As a freelancer, you enjoy the freedom of not working for a boss, not having set work hours (unless you set them yourself) and not having to give credit to anyone when things go right. The downside is that you also have to give credit to yourself when things go wrong. And things will go wrong. I’m sure every freelancer with a year or more under their belt can tell a horror story about how they’ve lost files, contacts or other important documents because they weren’t careful enough to back things up and make sure there was a security system in place for their business – myself included.
So in today’s article I want to discuss the many ways you can back up your freelance life – and why you should. We’ll be covering offline back ups, online back ups and back ups that are a mixture of technology and a bit of good old fashioned business sense. One of the main reasons I am writing this article is because of a recent issue I had, and a restless, sleepless night that followed, which caused me to jump into high gear and get things set up for myself and my business. The peace of mind that comes with it is priceless, I assure you.
First, lets look at some offline backups
The first thing I want to discuss is the one item that caused me so much headache and worry – offline back ups of your files. You know, those important files like Photoshop designs for your clients, contracts, stock images you’ve spent months (or years) compiling, brushes, fonts and so on.