So, you’ve revved your geek engines and you are on the road to mitigating risk in your singing career. 
By now, you’ve thought about a risk log outlining: risk, probability, impact, and risk level. What types of risk do you foresee? Are they location based? Are they financial?
In the second part of this Risky Business series, I plan to address disaster recovery in terms of communication necessities.
Major disasters such as oil spills, hurricanes, and earthquakes are rare. Smaller disasters such as burst pipes and house fires happen everyday, unfortunately. Small businesses and freelancers often forget about the everyday challenges while preparing for the huge disasters. According to the U.S. Small Business Administration, 90% of companies fail within a year unless they can resume operations within five days. Having a plan can help guarantee your success.
Communication is key not just in performing but also in disaster recovery. If you can’t communicate with your clients or presenters after a disaster your business is going to take a severe hit. It is imperative that you, as the business, can get information to your patrons or representatives when an emergency befalls you.
If you are unconscious in the hospital following a car wreck, you must have someone that is familiar with your business to identify impending projects and communicate with clients, directors, collaborators. For most freelance musicians a spouse or family member may be able to help. No matter the accomplice, you should take some time to brief them of your record keeping system. Provide your helpmate with access to your business email, contacts database, and your gig calendar. If nothing else, write a procedure and let them know where that document can be found.
With help from Prepare My Business, here is a handy checklist for emergency communication.
Determine Roles and Responsibilities
- Appoint a primary decision maker (most likely yourself in this case)
- Appoint a secondary decision maker
Determine Entities With Which You Communicate
- Directors
- Coaches
- Teachers
- Performing Arts Organizations
- Accompanists
- Media
Document When to Activate Plan, Using Criteria Such As
- Length of time of outage/interruption
- Severity of interruption
- Prolonged loss of contact
- Other
Determine and Document an Emergency Communications Plan
- Website emergency message
- Phone/voicemail emergency message
- Plan for multiple forms of communication
- Illustration: Emily Flake
Disaster recovery for musicians all starts with communication. As soon as you or your assistant are able, you must assess the status of ongoing or upcoming projects and start communicating with your list of entities. Let them know what is going on and it could not only save your project but your career overall.
Do you have a risk assessment or disaster recovery plan for your freelance business? What are your tips? Have you ever had to implement your plan? Leave me a comment below and talk nerdy to me…
