Month: July 2012

Business Insurance to Give You Peace of Mind

Post author By Ethan Theo
Post date July 8, 2012

If you own a start-up or small business, you’ll have a lot on your mind. Your income depends on the quality and quantity of your work, your marketing strategies and even the state of the economy, because you rely on people being able to afford your services or products.

But one thing you don’t need to lose sleep over is what would happen if you were sued by a client for personal injury or financial loss, or have your business premises and equipment destroyed, damaged or stolen. Those risks can be easily insured against, as would any related legal fees.

But if you’re a start-up or small business, you might feel that you can’t afford all of the different types of business insurance that you could possibly ever claim against. After all, no-one has a crystal ball and it can be hard to know what policies you’ll actually need and what policies you’d just be paying for without ever having to claim under.

If you can only buy one or two types of policy (particularly in the early months) then choose those that you are most likely to need. Generally speaking, those tend to be employers’ liability insurance (a legal requirement if you have anyone working for you) and public liability insurance. If you offer professional services or advice, then you would also need professional indemnity insurance.

Employers’ liability insurance would protect you if an employee were injured at work. It would pay for the compensation and any legal fees (yours and your employee’s).

Public liability insurance would pay for any compensation and legal fees if a member of the public (e.g. a customer, repairman, visitor, person on the street) was injured or suffered financial loss as a result of your negligence. Those sorts of claims happen more often than you might think, but after all, there are plenty of claims handlers and solicitors who can be relied upon to inform the public that ‘where there’s blame, there’s a claim’ and that they can sue with ease since they can do so on a no win, no fee basis.

Having insurance in place means that you wouldn’t have to worry if you received a solicitors’ letter through your door advising you that their client intended to sue. Of course, if you take all of the necessary precautions and undertake all the necessary training you should manage to avoid having to rely on your insurance, but accidents happen and people usually want to blame someone so that they can try to claim compensation. But if you don’t have to claim then at least you will be able to build up some no-claims bonus that will reduce your future years’ premiums. Then you might want to cover other risks with insurance such as business property cover as your business grows.

Success Attitude

3 Reasons to Serve Others as You Work Positive

Post author By Pamela Swift
Post date July 6, 2012

Article Contributed by Dr. Joey Faucette

Last week, I spoke to a group of State Farm agents and team members in the Houston area about how to Work Positive in a Negative World. During the workshops, I interviewed selected agents as positive examples of the five core practices.

One of those agents, Corey LeJeune, serves The Woodlands, and has a son who turns one year old in a couple of weeks. His son’s birth prompted Corey to look ahead to birthday parties. He imagined great celebrations for his son, but then began thinking about less fortunate children whose parents couldn’t afford to give them a party.

Corey decided to redefine that reality and achieve these children’s dreams of a birthday party. Corey decided to serve his community, understanding that such service is key to a Work Positive lifestyle.

He expressed the “Receive” core practice by developing a non-profit, “It’s My Party!”, to collect surplus birthday party supplies and share them with less fortunate families.

Here are 3 Reasons for you to join Corey in Serving Others as You Work Positive:

It’s Simple.

Everyone has a birthday. Everyone loves parties. Most of us throwing birthday parties for our children have a surplus of supplies. No explanation required.

So often when we business owners strive to serve our community, we get overwhelmed with the largeness of problems or complexity of issues. Corey’s idea is simple. It makes sense. It’s something that he and his team do that makes a difference as they’re doing business daily.

What is one simple activity you can implement that will serve others?

It’s Easy.

What do most of us do with those extra plates, cups, and napkins that are left over? Put them in the attic with other leftovers? Throw them away because they won’t match next year’s?

How easy is this? Put them in a bag and drop them off at Cor%y’s office.

You’re helping less fortunate children. You’re uncluttering your attic and saving landfill space. And you have the deep-down satisfaction of doing something good.

It’s just as easy for Corey. He invites his clients and their friends to help with a worthy cause. He encourages his civic club, church, and other groups to assist. He stores the supplies in a closet.

He and his team talk with local schools and non-profits to identify children without parties. They deliver the supplies around the child’s birthday. With permission, they share photos via social media, inviting still more people to ride the party supply train.

As a business owner, you want to help, but efforts get complicated quickly. Keep it easy for you and others.

What is one easy thing you can do to help persons in your community?

It’s Humble.

When I asked Corey, “What’s your goal??e80? he said, “Just to make one child smile.”

His focus is a humble one. It’s not about him helping huge numbers of kids although I suspect he will. He just wants to give because he Receives.

Corey is a perfect example of “You reap what you sow.” His motivation is pure. Yet his business will benefit.

Word of mouth referral marketing is the most effective method known. Corey’s “It’s My Party!” service creates a buzz destined to go viral as his clients invite their friends to help. The message is, “If Corey does this kind of great work, I know he??%y9ll take care of my family and me.”

As a business owner, remember that outstanding service creates word of mouth that accelerates your business growth…often without you opening your mouth.

What is one humble action you can do today that will grow your business?

There are legions of Corey LeJeunes all around the world who live a Work Positive lifestyle. Let’s tell their stories in this negative world and create a rising tide of positivity that lifts all our ships!

About the Author

Dr. Joey Faucette is the #1 Amazon best-selling author of Work Positive in a Negative World (Entrepreneur Press), coach, and speaker who help professionals discover success in the silver lining of their business and achieve their dreams. Discover more atwww.ListentoLife.org/speaking.

Success Attitude

Courage: Liberation From Five Myths That Can Keep You Stuck In Fear

Post author By
Post date July 5, 2012

“When experiencing new and exciting changes in life how can you expect to know how it will all go? There are times when you’re required to step blindly off the ledge only to find that with faith you are transported on the wings of love to a new and beautiful vista to explore! Today is such a day.. let fear be what it is, and let faith help you soar regardless of the fear.” – Colette Baron-Reid

What you may not realize is that from the moment you were conceived through age 6, you have been bombarded by thousands of emotional charges that have impacted on who you have become. In addition to what you have inherited from your ancestors and your family, your world has been shaped by cultural conditioning and your personal life experiences.

Fear has been a dominant energy on this planet for thousands of years. 2012 is heralding a shift of consciousness and a new era of love, peace, and prosperity. The grip of fear will begin to wane as you “come home” and wake up to who you really are with the Divine presence within you to be your guiding Light.

You may view fear as an enemy, something to be gotten rid of rather than seeing fear’s value as a friend and pathway to your homecoming. Fear can keep you stuck and frozen or be a motivator and catalyst for change. Healthy fear can be a positive benefit to your life. Irrational fear can keep you separate from the life you were born to live and separate from God.

When your fears become strong, you might get very small because a younger part of you, an inner child is feeling frightened and needing some comfort.

As long as you judge anything about yourself to be bad or wrong, the peace and self love you seek (that we all seek) will not happen. To feel whole means creating a welcoming place within you to love and embrace all of you – your thoughts, your beliefs, your feelings and your actions. The first step is a willingness to love and accept yourself as you are with COURAGE and an open heart.

You are not broken, you do not need to be fixed, there is nothing wrong with you.

Changing your relationship with fear is a step forward to reunite you with your Sacred Self and the Divine while calming the fearfull “little you” inside.

Here are 5 myths many folks have about fear:

1) Using affirmations will change your fear beliefs if you say and write them for 21 days. Some people swear by affirmations and they do have some benefit. BUT, your subconscious is in charge of what you think, feel and do as a human being. Affirmations only work with the conscious mind that operates a teeny tiny part of your mind and don’t go deep enough to create long-last shifts in beliefs.

2) Positive mindset will change fears. Relying on your “attitude” to shift fears and worry will work in short bursts. Fears return because no permanent inner shift has occurred. Real transformation goes beyond mindset.

3) If you face fear head on, the fear will become overwhelming.Attempting to repress fear only gives it more power to impact your life especially through self-sabotage. Shining a light on the illusions and fear your mind has created invites them to crumble, freeing you from its grip forever. Transformation can occur in seconds.

4) Fear is an enemy and something to be gotten rid of. Whatever you judge within yourself as bad or wrong creates more separation and pain from who you really are and the connection with Source. Fear can be tamed and turned into any ally.

Read my article, “9 Valuable Gifts from Fear”

5) Courage is not the absence of fear. Courage is about following your heart in spite of what your mind and feelings are telling you; being willing to take those leaps of faith to follow your Divine urges. Faith is feeling trust before the evidence shows up and having the courage to do whatever it takes “in fear”.

Take an honest look at what is driving your thoughts, feelings, and actions to create your current reality.

Is it love? Is it faith? Is it courage? Is it Grace?

Or is fear, pain, struggle and scarcity?

Is your scaredy cat still controlling your life and keeping you from feeling fully alive and prosperous???

Are you believing everything you THINK?

This is a time for new beginnings and shedding old paradigms that suck the life out of your heart.

This is YOUR year!

Ready to create your new courage story and rewrite your future?

Success Attitude

Work Positive Like The Beatles

Post author By Ethan Theo
Post date July 4, 2012

Did you see Paul McCartney performing for the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee?

The world still loves the music of The Beatles fifty years later.

They’ve sold 600 million albums internationally with 20 songs going #1 on the U.S. Billboard charts.

So how did The Beatles achieve such amazing results?

More importantly, how can you learn from them and discover your business’ success in the silver lining of today’s economy?

Here is how The Beatles grew their brand and business through the lens of the five Work Positive core practices:

Perceive

The Fab Four grew up in Liverpool, England during the dark days of World War II bombing. Their hometown was basically destroyed.

Yet listen to their music. It’s uptempo, joyous, even happy. They were charming and positive.

The Beatles focused themselves mentally on the positive and filtered out the negative.

Waiting for the world to turn positive to grow your business is an elusive tomorrow. Redefine your reality today. Find something positive about your business and focus on it.

Conceive

On January 1, 1962, The Beatles auditioned for Dick Rowe, a Decca Records executive. His response was classic Eeyore Vampire: “Guitar music is on the way out.”

The Beatles avoided listening to this one response and invested their social energy into creating arguably one of the best song-writing duos ever—John Lennon and Paul McCartney. They partnered with producer George Martin, manager Brian Epstein, and publicist Derek Taylor, thus forming a Work Positive Dream Team.

Who is on your Work Positive Dream Team? Refrain from partnering with Eeyore Vampires. Instead put your heart and soul into relationships with your employer/employees, customers/clients, and vendors/suppliers that grow your business.

Believe

In addition to the infectious melodies Lennon-McCartney wrote, their lyrics were authentic. They spoke to our world then and still do 50 years later with a sincerity that captures us.

Once many musicians discover such a powerful combination of music and lyrics, their music becomes formulaic. The Beatles avoided such creative stifling. Their continuous innovation generated an imaginative musical journey from Love, Love Me Do to Let It Be” They constantly learned and improved their musical character.

How does your business innovate and respond to an ever-changing culture?

Build authenticity into your products and services. Keep them real to your business relationships. Then imagine improving them.

Achieve

The Beatles invested their attention in focusing their mental energy on positive thoughts and their social energy on positive people. They stated their intentions from their positive emotional engagement with their music.

Then they acted on their attention and intention physically. They performed in small clubs for years until their big opportunity appeared. They continued to act positively, playing The Ed Sullivan Show and the Hollywood Bowl. They persevered through all of the cultural changes.

For your business to succeed, you must keep going like The Beatles. Expect adversity. Anticipate a negative world. Persist in acting on your attention and intention.

Receive

Today a musician puts up a YouTube video in hopes of becoming a celebrity. When such celebrity status pursued them, The Beatles became rather reclusive, focusing instead on creating great music.

They gifted us with Hey Jude as we struggled to understand what the assassinations of John F. Kennedy and M.L. King, Jr. and the Vietnam War meant. They refocused us from crumbling trust in the U.S. Presidency with Yellow Submarine. The Beatles served as our positive thermostats in a negative world.

How does your business gift friends who keep your lights on? Create an exceptional business as you say “Thank You” and positively serve others in your region.

The Beatles’ Work Positive influence plays clearly in this its 50th year.

Help your business grow by following their example.

About the Author:

Dr. Joey Faucette is the #1 Amazon best-selling author of Work Positive in a Negative World (Entrepreneur Press), coach, and speaker who help professionals discover success in the silver lining of their business and achieve their dreams. Discover more at www.ListentoLife.org/speaking.