https://sbdctampabay.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/2025-Florida-SBDC-at-USF-Annual-Business-Awards-105.jpg7681152admin/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/Locked-Host-Logos-Horizontal-USF-Small-e1728920602651.pngadmin2025-05-16 16:46:272025-05-16 17:11:592025 Regional Performance and Small Business Award Winners
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.
Florida SBDC at Pinellas County Economic Development
Specialty: Economic Development Finance Professional (EDFP-BCA), Capital Access, Finance
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 as a franchisee.
As a business owner, she successfully implemented a variety of revenue enhancement strategies and is results driven. As a franchisee, she successfully implemented a variety of revenue enhancements, sales tactics, and marketing initiatives, to increase revenues. Schweikowsky successfully sold her business by following an established exit strategy.
https://sbdctampabay.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/After-the-Storm_-Long-Term-Recovery-and-Resilience-After-a-Major-Storm.jpg7501420sbdclarry/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/Locked-Host-Logos-Horizontal-USF-Small-e1728920602651.pngsbdclarry2025-01-06 13:06:372025-01-06 13:09:34After the Storm: Long-Term Recovery and Resilience After a Major Storm
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 […]
https://sbdctampabay.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/After-the-Storm_-How-Businesses-Can-Rebound-After-a-Hurricane.jpg7501420sbdclarry/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/Locked-Host-Logos-Horizontal-USF-Small-e1728920602651.pngsbdclarry2025-01-06 13:03:542025-01-06 13:09:04After the Storm: How Businesses Can Rebound After a Hurricane
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 […]
https://sbdctampabay.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Empowered-Entrepreneurs-Trailblazing-Women-in-the-Startup-Sphere.jpg7501420sbdclarry/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/Locked-Host-Logos-Horizontal-USF-Small-e1728920602651.pngsbdclarry2024-02-02 13:50:062024-02-02 13:50:47Empowered Entrepreneurs: Trailblazing Women in the Startup Sphere
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. […]
https://sbdctampabay.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Celebrating-the-Rise-of-Women-in-Business-During-Womens-History-Month.jpg7501420sbdclarry/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/Locked-Host-Logos-Horizontal-USF-Small-e1728920602651.pngsbdclarry2024-02-02 13:46:132024-02-02 13:46:14Celebrating the Rise of Women in Business During Women’s History Month
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 […]
https://sbdctampabay.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/SadieSky-Pic-1.jpg10801620sbdclarry/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/Locked-Host-Logos-Horizontal-USF-Small-e1728920602651.pngsbdclarry2023-08-25 17:21:302023-08-25 17:21:33Permanent Jewelry Business Finds New Home in St. Petersburg
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 […]
https://sbdctampabay.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/Loco-Mofongo-Pic-2.jpg10801620sbdclarry/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/Locked-Host-Logos-Horizontal-USF-Small-e1728920602651.pngsbdclarry2023-08-21 16:34:042023-08-21 16:34:28Flavorful Puerto Rican Food Truck Gets its Start in St. Petersburg
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 […]
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 […]
https://sbdctampabay.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/EaseAlert-Pic.jpg10801620sbdclarry/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/Locked-Host-Logos-Horizontal-USF-Small-e1728920602651.pngsbdclarry2023-08-17 17:56:282023-08-17 17:57:07Firefighting Alert System Makes Waves Across the United States
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. […]
https://sbdctampabay.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/PVM-Pic-2.jpg10791920sbdclarry/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/Locked-Host-Logos-Horizontal-USF-Small-e1728920602651.pngsbdclarry2023-08-02 18:29:442023-08-02 18:29:47IT Company Finds Success in St. Petersburg Technological Hub
We may request cookies to be set on your device. We use cookies to let us know when you visit our websites, how you interact with us, to enrich your user experience, and to customize your relationship with our website.
Click on the different category headings to find out more. You can also change some of your preferences. Note that blocking some types of cookies may impact your experience on our websites and the services we are able to offer.
Essential Website Cookies
These cookies are strictly necessary to provide you with services available through our website and to use some of its features.
Because these cookies are strictly necessary to deliver the website, refusing them will have impact how our site functions. You always can block or delete cookies by changing your browser settings and force blocking all cookies on this website. But this will always prompt you to accept/refuse cookies when revisiting our site.
We fully respect if you want to refuse cookies but to avoid asking you again and again kindly allow us to store a cookie for that. You are free to opt out any time or opt in for other cookies to get a better experience. If you refuse cookies we will remove all set cookies in our domain.
We provide you with a list of stored cookies on your computer in our domain so you can check what we stored. Due to security reasons we are not able to show or modify cookies from other domains. You can check these in your browser security settings.
Other external services
We also use different external services like Google Webfonts, Google Maps, and external Video providers. Since these providers may collect personal data like your IP address we allow you to block them here. Please be aware that this might heavily reduce the functionality and appearance of our site. Changes will take effect once you reload the page.
Google Webfont Settings:
Google Map Settings:
Google reCaptcha Settings:
Vimeo and Youtube video embeds:
Privacy Policy
You can read about our cookies and privacy settings in detail on our Privacy Policy Page.
Debra Schweikowsky
Consultants, Finance, Pinellas, SchweikowskyFlorida SBDC at Pinellas County Economic Development
Specialty: Economic Development Finance Professional (EDFP-BCA), Capital Access, Finance
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 as a franchisee. As a business owner, she successfully implemented a variety of revenue enhancement strategies and is results driven. As a franchisee, she successfully implemented a variety of revenue enhancements, sales tactics, and marketing initiatives, to increase revenues. Schweikowsky successfully sold her business by following an established exit strategy.