Cool Christmas Stuff
Looking for some cool Christmas decorations, Christmas decor, Christmas ornaments, Christmas recipes, or general Christmas ideas? Here’s a compilation of some of my favorites which I found online. Enjoy…
Book Tree
"Redneck Christmas Tree"
Santa Pancakes (Link to Recipe)
Santa Claus Crackers (links to recipe)
Mustache Christmas Ornament
Santa Hat Brownies
Click to see Dogs in Christmas Hats
Merry Christmas for Every Smoker
Personally, I love the Dollar Store
Printable bottle gift tags in case, you've given up shopping and are just giving away all your wine
A Cab Fare Can Be A Lot Like an Insurance Premium
Picture this scenario: You’re at a party with friends drinking alcohol throughout the night. It’s getting late and time to start thinking about making it home. You drove to the party, but driving home after having a “few” drinks? Hmm….decisions decisions. You might not be wasted or anything, but what if you get behind the wheel to drive? Are you willing to take that risk?
The irrational side of your mind is telling you “This is going to be a good $40-$50 just to get home.” Then, I’m going to have to get up tomorrow morning and get a ride from someone to pick up my car.”
The logical side of your brain tells you “What’s $50 bucks compared to getting pulled over and slammed with a DUI and going through ten years of hell and torment and spending tens of thousands of dollars in penalties for making a stupid decision?”
What decision would you make? Have you made in this situation in the past?
This scenario got me thinking about how a cab fare can be a great analogy for buying insurance.
Calling the cab to get home in this sequence of events is a lot like buying insurance. With insurance, you are spending a small amount of money (an insurance premium) that you don’t necessarily want to pay, but do so to protect your livelihood. With a cab fare, you’re paying the price to make it home safely. It kind of sucks having to spend that money on an insurance premium or cab fare when you can technically use it to buy those new Nike shoes you’ve been eyeballing on Zappos.
If you choose the alternative, to play with fire and drive your own car, you are taking on a serious amount of risk. This is a lot like NOT buying insurance.Yeah, you may get lucky and make it home fine, but if you get pulled over, or hit someone, you can be screwed forever, possibly for life! You want to save some money and avoid the hassle of paying your insurance premium, but if you suffer a loss, your business could be done for good.
Ask yourself, are you in a position where you would rather “save your money” and not buy the necessary insurance to protect your business? By paying the monthly premium, you’re protecting you and/or your business from otherwise serious risk.
Trust me on this, should you decide not to purchase insurance and suffer a loss, you’ll really be wishing you can turn back the clock and pay that monthly insurance premium to save your business.
Sadly, many learn the hard way when it comes to purchasing insurance. That monthly insurance premium is nothing in comparison to what you might be paying for a loss when you’re not insured. Think ahead and consider buying it now before it’s too late! Take that cab home instead of getting behind the wheel and putting yourself at risk.
Change Brings Opportunity
Lately I noticed it’s been difficult for me to write about insurance all the time here. Yeah, I love what I do and I love to share what I know about insurance with others, but how much can I possibly write about it and keep people even the least bit interested in reading this blog? I’ve been thinking about it a lot lately and finally decided tonight that I don’t want to write ONLY about insurance anymore here. Yeah, I will continue to do so, but I am going to change it up a bit. With change brings opportunity.
Besides insurance, there a lot of other cool things that I encounter everyday that I have an opportunity to share with others…..local restaurants, stores, businesses, products, events, people, places. The opportunities are endless. So this is what you’re going to start seeing a lot more of from me- change in what I write and share here. No longer is this blog about sharing insurance topics only. You’re going to see all kinds of stuff about the local Southern California community and things that need to be shared and for you to know about. Maybe I can open your eyes to new things, or hear from you about what you like and I should try for myself.
Thanks for reading and I hope you continue to do so! I look forward to the opportunity of hearing from you too.
-JK
Back To Work!
Happy Monday morning! I hope you all had an outstanding Thanksgiving.
I spent most of the weekend in Lake Arrowhead, CA with my family just as we have done traditionally for the past 30 years. My family has a place there, so we’re up there at least a handful of times a year to kick back and relax. It was great to get a few days to sit back, watch a lot of football (USC 50- UCLA 0), and eat more than we can handle. Here are a few pictures from the weekend:
View of Lake Arrowhead from our balcony
My Family- from L to R: Me, Joanelle (my fiance), Dad, Mom, Julie (sister), Pat, Tom (brothers)
My fiance Joanelle and Me
What about you? How did you spend the Thanksgiving weekend?
–JK
How Your Small Businesses Can Prepare For Small Business Saturday
Get ready, here it comes. Saturday, November 26, the day after “Black Friday,” is the Second Annual “Small Business Saturday.” Is your business ready? Included are some ideas to rally your customers to encourage them to Shop YOUR Small this coming Saturday.
What can you do to get ready?
- Download and print free in-store signage.
- Online marketing kit: Put Small Business Saturday badges on your website, Facebook Page or email signature. Send emails to your customers.
YourBuzz
- Take charge of engagement: YourBuzz is a tool that allows users to read and respond to customer reviews and online mentions in one location.
Go Social
- Coupon-less offers: Provide mobile-based deals to your American Express card-wielding customers.
FedEx
- Save on printed materials: You can save 20% Small Business Saturday-related promotional materials through Nov. 26.
So go on, get the word out and bring in customers! Join the Day! #SmallBusinessSaturday #SmallBizSaturday
Source: Mashable Business
–JK
Happy Hour Networking Tomorrow Night, 11/17, In Redondo Beach
Anyone in the Los Angeles area who’s interested in doing some happy hour networking in the South Bay, let me know. We have a small group meeting at 5pm in Redondo Beach at Bouzy Gastropub at Chez Melange. The address is:
Massive Overnight Fire Destroys Businesses in Cerritos
This morning I woke up and was having my morning coffee and catching up on the news when I read on Twitter that a major fire broke out locally overnight and destroyed a retail strip mall about four miles from my home. I decided to jump in the car to check out the scene of the fire. Here’s a short video I took:
According to the Cerritos-Artesia Patch, flames burned for more than three hours at Cerritos’ Fountain Plaza, destroying businesses in the two-story strip mall. Estimates are the fire caused about $5.5 million in damages.
The blaze broke out at 2 a.m. Sunday, Oct. 23 and burned for more than three hours, according to the Los Angeles County Fire
Cerritos on the map
Department. About 75 firefighters were on scene to battle the massive blaze.
The fire reportedly began at a Chinese restaurant in the building along the back-end of the shopping plaza — then spread to adjoining businesses. The roof of the restaurant eventually caved in as firefighters tried to tame the flames, according to reports from the scene.
Aside from the restaurant, the commercial building also housed at least 10 other businesses, including an ultrasound clinic, a dental practice, and an escrow firm.
Damage to the structure was estimated at $4 million, and roughly $1.5 million worth of contents were also destroyed, a county fire inspector said. The cause of the fire was not yet known.
Lesson Learned
When’s the last time you reviewed your property insurance coverage? Do you have adequate coverage to protect your assets? What about business interruption coverage? Whether you own a commercial building or a business, don’t think that a catastrophic fire won’t ever happen to you! This single fire completely destroyed ten different businesses. Not only are all the contents destroyed from fire and water, but all the businesses will need to be re-built and relocated. It will be quite some time before operations are restored, but the bills won’t stop coming. The salaries, loans, mortgage, and overhead still need to be paid. Don’t get burned before it’s too late.
–JK
Small Business Health Care Tax Credit – Deadline today!
Small business owners: it is not too late to claim the Affordable Care Act’s Small Business Health Care Tax Credit! For those of you who are small business owners, this tax credit is available for your own business. The filing deadline for many small businesses has already passed, but qualifying employers that provided group health insurance in 2010 can still claim this significant assistance on 2010 tax returns:
- Small businesses that have yet to file – for example because they took advantage of the automatic extension – can claim the credit on their 1040 series returns by today, Monday, October 17.
- Small businesses that have already filed and want to claim the credit can amend their returns using Form 1120X for corporations or Form 1040X for others, including individual sole proprietors.
- Eligible tax-exempt organizations can claim the credit on Form 990-T.
- Small businesses without taxable income to offset should remember that the credit is part of the general business credit for Tax Year 2010, meaning they may be eligible to carry back the credit for five years or forward for 20 years.
The credit is worth up to 35% of the health insurance premium costs a small business incurred for insuring its employees in 2010. Eligible small businesses that do not yet provide insurance can start doing so to claim the credit for 2011 forward.
The credit remains available for several years, so small employers should check each year to see if they are eligible.
More information is available on the IRS website at:
http://www.irs.gov/newsroom/article/0,,id=223666,00.html
–JK
Almost Famous: The ISU- Olson Duncan Insurance Commercial
Check out our web video commercial for ISU-The Olson Duncan Insurance which I made a cameo appearance in:
Remember, we are a full service insurance agency capable of handling all of your insurance needs, business or personal:
Business Insurance (business owners policy, general liability, commercial property, errors and omissions, professional liability, workers compensation, commercial auto, cyber liability, umbrella/excess liability, employment practices liability, directors and offices liability, and group life, health, dental, and vision benefits)
Personal Insurance (auto insurance, home insurance, life insurance, health insurance, earthquake insurance, umbrella insurance, mechanical breakdown, watercraft/boat insurance, dental insurance, long term care, and flood insurance)
–JK
Retailers with Sales in CA at Risk of Penalties Following State Court Decision
A recent decision by the California Supreme Court has placed retailers and other businesses that obtain and record personally identifiable customer information during point-of-sale transactions in the state at risk of significant penalties.
Retailers with transactions in California are being named in class-action lawsuits following a February 2011 California Supreme Court decision, Pineda v. Williams Sonoma Stores, Inc. The decision found that the state’s Song-Beverly Credit Card Act of 1971 prohibits retailers and other businesses engaged in credit card transactions from collecting and recording customer information such as zip codes or any other personally identifiable information not provided by the credit card itself during point-of-sale transactions.
The statute authorizes penalties of up to $1,000 for each transaction that violates the statute. While coverage will depend upon the claimant’s allegations, the loss is likely not covered by a business’ general liability insurance policy.
A retailer may be headquartered anywhere in the country, but only the transactions conducted in the state of California are subject to the statute and its penalties.
Retailers with California transactions, consider the following tips:
- Do not ask for customer zip codes, even if only for marketing or security purposes. Asking for this information is risky.
- If retailers use zip codes for security measures, instead ask to see customers’ driver’s license or other forms of identification, but don’t record the information.
- If a retailer has been recording zip code information, even if only for marketing purposes, seek legal counsel.
Source: The Hartford
About Me
I grew up in Fullerton, CA and graduated from Servite High School in Anaheim. I have my Bachelors degree from Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles. I currently live in Tustin, CA.
Please contact me if you need help with any of the following lines of insurance for your business:
-Cyber / Data Breach
-Commercial Property
-Commercial General Liability
-Products Liability
-Workers Compensation
-Commercial Auto
-Umbrella/Excess Liability
-Errors & Omissions/ Professional Liability
-Employment Practices Liability
-Directors & Officers
-Life & Disability Insurance
Jimmy Kinmartin, CPCU 