Running a small or midsize business means balancing challenges with opportunity. But according to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, one in four small businesses are just one disruption away from shutting down.1
When a single storm, system outage or supply disruption can interrupt operations, you need to prepare with the right partners, so your business can bounce back without major setbacks.
Resilience isn’t about avoiding every risk. It’s about being ready to recover. With a few focused steps and the right support, you can keep your doors open when life gets unpredictable.
1. Shore up your continuity plan
Picture this: your POS system goes down on a busy Saturday morning. It’s stressful — but with a solid continuity plan, that disruption doesn’t have to derail your day.
Many business leaders share similar concerns, from financial risks to supply chain challenges. Yet, one in five businesses lack a continuity plan.2
Start building yours by prioritizing what matters:
Identify what keeps you running. List your essential operations, systems and people. Ask: What would stop revenue tomorrow if it failed today?
Map your critical partners. Note suppliers, vendors, landlords and utility providers. Add backup contacts in case your primary source fails.
Create fallback options. Store key data in the cloud, create a manual payment or ordering process and set aside a small emergency fund to cover at least two weeks of expenses.
Review your agreements. Check contracts, leases and insurance policies for service interruption clauses or penalties. Know who is responsible — and what’s covered — if operations pause.
Keep contact and plan copies handy. Store digital and paper copies of your continuity plan somewhere safe and accessible to key team members.
Test and update it yearly. Walk through a simple “what if” scenario once a year to see where gaps appear. Adjust as your business grows or changes.
Even a simple plan, paired with safeguards like business interruption coverage, helps bridge the gap between pause and restart. It also shows your community that your business is here to stay.
2. Strengthen your workforce protection
Your team is the heart of your business. When their lives are disrupted, your operations are at risk, too. The average employee misses nearly four workdays each year, costing employers about $1,685.3
Build a culture of care that supports your ongoing success while reducing absenteeism and increasing employee engagement:
- Train regularly on safety, emergencies and incident reporting
- Make emergency protocols visible and simple
- Be flexible when life throws them curveballs like health issues or family care responsibilities
- Engender trust so employees feel comfortable reporting issues early
The people behind your business need the same protection as your assets. Benefits like workers’ compensation and employment practices coverage help you care for your team and keep operations steady through unexpected change.
3. Protect your digital doors
Cybercrime can strike any business, and hackers often see small and mid-sized operations as easy targets. One in three small businesses experienced a cyberattack last year, and one in five said losses above $10,000 could shut them down.4
Fortunately, preparation can help you respond with confidence. While cyber liability insurance can help cover business interruption costs, lost revenue, data restoration costs and more after a cyberattack, proactive protection can help reduce your overall risk from the start.
Here are ways to harden your defenses:
- Train employees how to spot and report suspicious activity
- Update software and systems often
- Strengthen passwords with letters, numbers and symbols
- Use two-factor authentication
- Restrict physical access devices and servers
- Backup all your data regularly
- Securely store and manage sensitive data
- Require remote workers to secure home networks
- Create and practice an incident response plan
- Explore cyber insurance
You can’t stop every attack. But with the right protection and cyber coverage, you can recover from one.
4. Prepare for physical and environmental risks
Natural disasters don’t wait for a convenient time to strike. Storms, floods and fires can all disrupt operations and impact a business's bottom line. For example, during Hurricane Milton, 60% of Florida businesses were affected, and Hurricane Helene disrupted 45% of North Carolina’s small businesses.5
With proper preparation, you can minimize your risks and smoothly get your business back on track faster after a disaster:
- Maintain building systems (HVAC, plumbing, wiring) before seasonal stress
- Add surge protectors, backup power and secure storage
- Develop and share a weather-related work plan
- Securely store digital and hard copies of key documents
Preparation builds confidence — from your customers, employees and community. Add to that commercial property coverage that aligns with your plan, and recovery can begin as soon as the storm clears.
Strong plans build stronger businesses
Risk is part of running a business, but resilience is what keeps it thriving. With preparation, partnership and the right protection, your business becomes adaptable, confident and ready for what’s next.
Ready to strengthen your resilience plan? Your Highstreet agent can help you assess risks, close coverage gaps and build a plan tailored to your needs and goals.
Reach out to explore a tailored resilience plan that fits your business, your people and your future.
Connect with your Highstreet agent today
Source:
- U.S. Chamber of Commerce (2024). Small Business Index, Q1 2024.
- Insurance Journal (2025). Business Continuity Plans Lacking Among SMBs: Nationwide Survey.
- Zipdo (2025). Zipdo Education Report 2025 – Employee Absenteeism Statistics.
- VikingCloud (2025). VikingCloud's 2025 SMB Threat Landscape Report: Small- and Medium-Sized Businesses, Big Cybersecurity Risks.
- McKinsey & Company (2024). Assessing the impact of Hurricanes Helene and Milton on small businesses.
