August 2016

Resilience Series: Have a Disaster Recovery Plan in Place

August 8, 2016/in Operations /by Wil Rivera

Hurricane Katrina was one of the most costly storms in United States history. The storm caused 19,000 small businesses to close their doors permanently. Many of the businesses that survived did so because they embraced the principles of a resilient mindset. This starts with having a disaster recovery plan in place.

Kenneth S. Lamy, president of a small managing and consulting firm in New Orleans, was able to get back to normal operations within three months of the 2005 disaster. He had prepared for a catastrophe long before the event.

As a normal practice, Lamy backed up his firm’s data to an external hard drive that he was able to remove from the city when the storm was brewing. He also exchanged personal email addresses with his employees. He got his business up and running quickly, even though many of his employees remained scattered across the country because they lost their homes. Also, his building was off-limits after suffering extreme wind damage.

He immediately sent communications to his clients that he was operating, and posted updates on his website. He was transparent and notified clients that he had CPAs working in other states.

The company didn’t miss any deadlines. Lamy believes the quick response reaffirmed his company’s long track record as a trusted service provider. “Client loyalty is earned,” he says. “People knew we were going through a major disaster and were patient, but still needed their work done.”

The simple steps Lamy took are far from the norm, though they may seem like common sense. A study by Carbonite found that 58% of small businesses believed they couldn’t sustain any amount of data loss, yet 60% of companies don’t back up their data on a daily basis. A surprising 15% of firms said their backups were at least a month old, which would hinder their ability to resume operations quickly after a fire or other disaster.

Today, companies have even better options for protecting their data than were available to Lamy in 2006. These include: automatically backing up their data to the cloud to ensure it’s available and accessible even if the worst happens. “A business can’t recover from a disaster if their data is old, corrupted, or incomplete,” says Stefanie D’Aulizio, a spokesperson for MyITpros, an IT consulting firm in Austin, Texas.

She breaks down a disaster recovery plan to five steps – steps which Lamy followed to the letter:

Understand Your Business

You need to know how your business works on a day-to-day basis to protect it.

Identify Potential Disasters

Lamy had been through a lot of storms, so preparing for a big one was top of mind.

Implement an Action Plan

The plan should include how to protect your data, how to communicate with clients, and how employees will continue to work.

Manage/Maintain the Plan

Distribute the plan to all employees so they understand how it will work if a disaster occurs.

Practice Makes Perfect

A disaster recovery plan shouldn’t just be a folder in someone’s desk. Instead, you should practice your plan, just like the fire drills you did in school as a kid.

In addition to these 5 steps, the Small Business Administration (SBA) provides a long list of emergency-preparedness resources to protect your employees, lessen the financial impact of disasters, and re-open your business quickly.

Having a disaster plan not only allows the company to resume operations quicker, it also provides employees a sense of normalcy. Indeed, two weeks after the disaster, Lamy himself kept a commitment to fly to Washington DC to speak before an important trade group. “They said they could get another speaker,” he says. “But my word is my bond, and it’s important to get back to a normal workflow as soon as possible.”

Read the introduction of this series, “Developing a Resilient Mindset: 8 Steps to Prepare For Any Disaster,” here.

Strategic Funding provides needed operating funds to small businesses. Strategic Funding has helped business in hundreds of industries. Industries served include: restaurants, personal services, construction, medical, manufacturing, agriculture, retail stores, automotive, and food stores.

7 Habits of Successful Entrepreneurs

August 3, 2016/in Operations /by Wil Rivera

As Steven Covey’s landmark book demonstrated, successful people have a knack for distilling their success down to sustainable habits. Here are 7 habits of successful entrepreneurs who have stayed sharp and propeled their businesses to new heights.

BECOME A BLANK SLATE

Successful small businesses know that running day-to-day operations can be all-consuming and leave little time for creativity. For this reason, they put practices and rituals in place which allow time to conjure new ideas. Make time each day/ week for “Blank Sheet Think Time,” says Mark Stevens, author of Your Marketing Sucks, and CEO of MSCO, a management and marketing firm. “Review not what is, but what ‘could be.'”

EXERCISE AND MEDITATE

Physical activity that clears your mind and relieves stress can provide a much-needed release. “As per my daily rituals, I start the day at 5:30 a.m. and work out in the gym for about 45 minutes,” says Joe Silverman, owner of New York Computer Help, a computer repair service company in NYC. “I make it a point not to exhaust myself and to leave a little left in the tank to get my engine started for the day.”

CLARIFY YOUR INTENTIONS

“Set your major goals in the context of why you want to achieve them, not just what you want to achieve,” says Karen D. Walker, president of Oneteam, Inc., a consultancy in Shelburne, VT. “Having clarity about intention will increase the quality of your decisions and will keep you going when there are bumps in the road.”

STAY IN THE LOOP — AND BRING OTHERS IN

Every morning, Silverman takes 30 minutes to read all the IT trade news sources online. He contacts all his customers, providing his own spin on all the most important stories. “This keeps my customers in the know, maintains their confidence in me and my company, and also keeps the lines of communication open,” he says.

KEEP SCORE

Every evening, Jonathan Gassman, a CPA financial adviser, uses an app called Win-streak to jot down achievements from the day. After, he focuses on what he wants his wins to be for tomorrow. “This helps me stay out of the gap by looking for positive accomplishments. It puts my head in a good space,” he says.

GIVE UP CONTROL

As their business grows, successful small business owners learn to delegate tasks – even ones they like doing . Doing this allows them to focus their talents on areas that will enable the business’ continued growth. Owners who try to micromanage become a bottleneck and people around them won’t be engaged to develop good ideas on their own. They understand a key transition point is when to stop doing tasks, like developing their own web site – which can be handled better by others – so that they can focus on sales or strategic ideas to further the company.

LEAN ON OTHERS AND LET THEM LEAN ON YOU

Seasoned entrepreneurs find mentors and advisers, and they become mentors and advisers – often in reciprocal relationships. They understand the entrepreneurial mindset is different. They know that they can be led astray by listening to people who don’t have the same level of passion and risk tolerance. “Everyone needs someone to broaden their thinking, bounce ideas off of or provide context,” Walker says. “Search out and minimize your blind spots.”

Use these 7 habits of successful entrepreneurs and watch your business succeed.

8 Steps to Prepare For Any Disaster

August 1, 2016/in Operations /by Wil Rivera

Developing a Resilient Mindset to Prepare for Any Disaster

The mark of a small business isn’t how well it does in good times, but how it responds in bad times. While you can never be sure what misfortune might happen, you can develop a “resilient mindset”. This mindset lets you learn from setbacks and prepares you to deal with any catastrophe, no matter the size. Just follow these eight steps to prepare for any disaster:

Decide to Be Resilient

“Being resilient is a decision that a person makes either to overcome adversity or to become victim to it,” says business consultant Leslie Ungar. “Before one can develop a strategy for dealing with a disaster, one has to develop the attitude.”

Embrace Problems

An earthquake or fire might catch you off-guard; however, if you embrace the idea that problems will happen you can be better prepare for any disaster and how to handle them. “Instead of waiting for the worst to happen, watch for signals that it’s time to change course or intervene to prevent a major problem,” says Joellyn “Joey” Sargent , author of Beyond the Launch: The Practical Guide to Building a Business that Thrives.

Make Contingency Plans

Gillis, Ellis & Baker Inc (GEB), an insurance agency located in New Orleans, was devastated by Hurricane Katrina. Some 80% of its book of business submitted claims and most of its 38 staff members lost all or much of their homes. But because the agency created a strategic recovery plan the year before, it was up and running in a trailer in Baton Rouge the next week.

Have Open Communications

“When a disaster occurs, it’s often a misleading bit of information shared by an outsider that exacerbates rumors about a damaged business shutting down,” explains Carol Chastang of the Small Business Administration. Your crisis communication plan should provide a way to reach employees, stakeholders, and customers. You should also designate spokespeople for the media.

Lean On Friends and Mentors

During difficult times, accept help from those who care about you. “Find an experienced mentor who’s been there, done that,” says business consultant Iwan Jenkins. “Get someone who has the combination of scars and success. At your lowest you want to be with someone who has come out the other side.”

Create a Success Record

When times get tough, trust yourself to pull through. ” Keep a record of your successes,” Jenkins says. “There will be days when you will need the third party validation.”

Keep Looking Forward

Act on adverse situations proactively, rather than detach from stresses and wish they’d just go away. “The problem is not when there’s a car accident,” Ungar says. “The problem is the accidents that are caused by people driving by and looking at the accident rather than looking ahead.”

Take Lessons From Setbacks

A recent study found failed entrepreneurs are more likely to be successful in their second go-around, provided they try again. “When President Bush was asked what mistakes he made in his first term, people were surprised he couldn’t identify any,” Ungar says. “If you don’t learn why you made the mistake then it’s is difficult to learn a lasting lesson.” Taking lessons from past failures is one of the best ways to prepare for any disaster.

In the next four parts of this series, we’ll look at how small business owners have put these ideas into practice and successfully confronted disasters that could have crippled their businesses and careerss. Read the first part of the series, “Have a Disaster Recovery Plan in Place,” here.