10 Steps to Creating Your Online Business Disaster Plan ECommerce Articles | August 23 Cheap Morgan Moses Jersey , 2007 Don't run the risk of being caught unprepared for disasters! Use these simple 10 steps to create a disaster plan for your business.
Copyright (c) 2007 Donna Gunter
I'm a 2005 Hurricane Rita evacuee and fortunately made it through a hellish evacuation process and ensuing hurricane with hardly a scratch. Running from a hurricane and dealing with its landfall isn't something I've ever had to do before, nor is it something I'd ever like to do again. However, as an solo business owner, I'm quite thankful that I have an online business. The fact that I own a virtual company and can operate from anywhere that there's electricity and phone service was of great help to me in this disaster. It was a primary factor in helping me reopen my business a scant 4 days after the landfall of Hurricane Rita when so many brick-and-mortar businesses were still shuttered for weeks after the storm.
As an online business owner, what can you do to make your business disaster-proof? It seems that we have an increasing number of hurricanes making landfall in the coastal states, and add to that an increased number of other types of natural disasters like tornadoes Cheap Jamison Crowder Jersey , earthquakes, wildfires, mud slides, ice storms, blizzards, etc. makes me think that there is no ideal location in which to operate a business. Accepting that natural disasters are here to stay Cheap Mason Foster Jersey , here's what I learned from my hurricane evacuation that helped me get my business back up and running quickly:
1. Know the location of your vital papers. You should be able to quickly put into a folder the following for you and your family:
--marriage license
--birth certificate for you and your children
--social security card
--bank account information, including bank routing number
--driver's license or state ID card
--car titlemortgage info and insurance contact info
--house deedmortgage info and insurance contact info
--apartment lease or copy of a utility bill and renters insurance contact info
--employee ID card
If you have documentation of your home contents, bring that information as well. In a disaster, you'll be asked to prove where you live and that you are who you claim you are, especially when applying for disaster assistance. You may also have to initiate damage reports on property, so having those files at your fingertips will help you expedite the process.
2. Have an online backup of all of your computer data. I back up my computer in two ways--to an external portable hard drive as well as to an online backup service. I use both because my files are my livelihood -- I would be dead in the water without them -- so I want to leave absolutely no room to lose my data. For my external backup Cheap Deshazor Everett Jersey , I use a 100 GB portable drive made by Seagate, and for my online backup, I have unlimited backup available through Carbonite
You can also use an online office system, like CentralDesktop or OfficeZilla, to upload and store many of your data files, calendar events Cheap Matthew Ioannidis Jersey , or contacts you might need to access.
3. Create a file with vital contact information. I copied a file with all of my usernames and passcodes for websites, bank accounts, etc. to my USB flash drive (a key chain-like device with 4 GB of memory) as well as the physical and email addresses and all phone numbers of friends, clients and family members -- anyone I needed to contact during the evacuation period. I manage my passcodes using RoboForm2Go, www.roboform, a portable version of my password manager software. You'll also want to take along your children's school contact info to be able to check on the current operating status of your child's school Cheap Zach Brown Jersey , as well as local media website info. My lifeline in getting current information about my home city was through the websites of Beaumont's newspapers and television and radio stations. If you keep your contact info in Outlook and want to create an online backup, you can do so through Plaxo. All you need to access your info in Plaxo is a computer and to know your username and password.
4. Know the primary officecomputer equipment that will be required to get your business up and running. I had operated with a minimal amount of my office equipment during this time due to my being a house sitter for a friend for 2 months. So, upon receiving the mandatory evacuation order, I knew that to run my business, I needed my desktop PC, flat panel monitor Cheap D.J. Swearinger SR Jersey , wireless mouse and keyboard, speakers and associated cords, modems, router, backup portable external hard drive, office telephone and associated cords Cheap Paul Richardson Jersey , laptop computer, printer, box of software, and scanner. It sounds like a great deal of equipment, but I packed it all into 2 boxes from U-Haul (1 small and 1 medium box). I knew I could work for at least 2 months comfortably with just this equipment.
5. Know the location of your primary paper files for your clientsbusiness. I have 2 sets of files -- ones for the immediate short-term that I use frequently and my lateral file drawer files that are primarily reference files. I grabbed the contents of the two drawers of my 2-drawer file cabinet (which hold my immediate short-term files), all of which fit into one small U-Haul box.
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