Two of the focuses of my blog are Financial Literacy/Money and Business/Entrepreneurship. One of the keys to running a successful business is protecting it. Particularly if your business is run out of a centralized location or is considered “brick and mortar”, protecting it is of the utmost importance. The following contributed post is entitled, Protecting Your Business Property From Physical Damage.
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One of the last things we want to see is our business being broken into, ransacked and left a complete mess as we arrive in the morning. Adverse weather can also be stressful to deal with, as you can’t exactly blame anyone or seek justice for the damages caused. It could be strong winds that shattered your glass windows, or perhaps even flooding which ruined most of your stock. It can be daunting to deal with the idea of physical damage to your business, so here are a couple of ways to help you protect your business from physical damage.
Source: https://unsplash.com/photos/F2eHfMwIOxA (CC0)
Ensure your business is sturdy
One of the first things to check is the overall structure of your business property. If you bought your store and it was in poor condition before, then there’s a chance that the structure of your business property is compromised. Get in touch with a commercial roofing company if you’re experiencing leaks, make sure you speak to contractors to check the overall stability of areas like your walls and floors, and make sure you get your utilities checked for any damage. This will help extend the life of your property and also help ensure that these issues don’t get worse over time.
Identifying your threats
There’s no point protecting your business against a threat that isn’t applicable to your location. For instance, if you’re in a location that has never experienced a flood, then adding anti-flooding protection is a little pointless. Another good example is using shutters to protect your business if you experience strong winds and tornados. Likewise, if your area is known to have a relatively high crime rate, then protecting it with CCTV cameras and security systems is a good idea. The goal is to identify any threats against your business then build countermeasures against it.
Protecting your stock and equipment
The things inside of your business also need to be protected from physical damage. If there’s a flood or adverse weather affecting your business the protecting your essential equipment will ensure that you can continue running your business. Safeguarding your stock from damage and also thieves is also extremely important. As such, you may want to consider something like strong locks in your storeroom to both deter thieves and also ensure that it can’t easily be damaged. This will generally depend on the type of business you run, so the countermeasures you use to protect your stock and equipment will be dependent on your needs.
Smaller forms of protection for your store
Now that most of the big issues have been taken care of, what about your business furniture? If you operate something like a retail store or supermarket, then having things like stoppers and bumpers will help prevent people from crashing their carts into your shelves and displays. This is more about ensuring that your customers don’t accidentally cause any damage to your business and potentially injure themselves in the process. It’s both about protecting your store and the customers.