My friend Jessica has been sick all week with the flu. My friend does not work at home, she works for a small manufacturing company as a bookkeeper. Jessica has been with this company for 10 years doing the same job.

Anyway, Jessica told me that even though she’s been out sick all week, her boss called her several times to ask her questions about this or about that. Do you see where I’m going with this? Jessica’s company does not have a backup plan if Jessica unexpectedly can’t make it in to work.

When Jessica takes SCHEDULED time off, she usually has to print checks early, change cut-off dates, etc…just so she can take the time off.

It got me to thinking, yes, I work outside the home, but I also run a Virtual Assistance business from my home office. What if I get sick? I mean like bedridden sick, will my business be able to continue without me? Will I continue to bring in an income if I’m unable to work? In the “timecard” world, you get vacation days, sick days, personal days, etc. But in the online, work at home world, if you provide a service such as virtual assistance, or say for instance web design. If you don’t produce for the client, you don’t get paid.

It got me to thinking, I need a backup plan. Right now, my business is service based. I provide a service for my clients and they in return pay me for those services. Well, that’s good and bad.

The good part is that, I get paid for what I do. The bad part is that if I don’t “do”, I don’t get paid. I need to put a backup plan in place, I need to make sure that If I’m unable to work, my clients will continue to be served and I will continue to receive pay.

Heres My Backup Plan:

• Put together a procedure manual and start documenting the services that I provide for my clients, including step by step instructions.
• I just installed Camtasia, I may even do some video tutorials. I’m such a visual person.
• Get my assistant (my sister) more involved in some of my bigger projects. I currently only use her assistance with small typing projects when I get really busy. I need to use her more and show her how to do more things. I’m not busy enough to start a Multi VA practice yet, maybe one day in the future. For now, I’ll just use my sis

I’d love to know what procedures you have in place if you’re sick or can’t work for a week. What’s your backup plan?

Technorati Tags: business procedures, emergency backup plan, virtual assistance, working from home, service based business

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