How resilient is your business? A checklist for owners

Resilience is the ability to take a blow and keep trading. It comes from a few decisions made in good times. Score yourself honestly against this list.

• Cash or facilities to cover three months of fixed costs, arranged before they are needed.
• No customer making up more than a quarter of sales, or a plan if one does.
• A second supplier for anything critical.
• At least two people who can run payroll, pay suppliers and access the bank.
• Insurance reviewed each year: property, liability, cyber, key person.
• Backups that are separate, recent and tested by restoring a file.
• A short written plan for the first 48 hours of a crisis, with contacts.
• A will, and a lasting power of attorney, for each owner.

The two that matter most

If you do nothing else, build the cash buffer and remove the single person dependency. Most small businesses that fail suddenly do so because cash ran out or because the one person who knew how something worked was not there.