Today I want to talk about how you respond when accidents happen.
What is your plan? What do you have in place to prepare you to be ready for when an accident occurs or when something unexpected happens?
Because let’s face it, this is the real world and no matter how good our game plan is, no matter how good our plans are, no matter how good our blueprints are, things that we don’t expect to happen are going to happen, accidents will occur and the question is not what do you do if they happen, the question is what do you do when they happen?
So, let me tell you a little story. One day I was going out to play disc golf, to meet up with some friends at a local club game that we have and I was pulling into the parking lot, I turned around to back up and I wasn’t paying enough attention to what I was doing, I was looking at the car next to me to make sure I wasn’t hitting it and I wasn’t looking behind me and lo and behold I ran into the tree behind me. I backed right into it, busted the rear window out of the back of the SUV, and completely dented the hatchback of my SUV.
So I’m there cleaning it up and four or five people saw this happen, watched me do it, they were all in shock and they were making sure I was OK, and nobody was physically injured.
This was an accident, it happened at 9 in the morning, most people would have let it ruin their day, they would have been thinking about the insurance process, they would have been thinking about the money involved and they would have been thinking about all the consequences and inconveniences associated with this accident.
For me, I thought about it right there in the moment, I thought well what can I do about the situation, worrying about it, complaining about it and being negative about my accident isn’t going to help anything, it’s not going to help me and it’s not going to help the situation.
So, what can I do?
I can clean up the mess, I can make sure that this garbage goes to the right location, and then I can start strategizing how to handle this going forward. Specifically, how to handle the repair so that it suits me the best.
So, after I played my round, I started doing some research and I figured out a key thing, if the repair only costs $1000 to $1500, it might be better for me to pay for the repair out of pocket rather than making a claim on my insurance, paying the $500 deductible, and then watching my insurance increase.
For a lot of people this is not an option, they don’t have the ability to just pay $1000 out of pocket because so many people in today’s society live paycheck to paycheck, they can’t handle $1000 emergency situation.
It may sound strange to you if you have your financial business in order, but for a lot of people they live paycheck to paycheck and $500.00 for the deductible would be a stretch, let alone a $1000 or $1500 out of pocket expense for the whole repair, they don’t have that option they would have to take the insurance hike.
But luckily, I’ve done something unique with our finances and I save every month in a vehicle acct, to pay for vehicle expenses, and act as an emergency fund.
Because I made this financial plan several years ago, this accident didn’t bother me at all, I knew I had the resources to take care of this problem.
I wasn’t bothered by the accident, while other people around me that saw it happen couldn’t understand how I was so even keeled and not emotionally affected by it.
I made a plan a long time ago for how to deal with situations like this so that these types of accidents don’t ruin my day, don’t ruin my month and don’t ruin my year.
The 30,000 ft view, is that this can be and should be applied to your business.
You need to have a plan in place for things that might happen.
What if an accident occurs?
What’s your emergency fund for your business?
What’s your emergency fund for your personal life?
You need to have a plan in place for physical accidents.
We talk about safety on Spray Foam Advisor on a regular basis and you need to have a safety plan in place. What’s the plan for safety issues, what happens if there’s a chemical spill?
What happens when these accidents occur? You and your team need to know what the plans are because it will keep you focused, and it will keep from stressing when something goes wrong.
When an accident happens and you have a plan in place to take care of it, because of that plan you and your team will immediately go into action mode, and you won’t be stressed, you won’t worry, you won’t have time to freak out, and you won’t go through the emotional dip that is typically involved with accidents.
Create a plan, make sure that your whole team knows the plan, and be prepared to execute on the plan and take action if something occurs.
Whether it’s for safety issues with your truck or rig, or a financial safety plan like building an emergency fund for your family, you need to be prepared for when shit happens.
It’s not a matter of what to do IF something unexpected happens, it’s a matter of what to do WHEN something unexpected happens. Make sure you and your team are prepared.
This is Robert Naini with Spray Foam Advisor, thanks for checking it out, catch me on some more videos.
