6 "Rules of Thumb" for Small Business Risk Management

Summary

Ryan Hanley outlines six key risk management principles for business owners to follow in order to prevent and mitigate losses: don't risk more than you can afford to lose; don't take big risks for small rewards; consider event likelihood and impact; all losses affect the bottom line; insurance is not a substitute for risk control; and proactively manage risks. He advises consciously applying risk control and financing to address every potential business risk. Hanley states that his insurance agency aims not only to provide coverage to help clients recover after a loss, but also to give risk management guidance to reduce the chance of accidents happening.

Takeaways

• 😀 My role is to help business owners get maximum benefit from insurance and provide risk management guidance
• 😟 Manage trade-offs of actions that can increase risk like adding staff or expanding location
• 🤔 Consider frequency and severity of accidents to prevent them or reduce impact
• 😨 Not having insurance means you pay for any damage out of pocket
• 😠 Don't treat insurance as substitute for risk control
• 🧐 Consciously assign risk control and financing to potential risks
• 😃 See job as providing insurance and risk management guidance to reduce chance of accident
• 👍 Give us a call if you want a proposal for your business insurance program
• 🔍 Click the link to subscribe to our Risky Business newsletter
• 😊 We'll help you find peace of mind

Q & A

What is the main topic of the video series this video is part of?

The main topic is risk management for businesses.

What are the six tenets or 'Rules of Thumb' for keeping a business safe according to the video?

The six tenets are: 1) Don't retain more than you can afford to lose; 2) Don't risk a lot to get a little; 3) Consider likelihood and potential impact of risks; 4) There's no such thing as an uninsured loss; 5) Don't treat insurance as a substitute for risk control; 6) Consciously use risk control or financing for every potential risk.

What does the phrase 'Don't risk a lot to get a little' mean in the context of risk management?

It means to carefully weigh the risks and rewards of any business decision or action, and don't take big risks for small potential gains.

What should you do when considering the likelihood and potential impact of risks?

You should realistically assess both how often accidents or losses could happen, and how severe their impact could be, in order to determine what preventative measures to take or how to reduce their effects.

Why does the video say there is no such thing as an uninsured loss?

Even if you decide not to purchase insurance coverage for a particular risk, you are essentially self-insuring against any losses that might occur, meaning you would still have to pay for any damages yourself.

What does the video recommend instead of only relying on insurance?

It recommends focusing on risk prevention and control measures to avoid accidents and losses from happening in the first place, rather than only relying on insurance to reimburse you financially afterwards.

What practice does the video recommend regarding potential risks?

It recommends consciously assigning both a risk control technique and risk financing option to each potential risk that could impact your business.

What two services does the video say The Murray Group provides related to risk management?

It says they provide insurance products to financially recover after a loss, as well as risk management guidance to help prevent losses and accidents in the first place.

What contact information is provided for receiving an insurance proposal from The Murray Group?

You can call 518-456-6688 or email [email protected] to begin the proposal process.

Where can you find more information about The Murray Group's services?

You can subscribe to their Risky Business Newsletter by clicking the link provided in the video or below the video.

Outlines

00:00

😊 Introducing the Speaker and His Role

The speaker introduces himself as Ryan Hanley, the director of marketing and licensed insurance agent at The Murray Group. He states that his role and passion is to help business owners maximize their benefit from insurance.

😵‍💫 Overview of Risk Management Video Series

Ryan explains that this is the 4th video in a 5-part series on risk management, so there will be no insurance talk in this video. The focus will be on preventing accidents and reducing their impact if they happen.

🤔 6 Basic Rules of Thumb for Risk Management

Ryan shares 6 key tenets for keeping a business safe from a high-level perspective, though notes they should be kept in mind for daily and directional business decisions. These include: 1) Don't retain more than you can afford to lose 2) Don't risk a lot to get a little 3) Consider likelihood and impact of events 4) No uninsured losses 5) Insurance doesn't substitute risk control 6) Consciously manage risks.

😤 Using Risk Management Principles in Business

Ryan summarizes that using these risk management principles will greatly benefit one's business. At Murray Group, their job is not just insurance but providing guidance to reduce accidents.

🤝 Offer to Partner with Businesses Needing Insurance

Ryan offers that if a business would like an insurance proposal or to begin partnering with Murray Group, they can call or email them. He also provides a link to subscribe to their Risky Business newsletter to learn more.

Keywords

💡Risk Management

Risk management refers to the practice of identifying, assessing, and controlling threats to an organization. It is one of the central themes of the video, which provides six tenets or "rules of thumb" for managing risk in a business context. For example, the video advises business owners to "consciously use risk control or risk financing on every potential risk" to protect their company.

💡Insurance

Insurance is a risk management method mentioned throughout the video. The speaker states that part of his role is to help businesses "receive the maximum benefit" from their insurance. He also notes that declining to purchase insurance coverage constitutes "self-insuring" a potential loss.

💡Loss

Loss refers to negative financial impacts from accidents or other incidents. The video encourages assessing both the likelihood and potential severity of losses. The speaker also states that "there is NO such thing as an uninsured loss" - if insurance is not purchased, the business itself pays the cost.

💡Accident

An accident is an incident that leads to loss or damage. The video emphasizes preventing accidents whenever possible through risk control measures. However, insurance is still needed to help recover after an accident occurs.

💡Risk Control

Risk control includes preventative methods to avoid accidents and losses. It is contrasted with risk financing, which involves preparing financially to handle losses. The video states that consciously applying both risk control and risk financing is a best practice.

💡Risk Tolerance

A company's risk tolerance refers to the amount and type of losses it can withstand. The first principle provided is to avoid retaining more risk than the business can afford to lose.

💡Trade-offs

The concept of trade-offs comes up when the video advises weighing the risks and rewards of major business decisions like adding new vendors. Taking on risk may provide benefits, but owners must ensure "the juice is worth the squeeze."

💡Risk Financing

In contrast to risk control, risk financing involves using insurance and other tools to prepare financially for losses. This can reimburse damage costs after accidents occur. The video advocates consciously applying both risk control and risk financing.

💡Frequency

When evaluating risks, the video recommends assessing both frequency (how often an incident occurs) and potential impact. Identifying risks with high frequency and severity is important.

💡Impact

Along with frequency, the potential impact or severity of losses should be considered. The video advises studying both frequency and impact to focus risk management efforts.

Highlights

Six basic tenets act as 'Rules of Thumb' for keeping your business safe

Understand your business's risk tolerance and what losses you can sustain

Manage risk/reward tradeoffs when taking actions like adding a vendor

Consider frequency and potential impact of risk events

Uninsured losses are essentially self-insured

Insurance only reimburses after an accident, prevention is better

Assign risk control and financing options to potential risks

Provide insurance and risk management guidance to clients

Begin process to receive insurance proposal for your business

Subscribe to Risky Business Newsletter to learn about Murray Group

Don't retain more than you can afford to lose

Don't risk a lot to get a little

Treat insurance properly, not as substitute for risk control

Consciously use risk control and financing for every risk

Provide peace of mind to clients

Transcripts

My name is Ryan Hanley, I'm director of marketing and licensed agent here at the murray group

and it's both my role here, as well as my passion to help business owners like you receive

the maximum benefit from your insurance.

However, today's video is actually the 4th in a series of five videos on risk management...

so no insurance talk, today we're talking about preventing and/or reducing the impact

of accidents if they do happen.

Risk Management has a few basic tenets, six actually that act as "Rules of Thumb" for

keeping your business safe.

Though each of these is from a 30,000 foot it's important to have them in the back of

your mind as you make both daily and directional decisions in your business.

#1 Don't retain more than you can afford to lose - Understand what your business's risk

tolerance is...

What kind and magnitude of loss can you sustain and maintain.

#2 Don't risk a lot to get a little - Manage the trade-offs of every action you take, things

like taking on a new vendor, adding new staff, expanding your location...

Risk is important to business but make sure the Juice is Worth the Squeeze

#3 Consider the likelihood of events and their potential impact - consider the realistic

fequency and severity of accidents happening and what needs to be done to prevent them

or reduce their impact.

#4 There is NO such thing as an uninsured loss - If you decide to NOT purchase insurance

coverage for a particular exposure, you're actually just self-insuring that loss.

Not buying insurance doesn't mean that thing isn't going to happen, it just means you pay

for the damage.

#5 Don't treat insurance as a substitute for risk control - Insurance provides reimbursement

after an accident... but preventing that accident in the first place is SOOO much better.

#6 Consciously use risk control or risk financing on every potential risk - a good practice

is to sit down and assign a risk control technique and risk financing option to each potential

risk that could impact your business.

Keep these six tenets of risk management in your back pocket and you'll be doing your

business a huge favor.

At The Murray Group, we see our job as not only providing insurance products to help

you recover after a loss, but also to provide risk management guidance to reduce the chance

of an accident ever happening.

If you think our agency would make a good partner for your business and you'd like to

begin the process of receiving a proposal for your business insurance program, please

give us a call at 518-456-6688 or email us at [email protected]

If you'd like to learn a little bit more about The Murray Group first, please click this

link here or the link below this video to subscribe to our Risky Business Newsletter.

We'll help you find, peace of mind.