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3 Ways to Unleash Your Creativity During Social Separation

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mona-lisa-690203_960_720With all of us spending more time at home, it can be hard to find ways to unleash your inner creativity—but it doesn’t have to be that way! To help everyone reading find some inspiration we have assembled a list of 3 ways to push your creativity to new heights!

  1. Visit an Art Gallery via Virtual Tour
    Many museums around the world are offering virtual viewings online, if you are a Frida Kahlo fan you can take a tour of La Casa Azul in Mexico! Or if you wanted to view the Mona Lisa and other works you can do a tour of The Louvre! There are many examples of virtual tours that you can find online—if you have ever wanted to see a specific museum this might be your chance!
  1. Create and Curate Music Playlists & Live Music
    You do not have to go without your music during the pandemic! With services such as Spotify and Apple Music you can easily create music playlists that can help your creative side get up and running! There are also live concerts occurring all over the internet as well, just hop on Facebook or Instagram and search for live streams guitar-756326_960_720from major artists! You will be surprised with what you find!
  2. Practice and Hone Your Creative Talents
    Did you used to paint when you were younger? Or played an instrument? Write poetry? If you said yes to any of these you might want to dust off your old tools (Or maybe get new creative tools—whatever they may be, curbside pickup is great!) and start back up where you left off! Keep track of your progress in a journal and set out a time each day to practice to keep yourself honest—you’ll be amazed at how far you can go!

Being in isolation does not have to be boring or out of touch from your creative side, just find the time and make it happen!

Should My Business Be Fully Insured or Self-Funded Employee Healthcare? 

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business-3365326_960_720During these scary times it becomes imperative to save your business and your employees money on healthcare, and just finding an adequate health plan for your business is half the battle! When you are a small business owner you may become a bit overwhelmed with the choices that you have when it comes to health insurance plans for your business, but all you really have to know from the get-go is: Does my business need a Fully-Insured Healthcare Policy, or a Self-Funded Healthcare Plan?

The most famous one of the two categories of insurance would be Fully-Insured plans. These types of plans follow a simple path: You pay a premium to an insurance provider and have all insurance liabilities go through them. This arrangement does insulate your business from claims that can cost a lot and might be a little more simple to set-up, but it can cost more than other alternatives—which brings us to our next category: Self-Funded Plans!

Self-Funded plan are usually the other category that businesses fall into having, and vienna-1276396_960_720these are usually cheaper than a fully-insured plan—and I should add: Cheaper while within optimal conditions! If your Self-Funded plan has a lot of claims and high administrative overhead it might be more than a Fully-Insured plan, but in the end a Self-Funded plan usually comes out to be cheaper!  There also is another incentive to keep in mind if you are open to having a Self-Funded plan: they are exempt from most state premium taxes!

It is worth it to take a look at both with your insurance agent and see if your business would benefit from either! If you have a smaller business that might fall under the thresholds to get one of these plans there are alternatives as well! Help your business and your employees by having the best insurance plan for your needs, and at the best price!

Ways To Reduce Business Insurance Costs During COVID-19

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piggy-3608376_960_720In today’s constantly changing environment we are starting to see that in business: Cash is king. With businesses closing due to severe economic pressure, we are all starting to see that having a reserve of cash is one of the best things to have today! If you own a business and are feeling the crunch, here are a couple Commercial Insurance-related tips that can help you keep afloat:

  1. If your business has experienced a reduction in payroll or will soon see one occur, you can reduce your business’ Worker’s Compensation Insurance liability that you are insured for—just let your agent know how much your anticipated payroll will be so they can make the correction! You should see an immediate savings and it should help out!
  2. Many General Liability policies base their ratings on how much in sales a business is clearing over a 12 month period. With this being said, if you anticipate your business’ gross revenue to fall due to the outbreak of COVID-19 you could call your agent and let them know in order to reduce your premium!

The last thing that you want to do is remove your coverage—and in some cases that dollar-3259363_960_720might not even be an option! If your business is feeling the money-pinch right now, feel free to give your agent a call to see what kind of money you can save!

Small Business Loans During COVID-19: What To Do?

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money-2724237_960_720It’s hard being a small business owner and keeping your business afloat in the best of times, but right now it’s easy to see that it’s even harder to do during a pandemic! Right now businesses around the country are facing unprecedented risks and uncertainty since we do not know how long this will last! Thankfully there are avenues that a small business owner can take to ensure their business’ survival, and the survival of your employees as well!

This past March, the US Federal Government approved a stimulus named the CARE Act, and in this package there is a program named the Paycheck Protection Program made to assist small businesses during this period of economic depression! These loans under the PPP are based upon eight weeks of your prior payroll and will loan 25% more than that amount! Your business must also have less than 500 employees, and has been in business since February 15th, 2020!

These loans are actually 100% forgivable, but each business must meet specific one-69528_960_720requirements in order to do so! Loan payments can be deferred up to a year with limited interest (4% per each loan), but as mentioned before you must obey the requirements—such as maintaining payroll for employees making less than $100K a year!

If you are confused about applying or if your business is eligible, you can take a look at the Federal Government’s Small Business Administration website at SBA.gov, where you will find instructions and resources on how to get the process started!

Silver Linings of The COVID-19 Pandemic

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autumn-1764276_960_720It’s extremely difficult to see anything good coming out of this pandemic while cooped up at home watching YouTube and Netflix—but if you start to look around you will begin to notice that there are some flowers sprouting out of the cracks in the concrete! If you are an admirer of nature you will love to know that global pollution has plunged to levels not seen in a long time! For example in China, the drop in air pollution is said to have saved up to 77,000 people’s lives since the beginning of their lockdowns this past December—a staggering number to say the least!

In India, pollution in the skies has fallen by 70%, and people are actually reporting being able to see the Himalaya Mountains from their house for the first time ever! In the United States we are expecting to see a big dent in the 100,000 deaths per year that occur due to air pollution and reduction in the thousands per year in car accidents! We are also seeing an improved efficiency in the United States’ trucking fleets that are traveling all across the country! Due to the limited amount of traffic and less stop-and-go driving for big rig trucks we are seeing better fuel economy for commercial truckers—which is definitely a savings that is desperately needed these days!

There is also a huge drop in violent crime all across the world! New York City for clean-1223168_960_720example has seen an overall drop of 42% in serious crimes, and has even acknowledged the steep decline in general crime in various press releases since the beginning of the lockdowns! We are also seeing a spike in the amount of births around the world, and with parents everywhere being able to work from home we are also seeing a lot of children being able to spend time with family that wouldn’t have ever happened before!

Just like all things in life, we must look at the positives in order to move forward past our current problems! Hopefully this pandemic creates more good than bad, and that we as a society will grow better after it all comes to pass!

What Does (And Doesn’t) Homeowner’s Insurance Cover? 

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houses-2230817_960_720If you have a homeowner’s policy you will know that there are different types of coverages that exist—but an interesting fact is that J.D. Power & Associates did a study in 2019 and found that 52% of policyholders didn’t know what their policy actually covers! And that meant that homeowners didn’t know both what is covered and what coverages they should actually have for themselves!

Policies usually have Dwelling Coverage as the main part of a policy—which covers your home! Personal Property Coverage, which covers things you own within your home. And Other Structure Coverage, which covers other buildings on your property such as a garage, driveway, fences—anything that isn’t created by nature that is on your property pretty much!

There is another component that is usually a part of a Homeowner’s Insurance policy, and it is very beneficial: Personal Liability Coverage! If you had someone get hurt on your property and it was your fault you would be covered—or if you damaged someone else’s property, you would be covered! It can cover legal fees too!holiday-house-177401_960_720

What isn’t covered on a standard policy is a bit confusing too since you will probably think you will be covered if one of these happens! Acts of God such as earthquakes and flooding are usually not covered, if the sewer backs up into your house you probably aren’t covered, or things like mold/termites in the walls of your home! To get these covered you will have to get a separate policy in order to do so!

What this all means is you should talk to your insurance agent and carrier about everything that you want covered and what policies you will need to get to cover any gaps in coverage! Never be afraid to ask!

Summer Heat and Your Home

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ice-cream-cone-1274894_960_720With each coming year, the weather seems to get warmer and warmer with each coming summer season! While most Homeowner’s Insurance policies cover claims that involve extreme heat temperatures, there are situations that can be avoided all together (And keep your Homeowner’s Insurance premium low) with some simple maintenance around your home!

Common claims in the summer can range from damage from their electrical system due to a rolling blackout, or leaking pipes due to a thirsty tree’s root getting into a pipe, or a rupture due to higher pressure in water lines due to increased water usage! Using things like an updated circuit breaker and surge protectors go a long way, picking  trees that are “sewer-safe” and planting them at least 10 feet away from any existing pipelines underground! But for existing problems involving trees getting into water lines and leaky pipes within walls it’s hard to fix once the problem has already started—always keep an eye on it and never allow the damage to progress, get a professional to look at it ASAP!

If you live in an area that is prone to getting summer storms you should make sure the architecture-1845689_960_720drainage on and around your house is working properly! It is a horrible situation to find out during a hard rain that one of your rain gutters is clogged and is pooling water on your roof! Flood damage is also something to keep in mind as well, while you are checking the gutters to your house make sure all the pathways rain takes to run off your property work properly too!

Summer is a time to enjoy the outdoors and relaxing in the sun, and I know it’ll be much easier to relax as a homeowner when you know you have all your summer weather precautions covered!

Working Out From Home During Isolation!

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physiotherapy-595529_960_720If exercise was a pill, it would be a trillion dollar product due to the benefits that we as humans gain from it! With that being said it becomes important to not lose track of keeping in shape during isolation! With new guidelines by the CDC instructing us to not congregate in public places we have to get creative to keep in shape!

We can still take walks and runs outside, but be sure not to do it in places that other people trek often—but if you can’t leave your home and are completely isolated you can many find different resources on the internet for body weight workouts such as the Mayo Clinic’s workout guide, or there are many great fitness instructors for free on YouTube as well!

dumbbells-2465478_960_720If you are the type to go to a workout or spinning class with an instructor you still have options! Nike is offering free workout routines via their Training Club app as well as Planet Fitness offering their own program found on the United We Move home work-out channel on YouTube!

Try to keep yourself in-shape and happy! It has been proven that exercise improves mood and outlook—and with the world the way it is these days, exercising at home sounds like a great thing to do!