Is My Passion a Hobby or is it Considered a Business?

The first steps are asking the questions – Who, what, where, when, why and how?

• Who does my hobby involve? Am I seeing clients?
• What activities does my hobby include? Is there inventory to insure? Are there equipment or tools? What is the primary purpose?
• Where does the hobby take place? Is there a liability exposure? Are people coming on the property? Does it require travel?
• When do you work on this hobby? How often are you working on this hobby in terms of hours?
• Why are you involved in this hobby? Is it for pleasure, creating a profit, or just a self-fulfilling reason?
• How much revenue are you generating? What are your annual sales?

Even though the home insurance policy allows some incidental business, it is not a fan of true business exposures. What exactly is an incidental business exposure? It is when a business activity occurs on resident premises, and thus requiring additional insurance at times. These two arenas don’t always mix even though they are similar in nature when it comes to insurance. If it’s personal, it needs insured personally. If it’s business, then it requires a business policy. Maybe there is coverage available from your home policy by adding an incidental business endorsement to provide coverage. Or maybe the events of your hobby truly fit a business policy or BOP. This is a great opportunity to contact our partners at McConkey for an evaluation and to talk about your hobby and see if you are adequately and properly protected for your passions.