My heart sank. I mean, like, really sank. I was staring at the blank screen that was my website and wondering how it could all go so wrong, so fast.
Like any consultant, my website is my lifeline. It’s where I communicate what’s going on with me, what I am thinking, provides ways for people to get in contact with me, and more. When my website is down, none of that happens. So imagine my shock when I updated some of the plugins and software that run my website and my website never came back up.
Always do a backup. That’s what they say. Well, guess what? I did a backup. I used what I have been told is one of the most popular, easiest to use, backup solutions around for a website of my kind. Well, they were wrong. And… they suck. What I wasn’t told was that once I did my backup, I wasn’t supposed to transfer that backup file to my computer in a certain way. I didn’t know that because none of the documentation said to not do that, so you guessed it, that’s what I did. So my backup file turned out to be hosed. For you non-geeks out there, that means it was screwed up. I gave it to several experts to help me fix my backup and nothing worked.
It was starting to look very bleak. A week went by and all my efforts came to nothing. All the restores, the database uploads, all the advice I got from people alot smarter than me…. nothing worked. I was so depressed I didn’t even feel like playing Angry Birds. Yeah, it was bad.
Then out of the clouds decended a glowing light that came to my rescue. That glowing light was a support tech at my hosting company that investigated the situation and told me that he thought he might be able to help me. So he worked for a few days and got my website back up to a previous state that I could work with. At least it wasn’t a total loss. And that guy earned a few extra jewels in his crown for his afterlife.
So what did I learn? Well, for starters, don’t upgrade to the latest version of your plugins just because some guy somewhere says you should. Nope, not gonna make that mistake again. I also learned that even when you have a good plan, it can still all go to hell in a hand-basket. So what are you supposed to do? Have a backup plan for your backup plan.
You could apply this to just about anything you do in your business. You better not have any storehouse of knowledge wrapped up in one person’s head. They walk out the door or get hit by a train… you’re screwed. You better not hire some summer intern to set up your website, your Facebook & Twitter accounts, and your text messaging campaign and not write anything down, because when he decides to ‘find himself’ out in California, he’s gonna take all your login information and website files with him. Then you’re screwed.
So I now have a backup for my backup. And I have a few more ideas for additional backups that I am thinking about doing. I lost so many hours of time that I can’t begin to count, but that’s ok. I learned my lesson. And Angry Birds and me are close buddies again.
