Nature an Unstoppable Force
We currently have cyclones off the east coast of Australia causing havoc with some areas. I never cease to be amazed at the powerful unstoppable force of nature.
I got to thinking about what it can mean for us in business. Before I go there we need a bit of background..
Australia Day Long Weekend
This weekend in Australia is our long weekend to celebrate Australia Day. I wrote about Australia Day last year so if you do not know what it is please read it at What is Australia Day
This is the third consecutive year in QLD, the state I live in, where we have had rain on this Australia Day long weekend. It is summer and QLD is tropical so we get summer rain. Last year it was just heavy rain but in 2011 we had widespread flooding and this year once again some areas are experiencing flooding.
Australia Day is January 26 so it was Saturday. We spent the day with friends on a deck eating, drinking and sheltering from the rain. We had fun while the far north of the state was being hit by cyclonic winds and downpours.
Later that evening we were woken to the sound of squalling winds and heavy rain. We did not leave the house yesterday as it was quite treacherous. We were blessed to keep our power unlike many people we know who are still without electricity.
This morning the winds had subsided so we decided to go and look at the beach. We live in a tourist seaside town. This is what we saw.
The sign indicates a closed beach. The picture does not really show how wild the ocean is.
This next picture is the amount of beach that we have left. Only a few feet left in just one night! The photo below was taken Christmas day just a month ago and you can see how wide the beach is there.
The Cyclone moves down the Coast
We were blessed really only to lose the beach. In some towns close to us there has been severe flooding and homes and businesses damaged by the cyclonic winds.
As the cyclone has moved down the coast it seems to have intensified and to top it off we currently are experiencing king tides. There are many streets, homes and businesses flooded and more expected to be effected. Many people have been evacuated from their homes.
For some of these people and businesses this also happened to them two years ago. Now I am a great believer of the Law of Attraction but for now I will just say that we cannot control nature. We cannot stop a cyclone. So what can we do and what lessons can we take from this. I always like to look at the lessons in any experience.
Lessons from Nature
This is some lessons I can think of and I am sure there are more.
1. A home based business has the advantage that it is portable. Even if my home is flooded if my computer is safe I can work anywhere.If my computer was damaged as long as I have backed up in the cloud I can retrieve my data. The hard disc I back up on would be of little value to me if it were also in the flood. I am glad I also use My PC Backup.
2. There are things outside of our control and if a disaster happens we should have plan B in place. This applies to our income sources if we have multiple streams of income is something happens to one we are more secure.
3. My favorite one – residual income. If we are stopped totally from working for a period of time by a force like nature then a residual income is very important. It will continue to come in and allow us to deal with the situation at hand.
4. Are we adequately insured and what does our policy cover?
5. Do I have all my important documents (passport etc) in a place where I can easily get them if I have to evacuate?
I am sure there are other lessons. Can you think of any?
Today I am grateful that we were spared any damage from this storm and I pray for many others still to feel the worst of it as it passes down the coast of Australia. I would love to hear your comments and experiences at times like this. I would also appreciate you sharing this post as I am sure many of you have friends on the east coast of Australia.
Sue Price
Skype: sueprice
Click here to work with me personally
PS
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Sylviane Nuccio says
Hi Sue,
I had heard from you on our Facebook group about your Australian cyclone. It’s funny, every time I think “Australia” I think sunny perfect weather, can’t even imagine something like you describe here. Mother nature is such a magnificent and scary thing at the same time.
I really like how you tied together this cyclone event with home based business and the advantage of such. There is also the fact that many people put their life at risk sometimes with just icy roads to go to that darn office or job. When you work at home you don’t have to, and if your home may be at risk you can just leave ahead of time. Nowadays we usually know these things in advance.
Thank you for sharing this with us, Sue 🙂
Sue Price says
Hi Sylviane
Australia is a land of extremes. Our greatest natural disasters are bush fires and yes that is from the sunny skies and dry weather. Often they are the work of arson which is so disgusting. The next thing is floods. We have cyclonic conditions in the north of Australia through our summer. What happens is the rain causes the rives to rise and we have floods. This time it was coupled with a high tied in the ocean so more risk.
I am pleased to hear you say you like how I tied in the businesses advantage of a home based business. It occurred to me to do that because of the reason you said that I heard of people not being able to get home in the weather, or risking their lives doing so. I was very grateful not to have to go anywhere.
Yes at least as you say these days we get warnings of these type of events.
Thanks For your comment and see you tomorrow.
Sue
Mayura says
Hi Sue,
Oh my… I had no slightest knowledge about this cyclone and never heard such related to Austrailia either.
Glad to hear you are doing fine over there and you reminds me of a News reporter where they talk about the incident and report while the risk is still there 🙂
We had a Tsunami in 2004, but like you, we didn’t affect by it though we near the sea. It’s more of a giving helping hand for us rather than seeking for security 🙂
I really like how you look at such situations where we don’t have much control over it and still bringing the value for your readers out of it.
Yeah, home based businesses have advantages in such a scenario and you are not restricted to set of rules but your own desciplines. Mostly it’s about flexibility and control, I guess.
You need to assure that you have been thinking about necessary precautions and else, still you don’t have advantage, no Sue? 🙂 No ones gonna do ’em for us, but we. When it comes to a company, we don’t need to worry about backing up or such. Well, need to be responsible of what we act on.
Hope you are doing fine there and take care dear 🙂
I’ll have you in prayers and hope no more forces from Mother Nature 🙂
Cheers…
Sue Price says
Hi Mayura
We do get cyclones in the northern part of Australia. The weather here is tropical and a bit like much of south east Asia in summer.
It has passed now and we have blue skies and sun again. The beach is still very wild. We went and looked at it early this morning and the waves were huge.
Oh that 2004 Tsunami. I remember it well. Many Australians were on vacation in some of the locations that were effected. We therefore got news coverage. You know the strangest thing though Mayura I was visiting family on the other side of Australia which is on the Indian Ocean and we got huge swells from it all the way down here. Mother nature is amazing!
I really did feel very grateful not to have to travel in this weather we just had and realized it was another advantage of the home based business. It gave me the idea to blog 🙂 Yes I agree with you it is about flexibility and control.
I am doing fine now thanks. I am grateful we were not really affected and feel much for the people here who are still stranded and have lost all their possessions.
Thanks for your comment and prayers Mayura. I appreciate you.
Sue
Adrienne says
We all have something Sue. Here in the US we have hurricanes, tornadoes and earthquakes. You have cyclones, my goodness.
You can’t stop Mother Nature. She’s going to do what she wants to do no matter what and all we can do is just be prepared. That’s what I do love about working from home. Of course we can pick up and go anywhere really where if you’re in a brick and mortar business you have the unfortunate circumstance of perhaps something happening to that particular location or your employees not being able to come to work.
I’m glad you guys made it through this one okay and hope things are calming down now.
We are blessed aren’t we!
~Adrienne
Donna Merrill says
Hi Sue,
I am so glad you are safe. We were on Facebook together as the cyclone was coming toward you. I immediately asked for prayers and so many people responded, even my stalking ex husband he he.
We always need to be prepared. I sometimes think that we are so used to comfort that we forget that mother nature plays a big role in our lives. Having our own business we need a pc backup! If one doesn’t have it, I suggest you do! We had our share here with Mother Nature. The last one was “Sandy” that hit our east coast and people are still going without.
It does teach us a lesson to be prepared. Otherwise those what-ifs in our mind can drive us crazy. Even worse, we can loose power, our homes, etc.
So I see this cyclone has brought your mindset on the business aspect and you shared it well.
Thank God You are OK!
Donna
Sue Price says
Hi Donna
I know when you asked for prayers it was amazing how many people responded. That is really awesome and it made me feel safer somehow. Oh really now which one is your ex?
I agree with you we do get into our comfort zone and it is not until mother nature comes at us with such force we are reminded just how big a part she plays. Wow people are still without after Sandy? That is amazing. I learned a long time ago to back up everything.
I agree if we are prepared we do not have to worry about the things that may happen so much.
Thanks Donna I am glad I am okay too. I remember being glued to FB when you were going through Sandy praying for you and others I know on the East coast there.
Thanks for your support my lovely friend.
See you tomorrow.
Sue
Louise says
Hi Sue.
I’m so glad to hear you are ok. I was thinking of you as news of the cyclone reached us here in T’ride. My first thought was “oh no, not again!’. Queensland was so badly affected by the floods a couple of years ago and now here we are with more. I just hope it is not entirely the same communities that have been hit again.
As for the business aspect, having your computer backed up in the cloud is vital. I am still backing mine up on an external hard drive and really must address that aspect. Keeping valuable documents safe is also valuable advice. As you know, where we live, bushfires are an annual risk, and I often wonder what would happen if we ever lost our house. Again, we really should be putting our docs in a fire proof safe.
Anyway, I’m glad you are ok, even if the beach is now looking a little sad.
Louise
Sue Price says
Hi Louise
Yes it was a little soon after the last floods 2 years ago. This time there is no where like the extensive damage. Bundaberg is the worst hit and some parts again in the Lockyer Valley. There was some flooding around Brisbane but minor compared to last time. The Gold Coast had quite a bit of damage too.
Yes you are in the fire zone for sure and it would be good to have your valuable docs in a fireproof safe. I know with the floods last time in Qld people were having difficulty accessing money because they did not have their cards and id documents.
I was very grateful it passed us without any damage. The beach is a sad site but it will be fixed. The waves are still enormous!
Thanks for your comment Louise. Hope you are having fun.
Sue
Stacy says
Hi Sue,
That’s very scary! I’m glad that you’re okay and even came out with some insights to share with us!
There are definitely things in life that we have absolutely no control over. Those are the situations that often stretch us the most, and if we allow them they can help us to grow the most too.
Thanks for sharing and I’m glad you’re okay!
Stacy
Sue Price says
Hi Stacy
It was scary but at the same time I was so grateful we were spared any damage.
You are spot on we have no control over some things in life and certainly not the weather. I agree these situations can help us grow. I always like how people “show up” when they are affected by a natural disaster. A few years ago we had major bush fires in Australia and I was watching people on the news crying as they had lost their possessions. Then one woman came on who had lost everything. She said she was happy to be alive and that all her family were safe. The lost all their material possessions and she said “maybe we are meant to go through life lighter”. It was so nice to see such an attitude in the face of adversity.
Thanks for your comment Stacy. I appreciate it.
Sue
Pauline says
Hi Sue
That must have been such a awful feeling having to go through that experience, I am so glad that you are safe. Mother nature can be cruel at times, where we live here in Greece we have many earthquakes, most are small but there are times we we are woken up in the middle of the night by the room shaking and the wind chimes rattling….it is what we deal with if we want to live here.
It is good to back up our work in case of emergencies, like you say we can work anywhere if we have our computer/laptop but if we lose all our data then it is a disaster.
Stay safe 🙂
Pauline
Sue Price says
Hi Pauline
Mother nature can be cruel for sure. I just looked at your FB profile to see where in Greece you live. I am not familiar with the area but never knew Greece had earthquakes. I have only been there a very long time ago in the middle of summer and I just remember hot. Like you say you have to deal with it if you want to live there. The same goes for us in the part of Australia we have chosen to live there are cyclones. Much of the rest of Australia has bush fires.
I have only been in a tremor once in New Zealand. They get a lot of earthquakes there. I think it must be terrifying to be in a strong one.
Yes we all need to back up. It was in the very bad earthquake that New Zealand had a couple of years ago where an IT firm who is a client of my son had some of their data lost. That is when I heard my son preaching the virtues of the cloud.
Thanks for your comment Pauline. Have a great weekend.
Sue
John Gaddis says
Mother nature is a powerful force. If we could just harness the power and transform it into our business it would be powerful.
The mobility of the internet is definitely a God send.
Sue Price says
Hi John
I love that thought of yours if we could harness the power of mother nature and transform it into our business. That would be excellent.
Oh yes the internet has made our lives so much more flexible.
Thanks for your comment John.
Sue
Barbara Charles says
Hi Sue. So glad you’re safe and sound. It was good seeing you last night and know that you were o.k. It’s interesting the things we have to think of in order to maintain ourselves and our businesses. I know when we were hit with Hurricane Sandy with no electricity for 7 days, it was very difficult and you lose track with the world! Very scary. The pictures are amazing showing us just how bad it was. Nature is very scary and as business owners, all we can do is prepare as you have done. Again, so glad you’re safe. Stay well and be blessed.
Sue Price says
Hi Barbara
I know you relate having been through Sandy recently. That is such a long time to go without power and yes you do lose track of things. I remember you telling us about the fact people could not get money because of the ATMs not working and petrol etc. So much is dependent on electricity.
I laughed here as they had emergency all day and night television going telling people which areas needed to evacuate. Trouble was most of them had no power so how did they see the television?
Nature can be very scary for sure.
Thanks for your comment and you stay safe too with the weather that was hanging around.
Sue
Radu says
Even though i’m not a big marketeer and just a small time freelancer, i keep my things in one place. I have, let’s say a ” just grab backpack” with basic stuff, papers, some money, and some other stuff prepared. Just in case something happens at least i can save my documents.
Sue Price says
Hi Radu
What a cool idea to have a grab backpack. I think that is awesome. Where I live as we have cyclones at this time of the year it is so important to have access to our valuable documents if we need to. Radu it does not matter that you are not a big time marketer as you say – but it is your business and that is important.
Thanks for commenting and have a great week.
Sue
John Gaddis says
Pre-planning is essential to weathering the storm. Backing up your data and having offsite storage is key to being able to restore your data if your computer network is affected in anyway. The main thing is to take care of your families safety first then worry about your business. But with good planning you will not have to worry about it. Concentrate on the important things and do not sweat the small stuff.
Sue Price says
Hi John
Thanks for your words of wisdom. I am amazed when I come across people who do not back up and have offsite storage. I had someone tell me recently the cloud was not safe but I think it is not safe to think like that.
Yes good planning does free up our world so we can concentrate on what is important in our business.
Thanks John and have great week.
Sue
Sue Price says
Hi Aayna
Well said and yes these events do make us appreciate life itself. I am glad we are safe too. Very grateful.
Thanks for dropping by and for your comment Aayna.
Sue