If you assume that your home owners insurance covers your home based business assets you are probably wrong, and making sure that you have home business insurance should be a top priority to protecting you and your personal assets.

When you ask yourself "How should I go about insuring my home office?" know that there are many options for insurance for a home business. What's also interesting also is that some home-based business activities can actually void your home insurance coverage, so you need to make sure that your insurance agency is aware that you are using your home for other purposes that just living in it. Insurance for a home office is key to protect your business as well as your professional assets in case the unexpected becomes your reality.

To make the most of home business insurance information:

1. Start by learning to understand why you are insuring a home-based business.

2. Move on to quote sites for insurance for a home business comparisons.

3. Wrap up by speaking to a qualified professional on insuring a home office.

Action Steps
The best contacts and resources to help you get it done

Learn why you should be insuring a home office

Find out why insurance for a home business is a necessary business expense to protect your assets and give you peace of mind.

I recommend: Find out the specifics of insuring a home based business from the Insurance Information Institute. The Rocky Mountain Insurance Information Association gives you even more information on statistics, choices and endorsements. Read from Nolo why homeowners or renters insurance may not be enough to cover your home based business assets. Find out what you should know about insuring your home business from InsWeb.

Use a price comparison home business insurance site

Take advantage of the many comparison sites to compare prices on your next insurance for home business needs.

I recommend: Compare business insurance quotes through 2Insure4Less.com. Run a small business insurance quote comparison through NetQuote. Use the Northbay Auto Insurance Center to quote you for your insurance needs.

Check out the many home business insurance providers

Look into who offers home office insurance. Call or email them about questions or to give you a run down of what their services entail.

I recommend: See how Nationwide can provide you insurance for a home-based business. Find how State Farm Insurance can help you in insuring a home business. Check out the homes based business coverage available through the AARP Auto and Home Insurance Program. Look at the home business offerings from RLI.

Tips & Tactics

Helpful advice for making the most of this Guide

• •  Many factors will determine how you need to be insuring a home office. Ask your potential provider to explain if you need any or all of the following: contents insurance, general liability insurance, product liability insurance, professional liability insurance, operations coverage or business interruption insurance.

There are four options for insuring your home-based business:

1. Homeowners Policy Endorsement. This means paying a little more to bulk up on how much you can recover for property losses, but typically does not cover all the liability issues you may face.
2. Home-Based Business Policy. This stand-alone policy can be purchased as an addition to your homeowners coverage or separately from a different insurer. It can include the loss of business-related data and papers, business interruption, a small number of employees and liability for business clients and products.
3. Business Owners Policy (BOP). These are the broad-based policies that most small businesses use. The coverage here is essentially the same as the home-based business policy, only with greater protection and more options for additions like malpractice.
4. Self-Insurance. This is used mostly by large corporations that can withstand large losses. Instead of paying an insurance premium each year, the business invests the money, and hopes that the interest accrued covers any future loss.

Action Steps
The best contacts and resources to help you get it done

Understand what you need

Review the different types of business risk and the insurance programs that cover them.

I recommend: The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) provides a guide with an insurance-needs checklist and glossary. Click-through subjects and Q&A's are available from the Insurance Information Institute (III) and the Independent Insurance Agents & Brokers of America (IIABA).

Identify what's at risk

What do you need to protect? Take an inventory of your property. Assess how long your business can survive an interruption before it is terminal.

I recommend: Direct Logic's software program All My Stuff keeps track of office property, its value, location and date of acquisition, and provides space for digital images, all helpful if you need to file an insurance claim. The Insurance Information Institute's Know Your Stuff is a free, downloadable program for the whole house, but includes tips on what to include from your home office. Zurich has a business interruption cost calculator.

Find a policy that works for you

What are the risks to your business? How much or how little protection do you need? Be temperate with your evaluation. Review the packaged options that insurers or independent brokers offer to get an idea of the options and the cost.

I recommend: InsuranceNoodle.com specializes in small-insurance and is a good starting point. Multiple quotes can be compared after filling out online questionnaires from NetQuote.com, LowQuotes.com or USInsuranceOnline.com. Mega broker Marsh has an online form to request a quote.

Tips & Tactics

Helpful advice for making the most of this Guide

• •  Know what your typical homeowner's policy does NOT include when it comes to your home-based business: Office equipment is typically covered for no more than $2,500, which will likely not cover even your computer and printer if they are stolen or destroyed. Liability for people injured in your home is only covered for social visits, not business clients.
• •  If you have employees, you may also have to look into purchasing separate workers compensation and health insurance.
• •  Don't buy all the extras — you may not need them. Assess the minimum you require (business data, computers) to do business and assess how you can protect or acquire that after an incident so that you don't need specialty insurance.