Trust in God, and tie up your camels.

We all pretty much trust that electricity will always be there for us. Because for most of us it always is.

And yet I’m sure that each of us has at least one torch in the house and a pack of candles and matches to boot.

. . . just in case!

And your business should be similarly prepared.

Disaster rarely strikes, but when it does . . . Its A Disaster !

Data Backup

The first and most obvious one, but also the most boring one, is Data Backup.

A client recently told me that all of her business software and records were stored on one single, 7 year old laptop computer.

I asked, what will happen to your business when that computer fails, because it surely will sooner or later.

They called in my tech friend Adam and bought a new computer and backup software.

email Addresses

All of your emails will be stored in the Data Backup that you just started . . . right?

But how do you communicate by email if something happens to your email account?

There are many ways and reasons why an email account can go down.

How do you keep your business operating while that is being fixed?

Simple – set up an alternative email address, (or an email alias), with your ISP.

e.g. <your-business-name>@bigpond.com

Do not use it for everyday emails with your customers, but keep it in reserve, like the torch in the cupboard under the sink!

Passwords

These days we are inundated with passwords!

Passwords for our bank accounts, our websites, our email accounts , for every online website that we use to buy things and to sell things, for eBay, for Paypal, for Facebook and dozens of other Social Media sites.

Do I need go on.

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How do you remember them all?

The old fashion way is to write them down in a book.

One of my clients told me she has such a book – it’s called “The Bible” in their business.

I asked her what happens if that book gets lost, stolen of burnt?

She said that her business would take a serious blow.

I suggested that at the very least, she should photocopy The Bible, and/or scan it in digital image files to be stored on a backup drive or memory stick.

. . . she agreed !

There are more modern ways of handling this now.

A number of websites provide online storage of passwords, such as https://lastpass.com/f?3656646

This is a free service, or for a mere $12 per year, you can sync it across all of your devices.