Modern Woodmen offers help for one small-business owner who does it all.

There’s no business like the fence business. At least that’s what Alan, a Modern Woodmen member from Illinois, thinks.  

Alan has been selling and installing fencing for over 30 years. A co-owner of All Types Fence Inc., he has grown his business to nine people, including himself and his son, Dave, the other co-owner.

Although small, the team at All Types Fence is mighty. They love what they do and consider themselves experts at it.  

But Alan knows taking care of business involves a lot more than caring about his business. From keeping customers happy to keeping and attracting key employees, small-business owners are forced to play many different roles throughout a typical week.  

“It’s remarkable as a small-business owner how many hats you wear in a day,” says Alan, who has been self-employed most of his life. With the help of Modern Woodmen products and services, he has found several of those hats to be a lot easier to wear.  

Hat: Human resources manager
How-to tip: Attract and keep employees through benefits
If quality is job No. 1, finding quality employees must be part of the application process. Keeping quality employees is one of the biggest financial issues facing small-business owners today.  

So how can employers attract and keep the good ones? One way is to offer benefits, such as health insurance and a retirement plan.  

“The longer term you can keep an employee the better. The cost of turnover is high,” says Tom Green, Alan’s Modern Woodmen representative. “The better fringe benefits you can offer employees, the better your likelihood of retaining them. But, it’s all a matter of what you can afford to offer.”  

A qualified retirement plan can be a convenient, cost-effective way for small-business owners to help employees plan and save for the future. Alan added a Modern Woodmen 401(k) plan to the list of benefits he offers his employees.  

Modern Woodmen 401(k) plans offer more flexibility for the employer than many qualified retirement plans. Employees receive a convenient and tax-advantaged way to save for retirement, and are immediately 100-percent vested in contributions they make to the plan. Depending on how the plan document is designed, the employer can make matching and/or profit-sharing contributions at his or her discretion.  

Hat: Security guard
How-to tip: Protect against the unknown with insurance
Small-business owners have many people depending on them for income – their employees, other co-owners or partners, their spouses and/or their children. Business owners often depend on those same people for the well-being of their businesses. It’s important to be prepared in case of disability, death and other unforeseen events.  

Alan has purchased life insurance through Modern Woodmen to protect his business and offset costs if something happened to him. “Just in case something should happen to me, I know I’ve got enough that it will take care of any taxes and other things involved with the death,” says Alan.  

“I feel very much at ease with what I’ve got. I’ve got no worries if something does happen. That’s a great relief. You’ve got enough headaches to be worrying about without having to be thinking about that too.”  

Hat: Chief financial officer
How-to tip: Seek out experts
Owning a business can be challenging. According to the U.S. Small Business Administration, over half of small businesses fail in the first year. Knowing where to turn for help can mean the difference between a booming business and bankruptcy.  

When it comes to financial issues, business owners have a pool of experts at their fingertips to help answer questions, including attorneys, accountants and financial services representatives.  

Alan works closely with his Modern Woodmen representative and has come to depend on him for advice.  

“Tom is probably one of the best things that ever happened to me and my son as far as financial issues. He’s a great adviser,” says Alan. He and Tom met several years ago when Tom needed help installing a fence. While working on Tom’s fence, Alan asked Tom about his occupation. Alan has relied on Tom’s financial advice ever since.  

“He’s an expert at what he does, and we’re experts at what we do,” Alan says. “I always did believe in that. You hire someone who knows what he or she is doing. You don’t do your own brain surgery.”  

Down to business
Whether they feel there’s no business like show, snow or fence business, most owners agree – taking care of business can be tough. There’s a lot more to it than producing a good product and offering good customer service.  

Modern Woodmen products and services can help owners toss some of their many hats aside – or at least put them in the closet for awhile – while they focus on other aspects of their business.  

To small-business owners like Alan, that’s a big relief.