Your Home Business Disaster Plan
I'm a 2005 Hurricane Rita evacuee and fortunately made it through a hellish evacuation process and ensuing hurricane with hardly a scratch. Running from a hurricane and dealing with its landfall isn't something I've ever had to do before, nor is it something I'd ever like to do again.
As a home-based business owner, what can you do to make your business
disaster-proof? It seems that we have an increasing number of hurricanes
making landfall in the coastal states, and add to that an increased number of
other types of natural disasters like tornadoes, earthquakes, wildfires, mud
slides, ice storms, blizzards, etc. makes me think that there is no ideal
location in which to operate a business. Accepting that natural disasters
are here to stay, here's what I learned from my hurricane evacuation that helped
me get my business back up and running quickly:
1. Know the
location of your vital papers. You should be able to quickly put
into a folder the following for you and your family:
- marriage license
- birth certificate for you and your children
- social security card
- bank account information, including bank routing number
- driver's license or state ID card
- car title/mortgage info and insurance contact info
- house deed/mortgage info and insurance contact info
- apartment lease or copy of a utility bill and renters insurance contact info
- employee ID card
If you have documentation of your home contents, bring that information as well. In a disaster, you'll be asked to prove where you live and that you are who you claim you are, especially when applying for disaster assistance. You may also have to initiate damage reports on property, so having those files at your fingertips will help you expedite the process.
2. Have an online backup of all of your computer
data. I back up my computer in two ways--to an external portable
hard drive as well as to an online backup service. I use both because my
files are my livelihood -- I would be dead in the water without them -- so I
want to leave absolutely no room to lose my data. For my external backup,
I use a 100 GB portable drive made by Seagate, and for my online backup, I have
unlimited backup available through Carbonite.
3. Create a file with vital
contact information. I copied a file with all of my usernames and
passcodes for websites, bank accounts, etc. to my USB flash drive (a key
chain-like device with 512 MB or 1 GB of memory) as well as the physical and
email addresses and all phone numbers of friends, clients and family members --
anyone I needed to contact during the evacuation period. I manage my passcodes
using Roboform Pass to Go, a
portable version of my password manager software. You'll also want to take
along your children's school contact info to be able to check on the current
operating status of your child's school, as well as local media website
info. My lifeline in getting current information about my home city was
through the websites of Beaumont's newspapers and television and radio stations.
If you keep your contact info in Outlook and want to create an online backup,
you can do so through Plaxo. All you need to access your info in Plaxo is a computer and to know your
username and password.
4. Know the primary office/computer equipment that will be required to get your business up and running. I had operated with a minimal amount of my office equipment during this time due to my being a house sitter for a friend for 2 months. So, upon receiving the mandatory evacuation order, I knew that to run my business, I needed my desktop PC, flat panel monitor, wireless mouse and keyboard, speakers, modem and associated cords, backup portable external hard drive, office telephone and associated cords, laptop computer, printer, box of software, and scanner. It sounds like a great deal of equipment, but I packed it all into 2 boxes from U-Haul (1 small and 1 medium box). I knew I could work for at least 2 months comfortably with just this equipment.
5. Know the location of your primary paper files for your employees, clients, and business files. I have 2 sets of files -- ones for the immediate short-term that I use frequently and my lateral file drawer files that are primarily reference files. I grabbed the contents of the two drawers of my 2-drawer file cabinet (which hold my immediate short-term files), all of which fit into one small U-Haul box.
6. Have a backup telephone plan. I wasn't sure what I was going to do for phone service for my business, as all of my clients are scattered across the US and in Canada. Just to be safe, I upgraded my cell phone plan, and had a prepaid calling card (purchased an AT&T calling card at Sam's Club at my disposal if I needed it. As luck would have it, my hotel offered an unlimited Internet access/long distance plan for an additional $1.88 per day, so I happily signed up for that, saving myself a fortune in phone calls and Internet service fees.
7. Have a backup Internet access plan. Since power
restoration to my home was estimated at 2-8 weeks, I had to find temporary
lodging. I looked for a hotel that offered high speed Internet access and was
able to use their system for my Internet access. However, once I found the
hotel, I also called the tech support of my DSL ISP and found the local dial-up
numbers for the area in which the hotel is located. I never had to use the
dial-up service, but it was good info to have. If you have cable or DSL
Internet service, now is the time to discover alternate Internet access plans to
be able to get online should your DSL or cable access be out-of-service.
You should also know how to access your email online through your ISP if you
don't have access to your computer. If your ISP doesn't offer a version of
webmail, you can use this service free-of-charge, Mail2Web.com.
8.
Bring along adequate office supplies for a month. I threw
in pens, pencils, post-it notes, a calculator, stamps, envelopes, tape, stapler,
paper clips, note pads, etc. that would last me at least a month while I was out
of my office. I used a portable plastic file case in which to carry these
items.
9. Outline your office procedures to help you
operate independently or be able to delegate tasks. Instead of
carrying your business operations info in your head or have it stored in various
files across your computer, what makes more sense is to document all of your
office procedures, as well as computer and client info, so that everything you
need is in one document. I can then upload this doc to my Yahoo account,
my backup files, or carry it with my on my USB flash drive.
* The
Janitorial Store has a great template that asks you to note and record
everything you (or someone else) would need to know to get your business back up
and running. It's the Home Office Procedures Manual for Cleaning
Companies, available for purchase at //www.thejanitorialstore.com/products/item3.cfm.
10. Bring a digital camera to record the event and/or record damages to personal property. I wish I'd had a digital camera to record all that I witnessed during my evacuation from Hurricane Rita. My sister took tons of pics, but I would've loved to have had the same opportunity. More importantly, however, is the need for a digital camera to record damage to your home and property. In a wide-spread disaster, it can be at least a month, usually more, before your insurance adjuster will be able to assess damages to your property. In the meantime, however, you need to start repairs, like placing a tarp on your roof, boarding up broken windows, removing downed trees from your house or yard, or cleaning your refrigerator of spoiled food. In many cases, your insurance will cover the repairs or food replacement, but you need to carefully document the "before" scenario in order to receive compensation for your loss.
Don't let a natural disaster destroy your business. Take some time now to prepare your disaster-readiness plan, and get back into business as soon as you can!
Online Business Resource Queen (TM) and Online Business Coach Donna Gunter
helps independent service professionals learn how to automate their businesses,
leverage their expertise on the Internet, and get more clients online. To claim
your FREE gift, TurboCharge Your Online Marketing Toolkit, visit her site at http://www.OnlineBizU.com. Ask
Donna an Internet Marketing question at http://www.AskDonnaGunter.com. Read about running an online biz
at her blog, http://www.GetMoreClientsOnlineblog.com.
