I've been in insurance since 1996. In that time, I've watched business owners lose thousands — sometimes hundreds of thousands — because of mistakes that were completely avoidable.
Here are the five I see most often. If you're a business owner, chances are you're making at least two of them right now.
1. Buying on price alone
This is the number one killer. Every year, I see business owners switch to a cheaper policy without reading the fine print. Then the claim comes, and they find out their "savings" left a massive gap in coverage.
Cheap insurance isn't a deal. It's a gamble.
2. Not updating your policy when your business changes
You added employees. You bought new equipment. You expanded to a new location. But your policy still reflects what your business looked like two years ago.
Your insurance should grow with your business. If it doesn't, you're exposed.
3. Ignoring liability coverage
Most business owners think about property coverage — fire, theft, weather. But it's the liability claims that bankrupt businesses. A customer slips. An employee gets hurt. A product fails.
One lawsuit with insufficient liability coverage can end everything.
4. Skipping business interruption insurance
If your building floods tomorrow and you can't operate for three months, can you survive? Can you keep paying rent, payroll, and vendors with zero revenue?
Business interruption coverage exists for exactly this reason. Most small business owners don't have it. The ones who've needed it wish they had.
5. Treating your agent like a vending machine
You call once a year, pay the premium, and disappear. Your agent doesn't know your business has changed. You don't know your coverage has gaps.
The best protection comes from a real relationship with your agent — someone who understands your business and reviews your coverage regularly.
The bottom line
Every one of these mistakes is fixable. But you have to know you're making them first.
That's what The Protection Circle is here for — to make sure you're never caught off guard.
If you want to dig deeper into any of these, reply to this email. I read every one.
— John