Technology Plan B

Good morning!

Which of these three is more terrifying:

1. Receiving a summons from the IRS
2. Hearing the words, “We need to talk” come from your wife/husband or boss
3. Your primary computer fails to boot?

The day after Thanksgiving this past November, I had a computer meltdown which resulted in a complete wiping of my hard drive. Fortunately, nothing was lost (not my first rodeo) as I had it all backed up in the cloud.

It took time to reconfigure, but I didn’t lose any data or any selling time and fortunately, it happened when no one was working. By the following Monday, I was back in business.

This past New Year’s Day, the same computer would not boot up. I got nothing. Nada. Zip. Squat. The Apple logo will appear, but the progress bar beneath it failed to move after a certain point. Phone customer service tried what they could, but the problem persisted.

That afternoon, Allison and I drove up to an Apple store west of Boston where we spent a short amount of time at the Genius Bar trying everything the technician could come up with before hearing him say, “I need to do some deeper diagnostic work. You will be without your computer for 1 to 3 days.”

Panic. No oxygen. Must warn others.

Look, if this sales tip is getting too stressful for you, find a paper bag to breathe into but then come back and heed the lesson…

When it comes to technology, you need a Plan B.

Imagine life without:

• Your cell phone
• Your desktop
• Your laptop
• Your Internet service

Business doesn’t stop just because your phone has gone missing, or the electricity is out, or your computer is down, or a storm took out your Internet. Everyone around you, and especially the most important (read: customers), will keep moving forward without you.

What is your back up plan?

The faster you can either recover or work around “without,” the more likely it is your sales will not suffer and your heart will not stop as a result.

At the time of this writing, not even 24 hours have passed. I am working off of my iPad and an 11-year-old iMac. I made a list of all of the things I can do with my meager back up technology while I wait. It’s a short list.

My plan is to give it 24 hours before returning to the Apple Store and buying a new computer.

Before moving on to your next task, I strongly urge you to consider your technology worst case scenario and then come up with a Plan B. This is not a good feeling and I wouldn’t even wish it on a Yankees fan.

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