3 Types of Insurance You Need for Your Import/Export Business

You’ll need insurance for many aspects of your import/export business, from employees to cargo. Read on to find out more.

Insuring your employees

Once you hire employees, you’ll need to think about caring for them. Workers’ compensation insurance laws vary among states; check with your insurance agent for details in your area. Workers’ comp covers you for any illness or injury your employees might incur on the job. If your employees work in your home office and get injured there, your homeowners’ insurance may refuse to pay on the grounds that it’s actually a workers’ comp case. Check with your insurance agent regarding what you need, then make an informed decision.

How to Get and Register a Domain Name

So you’ve decided that you want to do business online. The very first thing you need to do is get and register a domain name so your new website will have an Internet address.

Under the Domain Name System (DNS), domain names are composed of four elements; a server prefix, a domain name, a domain suffix (or extension), and a country code (the only optional element). For instance, www.susanward.com is an example of a domain name where “www” is the server prefix, “susanward” is the domain name and “com” is the domain suffix.


“Dot-com” is an example of a Top Level Domain. There are both generic top-level domains (gTLDs) and country-code top-level domains (ccTLDs). Currently, there are 239 country code top level domains. Canada’s ccTLD is dot-ca.
Important Points About Domain Names for Businesses

Don't Sink Before You Can Swim: Crucial Steps for Startups to Stay in the Black

People love a good startup story, especially one that chronicles the mishaps of first-time entrepreneurs and their eccentric founding team members. Case in point: HBO’s “Silicon Valley.” The show has been a hit with viewers and critics alike, picking up a Critics’ Choice Award for Best Comedy Series last December and celebrating its renewal for a fourth season.

The show resonates because it offers a hilarious if “close-to-the-bone” take on life at the center of startup culture, but the setbacks portrayed on the show are a lot less humorous when companies encounter them in real life.

Startups are often scrappy and resourceful, two of the best qualities one can find in early-stage companies. But they’re also prone to potentially fatal mistakes. I frequently get calls from entrepreneurs who realize too late that they’ve messed up by skipping critical steps in the development process. By the time they come to me, we need to work miracles to save their companies.