Make sure there are no gaps in your small business insurance plan.

Are there any gaps in your small business insurance plan?

When you’re a small business owner, you pour yourself into building up your business’s name and reputation in your community. We don’t like to dwell on the negatives and the what-ifs that distract us from the now. But the reality is that if you don’t take measures to protect your business from the future you could find yourself in the devastating position of having to shut your business down. It only takes one disaster, one stroke of bad luck, to spell doom for a small business. That’s why there are so many different types of small business insurance – to protect your business from its specific and unique risks.

Your business faces many different perils every day, and there are corresponding small business insurance coverages to protect you from them. Here are ten of the most common perils and insurance coverages that you might want to consider for your business. As you read through the different types of coverage that are out there, think about your business and whether or not there are any gaps in the coverage you currently have.

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Technical difficulties: Does your business need cyber liability insurance?

Sometimes it feels impossible to get through the day without technology. We’ve come to be extremely reliant on our computers and phones—after all, they do make things easier and faster…when they want to cooperate. Persnickety tricks and malfunctions notwithstanding, technology is great for your business. But your computers are also a huge vulnerability with plenty of IT risks. They’re an Achilles’ heel. That’s why cyber liability insurance is so crucial for your business.

Your computers are wide open to a hack that could jeopardize your customers’ personal information, even though we don’t want to think they are. Protecting your business against things that you can see is second nature, but cyber threats are pretty invisible, so it’s easy for them to escape our notice. Plus let’s be real—computers are complicated, so we might not even know we have a weak spot till it’s too late. A hack can strike like lightning—swift and devastating. Fortunately, they invented cyber liability insurance to protect your business against those invisible threats, and here’s what cyber insurance can do for you.

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Hello, Inspector: How to ace your restaurant’s health inspection

If you think about it, people place a lot of trust in your restaurant and your employees when they eat at your establishment. They trust that you’ve done your due diligence when it comes to preparing their meal and that you’ve taken steps to ensure cleanliness. They’re trusting you to not make them get sick. Or, you know, spit in their food. 

That’s why health inspectors check out restaurants to make sure that they’re following proper guidelines for food safety. Inspectors will oftentimes drop by with little or no notice during a busy meal rush to conduct a health inspection—they want to see how your facility runs during a typical day. They want an honest look at things.

The idea of being inspected might be stressful for everyone who works at your restaurant, but we’ve put together a few tips to help you do your best on your health inspection.

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Why are my tow truck insurance rates going up so much?

If you work in the tow truck industry, you’ve probably noticed a few changes when it comes to insurance – namely, the cost of your tow truck insurance premium rocketing upwards. As if tow truck insurance wasn’t pricey enough, it’s only gotten worse. The jump in rates has been enough to make more than a few tow truck companies close their doors.

But why is this happening, and why now? Why does it seem like your insurance company is charging you a crazy rate when just last year things were reasonable? There are several reasons for the chaos that is the tow truck insurance industry, and we’ll try to make sense of the changes that have been affecting towing companies around the nation.

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Avoid disaster: Tips to improve safety at your retail store

If you work at a retail store, you’re all-too-familiar with the chaos that is the holidays, Memorial Day Weekend, or pretty much any time there’s a big sale. People rush around to do their shopping and it feels like there isn’t enough time—or hands—to worry about keeping everything neat and tidy. When there are customers packed into the store, safety might take a backseat. However, it’s vital to enforce safety over speed and to always keep the floor clear.

There are a few things you can include in your training to make sure that your retail store stays safe both for your customers and your employees. The following are some safety tips that could come in handy around your store.

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Connected by technology: Are you staying compliant with overtime laws?

It’s hard to know when to draw the line when it comes to phones and laptops. As an employer, you know the drill about making sure your employees are compensated for any overtime work that they do. You know you’d be in hot water if you didn’t pay your employees the proper rate for their extra time. But have you considered the time that they put in at home from their electronic devices?

In our technology-dependent world, we tend to take laptops and cell phones for granted. They’re just a part of life. But when it comes to overtime pay, there are some things you need to know as an employer. Your liability goes up if you ignore the extra hours your staff put in outside of the office when they’re staring at a screen. We’ve got a few tips that you can follow to make sure that you’re paying your employees fairly for the amount of work they do.

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What you need to know about flood insurance for your business

Nothing is impervious to water. Somehow we don’t think about how destructive little raindrops can be. If there’s a bad storm we think about trees falling, hail pelting windows and cars, branches being thrown around like twigs – you know, the usual. But somehow we forget about the water.

Flooding can happen for a variety of reasons, not just from heavy rain or even hurricanes (although both can create some pretty serious deluges.) Mudslides can cause flooding. So can snowmelt that runs into rivers. There’s also the possibility that nearby development and construction can change the land so that it can’t drain like it should. At any rate, when your building is doing its best impression of a swimming pool, it doesn’t really matter what caused the flooding in the first place. You just want the water out of there.

While we can’t completely shut Mother Nature and her swamps of water out, being prepared can help reduce the damage your business could face from a surprise flood. We’ll explain the basics of commercial flood insurance, but we’ll also go over some ways that you can bolster your business’s defenses against flooding.

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10 tips that will make you a pesticide safety pro

If you work in lawn care or landscaping, pesticides and other chemicals are probably just a part of life. Insecticides, herbicides, fungicides – you name it, you use it. But these chemicals can be very harmful if they’re not handled and stored properly. If you work with pesticides or other chemicals, you need to be safe so you can reduce your chances of exposure.

There are four different types of exposure:

  • Getting it on your skin: Can lead to dermatitis (irritation of the skin)
  • Swallowing: Can damage the digestive system and enter the bloodstream
  • Inhaling: Can cause inflammation of the lungs
  • Getting it in your eyes: Can lead to visual impairment

Remember, these chemicals are intended to kill living things. That means that they need to be used with caution. Follow these tips to become a pesticide safety pro.

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How to make your business fireproof

No business owner wants to consider the possibility of their business going up in flames. If your business were to be burned to the ground, the financial burden would be staggering. You’re facing not only the costs of rebuilding the premises itself but also the cost of your lost income and profits. Most businesses that face a fire don’t end up reopening after the fact. The good news is that there are some steps you can take to lower the chances of that happening.

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8 safety tips that will help you avoid commercial lawn mower danger

Working in the landscaping and lawn care world, chances are you work with some pretty hefty lawn mowers. You might have riding lawn mowers, or you might have some other kind of commercial-grade mower that gets the job done quickly. That lawn mower might extremely efficient and it might do a great job, but it’s also a pretty dangerous piece of machinery.

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