Do Business Well

4. You lose your location. You can insure your building against destruction through fire, flood, or earthquake. You can also purchase business-interruption insurance that is supposed to give you enough staying power to reopen in a new place. What if you don’t have that insurance? Or you have a month-to-month rental, and your landlord gives you notice? Maybe you miss a lease payment, and the building’s owner holds you to the letter of the lease and kicks youout?

For many businesses, this type of disaster in the early going isall but insurmountable. This is especially so where there has been a large investment in build-outs, signage, or fixtures that can’t be easily transferred to a new location. Here are some approaches thatmight save your bacon.

1. If you have enough capital left for the first and last months‘rent on a new location, and believe that you will still have the staying power to save your business, start a dawn-todusk search for a new facility. You will probably be far less particular this time. Use two or three real estate agents, but don’t count on them alone. Go out and canvass the neighborhood yourself. Some builders and owners don’t use an agent, and therefore the property doesn’t show upon the listings.
2. If you are really strapped for cash, try to find a building thathas been vacant for a long, long time. There will undoubtedly be a reason for this, but you aren’t in a very strong position to hold out for prime rental space.
3. Approach the landlord with a plan that allows you to conserve as much capital as possible while giving up as little as possible. You might be able to move in for free and get one or more months of free rent. If your situation is particularly dire, you might ask for your rent to be a percentage of sales or profit instead of any fixed amount. You might use a combination of fixed plus a percentage.
4. You could have a fast escalator clause. Maybe you pay nothing the first two months, one hundred dollars the next two, two hundred dollars the next two, and so forth until you are at or slightly above the market rate for this type of location.
5. Can you move the business into your home, garage, a friend’s home, garage, or business? Can you sublet a small area in another business? Maybe there is a vendor or customer who has a substantial vested interest in your staying in business. He might be able to provide you with the necessary space until you can afford and find a new location.
6. Consider merging with another similar business. Of course, this means that you’ll have all the benefits and detriments of a partnership. However, it might be just the solution.
7. If your cash position is strong, but your chances of finding the right kind of location are weak, consider buying out a competitor.
8. One of the least expensive locations is a ministorage. If allyou need is a warehouse, light assembly, or packaging thismay be perfect for you. I have known several business owners who have survived in a ministorage for several years.

5. You become temporarily disabled by illness or accident, and are unable to work, or must severely curtail your hours or activity. Once again there is insurance available for this type of situation. Disability insurance is fairly inexpensive and highly recommended by most agents. You may want to carry it during the early phase of your business.

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1. Go back and look at the approaches that were suggested for replacing a critical employee. After all, that is what you are. 2, 3, and 4 are very appropriate for this situation.
2. Check with your suppliers to see if they know of anyone who has retired from the business who might be able to run yours for a while. You might also contact the chamber of commerce and the Small Business Administration for names of individuals who are retired, but who would have the skills necessary to keep you in business until you can get back on your feet.
3. If you’ll only be out for two or three months, would it be possible to simply try to reduce overhead to the lowest possible level, and close up your operation until you can return? Your landlord might be willing to forgo rent for that period or defer it until much later. You can lay off employees, and notify suppliers that you’ll be unable to pay them until you return.

6. You are a manufacturer, dentist, restaurateur, or other who depends on equipment for your livelihood. A critical piece of this equipment goes on the blink. The manufacturer tells you the necessary part will not be available for three weeks. How about six weeks? Just for fun, lets say that the three or six weeks pass, and you are now told it will be three or six more, because they sent the wrong part. This is not at all farfetched.

1. Your first move should be to work your way up the chain of command of the machine supplier. You will want to let each person in that hierarchy know that you want the necessary part and/or technician at your place of business by the next morning. It is the rare situation indeed that such a part would be so scarce that it would not be able to be found somewhere in the system such as: a reseller of that machine or the parts for it; an end user who has a backup piece of equipment or part; a machine that isn’t currently in use; a makeshift part that will work until the right one is ready.
2. Don’t take no for an answer. Insist that your very survival is at stake. Talk to everyone and anyone you can. Somewhere there will be a sympathetic or inventive ear who will find you a solution.
3. If you are a manufacturer, you may have to have your product made for you at a job shop until your machine is back in operation.
4. If you are in the situation of a dentist or similar practitioner, see if any of your friendly competitors has underutilized facilities they would be willing to rent for a time.
5. Again, you may be able to get help by contacting other suppliers. Start with suppliers who are most closely related to that equipment, such as those who provide you with the raw materials you use in that machine.
6. If you get this far without a solution, call the competitive makers of the disabled equipment. They may either help you with a solution in hopes of supplying you with the next machine, or they may be willing to sell you one of theirs with an exchange for the one you now have. This will be especially true if the equipment uses supplies provided by this same vendor.

The six emergency situations cited here are just about the worst things that could happen to you in the early stages of your business. In each case, however, there are numerous solutions available. A can-do attitude mixed with creativity can conquer almost any business problem.

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