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What You Write Down Gets Done

Isn’t it funny how scribbling a few things down on a sticky note will make you feel more organized.

It’s as if just making a simple list is that first little step to getting things in order. But then look at that, you’re so disorganized, you lose your list. Or you have four separate lists going on at once, and you need a list of all your lists. Well, it turns out that even the organizational task of making a list needs a little organization. For example, a better list means, 1) keeping the right lists, 2) knowing when to make a list, 3) knowing what to keep a list of, and 4) getting help crossing things off your list.

 “Scattered Brain can equal Scattered Lists.”

‘There’s nothing as frustrating, or as easy, than losing a ‘To Do’ list. You always forget something the second time around, and it’s usually the reason you started the list in the first in the first place. To avoid this annoyance, keep your lists in one notebook or binder, so they’re not scattered, and more importantly, you’re not scattered. A pre-organized book helps you keep track of all the different ‘To Do’s’ that need to get done, all in the same convenient place.’

 “Help Them Help You”

One reason your ‘To Do’ lists may be so long is that you’re simply taking on too many tasks. A great way to cross items off is to simply ask others to do them. Granted, there are certain things that only you can accomplish, so don’t ask people to help do things that you’ll just have to go back and re-do. Instead, choose tasks that others either could do easily, or tasks they should be doing themselves anyway.

Alright, one more list of ways to make a better list.

#1. Regularity
The scattered feeling that accompanies the dozens of free-floating lists you make can be solved by a little organizational regularity. That means establishing a pattern for how often you make your lists, (daily/weekly), where you keep your list (notebook, legal pad, binder), and the time and place you write your list (Sunday night, Monday morning, etc.). Knowing when/where/and what of your lists will help keep them centralized.

#2. Follow the 80/20 Rule
The 80/20 rule states that in any pursuit, if you take care of a few important things (20%), you will solve 80% of your problem. So, when making your ‘To Do’ lists, highlight the top three most important things to do each day/week. You’ll find that by getting these done, you’ll get a better sense of the true importance of the rest of the items on your list, which you can then tackle as needed.

#3. Delegate
When you make your master ‘To Do’ list, there’s a tendency to take on the needs of the whole household. Fortunately for you, there is that whole household ready and (with some help) willing to take on some ‘To Do’s’ themselves. It is important not just to delegate different tasks to others, but also to keep track of what exactly was delegated.

These tips are only the beginning. The Unstoppable Profit Producer program provides every tool needed to make “getting things done” a reality in your life and in the lives of your family. To get started today, implement, execute and take action and join us at http://bit.ly/6p2XME.

Kung Fu Wisdom For Your Business

Want to know a ‘Kung Fu’ secret that will help you quickly grow your insurance agency business?

A close friend has been taking Kung Fu lessons for 3 months now and during today’s lesson we reviewed everything learned so far.

He still makes a lot of mistakes. Sometimes it’s keeping his blocking hand open when it should be closed or keep it closed when it should be open. But…

I noticed today that he made way less mistakes than he ever made before. When he first started taking lessons there seemed to be so many little things to focus on:

His feet, posture, striking hand, blocking hand, techniques. It was a little overwhelming.

I think an insurance agency business can be the same way. We can get overwhelmed with all there is to master:

=> writing new applications
=> retention
=> marketing materials
=> managing team members
=> time management, etc. And…

What happens to many agents is they work too hard on perfecting all of the little details. Maybe you never get hung up on the details, but I’m sure you know agents like this. In fact there could be someone like this sitting in your chair right now. Smile

My advice for you is to *let go* of the desire to get everything right. Trust your natural developmental process. Instead just do. Do what you need to do, do a lot of it, and relax about everything being perfect.

You’ll naturally become better at selling, marketing, and even managing your time. The most important thing to focus on is getting things done and moving on to the next thing.

Without focusing on every little detail, my Kung Fu techniques have dramatically improved simply from doing.

I’ve made a lot of mistakes with my insurance agency business along the way and I’m still making them. There are 100 things I could be doing better right now. But, instead of focusing on all of the little details that aren’t perfect yet, I just keep working on one big thing at a time.

*** The Bottom Line ***

Let all of your business explosion activities be practice and you will get better and better at everything you do.

What can you DO today to get more clients and retain more clients right now?

Are you ready to let go of perfection and allow yourself to get better naturally -simply by doing?

Let me know what you think and share what is working for you.

+++++++++++++++++++++

If you found this email valuable, please forward it on to other folks that might benefit from it. – Thanks!

Mike Stromsoe
The Unstoppable Profit Producer
www.unstoppableprofitproducer.com
Free call – 800-770-9984

PS Get your 3 Free Gifts Right Now – Click HERE http://bit.ly/7pdhdE

Chunka Time

Thanks to insurance counsler and agent Scott Marquart of Escondido, CA for this question – ” I need helping scheduling my day”.

Scott, we have all been there and those who are honest still fall back into this quandry from time to time. Having been through many time optimization and time management theories, here’s a couple of simple tips that work wonders:

1. Simply sit down and plan your week before it starts. Figure out when the planning works best for YOU – the Friday, Saturday, Sunday or Monday morning before the coming week. Write it down, just brain sprint all of the things you need to get done for the coming week
2. Go back and circle your highest priority items
3. For those highest priority items (these should also be tasks that more quickly advance your personal or professional life), it is a good idea to set aside “chunks of time”. In many cases, it is best to perform these tasks away from the office or in a quiet, secluded area, in a location where you can focus and think clearly. This might be a home office, the office of a friend or colleague or even the library. You decide what works best for you
4. If possible, delegate as many items as possible from this list to someone else
5. If you struggle, find an accountability partner to keep you on task each week. Accountability partners are great as both parties normally benefit from this exercise

In the words of Winston Churchill “the war was not won with the plan, it was won with the planning

Also, turn off your phone and leave email alone during this time.

Good luck, let us know about your massive success!

The Future of YOUR Healthcare

PLEASE TELL THESE KEY REPRESENTATIVES
TO OPPOSE THE HOUSE DEMOCRATS TRI-COMMITTEE HEALTH CARE REFORM BILL

Background: The House is scheduled to vote on the Democrats Tri-Committee Health Care Reform bill the week of July 27th. Stromsoe Insurance Agency supports efforts to enact real and substantive private market reform to provide all Americans with access to affordable health care and to lower health insurance costs, but the House Democrats Tri-Committee Health Care Reform bill is not the right solution. Stromsoe Insurance Agency is strongly opposed to the bill in its current form.

The Representatives listed below will be key votes on this bill, and Stromsoe Insurance Agency strongly urges them to oppose the House Democrats Tri-Committee Health Care Reform bill.

Concerns: The House Democrats Health Care Reform bill includes a government-run health insurance plan that would unfairly compete with the private insurance marketplace, limit consumer choice and increase the taxpayer burden. To finance the government-run health insurance plan, the bill would impose a 5.4% surtax on successful small businesses, which would force thousands of small business to either cut jobs or close their doors. In addition, the bill also includes an employer mandate to offer health insurance that would shrink small business output and force small businesses to cut jobs.

To top it off, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimated last week that the bill would increase our nation’s already ballooning deficit by $240 billion over the next ten years.

Action Needed: Please call the key legislators listed below this Wednesday or Thursday at the phone numbers listed below and strongly urge them to oppose the House Democrats Tri-Committee Health Care Reform bill. Please also send this grassroots alert to your employees, friends, family, and clients and ask them to call to express their support for health care reform and opposition to the House Democrats Tri-Committee Health Care Reform bill. After you make the calls, please email mikes@fallbrook.com to confirm participation.

Congressman Joe Baca (202) 225-6161
Congressman Dennis Cardoza (202) 225-6131
Congressman Jim Costa (202) 225-3341
Congresswoman Jane Harman (202) 225-8220
Congresswoman Loretta Sanchez (202) 225-2965
Congressman Adam Schiff (202) 225-4176
Congressman Mike Thompson (202) 225-3311

*Please note that your call will likely be answered by a staff assistant in the Congressman’s office. Please make your message brief and note the following:

1. As a resident, I strongly urge (insert members name here) to oppose the House Democrats Tri-Committee Health Care Reform bill.

2. I strongly support efforts to enact real and substantive private market reform to provide all Americans with access to affordable health care and to lower health insurance costs; however, the House bill is not the right solution.

3. The House Democrats bill includes a government-run health insurance plan that would unfairly compete with the private insurance marketplace, limit consumer choice and increase the taxpayer burden.

4. The House bill would levy a 5.4% surtax on successful small businesses. That is exactly the wrong prescription for America’s small businesses that are fighting to make ends meet during this period of great economic uncertainty.

5. The bill also includes an employer mandate that would shrink small business output and force small businesses to cut jobs.

6. I appreciate the Congressman’s leadership and his willingness and courageousness to listen to his constituents over his Party leadership on this issue.

*Please remember to email mikes@fallbrook.com after you make the calls to confirm your participation.

If you have any questions, please contact Mike Stromsoe at (951) 600-5751 or by email at mikes@fallbrook.com. Thank you for your participation in this national grassroots effort.

CA Work Comp Board Says No More Voc Rehab

Sometimes no does means no. That’s the message from the Workers’ Compensation Appeals Board, which ruled yesterday that injured California workers who were eligible for vocational rehabilitation benefits but failed to get a final order or award before the January 1 sunset of the statute are no longer entitled to the benefits. Five years ago, the Legislature said there would be no more vocational rehabilitation program after December 31, 2008 and, as the board concluded yesterday, they meant it.

“Unless an injured employee’s vocational rehabilitation rights have become vested under a final order that issued before January 1, 2009, these inchoate and unperfected rights are extinguished and forever lost,” the board wrote in its unanimous en banc decision in Weiner v. Ralphs Company, noting that workers’ comp benefits are statutory benefits that cease to exist once the authorizing statute is repealed. “[T]he repeal of section 139.5 stopped all pending and non-final vocational rehabilitation actions at the point where the repeal found them.”

The board pointed out that the language repealing Labor Code Section 139.5 was clear and unambiguous and the Legislature never took any subsequent action to delete or extend that sunset date or even to include a saving clause.

“By providing in April 2004 that [Labor Code] section 139.5 would not be repealed until January 1, 2009, the Legislature, in effect, ‘saved’ both pending and impending vocational rehabilitation claims for a period of nearly five years,” the board noted. “This gave affected employees a reasonable time within which to avail themselves of vocational rehabilitation before the repeal would take effect.”
The decision has widespread impact as the WCAB’s district offices were flooded with thousands of claims for uncollected VR benefits in the waning days of 2008 and even into 2009. The question of whether the right to VR benefits would extend beyond the sunset date was the focus of two consolidation hearings by Mark Kahn, acting court administrator for the Division of Workers’ Compensation and associate chief judge, but the WCAB stepped in to adjudicate the issue.

“The scary thing about this case is the potential magnitude of what happens if it went the other way. For defendants, claims examiners, employers and insurance companies the problem they would be facing if Weiner went the other way is all of a sudden a case that had been dormant for 5, 10, 15 years is now generating a demand for 50,000 [in VR benefits],” notes one Northern California defense attorney. “They thought the case was dead and gone and now they have to look around and try and figure out if they owe it.”

With an appeal of the case likely, the board was very thorough in its review of the issues and the arguments put forth — both by the parties and in the handful of amicus briefs that were filed in the case. The nearly 30-page opinion also discounted the argument that the VR statutes live on as a “ghost statute,” but it did note that the WCAB retains jurisdiction to enforce or terminate existing VR awards.

So what if anything does the board’s favorable ruling in Weiner mean for the other looming cases at the board, i.e. Almaraz/Guzman and Ogilvie? Some see it as a bone thrown to the industry before it gets the boot again in those two cases. But that’s a discussion for another day.

This is compliments of the Work Comp Executive-wcexec.com

Increase workers’ compensation benefits for Permanent Disability?

Today, the California Senate Labor and Industrial Relations Committee approved Senate Bill 773 (Florez), a bill to increase workers’ compensation benefits for Permanent Disability (PD). The employer community opposes this bill because it significantly – and arbitrarily – increases costs at the worst possible time for California businesses and rolls back a major element of the 2004 legislative reforms.  

As outlined in this article from the Sacramento Business Journal, recent court rulings and pending regulations also propose to increase PD benefits this year. SB 773 amounts to what could be a “triple whammy” for employers that will increase the PD costs finally reined in by the reforms. 

You can join the employer opposition effort by signing on to this letter, which will be sent to the members of the California State Senate. If you would like your organization or business to be included on this opposition letter, please send us an email and we will ensure your name is included.   

As the letter outlines, the proponents of the legislation have provided no data to support the various levels of increases proposed in the bill, which could raise PD costs for employers by as much as 85% according to testimony provided at the hearing. Similar such legislation to arbitrarily increase PD benefits has been vetoed in each of the last three years by Governor Schwarzenegger, thanks in part to your letters, emails and phone calls.


 

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