When the Unthinkable Happens...Be Prepared! Be Ready

My purpose in writing this book is to equip you with the practical, physical, and mental tools you need personally and for your business when disaster or crises strike. I believe disasters teach us humanity, give us time to pause and reflect, and change our course therefore create gifts and opportunities. In this book you will be given tools to be more sustainable and in the meantime what you can do to be prepared. Most of the things you will learn apply to any kind of crisis you might experience. As a FEMA inspector and trainer for seven years, I witnessed the devastation that happened to people's lives and businesses because they were ill equipped and did not know what to do. By being prepared we become resilient and while we are reducing our carbon footprint we need to protect our families and businesses. .

March, 2020, we entered a time of isolation, anxiety, stress, and fear thanks to COVID-19. However, it also became a time of renewal and hope with the opportunity to realign our lives. Individuals and businesses have had to revaluate what they need to do in the face of adversity. With FEMA, I witnessed many kinds of disasters including hurricanes, earthquakes, typhoons, fires, floods, tornadoes tsunamis, and countless others. Although the pandemic was a new experience, the one thing that can be said is that the process of preparedness, survival, and recovery is pretty much the same no matter the type of disaster or crises that happens. There may be some minor differences, but when you are prepared for one you are prepared for most of them. The information you will learn in this publication can be applied to your personal life, business, and/or community.

One of the most important takeaways I want you to have from this book is there are gifts and opportunities to be discovered in the survival and recovery phases of disasters and crises. In my bestselling book, Crystalline Moments, I talk about how to identify these important moments of clarity and to understand their significance. We all have thoughts, as well as small and large events that happen in life, that reveal "crystalline moments." COVID-19 is a large event that has affected lives worldwide. We will not know for awhile the gifts and opportunities that it brought. We are already seeing how people have revaluated what is important to them and pivoted out of old jobs into new careers and businesses.

Although it is sad to witness the heartaches and challenges disasters bring, it is the self-sacrificing spirit of humanity that make my job rewarding. Post-disaster many ask themselves "why".

I founded Crisis Knowledge Management and Preparedness Foundation to educate and assist individuals, businesses and communities with what needs to be done to be more sustainable, resilient and safe. The foundation has tools and initiatives that reach out into the community and increase sustainability and preparedness to make surviving and recovering much faster. These tools provide opportunities for businesses. You can "DO WELL BY DOING GOOD!", 70% of consumers will choose a business with a social cause over those that do not.

Our first initiative, KitsforKids gets emergency kits in the hands of children. At the same time we will encourage parents to have their kits and plans for the families and businesses. 61% of Americans believe they will be affected by some type of disaster or crisis in the next 3-5 years but only 15%-30% have any kind of preparation. In addition, according to FEMA 75% of all businesses affected by a disaster, and have no plans, will be out of business in two years. We want to change that.

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