DIGITAL STARTUP SOCIETY BLOG — Adding Resilience to Your Business

No matter how much the experts warn about not backing up your data and work, most small business owners skip this process entirely. Over 58 percent of small businesses are not ready for any type of data loss. They have no idea how to back up, and if they do back up, they don’t even know how to use it to avoid losing information.  There are numerous reasons you should set up automatic backups for everything you do, whether it’s your website, social media, or other data and work – you need to back it up often to not suffer...

Because you have an online business that is unique to you, you need to make your own disaster planning checklist based on your needs. Your checklist may include personal issues with your family and not just your business issues and probably should since you work from home. Here are some ideas for you to create your own disaster planning checklist for your online business.    Know Your Region – Most disasters happen because of local conditions, so it’s essential to know your risks in your area. For example, do you live in an area prone to flooding or prone to...

As an online business owner, you have an amazing ability to collect an enormous amount of data regarding your customers, the competition, and the industry. But just collecting the data is not enough. You need to examine the data and then use it to make decisions about your business. When you put data first as a decision-maker preplanning benchmarks, your business will be more able to weather the natural ebbs and flows of the economy.   Recognize Risk  The data you collect can alert you to risks you may not have even considered. Think about the fact that so many...

At least yearly, it’s essential to review and update your business plan. The main reason is that a resilient business, one that can bounce back after hard times, always pays close attention to the industry, their own customer data, and other information to stay ahead of the killer technologies and issues surrounding their business that could signal either threats or opportunities. Having a formal plan in place to review your business plan and make changes annually makes sense.   Adapt to Market Trends – As you run your business, the market will change due to influences outside your control. They...

A serious issue for most people who start a business from home online is thinking they have to do it all themselves. The more you can be the manager of your business instead of the worker bee in your business, the more resilient your business will become.  Being a freelancer is great, but it’s not really the same as being a business owner.  A business owner manages the activity in their business in terms of organizing and planning, and ideally, someone else does the labor. It’s OK to start out doing it all and wearing many hats, but if you...