Insurance Used to Protect Small Businesses — Experts Weigh In

You worked so hard to build this business from the ground up; it’s important to keep it protected. We were curious to see what types of insurance different business owners subscribe to in different industries. Here’s what they had to say…

“My husband and I own a business creating handcrafted grooming products. We want people to feel confident using our products and we want to protect our business and family, so for us, insurance is a must. We have a Commercial General and Product Liability policy through the Indie Business Network geared specifically for makers of handcrafted cosmetics.” –Carrie Seibert, Soap Commander, LLC

“I just went with the regular business insurance to protect my inventory from damage or theft.” –Etty Berkowitz, Mini Me Miami

“We provide working capital funding to digital media and tech businesses. Because we’re a financial services firm, our insurance coverage needs are broader than a normal company. We get the following insurance to protect our company: 

• Errors & Omissions because it protects us should any of our clients suffer
  financial loss because we did not deliver service as promised.
• (ii) Cyber because it protects Harper Partners in the event of a data breach.
• (iii) General Liability because it protects the company from liability lawsuits as well as the business personal property.
• (iv) Directors & Officers because it protects the personal assets of the directors/officers of the company, should they be named directly in a lawsuit.” –Min Fang, Harper Partners

“As a licensed pet insurance agency we have comprehensive E&O insurance (errors and omissions) to satisfy our agreements with carriers.” –Nick Braun, PetInsuranceQuotes.com

“The insurance we purchase for our business is general liability insurance to protect our business, employees and inventory from loss due to injury, fire, or nearly anything else unexpected. In addition, we’ve recently purchased chargeback insurance to protect our business against fraudulent purchases.” –Enzo Cutietta, VC Ventures, Army Navy Shop

“We offer a survey gamification software platform. Our labor market is a competitive one, so we try to offer competitive benefits (including insurance) with an employer-subsidized health insurance and a group life policy. The business is covered by a general liability policy and compulsory workers compensation coverage.” –Jason Anderson, Datagame

“In addition to the basic liability and workers comp insurances our company also pays for employment law liability insurance. This covers your business in case you make mistakes around calculating overtime and wage and hour violations. 

These laws are complex and you could be in total accord with them however unscrupulous attorneys will still sue your company to try to extort money from you and this insurance pays for those lawsuits and any judgments that should occur. Unfortunately this is just part of doing business if you’re going to have employees.” –Bryan Clayton, GreenPal

“We are both a small business and an insurance provider for small businesses. The 3 most common types of insurance that we see are: 

– General Liability which protects a business from risks of property damage or bodily injury. 
– Workers Compensation Insurance is the best protection your business can have should one of your employees get injured on the job. 
– Commercial Property Insurance protects your business’s physical assets.” –Rashmi Melgiri, CoverWallet

“As a small business owner it’s very important to have insurance to protect my business from any potential lawsuit. General liability insurance protects me against accidents and injuries that happen inside my warehouse and office. It’s important to have this basic insurance because it will not jeopardize me losing business if someone gets injured. Another insurance that I have is workers compensation. If any employees get injured on the job they will have all of their medical cost and lost wages compensated. Both of these business insurances are vital to me because it will help me have a peace of mind.” –Lisa Chu, Black N Bianco Kids Apparel

“Workers compensation insurance: In case anyone gets sick or injured at work, this can get extremely expensive if you aren’t covered.

Professional Liability: Also known as Errors & Omissions, this insurance covers you against any negligence claims made by customers.

Product Liability: If your business sells products, this insurance protects against claims of injury or damage caused by your products.” –Craig Bloem, FreeLogoServices.com

“One type of insurance we have is Liability Insurance, which covers damage resulting from operations and faulty products. In our industry there is a minimum level of uncertainly and media hype around the products we sell, vaporizers. This type of insurance helps mitigate concern. The premiums are low because the possibilities of damage are low but in the event we would need the Liability Insurance, it then becomes worth gold.” –Nima Noori, TorontoVaporizer

“We have keyman insurance on the two partners of our business. This protects the other partner if the other becomes unable (whether through disability or death) to perform their duties in the operations of the company.” –Keith Shields, Designli

“I use product liability insurance for my small business. The program covers the following types of products: handmade jewelry, candles, cosmetics, lotion, soap, bath salts, perfume, essential oils, perfumes, fragrance oils, base oils, waxes, powders, masks and scrubs. Candy, cookies and baked goods are covered only if they are sold in a set (such as a gift basket) in conjunction with cosmetics/jewelry/candles that are covered. If they are sold separately from covered cosmetics/jewelry/candles, they are not covered by this program. Items that are not covered include products such as these: drugs, nutritional supplements, products requiring a prescription, cosmetics designed for internal use, coffee, tea, children’s toys and meat products. I’m covered under veracity insurance.” –Zondra Wilson, Blu Skin Care

“One of the most important insurance needs for small businesses is for business interruption coverage. This coverage replaces lost income when a disaster disrupts normal operations. I experienced a disaster first-hand when I owned and operated a small business in the immediate vicinity of the World Trade Center on 9/11. Few Lower Manhattan small businesses had appropriate business interruption coverage – and that is a costly mistake to make.” –Donna Childs, Prisere LLC

“As the owner of a start-up tutoring company, Suprex Private Tutoring, as well as the owner of a private school, I have an umbrella liability insurance policy that covers all of my companies.” –AJ Saleem, Suprex Private Tutoring

“In addition to having proper levels of Property and Casualty coverage, General Liability, and either Errors and Omissions insurance or Malpractice insurance that protect the businesses themselves, business owners should strongly consider insurances that protect their personal interest in the business. These include Personal Disability Insurance, Personal Life Insurance, Business Overhead and Expense Insurance, and a funded Buy/Sell agreement that should include provisions for both death and disability with either adequate corporate/personal reserves, or by transferring the risk through appropriate life or disability policies that benefits the business.” -Brad Berger, Cornerstone Financial Strategies

“We have a few different types of insurance for my business. Business Owners Policy that provides general liability, professional liability, property, and business income coverage. I also have a workers comp policy which covers my employees for work related injuries. Within the last few years we have also added an additional policy called a Cyber Liability/Data Breach Policy to protect against lawsuits if our client’s information were to be exposed, or stolen by a hacker.” –Ben Walker, Transcription Outsourcing, LLC

“Obviously, Merchandise and product liability insurance is the most important thing. If your goods fall off a boat into the ocean, you’re SOL. Without insuring your goods, you put yourself at great risk to have your business suffer if something terrible happens.” –Sebastien Dupéré, Dupray Inc.

“We’re iCare Repair, a four-year-old mobile device repair company in Michigan. We have 8 full-time employees and 15 part-time employees. We currently offer workers’ compensation to our employees, and our stores have a $1 million property-casual insurance.” –Dan Peabody, iCare Repair

“I represent Emergency Restoration Services, and this is the insurance we use:

• Workers compensation insurance – to cover my employees in case of an on the job accident resulting in injury to one of them.
• General liability insurance – to protect the business against people
  claiming damages as a result of our action.
• Errors and omissions insurance – to protect the company against people
  claiming damages as a result of company neglect or misguidance.
• Inland marine insurance – to protect our tangible assets from loss.
• Commercial vehicle insurance – to protect the business from people
  claiming damages from a driving related accident.
• Catastrophic loss insurance – applied to the building we lease to protect
  the business against damages as a result of an action at our location that
  causes loss to the building.” –Chris, Emergency Restoration Services

“The Cookie Cups has general liability insurance that covers pretty much everything from State Farm. (They have really competitive/affordable pricing options).” –Nicole Bandklayder, The Cookie Cups

“I run a video production company and we have DICE insurance, which stands for Documentary, Industrial, Commercial and Educational. DICE insurance is pretty comprehensive for various productions, and is becoming more popular as digital media and video increase for brands’ advertising campaigns. DICE covers gear, locations and liability and is specially designed for the film and video industry.” –Tim Ryan, TAR Productions

“What type of insurance do I get? Counselling insurance. I own an addiction counselling agency, and my business is almost entirely dependent on my reputation as a reputable counsellor. Therefore I pay for counselling insurance that protects me against libel and slander up to £5,000,000.” –Max Robinson, Realised Recovery Counselling