Getting Started with Small Business Protection

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Safety is paramount to the success of your business, which is why larger companies dedicate entire departments to protective measures. Small business owners don’t always have that luxury, leaving them to handle unique risks without a massive amount of protective resources. That creates a real challenge, one that can often lead to digital, physical, and even legal issues most are unprepared to handle.

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So, what can you do? Before leaving your failsafes and security protocols to the wind, check out these tips to help make protection a top priority at your small business. From simple office rules to management tools, here’s the ultimate safety strategy.

Get Rid of Personal Devices

Step one to your plan of action should be eliminating personal or bring-your-own devices in the workplace. This reduces the risk of weak links in your security plan, helping to keep the lid tight on your operations.

While this isn’t always possible, there are workarounds to achieve the same result. Instead of removing these devices from your place of business, adopt a universal security package for your employees. The usefulness of managing and auditing your entire IT infrastructure’s user access rights with a tool like SolarWinds can’t be understated.

Malware Matters

As tight as security may be on your employee end, the world of the web is a malicious place. Malware protection is a vital safeguard for your business, manning the front lines while data enters and leaves your servers. It’s still important to train employees on security and safety measures, but this set-it-and-forget-it protection is something you can’t do without.

Unique Passwords

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While this 90’s rhetoric shouldn’t need restated in 2018, the number of hacks from even seemingly airtight corporations in the past few years suggests that it hasn’t set in just yet. With a single data breach costing upwards of $1 million on average, this is one area of security you literally can’t afford to overlook.

Ensuring every member of your staff uses a strong password is crucial these days. Have them keep the word used unique, add numbers, and make sure they utilize symbols if possible for the best results. Also, it helps to have your employees change their password every six months to a year.

Physical Security

It isn’t something most business owners want to think about, but individuals within your operation can be just as dangerous as those on the outside. While it is important to trust your employees, it never hurts to utilize cameras and locks when possible. Plus, these tools are an excellent means of theft prevention.

Backup Your Data

From contracts to daily sales, today’s businesses record almost everything online. Technical malfunctions happen at the most inconvenient times, which is why backing up your data is essential. Instead of opting for pricey equipment, consider cloud storage as a frugal yet secure alternative. There are numerous cloud storage services available that can help you create “hard” copies of important information.

Insurance

Even if you’re in the earliest stages of operation, business insurance can save you an enormous headache. Depending on what your business entails, you may need varying types of insurance. Public liability, home business, and indemnity are a few popular examples. Regardless of which kind your business needs, protecting yourself in the event of a worst-case scenario is vital.
Other small business insurance needs include:

  • General liability
  • Professional liability
  • Errors and omissions
  • Owners policy
  • Workers compensation
  • Property
  • Home-based
  • Product liability
  • Vehicle
  • And business interruption

Physical Protection

No, not bodyguards. Physical protection and security come in a wide variety of forms. Each of which is equally as important as the digital ones you’ve set in place. A simple example would be ensuring that your brand is unique to avoid any litigation or legal ramifications.

Another example would be the use of physical documents for contracts and agreements. Aside from creating a professional look, it further protects agreements made between you, your employees, and your clients with a hard copy. Adding arbitration clauses to those contracts is another physical security measure that can prevent legal ramifications down the road.

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Finally, physical protection for a small business can be as simple as creating a safe work environment. Working to prevent accidents and encouraging non-discrimination as well as non-harassment policies might not be the first thing on your mind when the word protection comes to mind, but they are just as important as cyber security measures.

Protecting Your Business

Security isn’t something to take lightly in any business venture, but you don’t have to shell out your earnings on an entire department just to make sure your organization is protected. By following the tips and advice above, you can keep every aspect of your small business from digital to physical secure while keeping things affordable.

Common Disputes Between Business Owners

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It is perhaps inevitable that, at some point, commercial business owners will not see eye-to-eye with their peers.

After all, entrepreneurs are hyper-focused on their business. This tendency is usually positive, but can be problematic when it encounters the same level of hyper-focus from another business owner. Two individuals, with very different – but equally valid – points of view can collide, and the consequences of such disputes can be extremely problematic for both parties.

Below, we have outlined three key areas that tend to create conflict between two business owners, as well as pointing out how you can navigate such a scenario should you experience them over the course of running your own company.

Arguments over advertising

We’ve all seen adverts where businesses state why they are better than a competitor. Sometimes, the competitor in question is hinted at, using familiar language or catchphrases to make it obvious which competitor they are discussing. Occasionally, the reference to a competitor is far less subtle, and a brand will outright explain why they are better than The Other Business.

Let’s be honest, neither is ideal. While this type of advertising is seen as beneficial, drawing a direct comparison against rivals, it’s actually a tad reductive – and can create serious problems when the owner of the competitor sees the advice, and (somewhat understandably) is annoyed by it. To avoid this scenario developing, focus your advertising on your company and its benefits, allowing customers to draw their own conclusions about why your business is the best choice for their needs.

Arguments over land

The dividing line between where one business’ property ends and another begins can often be a source of aggravation between companies. This scenario tends to develop when boundaries between land are not clearly divided, and most companies operate on assumptions and agreement with their fellow business owners – which tends to work well, overall.

However, the issue is thrown into stark relief if you wish to expand your premises. Suddenly, the general handshake agreement of who owns what land becomes problematic, and can lead to arguments between business owners.

To avoid such a scenario, proper planning is everything; always ensure you work with specialists such as Cochran to map out exactly where you have permission to build, so there’s no room for argument from your neighbors in future.

Arguments over exterior frontage

If one entrepreneur works hard to ensure the exterior of their business is in the best possible condition, they will expect others to do the same. After all, the look of every business influences the aesthetics of an entire area. If one business isn’t keeping up with the overall presentation of their area – perhaps their paint is chipped, or their awning is torn – then it can feel like they are letting the side down.

If there is a business in your local area that is missing the mark on exterior presentation, you can make a few friendly suggestions on improvements – but the key word here is friendly. Try to keep in mind the fact that you don’t know what the finances of that businesses are like; they may be well aware of their poor exterior frontage, but don’t have the funds to rectify the issues. Instead, focus on your own business, and hope that customers will be inclined to do the same.

In conclusion

As the points above show, with the right attitude, and effective planning, many disputes can be avoided. By focusing on preventing arguments, you save time, hassle, and stress – and are even able to focus on fostering positive relationships with your fellow business owners.

7 Things to Consider When Expanding Your Business

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StrategyDriven Entrepreneurship ArticleThere is a small dilemma that most businesses face at some point, and that is whether or not to expand. If you try to expand too soon, you will end up failing to meet the increasing demand which can, in turn, harm your reputation. However, if you decide that you’re not going to expand just yet, it could lead to your competitors moving above you and gaining the ground that you were looking at yourself.

To stop your business from collapsing, you need a sturdy foundation. There are many ways to build this. Here are 7 points to help budding business owners expand their business for added growth.

1. Assess Your Key Performance Indicators

One way you can assess whether you’re ready for expansion or not is to check out your key performance indicators. These indicators help to tell you whether you are meeting your financial commitments and whether you are making enough profit to survive.

If you think you’ll need additional investment to expand your company, then these targets will also be something investors will look at when they decide to offer you money or not. If you find these targets are not being met, then you need to think about the long-term for expansion rather than right now.

2. Cash Flow

Expansion can be expensive, so you need to know that you can afford to do this while still maintaining the profits you need to survive. There are many ways you can fund your expansion. For instance, you can ask investors for additional cash, or you can plow your own profits into it. Whichever you choose, you need to make sure that you’re taking small steps. If you don’t, then you could run the risk of overstretching yourself and finding cash flow difficult.

After each period of expansion, you need to sit back and assess the outlook to make sure that your profits are still good. After a couple of months assessing your cash flow, you can then proceed to the next level of your expansion. Remember, be the tortoise, not the hare when it comes to business growth and expansion. Too quickly, and you run the risk burning out too soon.

3. Assess Your Needs

Before you can actually begin your expansion, you need to know what you’re looking for. This is where it can be very helpful to come up with a plan of action. In this plan, you can think about how you are going to expand, how it will take shape, and what you’re looking to achieve. You also need to have a set period of time set aside for this expansion, otherwise you could find yourself spending far longer than you should. As an example, if you’re looking to expand into online sales, then you need to know where your audience is and how you can attract them to your website.

Have a customer persona so that you know who you are targeting. Also, have the steps outlined so that you know the pathway to successful expansion. If your business needs extra labor, then be sure to spend time and money in this area, for example.

4. Logistics

With expansion should hopefully come growth, which is exactly what you want. However, this growth can sometimes cause you to have logistical issues. For example, if you’re making more sales, then you will need to have warehousing and shipping available that can accommodate this improved growth. One alternative is to visit companies such as those on this website where you can get other companies to arrange shipping and storage for you. Not only will this avoid the task having to find larger storage, but it will also mean you don’t need to hire additional staff.

Another option is to piggyback with another supplier so that they can store your products for you. This can often work well when you are considering a partnership with another company as part of your expansion plans.

5. Prepare for Additional Staff

It is likely that almost any expansion will require additional staff at some point. You need to think about this in advance, so you can make preparations for hiring additional staff and providing for their salaries. Alternatively, you could think about hiring freelance staff to take on some of the additional workloads. While this can be a good idea in many cases, you need to assess whether these types of workers will be beneficial to you in the long run. For example, although freelance workers will be a good idea for certain admin tasks or IT solutions, they may not necessarily work if you need people on site.

6. Do Your Market Research

While you may have the money to expand, you need to think about whether you have enough of the market to do so. To find this out, you need to do your market research and see if there are enough customers there to warrant an expansion. Look at your website analytics, for example, and see if you have more hits to your website than you can cope with order wise. Are you experiencing delays with your orders? Are you having to set up waiting lists for some of your products? If this is the case, then you have a good idea the expansion will work for you.

7. Marketing Adaptions

Once you’ve made this expansion, you need to think about attracting the customers to those areas of your business. If you’ve decided to expand in your horizons into the international markets, then you need to adjust your marketing to correspond with it. It means seeing where your international customers are, and how you can reach them. For online expansion, you might need to think about adding social media marketing to your strategy. These adaptations should have already been thought out during the planning stage, so you can also see how much you need to add to the marketing budget. This is also a good time to assess whether your competitors are also moving into these markets. If they are, and you may need to consider choosing different areas instead.

There are many things you need to consider when expanding your business. However, if you can plan your expansion properly and know your financial outlook is strong, then there is no reason why you can’t push ahead with the expansion plan.

Setting Up a Corporation

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If you’re at the point in your business where you are wanting to set up a more formal structure, there are many things to consider and this can be quite a serious business challenge, in terms of deciding which legal entity is going to be best.

After all, one size does not fit all when it comes to corporate structures, particularly when it comes to working with other people, and whilst it might feel more respectable to set yourself up as an s corp or a limited liability partnership, it might be more appropriate and tax efficient to remain as a sole trader that works in partnership with another sole trader – rather than setting up a joint venture together.

In the sense of making your business feel more credible, there are many different options to consider when it comes to your legal status; the main options in the US are;

1. Sole Proprietorship
2. Partnership
3. Business Corporation

In this article, we’re going to look at each of these options and weigh up the pros and cons.

1. Sole Proprietorship

This is the simplest form of business set-up and is the default to most people setting up a business, in that it reflects the fact there is one person owning and controlling the business – meaning they are personally responsible for all liabilities but also benefit from all the profits (in that they don’t legally need to be shared with anyone else).

PROS
A sole proprietorship is very inexpensive to form, easy to dissolve (which means to stop trading), and there are very few formalities other than basic bookkeeping and reporting your earnings to the relevant authorities. This type of business is ideal for people that are selling a service, such as personal training or beauty therapy, though it’s just as relevant for consultants – however, some companies will only do business with other registered corporations.

CONS
The business ceases to exist upon your death, meaning it’s not willable or can continue in perpetuity after you die. You are personally liable for the debt and any legal issues that arise from your business operations. It has less credibility when trying to win business with large companies.

In a nutshell, this is the simplest business to form and operate, as it’s simply an individual using a trade name to operate under – yet, the owner has full liability for the obligations of the business, which, if you consider the possibility of being sued or owing substantial debt can feel much more onerous than if you are a director of a company.

2. Partnership

A partnership is simply an association of two or more components, which include people, corporations, other partnerships, trusts and so on. The parties within the partnership are responsible for the business.

In simple terms, the people enter into a partnership make an agreement to share the profits and losses that result from their activity.

The challenge is that the liability of partners is joint and several, meaning any person can be made to pay the debts of the partnership, irrespective of all other factors. This can make things feel very unfair and risky, as whilst one partner might only receive 10% of the profits they could find themselves liable for 100% of the debt of the partnership.

PROS
It adds a sense of formality to the relationship when multiple stakeholders are working together for a common purpose. It is relatively inexpensive to form. The profits are distributed according to the terms of the partnership, which makes things simple and unambiguous in terms of future profit allocation.

CONS
Each partner is liable for the whole of the partnership’s debt, even if they have a small share of the profit – meaning the risks are very high, particularly if you are going into partnership with a person or company that turns out to not be as trustworthy as you first thought.

There are a number of different partnership structures and this one is something to think carefully about, as whilst you might feel more secure in terms of entering a formal partnership, you really do need to be careful who you “go to bed with” in this sense.

3. Business Corporation

A business corporation is a legal entity in its own right. This his means that unlike a partnership and sole proprietorship it is a separate entity that is governed in accordance with laws set out by the state.

In broad terms, there are two types of corporations; for profit and not-for-profit.

The majority of businesses are ‘for profit’ in the sense that they aim to conduct activity that derives a profit, and from that profit, dividends are paid to shareholders depending on their allocation of shares.

There are two types of corporations in the sense of where they have been registered, you can have a domestic corporation that means the company was incorporated under the laws of the United States (specifically, the state in which the corporation was registered), or you can have a foreign corporation, which is a company that has been incorporated under the laws of another country, or state within the US.

A corporation is much more complex than a partnership or sole proprietorship, as a new legal entity is created, that is subsequently regulated by a number of onerous administrative procedures. The benefit to this, however, is that unlike a partnership where things can get a little dicey in terms of liability, if a company incurs a debt, it is the company’s debt rather than the partner’s liability.

The owners of a corporation are called shareholders. The shareholders then elect directors (often themselves) to set the policies of the corporation. The directors then appoint officers of the corporation to manage the day to day operations.

In reality, you could be a shareholder, director, and officer of the company – but the key point to focus on here is that corporations are their own legal entity, and as such, you are employed by the corporation (usually) even though you are technically the owner of the business.

In essence, a corporation is separate from its shareholders. This means that a shareholder cannot just take the funds and abscond, unlike a partnership, which offers a lot more legal and financial protection, but can feel inflexible if you are a one person startup or small family business.

PROS
Things are secure and regulated. Everyone knows the score, and things are not ambiguous or open to personal discussion – there are processes and procedures to follow… meaning, all shareholders have security in terms of their interests. It also creates a democracy, in terms of decision making, which some entrepreneurs value whilst others do not.

CONS
There is a significant administrative burden with regard to setting up a corporation and maintaining the records.

Tips For Successfully Growing Your Business

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The decision to grow your business is an exciting one, but can also bring many new challenges your way. Plan ahead, so you have a good idea of what you want to see your company tackle going forward and know exactly how you’re going to handle the growth process.

You want to make sure the numbers are there, and your business is stable enough to withstand the expansion you’re about to undertake. Review the following tips to help you make certain you not only grow your business but that you do so successfully and without having any regrets at the end of the day.

Have A Plan in Place

Your first order of business is to get organized and create a roadmap, so you know where you’re heading in the future. Successfully grow your company by coming up with a strategic plan for how you’re going to get from one point to the next without experiencing any major road bumps. Some easy steps to follow regarding your plan include:

  • Setting new goals
  • Figuring out how you’re going to go about meeting your objectives
  • Having a backup plan handy if all doesn’t go your way

Prepare Behind the Scenes

Successfully grow your business by getting prepared behind the scenes and having the right technology and resources in place. For instance, you might want to consider a VPS server solution which will provide you with more control and flexibility. This can confirm your data is protected and ensures you have the means to gradually grow and expand your venture too. You want to ensure you’re fully equipped to handle the expansion in the office, so there are no disruptions to your service or delivery.

Continue to Provide Excellent Customer Service

What you don’t want to happen is to get so involved with the process of growing your business that you forget about your customers along the way. It’s extremely important to continue to serve them well and go above and beyond to meet their needs. You can successfully grow your business by getting more and more customers onboard who adore you and are willing to go spread a positive message about your business to their friends and family members.

Be Willing to Adapt

It’s your job as the boss and leader to make sure you know what you’re doing and are able to successfully bring your company to another level. Being able to adapt to the ever-changing business and industry landscape can see your business benefit and stand out from competitors. You’ll want to proactively take the proper measures to so you can continue to outsmart your competition and go to market with the latest and greatest before they do.

Conclusion

Growing your business isn’t easy, but it is doable if you have the right approach and guidelines in place. Use these tips to help you set yourself up for success so you can continue to outshine your competition in the future. Be willing to work hard and put forth an extra effort, especially in the early stages of this transition