Protect Your Home From A Garage Door Break In

How well do you lock up your house before leaving in the mornings? Do you check all the windows and doors? What about your garage door? If not, then you should because your garage door is one of the easiest points of entry into your home. Thieves are aware of this, and have already mastered how to get inside in less than 8 seconds, using only a wire coat hanger. Homeowners rarely take the steps needed to protect their home from the infamous garage door break in. The steps are relatively simple, and can protect you from losing your valuable possessions. But first, let’s examine how exactly a robber would go about breaking into your home through the garage door:

• Step 1: Loop the wire hangar through the release mechanism cord, or the mechanism itself, and open the door.
• Step 2: If an alarm system is installed, go inside and hide in the garage, and close the door.
• Step 3: Wait for the authorities to come investigate the scene, while a friend plays look-out in a car up the street. Security will find nothing out of the ordinary, and will only do a quick inspection.
• Step 4: The friend tells you when security has left, reopen the garage door, and load up the car with someone else’s belongings.

This is how easy it is for a stranger to get inside your home. Luckily there are only a few things you need to do to protect home:

• Acquire a piece of wire cable. Hook it through the top and bottom holes of the release mechanism and disable it.
• Or secure a zip tie around the entire mechanism, also disabling it.
• Detach the release cord entirely.

Garage doors with windows are the most easily targeted. The robbers can see into your garage and examine how your release mechanism works, but your home is still at risk if it doesn’t have windows. Keep your home safe, and ensure that you will never become a victim of a garage door break in. If you have any insurance related questions, Insurance Policy Centres! Insurance Policy Centres is sure to meet all of your insurance needs!

Dissecting Sales Commission: How To Read Your Paycheck

When I found myself reading my first sales paycheck ... I stared back at it in confusion. 

This dazed look appeared on many first time field reps on my team over the past three years. Since I started walking them through how to understand their paychecks, I figured I'd share that information here.

So, let's say you work at My Culture Company, where:

• You get paid twice a month -- on the 15th and last day of the month.
• Your commission is only included in the second paycheck of each month.

Your paycheck would likely look like the example below, which illustrates a sales paycheck from the end of your first month on the job.

Note: This is simply a mockup with many of the components your paycheck would likely have, but not an exact replica of various check formats. 

Other sections you might see: Pre-tax Deductions, Post-tax Deductions, Employer Paid Benefits, Taxable Wages.

The top and bottom section of the paycheck are self-explanatory. Meanwhile employee taxes vary based on your location. But there's that middle-left section on "earnings" that throws people off. So let's define each component of that earnings statement. 

Regular (Base Salary)

Regular refers to your base salary. Your base salary is a fixed amount of annual income that will be evenly dispersed across your paychecks. If you are paid bi-monthly, take this number and divide it by 24 to see how much you’ll receive each pay period. Jill's base salary is $24,000 annual, or $1,000 per paycheck. 

Comm (Commission)

Comm refers to commission. With sales commission, you’ll have a goal or target, with each sale on that goal contributing a certain percentage to your paycheck. Commission payouts are reflective of your performance -- an on target commission is 100% of the goal set for your position. Jill's first month quota target was $1,000 in monthly recurring revenue (MRR) sales. Since she achieved that, she reached 100% quota attainment and was paid $500 in commission.

Now what if she didn't hit 100% of quota? Or what if she overachieved? That's why it's important to understand commission rate. Commission rate calculates how much of each sale you make contributes to how much you get paid.

Total Annual Commission / Annual Sales Goal = Commission Rate

Jill has an annual base salary of $24,000 and annual sales goal of $48,000. So for her, this would be:

$24,000 / $48,000 = .50

This means Jill will earn $0.50 for every dollar of new business she closes.

Draw

Now when a field rep's livelihood is dependent on quota, there may be some fear of lacking a steady flow of income. That's fortunately why draws exist. 

Jill's company provides a new sales employee ramp up period to help new reps build their sales pipeline. For the first four months on the job, she's given a much lower sales quota target. In month one, she's accountable for $1,000 in new recurring sales -- aka 1/4 of her full quota of $4,000 monthly recurring sales. The rest of her commission is paid in a draw amount of $1,500.

It's important to note here that there are two types of draws:

• Recoverable Draw: A recoverable draw is an advance payment to help you cover your monthly expenses when starting a new job. However, this is money you owe the company. Once you're past your first few months on the job and can cover your own expenses, this money will be taken out of a future commission earning. Recoverable draws are mostly used for positions with longer sales cycles to help new field reps earn money upfront. 

• Non-Recoverable Draw: A non-recoverable draw is money paid out at certain times to help keep income stable for field reps. This is often used for new employees getting started or to cover times when work is slow, such as vacation periods or seasoned business cycles. This money will act as an add-on to your base salary and won't be paid back to the company. It simply helps stabilize your flow of income over the course of your employment. 

If you're still confused ... well, you were smart enough to get the job, so you'll figure it out :-)

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DOCUMENT CHECKLIST

You may find this Document Checklist of assistance in your planning. Please contact my office if we can be of further assistance.

Document	Location
Personal
Birth Certificate
Marriage License
Pre- or Post-Nuptial Agreement
Will
Trust(s)
Living Will(s)/Power(s) of Attorney
Mortgage Papers
Automobile Titles/ Papers
Income Tax Returns
Gift Tax Returns
Insurance Policies
Employee Benefit Documents
Passport
Military Records
Medical Records
Citizenship Papers
Warranties
Current Bills
Funeral/ Burial Documents
Other:_______________
Business Ownership
Partnership/ Incorporation Documents
Buy-Sell Agreement
Section 303 Stock Redemption Agreement
Business Valuation/Appraisal
Business Tax Returns
Other:_______________