What Is Typically Covered by Freelance Insurance?
Owning a consulting business involves risk. The buck stops with you, so any mishaps or legal troubles are yours alone to pay for. Researching your insurance options can pay off. With so many people striking out on their own, small businesses and consultants need to know what kind of insurance is not only available but necessary for modern professionals.
Types of Freelance Insurance
There are four main types of insurance policies freelancers should be familiar with: professional liability, general liability, cyber security, and personal insurance. If you have employees you will want to look into workers comp. What protection does each type provide?
Professional Liability Insurance
Professional liability protects the work or services a consultant provides and defends against claims of damage done by the consultant. It’s also known as errors and omissions (or if you’re a healthcare professional, malpractice insurance). If a client is harmed by a consultant’s service, makes accusations of negligence, or the consultant makes a mistake, then this policy will respond by paying for court fees for the consultant to defend accusations and in addition can pay for judgements or settlements up to your policy limits.
General Liability Insurance
This policy covers a wide range of occurrences, from trips and slips to libel and slander. If a customer falls and hurts themselves on your business’s property, even in your home if that’s where the office is located, a general liability policy can cover the incident and ensure you don’t have to pay for their medical expenses. It also follows you where you work. If you have a meeting with a client at the park or in a coffee shop and you spill your coffee on their laptop, or they trip over your bag and get hurt, this policy will pay for damages.
Copyright and trademark infringement may also covered under this policy, so if a third party sues you for ‘stealing’ from them, this policy may cover the attorney fees or court costs of settling the matter. It protects the consultant when third parties or their property is damaged.
Combining general and professional liability insurance gives the freelancer a wide range of protection over many types of incidences. If any claims make it to court, both general and professional liability can help cover attorney fees and other court-mandated costs, as well as medical bills and property damage. However, they do not cover damage to the consultant’s own property or their employees.
Cyber Security Insurance
With so much business taking place online, covering harm done by hackers and other accidental data loss or damage is just as important as insuring physical work. In the event of a data breach, cyber security insurance helps cover the costs of dealing with the breach, such as informing customers or restoring stolen identities. Repairing the consultant’s damaged systems and recovering any stolen data is also insured by this type of policy.
Not all small businesses benefit from this form of insurance, however any business that collects private information, such as health or financial data (even credit card information), should look into it, especially since they are two prime targets for thieves.
Personal Insurance
One of the basic benefits of working for an established company are packages that include various kinds of personal insurance, such as health, vision, dental, or life insurance policies. One of the biggest drawbacks to going out on your own is that you must find your own personal insurance. If you own a small business you may also want to provide these benefits to employees.
These policies can cover the costs of doctor’s visits, prescriptions, glasses, or even mental health visits. These days most policies cover telemedicine visits with physicians.
Simple, Fast, Affordable Coverage from NOW Insurance
Understanding these basic policies puts you one step ahead. The next step is learning what your options are for finding the right policies at the coverage level you need. NOW Insurance meets freelancers and consultants where you are: online. We specialize in simple, fast and affordable policies for individuals, small businesses and healthcare professionals. Our policies are tailored to the specific needs of your business, giving you an edge, and a way to save on expenses with low-cost policies.
Modern Insurance for the Modern Professional
You can get a quote in under 3 minutes from our super-fast online application. Bind your policy immediately or speak with one of our insurance experts to learn more about your policy and all that NOW has to offer.
Insurance doesn’t have to be out of your small business’s reach and it should definitely be one of your goals. Defend yourself and your work from claims, damages, and the costs that might follow by contacting NOW Insurance today.
