Do you run a small business? Is your business insured? If not you could be risking your and your business’ future.
Learn about business insurance, and see why its today’s business lifeboat.
Expensive if You Don’t Use It – Cheap if You Do
The cost of doing business today is rising all the time, its true. Salaries and worker’s benefits are taking a bigger chunk of your profits.
Taxes are always a key consideration, and material costs are rising as well. Add to this insurance, and you have a real significant number on your cost of doing business column (on your profit and loss statement).
When looking at insurance you will be amazed as the amount of risks you are obliged to cover.
There are the obvious accidents or acts of nature risks, worker’s compensation, health and retirement plans, but then there are a host of other risks that can, and many should be insured.
It’s a maximum that all insurance is expensive if you don’t use it, but very cheap if you do.
The “Got To Have” Business Insurance Risks
Here is a list of basic insurance risks that every business should cover;
• Fire, Theft, Water Damage, and Malicious Damage to your business location
• All required worker insurance obligations, and for good worker relations, some perk insurance for employees, like some group private health plan, and retirement fund.
• Product liability if you are producing a product
• Transportation insurance for all your vehicles (full Casco advised)
• Fidelity insurance if your employees handle money. This may be a really indispensable pre-paid asset to your business.
The “Nice to Have” Business Insurance Risks
• Business interruption insurance
• 3rd Party Liability if you are producing a product for wide distribution
• Litigation insurance
• Damage due to civil disobedience and terrorist activity
• Business specific items
Buying Insurance
The choice of buying insurance is becoming a tiresome activity with so many options and prices (and insurance terms), that finding and using a good broker may be your best bet
The insurance broker has some advantages over using one company exclusively.
The broker can shop around, negotiate directly with underwriters (which you cannot do), and tailor make some policies for you.
The cost of using a broker may be easily absorbed by the lower cost of the insurance he provides you and your business.
You must make very sure of the broker’s qualifications, and demand a list of companies and underwriters he deals with.
Ask for a client list, and his inclusion in professional insurance societies. A search on the internet is also helpful. When you are satisfied, start using the broker to plan your business insurance risk profile and coverage plan.
MORE FREE INFO
On all aspects of business insurance and how to makeyour business more profitable visit our website for a huge resource of articles, features and downloads and at http://www.net-planet.org/index.html.
Written By: Sacha Tarkovsky
