September 2013

Home-based businesses offer entrepreneurs significant cost savings, such as eliminating the expense of commercial space and commuting. However, when it comes to buying insurance, too many of these owners are short-changing themselves – and putting their investment at risk.

A recent survey by the Independent Insurance Agents & Brokers of America (IIABA) found that nearly 60% of the nation’s 11 million home-based businesses don’t have insurance. Of those entrepreneurs, nearly 40% thought that their Homeowners policy protects them from business-related risks, while almost 30% said their businesses were too small to insure.

According to IIABA Vice President of Education and Research Madelyn Flannagan, home-based business owners face significant financial losses from theft, accidental damage, natural disasters, vehicle accidents, and liability (for example, if an employee is injured on the job). Homeowners insurance usually does not cover these risks, warns Flanagan.

To protect your home-based business, IIABA offers these guidelines:

Review your Homeowners policy. Coverage for certain business items is limited and does not provide Liability insurance for home-based businesses. What’s more, the standard Homeowners policy does not include Business Interruption coverage, which reimburses you if a loss causes your home business to cease operations. However, you might be able to add these coverages to your policy by endorsement.

Consider business insurance. You have several options including an Incidental Business Endorsement, a business owners package (BOP) or an In-Home Business Owners policy.

Protect yourself. If your home-based business is a full-time occupation, you need Life, Health, and Disability insurance, as well as Workers Compensation.

The bottom line: An investment in insurance can provide security and peace of mind as your home-based business grows.

For more information, feel free to get in touch with us at any time.

How secure are your business assets? According to the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners (ACFE), companies with less than 100 employees lose an average of $155,000 a year to fraud. Small businesses also have a higher fraud rate than larger firms and non-business owners.

Don’t be a victim! To help protect your business against losses from scam artists and cybercriminals, security experts recommend taking these precautions.

1. 1. Separate personal banking and credit cards from your business accounts to ensure that scam artists don’t get their hands on all your money; this will also make it easier to track business expenses and tax deductions. Pay bills online or make sure to store paper bills securely.
2. Invest in a firewall as well as anti-virus protection, and spyware- malware detection software Provide offsite backup to keep your business up and running after a cyberattack.
3. Secure your IT infrastructure by using a dedicated computer for all online financial transactions. If possible, avoid using it for other online activities (such as social media, email and web-surfing) which can open the system to cyberthieves.
4. Make sure that passwords are complex (with one upper-case letter, one number and at least eight characters), have them changed regularly, and assign different passwords for separate accounts.
5. Hold regular training sessions for all staff on basic security threats and prevention measures.
6. Use background checks for all employees who handle cash or high-value merchandise or have access to sensitive data.
7. Buy insurance to protect your small business against losses from fraud or cybercrime.

We’d be happy to tailor coverage to your needs – at a price you can afford. Just give us a call.

With so many demands on their time, many business owners find it difficult to learn enough about their insurance programs.

You’ve probably found yourself asking questions such as:

1. Do I have the right coverages to protect my business from financial loss?
2. Do I have any exposures to loss that aren’t covered and should be?
3. Exactly what am I buying?
4. Am I getting the best value for my premium dollar?

As insurance professionals, we help you answer these questions because we:

• Offer policies providing protection against a wide variety of risks that can threaten your business – everything from Accounts Receivable and Business Interruption through Employment Practices Liability and Glass Insurance to Theft coverage and Workers Compensation.
• Recommend an insurance company (from among the quality carriers that we represent) that will provide quality protection.
• Make it a point to learn how your business works so that we can pinpoint potential sources of loss.
• Design a program that minimizes the impact of these losses (incidentally, we don’t always recommend insurance).
• Provide comprehensive protect that’s tailored to your needs – and your pocketbook.
• Work with you to make sure that your coverage stays updated as your business grows.

In short, we take over one phase of your business for you, and work with you to accomplish your first goal – protecting your profits.

To help us help you make sure that your business insurance makes business sense, please feel free to get in touch with our agency’s professional at any time.

We’re here to serve.