I just got off to the phone, talking to my baby sister in PA/DE (she lives in PA about 4-5 miles from the DE state line and works in DE) They have 27 inches from the weekend blizzard and just got another 14 or so yesterday!

She expects to be home from work, she works at a nearby college, for the rest of the week. This got me thinking about Small Businesses and how they are affected by the local (geographical) weather.

Does YOUR small business have a WEATHER POLICY?

• Is it CLEARLY stated on your website?
   
• Can it be easily found? In other words, is there a clearly marked, direct link somewhere on all of the major pages of the site?
  
• If it is tied to a local policy, such as that you close if the local school system closes, have you provided a LINK to an online resource that would provide that information — such as the local school system website or the weather emergency listing for a local TV station?
   
• Have you CLEARLY identified WHAT School System you are referring to? Remember, with the internet you need to think GLOBALLY. Can an out of town visitor, trapped in your area because the airports are closed, easily figure out whether you will be open or closed?

I know that in my niche of Needlework, stitchers crawl out of the woodwork in bad weather to get to my local needlework shop, for fear that they will be trapped without a stitching project to work on.

I can easily imagine a stitcher in a local hotel, waiting for airport traffic to resume, making the effort to get to Meredith's (my LNS) to buy a new project, because she didn't bring one with her OR she finished it OR she can't work on it for some reason.

I am sure that many small offline businesses might have similar scenarios…

So, does YOUR small business have a WEATHER POLICY? Even if you aren't in an area that has snow, I am sure that you are affected by the weather or other events in some way, and having a policy in place is just good planning!

Sharing the Road to Success,

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