Utility Dependence and Your Business
Well, Charter Communications comes through again…
Just when I am humming along, having a nice life and getting a lot done, Charter decides that it’s in my best interest to hose my internet connection and make things – um – interesting.
May 12, they told me. Just 8 days away! Sweet! I can take some time off, tend the garden a little, catch up on my reading and sleeping, hang out with the kids and wife – you know, all the little things I don’t get to do as much as I’d like.
Nevermind that I had deadlines, people depending on me and blog posts to write. Nevermind that I need to make money. I should just RELAX.
It came back on, no thanks to Charter. At least it came back on. While I was sitting in a café, feverishly typing away on an Ipod touch, it occurred to me – I need a better backup plan.
I’m not a laptop guy. I’m a desktop guy. I like to get in and swap out drives and blow out dust and add RAM and play around with the guts of my machine. I also like lots of big monitors and since I don’t leave the office all that much, I buy desktops. SO – not having a laptop, I have to figure out what to do when things go South, office-wise.
Thankfully, I have other colleagues that I can lean on when my connection goes kaput, when the electricity is out or when ice storms hose everything and squirrels chew through the cable – and this kind of thing happens at least a few times a year.
So – I ask you – what’s your backup plan? Where do you go when you’re out?
The moral of this story – make a plan. BEFORE something bad happens. And make a couple of plans…
- Do you have some way to get work done when the bad strikes?
- Do you have a way to communicate when it goes down (Skype – not an answer!)
- Do you have a place to work when your place is out of the question?
- Do you have a back up to the backup?
- Do you backup your info?
- Do you have an ANALOG contact list?
- Do you have the ability to live on Pork n’ Beans?
- Do you have a back up machine to work on in case your main unit goes down?
Backing up your data is smart and important – but backing up the ability to work is crucial. If you go down, how far down do you go?
