What is Going on in Your Business When You Cannot be There?

The previous article related to this topic, When Life Events Happen, What is Going on in Your Business?

In this article the closing comment was a call to action:

“You might not have spent much time thinking and preparing for these situations before. Spend some time this week thinking about what you can do to prepare yourself, as a business leader, for when these life events occur. Also, stay tuned for next week’s article where I will share three tips to successfully keep your business running smoothly when you are not able to be involved in the business for a brief period of time.”

Here are three tips for you to implement immediately. You may find there are numerous other steps or actions to be taken. Go for it! Meanwhile, be certain you have taken care of these three in order to keep your business running smoothly in case you are not able to be there in case of an emergency.

First is, how do you run your business now?

You do not need to be the point person for every single thing. Other people need to either have the information and contacts you have, or know where they may access the information. Frankly, this is being a complete control freak. It does not serve you well or your business well, especially in the case of an emergency. You may utilize paper files, the cloud for sharing information online or whatever method works best for you, your people and your type of business. A full set of contact information should always be available for everyone involved in your business.

Second is your staffing. Are you working alone? What type of people do you hire?

Yes this is one point. Numerous solo-preneurs have no one, not a single person, working with them in any capacity at all. This is a disaster waiting to happen.

Aside from the fact that they are limiting their own potential for growth which is a future article in and of itself. If you have one or two people working with you, are they empowered with information and instructions on what needs to be done and when to keep everything running smoothly? The people you have working with you, do they have leverage of other people they may call in to assist if needed? Or do they have the personal bandwidth to add more time into their schedule to keep your business on track when you cannot be there.

Third is your cash flow. How much cash on hand, or credit facilities, are available to your business?

If you are not able to attend to your daily business activities for a period of time, even if you have done your best to have others take over for you to keep your business running smoothly, there may be the possibility of a fall off in revenue.

If you have cash available, or have set up lines of credit in advance, you will be able to handle this short term blip. If not it is another story. Take the time now to run through the numbers with your accountant and determine how this area should be handled if something unexpected were to take place.

In summary, take the time now to plan in advance for an unexpected event or an emergency which takes you completely out of the picture in your business for a fews days or more. Pay specific attention to the three tips in this article as a starting point and add other items specific to you and your business as necessary. Don’t let the unexpected take away everything you have done to build and establish your business.

Mitch Tublin is an advanced certified executive and personal coach who resides in Stamford, CT.