A Different Way to Protect Your Freelance Business

Use this checklist to prepare for a personal emergency 

My car, January 2013

My neck snapped as my car lurched forward in that jerky way it does when it stalls. 

As I reached up to rub my neck, confusion must have crossed my face as I observed the engine still running.  That was a rough jolt. 

I stole a quick glance at the rearview mirror.  My eyes widened as I took in the sight of a Jeep Cherokee imbedded in my bumper.

My mind started racing.  I grabbed a slip of paper and wrote down the time and details of the accident while I waited for the 911 operator to answer. 

Long story short, the person who hit me didn’t have insurance.   Fortunately, I did and it covered everything from the trunk and bumper replacement to therapy for whiplash.

I went back to work. A couple of days later, I left in tears to see a doctor because the pain was so bad.  The doctor told me to take two weeks off to recover.  I took one. 

You see, I worked in a small office.  I knew how backed up things got for my manager when she had to do my job as well as hers.

That was several years ago, long before I had any inkling of being a business owner.

 Covering Details Gracefully by Planning Ahead

Now working for my own company, I don’t have someone to pinch hit for me.  Even at home, there are things only I know how to do.  It’s up to me to create an emergency plan.

This is a much longer post than usual, but I hope it will prove valuable to you as you consider these points to safeguard your business.

I shared last week that I have a procedure coming up within the next couple of months that will affect me for up to a week or so.  

People say the first three days I’ll be a zombie.  After that, results may vary.  I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to be writing, much less talking with clients in that kind of state.  Therefore, I need to be prepared with an emergency plan.

To be fair, some personal emergencies come on fast with no warning.  Car accident.  Heart attack.  A broken bone.   

Maybe it's someone else.  Your spouse or child.  Your parent’s - requiring travel to their house each day to take care of them  Maybe you need to move them into your home.

Sometimes you have warning, as I have.  It's not a dire emergency, yet it must be dealt with, sooner rather than later.

As a woman responsible for a business and household needs, there are many moving parts.  I’ll start with the business considerations and move onto personal preparations.   

Working from the personal illness/injury direction, I'll add a few comments at the end about caring for a loved one.

Communications

While I still wouldn’t recommend doing emails during the active recovery phase, if you are under heavy pain relief, phones are out of the question.  How do you want to handle phone calls?

• Voicemail message stating when you’ll be back in the office.
• Trusted friend/family member answer phones or return messages for you.
• Hire a temporary virtual assistant, if you don’t have one already.

Scheduling

• Re-arrange schedule if you are booked solid.
• Schedule time off if you aren’t booked.

Financial Matters

• Have a list of bills due, keep with the bills, including websites/passwords.
• Stay on top of billing.
• Stay on top of taxes.

Project Handling If No Warning

• Train a family member to step in, if possible.
• Make a running contact list of current clients and update changes immediately.
• Develop relationships with other professionals to whom you can hand a project.
• Make a list of key people you regularly contact.  

Project Handling If Forewarned

• Call clients and let them know your situation.
• Be prepared with concessions if they are having trouble with it but want to wait to work with you.
• Be prepared to refer them to someone else if their deadline is hard and fast.

Niceties When You Can Plan for Downtime

• Clean up your desk.
• Clean up your email.
• Tie up loose ends.

*   *   *

On the Homefront

• Keep laundry caught up. 
• Have the house tidied up.
• Create step-by-step instructions to pay bills including websites & passwords.
• Write out a two-week menu of easy meals or make freezer meals ahead of time.
• Review the schedule for the week of your downtime and the week after.
• Have an emergency shopping list and cash available.
• Arrange for childcare, if your kids are too young to be somewhat unattended.
• Set up rides for the kids to get to their regular activities.
• Have some light reading materials and fun videos bookmarked on your laptop.
• Have some personal growth and professional reading materials handy for when you can start to retain information again.

Being organized is huge.  Marla Cilley came up with an ingenious idea called “Office in a Bag.”  She has instructions for assembling your own from scratch, or you can support her by purchasing the binder with lists already printed for you.  This also gives you ideas for more efficiency in home keeping, saving time in your moment of need.  (I receive nothing for this recommendation.)

The idea behind the bag is portability and reclaiming lost minutes.  Where it would be hard to find time to take care of small details like paperwork for the kids field trip, paying offline bills or writing a hand-written thank-you for a referral in a timely manner, this makes it easy.

*   *   *

When You're the Caretaker

• Plan with other family members so you are relieved for an hour or two daily. 
• Observe patterns and adjust your schedule to maintain high quality production.

It’s a different thing when you are able to work, but find yourself busy caretaking.  You may find it extremely challenging, depending upon your feelings about the situation.  Add in frequent interruptions - it’s all part of the gig.  Expecting it goes a long way toward remaining peacefully productive.

One trick I’ve heard is to use a separate office in a bag, in a different color, just for your loved one’s needs.  It has their schedule for routines, meals, medications, appointments, and home care action items. 

It's an easy reference for you while making it simple for someone to step in.  By storing test results and other information in there, it makes office visits a breeze when you coordinate between multiple professionals.

Will You Make It Easy on Yourself?

Easy meal plans, getting someone else to shop and maintain the house for you, getting someone else to shuttle kids goes a long way toward maintaining your sanity.  For all you have to do on your own, having a plan ahead of time will be gold.

You CAN just wing it according to the situation.  Things may also fall between the cracks because you’re busy trying to get through this as gracefully as possible.  

OR you can pull out your emergency lists, according to the situation at hand, and just follow the plan.  It might not cover everything, but you'll be in a much better position to get through the challenge successfully on all fronts.  Stress will be much lower.

I bet your clients will regard you more highly for handling the situation in a professional manner.  Your family will appreciate things remaining as close to normal as possible, too.

Is there anything you would add?  Please post below.  If you found this useful, please share and help others think this through.  

Weekly Challenge

I’ve been working on my website.  It’s going slowly.  It’s easy to get lost in the technical details; however, I’m convinced that patience will get me there.  I’ll continue working on it.  When I am done, my LinkedIn profile badly needs updating.  I’d say that’s enough to keep me busy this week!

What are you doing to build your business this week?