If you run your own small business, chances are you use the internet a lot. You might sell products online, or sell an online service. Your company might be based solely online. Even if you’ve got a brick and mortar store, you might use the internet to take payments, promote your business, connect with your audience and correspond with suppliers and clients. The internet probably helps enormously with the day to day running of your company.
But, the internet isn’t ever going to be 100% reliable. Sometimes, it’s too slow to work, or connections are affected by weather or maintenance in the local area, even with the best service, there’s no guarantee that we’ll be online all day every day. Things happen.
When the internet goes down, many companies struggle to carry on. It can be hard to find things to do and hard to know what you can do to help your business or keep your staff productive when most of your workday is usually spent online. But, things don’t have to grind to a complete standstill. Here are some of the ways that you can keep your business going when you are forced offline.
Find Out What’s Wrong
If your internet is offline, hopefully, it’s just a minor issue, and it will be up and running in no time. But, not always. If you assume that it’ll be back soon, you might spend a day just waiting, and getting nothing done. It’s best to try to find out what’s going on. First, make sure it’s the whole service and not a problem with your website that means that you need browser isolation for security or an issue with your web host. If it is your provider, contact them and ask how long you are likely to be offline.
Let Customers Know
If being offline means that your brick and mortar store can’t take card payments, it’s important to give your customers as much warning as you can, so that they aren’t traveling to you to find that they are unable to pay. Stick a sign on your door and if you can use your mobile data to send a message on social media.
Move Meetings Forward
If you’ve got meetings scheduled in the coming days, see if you can move them up. If you are meeting people in the same area, they might also be struggling with downtime and happy for something to do.
Get Counting
Most of us don’t have much time to take on the boring, but essential jobs like counting our stock, inventorying supplies and cleaning our office. This can be your perfect chance. Make a list of offline jobs that you could get stuck in with and get to it.
Start Staff Appraisals
Staff reviews and appraisals are a fantastic way to motivate your team and improve their skills. But, it’s not something that we have time for when we’re busy. Use this opportunity to sit down with each member of your team, making notes on paper to add to their online files later on. It’s also an excellent time to get your team together for a training or brainstorming session.
Be sure to hop into the Savvy Entrepreneur Private Facebook Community to collaborate, learn and grow with your fellow entrepreneurs and business owners.
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