It won’t happen to me …

… but what if it did?
There is no doubt, life and business is full of risks. If we stopped to think about all the things that could happen it would probably paralyse us with fear, but of course we are oblivious to many of life’s dangers and we sensibly realise that many others are unlikely to happen to us.
However, probability is a strange thing – the odds on being injured by fireworks is apparently 19,556 to 1 (don’t ask me how this is calculated), but if you are that one person, it’s 100%. That’s why we take action to reduce the chances of something unpleasant happening to us and put in place measures to mitigate against their impact if it does.
A business contact of mine recently had his house burgled in the middle of the night. The burglars broke in while he and his family were asleep upstairs, grabbed the keys to his and his wife’s cars and drove them away off the drive without waking any of them. Good insurance provision has meant minimal financial impact, but the knowledge that unwanted guests were in their house is harder to deal with. He has now installed new alarms and other security features to help prevent further break-ins.
A very good friend of mine has just suffered a stroke. He’s one of the fittest people I know, in great shape and keeps a close eye on his health, but suddenly out of the blue he’s in hospital with lots of machines and medical staff keeping a very close eye on him as he makes his recovery. Anyone who has had a close relative suffer a serious illness (or worse) will know that there are lots of things to do, and people to notify. For some people (fortunately not my friend) this can threaten their income and financial status too.
Although many of life’s unpleasant events probably won’t happen to you or your business, it might not be a bad idea to have a think about what could happen, what preventative measures you have put in place to reduce the chances of it happening and what you would do if it did happen.
The time to find out your plans are inadequate is now, not when something goes wrong!
Chris