You’re Playing Russian Roulette by Not Reporting Your Motor Vehicle Accident: Part 1

            So you’re driving happily on the way home dutifully obeying all Vehicle & Traffic Laws including the speed limit, signaling and seat belt laws, to name a few. But this is something you always do, right?! Then, on the way home, you get hit from behind while you are stopped at a red light or, better yet, you are side-swiped by a speed demon who was breaking various laws at the time he hit you.  The bottom line is this: someone hit you due to no fault of your own. While the hit was enough to cause what is arguably considered to be slight damage (and who determines what is slight?) to both vehicles, you--someone who is not a medical professional--determined in your mind that you are not really hurt and you just want to go home for a number of reasons, mainly because you do not want the headache of waiting around for the police, you don’t want your insurance premiums to increase and you feel as if you can work this out with the other motorist because, after all, you took a negotiations class in college, remember? But most importantly, in your mind, you’re OK! Well, let me just tell you….NO, NOT OK! Here are a few reasons why taking such a stance after being involved in a motor vehicle accident may not only give you the headache you sought to avoid, but will actually give you more like a reoccurring migraine in the end, to put it mildly.

·           You Cannot Diagnose Yourself – Did you know that often times injuries do not become apparent until perhaps hours or a day or two (or even later) after an accident occurs? Leaving the scene of an accident after you’ve been hit is dangerous. The body is an amazing machine which seeks to protect itself at all times. The body’s warning signs, however, may not be readily apparent depending upon a number of factors including shock to your system. Specifically, if you are motivated to leave because you have plans you don’t want to miss, you will likely brush off or completely ignore what your body is telling you.  It’s a good chance that not until later that evening or the next day (or later) is when you will feel the effects of the accident. This is true especially if the injuries are soft tissue injuries like neck, back or shoulder injuries.  So why chance it? Your health is far more important than the appointment you’re going to miss, even if that appointment is your child’s first school play or that championship soccer game.  Getting the proper medical attention will allow you to be there for your child’s future events, amongst other important life events.    

·          Your Injuries Should Be Documented Immediately – If you leave the scene without having a police report of what happened, or without seeing a doctor, who’s to say that the accident actually happened in the first place? Do you see the problem here? You will undoubtedly put yourself at a huge disadvantage trying to prove there was an accident especially if the police were not called, you did not seek medical treatment and all you have is, allegedly, the telephone number of the person who hit you.  Of course you will take down the license plate number of the car, but will it be enough to prove that the accident happened? The answer is: why even put yourself in this position? Protect yourself and your family by making a report. 

·          Identify Eye Witnesses Now – The best time to gather any evidence, especially eye witnesses to an accident, is at the scene. Do not allow your desire to get on with life to cloud your good judgment. Sure, it sounds like a great idea to get someone’s phone number for a statement later. Well, have you ever heard of ‘no time like the present?’ Getting as much information as you can while it is fresh is always best.  Making sure the police officer identifies all relevant persons and information in the police report is essential. This can stop many unnecessary problems that will arise later based upon your knee jerk decision-making at the scene. (And we haven’t even discussed the issue of insurance fraud or denial of no-fault insurance. These issues will be addressed in Part II of this blog). 

At the end of the day, there are a host of solid reasons why you should report an accident, but none are more important than protecting your health, safety and well-being.  That should be your number one priority always.  Don’t play Russian Roulette with your life. I guarantee someone wants you around for as long as possible. Your loved ones will thank you for it and you’ll be thanking yourself too.  

Stay tuned for Part II of this discussion.  Subscribe to our blogspot TODAY!

TOP 5 REASONS WHY YOU NEED A WILL

1. Take Control Over Your Assets – By executing a valid, properly drafted Will, you ensure that you have ultimate control over the assets you worked so hard to accumulate.  Your Will acts as a map which places everyone on notice of how you want your assets distributed.  If you do not have a Will, your assets will be distributed under state law. That may cause serious consequences depending upon what state you considered to be your home. Who wants someone else to decide how their hard earned assets are distributed?  No one! You earned it; you should be the one to say how it’s distributed.  Chances are, the state will not get it right and you can no longer tell anyone what you really intended to do with your assets. 

2. Provide for Your Loved Ones Your Way – Did you know that under New York state law, you can legally disinherit your own children? Or, what if you want to take care of a ‘godchild’, stepchild or a stepsibling?  If you do not have a Will, these loved ones may not be entitled to any portion of your estate.  Because families have been changing and the definition of family continues to evolve, make sure you provide for all the people you love and care about.  Don’t leave anything to chance!

3.  Avoid Unnecessary Tax Consequences – When a Will is not drafted properly, or if you have no Will at all, the result can be hefty tax consequences that you did not anticipate. Stiff tax consequences will dip into the money to be inherited by your loved ones and placed into the hands of the federal and/or state government instead.  This is why you should meet with a Trusts & Estates Attorney so that an accurate assessment of your estate can be made.  People tend to have more assets than they think.  Planning for your untimely demise may sound grim, but in the end your loved ones will reap the benefits in the way YOU intended……and save you money in the process……money that I’m sure your loved ones can use.   

4.  Make a Proper Assessment of Your Estate – I’m not much of a betting woman, but I bet that you have more assets than you think.  Most people do not think certain personal assets are valuable.  Well, one of the benefits of sitting down with an Estate Attorney is to discuss your entire estate and force you to list all of your assets including your personal belongings.  I cannot tell you how many times individuals start to list items that they did not think was an asset until they were asked specific questions about what they own. 

5.  Eliminate family feuds Over Assets – When you have a clear and well-drafted Will, you drastically decrease the potential for family members to guess what your intentions were.  No matter how close knit you think a family is, the prospect of receiving money can tear apart family members in ways most people are not prepared for.  Again, by preparing your Will, you can avoid such chaos by spelling out exactly how you want your Estate distributed.  You’d be doing your family a huge favor by doing so. Why not start planning today?

Focus Your Life With Purpose!

So many changes take place at the beginning of September such that it's easy to get caught up in task management without taking advantage of the opportunities waiting for us to explore. Yes, the kids are back in school, vacations are over and the weather is changing. However, these and other Fall changes are changes that represent fresh starts, new beginnings and the opportunity to take busy work off our calendar and replace it with meaningful tasks.

Fall is a great opportunity to focus on what is meaningful to you.  Be specific about it.  What do you really want to do? Write it down and then think about how you will bring it to life.  Stop making excuses about what's stopping you and focus on what you need to do to accomplish your goals.  Focus!

Find 30 minutes in the early morning when everyone is still sleeping or assign yourself homework every night by taking 30 minutes to focus on what you want to do in life.  If necessary, complete your homework at the same time the kids are doing their homework. The kids may view it as a family project and look forward to it every night.  Or, cut out a TV show and replace it with your time to map out goals for yourself. Whenever you find the time, use it wisely to identify not only goals but your plan of implementation. When you focus and get your life in order, you will be in the best position to then focus on the ones who matter most to you.  So find the time to focus and find your purpose. There's no time like the present! Where will you find your 30 minutes of focus?

BUSINESS BASICS 101: THE DANGERS OF SENTIMENTAL ATTACHMENT

Are you losing the passion for your business venture that was floating around in your head ten years before it finally came to fruition? Are you now losing the passion for the business a few years into its existence? 

Whether your passion resulted in a profit or non-profit entity, your initial primary business goal will be to keep the passion of your idea burning while getting your organization off the ground. You will then strive to sustain your business by taking it to the next levels of entrepreneurial success. So what’s derailing your path to entrepreneurial success?   

Perhaps you should consider that the enemy is none other than the sentimental attachment that attaches itself to any idea—be it a good idea or a bad one. All entrepreneurs suffer from it but only the successful ones get over it.

Sentimental attachment can be found in every aspect of our lives and can bring on catastrophic consequences if we allow it. In business it can and will prove fatal without even being blamed as the culprit. It is like an odorless gas that weakens your business undetected and then blows up leaving nothing but causalities in its path. 

Sentimental attachment starts with you controlling the idea. It then grows into the mistaken belief that YOU and ONLY YOU can make the idea flourish. It is what I call the ‘Mine, Mine, Mine Theory’ to the extreme.  The attachment never allows any meaningful input from others.  It is akin to a mental block that chokes the life out of the idea and/or organization from every angle. It is like a person who believes they are in love with someone but is actually obsessed with the person. Just to be clear, someone once described being in love as ‘always doing what is best for the other person’. On the other hand, one definition of being obsessed is ‘mentally or emotionally focused on one thing to the exclusion or detriment of all others’; two different mind-sets with two very different possible outcomes. Yes they both hang their hats on some emotional attachment, but when you are in love, you are more willing to listen as you see the positive in the things and people around you.  When you’re obsessed with something you are fixated, non-negotiable, one-track-minded.

You can see which state of mind is more prone to producing enjoyment and which one will undoubtedly result in tragedy. And so transferring that obsession onto your business means that you multiply your inability to relinquish sentimental attachment as you head down the path of no return, spiraling out of control with an organization that will never reach its maximum growth potential.  This attachment may cause a business to quickly fail or it can remain comatose for years—spinning its wheels with no progression in sight.  With that mentality, you will never be able to strategically align your business with the correct partners, investors, target audience and consumers, nor will you be able to take your organization to the next levels of success.

If you insist on hording your idea, be prepared for the negative consequences.  The enemy here is you and you alone.  Whether the attachment is to the idea itself or to the amount of time you invested in taking the initial idea to reality, your need to keep control over the operations will keep the business in a perpetual holding pattern whether you know it or not. Taking the business out of this pattern requires a conscious decision to cede control—to a certain extent, of course. Until that happens, your business will be at the mercy of the universe and all of its elements, particularly a bad economy.  If this sounds like something you are guilty of, here are 5 ways for you to take a fresh look at what you are doing so that you can get your business off the fruitless sentimental attachment track and onto the road to success:

1.      Allow Management Autonomy to Make Decisions – No, this does not mean that you give anyone complete control over your business.  However, if you hire a president, manager and other officers to conduct everyday operations, nothing will ever get accomplished if they have to run every decision through you before they can act.  When you empower your employees, they will be more productive and motivated to carry out your mission.  Employees will not work to their potential if they feel that you are strong-holding them. If you hire someone to do a job, let them do it.

2.     Recruit Well-Qualified Individuals, Not ‘Yes Men’ – One of the worse moves you can make for your business is to hire people who will do what you say and not think for themselves and bring a fresh perspective to the table.  By hiring ‘Yes Men’ you are selling yourself short and undermining your business. Keep in mind that this business is your idea and your vision; allow it to breathe and grow by bringing in a variety of talent that will help you reach your goals.  Think strategy, not control!

3.     Be Open to the Ideas of Others - Again, you are not the only one with a great idea.  Allow your employees the opportunity to participate in the business through encouragement. If your employees never receive an opportunity to at least discuss their ideas, they will have resentment towards you.  Ultimately, you will have employees who are not motivated to see your business succeed; they will just continue to collect a paycheck until they find another job opportunity or start their own business….and possibility capitalize on your shortcomings as your new competitor.

4.     Remember….You Cannot Do Everything – Perhaps the biggest mistake made by budding entrepreneurs is the belief that they can do everything.  This is something that is rarely said out loud.  Rather, it’s a mentality and a way of conducting oneself. There is nothing worse than asking someone to do something only for you to turn around and do it yourself before the person has a chance to do it.  What is the purpose for this?  If you do not believe the person can handle the task, perhaps that person is not the right one for the business.  Or, perhaps you need to get over yourself and let the person do their job.  By taking on everything, you are stifling your own creativity and productivity because you are not spending your time on other tasks that you really should be handling such as getting new business or attracting new investors.  Again, don’t be your own worst enemy. 

5.     Learn the Value of Time Management – Learning how to manage your time is an art of sorts.  Most, if not all of us, have issues with time management.  Your first step in learning how to manage your time would be to stop doing the things you hired staff to do.  Once you do that, you can then focus on your tasks.  Create short and long term goals to help you focus.  Then create a daily task list of what you want to accomplish.  Keep track of your progress and understand what may have taken you off track.  When you get off track, don’t dwell on what you failed to accomplish.  Identify the problem and make the appropriate adjustments.  Stay focused and you will see a difference.

There’s no question that you can turn your idea into a winning business.  However, hard work and talent alone will not get you there.  You must make conscious decisions about your product or service. You can do it!  Just remember…do not allow sentimental attachment to be the enemy of your strategic advancement…..in business and in life.

 

Mind Your Own Business!

Who's running your business today?  Are sales up? Are sales down? Have you met your goals and objectives? How's your Mission Statement? What are your customers saying? In other words, are you at the helm of your business or have you entrusted that enormous responsibility to someone else? Who is minding your business? At the end of the day, with all of the controls and people put in place, it should be you!

Starting and maintaining a successful business is no easy accomplishment; clearly it is not for the faint at heart.  If you think it was difficult making your business successful, try maintaining that success and tell me which one is more difficult.....the initial climb to the mountain top or staying on the mountain once you get there? 

It is more difficult to maintain success than it is to initially achieve it.  Mark my words! Once your business is succeeding, your goal should be to take that business to the next level.  You don't reach success and then stay on cruise control.  What would be the point? Make no mistake about it, today's entrepreneurs are trend-setters who stay on the cutting-edge of their industry. Staying 'in the know' of your chosen industry requires a lot of hard work, research and perseverance.  Obviously, you cannot do everything by yourself and you shouldn't try to do so.  However, you as the owner are charged with making sure that your Vision and Mission for your business is being carried out the way you intended. 

Minding your own business means establishing a system of accountability for your management team to ensure that your team is accomplishing the goals and objectives of your business. You need a comparable system of checks and balances in place.  And before we go any further, be advised that 'checks and balances' does not mean MICRO MANAGE YOUR TEAM!!!!  On the contrary, it means that your team has clearly defined goals and tools in place to measure the success of the business.  You must allow your team to execute your plan while having procedures in place to evaluate performances and results.  This is easier said than done but this task must be accomplished. 

Start your system of accountability by creating your governing documents such as your By-laws, Conflict of Interest Policy, Confidentiality Policy. Do this right from the start.  Also, when you establish your initial committees, make sure one of your committees is a Governance Committee.  Recruit people for the Governance Committee who have experience in compliance, best practices and the like.  The goal is to make sure your internal controls are strong. 

Finally, make sure your management team is required to produce reports on at least a monthly basis so that you are fully aware of how operations are going so that you can tweak the system if necessary.  No operation is perfect and you should have the mentality that 'there is always room for improvement'.  But having controls in place allows you to determine what works and what does not.

Overall, you should be minding your own business. You want to do this by building a solid foundation and a hierarchy within the management team so that controls are in place to capture the strengths and weaknesses of your business.  Establishing such a system takes time, indeed.  But it is a necessary process that will allow your business to achieve the next levels of success.  Start doing this today and Mind Your Own Business!

Your Little Mustard Seed

What is your little mustard seed of an idea that you would like to bring to fruition? Or perhaps you have two, three or ten tiny mustard seeds you've been carrying around in your head for years. Why are you carrying these seeds around for so long? What if you actually carried around one mustard seed for each bright idea you wanted to bring into the marketplace.....but all you did was carry around the seeds?  Chances are the seeds would get lost.  Or even worse, someone else would find your lost seeds and cultivate them into something the world will notice. Either way you lose! So why leave your idea to chance by carrying it around without cultivation?

We can all agree that bringing a business venture to life is not an easy process.  The fact is, you will probably go through several changes, including tweaking the idea a few times, before it takes flight.  That shouldn't scare you one bit.  Any budding or experienced entrepreneur knows that perseverance is a key factor in success.  However, what should scare you is the thought of allowing the idea to collect dust in your mind for years without any significant progress in growing the idea to its fullest potential.  It's time for you to take the bull by the horns and grow your little mustard seed into the viable business venture that you know it can be.  If you're having trouble crossing the bridge from thought to action, here's a few helpful tips on how to get started:

1.  Buy yourself a Journal.  I like to call it a 'Dream Journal'.  Use this Journal exclusively for your business idea(s) and always carry it with you. When those bright ideas come to you when you're on the train or on your lunch break, put the pen to paper and write them down!

2.  Make a commitment to write in your Dream Journal at least once a week for 30 minutes to map out and develop your idea. As you begin to get more organized (we all have room to grow in the area of organization, trust me on this one), increase the amount of time you write in your Journal, i.e., 1 hour a week or 15 minutes a day.  Make sure you assess your life and other commitments before you commit to writing in your Journal. You must be realistic. 

3.  Do not attempt to edit the initial ideas you place in the Dream Journal.  What you want is an unabridged, no-holds-barred Journal where you can write down all of your little mustard seeds (or business ideas).  You will edit and cultivate these seeds later, not at this stage. Writing down these ideas will empower you to make them come to life.

The point is that we all have to start somewhere.  A good first step is to actually write something down so that you are moving forward. The act of placing the ideas inside your head onto paper is liberating and it allows for other ideas to flow as well. 

Don't let your little mustard seed blow away in the wind.  Take that mustard seed and make it flourish! Start writing today!

Why Your Home-Based Business Can Only Take You But So Far......

Yes, we live in an age where cutting overhead costs are a 'strategic must' when you consider starting your own business.  In this day of virtual offices, shared office space, voice answering services and mail-drop boxes, there are so many viable alternatives to spending thousands of dollars in monthly rent, utilities and business phone lines/internet charges.  But the truth is, many of us hang out our shingle rather quickly without fully analyzing whether a home-based business is the BEST alternative for the type of business we seek to start. 

 

Let's be realistic. Having a home-based business cannot be totally about costs.  Any successful Entrepreneur will think long term and also keep up with the trends of their industry in order to make proper assessments about what is feasible and practical. Get started by asking yourself five (5) questions about starting a home-based business:

 

1.  How often will I need to meet with clients and potential clients?

2.  What improvements, if any, will I need to make in my home in order to set up a home office?

3.  Will I eventually need an office space as the business grows?

4.  Will I need to hire employees initially or perhaps a few years down the road?

5.  What are my goals and objectives for my business?

 

Keep in mind, these are only the initial questions you need to ask yourself.  You must also consider the mental aspect of having a home-based business.  While rolling out of bed at 10:00am and staying in your pajamas all day as you work sounds great, you may not be able to reach your maximum entrepreneurial potential in your pajamas and bunny slippers. Working takes a toll on us mentally and physically in many ways.  Understand that there is something therapeutic about leaving your home for work and also leaving the work place to come home to your personal space....or what I like to call 'My Slice of Peace'.  If you have not completely thought out your business plan for your home-based business, you may not be able to effectively separate your workspace and your home/personal space.  Even more troubling, when you have those tough days at work (and trust me there will be tough days), it's very difficult to shake off the stink of the work day when your home life is literally 2 or 3 steps away. Some of us find it hard to leave work at work when we have a separate office away from home to go to...let alone an office that is in our home.  If we are not mentally prepared for the challenge of a home-based office, we may find ourselves in a mental slump and possibly avoiding that home-based office from time to time when work needs to get done.

 

Oh, and what about the home distractions????? You know what I'm talking about. The laundry, the dishes, the dog, the cat, the dry cleaning and other errands you need to run and...wait a minute, let me paint the living room real quick...I've hated the color of the living room since I bought this house! The list of distractions goes on and on and gets longer and longer with each passing day.  How do you handle all of these considerations?

 

Discipline is key. The first step is to determine if a home-based business will work for you.  Start with your Business Plan.  Your Business Plan will force you to answer key questions that will help you determine if the home-based business will work for you.  If so, your long term goals will help you understand how long you will keep the business home-based so that you can plan and save for office space.  You will also have to set strict parameters with respect to the home distractions.  If your work hours are from 9 to 5, then work 9 to 5 and don't wash the dishes or put in that load of laundry until you are off the clock.  Treat your business like a business and not a part-time gig.  And also keep in mind that you will need to assess the effectiveness of the home-based business as you grow.  Once you clearly define your goals and cultivate the passion of your business venture, graduating from a home-based business to an outside office space will be inevitable. 

 

There is nothing wrong with starting a home-based business.  However, a home-based business is a starting point, not an end point.  Continue to assess and evaluate your business so that you can take your business to the next level. Keeping your business at home can only take you but so far.....Think Bigger!