Doing business — and staying safe — during a Cat 5 hurricane
As Hurricane Irma puts South Florida in the cross hairs, we here at BackBone are methodically wind and flood-proofing our ultra-swank Boca Raton-based headquarters. We’ve been down this road before and have outlasted Katrina, Hugo, Wilma, and more, usually with minimal disruption, but this one feels different, because it is different. Even if Irma is downgraded to a Category 4 hurricane, it has the potential to reduce large swaths of South Florida to fine rubble.
If you’re a small or home-based business in Irma’s direct path, like BackBone’s tastefully appointed Boca Raton central office, chances are you’re going through the standard checklist and are making all the recommended preparations. The following items are not usually included on a standard hurricane checklist — even if you’re safely out of Irma’s reach (and Jose’s, which is on its heels), you may find these tips useful in the face of any event or emergency that threatens business continuity and, while formally outside the scope of this blog post, your life and family’s welfare.
1. Have Apps — and Data — Will Travel. In the old days, before cloud computing, preparing for a major natural disaster was a huge hassle — making sure your data was backed up and synchronized, your email was up to date and the latest versions of all business critical apps were installed on your laptop. These days with things like Gmail, cloud-based CRM and storage, and more, your apps, data, email and bookmarks follow you. If you’re working from a seldom-used laptop, or notebook, or using your brother-in-law’s desktop if you’re riding out the storm at your sister’s, you may find yourself at an impasse if you can’t remember or find your password. This is a perfect opportunity to use LastPass, which gives you secure access to all your pw-protected apps and sites; it’s also a perfect opportunity to change “password123″ that you use on EVERY account to something a tad harder-to-crack — which you can do easily with LastPass.
2. Make sure your clients know you may be incommunicado for several days. If Irma hits, there’s a very good chance South Florida will experience broad power outages. Roads may be impassable, so a trip to the closest Starbucks may not be an option. And even if you could make your way through the downed trees and power lines, stalled cars, knee-deep water and debris, their power and Internet may be also down. Let your clients know that you may not be able to respond to emails or calls with your customary speed. Unless there’s something pressing, they’ll understand. Actually, discreetly letting them know you’re emailing or texting as 100+ mile an hour winds pummel your office and home, imperiling life and limb, will garner lasting respect that can only improve your business relationships.
3. Making do with limited bandwidth & access. It’s safe to assume that either you’ll be bandwidth constrained, or at some point, you’ll have no Internet access. If you need to access web pages, there are plugins that allow you to cache those pages for later viewing, even if you don’t have Internet access. Gmail also has a feature that allows you to search your email even if you can’t access your online Gmail account. You’ll need to resist the urge to stream videos or binge Netflix originals, which shouldn’t be done during business hours anyway — but if you must, we suggest you download the MP4 or MKV file to your laptop or mobile device and stream it locally.
4. Ear buds or noise canceling headphones. If you’re staying with friends, family, or even at a local school, temple, church or shelter, you’ll need something to block out the persistent chatter, background noise and frequent interruptions. Stockpiling MP3s of your favorite ambient music to sonically wall yourself off from the surrounding noise is also a very good idea — we highly recommend several Brian Eno efforts, particularly Music for Airports and Apollo. We’re also fans of his work with Roxy Music and David Byrne, but that’s for another checklist.
5. Be aware of your pet’s needs. If you work at home, you know the hazards of an unexpectedly demonstrative pet. Rover or Boots will be particularly high-strung and “vocal” with the wind pouding or when they’re in an unfamiliar environment. Make sure they’re properly taken care of — fed, walked, attended to, played with, and certainly cuddled — to limit any unannounced interruptions.
6. Coffee. You’ll want to have a lot of ice on hand anyway, but for PR professionals — or really, any professional at all — coffee is one of the biggest priorities. Make a huge batch that you can ice. If you have enough ice and room in the cooler, you may want to add a bottle of top shelf vodka or a refreshing Zinfandel for after-hours stress-relief.
7. Drugs. Have a full complement on hand: Advil, Pepcid, cold meds, allergy pills, whatever you might need. Given the likelihood of elevated stress levels, you should consider expanding your Rx inventory accordingly.
8. Don’t forget everyday items that are easy to overlook, but will be sorely missed if you find yourself without. This can include any number of things — for instance, a stress ball that you rely on without which you will become increasingly anxious, irritable and a complete drag to others you’re sharing a space with as you ride out the storm, which gets us to the next tip.
9. Figure out how to live communally. If you work from a small or home office, chances are you are fiercely independent and don’t always play well with others. But you may find yourself hosting family or friends because you’re better fortified, on a sturdier power grid, or offer a broader range of entertainment options. Or, you may find yourself taking refuge elsewhere — at a local school, synagogue or mega church. Your fierce independence and ossified ways will make temporary communal living very difficult. You can make the transition a bit less difficult by packing the aforementioned noise-canceling ear buds, which are absolutely necessities. You may not be a sharer by nature, but you’ll need to be more flexible if someone asks to borrow your charger, needs a packet of sweet and low, or several squares of toilet paper. And do not neglect your appearance and personal hygiene — if you’re used to working in small or home office chances are you’ve grown somewhat, uh, relaxed, in your attire and personal hygiene. If you’re accustomed to working in pajamas or a robe, transitioning to, say, a jogging suit, should be easy. Deodorant is a not an option, nor is dental hygiene. As a general rule, be aware of your surroundings and be mindful of the fact that you’re not the only one who’s uncomfortable, anxious and easily triggered.
10. A lot of luck. The great Branch Rickey defined luck as preparation meeting opportunity. That sounds about right, but in reality, there’s no amount of preparation that will serve as a bulwark against a Category 5 hurricane. You ultimately just need a lot of luck. For this there’s no tip we can offer — we suggest you rub your favorite good luck charm, hope your accumulated good karma finally delivers an ROI, and that your deductible is manageable. That said, good luck, and be safe!
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