Small Business Administration

Monthly Web Chat

SBA Program Office

Welcome to SBA's Small Business VOICE - an online discussion forum with the entrepreneaur in mind.

Topic: "Disaster Preparedness for Your Small Business"

Thank you for joining Diana McClure, assistant vice president for Business Protection at the Institute for Business & Home Safety (IBHS), and Becky Brantley of the U.S. Small Business Administration’s Office of Disaster Assistance will host the SBA’s September Web chat on “ Disaster Preparedness for Your Small Business.” Please join us again, next month, as we address topics of interest to the small business entrepreneur.

From : Rebecca Hackett
Location : Jacksonville , FL

Question :
We are a small, but very established, recruiting and quality assurance company servicing the needs of Banks, Credit Unions, and Mortgage Companies Nationally. We would like to identify and match qualified candidates with the Banks, Credit Unions, etc affected by the hurricanes and other natural disasters, as well as to identify trained professionals displaced by the same. Please advise us of web sites and agencies we can contact to help match up those displaced as well as the companies suffering from lack of trained mortgage professionals. Also is there any government agencies established needing Quality Assurance verifications of portfolios in the affected areas? We have a strong national database available and want to help those in need. Hurd-Harter Mortgage Support, Inc. www.hurdharter.com

Reply :
D. McClure: The U.S. Chamber of Commerce Center for Corporate Citizenship has joined with IBM to launch www.Jobs4Recovery.com, a “one-stop stop” for connecting job seekers from areas affected by hurricanes Katrina and Rita with employment opportunities. Jobs4Recovery.com allows people to conduct targeted searches for jobs in the location where they want to work or to browse all available opportunities by state and by map. In addition, local chambers of commerce will post newly created and identified jobs in their areas. Employers wishing to post a job can do so through www.JOBCentral.com, a free job posting service available through Jobs4Recover.com. Local chamber of commerce or work force centers can send other job resources to jobs4recovery@uschamber.com with the subject line “Job Resources”.

From : norm@kiassociates.com
Location : San Francisco , CA

Question :
request to know how to obtain transcript. I am vice president of SF City/County Small Business Commission and named coordinator of its disaster preparedness program for small businesses. Thank you.

Reply :
A transcript of today's Disaster Preparedness Web chat can be viewed online at www.sba.gov/chats.

From : Rebecca Hackett
Location : Jacksonville , FL

Question :
We provide Mortgage Professionals nationwide, how can we reach the victims of the huricane area to match employees with jobs and jobs w/employees?

Reply :
D. McClure: The U.S. Chamber of commerce Center for Corporate Citizenship has joined with IBM to launch www.Jobs4Recovery.com, a “one-stop stop” for connecting job seekers from areas affected by hurricanes Katrina and Rita with employment opportunities. Jobs4Recovery.com allows people to conduct targeted searches for jobs in the location where they want to work or to browse all available opportunities by state and by map. In addition, local chambers of commerce will post newly created and identified jobs in their areas. Employers wishing to post a job can do so through www.JOBCentral.com, a free job posting service available through Jobs4Recover.com. Local chamber of commerce or work force centers can send other job resources to jobs4recovery@uschamber.com with the subject line “Job Resources”.

From : Ms. Roberson
Location : San Antonio , Texas

Question :
Despite the level of preparedness a business owner takes in the reduction of stress resulting from a natural or physical disaster, how can a small business get inside that large business network of procurements to get awarded contracts from the governmental agencies that appear to be focusing on large businesses who can afford the large membership fees with resources that have government contract contacts with vendors or preparation of RFQ, Bidding Packets?

Reply :
If you have products or services for sale, the Department of Homeland Security has established a website National Emergency Resource Registry, www.nerr.gov, to assist the coordination efforts between the resources that are needed and the resources that are available from the public and private sector. If your company has products or services that may be made available to the response agencies, please list them on the resource directory. Information about contracting with the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is available on FEMAs website at www.fema.gov under Customer Service - Doing Business with FEMA.

From : Janine Reid
Location : Denver , CO

Question :
Where can I obtain a disaster readiness plan for my business and home?

Reply :
D. McClure: For Your Business: www.ibhs.org/business_protection -- you can order one free copy of the print/CD version of Open for Businesssm, a tool to help small businesses develop a business continuity and property protection plan. On page 43 of the guide, you will find a list of other resources, such as www.dhs.gov and the Disaster Recovery Institute International (DRII) www.drii.org (many resources listed, especially for larger businesses). IBHS is working with community groups and the Global Partnership for Preparedness (http://www.globalpreparedness.org) to help community groups and certified business continuity planners provide training for small businesses on development of business continuity plans. For more information, e-mail dmcclure@ibhs.org and “cc” ann.patton@sbcglobal.net. For Your Home: www.ready.gov is a site the Dept. of Homeland Security has set up which has information for personal protection. Also, IBHS has a brochure “You Can Go Home Again”, www.ibhs.org, which will help you with recovery information. The Insurance Information Institute has a home inventory list that is very important if you need to file an insurance claim (www.iii.org). IBHS has a lot of information for how to protect your home (structure and contents), which you can download from www.ibhs.org. In addition, the state of Oregon has utilized IBHS’ Showcase State for Natural Disaster Resistance & Resilience framework, institutionalized through a Governor’s Executive Order, to help communities develop and implement plans that improve disaster safety. Much of their initiative is to help homeowners and businesses, as well as governments, to protect their resources. Visit www.oregonshowcase.org to learn more.

From : Lorraine
Location : Jacksonville , FL

Question :
Can hurrincane evacuees then claim thier uninsured losses through IBHS??

Reply :
Becky & D - No IBHS is a non-profit organization supported by the insurance industry. However, SBA may be able to assit you with your uninsured disaster-related losses. Whenever the President or SBA Administrator makes a disaster declaration SBAs disaster program is activated for victims in the impacted area. Disaster loans from SBA are available to homeowners, renters, businesses of all sizes, and nonprofit organizations for their uncompensated disaster-related losses. For more information about SBAs Disaster Loan Program visit www.sba.gov/disaster or you can call SBAs Disaster Customer Call Center at 1-800877-8339 or 1-800-877-8399 for the hearing impaired.

From : Raza Laiq
Location : Fairfax , VA

Question :
Dear Madam, I currently own a small business in the DC Metropolitan area. We provide onsite home or office computer service solutions and were very interested in winning contracts to help in New Orleans. Can you please tell me where I would be able to bid on contracts that require anything to do with computers?? thanks Raza Laiq www.localnerds.com

Reply :
Becky - In addition to registering your company on www.nerr.gov as discussed previously, information about contracting with the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is available at www.fema.gov under the heading "doing business with FEMA".

From : George Horton
Location : Denver , CO

Question :
Are you aware of any companies that provide off-site technology backups nationwide? If the backed up information is located off-site but locally, it might not survive the disaster either.

Reply :
IBHS does not “recommend” particular products, but there a number of business continuity resources where you can get this information. For example, the Disaster Recovery Institute International (DRII) at www.drii.org. Also the Disaster Recover Journal at www.drj.com has available resources. In addition, the Summer 2005 Issue of BusinessWeek SmallBiz has a good summary of ways to protect information, from your own back-up to on-line back-up services or data recovery centers. Please e-mail dmcclure@ibhs.org to get a copy of that article.

From : wilson monroy
Location : hialeah , fl

Question :
Diana,please tell me about institute you represente,what benefits brings for as.?

Reply :
D. McClure: The Institute for Business & Home Safety (IBHS) is a national nonprofit whose purpose is to reduce deaths, injuries, property damage, economic loss and human suffering caused by natural disasters. Supported by the property/casualty insurance industry, it provides materials for homeowners and businesses to help them protect themselves from the impacts of natural disasters. Please visit www.ibhs.org to see the variety of materials available. The Business Protection page has a property protection and business continuity planning toolkit for the small business owner. One copy can be ordered for free, and it also can be downloaded. There are many brochures and documents produced in a user friendly format to help the homeowner protect his/her property also. IBHS also works extensively to improve building codes so that construction will be more disaster resistant. Staff works with its member companies through many other groups to heighten awareness about natural hazards and to foster disaster safety as a public value.

From : Shante Morgan
Location : Los Angeles , California

Question :
Is there any software or computer equipment you recommend to protect important information or records?

Reply :
D. McClure: This is outside the mission of IBHS, and also as a nonprofit, IBHS does not “recommend” particular products. But, if you visit www.ibhs.org/business_protection -- you can order one free copy of the print/CD version of IBHS’ Open for Businesssm, a tool to help small businesses develop a business continuity and property protection plan. On page 43 of the guide, you will find a list of other resources, such as the Disaster Recovery Institute International (DRII) www.drii.org. These organizations have many resources listed on their websites. In that guide you’ll see suggestions of some ways to back up important information. That can include buying a safe (fireproof) to store important records. You can also duplicate records by storing them on CDs or DVDs, zip disks, USB drives or external hard drives, which of course shouldn’t be in the same place as your computer! You could also back up on a networked computer, or use a backup software or service. In addition, you could scan paper documents into digital format and store them on the aforementioned media, so they are not just paper copy. Pictures or video can be important too, and useful when filing an insurance claim. In addition, the Summer 2005 Issue of .BusinessWeek SmallBiz has a good summary of ways to protect information, from your own back-up to on-line back-up services or data recovery centers. Please e-mail dmcclure@ibhs.org to get a copy of that article.

From : Claire
Location : Fairfax , VA

Question :
Small businesses that attempt to reopen after a disaster often have to commit significant additional resources. To minimize the chances that the effort to reopen will fail, and the owner will lose the additional investment, our organization advocates that small business owners reevaluate their business plan in light of the effects of a disaster before taking out loans or investing their insurance proceeds. What factors do you think a small business should consider when reevaluating their business plan and deciding whether or not to commit resources to reopening after a disaster? Can you recommend any information sources to which small businesses can turn in making this important decision?

Reply :
D. McClure: According to research by Dan Alesch and Jim Holly of the Univ. of Wisconsin Green Bay – located on the web site of the Public Entity Risk Institute (PERI), www.riskinstitute.org , there are a number of factors a business owner should take into account when evaluating whether to re-open and stay in business. Among them are: 1. How affected were my customers by the disaster – i.e. are they still here? 2. Am I depending on this one location that has been damaged, or do I have multiple locations which will help keep me afloat? 3. To what extent have I lost critical production, inventory or capital assets? The more I’ve lost, the harder it will be to survive. 4. Are my products, goods or services essential or are they dependent on discretionary income of my customers? Can purchase of my goods or services be deferred, substituted or transferred elsewhere? 5. What were the economic trends in the area before disaster struck – if on the downward slide, the chances for recovery may be less. 6. Can I adjust to a forever changed environment, recognizing that nothing ever returns to “normal” after a major event? In addition, other research shows – and our front page stories following Hurricanes Katrina and Rita are validating – the importance of infrastructure that is operational. If electric power, gas, telecommunications, water supplies and transportation routes are disrupted, businesses do not have the support systems they need to re-open. If schools, health care facilities, and basic services are unavailable, it is not likely employees will return. So, business people need to assess how fast this critical infrastructure and necessary services will resume.

From : Mark Goldwich
Location : Jacksonville , FL

Question :
This question is more about recovering after a disaster: Given the fact that many insurance companies are overwhelmed by all the recent disasters, and are using any warm bodies as adjusters (regardless of experience or training); what are your feelings about Public Adjusters, who represent policyholders, not insurers, to ensure the policyholder recovers all they are entitled to under the policy? As a licensed Florida adjuster since 1987, I know of no other time when so many inexperienced people were in a position to have such an impact on storm victims by acting as insurance adjusters with nothing more than a "sponsorship" from an insurance company or adjusting company. Mark Goldwich Licensed & Bonded Public Adjuster Gold Star Adjusters, LLC. www.goldstar-adjusters.com 800-523-2589

Reply :
D. McClure: Use of a public adjuster is solely up to the policyholder and usage of one is not a decision an insurance company will or can make. Most insurance company adjusters are sent through a comprehensive certification program before they are dispatched to handle policyholder claims. A policyholder should discuss with their insurance company any concerns they have about the adjuster who is assigned to their claim.

From : Ann Patton
Location : Tulsa , OK

Question :
I have agreed to volunteer with a local nonprofit agency and would like to help them get ready in case we have a tornado or lose electricity, which happens often around here. Can you suggest a few first steps to get us started?

Reply :
D. McClure: The first step is to gain commitment from senior management that a business continuity and property protection plan is essential to protect their assets and to help assure their ability to continue in service when a major interruption occurs. Then, you need to let the agency know what materials are available to help them with that process, such as IBHS’ Open for Businesssm available at www.ibhs.org/business_protection. If possible, you should offer some basic training around how to develop a plan with the department heads or people in various key positions, so they each understand their role in the plan and can help provide the information. IBHS is preparing such training materials. For the agency’s business continuity plan, the planning team needs to start by collecting (and keeping current) contact information on employees, vendors/suppliers and key contacts (e.g. emergency personnel, your bank/creditors etc., and key customers). Then, central to their plan is identification of what the critical functions of the agency are, that is what is absolutely necessary to keep operational, and who performs them. Then, they need to think about where they’ll do that work from – that is, if they need an alternate location, where will it be? Next, they should identify what vital records (e.g. payroll), telephone numbers, supplies, and equipment/machinery/vehicles are necessary to fulfill each function. Finally, they should look at what computers and software everyone will need, their voice and data communications needs (e.g. phones), and miscellaneous supplies. Finally, disaster supplies for employees or people on their premises when disaster strikes are essential. Proper insurance is a must, as the money received as a claims payment provides the agency with options for recovery. But, it is important to remember that the agency’s ability to survive and remain viable is interdependent with the community within which it resides – e.g. electrical power, gas, water, roads and bridges; the ability of employees to get to work, etc. A plan is only as good as it is kept up to date and tested. Employees must know what their responsibilities are, and how to fulfill them. A full-blown test, or “pop quiz” of employees about “What do you have to do if. . .”, or going through a scenario of getting at least one critical business function operational as described in the plan, can all help. Then, modify the plan to correct whatever did not work as intended.

From : Jessica
Location : Denver , Colorado

Question :
What kind of assistance does SBA offer to victims of disasters?

Reply :
SBA serves as the Federal disaster bank for nonfarm, private sector uninsured or uncompensated disaster-related losses. Our low interest (usually 4% or less), long term (up to 30 years) disaster loans enable homeowners, renters, businesses of all sizes and nonprofit organizations with their long term recovery. Loans are available to homeowners of up to $200,000 to repair/replace their primary residence, $40,000 for their personal property losses. Renters are eligible for their uncompensated personal property losses up to $40,000. Business disaster loans are available for uninsured losses up to $1.5 million to any business and its affiliates. Eligibility includes damage to buildings, machinery & equipment, inventory losses, etc. Additionally, small businesses without credit available elsewhere are eligible for economic injury disaster loans. Economic injury disaster loans are to help businesses pay ordinary and necessary operating expenses which it could have met had the disaster not occurred. SBAs disaster loan program is offered when the President or Administrator of the SBA makes a disaster declaration. More information about SBA's disaster loan program is available online at www.sba.gov.

From : Gail T
Location : Billings , Montana

Question :
I am planning to start a "Home Inventory" business, home-based - no employees, only myself @ this time. I am needing info for being bonded and home based business insurance.

Reply :
D. McClure: You should talk with your insurance agent about whether your home insurer covers home-based businesses, and/or what would be appropriate or needed from a commercial insurance viewpoint.

From : Michael Lenzini
Location : Denver , Colorado

Question :
How can consulting and service businesses find, and offer services to, those businesses that were affected by the hurricanes?

Reply :
Becky - The Department of Homeland Security recently established the website, National Emergency Resource Registry at www.nerr.gov. The registry assists in the coordination efforts between the resources that are needed and the resources that may be available from the private and public sector. If you, or your company have resources that may be made available to the response agencies (donated goods or services or products or services for sale), I would encourage you to list them in the resource directory at www.nerr.gov.

From : Joe Rinaldi
Location : Bronx , NY

Question :
Thank you, where can I find the number to my local SBA office.

Reply :
Becky - Joe you can find this information on SBAs website at www.sba.gov.

From : John A
Location :

Question :
I am wondering how the legal system prepares itself for disasters such as the one in New Orleans. There must be a number of legal cases with lost evidence and lost case files that had been stashed away in flooded basements. The question boils down to: How much of any given legal system is currently being subjected to digitzation and off-site storage of this information? Another question is what criteria is used to decide what information is worth an attempt to recover especially when the lost materials are in a hazardous enviornment such as moldy damp basement after flood damage.

Reply :
D. McClure: IBHS does not have statistics on the extent of lawyers and law firms’ disaster planning, but news coverage from Hurricane Katrina has mentioned the damage to some courts, and lost files. You could start by contacting lawyers’ organizations, like the American Bar Association, to find out what they offer as an organization or what statistics they might have. For what to recover that has already been damaged, the lawyer or law firm needs to have figured out “what is critical” to the case(s), and/or to their business operations. IBHS advocates through its Open for Businesssm program (www.ibhs.org/business_protection) that a business plan ahead of time. It needs to think about its critical business functions, what vital records are associated with them, and how/where they are duplicated and stored. Please review the materials for further ideas. From a larger community context, Hurricanes Katrina and Rita (and many other disasters before) highlight the interdependence of a business with the community from which it operates. It is dependent on infrastructure – e.g. roads, telecommunications, electricity, clean water, etc.), on the ability of employees to get to work, on a customer base that is still there, etc. Therefore, community –wide planning before disaster strikes is critical. Please visit www.oregonshowcase.org, a model program initiated by IBHS that is taking this holistic approach.

From : Joe Rinaldi
Location : Bronx , NY

Question :
I recently opened a store front travel agency, and need much help financially. Is there a grant I can apply for that would help me out?

Reply :
Becky - Unfortunately I am not aware of any Federal grant programs that may be able to provide you grant assistance. However, SBA has a wide variety of programs and services that may be of assistance to you. Information on SBAs loan programs and services are available on our website at www.sba.gov.

From : James King
Location : Wheaton , IL

Question :
When outsourcing web hosting services, what can I do to be prepared for an outage? I've done the most obvious of keeping a local backup of all files, but what else can I do to prepare?

Reply :
D. McClure: In addition, you will want to be sure that the Web provider has sufficient back-up as well.

From : Janine Reid
Location : Denver , CO

Question :
Where can I obtain a disaster management plan outline that I can customize for my business?

From : Claire Reiss, Public Entity Risk Institute
Location : Fairfax , Virginia

Reply :
Becky - When a disaster strikes a small business it may be advantgeous for the business owner to reaccess their business plan. Resources available to assist small businesses with their business plan is Small Business Development Centers (SBDCs) and the Service Corp of Retired Executives (SCORE). Information about SBDCs and SCORE, including their locations, is available on SBAs website at www.sba.gov. SBA resources available on-line may also provide the small business owner assistance when updating their business plan.

From : Jessica
Location : Denver , Colorado

Question :
What kind of assistance does SBA offer to victims of disasters?

Reply :
SBA serves as the Federal disaster bank for nonfarm, private sector uninsured or uncompensated disaster-related losses. Our low interest (usually 4% or lower), long term (up to 30-years) disaster loans enable homeowners, renters, businesses of all sizes of all sizes and nonprofit organizations with their long-term recovery. BB

From : Linda R
Location : Buffalo , Ny

Question :
As a business owner from Louisiana, if I am declined an SBA loan, where can I turn to get financial assistance to rebuild. Especially, if there is an existing mortgage still on my damaged property.

Reply :
It is our pleasure to join the SBA for its live Web chat series today. Welcome to everyone joining us. B. Becky: SBA's Disaster loan program tries to make recovery affordable for businesses and individuals. In addition to providing loan funds for a victim’s uncompensated disaster-related losses, there are circumstances where we may be able to refinance existing debt with an SBA disaster loan. If an applicant is eligible for refinancing it is automatically offered; it is not something that must be requested. We try to make recovery affordable by offering low-interest (most at 4%) and long-term (up to 30-years). However, if a small business is declined a disaster loan from SBA there is no Federal grant program available to assist them with their disaster recovery.

From : Joe Rinaldi
Location : Bronx , NY

Question :
I recently opened a store front travel agency, and need much help financially. Is there a grant I can apply for that would help me out?

Reply :
Unfortantely I am not aware of any Federal grant programs that are available to assist you. However, the SBA has a variety of loan programs and services that may be able to provide you assistance. I encourage you to use the tools available to small businesses on our website such as SCORE (Service Corp of Retired Executives), an SBDC (Small Business Development Coporation), or by contacting the SBA Office in your area.

From : James Lloyd McCulloch
Location : Moulton , Alabama.

Question :
I have a 2 Story, 10K+ Square Ft. Building located downtown in Moulton, Alabama, a flourishing bedroom community for Decatur, Madison and Huntsville areas as well as Florence, Muscle Shoals and the Tri-Cities areas. The Building has been a buisness but could easily be converted to condominiums as well. For all of the people that will be relocating due to the Katrina disaster this is a great opportunity for either a small to medium size business to come in, or for a nice codominium unit to be, located on the historic downtown square. What agencies can I contact to make this building availible for relocation/rehabilitation and rebuilding of evacuees lives?

Reply :
The Department of Homeland Security has established the website National Emergency Resource Directory at www.nerr.gov. This resource directory is to assist the coordination efforts between the resources that are needed and the resources that are available from the private and public sector. If you, or your company have resources that may be made available to the response agencies (donated goods and/or goods for purchase), please list them in the resource directory at www.nerr.gov.