Flicker, Plunder & Loot – Planning extended disaster recovery plan

I got to sleep last night, a welcome change of pace from the disaster recovery that has been going on in South Florida. I would like to share a picture that I believe sums up the state of things down here:

Caption, courtesy of my friend Pablo: i love the fact it’s right over a gas station, “last photograph ever taken by photographer”

As Pablo so eloquently points out, you don’t get to be stupid just because you went through a hurricane and you have no cell signal. Step away from the live wire about to tip over into a pool of fuel.

But driving around South Florida and talking to everyone about what is going on really got me motivated to write an extended D&R article for small business. I think there will be a catchy title, something along the lines “Would you sell your business for $300” because this is precisely how much it would have cost to keep some of these guys online, in touch with their customers. My business is to never, ever, ever go down, but I’ve worked in places that have gone down, often and frequently, and I learned that customers are willing to tollerate incompetence so long as they know what is going on. In disasters, people fear uncertainty, not the actual problems they face. So there will be a beefy guide for the small business on here in about a month about how to do something sensible that will keep you around and no, it won’t involve a tape.

So stay tuned.

Speaking of tuned, the SBS Show will be recorded tomorrow and this time we are going world-wide. This will be a two-parter on diaster recovery: first one covering the value of community for business and education, second one (next weekend) covering the value of disaster recovery when you really need a friend.