As a business owner, the last thing we want to deal with is unexpected expenses, especially if it isn't our fault!
We've all heard that it's better to have and not need, than to need and not have, but let's unravel that to see how it applies to safeguarding your business. From the necessity of liability insurance to the peace of mind of income protection, this episode lays out the seven types of insurance you should consider to bulletproof your business endeavors. No guests, no fluff – just straight talk on fortifying your business against the 'what-ifs' so you can focus on the 'what's next'.
I'm Erin Olson, and I've weathered the storms of business ownership, from horse hooves to high stakes, and I'm here to share the hard-earned armor of wisdom that is proper insurance coverage. If you're an entrepreneur at heart, this deep dive into the world of liability and risk management is tailored just for you – minus the eye-glaze and yawns that usually accompany the topic of insurance.
Homework: Review what insurance you might need & make sure your 'assets' are covered!
Be sure to subscribe to the podcast, and share it with someone who could benefit from what you heard. Also, head over to https://theerinolson.com/links and sign up for the email list, and you can get all the downloadable PDFs and tools! News: We finally have a YouTube channel! Visit us HERE: https://youtube.com/@theerinolson?si=xPNSU1-C7Yt9zXgD
As a business owner, the last thing we want to deal with is unexpected expenses, especially if it isn't our fault!
We've all heard that it's better to have and not need, than to need and not have, but let's unravel that to see how it applies to safeguarding your business. From the necessity of liability insurance to the peace of mind of income protection, this episode lays out the seven types of insurance you should consider to bulletproof your business endeavors. No guests, no fluff – just straight talk on fortifying your business against the 'what-ifs' so you can focus on the 'what's next'.
I'm Erin Olson, and I've weathered the storms of business ownership, from horse hooves to high stakes, and I'm here to share the hard-earned armor of wisdom that is proper insurance coverage. If you're an entrepreneur at heart, this deep dive into the world of liability and risk management is tailored just for you – minus the eye-glaze and yawns that usually accompany the topic of insurance.
Homework: Review what insurance you might need & make sure your 'assets' are covered!
Be sure to subscribe to the podcast, and share it with someone who could benefit from what you heard. Also, head over to https://theerinolson.com/links and sign up for the email list, and you can get all the downloadable PDFs and tools! News: We finally have a YouTube channel! Visit us HERE: https://youtube.com/@theerinolson?si=xPNSU1-C7Yt9zXgD
See ya next week! Erin
Speaker 1:
Welcome to the Quality of Life podcast. I'm Erin Olson, a wife, a mother and a serial entrepreneur. After starting three successful businesses, I've learned some hard lessons regarding the ins and the outs of starting and running a small business. My intention is to share my knowledge that I've learned from the School of Hard Knocks, so you don't have to learn it the hard way, like I did. Each week, I hope, to guide you to the next level in your business or in the business that you're working. So let's go. Hey guys, welcome back to another episode of the Quality of Life podcast. Erin Olson here to help guide you from business idea to big business.
Speaker 1:
This week is all about being prepared for life. We're talking insurance. Yay, what a titillating topic. Not really, but I have to lay it out for you. First, I gotta say I do not sell any type of insurance, nor am I any kind of an agent for insurance. I do not have any suggestions to you on brands, but what I do have is experience. There's this phrase that can help you to forge ahead on this roller coaster called entrepreneurship. The phrase is it's better to have and not need than to need and not have. This is also probably why my suitcase is always the heaviest when I go on vacation, but in reality, this saying can also cripple you and keep you from moving forward as well.
Speaker 1:
I used to believe that preparedness was key to success, but I also let the need to be prepared keep me from acting when the window of opportunity was open. So having the necessary insurance has actually allowed me to take action without as much risk as if I weren't insured. Now, I've gotta say it's usually a no brainer to have some kind of insurance if you sell a product, but when I was a farrier that is, a person who trims horses feet I didn't think I really needed much insurance. Most of the places that I worked had their own insurance or insurance on the animals that I worked on, so I didn't really give it much thought. But when I started getting clients like the St Paul Monopetrol, they required me to have my own liability insurance. I even had a barn once that required me to carry $2 million worth of liability just in case something went awry. This was just the start, but let me tell you, my friends, it is not the end. As that business grew, I was trimming about 500 horses every four to six weeks. That is a lot of accidents waiting to happen, and I got hurt.
Speaker 1:
One thing that most solo preneurs forget to consider is that if they get hurt or sick and they are the main asset of a business yes, you are an asset what happens to you when you're broken and not able to work? Not only do you have other people relying on you, but you are relying on you to make money to feed your family and pay your bills. Or, on another front, what if you, heaven forbid, have a fire and your whole workshop where you make products gets destroyed? Well, that fear that you just felt can have you running scared and that can keep you from growing your business right. So, to mitigate that worry, which means to lessen the pain or intensity of it, you should find a way that allows you to take risks that are worth the reward. But how? With proper insurance. So I am going to give you some insight into seven types of insurance that most businesses should have.
Speaker 1:
First and foremost, liability insurance. Regardless of whether you sell products or offer a service, you need liability insurance. This is also known as CIA insurance or cover your assets insurance and yes, that is my way of swearing without swearing, liability insurance is fairly inexpensive and it protects you from any type of injury, damage, or it may pay for legal defense fees that result from someone using your product or service, whether it's used correctly or incorrectly. Remember that lady a while back who sued McDonald's for having coffee so hot that it burned her. Well, she got $480,000, even though she ordered hot coffee. The problem with society lately is that everything is someone else's fault and, with the availability of personal injury attorneys, most people think that suing a business is a great way to earn unexpected income and, honestly, the bigger the business, the more dollar signs they think you have. So you've got to protect yourself. Liability insurance protects you from any products or services that you have that may cause someone to get hurt or something to break. The truth is, accidents happen, so having a million dollars of liability insurance is a great place to start.
Speaker 1:
The next type of insurance you probably should have, or at least take a look into, is property insurance, and if your property is your home, there is a specific home-based business insurance that can bridge the gap between your home owners and your business insurance. So why do you want it? Well, have you ever had a shop or an office in or out of the home. This insurance protects the building and its contents, including equipment, furniture, inventory and more against floods, fires, theft, vandalism and some of the natural disasters. This type of insurance also usually has a section that pays you for lost potential income for the time when your business is unable to keep going. In my last business, ours also covered the wages of our team in the case that we were closed due to most disasters as well. Thank goodness, we've never had to use it, but it was there if we needed it, and that is such a good and freeing feeling. One less thing to worry about, friends. This policy is usually called an umbrella, and it can also protect you from other random things like ours had protection from litigation due to patent and copyright infringement as well. Be sure to get referrals to an agent that you feel you can trust to make sure that you aren't underinsured, but also to make sure you're not overinsured.
Speaker 1:
The third type of insurance that you might want to look into is commercial auto. If your personal auto insurance finds out they might not cover your vehicle if used for business and if your business owns or leases a vehicle, which can be a really good way to use write-offs if necessary, the business needs to get the insurance. Also, if you typically have a lot of tools or a trailer connected, make sure that the contents are covered in case something happens. We often used our truck and trailers for trade shows and it could easily have a hundred grand worth of inventory or equipment that we had covered just in case as well.
Speaker 1:
The fourth type of insurance that you might need is Workman's Comp and unemployment insurance. Yes, I know these are two separate insurances, but I'm going to group them together because if you have employees, you have to have this. This is not optional, the government requires it and if you have independent contractors, not employees, there might be a workaround, but really you have got to have this insurance if you have employees. Unfortunately, I've actually had to use both of these in the past Not fun, not anticipated, but so glad that we used a good company for ours. This is necessary to keep you safe from an employee getting hurt on the job or if you have to lay them off for any reason. If you have people working for you, do not skip this, okay, the fifth type of insurance you should have as a business owner is medical insurance.
Speaker 1:
Yes, I know you're careful. Yes, I know it's expensive and really dumb, but I went too many years without it and, frankly, I just got lucky. I didn't have any medical emergencies where I needed to use it and if I did have a medical emergency I had to pay cash, which hurt way worse than paying for insurance. Don't be stupid. Like I was, shop around. I just switched my insurance just a few weeks ago to a company that has a share type plan. It was way cheaper and, as a healthier person, it made the most sense. The company is called America First Healthcare and I will link it in the show notes, and actually I'm pretty glad I did because unfortunately I actually had to use it last week when I fell and snapped my wrist. Yep, it's broken. It was a stupid thing I did, but I am sure glad that I switched insurance, because not having insurance would have added literal insult to injury. I wish I could tell you a cool story about how I broke it, but it was literally my graceful movements that made me lose my balance and I just tried to catch myself.
Speaker 1:
I feel pretty dumb if I'm honest, but when I switched to America First Healthcare, my agent, nico, thought it would be a great idea to get short-term disability insurance. So I actually get paid for hurting myself. Well, that'll cover my deductible and maybe make me feel a little bit better, but I am just so thankful that I have it, so for that, I am going to suggest that you also look into short-term and maybe long term disability insurance as the sixth type of insurance you look into. If you get hurt or sick, this insurance will help cover lost wages if you can't work. I know we've all seen that annoying duck in those weird commercials, but there are several companies out there that offer this insurance, and if you work as a solopreneur, this is a must so that you can still pay your bills if you get hurt. All right, the seventh and last type of insurance that you should look into is the least fun.
Speaker 1:
As a business owner, there are people counting on you to keep that business open, whether it be your family, your employees or partners, or even your customers. If you were to die, what happens to those left behind? My suggestion is really simple Write up a will, which you can do for free via a quick Google search, so that those left behind, should you leave this planet, know what to do with the business. Also, by having life insurance, in any amount. It will help those family members who rely on your income to have one less thing to worry about. I know that this is definitely not fun to talk about, but the earlier that you get life insurance, the cheaper. You can lock it in for a long time and if you go with a simple term life insurance, it's actually very cheap and you're locked in for like 40 years.
Speaker 1:
Now, if you have partners in the business, I highly suggest that you have a life insurance policy on your partner, since you will have to have the ability to replace their position should the worst thing happen. Plus, you should have a buy-sell agreement in place, so if there will gives their family their part of the business, you can purchase it for whatever the insurance will cover. All right, that's enough about dying, okay. So when your business gets big and lucrative enough, you can become self-insured, but until you have at least $1 million in a separate account for just in case you, my friend, cannot afford to be self-insured. So don't go another day without insurance. It will ease your mind knowing that you will be okay even if things aren't okay.
Speaker 1:
All right, that is what I have for you this week on the Quality of Life podcast. Your homework this week is to review what insurance you need and to make sure that your assets are covered. Thank you for listening and if you know someone who could benefit from the information that I laid out here, would you please share this episode? I really appreciate your help in getting it out there so that others don't have to learn the hard way like I did. Thanks again, and I will see you next week, see ya. Thanks for listening to today's episode. Be sure to check us out on the Quality of Life podcast, facebook and Instagram pages and our website, thearenolsoncom, for downloads and more information. That is T-H-E-E-R-I-N-O-L-S-O-Ncom. Stay up to date by joining our email newsletter. Together, we can improve all of our quality of life.