Joe Augustine, owner of JFA Architecture in Wyncote, Pa., calls his emergency plan a “Postmortem Checklist,” somewhat tongue-in-cheek. But as a sole proprietor, he thought about how his wife—who’s not involved in the business at all—would deal with his business if something happened to him.

March 21, 2012 | 9 comments

After Christopher Wright, CR, owner of WrightWorks LLC in Indianapolis, hired a new office manager with a corporate background, she pushed him to put together an emergency plan.  “I’m still very integral to the day-to-day operation of the business,” Wright says. “So she wanted to know, for example, if I got hit by a truck, who would write the checks?”

When Hurricane Irene hit the East Coast last August, Harth Builders in Spring House, Pa., got a bit of water in the office, which is located in Allyn Harth, CR, CKBR’s lower-level walkout, but nothing a few dehumidifiers and fans couldn’t easily dry out.

March 21, 2012 | 8 comments

You have set up your business to be successful—you have a strategic plan, you create a yearly budget, you’ve found your marketing niche. But what happens when the unexpected occurs—a flooded office, a computer system crash or worse, you, the company owner, is incapacitated?

March 21, 2012 | 10 comments