Business Interrupted: Being Prepared

This time last week I took a look out of my window and a small river was beginning to form on the street leading into my neighborhood. The rain let up for just a minute and I walked outside and took photos and videos of an event other homeowners claimed "had never happened in 25 years." This was no ordinary storm though, Harvey ravaged Houston and the gulf coast leaving more than 325,000 people accessing FEMA support in the following days, estimates of 100,000 homes gone, and possibly more than 500,000 cars. Some of these people are small business owners, and some are our clients at Questco, many of whom lost much of what they had.

Fortunately our employees were spared catastrophic damage, and those that did have some losses, the storm did not affect their spirit. In the wake of this, our philosophy at Questco continued to shine bright...serve those around us. The resilience and service of our employees impressed me more than ever. They were caring, responsive, empathetic, and hard working to ensure EVERY employee was paid. The hard work is just getting started though, and next week will be no different with employees lending a hand to local charities and working hard to serve our clients.

This is the worst disaster I have lived through in 21 years in business, and most of that time was spent in Florida! Unfortunately I have seen far too many business owners unprepared for such events. From my experience, below are three areas that should be a piece of the everyday culture of a business looking to survive a major catastrophe.

1. What's Plan B? Somtimes referred to as a disaster recovery plan (DR Plan), but it doesn't have to be complicated. What are the processes and procedures you will have in the event you showed up to the office one day and your building wasn't there? How would you correspond with employees? What could you do to bring up your essential operations? This might be more difficult if you are a restaurant, or location dependent, but the plan continues to be essential. Jotting down some notes and training employees is critical. This should be reviewed on a very regular basis.
2. Bet on it. Most people hate paying for insurance, but imagine the small portion of business owners that had a comprehensive review of all of their commercial policies and added things like flood insurance and business interruption insurance? What the hell is business interruption insurance? Call me, we can fill you in. But these are small bets that something like this could happen, and although I like a sure thing more than a long shot, I never want to be left empty handed when a once in 500 year event happens. Understanding your exposure, deductibles, and policies will only help. Don't make a mistake that could have saved your business. Message me if we can help here.
3. Care and Serve. This is one I can't alter if your personality isn't aligned. True care and regard for the people around you brings many aspects of life into perspective. There will always be people worse off. When you truly care about those around you, and serve their needs before yours, they see that. Setting aside the business drivers, it's just being a good person. If you care more about your business then the people around you, then you cannot expect those same people to help you rebuild that business....so good luck.

I hope these ideas are helpful and good reminders of areas to provide focus and concentrate on before we have another disaster (which could be 7-10 days from now looking at the map). My heart bleeds for the residents of a place I call home, and will do what I can to continue to help and serve those in need. We at Questco hope everyone is safe. Please contact us if we can help.