I had a fun phone conversation last week with a social media solopreneur about business insurance. Ruby’s business has grown, the clients are getting larger, and she wanted to get a handle on the business insurance she should be considering for her growing enterprise. I believe our discussion provides a great framework for solopreneurs and small business owners contemplating their business insurance needs.
Small business is alive and well! I’m working with three new business owners who’ve decided to go out on their own and know they need business insurance to help protect their dream. The new owners include a therapist, a civil engineer, and a new retail store which will sell mattresses. I can’t imagine three more diverse businesses, but surprisingly, there are common themes about their needs. There are many different types of business insurance, however, most small businesses will benefit from two broad categories – general liability and professional liability.
I’m working with a small Dallas area non-profit organization on their insurance. They work with kids on a variety of issues pre-teens and teens face; family, school, bullying, and the difficult transitions many of us faced from elementary to middle school, and then again moving on up into high school. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed learning about what they do and then helping the organization find the right insurance to protect it.
I’m working with a Dallas area consulting firm which has experienced explosive growth over the past year in terms of both people and revenues. They are negotiating a lease for their first office space and will move out of the owner’s home in the coming months. It’s a very exciting time for them involving a lot of moving pieces, insurance being one of them.
News sites across the internet, as well as local media, informed us that 1.2 billion usernames and passwords were stolen by an internet crime group located in a small city in south-central Russia. In addition to the usernames and passwords, over 500 million email addresses were also stolen and confidential material was obtained from 420,000 websites. The websites that were hacked included Fortune 500 companies as well as small internet sites.
Over the past several weeks, I’ve had discussions and quote requests from 4 small business owners in the Dallas / Fort Worth area. Each of them is living the dream having started and building a successful small business through all of the hard work and long hours it takes to build a successful company. Each of the businesses are in different industries, but what was remarkable is their similarity as it related to their commercial insurance. Their commercial insurance coverage didn’t adequately protect them.
I’m currently working with several small business owners regarding their commercial insurance needs. One of the questions each of them have asked is what commercial insurance do they need to adequately protect themselves and their businesses. The answer is it just depends on the business. Some need general liability, others need business property coverage, and a couple need professional liability or errors and omissions (E&O) coverage.
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