Small Business (LLC) Insurance & Banking

[Assman 1830]

I'm tossing around the idea of opening a small business as a side hustle in case the airlines decide to put me on my ass come October 1st.  I've already applied for the LLC, so next up will be figuring out my best options for insurance and banking.  My business will be mobile, where I'll be performing services in other people's homes.  Based on the research I've done, it sounds like I'll only need General Liability coverage which basically covers property damage and bodily harm.  I won't have expensive equipment, so I don't see the need for small business coverage but I could be wrong.  What should I be looking when shopping different insurance plans?

For banking, I figure I'll just start with a business checking account for expenditures and deposits.  There are thousands of small business checking accounts, so what makes one better than the other?  I know that some have monthly fees, deposit limits, transaction limits, etc, but what are some real world factors I should be considering?  I will only be making $100-200 per transaction, and I figure I'll be lucky to have a few customers per week when I start, so we're not talking massive amounts of cash or transactions here.

What else?

Edited May 1, 2020 by Assman

[conVINCEd 21469]

33 minutes ago, Assman said:

I'm tossing around the idea of opening a small business as a side hustle in case the airlines decide to put me on my ass come October 1st.  I've already applied for the LLC, so next up will be figuring out my best options for insurance and banking.  My business will be mobile, where I'll be performing services in other people's homes.  Based on the research I've done, it sounds like I'll only need General Liability coverage which basically covers property damage and bodily harm.  I won't have expensive equipment, so I don't see the need for small business coverage but I could be wrong.  What should I be looking when shopping different insurance plans?

For banking, I figure I'll just start with a business checking account for expenditures and deposits.  There are thousands of small business checking accounts, so what makes one better than the other?  I know that some have monthly fees, deposit limits, transaction limits, etc, but what are some real world factors I should be considering?  I will only be making $100-200 per transaction, and I figure I'll be lucky to have a few customers per week when I start, so we're not talking massive amounts of cash or transactions here.

What else?

Any insurance advice is going to be based on the type of business.  If you are mowing lawns the advice will be different vs. if you are doing obgyn house calls.  The price will vary from a few hundred bucks/year for the liability coverage to you struggling to find an insurer willing to write the business.  I realize that those are extremes, and your endeavor probably falls somewhere in the middle of those two examples, but a little info as to the type of business would be helpful.

[deadshank 24653]

Assman making house calls?

IBC. 

[Assman 1830]

9 hours ago, conVINCEd said:

Any insurance advice is going to be based on the type of business.  If you are mowing lawns the advice will be different vs. if you are doing obgyn house calls.  The price will vary from a few hundred bucks/year for the liability coverage to you struggling to find an insurer willing to write the business.  I realize that those are extremes, and your endeavor probably falls somewhere in the middle of those two examples, but a little info as to the type of business would be helpful.

This would be a cleaning/sanitation type business.  Going into homes and businesses and spraying eco-friendly/organic substances.

[conVINCEd 21469]

1 hour ago, Assman said:

This would be a cleaning/sanitation type business.  Going into homes and businesses and spraying eco-friendly/organic substances.

You’re line of thinking is correct.  GL policy and it should be fairly reasonably priced.  You will probably be asked a lot of questions about the cleaning products you plan to use, and will get some pushback if there is anything deemed to be dangerous.  I’m no longer in that game, but any broker will know the companies that are a good fit for what you are doing.

[luke duke 6413]

  I will only be making $100-200 per transaction, and I figure I'll be lucky to have a few customers per week when I start, so we're not talking massive amounts of cash or transactions here.

I’m surprised that handjobs cost that much. I guess that you can charge more since you’re making house calls.

[Longhorn_Fan68 33871]

Bump.

Figured no need to start a new thread when no one can answer me in this one (I keed, I keed)

Last October I set out on my own and starting a design-build company that I've been working on and building up over a decade. We're close to fully advertising ourselves and really ramping up the business. Just a few more tweaks to the site and whatnot and ready to rock and roll.

Anywho, I currently have both my personal and commercial accounts in a credit union. Their personal banking is fine but having managed the accounts and books at my old firm the commercial side is pretty lacking. For instance, they don't support Zelle. I hesitate to move to a bank as I don't want to be eaten alive with fees, but are there any out there today that cater to the construction industry? Again, I'm a pretty small enterprise at the moment, but I hoping to grow pretty quickly which means my bank will need to be flexible and facilitate that growth. I don't think what I have now is gonna cut it too much longer.

 

[Handcruser 2805]

Bump.

Figured no need to start a new thread when no one can answer me in this one (I keed, I keed)

Last October I set out on my own and starting a design-build company that I've been working on and building up over a decade. We're close to fully advertising ourselves and really ramping up the business. Just a few more tweaks to the site and whatnot and ready to rock and roll.
Anywho, I currently have both my personal and commercial accounts in a credit union. Their personal banking is fine but having managed the accounts and books at my old firm the commercial side is pretty lacking. For instance, they don't support Zelle. I hesitate to move to a bank as I don't want to be eaten alive with fees, but are there any out there today that cater to the construction industry? Again, I'm a pretty small enterprise at the moment, but I hoping to grow pretty quickly which means my bank will need to be flexible and facilitate that growth. I don't think what I have now is gonna cut it too much longer.

 

What services besides Zelle are they lacking?

Most likely you don’t have enough volume or needs (treasury mgmt?) to be eaten alive by fees yet.

I would look in your network for business bankers at some of the locals and go from there. Knowing the right people can win you the battle.

[Longhorn_Fan68 33871]

31 minutes ago, Handcruser said:

What services besides Zelle are they lacking?

Most likely you don’t have enough volume or needs (treasury mgmt?) to be eaten alive by fees yet.

I would look in your network for business bankers at some of the locals and go from there. Knowing the right people can win you the battle.

I don't know what services they are lacking. That's kinda my question. Are there products out there tailored for businesses like mine? Paying subs is a big one. It's either a check (pita) or electronic payment of some kind but most of those top out at $5k (venmo, paypal. cashapp, etc). We're going to increase our volume a lot in the coming months. We have two builds going now, but plan to start 2-4 more in the next 3 months - shooting for 8 starts this year. I'm not David Weekley, but also not some handyman doing $2k jobs once a week. 

[TKthunder2 4991]

1. Third party vendor support. What do you want to use, who has it?

2. ACH - what are the fees what type can they do, collections, tax payments, batch (for payroll)

3. Positive Pay - if you’re a small business still writing real checks, I would make sure your bank has a positive pay solution to avoid get caught up in check fraud.

These would be the three biggest things I’d look for outside of general fees/balance requirements.

[Longhorn_Fan68 33871]

Anyone bank with Frost? Thinking of switching to them for my business.

[fattyflattie 4639]

On 7/7/2023 at 1:49 PM, Longhorn_Fan68 said:

Anyone bank with Frost? Thinking of switching to them for my business.

I’ve got a personal account and had a mortgage with them for a bit.  They were ok. I wanted them to be better and now it’s just a stowaway account. My CU is main accounts.