5 Steps to Disasterproof Your Online Business
I am very lucky! I have a number of offline coaching clients, all with offline businesses and actually, most of them have more than one business!
Because of the nature of their businesses, they all have brick and mortar locations...
I find that I learn a LOT from them, which is wonderful
Here is a tip from Client K: When she arranged for internet access at her brick and mortar office, she deliberately signed up with a DIFFERENT Internet Service Provider than she has at home.
Her town was hard hit with storms last week and most of the internet service is down. At home, she can only get internet access for extremely limited periods of time, but at the office, all is going well - slower than usual but working adequately. So, with a little bit of reorganization, she is able to get her online work accomplished.
Take Away Lesson
Whenever possible, try to distribute the risk... in this case, it is by having different ISPs for your internet access, or, if you work from home, knowing of a public location where you can get internet access.
In most cases with an offline business, we aren't actively working on the business all of the time, but we do need to keep in touch - whether by email or by website comments or both.
Adding social media such as Facebook and Twitter in to the mix further complicates things.
Many times, without realizing it, we rely on multiple hardware options to run our online empires
It may be that you find that you are using a combination of technology to keep in touch - bouncing between your smart phone and your computer.
Obviously, the smart phone provides redundant backup for email and social media, so you have that covered. But do keep in mind that your website may need updates or other work and your smart phone may not provide an effective way to accomplish those tasks.
Plan Your Online Redundancy
STEP 1
When you have the time, take a few minutes and list all of the online activities you are involved in over the course of a week. Then, think about everything else and see if there are any irregular tasks that may not appear on that list. These might include tasks or circumstances that occur rarely.
STEP 2
Now, take that lists of tasks and identify your MAIN method of access - home computer or smart phone, for example.
STEP 3
Next, decide on a backup method of access - this could be office computer or internet access at the library. In the case of using your smart phone, is there a way to access those resources by way of your computer? If not, is there another smart phone - such as a family member or friend - that you could utilize in a pinch?
STEP 4
Finally, identify the information you would need to utilize those backup options... for example, if you might need to use someone else's smart phone, how would you access YOUR email addresses?
STEP 5
Ask yourself if there is a practical way to provide yourself with secure information in a different geographical location, to add another layer of security.
In my case, my sister lives about 650 miles away. It is unlikely that a weather disaster affecting me will also affect her, so storing information with her and/or providing her with access to my online backups makes sense. Even if I can't get to the information, she can, under my supervision.
Let's face it - life happens!
We can't change how it affects us, but we can control how we react. Being prepared for the worst case minimizes the effect a disaster can have on us and our online businesses.
