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Since its creation in 2010, Small Business Saturday has steadily grown as a national initiative. Today, business owners, community leaders, non-profit organizations, and everyday citizens in all 50 states come together the Saturday after Thanksgiving to boost their local economies and strengthen their communities.
In 2016, small business owners generated an estimated $15.4 billion dollars on Small Business Saturday alone. This year, Small Business Saturday falls on November 25th. Is your business ready to take advantage of this growing movement?
Here are six ways you can make the most of Small Business Saturday this year!
American Express, the creator and official sponsor of Small Business Saturday, is offering a free Shop Small® Studio tool on their website, which allows you to create your own customized marketing graphics. Take advantage of this feature to create signage that advertises your business’s participation.
Print flyers to post locally and at your business, and download high-quality graphics to share on your website and social media profiles. Using a large graphic as your Facebook cover photo is a good way to ensure that everyone who visits your profile will see that you are participating in Small Business Saturday.
In addition to sharing your participation with your social media followers, you should also create a public Facebook event with the date, time, and location that your sale or event will be taking place. Facebook events tend to generate a lot of interest, even from people who do not already follow you on the platform. Creating and promoting an event on Facebook is free and may even gain you some new followers.
If you have a good relationship with another non-competing small business in your area, consider joining forces for Small Business Saturday. If you own a small retail shop, you could give your customers coupons for a free appetizer at the local diner, while the diner could give their customers a coupon for savings at your store.
Doing so could help both businesses drive customers to one another. Online businesses can also use this strategy by including a coupon for another business in the order confirmation e-mail that a customer receives after making a purchase.
In order to compete with the savings that customers expect from large retailers on Black Friday and Cyber Monday, you’ll need to offer discounts greater than 10%. You may also couple or supplement this with free items or coupons for future purchases. For online retailers, offering free shipping is a must on Small Business Saturday.
Turn your Small Business Saturday sale into a fun community event for locals. You can provide light refreshments and musical entertainment, host raffles, and take up a collection of needed items for a local food bank or shelter. Add a festive backdrop to one wall with some fun photobooth props and set up a selfie station for more exposure on social media. Don’t forget the hashtag!
Between the midnight openings on Black Friday and the 24-hour shopping available on the internet, your customers expect to be able to do their holiday shipping when it is convenient for them. For Small Business Saturday, open earlier and close later than usual to gain some new customers who may otherwise pass you by.
These tips will help you spread the word about your business, meet new customers, and kick off the holiday sales season by creating a sense of community. For extra peace of mind during this busy time, make sure you have all of the right insurance coverages in place—contact us for a quote today!
Many new business owners are confused about the type of company that’s right for them. When it comes to organizational structures, you have the choice between:
There are many important details you need to decide about your business early on in order to determine which type of organization will be right for you. Watch our latest Legal Corner video to learn more!
Whatever your business type, the insurance professionals at InsureYourCompany.com can make sure you’re covered. Contact us today for a free quote or a free assessment of your unique insurance needs!
Term life insurance is a kind of time-limited life insurance policy whose value declines to zero after a certain term. This is in contrast to whole life insurance, which pays a benefit at the death of the insured person no matter what age.
Whole life insurance mixes an insurance product with an investment product; the policy holder pays into the policy for a certain payout eventually. In that sense, term life insurance is what they call “pure insurance” because the insured is paying to cover a risk of death.
Term life insurance tends to be less expensive than whole life with lower initial premiums than whole life. Heads of families tend to buy into these term policies that cover them financially while they are in their peak employment years, accumulating wealth in support of their families. They will usually stop paying premiums and the insurance will no longer cover them after the peak employment years when the payout is less necessary.
When you buy term life insurance you have two decisions to make:
Term life policies are almost always sold with standard fixed terms of 5, 10, 20, 25, or 30 years. They can almost never be customized outside these standard terms. If you buy term insurance for a longer term, you are locking in your premium cost for a longer time even as the probability of death increases.
In a way, it pays to take a longer term. If your longest lasting obligation ends in 17 years, round up and buy a policy that covers you for 20 years.
There are three main kinds of term life insurance in the marketplace.
Level term insurance are policies where the death benefit is the same for the entire term period. The premiums you pay may also be level for the entire term of the policy. The premiums may also be level only for a period of time and may increase over time.
Decreasing term insurance are policies in which the death benefit decreases over the term period. Premiums may actually increase as the death benefit decreases. This kind of insurance is usually purchased by people who want to cover a financial risk that decreases over time, such as a loan whose principle decreases as it’s paid down.
Annual renewable term insurance policies are short-term life insurance policies which can be renewed for another term without having to demonstrate that the insured person is in good health. As long as the premium is paid, the policy can be automatically renewed up to a certain specified age. Many states end renewability at the age of 80.
Another variation on basic term life insurance is called convertible insurance. These policies include a clause that enables the owner of a term policy to convert the policy to whole life during a specified period of time without having to show that he or she is in good health.
Term life policies will have to stay in force as long as you continue to pay the premiums due. The rules generally state that if you miss a premium due date, you will have a 30-day grace period to pay the due premium. The policy remains in effect during the grace period. Your term policy will terminate if you fail to pay during the grace period.
If you buy life insurance through an employer’s group or another group, the policy is likely to terminate if you are no longer a member of the group, through job loss or other reasons.
InsureYourCompany.com was founded in 2001 with the idea to make insurance better for business owners, and we’ve expanded our products to do the same for individuals and families as well. We take a hands-on approach to help our clients now and in the future. Contact us for a free quote otday!
Many businesses require employee drug testing, and yours may be one of them. Not only is it a good indicator of the type of employee you are potentially hiring, but it is a good standard to have when there is an accident in the workplace.
Here are a few things you should know about employee drug testing so you can make an informed decision that’s right for you and your company.
Unless your company is run by the government or is a safety-sensitive type of workplace such as mass transit or aviation, drug testing is usually your choice. If you want to be sure that your employees and potential new hires are free from substances, it is an excellent idea.
The reason government agencies and those involved with safety issues require drug testing is that it keeps everyone safe. Not only are drug-free employees a must when it comes to public safety, it also keeps your employees more accident-free.
There are certain conditions under which you could test for drugs if your company decides to require it.
Keep in mind that consistency is important in the workplace. You do not want to look as if you are singling out an employee; you should have sufficient evidence when randomly testing a specific employee.
You should also be fair with your discipline between employees. You should not treat one different from another except in instances where a positive result has happened more than once. For example, an employee tests positive for an illegal drug and is let go from the company, yet another employee also tests positive and is given a warning. This is not only unfair, it is not a good business practice and can open up the door to a discrimination lawsuit.
As a small business owner, are you finding that after years of hard work, your business is finally starting to take off? If so, that’s great!
Often, small business owners who experience positive results from their first retail location immediately start dreaming about opening another one. However, sometimes they aren’t actually ready to expand their business.
Are you considering opening a second location for your small business? Before rushing out to do so, you should ask yourself if it’s the right time to expand. There are several variables that can determine if expansion is a good option or not.
Here are four important determinants that can help decide when it’s time to open a second location for your small business.
One of the main factors for determining whether you should open a second location for your business is the state of your business. Your business needs to be good shape before adding another location. This entails having a considerable amount of sales and a surplus of customers, along with a solid projected cash flow.
Of course, every business owner is thrilled when a lot of people are buying their products. On the other hand, it can be frustrating when your products are in high demand, but you’re unable to produce more of them because of a lack of space or staff.
Do you find yourself having to turn away customers who want to buy your products because you’re running out of inventory too quickly? This is another indicator suggesting the need to expand your business and your workforce.
Your business may be doing exceptionally well, but if you don’t have enough money for the additional costs needed for expanding your business, it may not be a good idea. Consider you’ll need to budget for more equipment, extra inventory, and rent expenses. What’s more, you’ll have to increase your workforce, buy more insurance, and pay for licensing fees.
Before opening up a second location for your business, be sure your physical presence isn’t needed for the success of your new location. In other words, the business at your proposed second location should be able to run smoothly without you having to be there.
If your customers don’t mind doing business with someone other than you, expansion may be a good option. But if this isn’t the case, you may not want to proceed in opening a second business location.
Expanding a business to a second location can mean making changes in the type or amount of property insurance you need. For example, your new location may be located in an area with a different zip code or have more space than your first building. These are two factors that can affect the amount of property insurance coverage you’ll need.
Keep in mind, you’ll probably need to have insurance coverage for items, such as roofing, signage, and contents of a building. Furthermore, a larger building can mean needing more insurance coverage for additional equipment, furniture, and inventory. When having to make significant investments for equipment, it’s crucial you consult with your insurance agent to determine if you should increase your insurance coverage.
Opening an additional location in the same state isn’t as complicated as opening a new location in a different state. Therefore, be sure to talk to your agent about state regulations, in addition to specific laws and requirements for your proposed location because requirements differ among states. In fact, there can even be different rules for different areas in the same state.
Just like when you’re starting a new business, opening a second location requires a lot of thoughtful planning and professional soul-searching. It’s a big risk, but there can also be big rewards if you are successful. If you’re considering an expansion, you might consider revisiting your original business plan—or, if you never laid one out, start laying one out now!
Being self-employed certainly has its perks. You essentially get to be your own boss, make your own decisions, and more or less set your own work schedule.
At the same time, there are some inherent drawbacks to being self-employed. Not only do you pay more in taxes (ahem, hello, self-employment tax), but you also miss out on employer-provided benefits like retirement contribution matching and even group health insurance.
Fortunately, finding quality (yet affordable) health insurance coverage when you’re self-employed isn’t impossible by any means. All it takes is a little bit of research and shopping around on your part.
First of all, don’t make the mistake of foregoing health insurance coverage while you’re self-employed. Not only will you face a hefty penalty when it comes time to file your taxes (as long as the ACA is still around, anyway), but you’ll also be in a world of hurt should you actually require medical attention.
The only exception to this is a situation where your spouse or domestic partner (depending on the state in which you live) has insurance coverage and is able to add you to his or her policy. Otherwise, you need to purchase your own coverage; it’s as simple as that.
The first step to take if you need to purchase your own health insurance is to check the federal marketplace and determine whether you’re eligible for a subsidy or not.
These subsidies are provided by the federal government to help alleviate some of the costs associated with buying your own health insurance. They are typically based on your annual income, and your subsidy will be determined by income and several other factors. You can find out about your eligibility by simply filling out a quick application online.
If you aren’t eligible for a subsidy but have limited funds to pay for health insurance, take some time to carefully weigh your coverage needs and be realistic. While it’s impossible to predict if you’ll get injured or fall ill in the near future, you can get a general ideal of your coverage needs by assessing your medical history.
If you know you have several diagnosed medical problems that require regular care and treatment by, say, a specialist, then you’ll probably want to opt for more coverage and a policy that allows you to see a wide network of doctors.
On the other hand, if you have been relatively healthy throughout your life, you may be able to save money on a plan with a higher deductible and a more limited network of doctors.
When you’re self-employed, a high-deductible health plan can sometimes make sense—and these plans come with a health savings account (HSA) that allows you to accrue interest and defer taxes on any contributions. Furthermore, when you do use the account to pay for approved medical expenses, these withdrawals are tax-free.
This is a great option to consider if you end up with a high-deductible plan, as your out-of-pocket costs will be greater and an HSA can help you cover them. Furthermore, even if you end up becoming employed in a “traditional” job down the road, the money left in your HSA remains yours.
Shopping for health insurance coverage while you’re self-employed can be a little time-consuming, but by following these tips, you’ll be well on your way to a plan that works for you.
As a business owner, it’s important for you to understand the different types of forms that need to be filed when tax time rolls around. Familiarizing yourself with the various forms and what they’re all for will not only help you be a better, wiser employer, but help avoid confusion and scary audits down the road.
In our latest installment of Alan’s Insurance Talks, Alan discusses the IRS Form 941, which is filed quarterly to report your gross payroll and the tax you have collected from your employees.
Remember: Alan is not an account or CPA! If you have any questions about this form, you should contact your accountant or the IRS.
Since 2001, InsureYourCompany.com has been working with New Jersey small businesses to protect their assets and provide great employee benefits. For a free insurance quote for your business, click the banner below to contact our team of experts.
As a small business owner, you have to accomplish many tasks over the course of each day. Some days, it may feel as though you’re working nonstop! Not only that, but your small business is probably constantly on your mind, even after hours.
While it’s admirable to be so dedicated to your company, all that effort can quickly lead to burnout and feelings of frustration if you aren’t careful.
Follow these tips to help you avoid the type of burnout that is all too common for many small business owners.
Keep in mind that your business doesn’t have to be top priority all the time. Make sure that your work/life balance doesn’t tip all the way toward the “work” side of the scale!
Whether it’s making time for a date night with your spouse or burning off steam by hitting the gym when the work day is over, fit in some time for yourself in your busy schedule.
As your small business grows, so will the number of employees you get to work with every day. Those employees often have valuable contributions to offer to your business—including their ability to take tasks off your plate.
Learn what your employees are good at—and potentially what they’d like to be good at—and pass tasks to them that will free up some of your time. The better you get at delegating, the more you’ll decrease your odds of fast burnout.
There are many tasks that people within your business might not be able to take on as part of their regular job descriptions. In many cases, however, you can outsource those services to a company that’s dedicated to taking care of them.
Know your own hourly rate, then do your research. If it costs less for you to hire someone to do a task than it does to pay yourself for the time spent doing it, it’s well worth the expense.
Not only that, but research shows that one of the key spending habits that will lead to happiness is buying time: that is, paying someone to accomplish a task that then frees up more time in your schedule.
One of the biggest causes of burnout is simple boredom. Instead of trapping yourself in the cycle of doing the same thing every day, look for challenges that will engage your mind and help increase your motivation.
Sometimes, clients will approach you who don’t really understand what your business does. Other times, you’ll get demanding clients who are going to end up being more of a headache than they’re worth—or who might end up costing your business money.
Know when to turn down jobs that don’t fit the needs of your business and your employees. In the long run, it will save everyone a lot of stress.
A disorganized work space increases stress and makes it harder for you to take care of your daily work responsibilities. Your organization system doesn’t have to make sense to anyone but you, but you do need to have one.
By organizing your work space, you’ll both make it easier for others to help you (since they’ll be able to walk in and find the things they need) and you’ll decrease the amount of time you spend fumbling for important paperwork or struggling through piles of debris in your office.
If you develop a habit of spending a few minutes tidying up at the end of each work day, you’ll get to come in to a fresh office every morning.
Avoiding burnout as a small business owner isn’t easy. Knowing that your company and your employees are properly insured, however, can help relieve many of your stress triggers. Contact us today to learn more about the types of insurance we can provide your business.
Around 70% of graduates leave school with some degree of student debt. With an average of more than $37,000 accepted as the norm for the Class of 2016, that’s not a debt that’s going to be paid off in the first couple of years in the workforce.
If you’ve always dreamed of starting your own small business, but you’re struggling to get out from under the load of student loan debt, there’s hope! You can start your company while carrying this burden—you just need to be practical and scrappy.
Have you attended several colleges throughout the course of your education? Are you paying balances in several different locations? You can consolidate your student loans and possibly reduce your monthly payments as a result.
In some cases, you may also be able to embark on a program that will allow you to temporarily put off paying on your student loans while you get your small business off the ground. Keep in mind, however, that these programs won’t stop your student loan from accumulating interest, so it’s still critical that you take whatever steps you can to pay off those loans as soon as possible.
Starting your own small business is a financially risky proposition with or without debt. If you’re successful, you have the potential to significantly increase your personal income. On the other hand, times may be lean for a while when you first start the business.
Before you jump in, make sure you have a savings account that will support you for at least three to six months. This is important before any major change in your income status, but it’s doubly important when you have student loan debt that you need to pay off.
If you genuinely want to get started with your small business venture as soon as possible, be prepared to live lean for the first little while. Starting this process as you’re building your savings is a great way to test your personal commitment and make sure you’re willing to live within your means while you’re building your small business.
This might include steps like:
If you genuinely want to start a small business, but you’re not sure that it’s going to be successful immediately, consider starting your business as a side hustle.
You can start growing your client base and your income without giving up your current job. This will allow you to test the waters locally for clients, see how you like working for yourself, and offer a financial safety net at the same time.
Not only that, if you’re still working at your other job, you can put more of the money your small business generates back into the business itself, which can help it grow faster.
Your college classes prepared you for plenty of things in the business world, but there may still be some holes in your education. Before you start your small business, make sure you’re prepared. You need to:
Starting your own business is an exciting journey. Make sure you’re prepared for every aspect of it, then, even if you have student loan debt, dive in! It’s a process that’s well worth the effort you’ll expend.
One important part of preparing for your daily business operation is securing the insurance you need to be successful. Contact us today to learn how we can help set your business up for success despite the potential disasters that could try to stand in your way.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Manalapan, NJ – October 9, 2017 – We are happy to announce the hiring of Steven Segerman. An experienced Insurance Account Executive, Steve will help us to expand our personal insurance lines.
Steven is personable and knowledgeable in all types of insurance. He is especially knowledgeable in personal home and auto insurance. He has a very diverse background, and his education and life experience will provide InsureYourCompany.com a valuable resource.
With 25 years of small business ownership experience, Steven understands the insurance needs of the small business owner all too well. In his spare time, he is a drummer in a band that plays just for the fun of it. He is a huge rock ‘n’ roll music fan, and has been the number one fan of the Beatles since he was 11 years old—he was even able to see them live at Shea Stadium in 1965!
If you currently have a personal home or auto insurance policy, Steve would be happy to review it for you and make sure you have the needed limits and coverage at the most affordable price. His email address is Steven@InsureYourCompany.com; he can also be reached at 888-242-4675, extension 2024. Please feel free to contact him to answer any questions you might have!
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InsureYourCompany.com has been treating clients like family for over 15 years. You’ll never have to talk to an automated phone system—we have business insurance experts ready to provide personalized customer service, not only helping you with your insurance and employee benefits needs, but showing you how to be a smarter business owner.
If you are in the IT industry InsureYourCompany.com is the insurance agent you want to work with, we are technology insurance experts and have changed the way you do business. See below a list of professionals who we help today.
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