This incident put my mind into overdrive about how one manages a business while dealing with life's issues, tragedies and unexpected events. If I had a staff, I'd say now is the time that delegation should kick in, preparing staff to take over projects and tasks. As a Company of One, however, I don't have anyone to delegate to, and this could be a problem.
So how should we as business owners prepare for those moments when life steps in and kicks you out of the office for an undetermined number of days?
Here are some of my thoughts:
1. Get Backup. I just had a business acquaintance online offer to help with some of the articles I need to write. Although I think I have things covered right now, I should take her up on the offer for at least something and solidify a more formal arrangement with her to be my backup in cases such as this.
2. Keep a Running List. Most of my assignments and projects are in my head -- a precarious place for them since I've been having so many memory problems lately. Somehow, I always manage to juggle them in my mind. But this doesn't do anyone else any good, and if I did need to delegate, I'd first have to write everything down. In a stressful moment, my memory could fail me. I need to keep a list of projects and status at all times.
3. Organize Key Contacts. If I had to email all my editors and clients today that I had to go out of town unexpectedly for a few days, a week, I would be forced to sift through email correspondence and rely on Gmail to help me find everyone's contact information. I should use my email address book to prepare a group of people I could contact by sending one email to let people know I'm going to be away.
4. Get Things "In the Can." As a writer with recurring columns, I really should be at least a month ahead of the game. Instead, I write month to month. In journalist terms, having a few extra columns or articles on hand "just in case" is referred to as having them "in the can." I need to do this wherever I can including prepping client newsletters in advance so all someone has to do is drop in the last bit of content before publishing it if they have to do it while I'm offline.
5. Prioritize. This could mean to do the most important things first and don't sweat the small stuff. But in this case, it also means family -- and your life away from work - comes first. Enough said.
How are you prepared for emergencies? What are your contingency plans?
Aliza Sherman is The Entrepreneur Mom on WorkItMom.com and more of her writing is available at Mediaegg.com.
