My wife's business

[Kuler]

Hi everyone, I'm a 55 year old dog walker and now partner in my wife's business, following redundancy from a Civil Service job.
The business is really thriving but I have one very real concern - should my wife become ill at any time, alot of bookings would have to be cancelled and our income would be drastically reduced. My wife's very good at her job and a real "people person" - something I'm not.
What type of insurance or measures should we set up to cover such a situation ?

Thanks
Kuler

 

[BustersDogs]

Not 100% sure from your message, but is your wife's business dog walking? So you are both doing the walking of the dogs? If either of you are ill the other person can't cover the other walks? Sorry just wanted to be clear what you are asking! Not sure what that had to do with not being a people person.

If it is dog walking, and one of you can't cover all the jobs if the other is off then you might find that it is worth getting income protection insurance - I never have because I'd get round to all the dogs if it killed me. I have friends and family I can call on, and I have 'casual' staff (usually uni students) that I can draft in as much as possible. I also have a network of other dog walkers and dog trainers, both in my town and in other areas that I would be trying to persuade to come and help out. In the end though, most clients are reasonable and would wait for your wife to return - the question would be how long can you manage on a lower income?

 

[Paul_Rosser]

That's a common issue for a lot of smaller businesses which would collapse if the company owner was for some reason unable to work.

You could look at critical illness cover but usually this would only cover you for life threatening illnesses and not just something which meant your wife was unable to walk dogs.

The only real way to resolve this is to try and move your wife from being indispensable to the business as quickly as possible, which will mean employing staff who actually perform the dog walking whilst you and your wife can concentrate on expanding the business. Also means you will be able to take holidays whilst also still earning as other people will be working still.

 

[Kuler]

Sorry, I didn't make things clear.
My wife is the trainer and behaviourist, running day courses, home visits etc. She has established a very good name for herself and could work seven days a week if she had the energy.
Without her there is no business. Simply as that !

 

[Paul_Rosser]

As per my previous answer the only way to avoid the business collapsing if your wife is unable to work (apart from critical illness insurance) is to employ people to ensure that the company can run properly at least in the short term should the worst happen.

 

[Scalloway]

In the accountancy world to get a practising certificate you are obliged to have a named substitute to stand in if you are unable to work. It means approaching another firm and getting a written agreement.

Would something like that work for you?

 

[BustersDogs]

Sorry, I didn't make things clear.
My wife is the trainer and behaviourist, running day courses, home visits etc. She has established a very good name for herself and could work seven days a week if she had the energy.
Without her there is no business. Simply as that !

Ah okay, well I can't advise about insurance, although I recently sat through a talk at a networking event which did cover income protection insurance, critical illness cover etc. There's no easy way round it when you're running a business on your own. She could consider taking on someone to teach them how to run her classes at least. It does take time though, but it would also improve the business. Behaviourist qualifications take a lot longer to learn as I'm sure you know and that might well have to just be stopped while your wife is ill - when the income protection might need to be claimed.

 

[HFE Signs]

This is a situation that goes through the mind of most small businesses, key people are a worry for may reasons including loyalty, health and dedication...most security measure are based around keeping staff happy in terms of pay, work satisfaction and being valued, however health is something nobody can predict and it leaves us with the unknown. The best way to safeguard for most businesses it to have a degree of overlap with your staff. In your situation I would suggest either an assistant or even you learn the ropes yourself.. best wishes..

 

[PaulThompson]

As Scalloway says the only way to cover it really would be to have a reciprocal arrangement with a locum who would do your classes and your wife could do theirs
Income protection insurance would pay the bills but you'd lose custom if she was out of action for too long.