How to Prepare your Business for the Unexpected

A web based online business is a small business the same as any other but it is amazing how so many people who are making money online thesen days fail to take the proper precautions to protect the business from collapse, should the owner die, or become incapacitated to the extent that he or she could no longer operate it.

In other kinds of small businesses such as a shop, or a trade based self employed contractor, the operation is clearly defined. You employ people to carry out the work you can’t do yourself and if you should die your life insurance policy would allow that to continue. It is a similar situation if you were to become incapacitated and could no longer manage the business itself as disability insurance can be arranged to do the same.
Unexpected Happenings With Your Online Business.

A online business is a different kind of small business in that most of the work, if not all of it, is carried out on a computer and if that is your business you will most likely be the only person who knows how it works, where all the passwords are, your contacts, and how, and to whom you outsource any extra work to.

Therefore, to prepare your web based business for the unexpected, the first thing you should do, like all other small business owners, is have a comprehensive life insurance policy that will provide adequate ongoing funding so that any dependents you leave behind will be able to carry on their lives in a similar fashion to that they were living whilst you were there to provide for them.

It is just as important for you to have yourself insured against becoming badly injured in an accident or contracting a serious illness that leaves you disabled and unable to earn a living in your own right.

Once you have these main basic personal needs attended to you can turn your thoughts to what would happen to your web based online business itself?
Now, How To Prepare Yourself ?

Some of these thoughts should go to ensuring the following factors are taken into account:

Trusted People. Have someone who you know and trust who would be capable of carrying on the small business you have created, or at least have it prepared for sale, if that is the wish of the family. A good person to fulfill this role would be a spouse. If you have a blogging business place any contact details in a folder on your computer, or memory card, that advises of any blog partners who may be able to help, especially in the initial transitional period.

Advertising & Affiliate Accounts. You will also need to have all the passwords that are pertinent to the running of your web based small business filed away in the same folder. These passwords would be necessary for somebody trying to come to terms with the running of your small business so they could carry on your advertising and affiliate programs as well as managing your business income.

Have Blog Details. It is not uncommon these days to have other people online who do some of your work for you. Many bloggers don’t write all their own blogs anymore. If this is true in your case you will need to add details of all these people in your folder as well.

Web Hosting Account. Your web host is a very important part of your web based small business. You will therefore need to include the password and details of your web host. If you fail to do this it will only be a matter of time before the web hosting expires, the site collapses and your platform for earning online will be no more.

Paypal and related details. If you are using PayPal or some other online account it will be important to include these passwords and any other necessary details. Any money remaining on your PayPal account at the time of your death will have to go into your estate and the ability to access these funds will also be important for that reason as well.

Web site / Data backup. All small businesses, whether it is web based or not, will have to have a file back up system built in, in case of a computer hard drive crash. The whereabouts, and how to access your web based business’ back up details, has to be explained in the same folder along with all the other login and instruction details.

Official agreements/partnership Info. It will also be necessary to include instructions on how the small Income Infuser businesses operates. Such things as any agreements you may have arranged with any other people or business, who you can call on for any help if required, in fact anything you can think of that would make things easier.

If you have managed to have your life and disability insurances taken care of, and then have the above information stored away on a memory card (in case your hard drive crashes), your small business has a better chance of surviving than it would otherwise.

A web based small business is too easy to overlook when its creator dies or becomes incapacitated yet it could survive as a great financial aid and legacy for your family for many decades to come if proper instructions are recorded.

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