Resilience Intelligence

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Resilience Intelligence for Local Small Businesses

Resilience Intelligence is my way of turning noisy headlines and scattered alerts into clear, practical insight for local business owners. Each week, we track the risks that actually affect businesses in our area, from power outages, boil-water notices, supply chain snags, internet issues, severe weather, and translate them into simple guidance you can act on.

You do not need to become an emergency expert. You just need timely, plain-English intelligence that helps you protect your revenue, keep your doors open, and recover faster when something goes wrong.

Your Business Goal!

What you receive from Resilience Intelligence

Each weekly East Montgomery Resilience Intelligence Report is designed for YOU; the business owners and managers who do not have time to sift through dozens of articles or technical updates that may be applicable to Your Business. We do not want you pulling your attention away from running your business just to chase risk headlines. That is our job. In a few minutes, you can see what is happening, why it matters, and what to do next.

Every issue highlights current risks and disruptions that could affect local businesses, explains the real world impact in plain English, and suggests a few practical steps you can take right away. Over time, the patterns become clear, and you start to see where your own business is strong, and where it may be vulnerable.

We publish the Weekly Intelligence Report in the GEMCC News Release section of the Chamber website, as well as on our Facebook and LinkedIn pages, so it is easy to find and share with your team.

When you are ready to go further, let us know. We can turn this weekly intelligence into a focused resilience plan for your business, so you are not guessing when the next disruption hits. You already have a clear, realistic playbook.

This Week’s News Release:

Greater East Montgomery Resilience Brief – Issue #6

December 15, 2025

Two local risks to watch, one ten-minute action you can actually do.

What Would a Three-Day Closure Really Cost Your Business?

A three-day closure is not a blockbuster disaster. It is the kind of real-world disruption

that hits quietly; repairs, localized power issues, a water problem, a road closure, a

small fire nearby, or a landlord issue that takes longer than expected.

For many local businesses, three days is the tipping point. It is long enough to trigger

missed revenue, payroll stress, appointment backlogs, and customer drift. This week, I

want to focus on the financial side of everyday resilience and a simple way to estimate

your real exposure.

This is why a three-day closure deserves a real number, not a guess. The JPMorgan Chase Institute found that half of small businesses have fewer than 15 cash buffer days, and only 40% have more than three weeks. When your cushion is that tight, even a short closure can ripple into payroll stress and tough decisions.

This brief looks at:

The “hidden cash drain”

Owners often focus on lost sales, but the bigger hit can be the stacked costs that continue while revenue pauses. Payroll, lease, utilities, vendor commitments, refunds, and rework do not stop just because the doors are closed.

Recovery lag after reopening.

Even when you reopen quickly, the ripple continues. Clinics face rescheduling chaos. Retail faces missed impulse traffic. Service

businesses face cancellations that do not fully rebook. The disruption cost is often a week of impact for three days of closure.

One 10-minute step: Estimate your”three-day” number

Take ten minutes ten minutes and write down:

- Your average daily revenue.

- Your daily iced costs that keep running.

- Any “extra costs” you would likely face (i.e. repairs, overtime to catch up, refunds, emergency vendor work).

Then calculate a simple range:

Low estimate: (3 days of revenue loss) + (3 days of fixed costs)

Realistic estimate: add you likely recovery lag and catch-up expenses

This quick exercise aligns with the Risk & Finance domain of the Small Business Resilience ScoreTM (SBRS). The goal is not to scare you. It is to give you a clean, practical number you can plan around, so you can decide whether you need a modest reserve, a vendor workaround, a temporary relocation option, or a tighter continuity plan. If you want a faster snapshot of your financial resilience across the full SBRS framework, you can take the 2-minute mini-assessment below. I can help you turn that result into a simple, prioritized plan that fits your budget and your real-world risk. Click the links below:

Take the 2-minute mini-assessment

Contact us

If a three-day closure would put you into scramble mode, that is exactly the kind of everyday risk we can reduce with small, steady steps.

Thank you,

Warren

P.S. Reply with the one outage you worry about most this quarter (Here). I’ll cover the top pick next week.

Questions anytime: warren@portersofporter.com