Get the business

Here’s where you get to scare yourself with a brainstorm of all the things that could devastate your business. Be creative but realistic and stick to major themes rather than small details. The biggest issue for one man bands is the loss of the person running the business. This could be in the short or long-term through illness or accident. The early death of the owner also needs to be planned for, so their next of kin knows what to do with the business (sell it or shut it down?). There are rules concerning dissolving limited companies, and of course outstanding bills need to be paid. If you lost your home or premises, where would you work? If all of your paperwork was destroyed in a fire, would you know essential details? Do you keep all of your business’s data on a single computer – and have you considered how you’d get the data back if something happened to it? If you do backup, is it automatically done daily offsite? On a less disastrous scale, do you have a key employee or client that you rely heavily on? What happens if they go? Is there a piece of technology or equipment that generates most of your revenue, which could take six weeks to replace.

When you’ve finished your brainstorm, there will be some things that need immediate attention. Just realised your data isn’t being backed up? Then fix it immediately – you can get an online backup for just a few pounds a month.

It has to be a key priority to get these things done immediately. Anything which can damage your business but is easily dealt with should be got rid of as soon as possible.