Business Continuity - 3 Sure Fire Ways to "Save" Your Company

1) Recognize the value of your information and take action to protect it.nnIt’s near impossible to know what your company’s digital information is worth until you lose it. But I can tell you this with absolute conviction: as an entrepreneur that has gone to extraordinary lengths to build your business from the ground up to support your family, you never, ever want to actually find out. nnIf I could shout at you and shake you—and I’m not a violent man—to make you take notice of this recommendation (read: immediate priority), I would. I know what it takes to make an independent business successful, and I do not want to see you lose everything—because that’s what happens to small businesses that suffer a major data loss. A whopping 90% file for bankruptcy within one year, and that’s according to the U.S. National Archives and Records Administration. I get countless calls every year from business owners desperate to recover information from their crashed computer systems, and if they’re lucky I can sometimes help. But the key is to have a backup from which you can recover your information in entirety, without the panic, stress and fear that overrides all else when disaster occurs in the absence of a safety net.nnBusiness Continuity Tip: Stop everything right now and Google “automatic secure daily computer backup” and the name of your province or state. Find a service at the top of the organic results (not the ads along the right-hand side and in the box at the top) that matches the criteria on my “Ultimate, No-Brainer Computer Backup Wish List”, and sign up today to get your business computers automatically backing up to secure offsite servers every single day.nn2) Create a step-by-step strategic “blueprint” for every product and service offered by your company.nnRepeat after me: “Making a blueprint for my business is easy”. That’s worth saying again, because I really want you to read on with faith, and not be intimidated. You can do this! Say it again: “Making a blueprint for my business is easy”.nnTo give credit where credit is due, no one teaches this strategy better than my own personal coach, Mr. David Neagle, and his good friend, The Ezine Queen, Ms. Alexandria K. Brown. I learned this critical business saving strategy from them, and it’s a keeper. nnThis is so easy you can do it at the kitchen table, with only a pad and pen, and it doesn’t matter if the dishwasher’s hummin’, Boston Legal (completely addictive and distracting show) is blaring from the PVR (TiVo), and some loud and obnoxious so-called-music is pumping through the vents from upstairs. It does not matter, because it’s that simple.nnAll you do is create a flow chart of the steps you’re going to take, both online and off, from identifying your ideal customer for each product/service, straight through to closing the sale. Ali actually adds one more fun step, but I’ll leave it for her to surprise you with that golden nugget. Once you’ve made your chart, you only have to look at it to realize the step at which you’re losing the sale. It becomes so obvious; you’re immediately spurred to take action to correct the problem. And what’s more, you’ve already written out for yourself exactly what you have to do to achieve success at that step. Just follow the blueprint day after day, and your business will boom.nnBusiness Continuity Tip: Avoid thinking of this flow chart as a corporate business plan. Why? Because thinking of it that way creates the false impression in your mind that it’s a complicated, overly in-depth, and utterly boring financial document. This is not the case. This flow chart is a practical step-by-step plan that is based entirely on your own expert knowledge, and is for you and you alone. You can change it, improve it, and even simplify it as you work with it. But the key is to just write it, mistakes and all, and plan your actions based on the steps. Need help getting started? Simply Google “Alexandria K. Brown Business Blueprint” to learn more.nn3) Hire a coach or mentor that is many success levels above where you are now.nnOh boy, I can already hear the objections, but I can’t stress this to you enough: If you’re not receiving regular, personalized coaching from someone who has already achieved the level of success that you are striving towards, it is very likely you will never achieve that success.nnBut, you say: Bologna, I don’t need a coach. Or you say: I can’t afford a coach … I’m a small business owner barely making ends meet, how could I possibly afford to pay a coach?nnMy response to you is this: yes you do, and yes you can, because the survival of your business (your livelihood) depends upon you reaching your goals as quickly as possible. The real truth is that you can’t afford NOT to hire a coach. nnReceiving help from someone who has walked the path before you, and who can shine a light of direction as you reach the countless forks along the road, is essential to your progress. The right coach will save your business from YOU time and time again. Often business owners make decisions that ultimately sabotage their own success, and a good coach will spot those patterns long before the damage is done.nnListen, there’s no shame in learning from someone that has achieved success before you. They themselves most likely learned from someone who walked the path before them. We can all use solid advice, encouragement, and someone to crack the whip on us from time to time when we’re not doing what we should be doing to grow our business. I know I do.nnBusiness Continuity Tip: Not all coaches are created equal. Do not skimp on your success. If you are truly committed to achieving a 7-figure income, you need help from a coach that crossed that success level years ago. nnRemember, investing in yourself is the best investment that you can make for your business … and the next best investment is in protecting your information!nnnCopyright 2007 - Blue Melnick. All Rights Reserved Worldwide. Reprint Rights: You may reprint this article as long as you leave all of the links active, do not edit the article in any way, and include the following byline:nnBlue Melnick is the Co-Founder and Lead Storage Specialist of Virtual Tape Drive Canada. Blue invites you to contact him through www.vtdcanada.com or by phone at 416-462-3323. Not sure if online data backup is right for you? Why not sign up for Biz Link News—Blue’s free ezine—to learn more about how this new technology can “save” your business?