13th Oct 2017, Florida: Hurricanes in the US such as Harvey, Maria, and Irma has many small business owners in the US that disaster planning is more than just evacuating and trying to manage the physical damage.
Many small businesses in the US have not done proper planning and preparation to sustain their small business operations. There are a lot of people who have made careful plans and prepared to handle natural disasters in the most efficient manner.

Tim Mohl, one of the small business owners in Florida, has developed plans to meet the specific needs of each of their clients. He also made a list of hurricane shelter and different alternative routes for his staffer in case of a hurricane.

“We planned everything but we didn’t plan for cell phone towers going down,” Tim said. He couldn’t communicate with his employees without the cell phone towers that were damaged due to the hurricane. He is planning to purchase high quality two-way radios to communicate with his employees in case of the next hurricane. Planning and preparation can help him minimize the losses in case of a hurricane in Palm Beach and sustain his business for a longer period of time.

Other business owners such as Estella from shinning web design, Miami Beach, Florida has also learned hard business lesson to handle and manage their businesses after the devastating hurricane, Irma. She also shared her story. Estella, who is originally from Missouri experienced the first hurricane in form of Irma. She and her husband headed to Tampa with her two lovely dogs. She decided to run her business from a hotel. Estella and her husband fled to Atlanta when the storm changed course and it appeared Tampa would take a direct hit.

When she reached Atlanta, it turned out that her hotel was left without power and Wi-Fi. She struggled to stay in touch with U.S and overseas clients using the internet at cafes. Her office had developed mold from the humidity and there was no power or air conditioning when she returned home after 11 days.

What did she learn?

Estella learned that she lost revenue because her company lacked an office. She decided to purchase a commercial office in order to run her business in the most efficient manner. After some research, she selected a real estate property that she wanted to purchase and make use as her office. Due to revenue loss in their business, she did not have sufficient funds to purchase the property and loans from the bank will take 3 months. Park West Capital helped her to get commercial bridge loan for 6 months. She was successful in getting a permanent loan from the bank after 3 months to purchase office.

About Park West Capital:

Based in South Florida, Park West Capital provides small businesses, borrowers and investors with professional real estate loan advice and sourcing, via a simple lending process, available through industry accredited bridge loan lenders. Park west capital has helped a number of investors and borrowers to get bridge loans, low-doc loans, construction finance, land acquisition & development loans, intermediate-term finance and hard money loans.