What's Your Backup Plan?

“Accidents only happen to the other guy. So, all you other guys, watch out!”  
Unknown Author

by Skip Cohen

I recently ran across a post I'd written many years ago about the importance of a backup plan. Remember Murphy's Law? Well, the Second Murphy's Law is simply, "Murphy was an optimist!"

For the last few weeks, it's become obvious that we've pissed off Mother Nature...Floods, tornadoes, fires make the news every night. Now add to Mother Nature's challenges and your own vulnerability, and you've got more than enough reasons to have a backup plan for your business!

Far too many of us have learned the hard way about the challenges of not backing up our files. I hear stories every day about drives that crashed, memory cards that were lost, and the horror stories that followed as people tried to recover once-in-a-lifetime images. So, knowing that we all back up our files and pray we’ll be prepared when the sh** hits the fan do we really have all bases covered?

We’re ready for just about anything, but we don’t back up ourselves! What happens when something comes up and you suddenly find yourself out of commission?  I won the battle with the gall bladder from hell sixteen years ago, but the fight put me out of circulation for two weeks. During that time, had it not been for my good buddy, Scott Bourne, stepping in to help me, the momentum of my blog and various projects would have been completely lost.
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Ask yourself one question: If I couldn’t work for the next five days, who would know what needed to be done in my business?  Then work up every scenario.  What if you can’t make it to that wedding you were hired to shoot next weekend? What if a family emergency pulls you away from your business? Just go through the exercise of making sure you’ve got a plan.

Throughout the Florida coastline, you’ll see signs reading “Evacuation Route.” And when we were kids, we did countless fire drills so that everyone knew what to do in an emergency. Why as adults do we think we’re invincible?

You’re working too hard to build your business – don’t risk it all by not having a back-up plan.

Many years ago I saw an auto safety billboard with the quote above, “Accidents only happen to the other guy. So, all you other guys, watch out!”  Sure seems to fit with the way so many people never prepare for that “it’ll never happen to me” crisis!