Phil heath youtube video - "Phil heath is my dad :D (joke)".

new Phil heath youtube video, well kind of, just found this video on youtube of a amateur odybuilder posing, video title says "Phil heath is my dad :D", i think the poser is meaning in relation to him having such good genetics, and muscle shape like phil heath.

though the guys shape also has a look of dexter jackson as well.



can the real phil heath stand up, phil heath arms, phil being known for some of the biggest arms in bodybuilding:



going to be looking at the phil heath diet and phil heath workout in some upcoming posts as well.

Umbrella Policy

Here are a couple thoughts on the Commercial Umbrella Policy.  This is a policy that most businesses carry because some agent told them it was good to have and most of the businesses they communicate with have one as well.  But do you know what the purpose of it is?  Do you know how big it should be?  Do you know how it works?  Try to picture in your mind an actual umbrella that protects you from the rain and I think we might use this to paint a mental picture of how this policy functions.

First, you only use it when it rains.  When the sprinkles turn to rain drops, then to hail, it's time to pull out the umbrella and protect yourself.  When you find your business in the middle of a lawsuit that could settle for far more than your underlying insurance limits, this is where the umbrella policy kicks in.  It provides extra limits on top of your standard liability limits (Most commonly $1 million per occurence).

Second, how much do you need to protect?  Are you by yourself in the rain or do you have your family of 8 with you?  A Commercial Umbrella policy can be as large as you want it to be.  The good news is, the first million is always the most expensive.  Beyond that, it gets cheaper for each additional million $ in coverage you choose to add.  What it comes down to is:  What is at stake?  How much is the business worth?  Beyond what point are you willing to take on the risk?  Sometimes I refer to the Umbrella Policy as sleep insurance.  You can sleep well at night knowing that whatever claim may be brought against you will be sufficiently covered and settled by your insurance company.  Ideally, you would carry an umbrella big enough to protect the whole family.

Last and MOST IMPORTANT...Pay attention here...This is something that is frequently misunderstood.  The insurance company that writes the Umbrella policy first looks at what the underlying protection is and requires that the full limits of that underlying protection be in place at the inception of this policy.  So, as a business owner, the first thing you should do is have the same annual date on ALL of your commercial policies.  This is something that is frequently misunderstood because most agents don't take the time to explain the ramifications of moving an effective date to improve your pricing on one piece of the pie.  They just want the pie.  I won't go into all the examples of why this could be a problem but I am happy to explain individually in more detail.  The other thing is that all of your insurance policies should be with the same insurance carrier whenever possible.  One example:

X Insurance Company underwrites a Commercial Umbrella Policy.  They agree to write a $5 million umbrella policy over the underlying coverages already quoted by their own company.  These underlying coverages might include General Liability, Auto Liability, Employer Benefit Liability, Professional Liability, etc. They have agreed to write the Umbrella policy based on the fact that they know the terms & conditions of the underlying insurance because it is also written by their company.  The Umbrella policy is written under the assumption that these specific underlying coverages will be maintained throughout the policy period.  Local Business enters into an agreement with X insurance company to provide all this insurance.  6 months later, here comes Stud insurance agent.  Stud promises Local Business that he can save them 20% on their Commercial Auto insurance.  The owner decides that sounds pretty good and allows Stud to bring them some quotes.  The next day, Stud shows up with a quote for the Auto insurance and sure enough, he has lowered the price dramatically.  The owner decides it is his best option to cancel his current policy with X Insurance half way through the year and move this piece of the insurance business.  Stud is thrilled because he just picked up a piece of business and is walking away with his commission.

Here's what Stud never explained to the owner about moving this policy:  The limits may have been slightly modified to bring premiums down, the terms and conditions with his company are different than those written by X Insurance, the financial rating is slightly different, the deductibles have changed a little bit, etc.  So what happens when Local Business has a huge Auto claim 3 months later and tries to use the limits of their $5 million Umbrella Policy?  Remember the conditions under which the policy was originally written?  These additional limits of protection will no longer be available above the limits of the Auto policy.

Unfortunately, these are the types of things that all to often go unexplained to a business owner.  The owner gets sucked in by low rates without considering the drawbacks because they don't understand insurance contracts.  This is why you have an insurance agent that is a trusted advisor instead of a "Stud".  This is why you should look for an agent that will openly discuss and take time to explain these things to you.  This is one of the many, many examples of why you shouldn't make decisions about your business insurance solely based on price.

A NEW YEAR

AS FAR AS WORK GOES, THIS IS MY FAVORITE TIME OF YEAR- THE FIRST OF JANUARY.  IT MEANS NEW OPPORTUNITIES, NEW GOALS, AND A FRESH MARKET.  EVERY BUSINESS WILL DEAL WITH THEIR INSURANCE SOMETIME IN 2011 AND HOPEFULLY THIS MEANS MORE OPPORTUNITIES FOR ME TO DO MY JOB AND PROVIDE ASSISTANCE IN THIS PROCESS.  I AM REALLY LOOKING FORWARD TO THIS YEAR AS I AM ENTERING MY FOURTH YEAR IN THE INSURANCE INDUSTRY AND THIRD AS AN AGENT.

I ALSO LOOK FORWARD TO MEETINGS WITH MY CLIENTS AND MORE OPPORTUNITIES TO HELP THEM THROUGHOUT THIS YEAR AS THEY DEAL WITH CHALLENGES AND CHANGES IN THEIR BUSINESSES.  I HOPE THAT THOSE OF YOU WHO READ MY BLOG WILL CONTINUE TO DO SO AS I STRIVE TO USE IT AS AN AVENUE OF FEEDING INFORMATION TO YOU AT YOUR CONVENIENCE.  I WILL THEN BE ABLE TO BETTER SERVE YOU AS WE DISCUSS ANY QUESTIONS OR TOPICS IN FURTHER DETAIL AT OUR MEETINGS.

I WISH YOU ALL A VERY HAPPY AND SUCCESSFUL NEW YEAR!!

Key Man Insurance

“Key Man” Insurance

Losing an important employee who plays a large role in the company is a very tough ordeal for the whole organization. There is a large risk that the whole operation may be affected or hindered. For these situations there is the “Key Man” Insurance. It is intended to protect the company from a loss of the “key employee”. Unlike the traditional disability insurance wherein the employee is the recipient of the benefits, here in “Key Man” Insurance the company is the one who would reap the benefits. The insurance vehicles for key man insurance can take two forms: Disability insurance or life insurance. Even if you are your company’s only “key man”, you should consider taking out key man insurance on yourself.  If there is anyone in your organization that you could not operate without or who's skills and experience drive your profitability then you might want to consider purchasing this type of insurance.

ALL IN

What do you think of when you hear the term "All In"?  I think of a poker player who is so confident in his ability to win a hand that he is willing to put all of his chips on the line.  I also think of an entrepreneur who is so confident in his ability to make his business work that he is willing to put all of his resources and the livelihood of his family on the line to make it happen.  There are many people in our business community who have committed everything to building a successful business.  This is what it takes.  You have to be "all in".  There are many factors we can control when it comes to building a successful business such as hard work, providing good service, fulfilling a need, developing good products, and hiring quality people.  Essentially, we are able to choose the hand we are dealt.  That is what makes our country great.  Every single person has this opportunity to bring something innovative and new to the table and build a successful enterprise.  However, there are a lot of people who are not willing to put it all on the line. 

There are certain risks that we have no control over which scare people away from seizing the opportunity to go "all in".  We sometimes get caught up in thinking:  What happens if I go all in then my building burns down?  What if I hire the wrong person who steals money out of my company and sabotages the organization?  What if someone sues me because I did something wrong or didn't perform my work perfectly? What if my products are no good and cause damage to someone of something?  What if an earthquake or other natural disaster puts me out of business?

Fortunately, there are insurance answers for these questions.  This is why we buy insurance.  Sometimes after several years of running a successful business and never having to deal with something going wrong, we start to think that we are somewhat invincible and that all those things we worried about when we started the business are no longer a threat to us.  So we start to cut back on our insurance spending, commit to larger deductibles that we may or may not be able to meet, and shop our policies so competitively that we take the value of a quality agent out of the picture because we no longer need someone looking out for us.  All of a sudden, we just want the lowest premiums attached to somewhat decent service so we can get our insurance certificates to the people that request them.  When was the last time you sat down with your insurance agent and discussed every business exposure you could think of and looked at insurance options before deciding to retain those risks or transfer them to an insurer?  When you let a new agent work on your insurance, are you looking for a lower price on the same product or are you looking for what they can bring to the table as far as advice, knowledge, and superior service?

If you are "all in" with your business as many people are these days, let's get back to the basics.  Let's make sure you are properly insured.  Let's make sure you know what your exposures are and what options you have.  Let's make sure you know what risks you can and can't afford to retain.  Let's make sure you are getting the knowledge and advice you deserve from your insurance agent.  Please give me a call if you feel like it would be valuable to you to have an in-depth discussion on protecting your business assets and liabilities.  If you are a client of mine, let’s spend a little extra time this next year discussing your options as we always do but taking some time to brainstorm and think about the things we might have missed or haven’t discussed before.  I would encourage everyone to go “all in” because that is where success is found; but don’t do it without knowing what your uncontrollable risks are and creating a plan to protect yourself.

A Nice Note From A Client Today

I really appreciate the occasional notes of acknowledgement I get from my insured's.  I really need to do a better job of sending the same kind of notes to those who work hard for me.

"Thank you for following up on this. I appreciate the professional manner Blake and yourself handled this with our insurance company. You fought for our little business. In addition, Blake went a long way in educating me (your client) about our coverage, gave me (your client) options on how to go forward, shift coverage and still get the protection we need. In short, I am a grateful customer."

GENERAL LIABILITY TO THE "T"

Most business owners and professional service providers purchase General Liability insurance because it is a very common requirement that they have it by the people they do business with.  How many people actually understand General Liability insurance and what it is for??  I want to take a minute to walk through an example which will hopefully help us all understand it a little better.  I think if we understand it a little better then we might have a greater appreciation for it, which will also help us to know why it can be so dang expensive!

For my made up example, I am going to use John's Manufacturing Co.  John manufactures children's toys and ships them to various distribution outlets.  EVERYBODY John wants to do business with is requiring him to provide them a certificate of insurance for General Liability which includes Products and Completed Operations.  The retail outlets that sell his goods want to be Additional Insureds on John's policy.  John has never had any problems with any of his toys and has never had a single complaint.  So, let's address some of the questions as to why John needs to have this policy in place.

What does the General Liability policy cover?

This policy protects John's Manufacturing Company againt Bodily Injury or Property Damage arising out of his operations.  Generally, defense costs are outside the limits of insurance so any claim or lawsuit that is brought against John's Manufacturing Co. for Bodily Injury or Property Damage will be defended by his insurance company until settled.  Any idea how much those defense costs alone can add up to??  Then, any settlements will reduce his limits for the policy year accordingly.

Nothing has ever happened before.  What could possibly go wrong?  Here are a few scenarios:

A school class visits John's Manufacturing facility on a field trip.  While touring the buildings, one of the students is badly burned by a piece of equipment.  The students family brings a lawsuit against John's Manufacturing.  This type of injury could happen at any business to any visitor.  A slip and fall, a negligent employee, failure to block access to a dangerous area, etc.  Your premises can be a huge liability exposure for your company.

A child is poisened by a chemical used in the paint on the toys and the family brings a lawsuit against John's Manufacturing because of the unsafe product.  Does your business have any products/completed operations that could potentially harm somebody? 

John hires an electrician to update some wiring in his building.  During the process, the electrician starts a fire which burns a large portion of the neighboring building which belongs to another business.  The other business sues the electrician AND John's Manufacturing for their damages.  John's insurance company will defend him in this circumstance until a settlement is made.  Is what might happen is that the business sues the electrician but finds out that they dont have proper insurance or their insurance is insufficient, then they drag John's Manufacturing into the lawsuit.  This is where the importance of hiring quality subcontractors comes into play and getting insurance certificates from them naming you as an Additional Insured if they are going to perform some work or provide some product on your behalf.  This is why we are all required by the people we do business with to carry our own insurance!

I hope this helps clarify the General Liability policy a little bit.  I am happy to answer any questions or discuss certain circumstances with you individually anytime.  Truth is, there is a wide range of exposures for any business or individual that provides a product or service.  The examples are endless and some of the lawsuits/settlements that go through an insurance carrier would amaze you.  Remember, your business and all of it's assets are at stake and in some instances you can personally be liable in these situations.  As a side note, an Umbrella policy provides excess limits to your insurance policy in the event that you have a huge claim or your base limits are exhausted.  It is not uncommon for us to insure our business clients with a $5,000,000 Umbrella Policy on top of their $1m/$2m General Liability limits but these Umbrella's can go up to whatever limits make you feel comfortable.