Owning and running a business comes with lots of risks. The smartest way to protect your equipment, stock and contents, is to take out a comprehensive Business Insurance policy.

Whether a corner fish and chip shop, a boutique cafe or a 100+ seat restaurant or everything in between, hospitality (and retail) businesses are always a hive of fast paced activity. With subtle music on discrete speakers, food being whizzed around on trays, loud groups of happy customers and hopefully loads of foot traffic every day, you need the right insurance to suit your business.

Your job is to make your clients look and feel, a million dollars. We all know that feeling you get after a great cut and colour – the swish and smile – that’s what you’re selling as a Hair & Beauty professional.

Do you or your business provide advice or service for a fee? If so, you are likely to have a Professional Indemnity exposure and need special cover.

There is a lot of responsibility in running a business, managing employees or sitting on a company board for example. Are you protected if someone alleged you had failed in your duties as a Director or manager? You absolutely need to consider Management Liability Insurance.

Every business these days has some level of online presence or activity and an exposure to cyber crime.

What would you do if, through the course of conducting your business, you caused injury to another person or damage to someone else’s property? You’d feel pretty horrible, I know, but what happened if they wanted you to pay medical costs, or to fix the damage?

Do you own commercial property and lease it out? You have a unique set of risks that requires a Commercial Property Owners Insurance to properly cover not only your property but your rent and liability as a property owner.

You can’t be a back-seat-driver with your employees 24/7, so making sure your vehicle insurance is right for your business, is more than good sense. It’s peace of mind.

Whether you’re a large-scale civil contractor, in mining, a wet or dry plant hire company or a one-man earthmoving gig, you’re going to need Plant & Equipment Insurance to cover your road registered and off-road plant, vehicles and portable machinery or equipment.

If you’re a registered builder or a business providing some form of construction services as part of your business (think shop fitters, landscaping, earthworks, civil construction), chances are you need a Construction Insurance policy.

Trades are essential services – providing the wiring, plumbing, plastering, building and more that keep us in safe and secure homes and workplaces, connected to each other, warm or cool, and our properties looking good too!

If you’re about to embark on building your own home yourself or about to extend on or renovate an existing home without a registered builder, you’re considered an Owner Builder. You need to consider a specific sort of insurance to protect your physical build and materials, as well as your Public Liability exposure.

Do you transport or ship your own or someone else’s goods or products? Do you import or export your own or someone else’s goods or products? Are you sending products to customers within Australia? Or around the world? In all of these scenarios and more, you need a form of Marine Insurance.

Whether your farming business is a working farm or a large commercial enterprise, you need a specialised and tailored Farm Insurance policy to cover your home assets (if you live on the property) and your business farming assets.

Either built into your Property Insurance, or as a separate policy, making sure your farm machinery and farm motor is covered correctly under a Farm Motor cover is important to make sure your machinery can be replaced or repaired as quickly as possible, to keep you up and running.

If you’re a crop producer, you’re well aware of how harsh Australia’s conditions are, with a variety of environmental hazards that can wipe out a portion or all of your hard work in one event.

Do you live on a property larger than 5 acres? You may need to consider a few extra aspects to your insurance than you would with a standard home and contents policy.

If you undertake any travel as part of your business, whether domestically or internationally, a Corporate Travel Insurance is worth its weight in gold. Even the best laid travel plans can go astray – add into the mix the complexities of business travel arrangements and making sure your employees are looked after if the worst happens, and a Corporate Travel policy is essential.