Solo Entrepreneur Outsmarts Hurricane Rita with a Small Business Disaster Plan

Business Coach Donna Gunter of The Online Business Coaching Company had her business back up and running a mere 5 days after a forced evacuation from her home during Hurricane Rita. Gunter works daily with clients from Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, New York, Maryland, New Mexico, Texas, California, and Canada, but doesn't spend a single dime on a physical business location, nor does she travel to work with her clients.

How does she manage this?

As a business coach for companies with an online presence as well as a business manager for virtual companies, Gunter's ability to work with her clients virtually via phone, email, and fax from her home office requires only electricity, phone service, broadband (or dialup) Internet access, as well as her laptop to get her back in touch and working with her clients.

Gunter was forced to flee Beaumont from Hurricane Rita and ended up at an extended stay hotel in Clear Lake, a suburb of Houston, for 2.5 weeks until her electricity and phone service were restored to her home. Gunter noted, "I had a mental checklist of what I'd need to take with me from my office during the evacuation in order to minimize my down time during the hurricane, and I had a set of criteria that I used when seeking temporary lodging until I could return to my home. My criteria included unlimited local and long distance phone service, unlimited broadband Internet service, and a workspace and a kitchen in the hotel suite."

"Hotel spaces were at a premium," Gunter stated. "I ended up temporarily with friends in Houston, and so again had access to the Internet. Houston was still full of Hurricane Katrina evacuees, but the power of a meta extended-stay online hotel directory helped me sort through the available options in the Houston area, and the reservationist used my criteria to further narrow my choices. I was able to move into the hotel within 24 hours of making my reservation, got my temporary office set up, and started back to work."

"Going without an income for almost 3 weeks isn't an option for most small business people," added Gunter. "I was quite fortunate in that I had little interruption to my business and lost almost no income. Friends of mine with brick and mortar businesses weren't so lucky."

Gunter's Small Business Disaster Plan can be found online at http://www.onlinebizcoachingcompany.com/articles/smallbizdisasterplan.htm and her evacuation journey is chronicled in her Online Business Coaching Company blog, http://onlinebizcoachingcompany.typepad.com/online_business_coaching_/