Is Your Business Built to Survive a Storm?

By Darlene M. Ziebell

Too many 7-figure businesses are one disruption away from disaster—and most owners won’t see it coming.

They believe strong sales today mean strong business tomorrow. But let me be direct: I’ve seen fast-growing businesses collapse because no one asked, “What if?” during the calm before the storm.

In my decades of consulting, I’ve walked into companies riding high—only to uncover operational fragility, customer concentration risks, and zero continuity planning. Then a disruption hits—an employee walks out, a supplier shuts down, a key customer leaves—and they scramble to survive.

Don’t wait until a storm shows up at your doorstep. Let’s talk about how to crisis-proof your business and protect the empire you’re building.

Fragile Foundations Hidden in Plain Sight

During the good times, it’s easy to mistake momentum for strength. But growth can be deceptive. It hides weak processes, inefficient systems, and decisions made out of habit instead of strategy.

Here are just a few red flags I’ve seen beneath the surface of "successful" businesses:

• Single-source dependencies – One supplier, one platform, or one team member who “knows everything.”

• Owner-reliance – If you step away, does the business stop running?

• No formal disaster plan – What happens if your building floods? If your main client cancels? If your social media is hacked?

• Undefined roles – When people wear too many hats, accountability disappears.

I once worked with a company doing $5M a year in revenue. It looked like a winner from the outside—but when the COO left unexpectedly, no one knew how to access vendor contracts or customer agreements. Sales dropped 30% within 90 days. That’s not growth. That’s a ticking time bomb.

What Resilience Really Means

Resilience isn’t about perfection. It’s about preparation.

A resilient business has these qualities:

• Redundancy – Backup systems, processes, and people.

• Clarity – Documented operations, responsibilities, and decision paths.

• Agility – The ability to shift quickly in response to change.

• Leadership depth – A bench of trained leaders, not just loyal employees.

This isn’t theory. It’s what kept one of my clients afloat during the COVID-19 shutdown. Her wellness center faced an overnight revenue loss when in-person services stopped. But we had already built a digital pivot plan months earlier. Within 48 hours, she launched a virtual coaching platform and retained 60% of her clients. That’s what resilience looks like.

The Strategy Audit That Can Save Your Business

Many business owners spend thousands on marketing audits, SEO optimization, and lead generation. But they skip the one audit that actually determines if the company can survive—a strategy and operational audit.

A full strategy audit surfaces:

✅ Weak links in leadership or staffing
✅ Gaps in documentation and systems
✅ Financial exposure points
✅ Customer or supplier risk clusters
✅ Compliance, legal, and reputational liabilities
✅ Missed opportunities to streamline or automate

When I perform this audit, I look at your entire business through the lens of durability. I’m not impressed by sales growth alone. I want to know: Can this business withstand disruption and come out stronger?

Because if you can't answer that, you're not running a business. You're gambling.

Your Crisis-Proof Business Checklist

Here’s a simplified version of what I look for when helping clients build a crisis-proof business. Use this as a starting point to assess your own vulnerability:

OPERATIONS

☐ Do we have written, accessible SOPs for all critical functions?
☐ Can someone else step in and run things if a key employee leaves?
☐ Are our suppliers diversified and replaceable?
☐ Are we overly reliant on one tool, tech, or vendor?

FINANCE

☐ Do we have at least 3–6 months of operating reserves?
☐ Can we withstand a 25% revenue loss for 90 days?
☐ Are we tracking cash flow weekly, not just monthly?
☐ Do we have strong financial controls and backups?

TEAM

☐ Are roles clearly defined and documented?
☐ Do we have a plan if a senior leader is unavailable?
☐ Is there a pipeline of talent or succession plan in place?
☐ Are we cross-training staff?

CUSTOMERS

☐ Is more than 20% of our revenue tied to one client?
☐ Do we know what would happen if our top 3 clients left?
☐ Are we actively diversifying our client base?

TECHNOLOGY

☐ Do we have secure backups for all systems and data?
☐ Is there a cybersecurity policy and response plan?
☐ Are all software licenses, logins, and access rights documented?

LEGAL & REPUTATION

☐ Are contracts current and reviewed annually?
☐ Is our brand reputation protected (monitoring reviews, IP, etc.)?
☐ Do we have proper insurance coverage (cyber, liability, interruption)?

If you can’t check off more than 80% of this list, your business may not be ready to weather a crisis.

Real Business Owners Don’t Wait for a Wake-Up Call

I’ll never forget the business owner who called me after a warehouse fire destroyed over $750,000 in unsold inventory. Their insurance? Outdated. Their records? Lost in the fire. Their business? Gone within 60 days.

Contrast that with another client who discovered, through our audit, that their data backup system had quietly stopped syncing six months earlier. We fixed it the same week and created a cloud-based continuity plan.

One survived a storm before it came. The other didn’t.

Don't Just Grow. Fortify.

Growth is important. But growth without structure is like building a skyscraper on sand.

Every 7- or 8-figure business must eventually mature from hustle-and-grind mode into enterprise thinking. That means planning not just how to win—but how not to lose when the unexpected happens.

If you’ve built something valuable, protect it like it matters.

Let’s Talk

If this article struck a nerve, good. That means you’re smart enough to know success can’t rely on luck or good timing.

I specialize in auditing and fortifying 7- and 8-figure businesses so they can grow with confidence.

Let’s talk if:

• You’ve experienced fast growth but now feel stretched too thin.

• You know there are risks hiding in plain sight.

• You want a second set of eyes on your operations before it’s too late.

Schedule your Business Resilience Strategy Audit today.
Visit www.darlenemziebell.com or contact me directly to get started.