Mortgage and Insurance Blogs
How to Safeguard Your Side Hustle: Insurance Essentials for Canadians
October 21, 2025 | Posted by: Sharon Black
Running a side hustle is exciting. Maybe you tutor online, craft handmade goods, drive rideshares, offer home based services, or sell digital products. Whatever your gig, you are part of the growing Canadian gig economy, flexible, entrepreneurial, and driven. But with opportunity comes risk. One risk many side hustlers overlook is whether their insurance coverage actually protects their effort.
If your off hours or extra income hustle is meaningful, you deserve to be protected. At SMB Mortgages & Insurance, we want you to succeed, so here is a practical guide to insurance for side hustles in Canada, what can go wrong, what to look for, and how to plug the gaps.
1. Why your side hustle is not fully covered by personal insurance
When you started your side gig you probably focused on the fun part, doing what you love, making extra money, maybe turning a hobby into something more. You may already have home insurance, auto insurance, maybe even business or life insurance. But those policies were likely built around your personal life, not your growing entrepreneurial side.
- Business use of your home or equipment: If you use your living room to hold tutoring sessions via webcam, or you store craft inventory in your basement, a standard homeowner or tenant policy might exclude business property or usage for business purposes.
- Liability from doing business: If a client slips in your home, or if you give advice that someone acts on and loses money, you might need liability protection that is not part of your personal coverage.
- Equipment off site or business property: You bought a camera, sound gear, or expensive craft supplies. It is used for your side hustle but your personal policy may limit what it covers or exclude business assets entirely.
For a side hustler, the question is not “Do I have insurance?” but rather “Does my insurance cover my hustle?”
2. Real life side hustle scenarios in Canada
Online tutor working from home: Jenny gives English lessons via Zoom in the evenings. Her home insurance covers her home, but her insurance broker later tells her her craft supplies and laptop used for business are not covered under her personal policy if damaged. She added a small business property endorsement.
Ride share driver: Mark drives part time for a ride share service. His personal auto insurance does not cover him while the app is active carrying paying passengers. Without the proper commercial use auto policy or endorsement, he faced serious exposure in the event of an accident.
Craft seller and market stand operator: Lucy makes jewellery and sells at local markets. She stores inventory at home and transports it to pop ups. Her home policy excluded business inventory and she lacked specific liability coverage for her table at a market. She incurred costs when a client claimed a chain broke and caused a minor injury.
Freelance graphic designer working from client sites: Ahmed travels to client offices with his gear. His freelancer income is growing. He realized his personal tech insurance excluded business use and his professional advice was not protected. He added a professional liability policy.
These examples show how side hustles blur the line between personal life and business. Awareness is the first step, action is the next.
3. Key insurance coverages to consider
a) Commercial General Liability, CGL
Covers bodily injury and property damage you may cause to a third party in connection with your business operations. For example, a customer visits your home based studio, slips and falls, or your product accidentally damages someone’s property.
b) Professional, Errors & Omissions, Liability
If you provide advice or services, graphic design, tutoring, consulting, coaching, this protects you if a client says they suffered financial loss because of your work. It is especially useful for knowledge based hustles.
c) Business Property & Equipment Coverage
Covers business owned equipment, inventory, or supplies while on site, off site, or in transit. For side hustlers keeping gear at home or transporting it, this matters.
d) Business Use of Home Endorsement
If you run your side hustle from home, your home insurance policy may need an endorsement. This addresses exposures like storage of inventory, welcoming clients, and use of an area for business purposes.
e) Auto Insurance Commercial Use Endorsement
If you use your vehicle for business, deliveries, services, rideshare, driving clients, your personal auto policy may not cover commercial use. You may need a commercial or business use option.
f) Cyber, Technology Liability
If your side hustle is online, stores data, gives digital advice, or processes payments, you could face cyber incidents, data breaches, or tech errors. A cyber liability add on can help.
g) Business Interruption, Income Loss
If your side hustle income stops because something you rely on breaks, equipment failure, property damage, this coverage can replace lost income or pay certain expenses while you recover.
h) Commercial Umbrella, Excess Liability
Provides additional liability limits above what your base policy offers. As you grow your side hustle, your risk grows too.
4. What factors impact your insurance cost
- Type of work: A side hustle with low physical risk, e commerce crafts, will likely cost less than one with higher exposure, in home tutoring, physical services, rideshare.
- Revenue level: More income can mean more exposure, more clients, more equipment, so premiums may rise.
- Location and premises: Running from a home studio versus commercial space, local crime and claim history matters.
- Equipment value: Expensive gear means higher property risk.
- Client volume: More contact with third parties raises liability.
- Vehicle use: If using a personal vehicle for business, coverage and cost will differ.
- Risk management practices: Contracts, waivers, good records, and safe transport can reduce premiums.
- Policy limits and deductibles: Higher limits increase cost, higher deductibles reduce cost.
- Claims history: A clean history helps, past claims can increase cost or restrict options.
5. Canada specific considerations for side hustlers
- Provincial differences: Each province can have different rules around licensing, endorsements, and required insurance for certain commercial uses. Work with a local agent so your coverage suits your region.
- Tax and business structure: Sole proprietorship versus corporation, or business versus hobby, can affect how an insurer views your risk.
- Home based business awareness: Many Canadians assume home insurance automatically covers business operations. Insurers increasingly ask whether you run a business, store inventory, or meet clients. Be transparent.
- Car insurance for rideshare and delivery: Driving for pay often requires specialized coverage that differs from personal use.
- Digital economy risk: Side hustles that rely on online platforms, remote service delivery, or digital products may face cyber, privacy, and intellectual property exposures.
6. Checklist, questions to ask your broker or agent
- Does my current home or tenant insurance policy cover business use of my home or business equipment?
- Is my inventory or stored supplies at home included, or is it excluded or limited?
- If I transport my gear for my side hustle, to markets, client sites, is it covered in transit?
- Does my auto insurance policy cover business use of my vehicle, or do I need a separate endorsement or commercial auto policy?
- If I provide services or advice, do I have professional liability, errors and omissions, coverage?
- Are clients coming to my home, is that covered under my premises liability?
- If a client is injured or property is damaged because of my work, will I be protected?
- Do I use any online platform, store client data, or process payments, do I need cyber liability?
- What are the limits and deductibles of the policy, are they sufficient for my risk?
- How will my premium change as my side hustle grows, more revenue, more clients, more equipment?
- Can I bundle coverages, home and business, and save money?
- What risk management practices can I adopt to reduce premiums, contracts, waivers, proper storage and transport?
- What is excluded in my policy, are there any surprising limitations?
- How will claims affect my other insurance, home, auto?
- Is my side hustle considered a business by my insurer, do I need any commercial registration or licensing?
7. How to bundle or save on your insurance
- Talk to a broker about combining your personal insurance, home or tenant, auto, and your side hustle coverage. Sometimes adding an endorsement is far cheaper than buying a separate commercial policy.
- Ask about discounts for safe premises, minimal claims, contracts in place, and good risk controls.
- Keep clean bookkeeping and use client contracts. A clear separation between personal and business activity reduces confusion and claims likelihood.
- Secure equipment, insure it while in transit, and mark your property. Preventive practices can reduce premiums.
- Review coverage annually or when your side hustle changes so you are not underinsured.
- Choose appropriate deductibles. If your gear is modest, a higher deductible may lower premium while still protecting you.
- Revisit your business structure if growth warrants it. Some insurers offer better options for registered businesses.
- Work with a broker who can shop multiple insurers. Side hustle coverages are evolving, the right broker will know which carriers fit your risk.
8. When should you act
- Now if you are using your home for your business, you store inventory there, you meet clients, you drive or transport goods or equipment, or your income is increasing and the scale of your side hustle is growing.
- Very soon if you provide professional services or advice online, you use expensive equipment, you do deliveries or have clients in your home, or you are using your vehicle to carry paying customers.
- Immediately if you do not have a business property endorsement and your home insurer assumed personal use only. Being uncovered is a serious exposure.
9. How SMB Mortgages & Insurance can help
At SMB Mortgages & Insurance, led by Sharon Black, we are not just about mortgages, though we are great at that too. Many of our clients are self employed, have side incomes, and want to protect everything they have worked for. That is why we offer insurance services tailored to where you are now and where you are going.
- Clear conversation about your side hustle, what you do, where you do it, how you are paid, what gear you use, how clients engage.
- Exposure mapping across home business use, equipment risk, vehicle usage, and liability gaps.
- Options across insurers so you get the right fit, not a one size approach.
- Simple implementation with clear explanations of coverage, limits, and exclusions.
- Ongoing support as your hustle grows. We review annually or any time you need us.
Because it is your side hustle. It matters. Your coverage should fit you.
10. Final thoughts
Having a side hustle means you are ambitious, resourceful, and modern. You are not waiting for opportunity, you are creating it. That is something to be proud of. But as you build, protecting yourself is not an afterthought, it is a crucial part of your foundation.
Insurance is not glamorous. It is not the flashy side of entrepreneurship. But when the unexpected happens, a claim, an accident, stolen equipment, it is what keeps you afloat.
Here is your new mindset, treat your side hustle like the real business it could become. Invest not just time, effort, and creativity, but also thoughtful protection.
Take the checklist from this article. Ask your broker the questions. Understand your exposures. Choose the right coverage. Then go back to what you love doing, growing your income, sharing your talent, building something meaningful on your terms.
When you do that, you will do your best work, and you will rest easier knowing you are covered.
Ready to protect your side hustle?
If you are in Ajax or the Durham Region, or anywhere in Ontario, and you want someone to walk you through side hustle insurance or bundle it with your personal insurance, we are here to help.
