I was speaking with a potential new client today. She hired a VA last year and things were going great. At least they were going great until December. She hasn’t heard from her VA for about five weeks now. No calls, no emails, no nothing. What happened?

I wasn’t surprised as I’ve heard of this happening before. What I can’t understand is why a VA would suddenly stop all communication. I know that emergencies come up, illness, etcetera but as a solo business owner, it’s especially important to have processes in place so that a client isn’t left wondering what happened and whether you’re going to continue to help them.

This situation really got me thinking about disaster planning and how I would handle an emergency and what processes I should have in place so at least my clients would know something happened and what their expectations should be in terms of my return or whether we need someone else to step in to assist. I also started thinking about how I can help clients set up their own disaster plans.

So, one of my projects this quarter is to set up a disaster plan for my business and to find out from my clients what processes they have in place, if any, in case of a disaster.

Do you have a disaster plan?