How To Prepare Your Small Business For A Natural Disaster

How To Prepare Your Small Business For A Natural Disaster

Hurricane Ian came with the best possible timing—while I was knee-deep in wholesale orders😅Thankfully, I’m right in the center of Florida, so there was no major damage. We were without power for about 12 hours, and the Internet was down until the next evening. That definitely doesn’t even compare to what happened in south Florida.

I had minimal issues, but I still had over a hundred accessories that I needed to make without electricity🥲I tried manually cranking the hand wheel until my whole arm wore out. Then I switched to cutting more fabric while I still had daylight. That kept me busy until the power came back on, and I was able to soar through a whole bunch of accessories and catch up to where I wanted to be.🌞

If you’re running a small business, it’s good to be prepared in case of an emergency or natural disaster. What are some things to keep in mind?

Making scrunchies using a sewing machine

Plan B

If you’re in an area where common natural disasters can be forecasted (like hurricanes or sometimes tornadoes), you’ll have the advantage of deciding whether or not to put your shop in vacation mode. If you don’t want or need to, you have the option of making a list of all the things you can do without electricity. Depending on what you make, these can include things like cutting materials, assembling parts, or even starting the packaging process.

Once you have that in mind, try to work on the things that do require electricity while you still have power. If you need to use your sewing machine, Cricut, or any other tools, that would be a good time to do it! Also consider what needs to be done in case you lose Internet access for a period of time. Do you need to order supplies for later or schedule social media posts? You can’t always rely on hotspot.🤦🏾‍♀️

And then, if or when the power goes out, you can switch over to those tasks that don’t need electricity!👏🏾That's what I was able to do after the hurricane left us without power for most of the day, so I didn't feel like I couldn't get anything done. I was still able to make progress and stay on track.

Always Be Prepared

When you have a plan in place in case of an emergency, you’ll have one less thing to worry about. You can make a stressful situation a lot less difficult.

And now I’m off to prepare for the next storm…Hurricane Nicole should be making landfall sometime tonight🫠

Have you had a natural disaster or unexpected challenge interrupt your business? How did you handle it? I’m always open to new ideas!

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