Extreme weather
People get sick, they take family leave, they have life events that can't wait. A strong business plan can help the business owner survive in the face of these kinds of eventualities.
Las Vegas, Nevada (PRWEB) March 20, 2014
The report, released earlier this month, cites The Institute for Small Business and Home Safety as saying up 25 percent of small businesses fail to reopen after an extreme weather event. Joseph Ferriolo, director of Wise Business Plans, which provides planning and other business-building services to companies around the globe, said the situation doesn't have to be so dire.
"We try to encourage clients to plan not only for everyday operating conditions but for the extremes -- and this covers every aspect of the business, from staffing to financials. This means a business must look beyond hiring only the bare minimum of staff and create a living personnel chart that indicates which positions are vital to operations and plans for functioning if someone in one of those positions can't work."
Ferriolo said weather isn't the only kind of unexpected event that affects productivity.
"People get sick, they take family leave, they have life events that can't wait," he said. "A strong business plan can help the business owner survive in the face of these kinds of eventualities."
As for a truly extreme weather or other event that completely shuts down business? Ferriolo says strong financial planning is what keeps the other 75 percent of businesses going after a disaster.
"You have to hope for the best and plans for the worst," he said. "If you live somewhere that always gets foot after foot of snow, then you already know to plan for that. But extreme weather shut Atlanta down this winter. And every region of the country sees some kind of extreme event, from tornadoes to hurricanes to earthquakes."
Strong planning with a little bit of "what if" thinking can make the difference in an emergency, he said.
"Going into business is always a little bit of a dice roll. But if you set some money -- and personnel options -- aside, and plan for any eventuality, you do more than hedge your bets. You can really walk away a winner."
Wise Business Plans (http://www.wisebusinessplans.com), staffed with professional MBA writers, researchers and financial experts, is a trusted partner for businesses across a broad spectrum of products and services. Our mission is to empower our client base through the creation of affordable, professional business plans filled with applicable strategies that place them in the best position to realize success in all phases of their respective business growth cycles.