Hey all you entrepreneurial rockstars. Have ya missed me? đ 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 Iâve rolled out of bed without pain in my head. (Look⌠Iâm a poet and didnât 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 Iâll just soldier on and pray it doesnât come back! In the mean time, Iâll share a little lesson that I actually already knew, but didnât take seriously enough.
Lesson 1 of the Week- Have a Back-up Plan
If youâre a writer and a blogger like yours truly⌠have some frigginâ 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, Iâm 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 youâre prone to headaches and migraines, then Iâm sure you can feel where Iâm coming from. Plain and simple, they suck. I canât function properly. I donât 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? Iâm on it!
Now mayhap this doesnât quite apply to you, because writing content isnât 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 youâre a graphic designer you canât exactly have âback-upâ logos in place to go out to your clients. Duh.
The same way I canât have âback-upâ 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 âback-upâ 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 youâre down and out⌠your client work still gets done!
Maybe that means making sure your assistant knows WTF to do if you canât do it. Or maybe that means pairing up with a fellow business owner in the same industry as you⌠with an agreement of âWhen I have an emergency, youâll take over my clients⌠and when you have one, Iâll handle your shite tooâ. (But please people⌠make sure this is a person youâd 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 youâre 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, donât 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 whatâs not getting done, when youâre already feeling like crap due to illness, or youâre already stressed due to some other emergency youâre trying to deal with.
Youâre constantly throwing thoughts around the back of your brain⌠worried because this or that isnât done⌠wondering where youâll 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 Iâd have felt, knowing I had blog posts scheduled to go out on a regular basis, that I didnât have to put any thought or time into whilst feeling crappy⌠they were just there, ready to be published. Sweet, sweet relief.
Yeah, wouldâve been totally nice, but like a brain-dead dork, I didnât take the time to create it while I was feeling squirrely and chipper like I shouldâve 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, youâll be much better off yourself. Trust me on this one.
Unfortunately though, I didnât 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 freakinâ 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? Howâd you overcome it? Or did you overcome it? Drop your thoughts below, we like sharing around here. đ
Warmest,
