As an entrepreneur, your business is your life. It might be your sole source of income, your entire life savings are probably tied up in your venture and you quit a good job in order to run your company full time. Failure simply isn’t an option, and so if something goes wrong that threatens the future of your business it can be extremely distressing. It could be a legal issue, a natural disaster, money issues or something else- unfortunately most of us will come up against problems in some form or another and so it’s important to know what to do to respond. How to keep things moving forward until the problem is overcome and we can get back to normal. Here are some ideas for going about it.
Get insured
Being prepared and organised ahead of time is key. As a business owner, you should be protected against things that could possibly cause you problems, that way if you do face them you won’t be out of pocket. Public liability insurance and employee liability insurance for example ensures that if something happens to a worker or a customer because of your business, you’re covered. It could be as something as a worker tripping over a wire in the office, or a customer slipping on snow outside of your premises. You might be careful, but sometimes these things can happen and if you’re not covered then you could end up in hot water. You will also need to insure things like your office building (if you own rather than lease it) and your contents. That way if a criminal vandalises it or steals from you or things are damaged in a fire, flood or natural disaster you will be able to recoup your costs. Without insurance, any large expense that you need to cover whether it’s repair work or legal costs could instantly put you out of business.
Have an emergency fund
As well as being insured, it’s always worth having an emergency business fund or at the very least, an emergency line of credit. Sometimes you will need to wait for an insurer to pay out and so will need cold hard cash in the here and now. Having access to some money if needed can make what would be a very stressful situation that bit easier. Have an account set up with some cash and only ever dip into it if you’re in a dire emergency. This could be the difference between being able to carry on trading if something goes wrong, and having to shut your doors.
Have the right contacts
If things go wrong, you need to have the right contacts who will have the help and the things you need. This could be the number to a job agency who are able to send experienced personnel if you’re having issues with employees. A company like http://www.northernmat.ca/ will be able to send in machinery and vehicles for your construction site if yours break down. A good computer repair company will be able to come out and quickly fix any issues with computers if something goes wrong in the office.
All of these things allow you to stay productive and carry on working and trading, even if something goes wrong in your business.
Super tips Chantal! Having those contacts in place is beyond key. My friend network helped me through dire business times more than once. Which is why networking is so goldang important. Folks try to go solo, crash and burn, and they quit their venture because they have no friends around to help them.
Ryan