Kochie's Business Builders Bushfire Special

A special edition of Kochie's Business Builders was aired on the Seven network yesterday. It was an episode about the plight of business owners affected by the Victorian bushfires.

We were filming in the area for three days and unfortunately the final program was only a half hour episode so there was much that was filmed that couldn't be aired.

Fortunately you can find it all in the "Video Extras" section on Kochie's Business Builders website - "Surviving a Disaster Extended Version".

There are some key insights which struck us all as we spent time in the affected region:

• There probably isn't enough focus on businesses when it comes to support - both charitable and government. In regional communities it is small businesses who provide employment. In the case of Marysville, for example, there was one business premise left standing in the main street - the bakery. All the businesses will need to rebuild and re-establish themselves and until they do there won't be a great deal of employment in the town. Much of the support thus far has been directed (appropriately) at re-building homes, but unless the local economy is rebuilt concurrently there won't be much for the residents to do. A separate focus is required to getting businesses back on their feet.
• This is no time for solos solutions. The community needs to work as a community to get back on it's feet. Sticking with the Marysville example, many businesses are waiting to see whether other businesses will rebuild and reopen before deciding what they will do. Most are waiting to see whether the residential accommodation providers will re-establish first. Many business operators leased their premises and landlords are waiting to see whether other businesses will re-open before they make a decision to re-build. It is easy to understand this waiting game - many of us would do the same - and it will be easy for the business community to fall into paralysis as a result. Everyone needs to move together and that requires leadership and an openness to embrace (figuratively) other business operators, even erstwhile competitors.
• The importance of business interruption insurance was very clear. A number of businesses had insurance for their buildings but not for their business continuation. It may take months or even years to rebuild and re-establish and it will be virtually impossible for those who don't have an income stream to sustain them until they get back on their feet.
• Some sort of rudimentary disaster recovery planning is vital for all businesses. In the US about 55% of businesses who experience a 'disaster', and have done no disaster recovery planning, fail within 12 months. This is significantly higher than the failure rate for businesses who have done some planning.
• Recovery for many businesses is going to require some lateral thinking and perhaps some strategic shifts. For Buxton Trout Farm, for example, it will mean diversification of revenue streams; a shift away from holiday maker customers to day trippers; and some pretty clever concomitant marketing.

If you are in business I encourage you to think now about how you would cope if a disaster strikes. As I say in the program, you don't want to be doing that thinking in the stressful post-disaster environment when you judgement might not be as acute as it is now.