Working as a solo entrepreneur can be a risky game. While you can work at your own pace and become massively successful, you also are working on your own. This can make problems such as a debilitating injury a lot more serious—not just on your body, but also on your daily living. If you are concerned about a potential injury, here are steps you can make in becoming financially prepared—just in case.
Keep a Large Emergency Fund
It never hurts to have a large savings account in case of an injury. Convention personal finance wisdom says you should have up to six months of expenses in your emergency fund. As a small business owner with a variable income, you might consider up to a year’s worth of expenses. This number can also change if you have other expenses and family members to think about.
By preparing this fund you will have at least some peace knowing your funds will carry you through your injury. This will also provide enough time for you to develop a game plan during your recovery period.
Disability Insurance
Depending on your injury, you may be eligible for disability insurance. This comes from your Social Security, and is meant to subsidize time that you would be working during recovery. For Social Security, your disability payment is based on your lifetime earnings.
It is not a guarantee you will receive the benefits, but if you can show that your condition has made you unable to do enough “gainful activity” to survive, you will receive some compensation. Receiving disability insurance will mitigate the cost of your expenses.
Work from Home
Thankfully, working from home is becoming increasingly common because of digital communication. While you might not feel up to work during your recovery period, it will still give you some solace to communicate with people you collaborated with. If you do feel up to working, you can set up a home office to make sure you can effectively market and communicate with clients. Focus your entrepreneurial efforts online to gain more customers.
Working from home can help you keep your head above the water—even if you are not able to work as much as you once could.
Everyone has ups and downs in life when it comes to health, but that does not mean it should stop you from living the life you want! Your recovery period should remove stress from you, not add to it with thoughts of financial decline. These are some great ways to help you during these tough times.
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