Here’s how to keep your business up and running during times of crisis.

Hardships happen for small businesses—though it’s the unexpected ones that always hit closer to home. During these highly uncertain times, small business owners and freelancers may be feeling isolated, vulnerable and worried about the survival of their business.

In fact, during times of crisis, it’s not unusual for businesses to go through these three phases:

• Immediate crisis mode: What everyone is currently experiencing
• Business continuity: Understanding how you’re going to keep your business running
• Rebuilding: How you and your community will move forward, together

We chatted with Chris Schultz, CEO of Launch Pad and long-term FreshBooks customer, about some of the lessons he learned going through a natural disaster that affected his business. Many of these lessons can also apply to other types of global crisis.

Here are 5 tips that Chris shared that can help you protect your business…