“Carpe Diem”, “YOLO”, “Live only for today for tomorrow may never come”, are many quotes or sayings that you’ll hear on a regular basis, and many of us are guilty of not only using them but thinking like that as well. I hear you saying, how does this apply to you, and your business
After you start your business, planning for the day you may not be able to run that business seems so far off that you push it off again and again, for many this is years.
Plus, you’re busy running your business, right?
Who has time to plan for a future event that may or may not happen? A little like an Earthquake?
Even though it may seem silly, it’s an important part of any business plan, and if you don’t have your “what if” in place now, it won’t be there when you may need it the most.
Whether you are self-employed or work for someone else, this is an important topic to think about and act on it.
Who knows, tomorrow you “may get hit by a bus”, right? Heard that one before?
Well, what if you did (not to be morbid here!)? What would happen if you were unable to show up to work the next day?
Who would pay the bills?
If you are the main breadwinner of your household, could your family survive without your income for any amount of time?
These are the tough questions I wished I had asked myself before I was in a car accident that altered my ability to work and provide for my two kids. Thankfully, I was newly married and no longer a single parent, so I was fortunate enough to have a supportive partner who was able to financially get us through it. I can’t imagine how I would have been able to survive if I didn’t have that support in place.
Looking back, if I had the foresight to predict that the car accident would happen, I would have had a contingency plan in place to protect myself and my family. This would have alleviated many anxiety attacks and late nights worrying about how the mortgage was going to be paid let alone how I was going to pay for my physical recovery.
There are many things that you can do to prepare yourself: get disability insurance, make sure you are covered by WorkSafe BC (for work-related injuries), start putting money aside into a Savings account with the goal of having at least six months of expenses covered, and make sure you have completed or updated your Will to include your business interests.
These are just a few ideas that you should consider, especially when you work for yourself. You never know when you may be injured (and let’s hope you never are!), but it just takes a few seconds to break your leg while you’re ice skating with your daughter or fall off a ladder changing a lightbulb in your home, or in my case, get hit by another car while you’re out for a drive. We can’t predict our future, but we can certainly plan for it. And that planning starts now, which we can help with. As bookkeepers and tax preparation we are extremely used to planning.
We are huge fans of teamwork, working very closely with Paul at Friendly Organics Business Consultants and Brenda at Redman Notary supporting business owners to create simple contingency plans to ensure business sustainability, should the day come that you cannot operate your business. For most businesses, it takes very little time to create, reach out for your initial consultation.
November 5th, 2021