ALLCHOICE Insurance’s own, Ben Vasquez was honored as Nike’s Runner of The Week! Congrats Ben!
You are not only a valued member of the ALLCHOICE Team, but you have become a valued member of our family!
Below you will find the story Nike Running did on Ben!
Some people run in high school or college, only to drop off after graduation. Not Nike+ Runner of the Week Ben Vasquez. The former collegiate track and cross-country runner isn’t slowing down now that he’s out in the real world. In fact, he’s doing even more.
After Ben graduated last May, he kept running strong, putting in up to 40-mile weeks. Three months ago, he made a change that brought his post-collegiate running to a new level. “I had been told for some time that I needed to buy a Nike+ GPS SportWatch with all of the running that I do,” Ben says. “Ever since I put this watch on my wrist, I have been a different runner. Each run feels like a race against the clock. At this point I can’t imagine leaving for a run without it.”
Now Ben is running faster and longer—in the last month he’s logged 128 miles—and he threw his hat into a new competition: the half-marathon. “Completing my first half-marathon was a big moment for me,” he says. “It was a lot more grueling than I expected and I ended that race with so much more respect for those individuals who complete full marathons.”
But Ben understands that running is about more than the physical strength to endure. “Running has instilled humility, grace, diligence and perseverance in me since the day I started at age 14,” Ben acknowledges. “Hard work and talent won’t carry you all the way. There is definitely a mentality one has to adopt in order to perform at their peak. For me, this mentality is what pushes me through the more challenging moments during a run and in life.” This awareness is going to help him as he gets after his next goal: a sub-74-minute half-marathon.
Ben, your long-term approach to running and your awareness of its mental side will take you far both on the road and on the road of life. We’re sending you a NIKEiD gift card for a pair of Nike Free Run+. Customize them with words that remind you where you’ve been and where you’re going. We hope you’ll keep running through your whole life.
About The Author: Jack Wingate is a Professional Insurance Advisor and Founder of ALLCHOICE Insurance in Greensboro, NC. For more information about Jack Wingate or ALLCHOICE Insurance please visit http://www.allchoiceinsurance.com
Running a small business can be a very fulfilling endeavor. However, contrary to the beliefs of many, the life of a small business owner is not all chocolates and roses!
Friday May 4th, 2012 I was hard at work. Since email is now a preferred mode of communication in the insurance business, I was in the process of sending some emails to my staff. Two of my agents use their personal emails (not an “@allchoiceinsurance.com” email). After sending them an email, I received an immediate kick back. My emails were not going through.
I made a quick call to our web host (also hosts our email) to see if there was a problem. He told me that another small business which shares our email server had been compromised. Fortunately, the compromise only affected the one small business. However, as a direct result of the one small business being hacked the entire server had been “blacklisted”. In a nutshell, since our email was hosted on the same server, emails coming from @allchoiceinsurance.com were blacklisted as well!
So, instead of working on the mound of paperwork that I had planned for that day, my day quickly became consumed with trying to get our email back up and running.
ALLCHOICE Insurance has been using “Google Apps” for approx two years. As a growing small business, we needed the access to corporate infrastructure that in the past was only available to larger organizations that could afford this type of technology. Using Google’s Free Business Apps, ALLCHOICE was able to set up a corporate intranet, have shared documents, as well as shared calendar(s). These particular aspects of Google Apps worked well, but we did not have FULL Access to all the features.
When the email debacle of 2012 hit, I immediately got to work upgrading my free Google Apps to the full version. I will say that the transition was quite simple. However, it does take a good amount of time. The majority of this time is not “hands on” time…rather you have to take 5 to 10 minutes setting the the synchronization, then the rest of the time you just have to sit back and watch Google do the rest.
The life of a small business owner is never dull!
About The Author: Jack Wingate is a Professional Insurance Advisor and Founder of ALLCHOICE Insurance in Greensboro, NC. For more information about Jack Wingate or ALLCHOICE Insurance please visit http://www.allchoiceinsurance.com
There is no doubt that the web has taken over our daily lives!
Moreover, the mobile web has taken over our daily lives!!!!
To that end, ALLCHOICE is pleased to announce we have launched the mobile version of www.allchoiceinsurance.com!
I ask each of you to take a look and give us your feedback, we could use your feedback.
To understand “why” we need your feedback, take a look at the various iterations of allchoiceinsurance.com.
ALLCHOICEINSURANCE.COM – 1st ITERATION
When ALLCHOICE Insurance was first founded, we invested some money in a website. At the time, we had a client who owned a “marketing” firm. They did a great job, and we unleashed allchoiceinsurance.com. At that point in ALLCHOICE’s history (and the history of business as well), your goal was just to have a web presence.
The first iteration of allchoiceinsurance.com was just that, a web presence. The website looked professionally done. If someone actually took the time to type in “allchoiceinsurance.com” they would at least see that we had a website (which at that point was a big deal for an insurance agency). The year…2004.
Skip forward just 3 years to 2007, and our business was forced to face the music. We could continue to have our “pretty picture” that we knew as our website, or we could get serious about unleashing the power of the web on our business. As a new/young business we were at a point financially where taking our online presence to the next level was viewed as a BIG EXPENSE! The problem was that we needed a change in mindset! To this point, our website couldn’t be “monetized”. I am sure that for those we directed to the site, ALLCHOICE gained some measure of credibility by just having our pretty picture, but there was no way to place a dollar figure on its value…thus any money thrown at our online strategy was viewed as an EXPENSE.
ALLCHOICEINSURANCE.COM – 2nd ITERATION
ALLCHOICE decided to take the plunge and have our site redesigned. We relaunched allchoiceinsurance.com in 2007! The new website was built to perform better in search. However, after long hours researching search engine optimization (SEO), I discovered that the old adage “built it and they will come” was not applicable to the web. To that end, we incorporated this Blog (allnews.allchoiceinsurance.com) to make sure we could keep our content fresh! The Blog lead itself to venturing out to social media platforms (Facebook & Twitter).
The next thing you know, we are cruising along. The website has been transformed from a business EXPENSE to a business & marketing tool! ALLCHOICE is now the proud owner of well designed, well optimized, online insurance office. The website allows visitors to learn about coverages, learn about policies, and even obtain quotes. For current ALLCHOICE clients, you are able to files claims, request certificates, and make payments!
The web is good!
ALLCHOICEINSURANCE.COM – 3rd ITERATION
2010 & 2011 saw the “smartphone” and “tablet” both come into existence, and take over the world! I read a statistic somewhere that in the short timeframe, 20-25% of all mobile phones were smartphones (approx 91 million smartphones in the US alone). Personally, I know that I use my smartphone to do just about everything. I check Facebook, watch videos, check email, and surf the web. When you add the tablet dynamic to the equation, projections are that more people will access the internet via their smartphone and tablet than with a PC (or Mac) by 2014.
With this data in mind, about a month ago, I took a close look at allchoiceinsurance.com from both my smartphone & my tablet. The website loaded fine. The navigation worked. However, I found that I had to really concentrate and manipulate the zoom in & zoom out function(s) on the devices. I then went and looked at some of my “competitors” using the same devices. The good news was that our site looked better and was more functional. The bad news, it just didn’t live up to my expectations.
When living in the mobile world, a website should be “simple”. The user should be able to move around the site with his/her thumb. Even better, the user should be able to access the information he/she is looking for in a matter of seconds!
With a thought in mind, I ventured out to make allchoiceinsurance.com “mobile friendly”. Through countless hours of design and testing, ALLCHOICE Insurance is pleased to unveil our mobile site! Just use your smartphone or tablet and enter our normal website (www.allchoiceinsurance.com), our server will automatically detect you are using a mobile device and redirect you to our mobile site. Of course, you always have the option to view the site in its “classic” view by clicking the link toward the bottom of the page’s window.
About The Author: Jack Wingate is a Professional Insurance Advisor and Founder of ALLCHOICE Insurance in Greensboro, NC. For more information about Jack Wingate or ALLCHOICE Insurance please visit http://www.allchoiceinsurance.com
ALLCHOICE Insurance has been blessed with the amount of business we have doing lately. In order to alleviate the work load…we had to bring in the secret weapon, Cooper Wingate!
The downside to Cooper joining the work force is that we will probably start seeing an ever increasing amount of new customers! I mean, who wouldn’t want to purchase their Home, Auto, Business, or Life Insurance from this guy?
About The Author: Jack Wingate is a Professional Insurance Advisor and Founder of ALLCHOICE Insurance in Greensboro, NC. For more information about Jack Wingate or ALLCHOICE Insurance please visit http://www.allchoiceinsurance.com
As an Insurance Advisor, I am constantly faced with the questions (from Male “head of households”) about how to calculate the amount of life insurance needed for a “stay-at-home” mom. In most Life Insurance Evaluations, a big component in determining the amount of life insurance one needs involves his/her annual income. If there is no actual earned income, the calculation doesn’t really work!
Over the years, I have always advised one income families that they should purchase the same amount of life insurance on the stay-at-home spouse as they purchase on the income earner. It’s funny, when I give that answer to the male income earner (when the spouse is not around), I hear all sorts of objections. I don’t think I hear the objections based on the income earner not valuing the stay-at-home spouse, but rather, not FULLY valuing what the spouse does each and every day.
As the “income earner” in a one income family, I have first hand knowledge of what my wonderful spouse does each and every day! (that’s for you Melinda)
Recently, our country’s political battle brought this topic to the forefront of the national headlines. Thankfully, this has sparked a national outcry with regard to the “worth” of stay-at-home spouses! The 2010 U.S. Census showed there were approximately 5 million stay-at-home moms in our country. While that number was down some from previous years, the stay-at-home mom is still a large demographic.
Salary.com recently did a survey in which they tried to determine the “financial worth” of the average stay-at-home mom! On average, the stay-at-home mom’s task load equates to a 95 hour work week. In calculating this work load, you have 40 hours per week at “base” pay and 54.7 hours of overtime. That equates out to an annual salary of $112,940.45! In addition, salary.com surveyed 8,000 moms to find out how much time they spend on “common tasks” and calculated the pay they would receive for managing these same services in the corporate world. Basically, for being the CEO of the household, the stay-at-home mom’s annual salary as the HOME CEO would be $171,824.
Hopefully, the days of under-valuing your stay-at-home spouse’s financial worth are over. Just imagine the financial tool you would be faced with should your spouse pre-decease you, and you were now challenged with not only being the “income earner” but also the CEO of your home! I suggest you plan accordingly!
About The Author: Jack Wingate is a Professional Insurance Advisor and Founder of ALLCHOICE Insurance in Greensboro, NC. For more information about Jack Wingate or ALLCHOICE Insurance please visit http://www.allchoiceinsurance.com
All too often, businesses are bombarded with complaints! I have always heard that a “Happy Customer” is one that you never hear from. At ALLCHOICE, we strive to maintain a positive relationship with each and every client! Over the years, we have been blessed by the outpouring of positive feedback we have received. Below you will find the latest such example!
“I am a single parent and it can be a real juggle to keep everything afloat! Although AllChoice has always given me great service in the past,Trish has gone the extra mile to assist me this year! I so appreciate her understanding and treating me like a valued customer-I am glad my business is valued. Trish has offered just the right answers when I was frustrated over trying to remedy situations and manage time constraints. I so appreciate her kindness to me!”
About The Author: Jack Wingate is a Professional Insurance Advisor and Founder of ALLCHOICE Insurance in Greensboro, NC. For more information about Jack Wingate or ALLCHOICE Insurance please visit http://www.allchoiceinsurance.com
Trayvon Martin! Unless you have been living without access to any form of media over the past month or so, you are probably familiar with that name. In deed, what took place in Florida is a tragedy. No matter which side our opinion lends toward at this point, there is actually a real world example that applies directly to Insurance. More precisely, Insurance for Homeowner’s Association Insurance.
As an agency, ALLCHOICE Insurance provides Homeowner’s Association Insurance for many associations in North Carolina. Often the Association Managers, and more importantly the HOA Board Of Directors see the Homeowner’s Association Insurance as an EXPENSE they try and trim down to bare minimum. However, making sure your Homeowner’s Association Insurance Plan is designed and implemented properly can pay big dividends in the end. In fact, those that serve on an HOA Board Of Directors have a vested interest in making sure their Insurance Program is adequate as Board Members can often be sued PERSONALLY. Of course, that is a different lesson for a different time.
Below you will find a Recent Article found in TheInsurance Journal (Full Link Can Be Found Below)
If Trayvon Martin’s family sues over his death, they might not target George Zimmerman but instead the homeowners association of the neighborhood where the shooting happened and Zimmerman lived.
That’s because if Zimmerman’s claim that he shot the unarmed 17-year-old in self-defense is upheld by prosecutors, a judge or a jury, Florida’s so-called stand your ground law would protect him from a lawsuit. But his clearance or acquittal wouldn’t stop Martin’s parents from suing The Retreat at Twin Lakes homeowners association — and its insurance policies and assets would make it a much more lucrative target than Zimmerman, even if he is eventually convicted of a crime.
Plus, lawyers say, Exhibit A would be a newsletter sent by the association to residents in February, the same month as the shooting. It said Zimmerman was the go-to person for residents who had been the victims of a crime.
Under the heading “Neighborhood Watch,” the newsletter’s message recommended that residents first call police and then “please contact our Captain, George Zimmerman … so he can be aware and help address the issue with other residents.”
That seeming endorsement of Zimmerman exposes the 7-year-old association to possible legal action by Martin’s parents, homeowners association attorneys said.
“It’s almost like if you give your son the keys to a brand new Corvette when he turns 16” and he gets in an accident, said Roberto Blanch, a South Florida attorney who specializes in homeowners associations. “You may be seen as enabling the occurrence or the loss.”
Zimmerman has admitted to fatally shooting Martin during a confrontation Feb. 26 but has said it was in self-defense. Zimmerman spotted Martin from his truck as the teen was returning to the house of his father’s fiance from a convenience store. It was dusk on a rainy evening.
“This guy looks like he is up to no good,” Zimmerman told a police dispatcher before the confrontation.
When Zimmerman got out of his truck and started following him, the dispatcher told him, “OK. We don’t need you to do that.”
Moments later, residents of The Retreat at Twin Lakes heard screaming and at least one gunshot. Police officers arriving at the gated community found Martin shot dead in the chest.
By designating Zimmerman the neighborhood watch captain in the newsletter, the homeowners association “is stuck” if it’s sued, said Justin Clark, an attorney based in Longwood, Fla., whose practice includes real estate law.
“So, if you’re going to send out a newsletter saying, `Hey, he is the captain. Whatever he says goes,’ You have now basically rented a free police officer for your neighborhood,” Clark said. “He certainly took on that role with the homeowners association, and it seems to me that they recognized that.”
Don O’Brien, an officer with the Retreat at Twin Lakes homeowners association, said, “No,” and closed the door on a reporter who contacted him at his home. No one answered the door at the homes of two other association officers, Jenna Lauer and Cynthia Wibker. All live inside the complex of more than 250 townhomes.
A woman who answered the telephone at the association’s management company, Leland Management, said no one would comment. She declined to give her name.
Zimmerman told Sanford police detectives he had lost track of Martin and was returning to his vehicle when Martin attacked him from behind.
Then-Police Chief Bill Lee said detectives were unable to arrest Zimmerman because of Florida’s self-defense law, which gives wide leeway to use deadly force and eliminates a person’s duty to retreat in the face of danger.
The decision not to arrest Zimmerman has provoked an international outcry, prompting Lee to step down temporarily and the state attorney who normally handles cases out of Sanford to recuse himself. Gov. Rick Scott appointed a special prosecutor to investigate and decide whether to file charges.
Zimmerman had developed a reputation for monitoring the neighborhood. He was well known to local police dispatchers, having made 46 calls to them since 2004, according to department records. Some of those records list the caller familiarly as just “George.” The neighborhood had experienced a recent rash of burglaries, and some neighbors welcomed Zimmerman’s efforts.
A PowerPoint presentation put out by the Sanford Police Department for neighborhood watch groups, however, makes it clear that Zimmerman’s role had limits. The presentation warns volunteers not to try to be police themselves but to “work with the police.”
If Zimmerman were to be convicted of a crime, the door would likely be wide open to a lawsuit — Florida courts have held that homeowners associations can be held liable in wrongful-death cases.
A state appellate court in South Florida ruled seven years ago that a Miami homeowners association was partially at fault in the death of a visitor whose estranged husband entered the gated community and killed her.
Who would pay in the event of such a lawsuit would probably be determined by the type of insurance coverage the association has, Clark said. Some policies may be wide enough to cover Zimmerman’s actions. If there is no policy or the policy in place is very narrow in its coverage, homeowners likely would have to pay out of their own pockets through higher monthly assessment fees because most associations don’t have very deep reserves, he said. He noted that policies typically cover about $1 million.
“I almost guarantee you there are going to be checks written,” Clark said.
About The Author: Jack Wingate is a Professional Insurance Advisor and Founder of ALLCHOICE Insurance in Greensboro, NC. For more information about Jack Wingate or ALLCHOICE Insurance please visit http://www.allchoiceinsurance.com
ALLCHOICE Insurance customers, Steve & Mariea Snyder (Owners of High Point’s Tiger Rock Martial Arts), recently held classes for children to help them deal with BULLYING.
Speaking as a parent, I know that the thought of my children being bullied is horrifying! Speaking as someone who knows the Snyders personally, and as someone who has seen first hand what and how they teach…I can highly recommend looking them up!
Over the past 18 Months, North Carolina residents have seen the devastation caused by Tornados. These disasters arrive & leave in minutes, yet for those left behind in the storm’s path…the devastation lingers on.
As an Insurance Professional, I take for granted the basic knowledge I have gained over my years in this business. It wasn’t until recently that I came to understand that MOST people have no idea about what role their insurance plays in the aftermath of Tornado. This point was made clear in a phone call I received from my Dad (I guess some things never change). After checking on the kids, like he normally does, my Dad asked if the damages from the recent tornados in Tennessee would be covered by insurance?
If my own Dad doesn’t know the answer to that question, then I would assume the majority of average people would have no idea either. In order to right this wrong, I have decided to share some “TIPS” with regard to making sure you are covered against damage(s) caused by a tornado!
HOMEOWNERS INSURANCE BASICS
The Standard Homeowner’s Insurance “Form” (another word the policy and endorsements that make up the homeowner’s policy in North Carolina) is pretty consistent among all Insurance Carriers in North Carolina. That means (generally speaking) that a Homeowners Insurance Policy provided by one carrier should be very similar to one provided by another carrier. The most commonly found Homeowners Insurance “Form” in North Carolina is referred to as the “HO-3″.
This “Form” provides protection(s) for the following:
Coverage A – Dwelling (Your House)
Coverage B – Other Structures
Coverage C – Personal Property (this is “your stuff”)
Coverage D – Loss Of Use (the expenses you incur while your home is being repaired after a loss)
Some companies are providing a newer Homeowners Form in North Carolina called the “HE-7″. I explain the HE-7 to people as simply an HO-3 on steroids. The HE-7 simply takes the coverages provided by the HO-3 and adds in a bunch of extras. The biggest thing to be aware of is the “Loss Settlement”. In insurance lingo, your policy either pays in terms of “Replacement Cost” or “Actual Cash Value”. The difference? Replacement Cost does just what it says, it replaces your items (house, clothes, tv’s, etc) with today’s equivalent. Actual Cash Value takes your items and applies depreciation. You want to make sure your policy has REPLACEMENT COST coverage.
In the insurance world, we use the term “PERILS” to describe the types of losses your policy protects you from.
Here is the good news….as long as your Homeowners Policy is on an HO-3 or HE-7 Form, you are covered against ALL PERILS unless the policy SPECIFICALLY excludes a certain peril. There are other “HO Forms” that do not provide “ALL PERILS COVERAGE”, but the vast majority of Homeowners Policies in North Carolina fall into either the HO-3 or HE-7 buckets.
Example of a PERIL that is not covered in NC…Earthquake! You are able to purchase this coverage back on to your policy!
The question should then be what? Does my policy cover damage caused by a Tornado?
The answer is YES (most of the time, I will explain later)! Damage caused by WIND is COVERED by both the HO-3 & HE-7 in North Carolina.
EXCEPTION TO THE TORNADO RULE
As I stated earlier, North Carolina Homeowners Policies DO cover damage caused by Tornados (on the HO-3 & HE-7 Forms). There is an exception! As a general rule of thumb, most insurance carriers EXCLUDE losses caused by WIND & HAIL the closer you get to the Coastal Counties. As a general rule of thumb, I encourage anyone EAST of I-95 to examine their Homeowners Policy for this Exclusion (it is labeled as HO 32 94).
THE CONVERSATION WITH YOUR AGENT
Hopefully, you are now armed with a little more knowledge of what your Homeowners Policy covers with regards to Tornados. However, if your want a little more peace of mind…here is the conversation your should have with your Insurance Agent!
QUESTION 1? Do I have an HO-3 or HE-7 Policy?
QUESTION 2 (if the answer is HO-3)? Do I have Replacement Cost on my dwelling AND Personal Property?
QUESTION 3? Does my Policy EXCLUDE damages from WIND?
Side note…if you want to make your Insurance Agent look bad, ask if your policy includes the HO 32 94 Endorsement (this is the endorsement that EXCLUDE Wind & Hail).
CLOSING THOUGHTS
When I talk to potential customers, more times than not they have NO IDEA about any of the coverages they have. Whether it is their Homeowners, auto, life, or business insurance, I find that they simply pay their premium(s) and ASSUME they are “covered”. If you are unsure what you are actually paying for….ASK! I can guarantee you that if you purchase a new computer and I have no idea how to make it work that you would be on the phone in an instant with “tech support”. If you “mess” up your computer, what have you lost? If you were to lose your home, auto, or life…what type of loss would you and your family have? I think you have more at stake with the latter!
Erie Insurance has, once again, been recognized by J.D. Powers as one of their Customer Service Champions.
This is the second year in a row that Erie Insurance has earned this distinction. Unlike the numerous J.D. Power Awards Erie has one in the past, this award is not awarded to only Insurance Carriers. Instead, Erie Insurance is competing against companies in all industries. Some of the other brands that were recognized were Ritz-Carlton, Southwest Airlines, and Zappos.
While ALL businesses should strive to provide outstanding Customer Service, success in the Insurance Industry is predicated on doing so. When you purchase insurance, you are purchasing “a promise”. Without something tangible a customer can put in his or her hand (like an iPad, Nike Shoes, or a Happy Meal), going above and beyond in Customer Service is what can make or break an Insurance Carrier!
Congrats to Erie Insurance…I am proud to say that ALLCHOICE Insurance represents Erie!
ALLCHOICE covers insurance for
all companies, including technology, manufacturing, property management, contractors, small business and non-profit organizations.
ALLCHOICE provides Health Insurance for individuals, families and small businesses. We offer Co-Pay Plans, HSA's, Medicare Supplements, and Dental Insurance.
ALLCHOICE Insurance’s own, Ben Vasquez was honored as Nike’s Runner of The Week! Congrats Ben!
