What a whirlwind my life has been lately! A disastrous E3 tornado hit my hometown of Wynne, Arkansas, tearing our town apart. Luckily my family and friends are safe. I wanted to thank everyone for all the texts, calls and messages. It meant the world to me.
Our larger office is in Jonesboro, Arkansas. However, I have a two-room office in the local tech center. Our local high school was completely demolished. There is a small college located in the tech center, and they were happy to help by sharing unused classrooms with the high school students.
People seem to be everywhere, including the hallways. I was happy to help by letting them use one of my offices and wifi. They even needed a place for a news crew to come in, so I let the principal use my office.
As I saw many students in a large room studying on separate tables being taught by teachers, it reminded me of my grandma, who taught 12 grades in a one-room schoolhouse years ago. I had never seen this done before, but it was incredible how people will make it work.
The church I grew up in and still attend was damaged significantly down the road from me. There were over 92 homes that were destroyed and four lives lost. We are still recovering, but it’s amazing how many people from all over the world have been to our town to help, and it shows the true good in people.
One of the points that I wanted to make, especially for people that are business owners, is to have a backup plan. Today is a digital world; most things are backed up on secure servers nightly. However, I see that many people are still using pen and paper or old desktop programs. After 31 years of seeing people that have lost their data due to fires, tornadoes, floods, viruses, computer crashes, and so on, a backup plan is always best.
There are many advantages to using an online program versus an older desktop program. If you have an issue like the ones that I’ve mentioned, all you have to do is get onto another computer and log on. Your data is still there. If you’ve got an older program, it’s a matter of time before your computer crashes, and it most likely won’t install on a new computer. The older programs are just too outdated.
One of the luxuries of an online program is having many users on the program at once and working remotely. Your applicator can sync with the GPS in his plane while you send him information from your location. You can log on if you need to travel or stay home. These are only a few things I’ve heard from people.
Unfortunately, sometimes it takes something like this to happen to convince people. I hope that’s not the case for any of my AG friends because I hate seeing people in these circumstances.
Try to have a backup plan, even pen and paper, whatever your workflow. If something happens, you’ll feel more at ease, and your employees will too.
Y’all be safe.
