I had read all the reviews (both good and bad), and had set aside a few hours for the download and install just to be sure that I would have time spare and not be attempting to get work done on an unavailable machine. Thus I decided that a weekend would be the best bet.

I backed everything up via Time Machine on Friday before I left the office and proceeded with the download and install when I got home. All went well until I noticed that the ‘time remaining’ status bar was hanging at around 32 minutes for some time. Thinking nothing of it I left the laptop for a while and came back around 1 hour later- still 32 minutes left! Not wanting to stress I gave it a little more time and was then presented with a message saying that installation had failed and I should try again. No big deal… right???

Upon restarting my laptop the installation kicked off again automatically which I was impressed with. It want through all the standard screens, but I was then presented with a message what most computer users would never want to see. It went something along the lines of- Mac Lion can not be installed on this Hard Drive as it is corrupted. Still holding my cool (ever so slightly), I followed the prompts to disk utility and ran various tests and repairs. Nothing seemed to be working and thus I headed for the phone and apple customer support (patting myself on the back that I purchased AppelCare extended warranty only 2 weeks before).

The support guys were great, although they had not come across this particular issue previously. Several calls, tests and hours later it came down to a situation you never want o be in- wipe the hard drive and start again!!!!

Not being at the office and with my backup drive I held out until Monday and went through the VERY scary process of erasing my hard drive and reinstalling Lion. This all went flawlessly, and I then proceeded to bring my backed up data from Time Machine to my laptop. This process took around 8 hours, as well as reimporting all my mail from 2 Google Apps accounts with around 8 gig of emails.

The process was a stark reminder of why backing up your data is so vital, it also made me think more about a backup plan in the even it happens again.

For most people, backing up their computer is an arduous task that at best involves connecting an external drive every so often to their computer and ‘remembering’ to open some proprietary backup program and do a backup. This is not to mention that the backup drive sits next to their computer. The very same place that a single power surge, theft, fire or accident can wipe the 2 out in one fowl swoop.

Statistics on data loss are varied, but a report by StollzNow Research, Kroll Ontrack & IDG found a few interesting things:

- 49% of businesses reported data loss in the last two years

- 49% of small businesses do not backup their data on a daily basis

- Hardware failure & human error accounts for 78% of all data loss

- According to the US Archives and Records Administration,  93% of the companies that lost their entire data for 10 days or more filed for bankruptcy within one year of the disaster and 50% of businesses that found themselves without data management for this same period of time filed for bankruptcy immediately.

For any business, some form of back and recovery procedure is essential. This is often handled by IT departments or external companies, and in many cases even something is better than nothing.

But what do you do if you don’t have an IT department or if you are a much smaller business or a sole trader/ freelancer???

The answer is simple- you don’t use that as an excuse!!!

Data loss and downtime will affect you by an order of magnitude when you are on your own in business. Not having anyone else to blame or fall back on will make such a situation even harder to deal with.

Not sure who coined the term (I first heard it from Peter Krogh when he was on MacBreak Weekly , but I am an avid believer in the 3-2-1 Rule for backup. Put simply the way to remember how to backup is as follows:

- 3 copies of everything that you want to keep safe

- 2 different types of media should be used (online, hard drive, DVD disc, external drive, etc…)

- 1 of these should be off-site (i.e. backup drive at the home and office, off-site backup storage or an online backup service such as Carbonite

Once you have some form of backup procedure in place you need to stick to it, and at regular intervals test your backups. No point making backups if they don’t work when you need them.

Depending on what software and services that you use, you might already have online backups of your data with various SAAS (Software As A Service) providers. Online accounting applications such as Xero and Sassu or hosted email services such as Google Apps keep a copy of your data in the cloud and thus an additional backup should data loss occur on your computer. There are many other online services that you might use that have some portion of your data stored online. The trick is know what services store what data, and how you can get it back in the event of a disaster.

One major factor that is often not considered in a backup plan, is what you will do whilst you are in the process of recovering your data. This might be something as simple as email loss and re-downloading it from a server, through to loss or damage of your actual computer hardware.

If you hardware needs to be repaired how will you run your business without it for a week? Can you survive just on a smartphone or iPad- unlikely for more than a day.

Having some type of backup hardware can be a lifesaver in situation like this. Even if it just allows you to get online and access your email and the web in a somewhat normal fashion (i.e. not on a small phone screen), then you can have a measure of productivity whilst you are getting back up to to 100%.

I was forced to work off my iPhone for the entire day when I was recovering all of my data. I managed to borrow a bluetooth keyboard from someone in the office and could at least type faster, but doing anything other than emails was painfully slow.

I now have an old netbook sitting on a bookcase in the office. It is slow, runs windows (yes I am a Mac guy) and has a small screen, but it works and can be up and running in 2 minutes if my main machine is out of action again for whatever reason.

Backing up is often though if as flossing your teeth. We all know we should be doing it, but most of us never remember to, or can’t be bothered. It is only after a disaster (or very expensive trip to the dentist) that we think about it.

If you haven’t got at least a basic backup plan for your business, do yourself a favour and start now.

The year did not start off the best by any stretch of the imagination. I had a regular meeting with a manager and his first words (first day back) were ‘your position has been made redundant’. For anyone else that has ever been in this position you will know what I mean when I say that it is like the world stands still and you are looking back at yourself. The sheer shock of the statement, coupled with the timing was the timing, was a real head spinner.

To give a little more perspective to my situation at the time, I had just taken our business unit through an audit process that had taken me the better part of 2 months to prepare for. We passed with flying colours just prior to the Christmas break. There was also the rather large issue of our second baby on the was in 3 months, and facing a situation with 2 parents not working was a scary fact.

At some point several weeks later I made the decision to start my own business within the research industry. It is something I probably jumped into a lot quicker that I should have, but from what everyone says it’s the only was to do it. Had I not, I would still be contemplating things. Setting up a company and having a second child in the same few weeks is not really something that I would recommend to most, but it was just another step in a wild ride for 2009.

In March we were greeted with our lovely baby daughter with a smile that just lights up a room. Even when I was sitting up for nights on end figuring how I would pay the bills (and I still do at times), her smile at those night feeds and early morning wake ups would make it all worthwhile.

Towards the middle of the year things started to settle down with Demi sleeping better and the business taking on that magical second and then third client. It is amazing what a different feeling it is when you have more than one client, you go from a virtual employee to a business.

The support that I received from family and friends throughout the year has been without a doubt a life saver. The other groups that have been an amazing source of motivation and inspiration have been the people who attend the @CoffeeMornings. I started attending only this year, and have met such a vast array of people that have really helped replace an office social environment that I miss.

It was at this meet up that Gavin Heaton (better know as the Servant of Chaos) asked me to participate in the Man Week campaign being conducted by Triple J and the Inspire Foundation to help men talk about their feelings and to combat issues faced by young male- specifically depression and suicide. I started with this post, and then a second post for the Man Week campaign, and ended up culminating in The Perfect Gift for a Man book.

If you asked me at the beginning of 2009 if I thought I would have my own company and have contributed to a book to help change peoples lives, I would have told you to switch to decaf.

It has been extremely hard work with the business in the first year, but is has also been incredibly rewarding. Having control over my environment and knowing that when I work harder I seen the fruits of my labour, is a very satisfying thing. Instantly becoming the Director, Sale Manager, Marketing Manager, IT Manage, HR Manager, CTO, CFO and Receptionist is a bit of a culture shock as well.

So now I am sitting on the couch at what is almost the end of a VERY interesting year. New child, new business, new life and more. It all started with bad news at the beginning of the year and has ballooned into nothing but positive energy.

Ask you self- if the same thing would happen to you next year, what would you make of it?

As always my first priority is to find some open and free wifi to connect to and get some work done- this is where things got interesting. There were several networks locked down, and the only one without security was of all things the RTA traffic routers at the intersection. To my astonishment there was no security on this access point and I was freely able to connect and access the web. I could have tethered my iPhone for some 3G access, but this is cumbersome, and in many cases the wifi will always give better access and stability. I have gone to some decent lengths to be able to work more freely without it costing me (much) more. I even downgraded the OS on my iPhone so that I could use tethering for 3G access when WiFi is not available.

This got me thinking about how hard it is to get decent web access when out, and why cafes still do not see it as an advantage to offer such a service.

There are a few VERY smart cafes in the city and the east that have put in wifi to varying degrees. Some have a cumbersome log in procedure whilst others simply have the network wide open. Others are doing an interesting experiment and offering the access outside of peak times (lunch and dinner) to promote trade in those periods.

Whatever the decision, I can simply say this- if there are 2 cafes in an area I need to work in and one has wifi and the other does not, guess where I am parking myself!!!

Just a little food for thought for cafe owners looking to drum up some extra business.

We have all experienced it. The lazy shop attendant, the rude waiter, the shopkeeper that just doesn’t think his business even needs customers.

Our experience with these people and businesses often leave a lasting impression for a variety of reasons. In some cases we actually made a purchase from said business either out of necessity or the need to keep one’s sanity whilst the kids are screaming all the way through Westfield.

What often does not leave a lasting impression for us is when we have a positive customer service experience either pre, during or post purchase. Is this because we have come to expect a level of mediocrity in service that we only care to remember the disastrous and not the pleasant and helpful?

My recent experience in needing to purchase a new television (my beloved plasma died in a power surge) is not only a poster-child for the negative above, but a shining example for the positive.

Like many tech lovers out there, I relish the opportunity to purchase a new item and enjoy researching the various options available as well as digesting all manner of opinions and reviews. Having a short period of time to do my research when our TV departed this world, I went straight to the review blogs and hit up friends on Twitter for all manner of recommendations.

Within a few hours I had read all the reviews I could handle, and the tweets were coming in thick and fast recommending particular brands and answering the eternal question of Plasma vs. LCD (I went for Plasma).

Armed with the latest product knowledge from reviews and recommendations, I headed up to the Local Westfield to see what the local retailers had and if there were any decent specials. I visited David Jones, Myers, Harvey Norman, Dick Smith, Bing Lee and JB HiFi- this is where things got interesting.

Only 2 of the retailers even had staff interested in talking to customers, and of those only one was helpful. This ended up being on of the most positive buying experiences. The sales rep at JB HiFi was incredibly knowledgeable and honest (a rear quality). He mentioned reviews on blogs that I had read, and swayed me away from a more expensive product as it’s advantages were not worth the cost. I ended up receiving a good price for the unit and made the purchase on the spot.

Such a positive experience can leave a lasting impression on a consumer for years to come and cement the foundations of a positive and ongoing relationship with the brand. Additionally what many organisations, big and small, fail to understand is that one happy customer is worth a hundred more if they talk about their experience (the same is also true for the negative- with negative consequences).

In an age where conversation happens at the speed of light, and positive and negative experiences and feeling are shot around Twitter in an instant, organisations must pull out the proverbial finger to make sure that their customer service and overall customer experience is not just satisfactory but extraordinary.

It also got me thinking about the power of an individual in starting something from nothing (watch the video and you will see what I mean).

Interested to hear of some great examples you can think of where an individual started something brilliant.

Leave a comment and let me know.

Either way, the very interesting fact is that it has made many people think definitely about social media and traditional media in general. Did this even change your views?

It will be interesting to watch the numbers with the eventual release of IE8.

This year has again seen some great ones from the likes of Mumbrella and News.com.au.

For a few more from this year, check out the Mumbrella article.