Let’s face it, being a freelancer or entrepreneur is often over-romanticized. It’s not all sunshine and doing work from home in your underwear. Sure, there’s more flexibility and a certain swagger that comes from building something completely on your own. But behind the scenes, it can get complicated when it comes to insurance. From getting quotes for relevant life insurance to covering business assets, choosing the right insurance provider can be an overwhelming process.

But it doesn’t have to be especially if you have the basic technical skills to navigate this website.

Pogo, a new business located in Church Hill, is about to shake things up.

As a growing number of workers leave their traditional 9-to-5 jobs to become freelancers in the gig economy, or to launch their own businesses, Pogo is positioned to offer them easy online business insurance such as professional liability insurance from top insurers. And when you think about it, that’s a pretty big market. A recent study by Guardian Life Insurance estimates 40 million Americans work in a part-time or freelance gig. By 2020 that number is expected to swell, with half of the country’s workforce working as freelancers.

“We want to help self-employed businesses to get the right insurance without feeling like their head is going to explode,” explains Hannah Sullivan, who co-founded Pogo with her wife Jade. This comes as an important service considering there can be many requirements to life insurance policies, as life insurance is the only insurance type that can be declined due to a person’s medical condition or genetic predisposition. Although there can be many companies similar to special risk managers that could offer life insurance to those with illnesses, it could still be troublesome getting to terms with all one needs to know when taking out the proper insurance.

Together, the VCU graduates with an impressive background in advertising in New York, have carved out a new way of doing things in an industry that is not known for user-friendly experiences or slick technology. Their platform is capable of aggregating available business insurance policies so customers never have to leave their home (or desk) to land a good policy without the hassle. And on the backend, Pogo reaches out to carriers in search of the best policies and the right coverage so the customer doesn’t have to spend valuable time sifting through endless amounts of information that’s difficult to understand.

To power their platform, Pogo’s team works with some of the largest insurance companies nationwide to make sure the coverage they quote clocks in at the right price for their customers and is customized to help protect each unique business from specific risks they may face. Once users have compared options, they can easily sign and purchase their policy completely online.

The brand promise at the end of the day is simple, get a quote from Pogo’s online platform and they’ll do the rest of the work for you. Along the way, Pogo also offers advice, tips, and tricks to successfully work for yourself.

“We are really happy to be back in Richmond and are excited to launch our new company here,” says Hannah Sullivan. “I always think it’s so interesting that people think they need to go run away to a big city to chase a dream, but really, that can happen wherever you are.”

To learn more about this local, online insurance agency for self-employed people, visit www.pogo.co.