Communication is incredibly important in business. Speak to them and encouragingly explain to them how they can do better.

I should press charges and contact your insurance company. If it was just a wiped drive, your insurance company may cover data recovery services. They should also be advised due to this being a data breach. You may also want to contact your attorney for additional advice on how to proceed with both the former employee and the data that they potentially stole. Until you have the drive analyzed, you don’t know if it’s a replacement. They may have kept a copy of the data before wiping the drive or if they swapped out the drive for a new one. In the case of the latter, they very well may have retained the drive.

Over 2 decades in business and I had good friends trying to get me to go back to being a janitor for the local school system just because of the benefits. It quite honestly bordered on insulting. Throw away 20+ years in business and a very large pay cut to go back to mopping up piss in the boy’s room, not out of necessity, but simply for benefits? Some people are unable to understand or appreciate being in business for one’s self.

Maybe collaborate with a local nursery to run classes on growing and caring for plants? Or collaborate with local artists to hold events to highlight their handmade products and get their followers in the door?

You could also try geofencing to serve up mobile ads to local foot and car traffic.

I wouldn’t say these were things I learned in my first year of business as a web developer but over the years.

1. It’s OK to fire clients.
2. It’s OK to not take a client on.
3. The clients who are willing to pay the least can also take up a lot of your time and/or cause the most headaches
4. If you provide a service, have a contract.
5. Don’t be afraid to collaborate with other businesses, including your competitors.
6. If you join a Chamber or a business association, you get out what you put in. It doesn’t automatically lead to new customers. You have to show up to events and become known. Volunteer and form connections. Have a ribbon cutting.

This year has been slower with longer wait times for getting paid. It feels like the beginning of the 2010-2014 years for my business which was tough going.