(Photo by Jenny Starley)

It’s late Friday afternoon. A friend calls you to let you know your website is down. You scramble to check, and realize they’re right. You call your webmaster, only to find out they’re on vacation (and checking their emails sporadically). What do you do now?

If you’ve thought ahead, you might call another webmaster to pinch in. They’ll likely need access to your various usernames and passwords to investigate. If you don’t have this information at-hand, then you’re truly stuck.

Therefore, I suggest that as a minimum you maintain the following to help you WHEN you have a problem (not IF):

• List of user names and passwords for your business (web hosting, email, CMS accounts, PayPal, DropBox, FTP, banking, telephone, contact manager, internet provider, etc.). Print out a copy and put it a safety deposit box (in case of fire). Give an electronic copy to a trusted friend (if worried about privacy, perhaps encrypt the file – but make absolutely sure you remember the password).
• Backups of your databases (email, website, CRM). Ideally keep copies offsite. If you’re unsure how often to backup, determine your comfort level of having to recreate your business files at different time frames (1 day, 1 week, or 1 month).
• Backups of your computer disks. Again, offsite is important.
• A contact list for your support team (webmaster, accountant, lawyer, distributor, employees, and family).
• A contact list for your “back-up” support team (if your first tier aren’t available).

In some cases, you might consider backing up your data to “the cloud” – if you’re comfortable with the speed/security trade-off. Whatever backup solution you use, occasionally test restoring from the backup. We assume that the backup will work without fail, but it’s vital to ensure that your backup works.

Emergency planning isn’t sexy or fun. But it’s vital to ensure you business viability.

(Photo by easylocum)

If you’re like most service providers, you’ve been feeling ever-increasing competition: from overseas, from virtual assistants, from under-employed people, and from online service competitions (for logos, design work, software development, website creation, animation, etc.). So how can you compete – both short-term and long-term?

Your first reaction might be to drop your pricing. If they are charging $500, and you are currently charging $1000, shouldn’t you likewise cut your pricing to measure up favorably? If you do, you’re in a race to the bottom – where the only person who wins is your customer. Dropping your price sends the wrong signals: your offering is a commodity (anyone can do it), your previous pricing wasn’t fair (you gouged your previous customers), and you’re not in touch with the needs of your prospective customers. Short-term, it may ward off losing a few customers, but long-term you’re risking your business viability. You’re making less income, so either you need more clients to keep profitable – or you’ll need to cut corners in your offering (and risk losing your highly prized top-quality perception).

Instead, compete on value. Focus your marketing message on what significant benefit you provide that others can’t (or won’t). Perhaps it’s deeper knowledge of subject. Extra training you’ve had that gets results. Additional formats of your work (at no additional charge). Comfort in knowing that you speak “their language” and understand “their needs”. You may even choose to further distance yourself from the “low-cost” competition and raise your rates. If you position yourself as an expert, with a clear benefit to your clients (that they’re willing to pay for), you create more value for your business (and your customer).

Short-term, you may lose some of your bargain-hunting prospects to the low-cost leaders, but these people weren’t your long-term customers anyway. If you’re in business long enough, you’ll continue to have competition. Just make sure that you have a strategy to stand out from them.