Uk Insurance for a clay artist. Clearing up some of the confusion

I know that a lot of people work without any insurance, feeling like they are too small to need it.

Whenever I break any rules in life, I always get caught  (I bunked on day of school in my whole life and got caught out and have a long list like this). I also think that it is important to protect your customers.

Public liability insurance 

Most craft sellers know that we need public liability insurance, if we sell at fairs or in shops.

This insurance covers any member of the public against injury in any of your work spaces. It doesn't cover you or your staff.

Product liability insurance 

This one is less known about, but just as important.  If someone hurts themselves on something that you made  (like a kid swallowing a bit that broke off a model,  or cut themselves on a sharp edge ect) your public liability insurance will not cover this.

Personal / staff insurance 

This will cover you / your staff if you get too ill to work or injured.

I don't have any staff, so I haven't really looked into this. I think that you have to have this if you have staff, but personal cover is not mandatory.

I have chosen not to until I get my business to the stage where it is financially stable enough to come off benefits.

Do remember, if you choose to not cover yourself,  to put some money aside for sick pay for yourself. You will need it at some point and the lack of this has ended many businesses. Finding that you can no longer afford to pay your bills, is a living hell.

Stock and tool cover 

This is what it sounds like and another one that is not mandatory,  but you are a fool to not have it.

You are counting all the items you have made ready to be sold, all the materials you keep to make things  (clay, crystals, armatures etc), all the equipment used to desplay at fairs, the tubs and shelves ect that you use to store everything, all the packaging for postal and any stamps for postage, every tool you have for your work. Literally everything you use for work.

Keep a list of everything you have,  what it cost with pictures and receipts off of your work premises.  Give them to a friend or relative or store them digitally somewhere else. If your workplace is destroyed, you don't want that paperwork to go too as you are going to need it. Make sure it's up to date.

Premises insurance 

This one depends on how you work. I work from home and don't have a actual shop  (I sell on the Internet or at the few fairs that I am well enough to get to). I also store my stock around my home  (instead of at a warehouse). So, I don't think this is applicable for me at the moment.

If you do have a studio that you work in or a shop where you sell your work or somewhere you keep your stock,  then you really want to get this.

When your things are somewhere unusual 

You may have some of your work at a gallery or exhibition at all sorts of places. You could have an arrangement with a shop to rent you a shelf, or start to store some tools and materials at a place where you teach. Anything that is different from what you have told your insurance company.......

At the stage of negotiations and before you agree,  make sure you ask if they are covering your bits with their insurance and what they will not cover.  I ask for this in writing.

I have found that almost no one agrees to take any responsibility for these situations. You must then get in touch with your insurance company before you agree the deal. They may say that this is allowed under your current cover or say that it will cost extra. You can then bring this information into the negotiations.

If you don't inform your insurance upfront, you will not be covered. This is why I get a email from them stating coverage.

Tell your insurance everything 

All the job roles you perform, your method of sales and the country's you are available to buy in, what you expect to earn, just everything. Spend some time before getting in touch with them, to write down everything you think could possibly effect your policy. No matter how unlikely.

If anything changes throughout the year  (you sell more than you expect or do anything new) get in touch with them.

Make sure you have their phone number and email address saved.

Some stings 

There are several things I have come across, that made my eyebrows go up for different reasons. Here are the ones that I can think of, but please let me know ones that I have missed and I will add them.

• Selling to America. UK insurance companies hate it and would rather you don't. It has a massive premium on it, that they divide into percentage of total sales.  I am in the bracket of no more than 25%. If I think I am getting close,  I have to get in touch to pay to go into the higher bracket. America has the reputation for a suing culture.  

    They seem to have no problem with you       selling to the rest of the world,  no matter     how bad their postal service or if they are     at war etc.

• If you are found to be knowingly negligent, then you are on your own. 

• They don't cover copy write disputes. 

• They all have various excess you have to pay on a came.

• They seem to charge you more in your first year, because all you have is a prediction of earnings.

• If you call the mane companies that find you a quote twice and make sure that they don't use the same company as the fist serch, you can get a bidding war going on for your business. Really is woth the extra effort!

     You tell each company the same            

     information and inform them of the 

    other ones quote. I guarantee that they 

    will come back with a better offer. Mine 

    started at  £660 for the year and I am now     at a  £220 for the same cover.  I am about     to inform them that they have just been         undercut by the first again, so I will let           you know who wins me.

Be nice to your brokers 

These people are nice guys doing a complicated job  (even when you are not making them work far harder with the bidding war). Remember to be nice to them both. 

I have a rule that if I get a good service from someone, then I email their boss to say so. They are all going to have a end of year appraisal and their boss will have all the complaints lodged that year. We are all good at complaints  (as we should be if something was wrong), but we do not leave positive feedback. It is actually just as important.

Where I went for my insurance 

The first company that I went to, to get the 2 different insurance brokers was;

BIBA Commercial (British Insurance Brokers’ Association)

https://www.biba.org.uk/find-insurance

They put me in touch with;

1) J.M. Glendinning; 

https://www.jmginsurance.co.uk/business-insurance

2) Towergate Insurance Brokers;

https://www.towergateinsurance.co.businessuk/-insurance

The difference between a business and a hobby

There are always going to be differing opinions on what makes your status change from hobby to professional. This is my opinion and it will probably change over time.

If you really want to be black and white about it,  anyone who calls something art and offers that something for a price that someone else pays,  is a professional artist.

This includes all manner of things; a stack of bricks, a messy  (and gross) bedroom,  a single line of paint on a bare canvas.  I have no idea how the "artists" manage to get these things seen as art.  

The first thing that you need to bear in mind, is that it has nothing to do with talent.  There are some amazingly talented artists who are in the hobby group.  So with that in mind,  here is my jurney into the professional world. 

Step one is the most important;

You have to see yourself as a professional artist.  Like in all areas of life,  you are what you believe you are.  I know many extremely skilled sculptors who cannot see that anyone would be interested in buying their creations or feel that they don't want to sell their work for all sorts of reasons. 

Although that first step is really vital,  you are still a long way from it being true.  

For me,  I  found that I had to fundamentally change my relationship with my art form.  When it was a hobby,  I  would make only what I felt like,  I would work at a very slow pace,  not worrying that much about the quality.  So long as I liked it,  then that was fine.  I never spared a thought about what I spent,  as I got so little.  I was not bothered about having the right tools or about studying the subject.  It was just play.

Now, I had to get my materials for the cheapest price possible, I have to become a marketing expert,  a excellent customer services personnel,  a book keeper,  a market resercher and analyser and I have to make things that are low cost and worth the price.  I have to think about what people want.

I found out that because I am disabled and can only manage around 12 hours of work a week,  that the benefits system had catered forme  (I was very surprised). The rule is called Supported Permitted work (different from Permitted work).

If you work for less than 16 hours a week and earn up to £115.50 a week. This must be part of a treatment programme, or supervised by someone from a local council or voluntary organisation whose job it is to arrange work for disabled people.

I found out that a charity called EmployAbility was Surrey's only organisation that fulfilled this.  I got onto their books and got assigned an officer. 

They helped me do the paperwork for the benefits agency and register with the inland revinue.  He helped me with a few other bits as well.  

I started doing my research.  I  found the cheapest supplier of Fimo professional. As well as placing my first large order, I got in touch with the owner of the business and started to build a friendship.

Robbert is very important to my business and I wanted to get to know him. He is actually a wonderful, kind man who also feels as strongly as I do about customer service and business integrity.

I recommend him to anyone I can, as the price difference is astonishing and there is no hassle  (even if something goes wrong,  he does all the legwork).  I have had people accuse me of being on his pay roll. I assure you that I am not.

Check out the price difference for yourself;

http://www.tumdee-dollshouse-miniatures.co.uk/contents/en-uk/d351_FIMO_Soft_350g_Blocks_Polymer_Clay_For_Moulding_Modelling_Jewellery_Craft_Art.html

I  decided to focus on Etsy because it was cheaper than eBay and Amazon to list your stock and where eBay and Amazon focused on the cheapest prices possible, Etsy focused on hand made items.

This meant that eBay and amazon's clay items are all from moulds.  The speed at which you can knock out a finished product is so fast,  that they can make a charm in a couple of minutes.  It takes me a few hours.

I personally defined my start date;  on 1st July 2015, I  had made 10 different types of charms  (4 of each sort, so 40 in total) I had a cousin who had a etsy shop,  so she was able to send me a link that gives you 20 free listing (if you want to start a etsy shop,  then message me and I will share the link with you).

I  then spent the first 2 weeks nervously watching the etsy app on my phone.  Fortunately, I did have a few kind friends and family who bight bits.

I worked from my bed,  making more stock, setting up a Facebook page and getting my shop looking ad good as I possibly could get it.

Over time, I have set up this blog,  a Pintrest account,  a LinkedIn account, a Instagram account and I do post on Ebay when they have free listings months  (I have never sold a thing on ebay). I do find it difficult to keep these all up to date, but it is important.

I have sold at 3 fairs over the last year,  but all made me incredibly ill.  I have joined The British polymer clay guild and a lot of clay groups on Facebook.

I have had several sales now and even a few commissions.

You have to be quite self disciplined to make sure that you are always doing something in your allocated work hours. No matter how boring, if it could help you get on with it.

Don't forget to keep your receipts and make a table of all income and expenditure.  You will need this for the tax and benefits.

Also, don't forget insurance.  You need public liability and product liability.  The public bit,  protects against accidents in your work area and the product bit protects against someone hurting themselves on something you have made.

I have loved the journey so far and I have a lot of plans for the future.  But it really is not easy.