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Most business owners do not think about insurance until they need it. By then it is almost always too late.
In Episode 79 of Start It or Scrap It, we sit down with Rick Millham Jr. CIC, owner of Millham Companies Inc in Doylestown, PA, a second-generation insurance agency with 35 years in property and casualty insurance. Rick reads every policy. All 300 to 400 pages. He is the kind of advisor who catches the things that blow up your business before they happen.
In this episode:
Why going directly to Progressive or Geico for business insurance can leave you with a catastrophic gap and an audit bill you never saw coming
Why you need commercial auto the moment you put signage or lettering on your vehicle, and what personal auto will and will not cover when you are using it for business
Why you should screen your customers and proactively fire the bad ones before they drain your time, margin, and sanity
The four trusted advisors every business owner needs: a good CPA, a good business attorney, a good insurance agent, and a good banker. Get those right and they handle what you cannot.
TIMESTAMPS
0:00 Cold open highlights
1:06 Intro and welcome: Rick Millham from Millham Companies Inc
1:47 Rick's background: 35 years in property casualty insurance, second-generation agency
3:02 Why should business owners care about insurance?
4:52 What kind of insurance does a typical business need?
5:29 General liability, property coverage, workers comp, and commercial auto explained
6:39 Why independent agents beat direct carriers for business coverage
8:46 Why a relationship with an independent agent changes everything
9:50 Commercial auto vs personal auto: when your personal policy stops covering you
11:27 The moment you put signage on your vehicle the rules change
12:22 The your work exclusion: what general liability does not cover for contractors
13:44 The plumber who installed the water softener that leaked
16:18 Dealing with customers who deny authorizing work and threaten chargebacks
20:52 How to fight chargebacks: document everything, get final sign-offs, never stop submitting
23:29 A retailer shipped $3,600 in shoes overseas and had it all charged back
24:50 Develop policies and make sure your employees know them before you go on vacation
28:10 Workers comp: what it actually does and why a single claim can wreck a small operation
29:23 Experience modification: how your claims history follows you for three years
30:34 Why not every state requires workers comp and what the criminal penalties look like in Pennsylvania
31:42 The uninsured subcontractor trap: why their payroll gets charged to you
33:14 Independent contractor vs employee: the quagmire that bites contractors constantly
33:32 The father who hired his son-in-law as a subcontractor and got sued for workers comp
34:49 Why insurance companies have basically stopped fighting subcontractor injury claims
37:33 The 1099 employee trap: when the IRS decides your contractor was actually an employee
42:30 Screen your customers: fire the bad ones before they destroy your margins and morale
43:15 PEOs professional employer organizations: what they are and why Gummi made the switch
43:22 Why Gummi does not know why anyone uses traditional payroll when PEOs exist
43:38 The PEO benefit nobody talks about: getting on W2 payroll early as an LLC owner
44:47 What a PEO actually handles: taxes, filings, workers comp audits, employee handbook
45:55 How PEO group buying power works for insurance and what it means for a four-person company
48:55 Protein bars arrive live on the show: Zach from Founders Drop gets a real-time review
55:27 Crypto and workplace integration: what crypto actually is at its core
56:05 Smart contracts: what they are, why they matter, and how Ethereum built a business on them
57:06 How smart contracts could eliminate credit card fees for contractors
58:39 The future of crypto in insurance: why Rick hopes to be golfing before it gets there
59:41 How property deeds are actually recorded today and why crypto changes everything
1:02:24 The four trusted advisors every business owner needs: CPA, attorney, insurance, banker
1:03:41 Closing thoughts and World Cup preview
Guest: Rick Millham Jr. CIC, CEPA
Millham Companies Inc, Doylestown PA
Website: https://www.millhamco.com
Hosted by Mike Terkanian (business attorney) and Gummi Sigurdarson (marketing expert)
Watch the full episode: https://youtu.be/3txtjnaKZ3A
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