Insurance (was: Looks like I'll be freelancing again)

[Kat Nagel <katnagel -at- eznet -dot- net>]

So, I'm finishing my second week as a re-born freelancer.  Many 
thanks to everyone who shared advice and sympathy, both on and off 
the list.

It will take time to build my freelance client list back to the point 
where I can pay my share of the mortgage with it.  But things are 
looking promising, with contracts for several decent-sized projects 
in negotiation.

Unfortunately, all of the potential clients require proof of 
insurance.  I let my independent business insurance lapse when I took 
the full-time job, and that company no longer covers home-based 
businesses.  I've got a terrific local independent agent, and I 
scrounged several suggestions for General Commercial Liability 
options from various list archives, so that part is probably OK.

What's holding me up now is...Workers Compensation and Statutory 
Disability Insurance.  One of the insurance companies that handles 
NYS-WC wants to classify me as "Publishing and Printing", which puts 
me in a high-risk category along with press operators.  The other 
company says "Computer Industry" --- just as high-risk, since it 
includes hardware and network technicians who work with high-voltage 
equipment.  The premiums are outrageous.

So---for those of you who pay your own Workers Comp---what industry 
are you classified under to get the premiums down to a reasonable 
level?

Thanks,
--
Kat Nagel
"If the business notion of best practices had been applied from the
 dawn of human civilization, human beings never would have achieved
 civilization."         Christopher Locke,  EGR newsletter 15May2001


At 9:41 PM +0800 6/18/01, Katherine Noftz Nagel wrote:
Got called into NewBoss's office this afternoon.  RTE "has 
re-evaluated the way it handles documentation, in the light of the 
current economic situation, and has decided that it would be in the 
company's best interest to continue our relationship on a freelance 
basis".

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