Plan B Saves Businesses
Plan B Saves Businesses

Plan B: Do you have one?

Plan B… how many times have you activated one?
Do you have enough Plan B’s in your business?
How complete is your Plan B Lists?

Plan B is an excellent Business Strategy for Business Leaders. When I see Plan B, I always think of a fish floating “B”elly up! That’s how I feel if I don’t have a Plan B – dead in the water. I had an unexpected Plan B need occur at right after lunch this Monday. You know, right when I planned to sit down and write my Monday posting for you (which I apologize to you as it is getting out on Thursday evening)!

My Plan B need was simple for this blip I encountered earlier this week. It was so basic I hadn’t even thought about it…. yet! You can sure bet I have one in place now 🙂 Here’s the scenario: starting last week a company came into our subdivision and started digging holes to lay cable for a new service coming into the area. Intermittently, they have been knocking out some of the residents’ service. I was surprised to hear this was happening because all existing utilities are marked well. Apparently, Monday afternoon was my turn.

Need to Activate Plan B?

I was patient at first, thinking they would have it reconnected within minutes. Then, I learned differently. There was a backlog of others just like me. Ugh, it came time for me to activated Plan B; however, I didn’t have one for this! Usually, I’m connected within hours if something occurs. This was different.

I spent sometime figuring out what my schedule was for the next few days and how to manage my communications to keep operations intact. I had to reschedule one appt (working with my new website master), needed to ask for assistance for one meeting, missed an important email- sorry Darrell, and missed posting my Monday and Wednesday posts this week! Overall, not a complete disaster, just frustrating to not being able to keep commitments!

Do you have enough Plan Bs in your business?

A good Plan B can save you from floating belly up! Business strategies should be completed with a Plan B. Do you have any Plan Bs for your business’s needs? If not, it may be time to start. If so, take a look and review what might be missing. Give this some of your attention before you need it.

When this snafu occurred, I reached for my “Protocol Binder” I created years ago. It’s right next to my dictionary  on the corner of my desk. I started flipping through it to find a page that could tell me what “Plan B” I had created for such an instance. Unfortunately, there was nothing. I hadn’t thought about being disconnected for any great length of time. At this point it wasn’t time for me to sit down and map out a back-up strategy. It was time to manage how to function. And I did.

Is your Plan B (back-up plan) list complete?

Let’s start at the beginning. Do you have WRITTEN protocols and contingency (back-up) plans for when something requires special attention? When I started my business 10 years ago, I was in a training and heard someone say that you should have a binder of all your protocols and procedures. They shared how in particular industries it is a state or federal law to have this.

I thought about it and said, “As an entrepreneur, who must where many hats, I don’t always do certain (important) actions every day and should probably create a “Protocol Manual” to default to when I don’t recall certain aspects of which I am responsible”. Indeed, 10 years ago binders where still being used frequently so this is still a little old school 🙂 Yet, it works just fine. I have everything contained in the “oh-oh” binder 🙂

Do you have your protocols and Plan Bs written out for anyone in your business to follow? Have you created such files, either virtually or hard copy? When was the last time you looked at them? I just added a new one:  Actions for technical disconnect. What blips do you need to make alternative plans for: technology, billing errors, customer complaints, social media, physical injuries, financial books gone awry, business plan outdated, traditional marketing efforts disconnected, or you simply can’t remember how to upload a video?

You know what you need to do, take some time to do it… before you need it! If you have any questions or comments, feel free to reach out. I’m always here to help you optimize your performance 🙂

 THANKS FOR ALLOWING ME TO HELP YOU IMPROVE YOUR BUSINESS!

If you want to discuss how to strategize or a particular strategy you need some assistance with,
please reach out to Maggie (262) 716.7750, Central Time, for YOUR No-cost Consultation

Blessings of Success to YOU ~
Maggie Mongan, Brilliant CEO & Founder
Brilliant Breakthroughs, Inc.

Direct Dial: 262-716-7750

LinkedIn: MaggieMongan


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