As a business owner, you have a lot on your plate.

Between organizing staff, dealing with customers, marketing plans, trying to budget for expenses and everything else, it can be difficult to stay on top of things.

You need to prioritise your tasks. Unfortunately, that often means that something will be forgotten about, sip through the cracks or be put on the long finger.

For many business owners, that thing is business insurance.

The thoughts of filling out multiple forms, answering a host of questions and having to take time away from other more pressing issues are enough to put anyone off. However, it’s important to realise that business insurance is very important and needs your immediate attention.

If something untoward happens at work tomorrow and you’re not insured, your business, as you know it, could be over.

But financial ruin can easily be avoided simply by visiting one of the many reputable insurance brokers. Before you dive in and organise insurance for your business, there are some important things you need to consider first.

Continue reading below to learn more about what you need to consider before taking out business insurance.

How to Choose Business Insurance

Legal Liability Insurance

The whole concept of insurance for entrepreneurs is to cover yourself financially against instances that you couldn’t otherwise afford to cover. For almost every business, this is going to start with Public Liability and Professional Indemnity Insurance.

Public Liability Insurance covers you against the financial risk of being found liable for causing injury, loss or damage to a third party or their belongings while on your property.

Professional Indemnity Insurance is taken out by business owners to cover them against claims and legal costs that may arise from a breach or omission of duty.

If you are in the business of giving any sort of advice which could potentially result in you being hit with damages, you will need to consider professional indemnity insurance.

Insuring Property and Content

When it comes to protecting your assets, there is a huge range of policy-types to choose from.

You will most likely need to take out a policy to cover both stock and equipment. If you own your business premises, you will certainly want to consider taking out Building Insurance.

If you have a glass shop front, you may consider Glass Insurance and for many businesses nowadays, Electric Equipment and Machinery Breakdown Insurance are crucial for peace of mind.

You also may consider Theft Insurance to protect you from external break-ins and/or Employee Dishonesty cover to prevent internal security breaches.

There are industry-specific insurances, cover for very large sums of money and policies specifically designed for businesses that are portable and carry a lot of equipment from place to place.

Think about your business, how you operate and take some time to go through all of your options.

Other Considerations

Nowadays, companies hold a lot of important and valuable data and it’s important to protect this information. Cyber liability insurance is becoming more popular and depending on your business-type, you may need to consider a policy like this.

Depending on the size of your operation and the number of employees you hire, you may need to consider income insurance, business interruption cover and/or personal accident insurance.

While these are not mandatory, they will help you sleep easier at night in the case that you were unable to earn an income for some reason, you couldn’t work due to injury or there was an unforeseen incident that caused serious interruption to your business processes.

Consider Your Business Insurance Options

When it comes to business insurance, there is no one-size-fits-all solution. Every business will have different requirements, depending on a number of factors, such as what industry you are in, where you are located, the number of employees you have and what risk factors affect your business on a daily basis.

Take some time to evaluate your business and what those risk factors are and speak with a broker to find the best solution to keep your business protected in the case of something going wrong.