Small Business Disaster Planning
BOSTON (CBS) - There are over 27 million small businesses in the U.S. right now and close to 80% of them have one employee; the owner. Most small businesses, especially ones run from home, have not given enough thought to planning for disasters, natural or manmade.
If you are running a small business could you recover if your building was destroyed in a flood, fire, or hurricane? What if you were recovering from an illness and couldn't work? What if your computer crashed?
So if you have a small business, treat it like a big business and have a disaster plan.
Here are some things to consider:
Insurance: You need insurance. If you work from your home let your homeowner's insurance carrier know you have a home office. Increase the liability and property damage coverage.
Consider purchasing disability insurance. Also an umbrella policy which is simply insurance that covers a liability that your homeowner's policy or auto policy will not cover.
If you drive your car or truck for business such as a realtor, a consultant, or carpenter, be sure you have the proper coverage. Yes it will cost you more but it truly is cheaper than a future problem.
Consider Business Interruption Insurance. This insurance will cover the rent, the utilities and even employee's salaries in the event of a casualty that prevents the business from operating normally. That could be you getting sick or a fire destroying the building.
Record Keeping: Paper or computer? If you are using a paper format for your record keeping is the file cabinet fireproof, locked, bolted to the wall?
Using your computer? How often do you back it up? Is it off site or on site? Consider using the Cloud to backup material daily. Using a memory stick? Leaving it at the office? Key information like contact files, are they are on your computer, cell phone?
What records are so important to your business if they were lost your business would go down the toilet? Protect those!
