Entrepreneurial Tornado Insurance Hedging
Simon Storm Frigon
? CEO of cdrg+RedTeam? | ? My mission is to be the "Diversified Entrepreneur"??. 3rd Gen. Entrepreneur | Rebuilding Environments by Design since 1955 ??
As an entrepreneur it's important to look at our diversification process and ask ourselves, “What can we do better?” How can we optimize, increase sustainable profitability and lower risk??
One way: we can hedge a portion of our exposure with multiplying our income channels to help offset our exposure to a possible localized market downturn. Proper diversification is very similar to buying high end property insurance.?
When you buy premium property insurance you don’t suddenly start wishing for a tornado, but you do get peace of mind from knowing that if mother nature pays you a visit, the insurance company will restore your home to its original state without any push back.? It’s not a perfect science but the perfect storm should always be in the back of your mind.?
Better be proactive than reactive and in our case this comes in various forms such as but limited to investing in commercial industrial real estate, multi family real estate, equities, land development and the list goes on.
There are other factors that go into the total cost of the property insurance policy, including the size of the policy, its duration, and the deductible. But if you hold all these factors constant, the only number that fluctuates due to supply and demand in the insurance market is the expected probability of loss.
Yes we pay a premium over your typical run of the mill insurance policy, and that is the only cost we bear. Let's restate this: The only risk we take is that the 100 year flood, a tornado or a derecho doesn’t hit or, in our case,?that all our diversification income channels don't decline, in which case our premium was “wasted.”
Without getting too deep into the weeds. You can see how this strategy CAN potentially reduce risk, but can it increase sustainable profitability? The answer is a bit more complex and has two parts: First, if your local business market takes a deep dive, our business cash flow can potentially take a huge hit. And second, depending on when it happens your recurring business could be compromised.
Ok now what...
Diversification as a Risk Management Hedging Strategy
It’s not rocket science, diversifying income streams is a prudent risk management strategy for any innovative entrepreneurs and businesses. By spreading risk across multiple revenue channels, you can mitigate the impact of a downturn or disruption in any single market or line of business.?
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This is comparable?to purchasing premium property insurance to protect your domicile against catastrophic events.?
The key benefits of diversification include:
The cost of diversification is the effort and resources required to develop and maintain multiple income channels. However, this "premium" is relatively small compared to the potential losses from being overly concentrated in a single line of business.?
Optimizing Diversification
To optimize diversification, entrepreneurs should:
By proactively managing a diversified portfolio of revenue sources, entrepreneurs can increase sustainable profitability while mitigating risks, much like how insurance protects against catastrophic losses.?
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