Hey there digital business owner, virtual assistant or online entrepreneur. Technology is wonderful and as a business owner we use so many digital platforms everyday. I am here to tell you the 1 thing you need to do in your business today regarding those platforms and the tools to accomplish it!

BACK UP YOUR DATA!!

I have had the unfortunate pleasure of totally freaking out, when my computer took a complete crash recently. I am not sure if it was a virus or not (Facebook can give you pop up scams all the time-be careful, that always seems to be what I am logged into when weird things start happening). I have learned a hard lesson about making sure you always back up your files.

I started my morning as usual, but when I logged into my computer I noticed my sound driver was missing and I had no sound on my laptop at all. So, I did some Googling, which is my specialty, and realized that can happen after an update. I tried all the things they said to do, still nothing. My hubs is in IT, so I had him take a look, and we realized that we needed to do a complete restore!!!!!

WHAT!! OK, freak out #1, I’m going to lose all my docs and graphics if we do that. How am I going to work? My lifeline to my business is on this thing! OMG, this laptop isn’t even a year old!

Tool #1, GOOGLE DRIVE

First, I needed to take a walk…LOL. Once the fog cleared, I realized that my important items are all in Google Drive. This is THE best tool for online entrepreneurs, it’s free, and in the cloud for unlimited storage. I use Google Drive everyday. I have all my client documents saved to folders in my G-Drive that have been shared with me. I also keep spreadsheets, photos, and all my systems/processes in there. I proceeded to move any other important docs (downloads-word docs) to Google Drive so they wouldn’t be lost.

Tool #2 – Canva

Canva is an app/website that I create my Pin graphics, social media graphics, and even pdf’s/documents. All you need is an account and all your designs are stored with Canva. You can share designs and templates, upload directly to Pinterest, or even download finished graphics to your computer. There is a free version, but I use the Canva for Work due to my needs for creating and resizing images. The images I use to create these graphics were stored on my computer, so I had to move all the ones I wanted to save I moved to another awesome tool.

Tool #3 – Dropbox

This here is a lifesaver. Again another storage solution in the cloud, and you can share files and accept files from clients up to a certain storage capacity before you have to pay. I have my Dropbox organized into Folders for each client and store their images in these shared folders, so they have access to them as well.

After making sure my data and images were safe, we went ahead and proceeded to restore…and THEN IT WOULDN’T RESTART!!

We received the spinning wheel of death! Now, I am one to kinda overreact to things and I really started to panic, I knew my important items could be restored because they were in the cloud, but I freaked out because I am thinking OMG, did I do this? Did I open something I shouldn’t have? I am in and out of websites all day long, who the heck knows what I have done?! Needless to say, I did not work that evening and my sweet husband stayed up till 2 am trying to bring it back to life. Thankfully he worked his IT magic and it did finally come back up, we still didn’t have a sound driver, but hey I don’t need sound.

PS – we did install a new driver, the original just disappeared who knows!!

Now the long road ahead of reinstalling all my apps, extensions, and tools, and all the passwords. Oh My, how many passwords you need as a virtual assistant. Thank goodness for …

Tool #4 – LASTPASS

My saving grace!! LastPass is an extension you can add-on to your browser that acts like a vault to store all your logins safely. It can generate safe passwords, store digital records, and can share sensitive information safely. Because you should never text or email a password.  First and foremost, I needed to have that reinstalled to even begin to start working again. Once I logged in, I was back in action.

I would say if you work in the online space, LastPass is a must, they offer a free plan, and I know you will never forget another login. Again cloud storage, sharing capabilities, and security!!

LESSON LEARNED

So, moving forward, God willing we do not have another crash, I am a Cloud girl. I will be honest in the 9-5 world I used Word, Excel, etc. and there is a place for those systems, but due to the hackers and scammers out there in the internet abyss, YOU NEED TO BACK IT UP TO THE CLOUD!!

Daily, weekly, monthly, yearly. Take your pick. If you are not using a cloud system, why not? GO NOW, MOVE ALL YOUR IMPORTANT DOCUMENTS AND IMAGES!!!

I don’t want anyone to have to experience what I went thru, back up your stuff peeps…..and marrying the IT guy helps too!

IF YOU LOVE IT PIN IT!!

Hi, I’m Amy and I manage Pinterest for Creative Business Owners. I would love to work with you or if you ever have any questions about Pinterest shoot me an email, or you can check out our Services.

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