This time of year the weather can be somewhat unpredictable. When bad weather is in the forecast you’ll hear lots of warnings about ways that you should prepare for the possible storm. Stocking up on provisions, battening down the proverbial hatches, making sure that you are equipped for whatever may come. The same is true in business. You need to have a plan. You need to have the right supplies on hand, a way to secure your assets and the resources to weather any financial storm that may impact your business. Not to mention; it's a good idea to track what you do have - with the world's best free inventory software that is!
In some of our previous posts, we discussed the benefits of process mapping and how it can help you identify the bottlenecks in your processes. We also showed you how our free inventory software can help once your processes are fleshed out. If you have taken our advice and completed a process map, you also have a blueprint to begin designing your disaster plan and setting up your free inventory software. You have a visual representation of the daily processes that keep your business moving forward. Whether you’ve had the time to implement some improvements or not, you can clearly see what drives your business on a day to day basis. Now think about what external forces could cause additional slowdowns or in an extreme case bring things grinding to a halt. Once you identify the potential threats you can begin brainstorming ways to reduce the impact of any such event. If weather closes your business for a few days how will this impact sales? What could you do to make up for that lost revenue? If an economic downturn causes sales to slow what methods could you employ to keep customers coming in? While you hopefully won’t have to use each emergency plan, odds are good you will need at least at some point. Just having a plan in place should provide peace of mind. Taking the time to make the decision well before it’s actually needed gives you the luxury of time to research and think things through more thoroughly than you would be able to when you’re in crisis mode. We all know that we make better decisions when we are under less duress.
Share your plans with others. What if the event that threatens your business involves you directly? You could have a health issue, a sick loved one, or just be stranded somewhere that prevents you from getting to work. It’s important for others to be familiar with the plan in the event that you are unable to run things for any reason. Just knowing that things will run smoothly in your absence can really help you personally recover from the unexpected event as well.
Being prepared won’t keep bad things from happening, but it will make weathering the storm a whole lot easier. Check back with us for some future posts that will cover more tips for helping your small business succeed. At Canvus, we care about your business. If you have any questions or comments about our free inventory software - please contact us by signing up today!
