Growing your business is like raising a child; you have to nurture it, build it up, and protect it from outside forces. One of the best ways to protect your business is with insurance for your property or company vehicles. Scaling your business is no easy task, and insurance costs may seem high when you’re trying to generate capital. But if you forgo insurance, you could soon find yourself in a much worse financial spot than you could imagine.

Liability insurance is a must-have, even for the smallest of businesses. A liability policy provides both defense and damages if you or an employee, product, or service is accused of damaging a third party. For a small business, this is your primary line of defense against unforeseen issues.

Liability insurance is a good start, but if you store sensitive information, you need to look into data breach protection. Recent studies have shown that damage from hacks cost businesses $400 billion a year in total. If a breach occurs electronically, or even from a paper file, a conventional data breach policy will protect your company.

If your business is based around a delivered service, like heating and plumbing installation, you should look into commercial auto insurance. This will cover work vehicles from damages, collisions, and anything else that might happen over the course of a standard work day. If you don’t have work vehicles, consider non-owned auto liability to protect your business in the event that a staff member doesn’t have insurance.

If you’re struggling to determine how to cover your company correctly, I suggest a BOP. A BOP, or Business Owner Policy, includes every type of coverage a company needs. BOPs usually include business interruption insurance, property insurance, vehicle coverage, liability insurance, and crime insurance. A BOP can be altered to suit your business’s needs and will typically cost less than paying for an assortment of individual plans.

Consult with your BOP provider first to determine if life insurance is an option, as its common for them to lack this policy. If you’re in search of a life insurance plan, AFEUSA members receive a specified amount of life insurance per AFEUSA membership plan.