How Safe is Safe?
November 20th, 2007 | Posted by in Barbara Eldridge,Strategic Planning
Several weeks ago I attended a SCORE workshop cosponsored be Hewlett Packard on disaster planning for the small to mid size business owner. Little did I think that within weeks San Diego businesses would be needing this information, much less having to already put it to use.
As small business owners we have all invested significant time and resources into getting our business where they are today. Disasters that threaten a business can happen at any time – sometimes damage is isolated, sometimes catastrophic.
At least one-fourth of all businesses that close because of a disaster never reopen. Small businesses are especially vulnerable, because few of them have the resources or knowledge to assess disaster risks and develop comprehensive mitigation and recovery plans. That’s why the Institute for Business & Home Safety (IBHS) offers a variety of tools in its Open for Business sm series for small business owners to both reduce their potential for loss should disaster strike and to reopen quickly should they be forced to close.
As some of you know Mind Masters is all about having a plan, however this is not the planning I do with my members. So I want to introduce everyone to the forms that the Institute for Business and Home Safety has put together. As you begin to gather the information, the forms, when completed, will provide you with a customized business continuity plan.
Many have data bases with employee, customer, vendor/supplier and key contacts.
- Make sure they are backed up and available. Without electricity or access to the internet this information may need to be in hard copy.
- Take time to identify your critical business functions which are crucial to your survival and resumption of operations.
- Make a list of the items you need to perform those functions as well as the equipment that will assure that work can be done.
You can find the forms for all this needed information on the IBHS web site, www.disastersafety.org/business_protection/ or download the 47 page pdf booklet at http://www.ibhs.org/docs/OpenForBusiness.pdf.
The Challenge: Begin to plan your recovery program today. Take one step at a time, it is critical to move forward.
For more than twenty-five years Barbara Eldridge has been contributing to other people’s business success. Her many years experience in the corporate world provided her with knowledge, insight and presence to help thousands of entrepreneurial men and women nurture their business ventures into thriving successes.
Barbara founded Mind Masters in 1991 as an organization for entrepreneurs to master the challenges they face in an ever-changing market place. Barbara has a vision of Mind Masters to provide a value based program so that business owners could harness the power of each members’ success, make wise business decisions and realize their dreams.
