You must be vigilant and aggressive about defending your business. As the leader and captain of your business, you must have the foresight to develop a protection strategy preemptively… before you need it and before it’s too late.

You wouldn’t go rock climbing without safety gear (at least I hope not). Perhaps you wouldn’t go at all, under any circumstances, but if you did, you’d bring gloves, ropes, a harness, cams to secure yourself to the rock face and probably even a helmet. Of course, you’d want to make sure this safety gear was in great condition and working properly before you began the climb. And you wouldn’t go alone either. You’d have someone watching out for you. That just makes good sense. It’s wise, sane behavior. Why gamble with your life when it’s unnecessary? Why risk a crippling injury when there are tools to protect you and keep you safe?

I’m often surprised that people who take the recommended precautions in physical activities don’t bring the same logic to their financial activities. If you pay attention at all, you’re aware that, as a business owner, you face some degree of risk… more now than ever before. But I watch many intelligent, prudent, otherwise sane people taking enormous, irrational risks with their businesses.

To their credit, most don’t know they’re doing it. It’s not that they’re ignorant or foolish. Most of the hazards lay hidden from view. There are no flashing lights or loud speakers proclaiming their presence. And they’re not immediately obvious… until it’s too late. You can’t block the blow you didn’t see coming.

Let’s face it. A lot can go wrong

And just about anything can cost you your business – and your future – if you’re not prepared. What if a client suffers a large financial loss due to acting on your advice or because you missed an important deadline? What if you client’s private information (SSN, credit, finacials, etc.) is compromised?

There’s no shortage of potential disasters facing your business: fire, flood, theft, equipment breakdown, loss of key financial records, lawsuits from disgruntled or injured customers and even lawsuits from former or current employees.

You don’t need to be a millionaire to be sued like one.

You don’t even have to do anything wrong to be named in a lawsuit, and even if it’s bogus, you still have to pay to defend yourself in court. Good attorneys don’t come cheap. The important question is: If you find yourself faced with a hefty lawsuit, would you prefer to have your insurance pay for it, or would you rather just pay for it out of your own pocket? Would a $30,000 lawsuit put a strain on your business? What about $50,000? $100,000? $1 Million?

Home-based businesses are not exempt from risk

If you are a home-based business, you are just as susceptible to risk as other businesses, and you may think that all you need is a homeowners policy to protect you. A typical homeowners policy may provide a small amount of coverage for business property (typically $2,500 or less), but NO coverage exists for business liability. In fact, most homeowners policies specifically exclude business liabilities. Even if you don’t have any employees, and you only work part-time, you still face liability risks.

In a perfect world, you could focus all your attention on growing your business and not worry about the risks, but there are simply too many risks to ignore. You must address these risks head-on by developing a proactive risk management strategy that makes sense for your business and your budget.

Matt Hall
Merritt Hall Insurance
(317) 247-7737
mhall@merritthall.com

These days you’d be hard pressed to find a man, woman or child who hasn’t heard of Walt Disney. For many, Walt Disney, the man, is an American hero and an icon of our times. His name is synonymous with wholesome family entertainment and good old-fashioned American values.

Today the Walt Disney Company is a commercial juggernaut which employs over 100,000 people and generates annual revenues of approximately 35 billion. But its beginnings were much more humble. Starting with only $3,200 borrowed from an uncle and his parents, who mortgaged their house for the money, Walt Disney had a unique idea for a cartoon and ended up with a dramatically successful film studio. Always the visionary, from his studio successes he branched out to theme parks and resorts, hospitality, cruise lines, merchandise, licensing and media networks.

All of Walt Disney’s works, from his movies to his theme parks, seem to be infused with an almost magical quality. The real magic, however, was Walt’s ability to attract so many talented individuals and then persuade and motivate them to consistently produce at the peak of their ability.

Walt Disney was a tenacious businessman who was very driven. He was notorious for having a robust ego and for being a difficult man to work for. Yet he had thousands of fiercely loyal employees. He set standards that required those in his employ to stretch significantly, yet they were happy to stretch, because they wanted to be part of the world Walt was creating. He built a company with a vision they were passionate about. Something they felt proud to belong to. He even renamed specific positions and gave them titles to reinforce their pride, like the famous “imagineers.”

Wilfrid Jackson, an animator and director with Disney from 1929-1959, encapsulated Walt’s crucial ability in his summation of the way Disney worked, “When he would get an idea for a cartoon, he would picture it in his mind so thoroughly and so completely that when the thing came out, if some part of it wasn’t quite the way he thought it was going to be, then it had shortcomings for him.” Disney imagined what could be and brought along with him his fellow “imagineers.”

Sure, it’s easy to see why talented individuals would seek employment with The Walt Disney Company now. It’s a fortune 100 company. But long before the company was a household name, Walt Disney attracted the best of the best to help with his endeavors.

And any entrepreneur can follow the same principles employed by Disney to attract and keep top employees… the same techniques he used to get them to do their very best work. The secret has everything to do with passion. People, as a general rule, are not terribly enthusiastic about jobs. “Job” is not a word that conjures much passion. Nor is “employee.” People are, however, passionate about and want to feel that their work stands for something and makes a difference… that in some small way the world is a better place because of their contributions. Give them that chance and they’ll thrive, giving you their best work in return.

Use this principle to your advantage. Make your business about something. Let it stand firmly for or against a position. Infuse a powerful philosophy into the core of your business culture. Even the most mundane jobs can be re-defined to become more prestigious and important. Walt made brick-layers “castle builders.” The same concept can be used by virtually any business. Imagine what can be and share that vision and passion with your employees.

Make your business a place top level talent would want to be associated with and be a part of. And that has little to do with compensation. Some (not all) will even accept less pay to do work they feel passionate about.

This is one of 186 strategies and applications that will appear in Putting Your Small Business on Steroids — 186 Strategies to Increase Your ROI, by John Gifford and Matt Hall. If you would like to be notified when the book is available, please send an email with the Subject: Book Notification to johng@indysmallbiz.com.

Matt Hall
Merritt Hall Insurance
(317) 247-7737
mhall@merritthall.com