Before the Storm: What to Back Up First

Nobody in South Louisiana needs to be told what season it is. The house has a plan. The business records usually do not.

Losing a building is bad. Losing the ability to invoice for three weeks while you rebuild your records is what actually closes small businesses, and it happens to people whose buildings came through fine.

The question worth asking

Not "do I have a backup." Better: if the office floods tonight, what could you run the business from tomorrow, using only your phone? That sorts things fast.

Protect these first

Who owes you money, because collections carry you through the slow weeks after. Your accounting file, which in most small businesses lives on one computer backed up to a drive on the same desk. Payroll records. Customer and job files, including before photos.

What actually goes wrong

The backup sits in the same building as the thing it is backing up. Cloud sync was set up once and nobody checked it since. Everything is saved, but only one person has the login and that person is evacuating to Texas.

Twenty minutes this week

Find out where your accounting file really lives. Export a current receivables list and put a copy off site. Make sure one other trusted person can get into the essential accounts. Photograph your equipment while it is dry.

The part people learn afterward

Insurance and disaster loan claims run on records. The businesses that get paid quickly are the ones whose numbers were already in order.

Stay safe out there. Check on your neighbors.