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Archive for category: Featured News

2025 Regional Performance and Small Business Award Winners

Blog, Featured News, SBDC News
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After the Storm: Long-Term Recovery and Resilience After a Major Storm

Blog, Disaster Preparedness, Featured News

By Debra Schweikowksy | January 2, 2025

After the storm, businesses can take critical steps for long term recovery and focus on being resilient. I visited many businesses and communities after Hurricanes Helene and Milton and saw business owners assessing their business damage, doing inventory, cleaning up, and making repairs to their business. Many businesses were doing their best to open as soon as possible even if it was at limited capacity and providing limited services or figuring how to pivot – this is business resiliency. Businesses can survive and even thrive after such events by having effective preparation and recovery strategies in place.

Challenges

The road to recovery can take time after a major storm. Businesses who experienced physical damage, are waiting on insurance, a business loan to cover structural damage, or replacing equipment, machinery, furniture, and technology. They may also experience environmental concerns such as mold, contamination, or making sure they are providing a healthy environment for their employees and customers, or clients. Other challenges include economic injury, which is loss of revenue. Business who to return to normal operations quickly will help minimize the financial impact of the disaster.

Business Continuity Plan

Having a Business Continuity Plan in place outlines steps that a company will take to ensure their business will continue to function even after a disaster. This can include risk assessment which identifies what the risks are specific to a business.

Emergency contact list should include:

  • your team,
  • suppliers,
  • vendors,
  • contractors, and
  • emergency services which include local, state, and federal resources.

It should also include a plan for how your business operations will continue if your business location is unable to open, such as temporary work location, and protocols that are put in place. You should also have a plan in place to safeguard data, important documents, and system backups. Your business should not rely on a single source for supplies or services. Instead diversifying the supply chain across different vendors or regions can help mitigate the risk of interruptions caused by storms.

Review and Revise

After the storm and recovery is well on its way take the time to review and revise your business continuity plan. This is a good time to see what worked well and what didn’t. Consider your biggest challenges that your business faced. Identify areas for improvement in preparation for future storms, and then update your plan, training policies and procedures, then practice them. Look for ways to make your business more resilient, including:

  • investing in better infrastructure
  • new roof
  • storm shutters
  • backup generator
  • flood barriers

Review your insurance policy and investigate coverages including business interruption, flood, and storm surge. Make sure your technology is up to date including investing in backup systems, include cybersecurity measures. Cash flow is important, so make sure that you have a business line of credit in place as this can help while waiting for insurance claims, emergency funding, or a long-term loan Small Business Administration (SBA) loan. All the above will help to improve your business operations.

Planning in advance for long-term recovery and for long-term resilience is critical. The goal is to ensure that your business is stronger, more adaptable, and better prepared for future events.

Read part one

Author

Debra Schweikowsky

Debra Schweikowsky

Consultants, Finance, Pinellas, Schweikowsky
Florida SBDC at Pinellas County Economic Development
Specialty: Finance, Capital Access
Debra Schweikowsky is a business professional with experience in business management, administration, banking and finance. She was a small business owner with more than 20 years of experience, including being a franchisee. As a business owner, she successfully implemented a variety of revenue enhancement strategies and is results driven. Schweikowsky successfully sold her business by following an established exit strategy. Four years ago, she entered the banking industry and gained a wealth of knowledge in assisting consumers and businesses to meet their financial and borrowing needs. She holds a bachelor’s degree in business administration from State University of New York, Empire State College.
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https://enwqtxc9es4.exactdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/After-the-Storm_-Long-Term-Recovery-and-Resilience-After-a-Major-Storm.jpg?strip=all&lossy=1&ssl=1 750 1420 sbdclarry /wp-content/uploads/2024/10/Locked-Host-Logos-Horizontal-USF-Small-e1728920602651.png sbdclarry2025-01-06 13:06:372025-01-06 13:09:34After the Storm: Long-Term Recovery and Resilience After a Major Storm

After the Storm: How Businesses Can Rebound After a Hurricane

Blog, Disaster Preparedness, Featured News

by Debra Schweikowsky | January 2, 2025 Our region experienced Hurricane Helene in September 2024 then just a few weeks later Hurricane Milton. These hurricanes caused widespread destruction to businesses including property damage, physical damage, disruption of business operations, loss of jobs, and economic loss. Hurricane Helene and Hurricane Milton also wreaked havoc on communities […]

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Empowered Entrepreneurs: Trailblazing Women in the Startup Sphere

Blog, Featured News, Human Resources, SBDC News

by Yolanda Goodloe | February 1, 2024 The startup world is witnessing a gradual but powerful shift towards gender inclusivity, with women-founded startups making their mark. In 2021, an encouraging 49% of startups were formed by women, showcasing a promising trend in the entrepreneurial landscape. While the percentage of startups with solely female founders stands […]

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Celebrating the Rise of Women in Business During Women’s History Month

Blog, Featured News, Human Resources, SBDC News

by Yolanda Goodloe | February 1, 2024 March is not only a month of blossoming spring but also a time to celebrate the resilience, innovation, and determination of women entrepreneurs. In recent years, women have been breaking barriers and forging their paths, leaving the traditional 9-to-5 behind to embark on the exhilarating journey of entrepreneurship. […]

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Permanent Jewelry Business Finds New Home in St. Petersburg

Blog, Featured News, Featured Success Stories, SBDC News, Success Stories

Mariel McMurrey, a recent college graduate, has always had a passion for handmade jewelry and sustainability. Since she was a little girl, she’s been learning new ways to create unique jewelry pieces that would last. Thus, it was not a surprise that she would grow into an entrepreneur and one of the first businesses to […]

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Flavorful Puerto Rican Food Truck Gets its Start in St. Petersburg

Blog, Featured News, Featured Success Stories, SBDC News, Success Stories

Loco Mofongo of Pinellas County After losing her job like many others during the pandemic, Lynette Domenech and her husband decided to invest in themselves and fulfill their dreams of owning a business, the Loco Mofongo food truck, where Domenech is happily cooking up Caribbean-based dishes for her clients. “We started this business here in […]

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https://enwqtxc9es4.exactdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/Loco-Mofongo-Pic-2.jpg?strip=all&lossy=1&ssl=1 1080 1620 sbdclarry /wp-content/uploads/2024/10/Locked-Host-Logos-Horizontal-USF-Small-e1728920602651.png sbdclarry2023-08-21 16:34:042023-08-21 16:34:28Flavorful Puerto Rican Food Truck Gets its Start in St. Petersburg

Ice Cream Truck Business Experiencing Sweet Success

Blog, Featured News, Featured Success Stories, SBDC News, Success Stories

Pink Freesia Creamery of Pasco County After spending time with her grandchild making homemade ice cream, Kenia Tolentino had an idea that would not only bring happiness to her grandson but also to the communities around her. “The reason why I chose this business is because one day my grandson came to visit, and he […]

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Firefighting Alert System Makes Waves Across the United States

Blog, Featured News, Featured Success Stories, Success Stories

EaseAlert of Pinellas County Blake Richardson and his business partner Elezar Tonev, owners of EaseAlert, both knew that they wanted to make a difference in the field of alert systems when they noticed a problem within their own circle of family and friends. “We saw the stress and the toll that firefighting was taking on […]

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IT Company Finds Success in St. Petersburg Technological Hub

Blog, Featured News, Featured Success Stories, Success Stories

PVM, Inc. of Pinellas County Since a young age, Pat Mack, Founder and CEO of PVM, has had an interest in computers and technology so when the Navy offered him the opportunity to attend graduate school to study information technology (IT), he jumped at the opportunity, leading him to eventually start his own IT business. […]

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