Running a business from the comfort of your home can feel like the best of both worlds. You earn a steady income and save money, work the hours that you choose, and do so wherever you like wearing whatever you want to. However, home businesses aren’t without their drawbacks. These types of companies face a number of unique risks, which, if ignored, could result in disaster. To keep your home business safe and thriving, here are six ways to reduce these risks.
Hide Your Real Address
Despite running your business from home, you shouldn’t advertise your home address as your business premises. This can make your home a target for thieves, as they’ll assume your home contains pricey equipment or products that they can sell on. To prevent this, you should instead rent a virtual address or PO box and have all mail for your company sent there.
Conduct A Risk Assessment
Just like you would in any other business premises, you need to conduct a risk assessment of your home. If you don’t, and an employee or business client is injured there, you will be held liable. This means they can contact an injury lawyer and start a lawsuit against you. Ensure you repeat this risk assessment regularly, removing any additional hazards that you may find.
Know Your Team Well
Allowing a stranger into your home is rarely a good idea, so why would you do so with employees you barely know. Despite what many assume, working from home doesn’t always mean working alone. More often than not, you will have at least a few team members helping you out. If you plan for these to work at your property, ensure you that you can trust them first.
Protect Your Digital World
When most of your working life exists in the digital world, any sort of computer issue can wreak havoc. Unfortunately, smaller businesses are forever being attacked by cyber criminals, making it more important than ever that you protect your data. To make the job of a hacker a little more difficult, you should use complicated passwords and install antivirus and firewall software.
Store Paper Files Safely
For ease and environmental reasons, most of us tend to store our data online these days, using systems such as the cloud. That being said, you may require hard copies of certain contracts and other important files. In the wrong hands, these documents can get you into a world of trouble. For this reason, you should keep them safe in a fireproof cabinet or home safe.
Get The Right Cover
Although your business exists in your home, you shouldn’t just assume that it will be covered by your homeowner’s insurance. More often than not, this isn’t the case, which means that, if anything in your office were to be stolen or damaged, you would have to pay our yourself to replace it. Because of this, you should do some research and invest in the right policy.
Running a home business can be a risk, but, with the tips above, you should be able to avoid any unnecessary stress or financial loss.
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