Many owners of home-based businesses tend to treat their total operation in a sort of informal manner. You shouldn’t do that though. Yes, running your business from your home can benefit you in many ways and offer a bit more freedom, such as taking breaks when you want and being able to work in your pyjamas, but there are still some quite severe risks that you need to ensure that you are prepared for.
If you pay attention to the US Census Bureau, you will see that nearly half of the businesses in the US are run from home. However, research provided by the Insurance Information Institute says that most home business owners tend to lack the insurance coverage that they need – this is beyond that which is covered by their home owner’s policy. Let’s take a quick peek at some of the things that you can do to keep your home business safe.
Physical Security
You need your home and family protected just as much as you need to protect your business. You can make sure that all of that is done at once with the convenience with ADT. ADT dealers can get the monitoring equipment and installation done for you while all you need to do is take care of your business and your family. This can give you a peace of mind that is unmatched by any other type of security. Your home will be monitored 24/7.
Data
One of the most important assets that any business has is its data. As a startup, your data can make you or break you. If you want to reduce your stress, you need to make sure that your data is safe. You need to have a plan of action in place that covers privacy but that also has provisions in place for data that gets corrupted, stolen, or lost. This might be something like a hard drive recovery service in case your hard drive gets corrupted. You also need to be performing regular backups of your data. These backups need to be stored somewhere off-site too.
You should never skimp when it comes to security measures for your data. You need to ensure that there are active firewalls on each of your business computers. Password protect all devices and accounts. Make sure that your anti-virus software is always up to date.
Lawsuits
If you are running a business from your home, you are vulnerable to lawsuits. Say an employee, vendor, or customer happens to trip on the front steps of your home. They can sue you. Someone might also accuse you of selling them a product that isn’t safe or is defective. They can sue you. If you are accused of making false claims or of a breach of contract, you can be sued. Operating your business from your home does not keep you safe from all of the liability related concerns that are inherent with running any sort of business.
You need to think about all of the liability risks that go hand in hand with running a business from your home and then you need to take measures to make sure that those risks are reduced. For example, you might want to shovel your icy driveway before any clients visit. You might also want to give your website a once over to ensure that all of the information is current and that it is all true. You might also want to understand that your homeowner’s insurance policy doesn’t cover claims that are business related so you might want to check into getting a policy that will cover these types of claims.
Interruption of Business
Natural disasters can force any business to close – even those that are home-based. You might need to suspend your operations for a few days so that you can deal with recovery efforts and cleanup. This means that you need to have a disaster recovery plan when it comes to your business. It should lay out how your operations will resume when there is an interruption due to a natural disaster, or any other event that can disrupt the operations of your business.
