Yesterday was the day that my county (as well as many other communities nationally) hold their “Great Give.” It’s a unique way to ask donors to support all their favorite charities with one payment. It’s a pretty slick process, until…
I went on yesterday afternoon armed with my credit card to make my donation. When I arrived at the website, I was stunned to see that it didn’t want my money. Well, not really. The website was down due to technical difficulties. This would be the disaster that all the charities (and the organization ) would most fear. The event only runs for 24 hours, and at the very least was looking to lose over half that day.
Fortunately, somebody thought of that obstacle to success. The website indicated that because of the gaffe, the Great Give was going to be extended until into the evening the next day. I simply moved my calendar reminder to today.
Calamity and “obstacles” happen every day to us in business. Some of them are minor (a key employee is out sick for the day), or major (see above). The business owners and entrepreneurs that are best prepared to deal with these obstacles more effectively overcome and even thrive out of crisis. Take the Great Give for example. Now, the event may actually add time to the giving, all the charities get to keep sending additional reminders to their lists, and the chance that someone might have forgotten and not donate is lessened. In all, the charities may end up being better off than if nothing happened!
Things that go “oops” will happen to you and your business. The best thing you can do is to in advance, identify your obstacles to success, create a contingency plan to rebound and thrive, tell everyone in your company about what to do, and then hope it doesn’t happen. The good news is that if it does, you’re ready and that is a great security blanket and peace of mind.
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