Hartford booklet addresses business and owners' personal financial matters. In the effort to start, manage and expand an enterprise, owners risk missing other elements that are crucial to the success of their small businesses. With that in mind, the Hartford has put out a Business Owner's Playbook.

"The nation's [more than] seven million small-business owners represent a diverse mix of industries but share a common trait: they're strapped for time and focused on building their businesses," says the Hartford's CEO Ramani Ayer. "The Hartford saw an opportunity and a need to help business owners make productive use of the limited time they can devote to issues of business and personal finance."

No time

Two-thirds of small business owners say their business is their greatest personal asset and primary source of family income, according to a recent survey by the Hartford. But for many of them, the day-to-day challenges of running their business leave little time to focus on bigger-picture issues such as protecting their company and planning for their future financial security.

"Time is my most precious commodity," says Martha Uhlhorn, owner of La Bonne Bouchee Wholesale Bakery of St. Louis, Mo., and a featured speaker at a small-business seminar co-hosted by the Hartford and the St. Louis Business Journal last week.

"I spend so much of my day dealing with tactical needs that it often leaves me very little time to focus on the larger strategic issues of running a business," said Uhlhorn, whose bakery supplies coffee shops, hotels, caterers, grocery stores, hospitals and restaurants in the St. Louis area.

Close to three-quarters of small-business owners worry about having enough money for retirement and nearly half of them wish they had more time to focus on personal financial planning, according to the Hartford survey.

The 40-page Playbook is meant to give business owners practical information on subjects that come up at different stages of a business' life cycle. Specifically targeting emerging, growing and transitioning companies, the Playbook covers business structure, finance, compensation, benefits, insurance, retirement and estate planning.

The Playbook was developed with input from business owners and advisors who typically work with them. It helps address key business and personal finance issues, and identifies the team of advisors -- attorneys, accountants, insurance agents, financial professionals and others -- business-owners may want to consult.

The Hartford is a Hartford, Conn.-based financial-service company. -FWR

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