Tag Archives | business planning

Does Your Small Business Have Enough Insurance?

By on March 25, 2013 in My Recommendations, Your Small Business

Does Your Small Business Have Enough Insurance 300x225 Does Your Small Business Have Enough Insurance?I am concerned that small business owners do not have adequate liability insurance for their businesses, and I wanted to provide information so that you will know what you need to be protected. I reached out to a few insurance experts to help me explain your options and what is needed in a typical small business.

So what triggers the need for business insurance?  When you are renting a property, a landlord will often require a general liability policy as part of your lease agreement. If you are doing business with a Fortune 500 company, you will often be required to have general liability insurance with at least $1,000,000 in coverage.  If you are consulting or providing expert advice you could be required to have errors and omission insurance. But too many small business owners overlook key insurance needs.

Alice Niles, President of A. P. Orleans Risk Management said small business owners need to make sure they are properly insured. “You should manage your risk, you should not let it manage you. It’s what you don’t know that always hurts you”, said Ms. Niles.

Hiscox insurance expert Kevin Kerridge said, “You actually don’t have to make a mistake to have your company sued, the insurance could cover the cost to defend your business reputation.”

Edmund C. Nelson of State Farm Insurance, suggests that you check with your existing insurance agent about what is available first, and if they are unable to cover you for certain specialty insurance needs, they can provide a referral to another provider.  The good news is that business insurance is not terribly expensive. There are a host of internet providers that provide business insurance at affordable prices.  Here is a list of the types of insurance you may want to consider for your business

  • General Liability Insurance: This insurance covers products, completed operations, and premises operations. So if you are a restaurant and someone gets food poisoning you are covered. Or, if you build a new floor in a home, and the floor warps because of the way it was installed, you are covered. If you rent a facility and someone falls and gets hurt, you are covered.
  • Errors and Omissions Insurance: This professional liability insurance covers anyone who presents themself as an expert and provides advice or consulting services. If a project goes poorly and the client sues, you will be covered for your legal fees and defense costs. For an average $1,200 per year cost, you could have $1,000,000 worth of professional liability coverage or more.
  • Auto insurance: Commercial auto insurance is needed if the vehicles are owned by your company and operated by employees or yourself to do business. You should also consider adding, a hired and non-owned automobile liability rider. This is in case, you or an employee rents or borrows a car to do business during work hours, and someone is hurt by the vehicle, you will be covered.
  • Worker’s compensation insurance: It is the law; you must have this insurance if you have employees. The pricing is regulated by the state you operate in.  If you do not collect certificates of insurance from all 1099 or subcontractors, you will be liable for them on your insurance policy. Ms. Hines added, “Worker’s compensation policies are subject to audit. If you can’t prove your subs have insurance, you will have to pay for them under your worker’s compensation policy”.
  • Employment Practices Liability Insurance: This extra insurance covers incidents like sexual harassment, discrimination, hostile workplace claims, and unfair employment practices.
  • Medical malpractice insurance: If what you do is FDA regulated, you could be subject to medical malpractice insurance.
  • Commercial Excess Liability insurance: This is extra insurance if you exceed the limits on your general liability policy or commercial auto policy. It typically costs $300 per year for $1,000,000 more coverage.
  • Cyber Theft of your Business Bank Account: Over $1 billion a year is stolen from business bank accounts, according to Bloomberg News. Seventy-three percent are stolen via fraud attacks. There’s a new product on the market that will cover your commercial business account against cyber theft or fraudulent wire transfers.  Under the current banking laws, FDIC insurance doesn’t cover small business bank fraud, it only covers you against your bank becoming insolvent. The Commercial Deposit Insurance Agency is providing this insurance and will cover up to $50,000 for a premium of $175.00 per year.

What is piece of mind worth to you in your business? Call an insurance provider today and find out how much coverage you have or need. Start investigating what it will take to protect your business, before it’s too late.

Image “Dice” courtesy of jscreationzs/ www.FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Melinda F. Emerson, SmallBizLady, is America’s #1 small business expert. She is an author, speaker and small business coach whose areas of expertise include small business start-up, business development and social media marketing. She writes a weekly column for the New York Times, publishes a resource blog, www.succeedasyourownboss.com which is syndicated through the Huffington Post. She also hosts a weekly talk show on Twitter called #Smallbizchat for small business owners. As a brand, she reaches 1.5 million entrepreneurs a week on the internet. As CEO of Quintessence Multimedia, Melinda develops audio, video and written content to fulfill her mission to end small business failure. Forbes Magazine named Melinda Emerson one of the #1 Woman for Entrepreneurs to follow on Twitter. Melinda has been featured on MSNBC, Fox News, NBC Nightly News, and in Fortune, The Washington Post, USA Today, Wall Street Journal and Black Enterprise. She is the bestselling author of “Become Your Own Boss in 12 months; A Month-by-Month Guide to a Business That Works,” and the ebook How to Become a Social Media Ninja; 101 Ways to Dominate Your Competition Online.

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Which Cellphone Plan is Right for Your Small Business?

By on March 19, 2013 in Cash Flow & Finance

Which Cellphone Plan is Right for Your Small Business 300x199 Which Cellphone Plan is Right for Your Small Business?According to most business experts, cellphones are one of the top tools for small businesses. By signing your business up for a cellphone plan, you are automatically improving productivity. Not only does it benefit your employees, it improves the communication between you and your clients.

It’s all about accessibility. Having your company at your fingertips shows your clients that your business is flexible and that even when you aren’t at your desk, you are within reach.

Choosing a cellphone plan for your business is considerably harder than choosing one for personal use, because you have to take 5-10 other people into consideration. That is why it is so crucial to do the proper research in order to maximize your plan.

What will you be using the phones for? Which employees truly require a company cellphone? You must ask yourself these questions in order to get the most savings from whichever cellular carrier plan you choose.

Whether you’re a fan of AT&T, T-Mobile, Sprint or Verizon Wireless; you need to make sure that you have the right cellphone plan for your small business. There are many factors to consider coverage, data, contract terms, and your smartphone options. Listed below are some key points to consider before choosing a respective cellphone carrier;

Coverage

How much coverage do you need? Check the coverage in your office and in the areas surrounding it. You can use a crowd sourced map like Open Signal Maps to see the strength of signal. If some of your employees travel, consider the places they visit. Companies simply can’t offer coverage everywhere. When you roam, it costs.

If your employees travel out of the country and work, be sure to verify international coverage. If they only travel internationally for a few weeks, consider renting a phone for special trips or adding the package only for a week at a time.

Data

Carriers offer business plans that include unlimited data, but do you need to spend the extra bucks? If your employees only need to access their e-mails and do some general surfing, they don’t need more than 2GB of data per month. This is usually the standard amount for a basic smartphone plan.

Contract

A cellphone provider’s natural initiative is to sell you a bulked up contract. Before you sign, check the costs of going over the data cap or exceeding the talk time. Be sure that you have unlimited talk and text with the other phones on your plan.

When it comes to signing contracts that last 2 years, consider how often you turn over employees in your small business. Early termination can cost you up to $400 per line. If an employee quits or is terminated, it will cost you.

Which Phone?

Will your employees need smartphones or can they do without the data? While the Samsung Galaxy III or iphone 5  might be the best smart phones on the market, your company might not need the luxuries of these phones. If talk and text are the only requirements, don’t waste money on a new phone. Buy refurbished, if you can.

If your company chooses to use smartphones, will you be able to upgrade after a year or two? Phones are constantly changing and improving, much like your small business. If you are a high-tech business, it will pay to keep up with the evolution.

“Mobile Phone Streaming Virtual Business” image courtesy of nokhoog_buchachon / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Liam Garcia 193x300 Which Cellphone Plan is Right for Your Small Business?About the author:  Liam Garcia is a part time blogger and full time social media manager. He spent his childhood in Chile and moved to Texas to attend the University of Texas when he was 18. When he’s not working on his novel or exploring the confines of the Internet, you will find him at the nearest bookstore.

Melinda F. Emerson, SmallBizLady, is America’s #1 small business expert. She is an author, speaker and small business coach whose areas of expertise include small business start-up, business development and social media marketing. She writes a weekly column for the New York Times, publishes a resource blog, www.succeedasyourownboss.com which is syndicated through the Huffington Post. She also hosts a weekly talk show on Twitter called #Smallbizchat for small business owners. As a brand, she reaches 1.5 million entrepreneurs a week on the internet. As CEO of Quintessence Multimedia, Melinda develops audio, video and written content to fulfill her mission to end small business failure. Forbes Magazine named Melinda Emerson one of the #1 Woman for Entrepreneurs to follow on Twitter. Melinda has been featured on MSNBC, Fox News, NBC Nightly News, and in Fortune, The Washington Post, USA Today, Wall Street Journal and Black Enterprise. She is the bestselling author of “Become Your Own Boss in 12 months; A Month-by-Month Guide to a Business That Works,” and the ebook How to Become a Social Media Ninja; 101 Ways to Dominate Your Competition Online.

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5 Secrets for Growing Your Business Smarter and Faster

By on March 12, 2013 in Grow Your Business, Guest Articles

5 Secrets for Growing Your Business Smarter and Faster 300x199 5 Secrets for Growing Your Business Smarter and FasterGuest Article

There’s no doubt that starting and running a business comes with a long to-do list.  Maintaining your normal activities will keep you busy beyond the 8-hour day in addition to the administrative activities that are essential to running your operations.  This is especially onerous if you are the only one and wearing all the hats. 

But before you get overwhelmed, know that there are smart tactics and strategies that you can use to your advantage.  Planning and leveraging strategies for what you anticipate will help your business run more smoothly and efficiently.  There will be uncertainties and unplanned events along the way, but with systems in place, you will find it less burdensome to deal with these unusual situations.  This will also free up your time to focus on business development which is essential for your business’ survival, profitability and long-term growth.

Here are 5 pointed secrets you can use to grow your business smarter and faster whether you’re a sole proprietor or the one leading the pack:

Create systems so you business can run while you’re away.  This will take some ground work but it will be well worth it to have a structure in place.  What happens when you receive a check?  What do you do when it has been 60 days and a client hasn’t paid you yet?  What happens when you receive an invoice from a vendor and it needs to be paid?  Determine what the key processes are in your business and document how these processes should work.  For routine transactions in your business, figuring out what to do should be as simple as consulting the step-by-step written documentation of the process. Once this is in place, you can have employees or even an intern help with carrying out the behind the scenes aspect of your business while you focus on other initiatives or take a vacation!

Train your employees well.  Once you begin hiring employees, make sure their roles are properly defined and they are properly trained.  Take the time to get them acquainted with your business and its objectives and goals.  Show them how to do their job to your satisfaction; this will be more efficient than you having to make revisions after an initial attempt.  If it is possible and your budget will allow, have segregation of duties to enable your employees to become more efficient in their areas of responsibility over time.  You can also alleviate the level of teaching you do if you hire individuals who are experienced in their roles and have the necessary skills.

Partner with other businesses. There’s no reason to do everything alone.  Look for opportunities to partner with other businesses in ways that are mutually beneficial.  You will both save time and money and will be more efficient.  Talk to your clients to find out what they need help with.  If it is something that is beyond your area of expertise and you know someone who can deliver, make the introduction.  Similarly, develop a relationship with a network of businesses that do the same for you. This works well with businesses in different industries since they are not your direct competitors.

Leverage established networks.  If your business is new and still small, look for ways to get your name out there.  Consider advertising in established email marketing newsletters or on blogs and websites that have a lot of traffic.  If you have your own blog, consider writing for other blogs with a larger number of readers.  Another business may have a short-term project that you may be able to use your skills to assist with so consider such opportunities as they will also give you access to a wider audience.

Find mentors who have been there and done it. There are business principles that are tried and true.  So no matter what industry you’re in, there are basic things that could help your business if you know about them and apply them correctly.  Develop a relationship with a few mentors who are willing to share their insight with you based on their experiences. People love to give back and tell their stories.  Listen attentively, ask questions and share your goals so they can help point you in the right direction.

Have you used similar tactics to grow your business before?  Do you have other tactics that you’ve used?  What results have you seen with your strategies and which ones are the most effective? 

Dasanj Aberdeen framed 300x243 5 Secrets for Growing Your Business Smarter and FasterDasanj Aberdeen is an entrepreneurial spirit who embodies the combination of left-brain logic and right-brain imagination as a businesswoman and artist. She founded  TheAfter5Edge.com  as a platform for encouraging others to optimize their potential by discovering and leveraging their strengths to obtain their competitive edge in business and life.  She is a graduate of the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.  Follow her on Twitter at: @DasanjAberdeen or @TheAfter5Edge.

“Arrow Upstairs” image courtesy of renjith krishnan / www.FreeDigitalPhotos.net

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