As you know, the politicians hate to face up to problems.  They talk around them, ignore them or distort them.  Each of us can no longer look at a politician as a role model or even consider then a civil servant.  We all seem to have become nothing more than the tax base from which their next campaign is financed.  Become an independent thinker regards of your station in life.  Look within yourself for the answers, at least when you do that you’ll find an answer even if it may not be the one you want.  Do not wait for someone else to provide an answer and then react, start thinking positive now if you want to get any personal satisfaction out of your life.  Share your goals within your circle of business contacts, friends, and family and let those who cares about you help you to meet your goals set for 2011. 

As the half way point in the year approaches we all need to look at our goals and accomplishments for the first six months.  If we don’t constantly keep track of time and what we set out to accomplish we won’t reach the goals set for ourselves and our businesses.  While the economy just doesn’t seem to want to recover, as individuals and business people we must move ahead on a positive basis.  We must be very active in our search for new business and watching our expenses so we can stay in business.

It’s not easy to maintain an up tempo when the negatives just seem to be increasing.  Just this morning I was reading an economic report about the situation in Europe and the fear that the euro could collapse.  If it did, it would only make matters worse in the US.  Well don’t let anything stop you. Economists can be wrong.  You are in control when you are active in making things happen.  Don’t wait to react as then it may be too late. 

To follow up on Monday’s blog I wanted to let those who relish cheap insurance that cheap may not always be cheap.  It sounds good when a funny little creature or show business actor or actress says cute things, but who do you want your advice from?  A creature or paid actor/actress or a professional agent that you can call and get help as well as a policy that provides the protection you will need when you’re the victim of a storm?  

The devastation in the South is really unbelievable.  Storms that do extensive damage and cause many deaths happen more often than we think.  The problem is that most of us are conditioned to hear about them and then forget them until the next time.  The problem is what happens to those who are affected by the storm?  First they need to contact their insurance agent or company and find out how to go about filing a claim.  In major catastrophes many of the insurance companies have adjusters that go directly to the area to start the claims process.  The checks for partial payments are issued and final checks are done after the total loss has been determined for each claimant.  Many people think the person who has the loss will end up paying for it.  Some do, but the smart ones who carry adequate insurance can pass the loss on and have their personal effects replaced with new it they just get the proper advice from their insurance agent.

Every time I read a historical fact it makes me think we need to constantly review our history lessons.  On Monday I mentioned the building of our cross continental railroads and today I would like to mention the 1890 Sherman Anti-Trust law.  Did you know that it was enacted to stop Standard Oil at a time when it was operating so efficiently that the politicians were worried that may become a monopoly?  Did you also know that at the time this Act was enacted that the oil industry represented 1% of the GNP and was barely one-third the size of the shoe industry?  Back to this week’s thought that you need to adjust your year’s plan based on the current conditions.  In the old days you could depend on things staying the same with minor adjustments.  Today they hardly ever stay the same even for a short period.  Quarterly changes are common and you need to adjust accordingly.

As we start the 2^nd quarter of the year it is a good time to review your 1^st quarter results to see if it will be necessary to tweak your goals for 2011.  We all get excited in the planning process and if the goals were set too high we will be in for a disappointment in December.  It is ok to tweak a goal and exceed it.  In fact it is better to exceed a goal then to miss it.  A positive result is taken much better than coming up short.  In this economy the variables are many and the need to adjust will continue to be there.  In the past when the government has tried to manipulate the business environment the situation nearly always becomes worse.  Remember the building of the railroads across American?  Did you know that all the companies that got land from the government failed and all the companies that bought their own land succeeded?  Think about it.

I had better stick to insurance today as Monday’s blog got me going based on my return to California from being out of town and seeing the gas and food prices up another 20%.  The good news is that the insurance premiums continue at a very low rate and you can still take advantage of them if you haven’t already.  PHD Insurance Brokers represents nearly all the major insurance carriers in the nation and you can get excellent coverage at a very competitive price.  Don’t be fooled by those claims of a discount and then the coverage isn’t there when you need it.  Call the reliable 45 year experienced firm that wants your business and will give you a competitive premium and outstanding service too!!!

What happened???  No blogs last week and no emails to ask me what happened.  Maybe no one reads them and my last two years have been just an exercise for me in writing.  Well, for those of you who do read them I had a computer crash and wasn’t able to write them or have them posted.  Mystery solved.  And now for this week’s thoughts.

Mixed messages on the economy are being sent to us and the consensus is that food and energy prices are up and other things are flat or down.  Here we are the richest nation in the world when it comes to oil and we have an energy crisis nearly all the time.  We also have the ability to grow our own food and export it to other countries yet food prices are up.  I know they say it’s the weather etc. but what about all the corn being used in ethanol?  What about all the farmers we subsidize NOT to grow anything?  Does this sound like we are off track or what?

Continuing my thoughts from Monday I wanted to include the need for the leaders of our great country and in the State of California where our agency is located, that they need to start getting the debt under control.  This means you need to cut spending.  A few talk of doing this but I read a noted economist and he said the USA needs to cut $1 Trillion from the debt to make it work.  Have you heard anyone talking about that number yet?  Every single program needs to be lead to the chopping block and the fat taken out if not totally disposed of.  In business we can’t let out debt overtake our income and I think we need to make our leaders realize they have to do the same as we have to.

At our company, PHD Insurance Brokers, Inc., we have a Code of Values that includes 10 points of conduct that we follow.  I want to bring our #3 Code to your attention today.  (See www.phdinsurancebrokers.com for the other nine.) 

This code reads “We believe success is the result of clear, cooperative positive thinking.”  This is the code I went over during my staff meeting on Friday.  I felt a need to stress the positive because of the negativism that everyone is seeing in our world today.  We see the chaos in the Middle East, the disastrous earthquake in Japan, the riots in other parts of our world and in Wisconsin right here in the United States.  Why do we need to state the obvious because all of these events are wearing out our employees?  All of them face the daily trials of living and doing the right thing.  They are the ones paying the high gas and food prices on a daily basis.  When the leaders of a country get away from doing the right job for the people the employers need to step up and do it for them.