Just because you run a business out of your home does not mean that you can overlook the importance of insurance. Many people are under the impression that their home policy will cover all aspects of their business. However, this is not typically the case.
No matter what, you need a policy to protect yourself against multiple risks – from fire to theft and much more.
Generally speaking, a standard home insurance policy will offer no coverage for your home business. If you are relying on this and something bad happens, you may find yourself out of luck.
Of course, the type of business insurance that you need is based largely on your industry as well as how you operate your company. Do you have clients coming to your home office on a regular basis? Do you stock inventory at home? Do you have a lot of expensive equipment?
Here is a brief checklist of the many types of coverage that you may want to consider:
- Business property
- Business liability
- Professional liability
- Loss of business data
- Personal injury
- Workers compensation
- Crime and theft
- Disability
- Loss of income
When speaking with a business insurance agent, these are the many types of coverage that you want to focus on. You may need some or all of these, based on your current structure and what you hope to accomplish in the future.
Questions to Ask
You may still be confused as to what type of policy you need. Rather than buy something and hope for the best, you can ask the following questions to better understand your situation:
- What property in my home is owned by my business?
- Where do I conduct business on my property?
- If a fire or natural disaster occurs, will be entire business be shut down?
- Do I have clients or prospects coming to my home on a regular basis?
- How much is the equipment worth that I keep at home and use for business purposes online?
In addition to asking yourself these questions, you can target many of them to the agent that you decide to do business with. This will help you understand what you need to buy as well as what you can overlook for the time being.
Final question: can I get away with not buying any sort of business insurance?
Year after year, there are many people who work from home but don’t have the proper level of coverage. From the outside looking in, this appears to be a horrible idea. That being said, the person working from home has gotten away with this for so long that they are not looking to make a change.
Even if you have yet to run into any issues, you are tempting fate by not having a policy for your business. You are better off buying something than having nothing at all.
By following along with the checklist above and asking the right questions, you will find it much easier to buy a comprehensive business insurance policy at an affordable price.