As much as we may not want to think about it, disasters can happen.
It may be as simple as having your entire hard drive wiped out by a power surge. Or it can be a lot worse.
Hard drives can be restored. But what if your house or office building burns down? What if you have a serious accident or a heart attack or stroke? What if you need emergency surgery and it takes you a month or two (or longer) to recover? What happens to your business then? How do you protect your files? How do you handle work when you can't do it yourself?
You may think, "Well, I'm in great shape. No worries." I was in tip-top health, also. Then, at the age of 48, on November 5, 2004, I had a stroke. It was a genuine fluke--some previous surgery had caused a blood clot, which got in my heart and slipped through a hole between the upper chambers that I never knew about and traveled to my brain.
I was lucky. I got help in time to make an almost complete recovery within a couple of hours. (The stroke ended up causing focal dystonia, which has created its own problems, but that's another story . . .) But I could have been much less fortunate.
Five days later, I left the hospital. When I got home, I asked my editor for a small extension of my monthly deadline. ("See, I kinda had this stroke . . .") Since I'd always made my deadlines (in fact, she called me "one of their most reliable writers") and given the circumstances, she couldn't say no.
But what if I hadn't completely recovered. And what if I had new clients waiting to hear from me?
Questions like those are unpleasant, but unavoidable for the freelancer. I will say this--I've taken steps to protect my data by storing it off-site.
The service I'm using was recommended by a business associate. I don't want to make a personal endorsement, as I chose it largely because it was affordable, she operates a solo business (like me) and I trust her judgment. However, I noticed it wasn't mentioned in this PC World article, which identifies various options for data storage, so I will mention Mozy as another possibility. I'd recommend considering your options and doing something to protect yourself.
I will echo the author's sentiments that online data storage is not dirt cheap. However, if you limit it to what you need, even a lone freelancer can afford it. I wouldn't want to rely solely on the cheap solution of backing up on an external hard drive and storing it in the car. What if your car is in the garage when you have a fire? What if that hard drive goes bad? What if someone steals your car? The author also suggested keeping it in a safe deposit box at a bank, which might be safer, but is certainly less convenient.
In the end, you have to ask how much protection do you want, how easy do you want it to be and what are you willing to pay for it? Hopefully, my suggestions and the PC World article will give you food for thought.
As for the health issue . . . my thoughts on that to be continued.
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