Stop Hoping for the Best. Start Planning for the Worst: With a Little Help from AI

By Carol McLaurin, Director of Strategic Initiatives and Partnerships

How North Carolina small business owners can use AI tools to build a disaster preparedness plan that actually fits their business 

Here’s an uncomfortable truth: most small business owners in North Carolina have a disaster plan that lives entirely in their head. And most of those plans sound something like, “We’ll figure it out.” 

That’s not a plan. That’s hope, and hope doesn’t reopen your doors after disaster strikes. Hurricane Helene reminded us that even our mountain communities aren’t exempt. So, what can you do to be better prepared? 

The good news is that there’s now a faster, smarter way to build a preparedness plan tailored to your specific business. AI tools like Claude (claude.ai) and ChatGPT (chat.openai.com) can act like a knowledgeable planning partner, helping you identify vulnerabilities and draft action steps in a fraction of the time it would take you alone. And when you pair that AI-assisted draft with a session with your SBTDC business counselor, you get something even better: a plan that’s been pressure-tested against your real financials, your actual insurance policy, and the specific risks facing your business. 

Why Generic Templates Fall Short 

There are many solid online templates and tools available for disaster preparedness. They are valuable starting points, but they are written to work for everyone, which means they often don’t fit anyone’s situation particularly well, especially our small business owners. 

A two-person hair salon has completely different vulnerabilities than a 12-person HVAC company. A food truck’s continuity plan looks nothing like a retail boutique’s. Your supplier relationships, your revenue seasonality, your physical location, your staff structure, all of it shapes what a real disaster means for your business. That’s where AI tools can help you go into more targeted detail. 

One Critical Rule: Protect Your Sensitive Information 

Before you type a single word into any AI tool, keep this in mind: do not enter personally identifiable information, sensitive financial data, Social Security numbers, banking credentials, or confidential client information. 

You don’t need to. Effective planning works fine with general descriptions. Instead of a specific revenue figure, say “we are a mid-six-figure annual revenue business.” Instead of employee names, say “our two full-time technicians.” Instead of your street address, say “a leased retail location in a flood-zone-adjacent area.” The AI can do useful, specific work without any of your sensitive data. Save those details for your SBTDC counselor, who works with you in a confidential setting. 

Quick Start: Copy, Paste, and Go 

New to AI tools? Open Claude or ChatGPT, both are free, and paste these prompts to get started. 

Prompt 1 — Open the Conversation 

“I want to build a disaster preparedness and business continuity plan for my small business. I’ll describe my business in general terms. Help me identify my biggest vulnerabilities, ask clarifying questions, and draft an action plan. Please ask me questions one at a time.” 

Prompt 2 — Give Your Business Context 

“I operate a [type of business] with [approximate number] employees, working from a [owned/leased] [retail/office/warehouse/home-based] location. Our busiest season is [timeframe]. We rely on [in-person customers / online sales / both]. Our biggest assets are [equipment / inventory / specialized staff / client relationships].” 

Prompt 3 — Find Your Vulnerabilities 

“What are my top five disaster vulnerabilities, ranked by risk? Which disasters (tornado, hurricane, fire, flooding, extended power outage) are most likely to affect a business like mine, and which vulnerabilities would hurt me most?” 

Prompt 4 — Build the Action Plan 

“Draft a 72-hour emergency response checklist, a customer communication template for a temporary closure, and my top three priorities for the next 90 days.” 

Prompt 5 — Find the Gaps 

“What questions should I be asking that I haven’t asked yet? Where do small businesses like mine most commonly discover they were underprepared?” 

Pro tip: Push back on responses that feel too general. Say “make that more specific to a business like mine” or “what would that look like in the first week?” The more you engage, the more useful the output. 

Key Areas to Cover 

Use these as conversation guides with the AI, or ask it to walk you through them one at a time: 

• Business profile: Revenue-generating activities, physical location, staffing, seasonality
• Physical vulnerabilities: Equipment, inventory, records backup, and what happens if your location is inaccessible 
• Financial resilience: How long you could operate without income; whether you have a line of credit established before you need it; what your business interruption insurance actually covers 
• Supply chain: Backup suppliers if your primary source is disrupted 
• Communications: How you would notify customers quickly, and who could manage that if you were unavailable 
• Recovery priorities: What single function must be restored first, and what a minimum viable operation looks like in the first two weeks 

Then Bring it to Your SBTDC Counselor 

Once you have an AI-assisted draft, bring it to your SBTDC business counselor. That conversation will be much more productive than starting from scratch because you already have something concrete to work from. 

Your counselor can stress-test your plan against realistic NC disaster scenarios, evaluate whether your insurance coverage matches what you would actually need, explore pre-disaster financing options, evaluate your financial health. From there, you can build a sequenced 90-day action plan that you will actually follow through on. 

This is also where the details you kept out of the AI conversation belong. Your counselor can review your actual financials, your lease, and your insurance policy to give you specific, grounded advice. 

The Bottom Line 

A focused conversation with an AI tool can get you to a working first draft in an afternoon. Your SBTDC counselor can help you turn that draft into a strategy you will actually use. 

North Carolina’s next disaster is not a matter of if. The only question is whether your business will be one of the ones that makes it through. 

Ready to get started? Contact your local SBTDC office to schedule a free, confidential counseling session, and open up Claude or ChatGPT today. Your future self and your business will thank you.