Happy Money Monday!
For the creative, or the self-employed, a sick day often means no pay. Disability insurance is usually too expensive to consider. Perhaps until now...
One of the best known advocates for freelancers and self-employed people is Sara Horowitz. She is an attorney, a MacArthur Award Winner, the founder of Working Today, and the founder of the Freelancers Union which is a way for self-employed people to get health insurance before Obamacare.
Sara is now the founder of Trupo, a disability insurance provider for self-employed people.
If you break your hand, and you're a writer, you're in a pickle. If you hurt your back and you're on bed-rest and you're a wedding videographer, you're not going out on jobs.
These are real life fears that most small business owners live with and hope they never happen. Disability insurance can be hundreds of dollars a month, and you've got a payroll to make and inventory to buy.
Trupo, which is funded by venture capital firms and partially owned by the Freelancers Union (Sara says that part of the earnings from Trupo will go back to the Freelancers Union to continue their advocacy work), is setting out to pay its insured for up to 8 weeks of work at 50% the rate that would be your normal intake if you were working.
Trupo is rolling out first in Atlanta, GA. So if you're down there, sounds like you can go Beta with them. Everyone else can sign up for their newsletter here to be kept in the loop, and you can keep an eye on their progress on Instagram.