Suzilla: Family Business Podcast

How do I get Healthcare outside of Open Enrollment

Special Enrollment. Everything has it limits. We completed our 9^th offering Healthcare. It’s not different than other seasons, tax season, group insurance season, fishing season, strawberry season. It is why Health Enrollment runs from November 1 through December 15^th and Medicare Enrollment runs from October 15^th through December 7^th. We are going to talk about exceptions that allow you to get coverage and reasons why there is such a thing. If you don't have insurance then now is the time to ask because you may qualify for a special enrollment. 

Time to get an expert

Life is not a DIY experience. It takes a village....many hands makes for light work....no man is an island. Let's get over our fears and ask for help.

We look for experts around us to enrich our experience and add to our lives. At Suzie Health Solutions, we are experts in some things like insurance but other things we are not like taxes. How professionals save you money. What makes an expert? How do we find them and when should we seek them out? Is it OK to be the dumbest person in the room? This week on Suzilla.

How does need play into buying for home and business?

For most people, buying something for your business or home has a process. Can I use it? Do I need it? Why do I want to buy it now? Can I put it off later for something else?

Sometimes you can’t, you can’t buy car insurance after your car has been in an accident. What if we have been trained to purchase things that favor the seller? How can I save money by buying things differently? How would I live better when the storm stopped the trucks, and the stores had no groceries?

We get into some of the strategies that we use in our business and home life that allows us to move forward.

 

What do you do for Hobby?

When you run a business or do a startup there is a requirement of a vast collection of skills. You often only get these from hobbies and time. 

You are not a robot so what do you do for fun? Do you remember recess as a kid? What would happen if you were an adult with recess? How do you enrich your life and add skills to yourself as an adult? The only wrong answer is planting yourself on the couch and plugging a old movie on like a substitute teacher is in charge of your life. So let’s get into it.

Working through Christmas and the Holidays.

We have worked through plenty of holidays over the years. Running a small business, we have a choice of whether to be open or not to open. Is it a good thing or a bad thing? Why personal choice matters when you are in charge.

You run a business what do you give for presents?

Time to stop being Scrooge McDuck. There are perfectly good reasons to gift. In the insurance industry we are limited to what we can do for promotions. We have ours necked down to $50 per year for clients because of a contract. What do you give to your business partners? For people that are referring thousands of dollars of business to you? What kind of gifts do you give and how are they relevant?

Your treasure map is your ability to follow plans

Goals, Plans, Budgets, Quest are all maps to success. With insurance, we do a lot of planning for the next year right now. 

They can be big of plans: We saw 14 Peaks last night on Netflix  with Nimsdai Purja journey to summit all 14 of the Worlds tallest mountains in 7 months. They can be small like have the laundry done Friday so that the weekend you go hiking. They are important. As we finish up the year, it’s a good job to refresh and set new goals for the coming year as you gather with friends and family.

The big questions to be asking right now is where do you want to be in 2023 and what steps are you going to make to get there?

How do you survive the Holiday Wars at work?

Warning, we make it a point to have fun during the holidays, spreading joy and merriment. What do the holiday’s look around your business? With this War on Christmas, what is safe? Do you say Merry Christmas? Happy Holidays? Happy New Years? There are so many choices what is the right one? From Black Friday through January, what are you doing?

Inflation, Skimpflation & unemployment and what 2022 can bring.

There are options available don't be stuck by fear.

Inflation hit a 30 year high where consumer had more demand (and money) than goods so prices increased. The Fed tries to keep it around 2% with consumers finally having more money and supply chains struggling, this was not a surprise.

Unemployment is also at record lows (4.6 verse 6.9 last year). This is despite vaccine mandates and record numbers of resignations.

Remember the shrink ray and the stealthy reduction in product size? Well skimpflation is a service cutback that can cause consumer headaches like longer lines, fewer options and increased daily inconveniences. Not only does this impact us as consumers, it affects how we do our job because we are expected to do more with less.

Setting Boundaries and Expectations in business and home.

Running a small insurance office is not always easy. Boundaries and expectations are important to success. 

Is the customer always, right? What do you do with a coughing customer that refuses to mask up during the pandemic? Do your customers expect to call and text you at 11 PM? Is your workplace a group exercise with only a couple of key players doing the work? How are you setting expectations for not only customers but co-workers? How are boundaries and expectations communicated and reinforced? On today’s Suzilla…