April 17, 2008
It’s one of those things that home-based business owners often never think about. Many home-based business owners assume that their home insurance policy also covers their business activities. The fact is the standard home insurance policy does not cover most home businesses. In addition to this, your home based business activities can void all coverage provided under your home insurance policy.
Home insurance policies provide coverage for residences, not places of business. Using your home for an activity that your insurance company is not aware of can potentially leave you with no coverage at all.
The type of home-based business insurance you will need really depends on the type of business you have.
For example:
• A graphic artist can easily have $20,000.00 in computer equipment and software in their home.
• People who sell products often take inventory and samples with them when visiting clients, along with cell phones and laptops.
• A customer could slip and fall during an appointment at a home based bookkeeping business.
• If you use your vehicle for business, then you’ll need to make sure your auto policy covers your vehicle while being used for business purposes.
• A home-based manufacturer could be held liable if the manufactured product causes injury to a consumer.
• If your business provides a service, you may need professional liability insurance to protect your personal assets, pay defense costs and ensure that your customers are adequately taken care of should they suffer damages as a result of your services.
• If you provide services away from your home, at your customer’s premises, you may need completed operations coverage to protect yourself from liability that could occur after you’ve left the premises and your customer begins to use whatever you were working on and injury or damage occurs.
Not all home based businesses are the same, and neither are their insurance needs.
Take a good look at your business and determine exactly what your insurance needs are. Decide a value on the inventory, equipment, and business contents in your home. How many customers come to your home? How would your business be affected if a disaster forced you out of your home?
Then talk to your insurance agent or broker about your business and get some good advice on what types of coverages you should consider for your business. Ask about home based business insurance packages. If you belong to a business organization or association see if they offer an insurance plan or get group discounts on insurance.
Try to get more than one quote so you can compare coverages and costs. Once your research is done, make a decision and purchase some business insurance. You’re in business and you want to stay that way, so make sure you protect your assets and your customers.
Liane Wood is a chartered insurance professional and registered insurance broker specializing in personal and small business insurance. Visit her website at: http://www.Insurance-Rates.ca.
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Depression is not something you can just ignore and hope it will go away on its own or think that you will just “snap out it”. Depression is a serious medical condition and needs to be taken seriously. It is caused by chemical changes or imbalances in the brain coupled with other different factors.
Many people who are diagnosed with depression wonder how and why it has happened to them, but the truth is that depression can happen to anybody. Debilitating depression can be triggered by many factors, but the good news is that treatment is available to help you cope. These treatments will help stabilize the chemicals in the brain and make sure all the vital messages to the brain are sent and received correctly.
Your first step in the fight against depression is to understand how it affects you, its causes and the treatment options available to you. Learn about the different types of medications, psychotherapy or “talk therapy” and other treatments.
Major depression can severely disrupt your life, affecting your relationships, your sleep pattern, appetite and even your daily work. Some of the symptoms that help the doctor to make a diagnosis of depression are:
- Feelings of sadness
- Losing interest in activities and hobbies you used to enjoy
- Low energy despite lack of activity
- Poor appetite
- Difficulty sleeping or sleeping excessively
- Poor concentration and ability to make decisions
- Feeling hopeless or not worthy
- Suicidal thoughts
Symptoms of depression may also include severe mood disorders. Some mood disorders include but not limited to postpartum disorder and Bipolar disorder.
Postpartum depression affects women who have recently given birth and it normally occurs within the first months after delivery. This type of depression affects the mother’s ability to bond with her newborn despite all the joy surrounding the birth of a new baby. It is extremely important that the new mother seeks medical attention if she experiences these symptoms. Postpartum depression can sometimes be confused with the “Baby Blues” which normally occurs within the first few days after the birth of the child but usually goes away spontaneously.
Bipolar disorder, also known as manic depressive disorder, affects millions of people every year. For sufferers life can have intense highs (mania) and crippling lows (depression). Patients suffering from bipolar disorder describe life as being one giant emotional roller coaster. The good news here is that there are treatments that help control these intense mood swings.
Even though there is no known cure, people with bipolar disorder can live normal lives with proper treatment and management. Patients must manage their condition very carefully just like if they had another illness such as diabetes or heart disease. Building a strong support network can be extremely helpful in treating bipolar disorder.
Living with depression may mean that you have try different types of medications over time until you find one that responds or works best for you. Therapy and lifestyle changes may also be recommended to help elevate depression symptoms.
Change will not happen overnight, but with the right treatment, therapy and lifestyle changes, you can keep depression from overshadowing your life.
Michael Russell
Your Independent guide to Depression
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Whether you are planning a fun weekend getaway, a once-in-a-lifetime trip to Europe or an adventure trip with the family, you don’t have to exceed your travel budget. A little research and planning can pay big dividends for you.
Therefore, when you are ready to get away from it all, online shopping for discount travel and last-minute deals will keep your wallet smiling!
There are numerous tips you can use to find travel gold mines for your dream destinations. Here are some ideas that will get you the most for your travel dollar:
- If you are searching for cheap airline tickets, early morning flights are great bargains! This time of day is off-peak hours and therefore, the prices are much lower.
- To get a good deal on a flight, car rental or cruise…be flexible with your travel times, dates and carrier or rental company.
- If there is more than one airport near your point of departure or destination, compare prices of flights. You can usually find a modest difference in cost.
- Avoid the summer months of June, July and August for popular family vacation spots such as Disney World in Orlando. The high peak, expensive prices and the long crowds will not make you a happy camper. Research online for travel deals in September. Avoiding the summer crowds will save you money and make your trip more pleasurable.
- Beat the airlines at their game and book online 14 days in advance. Online shopping for airline tickets early can bring you savings of 10 to 50 percent. What a deal!
Looking for great deals on airfares, car rentals, hotels or cuises can be achieve by a little research and flexibility. Following the above tips will definitely get you on the right track.
Enjoy travel deals and online shopping discounts from Christy Hollis at Online Shopping 101. Discover the world’s new one-stop shopping site where no shoes or socks are required.
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Fitness guru, Tony Little, designed the Gazelle Cross Trainer Pro. This fitness machine is one of his latest models of Gazelle trainers. It was designed to offer an aerobic style work out that provides both upper and lower body muscle toning. This resistance-training machine is great for strength training too. It is effective for all levels of fitness and it offers a low impact work out, so it is easy on the joints, knees and ankles as well. The Gazelle Cross Trainer Pro also provides an excellent cardiovascular work out.
The Gazelle was designed with the technology to mimic natural walking or running, only it is suspended in mid-air and your feet actually remain on the foot platforms. This helps to reduce the impact on your joints.
Other features that come standard with the Gazelle Cross Trainer Pro are:
* Foam covered handlebars made for comfort and durability.
* Constructed of lasting, durable steel.
* Weight capacity is 300lbs, whereas most fitness machines offer 250 lb weight capacity.
* Attached water bottle for convenience.
* Manufacturer warranty for 1 year.
The Gazelle Cross Trainer Pro has the patented Dual Pivot System and Independent foot action, which makes it so that your legs and feet have a greater range of motion and freedom. Another detail is the Bi-directional hydraulic resistance. This makes the work out more challenging. The computer system on the Gazelle Cross Trainer Pro helps you record your distance, time, calories burned and heart rate.
And one unique characteristic with this fitness trainer is that is folds up for easy storage.
About the Author
Timothy Gorman is a successful Webmaster and publisher of Elliptical-Trainer-Solutions.com. He provides more elliptical trainer ratings, rankings and elliptical trainer reviews that you can research in your pajamas on his website.
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