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Could Your Business Survive a Disaster?

Linda Weathers • Aug 17, 2017

As business owners, we want to remain optimistic about our business’s future. But life can happen, and we need to be prepared.  A good business owner thinks about all the risks to their business and has a plan in place to reduce or eliminate them.  In 2017, we’ve already had floods in the Midwest and California, a healthy dose of tornadoes, and an ice storm earlier in the year.  And those are just the weather disasters. Are you ready?

In 2015, Nationwide ran a survey that revealed that three out of four small business do not have a disaster plan.  The same survey noted that 52 percent of small business owners thought it would take three months to recover from a disaster.

The most common solution is to create two plans:

  • A disaster recovery plan, which details the steps needed to recover the business from a catastrophic loss
  • A business continuity plan, which details the steps needed to keep the business running in case of a major loss, such as a loss of electricity, location, or key personnel

There’s a lot of help online to help you create your plan. A few of the major items that should be covered include:

  • Employee safety: you’ll need an evacuation plan in case of a disaster that is life- or health-threatening.
  • Communication plan: how will you reach employees in an emergency?
  • Electricity contingency: will you need to access a generator?
  • Internet contingency: can your business survive without the internet for long periods of time, or will you need to find a way to get connected?
  • Location contingency: if your worksite is inoperable, do employees have another place to report to?
  • Employee roles: who will carry out the plan?
  • Private data: how will you safeguard private company and customer data?
  • Systems: do you have an inventory of hardware and software, including vendor technical support contacts? How will you prioritize which system to get back up first? Do you have agreements with vendors who can come to your aid quickly?

Creating a disaster recovery plan can be the lowest priority item on your to-do list as a business owner – until it isn’t.  If you have a lot to lose, then consider spending some time on a plan to give you peace of mind.

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By Linda Weathers • 15 Jun, 2023
We’re six days away from the first day of summer, and a few weeks away from the midpoint of the year. It’s the perfect time for taking a strategy check in your business to see how you’re doing for the first half of 2023 as well as to plan something fun and productive for summertime.   […] The post Five Summertime Strategies for 2023 first appeared on .

Five Summertime Strategies for 2023

By Linda Weathers • 12 Jun, 2023
We’re six days away from the first day of summer, and a few weeks away from the midpoint of the year. It’s the perfect time for taking a strategy check in your business to see how you’re doing for the first half of 2023 as well as to plan something fun and productive for summertime.   […] The post Five Summertime Strategies for 2023 first appeared on .

Cool Tech Tools: ChatGPT

By Linda Weathers • 05 Jun, 2023
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Cool Tech Tools: ChatGPT

By Linda Weathers • 01 Jun, 2023
The topic of artificial intelligence (AI) has been in the news quite a bit recently, and one of the reasons is the launch of an AI chatbot called ChatGPT. The GPT in ChatGPT stands for generative pre-trained transformer, which is a program that can realistically write like a human and interact in a conversational way. […] The post Cool Tech Tools: ChatGPT first appeared on .

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By Linda Weathers • 28 Apr, 2023
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By Linda Weathers • 20 Apr, 2023
For taxpayers collecting payments through a third-party payment platform (such as PayPal), the American Rescue Plan Act (the “Act”) established a major change to tax reporting rules to prevent businesses and contractors from hiding income through the receipt of electronic payments. Form 1099-K is the tax form issued by credit card companies and third-party payment […] The post 1099-K Reporting Changes first appeared on .

Cool Tech Tools: Drones

By Linda Weathers • 20 Apr, 2023
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By Linda Weathers • 23 Mar, 2023
If you have accumulated more money in your business checking account than you really need for daily operating expenses, that is a nice problem to have! It’s time to consider putting that money to work. A business savings account might be your answer. Every bank is different when it comes to the features and benefits […] The post Do You Need a Business Savings Account? first appeared on .
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