The first step is to come up with your business idea – now it’s time to build! In order for your new startup to be a success, you need spunk, determination and a strategy.

But where to begin?

From product, to employees, to clients, the responsibility can be overwhelming. We’ve put together a few of our tried-and-true tips to help you begin to successfully build your startup.

Networking is key

Identify your professional community and engage with it. Nowadays, you can successfully and efficiently network via social media platforms like LinkedIn. While this is a manageable day-to-day tool, we also suggest taking advantage of professional networking events for face-to-face interaction.

Networking also entails meeting the right people who can help you launch your business. The benefit of having strong connections is that they can turn into powerful allies.

When you interact with people who are already running a successful business, you may be able to gain a better understanding of the funds and number of shares to authorize that can satisfy investors, and you can offer to your future employees.

Find a balance

A startup is very demanding and can eat up the bulk of your time; however, it is important for you to give yourself (and your employees) a break. There is a reason Google’s offices have Ping-Pong tables, basketball courts and rock climbing walls. These activities help people expand there minds and think outside the box.

Moreover, bonding with employees outside the office can be essential to a company’s success. Mutual respect outside the office will transfer to exist inside the office and ensure that everyone feels safe in the work environment.

Ask questions

Even though you’re the boss, don’t feel like you need to have all the answers right away. Ask questions to people you trust.

People love to share their own experiences. Particularly at Cleary, we are happy to help with your startup questions and provide information about the various types of coverage that would be most beneficial for you.

Most corporations opt for some form of liability insurance, and small businesses are no exception. But if you’re new to the world of risk management, the first question to ask yourself is: what exactly is liability insurance?

General liability insurance – often referred to as commercial insurance – is best described as coverage for damages that the insured becomes legally obligated to pay due to bodily injury, property damage or personal and advertising injury arising from the insured’s premises, operations, completed operations and products. Essentially, for both personal injury and property damage claims, you are covered for related legal fees, costs and expenses.

Important aspects of running a business that is covered by this type of insurance include:

1. The cost of legal defense and any settlement or award should an owner be successfully sued;
2. Protection against any liability an owner would face as a tenant of damaged rented property.

Some policies can also cover misleading advertising claims, including libel, slander, and copyright infringement.

So what is not covered in your liability insurance plan? Below is a general list of items that are not included in this type of insurance, but will vary by policy.

Employee medical expenses

• Damage to property owned by the business
• Vehicles or employees injured in a company vehicle
• Any damage or injury that involves a person in the company

To summarize, damages to anything owned by the business are not covered; that’s why liability insurance is called a “third party” insurance.

Tips for Selecting the Best General Liability Insurance for Your Business

Understanding the potential risks to your business is a fundamental way to begin this process, because the plan you might need really depends on the type of business you own.

For example, a building contractor faces much higher risks of injury and actual damage to his or her business than, say, a web designer’s business—simply due to the kind of work involved.

Once you have recognized your own business needs, the next step is to fully read the coverage policies. It may seem obvious, but it’s crucial to understand what certain agencies are offering in order to choose the best policy for you.

Something else to consider is the Business Owner’s Policy (BOP), a package deal that most often includes property, general liability, vehicular, and business interruption protection. This option streamlines the process and may cost less than purchasing multiple coverages from different insurers. Again, however, if your business has unique demands that are not covered by an umbrella policy such as the BOP, you may need to invest in additional plans.

If you have any questions regarding liability insurance policies, don’t hesitate to contact a Cleary representative. We’re here to help you protect your business and narrow down the coverages that your company truly needs.

Let’s face it; insurance agents aren’t normally in the business to tell you what types of a commercial insurance policy you don’t need.  In fact, many of our clients tell us that they often felt uncomfortable talking with former agents for fear they’d over sell them on coverage.

At Cleary Insurance, we’re all about risk management: determining where your risks are, and how to best mitigate them through several methods, one of which is carrying insurance.

So in this spirit, we’ve taken a look at some coverages that you should examine closely before jumping in. And if you ever need advice, just give us a call.

Cyber Liability Insurance

In the digital age, information has never been so accessible—and vulnerable. Online hackers threaten many businesses and companies, and Cyber Liability Insurance may provide protection against these types of attacks.

Heinan Landa, a contributing writer for the Boston Business Journal, highlights some alarming facts in one of his articles:

“According to the National Cyber Security Alliance, one-in five-small businesses falls victim to cybercrime each year, and of those businesses 60-percent will fold within six months of an attack.”

This threat and its detrimental effects are formidable, and certain precautions should definitely be pursued. However, is the danger sizeable enough to necessitate the investment of an entirely new insurance policy?

It all depends on the type of business in question (and the exact nature of information stored). For instance, if a business handles sensitive and private information, then owners might consider one of these cyber liability coverages.

On the other hand, consider if your existing insurance can be formatted to cover your needs. If you do not handle customer data, then your Errors and Omissions policy may cover certain company claims.

It is crucial to double check obtained insurances to verify if further coverage is truly required. And as always, it is imperative to remain proactive: invest in secure servers, establish standard processes for passwords and file sharing, and educate employees about cyber-safety.

Employee Dishonesty Insurance

As much as business owners like to trust their employees, there’s always the chance of theft or other crimes. Employee Dishonesty Insurance serves to support owners against such occurrences.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce provides some startling statistics on crime resulting from employee dishonesty:

“The median loss is around $140,000, and small businesses, those with less than 500 employees, suffer as much as $100,000 more in losses than larger companies. Employers only discover these losses an average of 10 percent of the time, and the losses that are discovered result in the employer regrouping nothing more than 40 percent of the time.”

It’s no wonder why small businesses in particular see a need for this type of insurance.

However, employee dishonesty is not offered in most commercial insurance policies and would be considered a secondary coverage. It’s all up to the owner; are there already measures put in place to monitor the activity of employees? Does the size of the business necessitate this extra insurance? If you are at all unsure, don’t hesitate to contact a Cleary agent to discuss the matter further.

Product Liability Insurance and other Industry-Specific Policies

Business owners who do not require Product Liability Insurance can easily avoid it. Product Liability Insurance applies to businesses that make, distribute, or sell a product, protecting you from any losses related to a product defect. Therefore, if an owner’s business does not function in this way, there’s no need to invest in this type of insurance.

There are other industry-specific policies that could be thrown in front of you, but easily avoided, such as Boiler and Machinery, Commercial Auto, and so on. It may seem simple enough, but contact one of our representatives if you feel like you’re signed up for more than you need.

Presented by Michael Regan

The Massachusetts Construction Classification Premium Adjustment Program (MCCPAP) applies to employers who are eligible for workers compensation experience rating and have exposure in any of the enumerated construction classifications. The MCCPAP may reduce an employer’s workers compensation premium. The calculated credit is applied to all of the employer’s workers compensation classifications.

The basic premise for the credit is that contractors who pay “prevailing” or union wages are at a workers compensation premium disadvantage to those that don’t; even though the work is the same and the exposure the same.

For example, a carpenter in North Adams has the same work exposure as a carpenter in Boston. But, the wages are higher in Boston then in North Adams. The MCCPAP helps to level this variance for Workers Compensation premium purposes.  In fact, I have seen credits of over 20% applied to some of our account which is a major cost savings.

A contractor may apply for the MCCPAP at the Massachusetts Workers Compensation Rating bureau website, www.wcribma.org.   If a credit is calculated the Bureau will notify the insurance carrier on behalf of the employer and the credit would be automatically applied.