So what would you do if the worst happened -- you were incapacitated and couldn't handle your company's affairs? Business consultants say many businesses are left vulnerable because the owners haven't prepared for the possibility that they might be unable to work. If you haven't planned for this, probably the business will be in trouble. That means your family income might also be in jeopardy.

Part of the problem is that many business owners are the business. The nature of the beast when you're an entrepreneur is that no one can do it as well as you. And, if something happens to you, there's no one running the business properly.

If your customers don't know what's going on, or can't get the products or services they need, they're likely to turn to another company -- perhaps not out of anger, but purely out of necessity. And it may be hard to get them back when you're able to work again.

To protect your business, you need to come up with a plan: think of it as a kind of insurance policy. What that plan entails depends on your company's setup.

For example, consider taking on an employee you can trust to run the business in your absence. I recently received a call from an client who had suffered a back injury and, having no key employee, needed help to run the store’s day to day operations. This story shows the value of having someone to turn to in an emergency.

I advocate that companies create a manual that documents operating procedures so workers, family members or friends know how to run the business when the owner can't -- or even when he or she is on vacation.

We also advocate the development of a plan "to define in writing or explicitly who has authority to make decisions if the business owner is incapacitated." A manual ideally should cover all aspects of your company's operations. The subjects should list daily operating procedures, security and emergency procedures, sales policy and procedures, customer service, advertising and promotion programs, inventory management, computer systems management, and personnel and payroll policies.