Why Plan B Is the Entrepreneur's Sidekick
Did you read a lot of comic books when you were a kid? If so, you might have noticed that many of the big name superheroes have sidekicks who are definitely the B players. They aren't big enough to be the headliner, but they make themselves useful now and then and sometimes even save the day.
What about you? Do you have a "sidekick" in your business? (Otherwise known as a Contingency Plan or what I like to call Plan B.)
In the New York Times bestseller, Made to Stick by Chip & Dan Heath, the authors mention an expression in the Army that goes simply, "No plan survives contact with the enemy." The same is true in life and in business and, as an entrepreneur, you've got to have that sidekick ready to go just in case of an emergency. And I guarantee, no matter how much planning you do in advance, something unexpected is bound to show up once in a while to spoil your day.
For instance, I taught a training called Tweeting for Dollars (For Clueless Entrepreneurs Only). If you missed it, grab your free CD here.
30 minutes before the call, I pulled up my conference line dashboard and made sure everything was set up correctly. Then 10 minutes before the training was scheduled to begin, my dashboard suddenly refreshed and flashed the words "Sorry, this event is over."
Houston, we have a problem.
In 8 minutes, I quickly put Plan B into action: I set up a new conference event, sent out a group email with the corrected information and managed to start the call on time. Afterwards, when the conference system would not release the audio recording of the event, I submitted a trouble ticket to let the conference service know about all the problems.
Here is their reply,
"This was an issue earlier brought to our attention, we have since resolved the issue. Our ISP changed one of our server's time zones for admin purposes without consulting with us. This caused the computer to think it was 7 hours in the future (when your event would be over) -- We changed the time zone, and it appears to be working now."
Can you plan for this kind of stuff? It's impossible! But you can prepare according to the belief that "No plan survives contact with the enemy."
Do you have back-up systems in case your computer crashes? (SOS Online Backup, Carbonite, and Mozy are good online options to check out.) If you record telephone conferences, do you have more than one recording system? Do you have someone who can step into your business and keep things running in case of an emergency? In other words...who's your sidekick? I encourage you to create the back up systems necessary to give you more freedom and less stress in your business.
What about you? Do you have a "sidekick" in your business? (Otherwise known as a Contingency Plan or what I like to call Plan B.)
In the New York Times bestseller, Made to Stick by Chip & Dan Heath, the authors mention an expression in the Army that goes simply, "No plan survives contact with the enemy." The same is true in life and in business and, as an entrepreneur, you've got to have that sidekick ready to go just in case of an emergency. And I guarantee, no matter how much planning you do in advance, something unexpected is bound to show up once in a while to spoil your day.
For instance, I taught a training called Tweeting for Dollars (For Clueless Entrepreneurs Only). If you missed it, grab your free CD here.
30 minutes before the call, I pulled up my conference line dashboard and made sure everything was set up correctly. Then 10 minutes before the training was scheduled to begin, my dashboard suddenly refreshed and flashed the words "Sorry, this event is over."
Houston, we have a problem.
In 8 minutes, I quickly put Plan B into action: I set up a new conference event, sent out a group email with the corrected information and managed to start the call on time. Afterwards, when the conference system would not release the audio recording of the event, I submitted a trouble ticket to let the conference service know about all the problems.
Here is their reply,
"This was an issue earlier brought to our attention, we have since resolved the issue. Our ISP changed one of our server's time zones for admin purposes without consulting with us. This caused the computer to think it was 7 hours in the future (when your event would be over) -- We changed the time zone, and it appears to be working now."
Can you plan for this kind of stuff? It's impossible! But you can prepare according to the belief that "No plan survives contact with the enemy."
Do you have back-up systems in case your computer crashes? (SOS Online Backup, Carbonite, and Mozy are good online options to check out.) If you record telephone conferences, do you have more than one recording system? Do you have someone who can step into your business and keep things running in case of an emergency? In other words...who's your sidekick? I encourage you to create the back up systems necessary to give you more freedom and less stress in your business.
posted by Kim Nishida | 9:04 PM
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