From an early age, Stephanie Cappelleri knew she wanted two things out of her career: to work with numbers and to work with people.
Those desires stayed with her throughout business school at the University of Minnesota, where she earned a finance degree, and eventually led her to found her own company in 2000. Now, more than 20 years later, she’s grown Delano-based Simply Benefits into a thriving boutique firm that specializes in providing high-level human resources and employee benefits solutions to small to mid-sized employers. The firm also works with clients at the individual level to help them find and secure health insurance.
“We’re very knowledgeable about the insurance, HR and finance areas because this is all we’ve been doing for the last 22 years,” Cappelleri said. “We absolutely love what we do and that’s one of the things that makes us shine.”
One of Cappelleri’s top priorities is to make the often-confusing world of benefits, insurance and human resources more user friendly and easier to understand for both business owners and employees.
“When I meet with people, I tell them that if they call their insurance company with a question and they get an answer that doesn’t sound right, they can reach out to us,” she said. “We believe that knowledge is power and if you can understand why some things are covered and other things are not, you’ll be a smarter consumer who can make better decisions for your bottom line.”
Cappelleri spends much of her time meeting with established businesses that already have benefits programs in place but are looking for the more personalized, knowledgeable and responsive service that Simply Benefits provides. However, in recent years, she’s seen an uptick in the number of small startups and mom-and-pop companies who are interested in offering benefits to their employees but aren’t sure where to start.
“We help them understand what the rules are for group insurance. We’ll also talk with them about their HR processes and accounting systems and share how we can be a resource,” she said. “Essentially, we’re here to help our fellow business owners and handle all the work behind the scenes so they can get out there and do what they’re good at.”
If you’re a small business owner who is considering adding benefits, here are some of Cappelleri’s tips for getting your ducks in a row:
- Talk with your employees: Don’t just send an email or a text – actually sit down with your team members to have a one-on-one conversation about benefits. Ask them what they’re doing for insurance now and find out if having insurance is something that’s important to them. This can be done as a stand-alone meeting or as part of an annual review, but either way, it’s definitely important that it happens. “Every employer should be doing a performaSpring has sprung, and summer is right around the corner. The weather is warming up, and lakeside living has never seemed like a better idea.To top it all off, it’s the weekend and you’re ready to enjoy everything the lake has to offer. The boat, the crisp water, and the smooth sunshine. But first, you have to spend a few hours cleaning your boat and dock from all the spider webs that gathered throughout the winter, along with any other insects and pest problems.
Sound familiar?
We thought it might. Every boat owner has experienced the same thing. The sun is finally shining, and the weather is warm. You’re ready for a fun-filled lake day only to find out you have a spider, insect, and pest problems to clean up first. That is never a fun task.
Remove Spiders From Your Dock
Instead of adding extra work to your weekends, let our team at Abra Kadabra keep your boat, dock, and marine equipment free from spiders, pests, and other insects. Our goal is to help you enjoy your lake time even more without worry and hassle.
For years now, our professional staff at Abra Kadabra has been providing this service to our customers on the many lakes throughout our great state of Minnesota. We used to just offer this service in conjunction with our other pest packages, but now we are looking to offer this as a stand-alone service to the boaters on Lake Minnetonka and surrounding lakes.
If pests have been a dock downer for your family and your boat, it’s time to make a change. We only have so much lake time in Minnesota. It’s time to make the most of it. Keeping our lakes clean is essential here in Minnesota. As one of our most important natural resources, we know how vital protecting our fragile environment is, even when getting rid of pesky problems and spammy spider webs. That’s why we only use, environmentally-friendly products when servicing docks and marine environments.
Eco-Friendly Pest Control Methods
We are passionate about taking care of the environment. All of the products used to service clean lake areas within 25 feet of lakes or streams are certified-organic and made of essential oils. These products prevent any pest from wanting to intrude your summer lake fun and cause damage to the docks, boats, and equipment you have invested in. But they don’t do any damage to the lake or the environment, which we think is pretty cool.
Our mean-and-green products will keep your boat, dock, and equipment without any common pest problems, like:
- Spiders
- Wasps
- Hornets
- Boxelders
- Lady Asian beetles
- …And more!
Now, you may be wondering how an all-natural product can eliminate all your pest problems without damaging the lake environment. We get that. We didn’t believe it at first, either. But trust us, these products do work and pests can be gone from your dock and boat in no time. Here’s how we do it at Abra Kadabra.
See, our products only use essential oils and natural spices when working around the lake. There are no chemicals in these pest elimination products. There is zero risk to the marine life of the lake, but the results above water will leave you speechless. Many customers wonder if we’re using a magic potion or something.
The plant-based insecticides in the form of “potions” have been used for decades to prevent and manage pests. Because we are incredibly passionate about caring for our planet, the team at Abra Kadabra decided to switch things up and go old school.
Nowadays, we prefer using essential oils coupled with the industry’s most advanced science. In doing so, we’ve created a product that is effective and environmentally-friendly. No more spiders or pests, but no problems with the marine life. A true win-win.
The eco-friendly formula that we are utilizing consisting predominantly of:
- Peppermint oil
- Thyme oil
- Rosemary oil
- Geraniol
The oils used in our applications are found to have potent insecticidal, larvicidal and repellent properties. These oils act in various modes, but the primary mode of action is disrupting a neurotransmitter that is essential for invertebrate activity. Vertebrates like birds, fish, dogs, and humans do not have these receptors. As such, humans and marine life are not affected by the specific mode of action in our unique, environmentally-friendly oils.
How Our Marine Spider Removal Service Works
It’s simple really. Most people who live lakeside or own a boat find themselves spending more time swiping at spider webs and dealing with pest control at the lake than they’d like to. At Abra Kadabra, our goal is to eliminate this time wasted and ensure you’re able to spend more time enjoying the lake with family and friends. As such, we’re working to become the first and best pest control company offering said services on Lake Minnetonka and throughout other lakes in the area.
Services are structured monthly from April through September for a complete season of pest prevention. As a certified pest control company, we have the knowledge and necessary licensing. We already help hundreds of families with pests in your home and yard.
Now it’s time to control the pests, spiders, and insects at the lake. Here’s how it works:
- Marine spider and pest control services start around April or May. It depends when the Minnesota weather decides to cheer up for the year. Services last through September, the
end of boating and lake season. - Most docks require six total treatments throughout the boating season.
- Our services utilize pressurized sprayers to treat the dock with essential oils and remove pests. We also remove all spider webs, egg sacks, insect nests, and more from the entire dock area and structure.
- Generally, we schedule dock pest removal services every 21-28 days. This is dependent upon the weather and how the product holds up.
- We can also do one-time services before an event or party you’re hosting around the lake.
- We offer an upgrade from our standard service package to our Midas Gold Service Package. This service is scheduled every 14 days. If you’re interested in this package, get in touch soon. Our spaces fill up quickly.
There’s a little bit more to it, but the above offers a general outline of the lakeside pest control services offered by our professional team here at Abra Kadabra.
Get Rid Of Annoying Spiders On Your Dock
You spent time and money creating the perfect lakeside environment for family and friends. Don’t let a few spiders, pests, and insects destroy your investment this summer! Instead, let the team at Abra Kadabra keep your dock pest-free in and around Lake Minnetonka this year.
With our environmentally-friendly lakeside pest control services, we get rid of all the annoyances on your dock without damaging the marine habitat at all. While this can be tricky, our proven system has been shown to get rid of spiders and pests without hurting a single marine species. Our whole goal with these services is to keep your dock pest-free without any environmental damage.
High Quality Marine Spider Removal In Twin Cities MN Area
To learn more about marine spider and pest control services, contact the pros at Abra Kadabra. Our team experts will be happy to answer any questions you have and ensure you have a pest-free summer and fall.
nce review with their employees, but it shouldn’t just be about the employer critiquing the employee’s behavior,” Cappelleri said. “The employer should be gleaning information on how they can keep that employee happy because without employees, the employer won’t be able to survive. And vice versa.”
- Study the data and see where it leads you: After speaking with your employees, asking the right questions and really listening to the answers, you should have a better sense of what types of benefits and plans might be most attractive to them. For example, if few of your employees say they go to the doctor regularly, then they’re probably not interested in paying a lot for insurance. Based on this information, you may opt to offer a super high-deductible plan and, in addition, help your employees fund a health savings account (HSA). “Now the employees see value in what their employer is offering,” Cappelleri said. “That creates loyalty, binds that employee to the employer and encourages them to stick around long term.”
- Do some research: It can be difficult to talk with employees about insurance when you’re not really clear on it yourself. Fortunately, all the major insurers that operate in Minnesota have comprehensive websites that explain the different types of coverage they offer. These sites are chock full of information and can provide a good overview of the plans that are out there – and how much they’ll cost you.
- Know where to turn for help: Once you’ve looked into insurance benefits on your own, you may feel like your head is spinning. That’s because one insurance company alone may offer 40 different plans by four different networks – and that can make it really difficult to determine which one is the best fit. This is where Cappelleri comes in. When employers meet with her, she can quickly pull up all their options and help narrow them down until they find the one that fits their needs, wants and budget. From a benefits standpoint, the key areas she focuses on are the network, the deductible level, the out-of-pocket maximum, hospitalizations and prescriptions because those are the things that most employees will actually utilize. However, she’s there to assist with anything an employer needs to make the overall process less overwhelming. And even once everything is in place, Cappelleri and her team are always standing by. “We stay in touch with our clients throughout the year, not just at renewal time,” she said. “We’re committed to making sure things run smoothly for everyone we work with.”
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