Last week I heard the news from a member of the SEO Revolution that Martin Preece had passed away. Death sucks. If you don’t know who Martin was, he was a great SEO and focused on marketing and designing sites for small businesses. He always exceeded expectations and it was my honor to have known him.

When I got the news I was just finishing my daily run which ends by the lake. As I sat there I snapped this picture.

While it is tough to lose someone you know well, what is tougher is the job of those who are left behind, especially since Martin owned a web business. I received a call today from the person in charge of his estate who was contacting all the companies Martin was doing business with trying to get accounts shut down and clients notified. She was overwhelmed to say the least.

This isn’t the easiest question to ask yourself, but how prepared are you for your own death? And I’m not talking about having enough life insurance or setting up a trust or a will. I mean, if you died tomorrow, what would happen to your business? Could someone run it for you or would it be shut down? How easy would it be for someone to know where all your servers were, passwords, accounts, contacts, etc.?

I’ll be honest, it would be a literal nightmare if I passed away tomorrow for someone or a group of people to figure out how I have things set up, as I have servers everywhere. My wife does have a list of people to call in the event of my death to keep things running for a period, but even though these people are very smart, for them to figure out how I do things, would be next to impossible.

So, today, I am going to take the time to document my processes and put them in a safe deposit box. While that may seem over the top, I don’t want my death to cause more stress and pain than it needs to. I do wish the best to Martin’s family, especially his ailing mother who he was taking care of. We lost a good one in our community and he will be missed.

Innovation is hard to find these days. Creativity is almost dead in many spaces – especially in web design where pre-made templates seem to rule. You want a company that can not only get the job done, but “think outside the box” much like this dog owner did. Yeah, you can insert your own “cargo not properly tied down” joke, but the bottom line is, this picture is a great example of doing what it takes to solve a problem.

And I guarantee the woman who solved this problem is also very confident in herself as well.

So, what does this have to do with web design? Plenty. You see, if you outsource any part of your business, it all comes down to the fact that you not only have someone who is capable of doing the job within your budget, but they also have the talent and skill to find workable solutions for you so your stress level stays at a minimum.

Trust me, nothing is worse that when you have to micro-manage an outsourced company. I mean, if you are spending so much time managing the project, why are you doing it yourself?

My recommendation? Scott Baker who owns DiscountWebDesigner.com. I’ve known Scott for about five years and if I didn’t have my own in-house designer, I’d use Scott.

This is a legit recommendation. No affiliate link and Scott isn’t paying me for this recommendation. Scott will give you a free consultation to discuss your needs in detail. Review his work and give him a call. Often what is keeping you from success is a solid web design.