My punch-in-the-mouth day was last spring when my web developer informed me that one of the sites on the server was hacked (“hacking” is when programmers force their way into a web site’s code with malicious intent). This should have been no problem; they had detected it early and it was an isolated incident. I informed the client that we had everything under control, then I went about my day.
By the next morning, it was a full-scale disaster.
All of the sites on that server had been attacked by people on the other side of the world, bent on disrupting my life and livelihood and those of my clients. Even worse, they had changed the administrative passwords on all the sites, so we couldn’t even get in to fix them. My phone was ringing off the hook and I had no answers.
The next 4 months were a true test of patience, resolve, skill and faith. I’ve learned more about the technology behind web hosting and security than I ever wanted to know. It strained my client and vendor relationships, and cost me time and money. In fact, it made me question everything I thought I knew about myself and my ability to run a business. I had disappointed a lot of people, and I was devastated.
As it turns out, it was probably the best thing that ever happened to me. It exposed some key weaknesses in my business and forced me to address things that would have gone unaddressed until the next disaster.
Here are some of the important lessons I learned during the ordeal:
Deliver Bad News Early
As Donald Porter, V.P. of British Airways said, “Customers don’t expect you to be perfect.They do expect you to fix things when they go wrong.” It’s a hard thing to do, especially when people are upset and resources are limited. It’s especially hard when you can’t give a definitive date or time when the problem will be solved. But if business were easy, everybody would do it!
Know What Business You’re In
I thought I was in the design business, but I quickly found out that I was also in the Web Security business as well, which is something I hadn’t previously considered. But taking on the responsibility of web maintenance also meant being held accountable for keeping the sites functioning and safe.
Trust and Verify
When something like this happens, the knee-jerk reaction is to assign blame and make heads roll. However, business relationships aren’t always that simple. To make the right decision, I needed to know whether my vendor was honest and competent, so I did my own research. The more I found out about the situation, the more I realized that firing everybody was not the answer. We developed a plan for recovery from the situation and held them accountable for their part. We also implemented several security protocols to prevent this problem from happening again. Ultimately, it led to a more transparent relationship and a clearer understanding of their capabilities.
Accept the Consequences
Once the damage is done, not all relationships can be repaired. Unfortunately, we lost some clients because of what happened and the impact it had on their operation. In those cases, we had no choice but to accept their decision, assist them with a graceful transition, and learn the lesson.
Frankly, there are a lot of things I wish had happened differently; but in the end, we were all able to keep a serious setback from completely derailing our business, and we will be in a better position when (not if) the next challenge occurs.
What major setback have you been able to overcome in your life and business? What lessons did you take away from it? What did you gain from the experience?
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