Taking stock of your business after a fire—or any disaster

Welcome back to Big Trends in Small Biz, a weekly newsletter bringing you the news, tips and trends to help you with your business. Click subscribe above to be notified of future editions, and follow the hashtag #LinkedInSmallBusiness to join the conversation.

Communities across Australia are banding together to help one another recover from the devastating bushfires that have burned 44 million acres, killing 34 people and more than one billion animals.

For finance broker and volunteer firefighter Mark Unwin, that meant getting a free marketing campaign from the agency of fellow business owner Daniel Baxter after spending six weeks on the road fighting the blazes.

“If you're a small business owner, it's hard at the best times to make our businesses work. Let alone what Mark and the many other amazing volunteers out there gave up helping others,” Baxter told my colleague Natalie MacDonald. “Mark's selfless act was a good reminder for me personally to help each other out.”

Business owners across California and Colorado—states that have also been ravaged by destructive wildfires—shared similar stories when asked what advice they’d have for Australian business leaders. Providing a helping hand and maintaining that sense of community are integral to recovery, regardless of whether you decide to rebuild the business or move on to somewhere else.

While most of the small business owners who responded have been impacted by fires, their advice is applicable for owners facing any number of natural disasters or man-made instances that have gutted the business. Here’s some of their best advice to help you get through the struggles:

• “What was most impressive about the business owners in our area was how well everyone cared for each other. If you had something someone else needed, (i.e. internet, a working phone, a place to store stuff, power, gas, etc.) you shared it no questions asked. Although Healdsburg [Calif.] proper was untouched by the fires, I think Healdsburg is a much stronger business community that doesn't sweat the small stuff anymore. My advice to others is to remember your community and do what you can to lift all boats, because that's the community you'll have when the crisis is over.” - Jim Van Patten, Roost
• “If at all possible, keep an extra laptop offsite and a cloud backup of client files to enable continued operations. We didn't suffer a fire, but a burglary. Having nearly immediate access to another laptop and virtual files helped us continue operations with no impact to our clients.” - Marliese Bartz, Bartz Consulting
• “We're an apparel company, so we literally had a fire sale! Turns out it's a real thing, and that helped us bring our customers into the fold and get them engaged in what happened. We also got creative with our designer on creating some graphics for an event to help drive this and allowed us to flex our brand's creative muscles. This got some attention, which made lemonade out of lemons. Some of our neighbors were impacted more severely than we were, including residential units in our building. Our neighbors did a fundraiser for all those impacted, but we elected to give our share to the residents as our insurance coverage was better.” - Drew Clark, California Cowboy
• “From the perspective of what you can do from a strategic communication front is to continue talking to your customers, industry colleagues and community. This is where social media really can shine. There are several benefits to doing this: 1) It lets them all know what is happening, why shipments may be delayed, or why a location is closed. You head off potential customer frustration through this transparency; 2) Allows your community to stay connected, offer assistance, kind words or simply patience. During incredibly stressful times like this, hearing back words of support and encouragement from your customers, colleagues, and community can go a long way and help put you in a better state of mind when considering your business options moving forward; 3) It gives your communities insight into what options you are considering, let them know whether they should start looking for another business service, solution, or provider, or if they should expect to recommit as patrons soon.” - Joshua Kail, Press Pass LA
• “I'd recommend investing in remote-office applications and ‘telecommuting’ so that even when your physical business location is closed, damaged or destroyed, you can still conduct business and stay open from wherever you are.” - Melanie Voltz, ACM Talent
• “A significant issue for many businesses in trying to recover after a disaster like this is that insurance providers want detailed information on what was destroyed and that frequently isn't available. While that might not be a significant issue if your equipment consisted of a few computers and desks, it can be a huge barrier for a manufacturing facility or other business with significant equipment assets. For those who are trying to prepare, I strongly recommend a full equipment record. Even an in-house prepared, detailed list of equipment data that was stored online and in the cloud would allow for a more complete insurance claim later.” - Garrett Schwartz, Sencer Appraisal Associates
• “Create an umbrella platform to provide an online store front for all businesses that are affected. The community cares about their local businesses and if there is a single place they can go to support their fellow citizens, they will do just that provided it is simple and easy to find. Encourage local residents to support these businesses via social platforms. Encourage small business owners to pool their resources to create shared work space including warehousing or store front” - Yvonne Li, myTrackBuddy
• “The Tubbs Fire in Santa Rosa's Wine Country came in the middle of the night. When we answered the door, there was a fireman with a smoke-stained face, backed up by a police officer who told us we had 5 minutes to collect our ‘passports, pills and pets.’ I wish he'd said ‘laptop,’ too, because my entire portfolio was in my laptop. Needless to say, my laptop was incinerated, my samples were mulch and all I have is hard copy on emails that were sent to clients. So my advice: make copies of everything, keep it off premises in one or more clouds.” - Robert Davis, RD Direct+
• “Don't ever be caught unprepared. Build out your game plan, and plan for any number of types of business interruptions. Know how you'll respond before a disaster happens. Expect to endure power failures, impassable roads, lack of communication/lack of access to data and other resources housed in your no-longer-usable offices. Copies of critical documents should be made and kept off-site or online. Make lists of who you need to contact to advise them of your situation, so you're minimizing downtime. Be sure your employees know the plan (where should they meet? where should they work?) and know how to reach you if they are personally affected. Also, be thinking in advance of how you can help, and thank, the first responders who are sacrificing on your behalf.” - Roger Nadel, Mr. Master, Inc

Other news I’m reading:

Food delivery market flaming out: The frenzied competition that has driven precipitous growth—and sparse profits—is causing significant consolidation in the industry, The Wall Street Journal writes. As customer loyalty grows ever more fickle, services are increasingly finding that markets overlap and cash reserves are drained. Now the companies are urgently looking to shore up their finances, via acquisitions or public listings. DoorDash, Postmates and Uber Eats have each contemplated “merging in various combinations.” What does it mean for your restaurant? | Join the conversation

Encouraging employees to vote: Companies are trying to get out the vote in this year’s presidential election. At least 383, including Best Buy, Target and JPMorgan Chase, have signed on to the Time to Vote initiative. The employers agree to give workers time off, but many are also offering paid time off or assistance with registration. | Here’s what people are saying