A local restaurant held an auction, to sell off all their kitchen equipment. They’ve been closed for over a year, devastated by a water pipe break that ruined most of their interior furnishings.
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| What if a nearby fire forced you to evacuate your business? |
The news today is full of floods, tornadoes and even wildfires. We see businesses destroyed, damaged. We probably don’t think about the business owners who have to evacuate, with no warning. I’m sure none of them felt prepared. How many of them will be back in business?
So here’s that one mistake that might kill your business: not having a disaster recovery plan.
It’s not enough to think, or to know, what might happen, if you don’t have a plan. Without a plan, 43% of businesses don’t recover and never reopen after a disaster.
So how do you get a plan? Head over to Get Prepared from Office Depot. They have lots of resources to help you make that plan to recover.
Because you don’t want to lose everything you’ve built up.
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Becky started Small Biz Survival in 2006 to share rural business and community building stories and ideas with other small town business people. She and her husband have a small cattle ranch and are lifelong entrepreneurs. Becky is an international speaker on small business and rural topics.
Don’t forget your important tax documents in the case of an emergency–especially any employee information that you may have on file. The IRS will give you hints. IRS
Very sound advice. With disaster recovery planning, the old adage, “If you fail to plan, plan to fail” rings true! I hope many business owners click the link you provided and use the great resources offered by Office Depot. Also, business owners should have a business succession plan – i.e., what would happen if the owner or a key employee left or died?
Thanks for the added resources and questions, Maesz and Arieh.
Contingency plans are very important for small businesses, though as evidenced by the fact you provided, these plans are vital for the wellbeing and success of all businesses, regardless the sizes. It’s better to protect your businesses and be planned for any natural disaster before the threat of one. In addition, due to the rising intelligence and efficiency of online hackers, it is also important to protect your business online from fraud and malware. Online fraud and security breaches can also bring a business down and therefore small businesses need to take steps to protect themselves otherwise they could be impacted.
Jason, I agree. Computer disasters can be just as destructive as physical disasters, and deserve similar preparation.
On a related note, don’t forget about insurance. A good CGL policy goes a long way.