One of the most popular topics on Pinterest is travel related sites- dream locations, beautiful hotels, and popular travel spots. For hoteliers in particular the site offers a unique way to engage customers by presenting not only your establishment, but marketing your hotel as an entire destination. It’s an ideal opportunity to attract and engage followers.

Don’t simply use Pinterest for self-promotion- it’s a turnoff for visitors. Choose your boards carefully and on a variety of topics. Are you a family friendly establishment? Do a board of Family Fun activities that are located in your particular area. Bed and Breakfast? Do a board of great couples’ activities in the area. Located in a huge metropolis such as Chicago or New York? Create board of must-see attractions, or one of the best local eateries. Have a hotel blog? Create a board highlighting the topics of all your blog posts (make sure you choose great images!).

A great example for New York hotels is the Pinterest page for The Roosevelt Hotel New York. Of the company’s 11 boards, only one of the Roosevelt’s boards is actually about the hotel. The other topics have names such as “Travel Tips”, “NYC Photography,” “Eats and Drinks,” “Travel Quotes” and even a “Historic New York” with images from the city’s rich history.

Optimizing the social media potential of your Peekskill Hotel Insurance establishment is only one of the many aspects you cover as a business owner. Get the protection your hotel deserves with business insurance from MHB Insurance. We proudly serve our Peekskill business owners, as well as Crompond, Buchanan, Verplanck, Montrose, Crugers, Lake Mohegan, Yorktown, Jefferson Valley, Shrub Oak, Lake Peekskill, Putnam Valley, Peekskill Bay, and the Hudson Valley of New York State. Contact us today for more information.

Yes, business is business and shouldn’t be affected by capricious whims and personal fancies. However, the phrase “it’s nothing personal,” implies a ruthlessness more suited for an overbearing bully than a CEO establishing the foundational ideology and direction for their company. It’s a justification of actions, rather than a successful business plan.

“Ideas shape our thinking, animate our endeavors, and serve as the foundation upon which we scale our institutions and companies,” Seidman writes. A company without a solid foundation will not be able to coast solely on their products and services; innovation is needed, and intelligent, evolving innovation happens when a company has an identity to stand on.

For Steve Jobs, that foundation was focus. When the Apple founder returned to the company in 1997, it was producing a random array of computers including a dozen variations of Macintosh. Jobs cut every product except for 4 models, two desktops and two laptops. The idea was simplicity- to focus on very few, significant priorities, and make them beautiful. That idea of simplicity and focus is the core of the Apple brand today, seamlessly integrated into their products and philosophy.

Your company is a reflection of your leadership and goals- it is in many ways a personal reflection of everything you’ve worked to achieve. Your personal investment in the company as a director or officer also exposes you to the greatest risk. Protect your company and yourself. Let our experienced Director & Officers Insurance specialists help you get the much needed protection again the costs of legal defense and indemnity coverage for the business, directors and officers, and employees in suits alleging internal mismanagement. Contact us today for more information.

Smith worked at Goldman Sachs for twelve years. He was responsible for the US/Americas Equity Derivatives business in Europe. In layman’s terms, he advised some of the largest hedge funds, asset managers, and sovereign wealth funds in the world, equaling a total asset base of over a trillion dollars. Smith had no qualms about divulging exactly why he was leaving. In fact, he was quite blunt in his assessment of the investment bank’s company culture and ethical platform.

“To put the problem in the simplest terms, the interests of the client continue to be sidelined in the way the firm operates and thinks about making money. Goldman Sachs is one of the world’s largest and most important investment banks and it is too integral to global finance to continue to act this way. The firm has veered so far from the place I joined right out of college that I can no longer in good conscience say that I identify with what it stands for.”

Wow. It’s a safe assumption to make that Smith isn’t looking to return to Goldman Sachs anytime soon. Throughout the rest of the article, Smith explicitly details why he is leaving the company. He accuses Goldman Sach’s CEO and president of letting the company culture disintegrate on their watch, suggests the company “weed out the morally bankrupt people,” and questions the company’s integrity and commitment to their clients.

Resigning from his post isn’t the bomb-dropping issue here. People quit every day. It was the public, fire breathing way that Smith chose to resign, choosing one of the most prominent and well-known publications in the country as his megaphone. And it raises interesting issues about the relationships between employees and their company, and more interestingly about the huge media storm Smith raise. Was it right for him to slay his company in such a public manner? Are the allegations true? Regardless of whatever anyone believes, or what actually happened, the damage is done, and that is where the issue of public officials liability arises.

Public officials, CEO’s, international companies, celebrities, and government organizations alike are all held to high public standards. Companies that are as well known as Goldman Sachs are expected to maintain the ultimate level of integrity in the public eye, and when it falls short it can explode in their faces.  Look at the Enron disaster. Bill Clinton and the eternally infamous Monica Lewinsky scandal. The BP oil spill. Company, public official, or CEO, it still has the same effect. Smith’s resignation made front page news because it involved one of the most highly recognized companies in the world. Any public accusation can have detrimental effects on both the accuser and the accused, regardless of whether it is true or not.

Although different in nature, Smith’s resignation reminds those in the public eye everywhere that they are held to high standards of conduct. Whether actual or alleged, public officials can face a number of risk issues and must be ready to serve and protect their constituency at any cost.

Protect your elected public officials from errors and omissions, negligence, breach of duty, and misstatements. We’ll sit down with you to look objectively at the special risks, threats and opportunities you face as a public official. Once we identify the risks, we’ll teach you how to avoid them.  This is why we are often called the New York D&O insurance experts. Pre-Planning is key. Contact us now.

Why I am Leaving Goldman Sachs – http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/14/opinion/why-i-am-leaving-goldman-sachs.html?pagewanted=all

Don’t underestimate the value of curb appeal. The old adage rings true; a first impression is a lasting impression. A fantastic menu will be of no avail if customers don’t actually want to walk into your restaurant. Landscaping, parking lot maintenance, the entryway, and good external lighting and signage can all entice consumers to come inside.

Involve the chef in the experience. Too often a chef is an enigma to most guests- they are the heart of the restaurant but no one ever sees them.  Including the chef in dining experience makes it personalized, and provides a more interesting and involved experience that customers will pass on and tell to their friends.

Maintain exceptional wait staff. From the greeting to the entrance, excellent service is key.  On Yelp, a consumer-driven review website, bad service is one of the top complaints diners have. That means everyone who interacts with the customer from the second they walk in the door to the moment they leave must have their best foot forward.

Highlight preparation methods and ingredients in your menu. Have special gluten-free menu options? Use only free-range meat in your dishes? Highlight these in your menu. Unique preparation methods and ingredients matter to customers.  Customers have widely diversified palates and specific dining needs.  Highlighting the diversity in your menu are key details that set you apart from other restaurants.

At MHB Insurance, we have helped restaurants, bars, taverns and nightclubs all over the U.S. obtain the vital insurance protection they need.  However, because we’re situated right here in New York, we find ourselves working with a wide variety of food service facilities and venues as well.  Unlike many of our competitors, we’re known for our work with bar and restaurant insurance.  We know what you’re up against and the risks your restaurant encounters.  We take the time to research and understand exactly what Restaurant insurance products can help you most.  Call 914-737-3430 or contact us today for more information on New York Restaurant Insurance.

Major Coverages

1. Property Insurance

Property insurance is designed to compensate a business if the property used in the business is lost or damaged from fire or theft. Property insurance covers not only the structure, but can also personal property, meaning office furnishings, inventory, raw materials, machinery, computers and other items vital to operation.

2. Liability Insurance

Your business can be sued. Anything from a defective product, an error in a service or disregard for another person’s property can result in a lawsuit. Liability insurance pays damages for which the business is found liable. It also pays the medical bills of any people injured by, or on the premises of, the business.

3. Commercial Auto Insurance

A commercial auto insurance policy provides coverage for autos owned by a business. The insurance pays any costs to third parties resulting from bodily injury or property damage for which the business is liable.

4. Workers Compensation Insurance

In every state but Texas an employer must have workers compensation insurance. Workers compensation insurance pays for medical care and replaces a portion of lost wages for an employee who is injured in the course of employment, regardless of who was at fault for the injury.

MHB Insurance has worked with a broad spectrum of small businesses in New York.  This includes contractors, property owners, distributors, manufacturers and service providers.  This is why we are the Peekskill insurance experts.

Whatever your need for Peekskill New York business insurance, whether in the Peekskill, New York area or throughout the NY state, call 914-737-3430. We look forward to getting you the coverage you need at a price that you can afford.

Here are 20 microbreweries throughout New York.

1)    The Peekskill Brewery
55 Hudson Avenue, Peekskill, NY
(914) 734-2337 ‎ · www.thepeekskillbrewery.com
What they are known for: vanilla bourbon stout · fish and chips · beer selection · beers on tap ·

2)    Brooklyn Brewery
79 North 11th Street, NY
(718) 486-7422 ‎ · www.brooklynbrewery.com
What they are known for: black chocolate stout · caramel · good beer · East India pale ale

3)    Heartland Brewery
35 Union Square W, New York, NY
(212) 645-3400 ‎ · www.heartlandbrewery.com
What they are known for: farmer Jon’s oatmeal stout · bar food · red rooster ale · Indian river

4)    Captain Lawrence Brewing Company
444 Saw Mill River Rd, Elmsford, NY
(914) 741-2337 ‎ · www.captainlawrencebrewing.com
What they are known for: liquid gold · rosso e marrone · golden delicious · smoked porter ·

5)    Heartland Brewery & Restaurant
1285 6th avenue , New York, NY
(212) 582-8244 ‎ · www.heartlandbrewery.com
What they are known for: selection of beers · bar food · oatmeal stout · beers on tap

6)    McSorley’s Old Ale House
15 East 7th Street, Manhattan, NY
(212) 473-9148 ‎ · www.mcsorleysnewyork.com
What they are known for: cheese plate · dark or light beer · crackers · two types of beer

7)    Sixpoint Brewery
40 Van Dyke Street, Brooklyn, NY
(917) 696-0438 ‎ · www.sixpoint.com
What they are known for: sweet action · mad scientist · cream ale · tiger IPA

8)    Blue Point Brewing Co
161 River Avenue, Patchogue, NY
(631) 475-6944 ‎ · www.bluepointbrewing.com
What they are known for: summer ale · blueberry ale · toxic sludge · island beer

9)    Coney Island Brewing Company
3006 West 12th Street, Brooklyn, NY
(718) 372-5159 ‎ · www.coneyisland.com
What they are known for: surf avenue · freak show · wonder wheel · statue of liberty

10)   Hyde Park Brewing Co
4076 Albany Post Road, Hyde Park, NY
(845) 229-8277 ‎ · www.hydeparkbrewing.com
What they are known for: blues jam · scotch egg · open mike night · local breweries

11)   The Defiant Brewing Company
6 East Dexter Plaza, Pearl River, New York
(845) 920-8602 ‎ · www.defiantbrewing.com
What they are known for: little thumper · India pale ale · prohibition · tripel

12)   Keegan Ales
20 Saint James St, Kingston, NY
(845) 331-2739 ‎ · www.keeganales.com
What they are known for: old capital · milk stout · brew pub · brewing company · super kitty

13)   Amsterdam Ale House
340 Amsterdam Avenue, New York, NY
(212) 362-7260 ‎ · www.amsterdamalehouse.com
What they are known for: beer selection · bar food · sports bar · brunch

14)   BIRRERIA
200 5th Avenue, New York, NY
(212) 229-2560 ‎ · www.eatalyny.com
What they are known for: retractable roof · beer garden · pork shoulder · shitake mushrooms

15)   Waterfront Ale House
155 Atlantic Ave # A, Brooklyn, NY
(718) 522-3794 ‎ · www.waterfrontalehouse.com
What they are known for: beer selection · free popcorn · pub grub · Brooklyn beer · hot sauces

16)   Standings
43 East 7th Street, New York, NY
(212) 420-0671 ‎ · www.standingsbar.com
What they are known for: free pizza · beer selection · free food · sports memorabilia

17)   BrickHouse Brewery & Restaurant
67 West Main Street, Patchogue, NY
(631) 447-2337 ‎ · www.brickhousebrewery.com
What they are known for: blue point brewing company · open mic · crafted beer · fresh oysters

18)   Black Forest Brew Haus
2015 New Highway, Farmingdale, NY
(631) 391-9500 ‎ · www.blackforestbrewhaus.com
What they are known for: pretzel bread · German fare · potato pancakes · beer garden

19)   Bayard’s Ale House
533 Hudson Street, New York, NY
(212) 989-0313 ‎
What they are known for: bar food · sazerac · beer selection · shepherd’s pie · crab cakes

20)   Brewery Ommegang
656 County Highway 33, Cooperstown, NY
(607) 544-1800 ‎ · www.ommegang.com
What they are known for: Belgian style · Belgian ale · three philosophers

For more information on MHB’s Microbrewery Insurance program, call 914-737-3430.

Features
Benefits can include health care coverage, paid-time-off, retirement savings, life insurance and profit sharing. Employers such as Google go above and beyond to provide the best work life balance providing everything from a gym and a masseuse to meals and a bed. Employee benefits have been a positive moving trend in more recent year providing benefits such as on-site child day care, a fitness gym and recreational facilities a common norm.

Competition
Money is everything. Employers who offer good compensation benefits and stay competitive with local and national businesses can attract and retain employees.

Health
A healthy employee is a productive employee. Health-related benefits for employees and their families promote healthy lifestyles, which can relieve personal stress and increase productivity in the workplace.

Well-Being
Paid-time-off (PTO) endorses employee well-being. According to Expedia.com’s 2009 vacation deprivation survey, 53 percent of employees feel refreshed and more connected to their families after taking PTO. 34 percent employees feel better about their jobs and become more productive.

We know how important it is to you to have a strong employee benefits plan. It’s the single most critical factor in building and preserving employee health, morale and retention. Along with salary, it’s what potential employees look at most carefully before they agree to job offers. So you’ve got to do it right.

That’s where we our Peekskill insurance experts come in. MHB Insurance can help you acquire and retain better employees by working with you to create an especially attractive and affordable employee benefits program.

Your Peekskill New York employee benefits plan can include (but is not limited to) all of the following:

• Group health insurance
• Retirement
• Dental
• Disability
• Workers comp
• Disability
• Group term life
• Supplemental life
• Critical illness
• Family coverage

Plans may be employee or employer paid, with optional pre-tax payroll deductibles and IRS 125 setups.

Groups as small as three may qualify.

Let us help you design an employee benefits plan that fits your company’s needs and budget. Call or email us, or use this form in the Crompond, Buchanan, Verplanck, Montrose, Crugers, Lake Mohegan, Yorktown, Jefferson Valley-Yorktown, Shrub Oak, Lake Peekskill, Putnam Valley, or Peekskill Bay areas for additional information.

Give MHB Insurance a call today (877) 709-6761

1. Find a good training course. Plenty of corporations practice Lean Manufacturing, and there is an education market for it. Everyone from consultants to universities has been providing classes and workshops. When selecting a good training course, it is critical to learn from someone that has real world experience applying lean manufacturing principles.

2. Select your experts carefully and train. After finding a good course or two and learning the basic principles of lean manufacturing, enable a few individuals to become experts and share their knowledge with others.

3. Train all employees who are involved. Implementing lean manufacturing requires a large percentage of employees working together to discover non value added activities within the chain.

4. Learn by doing. Learn as much as possible about a concept, then begin to apply it. A good example is 5S. When 5S is implemented correctly, it not only provides order and improved housekeeping; it also enhances equipment and improves efficiency.

5. Hire an expert. Lean manufacturing isn’t something you can learn overnight. It is difficult to practice and requires years of study to master. This is the only option to go directly from course training to successful implementation. An expert has seen the every failure from implementation practices to staff. They will be able to continue to train and help guide the team through the roadmap on the journey to a state of lean even after the consultation is over.

6. Observe other successful lean implementations. It is easy to find companies that will allow you to see their lean implementation. The difficult part is finding a successful implementation. If the implementation wasn’t successful, they wouldn’t be hiring more professionals.

7. Learn from failure. There will be failures in a lean implementation.

Fortunately, our manufacturing insurance experts will sit down with you and assess your current situation. No two manufacturers are completely alike. Thus our goal is to set you up with only the coverage you really need to properly cover your business.

You might need coverage for your entire facility, including machinery, plant, loss of profit, and both public and product liability. In some cases, you’ll want to add additional coverage like employer’s liability, computer breakdown, employee theft or fraud, and general property protection.

Give MHB Insurance a call at 914-737-3430, our manufacturing specialists are standing by to answer your questions.

What is a Municipal Bond?

Definition (n): a bond issued by state, county, city, or town, or by a state authority or agency to finance projects. (1)

Yeah, well that helped….

Here is a breakdown of what a municipal bond is. It is an obligation of debt being issued by state, city, and local governments to raise money for the public funding of projects and services such as schools, roads, and housing.

In the United States, interest income received by holders of municipal bonds is often exempt from the federal income tax and from the income tax of the state in which they are issued, although municipal bonds issued for certain purposes may not be tax exempt. (2)

Municipal Bonds are very attractive to investors and are free to trade on the stock market. Investors and traders trade municipal bonds sometimes several times in one week.

Why do I need to insure them?

Insurance provides the investors with security that no matter the state of the government’s finances are in, the bond’s interest and principal payments will still be made.

However, there are risks involved with municipal bonds. The biggest risk is that of defaulting. If the bond defaults, meaning the government that supplied the bond doesn’t have the money to cover the principal and/or interest payments.

Municipal bonds are used to finance projects that the government needs funding for. Because the municipal bonds runs the risk of default, insuring the bond is basically guaranteeing the money you are suppose to get off the principal and interest payments. At MHB Insurance we are able to provide trained experts on this subject and can help reduce your financial risk.

Bonds that have a low default risk receive high credit ratings. This influences the market price of the bonds. Insured bonds receive higher credit ratings that non-insured bonds. Insured Bonds receive a rating of: AAA, the highest possible. The higher the credit rating the lower the interest rate is that bond issuer must pay when sold.

There are four major agencies that provide bond credit ratings. These agencies are the following:

• Moody’s Investors Service
• Standard & Poor’s Corporation
• Fitch IBCA, Inc.
• Duff & Phelps Credit Rating Co.

Insuring the municipal bond increases the marketability of the bond and makes it more attractive to investors. Insurance can help small issuers who are unfamiliar and unknown to investors to be taken seriously.

If you have any questions regarding insuring these municipal bonds, give MHB Insurance a call. We cover:

• Workers Compensation
• Risk Management
• Safety Programs
• Public Officials Liability
• Departments Served
  • Fire
  • Park Rangers
  • Police and Correctional Facilities
  • Public Administration and Courthouses
  • Water Districts
  • Towns and Cities

We are happy to help. (877) 709-6761

[1] http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/municipal+bond

[2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Municipal_bond

These policies offer coverage for the property and also provide liability coverage in the event you injure another person or damage their property. Each one of these policies includes a limit that is the maximum amount that is paid out for a loss. If the limit is reached and it did not cover the entire loss, you become personally financially responsible.

Solution to being “underinsured”:

Purchase an Umbrella policy. The name says it all. This policy provides an “umbrella” of liability coverage and protection over each and all other included policies. If the limit of your one of your “underlying” policies is reached in any given loss, the umbrella policy steps in and pays to the limit of the umbrella policy, which far exceeds any one coverage limit.

Example: A race to beat a red light ended one side. The violator of the red light caused a collision with a tanker carrying molasses. Molasses spilled everywhere and the accident caused there to be a big mess of debris. The cost to clean and repair the road and truck was over $1,000,000 and the driver of the car who violated the red light (who was miraculously unharmed) was held responsible. The driver’s auto policy paid its property damage limit of $150,000 and since the driver had a $900,000 umbrella policy, that policy the balance. Without the umbrella coverage the driver could have lost all that he owned in an attempt to pay the damages.

An umbrella policy can also provide additional coverage not provided in the underlying policies such as worldwide auto liability coverage or coverage for slander and libel. If you are interested in more information or how to obtain this important coverage please MHB Insurance at (877) 709-6761