Why Backup Matters: A Hurricane Horror Story (EP 799)

[Uncle Marv]
All right, friends, here we are back again, day two at ASCII EDGE Orlando at the Hyatt at the Orlando Airport. And I've got a friend with me here, Laura Casper from Link Tech Computer Services out of the Tampa area. And we're just going to chat about some things here.

Have seen her and her husband, Troy, over several events as we tour around Florida. So glad to have you at the table here, Laura.

[Laura Casper]
Well, thank you. I can't believe I'm doing this.

[Uncle Marv]
Oh, you're fine. So you guys have a company on the West Coast. And I've chatted with you guys a couple of times.

So for the listeners, just tell us real quick, you know, the history of the company, what your services are and things of that nature.

[Laura Casper]
So we're a very small company. We work with small businesses of five to 30, 35 employees. And we're celebrating our 30th anniversary that yeah, Troy's had the company for, yes, the business is 30 and marriage is almost 28.

So big celebrations. Yes. So we're an MSP provider for small businesses.

We have a wide variety of clientele. And our big thing is we don't lose clients. Once they get the service that Troy gives them, they don't leave unless they go out of business.

But that's not our fault or retire or get shut down by a hurricane.

[Uncle Marv]
Yeah. Hurricanes. Yep.

I've tried to explain to people over the years that don't live in Florida, how living through hurricanes is one of the most interesting parts of our jobs. Yes. And as a matter of fact, you were telling me a while back about a hurricane story, although it really wasn't about the hurricane.

It was more about the client.

[Laura Casper]
Right.

[Uncle Marv]
Being a little stubborn.

[Laura Casper]
Right. On the thrifty side, let's say. So they had a employee that thought they knew computers.

[Uncle Marv]
Of course.

[Laura Casper]
And convinced them that they were overpaying us for our services because we wanted to get them off of on-prem into the cloud and have data backup not sitting on top of the physical server sitting in their office.

[Uncle Marv]
Let me guess. Tape backup or USB?

[Laura Casper]
I'm not really sure. I think it was USB. And then they also didn't want the cybersecurity and just kept cutting back more and more to the point where we had to let them go.

It wasn't safe for us to provide them service with the cuts that they wanted to make. Well, a month later, Hurricane Helene hit and they were in Tarpon.

[Uncle Marv]
Tarpon Bend. That's technically in between Tampa and Lakeland? No.

South of?

[Laura Casper]
It's right at the Pinellas-Pasco border area, but it's on the water, so it's Tarpon Springs. And Tarpon Avenue had six feet of water across the main street that their office was on and their server was underwater. Everything was underwater.

And Troy got the call of, hey, can you get our data back? So he waited for the water to recede, went to the office, he's not that for somebody that is no longer a client, but he went and he tried to retrieve it, but he plugged it in and it started smoking.

[Uncle Marv]
So that was a no-go.

[Laura Casper]
That was a no-go.

[Uncle Marv]
Now, I know of certain situations where, you know, people would have information a month later. Were you doing any backup for them at all before you dismissed them as a client?

[Laura Casper]
They got the backup that he had had previously, but they had stopped doing off-prem backup like three months before that. So he got them like six months back type of thing. I think they just cut and run and took the government buyout and I think, yeah.

Wow.

[Uncle Marv]
I mean, that's a perfect example of a client that doesn't listen. And I mean, that's one of the things, so, you know, I have attorneys as my clients and the biggest thing is, you know, they understand that if they can't work for an hour, how much that costs them.

[Laura Casper]
Yeah.

[Uncle Marv]
So that's how they judge things. A lot of businesses don't. I do have a couple of businesses that resist any sort of real backup, but I just tell them, look, you don't do that, I'm not supporting you.

[Laura Casper]
Right.

[Uncle Marv]
And it's rough.

[Laura Casper]
Yeah.

[Uncle Marv]
Kudos for you guys for, you know, stepping away because they could have really...

[Laura Casper]
Yeah. Yeah. I think that is the only client that we've had to say, like, we can't support you if you're not going to be secure.

In this day and age, we're making those calls now. Like, if you're not going to be secure, we can't support you.

[Uncle Marv]
Right. So you're one of the real MSPs, like me, that are supporting customers with on-prem servers.

[Laura Casper]
We're trying to get away from that.

[Uncle Marv]
You know, I...

[Laura Casper]
But sometimes, you know, it is... They're at the point where that's what's working for them.

[Uncle Marv]
Yeah.

[Laura Casper]
And until it's not working for them, they're not ready to make that switch.

[Uncle Marv]
Yeah.

[Laura Casper]
And as long as we can get it as secure, then that's what we're doing.

[Uncle Marv]
Yeah. I've got places where the vendors won't go into the cloud, so they have to have servers. Right.

And, I mean, I'm fine with it as long as we can do proper backups and they can do other stuff in the cloud, like get their mail, get remote access, and that sort of thing. So I'm not terribly worried about that.

[Laura Casper]
Yeah.

[Uncle Marv]
As long as the vendor supports them, as long as the customer stays up to date with their hardware.

[Laura Casper]
And that's, yeah, that's a big... That's the big push.

[Uncle Marv]
All right.

[Laura Casper]
So as that hardware comes to end of life, that's when we're making... Letting them make that transition versus forcing them to make a transition when they're not ready. Right.

Or they don't have to. Right. So...

But another hurricane thing...

[Uncle Marv]
Uh-oh.

[Laura Casper]
Is... So we... The business has been here, but we lived out in Washington State as well.

[Uncle Marv]
Right.

[Laura Casper]
And then we were back and forth. So when we were in Washington, everybody's leaving Florida because of the hurricanes. I would fill the suitcase with rations and water and everything like that.

And Troy would fly down to make sure he was here where his clients needed him after the hurricane. So that was several years of doing that. But now we're here full time.

So...

[Uncle Marv]
So you got wooed back to Florida.

[Laura Casper]
The kids grew up, moved out, and COVID shut me down. I'm a private... I'm a behavior analyst.

So I was working in homes and community programs. So COVID shut me down and paying for two houses. We moved to the one where the business...

Gotcha. Where the business pays the bills.

[Uncle Marv]
Gotcha. Gotcha. Now, is it a priority of you guys to focus on those businesses, you say, 5 to 30-ish, 5 to 35?

[Laura Casper]
Yes.

[Uncle Marv]
Is that your sweet spot?

[Laura Casper]
Yes. Yep. We like to have that intimate relationship with the clients.

We like to know them, get to know their employees. They're not just a number. Right.

We actually value our clients. It's not just another person, you know? And when you call, you're gonna get a person.

So we have a service issue.

[Uncle Marv]
So do you keep your client numbers low in terms of the number of clients you have? Or are you scaling like everybody else?

[Laura Casper]
We're scaling like everybody else. You know, to continue to grow, you gotta get more clients. But we don't wanna grow so fast that we lose touch.

And so that's where we're at.

[Uncle Marv]
Okay. And how big is the company now between you, Troy, and the techs?

[Laura Casper]
So Troy, me, we've got level one, level two, answering phones, and then our daughter has a business degree, so she also does consulting with us and helps on kind of the back end of it, website and putting together marketing materials, that type of thing.

[Uncle Marv]
Nice.

[Laura Casper]
So she and I are working on that end. Troy is everything IT.

[Uncle Marv]
Okay. Very nice. Very nice.

So I got out of the employee game a while back. I just went to subcontractors only. That works for us.

And I do the same thing. I keep the numbers low, and my customers like the fact that they call, we answer.

[Laura Casper]
Yep.

[Uncle Marv]
They know who answers, and they know that we know their stuff.

[Laura Casper]
Exactly. Yeah. Yeah.

So the Starlink.

[Uncle Marv]
Starlink, yes. We were talking about that. Of course, Rhythms is a partner of the IT Business Podcast, but here in Florida, again, when we have hurricanes, we have outages, I don't know about your power company, but Florida Power & Light, Right.

U.S. and Lauderdale, yeah, we still have outages.

[Laura Casper]
Right, right. So for Hurricane Milton, I was actually in Minnesota, and since there was already major power outages everywhere from Helene still recovering from that, we bought Starlink kits. And, of course, everywhere in Florida was sold out, but I was in Minnesota who didn't have a hurricane.

So he purchased the Starlink kits at Home Depot in Minnesota. I stopped and picked him up, and then we brought him back on the plane to get him back in time, and then he provided those kits to our clients that had generators. So they were able to get up and running with their generator, but that meant they still had no Internet, so we got them set with the Starlink kits, and they were able to get up and running and be able to function and service their clients.

One of them was an air conditioning company, so they were very busy. So that was critical for getting them up and running again.

[Uncle Marv]
Okay. Now, did you sell them the Starlink kits, or do you guys keep them and just give them out as needed?

[Laura Casper]
Yep, we went and picked them up when they got their Internet back. We went and picked them up again. We gave it to them, let them use it free of charge while they needed it, and then we have them for the next season.

[Uncle Marv]
It's coming. I know the kits themselves aren't cheap, so I would imagine you're charging them something at some point, or do you just let them have it?

[Laura Casper]
We did not charge them for using it. They were in a bind. We're going to be there for our clients, and like I said, we got them back for the next season of who needs it the next time.

[Uncle Marv]
Right. Now, when Starlink gets the one service, you can literally turn on and turn off, and so in terms of the account for each of the devices, do you maintain the account, or does the customer have to initiate their own account while they use it and then turn it off when they're done?

[Laura Casper]
They initiated their own account, and it was free. During Hurricane Milton. During the Hurricane Milton, afterwards, the service was free for I don't remember how long, but, yeah, so they were able to get up and running and didn't ask them anything.

[Uncle Marv]
Cool. How many of those are you guys keeping?

[Laura Casper]
He did sell a couple afterwards, but I think we still have three.

[Uncle Marv]
Okay. Well, that's a pretty good thing to have, and I'm sure they were very appreciative.

[Laura Casper]
Yes. Yes, and that is how we retain our clients.

[Uncle Marv]
Okay. How did your accountant ask you to code the purchase? Because it's a client cost, but you're not getting reimbursed or charging?

[Laura Casper]
It's not looked at as a client cost. It's more of an inventory, asset inventory, product inventory.

[Uncle Marv]
Nice. All right. Very nice stories.

So all the things you can learn going through a hurricane here in Florida.

[Laura Casper]
Yeah. And take your computers off of the floor. Any equipment should not be left on the floor.

[Uncle Marv]
So most of my clients, we have a checklist, and they actually take theirs off of the floor and put them on top of the desk.

[Laura Casper]
Right, right.

[Uncle Marv]
However, four to six feet of water I don't think would have mattered.

[Laura Casper]
That would not have mattered at that one, no. But there's plenty where it's two to three feet.

[Uncle Marv]
Right.

[Laura Casper]
Just put it on the desk. Unplug it.

[Uncle Marv]
Yeah.

[Laura Casper]
Unplug it and put it on the desk.

[Uncle Marv]
Now, do you guys actually have a checklist for all your clients of what they should do during the hurricane? That is a really, really good idea. Because that's what I do.

I mean, we literally have a checklist that they get. We actually go into weather watch mode, like Brian Norcross mode.

[Laura Casper]
I don't know if you remember him.

[Uncle Marv]
And, you know, as the storm is announced, as it gets upgraded, we have different stages. And we literally, after each of the major updates, we do check-ins with all the clients. They're like, is it time?

Is it time? And I'll tell them, yes, it's time. Shut down.

[Laura Casper]
If you're in a mandatory evacuation, get your stuff up.

[Uncle Marv]
And we go through all that. And we actually time it out so that we do an unscheduled backup as they're packing up the desktop. So I can tell them, all right, you're shutting down.

I'm going to start the backup. And when it's over, we'll shut everything down. And call us when you're back.

[Laura Casper]
Yeah. That's a really good idea. Most of our clients are not they've been through it, you know.

So they know. Right. That one in particular, to give them credit, Tarpanavu has never flooded like that before.

So it was.

[Uncle Marv]
I was going to say, Hurricane Milton was one of the weird ones where the west side of the state was in a very big panic, especially if you're along Tampa Bay area. Right. With the anticipated surge coming up the bay.

Right. So, yeah, it was interesting. And I remember Lakeland because I've got a client that has an office there.

They were spared. Yeah. But there were others that lost power, got flooded, that sort of thing.

[Laura Casper]
Well, and there was days after that it flooded in places that had not flooded before. Because we had so much rain, our pond in the back went up about six feet of, like six feet of water in a pond. That's a lot of water.

Well, all those ponds connect and flow out and go into the river. Yeah. And that's what ended up flooding, like, the New Port Richey area.

[Uncle Marv]
Wow. Very interesting. So.

All right. Well, Laura, thank you very much for spending your time. I know that we've gone all over with the hurricanes and stuff.

Any advice you'd give to any other companies, whether it comes to, you know, running their business, dealing with clients or anything to do here with ASCII?

[Laura Casper]
I'm just starting to get involved with ASCII, the support or not peer groups.

[Uncle Marv]
Peer groups.

[Laura Casper]
The SPARC. The SPARC, yes. And definitely learning a lot there.

So if you are an ASCII member, I definitely suggest joining one of those groups, getting involved. I'm in the women's group now.

[Uncle Marv]
Okay.

[Laura Casper]
So just getting, you know, off the ground with that. So that's been very helpful since I'm not the IT. I'm more on the running the business aspect of it.

So it's been really helpful to have that.

[Uncle Marv]
You know, I should have asked you that because, I mean, your other business before COVID, the year of our COVID. So are you, like, the last four or five years, have you just been getting integrated into the business or were you involved any before then?

[Laura Casper]
I mean, I've been married to the business.

[Uncle Marv]
My wife's been married to the business too.

[Laura Casper]
I've been married to the business, you know, for like 30 years. But as far as really starting to try to understand more, I'm trying to learn enough to know. But not going to be the one to do any of these, you know, I'm not going to do a ticket.

[Uncle Marv]
Right.

[Laura Casper]
But I know we have a ticket system.

[Uncle Marv]
Well, I mean, but are you going to be the one that would actually go out and do the networking, getting business? Are you, you know, letting Troy be the tech and the operations?

[Laura Casper]
We're working on that.

[Uncle Marv]
Okay.

[Laura Casper]
We're working on that. And I think it would be a good idea to have that separation so it's not just Troy. But, actually, Caitlin is probably going to be doing a lot more of the business meetings with the clients and saying, like, here's the packages, and this is where, you know, we think we can help you, and this is the security that you need to have.

[Uncle Marv]
Nice, nice. So it is going to be an entire family deal.

[Laura Casper]
Yes. Yep.

[Uncle Marv]
All right.

[Laura Casper]
And maybe Justin will get on board with his marketing degree, but he's got a full-time job.

[Uncle Marv]
Okay. All right. Well, Laura, thank you very much.

It looks like we're getting ready for a break here. I'll let you get back into the meetings. But thank you for sharing some time with me.

Thank you so much. All right, folks. We'll be back with more from ASCII Edge in Orlando.

See you soon. Holla.