Now Serving...

IMAGINE THIS: it’s Sunday morning & you are at your local grocery store. You step up to the the deli counter and pull your ticket. You get #15. You look up at the “Now Serving” sign and see that they are on #12. You breathe a sigh of relief knowing that soon it will be your time.

NOW, #15 is a great number to have at the deli counter but NOT SO GREAT at the Pearly Gates. In that scenario you want as much time as you can get.

Unfortunately in the game of life we don’t have a number to tell us when our time is up.

So what can we do?

Well, we can plan for that great big deli trip in the sky, now! And part of that planning is taking care of those that we leave behind; our loved ones, our spouses, our kids. Remember life insurance isn't for you, it's for them.

The basic social responsibility that we have as husbands, wives & parents is to care for those who need and love us. Life insurance is caring. Life insurance is love. Life insurance makes a difference.

September 2008 is Life Insurance Awareness Month. If you want concrete stories about how life insurance can save families, just go over the LIFE site and check out their realLIFEstories.

Life happens, but you, me, us, can make a difference.

Ninpo ik kan my friends...

David L. Holzer
Insurance Advisor & Martial Arts Guide

The New Look!

When I started this blog last year, I showed everyone my business card. That was then. But now, there is no comparison. The new look consists of the new softer color scheme, the new flowing logo, and, of course, the branding of my "Shugo" concept.

Thanks go out to Mel DePaoli again at Omicle (Mel@Omicle.com; http://www.Omicle.com/). Her insights into my branding image are amazing. She really knows how to capture what you need and want (even if you don't know what it is yet).

BTW, the image above is actually the front and back sides of my card. So actually, the Japanese for "Shugo" is wrapping around the edge of the card.

All in all, a huge success. I hope you like it.

Ninpo ik kan my friends...

David L. Holzer
Insurance Advisor & Martial Arts Guide

"Thank you sir, may I have another!"

Mike Garrison

Ouch, that hurt!

I just received an email from a mentor and long-time friend of mine, Mike Garrison, President of The Garrison Group (mike@thegarrisongroup.biz - http://www.thegarrisongroup.biz/). It was great to re-connect with him, but man did it hurt!

Let me back track a bit. You see Mike is AMAZING! He gets me to do things that no one else can do. In short, he's knows how to push my buttons. Mike says jump, and I say "How high?" If you need help in business and in life, Mike is "Da Man" for you.

I have not heard from Mike for a while and so when I got an email from him last week, it was a pleasant surprise. In my usually friendly fashion I responded to his email. This morning to my delight I got another response from him. But, man did this one hurt.

Again he was re-connecting with me, asking about how things are in the 'Burgh, etc. I should have seen it coming, but I didn't. You see, that first sentence of his was, in martial arts, a fake, a set-up - because as I was reading that, he let me have it full-force. His next comment was, about this here dojo/blog of mine. He noticed that I have not been writing in a while.

That hurt. But it's a good hurt. Why? Because I am writing!!! I know, hard to believe, right?? I told you Mike was good. He knows, and as he reads this entry of mine, he is probably laughing and saying "Gotcha!"

Mike is great. He tells you full-out what you need to hear. You may not want to hear it. You probably won't like to hear it. But he still gives it to you anyway. That my friends is TRUE honesty.

Thanks Mike. I needed that. You make me feel like a white belt again!

Oh and, by the way, can I have another???



Ninpo ik kan my friends....

David L. Holzer
Insurance Advisor & Martial Arts Guide

Ohisashiburi desu nee!

I know, I know. What's that Japanese mean? And where have I been? Well, first off, the title means, "It's been a while".

I apologize but, I wish I could say to you all that I was away on a top-secret mission, need know basis only, but really I wasn't.

Where have I been?

Truthfully, I have been working. I love to blog but it does take time. So, I am back and I now have the time (once again) to share with you my thoughts on Protection (both martial arts and insurance).

My goal is every week to have a new thought posted on this blog. The thought for today comes from my good friend and colleague, Robin Schroff (the Juice gal). Go check out her post at http://www.idgonein60.blogspot.com/. Her thoughts on planning for your will and living will are right on!

Take care and see you all next week.

Ninpo ik kan my friends....

David L. Holzer
Insurance Advisor & Martial Arts Guide

Life Happens!

You just never know when "life will happen" to you. In my business, I see this everyday. Regular people who find themselves at the wrong place at the wrong time. In the past month, I have had clients, friends, and family that have experienced the following:

• being attacked by car thieves
• being run over by a bicyclist
• hitting a live wire while excavating a driveway
• being in a 5 car pile up on the roadway

Look, life happens, whether we want it to or not. No one knows what the future holds. Hopefully, only good things are in store for you. But realistically, bad things will happen too. You may not be able to control your future, but you can look it straight in the eye. You don't have to get wet when it rains. You can carry an umbrella.

Or in my case, have a protection plan - "Shugo."

The key to planning is doing it before you need it. So if you are attacked on the street, you have practiced your martial art ahead of time and can confidently handle an attacker. And if you end up in an accident, well, you have an effective disability plan that will pay you income (tax-free) when you can't work.

Planning won't guarantee you'll never face a tragic situation, just as wearing a seat belt won't keep you from crashing your car. But it will provide your family with financial protection. And whatever hopes and dreams you have for your loved ones can still be realized, even if the worst were to happen.

Keep practicing, keep planning.

Ninpo ik kan, my friends ...

David L. Holzer
Insurance Advisor & Martial Arts Guide

At the Beginning - Part 2

(On the phone, A is talking to B)

A: "How do you get there from here?"

B: "There? Where do you mean? And where are you?"

A: "I am here, and I want to go there!"

B: "For me to help you, I have to know where you are now and where it actually is that you want to go. Can you do that?"

A: "Well,...."

Ok, a little weird, huh? But it does happen. Someone not knowing where they are now and not knowing where they want to go. This is especially true when it comes to insurance planning.

Where are you now?
To go anywhere, you need to know where you are now. So if we are planning for the future and all of the "what ifs" that can happen, we need to closely examine today first. This is the first crucial step in long-term success.

For martial arts, this happens when I take on a new student. I need to know what arts they may have studied previously. I also need to know how they move their body; are they top heavy (shoulders move first) or are they centered? Do they clop their feet or slide across the ground easily? Is their stance too narrow or too wide. Etc, etc, etc.

The same happens when I take on a new insurance client. I need to know what they have already done and how it fits with where they want to go. I need to find out what policies they already have in place. After that, I have to determine if those policies are going to do the job when the time comes. For any protection plan to succeed, we need to have a thorough understanding of where we are today.

Where do you want to go?
In many ways understanding one's direction into the future is a lot more difficult. Today's "stuff" we know. It's here with us. But tomorrow's "stuff"? Well, a lot of that is unknown. My job is to ask questions - the "what ifs" - about tomorrow that most people don't want to consider.

Martial Arts "What ifs":

• if a drunk in a bar picks a fight with you, what do you do?
• if you are attacked at night, while walking to your car, what do you do?
• if an attacker pulls a gun on you, what do you do?
• if there are multiple attackers, what do you do?
• if a knife is involved, what do you do?

Insurance "What ifs":

• if your spouse dies, what do you do? what happens to your family? your home? your kids? your future?
• if you and your spouse both die, then what happens?
  
• if your business partner dies, what happens to the company? your employees & their families? your family? your partner's family?
• if you suffer a disabling injury or sickness, how long can you go with out a paycheck? is your disability benefit at work going to be enough?
  
• if you require care in your later years of life, will you stay at your home or go into a nursing home? if you stay at home, who will care for you? can they care for you? will you require home health nursing?

No one really enjoys answering these types of questions. But, they do appreciate me helping them through it. Look, do you buy a newspaper for the paper? No absolutely not. You buy it for the information; the news. So when you buy insurance, you are not buying the policy, but the piece of mind knowing that when life happens, you have a plan that will protect you/your family/your business.

And when you buy martial arts, you are not buying the "art," you again are buying the piece of mind knowing that when life happens, you have the necessary physical skill, mental clarity and emotional balance to protect yourself and your loved ones from harm.

In Japanese, "sensei" means "one who has gone before". This is commonly interpreted as "one who has more experience in doing something over another". Allow me, and my experience at exploring protection issues (self-defense and insurance), guide you and yours to that piece of mind that we all seek.

Ninpo ik kan my friends ...

David L. Holzer
Insurance Advisor & Martial Arts Guide

At the Beginning

Yep, that's me before my very first white belt test. I was 15 then and weighed all of about a buck twenty or so. I think back at that time and now realize how young, naive, and clueless I was about many things. But, I also remember how happy I was (and still am, yes I still have that same ear-to-ear cheesy grin, what can I say, I love life) and how determined I was to succeed. I knew then that martial arts were "my thing" and nothing was going to stop me from understanding and practicing every little bit I could learn.

Let me tell you, it's taking great effort for me to post this picture up on my blog. I know I am going to suffer some humiliation from key people (Weston, Matt & Mel to name a few), but I think I will take that risk. You see, it's always important to remember where you have been. Only by examining the past can we measure where we are today in the present. Likewise, the past and present are our road signs for the future.

Whenever I hit a plateau in my study/practice of the martial arts, I tend to reflect backwards. I think to myself, am I better than I was a year ago? Have I grown in some capacity over the last year? Is my knowledge base better than what it was? Most times than not, my answers are all "yes." However, although I may have grown and bettered myself from year to year, am I where I want to be? That answer is always "no." My teacher, mentor and best friend, Matt Amend, always taught me that no matter how good you get, there is always someone better. Translations: (1) don't be satisfied with your accomplishments and (2) don't get a big head.

In the martial arts, we all start at the bottom, or in this case, "At the Beginning." My beginning, that this picture represents, was the first step in a journey that has not yet ended. A journey that is my passion to become the best that I can be: the best martial artist for myself, the best teacher for my students, the best advisor for my clients, the best father for my kids, the best husband for my wife. I want to become the best person that I can be. I urge you to strive for the same. It's a journey but it all has to start somewhere, sometime. Why not now?

Ninpo ik kan my friends...

David L. Holzer
Insurance Advisor & Martial Arts Guide