What is Your Backup Plan?

When everything is going fine, we don’t spend time thinking about what could go wrong. But it is when everything is going fine that you MUST consider what happens if things go wrong?

Yesterday Wifey and I were out for lunch with friends celebrating Wifey’s birthday this week. It was lovely place in the Yarra Valley wine region. A hot (33 C) and windy day, but comfy in the air-conditioned restaurant.

Then the power went out.

As they have electric doors, the first response is that the doors automatically open. This let in the blustery warm wind. We ordered food and were told that they can’t start cooking it yet. One of our party went to the toilet and came back quickly saying there were no lights in there.

Fortunately they had a backup generator so after a little bit, the power came back on and all was ok. Then just as our meal was served the power went off again (doors opens again too!). This time it didn’t come back on. After desert, a waitress came over to ask us what we had so she could prepare the bill.

Essentially they had a backup plan but not a secondary backup plan. It seemed that their generator was enough to help shut things down but not enough to run their operations on an ongoing basis.

What about your business?

What would you do if your power was out for the day?
What would you do if your computer hard drive crashed?
What would you do if you could not issue invoices?

Now is the time to have a plan in place and then follow it when you need to.

So what is your backup plan?