Planning is difficult for any business. It takes time and intention – and knowing the results you want and how you’re going to get them. How often has one of your plans fallen by the wayside for unforeseen circumstances and pivoting meant starting over from scratch? If you’re like most business owners, that scenario is probably more true than not. So what can you do to reduce your vulnerability? How can you plan for the things you don’t expect?

The answer….you don’t, and yet, you do.

Let’s look at a client we’ll call Sam. Like many first-time business owners, Sam had a great understanding of the technical work of his business, but beyond that, everything was a blank page. He hadn’t even planned on owning the business. He was an employee and found out the owner was going to close the company. Out of fear of losing his job, Sam bought it. Not only was his business controlled by the environment, language-barriers made communicating with his team an added challenge. Reluctantly one day I asked, “Sam, do you ever think about selling your business?” He responded with “That’s the wrong question. What you should be asking me is how many times a day do I think about selling it?”

It seemed everything was beyond his reach, and the only thing he knew for certain was that everything can and will go wrong.

Step 1 – Accept and expect the worst

For Sam the “worst” was everything. For most businesses, the worst is often simple. If you run an internet-based business, what happens if there is a power outage and no Wi-Fi? What about a damaged pipe and leaky ceiling? Broken machinery?

Eventually something will happen in your business that you won’t be able to control or prevent. Don’t let fear keep you from seeing reality. While it’s not pleasant to think about the worst-case, accepting that these things happen allows you to prepare yourself to ride out the storm. With a plan in place, you won’t be left panicking and wondering, “What do we do now?”

Step 2 – List the wild cards

Wild cards are all the factors that will or can affect your business in any way. What does it look like if absolutely everything goes wrong? Without thinking about the solution, think only about the biggest challenges that could prevent you from doing business. Like Sam, you need to consider natural disaster, power outages, computer backup systems, employees leaving without notice, and others…..

Step 3 – List how wild cards affect your business

What does it mean when everything goes wrong? Who does it affect? It’s not just you it’s also your employees. Who do you need to contact if something happens? If Sam was the only one who knew what to do in an emergency, what would happen if he wasn’t there to handle the problem?

Instead of leaving your business at the mercy of the domino-effect, create a list of all the people, places and things that would be affected by your worst-case scenarios. You might notice rather quickly that every area of your business is interconnected. By mapping out what could go wrong and who/what it affects, you’ll be able to see areas you can strengthen or need more support.

Step 4 – Create a strategy for minimizing your vulnerability to wild cards

One of Sam’s vulnerabilities was the language barrier between himself and his employees. To reduce the risk, he needed to be able to give directions clearly, so he developed processes with a maximum of five steps that could be explained through illustrations. He and his manager created simple checklists to help navigate through a variety of situations.

When it comes to strategizing for your business, knowing all of the things that could possibly affect you (Steps 1 – 3) will give you the ability to prepare and plan. Even though the power may not go out, or a leaky pipe may not happen, you will have a plan for how to handle the situation. Think about the ways you can make changes today and what you can do in the longer term.

When creating your strategy think about:

• What you absolutely need in order to produce the results you want
• What you can do in the short term to minimize your vulnerability
• What can you do long term

The strategies Sam developed gave him an immense feeling of freedom. Instead of managing his business from the day-to-day chaos, he was able to move forward because his managers understood what to do next. His plans helped his team to navigate scenarios – adding more value to his business. Sam was ready to handle wild cards. He learned to limit his vulnerability to outside factors by knowing how to work through them.

Sam’s business was, of course, hit with one of those wild cards eventually. When I called to check on him and how he was doing, he calmly told me “Don’t worry, we have a plan”.

What is your plan?