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You started your business to control your financial destiny. Butwhat do you do when you're blindsided by a crisis thatthreatens your company's very survival? Do you know people youcan call at 2 a.m. who would be willing--and able--to bail youout?

"If I ever needed cash in the middle of thenight--let's say $50,000 at 2 o'clock in the morning--Ihave certain contacts I could use in an emergency," says RandStagen, 28, founder and publisher of The Met magazine, aDallas publication that covers the local entertainment andnight-life scene. "Every entrepreneur needs at least one[person they can go to in an emergency], because you never know.What if your business is about to bounce payroll and you have notraditional resources to go to?"

While you hope you'll never need to call anyone in themiddle of the night and ask for fast cash, how do you go aboutestablishing those kinds of relationships--just in case? Stagensays there are three steps: