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In Case of Emergency A smoke alarm or a life preserver may save your life, but they won't save your business. You need a real disaster plan now. Your business's survival depends on it.

By Daniel Tynan

Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

Lonnie Lehrer thought he was prepared for anything. The CEO of Leros Point to Point, a New York City limousine service, had redundant computer systems for his dispatch software, battery backup for each computer, off-site copies of his customer data, even a spare generator. If New York were nailed by a bad winter storm or another big blackout, Leros would still be in business.

Then the first plane hit the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001, and all Lehrer's plans went down with it.

"Ninety percent of our business is tied to the airports," says Lehrer, 55. "We went from being a $7 million company to a $700,000 company overnight."

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