As an entrepreneur or small business owner, you face risk everyday. However, you have the mindset and understanding that risk is a part of your entrepreneurial vision. Understanding risk management will allow you to see those risks that may threaten the viability of your business.

• Understanding risk will allow you to identify those things that may interrupt your business. Working with a risk management professional will give you that added insight you will need. By identifying those particular risks you may face, you and your risk management professional can begin to formulate a plan to alleviate your exposure to them.
• Risk can come from anywhere like natural disasters such as hurricanes and earthquakes as well as certain legal calamities like a lawsuit, fraud, or embezzlement. What about a sexual harassment situation? What about a collapsing economy? What about the security of your servers? What if your R & D just isn’t making the cut? There are so many avenues on which risk can travel.
• Once you have had a few meetings with your risk management advisor, you can begin to get a clearer picture of what you, or your particular business, are facing. It is all about being exposed, about being defenseless and unprotected.
• There are others things to consider as well. Assessing your risk may mean you wish to protect yourself, your family and your business as well as, perhaps, employees or even your customers. There are those physical aspects to risk protection, also such as your building, your equipment, your computer system and your crucial data and company records.
• Once you and your risk management advisor have identified your risk and made a proper assessment of it, you can begin to build a solid defense. It is really all about what works for you and your situation. Risk faced by the single entrepreneurial professional working out of their home office can be quite different from the risk faced by the small business with thirty employees and a payroll to meet.
• Insurance, of course, plays a vital factor in your risk assessment and preventative program. This allows you to transfer much, if not all, of that risk on to someone else or onto some other entity. For instance, when you by some simple homeowners insurance, you allow the insurance company to bear the burden of any destruction or loss to your property and valuables.

No sound business plan or business model can be truly complete without the assessment of risk. When you take the time to sit with your risk management professional, it is not a cost. It is an investment. It is an investment in the future of your vision.