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No matter how small your business is, having adequate insurance coverage is essential. Whether you’re selling handmade crafts online, mowing lawns or operating a daycare center from home, you must protect your business against unpredictable events. Owners of small home-based businesses are especially vulnerable and many are unaware that a typical homeowners or renters policy might not cover business losses.

To help entrepreneurs understand their insurance needs and options, Consumer Action has created three short, free videos that explain the basics of home-based business insurance. Knowlera Media produced the videos, which can be found on Consumer Action’s YouTube page. Click here to view the series. The series includes:

1. Home-based business insurance coverage. This video describes protections to look for in a policy geared to small, home-based businesses. It includes questions to ask when shopping for an insurance policy.
2. Home-based business insurance options. This video explains the various types of insurance coverage available for microbusinesses, from key person coverage to a comprehensive business owner’s policy, with details about the types of losses that would be eligible.
3. Insurance for businesses with employees. This video covers what kind of insurance home-based business owners must carry if they employ one or more workers. Workers’ compensation and unemployment insurance are discussed.

Ruth Susswein, Consumer Action’s deputy director for national priorities, serves as spokesperson on the videos. “For the entrepreneur engaged in creating a microbusiness, insurance coverage might not be at the top of the priority list, but it should be,” said Susswein. “Protecting yourself and your assets is a fundamental part of any business plan. We kept our video series short and sweet—two to three minutes in length—because we know how busy home-based business owners and entrepreneurs can be.”

The most recent issue of Consumer Action’s newsletter, Consumer Action News, focuses on the insurance needs of home-based microbusinesses. The issue, available for free on the Web, covers the subject in depth and also includes a business owner’s insurance checklist and tips on keeping company data secure. Click here to read the issue.

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Consumer Action has been a champion of underrepresented consumers nationwide since 1971. A non-profit 501(c)(3) organization, Consumer Action focuses on consumer education that empowers low- and moderate-income and limited-English-speaking consumers to financially prosper. It also advocates for consumers in the media and before lawmakers to advance consumer rights and promote industry-wide change.

By providing consumer education materials in multiple languages, a free national hotline, a comprehensive website (www.consumer-action.org) and annual surveys of financial and consumer services, Consumer Action helps consumers assert their rights in the marketplace and make financially savvy choices. Nearly 7,500 community and grassroots organizations benefit annually from its extensive outreach programs, training materials and support.