Here’s a quick tip, which could save you a stack of time and money.

I have just endured three of the most frustrating days since starting my business, around 15 years ago.  However, there’s a great lesson here for you and your business.

So, what happened Jim?

The problem

I discovered that the company that was handling my blogs and email hosting, was just about to cease trading!  I quickly needed to move my blogs onto new servers.  As I had not researched an alternative hosting company, I had to drop what I was doing and spend time searching for a new host.

Thankfully, after a ton of; phone calls, Tweets and emails, I found a great new host.  However, I lost the best part of a day finding them.

Then, there were a few additional hitches.  This meant that instead of working on my business, I lost hours trying to get the blogs and email working again.  As a result, I needlessly ended up working two, sixteen hour days.  I also worked all day today (Saturday) to catch up; instead of taking my 4 year old son on a pre-arranged trip (to see Thomas The Tank Engine.)

The lesson

If you have an website or blog, which is important to your business, you need a strong contingency plan.  You need the name of a reliable hosting company and the name of a reliable tech person; who you can call on to handle the switch over.  I had a tech guy in place and have no idea how long this would all have taken, if I needed to find him as well.  By the way, I will publish the name of my new hosting company for you, if their service remains this good over a longer period.

The bottom line is that the time to get these providers in place is now – Not when disaster strikes.

That’s it!  Time for me to go and get our family trip rebooked...