State Farm Insurance - Horrible customer service for general liability insurance and much more expensive than Liberty Mutual for auto insurance

If you're considering getting general liability with State Farm, please read about my experience with State Farm before you get your policy.

I had a good relationship with State Farm until I was required by my employer to get general liability insurance. The insurance agent sold me the policy but NEVER INFORMED ME that (in contrast to my auto insurance with State Farm) my general liability insurance was (by default) an auto-renew policy. After the 12 months I did not need general liability insurance anymore, so I figured (like my auto insurance) it would expire, but guess what, it didn't expire! Next thing I know, I owe for one month for this auto-renewed policy. I called State Farm and explained to the customer service rep I did not want to renew it but I was told it was too late, and it was  "Only twenty dollars". My wife tried calling the insurance agent who sold us the policy about this, and he told her "Don't worry, I took care of it". However, we later found out that nothing "was taken care of". We still owed the one month that I never wanted! When my wife called John back, he told her "It was my responsibility to find out this policy was auto renew". Considering I have over 1 million things to do, this was outrageously poor customer service!

How about this? It was the responsibility of the Insurance Agent for State Farm who sold me the policy to inform me this policy was an auto-renew policy, in contrast to the auto-insurance I had with State Farm.

There is a happy ending though. For my auto coverage, I have since switched to Liberty Mutual, which insures me for auto coverage for over 25% less per year (my auto insurance policy with Liberty Mutual, for the same amount of coverage, is over $250 per year less expensive than my auto insurance policy was with State Farm). Also, I can save time and pay my entire year of auto insurance at one time, in contrast to State Farm, which required me to make two half-payments per year. 

I will recommend that everyone in my family drop their coverage with State Farm. After all, who would not want to save hundreds of dollars per policy?

Great Job Done on the Wood Floor in My Home: American Heritage Wood Floors Company

The wood floors in my home looked like a pack of buffaloes had stampeded over it. Amply "decorated" with dents and scratches, my wife and I needed to sand and refinish our floors. After some searching, we called American Heritage Wood Floors Company (http://www.americanheritagewoodfloors.com/). I spoke with and met with one of the contractors (very nice guy) who did the sanding, then left my house for 3 days. When I came back, all my floors looked smooth and shiny, like this:

Needless to say, I was very impressed, and all of this at a very reasonable price. American Heritage Wood Floors Company is located in Piscataway, NJ.

Tasty Burrito at Bubbakoo's

My wife and I recently walked the boardwalk at Ling Branch (New Jersey) and had a great time. I was famished after we finished, but wasn't in the mood for anything on the boardwalk (I really wanted a burrito). On the way back, on Route 36 in West Long Branch, my wife noticed a place that offered burritos (took a picture of the sign out front).

We stopped inside and noticed a couple of things right away (1) it was really clean (2) the people who worked there were really cool (3) there was a fun atmosphere inside. I ordered a barbeque chicken burrito with the works:

As I tried to capture with my photo of the burrito, it was really tasty...loved it and inhaled this large burrito in less than 10 minutes. My wife had a rice bowl that she thought was delicious..."well-seasoned and aromatic....it was delicious." There are 6 locations; I would recommend Bubbakoo's (http://www.bubbakoosburritos.com/) to anyone seeking an alternative to Chipotle.

Piperi Mediterranean Grill: Delicious Food for a Great Price

I recently visited Boston, MA with my wife. We had just finished a Duck Tour, and since she enjoys walking, we started to walk towards Boston Common from the Museum of Science. Along the way, my wife became very hungry (I had a big breakfast and so was not hungry), so we started to look for a place to eat. We stumbled upon Piperi Mediterranean Grill (http://piperi.com/). Piperi is located on One Beacon Street near Tremont Street.

Picture of the sign for Piperi from right outside the restaurant

The restaurant was just opening for the day, and we were greeted very warmly by the owner Tim Oliveri. My wife was starved, so she ordered a salad while I chatted a bit with Tim and his colleagues. It winds up 

this was the first location for Piperi, but I doubt it will be the only location because the food was absolutely delicious for a great price. I didn't have the chance to take a picture of the salad my wife got before she started devouring it, but here is a picture of her salad shortly after she started:

Delicious salad with lots of healthy and tasty ingredients

The salad had hummus, Greek olives, grilled chicken, tomatoes, feta cheese, and more. She could not finish the salad since the serving size was very healthy, so I finished it several hours later. Even after sitting for several hours, this was literally one of the tastiest salads I have ever eaten.

   I urge you to visit Piperi. The salad was tasty, healthy, and affordable, and the owner (Tim) and his colleagues made us feel very welcome and at home in their restaurant. Piperi can be found on Google maps by clicking the following URL: https://maps.google.com/maps?q=piperi+mediterranean+grill&ll=42.358718,-71.06015&spn=0.009625,0.019805&fb=1&gl=us&hq=piperi+mediterranean+grill&cid=0,0,10715069004210327462&t=m&z=16&iwloc=A

Good starter book for prospective small business owners

I love the Dummies series of books. When I first started forming my businesses, I read and absorbed a lot from Small Business Kit for Dummies (http://www.amazon.com/Small-Business-Kit-For-Dummies/dp/0764559842%3FSubscriptionId%3DAKIAIAA4MWUJXHBYFRNQ%26tag%3DSquid692641-20%26linkCode%3Dxm2%26camp%3D2025%26creative%3D165953%26creativeASIN%3D0764559842)

Try it out.....if you're about to start a business I bet it can help you too.

Minimize your administrative work with liability insurance (this post is not legal advice :) )

Many small business owners have lots of great ideas that would work for completely different market segments. As a sole proprietor, one might be tempted to enhance liability protection by not only forming a limited liability company (LLC), but forming multiple LLCs, each of which caters to the different market segments. The rationale here could be something like the following: "I can focus more specifically on each customer base with separate businesses, for example by providing a separate customer website for each business. I can also protect my assets better this way, because if I am sued, the limit of my liability should be restricted to this one business, while the other LLCs would survive. Forming a single member LLC is not very expensive, and neither are annual reports, so this should be a great strategy". Now, while this strategy does have its merits, the administrative hassle may be too much of a burden to bear. For example, good practice would be to write an operating agreement for each business and open a separate bank account for each business. All activities should be tracked with documentation, again, separately for each business. In addition, you will have to file a separate annual report for each business, and keep profit and loss statements for each to report to the IRS. Furthermore, deductions must be strictly tracked for each separate business. Is this beginning to sound like a headache yet?
A better strategy to protect your assets and minimize hassle may be to keep all of these ideas within one business and simply purchase liability insurance. Liability insurance is not expensive (about $400 to $500 per year), which is around the same amount in fees you would pay to register 2 or 3 new businesses with a state (depends on the state). If you have multiple ideas for separate segments of the population, you might be better off having a website developed for each major idea instead of forming a separate LLC for each major idea!

National Motor Club of America: Great Travel Services at a Great Price

   I have recently had the pleasure of learning about National Motor Club of America Inc. (NMC) from Mr. Anthony Barfield, a sales representative of the company. On his recommendation that his company's services are both of the highest quality and very affordable, I browsed through his company's website (http://nmc.com/repnumber/55025). Needless to say, I was impressed.
   The list of services offered by NMC span both travel safety information services and financial security products. From emergency roadside assistance to trip planning, vehicle rental discounts, and even a healthcare savings plan, it seems that any frequent driver would benefit greatly from this service. At a price of only $20 a month for a slew of services (see website for the full list), it's easy to see why a frequent driver would choose NMC for not only quality and variety of services, but peace of mind when making roadtrips!