Blog

Insurance can provide you with the protection and peace of mind to grow and scale your freelance business. While peace of mind is priceless, it doesn’t help you set a budget for your freelancer insurance costs. So we’re rounding up some of the most popular policies for solopreneurs and home-based businesses so you can understand the costs associated with protecting your business. No time for guesswork? Request a personalized quote for freelancer insurance from Coverdash to find out exactly how much it will cost to get the coverage your freelance business needs. How Much Does General Liability Insurance Cost? General liability insurance is the most common insurance protection for businesses of all sizes, including freelancers, solopreneurs, and home-based businesses. General liability (GL) is meant to shield your business against third-party injuries, property damage, and advertising injuries, like slander, libel, and copyright infringement. Did you know? Some freelancer marketplaces, such as Fiverr or Upwork, may require you to carry general liability coverage before you can list your services. Fiverr, for example, requires you to carry adequate general liability insurance to cover the more common risks appropriate to the services you offer. General liability insurance for freelancers is more affordable than you may think — a Hiscox survey of 50,000 small business owners revealed the average cost of general liability is around $30.00 per month. How Much Does Professional Liability Insurance Cost? Another common freelancer insurance policy protects your business against lawsuits from clients who claim they’ve suffered a financial loss due to alleged negligence or mistakes from your work. Professional liability insurance is particularly popular with freelancers who provide a service or offer advice and consulting to clients. If you’re a service provider or consultant, such as an IT professional, website designer, graphic designer, photographer, accountant, or financial consultant, you may want to protect your business with professional liability insurance (also known as E&O or errors and omissions insurance). Whether you’re at fault or not, professional liability is intended to help cover legal costs in the event of a lawsuit from an unsatisfied client who feels you’re responsible for their financial loss. The median cost for professional liability insurance is around $60 per month. Most small businesses and freelancers invest between $500 - $1,000 annually for the peace of mind of this service-based business protection. How Much Does a BOP Policy Cost? So far, each freelancer insurance policy averages less than $100 per month, a price most solopreneurs could easily afford. However, when you need multiple coverages to protect your business, the cost of freelance coverage can add up. A Business Owners Policy (BOP) provides a cost-savings benefit for small business owners who need multiple policies to protect their business. BOPs typically combine the protection of general liability and commercial property into one packaged policy that costs less than purchasing them separately. Combining these two policies into one BOP bundle could cost you an average of $57 per month, although your exact costs could vary depending on how much coverage you need and whether or not your BOP bundles in additional protections as well. How Much Does Cyber Liability Insurance Cost? Many freelancers can benefit from the protection of cyber liability insurance, a policy designed to protect your business in the event of a data breach or data loss. Advances in technology allow many freelancers to work wherever a laptop and WIFI network is available. “Digital nomads” is a term used to describe the intrepid explorers who run their freelancing businesses as they wander from one (often exotic) local to another. While other freelancers may wander no further than the local coffee shop, the data breach risks remain the same. Cyber liability insurance can help protect your business from the costs associated with a data breach or hack if you handle sensitive information such as credit card information, client data, or personal information. Cyber liability is becoming increasingly popular with IT professionals and other freelancers in the technology space. The median cost of a cyber policy is around $140 per month. Get a Quote for Freelancer Insurance from Coverdash Coverdash provides insurance solutions for freelancers, solopreneurs, and home-based business owners. We specialize in freelance insurance, insurance for ecommerce sellers, and coverage for small businesses, and we can provide a fast and accurate insurance quote from top-rated carriers that’s tailored for your specific business needs. Request your quote today.

Do you need insurance as a freelancer? You may not think you need freelance insurance, especially if you’re a service-based freelancer working from home. However, you may be surprised to learn that business insurance may be required in some cases, and in others, could be the ticket to winning new clients and scaling your freelance business. Do Freelancers Need Insurance? Currently, no state laws require you to carry commercial insurance for your freelancing business. The exception is worker’s compensation insurance, which is required by law in nearly every state if you hire employees. However, carrying certain commercial insurance policies could help your business thrive. Here’s how: Insurance Requirements for Freelancer Marketplaces Freelancing marketplaces such as Fiverr and Upwork are incredible resources for web designers, copywriters, graphic designers, and other service-based entrepreneurs to find new clients. Billions of dollars are transferred to freelancers every year on these marketplaces, so ignoring them as a potential source of business can be a costly mistake. Some freelance marketplaces require you to carry commercial insurance to bid on and accept jobs on their platform. Fiverr, [https://www.fiverr.com/terms_of_service] for example, requires freelancers to carry adequate general liability insurance to cover the most common risks of your service. Upwork, on the other hand, does not currently have an insurance requirement outlined in its terms of service. However, they do require you to carry any insurance coverage required by law in your state and country. If you want to tap into the enormous potential available in these freelance platforms, carrying the required insurance policies required by the platform or your state can help you find new clients. Use Insurance to Grow Your Client Base Not all freelancers get clients from freelancing platforms. If you have a “cold-call and connect” method for building your clientele list, you still may need to have insurance protection in place. Many freelance service providers work directly for small, medium, or enterprise-level businesses. What happens if your work results in a financial loss, lawsuit, or business interruption for your client? Savvy business owners know that we live in a litigious society, and a potential lawsuit lurks around every corner. Many potential clients will require you to carry general liability, professional liability, or other commercial insurance policies to minimize their risks of being financially liable for your work. Freelancer Insurance: a Competitive Advantage Not every potential client or freelance marketplace will require you to carry insurance. However, you can still use your insurance coverage as a competitive advantage when bidding for jobs. Having freelancer insurance in place protects your business, allows you to protect your clients, and makes you look like the experienced professional you are. Use your coverage as a competitive advantage. Let potential clients know you have all the necessary business licenses, professional certifications, and insurance policies in place. What Insurance Do Freelancers Need? Now that you know that freelancer insurance may be required to find new clients, it’s time to consider what types of insurance you may need. General Liability Insurance for Freelancers Consider adding a general liability policy for the most basic business protection at a bare minimum. General liability (GL) insurance is a foundational insurance policy that is designed to protect your business against claims for third-party bodily injury or property damage. GL coverage will typically contain coverage against claims for copyright infringement, slander, and libel. This coverage is even more important for freelancers who provide services such as graphic design, web design, copywriting, and other marketing-related services. Imagine that your client provides you with a competitor’s logo for inspiration. On the other hand, the competitor thinks your version of the logo is a little too close for comfort and files a lawsuit for copyright infringement. This real-life example happened in Utah when one gourmet cookie retailer sued its competitors for “confusingly similar” branding and packaging. Don’t get caught up in your own version of the cookie-wars [https://www.businessinsider.com/crumbl-files-federal-lawsuit-against-cookie-competitors-2022-7] . Protect yourself with a general liability policy for freelancers. BOP (Business Owner’s Policy) for Freelancers Another common insurance policy that benefits freelancers is a business owner’s policy, known as a BOP. A BOP is a combination policy that generally includes general liability insurance protection with commercial property coverage. Why would you need commercial property insurance as a freelancer? Commercial property insurance can protect your building or office and the equipment you use to run your business. Many home-based business owners mistakenly believe that their homeowners insurance or renters insurance protects their business assets. However, these policies are designed to protect your personal assets, not your business equipment and property. Only commercial property insurance is intended to cover the laptops, desktops, cameras, video cameras, podcasting equipment, and other business assets you use while running your business. The biggest reason to consider a BOP is the cost-savings potential. This combination policy is often more cost-effective than purchasing separate GL and commercial property policies. Professional Liability Insurance for Freelancers Also known as errors and omissions (E&O) coverage, professional liability is business insurance tailor-made with service providers in mind. Professional liability is meant to protect you in the event your client experiences a financial loss resulting from your service or advice. Professional liability protects you against client lawsuits alleging professional errors, negligence, or omissions. Cyber Liability Insurance for Freelancers The tremendous technological advancements of our modern world allow you to run your freelancing business out of your home (or from the road). You can grab your laptop and work from just about every corner of the world these days. However, public WiFi connections, stolen laptops, and criminal hackers are just a few of the ways that you could risk client data as you run your business remotely. Cyber liability insurance is meant to protect you in case of a data breach, hack, or loss of sensitive personal information. This business insurance policy can help ensure you don’t have to pay out of pocket for lawsuits, client notification, credit monitoring, or reputational damage if a break occurs. Get Freelancer Insurance from Coverdash Not sure which freelancer insurance policy is best for your business? Let the insurance professionals at Coverdash help you craft the perfect protection for your business. Our insurance broker specializes in insurance for freelancers, and we’re able to get top-rated coverage for our clients at rates any freelancer could afford. Request a quote today and find out how affordable freelancer insurance can be from Coverdash.