Painful Lessons

The last 2 days have been unproductive. Why? Because I dropped my laptop on the floor. That is right, I didn't close the protective case and it fell to the floor. As a result I blew the inverter and apparently jarred something with the hard drive because I was instructed to insert the recovery CD's in order to start the PC. Well, I followed the recovery directions that would leave my data files intact. I was very happy to see that my business plan and other documents were accessible, but I could not restore MS Outlook. I know what you are thinking, "just use your backup". Well, I am embarrassed to say that I am meticulous about My Documents, but I was not meticulous about MS Outlook. Considering that I LIVE in MS Outlook, this was obviously a very serious issue.

The point of this recount is to remind and reassure everyone that experts don't know everything and that with diligence and clues you TOO can be an expert. My husband, Chris, is a tech guru. I had a January archive of MS Outlook, and he managed to pull it up even though we were getting a million registry errors. He showed me how to gain permissions in safe mode and how to unhide folders. Regardless, we were unable to locate the most current MS Outlook files. First I took the laptop to the Geek Squad in Best Buy. He informed me that the process to replace the inverter and retrieve "locked" files would take about a week and a half. Who has a week and a half to be without their source of livelihood. But it turns out that the Geek Squad guy was the most knowledgeable of all the "experts" with whom I spoke. He knew enough that even though access to a folder was denied and showed 0 bytes, that it was just a permission issue that could be resolved.

Next, I took it to a guy who was highly referred. He is a nice man, but when he clicked on a folder and saw the "permission denied" error, he threw up his hands. He DID point out something that Chris and I didn't know. He said that the Outlook files should be in Local Settings. Chris and I had been looking in Application Data. This repair person wanted to send my PC to a recovery expert. I quickly took my laptop and went to a local computer repair shop. They were no better. They just pointed to the Outlook files that I already knew existed and INSISTED that these were the only files. When I tried to point out to them that those were not the most current files, they also suggested that I send the laptop to their recovery expert at a cost of about $800 (and who knows how many days). I ended up ordering the inverter and taking my laptop back. I knew that I could solve this puzzle.

This is where a little knowledge is key. Now that I knew where to look for my Outlook files, I used all the skills that Chris taught me. I logged on in safe mode, gave myself permission to get to Local Settings - AND THE FILES WERE ALL THERE!! I have never felt such relief! I paid about $30 to do the work myself (because I was charged an "evaluation" fee by repair person #3).

So, lessons learned as a result of this experience:
1) Time and knowledge will help you solve almost anything
2) The experts don't know what you need them to know
3) Never Give Up!!

As we embark on launching Verify-crED, I am holding these lessons high. I feel quite unknowledgeable on how to do certain things for this launch, but I KNOW what needs to be done. Unlike with my PC, though, I don't want to spend hours and days hunting for expertise just to end up doing it myself. I also hope that I don't get duped by an "expert". It is the same feeling that I have when I go to an unfamiliar mechanic. I feel wary at times when someone unknown offers "solutions" because they realize that we have a great vision and a service/product with real profit opportunities. Up until this point we have been relying heavily on very knowledgeable friends who continue to steer us in the right direction, never ONCE saying "what are you going to do for me". We realize that soon we will have to go beyond our circle, especially as we pursue investment dollars.

So, in reality, these last 2 days were invaluable because I was forced to find a solution to a major problem, and I did it. The reminder that we can successfully do this launch has been very appreciated.