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Disruption to your business is never a good thing. Even if it’s only small, it’s still going to potentially cost you profits and sales, and it might upset your team as well – or perhaps you’ll lose motivation to keep moving forward if the disruption is big enough. In other words, whatever happens, you need to stay focused when you’re a business owner, and that means you need to prevent disruption (or at least minimize it) as much as possible. With that in mind, here are some ways to do it. 

Have A Backup Plan

One thing to remember, no matter how unpleasant it might be to think about it, is that not all business disruptions can be avoided – sometimes things happen that just mean you have to take a break or at least slow down for a while. When that happens, it’s good to have a backup plan in place so you know immediately what to do and how to ensure your business keeps going, even if it’s at a reduced service or capacity. 

One good example is your IT and cybersecurity. It could be that a cyber attack causes you problems with your business, so knowing that might be the case and having a plan in place to solve the issue, perhaps by having managed cyber security as standard or making literal backups of your work, means that the disruption won’t be as negative or as long term as it might otherwise be. 

Do A Risk Assessment 

There are going to be potential issues in every business, and yours is no exception, but don’t worry – once you know where you’re most vulnerable, you can put measures in place to make things a lot more secure and therefore reduce the chances of any kind of disruption. 

That’s why it’s so important to take the time to do a risk assessment for every part of your business. When you do a risk assessment, take each area separately and look deeply into what could go wrong and cause disruption; you’ll immediately see where the problem areas are, and you can do what you need to do to minimize that risk. Yes, it’s extra work, time, and effort, but think about how many problems disruption (such as closure or having to run at limited capacity) would cause, and you’ll see it’s well worth it. 

Make Changes Slowly

Sometimes, you’ll need to change things in your business, especially if you’re keen to keep up with technology and stay ahead of your competition. It’s not always possible (or a good idea) to keep things the same for years and years, as you’ll often just come across as old-fashioned and out of step with the real world. That will lead to lost sales and plenty of disruption. 

So of course, you’ll want to stay up to date, but it’s crucial not to make too many changes all at once because that could cause disruption too – it’s definitely a fine balancing act! That’s why you need to think carefully about any changes that need to come about and introduce them slowly and methodically so everyone can get used to them, and so you can ensure the change isn’t a disruptive one. 

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