If you are running any type of business, the last thing you want to do is deal with emergencies regularly. There are so many threats to small and medium sized businesses’ existence; tax issues, legal challenges, and staff retention rates. If you are able to manage the risks in your company successfully, you will have a much better chance of surviving the turmoils. Below you will find a list of areas you should start focusing on now.

Take Care of Legal Issues

The legality of your business is very important, still overlooked by many managers. You have to check that your current licenses are valid and you are complying with state and national, international regulations. It might be a good idea to employ a legal consultant to review your contracts and company documents regularly, so you don’t have to pay fines or face closure due to some tiny legal issues.

Look after Your Employees

Next, you will have to make sure that your employees are feeling appreciated, safe, and valued. You might run up your human resource costs if you can’t manage your staff turnover. Put a whs management system in place, so you can look after health and safety in your workplace, and prevent compensation claims being filed against your company by employees. You might also want to create a workplace assessment to tailor your premises to the individual needs of your employees.

Keep On Top of Your Finances

When running your business, you will have to make sure that you see clearly about your income and outgoings, outstanding payments and bills. If you don’t have an effective accounting system that gives you a snapshot of your situation, it might be time to stop filing your paperwork away and updating your accounts real time. This will help you spot issues and recover payments in a timely manner.

Get Insurance

The lack of insurance can put your business continuity at risk. Make sure that you are able to get the right insurance cover that will protect your business in case there is an accident, a natural disaster, or a financial problem. Insure your fleet, your premises, and get a cover for unexpected costs you would find hard to pay out of pocket. You will also need to get an indemnity and public liability insurance if you deal with the public on the daily basis.

Focus On Continuity

Apart from insurance and looking after your staff, you will also have to work on identifying risks that can put the existence of your business at risk. From the threat of competition to new trends in your industry, there are several conditions that can put you out of business. Implement a Lean management system, focusing on continuously making improvements by identifying and eliminating business risks.

Running a business is stressful, and we often forget about making sure that we can carry on delivering the products or services to our market. Conduct risk assessments regularly and focus on the above areas to improve your chance of surviving troubled times.