A road trip can make for a great family vacation this summer, as an alternative to the usual theme park or resort holidays. But what if your current vehicle isn’t exactly up to the demands that serious mileage will put on it?

If it’s time for you to buy a new car, this is the perfect opportunity because you can factor these concerns into your purchase. If it’s not time, it may be best for you to rent an automobile that’s suited to your trip. U.S. News and World Report, a national news source, noted that ample space, features, drivability and comfort are all major factors behind the road-trip readiness of a particular auto. Let’s take some time to review these as well as other essential qualifications of a road-trip vehicle.

Mileage, mileage & furthermore ─ mileage
Many motorists make fuel efficiency a priority at all times. But when you’re on vacation, getting the most bang for your buck in terms of gas mileage is even more pivotal. Whether or not you’re “on a budget,” saving money is always a plus! And you will end up spending less time stopping to fill up your tank and more time enjoying your vacation.

SUVs typically carry gas tanks with 22- to 33-gallon capacities, according to auto information resource Cars.com, and thus should be able to travel 500 to 700 highway miles without stopping for gas. Compact cars and sedans typically hold between 12 and 18 gallons, so 275 to 400 highway miles is what you can expect to travel before making your next pit stop.

Storage space & towing
“Traveling light” can be difficult, especially when bringing the whole family. This can lead to an overstuffed trunk and items wedged into footwell​s and mid-seat nooks, limiting legroom and comfort. Additionally, it’s important to consider that an overpacked car could reduce the driver’s lines of sight using the rear-view mirror. Read More

Many insurance claims tend to be fairly standard and straight-forward. But there are some that be quite specific beyond the typical auto, home, or business insurance.

Read More

Speak with an agent to learn more about the protection insurance can provide for your home, auto, or business. Read More

A lot goes into succeeding in business, from providing valuable products or services to a proper approach to management. For small business owners, there’s a critical step to success you may be forgetting that can give you a big advantage: being a good citizen.

Being a good citizen as a business means being an integral, involved part of the community.

Devoting energy to supporting those around you can be valuable to them – and to you as a business owner and to your employees and customers. By investing time and money into building a presence in your local community, and by taking initiatives to help the community at large, you imbue your business with goodwill. And that’s an asset that can be valuable.

Here are three potential benefits of good business citizenship:
​

• Increased brand awareness: The more you do in your community, the more recognizable your company will become. That makes it more likely local shoppers will think of you when on the hunt for products or services you offer.
• Improved reputation: When you support the greater good, you improve your reputation among area residents. Charitable work can significantly improve public perception, establishing you as a trusted community resource.
• A better environment: When you support your community with valuable resources, you help to strengthen the economy and provide a better atmosphere in which to do business. Read More

Your workforce is the foundation of your business. Every business owner should know that regardless of market demand for your products or the value propositions of your services, neither will be worth much without the full support and effort of your employees. While the onus is on your employees to fulfill their job responsibilities, it’s up to you as an employer to provide a positive work environment in which they can do so.

It’s vital that you make concerted efforts toward promoting employee morale. As online job board Monster points out on its blog, summer is a prominent season for worker turnover especially among seasonal hires (in sectors like retail, hospitality and dining). But in a more general sense, late spring and early summer bring pleasant weather and a sense of new beginnings, and dissatisfied workers could take that as a chance to find a new opportunity and leave your company. Let’s look at some ways you can boost employee morale (and, in the process, combat burnout and turnover):

Celebrate achievements with enthusiasm
Just about everyone wants to be appreciated for their good work. But this requires more than a pat on the back or the periodic office pizza party. Entrepreneur magazine recommended employing more creative and interactive methods, such as creating awards for achievements given out in a workplace ceremony or published in a company newsletter or blog. Awards might include prizes such as gift cards or extra time off.

Promote work-life balance
As the jovial (and fictional) illustrator Stan Rizzo said in the “Mad Men” TV series finale, “There’s more to life than work.” To help ensure employee engagement and mitigate the likelihood of burnout, employees and employers must value the importance of a work-life balance.

Financial industry publication Forbes recommended managers and owners recognize milestones in employees’ personal lives , including birthdays, children’s graduations and so on. Staffers who believe their supervisors care for them as human beings and not merely as “assets’ likely will work harder and maintain a more positive approach to their tasks. Read More

All of us have areas of our lives that are disordered and in need of attention. And for small business owners, that could well extend to the enterprises they’ve founded and work hard to maintain. While the back office of your business might require some dusting and vacuuming, now is also the time for cleaning up your files, inventory, receipts and other business information.

While this task most likely won’t be a cinch, it doesn’t have to be insurmountable either. Here are some essential steps for cleaning up and reorganizing the most vital parts of your company’s finances and operations.

Clean up your files
Whether your digital records are backup files or primary sources of data, take stock of how organized they are. Cleaning up your files can help performance and strengthen your security. Delete old files, backup necessary files and run system checks.

Go paperless
These days there are fewer reasons to have any vast amount of paper records in your business. Across the U.S., about 69 million tons of paper are used each year. That figure accounts for a lot of trees.

Fortunately, going paperless has become popular enough that you can find many ways to do so as a small business owner. An easy way to start is to go paperless with your policies or account statements. Many companies offer online enrollment for service agreements, statements and other documents. Read More

One of your responsibilities as a business owner is to provide a safe environment for employees, customers, vendors and other visitors.

You’re at risk if employees or others suffer an injury on your property. You could be susceptible to civil lawsuits and criminal actions. To help cut this risk, periodic safety audits can help you maintain and constantly improve the safety standards within your location.

A safety audit can give your business an objective assessment of risk levels, help you comply with regulatory standards and create both a healthier and happier workforce. Many businesses audit their safety posture after first creating a health and safety program tailored to the needs and nature of the business.

Some use audits to align with Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) federal standards, while 22 states operate their own OSHA-approved safety and health standards.

Beyond regulatory needs, OSHA points out that a safety program can bring many other benefits to a business such as:

• Preventing workplace injuries and illnesses
• Improving compliance with laws and regulations
• Reducing costs, including significant reductions in workers’ compensation premiums
• Engaging workers
• Enhancing a business’s social responsibility goals
• Increasing productivity and business operations

​
Planning
Before beginning a safety audit, your team should take time to review pertinent documentation such as:

• Accident reports
• Company policy statements
• Employee training requirements and participation records
• Industry best-practices guidelines
• Inspection results and corrective actions implemented
• State and federal guidelines and laws Read More

Are Your Employees Driving Distracted?
4/1/2018

Multi-tasking is a myth. The human brain cannot actually perform two functions at the same time.

Instead, it switches from one task to other very quickly. Even though the change may only take milliseconds, it takes the brain time to come up to speed on the new task.

What does this have to do with driving? It’s simple. Trying to do more than one thing while behind the wheel of an automobile means you will perform neither very well. Even worse, it means that your reaction time in an emergency situation will be increased dramatically.

Talking on a cell phone (hands-free or not) increases your risk of being in an accident by a factor of four.
​
Distracted driving is now the number-one cause of deaths on the job.

Every employer that has employees on the road should have a distracted-driving policy in place — and it should be understood and enforced.

According to the Society for Human Resource Management: “Organizations that fail to create and enforce policies prohibiting employees from using their phones while driving put workers in jeopardy and increase employer liability.”

Here are two key questions to help you create – and enforce – a policy within your company… Read More

Umbrella insurance provides extra liability coverage that can help protect assets, such as your home, car and boat. It also helps cover defense costs, attorney fees and other charges associated with lawsuits.

What Does Umbrella Insurance Cover?