Self Employed Liability Insurance - Who Needs it and Why?
While meeting with you at your home office, your customer trips over a bump in your area rug and breaks his arm.
Your homeowner's insurance will cover the expenses, right? Wrong.
The injured man was in your home for business reasons.
The expensive truth is that if someone gets hurt or something is damaged in the course of your business activity, whether in your home, someone's office or at a country club when you're the guest speaker at a Rotary luncheon, you're liable.
You'll be on the hook personally for all costs incurred unless you have self employed liability insurance.
The NFIB considers self employed liability insurance a good investment that usually pays off for a small business sooner or later.
In what it calls our "lawsuit mania" society where people can sue for nearly any reason, civil litigation costs a whopping $260 billion per year, or roughly $880 per person on average.
General liability is usually pretty affordable.
How much it costs depends, of course, on the specific business and its risk factors.
For example, if you're building dynamite in your basement or providing child care, your rates will be higher than say someone who does custom embroidery design.
The SBA encourages entrepreneurs to have a self employed liability insurance policy firmly in place before taking goods and services to market.
Too often, a new business owner assumes her homeowner's policy is all she needs, but as noted before, most homeowner policies specifically exclude expenses related to business activities.
The SBA points out that in some cases operating a business out of your home may actually have a negative effect on your other homeowner's coverage.
For example, personal computers and other home equipment used in any way for business purposes are generally not covered for their full replacement cost or worse aren't covered at all.
An entrepreneur or anyone considering starting a business should talk to an insurance agent about what is and isn't covered by personal liability and homeowner policies.
The next step is to speak with a business and liability insurance specialist.
It's important to be clear, concise and above all honest about the who, what, where, when, why and how of the business.
The agent will able to accurately assess risk level and offer a comprehensive self employed liability insurance policy.
The NFIB and SBA both caution against going with the lowest price as it's more important to get the right levels of coverage.
Your homeowner's insurance will cover the expenses, right? Wrong.
The injured man was in your home for business reasons.
The expensive truth is that if someone gets hurt or something is damaged in the course of your business activity, whether in your home, someone's office or at a country club when you're the guest speaker at a Rotary luncheon, you're liable.
You'll be on the hook personally for all costs incurred unless you have self employed liability insurance.
The NFIB considers self employed liability insurance a good investment that usually pays off for a small business sooner or later.
In what it calls our "lawsuit mania" society where people can sue for nearly any reason, civil litigation costs a whopping $260 billion per year, or roughly $880 per person on average.
General liability is usually pretty affordable.
How much it costs depends, of course, on the specific business and its risk factors.
For example, if you're building dynamite in your basement or providing child care, your rates will be higher than say someone who does custom embroidery design.
The SBA encourages entrepreneurs to have a self employed liability insurance policy firmly in place before taking goods and services to market.
Too often, a new business owner assumes her homeowner's policy is all she needs, but as noted before, most homeowner policies specifically exclude expenses related to business activities.
The SBA points out that in some cases operating a business out of your home may actually have a negative effect on your other homeowner's coverage.
For example, personal computers and other home equipment used in any way for business purposes are generally not covered for their full replacement cost or worse aren't covered at all.
An entrepreneur or anyone considering starting a business should talk to an insurance agent about what is and isn't covered by personal liability and homeowner policies.
The next step is to speak with a business and liability insurance specialist.
It's important to be clear, concise and above all honest about the who, what, where, when, why and how of the business.
The agent will able to accurately assess risk level and offer a comprehensive self employed liability insurance policy.
The NFIB and SBA both caution against going with the lowest price as it's more important to get the right levels of coverage.
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