10 Steps to Creating Your Smalll Business Disaster Plan ECommerce Articles | October 29 Wholesale Grant Long Jersey , 2005 As a solopreneur, what can you do to make your business disaster-proof? We seem to have an increased number of natural disasters like hurricanes, tornadoes, earthquakes, wildfires, mud slides, ice storms Wholesale Jerry Stackhouse Jersey , blizzards, etc. that can potentially permanently close your business. Here are my ten secrets gained from a recent hurricane evacuation that helped me get my business back up and running quickly.
I'm a recent Hurricane Rita evacuee and survived the evacuation and the ensuing hurricane. Running from a hurricane isn't something I've ever had to do before, nor is it something I'd ever like to do again. However, as a solo business owner, I'm quite thankful that I have a virtual business. The fact that I'm virtual and can operate from anywhere that there's electricity and phone service was of great help to me in this disaster and helped me reopen my business a scant 4 days after the landfall of Hurricane Rita.
As a solopreneur, 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 Wholesale Bill Laimbeer Jersey , earthquakes, wildfires, mud slides, ice storms, blizzards, etc. makes me think that there is no ideal location in which to operate a business. Now 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: your marriage license Wholesale Grant Hill Jersey , birth certificate, social security card, driver's license or state ID card, car titlemortgage info and insurance contact info, house deedmortgage info and insurance contact info, employee ID card, and apartment lease or copy of a utility bill. In a disaster Wholesale Christian Laettner Jersey , you'll be asked to prove where you live and that you are who you claim you are, especially when applying for disaster assistance.
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 30 GB portable drive made by Iomega, www.iomega, and for my online backup, I have 10 GB of space that I pay for at XDrive, www.xdrive.
3. Create an file with vital contact information. I copied a file with all of my usernames and passcodes for websites Wholesale Joe Smith Jersey , bank accounts, etc. to my USB flash drive (a key chain-like device with 512 MB or 1 GB of memory -- I use one from Lexar, www.lexar) 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. 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 have a Yahoo account, Yahoo offers a synchronization feature in which you can synchronize all of your info in Outlook to your Yahoo account. Find out more here: http:help.yahoohelpintsync. All you need to access your info in Yahoo is a computer and to know your username and password.
4. Know the primary officecomputer equipment that will be required to get your business up and running. I had operated with a minimal amount of my office equipment recently due to my being a house sitter for a friend for 2 months. So, upon receiving the mandatory evacuation order Wholesale Mateen Cleaves Jersey , I knew in relatively short order 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 Wholesale Isiah Thomas Jersey , 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 UHaul (1 small and 1 medium box). I knew I could work for at least 2 months comfortably with just this equipment.
5. Primary paper files for your clientsbusiness. 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 UHaul box.
6. A backup telephone plan. I wasn't sure what I was going to do for phone service for my business Wholesale Dennis Rodman Jersey , 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, www.samsclub) at my disposal if I needed it. As luck would have it, my hotel offered an unlimited Internet accesslong 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.
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