Why do reclines call Dr. Jean the results queen? The name speaks for itself. Dr. Jean has been helping business owners achieve and exceed their goals for over 20 years. And now, she wants to help you get more results to your business and in your life. In fact, her mission is to leave you better than she found you. Join her as she dives deep into the world of business and entrepreneurship to provide you with actionable strategies and valuable insights and compelling stories that will propel you to greater success and ultimate results. Get ready to take notes because it's time for Getting Results with Dr. Jean the results queen. Hi everyone, it's Dr. Jean and welcome to Getting Results with Dr. Jean. I am super excited and I know I say this all the time about our guest today because actually he has a last name that's just as hard as mine, first of all. And second of all, he has the coolest handle because you know I'm the results queen. He's the insurance guy. And I know you're thinking to yourself, oh my God, Dr. Jean, insurance, that's so boring. However, insurance is really important for us as business owners and you need to really have a great insurance person and you should have a relationship with them. Everything about insurance people, they're great referrers because they work with a lot of different business owners and people. So you really should get to know your insurance person. But if you don't really like your insurance person, you're going to love that because he's my next guest and that is the insurance guy. And he and I met through provisors, if you don't know what provisors is, go find it. It's amazing. And I just loved his energy. We were just talking in the green room about chasing energy, which I suspect we're going to talk about today on the podcast. But with that said, I'm going to shut up now and welcome my new best friend. Well, I'd probably say that a lot, right? My new best friend, that the insurance guy, hey, Nat, how are you? Welcome. How are you? Thanks for having me. I really appreciate you having me on the show. Oh, so excited. I've been looking forward to this conversation. And it's so interesting because we were like, you're looking forward to a conversation with an insurance guy. Yeah. Because insurance is really important. So as we always do, how did you get to where you are today? Well, first off, it's not very ultimate that people say that they're excited to speak to an insurance guy. So I really appreciate that compliment. I mean, you know, nobody wants to hear my voice when I went on the phone right now these days. But I, you know, I'm the son of two immigrant parents. My parents came here in the 60s and 70s to the US from Italy. I spent a good deal of time being an immigrant, like, you know, immigrant child, you know, helping my parents navigate this world while I learned it as well. And, you know, I wanted to do something that meant something, you know, everybody wants to be something spectacular, but not all of us can, you know, be movie stars, you know, famous doctors. Like we can't all be, you know, someone that does something incredible. How do I help people on a, you know, boots on the ground level and, you know, do it with, you know, do it with care. And I think I used my background as being the child of immigrants spending all that time kind of like holding their hands and making, you know, making things easier for them and like translating thing topics that, you know, weren't difficult to them, but were foreign in a way. And I stumbled into insurance. And when I walked into this industry, I looked around and I was like, okay, I think I could help people here. I couldn't imagine living my life doing something that didn't matter or did nothing for, you know, individuals. And people are thinking like, well, what does insurance do for individuals? Well, you know, I mean, every business owner that I meet on a daily basis is coming to me with a problem. And I'm helping them solve it and I'm helping them, you know, take the stress away. I've got this business. I'm worried about, you know, what about what could happen tomorrow? How can you help me with that? And you know, not that, not that it's astrophysics, but insurance, you know, has a tendency to be difficult to understand. So I've, I've used all these skills that I learned over the years of, you know, helping people navigate, you know, foreign subjects to, you know, help my clients understand what they, what they're buying and how it's going to affect their day to day and how it's going to benefit them. I, okay, so why insurance to help people, we actually had a client who was in the insurance business and sold her company and she used to say insurance, you can't put it in your driveway. You can't put it on, you can't put it on, you know, you can't put it on your body to make it look good. But when you need it, it's there for you. Right. So interesting. And what makes, why do people think insurance is so boring? Like what, what do we need in terms of insurance? Talk about the importance of insurance and in business owner. So business owners, depending on the kind of business, I mean, but almost every business needs, at the very least general liability, general liability is a policy that covers the business owner for third party bodily injury and property damage claims, right? So many trips and falls, somebody, you know, the business owner somehow, you know, destroys somebody's property. And at the basic level, that's a policy that almost every business owner will need. And depending on the business, if you have employees, workers compensation is necessary in most almost every state that's a requirement of the state. So that's something you have to have before you have an employee starts working for you. And depending on the business, like if you're a consulting business, a professional services business, then professional liability is going to be an absolute must because general liability is necessary, but you know, an attorney is not going to, is not going to trip somebody and, you know, have them cut their, you know, get, have them break their leg. But they are, they have the potential to make an error in their advice, which would then cause a financial loss to a client. So, you know, attorneys, doctors, you know, dentists, consultants, you know, anybody in a professional services role is going to need the professional liability. So those are just a couple of things, a couple of lines of coverage that are standard or typical to most industries. So thinking about it as business, I mean, a lot of business owners are listening. They've been, they've owned their company for a long time. They probably signed up for insurance when they first started the company. Do you like is it important to review insurance every year, like what do we do about that? I think it's important as your broker, I review it every year. I mean, on an annual basis, we're doing a review, but as a business owner, you probably should be looking at your insurance periodically throughout the year. I'm not saying that you need to sit there with the insurance policy, you know, memorize it and, you know, and repeat it to me. But I think it's important to understand that as a business, your business is changing and shifting on a regular basis. And there are things that are occurring that can be affected, you know, if, excuse me, there are things that are occurring that the insurance will need to meet up with in order for it to work properly. So, you know, you're a business owner, you just landed a, you're selling widgets, you just landed a really big account. And now you've increased the number of widgets that you have in your, in your, your stock room. Well, you know, you're thinking, why would I call the, my insurance broker for that? Well, your policy ensures you for a certain number of, of stock that you have on hand. If you're going to increase it above the norm, you're going to be left to the gap there in the event that something look terrible happens, like let's say a fire or a pipe breaks and destroys all of your product. So that's why I say you should probably look at, look at your insurance on a regular basis as, as, you know, changes are occurring. So I always try to tell people, do it, do a quarterly review, you know, where are we right now? What's going on? Do I need to call on that? And, you know, and then that's, that's always the next step. All right. So why do we find as business owners, why do we find insurance so boring? Really seriously, why do we, and the fact is that we pay you lots of money, but we never use it. Well, you know, they're, one of the, one of the partners that my firm always referred to insurance as, as a fistful of papers and a promise, you know, it's, it's, it's boring because it's, it's not really tangible, right? It's not something that, that you could put up on your shelf and you can look at, as you said, it doesn't, you know, you can't put it in the driveway. And it's boring because it's, it's meant, it's a contract. It's meant to be incredibly wordy and specific. And so most people just don't want to be bothered with the minutiae of the insurance. And that's where an insurance broker, you know, comes into play. You shouldn't be bogged down as a business owner with, you know, fine lines in, in an insurance policy. That's what I'm here for. I mean, I'm here to, to understand, you know, what the intricacies are of your policy and, to understand your business and how the two, you know, work together and, and give you that advice so that you can kind of, you know, run your business and go along your way. But it's boring because, you know, how many of us have ever said, I'm really excited to read this 210 page, you know, contract, you know, I mean, I don't think, I mean, even attorneys will probably tell you, like, I have no desire to, to, to do that. So they have caroligals for, right? I mean, so it's, it's, it's not an exciting world that I live in, but, you know, it's, it's important. So. Yeah, it is important, right? Because it's business owners, and I'm just, you know, it's also interesting because we always let somebody else in our office, like our CFO handle insurance. So often us as business, we don't even know what assurance we have or what we need. What's the most overlooked insurance that as business owners, we really do need, but we never have. Well, that's a good question. I think, I think almost every, with the exception of attorneys and doctors because they, you know, those, those two particular industries understand the importance of this insurance, but the majority of, of consultants, of people in professional services that I speak to don't realize how important their professional liability is. And a majority of the, of the consultants, of the architects, engineers, I mean, all the, all these people that are providing professional services to others that I, that I run into typically, you know, kind of balk when I say, I think you need errors and emissions. I think you need professional liability. And, and it's, it's very heavily overlooked, but it's, to me, in, in most, in many cases, it's more important than any other insurance policy that, that a business owner can have. Again, that's not a professional services side. And on the, you know, brick and mortar side, or on the side of, of a, even like a large scale scale wholesaler manufacturing, business income coverage, property insurance, in many cases can sometimes be just overlooked because people are thinking like, well, I don't need to ensure for all that, or, oh my gosh, that's so expensive. Well, I mean, it's expensive, yes, to a certain degree, but it's also important for that reason. I mean, you know, it's, it's providing you a lifeline and the event that something happens to all this stuff that is your business, right? I mean, if you're selling something, if you're manufacturing something, the product that, that, you know, is involved in that is, is your lifeline, it's, it's how you exist. And in many cases, business owners kind of like, you know, they always look at it and go, oh, I don't need that much insurance. I don't need that much property. That's overkill, you know, it's, it's, but it's important. It really can save the day and, and I can give you one example, you know, I started working with a business owner, he was connected to me through, through one of my contacts and we sat down and looked over his policy. He was the business manager, for practice manager for a, a very large plastic surgery, you know, operation, you know, walked into his offices, specific beautiful offices. I mean, they had done an incredible amount of work in this space and the insurance that they had wouldn't have even covered a quarter of the space if something had happened. I mean, if, if they're admitted at large loss, they wouldn't have been able to replace the lobby with the amount of insurance that they had in place and he was adamant about not going, you know, overboard with, you know, with, with the property coverage. But I, I managed to, to work out something with an underwriter and I really kind of negotiated with an underwriter and got this, this firm, this policy that covered them for almost two million dollars in property coverage. And not two months later, a water tower in the building, which holds the water that is used for the sprinkler system, had a crack in the pipe and the water came rushing down. It, it essentially hit about 10 floors in the building. One of those floors was my new client that had just taken out the, just taken out this policy that I assured him would be very important. He had almost a $700,000 property loss in, in that particular case. And I remember sitting there, and I wasn't, I'm not, and I told you so kind of guy, and I'm not the kind of person that, you know, wants somebody to pat them on the back. I think, you know, I gave you the advice, you took it, I'm happy that you took it, and I'm excited that we're in this position right now, even though I'm not so excited about the claim. But I'm excited that, that we got this situation handled. But I remember looking, and looking at me going like, wow, I didn't realize how, you know, how important it was for us to cover, you know, this space, the way it should have. Thank you. And I, and I mean, I look back at that situation often, you know, most people would sit there and go, oh, you know, whatever, right? You know, I can replace that machine, I can get that one second hand, I can have somebody come in and throw in a new floor. But what happens when, you know, half of your office is now covered in water, and the machines that operate your day-to-day business are destroyed. How do you get back, you know, how do you get back up and running? And that was like the one, that's one of the one, you know, example that I use on a regular basis, when I, when I deal with business owners, I'm always like, here's what happened and here's how, you know, this policy saved the day. We always think it's never us, right? It's never us. I've got like several questions on this. However, I want to go back and pick up one thing where it's errors and emissions. Why are we so against errors and emissions? Because we're afraid we're going to not ever make errors and emissions. I mean, I've had errors and emissions forever. Right. I think most people think, well, whatever the mistake is, I can deal with it, you know, and I can fix it. I hear that a lot with, with IT firms, like, well, I mean, so what? I mean, if something happens, I'll just fix it. I mean, and that, that very well is true. I mean, that, I mean, you could, I'm sure that if there's an error that you make as a professional, that you can sit there and go client, I'll get this fixed, don't worry, you know, we'll, we'll deal with it. But what happens when, you know, when there's this out of control spiral, you know, I mean, you know, you can deal with the client who is reasonable that says, you know, look, we all make mistakes, just fix it and we can move on. What happens when you're dealing with a client that is just now just, you know, I wouldn't say I'm reasonable, but I rate, right. I mean, so how do you go from, where do you go from there? And I think that's where most business professionals will sit there and go like, oh, no, no, we got this. I can, you know, I can deal with that. I mean, look, families fight, right? I mean, and, and families don't, you know, they're families that are splintered. Don't speak to one another. So the person across the phone, the desk, you know, across the, the room from you, they, they don't have to just accept what you offer as a, as a resolve. And, and that, that's always the biggest claim, like that thank you for doing this, but that wasn't good enough. You know, tarnish my reputation or, you know, my, my client, the, the relationship with my client is now severely hampered because of the mistake that you made. I'm going to, you know, hire an attorney to deal with this. I think that's what most business professionals don't understand. They're like, I can deal with this. I can fix it. Well, I'm sure you can, but what happens if the fix isn't enough? Well, do people do business owners think that they're not going to get, they're not going to use their insurance for errors and admissions? I mean, you know, like, how often does there a claim around that kind of stuff? I mean, often enough. I mean, there really is. It's, it's, it's, you know, enough that, you know, we're, we're working on claims throughout the year. I mean, you know, we've had the luxury of working with, with, with clients that are solid, you know, business professionals that don't make a thousand mistakes, but when you have, you know, 10,000 clients, you know, you see enough of these claims throughout the year and see that there's a frequency of, of errors and admissions claims. I think, again, I think most business owners, and I think most professionals always feel not that they're cocky, but I think you've, you've worked enough in your, in your specific industry in your role to say, well, I don't really make mistakes, right? I don't, you know, I, I'm really diligent in how I, you know, you know, deal with my clients and how I present my work. And that, again, very well, may be true, but, but, you know, sometimes things happen or, or sometimes there are expectations that are not met. And that is out of your control. I mean, you know, and the biggest issues that we find in claims for, for errors and admissions are, are really, you know, expectation issues where it's why I was, I was, I was expecting you to do this, this and this, but you didn't, you know, even though your contract lays out that you were going to do X, Y and Z for me, I was expecting that this was going to happen because, you know, when we spoke, you said that you were going to, you know, jump through fiery hoops. I didn't see a fiery hoop, you know, and, and because of that, I'm now, I'm now, you know, faced with a client who faced with a financial loss. I mean, I was just not thinking that it was going to be like this, or it could just be simple, simple situations where, you know, we've seen, you know, I'm working on a client, I'm a little overwhelmed, if I hire someone to help me, I might be perfect, but the person that I hired, that I hired to help me, you know, just made a mistake. So that's when you see the claims most often, it's, you know, expectation issues or just, you know, when you're passing down work to others, they're not, you're not guaranteed to have those people do the work the same way that you would. So fascinating, I will tell you that I have a client, probably one of the most judicious people I've ever met, and she happened to overlook something and really could have been in a big bind if she hadn't had errors and admissions. And I just think, again, we don't think as business owners, you're right. I can fix it. Right? That's how we act all the time. We can just fix it. Absolutely. I mean, another, another example, an interior designer, and she, when we, we, we were able to get her the professional liability errors and admissions that she needed, she was working with a client. Client agreed on all the, you know, wall-papering samples, they approved the design, they approved everything. My client hired a painter, the painter, happened to knock over a small can of paint that he was using to do touch-ups onto the hardwood flooring, and, and they cleaned it up as best as possible. But it left a little bit of, of a, of a kind of like dulling in the space that the, where they, where the incident occurred. This client tried to do everything possible to rectify the situation. She, she did everything she could. She did whatever she had to do to re-shine that section. It spiraled out into a $50,000 claim. Now all of a sudden, her client decided that she didn't like the, she didn't agree with the, with the color choices. She thought the room was terrible. It doesn't really take much to, to, you know, come to these situations. I think that's what I've learned over the years that, that little things, you know, can sometimes turn into big things. And you know, that no matter how good you are at fixing the little things, the big thing you're just going to come, right, you know, right behind it sometimes. Yeah, again, I think we really do have the impression that it's never going to happen to me, right? And the next thing where the guy signed up with you, I can't tell you how many insurance companies we work with. And we get these conversations of, I had this person, I told them to sign up and they didn't. And then a month later, something bad happens to them, like this guy who had the water break into his office, thank goodness he did something, right? Absolutely. Where people say, no, I'm passing. And then we don't move fast enough, right? I agree. I agree. The amount of business for months, you know, is, you know, it could be earth shattering for your business. Yeah. And again, I'm just telling you, there's a reason why it's called an insurance policy. It's not like it's not guaranteed when you don't, when you need it, you need it in so many of us operate for many years where we don't need it, but that's okay, right? You have to have these things. It's so important as a business owner. I agree. And have an insurance broker connect with an insurance broker that is knowledgeable and isn't just just punching, you know, paper in front of you and saying, here's a quote and doesn't want to go in depth, you know, into the quote. That's why we're, you know, we're like, we're not against technology at this firm. You know, we use technology on a daily basis, but you know, we see a great deal of these technology-based insurance providers popping up on the internet. And it's great to fill a basic need, but you really need as a business owner to speak to a broker who can hear what you're saying and ask the question, the right questions, to get you the policies that you need, because in many cases, these policies are boilerplate online. So, you know, we've, and we're always telling people, like, you don't have to use us, but use a broker, you know, just use a broker, you know, and, you know, you don't have to, I'm not going to be the perfect fit for every person in the world, right? But I like to think I am, but I mean, I'm not going to be, I'm not going to be the fit for everyone, but use an insurance broker and it is an independent agent because they're going to give you the policy that's tailored to your business and not just some, you know, off the shelf, off the rack policy that may not fit your needs. Yeah, and I'm going to say this to you as a business owner. First of all, your business is ground, right? And I know you as a business owner, not only with insurance, I don't deal with my insurance, my integrator takes care of all of my insurance, but have the conversation with your internal team as to what insurance is you have, and then, you know, make sure that they're covering everything when you're in the conversation, when they're having the conversation with the insurance broker, right? Because I'm sure the business owner is not always involved. No, in many cases, you know, you have different levels of, you have different kinds of business owners, some that are intimately involved in everything, but the majority of the business owners that we deal with are, you know, they've got somebody that just deals with the day to day stuff, and then they're off as a business owner just trying to get business and bringing it in. And I'll give you a not to, not to overload you with examples, but the perfect example that I've always used is, and I can't guarantee this for everyone, but it just happened to work on this particular case. I, you know, I try to connect with my clients in many different ways. So if they're on social media, I'll connect with them on social media, like their stuff. I'm always trying to, like, you know, highlight them and my LinkedIn because I think it's important. You know, it's a, it's a relationship and I want my clients to understand that I see what they're doing. And I'm, you know, I'm excited about what they're doing as well. And in this one case, what are my clients? I'm struck a really big deal with a large retail operation that's like national. And they, we had never had this, this discussion. And all of a sudden I see this post and I liked it and I congratulated it. And then about two minutes later, I thought to myself, huh, I'm wondering if they're going to be increasing the amount of their product that, you know, in order to be able to, to, to, you know, deal with this particular new client. So I reached out and, and we connected and the business owner was like, I didn't even think of calling you. And I said, I know, honestly, it took me a minute or two to think about it, but I realized you probably are now going to be carrying a ton more stock on hand. And he was like, you're right, and we, so we increased his policy to match where he's going to be right now. Thankfully it was no need for it. But, you know, that's the difference between, between dealing with an insurance broker and just, you know, going online and getting what you need. Exactly. I, I cannot believe, uh, not that our really, our conversation's almost over. So, uh, it's, cause it's been so fascinating. I didn't realize it. Yeah. Time flew. It's absolutely not that cause I'm fast, I'm just fascinated. So what action steps should our listeners take as soon as they finish listening to this podcast that's going to help them get results? Um, take gives a business owner, you know, grab your policy, whether it's on your computer or physically, you know, in your desk. Just take a quick look at it, um, if you're, if you're a somebody who sells a product, look at the contents limit that you have, your business personal property limit, look at the business income limit that you may have, um, look at, you look at the, the property related risks. If you're a business professional, like you're a professional services person, take a look at your policy to see if it has any kinds of errors and emissions. And if, if the property doesn't match what, what you need right now, if you don't have any property, if you don't have professional services, call your broker. And if you don't have a broker, you know, just call, yeah, well, you know, call me, but absolutely. But, you know, just, it, it really get a hold of somebody that can help you and, and make sure that your policy is in place. And don't wait for the year. I would do periodic reviews of your, of your business, unless your business is really one of those businesses, it does not change, which I've never really run into a business like that before. But, you know, keep it quarterly, you know, just quick look and, and I guarantee you, you're going to see that changes are, you know, are going to be necessary throughout the year. And here, I'm going to modify this because if this was me and I heard you say that I'd be like, yeah, I don't know my insurance policies because that's not my part of my business that I take with, in which case, talk to the person who's in charge of the insurance policies and as first of all, ask us to sit down with you, just make sure you've got the things that are right and have them go talk and make sure that they're having so that you don't necessarily as the business owner, have to know the insurances or review them, but you certainly need someone who's doing it and then informing you. Absolutely. Super important. And as I often say, the way we find people to work with, there's only two ways. We either ask for a girl from people that we know or we Google it. Well, that's one of the reasons why I have all of these fabulous people on the podcast is because they're here to help you get results. So if you're interested in finding out where Nat is, Nat, I know I'm a little out of order, but I want to make sure that we get your contact information. So let's make sure that people know how to find you. How do they find you? Absolutely. Well, I mean, my firm is Honig Conti-Pareno Insurance Agency. You can reach me. I'm going to give the phone number, I give a phone number too. And I really want it to. Absolutely. Sure. My phone number, feel free to contact me, 646-747-6282. And if you go to Honig Conti.com, you'll find everything you need to know about my firm and you can get to me as well. Yeah. I just, it seemed like the right segue. However, with that said, we always ask every guest, what's their favorite quote and why? So I read John Adams biography and from the McCullough biography that he wrote. And there was a line in it that has struck me for years. And it was we cannot ensure success, but we can deserve it. And it wasn't the ensure part that got me. But it was the part, and I believe it's from a play called The Cato by Joseph Addison. And Adams was writing this line in one of his many letters. We can't, none of us can ensure that success is going to happen, but we can really work hard to make sure that it does. And I think that's what I've always given to my clients. Can't make everything perfect, but you know that when you're dealing with me, I'm going to be working really hard to make sure that you're successful on the insurance front. And I love the fact that we deserve success. Like, to me, that's what I found so fascinating about that quote is that so many of us don't think we deserve anything. Absolutely. And deserve a such a fascinating word. I agree. All right. But with that said, any final words that you want to give of wisdom, insurance, I mean, you probably thought to yourself, wow, we never could make insurance exciting. And yet, see, we did. I'm excited. See, I mean, like I said, I'm hoping somebody will get excited from this because I'm excited every day when I come into work. I think it's important to understand that your insurance policy is not just something that you're paying for and that's sitting on a shelf collecting dust. It's a living breathing document that is going to be there to protect you every step of the way as a business owner. I mean, business insurance has been funding and creating business and commerce for hundreds and in some cases, in many cases, almost 1,000 years. And it's been around for that for a very specific reason. We're here to protect you. I can't even top that that I really can't top that. So I'm going to end the show there because it's just such wonderful words of wisdom. As we often say, if you have listened to this podcast today and you loved it, make sure and you need insurance, that is here. Please make sure that you reach out to him because he's really the insurance guy. Just going to tell you that. We also, if you found value in this, pass it on to your friends, your colleagues, and please like us on your favorite podcast platform because this is the way that it was, we help other people pay it forward. With that said, I'm Dr. Jean, the results queen. I would love for you to go out and get results. Now, thank you again for being a guest. Thank you for having me. This was great. It's my favorite podcast by far. So I'm excited to be part of it. Thank you. And with that said, go out and get results. Bye everyone. See you next time. Thank you for listening to Getting Results with Dr. Jean the results queen. If you like the show, please subscribe, rate, and review on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. We appreciate it, and it really helps your fellow business owners to find the show. Go to Getting Results with Dr. Jean.com for more information on how you can achieve better business results with caveman brain business growth system and the entrepreneurial operating system. And here's to you, Getting Results. of the show. Thank you. Thank you. of the show. (upbeat music) (upbeat music)
