What's All This Risk Stuff? And Do I NEED It?

Business planning needs include risk and risk management in: cost management, scheduling, equity and debt.

That's all well and good, but how do you KNOW what your risks are? Well the short of it is, you don't KNOW what all the possible risks are. You plan for production failure, and sure enough you will have a transportation of goods issue.

To understand how to overcome risks, know your resources. Since all risk can not be planned for, it is important to include who to contact in certain project risks. Know your investors, bank lenders, SBA (small business administration) contacts, local businesses, and professional associations. Keeping these numbers at hand can help you in the event of a calamity.

Good, verifiable resources for risk management include:

Books by Harold Kerzner (most of which are on Amazon.com)
The Risk Management Association http://www.rmahq.org/RMA/
The Project Management Institute http://www.pmi.org/info/default.asp