4. Should I travel to take advantage of catastrophe situations?

As a general response it is not a good idea for most companies to travel out of town for work.  That being said this can be a great opportunity to generate revenue and profits.  Here are the considerations when traveling for work.

• Do you have the resources at home to serve your client base? If you neglect your current clients. You will be sacrificing your long term future for short term gains.
  
  
• Do you have the resource to be successful when you mobilize?  You need to be assured that you will perform professionally when out of town.
  
  
• When you are working out of state you need to be aware of the local laws and contractor licenses.  Make sure you to your research before you leave and have everything in place.
  
  
• It is usually not a good idea to go to the catastrophe zone with your crews and then start to look for work.  Have the work lined up before you go and make sure you know who is going to authorize your work and then who is going to be responsible for payment.  You should have a system in place so you are able to receive draws or payments to cover your mobilization costs as well as your initial response.
  
  
• If you are not prepared for these steps then you should reconsider traveling and instead put your resources to work at improving your position in your home market.
  
  
• If you have extra equipment you may contact some of your contacts in the affected marketplace and see if you can rent them equipment.  Plan on delivering the equipment and then being compensated when the equipment is rented – not just delivered – also plan on waiting for payment.  

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