Yesterday, the server was down. I briefly contemplated hurling myself off the Lions Gate Bridge. I knew that when the paramedics were called, someone would say, “What’s going on?” and someone else would say, “She got one too many Error 404 messages,” and the other guy would just nod his head knowingly, “Ah, the 404…”

Our head geek told us that he’d never seen a database quite so corrupted.  Our database is smoking and listening to Marilyn Manson?! How did THAT happen? What kind of other databases has it been hanging around?

As you may or may not know, I am not naturally technical. But I have learned many things through trial and error. I actually know what HTML is, and (gasp) have a vague notion of what <div id=”floatclear”> </div> means. I’m lying. I don’t really know what that means, just that it seems to be fairly critical, and punctuation is waaaay more important than your English teacher said.

I’ve seen people freak out before, yelling THE SERVER IS DOWN! and thought, “Well, then pick it up, dust it off, and start over! Sheesh, what’s WRONG with these people?”. But apparently, it’s not that simple. Index files need to be deleted then regenerated, master files restored, backups made and the army called in. It’s no small thing.

Yesterday, on our own private state of emergency, we all realized how much we rely on brilliant programmers to make things run smoothly. And like everything, you never really notice how well things work until they don’t. Programmers: I bow to you. You control the universe. You know that, right? Because, heck, if you can read this - somebody did their job right!

Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain.
The Wizard of Oz

Getting Started is the Hardest Part

This post is the first in a regular series I’ll be writing about practical tips for incorporating technology into your business. We’ve got a lot of small business owners and entrepreneurs reading our website, so we thought it would be helpful to reveal some of what goes on behind the curtain.

I’ve been thinking a lot recently about how impenetrable tech-related things are for many small businesses, so my intention here is to simplify the overwhelming list of things you could do into lists that you can start with today and see real results from tomorrow.

It also drives me completely crazy to experience first-hand the way that a lot of IT support firms and contractors treat small businesses. From ridiculous hourly rates to recommending unnecessary and expensive services, it often feels like there is an entire industry predicated on keeping entrepreneurs in the dark and feeling trapped by the complexity of technology.