BUSINESS, MANAGEMENT & FINANCE: Starting a Business

You can spend the rest of your life researching how to do something, but in the end, you either do something or you don't. 

What are you doing NOW to get closer to your dream goal?

You don't have to do everything at once, and you don't have to do it alone.

To develop an “all hazards approach,” DHS has adopted National Fire Protection Association 1600 (NFPA 1600) as the American National Standard for developing a preparedness program.

There are five steps toward creating a business preparedness program:

1. Program Management

• Organize, develop and administer your preparedness program
• Identify regulations that establish minimum requirements for your program

2. Planning

• Gather information about hazards and assess risks
• Conduct a business impact analysis (BIA)
• Examine ways to prevent hazards and reduce risks

3. Implementation

Write a preparedness plan addressing:

• Resource management
• Emergency response
• Crisis communications
• Business continuity
• Information technology
• Employee assistance
• Incident management
• Training

4. Testing and Exercises

• Test and evaluate your plan
• Define different types of exercises
• Learn how to conduct exercises
• Use exercise results to evaluate the effectiveness of the plan

5. Program Improvement

• Identify when the preparedness program needs to be reviewed
• Discover methods to evaluate the preparedness program
• Utilize the review to make necessary changes and plan improvements

Before you take out a loan with a company, check for known issues.  
Do they have a good reputation, or are they associated with lots of complains at the BBB or other review sites?
What happens if disaster strikes? Know the best case and worst case scenarios.