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COVID-19 Won’t Be The Last Crisis—These Entrepreneurs Discuss How To Prepare For The Next One

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You’re no doubt familiar with the adage “April showers bring May flowers.” With COVID-19 continuing to take its course, it certainly feels like we’re in the midst of a downpour. This rainy day isn’t the first, nor will it be the last, and entrepreneurs need to be prepared if they want their ventures to weather the storm.

In light of the current crisis, I connected with entrepreneurs and business leaders to understand the preparations they're making so their businesses can face our uncertain future with confidence and clarity.

1. Jeff Winters, Founder and CEO of Sapper Consulting

At Sapper Consulting, Jeff Winters and his team come up with what they’ve termed “break glass plans.”

“If a certain problem arises, we ‘break the glass’ and pull the corresponding playbook off the shelf,” Winters says. Problems might include the departure of a major client, a key employee quitting, customer acquisition struggles, or even a physical security issue.

Winters recognizes the importance of a contingency plan, but he cautions against trying to insulate yourself from every possible risk. “You can't plan for all scenarios," he says, "so you have to be reasonable.” In any case, a proactive approach is better than a reactive one.

2. Christine Yaged, Cofounder and Chief Marketing Officer of FinanceBuzz, a Launch Potato Company

Christine Yaged believes a homogenous portfolio is a major risk factor in any business. She says her team at FinanceBuzz regularly reviews the sales from each partner to ensure the company has diverse revenue sources and thus the ability to survive a major loss. If any one partner becomes too influential, the team meets to lower that risk.

To Yaged, multiple revenue streams are an important part of a sustainable business and business owners owe it to the people around them to mitigate risk. “Your employees, customers, partners, and investors all rely on you and your business for income, stability, and to support their families,” Yaged says.

3. Gabe Kennedy, Cofounder of Plant People

Plant People's Gabe Kennedy recognizes the responsibility of entrepreneurs to prepare for emergencies, and he sees a host of potential risks on the horizon. “Due to the precarious nature of climate change, pandemics, and geopolitical strife, unstable markets and social instability are inevitable," Kennedy says. "As a company, we are dedicating time to planning and managing our response in order to continue to serve our customers and help the most vulnerable in urgent crises.”

To Kennedy, one of the best ways to prepare is to create a resilient supply chain that can withstand a variety of disasters. Beyond just keeping the doors open and lights on, a stable supply chain lets organizations keep operating and benefiting their customers. Plant People uses that opportunity to find new ways to support customers in times of need, Kennedy says.

4. Sean Miller, President of PointCentral

Sean Miller, president of Point Central, doesn’t believe it’s possible to predict a crisis. Rather, he says, “planning for crisis simply means we have some flexibility in our business models and resources in reserve to tackle the unforeseen that inevitably comes across our path.” Those unforeseen events might come in the form of natural disasters, equipment malfunctions, or pandemics, but they can all create significant business disruptions.

For Miller, his first piece of advice is to ensure your company has a defined emergency response plan. From there, it's all about using the tools you have in order to achieve your goals. "Any tool is only as good as the process outlining how it should be used and the people who have access to it," Miller says. "Once the right process is in place, technology can help your team be more productive."

5. Srini Pillay, M.D., CEO of NeuroBusiness Group

NeuroBusiness Group CEO Srini Pillay emphasizes the importance of a plan by citing the Zeigarnik effect, which demonstrates that “the act of planning activities through ‘to-do’ lists reduces the burden on the brain by freeing the brain from having to worry about unfinished tasks and allowing it to perform necessary tasks well.” As he cautions, “If you leave planning until the last moment, your brain could be too anxious to plan well, since the anxiety center (the amygdala) will disrupt the planning centers in the brain.”

The potential crisis on Pillay’s mind is the massive financial volatility and competition that’s being driven by the development of new technology. His advice? “Let go of things you cannot control and shift your attention to solutions. I meditate regularly and look for the opportunity in the chaos.”

6. Erik Huberman, Founder and CEO of Hawke Media

"Every decade, give or take, something hits businesses hard on a national or global level," Hawke Media CEO Erik Huberman says. "Being able to weather the storm is critical to survival for a business."

In his opinion, preparation is key. He recommends advance planning with multiple crisis management options so that if disaster strikes, you can fall back on something instead of panicking. For those things you can’t plan for, he suggests you "keep cash on your balance sheet to be able to make more thoughtful and strategic decisions, along with a line of credit or some backup in case” of emergency.

7. Mark McKee, President and COO of OnPay

In addition to acknowledging the sheer variety of crisis situations that can come up from industry to industry, Mark McKee warns that crises “will always occur when least expected or most inopportune.”

To ensure business continuity, he points to the cloud for systems that can be accessed anywhere in the world and that include clear backup procedures. “We have always ensured that OnPay can operate remotely as needed, without any service interruption. It tends to be in times of emergency or crisis that our clients most urgently need our help.”

8. Dhiraj Sharma, Founder and CEO of Simpplr

According to Simpplr's Dhiraj Sharma, the highs and lows of entrepreneurship aren't too far off from the situations portrayed in HBO’s "Silicon Valley," which is to say that managing crises comes with the territory. "One day you're featured as the next big thing. The next day, unforeseen circumstances (like COVID-19) come along and threaten your entire business."

He's seen his fair share of challenges in the startup world, from abrupt staffing changes to legal issues to financial woes. When it comes to navigating them, he can't overstate the importance of earning your team's trust. "While many CEOs see their primary job as pleasing investors, I couple that with doing whatever I can to improve employee engagement," Sharma says. "This has a reciprocal benefit: When the crisis hits, I don’t feel as though it's me against the world. I feel as though my teammates will go to battle with me."

9. Petr Baudis, Founder and Chief AI Architect at Rossum

Petr Baudis believes everyone should take a step back when trying to plan for emergencies. “Be a generalist rather than a specialist in how you think about risk," Baudis says. "The core nature of crises is that every crisis is different. They come and go, and you weather them by having great fundamentals and a maxed-out flexibility mindset.”

How can you get there? To Baudis, you should prepare yourself to operate as efficiently as possible. “Can you avoid collapse without 30% of your workforce? Not if just operating a process is overwhelming. Can you temporarily shift work to remote? Not if your processes are not digital. Can you scramble for extra opportunities if user growth slows down? Not if your data is not structured and searchable.” When you aim for efficiency, you’re ultimately building a better business in both good times and bad.

10. Erik Stettler, Chief Economist at Toptal

For a final piece of uplifting advice, look no further than Erik Stettler, who believes planning for some crises can actually help prevent them. “If you fail to plan for a cyberattack, for example, you will fail to take precautions that would have made you less vulnerable in the first place," he says. "Proactive planning creates flexibility that is important, both when the crisis hits and after it has abated.”

In light of the COVID-19 pandemic, Stettler is a firm believer in remote work capabilities. He notes that even if you don't think you'll use them regularly when operating normally, implementing tools like Zoom, Slack, and project management platforms like Asana and allowing occasional remote work can help prepare your team to quickly adapt to situations like this one in which amping up remote work is necessary.

No matter what industry you’re in, catastrophe can strike at any moment. It’s critical to take the time to plan for a variety of potential scenarios. You can’t possibly cover them all, but focusing your efforts on a few of the most likely will go a long way toward insulating your business from risk.

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