This is the 14th and final instalment of my 14 Principles for Success in Business, adapted from my book, The Little Guide To Your Bigger Future™.
In the penultimate instalment I talked about marketing. To end the series, I need to cover some essential housekeeping – how to protect your business by keeping on top of your insurances and recognising threats.
If you are running a successful company you’ll need to protect it against all eventualities. Physical disasters happen to firms every day of the week. Quality insurance is essential of course to cover your premises, machinery, vehicles, IT infrastructure, liabilities and all the tools of your trade. But don’t forget your most valuable assets – your people! What if anything happens to them? This is where you’ll really appreciate the value of professional financial advice because there are products available that will protect your company against the loss of a key person in your organisation or a fellow director, either of which could potentially cause huge disruption to your business – or worse! This is a very big deal in terms of business protection and it’s worth paying for the best advice you can afford.
Many businesses these days rely to a huge extent on computers, so the safety requirements of your computer system should be paramount. Your antivirus software and other types of security software should be kept up to date because clearly, if your system were to go down because of a virus or cyber- crime attack your business may be at risk in any number of ways. Key files could also be lost or stolen, which could lead to legal action from clients and/or suppliers. It’s always a good idea to keep files backed-up – and to keep them off-site.
And don’t forget financial crime. It’s on the increase, costing UK businesses over £50bn every year. (Source) So build a culture of awareness throughout your company.
It’s also a good idea to make sure your health and safety protocols are in place and up to date, not only to comply with legislation, but to protect your workforce and head off any potential, expensive litigation! And again, depending on the size of your business, you may find a disaster recovery plan would help get you up and running again quickly following, say for example, a flood or fire.
I hope you have found the 14 Principles for Success in Business useful. Helping to run a successful business has been great fun and, yes, profitable. But for me, profit has almost been secondary to the buzz I get from helping clients and thinking up new ideas to push the company further ahead of the curve.
I can’t foresee the day when I’ll want to ‘retire’ because why would I give up doing something I love? I suppose what I’m trying to say really is that having a healthy balance sheet is vital, of course, but part of running a business – any business – should be the exhilaration and satisfaction that making it successful brings.
Please note that this article does not constitute specific personal advice. The views and opinions expressed in this article, The Little Guide to Your Bigger Future™ and the supporting website are those of Brian Morman. They do not necessarily reflect the views of Brunsdon Financial Services Ltd. Brunsdon is not responsible for the content of third-party web sites.
