The Confident Entrepreneur With Jennifer Ann Johnson
Jennifer is a multifaceted entrepreneur while also actively involved in her community. She owns True Fashionistas (Florida’s largest lifestyle resale store), CooiesCookies, Pink Farmhouse (online store), and Confident Entrepreneur, which encompasses her podcast, blog, motivational speaking, and coaching business for women entrepreneurs. Jennifer is an inspiration to other women business owners - showing it's possible to be successful in business while also making a difference and giving back to her community. Jennifer lives in Naples FL with her husband and twins.
The Confident Entrepreneur With Jennifer Ann Johnson
Protect What You’ve Built: Essential Planning for the Unexpected with Kristina Ribali
Your great idea and marketing won't save your business when life throws a curveball—but the right protection just might.
In this powerful conversation with insurance specialist Kristina Ribali, we explore the often-overlooked essentials of business insurance. From disability coverage to partnership agreements and exit planning, Kristina breaks down how to protect your income, your vision, and your legacy.
We also unpack the “four Ds” that can derail even the strongest business—death, disability, divorce, and disagreement—and why planning for them isn’t optional, it’s essential. Whether you're just starting out or scaling fast, this episode offers a roadmap to safeguard your business against the unexpected.
Visit us at jenniferannjohnson.com and learn how Jennifer can help you build the life you dream of with her online academy, blog, one-on-one coaching, and a variety of other resources!
Let's face it, insurance isn't typically the first thing on our minds when we're chasing our business dreams, but the truth is, having the right insurance coverage can be the difference between weathering a storm and losing everything that you've worked so hard to build. In today's episode, we're going to demystify the world of business insurance. We'll break down the essential types of coverage every business owner should consider, from general liability to professional indemnity. We'll explore how proper insurance not only protects your business, but also gives you the competitive edge and peace of mind that you need. Whether you're a startup founder or a seasoned entrepreneur, this business episode will arm you with the knowledge you need to make informed decisions about protecting your business.
Jennifer Johnson:Today we welcome welcome into the studio Kristina Ribali. Kristina is an insurance specialist with Modern Woodmen of America Insurance. Welcome. Thank you so much. It's a pleasure to be here. Absolutely, I almost got that wrong. Modern Woodmen of America. Yes, ma'am, and you told me the story about it. I was so fascinated with it. It's very cool. Yeah, very cool story. So we're talking about business insurance, yes, and I know it's very expensive, but it's very, very necessary for our businesses. What are the most crucial types of insurance that business owners should really have to protect their businesses.
Kristina Ribali:Yeah, that's a great question, Thank you, yeah, I think you know you talked about how expensive. It is right, we think about. That's kind of where we start to, when we start working with clients and talking to them about their really their goals and their needs and their budget, and because that determines everything right. We don't. My promise to my clients is I'm always going to leave them better than I found them, and so if I put someone in a plan they can't afford right, then that doesn't help them long term right.
Jennifer Johnson:So we talk about really that budget.
Kristina Ribali:But when you asked about the most important types or crucial types of insurance, I would always, when I'm talking with a business owner, I find out who depends on you financially, right, who is that in your life? Who is this business you know financially right? Who is that in your life? Who is this business venture that you're part of, employing, providing for on income, all of those things. And then we look at okay, well, how do we protect that? Because when I ask a business owner what is your biggest asset, almost always they're going to say their business, sure, or they're going to say their 401k or their house, but it's actually their ability to earn an income. And so if that goes away and that business owner can no longer drive the economic engine of their business, who suffers? And so, generally, when we're talking about what are the most important types of insurance, let's secure that very important asset of your income first.
Jennifer Johnson:People don't think of that. No, they don't, because that's not how we're taught to think Right.
Kristina Ribali:But you are your biggest asset, right? We insure our phones, you're right, but people insure their jewelry before they insure their life and their ability to earn an income, and so those are things that we really look at. Do they have disability insurance? You know, if you couldn't get out of bed tomorrow morning to go in, if you own a plumbing company and you're one guy in a truck and you couldn't go out tomorrow and do a job, would your business continue?
Jennifer Johnson:Now talking about disability, is that more for like a solopreneur, or like if you have a company that is running on its own without you and you're still getting a paycheck, even though you end up? You know I can't work for two months, but I'm still going to get a paycheck Is that still something that would be important? It?
Kristina Ribali:depends, right. Right, if you have that passive income, if you've grown a great business and you've got people in place that, if God forbid, you can't get out of bed tomorrow morning, it's still going to run, congratulations. That's amazing, right? Because now you've got all these people doing that work for you and you're still drawing a paycheck Disability insurance in that regard, disability income insurance is not as important as, like I said, somebody who is a solopreneur, or even if they might still be in a truck, but they might have two or three employees, right? Those employees may not be trained to run the office or, you know, make a sales call or those sort of things. So we look at things like key person insurance. That's really important. If your business could not run without that person, we need to insure them. How many years have you invested in that person to make sure that they can do these things for you, right? If that person didn't show up to work tomorrow?
Kristina Ribali:how would your business be affected, and we talk sometimes about the expense of it, but it doesn't always have to be expensive. I'm grateful that I work for a company that doesn't have these exorbitant minimums to meet with people. I see that a lot. When I say, well, why aren't you working with a financial professional? Somebody says, well, I don't have a million dollars. One of the primary reasons I chose to go to work with Modern Woodman is because we believe everybody needs a plan. I don't care if you don't have a million dollars. I want to sit with you and help you plan, even if you have $50 today or $100.
Jennifer Johnson:Because someday you're going to get there, you do the planning on top of the insurance, which is kind of the whole package yeah.
Kristina Ribali:Yep, I do full-scale financial planning, so I help people, whether they want to talk about retirement right whether they want to talk about the insurance side of it and protecting their assets, Because protecting your asset is the foundation of a good financial plan. You can't build a house without a great foundation right. Or a good house. You can. Well it'll be questionable, right, but that it really is protecting that income, because that you know, without income can we buy the home. No, can we invest back in our business.
Kristina Ribali:No, Can we buy the home no. Can we invest back in our business no. Can we put money away for retirement no. Can we secure the future for kids that depend on us no. So if we don't protect that income, that's the single biggest factor when we're looking at it and I talk to a lot of wealth managers and a lot of times they just kind of leave that portion out but I think it's one of the biggest, most important things we can do as business owners is who's driving the economic engine of this business, who's responsible, and then who depends on us. You know, if you employ a lot of people yes, we do, and so and I love that- about you, like you're always like how do I do the next greatest thing?
Jennifer Johnson:Right.
Kristina Ribali:But if this business ceased to exist because you didn't have a plan in place, how many families would be hurt? A lot, Right? So those are things that we think about protecting that income, protecting those assets and then we can look at okay, now that we've got that set, what are some other ways we can use the profits or the assets of the business to even take us further.
Jennifer Johnson:Wow, that's something you know again, most people don't think of. So let's talk about the things that people usually think of, which is your workers' comp is kind of a separate thing, but they think of their liability insurance. Right, we have to have that in case something happens to someone at work. And what is the other one? I'm trying to think of? Liability.
Kristina Ribali:Professional, like errors and emissions insurance and those sort of things. Yeah, really important too, I mean those are. I think one of the greatest gifts that was ever given to my husband and I is the gift of entrepreneurship, because we realized we learned things we would never learn if somebody else was making our paycheck right Things like errors and emissions insurance. Why do you need that? Well, we're human.
Jennifer Johnson:We all make mistakes right.
Kristina Ribali:It doesn't matter how well trained we are, how many licenses or accreditations or all those things. We make mistakes and if that mistake is something that insurance can cover at a very reasonable cost, let's do that. Let's put that in place and like general liability. Something I think we don't think about a lot either is if you're someone who's doing events. Almost every place you go to an event, they ask you for your liability insurance.
Kristina Ribali:I do Right and those are. Again, those aren't super expensive, but they're things that need to be in place because we live in a very litigious society. We were just talking about. You know, a simple texting thing on somebody else got sued over, right, and so we have to protect, you know, our business and our brand and the things that we're building, and insurance is a great way to do that.
Jennifer Johnson:I was just talking to someone today and they said that the state of Florida is 48th in. I don't know how he said it, but basically out of all of the states, we're at the top of it for people suing people.
Kristina Ribali:Yeah.
Jennifer Johnson:Don't even get me started. Yeah, we probably shouldn't, but that I mean, that's an eye opener. That is why you also have insurance and, speaking on that note, there is also an insurance out there for employers to protect themselves against employees who do sue you.
Kristina Ribali:Epl, yep, and I'm not an expert on that, I don't know, enough about that.
Kristina Ribali:But the great thing about when I work with a business owner is, if I like, I don't write property and casualty insurance at all through Modern Woodman. However, I have great partners and so when I'm meeting with a client and I'm doing a comprehensive review, I'm like, okay, here's some things you may want to consider about, like a possible umbrella policy, because you are growing a big, you know business and you could possibly be sued, and here's maybe some things you might want to think about.
Kristina Ribali:I'm going to turn them over to one of my very great referral partners who I can say, hey, I know that this, this company, is going to do a great job for you and they can give you, you know, they can broker out a bunch of these things and help get you some great quotes, cause I don't do that. But I have an expert numbers team and an expert partners and referral group that I'm like hey, I know I've worked with them personally for my own business insurance things that I don't write and let you know, let's move you over there. But yeah, there's, there's, there's so many types. You know. Another one that's really popular now is in for like insurance over your data and information.
Jennifer Johnson:Oh, wow, so like intellectual property sources.
Kristina Ribali:I have a client who is a genius it guy and he was talking to me about if you couldn't, if you collect data like credit cards and all that kind of stuff, there is insurance out there to protect you in the event that there's a data breach, because all those people could sue you.
Jennifer Johnson:I mean, it makes sense. I didn't even know about that, I was like, oh okay.
Kristina Ribali:Well, I'm glad that I have a company that takes care of all that for me and they collect the data and it's on their system, and I'm grateful to have an $18 billion company behind me helping me.
Jennifer Johnson:Exactly you know. Now that we're talking about that, I'm wondering what will ever come of like AI stuff, with you know protecting stuff that comes from AI. How do?
Kristina Ribali:you. We talk about it in our industry because for years it tended to people wanted to do things online right, I can find a financial representative or whatever online and do my retirement planning, my insurance, but the pendulum is swinging back.
Kristina Ribali:We have done lots of different surveys in the industry. Limra is a leader in the industry and they do surveys on people who purchase financial products, life insurance, investments, those sort of things and it's tending that pendulum is swinging back. People want to meet. They do Face to face. They want, they want to know that. You know, the Kristina that I saw on Facebook is the Kristina that I'm going to meet with, you know, and that she's going to be there when I need her. And you know cause. I think, when I just had this conversation with a client this morning, one of the best parts about my job is when a client takes my advice and then we actually have to put that plan into place.
Kristina Ribali:One of the worst parts about my job is delivering a death benefit check or something like that, because that means somebody is going through a really difficult time. But thank goodness they listened and one of the things that I love about our company is that personal service. I am going to do everything I can to be that contact point for you so that when life happens Because it does, because it does that you have a face and a name and someone you can trust to be there during really difficult times, and that's comforting.
Kristina Ribali:Yeah, I hope so. That's you know. It's the difference, right? I don't want to send a client to a 1-800 number when they just lost their spouse. No, I'm going to be there and I'm going to deliver that benefit check to you and we're going to walk through what your options are and I'm going to help you every step of the way. Fill out the forms and do that because that's that's rough, right, it's rough.
Jennifer Johnson:And and that is the difference, that's the differentiator is that you know, yes, you can go online and do this stuff all day long. Like you know, I look at the car insurance world and how that changed, right, and how, all of a sudden, you could just do it on an app, right, and you didn't meet with your agent ever, right. That's weird.
Kristina Ribali:I mean you get in an accident. Do you want a 1-800 number or do you want to call your agent and go? What do I do Right? What's the right next?
Jennifer Johnson:step. Right. I want to call my agent. Right, I want a human on the other end of the phone. Right.
Kristina Ribali:Yeah, preferably that's here and that you can speak to Right. Right yeah.
Jennifer Johnson:Exactly A hundred percent. So now, as business owners, how do we assess what we need? Or is that only done by meeting with someone you know face to face, like we're talking and kind of going down a list and I'm sure you have a process? Yes, and how you actually go about this?
Kristina Ribali:Yes, so I will apologize in advance when I meet with somebody and say I'm going to ask a lot of questions.
Kristina Ribali:So may I have your permission to ask a lot of questions, because that's really how I'm going to assess that person's need Right. What are their hopes, what are their dreams, what are their fears, what keeps them up at night? You know what are the different scenarios that could happen that derail this plan. You know, and then I go through things like the budget and you know how long do we want to have these certain things in place for versus. You know there's lots of different types and we're talking about life insurance. There's temporary insurance, there's permanent insurance, there's you know, what is the right type? Well, it depends. What's the right amount? Well, it depends.
Kristina Ribali:So I'm going to go through a very long list of questions to find out what, what is the reason we're talking about this type of insurance and what do we really want it to do for us? Because there's no right or wrong type of insurance and there's no right or wrong amount of insurance until we compare it to what we really want it to do for you, and so people have to understand their options. And then we go through. You know I have great software and those sort of things that are out there that help us do what's called a capital needs analysis. What is the actual need?
Kristina Ribali:And based on like income, and yeah, and what do we want it to do? You know, when I'm talking, especially about things like life insurance, I'm going to walk through, you know. Would you want to pay off your mortgage? How many years of your income would you want to replace? Are we talking about setting up college funds in the event that you don't come home tomorrow night? You know, how young are your children? Man that's such hard stuff to think about, but it's necessary.
Kristina Ribali:It's so hard, you know it's so hard, especially here locally. We just had that terrible accident what a week ago when a 40-something-year-old mom, you expect to come home at night. Right, she did not get in the car that morning while taking her children to school and think this is the last day of my life. And I looked online a couple days ago and they had raised $20,000 on a GoFundMe.
Jennifer Johnson:That's great, but that barely pays for a funeral. She's got young children.
Kristina Ribali:I hope to God. She had a great financial representative that talked to her about the importance of protecting herself, Because that's the one thing I hear a lot too stay-at-home moms. They're like well, I don't have life insurance because I don't work, you provide immense value. Can you imagine what the other spouse would have to pay for if you weren't, if you didn't come home? A chauffeur, a maid, a cook, a laundry person, somebody to do the grocery shopping, a tutor, Like? Think of all the things stay-at-home moms do. They provide immense value. And so if they are not in that equation, right, I get that question a lot. I had a gentleman say to me one time well, my wife doesn't really need to come to this appointment, does she? Because she doesn't work.
Kristina Ribali:And I said, well, she needs to be here because she provides value and she's the one that that benefit is for. So let's talk to her Exactly About if we do life insurance on you or disability income insurance on you. She probably knows the numbers as much as you do, right? And we now have new statistics that say women make over 80% of the financial decisions in the family.
Kristina Ribali:So whether she has economics on her side as far as working and bringing home a paycheck, or just the immense value that she provides as a wife and a mom and a caregiver. We're going to have her as part of that conversation.
Jennifer Johnson:You know, I think we just get so busy in our lives and then we forget I've been there and you've been on the other end of it, us calling going. I think we need this. We kind of just sail along because at the end of the day, we think we're invincible until we're not Right, Because at the end of the day we think we're invincible until we're not Right and that our businesses are until we're not, and then we're faced with a dire situation where it's too late to do anything about it.
Kristina Ribali:Yeah, that happens a lot and I think you know to your point of how busy we are. Most people will spend more time planning their vacation than they will their retirement, and so when someone asks me, you know, if I want to meet with someone and I ask them to come in and meet with me, they say, well, I'm just too busy, I will use, you know. I think one of the things that I've learned to do is have hard conversations with people and say I understand, I truly do. I run a business. I oversee multiple other financial representatives. I'm part of a nonprofit. You know it helps, so I get it, I understand. However, is taking an hour and a half of two hours you know out of a busy week important? You?
Kristina Ribali:know, is your retirement important enough or your financial plan important enough to prioritize two hours? You probably watch that in TV in a week, maybe not every night. Well, some people do, some people do, I don't, but we're busy right.
Kristina Ribali:And if they say no, it's not important, then okay, maybe now is not the right time, but I let them know it really is important because, to your point, sometimes it's too late. Because, to your point, sometimes it's too late, you know, we people, we take our health for granted, we do. I've had people apply for life insurance on a Friday and by the time they do their exam and we start doing underwriting. I had a gentleman who was a marathon runner and he was like his words, quote unquote imperfect health. I don't think I need this. But the wife encouraged him. She's like well, imperfect health. I don't think I need this, but the wife encouraged him. She's like, well, we do.
Kristina Ribali:And from the time that it took him to apply and do the health screening and go through, finally he had had a heart attack. Wow, you're not going to get life insurance if you just had a heart attack because the insurance company says no, I don't think that's a good risk. And that breaks my heart because had he acted months earlier when we were like, hey, we probably could have gotten it covered, we might have detected something, but we probably could have gotten it covered. But if somebody calls me and says, hey, I think I need this. I'm like, so what has happened in your life?
Kristina Ribali:Because, you know that's Because we don't think about it. We're all busy and unless you're in this industry thinking about it, we don't. We're thinking about did I pack the kids lunch? Did I pick up the dry cleaning. Am I going to be late for my next meeting? What does my boss need from me? We're not thinking. I need to secure my financial future, but it's so important.
Jennifer Johnson:You know, somebody once said that we're as young today as we ever will be Mm-hmm, and that's why it's important.
Kristina Ribali:Yeah, yeah. And generally, you know two things that you know, we know we think we can control our health. We don't, we don't, we really can't. You can eat, yes, you can take care of your body by eating well, and but there are just some things that can happen that you know make it really hard to get for people to get insurance, whether it's disability income or life insurance or long-term care those would make it really, really difficult, and so the younger the better.
Kristina Ribali:When I try to talk to people about insurance, I ask them if you could lock in your homeowner's insurance today, and no matter how many roofs you had to replace and no matter how many times you had water damage you had to replace, and no matter how many times you had water damage right and know that your premium could not go up, would you?
Jennifer Johnson:do it.
Kristina Ribali:Yeah, people would do it. But when we're talking about life insurance or disability insurance or long-term care, it's the same thing. If we can lock in that premium today, when people are healthy, when they don't you know, they're younger, why wouldn't we do it? Because we're going to need it. I've only known one person that's ever gotten out of this world alive. The rest of us we have the same exit plan.
Jennifer Johnson:Oh my gosh, that is so true With businesses, with business insurance. Let's say, have you seen anything that has kind of emerged over the last few years or that you see emerging that is a different risk for businesses than we're used to seeing? You know, like I just mentioned with AI, you know, is there anything that is new on the horizon? That's like the new thing that you know? You got to be really careful with this and think about this.
Kristina Ribali:And not necessarily other than I know.
Kristina Ribali:We talked a little bit about like data and protecting data because everybody's on their phone and you know all that data is captured somewhere. But I would say, probably one of the things that continues to be the biggest challenge in the insurance space for business owners and financial planning in general is and for individuals in general, is we and for individuals in general is we're living longer than we ever have and when we think about you know really understanding what that means for the financial plan right, and on the business side, the thing I see as a challenge for most business owners how am I going to exit the business.
Jennifer Johnson:Which people?
Kristina Ribali:don't think about either. They don't, and you know you're either going to exit on your feet or on your knees, and it all depends on how well you plan. Do you have a strategy in place to you know? Either sell off shares or give it to a child, which, by the way, your children don't want your business.
Jennifer Johnson:You know, along with those old those, those that China the silverware and all the tchotchkes you have in your house. They don't want your business either, are you?
Kristina Ribali:telling me that really, yeah, no, I work with a business broker. A lot in working with you know businesses that are looking to try to scale to sell and 82% of the children that that are in kind of that mix have said I don't, I don't want, I don't want my mom and dad's business right.
Jennifer Johnson:So I find that interesting, because is it because they grew up with it and they know exactly what it involves, so they're like I'm out? I think that is a big part of it right Because they see how hard it is right.
Kristina Ribali:They see mom and dad struggle. They've seen the sacrifices. I mean my husband and I are no different. My husband had a roof cleaning and lawn care maintenance business for 23 years and we thought, oh, our son will take that over someday. And then our son worked in the business for a couple of years and was like this is really hard. And he's like dad, I don't want to break your heart, but I don't really want to do this. And they ended up going to work in the United.
Kristina Ribali:States Space Force and were crazy proud of him. But he was not wired to do what my husband was wired to do, and so that was a big reality for us of like. Oh well, if our kid doesn't want the business, maybe no other kids want their parents' business.
Kristina Ribali:But just in talking with business brokers and talking with all the different business owners that I work with, they say well, what if my kid wants it? Okay, great, let's talk. Let's bring your kid into the conversation. They usually don't. They usually don't. So that exit planning is really important. How are they going to sell it? You? Know so as far as like insurance, it doesn't. You know, there's not really an insurance for that, but just in the whole role of planning.
Jennifer Johnson:Right, because you do all of the comprehensive planning when it comes to Yep, and there are and there are four, we call them the four D's.
Kristina Ribali:That can can really derail a business. What do you think? Those are.
Jennifer Johnson:I know one is divorce and one is death. Yep.
Kristina Ribali:Disease, disability or disease and the other is disagreement.
Jennifer Johnson:Oh disagreement.
Kristina Ribali:So if you've got partners right, that don't, that don't agree. And then one's like I'm going to take the business this direction. The other one says Whoa, whoa, that's not what I signed up for. Or you know, no, I don't want to invest more money in this.
Kristina Ribali:And so there's a disagreement. So it's really important for businesses to have those actual documents that state, you know, is there a buy sell agreement? Is there a cross purchase plan? Is plan, is there any business documents, actual contracts in place that say you're a true partnership? And what does that look like? That's a conversation I have a lot. Okay, you say you're a partnership, is that on paper?
Jennifer Johnson:Well, no, A handshake Right, I'm like. Well, do you understand what?
Kristina Ribali:happens if? What if your partner dies? Now you're in business with their spouse, do you? Do you like the spouse?
Jennifer Johnson:Right, because that's your partner. Does the spouse know?
Kristina Ribali:how to run a business Right. Does the spouse want to run a business Right? So those are all the things that we try to help using the different tools that we have, whether it's investments, whether it's insurance, whether it's contracts working with one of our you know, our partners that are an attorney, really helping them sort of bulletproof their business for all of the what ifs that can happen.
Jennifer Johnson:It would be great if everybody starting a business, if they were starting with a partner. It was required that you had to sit down with somebody and have a conversation, because you can't do it on a handshake. You know, even if you have a contract, people will still. You know, there's still loopholes and there's still things, and it's so important because you poured your blood, sweat and tears into it. Now you need to make it work for you.
Kristina Ribali:Yep, yep. And you don't want lack of planning to be the reason you're not successful. Because it's available and oftentimes, you know, I don't charge for my time. I can right, I hold the licenses that allow me to, but I choose not to because I don't ever want finances to be there. I don't want, I don't want that somebody would write a check and it go to me instead of their future.
Kristina Ribali:So I don't charge, and so it's my time and it's a gift that I give because I'm passionate about helping businesses succeed and understand all of their options. So most people, the only real cost to them is that time Right Up front. Right, it's like OK, yes, there's going to be cost to put plans in place and we can't do all that for free, right? However, like to actually get a plan and start working on. Ok, what are the next steps?
Jennifer Johnson:You know, it just takes some time and a desire to want to do it. That's what it comes down to If you fail to plan, you plan to fail. Yep, yes 100%. I have learned so much from our conversation today, and I know that my listeners have as well. If they want to get in touch with you, how can they do so?
Kristina Ribali:Oh, I would love for them to, so they can give me a call. My number is 239-292-2195. They can find me online. If you just Google me, Kristina, with a K Ribali Modern Woodman, you'll find my website, my LinkedIn. I would love to connect.
Jennifer Johnson:Fabulous, and I know we're going to have you on in another episode and we're going to talk all about the personal piece of insurance with that as well, so I look forward to that, thank you.
Kristina Ribali:Thanks for having me.
