Ten years ago, Hurricane Andrew assaulted South Florida. I lived and owned a business in the city of Homestead, which was hardest hit by the storm. Since then, I've had considerable time to ponder the lessons I learned before, during, and after the Hurricane. From the perspective of a small business owner, there are five identifiable lessons that will stay with me for a lifetime.

Hurricane Andrew was a Category 5 monster with winds exceeding 145 mph. It was the most costly weather disaster in U.S. history, inflicting over $25 billion in damages in South Florida. The storm killed 15 people in Miami-Dade County and was indirectly responsible for at least 25 other deaths. It destroyed over 25,000 homes (mine included) and damaged over 100,000 additional houses. At least 180,000 people were temporarily left homeless.

After the Hurricane, we had 23,000 soldiers and 6,000 members of the National Guard move into our "neighborhood". Helicopters flew in formation. Convoys thundered through residential streets and over massive amounts of debris. There were military checkpoints at what used to be busy traffic intersections. Schools were destroyed. Common landmarks such as trees, buildings, and signs were gone. I got lost in my own sub-division. It was a scene to which I can't even begin to draw comparisons.

Within days of the storm, we decided to rebuild our home and our business in their original locations. We knew both efforts would be huge undertakings, but we had no idea just how challenging the experience would be.  For six months, we operated our travel agency out of a trailer in a gravel parking lot behind the previous site of our building.

The Hurricane relocated most of our files, airline tickets, and small office equipment somewhere west of us in the Everglades National Park. We worked with temporary phones, makeshift desks, and a port-a-let. Getting to work each day was a minor miracle. Making it through each day required extraordinary patience and resilience.  By the time we were able to move back into our new office and resume some level of normalcy, we had learned a number of rather simple business lessons we would not forget.