Business Fire Drills

Business Fire Drills

By Tamsen HortonBusinessEntrepreneurshipEducationHow To
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Business Fire Drills episodes

  • I Could've Told You This Email Was Coming

    Business moments are predictable. Panic is optional. In this first episode of Business Fire Drills, attorney Tamsen Horton introduces the DRILL method — the five-step move that turns a business panic moment into a calm next decision — and walks through a live example: what to do the moment a chargeback hits.

    Show Notes

    Your business is going to have a fire. That's not the problem — the problem is not knowing what to do when it happens. In this first episode, attorney Tamsen Horton introduces Business Fire Drills: a calm, plain-English way to meet the predictable alarms every online business owner eventually hears, and walks through one drill start to finish.

    Why This Show Exists

    • Fifteen years running online businesses, attorney-led — the same handful of fires show up again and again
    • Reacting vs. responding: the difference is never talent, it's whether you practiced before the alarm went off
    • The fire-drill idea: you learn the exit route on a calm day, not during the fire

      • The Six Kinds of Fire

      • Letter Arrives — legal threats, cease-and-desist, complaints
      • Money on Fire — refunds, chargebacks, payment processors holding funds
      • Access Locked — website, email platform, social accounts
      • IP Under Attack — content copied, brand name problems
      • Reputation on Fire — a client complaint goes public, a bad review
      • Compliance, Systems + Continuity — notices, privacy questions, backups you never made

        • The DRILL Method

        • D — Don't react
        • R — Record everything
        • I — Identify the real risk
        • L — Lead with calm
        • L — Lock in the lesson

          • Live Example: Before a Chargeback Hits

          • The Alarm: a chargeback notification, funds frozen, a deadline to respond
          • DRILL applied to a chargeback, step by step
          • The Fire Extinguisher: clear checkout terms, a paper trail, a visible refund policy
          • Your Next Right Decision: do nothing, put the drill in place, or send it to a friend who needs it

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            22 min
          • The Pay-to-Play Fire — What Happens When Sponsorship Money Goes Missing

            A sponsorship deal is blowing up online, and it's completely predictable. Attorney Tamsen Horton runs two fire drills in one — the buyer's side and the seller's side of any pay-to-play transaction — covering what to do when you paid and didn't get what you were promised, and what to do when you sold a promise you couldn't back up.

            Run the fire drill before the fire alarm goes off!

            Show Notes

            Right now there's a "pay to play" story blowing up online — an event host took sponsorship money and didn't deliver. It's not a new story, and it's completely predictable. Whenever money changes hands for a promise, both sides of that transaction need their own fire drill. In this episode, attorney Tamsen Horton runs two drills in one, from both seats.

            Side One: The Buyer (Drill 4 — Before a High-Ticket Client Agreement Goes Sideways)

            • The alarm: you paid, and what was promised didn't show up
            • DRILL applied to the buyer's side
            • The fire extinguisher: purchase terms that spell out exactly what you're buying and what happens if it's not delivered

              • Side Two: The Seller (Drill 25 — Before Overpromising Damages Credibility)

              • The alarm: delivery day came and went, and you couldn't back up what you sold
              • DRILL applied to the seller's side
              • The fire extinguisher: a delivery plan that's actually been stress-tested, not just hoped for

                • When It Goes Public (Drill 22 — Before a Client Complaint Goes Public)

                • The alarm: complaints go from private to public all at once
                • DRILL applied once it's public
                • The fire extinguisher: a short honest public statement, a private channel for the people owed more, and a hard look at what broke

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                  32 min

                About Business Fire Drills

                From the publisher's feed

                Business moments are predictable. Panic is optional. Business Fire Drills is a library of plain-English fire drills, led by attorney Tamsen Horton, for the online business owner who sells what they do…