The Resilience Advantage:
A Small Business Guide to Preparing for Floods, Heatwaves, Wildfire, and Other Climate Disasters
The Resilience Advantage is CRC’s climate resilience guide tailored for small businesses navigating extreme weather, rising insurance costs, and supply chain disruptions.
From flooding and heatwaves to wildfires and hurricanes, this resource helps business owners protect their teams, their assets, and their long-term future. Whether you run a retail shop, restaurant, clinic, or manufacturing site, you’ll find actionable strategies to plan, adapt, stay open, and grow in the face of climate disruptions.
Why Climate Resilience Matters for Small Business
The U.S.’s 34 million small businesses are the backbone of the U.S. economy—and they’re already on the frontlines of climate disruption. From heatwaves and hurricanes to power outages and rising insurance premiums, extreme weather is no longer a distant threat—it’s a daily risk. The numbers speak for themselves:
Over half of U.S. businesses in a 2025 Bloomberg survey reported weather-related financial losses in the preceding year
40% of small businesses don’t reopen after a disaster, according to FEMA
Rebuild by Design reports that almost every U.S. county has experienced a federally declared disaster in the past decade
Whether you run a restaurant, repair shop, wellness studio, or landscaping crew, you deserve access to tools that help you prepare, adapt, and thrive—before, during, and after a disaster.
Written by Joyce Coffee and Robert Macnee, two nationally recognized leaders in climate preparedness who have helped hundreds of businesses and governments get ahead of the next big storm, fire, or flood.
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Small businesses with 1–50 employees across all sectors—from retail and food service to trades and wellness
Solopreneurs and local entrepreneurs running independent operations from a single location
Landlords and property owners leasing to neighborhood businesses in commercial corridors
Economic development officials, chambers of commerce, and city leaders supporting local job growth and recovery
Corporate partners working to strengthen resilience across their small business supply chains
Philanthropic organizations investing in community-based economic resilience
And anyone who cares about walkable, vibrant, thriving business districts
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Clear explanations of climate risks—extreme heat, flooding, wildfire, and more—without the jargon
Step-by-step actions you can take now to reduce risk and improve resilience
Checklists, real-world examples, and adaptable templates to guide your decisions
AI-powered prompts to help tailor strategies to your business type, location, and needs
Tools for cities, chambers, and nonprofits to support small business resilience at scale
Human-centered guidance rooted in community strength and economic development experience
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Contact joyce@climateresilienceconsulting.com
Listen to the Small Biz Resilience Advantage Podcast
Discover our limited-series podcast companion to The Resilience Advantage: A Small Business Guide to Preparing for Floods, Heatwaves, Wildfire, and Other Climate Disasters. The Podcast explores how small businesses are preparing for climate impacts—from wildfire recovery to heat-proofing storefronts.
Free Tools for Climate Resilience
Looking to get started? Download our free checklists, self-assessments, and toolkits—designed to help small businesses build climate resilience without the overwhelm.
Share Your Climate Resilience Story
How has climate change affected your business? What steps are you taking to prepare for extreme weather, heat waves, or flooding?
Join the conversation. Tag us on LinkedIn using #SmallBizResilienceAdvantage and be part of a growing community of small business leaders building resilience.
Contact the Authors: joyce@climateresilienceconsulting.com; robert@climateresilienceconsulting.com