Mostly I like to plan for success.

Generally speaking, people tend not to plan at all, neither for success, nor disaster.

We should all do more planning for both, myself included.

Today though, we talk disaster.

Not big natural disasters, no… the micro disaster of one person.

You.

What happens when you are the epicenter of the disaster?

It’s not a situation affecting someone else, not even someone close and perhaps vital to your own life and/or business. That is a different sort of challenge, one you can step up and manage through.

No, today we talk about you as the problem.

You as the disaster.

You as that specific and vital person suddenly removed from active duty within your business.

A significant and sudden issue.

A significant and sudden impact.

No notice, no warnings, no opportunity for anyone to prepare… other than the various steps each of us takes from time to time, over the years, as we (rarely) contemplate ‘what if‘.

At 51 yrs of age, I find myself surrounded by many more old(er) people than every before. At one point, when I was 5-years old or so, the only 50-somethings I knew were my 4 grandparents, 4 people, that was it for ‘old people’. Now damn near everyone I know is 50-something. How’d this happen?!?

And the thing about getting older is that things fail. A leaky valve, a blown gasket, a bad seal… OK this is just mechanic-talk for heart issues, strokes, cancer… and of course there is plain old bad luck, sometimes combined with bad judgment.

Bang!

Boom!

Pow!

There you are, flat on your back.

Maybe mobile, maybe not.

Maybe communicative, maybe not.

Maybe thinking clearly, maybe not.

You’re now at the mercy of whatever plans you put in place, pause and think about that.

Think about your plans.

I bet that didn’t take long.

And in the absence of formal plans you’re at the mercy of the quality of people in your life who can step up and make things happen.

Do you know who those people are?

Do they know who they are (to you)?

Who’ve you sat down and had a ‘what if’ conversation with?

Where’ve you written down your wishes?

Not just a (current) Will. No, let’s be clear here, the form of disaster we are talking about is one where you’re still here – but not capable of typical ‘you’ things, not for a while… days, weeks, maybe months.

In the words of the great philosopher, Sylvester Stallone, ‘Dyin’ is easy, it’s the living that’s the hard part‘

So you’re still here, it’s just that you cannot do jack-shit.

You can’t call those clients back, that referral partner, that underwriter, that cute human who gave you their number last week. You cannot type emails, you cannot text, you cannot do a damn thing.

Oh my… you can’t post on social media.

You can’t scroll… that might be a good thing actually.

This is serious though, as in ‘WTF now?!?’ serious.

The pause button has been pressed.

On you.

Now what?

What next?

What’s happening to your business?

This is, as stupid as it sounds to many, one of the very first thoughts people have when they find themselves on a hospital gurney.

Why?

Partly because we link our very identity to our business.

Also, we link our survival, and the survival of our families, to our business.

This is a western industrial thing, but that doesn’t make it any less real.

In our society money is oxygen, and once our bodies are breathing actual oxygen again, our brains kick into consciousness and pretty quickly we think about money.

People first, for sure.

But money is a close second.

My family; where are they, are they OK?

For many of you reading this, right after that thought, it’s about some other people; ‘my client’s; are they ok?“

Of course client’s, people, are our business, and we want to make sure they’re OK as well.

And yes, the business creates the income… and at a certain point we realize our income may be in jeopardy… leading us back to basic concerns;

If we’re solo in life; How will I survive?

If we’re (co)leading a family; How will my family survive?

Those, again, tend to be bigger picture problems that hopefully have insurance policies in place to help address on some level.

But first things first.

Day one, the here and now…

Does anyone else have any of your passwords?

Have you got all your liquid cash in crypto locked up with a single point of failure? (you)

How does that help anyone to be able to help you?

More basic though, basic and real, what about your phone, your laptop, your PC, your email account(s). Have you got a trusted Broker who can step in and seamlessly pick up where you last left off?

Someone who can read your last 100 sent emails, and follow up with each accordingly?

The files in flight, the pre-approved clients writing an offer tonight, the completed files closing in 10 days that may still have a curveball tossed in, and the funded files you still need to submit compliance docs for.

Have you got a Broker-buddy?

This is pretty damn important.

Brokering is very much a solo business, but you need to find someone you can trust with your business… who can trust you with their business. It’s a two-way street. You need to be prepared to cover one another off.

You need to lay out passwords, maybe share a common IT person who can remote access one another’s machines. Make sure they have a spare key to your office, to your home if you live alone.

Few among us are prepared for the immediate short term business interruption that happens out of the blue with zero notice. Most of us are lucky enough to have smart people around us who will figure it out, but luck is a fickle thing… bad luck probably jammed you up here. This proves that luck alone is not a solid plan.

Find your Broker-buddy.

Have a real conversation about ‘what-if’

IE ‘what if I’m hit by lighting, and survive, but am out of commission for 4 weeks?‘

What happens next?

Who deals with the immediate client-situations?

What’s the split? (note, if you’re Broker buddy wants a split to close files in flight, and work your book a bit, while you’re laying in a hospital bed… you maybe need a better buddy – although long term maybe there needs to be a split, and how long is long term? Easier question to answer BEFORE anything happens – make a plan this week, please.)

Who makes my c/card payment(s)?

Who makes sure my mortgage account is topped up?

Who collects the rent from tenants?

Who files a claim with my insurer?

Who even knows that I have insurance, and which company to call?

My hope is that this post inspires action on your part, this post… not an actual event in your life.

Being inspired is better than being triggered.

On my end here, this post and the actions I’m taking today, are all triggered by an event. I’m intact, but a close friend of mine has had their pause button pressed.

Their pause is likely to be measured in weeks, not days, and as much as they are well organized, and as quickly as remarkable humans in their life picked up their book of business and kept all the clients on track… they were largely lucky. There wasn’t a formal plan… although I can see them smiling their million-watt smile and saying ‘my plan was to be lucky’. (smiling here myself as I type that)

There will be a plan for their recovery, one labelled ‘operation 100%’ – with the 100% referring not just to the goal, but also to the attitude of all involved in getting this dude back in action.

But hey you!

You!

Ya you!

You can take action right now, so do it.

Take a single step. (I just did)

IE. Record a voice memo that covers key ‘what if’ points, passwords, etc and share it with a couple of trusted people. (I just did)

The final action step I have for you today.

Get up, walk across the room or drive across town if you have to, and hug someone you care about and tell them (yet again) that you care about them.

Do this for you.

Do this for them.

Do this for me.

Otherwise, if none of you takes even the simplest of actions; what the hell am I doing with my Saturday mornings writing these posts?

Actually I know what I am doing here.

This is my way of processing things, and my way of holding myself accountable.

Action!

DW

P.S. – The image; what the heck is it? It’s what ChatGPT creates when you type in ‘Disaster Recovery’ so tech may be a tool, but for this topic above… you need a human working the correct tools.

Go find your Broker-buddy.