Write a business continuity plan for Small Business & Shops

Your prompt is ready 2 brackets to fill

You are a business continuity planner, working with local customers, walk-in buyers and followers on WhatsApp and Instagram at a small business such as a shop, local service or home business with 1 to 20 people.

## Goal
Make sure the business keeps running during a disruption.

## What matters in Small Business & Shops
- Numbers that matter: monthly sales; repeat customers; average bill value; profit margin per product; cash in hand at month end; Google rating and number of reviews; enquiries from WhatsApp and Instagram.
- Common risks to plan for: cash running short; customers who do not pay their credit; big chains and online sellers undercutting prices; one bad review hurting sales; the owner being too busy to market.
- Documents people already work with: GST invoices and bills; price lists; WhatsApp Business catalogue; stock register; supplier bills.
- Tools commonly used: WhatsApp Business; Google Business Profile; Instagram; UPI apps and QR codes; billing apps such as Vyapar, Khatabook or Tally; Canva.

## What I will give you
- Business and critical activities: [DETAILS]
- Main risks: [e.g. power, IT outage, supplier failure, flood]
- Locations and key people: [DETAILS]

## What to do
1. Identify critical activities and how long each can stop.
2. Assess the main threats.
3. Write response steps for each scenario.
4. Define roles, contact lists and communication.
5. Plan testing and updates.

## What to deliver
- Business impact table
- Scenario response plans
- Roles and contacts template
- Test schedule

## Rules
- Keep GST and local shop rules, a tight budget and very little staff time in mind throughout, and point out anything in my plan that would break them.
- Where it fits, connect your recommendations to monthly sales and repeat customers.
- Use plain language and short sentences. Use headings and tables where they make the answer easier to scan.
- Do not invent figures, laws, sources or quotes. Mark anything you had to assume with "Assumption:".
- If something important is missing, ask me up to 3 short questions before you start.

## Before you answer
Check your draft against this list and fix anything that fails:
- Each step can be followed by the person doing the work without having to ask anyone.
- It is written for a small business such as a shop, local service or home business with 1 to 20 people; nothing in it would read the same for any other business.
- Every item under "What to deliver" is included.

Open in ChatGPT Claude Perplexity

How to use this prompt

Copy the prompt. Press Copy prompt and the full text goes to your clipboard.
Fill the brackets. Use the form above, or replace [DETAILS], [e.g. power, IT outage, supplier failure, flood] with your own details.
Paste and send. Paste it into ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini and Microsoft Copilot and send. Ask follow-up questions to refine the answer.

Why this prompt works

The “Write a business continuity plan” prompt tells the assistant exactly what to hand back: business impact table; scenario response plans; roles and contacts template; and test schedule. It makes the assistant work through 5 steps in order, starting with "identify critical activities and how long each can stop", instead of jumping straight to an answer. Before replying, the assistant checks its draft against 3 tests and fixes anything that fails.

This version is written for a small business such as a shop, local service or home business with 1 to 20 people, so the assistant keeps GST and local shop rules, a tight budget and very little staff time in mind and judges the result by monthly sales and repeat customers. If an important detail is missing, it asks you up to 3 short questions before it starts.

How to get the best answer

Fill every bracket with real detail: [DETAILS], [e.g. power, IT outage, supplier failure, flood] should hold real names, numbers and dates, not placeholders.
Paste real material: where the prompt asks for notes, data or text, paste the actual content rather than a summary.
Refine in the same chat: ask "make it shorter", "turn it into a table" or "add more detail on step 2".
Check the result: review it against what you know about monthly sales and repeat customers before you share it.

Other industries

Same prompt for other industries

The same write a business continuity plan prompt, rewritten for each industry.

FAQ

Frequently asked questions

Which AI assistant works best with the “Write a business continuity plan” prompt?

The “Write a business continuity plan” prompt works in any chat assistant and suits ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini and Microsoft Copilot best. Paste it in, send it, and ask follow-up questions in the same chat to refine the answer.

What do I fill in before sending the “Write a business continuity plan” prompt?

Replace the 2 highlighted brackets – [DETAILS], [e.g. power, IT outage, supplier failure, flood] – with your own details. The more specific you are, the better the answer.

Is the “Write a business continuity plan” prompt only for Small Business & Shops?

No. This version is written for a small business such as a shop, local service or home business with 1 to 20 people, and the same prompt is also written for 15 other industries, listed on this page.

Is the “Write a business continuity plan” prompt free to use?

Yes. First AI Prompt prompts are free to copy and use in personal and business work, with no sign-up, no account and no daily limit.

Can I trust the answer the “Write a business continuity plan” prompt gives?

Treat it as a strong first draft: the prompt tells the assistant not to invent facts and to mark its assumptions, but check figures yourself, especially anything with legal, financial or safety consequences.

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