Do You Have Business Liability Insurance?

Business liability insurance isn’t a luxury. It’s a necessity – unless you like lawsuits.

You’re a physical therapist with your own business.  You’re crushin’ it in your biz and then boom!  Outta nowhere, one of your old clients sends you a letter and is suing you.  Oh man!  He’s suing you because he tripped and fell inside your waiting room.

Your heart’s racing, you know you did nothing wrong, but the last thing you need is to deal with this. This guy turned out to be a real nut. What a joker! Major oy vey. You gotta deal with this lunatic.

After all, who wants to hire attorneys and pay legal fees to defend themselves? We are busy enough with work, kids, and going to Whole Foods every day.

So you call your attorney and he asks you if you have business liability insurance. You’re thinking: did I ever buy that? Time literally stops.  You remember reading about it but you know you never got around to buying it.  You nearly **** your pants.

I don’t want this to be you.

You are working your tush off, and a really bad lawsuit all because you don’t have business liability insurance can put you out of biz.

Really.  Like double really.

As a business owner, you most likely need business liability insurance.

Business liability insurance protects you from liability arising from accidents, injuries, libel, and slander. The policies also cover the legal fees to defend the lawsuit. Some of your vendors or customers may even require you to have this before they do business with you.

There are different types of business liability insurance you can buy.  If you sell a product, than you most likely need product liability insurance.  If you are in a service based business, then maybe you just need a general business liability policy or maybe you need professional liability insurance.

Attention home based business owners!!!!  Work out of your house?  Most homeowner’s policies will not cover liabilities or losses from your business activities.

What you should do to protect yourself as an entrepreneur . . .

Step 1. Get a referral for an insurance broker.  They are independent insurance professionals and can shop the best policy from the best insurance company that’s right for you.  If you go to your local State Farm or Farmers or Allstate agent, they may be able to offer it to you, but they can only sell you their company’s policy.

Step 2. Tell your insurance broker the nature of your business.  Ask him/her to identify your potential exposure, should you ever have to pay a claim.

Step 3. Do 25 jumping jacks. You still reading this?

Step 4. Tell your insurance broker what your sales and profits are.

Step 5. How much does this stuff cost? I have seen policies for business liability insurance that cost under $1000 a year for $1 million dollars of coverage. It’s not that expensive. Review this with your insurance broker. The devil is in the details.

OK. ‘nuff said.  Lets do this thing.  Get business liability insurance. Cross it off the list.  Then go back to killin it in your biz.