New Business? New Insurance Needs
Where Are They Now?”>>Where Are They Now?
Corrections or additions?
These articles by Phyllis Maguire, Peter J. Mladineo, Barbara Fox,
and Bob Levine were published in U.S. 1 Newspaper on Wednesday, May
20, 1998. All rights reserved.
Survival Guide
Top Of PageNew Business? New Insurance Needs
Much excitement attends the start of any new business
— and a great deal of denial when it comes to insurance. Many
new businesses, for example, are being started in homes — putting
a whole new set of needs and demands on sites that homeowners’
insurance
just won’t cover. “Having anyone come to your home as an employee,
a client, or a vendor — your homeowners’ policy will refuse any
claim,” says Lisa Harrah of Harrah & Associates, an
independent
agency at 2426 Nottingham Way, Mercerville. Inventory is another item
that needs business insurance, as is the kind of sophisticated office
equipment that businesses accumulate.
“Personal computers are usually covered by homeowner policies,
but typically to only $2,500,” says Harrah. “Business owners
get very nervous when the topic of business insurance is raised, but
in fact it is very inexpensive. A $1 million dollar liability policy
can cost as little as $350 a year.”
Harrah, who graduated from St. John’s University with a B.S. in
finance
in 1987 and earned an MBA from Rider in 1993, is one of several
featured
speakers at “Succeeding in Your New Business,” a seminar being
sponsored by the Mercer County chapter of the New Jersey Association
of Women Business Owners at Stark & Stark, 993 Lenox Drive, on
Thursday,
May 21, from 1 to 4 p.m. Admission is $35. Call 609-924-7975.
Another essential item Harrah passes on: the number of the New Jersey
Department of Banking and Insurance (609-292-5360). “People need
to know that our industry is policed. A businessperson, especially
someone who is new, should check on companies and brokers, and get
a referral if they can.”
Insurance is for established businesses too, and should be frequently
re-visited. A new type of policy getting attention is Employment
Practices
Liability Insurance (EPLI — Business Law section beginning on
page 14). EPLI is a package that protects employers against suits
arising from claims of sexual harassment, discrimination, failure
to hire and promote, and wrongful termination. Although sexual
harassment
suits receive more publicity, Harrah says, more claims are filed that
relate to stalled promotions and firings.
“More companies are coming out with these policies, because the
number of suits is rising,” says Harrah. “The Clarence Thomas
confirmation hearings were the spark that ignited these lawsuits,
and downsizing has certainly added fuel.” The price of EPLI
policies
has come down dramatically, and Harrah & Associates is itself an EPLI
policy holder, with a $1 million policy (based on seven employees)
purchased for $1,000 a year. That is far less than the amount of legal
fees should the company be sued. “Any lawsuit is devastating,
but for a small business owner, it may be a hardship the business
can’t absorb,” she says.
Harrah offers this observation: “The more educated your workforce,
the more concerned you should be as a business owner. It is the people
reading the Wall Street Journal who know the progress of employee
claims around the country and have become litigation-savvy.”
Business insurance also needs to keep pace with the explosion in
business
technology, something owners too often ignore. Harrah & Associates
used the protection offered by its electronic data processing policy
last year when the office was struck by lightning. “It destroyed
equipment and resulted in a $35,000 claim,” Harrah says. “It
was very instructive for us to be on the other side of the claim and
realize what the client goes through.”
A boiler and machinery policy covering equipment breakdown is also
essential. “If you own a building with an air conditioning system
that goes, that breakdown is very costly — while breakdown
coverage
is not. The coverage applies to phones and voicemail, all the
machinery
your office depends on, and business owners often overlook it.”
One break owners can now get is on their workers’ compensation
premiums.
“Rates have been coming down for the last three or four
years,”
Harrah says. “Insurance companies have introduced managed care
into workers’ comp and that has given policyholders significant
reductions.
With managed care enrollment, some carriers now guarantee 20 percent
off the price of their Workers’ Compensation policies.” The
assessment
rate on remuneration for different employee classifications remains
the same, “but discounts are taken off the premium total,”
says Harrah, “giving business owners — particularly those
with employees in contracting, manual labor, or delivery services
— some real relief.”
Other speakers at the May 21 NJAWBO panel: Richard K. Rein of
U.S. 1 Newspaper, Suzanne Rosenblum CPA, attorney Rachel
Stark of Stark & Stark, and Anne Skalka of Anne Skalka &
Associates. Also featured: a panel called “Know the Facts
First”
with Marcia Guberman, Maid Daily Services, Freda Howard,
Howard Lane Gift Baskets, and Joyce Magliaro, Sylvan Learning
Centers. Call 609-924-7975.
Top Of PageThe Bankruptcy Toll
The stock market may have surged, but so have personal
bankruptcies. Last year, almost 1.4 million bankruptcy petitions were
filed in the United States — 33,000 in New Jersey alone, giving
the state the dubious distinction of having the 10th highest
bankruptcy
rate in the country. Melanie Willoughby, president of the
Trenton-based
New Jersey Retail Merchants Association (NJRMA), offers even more
sinister statistics: New Jersey filings have grown more than 65
percent
over the last two years.
But if the national and state economies are doing so well, why are
consumer bankruptcies a problem? Willoughby says that the $40 billion
in consumer debt being erased every year through bankruptcies
translates
into $400 a year that gets passed on to every American family in the
form of higher prices and credit service rates. And that “amounts
to a hidden bankruptcy tax.”
The NJRMA supports bills currently being considered in the federal
House and Senate that, if passed, would bring the first major changes
to bankruptcy law in 20 years. The measures, which are supported by
the banking, credit card, and retail industries, would apply a formula
to those filing for bankruptcy, taking into account their income and
expenses to determine exactly what level of relief they should
receive.
Debtors would not be able to file for Chapter 7 if they earn 75
percent
of the national median income of $39,000 and if they could repay 20
percent of their debt over the next five years.
“Those who could repay all or part of their debts would enter
a Chapter 13 repayment plan,” Willoughby says. “Individuals
in serious financial distress would still be able to receive complete
relief they need.
“Bankruptcy law was supposed to provide a safety net for those
few individuals who suffer a major life crisis,” says Willoughby.
“Instead of a safety net, people now use bankruptcy as a financial
management plan.” Soaring bankruptcy rates are not being fueled
by middle and upper-income earners who have lived beyond their means
or who, through downsizing, experience a setback they haven’t saved
for.
“There used to be a real stigma to declaring bankruptcy, one that
is now gone,” she says. “People now rely upon debt forgiveness
as a way to start fresh, when in fact the rest of us are paying off
their debts.”
Carol Knowlton, a bankruptcy attorney and partner with Teich,
Groh & Frost of 691 Route 33 in Mercerville, represents both creditors
and debtors and does not see widespread abuse. “Most of the people
who come to us to file are truly in trouble,” she says. “It
is not typically a case of people trying to avoid debt. Making
bankruptcy
harder for them to declare won’t change that.” While the stigma
may not be as strong, the penalties for filing bankruptcy are still
very real.
“A bankruptcy will appear on your credit report for up to 10
years,”
Knowlton says. “Most institutions will not extend credit to you
for several years, and when they do, you’ll be required to make larger
down payments and pay higher interest rates because you’re considered
high risk.”
There’s no question: Getting quoted in the paper can
be a terrific boon to business. So how is it then that some people
seem to be “go-to guys” for newspaper reporters and others
with just as much knowledge or experience about a given subject seem
to be invisible?
Do reporters take bribes? Do you have to have some special license
to be quoted a lot? Do you have to know the publisher? The answer
is no. There is no one rite of passage to become a regularly quoted
source. But there are ways to improve your chances.
Robert S. Steinbaum, the publisher of the New Jersey Law
Journal,
will reveal some of them to the Mercer County Bar Association, when
he discusses, “What Every Lawyer Should Know Before Talking to
the Press,” on Wednesday, May 20, at 6 p.m. at the Hyatt. Call
609-585-6200 for $55 registration.
Steinbaum, 47, worked as an assistant U.S. attorney in the Newark
criminal division and has degrees from Georgetown University Law
School
and Yale University. His suggestions for media-savvy attorneys include
how to place the story with the press, what “off the record”
means as opposed to “not for attribution,” what to say and
what not to say, and what to do if a story is wrong.
What do regularly quoted sources do that others don’t? First,
Steinbaum
reports, reporters and editors like sources who are responsive. There
is never enough time to wait for a call-back. “They answer calls
immediately,” says Steinbaum. “And if they’re not immediately
there or an another line they get right back to him or her. So the
reporter knows that he or she is going to get a call back.”
Reporters also like sources who can simplify things. “It’s not
talking to an appellate court, it’s talking to human beings,”
says Steinbaum. “I liken it to speaking to a jury. You have to
keep it simple and straightforward, and if you think of the press
as the ultimate juror it helps you explain yourself.”
Another desired trait is pithiness. “You have to be pithy,”
says Steinbaum. “You don’t have room for extensive quotes.”
Other tips from the lawyer-publisher:
Speak plainly, not in legalese. Steinbaum feels that thegreatest press blunder for attorneys is not speaking “incomprehensibleenough terms for the general public to understand.”Be truthful. “Very important,” he says. “Thetruth will win out.”Try to get some idea of where the article will appear.”Think about who you’re talking to, and what he or she may knowor not know about this subject and orient yourself to the particularplace in the publication and what is it that this is going to beappear,”says Steinbaum. A magazine article will be different than a newspaperarticle, which will be different than an article in a trade.Relax. Also, says Steinbaum, decide on two or three pointsthat you want to get across and ask if the conversation is beingtaped.If it’s taped you can talk faster than if the reporter werelaboriouslyjotting down your words.Top Of PageR.E.S.I.S.T.O.R.S. RevisitedThirty years ago a group of Princeton area high schoolstudents predicted that in the near future the price of computingwould be reduced by many factors and that there would be a computeron everyone’s desk. This was almost 15 years before the first Applepersonal computer arrived on the scene. These predictions proved tobe remarkably accurate. Now on the Memorial Day weekend of May 23-24,they are having a reunion. Who were these kids, what happened to themand most important, what can we learn from their experiences?Older members of the Princeton community will remember them as theR.E.S.I.S.T.O.R.S (Radically Emphatic Students Interested in Science,Technology Or Research Studies), a group of students from the HopewellValley and Princeton high schools who met in a barn in HopewellTownshipand later at the E-Quad at Princeton University. They started in1965-’66when a group of students became disenchanted with the”science”courses they were offered and discovered that playing with computerswas a lot more exciting than smoking pot.The computers were located in an old red barn on theHopewell-PenningtonRoad owned by Claude Kagan, a research leader at the nearby WesternElectric Labs. Kagan, who holds three engineering degrees fromCornell,had been collecting leftover and obsolete phone and computer equipmentand, believing that motivated children can teach themselves to usetechnical devices by discovery and peer assistance, invited the kidsto his barn. In a few days with manuals and minimum help from Kaganthe students were writing little programs and doing much of whatcomputerscientists a generation older were doing at Western Electric,Princeton,and other advanced laboratories.My involvement with the group came in 1968 when my son and his friendsat Princeton High School discovered the barn and got me to drive themthere on Saturday mornings. As an electrical engineer who knew nothingabout digital computers I was fascinated to watch children, some asyoung as 10, sit down before a keyboard, and make the computers playgames, print out lists and later interact with the user. My majorcontribution was driving them everywhere, and bringing dinner to thebarn (“Tuna Wiggle,” prepared by my late wife Ginny and JoAnnAugustine, mother of one of the kids and now a well known artist).Their accomplishments were legion and made the local and nationalcomputer press on many occasions. In 1969 at the Spring Joint ComputerConference in Atlantic City, the forerunner of COMDEX, they were givena small booth. Just as the conference started the telephone installerswent on strike. All the big exhibitors, such as IBM, RCA, UNIVAC,and DEC, intending to demonstrate their new equipment and softwareby remotely accessing computers back home, were unable to do so –except for the R.E.S.I.S.T.O.R.S. They moved their equipment to arug in front of a pay phone, and dialed up to Kagan’s PDP-8 computerat Western Electric. They played games, accessed information and werethe only exhibitors at that SJCC demonstrating on-line. The crowdsaround them were phenomenal.Ted Nelson, the inventor of hypertext and an honorary member (he wastoo old), noted in his groundbreaking book, Computer Lib, that thefun of being with the R.E.S.I.S.T.O.R.S was that they were bright,enthusiastic, did not know what they didn’t know, and assumed thatthey could learn and do everything.They originally learned to program in TRAC, an easy to learn butpowerfullanguage. Their installation of TRAC on the various DEC minicomputersand other machines gave them abilities that were only duplicated ata much later date with other languages. At one SJCC conference therewas a room full of different brands of computers on all of which theR.E.S.I.S.T.O.R.S. had installed TRAC so that all of the computerscould be used by anyone who knew that language. At the time this wasa revolutionary accomplishment. So much so that the president of AT&Tcame to one SJCC mainly to meet the R.E.S.I.S.T.O.R.S., or so he said.They were also invited to at least one ACM meeting in New York Cityand to DEC users meeting in Wakefield, Massachusetts, where theypresentedpapers. One by Jordan Young, 16, was on intellectual property. Hethen thought it was a trivial but interesting subject.They were asked to do programming for an exhibit on a “conceptualtypewriter” at the Jewish Museum in New York City. They programmedan IDIOM computer from Information Display Corp., which had the firstcomputer-aided design program on it. The computer had buttons anda light pen. The buttons had such labels as “the creative,”and “the silence,” etc. When you pressed the creative buttona drawing of a flower popped up and waved. One of the buttons poppedup a waterwheel. When you touched it with the light pen it reverseddirection.This was one of the first program where programs were written to writeother programs. Since all the data for the project was done on punchcards to create the images, programs were then written to punch newsets of cards with slightly different hole patterns to make the imagesmove.I remember the project vividly since it was in the very hot summerof 1970 and the museum was not air conditioned. The computeroverheatedso I had to run around to find dry ice to put on it.Life at the Barn was not all fun and games with the computers. Themembers had to pay for the use of the considerable amount ofelectricitythe computers then used. In addition Kagan insisted that the groupbe responsible for keeping the place reasonably neat and also cleaningout the stalls of the two donkeys who lived there. One person saidat the barn he learned the value of providing an environment in whichothers could do worthwhile things.How were they able to learn to use and to program computers? Whenqueried, the most common answer was that they looked at a manual,got help from another member and played around until it made sense.This follows well known pedagogical theories that state that giventhe right motivation and a little help children will learn most thingsmore easily outside a structured classroom.I can attest to the success this particular group of children hadin learning to use some very complicated machines and programs. Itried to learn the TRAC language most of them had picked up so easilybut could not learn it. I obviously had too much education andexperience.In one bit of revealing insight, one of the group observed that aseasy as it seemed to be for some of students it was not all that easyand required an innate talent not all of them possessed.The group lasted to the late 1970s when the last of the Princetonmembers went off to college. There was no built-in method forrecruitingnew members other than enlisting friends. What will they do at thereunion? My guess is that they will do what they always do when theymeet: Shmooze, swap computer related stories, show one another somenew neat program, wax sentimental over their times at the barn andat the E-quad, and cement the friendships which have lasted these30 years.by Bob LevineTop Of PageWhere Are They Now?”>>Where Are They Now?My comments on what has happened to them is limitedto the relatively few members who hung around my house and whom Ihave kept up with. At the time I did not realize that the childrenI drove around were so bright, although it was obvious that some were.Len Bosack, the founder of CISCO Systems, themulti-billiondollar computer communications company. Although I met Len I did notknow him since he drove up from Philadelphia every Saturday.Steve Emmerich, president of Parallogic Inc., Lexington,Massachusetts, a data warehouse/decision support consulting firm.Lauren Sarno Colias, ASCII Corporation, Japan,editor-in-chief,English-language web sites.Peter Eichenberger, PhD, founder and president ofViewLogicCorp., a software firm in Los Gatos, California.Nat Kuhn, PhD MD, a staff psychiatrist at the CambridgeHospital, Cambridge, Massachusetts. He was 10 when he started.Jean Hunter, PhD, Cornell University, associate professor,food and bioprocess engineering, in the agricultural and biologicalengineering department.Lewis Johnson, PhD, director of the center for researchin technology and education at the University of Southern California.Robert (Igor) Lechner, PhD, MD, is a staffanesthesiologistat Fauquier Hospital in Warrenton, Virginia.John Levine, PhD, is the author of “Internet forDummies”and many other Dummies books. He is also the sewer commissioner inTrumansburg, New York.Steve Ludlum works for the Conley Corp. near Boston wherehe is an NT engineer.Margy Levine Young is co-author of “Internet forDummies,””Word Perfect for Windows for Dummies” and many other Dummiesbooks. She also raises chickens in Cornwall, Vermont.Jordan M. Young is a computer instructor and writer wholives in Cornwall, Vermont. He helps with the chickens.There is much more available on the R.E.S.I.S.T.O.R.S on theInternet, https://www.resistors.org.Find links to home pagesor E-mail addresses of some members and details of the upcomingreunion.Bob Levine writes and teaches about wine for the PrincetonAdult School. He uses his computers to help a number of non-profitorganizations. He can be reached at RJL@GURUS.COM.Top Of PageAbove the FrayLeering bosses, disgruntled ex-employees, swoopingcreditors,demanding reporters — the world is teeming with excruciatinglydifficult people. Mark I. Rosen, the author of “Thank Youfor Being Such a Pain,” urges us to take the high road with aspiritual perspective on those who bedevil us the most. Subtitled”Spiritual Guidance for Dealing with Difficult People,” thebook exposes those who make us furious as our most important mentors.Rosen will read and sign copies of the book at Borders Books onWednesday,May 27, at 7 p.m. Call 609-514-0040.The real problem, says the author, is not the difficult peoplelitteringour lives but our response to them. If we return malice ormistreatmentwith anger or coldness, resentment or vengefulness, then we compoundtheir problem. Learning new techniques to cope with manipulativemalingerersis the solution.There are, says Rosen, spiritual implications to behavior, ours andtheirs. The book grows out of self-help workshops based inMassachusetts,where Rosen is adjunct professor of management at Bentley College.The program is founded on four premises: that life’s seemingly randomencounters are not random at all; that pain and suffering are justas important for personal growth as love and fulfillment; thatlearninghow to transform enmity is one of life’s most important lessons, andthat healing relational problems requires paying attention to life’songoing spiritual lessons. Planet Earth is a school, Rosen claims,and difficult people are the faculty. If you try to weasel out ofa challenge they present, or attempt to ignore it, life will simplytoss you another one just like it.The best business advice for dealing with difficult people? Rosenwould suggest that you bestow silent blessings and practice spiritualprinciples. We might add that you also retain a good attorney.– Phyllis MaguireTop Of PageDancing AirplanesLearn about “motion capture technology” or howthe computer can capture the realistic movement of human beings toanimate three-dimensional dancing gas pumps, walking airplanes, andcharacters in fighting games.Stephen Lane, a principal of Katrix, will present interactive3-D character animation technology and authoring tools at the MovingImage Professionals meeting on Wednesday, May 27, at 6:30 p.m. atthe Princeton Theological Seminary television studio on the groundlevel of Templeton Hall. The cost is $10 for non-members includingfood. Call Andy Kienzle at 609-394-4818 for reservations.Founded by Lane and David Handelman, Katrix is the parent companyof Millennium Rush (U.S. 1, May 11, 1994). The pair graduated fromPrinceton University in 1988 with degrees in mechanical and aerospaceengineering, and then started a commercial robotics firm, RobiconSystems. Now these proponents of virtual reality hope to eventuallycreate flawless illusions of everything from a trip to Jupiter tosex by using computers to simulate sight, sound, and even physicalsensation.Located on Airpark Road Katrix and its content division, MillenniumRush, will debut high-profile interactive game animations at whatis described as “a major tourist attraction in Orlando,Florida.””With his broad knowledge of motion capture technology, he willbe able to talk from personal experience about the strengths andweaknessesof this type of approach to character animation,” says DennisNobile, of Nth Degree Media. “He’ll also bring along a rudimentarymotion capture system so we’ll be able to see how human movement canbe used to animate 3-D characters in real time.”Top Of PageUnder the Gilded DomeBusiness leaders will have a hands-on experience withthe lawmaking process on Thursday, May 28, from 9:30 a.m. to 6 p.m.,when the New Jersey Chamber sponsors the “Day Under the Dome”at the State House Annex. At 10 a.m. the state chamber’s governmentrelations team will give a workshop on the legislative process andlegislative priorities. Don Sico, assembly majority executivedirector, and Fred Butler, assembly Democratic executivedirector,will talk about the role of party offices at 10:30 a.m. Variouslegislatorswill give an overview at 11, followed by a session in the governor’soffice at 11:45.DuPont is sponsoring the lunch, and then everyone gets to see theSenate and the Assembly in action at 1:30 p.m. The state chamber holdsan open house at its new quarters at 216 West State Street at 4 p.m.For registration call Jim Leonard at 609-989-7888.Top Of PageFree HR AdviceHere’s a new benefit to being a New Jersey State Chamberof Commerce member: Get free advice from Andrea Schutz, formerlyin charge of human relations at Educational Testing Service; she hasalso worked at Lenox and Mathematica Inc. Her time is worth up to$90 an hour, but members can call her for free at 800-561-4602.Questions about the service itself can be answered by JillSchuh,director of marketing, at 609-989-7888.Top Of PageFree Law AdviceLegal Services of New Jersey, with help from the statebar association, has launched a statewide legal hotline aimed atlow-incomeNew Jersey residents who need an attorney for civil legal problems.”They can make one call for legal help,” says Michael R.Cole, board chair of LSNJ, “and get either prompt legal advice,general legal information, or a useful referral, depending on thecircumstances. Call 888-LSNJ LAW (576-5529) between 9 a.m. and 3:30p.m. and be prepared to answer questions about your financialeligibility.This hotline is a way for Legal Services to stretch its dollars; itcan meet only one-fourth of the need for its services in New Jersey,says Melville D. Miller Jr., LSNJ president. The state barassociationwill develop a panel of volunteer lawyers to help with the calls.Emergencies will be handled immediately, and non-emergencies willbe scheduled for a return call by a lawyer within 48 hours. The lawyerwill not go to court but will give quick advice, help fill out forms,and explain court procedures.This summer Legal Services of New Jersey is publishing new editionsof guidebooks on the legal rights of battered women, how to clearyour record, and tenants rights. The system represents more than40,000state residents every year and provides referrals and informationto tens of thousands more.The New Jersey State Bar Foundation also regularly holds free publicseminars at the New Jersey Law Center at One Constitution Square inNew Brunswick. Though the seminars are free, registration is requiredby calling 800-FREE LAW.On Wednesday, May 27, at 7 p.m., Lawrence Friedman and GlennC. Guritzky, both with the Florham Park law firm of Schwartz, Simonet al, will discuss wills and estate planning.Cynthia S. Jenkins, Thomas D. Begley Jr., and Friedmanwill hold a conference entitled “Seniors in the 21st Century”to observe Senior Citizens Law Day on Thursday, May 28, 10 a.m. to1 p.m. Jenkins has offices in Princeton and Haddon Heights, whileBegley is based in Moorestown.Top Of PageYWCA BreakfastsTwo breakfast meetings remain in the Business andProfessionalWomen’s series sponsored by the Princeton YWCA and held at the NassauClub, 6 Mercer Street. Karen Adley, business coach of PeakStrategies,speaks on power networking on Wednesday, May 27, at 7:45 a.m.”HiddenExpectations in Business Relationships” is the topic for LindaM. Kibrick, LCSW CADC, of Crossroads Counseling and CommunicationCenter, on Wednesday, June 24. Register for $16 by the Monday beforethe Wednesday meeting by calling 609-497-2100. For more information,call the coordinators, Pat Marsheck at 609-655-8500, extension454, or Meryl Miller at 609-897-0036.Corrections or additions?This page is published by PrincetonInfo.com— the web site for U.S. 1 Newspaper in Princeton, New Jersey.
