It’s one of my favorite sayings. Life Changes on a Dime. I don’t know who originally said it, or where I first heard it, but I remember thinking “how prophetic.”

The quote “Life changes on a dime” is often used to account for unanticipated events that interrupt our daily routines and greatly impact our future. People neglect to realize, however, that when the circumstances of our lives change “on a dime,” it often takes a turn for the worse.

When life changes for the better, it is generally something we are expecting to happen. Whether it is an engagement, the birth of a child, or a promotion at work; with winning the lottery aside, such advantageous events are rarely characterized by luck. It is the life-altering events that are unexpected and/or unexplained, such as a natural disaster, a tragic car accident, or sudden illness, whose circumstances are rarely in our favor.

If you run a small business, the same rules apply. A hardworking company does not hold luck accountable for their successes. However, it is almost guaranteed that negative situations will arise, with adverse results for the company. My advice?

Be Prepared!

We published an article in Small Business Success entitled “Flirting With Disaster” by Sheere Curry who shared with us some shocking statistics. According to a survey conducted by Continuity Insights magazines and KPMG, 1 in 4 businesses will experience a significant crisis in a given year. Of those businesses that experience a disaster and have no emergency plan, 43% never reopen. Of those that do reopen, a mere 29% are still operating two years later.

Preparing for catastrophe is even more important for small businesses than large corporations. The smaller and newer the company, the more you have to lose in a crisis. “The little company has fewer resources, less money in the bank and less experience to cope with these things,” says Larry Smith, President of the Institute of Crisis management in Louisville, Kentucky. While it is hard to plan fully for a natural disaster, fire, sudden death or resignation of a key employee, there are some crises that can be avoided all together. Computer backup plans are now available on the Internet, providing full recovery up to the minute of data loss.

From our article, here are five inexpensive steps you can take TODAY to protect your business from an unrecoverable crisis.

1. Make duplicates of important communications materials.
Keep them at home or in another location. These items include: checks for business account company letterhead, important phone numbers, and passwords.

2. Keep copies of important records in a remote location.
Copy and store important documents in another part of the country with either a family member or a safe deposit box in another state.

3. Run through a test drill of your disaster plan.
This prevents defects from occurring during the crisis as opposed to solving the problem before it happens.

4. Prepare multiple contingency plans.
Always have a plan B incase you run into trouble with your initial solution.

5. Don’t skimp on insurance.

It is important to remember that there is no way to protect your small business from everything that comes its way. However, careful planning and preparation will make for a more stable company in a time of crisis, and can prevent long term problems within your growing business.

Brian Moran
President
Moran Media Group