Thread: Have You Got a Backup Plan if Your Business Goes Under?

I wonder if you have a backup plan if your Internet business goes under? Will you go back to a full-time day job or try to start another Internet business.

I have thought a lot about this issue lately. We are about to close our e-commerce operation because it had tanked. But this has not affected our oeverall revenue because most of it is from webpublishing now. However, there are signs that the latter has reached a ceiling.

If something untoward happens, it would be impossible for me to go back to a full-time job in Hong Kong. Because my last job was so specialized (I was a medical virologist). My thinking is that since I have quite a lot of experience, I should be able to start up another successful internet business within a year, probably in e-commerce again.

I would love to hear about your thoughts on this all-important topic.

It's always good to have a backup (and disaster) plan. This includes insurance for the unknown, planning and training for who can take over in case of emergency, etc. This is just as important as your business plan.

Originally Posted by zxpro168

I should be able to start up another successful internet business within a year, probably in e-commerce again.

There's no reason that you can't get this going now and have it producing before the other business "tanks".

I never give up, if things went bad I would just keep going with a new idea. Thats one good part of this business, as soon as you learn the skills to make a successful site, you can use them again and again on new concepts and ideas.

Originally Posted by Kaos

I never give up, if things went bad I would just keep going with a new idea. Thats one good part of this business, as soon as you learn the skills to make a successful site, you can use them again and again on new concepts and ideas.

There you go!
If a site don't cut it, income drops off, or whatever....move on.

"There's no reason that you can't get this going now and have it producing before the other business "tanks". "

Yeah, I hope that I will have enough warning before the existing business fails. Right now, it is still going strong although I have to monitor things closely.

Being in the process of closing down a business right now, I certainly do not want to start a similar one straightaway. I certainly would like a rest period without any employees, since having employees was almost as bad as having a boss.

Remember part of planning means putting aside some money into savings so that you can survive if a disaster happens. Unfortunately most people do not operate this way, they operate on the paycheck to paycheck model, even when they run their own business. That is bad planning.

I am saving more than half my earnings at the moment, and a lot of it is ploughed into stocks and mutual funds. I have got enough savings for a few years so I do have quite a bit of leeway. I have to be very cautious given that I have a very young family and that one of my daughters is autistic.

The really weak link at the moment is that my wife does not know what I do. This is why I am desparate to teach her as soon as possible in case something untoward happens to me.

i don't think i have any backup plan, am a hardware engg, and i know a bit of networking, and that's my only backup! but then at the moment i have sufficient online projects running, so no backups really needed as of now!:grin:

This morning, I woke up to the news that PR update has finally occurred and that my highest earning sites were decimated. This is what exactly I feared and I had an inkling that something like this may happen because this PR update was so delayed. It will take me ages to assess the damage. I do have have around 6 months to counter this as many advertisers do not leave immediately....

Originally Posted by zxpro168

This morning, I woke up to the news that PR update has finally occurred and that my highest earning sites were decimated. This is what exactly I feared and I had an inkling that something like this may happen because this PR update was so delayed. It will take me ages to assess the damage. I do have have around 6 months to counter this as many advertisers do not leave immediately....

I have a feeling you'll be just fine Sounds like you've got a good head on your shoulders and are able to adapt.

I have several small side business supporting my main business

I'll just go back to working for someone else I guess, but with a better range of experience than before.

diversify, diversify, diversify!

wow am really getting new ideas and been here only 2 days lol

Don't put all your eggs in one basket. Successful entrepreneurs invest their money in multiple business opportunities. Instead of starting one e-commerce site, start several in different niches. If one goes south you still have the others. That's my 2 cents.

I had 2 sites that dropped in PR because of my lack of time, used to make some money from it.

The thing you need to keep in mind is that online business is sometimes random, and most of the time you can't control what happens. Unless your google.

What you can do is re build, or go a different route, either way you won't be making the same mistakes again.

i own several sites and it would be hard for that to happen. but i think i would have to use up savings and try to start from scratch.

if you did it once , it shouldn't be hard to do it again.

thats true

Our main Internet income is from content writing, have not made any money as yet from the dating directory. As soon as that is where I want it to be, I have plans for two more websites: one niche site that caters to the wealthy who are never affected by the economy and one to help individuals in debt. We have a small (quite) side income as well.

Diversification is important and providing people with what they really need or want is my goal. :2136:

Yeah I have plenty of back up. I did not start this on a whim. I have planned it out to be in a for the long haul.

Thanks for all your contributions, I think this is turning out to be an extremely important topic. Given that the economic outlook this year is beginning to look pretty bad, with some economists even predicting a major depression like the 1930's. It is rumoured that even Google had been hit by a collapse in advertising from the real estate sector. If there is a general downturn, it will affect most businesses however diversified it is.

Just to give you an update. My business was badly hit by a very nasty and vindictive Google PR update in October. My earnings immediately plummeted for October and November. Luckily I was able to make some quick countermeasres and my earnings was back to normal by December. However, that quarter still adds up to be my worst quarter for the past 3 years. Obviously I am beginning to feel the heat since we have just closed our shop and is relying completely on webpublishing now.

The PR update has been much kinder this month. But my affiliate earnings plummeted unexpectedly this month. Since I promote physical products, I somewhat suspect this may have got something to do with the economic situation. Anyway, I will be on the alert this year round. Best of luck to everybody!

Originally Posted by zxpro168

I wonder if you have a backup plan if your Internet business goes under?

My internet venture already failed, so actually, I have already implemented plan B...If that should go under...Plan C is to file for welfare and live happily off of that for a while...If that should fall short...Plan D will kick in...Move to the wilderness and eat dead rabbit for a while...If that doesn't work...Then maybe I'll try webmastering again....

Originally Posted by Web Gazelle

Don't put all your eggs in one basket. Successful entrepreneurs invest their money in multiple business opportunities. Instead of starting one e-commerce site, start several in different niches. If one goes south you still have the others. That's my 2 cents.

This has been my plan for quite awhile. We were doing quite well for some time in our copywriting business - with most of our customers in REAL ESTATE. Since that industry has gone south, we have lost a lot of steady and well-paying customers.

Our dating directory is now in some good spots on the search engines and I'm feeling more optimistic. My next endeavor is another totally different niche selling products that are purchased mainly by wealthy people who are not affected by changes in the economy. And after that, a niche helping individuals who are on the other end of the financial spectrum.

Of course, all this takes TIME to develop. In the meanwhile, I will be looking to get some work at home. Not easy, but I do know how to screen out the scammers and MLMs and those who ask for money upfront to give out job information.

What makes me feel wistful is reading about how some people luck into making money by accident. Read about a woman who started selling tumbleweeds as a joke and it took off. She supposedly earned over $40,000 last year????? :sshocked: (Yes, tumbleweeds)!

Well you never give up on it.
Having a backup plan is good, like multiple sites that appeal to diffrent people.

I call it planing for failure, not a backup plan. :1942:

It's called a resume, craigslist, and family.

A few years ago before the mortgage crisis came I refinanced my mortgage and got cash for savings. I have only been able to get temporary work this year and currently unemployed. I am making some money on my websites but not near enough to live on. I just keep posting my signature wherever I can and get some hits and signups. My business fluctates so I don't actually go under. But Google did change my Page Rank from 2 to 3 then a couple months later changed it back to 2. My traffic didn't change so it doesn't make sense.

Originally Posted by garylee12

A few years ago before the mortgage crisis came I refinanced my mortgage and got cash for savings. I have only been able to get temporary work this year and currently unemployed. I am making some money on my websites but not near enough to live on. I just keep posting my signature wherever I can and get some hits and signups. My business fluctates so I don't actually go under. But Google did change my Page Rank from 2 to 3 then a couple months later changed it back to 2. My traffic didn't change so it doesn't make sense.

Well that's the big "G" for you. I still feel people put far to much emphasis on Page Rank though. The most important thing is customers and traffic. A great PR0-1 Site is definitely capable of making more money than higher PR sites. Its all about good content.

Originally Posted by CompuSupport

Well that's the big "G" for you. I still feel people put far to much emphasis on Page Rank though. The most important thing is customers and traffic. A great PR0-1 Site is definitely capable of making more money than higher PR sites. Its all about good content.

I agree, Im more into where my site is situated in searches and I have a 1 and 2nd spot, which is terrific for my keywords as I am up against multi million $$ companies. So thats my mind buzz

I am now facing the worse crisis ever in my business, a lot of my sites have been banned bu Google

Something similar happened last October but I was able to recover within 2 months. This time, the hit is so great that it could take a very long time to recover. I am going to sit tight, analzye things and make necessary adjustments.

One thing I am not going to do is to go back to do part-time work in my old workplace. For a start, the no. of hours on offer would not cover my living expenses anyway, and it would destract me from what I need to do for my business.

I am fortunate that I have saved up quite a lot of what I have earnt to see me through.

Why did they get banned. What happened?

I have got a good idea what happened, but I don't want to discuss this in the open section of this forum except to say that it was not for blackhat stuff.

Ok thats fair enough

It has now been confirmed that my earnings dropped nearly 50% in September compared to July. I am expecting an even worse figure this month as more advertisers will leave and as I spend more money to correct it. This has certainly come at a rather bad time as it coincided with the disruptions in the financial markets. But I am not going to be cowed by this. I will do whatever it takes to return my business to a sound footing.

^I hear ya on that! Advertisers have definitely slowed for me, as has my adsense money. Definitely an effect of the world worries I think. Just makes me keep going in other directions/focuses online. Hopefully things turn around soon!

If my work from home project fails my back up will be the unemployment office.

This thread was create last year so what's new about mod zxpro168?

Since I last posted, things have gone from bad to worse. My gross income hit multi-year lows last month. My business had been hit on multiple fronts that culiminated with the banning of my Adsense account last month.

However, on the bright side, I am fairly condident now that the worse is over and I am feeling much more relaxed now. I am now only aiming to get my income back to 2/3 rds of what it was.

If things get worse, I will probably start flipping sites or sell accessories for Netbooks and UMPCs.

Very interesting issue, though it is important but very few think about this aspect. The reviving plan should be related to the present business.

Well people should never stop trying even if they fail million times. If my idea doesn't work I try a new idea and so on, a good working idea must come sooner or later. At least that what I think.

But I must say I have never thought of making a backup plan. Going to make one as soon as possible. Thanks.