Building Wealth Through Your Business (6/6): Business Continuity- Building a More Resilient Business

As a business owner, you are probably overlooking the fact that disaster recovery planning is something really only done well by larger businesses, and that you'll get to it when you, you'll get to it when you can. That's way too narrow. When done correctly, a disaster recovery plan can actually increase the value of your business.

My name is Cannon Carr, and this is the final episode in our miniseries on those things that business owners often overlook when building wealth through their business, and today we're gonna be talking about the strategic value of business continuity planning

Uh, it's more than just hackers and hurricanes and keeping those things from happening. Uh, there's real strategic value in doing it the right way. So when I talk to business owners about disaster recovery, when they're, you know-- when I talk to business owners about disaster recovery, I usually get [00:01:00] the nod that, yes, it's important.

I'll get to it when I can. You know, it, it's not urgent today s- and it may never happen, and there's always something more urgent to do. But once, uh, uh, they-- the owners start, they'll say, all right. So they treat it like a checklist, you know, where, yes, you know, I need to protect if I lose building access or if, uh, if the utility shuts down or if I, uh, you know, lose a key employee or if, uh, or, or I've gotta protect against cyberattack.

So they think through those things, but they're in a reactionary mindset and thinking about preventing and recovering from a crisis. And there are clear benefits to doing that. It's worth getting those things right. But there's a hidden benefit to doing it right and why it's so worth doing it even just starting, right?

Not getting it comprehensively right. You can grow into that, but even just starting the process, and here's why. It actually increases the value of your business when you do this for a couple reasons. One it increases, uh, it, it increases the credibility [00:02:00] you have in your business. When you have when you've thought about crisis management and you've got disaster recovery and business continuity in place, it gives customers confidence.

It gives vendors confidence. It gives lenders confidence. It ultimately gives buyers confidence that you've thought through those things. And that confidence, like I said, transfer-- it translates or can translate into better increased value for your business. It's more sustainable business, more repeatable business.

It's a protected business. But even deeper than that, it's a little bit mindset. If you're thinking about disaster recovery and thinking through those pressure points that need to be addressed, w- even as down to detailed as, you know, in key employees, key customers That mindset of anticipation means that you are trying to predict what could cause pressure points in your business and addressing them as best as you can today. and in that mindset of anticipation, you find yourself [00:03:00] documenting processes, and by documenting processes, you're reinforcing the re-repeatability and sustainability of your business.

so all those things lead to better value that you're creating

And you'll notice that one of the things we talk about is thinking about how you're going to leave your business. Business continuity planning sets that conversation up in such a healthy way because ultimately, you know, you are building a business that is scalable and recoverable and resilient beyond weak points, including yourself, right?

Not being totally dependent on you as the hero of the business. Uh, the business, uh, eventually, if you've done it right, h- outgrows you, and you are ultimately able to exit the business. So business continuity planning can play a very important role in that [00:04:00] journey

So thinking about business recovery this way truly reframes the decision. It's no longer one of reacting to a crisis, to taking time today, to ma- being an extra expense today. It shifts it away from those things, uh, into more of an investment in the future, and it's an investment in transferability and resiliency of your business.

It's a total mind shift, and it's so valuable because now it's centered on the value drivers

So let's do this today. Don't boil the ocean. If you haven't done a lot of business continuity planning, sometimes it can be overwhelming. Where do I start? Don't boil the [00:05:00] ocean. Start with maybe those two or three things that keep you awake at night that need to be addressed. who are some key people that, uh, without them you would be struggling?

Or who is a key vendor, if you lost that vendor, you know, how would you address that? if, uh, if there are certain processes that you are in charge of and you were out for a while or if there are processes that aren't working optimally, how do you make those more efficient? And document each of those, anticipate what the problems are, and come up with a plan to, uh, how are you going to work through those so you preserve cash, you preserve operations, uh, you keep the business going.

And in doing that, you've started to tackle just those immediate priorities, and over time you'll keep growing into bigger, broader b- business continuity planning, but at least you've started with the right mindset

And by starting with what's the most fragile today, you're building in [00:06:00] that credibility, that resilience, that repeatability that's so important for long-term value creation

So if you want to have a one-page checklist, from a strategic sense about business continuity planning, DM me BCP, and I will send you that list so you can get started today. Thank you for tuning in to our miniseries on those key things that business owners often overlook when building wealth in their business.

We hope you've learned something through this thinking, and we, We hope you've learned something through this miniseries, and we appreciate your tuning in.