All the hurricanes, flooding, earthquakes and other disasters lately got me thinking. Of course yesterday my internet connection went down for most of the day. Do you have a back up plan for your business? I’m not talking about a plan for you and your family (although you should have one of those – more information about that can be found here http://www.fema.gov/plan/index.shtm ). Here are some tips.
1. Keep your business documents and programs safe.
You should have a copy of your business documents in a safe place – outside of your office. This could be in a lock box at the bank, a friend or family members home, or online. If you keep them online you’ll want to have a hard copy as well.
2. A list of your customers and clients.
You need a list of your customer’s phone numbers and email addresses. If you have an emergency you’ll want to contact them and let them know what’s going on. You’ll want to keep them informed and let them know when you’ll be back to business as usual.
3. You’ll want to have a back up plan in case:
a) Your computer dies – do you backup your data regularly? Do you have an extra computer to use?
b) Power / telephone / internet – you’ll want to think about what you would use if these systems didn’t work.
c) Where you tutor is damaged – do you have a backup location you could use if you need to?
Nobody wants to think about bad things happening. If you have a plan it can make things a little easier.
Tomorrow we’ll talk some about time management.
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