Financial Cyber Attacks – A Growing Management Problem (Part 2)

April 5, 2016 by

Customer Relationship Management business chart on a digital tabAs we discussed last month, criminals are increasingly targeting small businesses for financial cyber attacks.  These attacks have included: stealing customer and company data to sell, high-jacking and holding the information system for ransom, and taking money.  Small companies are under fire because they’re low hanging fruit.

Owners who would never leave the doors unlocked on their building or office are leaving their cyber doors wide open.  They have installed locks, security systems and gates against the local “physical” criminals, yet all but put out a Welcome mat for the cyber ones anywhere else in the world.

But, it doesn’t have to be that way – with a little discipline and some common sense procedures you can prevent or minimize the possibility of a successful attack.  Here are some suggestions.

Scrutinize emails

Create an awareness program about phony emails, which you and your employees follow.  Fake emails are used to plant malware and spyware, which allows thieves access to the system (i.e. account numbers and amounts, passwords, transaction history, credit card numbers). Don’t open links or attachments unless you’re very sure you know who they’re from. 

Another popular ruse is to use realistic emails to initiate money transfers to outside accounts.  The thief, via email, poses as a manager and asks an employee to transfer money from a company account to an outside one.  An employee, properly trained, will make sure the request is legitimate before sending the money.

Avoid Wi-Fi

Smartphones and tablets have made it easy to do work anywhere.  But, it’s also made it easy for hackers to easily access your information.  Wi-Fi connections are notorious for having weak security – no matter what the sign on the door says. 

Would you trust a stranger to lock up your office every night?  Then why would you trust the owner (or a major corporation) of the local coffee shop to protect your important data, especially when the chances are very good that they aren’t protecting their own.

Use your bank as a partner

Your bank wants you to succeed – it’s good for you, it’s good for them and it’s good for the community.  Sit down with someone and find out what options they have for safeguarding your accounts.  They probably have some you don’t know about.

Do they have two-factor authentication?  It requires unfamiliar account users/devices to supply additional information.  Do they have software that flags attempted logins from unfamiliar sources?  If the bank doesn’t recognize a login they will send a one-time access code to a separate device of your choosing.  Can they provide text messages for each withdrawal?

Many small business owners don’t know that companies don’t have the same fraud protection consumers have.  Depending on the bank’s policies and the agreement you signed with them they may not be liable for stolen money.  Some banks provide fraud protection only when specific security measures are in place. 

Financial cyber attacks aren’t going to decrease, nor will they ever be “fixed”.  They’ll increase in frequency and sophistication, while having moving target solutions.  The cost of doing business in the internet age is realizing the problem isn’t going away, and it’s time to start dealing with it now, rather than later when all your money has disappeared.

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Do You Have Salespeople or Order Takers?

March 2, 2016 by

business (9)It’s 2016 and just like small business owners all over Northeastern Ohio you’re vowing that this is the year you’re  going to focus on increasing sales.  This is the year the sales department is finally going to “get it in gear”.  Then, just as you did in 2015, 2014, 2013…, you dig  out the old goals and ideas.

For the sake of this article we’re going to assume the sales plan you have is a solid one.  (It may not be, which is a subject for another time.)  So, if it’s a good plan why hasn’t it worked all these years?  The problem with even the best sales plan is that it’s only as good as the people who execute it.

Most small businesses have order takers rather than salespeople.  This isn’t just a matter of semantics.  There’s a real difference in attitude, aptitude and mindset between the two – a difference which will increase or decrease your bottom line.

Order takers

Attitude – He sees his job as giving the customer just what they order.  They tell him what they want, he puts the order in and the transaction is complete.  His attitude is that his role in the sales process is a passive one.  He doesn’t believe that customers would get a greater benefit if he took a more active position.

Aptitude – She’s in the position by default, she didn’t seek it out as a career.  It may have been the only job available at the time or one she simply fell into.  She doesn’t really want to be a salesman, but “it’s a job that pays the bills”.

Mindset – His mindset is static and he fights innovation, believing “things are fine just the way they are”.  He sits in his office waiting for “new” business to come from the company’s existing lead sources (i.e. a RFP, an incoming call or a web request).  He plays solitaire on his computer waiting for the customer or prospect to come to him. 

Salespeople

Attitude – She believes she and the customer (or prospect) are a team, one which identifies problems and finds answers.  Her job is to take an active role in finding and helping people whose lives, jobs and companies would benefit from her product or service.

Aptitude – He likes and wants to sell, seeing it as an opportunity to make a good life for himself and his family.  He has an appreciation of the skills needed to be successful in the profession and works on developing them. 

Mindset – He enjoys his job and likes the challenges of the sales process.  He takes pleasure in “not being stuck in an office” and seeks out chances to interact face to face with future and existing clients.  His mindset is that he’s an expert concerning the product or service and others can benefit from his knowledge.

The question to ask yourself is, “Do I have salespeople or do I have order takers?”  If you have order takers, chance are you’ll be dusting off that unused sales plan about this time next year too.  It doesn’t have to be that way, make 2016 the year you add some salesmen to your work force.

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Use Your Business as a Personal Bank (and Ruin It)

February 4, 2016 by

business (11)Too many small business owners don’t understand the difference between personal and business money.  They don’t “get it” to the point of undermining their success.  Countless people have driven their thriving business into bankruptcy or severely limited its growth.

They have the same basic mindset – my business money is just an extension of my personal money.  While there are a variety of ways this thinking affects their actions there are 2 behaviors which are the most common.

Run everything through the business

They believe the business can and should absorb the costs of personal items (i.e. kid’s college tuition, boats, cars for family not working in the company, vacations).  But, that’s what personal money – salaries, savings accounts and loans – should be used for. 

They use the company account as a bank that provides interest free loans, which never get paid back.  Putting aside the tax consequences if they get caught, the bottom line is that most small companies can’t support the cost (overhead) of personal items. 

Money isn’t unlimited and too often the business starts to suffer.  The money to buy a needed piece of machinery, hire more personnel or a new service truck is tied up in the home basement remodel, a family country club membership and a new motorcycle.

Use the company as an ATM

Another way of using business money as personal money is raiding the coffers.  They may or may not run any personal items through the books, but believe the cash assets are fair game.  They unofficially take money out in addition to officially paying themselves a salary and bonuses. 

Some owners take “just a little” cash.  One took $30 a day out of petty cash for pocket money.  He was shocked when the accountant pointed out he was getting a $7,500 bump in salary ($30 x 5 days a week x 50 weeks a year).  A raise he hadn’t formally given himself, because the company couldn’t afford it.  Others take larger amounts, sometimes hundreds or thousands.

But, regardless of how the cash is siphoned off it takes money to make money and if the business doesn’t have enough operating capital, at best, it becomes impossible to grow it.  At worst, the financial hole is dug too deep; it can’t survive the drain and folds.

No matter how it’s done using the business as a personal bank is short-sighted and self-defeating.  Everyone knows, or should know, the story of killing the goose who laid the golden eggs, and yet many don’t learn from it.  It’s unfortunate, because when used properly business money can be parlayed into bigger profits, which means a higher salary and increased bonuses.

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Interest Rates and Small Business Borrowing

December 17, 2015 by

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Many believe that the increase in the interest rate will have a minimal effect in consumers wallets, and others believe small business borrowing will have no change despite this.  Borrowing for the small business owner  they believe is not a matter of whether the interest rate is high or not, but whether the small business owner believe borrowing can benefit their business or not.

For more about this and other topics follow the links below.

Everything You Need To Know About How The Rate Hike Will Affect Your Wallet

For the first time since 2006, the Federal Reserve has announced that it will raise interest rates by 25 basis points. This means that it is increasing the target for short term interest rates to a range of 0.25% to 0.50% from a range of 0% to 0.25%.

Within minutes of the Fed’s decision Wednesday, Wells Fargo, JPMorgan Chase and US Bancorp became the first banks to announce that they would increase their prime rate, a rate used for consumer loans like mortgages. Effective December 17, the prime rate at Wells, JPM and US Bancorp will move from 3.25% to 3.5%. Later in the afternoon, Citibank announced a similar move; many other banks are likely to follow suit.

Yet despite this and despite all the hubbub surrounding the Fed’s decision – journalists and Fed watchers have literally been talking about a rate hike for years – the immediate impact to consumers’ wallets will be virtually indiscernible. Fed chair Janet Yellen even said as much in her Wednesday afternoon press conference.

Small businesses like Nick’s Roast Beef may be easy targets for the IRS, says expert

Nick’s Roast Beef, a small family-owned business in Beverly, was federally indicted Monday and charged with reporting false tax statements.

As it turns out, Nick’s may be just one of many small businesses the IRS keeps a close watch on, according to Forbes.

Small businesses that run cash-only operations make easy targets for the federal government, defense attorney Joel Androphy told Forbes. All the while, bigger, more sophisticated businesses get a pass because the work to prove evasion can be more complicated, requiring more time and work, he said.

Many of the cases the IRS works on come from the “Whistleblower” program and involve small businesses with claims under $2 million, which is small in comparison to what some large corporations may be hiding, according to Forbes.

Don’t expect Main Street to accelerate borrowing overnight

What’s more relevant to small business lending appetite is optimism.

As years of low interest rates start to wind down, don’t expect Main Street to accelerate borrowing overnight.

There can often be a disconnect between the Fed and smaller businesses, which are driven by other variables including cash flow, business opportunities and loan availability and terms. If you’re a growing business, you’ve likely already signed onto loans. For the rest of the smaller guys, however, it’s likely borrowing will ramp up gradually to stay ahead of higher lending rates. And if anything can trigger more borrowing for small companies, it’s a more upbeat mood about business prospects.

“Business credit is so different than consumer credit. It’s driven far less by rates and far more by availability in terms of both loans and market opportunities,” said Jeff Stibel, vice chairman of business researcher Dun & Bradstreet. “Rates are almost irrelevant.”

The Federal Reserve, as widely expected, approved a quarter-point increase in its target funds rate on Wednesday. It was the first rate increase in nearly a decade.

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A Way to Limit Common Management Mistakes

December 14, 2015 by

64510516You’ve probably heard this saying, “Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.”  It’s commonly attributed to Albert Einstein, but that’s a mistake – the exact origins of the quote are unknown. However, as mistakes go it’s a “no harm, no foul” one.

Like this one, some mistakes are little ones, and then there are those big enough to close businesses.  The ones big enough to close businesses usually are the result of the owner’s and manager’s repetitive, unproductive behaviors (i.e. insanity).  The kind of mistakes that they repeat over and over, regardless of facts which show the behavior isn’t working.

Maturation in humans and animals is the process of being able to learn from our mistakes, which results in positive behavior changes.  That’s what we call experience – I tried this, it didn’t work, I learned from it and will try something else that’s hopefully better (and repeat). 

There are several common management mistakes which most people make.  However, there’s a simple time tested way to avoid or minimize the damage from them.  A way which has evolved over centuries and has the power of experience behind it – ask for help. 

The majority of small businesses start because the owner knows something about the product or service.  He’s worked in a specific field for someone else and then gone out on his own.  He’s good at what he does and knows his product, but what he’s not good at is the “other stuff” (i.e.  marketing, accounting, legalities and regulations, human resources, taxes). 

Nor should he be.  While those areas are important in running a successful business, no one has the level of expertise or experience to understand them all.  He shouldn’t expect to be good at or knowledgeable about everything it takes to run a profitable company.

Yet, overwhelmingly small business owners expect just that of themselves.  They won’t ask for help, because they see it as a personal failing.  They believe they can and should figure it out for themselves.  However, they get sidetracked by trying to do the things they aren’t good at and lose focus on their strengths.

One of the best ways to limit mistakes in business (and life) is being willing to learn from others.  Learning from other’s mishaps saves us from having to go through the costs and hardships of making them ourselves.  There are more than enough chances in life to mess up, why not take the opportunity to let someone else do it for you when possible.

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Small Business Saturday

December 1, 2015 by

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This last Saturday (Nov. 28) was the event small businesses look forward to every single year.  Or is it just hype? Many marketers fail to see whether Small Business Saturday does anything to a small business or not.  Yes, there are figures out there that say small businesses do benefit from this event of the year, but cannot tell you where those figures come from. Whether you shop locally and try to do business with the small shop in your city, the question to ask is whether one day a year will make a big difference in the life of the small business owner. For more about this topic follow the links below.

It’s Naive for Small Business to Expect Much From Small Business Saturday

Join us at Entrepreneur magazine’s Growth Conference, Dec. 15 in Long Beach, Calif. for a day of fresh ideas, business mentoring and networking. Register here for exclusive pricing, available only for a limited time.

Can you feel it? The building anticipation for what seems to be the small business event of the year. I’m talking, of course, about next weekend’s Small Business Saturday (Nov. 28). Sandwiched between Black Friday and Cyber Monday, this is the day that all of America is supposed to be honoring small businesses. It’s our moment. We’re hanging signs and putting out the displays. “Support us!” we demand to our communities. “We’re small businesses!”

Really? Are we that naïve? Do you really think that Small Business Saturday means anything to your customers? Do you really believe articles like this one that report that there were “88 million Small Business Saturday shoppers in 2014” and that they “spent $14.3 billion.” Oh c’mon…where does this data come from? And how many of these shoppers would’ve been out shopping during that first unofficial weekend of the holiday season anyway? Do you think this was because of Small Business Saturday? Believe me…it’s not. But don’t tell that to some.

How Congress could give small businesses a bigger incentive to invest in growth

Under current law, small businesses can expense only $25,000 in capital expenditures this year, a level far below the $500,000 Section 179 expensing limit that went into effect in 2003.

Congress is likely to remedy that problem in December, just like it did last year, when it retroactively raised the Section 179 expensing limit for 2014 to $500,000 on Dec. 19. That left small businesses 12 days to buy eligible equipment and put it into service in order to take advantage of this tax break. This short window sharply reduced the impact of this tax incentive for small businesses to invest in growth.

How to Secure Your Small Business With Big Business Protection

Layer Your Security

The challenge: Network attacks are becoming more widespread, intelligent and difficult to detect, leaving SMBs at an even greater risk due to limited resources and budgets to fend off threats. Network entry points are not the only publicly-facing attack surfaces; employee devices also may be compromised by users outside of the corporate security perimeter. The solution: A layered network security approach brings a new level of scrutiny to network traffic moving into a SMB, making network protection more complete and manageable.
Small businesses face exactly the same security threats as large organizations. However, they also must contend with the perennial challenge of limited budgets for IT expenditures. The job of administering the network in a small business often falls on the business owner or on the default in-house techie, both of whom wear many other hats in the organization and usually do not have the time, resources or expertise to work on complex deployments and administration. Often small businesses think that enterprise-grade protection is beyond their means.
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4 Ways to Increase the Bottom Line

November 16, 2015 by

donk1-300x266The majority of small businesses fail because they aren’t able to generate enough operating capital, they simply run out of money.  But, there are ways to prevent this.  The lack or loss of money is overwhelmingly caused by internal problems.  Contrary to most owners’ beliefs, external forces are responsible for just a fraction of small business failures.

Companies run out of money because the owners won’t or don’t know how to address their structural and operational problems.  Commonly, the actual causes of the typical business’s collapse can be traced to 4 problem areas.  Therefore, if addressed in a timely manner, profit and profit margins can be increased when the problems are identified and fixed.

Key to an efficient operation is putting the right person in the right job.  It’s vital to accurately assess employees’ skills, everyone has strengths and weaknesses.  This is especially true in small businesses where family and friends are often in jobs they aren’t suited for.  Putting people in positions they’re not trained to do or just aren’t capable of doing affects the bottom line. 

Lack of accountability – for owners (who usually don’t hold themselves accountable for their actions), managers and workers – is an enormous problem in workplaces.  This area all by itself can financially affect a business to the point of closing.  Employees, owners and managers must be accountable for their responsibilities and behaviors. 

Another area that directly affects profitability is lack of or poor internal and external communication.  Billions of dollars have been lost simply because somebody didn’t pass on important information, talk over a problem, speak up with a concern or listen enough.  Prioritizing effective communication, at all levels, is a smart fix.

The final area, improve production efficiency, is a no-brainer.  Some of the benefits include: it’s cheaper to produce the product, requires less rework, increased customer satisfaction, is easier to sell, generates referrals and decreased waste. All of which contributes to increased earnings.

These are 4 main ways a company can increase its bottom line.  If a small business owner is willing to learn some new skills, and consistently apply them, the monetary and non-monetary rewards (i.e. time off, happier employees, secure future, increased quality of life) are well worth it. 

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Entrepreneurial Stubbornness – the Good, the Bad, the Ugly

November 4, 2015 by

59948705Persistence, not listening to the nay-sayers, determination, following your dream: All things which contribute to starting and building a thriving business. All things which are fueled by good old-fashioned stubbornness.  I have yet to meet a successful small business owner who doesn’t have a very large streak of it.  Unfortunately, that’s not always a positive.

The Good

Stubbornness is a positive quality when it’s driving you to create, build and sustain a business.  The desire to “do things my way”  is a powerful motivator.  It’s what keeps you on track to work the long hours and make the hard decisions.  It has built multi-national Fortune 100 companies, as well as the local machine shop.

The Bad

As the saying goes, “There are 2 sides to every coin.”  There’s a bad side to entrepreneurial stubbornness.  It’s human nature to become attached to our own viewpoint – not only do we get stuck in ruts, we furnish them for additional comfort.  This makes it difficult to see other’s (accountants, consultants, employees, managers) points of view and listen to their ideas. 

Ideas which are good for you and your company.  When a company is growing there’s a juncture when the owner should shift from “a one-man show” style of management to a team approach.  Many don’t make that change, they stubbornly hang on to old ideas and ways of doing things, which often leads to the ugly.

The Ugly

There comes a time when an owners’ refusal to modify his inflexibility crosses the line from poor management skills to self destructive behavior-“the old way is good enough, no  one is going to tell me what to do”.  Resulting in — due to the owner’s unwillingness to recognize and adapt to changing ideas, technologies, employee’s needs and market requirements — a bankrupt company. 

Good entrepreneurial stubbornness often turns bad and ugly over time.  Owners fail to understand that we all need to evolve if we are to thrive in an ever changing world, and we have to be willing to listen to others to do so.  As Benjamin Franklin said, “We are all born ignorant, but one must work hard to remain stupid.”

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Retirement and Small Business Advice

August 19, 2015 by

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For many employees, working for a small firm that offers no health insurance or retirement plans is something to think  about very carefully. Top talent invariable seek companies that will offer them those extra benefits that make taking the job appealing, and worthwhile. In some states in the United States though, legislation is underway for  launching pension programs with no employer contributions for employees. These Individual Retirement Accounts (IRA) can help small business employees plan for their retirement, with no extra burden for the small business owner.

For more about this and other topics follow the l inks below.

4 Bad Business Habits Of Small Business Owners… And What Can Help Them

The 6th annual Small Business Survey conducted by Wakefield Research for Brother International revealed that  the majority of small business owners are ready to invest in their businesses – as well as let go of bad habits. Having surveyed 500 small business owners with 100 employees or less, the report identified that 54 percent of small business owners surveyed would prefer to invest in their businesses rather than stockpiling their profits – an 18‐percent swing in preference since 2010.

Additional insight from the survey  shed light on how small business owners feel about the economic climate. Based on this 2015 survey, 42 percent of respondents reported a high level of stress because of the economy – a figure that is flat with last year and down 16 percent from a 58‐percent high‐water mark recorded by the survey in 2013. Meanwhile, forty‐one percent of respondents stated they would be interested in investing their money on tech purchases or upgrades only if they increase their revenues by five percent or more this year.

States Developing IRA Plans for Small Business Employees

Roughly half of the U.S. states are working to create government-sponsored automatic individual retirement account (IRA) plans that would enroll workers without access to employer-sponsored retirement plans.

California, Illinois, Oregon and Washington state have taken the lead, passing legislation to launch Secure Choice Pension programs. California and Illinois both aim to begin enrolling workers in 2017.

Employees would contribute through payroll deductions to Secure Choice Pension accounts. The plan’s investments would be professionally managed, but no employer contributions would be required.

There is a regulatory sticking point, though: Will the plans be governed by the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA), the federal law that sets standards for private-sector pension plans?

Although IRAs are not covered by ERISA, the payroll deduction feature of Secure Choice Pension plans raises the question. Concerns about regulatory burdens for employers – and their possible fiduciary responsibilities under the plans – led states to include clauses in their enabling legislation stating that these pension plans would not proceed if they were deemed to be ERISA plans.

5 Types of Pillar Posts to Write for Your Small Business Blog

I’ve been blogging for over 2 years now (man does time fly) and believe me when I tell you that it has been a journey.

I’ve had my ups and a lot of downs, but one thing’s for sure is that blogging…mixed with social media marketing and content marketing has been instrumental in getting more traffic to my site and visibility for the Small Business Sense brand.

I decided to write this blog post today to one: stress the importance of blogging and content marketing for business purposes and two: to give beginners, give you a reference point for pillar content that you can create for your business blog.

Sure, there are a million ways to skin this cat…(with creating content that is) however, these are 5 types of blog posts that are known to drive traffic to your website and generate a lot of shares on social media.

What is Pillar Content?

Pillar content is essentially blog posts that as Singlegrain.com states “will solidify your blog’s reputation as a go-to source for good content within your industry”.

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As a Small Business Owner, Are You Ready to Retire?

August 5, 2015 by

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As the economy was recovering, there was talk about small business owners gaining confidence in the economy and possibly hiring for their business. Nationally the confidence small business owners felt is declining or slipping away completely.  It is not surprising then the hiring has taken a back seat for the moment, and businesses are more concerned with meeting their current payroll instead of adding to it. And what about retirement? According to recent surveys,  more than half of the small business owners in the United States do not have enough to retire comfortably or at all.

To read more about this and other news, follow the links below.

Survey: Small Business Owners Unprepared for Retirement

Almost half of small business owners surveyed are unsure what will happen to their business when they retire.

A survey conducted recently by TD Bank demonstrated 26% of small business owners are not confident they will save enough money to retire comfortably. The survey of more than 660 small business owners nationwide questioned respondents about their management experience, confidence in business tasks and areas in which they need help.

Nearly half of survey respondents (47%) said they do not have plans in place for retirement, whereas about a quarter of respondents (24%) indicated their business would close, and 15% of business owners said they would transfer ownership of their business to a family member or coworker.

External factors affect retirement planning

“Building a small business is hard work, and it can be easy to get caught up in daily tasks such as paying invoices or increasing sales, but smart business operations need to consider the future, including the retirement of the owner,”Jay DesMarteu, head of Small Business Banking for TD Bank, said in a press release. “Just as those in the workforce should invest in themselves through retirement savings, small business owners need to have conversations about retirement and prepare for the future to ease the transition, whether that be closing or selling the business or passing it on to a family member.”

Small business optimism slips two percent in July

THOMASVILLE — Small businesses in Cairo and Thomasville reflect the findings of a recent survey that showssmall businesses in Georgia were increasingly worried about economic conditions in July.

Thumbtack.com’s Small Business Sentiment Survey is a monthly survey of independent local service businesses in the U.S. As part of its survey, the company included 523 responses from Georgia.

The key findings for the state showed that Georgia small business owners’ feelings about their current finances declined by 2 percent while expectations for the economy as a whole dropped by 4 percent.

Concerns over tightening access to credit were particularly pronounced as expectations for the availability of credit declined by 5 percent. Nevertheless, Georgia’s independent local service professionals remain more optimistic about future economic conditions than the rest of the South and the nation as a whole.

Small businesses in Georgia reported that their biggest concern was acquiring new customers. In regards to hiring, Georgia’s small business owners reported a 3 percent decline in plans to add employees to their ranks.

Jay Evans, owner of Babcock & More Home Furniture in Thomasville, Cairo and Camilla, said in an interview with the Times-Enterprise (TTE) that he hasn’t had to cut employees, but he hasn’t hired any, either.

Why Is It So Hard To Serve Small Business? Blame The 90% Challenge

There’s a convenient narrative about small business that we’ve all heard a million times.  Small business represents a huge, underserved, and highly lucrative market for finance-oriented entrepreneurs and large organizations alike. The prevailing wisdom is that these businesses run on Intuit’s QuickBooks, which enables them to have organized, accurate, and timely financial information at their fingertips. By all accounts, the small business market should be an easy one to serve. Unfortunately, this isn’t the case. Organizations big and small have struggled to serve the small business market in an efficient and effective matter, and it’s all due to what we call the 90% challenge.

The 90% challenge

My company BodeTree started out as one of those optimistic startups that thought serving the small business segment would be easy. We quickly realized, however that the commonly held wisdom was wrong. Of the 30 million small businesses in the U.S., the vast majority operate in a state of utter chaos, even if they use an accounting system of some kind.  The reality is that for most small businesses, the traditional process of organizing and managing their finances is too complex, too difficult, and too time consuming.

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