What happens with your online biz if you’re ill…

I know I’ve been quiet this couple of weeks (not that anyone has probably noticed), but I’ve been dying from toothache if that is at all possible. I had some root canal work done over a week ago, subsequently developed an infection and have been in raging pain ever since with my face resembling that of a hamster. My bed and a hot water bottle plus some heavy duty pain killers (and boy did they need to be heavy duty) have been my constant companions. I just wanted to bury my way into my pillows and die in peace and quiet…

I think I can cautiously say I’m on the mend now, it still twangs like a berserk violin but only occasionally, I ‘m optimistic that my painkillers are starting to fight it into submission and I’ll soon be back to normal. Who would ever guess toothache could be so agonising, my husband had an infection last year and I hardly had any sympathy, I feel really mean now…

So whilst I was busy being traumatised by toothache what happened to my online biz, did it dry up?

Well I’m happy to say, no it didn’t and whilst I was in pain it was still churning out those lovely paypal payments that we all love to see dropping into our inbox.  So at least I had some comfort through the agonizing haze that my recent hard work hadn’t been completely in vain!!!

That’s the beauty of online marketing because once you have everything set up and automated with good back up systems then you’re good to go and it doesn’t matter if you are poorly because you can take comfort from the thought that all your hard work wasn’t in vain and at least you’ll have a crust or 3 to put on the table.

I was talking to a dear online friend the other day who suffered a serious illness last Christmas which put him in hospital for nearly a month, he’s still struggling to recover even now, though he’s getting there slowly and something he said to me really resonated. “Thank God for my membership sites because they’ve kept us going with a healthy income whilst I’ve I’ve been laid so low”. (Or words to that effect).

And he’s right because if you structure your online business correctly you can be ill and know it’s still bringing in an income, and lets face it, knowing your money worries are minimised goes a long way to ensuring your recovery is helped.

So how do you structure your biz so it can manage without you?

Well for a start, you need to automate as much of it as you can. things for instance like emails to your lists, (get them uploaded so they get them in a timely manner). It’s something I’ve been really lax with to be honest, My subscriber list is growing nicely but I don’t have much in place that I’ve automated so its something I need to look at.

Make sure your sales process is flawless, test all your links etc. We always test our payment links live just for a dollar. (I’m never convinced for instance that PayPal sandbox works as it should). There’s nothing wrong in being anal about testing stuff.

Get yourself decent partners who are still there when your unable to be. I’m lucky this didn’t happen during our recent launch, but if it had, then everything would have been just fine as Richard would have just taken over to ensure everything was running smoothly.

Get yourself a decent helpdesk (One preferably without gremlins) There are a lot of really decent ones out there that don’t cost a dime. Hesk is quite a good and I believe Zend has a good reputation.

I read a few months ago an article from some marketer about why he won’t use a desk. (Something weird about it distancing him from his customers), but if you don’t, then you’re crazy especially if you have multiple products. You’ll also need a desk if you employ others to help you out with support. (I wouldn’t be without mine).

Also if you can afford it get yourself some help. I’ve got 2 fantastic folks working with me and to be honest if I didn’t have them then there is no way I’d be able to have an offline life, they both make it much easier for me to enjoy working on IM.

There’s obviously a lot of other stuff out there that assists you in making your biz work as smoothly as it can, but that should help out for starters