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Business vs Personal Auto Insurance—and Tips for Saving Money on Both by @rebeccacclark

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by Rebecca Clark

What started out as your small, online shop has started picking up steam. You’re expanding your customer base, hiring more employees, and getting ready to open up a storefront shop. You’re even adding a delivery service, which poses a question crucial to protecting you, your employees, and your business: how can you make sure you’re covered in the case of an automobile accident?

You have two (1) options: business auto insurance or personal auto insurance.

Business car insurance typically is used for covering employees whose job requirements include driving (especially long distances) to work with customers or clients. Some of these positions could include pizza delivery drivers, construction workers, or people who drive for rideshare companies.

Personal car insurance covers individual drivers of individual vehicles. If the only time you use your car for business purposes is picking up coffee for your co-workers in the morning or driving to lunch to meet with a key customer once a month, business car insurance may not be necessary.

Both types of car insurance are meant to protect drivers in the case of an accident that causes bodily injury or property damage; however, business vehicles post a greater risk to insurers than personal automobiles. Here is some more information about each type of insurance:

Business Auto Insurance

Pros:

  • Will free up resources by not requiring an internal employee to manage multiple insurance policies
  • Comprehensive coverage for every employee

Cons:

  • More expensive
  • Increased liability

How to Save:

  • Form a partnership. See if you can work out a discount between you and your insurer by referring your customers to your insurer.
  • Pay on time. Pay your full premium on time through your insurer’s preferred payment method.
  • Encourage safe driving. Hire employees with good driving records and invest in automobile safety (2) classes or refresher courses.

Personal Auto Insurance

Pros:

  • Personalized plans for each employee
  • Cheaper

Cons:

  • Riskier for the company
  • Will need to manage policies internally

How to Save:

  • First, learn about the factors that dictate your car insurance rates. Then shop around and compare car insurance policies (3) from multiple providers.
  • Consider your vehicle. An older-model mini-van is going to be cheaper to insure than the newest Porsche or Ferrari.
  • Raise your deductible (4). This will help lower premium costs.

Whether you decide to cover your employees using an umbrella business insurance or have your employees’ personal insurances cover them, having adequate car insurance is crucial to protecting this business you’ve built from the ground up. Consider the pros and cons to each type of insurance, consult with a professional, and watch your business grow all while keeping you and your employees safe. Best of luck!

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Rebecca Clark graduated from Miami University with degrees in English literature and professional writing with a minor in creative writing. She works as an editor for a technical manual development company in Dayton, Ohio, and does freelance writing as well.

Three Online Stores Entrepreneurs at Every Level Can Utilize by @rebeccacclark

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Three Online Stores Entrepreneurs at Every Level Can Utilize

by Rebecca Clark

The Internet has opened a whole host of doors for creators, allowing people to sell crafts, art, clothing, and nearly any other product you can think of online. With the capability to reach a global audience, third-party online marketplaces make it so much easier to for entrepreneurs to get their products out to customers.

Whether you’re just venturing into opening your own online business or have used the Internet to sell your products for a while, there are plenty of websites you can use to host your online shop. Here are three different options depending on your experience level:

Novice: Amazon
When you think of online shopping, you think of Amazon(1), which is why it’s a great website to use if you want to start building your online presence as a seller. According to Amazon, they have over 95 million monthly users, a huge audience for your products to potentially reach. For a monthly fee, Amazon handles all of the “heavy lifting,” including packing and shipping products and managing customer service and returns. This feature allows entrepreneurs to focus entirely on growing their business and creating quality products.

Intermediate: Etsy
Etsy(2) allows entrepreneurs to build a customized online store where they can sell a variety of different products. The website gives users access to manage their products, payments, and interactions with customers. They also offer a service called Etsy Wholesale, where sellers can apply to have their products sold in some retail stores. Etsy also provides educational supplements and newsletters for sellers to increase their knowledge of running an online business. For people wanting to expand their business and learn more about best practices, Etsy is a good place to begin.

Advanced: Shopify
Shopify(3) is a full-service ecommerce solution that allows users to manage their products, payments, SEO, and overall shop from front-end and back-end standpoints. This website gives entrepreneurs the ability to write their own code, designing a unique and customized storefront completely on their own. Users also have access to Google AdWords and detailed analytics of their store’s performance. Although many people who take advantage of these features are experienced online sellers, Shopify has consultants available 24/7 to assist with any questions they may have. Having your own domain name gives your store a more professional feel and credibility. Shopify is a great tool for people with experience in managing an online business and wanting to take theirs to the next level.

Opening your own business to sell clothes, handmade crafts, jewelry, photography, quilts, prints, and nearly any other imaginable product does not have to be difficult. With only a few clicks, you can be on your way to opening your own business using online marketplaces like the ones mentioned above.

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Rebecca ClarkRebecca Clark is a recent graduate of Miami University with degrees in English literature and professional writing. She enjoys reading, writing, and traveling, and hopes to one day become a book editor

 

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5 Ways Entrepreneurs Can Cut Personal Costs to Focus On Business by @rebeccacclark

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5 Ways Entrepreneurs Can Cut Personal Costs to Focus On Business

by Rebecca Clark

Starting your own business is difficult. There are so many things to think about, but perhaps the biggest obstacles an entrepreneur faces have to do with money. Getting an idea off the ground is expensive, from securing a space to running advertisements to purchasing materials to potentially having to hire employees. These costs add up and can be intimidating to someone who is building a business from scratch.

Luckily, there are plenty of easy things you can do in your everyday life to save money that can then be spent on growing your business. Here are five ways to cut personal costs as you venture into starting your own business:

ο Watch what you eat. Going out to eat or ordering takeout may be more convenient and less work than cooking, but it’s so much more expensive . You can save thousands of dollars a year just by cutting down on how often you go out to eat. Going to the grocery store may be time consuming, but you can save so much money, especially by using coupons and purchasing generic brands. Creating a detailed shopping list will also help you from buying things you don’t really need. Of course, this doesn’t mean you can never treat yourself by getting a nice dinner at a restaurant. There are ways to cut costs while dining out too, such as ordering water, splitting a meal, or boxing up your leftovers. I also know of people who save money on gas by going to grocery stores and purchasing gift cards to restaurants at which they know they’ll be eating soon. Oftentimes, grocery stores offer double fuel points for gift cards, and this quickly adds up, saving you a lot of money on your next tank of gas.

ο Go green. I have a bad habit of not being very conscientious about how much electricity that I mindlessly use. I often leave my computer plugged in overnight even though it’s done charging, forget to turn off the lights when I leave a room, and leave the TV on when I’m not home. But it’s so easy to just unplug. When your phone battery hits 100%, take the charger out of the wall. When you leave the kitchen, turn out the lights. Don’t fall asleep with the TV on. Additionally, it’s wise to invest in an automatic thermostat that you can program to not use as much heat/air conditioning during certain hours, such as when you’re at work.

ο Rethink car insurance. Perhaps you have an old car that isn’t worth much, and you’re considering forgoing collision insurance. Perhaps you’ve read that raising your deductible can save you money. Perhaps you want to combine your car insurance policy with your homeowner’s insurance policy. All of these things work, but on a case-by-case basis. It’s best to visit a car insurance company and talk to an expert about what you can do to lighten your car insurance payments.

ο Say goodbye to cable and your Sunday paper. It’s 2016 (almost 2017!), and that means it’s time to embrace the Internet, whether you like it or not. Cable is so expensive, and you find nearly every TV show online nowadays. ABC, The CW, MTV, and many other stations put new episodes online as they air, which you can watch for free. There are also so many shows you can watch on Hulu/Hulu Plus and Netflix, which are much cheaper alternatives to your monthly cable bill. Also, why are you still paying for newspaper and magazine subscriptions? You can find every news item you could possibly want online, all for free, and in real-time.

ο Change your credit card habits. To me, swiping a credit card feels a lot like paying for something with Monopoly money. It doesn’t feel real. This is why I try to use cash whenever I can and save my credit card just for emergencies or online purchases. Another strategy: don’t carry your credit card with you and leave it at home instead. Or you could just get rid of them altogether.

Saving money doesn’t have to be difficult, and neither does financing your own business. Being more conscientious of how you spend money and incorporating these quick money-saving techniques into your life will allow you to have more money to spend on your new business venture.

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rebecca clarkRebecca Clark is a recent graduate of Miami University with degrees in English literature and professional writing. She enjoys reading, writing, and traveling, and hopes to one day become a book editor.

4 Ways to Use Pinterest Professionally by @rebeccacclark

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4 Ways to Use Pinterest Professionally

Photo Credit: eloyromero via Compfight cc

by Rebecca Clark 

Starting your own small business is no easy task, but luckily there are tons of resources available —including some expected ones. When we normally think about advertising our work, we tend to think of places like Twitter and Etsy, but Pinterest can also serve as a great place to promote yourself and your product.

My own personal Pinterest is just an amalgamation of my dreams: wedding dresses and venues I could never afford, complicated vegetarian recipes I will never have the patience to master, tattoos so big and colorful I would still be met with disappointment in my parents’ eyes thirty years later. Most of my pins are of things I just dream of doing, nothing I would ever link to a potential employer like I would a blog or my LinkedIn and Twitter accounts. But for some, Pinterest is a smart marketing tool for their brand.

It doesn’t have to be just a place for lusting after pretty white dresses and dreaming of visiting the exotic beaches you’ve seen in so many pictures. There are tangible, practical ways to use Pinterest, ways that you can’t use Facebook or Twitter. If done correctly, you can use Pinterest as a marketing tool to reach people all across the world.

Here are four professional ways you may not have known you could use Pinterest:

  1. Online Portfolio: First and foremost, Pinterest makes a perfect place for artists to curate their work. Creating boards organizes your work, and you can create as many different boards as you please. On Pinterest’s home screen, there’s a dropdown menu that links you the most popular searches, and you can quickly and easily access the work of tattoo artists, photographers, designers, and people who make crafts, jewelry, decorations, etc. Pinterest prides itself on colorful and visual content, so it’s the perfect platform for creative people to showcase their talents. Posts can easily be shared to other users’ boards, multiplying your audience tenfold.
  2. Networking: It’s easy to meet fellow Pinners with the same goals as you do. Think of it as LinkedIn for artsy, creative people. Based on the types of things you’ve liked and shared, Pinterest will recommend people for you to follow, a good way to meet others with similar interests as you. It’s also very easy to see who people have re-pinned things from, and you can quickly find the post’s author. You can also follow topics and boards in addition to people, which increases your network as well. If you follow a topic, you’ll see posts from anyone in the world who posts in that topic, not just people you follow. Finally, Pinterest has a messaging option.
  3. Collaboration: This is kind of an extension to networking. It’s easy to join up with other Pinners to create group boards and do other collaborative work. There’s even a “secret board” option, where only you and other contributors can see the board until you decide to make it go live. You can also collaborate with other Pinners to share each other’s material—and avoid annoying your followers from constant self-promotion.
  4. Promotion: That being said, it’s totally okay to promote yourself and your brand! After all, how will anyone know who you are if you never post original content, talk about yourself and your product, or link to your website/store/blog/etc.? Tags and categories make it easy for other Pinners to search for you and your posts. Of course, mix up your posts: maybe for every self-promotional post, you pin a couple of relevant images and one post that promotes someone else’s work? Helping each other out by sharing each other’s content is such a great way to network.

The highly-visual nature of Pinterest makes it so much more than your average social media site. It functions as a hub for artists and creators to interact with their potential customers. Since Pinterest is so different from sites like Twitter and Facebook, it may take a little more reflection upon your brand to figure out how to best utilize the website, but the possibilities are endless.

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Rebecca Clark Rebecca Clark is a recent graduate of Miami University with degrees in English literature and professional writing. She enjoys reading, writing, and traveling, and hopes to one day become a book editor.

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