Staying In Business When You're Effectively Out Of Business

Not that long ago, I found myself helplessly pacing back and forth in a long hallway adjacent to a hospital waiting room. Someone in my family was undergoing surgery and I wanted to be there because I cared.

There wasn't much I could really do to influence the outcome of the surgery. I hadn't stayed at a Holiday Inn Express the night before, so there was little chance of me walking into the O.R. and performing the surgery myself (this is a reference to a somewhat comical commercial where ordinary people do extraordinary things and attribute their abilities to having stayed at a Holiday Inn Express the night before).

You'd probably agree that it makes sense to have the right set of priorities in your life. That means making sure that you are taking care of your family and friends above all else. The thing is, at least in my case, I also place the well-being of my customers and team members in that same category.

I'm directly responsible for making sure that a number of different people receive a timely paycheck -- I can't seem to distance myself from that feeling of personal responsibility. As for my customers, I've always felt it's very important that they receive the very best level of service possible regardless of whatever might be going on. You probably feel the same way about your customers, so you can likely relate to what I'm saying.

Despite having implemented a variety of automated systems that have largely disintermediated me from many of the mechanical tasks associated with the day-to-day operation of my business, many of these systems happened to be disengaged on the night of the surgery because of a system upgrade that I was in the middle of implementing. (It always seems to happen this way, doesn't it?!)

As a result of careful pre-planning and a good working relationship with my team members, only a small handful of customers were directly impacted by the fact that I had become the single point of failure in the entire business that night. Things are back to normal now and all the automated systems are back in place, but still... it was a sobering reminder of just how challenging it can be to run a service oriented business when you're the only person who is able get something done.

Okay, so what's the take-away from this?

Here are two ideas that I think most of us can probably implement within about a week or two. These suggestions are applicable to those who operate service oriented businesses as well as those who, like me, also operate niche websites that sell products. I'm in the process of putting this stuff into place right now -- that's how important I think it really is, regardless of whatever level of automation might exist.

1) Create A Master List Of Mission-Critical Accounts And Passwords

This is huge... you need to ensure that you have an up-to-date list of all the critical business related accounts that you access on a regular basis. List all of the usernames and passwords. Print this out, and keep a paper copy someplace safe. You will also want to keep a digital version of this list. What would happen right now if your computer spontaneously shut off and the data on your hard drive were lost? For many of us, it could mean we'd be out of business overnight or at least unable to easily access the websites we need to use on a daily basis because our usernames and passwords were all saved in something like PerfectKeyboard or RoboForm. You're going to have to trust at least ONE person to have access to this information so that they can do stuff on your behalf if you're unable to. I already had something like this established, but this newer version is much more comprehensive.

2) Spend The Time To Create Short "Emergency Action" Tutorial Videos

You're probably thinking this is overkill, but seriously... odds are it's just you running your business. How will someone else, even if they're reasonably computer literate, know what to do in the event of an emergency situation? You're the boss of your own business, and likely run it mostly in isolation. It's not like someone else is there seeing what you do on a day-to-day basis. If you care about your customers, if you care about your business, then it's highly recommended that you spend some time documenting what you do so someone else can at least step in and have a shot at keeping the enterprise afloat long enough until you're able to return to the helm. In my case, the instructions were all written. A good start, but let's face it... it's likely easier for most people to understand what they should be doing from watching YOU do it in a video.

Maybe these ideas seem like a lot of extra work? If you take the time to really think this through and plan carefully, it *will* take some time to compile everything and to have it setup so that it's "ready" if an emergency arises.

Anyway... this is just something I thought I'd share because it has been on my mind lately. Hopefully it will encourage you to examine (or re-examine) what systems you have in place to deal with situations where you're unable to manage your business operations.

It might mean you're able to *stay* in business when you're effectively *out* of business due to circumstances beyond your control.

Share your thoughts and ideas for ways that we can keep our businesses operations on track in the event we're personally unable to be involved!