Making business decisions is a hard enough process even under ideal conditions. But what about if you have a company that operates out of a disaster-prone area? Then you have a whole new set of stipulations and considerations as your figuring out how to proceed.
If you own a company that either operates from or operates in a wildfire area, floodplain, a place where hurricanes come through, or even a location that has a lot of political unrest, then you have entirely different sets of risk to try to mitigate while you’re making decisions that affect your financial future.
Wildfire Areas
Think of all of the areas recently affected by the California wildfires. Both homes and businesses have gone up in flames. And, if you do business in those areas, for example, landscaping or IT work or infrastructure engineering – your market is going to be specifically affected, and you may be in a legal and financial quandary trying to figure out when to stop or start certain services or processes. You may have thought California was the perfect place to have your company operate, but then the environmental risk of something like the biggest fire in state history has put a wrinkle in how you make decisions.
Flood Plains
The US has a lot of coastline and a lot of large rivers that run through it. This means there is a significant amount of floodplain area. And though these areas are highly desired because of weather and geography, weather and geography can also be their undoing. If you have a business in one of these floodplains, you need to make sure that you get flood insurance. This may seem like an over-the-top cost as you’re doing your initial budgeting, but when you don’t lose everything because of a natural disaster, you’ll be glad you have it
Hurricane Threats
And something that has hit home in the past year especially is the threat of a hurricane to many companies and businesses. Especially if they were smaller operations, the two major hurricanes that hit this past year could have completely wiped you out. Whenever you choose to start a company that is based in one location that can get literally bowled over by wind and rain, it’s essential that you understand that risk before putting all of your life savings into it.
Areas of Political Unrest
And finally, there’s the idea of political unrest. There are areas in the United States and around the world that are known for being centers of protest and violence. If at all possible, you should avoid creating a business that operates out of those areas. If you know that there are places in New York or Washington DC that violence breaks out because of political decisions, those would be places to avoid establishing yourself in the first place.