Bizzy Signal

One of the most confusing topics that riddles us all is how health insurance plans work.  For years I worked for large companies that had entire departments that took care of all of our health insurance needs – and did a great job of protecting us and our families. 

However, for those of us that are self employed and/or 1099, we are on our own to find health insurance.  And for me, I found out the hard way that there is a whole lot about this topic we don’t know which can lead to high costs and under-coverage.

Today I have a colleague that has been saving self-employed individuals money and time for many years?  Meagan Fearing is the owner of Insurance Marketing Enterprises which she has been part since 2009 and is now the owner.  Meagan is deeply involved in legislative councils, consulting groups and advocate for the insurance industry.  

Sean Introduction:  Open enrollment – two words that each of us know are coming at the end of the year, but none of us are that ready.  In a recent conversation with my wife, I explained how confused I am with benefit plans and which ones I should chose, most of the time flipping a quarter to make the decision. 

Now, think about the company administrators who must make these larger decisions for entire organizations.  Our guest today has been around the employee benefits business for over 30 years and has an ability to make the complex simpler.  David Marom is the President at Marom Consulting and a contact that every employee benefits administrator should get to know. 

The advent of the internet is probably the only historical event that challenges its’ horrible technochild – CyberCrime.  Cybercrime worldwide is estimated to hit $10.5 trillion in 2025.  More scary, Cybercrime is estimated to be increased between 22 and 25% per year based on the BRIs Internet Crime Complaint Center.  

Just like having car insurance or life insurance, the cost of a cyber attack is so great companies cannot afford to not have this insurance in some way.  However, to obtain this insurance at a reasonable price, your company needs to have an audit completed and a certified document completed.

Terry Bradley has been working in Cyber Security his whole career and has owned Mile High Cyber for the last 5 years.

The initial concept of River of Nickels was coined by our good buddy Jim Yount.  While you may step over a nickel because you felt it wasn’t worth your time, what if picking up a nickel led to many nickels which then led to dimes, quarters and ultimately dollars?  Then, you would be much more interested in that first nickel.

Today, I have the honor of chatting with someone who has spent their career picking up those nickels and turning them into dollars.  As he would describe it, these are the costs within a business that seem very nebulous but end up being major cost savings if looked at more critically.

My guest, Matt Nagy is a Business Optimization Specialist at Schooley Mitchell where he looks at everyday company costs such as software fees, disposal costs, telecom to save companies millions of dollars.  Over the course of the last 25 years, Schooley Mitchell has saved 30 thousand clients over $1 billion.

We all have a recent story of the rising cost of insurance and how we have seen the changes that affect each of our daily lives.  I was recently in a conversation with a friend that was explaining a flood in one of their factories and although they had a substantial amount of building insurance but for some reason it didn’t include flood insurance.  Furthermore, this business used a ton of water to run their business, but flood insurance was never brought up by the agent.

We are fortunate today to have a gentleman that focuses on risk events and consults with companies on how to make sure they are “correctly covered”.  Scott Carlson has been in the risk mitigation business for over 20 years as a Commercial Risk and Insurance Advisor, most recently with CRS Insurance Brokerage.  

Anyone can report monthly numbers, but only true professionals can help decipher those monthly numbers.   Today we have a great guy that has spent his career not only reporting, but clearly deciphering the information.

Jeff Villano is an Accounting Services Manager with Mogg and Associates and has been instrumental in explaining monthly reports to clients of all levels of sophistication for years.

For all sizes of businesses, Jeff and Mogg and Associates can help companies not only report, but create a true "Story" that tells of the companies' success.

In a recent conversation, I found myself mesmerized by a question that came up – how often are you fully intentional and genuinely engaged in interactions.  And to make the question even more profound, how much time do you spend preparing yourself so that in the moment you are able to be fully intentional and engaged.

The person on the other end of that question that day at Gaetano’s Italian Restaurant was Marc Wallace, a Vistage Master Chair and a true embodiment of that very topic.  

So many companies I talk to focus on revenue – what is your gross revenue, what is your net revenue, what is your EBIDTA? 

However, talking about profit margins should many times lead the way.  

Today, we have someone with us that helps companies make sure that they are focused more on the bottom line than the top line.  Dafne Tsakiris is the founder and CEO of Launch Point, a company that’s solely focused on removing operational bottlenecks so companies can see their profit margins increase.

Calling Dafne to talk about your operational processes costs nothing; not calling Dafne could be costing you a ton!

The most recent numbers show that during our lifetimes, over 50% of us will go through the stressful and unfortunate pain of divorce.  

During this time, the emotional burden is so difficult that many of the important financial decisions are put on the back burner or not given the care that will be necessary for future success.

Our host today, Vince Reece, knows the difficulty of this process and how easy it is for divorcees to get taken advantage of during divorce.  Vince is a Certified Divorce Lending Professional, and he is here today to give us some sage advice on the topic. 

Solopreneur and Entrepreneurs - Start Your Day with this one!!  

A serial entrepreneur and great friend, Jim Yount, is back for a second round.  This time Jim talks about dancing like snoopy, never giving up and the importance of "micro-movements" forward.

Jim helps us all maintain an upbeat attitude and helps us with some ways of turning pessimism into optimism.