Would your business survive if you lost your memory?

by Linda Shacklock, 29 September 2009

Or dropped dead of a heart attack, or got hit by a bus? Seriously, anything can happen. In December 2008, a Phoenix-area business owner fell and hit his head, suffering "complete retrograde amnesia." As reported in the September 25 Phoenix Business Journal, "The injury

erased every historical event.... Every experience in the past 43 years of his life had disappeared."

As the Business Journal describes the situation, "All of the company's internal operations, successes and failures had been stored in [the owner's] head." Have you ever thought about would happen to your company, your partners, your employees — not to mention your family — if you lost your memory or your life?

You need to take steps now to plan for the worst, to document the operations, the processes, the procedures — all the details — that make your business or your professional practice work. As the Business Journal reported about the amnesia victim, "He said it was devastating not having a procedural manual on hand, and he advises business owners to prepare for catastrophic events."

Planning and preparing documents that others can use to operate your business in your absence is no easy task, but you need to do it.

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