In the world of self-employment we try to be productive with our time and resources. Calls are scheduled, proposals need to be written, emails need to be responded to, work done for clients ….. and the list goes on. But what happens when the resources you come to rely on aren’t available to you?

Having spent many years in IT and telecommunications I am hyper-aware of the challenges that computing technology can provide.

My father often calls to ask me why the computer is doing “such-and-such” or more often why it isn’t doing what he wants. He thinks that computing technology is a perfect science and operates with the same consistency as the mechnical-based equipment he has in his shed. I often tell him that IT is an imperfect science but he finds it hard to understand that something that is so widely used still doesn’t always perform to specification.

So what do you do when your technology resources fail you? Do you have a plan B? If you are like many solopreneurs your computing technology will be one of your most valuable resources. A colleague of mine once lost over 1000 networking contacts when her computer gave up the ghost. And there was no backup. What makes this situation all the more sickening is that she was about to embark on a marketing campaign.

We all know about the benefits of backing up but how often do you do it? Even though I know about the benefits and the tragedies I have not always been consistent in backing up.

I have the tech know-how to backup to any medium but they key for me is still that it be effortless. That is why recently I purchased a Maxtor external hard-drive with a one-touch backup facility. No more tolerations about my 800MB+ email folders not fitting on a CD, one-button and it does the work for me, in fact so effortless I do it everyday now.

But what would happen if you not only needed to restore the files but also needed a new computer? How would you handle being without a computer until the new one arrived? Or had a printer that decided it wasn’t printing properly or at all and needed repair? Do you have a spare on hand? For many small business owners that would be cost prohibitive. But what is the lost opportunity cost in the meantime?

Having a backup plan for your computing technology is within the control of most business owners. But I had an experience today of having to find a Plan B for something that was outside my control – the electricity supply.

This morning everything when black (thankfully I hadn’t passed out and I still had my eyes open). But there was no lights, no computer, no internet (broadband needs power), and no telephone (even that needs power). This immediately made me think back to my telco days when one of the main auxiliary pieces of equipment to every business phone system that we sold was a power back-up facility. Depending on the numbers of hours the business wanted to keep their equipment operational without mains power depended on the size and the cost of the power backup unit.

These measures may seem extreme for many small business owners in major capital cities, where we have come to rely on consistent, quality mains power supply. But as with computer technology it isn’t always perfect. The cost of a power back up unit (also known as a UPS – uninterruptible power supply) can vary – but again what is the opportunity cost lost. What would be the implications if you were in the middle of preparing the biggest proposal your business had ever seen or on a telephone speaking with a prospective client?

In my case I used the 2.5 hours to catch up on reading from research, writing notes, even writing this post, and was able to make use of the time. The loss of power was not at a critical time. But what if I had needed it? So I am now going to revisit my time as a telco engineer and do some more investigation into purchasing a UPS.

What’s your plan B?