Whether you lead an established company or a brand new startup, your to-do list can often feel overwhelming. But there is one crucial step that you cannot afford to postpone: getting small business insurance. 

Insurance is one of the areas that never feels urgent…until you need it, and it’s too late. To help you on your journey, we created this guide to getting the insurance your company needs to thrive. 

Where Can Surprise Expenses Come From?

Expenses can come from anywhere, but experience shows sudden events requiring insurance often arise from one of four areas. 

• Employees: Most businesses can’t survive without them, yet they bring a host of potential unforeseen complications. On the insurance front, almost all employers are required to pay for worker’s compensation insurance, as well as federal and state unemployment insurance. But this is just the beginning. It often makes sense to obtain disability insurance, coverage beyond the basics for company cars, and protection against employee theft. 
• Legal Troubles: We live in a litigious society, which raises costs for businesses who aren’t adequately protected against legal disputes. Claims made against you for false advertising, copyright infringement, malpractice, negligence, and product-related injuries or accidents can quickly add up in terms of legal fees alone. The right liability insurance coverage can soften any of these potential blows against your business’s financial health. 
• Tragedies: Finally, you can never count out the truly unexpected. Death of a business partner or key executive can spell disaster for a company. More immediately, damage from actual physical natural or manmade disasters like tornadoes, floods or fires, if uninsured, can create expenses in the hundreds of thousands or millions of dollars. 
• Expansion: Finally, having proper insurance coverage can be a stipulation of getting a business loan, lease, supplier or customer contract or a state or local business license. So you may need to end up having it to expand your business in certain directions anyway!

What Are the Consequences of Facing These Expenses Uninsured?

Insurance isn’t mandatory for many small businesses, and penny-pinching entrepreneurs can see protecting their business as an extra cost. Consequently, roughly 40 percent go uninsured.

This may be an example of “penny wise, pound foolish” thinking, however. If your business takes a significant financial hit, you may feel compelled to dip into your personal assets. Each year, there are thousands of small business owners that not only lose their business, but also their livelihood, savings, credit, homes, and reputation due to lawsuits or other unforeseen expenses. 

If a business is worth owning, it should also be worth protecting. 

How Do You Get Business Insurance? What Are Your Options?

The first and most important step in the process of acquiring small business insurance is finding a licensed, trustworthy agent who has a good track record of working with businesses like yours. This last point is critical, as different businesses have different insurance needs, and your agent should be intimately familiar with your industry. Ask your agent for example of businesses similar to yours that they have worked with and what coverage they recommended. 

While insurance is an investment, but there’s no use in overspending. Consulting an expert can help identify your business’ needs and select the insurance plan that’s right for you.

Explore the different types of business insurance:

1. Professional liability insurance
2. Property insurance
3. Workers’ compensation insurance
4. Insurance for home-based businesses
5. Product liability insurance
6. Vehicle insurance
7. Business interruption insurance

You may also want to consider a Business Owner’s Policy (BOP), which typically bundles coverage for general liability, property damage and business income, and find out if it’s right for you.

As with any insurance, the cost for business insurance depends on a number of factors, such as business type, location, size, annual revenue and years in business. Cost is also determined by which small business coverage options are suitable for your business, as well as coverage limits and deductibles.

Finally, it is crucial to periodically reexamine your insurance needs as your company grows and expands. We recommend setting a standing meeting at least every year to check in with your insurance agent and update them on any ways your business has changed in the last year. This gives you an opportunity to add, adjust or remove insurance policies as needed to ensure your protection continues to fit your business like a glove. 

What Makes WTIA Special?

At WTIA, we know that time and money are precious resources for small businesses on the rise. That’s why don’t just provide you with the coverage you need — we’re your advisors and advocates too.

As we maximize convenience, we continue to offer a full suite of commercial insurance policies from best-in-class insurance providers. We are particularly knowledgeable in the tech sector and customize our product solutions to meet your unique needs.

Equipped with a licensed team of property and casualty staff as well as an in-house service team with deep business acumen, we’ll get you the coverage you need — no more, no less.

Our top-notch customer service team provides dedicated account management and active claims support in a timely manner according to your needs.
Don’t put your business at risk – get a small business insurance quote today.