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DISASTER PLANNING for your Small Business

9/10/2019

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Ask yourself…if tomorrow morning you were unable to speak or move, what would happen to your business. Would your Significant Other, or partner, your "Back-Up-Person" (BUP) be able to carry on? If not, what would happen to your customer base (and reputation)?


How would your income stream continue?

If you have auctions online, can somebody fill those orders when the auctions end?
Website orders & inquiries?

Questions from potential cutomers?

We might often think of our Etsy, Ebay, or Antique Booth businesses as a “one horse show”, but it can all end rather unpleasantly with a few unfulfilled orders and the resulting negative feedback.

I learned the hard way the importance of disaster planning ahead of time. In my case, it was an unexpected Stroke, but it could also be the result of a fire, an accident, or natural disasters such as a tornado, hurricane, or flood. I had done a few things discussing “what ifs” beforehand with my wife, but not nearly enough.  SO, here’s a few suggestions that might help:
  1. Access to Data. Do you have available log-Ins & Passwords to your web stores, email addresses, and financial accounts? While there are many digital “vaults” available now to store all that information in  (Norton has an excellent product), my fear has been that if that one App or Program is hacked……well, that thief now has access to everything. I use an “old school” method: a small flip open paper Memo Pad with each Log-In and Password written down. I can take it with me on trips in case there is a problem while away from my office, or simply toss it in my safe for protection. My wife and I have everything shared in it, and it proved very worthwhile for her to have available during my hospital stay.                                                                                                                                                                              
  2. Processes: Does your back-up person (BUP) know how (and where) your inventory is stored? Have they ever packed an item - as you would - to ship it? Do they know how to purchase and print out a shipping label?  This is a great thing to practice together ahead of time
  3. Stages of Sales: If you have online stores, do you wish to continue receiving orders or suspend them during an event?  Does your BUP know how to suspend your store sales, or in the case of Ebay or Etsy, to put them in “Vacation Mode”, which will temporarily suspend sales? If not, the processes should be practiced ahead of time and also written down.
  4. Fees: Does your BUP know how various fees are paid? If not automatically taken out, that is another area to address. Likewise, if PayPal fees are not automatically sent to you, they should be aware of how to transfer funds to your bank if required.
  5. Problems: How do you respond to potential “problem” customers (or even scammers)? If no set policy is in place one should be discussed. We state our policies under the “terms & conditions” section on each individual web store, so they are easy to reference, or refer customers to. If a negative case is opened, a BUP should be aware of how it is preferred to respond.
OK.....Now try this: Copy and paste the above five suggestions and print out, then use it as a checklist. When everyone is comfortable, you have a plan. If not, you know where to focus.
Good Luck & Good Hunting!
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I'm Back.....!

9/9/2019

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Wow…has it REALLY been three years since the last Blog update?  Yep. Read on…

​October 17, 2016 was a beautiful fall day here in Virginia, and we eagerly awaited the evening to see if we could see the twilight launch of the rocket from Wallops Space Center on the coast, over a hundred miles away. As it turns out, we could…but just barely. We retired back into the house, and the next thing I can remember is waking up face down on the bathroom floor.

And nothing worked. I could not get up. The sounds of me trying got my wife’s attention, and I remember her standing over me and asking if I was OK. But the sounds coming out of my mouth were not what my mind was trying to say…

“Are you drunk?” she asked.

​“No,” I answered.

She looked at me and said “You're having a stroke, I’m calling rescue!”

“No”, I stated, “Don’t call Rescue, just help me to bed.”

​But call she did, ignoring my request….and it saved my life. The next few hours (then days, then weeks) became a blur of sirens, hospitals and doctors…lots of doctors.

In an instant, my life – our lives – changed.

I realize today I was one of the lucky ones…we had a highly rated stroke hospital close to our home where they were able to administer tPA (Tissue plasminogen activator, a clot-busting agent that can only be administered within a couple hours of a stroke’s onset), and perform a double thrombectomy (a procedure that involves inserting a probe up through your main artery from the groin to the sight of the clot in the brain, then sucking out the clot).

So here I am, three years later. Three years spent learning to regain control of half of my body that was paralyzed by the stroke. Today I am still overcoming some deficits, but can walk, use my left arm and hand again, and my thinking is slowly coming back to normal. I am one of the lucky ones.

But that’s not what this post is about. At the time of my stroke I had many active Ebay Auctions underway and two active Etsy Stores…all controlled from my office. I did everything myself.

My wife suddenly found she had to process orders, find items from a mish-mash of dozens of unlabeled bins & totes, pack and ship those orders, as well as be able to access all the websites and related. In addition, I was the household bill-payer up to that point, and she had to take over the household financials as well as the business.

And THAT is what my next post will be about.

I taught business at our local Community College for over ten years, and dedicated one whole session to “Disaster Planning” …but failed to have my own plan in place.  After all…it was just me….right?
No it wasn’t. My customers needed to be properly serviced. I was lucky to have a partner in life that fast-tracked her training with no guidebook save what I could communicate from a hospital bed. Had I had a formal plan in place it would have saved countless frustrating hours of her time through trial and error.

So be sure to see my next posting…then share it with those that might be affected. I will share not only what should be done to keep your business open, but some insights to avoid many pitfalls that one only learns through first-hand experience (the hard way). The title of my next post? “Disaster Planning 101”. In the meantime, as Arnold says: “I’m back”.
Good Hunting!
​-Stu
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