In news of recent natural disasters this past season I was inspired to write a post about preparing your business in case of such events. Last year (2010) during this time, California was experiencing quite a few earthquakes and inspired me to write a post on how to survive the apocalypse – here. All kidding about the apocalypse aside, disasters are unpredictable and covering our business bases can at least put our minds at ease.

Here’s the plan of attack:

1. Photo inventory (include serial numbers for business equipment and software) and valuate all business machinery, assets and products. Purchase business insurance including business interruption so anything that might get destroyed will easily be replaced with insurance money and you’ll also get some cash to float your weekly business liabilities. Also as equally important purchase  long and short term disability insurance for yourself in case you’re not able to function at your lively-hood again!

2. Write down passwords and business instructions so someone can close out your business if god-forbid you expire, put in a safe location or a bank lock box and be sure to tell someone how to access it via a living trust or in a safe file cabinet.

3. Back up files to an external hard drive daily or as needed. Important! Send these computer backups to an offsite location such as Amazon S3 Web Services.

4. Send client/customer email addresses and contact info to a remote location like MailChimp so you can easily bulk notify them of any important business announcements.

5. Put all your important business files and software (corporate charters, insurance policies, business receipts, financials, etc.) in a locked metal file cabinet that is (hopefully) disaster proof. Store copies off-site such as an out of state relative or in a bank lock-box. If you have to relocate your business temporarily, having this software might be essential so choose its location wisely!

6. Purchase surge protectors and battery backup devices (UPS) to protect your computers, phones, and other equipment needed daily or is expensive to replace.

Is there anything else that you would do to prepare your business for disasters or emergencies? Leave a comment!

Follow these quick and easy tips and you’ll be the envy of all your friends. Okay maybe not but its worth a try.

So here’s how you do it.

Go to your business page and copy the exact name of your page.

Then go back to your profile page and hit edit under your name and info and above the photo stream.

Click education and work tab.

IMPORTANT!!!! Paste the business page name that you just copied. If its NOT EXACTLY the same NAME then it won’t link your business page to your profile.

If you don’t see your page’s thumbnail it may have asked you to add it. After you add it you should see your pages thumbnail show up.

Finally add all your info, save the changes and you’re done! Now when your friends click your employer it links directly to your page.

Enjoy!

And don’t forget to check out QuasiCo on Facebook > here.

While this app is quite involved and requires setting up an application in the Facebook developers arena – with a little gusto and mustering this app works like a charm.

Stay tuned for a post on QuasiCo’s dirty dozen must have WordPress plugins.

So what is the digital version of morning coffee? If you have Firefox go to this link and look for ‘morning coffee’. It basically allows you to add websites of your choosing to open automatically on specific days of the week. So Monday to Friday you may be interested in reading actual news from NPR while the weekend you reserve for more lighthearted variety and want to read the Onion. Multiply this by dozens of websites you actually read on a daily basis and this little add-on pops them all up for you without effort.

Feeling braver? You could also subscribe to your favorite website’s RSS feed and then use a feed reader to read all the latest posts on that site. RSS (really simple syndication) or a feed is basically an automatically generated list of news, posts or stories all on one page (you can learn more here). This feed has a special website address usually something like www.domain.com/feed or www.domain.com/rss. The special website address is what you can subscribe to by copying it over to an RSS reader.

RSS feeds have replaced newspapers for most gen x and y’s. If you’re looking for some awesome  feeds to add to your list check out Mashable, Straight Dope, NPR the Treatment  and Smashing Magazine.

FTP stands for ‘file transfer protocol’ which is basically how a file gets transferred from one place to another over the Internet. I say place because this could either be a server in some secret undeground storage facility or it could be my computer, your computer, or that creepy guy that works in the office next to yours. Either place its going we have to use a FTP friendly program to transfer this stuff from one place to another. When you transfer a file to me lets say, its called Uploading. When you take a file from me or someone else its called Downloading. Here’s how to upload and download using a few programs you might already use.

Via Windows Explorer (7/8)

I am a caption!

Click the Start Menu.
Right click on My Computer then Open.
In the address bar at the top type in the FTP address you were given which should look something like “ftp.domainname.com.”
You’ll see a folder called pub – any where in the white area surrounding this folder, right click and choose “log in as.”
Type in the user name and password you were given.
Now you should see  all the folders that lie on the ‘host’ computer.
You should be able to transfer files from your computer (shown on the left of your screen) to the files on the host computer (shown on the right of your screen).

Via Firefox

visit https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/684/ and download the plug in called “FireFTP”
Once you have installed click on ‘create new account’
Pick a memorable name for account name like “QuasiCo’s Server”
Type in the ftp address you were given in the Host name.
And finally the user name and password you were given.
Then Log in by clicking the ‘connect’ button.

Qtip:
People need branding too. Whether your an aspiring entreprenuer or someone looking for a job, you can benefit from design. Here are some examples of what we call personal design:

• A personal business card with your name, number, and email  is a great thing to keep in your wallet, purse, or car. Networking is a sure fire way to make it to the top and handing over a card with your info on it makes your connection likely to last.
• Artists with a portfolio, a customer service rep with a lot of thank you brag emails, a chef with recipes; these are all people would would benefit from a personal website. Anyone that has something to say and wants to make connections should have a website.
• Why send boring unoriginal invitations or thank you notes. Customized invites and note cards are always a hit and can fit in with your unique party themes. For just a few extra dollars people will remember those “cool” invites you sent them.

Have a burning question? Ask here or click the contact button now.

Feel free to ask a question on our Facebook discussion board and we’ll feature it as a Qtip!