The most popular True North Business Consulting newsletter and video is on the topic of charities. The holiday season is a good time to revisit the topic and update it. First, as a business you may want to choose one or two charities to support- a local food bank, a larger organization or something personal. When you choose a charity to support you want to do some homework.
First, check the grade of your charity. Charity Navigator (http://www.charitynavigator.org) provides information on where funds go in each charity. For example the American Red Cross gets 3 out of 4 stars versus Feeding of America gets 4 stars. Why the difference? Possibly expenses or salaries could be an issue.
Second, make sure you agree with the mission of the organization. You may be a pet lover and want to link to an animal shelter, but you should see if it is a no-kill shelter if you believe that is important.
Charitable giving can also be to your benefit. Not in the way that is makes you feel that you are helping others, but it may help your business. Try to choose a charity with an active website or social media program that is willing to recognize your business as a contributor (a link back to your webpage would be great). If the charity has a newsletter, then ask to be featured. This may be easier with a smaller organization than a larger organization.
A Holistic Approach
By: True North Business Consulting
Each month True North Business Consulting, LLC presents a different topic to help you in your business.
The idea behind holism is that all the parts must be taken into account, not just the whole. In the health and wellness community it is known as alternative medicine, taking into account social, physical, and other components to help those with illnesses. It has been successful, so why not apply the same idea to business?
What this means for businesses is that it is not just about reaching the end goal, but how you get there. All the businesses I work with want to be successful, meaning they want to make money. But, there has to be thought given to all the dimensions.
Marketing
When advertising are their truthful statements being made? And where did the statements come from? So many times people use written information from websites as if it is open to the public. It’s not. Someone wrote that copy and it should be respected. Ask permission, if you want to use their words.
Management
Part of managing a business is the everyday dealings. Those dealings are with clients and with employees. Each should be treated with respect. No one wants to do business with a practice that is not well run.
As employees we spend a lot of time at work. There needs to be benefits, even small ones like sharing a meal. Never take employees fore granted.
Legal
Make sure the contracts are fair to both sides, that all of the ramifications and risks are understood. Too many times one party takes advantage of the other party. Even more so, there is a vindictive nature that seems to come out to destroy each other. I am sure that was not the primary intention of dealings, and all of the ramifications- more than loss of money are not being considered.
A holistic approach to business takes into account the social impact of business decisions, not just for the sake of business. There is an understanding that people are humans, and that there is an end ramification, trying to be holistic will leads to more satisfaction in your business dealings.
If you want more information on this topic or wish to make a consultation appointment, please go to truenorthbusinessconsulting.com
Welcome to TrueNorth Business Consulting presentation of a Business Makeover. Each month will feature an idea that can help your business. True North focuses on small businesses, but especially helping health and wellness practitioners to maintain and grow their business using the areas of law, marketing, insurance and project management.
I gave a seminar, and when I finished I had a few people come up to me to ask questions. I was surprised that the questions were ones that would require about 5 minutes of internet research to get an answer. It struck me that people don’t do research, and part of managing any project or making a business decision is looking at historical information.
Historical information let’s you see what was done right and what was done wrong. Other people have made similar or the same decisions. You may be able to find some information on the internet, or you may have to ask others.
An example I like to use to illustrate the usefulness of research is designing a website. Once you decide you need, or want to revamp a website, what do you do? Well, first you want to look at other websites-see what they have done successfully and not so successfully. What do you like about that website? Next, you want to think about the elements—do you want a blog? Do you need a shopping cart?
Before you hire someone, you want to look at what is available that you can do yourself. There are online blogging programs, like WordPress or LiveJournal that you may want to use, which would be less expensive.
If you are using a web designer, then get referrals to many. Ask to see their work, and talk to their clients, if possible. You want to make sure your project comes in on time and within budget. Check out the web designer’s previous experience.
Lastly, you want to make a list of all the things you want on your website, along with a date of when you want them completed by. As time goes on with your project, then you can check off things on your list, and also write comments on what is going well and what you need to change.
In the future, when you need another website, you will have your research, plus your historical information to go back to. You will notice a faster project, and have used your research skills to get you there.
Welcome to TrueNorth Business Consulting presentation of a Business Makeover. Each month will feature an idea that can help your business. True North focuses on helping health and wellness practitioners to maintain and grow their business using the areas of law, marketing, insurance and project management.
Health insurance is a hot topic, as the President tries to press forward on Universal Health Care. Universal health care is healthcare coverage for all eligible residents of a country, which covers medical, dental and mental health. In most countries is it paid for by the public in the form of taxes. The United States does not have this type of system for all its citizens. Medicare gives health insurance benefits, under age 65 with certain disabilities and to those with End-Stage Renal Disease. To understand the topic, there needs to be a discussion of the basics of health insurance.
At least 15% of people in the United States are uninsured. Those that are insured, who are not Medicare participants have one of the three basic types of health plans:
• Health Maintenance Organizations: HMO Plans pay for your coverage in advance, rather than paying for each health-related service separately. For the price of a monthly premium, your HMO will offer you a range of benefits from preventative care to dental or vision coverage. You choose a primary care physician and will need referrals to specialists. You pay a co-payment for each visit.
• Preferred Provider Organizations: PPO Plans negotiate lower overall fee arrangements with an assortment of doctors, hospitals, clinics, and other health providers. Your cost-sharing rate will be lower in-network than out, but you still have the freedom to step out of the network for treatment if you prefer.
• Fee-for-Service Plans (Indemnity): This plan reimburses medical providers for each service received on a case-by-case basis. A Fee-for-Service plan requires payment of an annual deductible before it begins to reimburse the insured for covered services. It also gives family members the freedom choose doctors, hospitals, and clinics.
The problem with these plans is the cost and coverage. The deductibles that need to be met prior to the insurance becoming effective can be high as a cost cutting technique. It is not unheard of for a deductible to $4,000 to $6,000. In an average year most individuals and families will not meet that threshold, therefore paying their medical expenses out of pocket.
The other issue is that most employers do not cover health insurance fully. A percentage is taken out of each paycheck. This lessens the take home pay.
Then there is the 15% that do not have insurance. Prior to Massachusetts making health insurance a requirement, it like New Jersey required the hospitals to take in charity cases. Currently in Massachusetts with some exceptions, individuals who cannot show proof of health insurance coverage that meets the standard of minimum creditable coverage by Dec. 31, 2007, will lose their personal income tax exemption when filing their 2007 income taxes. Failure to meet the individual mandate in 2008 will result in a fine for each month the individual does not have coverage. The fine will equal 50 percent of the least costly available insurance premium that meets the standard for minimum creditable coverage. Other states do not have any system, leaving the uninsured to navigate.
The uninsured can be further broken down by those who are employed, but their employers are not required by state law to provide any health insurance as a benefit; the unemployed; and those that have pre-existing conditions which make them uninsurable.
Universal health care may or may not be the answer. There are multi-level issues, which need a multi-level approach. When looking at this complicated issue, discussions should focus on how to lower healthcare cost, retain quality, lower deductibles and decrease the cost of health insurance.
Insuring Your Risk
by Cynthia Pasciuto
Welcome to TrueNorth Business Consulting’s presentation of a Business Makeover. Each month will feature an idea that can help your business as featured on Diva Toolbox Radio. True North focuses on helping health and wellness practitioners to maintain and grow their business using the areas of business law, marketing, insurance and project management.
What is insurance?
Insurance provides risk management where the person purchasing the insurance or paying premiums transfers the cost of a potential loss to an insurance company. One might think in a business such as health and wellness practice that there are limited risks or only the rare occasion of malpractice. However, risk from the point of view of clients is very different and very much a reality.
What are the risks I need to protect from?
I have a quick analysis for you. Identify everything that can possibly happen from the instant your clients enter the front door of your office or space until some time well after they leave. For example:
• Trips and falls
• Injuries or ailments from what you did
Then you want to do the same, but from your perspective. What could you possibly lose?
• Fire loss
• Stolen items
• Disability
• Sickness
Insurance provides you will strategies to deal with all foreseeable scenarios.
What types of insurance should I get?
First, sometimes you are able to contract your risk away with another party taking the risk for you. They would be willing to pay out, but if that is not the case then insurance is an essential and cost-effective way to protect yourself and your business.
Looking back on the foreseeable scenarios—ones we can guess could happen. This is where you want to ignore all the crazy stories you have heard about from other people in your same line of work. This will focus on the common types of losses.
• Trips and falls in addition to fire loss and stolen items are covered under a Business Owners Policy, which covers your liability and property. This is in regards to your premises only.
• Injuries or ailments from what you did are covered under a malpractice or errors and omissions policy. This covers you in regards to your profession.
• There are disability policies and also health insurance to provide coverage for yourself.
Exclusions
I have heard countless stories from clients that they had insurance, but didn’t realize their loss was not covered because it was excluded on the policy. An exclusion is a person or incident that is not covered under your insurance policy, meaning the insurance company will not pay.
The exclusions need to be reviewed with the utmost case. This section varies from one insurance company to the next and could be the determining factor when choosing an insurer (an insurance company). You want to make sure you are not violating the insurance company’s guidelines.
Insurance can help you and your business. It may just seem like an expense that you will never use. I hope so! In the meantime though you will have peace of mind and don’t forget you can advertise that you are insured to make you stand out from other businesses that are not.
