When starting a new business, there are lots of different things to think about. Just a few to start you off: Who is your target audience? How are you going to build your customer base or set up your online presence? What is your hiring process and management style? How to keep your customers satisfied?
When running a business, there are lots of crucial administrative tasks that can be easily overlooked. One of these is making sure that you have the right kind of business insurance policies. Why so? Well, all it takes is one lawsuit to bring all your hard work crashing down.
There are several different types of insurance policies for businesses. Your decision depends on the type of business you run or products and services that you offer. In this article, we will discuss the different types of insurance policies to consider for a new business.
General Liability Insurance
The first type of insurance that you should look into getting for your new business is general liability insurance. Getting this type of insurance is crucial for peace of mind. It ensures that your business is protected in the event of pretty much anything that might go wrong. No matter how cautious you are or how many preventative measures you may take, there is simply no way to guarantee that you are going to be able to avoid anything bad from happening, especially if your business works with members of the public.
With the right general liability insurance policy, your business will be financially protected when a claim due to harm or damage is made against your business. Since general liability insurance is so important for all businesses, there are lots of bundles and packages that you can get, such as BOP insurance for your business protection, which includes general liability and property insurance.
Business Premises Insurance
On the topic of property insurance, it is worth getting out an insurance policy for your business premises if you own them. If it’s a rental place, find out more about the type of insurance that the landlord has on the property.
While you might be taking all the necessary steps to keep your business premises safe from harm, the truth is that you simply don’t know when a disaster might strike. Somebody might break into your premises, or flooding and other unpredictable weather conditions in the area might leave it unusable. Or if a fire breaks out, unfortunately, it could cost your business a huge sum to restore if you don’t have insurance in place. So, it’s definitely one of the most important business insurance policies to get first.
Business Asset Insurance
Even if you have a good insurance policy on your business premises, don’t assume that everything inside the building is also covered. It is a wise idea to take out an insurance policy on your company’s assets. For example, if you have a lot of computers and laptops in the office or use special equipment to make products that you sell to your customers, then it’s worth getting these insured so that they can easily be replaced or repaired should they break down, be damaged, or get stolen.
Worker’s Compensation Insurance
If you are going to hire employees, then you will need to get worker’s compensation insurance – not only is it a legal requirement in the majority of states, but it will also protect you in the event of an employee becoming injured or ill as a result of the job that they do for you.
No matter how great your safety culture is in the workplace, accidents happen. Having worker’s compensation insurance in place will ensure that employees are compensated for medical expenses and any time off they need to take to recover. You won’t be putting your business out of pocket or landing in court.
Product Liability Insurance
If your business sells products, then this is one of the most important types of business insurance to get. Regardless how cautious you are when it comes product safety, the truth is that you simply can’t prevent accidents from happening or how a customer handles your product. That’s even if you have included a safety warning and instructions for safe use with the product that customers may or may not have heeded. Ultimately, you may still go to court if your product harms a customer or their property. The product liability insurance covers your company in the event of this happening. This allows you to continue business as normal while the policy covers the cost of the lawsuit.
Business Owner Life Insurance
It is a wise idea to get a life insurance policy for yourself when you start a business. This will ensure that in the event of your death, your family will be financially provided for. The last thing that you want is for your family to have to sell the business to survive. If you are running your business with a business partner, you can also list them as a beneficiary of your life insurance plan, and vice versa. This can make things easier if one of you were to pass away.
With the right life insurance policy, you can ensure that the people who are closest to you are protected financially. And your business can even continue running even if you’re no longer around.
No matter what kind of business you run, keeping it financially safe and secure is important with the right business insurance policies.
