While I was shovelling mud after the 2022 Lismore floods, an algorithm stole my digital identity. A lesson in sovereignty, reputation, and what your business actually is.
In the weeks following the Lismore floods, the physical world was a wreck. Power was out. Mobile reception was non-existent. My sole focus was on surviving and trying to salvage what was left of my warehouse.
Amidst this chaos, a routine automated email arrived in an inbox I couldn’t access. It was the renewal notice for my primary business domain—the digital home I’d spent years building.
I missed the window. The domain lapsed. Within milliseconds, an automated algorithmic bot snapped it up. Years of SEO ranking, customer trust, and brand equity vanished. My digital identity became a ghost in the machine.
Hiding was not an option. This was another brutal lesson in sovereignty I have studied through Advanced Business Abilities. We often tie our sense of self and business stability to external things: a building, a team, or a website. The flood, and then the loss of the domain, stripped all of that away.
I faced a clear choice:
Grieve the digital loss: Waste energy fighting a robotic ghost to get the name back.
Reclaim the utility: Recognise that my business is not the domain name; it is my ability to solve energy problems with integrity.
I chose to rebuild the brand from scratch. I had to go back to my existing clients, one by one, and explain the situation. I had to re-earn the trust that the old domain used to signify.
This experience proved that your reputation is your only true permanent asset. If you rely solely on digital real estate or a specific name for your sovereignty, you are vulnerable. True sovereignty is internal. It is your ability to stand in the mud, with no website and no staff, and still be the expert the community turns to.
When you lead with integrity rather than your assets, the resources turn up exactly when you choose to act. Do what feels right; the rest follows.
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Founder of Sovryn Consulting and Sovryn Energy. After losing a business to the 2022 Lismore floods and fighting back from a $750,000 debt, he now helps owner-led Australian businesses build companies that run without their owner - and helps directors through turnaround when the letters arrive.
Mike's been the director in that chair - the debt, the creditors, the letters. If that's you right now, one confidential conversation about where you actually stand, from someone who's lived it.
Turnaround & insolvency guidance