But first, why a countdown timer?
Glad you asked!
It's a reminder to you that the Pro Plus All-Theme Pack is a one-time payment only through March. Then it changes to recurring.
You have a few days left. Don't forget.
Do you know where the term, “bite the bullet,” came from? I do because I watched Gunsmoke growing up.
Literally, a man who had been shot would bite down on a bullet while the “doctor” (more like a butcher) would take a “sterilized” knife and dig bullets out of him.
No pain killers. No anesthesia.
Just whiskey and bullets. And maybe pretty Miss Kitty to look at right before you passed out from the pain.
No, I didn't get shot over Easter weekend. But I figuratively bit the bullet and bought a new computer.
Why? Well, a month or so ago, I averted a crisis (that manifested itself as 3 separate issues, all at once):
- Power supply died.
- Hard drive was making lots of thrashing noises.
- USB peripherals would suddenly and haphazardly either stop working or just work really janky.
Of course, the power supply was the one thing that made me take reactive action (I hate that). This happened late Friday afternoon. I think it was even a holiday weekend, if I'm not mistaken.
Got a new SSD boot drive. But those mysterious USB issues were still looming. I've dealt with this stuff long enough to know the motherboard was slowly failing.
Within the week, that cranky hard drive was really screeching. And then it died.
And things just. started. s l o w i n g d o w n . . .
I haven't bought a new PC for quite a few years. In the past, I always built my own. Then a few years ago I got lazy and had a local PC shop build a couple of mine.
This time, I bought a Dell. I know what you're thinking.
But it was a really good deal at Costco. Intel i7 6th gen, 16Gigs of RAM, a 4GB video card, 2TB 7200rpm SATA hard drive.
Not bad specs. And I had just had that 250Gb SSD installed in my “old” PC, so I re-purposed it and now it's my “boot drive.”
Nowadays, I store all my data on an external drive that syncs to Google Drive, so that all my devices can access any file any time PLUS all my critical files are stored in at least two places (that external drive and Google).
Plus, I use BackBlaze which backs up everything on my PC. In the cloud of course.
That is really for peace of mind. If I “lose” a file, I can always go get it there.
What does this have to do with anything?
It's about being prepared. Making investments when they make sense. Buying what you can afford, are comfortable with, and that you need.
It's that sort of thinking that makes you money. This PC is a necessity. It makes me money. I do most of my work on it.
And I was losing a lot of productivity by having to re-boot, wait for programs to load, and…ugh…
So I bit the bullet and bought a new computer.
Is there something you should invest in for your business that will make you money and/or save you from ripping out your hair?
I suggest there is. In fact, I've mentioned two very good investments you could make in your business in the last few posts.