BOP for Tailors: A Comprehensive Guide
If you're ready to put your expert sewing and altering skills to use in a professional capacity, now can be a great time to do so. The demand for tailors and other similar textile workers is rising.
Building a strong brand as a tailor can take years. Everything, from the quality of your services to the location of your business, to your pricing, can impact your reputation. Even the way you handle the unexpected can impact your business.
A Business Owners Policy is designed to help support your business through tough times. Read on to learn more about insuring your business as a tailor.
What Is a Business Owners Policy?
A Business Owners Policy is a type of business insurance that is well-suited to small and medium-sized businesses. A Business Owners Policy bundles three essential business insurance options, including:
- General liability insurance
- Business property insurance
- Cyber risk insurance
One feature of a Business Owners Policy is that it can provide coverage for a wide variety of damages, so you can obtain one single policy, rather than multiple coverages. This bundle tends to be easier to manage than adopting three separate insurance policies, especially in the event of a claim.
Signs You Should Consider a Business Owners Policy
As a tailor, you may not have anticipated insuring your business. While some solo tailors may not need extensive protection, there are many signs that a Business Owners Policy could be right for you. Let's take a look at some of the common signs where securing the coverage of a Business Owners Policy could make sense for your business.
You Have Multiple Employees
When you have multiple employees, state law may require you to have certain types of coverage. This can include things like Workers’ Compensation.
Most states don't have specific laws that require small businesses to take on a Business Owners Policy. However, when you have multiple employees, your potential liabilities could increase. Employees are an extension of your business, and they may unwittingly expose you to lawsuits.
You Own High-Cost Equipment
As a tailor, you likely have a variety of high-cost equipment that you use to complete projects for clients. For example, you may be using an industrial-grade sewing machine that can cost far more than the one you keep at home.
You knew when you purchased that equipment that you were making an investment in your success. What you may not have thought about was the possibility that you could lose that item to damage, theft, or vandalism. A Business Owners Policy can provide protection against unexpected equipment costs.
You Take Clients at Your Place of Business
You probably invite clients into your workspace. The second you allow a client into your workspace, you accept the liability of injuries and property damage.
It can be easy to assume that your professional tailoring space will always be safe to navigate. A
Business Owners Policy may help keep your business afloat in the event of an accident.
You Use Online Data and Digital Payment
In the past, cybersecurity was primarily the concern of major firms and people who did most of their work on the computer. Now, we've all come to rely heavily on data in ways we may not be aware of.
As a tailor, you may store client information in a digital database, take payments digitally, and store important information on a computer or cloud. If any of these things are true, a Business Owners Policy can provide protection against the financial repercussions of a data breach.
The Importance of General Liability Insurance
No one expects to get hit with a lawsuit when they're starting a new business. The reality is that no matter how careful a business owner is to abide by the law, they are always exposed to unexpected liabilities. Let's take a closer look at instances where general liability insurance could come in handy.
Accident Protection
A client comes to your tailor shop. The client slips, falls, and breaks a bone.
This is just one of the many accidents that could occur at your shop. When a client sustains an injury or property damage and can blame it on your negligence, you may be required to pay for their damages.
Protection from Reputational Harm Claims
You've tasked an employee with creating a social media account or newsletter for your business. While representing your business, they use these online spaces to make disparaging claims about another local tailor, who then loses business.
What you think is an innocent comment can lead to a lawsuit. Libel, slander, and reputational harm are a few of the reasons why a competitor could take you to court.
The Importance of Business Property Insurance
When you need to repair or replace essential business equipment, you might have more than just those immediate costs to worry about. Business property insurance can help, but it can be important to understand what your covered losses are.
Understanding Covered Losses
A covered loss refers to damages or losses your insurance company will cover. This refers to both the type of property and the cause of the loss. For example, most business property insurance policies will cover loss related to theft but may not cause loss related to flooding.
Talk to your policy provider about your covered losses. If you are at high risk due to a loss, find out if you can adjust your policy.
The Importance of Cyber Risk Insurance
The cost of responding to a data breach can be expensive. Paired with the increasing likelihood that you could get hit with a cyber-attack, cyber risk insurance can be essential. Let's take a closer look at how cyber risk insurance can help protect businesses.
Help Protect Your Data
Small business owners often only realize how dependent they are on data once it's compromised. When a cyber-attack destroys your data, you may face lost income as you try to rebuild that information. You may need to cover costs related to investigating the cause and extent of the cyber-attack.
Help Protect Your Clients' Data
Unfortunately, you may not be the only one at risk after a cyber-attack. For example, your data may include the personal and billing information of your clients. After a cyber-attack, you may be required to alert those clients to their potential exposure and may face lawsuits related to the exposure.
How Much Will a Business Owners Policy Cost?
Tailors have several different business insurance options. Picking an insurance policy can seem like a daunting task, especially when it comes to the financial side of things. How much will your Business Owners Policy cost?
Your premium amount will reflect several different factors, including:
- Your geographic location
- The size of your tailoring business
- The age of your tailoring business
- Your maximum coverage limits
- Your history of business insurance claims
For example, you can typically expect to pay a higher premium for a higher maximum coverage limit. If you don't have a history of business insurance claims for your existing business, you may have a lower rate. The cost of tailor insurance coverage can vary, making it impossible to provide a one-size-fits-all estimate.
One of the best ways to get exact numbers is to work with a representative from PolicySweet® to customize a Business Owners Policy that makes sense for your tailoring business. Once your plan is ready and you've reviewed your estimate, you can receive coverage right away.
Start Your Business Owners Policy With PolicySweet
Now can be a great time to get your tailoring business underway, with insurance. Our Business Owners Policy is perfect for small to medium-sized businesses, and we believe that it could be the right fit for you.
PolicySweet strives to make obtaining business insurance easy. All you need to do is answer some questions about your business and let our experts do the rest. Learn more about our Business Owners Policy and start a quote today.