Maintaining Your Business Presence During Uncertain Times...A Key to Staying Relevant
Life, business and day to day activities are more uncertain now than ever before. Changes are happening on a daily basis much quicker than we can wrap our heads around it and definitely much quicker than we can manage it. It is affecting us professionally, personally, mentally and emotionally. We are continuously being pelted by changes due to the virus of no end, killer hornets, civic unrest, a barrage of campaign fodder, killer sand storms, business closures and school uncertainty. It all seems overwhelming, scary and exhausting, but oftentimes uncertainty gives birth to ingenuity, new beginnings and rebirth to something bigger and better.
As most successful business owners know businesses should have an Emergency Disaster Plan also known as a Business Continuity Plan. Having a plan in place provides you steps, direction and support when business as usual is no longer an option. A Business Continuity Plan (BCP) provides the blueprint to Plan B when Plan A is afflicted by a pandemic, a flood, loss of revenue, economic downturn, systems crashing and many other things that often life hits us with.
Your business continuity plan should include alternative ways to do business. What if you can't open your store? Can you sell online? What if you can't open your cafe? Can you do take-out or catering? Is curbside an option? Is there a side hustle option? Is there a new business opportunity that can be introduced to your service or product line? All these things and many other business functionalities should be included in your BCP.
One area that is often missed when creating an emergency disaster plan and often even during everyday operations is your social media presence. Not only should you create and actively maintain a social media presence for your business, but you should incorporate that into your BCP. As a business owner, you must ensure that you have an active plan so that when a pandemic hits, you have a clear path to maintaining your business's relevance. Keeping you business at the forefront of your customers minds is essential and ultimately can be the key ingredient to keeping your business viable.
When nature, the environment, economic changes and your business come together, it can be like the ocean small, soft rolling waves that rock you and lull you peacefully, or it can be hard, strong, violent crashing waves and undercurrents that rock you and push your legs out from under you. It is your job as a successful business owner and entrepreneur to create the template and put in the work to manage the crisis however the ocean rocks you!