Category: Insurance

When you think about scaling your small business, what is the first thing that comes to mind? Automating systems? Expanding your marketing efforts? Increasing your workforce? Redesigning your business’s logo? What about business insurance as a growth tool?

Well, if insurance is at the bottom of your to-do list, you may want to reconsider. Having cohesive business insurance is fundamental to any successful business, yet many business owners often neglect it. Of course, we understand that business insurance might not be the most tantalizing aspect of your business growth plan. Just getting sound advice on business insurance can sometimes be challenging. Take a deep breath and relax. At Gild Insurance, we can give you the help and guidance you need and deserve.

Why Business Insurance as a Growth Tool?

1. Business Opportunities

Let’s say you’re the owner of a small-scale home improvement business, a painting company for example, and you’re operating without insurance. If the bulk of your business comes from private homeowners, it’s entirely possible that your clientele won’t give a second thought as to if your insurance coverage is sufficient. But what would happen if, through word of mouth, you’re offered a contract on a much larger painting project at an apartment complex? Will they want to see your policy? Will the contract have an insurance requirements section?

You already know that your business can handle the job, and your prospective client is also confident because they trust the person who referred you. And best of all, the job would double your monthly income. It looks like a win-win all around, and you find yourself very excited to take on the job. There’s just one little thing: the company asks to see a certificate of insurance (COI) before signing off for you to begin. 

Now, do you think the company is willing to wait while you purchase business insurance? Of course not; they’ll just find someone else to do the job. Now, you’ve not only lost the job, but any other jobs you may have gotten through referrals. Plus, your business’s reputation has now been tarnished. 

2. Business Financing Options

If you have plans to scale your business that require additional financing, that is another reason you need adequate business insurance. If you are considering a Small Business Administration (SBA) loan you’ll quickly find out there are insurance requirements needing met. What coverage you need depends on your type of business and the loan you choose.

As you might imagine, grants and venture capital funding are likely also to require insurance. This is necessary for basic risk management and protection on the investment. Any organization that is providing private equity financing will obviously have different criteria but the chances are very slim that they will shell out a penny without the proper assurances. 

3. Personal Protection

Many people assume that the only reason to have business insurance is to be protected in the event they get sued, and while it’s true that this is one aspect of it, lawsuits are far from the only way a loss can occur. 

Losses can occur from natural disasters like flood or fires or things like theft, or cybercrime. Should an event like this occur, you might have to shut down your business for a period of time, resulting in a loss of business income which is also another aspect insurance can cover. The right insurance plan can help you limit or eliminate many out of pocket expenses for you and your business.

Business Insurance as a Growth Tool: Types

If you’re looking for a roadmap of all the different types of business insurance plans that are available, check out the Gild Insurance Map for a brief overview.

To ensure the growth of your business, you need to insure it. And if you need help figuring out how to do that, remember that help is just one click away. The team at Gild Insurance— along with Gildber the husky, our friendly but incredibly knowledgeable mascot — are always standing by, ready to help you with whatever you may need.

Don’t hesitate to contact us so we can help you take your business to the next level! You can always check out our Gild Guide to the most common small business insurance questions to get started!

Whether you are just starting out with a new business or have been doing this for years, small business ownership can be overwhelming. This can be especially true when searching to find insurance policies that suit your business. The good news is that business insurance doesn’t need to be complicated. Today, we will discuss the insurance essentials of a bookkeeping business.

General Liability Policy

General liability is perhaps the business insurance coverage that people are most familiar with. It is a foundational policy, the minimum any practice should consider. Essentially, general liability insurance is just what it sounds like. It provides general protection against common business risks when engaging with the public and clients. This type of policy mainly focuses on the risks and expenses related to the bodily injuries and property damage of others.

While more and more businesses transition to the all-digital remote operating realm, accounting is one of those industries where in-person interactions are still prevalent. Many accounting firms are still conducting business in physical locations. Though, it tends to be more hybrid in nature these days. And if your business is one of them, general liability is a coverage you definitely should consider.

Perhaps you’re sitting in your company’s office at this very moment. Maybe you are looking around and thinking that an accident would be impossible. What’s the likelihood that any of your clients would be injured? Or their property damaged, during their annual in-person tax review? But take a closer look. Any loose rugs in the office? Dim lighting? Any snow being tracked inside? What’s the average age of your clients? Accidents can—and will—happen. You certainly do not want to be caught without insurance when they do. 

Business Owner’s Policy

The next insurance essentials of a bookkeeping business is a business owner’s policy, commonly referred to as a “BOP”. A BOP is a combination coverage. It provides general liability policy offerings, with additional property protections. 

Simply put. . .

General Liability + Property Liability = BOP

The additional property protections in a BOP mainly focuses on protecting your business’ property, moving beyond a general liability policy, which typically focuses on the property of others. For accounting practices, a BOP becomes important when one considers the office furniture, business equipment, and commercial property holdings of the business. If your practice has invested in these types of items, then a BOP, rather than a general liability policy, may be more appropriate for your business.

Another unique feature of a BOP is business income interruption offerings. In the chance that your practice has to temporarily close its doors due to a covered cause outlined in your policy, such as a fire, business income protections will help cover your business’ operating expenses like payroll and monthly bills, as well as, assist in replacing lost income.

So naturally, the question now becomes, does my business need a general liability policy or a BOP? Because truly, you should start with one of them. Remember, general liability is the floor. . the foundational policy. . .the minimum level of coverage for your business. 

But, a general liability policy may not be enough coverage for your business’ day-to-day operations. Your practice may be ready to upgrade to a BOP if it employs multiple people, has invested in computers and other business equipment for those employees, or owns the building it operates out of. If your risks are broader, then so too should be your policy selection.

Professional Liability Policy

After you’ve selected a policy to cover your everyday business exposures, as outlined above, it’s time to address those risks inherent to tax preparation, bookkeeping, and accounting professions themselves. Professional liability insurance, also referred to as errors and omissions insurance or E&O insurance, protects you and your practice against claims of inaccuracy, omissions, or misrepresentation. When the expertise and skill of you and your employees is your business, an E&O policy should be highly considered. 

A professional liability policy may provide protections not only in drastic scenarios, such as lawsuits arising out of mathematical errors, but also, from the risks of client dissatisfaction, namely, issues surrounding missed deadlines or inaccurate projections. To believe that you or anyone in your practice is impervious to mistakes is wishful thinking. Even if you, or someone on your team, makes an unintentional mistake, it doesn’t change the fact that your clients may have the right to sue you for damages they incurred.

Factors In Pricing

First, the size of your company plays a role in determining what these insurance premiums will cost. It’s seemingly straightforward: the more people you have working for you, the more business generated, and therefore, the more risk exposures, whether professional or physical, are created.

Also, the physical location of your practice and the types of services performed are also important factors. As you might have guessed, firms located in coastal cities like San Diego or Boston likely cost more to insure than firms residing further inland. As for services, if your practice provides tax advice for companies on the S&P 500, with their numerous regulatory requirements, rather than servicing small business owners or private citizens, the risk exposures and the likelihood of claims, increases.

In addition, your business’s history of claims may have an effect on your premium costs.  Let’s use car insurance as an example. If a person has a history of auto accidents, that person should expect to pay higher premiums because auto insurance providers classify them as high-risk. If your business has a history of lawsuits, you can expect a similar scenario for the pricing on your business insurance.

At the same time, if you want to have the most comprehensive insurance impossible with higher limits, you will pay more. Again, from an insurance provider’s standpoint, it’s seemingly straightforward: the greater the potential for them having to pay out large sums of monies, the higher your cost will be. 

What Do I Do Next?

We have explained the insurance essentials of a bookkeeping business. Now, you are ready to start shopping for an insurance policy. But finding the right one is almost as tricky as buying a new home. There are so many companies to choose from that the deciding factor often comes down to sheer exhaustion rather than settling on a company that is the best fit. The good news is that this doesn’t need to be your experience. 

Insurance may not be the most exciting topic (and that’s coming from people who work in the industry), but at the very least, finding the right insurance can be a more pleasant experience. Head to our site and meet Gildber (that’s our adorable husky digital assistant). He’ll help get you started with personalized information that you can then use to take your business to the next level. If want additional information other than the insurance essentials of a bookkeeping business, head on over to the Gild Insurance site.

We’ll see you there!

Sources: 

1. Boop, Gregory. “Do I Have to Buy Workers Compensation Insurance?” The Balance Small Business. The Balance Small Business, December 19, 2019. https://www.thebalancesmb.com/how-does-workers-compensation-operate-in-my-state-462786#:~:text=Texas%20and%20Oklahoma,are%20obligated%20to%20buy%20insurance.).
2. “Safety Topics”, National Safety Council, Accessed August 5, 2022. https://www.nsc.org/work-safety/safety-topics/slips-trips-falls
3. “Business Owners Playbook”, The Hartford, Accessed, August 5, 2022. https://www.thehartford.com/sites/playbook/smallbusiness/files/DemystifyingInsurance.pdf
4. Frankenfield, Jake. “Errors and Omissions Insurance (E&O).” Investopedia. Investopedia, June 29, 2022. https://www.investopedia.com/terms/e/errors-omissions-insurance.asp.
5. “Professional Liability Insurance | the Hartford.” Accessed August 5, 2022. https://www.thehartford.com/professional-liability-insurance.
6. “General Liability For Accountants.” Accessed August 5, 2022. https://www.hiscox.com/small-business-insurance/professional-business-insurance/accountant-insurance
7. “What Is a Businessowners Policy (BOP).” Nationwide. Accessed August 5, 2022. https://www.nationwide.com/lc/resources/small-business/articles/what-is-a-business-owners-policy. 

The new digitally based economy not only changed the game on how consumers interact with businesses, it changed business itself. E-commerce platforms, social media, and mobile technology, to name just a few, provided resources to facilitate independence and with that, came a rise of microbusinesses, freelancers, and solopreneurs. 

In a country where small business is generally defined as employing less than 500 employees, let’s paint a more detailed picture:

• 98% of the U.S. economy is made up of businesses with less than 20 employees
• 87% of these businesses have no employees at all
• 27% of the United States working age population, approximately 54M independent workers, have participated in the gig and sharing economy

Very clearly, microbusinesses, freelancers and solopreneurs dominate the economy. However, as these businesses are very aware, few insurance carriers specifically cater to their needs. An estimated 50% of small business insurance customers are open to switching providers each renewal period, highlighting this issue. the main underlying issue prompting microbusinesses, freelancers, and solopreneurs to switch insurance providers is…price. This failure in pricing is a failure to adequately tailor insurance coverings to these types of businesses. 

If you ask us, 50% of customers shopping around isn’t a resounding endorsement of the industry. So, ta-da! We found another problem to work; how to connect small businesses to adequately priced insurance products.

Tailored Insurance for Microbusinesses, Freelancers, and Solopreneurs

Our solution – solely partner with insurance providers that specialize in microbusinesses, freelancers, and solopreneurs, with products designed just for them, priced just for them.  

Then, algorithmically them, based on numerous factors, via our wonderful chatbot, to the tailored insurance coverages. 

And done! You never have to wonder again if your insurance provider understands your business. Gild is here to support you and your endeavors.

Read the first post in this series, Work The Problem Chapter 1: Commercial Insurance And The Digital Sales Problem.

Dating back as far as 2013, industry research, by the likes of PWC, Deloitte, Mckinsey, and Accenture, has been essentially begging the small commercial insurance industry to innovate. Report after report, year after year showing a digital sales problem.

Commercial Insurance and the Digital Sales Problem

E-commerce, social media, and a new digitally based economy changed the game. Consumers began to desire quick, seamless online experiences and self-service. It was, and is still, a monumental change for insurance providers involved in the small commercial insurance market.

In fact, monumental might be putting it lightly. Independent insurance agents dominate small commercial insurance sales, handling 76% of commercial insurance transactions in the United States. The vast majority of these agents operate without transactional web or mobile sales capabilities. Over the last several years, estimates show that online sales account for as little as 1% of commercial policy transactions. world went digital. Therefore, the entire small commercial insurance industry, insurance providers and agents alike, felt the pressure of obsolescence at their backs.

With the pressure of failure comes the instinct to survive. Simply put, fight or flight mode kicks in. We knew there were insurance providers out there that would choose…fight. So, we went out and found them. Together, we work the digital sales problem; how to offer quick, seamless online experiences and self-service to small businesses.

Our current solution is a digital only experience with online accounts, chatbot technology, real time bind capabilities and coverage options in minutes. And yes, we mean current. When the next small commercial insurance digital sales problem comes up, we’ll work that too. Here at Gild Insurance, we choose fight and so should you. 

To read more, check out the next post in this business insurance series, Work The Problem Chapter 2: Commercial Insurance And The Small Business Problem.