SHATTERPROOF NEWSLETTER
JUNE 2020
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this process. They’ll be there to guide you and make sure you understand everything. This isn’t a service you want to choose based on price alone. This is an investment in safeguarding your future and your family’s future. Once you are ready to do your estate plan, you’ll need to decide who you want to be in charge of medical and financial decisions for you if you’re not able to make them. If you have children, you’ll designate a guardian to care for them if you and your spouse are unable to. This is often the part that freezes people up. I talk with someone about starting their estate plan, and they can’t figure out who they should pick as a guardian. They get stuck and don’t move forward. Ask yourself: Do you want to take care of it now, or do you want others to make these decisions when you’re no longer around or capable of doing so yourself? If you put it off and something happens to you, your spouse and kids will be footing the bill. Your estate will go to probate. If you have a will, that’ll cost them $3,500 to get out of probate. If you don’t, they’ll pay $5,000. While there is an upfront cost to establishing an estate plan, would you rather pay it now or leave your family to deal with it later? Once you take care of your estate plan, you will feel so much better. The other thing to remember is that you can always update your plan because it isn’t set in stone. I’ve updated my family’s estate plan twice. The first time was just before our second child was born. The second time was before our 20th anniversary trip when we were all getting on a plane to fly together. You just need to get started. Imagine how good it’s going to feel to check that off your to-do list! If you start now, you can have your estate plan finished by the end of the summer. Otherwise, it’s going to continue nagging you from the back of your mind.
WHAT YOU REALLY NEED TO KNOW ABOUT ESTATE PLANNING THE SECRET THAT LAWYERS DON’T WANT TO TELL YOU
I’m going to let you in on a little secret that most lawyers don’t want you to know: Estate planning is easier than you think . Lawyers will try to make it more complicated than it needs to be. The truth is that we handle the complicated part — you just need to decide you’re going to let us do it. As attorneys, our job is to lower the barrier for you and make the estate planning process as straightforward and accessible as possible. Other than making a few key decisions about how you want matters handled (and I get that this can feel daunting), it’s not complicated. The real complexity is in the documents we draft up, but that comes later. Once you decide to move forward and make the plan, we go through a decision tree with you, then draft up documents based on what you want. This is one of the times when it’s still required that we use language that is foreign to most folks without a law degree. It gets pretty technical, but we go through it with you and translate the legalese so you can make sure you feel good about all of your decisions. This is why you want an experienced estate planning attorney to help you with
Give me a call when you’re ready to get started. Let’s do this.
– Scott Reib
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UNSURE OF HOW TO LEADYOUR BUSINESS THROUGH A CRISIS?
‘THE AGONY OF DECISION’ HAS ANSWERS
your company forward. To prove it, he weaves his personal experiences and decision-making scaffolding with notable stories of past business failures and successes. As one Amazon reviewer writes, “Helio Fred Garcia provides a thorough discussion of the do’s and don'ts of crisis response with both current and historical events (remember Exxon Valdez or Tylenol?) that clearly demonstrate the right way to respond … and the gateway to disaster.” With more than 30 years of experience mentoring massive international companies and nurturing business leaders at top American universities under his belt, Garcia is the perfect person to give voice to these tough lessons. His prose is self-assured, knowledgeable, and easy to read, which makes “The Agony of Decision” a surprisingly comforting book for an entrepreneur going through hardship. There’s a reason BookAuthority named it one of their best crisis management books of all time! In the last few months, the coronavirus has proven to be the ultimate test of crisis management. If you’re in the process of figuring out how to lead your business effectively through the turbulence and could use a decision-making toolkit to help you when the phone rings with bad news, “The Agony of Decision” might be your ideal summer read.
When business coach and scholar Helio Fred Garcia published “The Agony of Decision: Mental Readiness and Leadership in a Crisis” back in 2017, he had no way of knowing that a pandemic would break out just three years later. Now, his book about how to make tough calls under pressure is more relevant than ever for entrepreneurs. “The Agony of Decision” teaches that when your company is on the line, it’s quick thinking — more than smooth
communication, effective execution, or even expertise — that can save it. The book offers a framework to guide you through the decision-making process, helping you identify and weigh each outcome, then choose the right one. Answer that first big question, Garcia teaches, and the rest of the tumblers will click into place, allowing you to lead
BIZ TOOL OF THE MONTH
CANVA HELPS YOU CREATE PROFESSIONAL GRAPHICS IN LESS TIME
Canva makes design accessible and easy for small-business owners. I’ve used it for social media posts, and I love how easy it is to use and how great everything ends up looking. While I still prefer to work with a designer when I have a bigger project, Canva has given me an option that makes it easier to get social media posts out in a timely manner while still looking professional. In addition to being great for businesses, you might also find that Canva is a helpful design tool for other areas of your life. My son recently used it to create his wedding invitations and placed the order last week. It was an efficient, affordable process for him, and the invitations look great. If it’s time to send out cards to clients or loved ones, Canva may be a good option for you.
If you’re trying to come up with graphics for a presentation, social media post, invitation, business card, or anything you’d like a design for without having to spend hours on creation, Canva is a lifesaver. This design platform has thousands of templates for everything from Instagram stories to your next presentation, and it is efficient, affordable, and available on both web and mobile devices. Canva integrates millions of fonts, templates, and illustrations so you can create your own unique look without pouring time and money into it. If you like to design things yourself but don’t feel you have the skills to do it, Canva has you covered. The templates are customizable, so you can change colors and insert your own graphics and words. And if you do have some design skills, you can use the fonts and templates as starting points, then customize your own design.
Check out the platform at Canva.com.
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4 QUESTIONS TO ASK BEFORE YOU HIRE AN ESTATE PLANNING ATTORNEY
while have been revised and tweaked to deal with every situation their clients might encounter. You can feel more confident that the documents they prepare will work when they're needed. 3. Do they charge a flat fee? Traditionally, attorneys bill their clients on an hourly basis. In the hourly billing method, the amount you pay is uncapped. Alternatively, a progressive attorney will be able to offer you a flat fee for all services. Confirm that the flat fee covers funding services too. This gives you peace of mind knowing that the flat fee is all that you'll be required to pay. Once you have addressed the first three questions, there's still one big question to ask yourself. 4. How do you feel about working with this person? Maybe the attorney checks all the boxes, but for whatever reason, they’re just not the right fit. Because you’ll be talking about the personal details of your life, you want to feel good about working with them. If you’re feeling unsure, you can always check their Google and Facebook reviews to see what other clients have to say. At the end
Have you been meaning to do your estate plan but haven’t gotten around to it yet? You’re in good company. Over 50% of people have thought about making an estate plan, yet 67% of Americans still don’t have one. Most people don’t plan to fail; they fail to plan. However, we’re here to make the process easier. Estate planning begins with finding the right attorney who will confidently guide you through the process. Here are four questions to ask to make sure you find the attorney who is best qualified for the job. 1. Does their practice area include wills, trusts, and probate? Check out each potential attorney’s website to make sure their firm offers these services. If their website doesn’t mention estate planning, wills, or probate, there’s a good chance they don’t spend much time on this type of law and won’t have updated legal advice or use the latest technology in estate planning. 2. How long have they been doing this? The more years of experience the attorney has, the more they’ll have seen their estate planning documents in action when a client becomes disabled or dies. The wills, trusts, powers of attorney, and health care documents used by attorneys who have been in business for a
of the day, though, trust your gut and go with the person you feel best about.
GRILLED BASIL CHICKEN AND TOMATOES
We want your feedback! In editions of this newsletter, we’ve covered everything from business contracts to how to handle the former spouse who wound up with everything because there was no business succession plan in place. But now we’re wondering: What would you like to see? You know those legal questions that Google can’t give you a satisfactory answer to? The ones that keep you up at night as you wonder whether it’s time to call a lawyer? We want to answer those. Send us your questions, and we’ll be using them to address the topics that you want to know more about. Text your questions and curiosities to 972.677.3002 .
Inspired by TasteOfHome.com
INGREDIENTS
• 1/4 cup tightly packed fresh basil leaves • 8 Roma tomatoes • 4 boneless skinless chicken breast halves (4 oz each)
• 2 tbsp olive oil • 1 clove garlic • 1/2 tsp salt • 3/4 cup balsamic vinegar
DIRECTIONS
1. For marinade: In blender, combine olive oil, garlic, salt, vinegar, and basil. Cut 2 tomatoes into quarters and add to mixture. Cover and process until blended. Halve remaining tomatoes for grilling. 2. In bowl, combine chicken and 2/3 cup marinade. Cover and refrigerate for 1 hour. Reserve remaining marinade. 3. Heat grill to about 350–400 F. Lightly oil grates. Grill chicken until internal temperature reads 165 F, about 4–6 minutes per side. Grill tomatoes until lightly browned, about 2–4 minutes per side. Discard remaining marinade. 4. Serve chicken and tomatoes with reserved marinade.
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The Secret to Leading in a Crisis INSIDE THIS ISSUE 1 2 2 3 Biz Tool of the Month: Canva 4 Questions to Ask Before You Hire an Estate Planning Attorney
Psst! Estate Planning Isn’t as Complicated as You Think
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Grilled Basil Chicken and Tomatoes
Care for a Pepsi, Comrade?
HISTORY OF THE PEPSI FLEET
HOW PEPSI BECAME THE WORLD’S SIXTH LARGEST NAVY
Rubles, the Soviet currency, were worthless internationally. To get around this, the Soviets traded PepsiCo Stolichnaya vodka in exchange for the cola. This deal was great for both parties until the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan and the United States boycotted Soviet products, including vodka. If the USSR wanted to keep its supply of sweet cola, then they would need to give PepsiCo something else. That’s when the Soviets offered up part of their naval fleet. In exchange for $3 billion worth of Pepsi, the Soviet Union traded 17 submarines, a cruiser, a frigate, and a destroyer. This trade made PepsiCo the sixth most powerful naval military in the world. The deal was reported in a 1989 New York Times article, which included a quote from the CEO of PepsiCo to the United States’ national security advisor: “We're disarming the Soviet Union faster than you are.” PepsiCo quickly sold the fleet to a Swedish company for scrap recycling, but for a few days, Pepsi had the potential to become the ultimate victor in the cola wars.
Coke or Pepsi?
This is one of the oldest brand wars in the world, but these days, most of us are willing to settle for whichever soda is available. But if you happened to be in the Soviet Union during the 1980s, Pepsi was the soda
of choice. The Soviets loved Pepsi so much that they were willing to make PepsiCo a naval superpower in order to get more of that refreshing, sugary beverage. In 1972, PepsiCo secured a deal to sell Pepsi syrup to the USSR, where it would be bottled locally. Not only did this deal make Pepsi the first Western product to be sold in the USSR, but it also locked The Coca-Cola Company out of the market, giving PepsiCo a monopoly. But before the deal could be finalized, the Soviets needed to figure out how to pay for the cola syrup.
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