Have you ever watched the movie “A Christmas Story”?

There is a scene where Ralphie is helping his dad change a tire for the first time. He was holding the lug nuts in the hubcap, and his dad's hand hits the hubcap, sending the hardware flying through the air, glistening in the lights of the passing cars and into a snowbank. Then, Ralfie releases an F-Bomb.

That exact slow-motion word was released from my lips when I saw all my passwords fly away like those lug nuts.

New Computer

The last time I purchased a desktop computer was in 2013. It was the Mac Pro Trashcan Edition. In 2023 (10 years) Apple stopped supporting upgrades to its operating system and it was getting cranky with old age. It was time to recycle the Trashcan.

I was waiting for the new Mac Studio with the M2 chip to become available and my prayers were answered in June.

For those of you who don't speak fluent Mac, it is the most straightforward computer to copy your old data to a new one that I have seen. You hook up the two computers with a cable and migrate from one to the other. After a couple of hours, your new computer has all your data and programs and keeps all your (compatible) configuration information.

The only problem is that I had 10 years of junk including programs and files I never used or have not used in years. I wanted to start fresh. So I copied all my data to external drives and started to download and install the programs I am currently using. That made sure that every version was installed with the right software for this new computer's technology.

One problem…

Are You Sure You Want To Delete?

I use 1Password to store all the passwords for my and my client's websites, software, and more.

I successfully transferred over all of the data (it was cloud-based so easy-peasy). In the process of cleaning up and removing old passwords to old software, I clicked the wrong icon and hit delete. It even asked me, “Are you sure?” I said YES… and then I had that Ralphie (Oh Fudge) moment when I realized what I did.

All my passwords were gone. Instead of deleting the subcategory, I trashed the whole database. I contacted 1Password tech support to see if I could recover a backup and the answer was “NO. Once they're gone, THEY'RE GONE!”

What's Old Is New

After the initial panic, I took a deep breath and said, “Now what?” When I thought about it, it was a blessing.

All my software licenses were saved in emails. I could easily copy and paste those back. Many of my commonly used passwords were saved in My Mac Keychain, which is an encrypted file that can be accessed by the system on the old computer and copied and pasted. I had less than 100 that I used in the last year.

Then, for the ones I could not get, I would just use ‘Forgot Password' and create a new one and save that back into my system.

Every Password Has A Story

I knew I had work ahead of me. But, it became better and easier once I dug into the emotion of why I was upset.

Each password had a past but very few had a future. Each one was collected and saved because someone trusted me enough to share them. I am sure that many of those people had no clue or record of what they were. I felt a sense of duty with a hint of power.

Even though most of these people never worked with me again, I clung to the hope that by needing their password, they would see that they were wrong for moving on.

But this is business. It has more to do with money than memories. If they remember anything, is it that my services (or their sabotage) did not live up to the expectations of fame and fortune? It had nothing to do with me being a good or bad guy.

Yet I collected these like badges of honor or bumper stickers on a travel trailer.

After I pondered why I was collecting them, I had clarity, took a deep breath and just let them go. I gave myself permission to start working on recovering the ones I actually needed to do business now!

Finding the Win-Win

Okay, let me reiterate that I do not recommend that you do that to yourself. It was sheer terror at first, but then I found the silver linings and embraced the positives.

1) My passwords were old, copied, and probably in some hacker's database somewhere. This gave me the opportunity to create new and less hackable ones. 1Password creates and tracks them for me which then can be accessed with the touch of a finger.

2) The clients I am currently working with got a call from me. I asked them if they have their passwords saved. If not, I helped them create new ones and saved them in my database. That way we updated their passwords as well. I was part nuisance and part hero, but I solidified that I was a resource for them. It also gave me a solid reason to reach out and have conversations.

3) The ones I was storing for past customers made me feel like free tech support every time they forgot them. My propensity for guilt trips would have me answering their call and emails and not charging for that time. Again, I could help them set up new ones, but only if they wanted something more so I could at least get paid for my time.

In the end, it helped me to strengthen passwords, as well as my customer relationships. It was a freeing feeling after I looked at my password database which went from 3000 to less than 200 in the blink of a dumbass move. Although I am sure it will grow again, I have a new and better system to keep track of them.

Final Thoughts

Starting over is never easy, but in the long run, the effort could be worth the investment in time.

I think the lesson here is passwords or contact information are only useful if they are part of personal connections with whom they are being collected and saved.

If you don't have a personal relationship with the data being collected and maintained, then identify who does. It could be a salesperson, accountant, or service tech. Give them the responsibility of monitoring and upkeep. That way, they can grow and maintain those relationships.

Just like Raphie's Dad found the missing lug nuts in the snow, I found the information I had lost that was important. Put them back on, and started driving again!

“Data are just summaries of thousands of stories – tell a few of those stories to help make the data meaningful.”

— Chip and Dan Heath

Comment below and share your thoughts, ideas, or questions about your love-hate relationship passwords and data collection! Do you have a great system for collection? Are they being updated and maintained? Are your old ones being deleted? How can you use this to have better business conversations?

To learn more about this and other topics on B2b Sales & Marketing, visit our podcast website at The Bacon Podcast.