I have just been released from the hospital for an emergency surgery last Wednesday. Everything went well, and I am now back home recuperating.
But I have not been able to post anything in my blogs, which brings me to the question: If you are hospitalized or get sick, do you have a back up plan for your business? Or will your business take a sick day as well?
Lucky for me, I have several dependable folks helping out with PowerHomeBiz.com and our other sites. But solo entrepreneurs may not have such luck. Imagine if you’re a web designer who has committed to a client the completion of their project at a certain date, only to find that you cannot do it because you’re in the hospital. Or if you are running an ecommerce store and orders are pouring in, but you can’t do anything with fulfillment as you are too sick to do so. Unfortunately, for many of us, no work means no pay.
We don’t want to think about getting sick or hospitalized, but it is important to create a back up plan for your business, especially if you are working solo and your family depends on you. Here are some things to consider:
- Run as many processes of your business on auto-pilot as much as possible. An information site or blog earning from Adsense can survive days without getting new content or being updated — and yet income can still come in. But if you sell advertising or products or services and new orders are coming in, you must at least have an autoresponder telling customers that their order has been received and will be processed within the next two business days (or whatever duration you are comfortable with). That way, your customer can be assured that you have received the order and hopefully processing it.
- Invest in technology. Buy a laptop to allow you work wherever and whenever you need to work — even in hospitals. More importantly, get a wireless broadband Internet access to allow you to be online anywhere. Verizon Wireless Internet costs about $39 per month — and in the case of my hospitalization, this service is a definite life saver. These are business expenses so you can deduct these items from your tax bill. Or at least get a smartphone like Blackberry or Palm Treo with Internet and email access so you know what is happening to your business.
- Get a helper. Or at least someone you can rely on who can help things running in your business while you are unable to do so. It can be as simple as your wife or husband calling your clients that you may be a little delayed in fulfilling your obligations to them because you are sick. Or a back up person who can work on your projects for you until you get better (properly compensated, of course). Or even your family members to help pack and ship the items ordered by customers.
- Eat right and be healthy. Of course, the best advice is to make sure you avoid being sick by taking care of yourself. Find ways to release stress from your business. Relax and sleep right.
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