When you’re self-employed, it’s not always easy to get yourself into the business frame of mind. Because sometimes, you don’t really feel as if you’re a business. After all, you’re just you. But, whether you intend to become a business in the future or not, you’re still going to want to make sure that you set some policies in place. Not all of them have to be as formal as they feel as if they are. In fact, none of them really have to be. Because the point of putting them in place is to protect yourself.
As a businesswoman, you will have to ensure that your interests are always taken care of. As an employee, you’re going got be protected under the policies that the company you work for puts in place. But when you go it alone, these all vanish. From legal requirements to neat little tricks that are going to help you out, they could become invaluable to you. So, if you feel like you really do need to start taking better care of your interests, maybe it’s time to get some policies together and put them in place. And to get you started, here are seven very practical ideas.
Business insurance
The very first form of policy that you’re going to need to put in place, is your business insurance. Even if you work from home, this is going to be an essential. You need to ensure that your business interests are protected, and business insurance will always help with that. However, you really need to make sure that you pick out the right policy for your kind of business. Because if you were to scrimp on your cover, you might find that you won’t be eligible to make a claim, should you need to.
Health insurance
Next up, we have another form of insurance. This time, it’s health-related. Being self-employed, you may need to take extra care with your health insurance than others. Because you may find that certain policies won’t cover you or be more expensive. So, it will be important for you to consult a health insurance guide to help you here. But, at the same time, you may also be more reliant on the right kind of cover due to your unreliable stream of income.
Health & safety policy
Then, it’s onto a kind of policy that could ensure your business runs according to the law. Health and safety is something that we all need to be very vigilant with. It’s important to have a health and safety policy in place for this reason. It will not only ensure that you carry out operations in the proper manner, but sometimes protect you from liability too.
HR policy
You may also find that your business will benefit from an HR policy too. While it’s just you, this may not be the case. But as your business begins to grow, you could find that putting an HR policy in place is essential. You may need to refer to it for employee conduct as well as hiring practices. Again, this will be beneficial for your business in terms of legal reasons as well as operational ones too.
Business contracts
From here, there are also business contracts to consider too. There are many reasons to create a contract, but for your benefit, the main reason is going to be to protect your interests. With a contract in place, you will be able to outline the responsibilities of each party involved, such as you and your clients. This can protect your interests should a client refuse to pay, for example.
Contractor policies
But contracts can be useful for more than just your relationships with clients. You may also find them beneficial for working with other contractors too. You may find that you need help with graphics or web design, for example. And while you may not want to hire a full-time employee for this, it may make sense to hire a contractor. But, here, you may also want to protect your interests, and to do that, you will need to put a contract in place.
Operational policies
Finally, it can also be useful – just for your own use, to have some operational policies in place. This can be in terms of doing certain things, such as your marketing or even your admin and finance. Then, you will have a sort of handbook for doing things, and this can then easily be understood and taken on board should you choose to hire staff in the future.
