Being proactive with regard to anything is, generally, an excellent rule of thumb. When it comes to your economic survival, and the survival of your business and family, being proactive is an absolute imperative.
Being proactive with regard to your entrepreneurial or small business risk is known as risk mitigation. This proactive stance with regard to your entrepreneurial livelihood or small business must be taken everyday. Even if for just a short time early in the morning, knowing what lies ahead, and planning to reduce the risk involved, will increase your stability by not allowing risk to gain a foothold through your lack of attention to it.
The larger companies and corporations have risk mitigation teams, generally, who tend to the possibility of risk every minute of every day. It is their only job. You, however, wear many hats, if not every hat. This is where a professional risk management advisor can play a key role in the success and survival of your business. He or she will be your team. They will mitigate and manage so you can do what you do best and not have to worry so much about your exposure.
Even with risk management advisor, you, as a small business, should put some manner of team into place in an ongoing effort to stay proactive and to monitor any exposure you may see coming. Try and choose your most experienced employees. While they are not you, they, at least, have wide experience with regard to the business and how things work.
If you are taking on a new client or project, assemble your team, especially your professional risk management advisor, and lay the client, or the project, bare. What doesn’t look right? What could go wrong? How are the timelines? Break down every possible risk regarding every step of the project and put some manner of mitigation plan in place for each of them.
Update and adjust daily. Make sure you are keeping a close eye on things as they develop so as to proactively see the potential risk that might crop up as things evolve and progress toward their conclusion. Touch base regularly with your professional risk management advisor. Quite often, they will see things coming that you would not even think of.
Often, with a small business, it is wise to swap out your risk management crew. This will get your most valued employees more involved with the overall business and will give them a far better understanding of how business survival works. This will, also, negate possible complacency if you kept the same team. Complacency is a risk.
Finally, keep in mind that communication is the most important factor in proactive risk management. Not micro-managing, but keeping the communication lines open at all times so that everyone is aware of what is happening so everyone can be focused on what be coming down the road soon.
