b'BUSINESS MANAGEMENTDISASTER PREPAREDNESS FOR BUSINESSESTracy L. Edwards, CFP, Financial Advisor Ameriprise FinancialA sasuccessfulbusinessself-directed or guided by an organization, that owner, you dont want to thinkenables business owners to prepare themselves, about your operations beingtheir employees, and their businesses for the interrupted by a natural disaster orpossibility of a natural or man-made disaster.other unexpected event. Yet theOrganizations such as the Federal Emergency possibility is a real one. Management Agency (FEMA), the Small Business Natural catastrophes represent just a portionAdministration (SBA), and state governments ofthecrisesthatyourbusinesscouldface.provide disaster assistance for damages to small Although you may not be located in an areabusinesses located in declared disaster areas.prone to hurricanes, blizzards, tornadoes, floods,Steps to implement a disaster preparedness earthquakes, mudslides, or wildfires, you still needprogramto consider the possibility of power outages, civil unrest, terrorism, cyber attacks, fire, data breaches,Following are five steps that will help you create illness epidemics, and other potential hazards.a disaster preparedness program, as outlined by Fortunately, there are many ways you can prepareready.gov, a national public service campaign your business for an emergency. designed to educate Americans about preparing for What is a disaster preparedness program? and responding to natural and man-made disasters.A disaster preparedness program is a plan, eitherStep 1: Program Management. In many cases, Continued on page 2120 www.mrca.orgMidwest Roofer'