Joes Map

This is something that I make all of my clients do, and everyone should do it at least once a year. Look into your insurance. Are you paying for insurance that you really don’t need? I was paying for earthquake insurance for years, and I love far away form any major fault lines.

Is your insurance enough? Believe it, you can save a lot of money by having more insurance too. If you have a lot of jewelry, or guns, or a home office, make sure that those things are covered by your current policy. I have heard weeping horror stories about entire collections that were destroyed by a fire, and the people who lost it all thought that everything in their home was covered, but their policy did not cover more than $1,000 for jewelry, and their collection would of cost for than $10,000 to replace.

Be sure to find out what your policy covers, is it replacement value, or current value? This could cost you in several ways, it is good to know before you need to replace computers for your business that you will be able to replace them if something happens.

Another thing to keep an eye out for is coverage for your land, home or business itself. Many people are surprised to find that their policy only covers 80% of the value of the home, this is common, it protects your mortgage holder, but it doesn’t do much for you if have $50,000 in equity, yet your insurance will not pay you a dime of that.

Most of my clients end up adding some coverage to their policies, and it costs very little, but it’s the only way to get the peace of mind that they thought they should already have.

There are a million ways to save money with your business, there are some things that I do that make a huge difference when the end of the year comes around. Not all of the things I do will make sense for every business, but to get your mind map flowing, here’s  few things to consider.

I use one cell phone, I have a generic voice mail. No need for three cell phones for 3 businesses.

I have a home office, I meet clients at coffee shops, and big meetings get a ballroom on an off day at one of the hotels.

When I go on vacation I plan it around a convention or other business trip, this gets me the tax deduction for the flight. I often get cheaper hotel rates for the vacation since I often book 4 or more nights for the business part of the trip as well.

I use contractors, not employees. This works well for me and the people I contract with.

I use skype, yahoo messenger and email as much as possible. If I needed to call long distance I would plan the call to make it after hours here and in the right time for the time zone I am calling. I don’t accept faxes, I make anyone trying to fax me scan it and email it. No need to have something else on all day that I hardly use.

What do you do to save with your business?