The Arizona Business Insurance Guide will cover topics that every small business owner needs to know. I'll start with a list of common mistakes businesses make when buying insurance in Arizona.

But first I'll list the table of contents. Keep checking back for fresh links!
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Introduction
Common insurance mistakes businesses make.
Do you need business insurance if you are self employed?
Do you need business insurance for your home-based business?
Arizona Workers' Compensation - a comprehensive guide.
Commercial auto insurance - do you need it?
Commercial Property Insurance
Commercial General Liability Insurance (CGL)
Business Owners Policy (BOP)
Business Interruption Insurance
Employment Practice Liability Insurance
Product Liability Insurance
Professional Liability Insurance
Errors and omissions insurance
Directors and Officers Liability
Key Man Insurance​
Restaurant Insurance
Contractor Insurance
Landlord Insurance
Commercial Real Estate Insurance

If you're like most small business owners in Arizona, you get solicited by so many insurance agents that you get numb to the entire subject of insurance. I don't blame you. There are over 200 insurance agents within five miles of my office in Chandler AZ. They are everywhere.

​But just because someone can legally sell you a a business insurance policy in Arizona doesn't mean they sold you the right policy... the right policy for you and your business.  

​Let me share with you just a few of the common mistakes small business owners make when buying insurance:

​Missing or incorrect insureds or locations.
As your business grows and changes, it's easy to forget to review the dec sheets of your polices to make sure that everything and everyone is insured. This is a simple thing to check, so make sure you bring all of your polices with you for your next insurance check up.

Deductibles are too low.
Your deductibles may have been fine a few years ago, but with rising premiums, it's a good idea to discuss this with your insurance agent. Raising your deductibles, where appropriate, can free up premiums to be used in areas where you may still have gaps.

Not enough business continuation insurance.
Most business owners either don't know what this is, or haven't reviewed their limits in a while. Think of this as disability insurance for your business if something happens to slow or stop its income. In other words, who will pay the business' bills while the business is sick?

​Property is under-insured.
We've all watched property values begin to rise again in Arizona. Has your insurance kept up? Many policies have a co-insurance penalty. In essence it means that if you don't have your property insured for the correct amount, you will be penalized at claim time. Not good.

Not enough liability coverage.
​This may be the most common mistake I see. Courts in Arizona are handing out record judgments against business owners, and attorney rates keep going up. You can be sued by anybody for just about anything. Review your liability coverage every year with an experienced agent who will take the time to go over real-life scenarios. Don't lose your business because you forgot to ask a simple "what if" question.

Call me for a second opinion. I won't pressure you into changing what you are doing right now. But I can be another set of eyes to make sure everything is what it should be. I've been a Farmers Insurance agent for over 20 years, and with the help of my incredible staff, I've helped many business owners sleep better at night knowing they are covered properly.

~Joe M. Baselice (480) 940-0909

Arizona has over 495,000 small businesses according to the Small Business Administration.

I'm one of them. Maybe you are too.

​Some of us have only ourselves as an employee. We work out of our home, or in a small retail or office location. Some of us, about 100,00 of us, have employees who count on us for a job. ​For those of us with employees, most of us employee fewer than 20 employees.

Individually we may seem small. But together, we provide 44% of the jobs in Arizona. We're doing the heavy lifting of Arizona's growing economy.

What we do matters.

I'm Joe M. Baselice, founder of Joe's Insurance in Chandler, Arizona. I've been a Farmers Insurance agent for over 20 years. With the help of my amazing team, our agency is one of the most recognized and trusted names in insurance here in the Valley of the Sun.

I employee a small team that has helped me reach and exceed my professional goals. Along the way we've had fun, and we've made friends. Clients. People who trust us to protect their assets. Our team is committed to the mission of providing the most amount of coverage, for the least amount of money- and having fun in the process. Here is one of their recent posts.

That's simple. I'm insuring more and more small business owners all over Arizona. As I do, I hear from businesses nearby in Phoneix, Tempe, Scottsdale, Mesa, Glendale, Gilbert, Queen Creek and Maricopa, telling me how hard it is sometimes to get a great business insurance quote and still feel like they are adequately covered. Not too much - not too little coverage. The "Just Right" sweet spot.

​I also hear from small business owners a little father away in Arizona- places like Flagstaff, Tucson and Sierra Vista, who tell me the same thing:

​"Help me get the right amount of insurance Joe!"

I'm writing this guide to make business insurance in Arizona simple and understandable.

If I can do that, then you, the small business owner, will be able to play a bigger part in finding the perfect insurance solution for you and your business. You will be able to ask smarter questions and understand your options better than before. And that's good for all of us.

In my next post, I will lay out the table of contents: a road map to where we are going in the series of blog posts that I am titling: Arizona Business Insurance Guide.

We will cover why you need business insurance, common mistakes business owners make when they purchase coverage, and a description of common (and not-so-common) types of business insurance. 

I'll do my best to keep it simple to read and easy to understand. Comments are open, and your feedback is important. 

​Let's get started!