Buy the right business insurance without overpaying

  1. List the services you sell and their revenue
    30 min

    This step produces your revenue table: one line per distinct service you sell, with its annual revenue and client type. Every decision in the rest of this playbook is traced back to this table, so the only real work is getting the lines right — one line per service, not one lump sum for the whole business.

    Open a spreadsheet with columns: Service · Annual revenue · Client type · Exposure notes.

    1. List every activity you sell as its own line — “kitchen remodeling”, “cabinet installation”, “design consulting” — never one row for the whole business.
    2. Fill in annual revenue from last year's tax return (Schedule C or K-1). If the business is under a year old, annualize the run-rate from month-to-date figures.
    3. Set the client type per line: consumer, small business, government, or other business.
    4. Add a one-line exposure note per service: what the work involves that could injure someone or damage property — ladders, client data, children on site, third-party premises.
    5. Total the revenue column. It must equal the gross revenue on your return; if it does not, a line is missing.