Bridge Firm Recovery August 2019

Recovery Reader The August 2019 GOODBYE FOR NOW

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FROM THE DESK OF Dan Larson

This month, I share with you: Goodbye for Now.

I have vivid memories of when my son started college at Michigan Tech. While I was confident of his abilities and pleased he was pursuing his own choices and directing himself, there is one moment I will never forget. That separation — the goodbye for now. After attending the orientations and moving him into his dorm room, it was finally time to head out. We said goodbye, started the van, and pulled out toward the highway. Then I took ONE LOOK back, and saw him standing there, all alone, watching us pull away. An unforgettable emotional moment … And so it is with your business receivables and recovery. As you have developed your business, assessed the risks, and implemented your procedures, there will be times when there will be unpaid receivables. There may be tendency to look back … But you can rest assured, you have planned for this. Those receivables are just a goodbye for now. We will work the recovery while you grow your business.

HelpingYour Child Set Out on Their Own

As the summer comes to an end, you may be preparing to send your child off to college for the first time. While this may be an exciting time for your child, saying goodbye to the life they shared with you at home can be difficult. They will soon be entering a new routine that includes feeding themselves, managing their own schedule, and doing chores unprompted — all without any help from Mom and Dad. No transition is perfect, but this change doesn’t have to be a disaster. Whether your child is moving into a dorm, campus housing, or their first apartment, there are a few things you can do to make this transition as painless as possible. Having a tangible list you can check off in preparation for this big shift can help everyone involved feel more prepared. There are the obvious things kids need when they move out, like dishes, silverware, or a lamp, but pay attention to the areas that might get overlooked. If your child will be living on campus, check out the bathroom situation and make sure they won’t find themselves without a shower curtain on the first day of class. If they’re living in their own apartment, it’s a good idea to equip them with a small toolkit and a pair of jumper cables for their car. Other overlooked essentials include: Pack the essentials.

Oh, and if you do have a son or daughter headed to college … don’t look back.

Surge protector with USB ports

Disinfecting wipes

A laundry hamper

Extra hangers

First-aid kit

Shower caddy (especially for dorms with a shared bathroom)

- Dan Larson

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Having all the essentials — and a few extra items —will make the initial adjustment that much easier for your child and reduce the number of panicked phone calls home.

but meaningful items your child might not have for a while, like a box of their favorite cookies, a recipe card with their favorite meal, a pack of extra batteries, or a letter expressing your love and support.

TEACH GOOD COPING SKILLS.

LET THEM GO.

There are a lot of life lessons parents should go over with their kids before they start living on their own, like how to avoid eating ramen noodles at every meal, for example. But, beyond technical skills, it’s important to make sure kids have healthy coping mechanisms. Even adults who have been living on their own for years can struggle with the stress of responsibility. Offer advice on how to deal with the stress of balancing work or school, navigating awkward social interactions, and staying calm in overwhelming situations.

Once everything is moved into the dorm or apartment, say goodbye to your kid and take your leave. It can be tempting to find reasons to linger a bit longer, but resist the urge to order pizza or straighten out the photos on the wall. It’s hard to leave your baby behind, but this is their first big step into adulthood, and you should let them take it. Hugs are okay, and so is promising to check in by phone later, but leaving quickly shows your child that you are confident in their ability to survive on their own. There will be a lot of tearful goodbyes this time of year, but if you face these challenges with the right mindset, you and your child will be set up for success.

LEAVE A CARE KIT .

Think of it like the care package you sent the first time your child went to summer camp. Leave them with a box full of some nonessential

GOING GREEN 3 Sustainable Moves Your Business Can Make Today

GO PAPERLESS

On May 15, 2019, more than 1 million students around the world skipped school to call attention to climate change. The effort included over 2,000 protests aimed at legislators in 25 countries, which is no small feat for a bunch of middle and high school students. For businesses, movements like these should be red flags because today’s students are tomorrow’s consumers and employees. Luckily, there are plenty of simple moves you can make to lower your business’s environmental impact. Just be sure to avoid “greenwashing”— a term for marketing initiatives that make companies look environmentally friendly, even when they’re making no effort. Here are some tips to better our planet and help your business attract today’s climate-conscious youth.

Buying a dishwasher for the office kitchen and providing reusable silverware, cups, and plates will cut down on that waste.

According to the EPA, the average office worker uses 10,000 pieces of paper per year. Multiply that by everyone in your company, and you have a whole forest in your building waiting to be saved. With advances in technology that provide replacements for products like punch cards and spreadsheets, why not ditch internal paper altogether? After China announced in 2018 that it would no longer accept the majority of U.S. plastics for recycling, single-use plastics like cling wrap, water cooler cups, and plasticware became impossible to recycle in most cities. As a result, more than 6 million tons of those plastics end up in local landfills and the oceans each year. INVEST IN A DISHWASHER

OFFER ALTERNATIVES TO THE TRASH CAN

If your city provides recycling and composting services, this step can be as simple as making sure the bins in your office are visible and educating your employees on what should be tossed where. Barring a local compost program, you can start your own company compost pile for things like coffee grounds, lawn clippings, and lunch leftovers. If you don’t know what can be composted or recycled or are unsure if you are allowed to create your own compost pile, city officials and the internet are there to help.

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THE RIGHT PLACE AT THE WRONG TIME A Look at Some Interesting Personal Injury Cases

There is no shortage of crazy cases that come through a court of law, but those revolving around personal injury can be especially surprising. Whether it’s a slip-and-fall accident or something a little more eccentric, there are a million ways to hurt yourself while simply going about your day. The problems arise when it’s determined to be another party’s fault. Let’s take a look at some notably strange cases where bizarre miscalculations led to injuries and ailments. Time spent in the restroom is inherently private. We don’t normally talk about it, but that’s not the case for a Pennsylvania woman who experienced a traumatic event during a routine trip to the lady’s room. In 2007, a schlocky horror plot came to life in a building along Philadelphia’s famous Market Street. The culprit was a faulty plumbing system. The woman was inside a restroom stall on the eighth floor, and, as she sat on one of the old toilets customary in the building, pressure building from inside the tank caused a massive explosion that sent her body hurling out of the stall. You don’t need to know the details of her injuries to understand the extent of her grievances. Some forms of suffering are better left to the imagination, especially if the aggressor was a literal stink bomb. She sued the building’s landlords for anxiety, pain, and medical AS BELOW, SO ABOVE

expenses, but it’s hard to determine which party was truly at fault without more information.

IT’S RAINING CATS AND DOLLARS

You can’t predict the weather, no matter what your weather app says, but some people tend to forget that. A few years ago, an Israeli weatherman was faced with a lawsuit by a woman who claimed his inaccurate forecast caused her a great deal of suffering. She claimed he misrepresented a particularly harsh day in the forecast, and it encouraged her to wear insufficient layers that left her health to the whim of the elements. As a result, the woman caught the flu from the downpour and missed work for four days. Citing lost income, large medication costs, and tremendous anxiety, she sought reparations from the fraudulent weatherman and was amazingly awarded a four-figure settlement!

Take a Break!

SUMMERTIME GAZPACHO

Inspired by CookieAndKate.com

Ingredients

2 1/2 lbs ripe tomatoes; cored, seeded, and cut into 1-inch chunks 1 small cucumber; peeled, seeded, and cut into 1-inch chunks 1 red bell pepper; cored, seeded, and sliced into ribbons

1 small Vidalia onion, peeled and cubed

1/4 cup basil leaves

1 clove garlic, peeled

1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil

2 tbsp sherry vinegar

Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Directions: 1. Place a blender and mediummixing bowl on your workstation. 2. Divide the tomato chunks, cucumber pieces, and bell pepper slices evenly between blender and bowl. Place entire onion in blender. 3. Add basil, garlic, olive oil, vinegar, salt, and pepper to blender. Blend on low, gradually raising speed to high until smooth, about 2 minutes. 4. Add blender contents to bowl and mix until just broken up, about 10–20 seconds. 5. Let mixture sit in fridge for a minimum of 2 hours. Transfer to bowls and serve.

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INSIDE THIS ISSUE From the Desk of Dan PAGE 1 Is Your Child Ready to Leave Home? PAGE 1 Greening Up Your Business PAGE 2 Bizarre Personal Injury Cases PAGE 3 Take a Break PAGE 3 Summertime Gazpacho PAGE 3 How to Best Protect Yourself From Scam Calls PAGE 4 Two of the most common scams are phone scams and robocalls. These calls are incredibly annoying and can trick you out of valuable information if you’re not careful. While it might seem like these scams are inescapable, there are some precautions you can take to avoid their traps. GIVE THEM THE SILENT TREATMENT. One thing you can do to avoid these fraudulent, time-wasting calls is to simply hang up. If possible, it is best to not answer at all. It’s always good to have a list of numbers you can reference, so you never have to guess who is calling. Think of it as going one step beyond caller ID. In some cases, answering and then hanging up can actually do more harm than good. Answering the phone gives the scammers confirmation that the number works and that they should try again. Once your number is

RING, RING — IT’S A ROBOT What You Can Do to Protect Yourself From Phone Scams and Robocalls

confirmed as active, it often gets put on an “active number” list that can then be sold to other scammers who market in these types of phone numbers. If you can’t verify who is calling without picking up, don’t answer. Let it go to voicemail. If it’s important, the person will leave a legitimate message and you can respond afterward. PUT UP SOME DETERRENTS. You can even go a step further and block the calls. Many phone service providers offer call-blocking options, including AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile, and Verizon. You can sign up for this service in-store or on your service provider’s website. Each service costs about $4 per month. There are also a number of call- blocking apps available on Android and Apple devices, but if you subscribe to a blocking service through your phone provider, these apps are unnecessary.

Finally, you can sign up for the Federal Trade Commission’s “Do Not Call” program (DoNotCall.gov). While the Do Not Call program can help cut back on calls, this list is largely ignored by scammers. If you’re getting a ridiculous number of robocalls every day, signing up can offer you some brief respite. Thankfully, Congress is already attempting to fix this problem by making it harder for scammers to call you. But until they are able to pass tough, effective legislation, it is up to us as consumers to remain vigilant and do what we can to keep our personal and financial data safe and secure.

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