Hey all you entrepreneurial rockstars. Have ya missed me? 😉 Unfortunately in addition to going through some family turmoil and custody issues with my step-son… I was also hit with a migraine early Monday eve, and it literally put me out of commission all week long.
Today is the first day I’ve rolled out of bed without pain in my head. (Look… I’m a poet and didn’t know it too!) Hopefully, (fingers crossed) my pain free day is a permanent fixture, at least for the time-being.
I am headed to the doc next week to see what can be done about these pesky little nuisances, but until then I’ll just soldier on and pray it doesn’t come back! In the mean time, I’ll share a little lesson that I actually already knew, but didn’t take seriously enough.
Lesson 1 of the Week- Have a Back-up Plan
If you’re a writer and a blogger like yours truly… have some friggin’ emergency content ready to go out that is reserved ONLY for emergencies. (AKA NOT a weekend jaunt to the beach, or the day you took off to go shopping last week.) Those are actually events you can (kinda sorta) plan around and expect.
No my friend, I’m talking REAL emergency content that is only used in times of high stress, illness, or life-changing events. Got it?
Like my unexpected dual with a migraine this week.
If you’re prone to headaches and migraines, then I’m sure you can feel where I’m coming from. Plain and simple, they suck. I can’t function properly. I don’t even want to get out of bed, much less be required to move around and think. Needless to say, very little gets done… at least nothing noteworthy at any rate.
Articles to write? Pfft. Blog posts that need to go out? Yeah right.
Bed, pillows, and blessed darkness? I’m on it!
Now mayhap this doesn’t quite apply to you, because writing content isn’t part of your business model. This leads me to lesson 2 of the week.
Lesson 2 of the Week- Have a Back-up Plan Anyway!
Right, I get it… if you’re a graphic designer you can’t exactly have “back-up” logos in place to go out to your clients. Duh.
The same way I can’t have “back-up” articles to go out to my clients… they want what they want, and my back-up may not be what they asked for… duly noted.
The same way you as a small business owner may not have a way to offer “back-up” products or services to your customers either… I get it already! I was mainly referring to all my little blogging friends in Lesson 1. Have some content ready to post in times of emergency… it just makes sense OK?
However lesson 2 applies to all of you non-bloggers as well. And by back-up plan I mean a strategy in place that ensures while you’re down and out… your client work still gets done!
Maybe that means making sure your assistant knows WTF to do if you can’t do it. Or maybe that means pairing up with a fellow business owner in the same industry as you… with an agreement of “When I have an emergency, you’ll take over my clients… and when you have one, I’ll handle your shite too”. (But please people… make sure this is a person you’d trust with your very life… because your business and clients are what allow you to lead that said life.)
Another option is to have a team of folks you can outsource to, that you trust to get the job done right. That way when you’re in a pinch, you know you can email them or call them up regarding a project, and they know just how to handle it and get it done on time.
Money out of your pocket? Sure, but well worth it for peace of mind, don’t you think?
Lesson 3 of the Week- Having a Back-up Plan Rocks!
Know why?
You just read why!
Peace of mind my friend.
It blows to be stressing and worried about what’s not getting done, when you’re already feeling like crap due to illness, or you’re already stressed due to some other emergency you’re trying to deal with.
You’re constantly throwing thoughts around the back of your brain… worried because this or that isn’t done… wondering where you’ll find the time to get caught back up once the emergency is over with… and in general feeling a crap load of additional stress that just makes your emergency issue ten times worse than it needed to be.
I think back on this past week and imagine how much better and more relaxed I’d have felt, knowing I had blog posts scheduled to go out on a regular basis, that I didn’t have to put any thought or time into whilst feeling crappy… they were just there, ready to be published. Sweet, sweet relief.
Yeah, would’ve been totally nice, but like a brain-dead dork, I didn’t take the time to create it while I was feeling squirrely and chipper like I should’ve done.
While had I taken a day I was feeling great (like today for instance) and used that time to create the content I needed, and get it ready for publishing… I would not even be writing this post!
By the same token, if you make putting a back-up plan in place a priority before an emergency happens, you’ll be much better off yourself. Trust me on this one.
Unfortunately though, I didn’t follow my own advice despite being well aware of its importance. As a result, my blog suffered, my Alexa ranking dropped, and I think I even lost a subscriber or two.
HUGE bummer.
Moral of the story?
Have a freakin’ back-up plan!
So how about you? Been caught with your pants around your ankles (figuratively speaking of course) where you were unprepared for calamity? Have you had an emergency related to your business, with no back-up plan in place? How’d you overcome it? Or did you overcome it? Drop your thoughts below, we like sharing around here. 😉
Warmest,
