Can Your Online Business Survive a Mercury Retrograde?
Mercury is in retrograde for those of you who don’t know. It started on April 9th and lasts until May 3rd (2017). Its effects are not date-specific and may begin earlier or last slightly longer.
When it comes to your online business, the divide between the stars is the same.
If you are an astrology aficionado or a mercury retrograde follower, this explains everything. If you are in the camp of logic, control and the destiny of hard work, any disaster at this time is bad luck or the fault of someone or something else.
Early in my career, I lived in lower Manhattan in a small building. One tenant was an astrologer, and more Wall Street “suits” came through the door than us few tenants. It made me wonder about the relevancy of their statistical analysis and were they hedging their forecasting bets with a visit to the lady upstairs.
Alas, it was career path not chosen. Nevertheless, the interest by the businessmen at that time was not lost on me. From time to time during my business career when things went wrong, the quintessential explanation was whispered “mercury’s in retrograde”, end of discussion.
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How Much Should You Pay Attention to a Mercury Retrograde?
That depends.
If you view your business as a product of your sole commitment and responsibility, then go no further. Whatever happens during a mercury retrograde is yours alone to fix.
If you want to hedge your bet of something going kerflooey at these significant points in time, my story may be of help.
On March 29th my website was hacked for the first time. I was away for a few days and only realized what happened on April 3rd.
At the same time, I was aware WordPress was increasingly being targeted by hackers. My naivete rested on believing I’m safe for two reasons
– I have advanced security in place and strong passwords
– Who would want to bother with my website?
Needless to say, you really wake up to reality, when a security email notifies you that your strong password has been co-opted.
My hosting company was great and got me back up in six hours and sent a list of must-dos to improve security.
As I was progressing through the list, I was hacked again on April 19th by someone new. (Apparently, good news travels fast among hackers.)
– Back to hosting company
– Same process
– Back up and running
Now, I’m having a running dialogue with the support staff, and we finally agreed things are secure.
Then, …yes, there’s another. On April 25th, I’m sitting at the computer when I notice the browser WordPress tab title changing to “hacked by …” Now, feeling like a pro, I jump into action. The support guy knows my voice and exactly what I’m about to say.
One of the things I learned along the way is that there are different levels of support people who are assigned to your problem. You may get a level 3 when you really need a level 2 or 1 support expert. By the third hack, I demanded a level 1. Did I get one? I don’t know. But, I did get un-hacked along with the same recommendations to upgrade security. Arghhhhhhhhhhh!
Personal Recommendations Based On My Hacking Experience
- Seek out and develop a contact list of people/resources experienced in proactive security and hacking.
- Subscribe to at least one security news site and stay up-to-date about different hacking attempts.
- Accept that online security will be one of your life-long learning experiences.
- Know what actions steps to take as soon as you see “You’ve been Hacked.”
- Anticipate this will not be a cheap repair.
- If your hosting package does offer hack repair services, it may only remove the malware, not implement the security changes.
- You probably will need someone separate with hacker security skills.
- Don’t put it off. Take responsibility and make sure hacker prevention suggestions are in place.
- Don’t take comfort when you’re back in business after a hack.
- Make a point of trying to identify your vulnerability points.
- Use this information to prevent any similar or potential problems on other websites you manage or plan to set-up.
- Know that your hacker will probably be back to prove once more how good they are and how dumb you are.
I’m disappointed my hosting company never provided specifics of how my hacks occurred. Their security recommendations obviously didn’t save me from hack #2 or #3.
I will admit in their defense they were timely in getting me back up and running. There was also one nice sentence of how a support team member had deactivated two plugins (which may or may not have been a hack entry.) Who knows? At least, I’m now more aware that all my plugins conform when WordPress updates.
What Has All This To Do With a Mercury Retrograde?
How could the planet mercury or any of the other the planets in their direct and retrograde orbit millions of miles away affect your business? The simplest understanding is that consciously we are becoming more aware of the energetic interconnectedness of all things.
Does this mean you should run your life and business by transient planetary orbits? Rather, it’s wiser to think of it as cycles of energy tendencies and probabilities. Perhaps, not much different from the already acknowledged effect of other cycles from the natural world.
“The stock market similarly reflects the degree to which life is destroyed, and also displays a cycle. Sunspots have a cycle of 9.15 years, which is “exactly the length of the dominant cycle in the stock market.” Furthermore, when other cycles around this same length are examined the majority of biological, industrial and economic cycles peak first, then solar, and finally, biological, social-unrest and geophysical cycles [are] affected by the solar cycles.”
What makes a mercury retrograde worth paying attention to is that …”Computers, high-tech items, appliances, automobiles, and other machines and electronics are highly susceptible to Mercury in a retrograde period.”
Now, some might see all of this a mere coincidence. Let me explain further.
My story is not only a computer story; it’s also a car story. What can I say? Mercury retrograde and I are having a double whammy month together.
The car’s AC started to go again, I’m not worried since everything is under warranty. When the shop tells you it will be few hours but they’re not done at the end of the day, you start to think bad things. “Oh, don’t worry, will have it ready for you tomorrow morning. We’re giving you a complete new condenser system and there will only be a labor charge.”
Next morning’s update. “Oh, sorry when we turned the AC on it blew out the evaporator core and flushed dirt into the system. Will get you a rental car for the day. Very sorry, we have to charge you labor and parts.” I swear I never saw hard earned savings depart so fast by the hands of the winged god Mercury.
And, if you think I exaggerate, let me confirm that I drive a Mercury Marquis. Yes, I really do.
Fortunately, someone offered wise advice as my brain cells are exploding. “Change your hosting company.” (duh!)
Found someone in my resource file I haven’t talked to in a while. She was ready to work it through and hold my hand.
In case, you haven’t sympathized nor empathized enough, know in the process, I went into delirium for three days with a stomach virus. Definitely, due to lack of sleep, gargantuan stress and re-activated anger issues directed at hacker miscreants.
You don’t have to be a mercury retrograde believer. However, as the old saying goes, it’s better to be safe than sorry. Take my word for it.
Because …
The next two mercury retrograde cycles in 2017 are August 12th – Sept. 5th and December 3rd – December 22nd.
How a Mercury Retrograde Might Affect Your Business
To find out how a mercury retrograde might affect your business, click on these two links. Then, you decide, if it’s worth hedging your bet.
Everything You Need to Know About Mercury Retrograde by Susan Miller
https://www.astrologyzone.com/everything-you-need-to-know-about-mercury-retrograde/
Mercury Retrograde: How to Survive a 3-Week Communication Crisis
http://astrostyle.com/mercury-retrograde/
My Final Recommendation
If you ever find yourself in need, I recommend Toolie (Jocelyn) Garner. She’s able to do the advanced work of cleaning up hacks, moving websites, finding missing posts in unintelligible text files and the rest of the techie stuff you don’t want to know about. She’s super nice, and she really does hold your hand through it all. email: toolie@toolie.com; Mobile: 1-425-830-0740; LinkedIn http://linkedin.com/in/toolie
Your online business depends on you for your productivity and your protection. You depend on it for your profitability. May you never be hacked, but if you are I hope this helps.
Resources:
http://www.livingcosmos.com/cycles.htm#Intro
https://www.astrologyzone.com/everything-you-need-to-know-about-mercury-retrograde/
http://astrostyle.com/mercury-retrograde/
Images: CC0 Pixabay 1375449; Commons.wikimedia.org backlit keyboard; Flickr.com Alden Jewell 2005 Mercury Marquis Two-one Edition