Freelance Insurance: Protect Yourself from Lawsuits and Other Risks

As a freelancer, you’ve worked hard to build your own business. You enjoy juggling multiple projects and working a flexible schedule. You know what it takes to grow your business — and you put 100% into succeeding as a solo entrepreneur.

But what would happen if you were sued or one of your clients got injured in your office?

Without business insurance, you may be at financial risk. It’s fairly easy for an angry client to sue you for negligence or for an injury that happens if a client visits you onsite. And even freelancers can experience costly third-party property damage.

Fortunately, Simply Business is here to help. We’re an online insurance platform that specializes in helping freelancers find affordable business insurance options. We’re also fast, and we know freelancers like you are busy. In just 10 minutes, we can help you compare free quotes on policies from the nation’s leading insurers.

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Insurance Policies Available for Freelancers:

• General liability insurance
• Professional liability insurance

Benefits:

• Help protect you financially if a claim arises.
• Cover you if a client accuses you of negligence in your work.
• Position your business as credible and trustworthy.
• Fulfill a legal requirement, depending on where you live and work.

What Type of Freelance Business Insurance Should I Consider?

It depends on the type of work you do, how much property you have, and how likely you are to get injured on the job. If you’re unsure of anything, you can talk to one of our licensed insurance agents, who are happy to help you find and compare the best policies for your business.

Freelancers who want comprehensive coverage may want to get both general liability and professional liability insurance. Together, these two policies can help protect you from all angles. Anything can happen, and just one incident can make getting a policy worthwhile.

Take a look at how general liability and professional liability insurance can work for freelancers:

General Liability (GL) Insurance

Many freelance business owners can benefit greatly from general liability insurance, as it can help cover the costs associated with third-party accidents, injuries, and property damage. In fact, it’s one of the first policies many small business owners get.

Let’s take a look at how GL insurance usually works. Let’s say you’re a freelance designer and animator who works with several large advertising agencies. One day, you invite a client into your home to discuss a project. During the visit, you accidentally spill hot coffee on your client’s expensive laptop.

Not only is the computer unsalvageable, but your client also loses hundreds of electronic files. Later, you realize it will cost thousands of dollars to replace the equipment, software, and damage done by the client losing all those files.

If you have general liability insurance, your policy can typically help cover these costs, up to your policy’s limit, so you don’t have to pay out-of-pocket for all of your client’s losses and expenses.

General liability insurance can usually cover:

• Bodily injury to another person (like a client)
• Third-party property damage
• Personal and advertising injury
• Medical expenses
• And more

Here’s what general liability insurance usually doesn’t cover:

• Damage to your own property
• Professional services
• Damage to your work
• Motor vehicles while in business use
• Expected or intentional injury or damage
• And more

Professional Liability Insurance

Most freelancers need professional liability insurance too, especially if your company offers services such as design, writing, data entry, or photography. Professional liability insurance is designed to help cover costs associated with claims of negligence, libel, slander, or copyright infringement (up to your policy limit).

Here’s how it works. Let’s say you’re a successful freelance writer who juggles multiple clients. While on a deadline, you inadvertently misrepresent one of your clients in an article. The article is published without an editorial review and causes the client to lose significant revenue. Later, your client sues you for negligence, costing you thousands of dollars in damages and legal fees.

If you had professional liability insurance, it could cover you up to your policy limit. It also could help cover legal fees along the way. Think you’ll never get sued? Think again. Unfortunately, 43% of small business owners polled say they’ve been involved in or threatened by a civil lawsuit.

If you’re a freelancer, get professional liability insurance now before it’s too late. Your policy can typically cover:

• Negligence or alleged negligence
• Legal defense costs
• Omissions or alleged omissions
• Copyright infringement
• Claims and damages
• And more

Professional liability insurance usually doesn’t cover:

• Intentional acts and omissions
• Property damage
• Medical expenses
• Bodily injury
• False advertising
• Employment matters
• Patents and trade secrets
• And more

Why Should I Get Freelance Liability Insurance?

As a freelancer, you may think you’ll never get sued. After all, you’re not a large company with a lot of assets — why would someone bother going after you?

But the reality is, you’re still at risk. And even as a team of one, you still can be on the hook if a client or vendor gets injured while working on your property.

Be aware that an unexpected incident can happen at any time. That’s why it’s so important to get business insurance early on, before something bad happens. Just one costly injury or claim is enough to put a freelancer out of business.

Freelance Insurance FAQs

Why Choose Simply Business?

At Simply Business, we’re proud to work with freelancers and other small business owners. Freelance workers are a key part of our economy and help cultivate creativity and ingenuity. We want to see independent workers, like you, fully protected and thriving.

We understand freelancers and the unique way they work. As a result, we can show you affordable policies to meet your needs. As a quickly growing online insurance platform, freelancers nationwide trust us to match them with quality freelance business insurance providers.

Need more reasons to choose Simply Business?

• We do more than offer insurance. We want you to be successful, so we offer informational resources and support to help freelancers grow their businesses.

• We prioritize simplicity. As a freelancer, you wear many hats. But you don’t need to be an insurance expert. Our licensed agents work hard to help you understand your policy and answer your questions.

• We prioritize your time. We strive to make getting insurance hassle-free. That’s why we designed our online quote form to give you affordable quotes in just 10 minutes.

You may be a team of just one, but you deserve big-league protection. Take 10 minutes today to compare quotes on freelance business insurance. You won’t regret taking the next step to protect yourself.

This content is intended to be used for informational purposes only. It is not intended to provide legal, tax, accounting, investment, or any other form of professional advice.