We are all guilty of it, jumping into a business before even thinking about getting insurance. Yes, insurance sounds like the boring part of starting and running a business. I mean, who really gets excited about insurance?
Chances are when you hear the word insurance, a red flag goes up because it’s yet another thing you have to pay for. Yet, like the equipment you invest in for your business, business insurance is something you want to invest in.
Why get business insurance especially if you are just consulting or doing minimal business right now? Because the minute you start making money you are a business and people can start suing you. There, I said it. Yes, we all hope that never happens and frankly, why would it when we all provide amazing services and products, right?
Well, because we are a business and we work so hard to get to where we are now and will work even harder to get to where we want to be we need to protect ourselves as much as possible. Remember, there are a lot of sue-happy people out there. In fact, for some, that’s their business — to sue people. Let me also be clear, I am not a lawyer and I am just sharing what I have found so far with you.
Here are 3 main types of insurance you should be looking into when starting and running your own business
- Professional liability insurance
- Disability insurance
- General liability insurance
How do you get started?
Start by checking with your auto insurance provider. Call them up and ask them if they offer business insurance. If they do, great! Tell them what you do and what your concerns are.
Let’s say your auto insurance company doesn’t offer business insurance and they don’t have any resources they can point you to. Well, then you can check with the following list I gathered from others who responded to my Facebook post asking for recommendations.
- Allstate
- Farmers
- Hiscox (I have a referral code if you need it – message me your email)
- BizInsure
- USAA (if you have them)
The bottom line here is that if you are going to do business you need to have business insurance. Be sure you know the difference between general and professional liability and which one is right for you – sometimes you may need both. Shop around and see what quotes you get from at least 2 companies to make sure you are getting the right deal. Also, be sure to check how much your deductible is if there is one.