Posted by 0 Comments Tagged with business, commercial insurance, employers, insurance, workers Posted in Commercial Insurance

What Every Small Business Owner Should Know About Commercial Insurance

It’s important for a small business owner to invest in commercial insurance. Some of the most common commercial insurance products that businesses usually buy into include property, workers’ compensation, and liability insurance. However, it’s not enough to just buy the products; it’s important that you, as a small business owner, know what these kinds of products entail. Below, are a few commercial insurance products that you should look into and fully understand to insure your business properly.

1. Property Insurance

One of the most important insurance coverages to buy is property insurance. This will help pay for any damages or loss to personal or work property. For example, Upside Insurance Greenville explains, if your office is affected by a fire, your property insurance will kick in and cover the damages from the fire. This should be one of the first insurance coverages to look into when starting a business. Without it, if anything happens to your place of work, you will be held directly liable.

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2. Workers’ Compensation Insurance

Workers’ compensation insurance should be the next insurance coverage on your list. This insurance product covers any on-the-job injuries for your employees. Usually, this type of insurance is required in most states but is necessary for your employees to be compensated in case they’re injured on the job. Additionally, workers’ compensation insurance usually prevents your workers from suing you for on-the-job injuries.

3. Liability Insurance

Liability is the third most important type of commercial insurance that protects you and your business from injuries you may cause to third parties. For example, if an individual sues you for personal injury or property damage, the expenses would be covered by your liability insurance coverage. Your liability policy should also be able to cover you from customer injuries as well.

4. Business Interruption Insurance

You should invest in business interruption insurance to prevent a loss of income from property damage or loss. In the example, we used in property insurance, if your work is affected by a fire and you need to close for a few months to repair your store, this insurance would cover salaries, rent, taxes, and any income you would have earned for your business in the time you’re closed.

5. Tenant’s Insurance

If you rent an office, as a tenant, you may be required to have tenant’s insurance for your business. This insurance policy will protect you and your business from any damages to your rented office space by you or your employees.

6. Malpractice Insurance

Malpractice insurance, similar to liability insurance, covers you and your business from injury to third parties when your standard of care falls below the standard. As an example, if a doctor makes a mistake and a patient sues them, the malpractice insurance would cover the incident. Usually, malpractice insurance is available for real estate agents, doctors, accountants, architects, and some other professionals.

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As a small business owner, it’s important that you invest in commercial insurance for your company. Not only to protect yourself but your workers and place of business as well. Overall, you may not need it, but it’s best to be safe than sorry in the long run.

Posted by 0 Comments Tagged with company, movers tips, office, office relocation, office space, transition Posted in Office Relocation

Movers Give 7 Tips for Managing an Office Relocation

Business or office relocation can be a daunting process. With proper planning and the right experience, moving your office or business will be easy. How exactly does one orchestrate a successful move? Here are some moving tips offered by an experienced moving expert.

1. Understand your business

Moving your business involves evaluating business and planning accordingly. It is not just about moving, see to that you do not compromise on anything that has a direct impact on the operations of your business. For instance, as much as you might be attracted to low tenancy rates, make sure that the new location provides the best fit.

2. Your location matters

Before making any relocation move, you should be aware that any the location of a business makes a statement. In case you intend to make an image statement or recruit more clients, you need to make sure that the new location addresses the needs of those customers and employees.

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3. Plan for growth

As you transition your operations to a new location, you need to thinks about the prospects of expanding your business at the new location. This consideration comes in handy when you need to increase office space. Most movers recommend moving to industrial and office parks as they offer the advantage of expandability.

4. Schedule the move

You need to ensure that everyone on board is aware of the planned move well in advance. Ideally, this serves to prepare your employees and clients for the much-expected transition. Moreover, it also prepares other business that you share space with for the moving day. Notifying these people serves to take care of any disruptions during the moving day.

5. Delegate the process to a moving manager

It is advisable to appoint one person who will be tasked with overseeing the moving process. This should be someone who understands your business inside out. Most professional moving companies have a commercial moving coordinator just for this purpose. Having someone managing this process serves to ensure the moving process is well-coordinated and nothing is overlooked.

6. Get rid of unwanted items

Any business has things or items it does not want. If you have been in a particular location for a certain period, the chances are that you have accumulated some stuff you do not necessarily need. Relocating your office presents a great opportunity to get rid of those office tinkers you no longer need.

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7. Hire a pro

Acccording to these Arlington movers, office moving is different from moving a residence. Moving an office requires fool proof handling of sensitive business items and records. Moreover, the complex nature of most business setups needs professional help. Hiring professional movers lets you manage moving exercise without dealing with the stresses and pressures involved. Hiring a pro comes with an assurance of a smooth transition and minimal downtime.

Posted by 0 Comments Tagged with business, company, corporation, partner, partnership, sole proprietorship Posted in Business Development

Which Legal Entity Structure is Best for Your Business

Determining the legal structure of your business is one of the most important business decisions you’ll ever make. This decision can significantly impact the security of your business as well as its profitability; the type of business you’re in can help you determine which entity to choose. Sole Proprietorship If you’re a single owner or…

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Posted by 0 Comments Tagged with development, growth, long distance mover, service industry, sucess Posted in Business Development

What It Takes to Run a Successful Long Distance Moving Company

We recently had the chance to do some consulting work with a client in an extremely competitive service industry – interstate moving. You are probably familiar with a lot of names in the long distance moving game – Atlas, Allied, Great Guys, Mayflower, Stevens Van Lines, and others. These interstate movers help customers move household goods from one state to another. While many of them offer local (in-state) moving services, the real money is to be made in helping customers with out-of-state relocations. Though these types of jobs are more lucrative from a revenue perspective, they are also more logistically demanding. Turning a profit in the moving industry takes a lot of hard work, but a company who has the right systems in place has endless possibilities to scale and transform into a multi-million-dollar business. Even if you aren’t in the moving niche, the lessons we learned from working with this client are widely applicable to other service industries. Here are a few things it takes to run a successful long distance moving company or any service company:

Maintain Licensing and Insurance

One of the biggest problems in the moving industry is the operation of illegitimate companies, also known as rogue movers. These shady entities operate without licensing and insurance and are therefore able to undercut the prices charged by larger, more legitimate operations. These movers are the types you might find if you turn to Craigslist for moving help. While it might seem enticing to operate as a rogue mover from both a cost and compliance time perspective, licensing and insurance is not something to take lightly. Interstate movers are required to be licensed with US Department of Transportation (FMCSA) and maintain certain levels of insurance coverage according to the size of their operations. If a moving company is found to be operating without the proper licensing, it could be detrimental to the business. Additionally, operating without the proper insurance is just foolish. Having insurance policies in place could protect your business from folding if something goes awry. In short, whether you’re operating a moving company or a CPA firm or a medical practice, make sure your licensing and insurance are adequate.  

Invest in the Right Equipment

The moving business requires a lot of investment on the front-end for big ticket items like trucks, storage facilities, and other moving equipment. While it may be difficult to initially outlay the required capital, investing in the right equipment on the front-end could make or break your company in the long run.

Invest in Your Team

Having a well-trained team has a huge impact on the efficiency and success of your business. Take your time when hiring to find a motivated and trainable team of workers. Also, invest the time needed to properly train people on the front-end, so they can be confident in doing their jobs and understand your expectations. Your crew should be equipped and empowered to deal with any problems that arise, should understand the processes for completing tasks, and should be expected to deal with customers in a friendly, professional manner. Having a solid team you can rely on to get the job done is important no matter what industry you’re in.

Get Systems in Place

As the owner of any business, if you want to grow, then you don’t have the time to get into the everyday details of running the business. Make sure you take the time to identify processes and develop systems for how things should be handled. In the moving industry, there should be a clear sales process, a system for scheduling jobs, a method for providing moving estimates, and a process for handling the actual moving logistics. While the processes might look different for your industry or business, define these processes and communicate them to your staff. By giving your team the knowledge to tackle the everyday tasks independently, you can focus your attention on big picture growth. Running a cross country moving company or any business is never busy. It’s inevitable that you’ll encounter speed bumps along the way, but by laying a firm foundation now, you’re much more likely to succeed.    
Posted by 0 Comments Tagged with business, marketing, online, rankings, SEO, SERPs Posted in Business Development

5 Reasons Every Business Needs an SEO Strategy

The internet has changed much about the way we live and conduct our business affairs. Just about anything we could want to know is now at our fingertips. The convenience of the internet has changed the way people shop, and has made it mandatory for every business to create an online presence. However, just having an online presence is not enough anymore, is it? You have to enhance your online presence by incorporating a well-structured SEO strategy. SEO, short for Search Engine Optimization, is a series of tactics, techniques, and methodologies designed optimize a website so that it ranks higher in search engine results. Higher rankings generally result in more traffic to a site, and subsequently increased sales. Here are five reasons every business needs an SEO strategy:

1. If You Don’t, You Will be Left behind by Your Competitors

Over three billion users search the internet on a regular basis. Over 90 percent of these users are looking for products and services online. To take advantage of this large customer pool, many businesses are working to improve their online presence with SEO techniques. You risk falling behind if your business isn’t doing the same. Your business is losing ground to a competitor who is using SEO to improve his/her position and move forward.

2. High Return-On-Investment (ROI)

Search Engine Optimization as a marketing tool is unmatched regarding ROI delivery. SEO is an inbound marketing technique that allows your business to market your products or services to people when they are searching online for these particular goods and/or services. With SEO, there is no convincing potential customers that they need your products or services, you just convince them that you are the right company to provide these products/services.

3. SEO Is Cost Effective

SEO is one of the greatest online marketing strategies. If properly executed, SEO can guarantee results. Other online advertisements are only for a fixed duration. SEO stays put and pays off in the long run. The number of geographical regions and keywords can be customized to fit your personal and business needs making it the most cost-effective and affordable online marketing strategy.

4. Perfect for Small Businesses

Owners of restaurants, retail shops, and other small businesses can customize their local SEO and directly connect with people looking for such since most of these searches come from smartphones. You don’t have to interrupt them when they are reading a news article online or when they are watching their favorite show on TV; the ad will just show up when they are looking at similar services or products.

5. SEO Constantly Evolves for Bigger Opportunities

Markets are controlled by people’s tastes and preferences, and as such, they are subject to change as time goes by. SEO is a dynamic process. If you hire a professional SEO agency, they’ll do that hard work of tracking the ever-evolving market trends and making the necessary changes to keep up. With SEO, your business will be positioned to benefit from our increasingly digital world.