Will You Still Have a Business When Disaster Strikes?

by Bonnie Boots

 I have disaster on my mind.

 I spent the morning checking our survival gear, making a list of what's still good and what needs to be replaced. And I've begun checking all my data, making sure irreplaceable things like downloaded software are burned to discs and stored in a bank safety deposit box.

I'm not a worrywart. I just live in Florida.

I live in St. Petersburg, Florida, to be exact, a gleaming little jewel box of a city situated between the Gulf of Mexico and Tampa Bay. These two bodies of water are one of the chief attractions of living here. They are also the chief threat.

Each year, from June to November, we watch the weather reports and wait, because the same warm waters that attract so many tourists to the Tampa Bay area also attract tropical storms.

Tropical storms and hurricanes feed on warm water. So during the warmest months, we Floridians keep one eye on the weather channel, praying that our home won't be hit. Because we know this for sure: here in Florida, many will.

That's why, this morning, I'm checking my plan, checking my supplies. I have just one last thing to do---nag YOU to do the same!

If you think you don't need a disaster plan for your home and business, you haven't been paying attention. Florida is not the only place where people live with inevitable disaster.

As I write this, folks in California are dealing with wildfires and mudslides. The Midwestern states are hunkering down against massive hail and tornadoes. And around the globe, the Persian Gulf has been hit by a typhoon, flood waters are rising in Canada and Australia and China's Yunan Province has been devastated by an earthquake.

Do a Google search on "news + disaster" and you'll quickly get the message: not a single square foot of this planet is safe from natural disaster.  And the rate at which these events occur is increasing. Some point to global warming. Some say it's a natural cycle. Whatever the reason, natural disasters are bigger and badder than ever.  And YOU are not immune.

When it comes to thinking about disaster, it's so tempting to float down the river denial.

Almost the first thought that comes to mind is "It won't happen to me."

But here's a fact. It is happening, right now, to hundreds of thousands of people just like you, intelligent, hard working, good, dependable people. And you know what? Despite all their commendable qualities, the typhoons, tornadoes, earthquakes and hurricanes still found them, in Canada, in China, in Australian and in the good old U.S. of A.

So allow me to whack you upside the head with this one thought: you are not immune from disaster.  And the question you must ask yourself is this. "If disaster strikes, will my business survive?"

Disaster, sadly, can come in many forms. Hurricanes and hailstorms, yes, but also illness and accident and all the sorts of scary things.  And because these things are so scary, we'd all rather not think about them.  But trust me on this---thinking about it now is not half so scary as living through it later, when you haven't made any plans. Because the aftermath of disaster is often worse than the event itself.

Let me tell you what it's like to live through disaster.  In 1992, Hurricane Andrew swept across South Florida and left it looking like a moonscape. Friends of mine, who owned 5 lush acres of mango and avocado trees and raised hundreds of tropical parrots, lived in the center of the storm path. After the storm, not a tree was standing. Their house collapsed. One corner of their garage did survive. And because they clung to that corner through the storm, so did my friends.

But when the storm passed, everything they depended on for life was gone. Their food supplies were gone. Their water was gone. Their shelter was gone. Their clean, comfortable clothing was gone.

The only foodstuff they could find was parrot seed. The wind had tossed big, 50 pound bags of it around like pillows. Every bag was soaked with rain. The seed quickly mildewed. They took that mildewed birdseed, turned it in into mush with scummy pond water and ate it for 7 days until the National Guard arrived.

Imagine how you would feel wearing clothing stiff with mud, eating birdseed reeking of mildew and drinking pond scum in 90-degree heat and stifling humidity. No electricity. No ice. No Coke. No Pepsi. No deodorant. For 7 days.

And after the National Guard arrived to give them food, water, they waited 2 months for electricity. They waited a year for FIMA assistance. They waited several years for their insurance claim. They had to spend every day, every ounce of energy fighting just to get back the bare necessities of life. But they could not get their business back. It was gone with the wind.

That is the reality of life after disaster. I hope it scares you. I hope it scares you into taking action right now, today.

You're reading this magazine because you do business on the internet. Whether it's big or small, brand new or well-established, you have a considerable investment in building your business. The time to think about protecting that business is now, before disaster strikes. Before you're too hungry and tired and stressed to make rational decisions.

What can you do to protect your business? You can make a disaster plan, one that takes into account what you can and will do if your computer is stolen or destroyed, if your home office or other place of business is damaged or destroyed, if you computer data or your identity are stolen. These things can all wreak havoc and threaten the survival of your business. But if you stop now, make a disaster plan now, you'll be prepared if the worst ever happens. And when it comes right down to it, the one thing that makes the difference between disaster and just a bit of a bad time is planning.

My husband and I have a disaster plan which we review each year. We plan what we can do and will do to protect ourselves, our home and our business. We review our storm supplies. We review our insurance policies. And we're meticulous about backing up our data and storing it off-site.

My most important data and software reside in a bank vault, and I have 2 external hard drives, one of which will spend the summer at an offsite location. If disaster strikes, I have three possible chances of being back in business just as soon as I can buy a new computer.

Yes, all this takes time. Yes, I'd rather spend that time at the beach, drinking mango margaritas as the sun goes down. But here's what keeps me in the office performing due diligence instead of playing by the shore: the single most important asset I have, after my husband, is my business. That business exists only on our computers. And the only person that can keep that business from being lost in a disaster is me.

Look up, look around at your computer, your software, your books and files and folders and data discs and ask yourself, "Will I still have a business when disaster strikes?"

Here's help for you. The Internet Wizards Magazine SMALL BUSINESS GUIDE TO DISASTER PREPARATION is a workbook designed to help you create your own customized disaster preparation plan.

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