business owners own family.  Additionally, some types of life insurance allow for interest free borrowing which can be used for any purpose, including the beginning of a business or keeping a business afloat during difficult times.

Long Term Care and Disability Insurance

It is estimated that somewhere around seven out of every ten people younger than senior citizen status will need long term care at some juncture in their lives.  Long term care insurance helps to cover the cost of such expensive needs.  Disability insurance, likewise, helps to tie up the loose ends such as bills and regular life expenses by replacing income when an individual is unable to work.  These two types of insurance, while obviously protecting the covered individual and their families, will also help to protect the steadiness of a business should its owner be the one taken ill.

Personal investments are excellent ways to provide a support system for a business.  Utilizing life insurance, general investing, long term care and disability insurance is just smart business.

Your Friends on Facebook Don’t Like You

A few of my younger or newer entrepreneur clients who are working on their social media, lament that they can’t turn their facebook contacts into real time connections. Or they can’t get their facebook friends to go over to their fan page and like the fanpage. There is one thing they overlook. Facebook is really good at naming parts and groups. They call the users of Facebook “friends” but the reality is, most of those people are not people who are a friend. They are an online-aquaintence.

Client A says, she lives in the same city as Person X and the person for the last 6 months has not agreed to meet for lunch or even a cup of coffee in person. However this same person had not problem making a phone call to try to sign up Client A for a workshop. Client A was a little put off. Clearly the person only had time for them when there was money to be made. Client A was interested in created a ‘REAL-Ationship” as The Career Enginner – Francina Harrison likes to say.

Sometime we have to face it. When you reach out to people who are never interested in creating an offline relationship you might have to face the fact that they are not a friend. They may not even LIKE you. In some cases they are people who “can’t stand you”. But if they can use you to make money off you, they’re in. Figure it out and walk away.

Client B says, he contacts person Z on Facebook and they never ever respond. Once again, it’s not a friend if the only way you have to reach them is Facebook. If people don’t respond to a message, then they probably have someone else posting for them. It’s not them or they have no interest in connecting with you. Take the hint. You won’t miss anything if you are no longer in their stream. They will never like or share your posts. Are there a few people on Facebook who don’t know they should answer messages? In theory yes, but if you are using Facebook for business, common sense would tell you it’s a 2-way street of communication. No one is looking for a billboard on Facebook. We have enough ads on there already.

Facebook should have online acquaintance segments. Just so people won’t get confused. Facebook is great for people to friend you and then watch you. If you read 5 articles on how to grow your business using social media, almost all of them will say, friend your competition and see what they are doing. Some of your Facebook “friends” are doing just that. All your plans are there. All your creative thoughts are being spelled out as you think them through and use Facebook as your personal diary. People are planning to knock off your products and events as soon as you post them. If you in business, the way you post is important. My friend Mark Mikelat says “Facebook is a conversation in a bar, people can overhear, join in, comment and get into the conversation. No expectation if privacy is implied or expected.” If you have something important and private to say, then say it in PRIVATE.

Can’t get your close Facebook family and friends to get to your business fan page? No problem, realize they are not a customer, so they don’t want to LIKE your business fan page. You want people on that page that WANT to be there. These same friends and family who won’t switch over have also never bought your product or service either. Get the pattern? Stop looking for support in the wrong places.

In conclusion, I just want remind entrepreneurs that you have to get out with real people and mingle. Everything can not be done online. You still have to connect. Instead of obsession with people you “met” online that would not give you a glass of water if you laying on a dessert road dried out and they were driving a full potable water bottles, take the hint, create real off line relationships that move your body closer!

I don’t rant often, but I had to get this one out!

Revamping your email systems- part 1

Upgrade your email system- here is how…

Email can be controlled. If you want it to be. As a business owner, before you hire someone to deal with your email, you need a system they can follow. There are a lot of systems, I just want to share the simple one I use to clear my inbox every day that I work. I don’t clear it daily because I take days off. Even if I am behind in work or behind in my goals. That’s a post for another day.

There are 5 things that need to happen with email

Delete- just delete the stuff you dont care about and are not going to read. Remove yourself from an email list that you find you are not really reading what they send over a month. It saves you the visual garbage and its saves THEM money, not paying to email you when you no longer wish to get them or read them.

Delegate-  There are things that other people need to handle for you. Assistant, virtual assistant, whoever you delegate to, just send the email over to them. If you have prepared them well, they can handle it. Don’t micro manage, just ask them to handle it and unless they make a huge mistake, understand they will not handle it the way YOU would. They are not you, however, their solution can work and leave you free to do the things you can not delegate

Respond- answer the question, buy the thing, add it to your calendar, read the email and get the update…whatever the response is, do it and then archive the email

Defer- this is for things you do not have time to deal with. You must also have time on your calendar each week to go through what is Deferred or risk dropping the ball on business activities and thereby losing money.

Do- Some email mean taking an action, do it right then and there.

if an email has been handled, then delete or archive it.

You email box will be empty after practicing this for about a month. Teach it and delegate this to an assistant and stop sweating about your email. Be efficient, get rid of spam and live a normal live. Nothing is great about having a huge number of emails sitting around.

It used to be a sign of how busy you are, now, it’s a sign of how inefficient you are. If I want to work with you and hear you an a huge overflowing full email box— ALL THE TIME– Then I am going to think again. If you can’t handle your email, you might not be a good match to work with me. There is a point when you need to upgrade your systems.

If you practice this s

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