Preparing your Business to Handle a Life Crisis
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Can your business handle a crisis? If you’re running a business - even if everything is going well - you need to prepare and think through what your business will do if you have a life crisis, if a tragedy happens, or if something unexpected comes up. In this episode, mindset coach Becky Mollenkamp is sharing why this is such an important piece of your business planning, tips for how you can actually prepare your company for an unexpected event, and her advice for how to actually handle it when it happens.
Check out Becky’s Website: www.beckymollenkamp.com
Follow Becky on Instagram: @beckymollenkamp
HOW DID SHE GET HERE?
Becky woke up one day and realized she was living a life of “should’s” and wanted to change that. After several deaths in the family, losing her marriage, her home, and almost her business, and following that up with depression, she realized her life was about what she “should” be doing.
Becky set out to create a mindset coaching business because she wanted to help other women stop living in those “should” moments and starting creating businesses and lives that they truly wanted to have, without having to go through all the struggles that she did. She’s spent years building her coaching company to the success that it is, and is more passionate than ever about helping business owners prepare for those crisis moments that you just can’t avoid.
WHAT’S THE MOST IMPORTANT THING TO REMEMBER ABOUT PREPARING FOR A CRISIS?
You have to be doing something that you’re truly passionate about. Move yourself toward a business that lights you up and fulfills you now, so that if a crisis or tragedy does hit and you need some time off or away or a break, that you do still feel motivated to go back to that business. If you get sick, have a death in the family, get depressed, etc. and you have to try to work your way back to a business that wasn’t fulfilling you in the first place, then you’ll never get there. You need to run a business that you would be happy to go back to no matter the circumstances.
If you’re not thinking about it and preparing and something does happen, you’re going to be in real trouble.
WHAT ARE SOME THINGS WE CAN DO TO PREPARE FOR A CRISIS AHEAD OF TIME?
The biggest thing is to treat it like a business. It doesn’t just need to be an easy, fun thing that you do (though that’s great if it’s those things too!), but you need to actually take the steps toward treating it like a professional business. That means taking actions like having a separate business bank account, getting an LLC, creating an operations manual (even if you don’t have a team) and doing those other things that protect you and your business from liabilities. Be a CEO, take on these tasks, and be really clear about separating your business and your personal.
Also, make sure that you’re not putting all your eggs in one basket. If you’re focused on one big client or one type of revenue stream, then it’ll be easy to bring your business down if that industry crashes or something happens to that client. You have to diversify your business, so you won’t be so heavily impacted if one part of your business/client list dips.
Related Post: Why your Audience is showing up but not taking Action
HOW DO WE ACTUALLY HANDLE THE CRISIS WHEN IT HAPPENS?
Have a support system, both personally and professionally. Have people that you can turn to, lean on, and ask for help - people that know you and your business well. You need to network, find fellow business owners who run companies of their own, participate in masterminds, etc. to build up that support system. Then remember to actually USE that support system if you need it. Don’t be afraid to ask for help when you need it.
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