Business Interruptions: Natural Disasters

When you live in an area that is prone to natural disasters -- think Florida, Louisiana, Texas for hurricanes, or California for wildfires and earthquakes -- it's important to diversify your business, just in case disaster strikes.

I've written before about disaster planning ... but a key component of that is being able to get back to doing business -- either while you're evacuated, or after the power comes back on.

Hurricane Ike -- and the devastation it has brought to the Texas coast -- is a perfect example of this. If you're a resume writer in this area, it would be wise to consider partnering with another resume writer who doesn't live in an affected area, or shifting at least part of your business to subcontract writing for other firms. That way, when disaster strikes, your total income is not dependent on local clients, who may also be suffering from the tragedy.

Look at New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina. A huge proportion of the state's population simply left the state after the storm, in September 2005. If you were reliant on local clients, they simply disappeared. Many of them never came back. If you're a resume writer in Galveston today, your clients (hopefully) left in anticipation of Hurricane Ike. Who knows when they'll come back. My database of resume writers shows 20 professionals in Houston alone. What are they doing today? Many of them don't have power. Some of them have damage to their home and/or office. Business interruption insurance is nice ... but it will take time to get back up to speed.

If you have a relationship with a subcontracting firm, you can adjust your workload while you evacuate ... and then quickly start accepting new projects once you're settled somewhere (if you evacuated), or once the power comes back on. With firms like CareerPerfect, you can write from anywhere you can get access to a computer and Internet connection. Everything is stored on their digital servers, so even if you had to leave without your paper files, it's all on there.

If you're interested in learning more about subcontracting, be sure to order my special report, "Making Money as a Resume Subcontractor" (it includes more than 30 individuals or firms looking for subcontractors; available for immediate download as a PDF.)

The report also includes a sample cover letter you can use when approaching subcontracting firms, plus "red flags" you should watch for when selecting a firm for a contracting relationship.

Note: If you are looking for IMMEDIATE subcontracting opportunities, I received an e-mail from a resume writer who is actively seeking out 2-3 new subcontractors to assist her with projects. Pay ranges from $100 to $175 per project, and no client contact is required. She's looking for creative, dependable CPRWs with at least five years' of experience. Purchase the MMRS report and look for the "NEW!" designation in the listing of Subcontracting Firms for her contact information.

Get More Prospects Into Your Pipeline

I'm taking the "Get Clients Now"™ program with Joan Friedlander and am really enjoying getting back to the basics of marketing by following the steps of the program. I first learned about C.J. Hayden's program in 2003 at the Career Masters Institute conference in Kansas City (now the Career Management Alliance) and always had an interest in applying the program to my business. I'm enrolled in it as part of my training to become a facilitator for C.J.'s "Get Hired Now!™" program.

One of the keys to the Get Clients Now program is filling your pipeline with prospects. I came across a neat little free 5-minute video, "List Building" with Stu McLaren, hosted by David Frey as part of his Small Business Marketing Best Practices video newsletter.

As David notes, "The money is in the list" -- whether an e-mail or snail mail list, having a defined way to contact prospective clients is vital to building your business. This should be an opt-in list, and the individuals should have given you specific permission to communicate with them. David even uses terminology familiar to those of you who know the Get Clients Now! system -- mentioned that these are people who already "like and trust" you ("CJ's system mentions the value of creating relationships for people to "know, like, and trust" you).

David and Stu share the three keys to building your list, and three ideas to help you generate traffic. I haven't tried them (YET!) but thought you'd enjoy hearing about them too.

The Aging Workforce

"The Aging Workforce" was one trend cited in the January/February 2006 issue of "Office Solutions" magazine as a trend of the future.

The article notes:

According to an article on the website HireStrategy.com, about 15 percent of the U.S. workforce is age 55 or oder, with this figure expected to increase to 17 percent by 2010. By 2012, one in five American workers will be age 55 or oder.

Similarly, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics predicts that more than 25 percent of the working population will have reached retirement age by 2010, leaving a potential worker shortage of close to 10 million.

How will this affect your clients? As the pool of prospective employees shrinks, employers will need to attract and retain mature, experienced employees. This will be reflected in their recruitment and training strategies -- and the workplace will have to adapt to become more flexible and stimulating to this audience.

The Shoemaker's Kid

You know the story about the shoemaker's kid -- the one who doesn't have any shoes. That's because his mom, the shoemaker, is too busy with her clients to focus on her kid's feet. (I wrote about the shoemaker's kid a few weeks ago in regards to resume samples, too.)

Well, as a professional resume writer who wears a lot of hats, I obviously feel like the shoemaker a lot of the time. I'm out here telling you about stuff you should be doing ... and should probably follow my own advice more than I do. What reminded me of this was seeing Jessica Simpson on The View this morning. She was asked if she had bought lots of gifts for her sister, who is expecting a child in November. She said, "I've been telling everyone yes -- so I'd better get shopping!"

I kind of feel that way with my newsletter. For example, in the May/June issue, the sidebar on the front cover had to do with sending an e-mail to past clients about updating their resume. It's a fabulous idea -- and, depending on how extensive your list of past clients is -- it's guaranteed to drum up some repeat business.

The bad news is, you have to have a client database to properly implement the idea. I've got a client database ... but it's a Rolodex. I faithfully fill out a Rolodex card for each resume project when I finalize it. Since I've been writing resumes for 12 years now in my business, you'd think I would have taken the time somewhere along the way to put it on the computer. But no, while I'm constantly updating other databases (including my list of subscribers to Resume Writers' Digest), I hadn't gotten around to creating the database.

So, in the "better late than never" category of things, I started the database on Monday, and I'm up to 12 contacts. Well, only a couple hundred more to go now. But I went ahead and sent out the e-mail to the first 10 (the other 2 were new projects I finalized on Tuesday), and I'm going to set a goal of adding 10 new contacts every couple of days (I'd say every day, but that's just not gonna happen, and I might as well be realistic). I figure by next May I'll be good to go. *smile*

So take it from me, and don't be a shoemaker. Take five minutes and start a task that you should be doing to improve your resume writing business -- whether that's starting a database (like I just did), putting together that list of frequently-asked questions you've always been meaning to write out, or starting a blog.

There's no time like the present!