Maggie Rants [and Raves]

FIRE!

by Maggie Franklin | May 27, 2011 | Bookmark +

So I was totally just about to sit down and write a new blog when we looked out the salon window and realized that something was on fire!

So Cindy (massage therapist neighbor) and Bree (hairstylist neighbor) all came and hung out my window and pondered what local building was in the process of going up in flames. Bree and I, both done for the day, grabbed cameras and ran to the car.

I was right, it was a canned foods factory (I guess that's the proper term) about half a mile away. We got some great photos.

No. It has absolutely nothing to do with nails and there's a good chance my editors will e-mail me back saying something along the lines of, "Ummm, Maggie? Have you lost your mind? Why would you turn this in?" So I'm going to try to figure out how to make it nail-related ...

Which sorta, kinda does bring up some business-related thoughts: I think most of us have, or know we should have, a business insurance policy that will cover our butts with professional liability and general liability in case someone gets hurt on the premises or from our services, as well as a fat policy that will reimburse us for all that glitter in case it becomes a shiny mess in the soot, or in case some drunken buffoon drives through your salon window, or if locusts attack, etc. But what happens to you, your business, your livelihood, if the building you work in — but don't own — is reduced to cinders?

I used to work next to a liquor store/gas station (we have those in California — other states might think of them as "convenience stores that sell booze") and at some point, the owners of the store and I stopped getting along. I once remarked casually (and mostly tongue-in-cheekly) that it would be really cool if a tornado would touch down and just take out their gas pumps. Not reduce the whole building to rubble, not hurt anyone, just do enough damage that they'd be forced to close down for several weeks. You know, sort of a karmic "time out" for being jerks to their neighbors.

Then it occurred to me: I was located behind them, with a narrow parking lot being the only way to access my salon. If something did happen to the liquor store, it would prevent access to my business!

It turns out that there is a type of insurance policy for this sort of thing — it's called "business interruption coverage" or something like that. Sort of works like disability insurance for you and your employees in the event that something prevents you from being able to access your business.

Look into it.

 

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