The previous post on this blog was a hypothetical article. It turned out to be prophetic.
This morning my phone rang – a regular client calling to tell me their computer wouldn’t turn on. I did a quick spin on the living room floor, donned my wonder woman outfit and headed off.
Sure enough, their computer wouldn’t turn on. It did, once. It displayed a screen full of gobbledook and then quietly died. RIP.
I don’t do onsite repairs, I’m not a hardware person. I sent them to the local repair shop in the hope he might be able to rescue the contents and asked them confidently if they’d done a backup lately. I expected them to say yes, as I gave them my standard talk on the importance of doing your backups just a few weeks ago when I last visited.
Sheepish looks told me they hadn’t backed up since my last visit. Fortunately they do have paper copies of their correspondence.
They are off to buy a new computer and when I install it I will subscribing them to an online backup service.
Believe me, this site isn’t a do as I say because I want your commission payments site. It’s a do as I tell all my clients and as I do myself because I have seen the consequences with my own eyes site. Although I don’t say no to the commissions, obviously. We all have to earn a living.