Managing your risk has never become more important than it is today. Since the Crash of ’09, the world has shifted and there is, now, danger and uncertainty lurking everywhere. As a result of the present global economic climate, a strategy known as Enterprise Risk Management (ERM) has emerged. It is beginning to play a vital role in how business risk is calculated and its tools and strategies can be put into affect by everyone from a Fortune 500 company to the sole entrepreneur working out of their home office.

ERM has become a focal point for many small and large businesses with regard to their overall strategic planning. Risk has become the motivational element with regard to how many businesses are managing their ventures today. Much of the ERM emphasis has come out of concern for stockholders in public companies. After the horrific damage done by such companies as Enron, Tyco International, and Adelphia Communications, stockholders, the public, and the Washington bureaucrats have taken the existence of risk far more seriously.

So, how does ERM help the small business owner or the entrepreneur? After all, you are not some giant corporate behemoth with stockholders breathing down your neck. You do, however, have customers, clients, and competitors. You are far more vulnerable to risk than the corporate giants so any advantage you can gain and put into place will be worth the cost and the effort.

It isn’t just all about risk. It is also about opportunity and keeping your ear to the ground at all times. Not only to try and see risk coming, but to see opportunity coming also. Devising strategies, putting them in play, observing them, and evaluating them, is what risk management is really all about.

ERM employs some basic, pretty much common sense, strategies. Avoid those projects or ideas that seem too risky, be proactive with regard to protecting yourself from calamity, seek to minimize any potential damage in all aspects of your business no matter how seemingly inconsequential, and try to place some of the burden of risk onto someone else.

In addition, ERM can help you prepare for the many avenues risk will likely take. You have risks to customer satisfaction as well as with possibly defective products. What about the damage that may happen to your reputation? There are legal concerns as well. Has your risk been minimized in the case of a natural disaster or irreparable damage to your physical assets? What about your financial risks? Are you liquid enough? Is your pricing being undercut by your competitors? Are your assets protected?

There is much to think about as a small business owner or entrepreneur and huddling with your risk management advisor regularly is, likely, a prudent thing to do. You can take the ERM strategies and tactics used by the big guys and deftly apply them to your situation so that your risk is minimized and you can just concentrate on what you do best.