USA Today - 17.10.2019

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Be the administrator

I have learned the hard way that for

ALL online services and for my compa-

ny’s website, I – and only I – must be

listed as the administrator. Sure, you

trust your IT person, website designer,

or your tech-savvy nephew, but things

happen. If you’re not the administrator,

one disgruntled techie can hold you –

and your data – hostage. You don’t have

to be a genius to be the administrator.

Every small business owner should be

listed as the administrator of every one

of their online services and sites.

Check your bills

I knew a small business that was em-

bezzled out of hundreds of thousands of

dollars. How? The comptroller set up

phony businesses that billed the com-

pany relatively small amounts for years.

The owner trusted this comptroller and

neglected to examine the accounts

payable closely.

Check your deposits

Years ago, my accountant told me to

never have the same person who

opened the checks also deposit the

checks. Why? Those payments might

not end up in my account. We still get

paid primarily by checks from our cus-

tomers (mostly large institutions), and I

check every check. Of course, it’s harder

for employees to steal deposits when

you are paid by credit card or electronic

funds transfers.

Limit cash

Sure you hate paying those fees when

you accept credit cards instead of get-

ting cash, but a cash-rich business is a

target in many ways. First, you are more

likely to be the subject of a robbery.

Next, it’s more tempting for some of

your employees will steal from you if

there’s lots of cash on the premises.

Make it easy for customers to pay you in

cashless ways.

Change your key

When was the last time you changed

the keys to your office, warehouse, or

plant? You’ve probably had dozens of

employees who’ve had those keys over

the years. Change your keys regularly.

Change and guard your passwords

Still using your birthday or your dog’s

name for your password? Cut that out.

You need different – and tough – pass-

words for each site you use. Of course,

that’s awkward and tough to remember.

Consider using a password manager,

like LastPassor 1password. Store your

password(s) in a locked safe. And when-

ever possible, and for all your financial

and critical sites, use two-factor au-

thentication, requiring you to also re-

spond to a text or an email when you

want access.

Be honest

If you are a dishonest businessper-

son – if you cheat your customers, lie to

your vendors, pay workers under the ta-

ble or get paid under the table – your

employees are going to be far more likely

to be dishonest too. As the business

owner, you set the tone, you demon-

strate what behavior is acceptable. If

you are the kind of person who cheats

others, don’t be surprised if others cheat

you.

Rhonda Abrams is the author of “Suc-

cessful Business Plan: Secrets &

Strategies,”, just released in its seventh

edition.

Keeping business safe should be a priority

Small Business

Rhonda Abrams

USA TODAY

Every small business owner wants to
know how to increase sales, improve
their marketing and motivate their em-
ployees. But first, let’s make sure we
keep your company safe – your data,
your money, your physical premises.
Having survived in business for more
than 25 years, I’ve picked up a few tricks
along the way and learned a hard lesson
or two as well.
Here are simple steps you can take to
increase your company’s security:

Go to the cloud

In 2012, I got rid of my company’s
server, moving virtually all our data to
online services. While you may fear be-
ing hacked if you store this stuff online,
the reality is you’re far more vulnerable
keeping your data and accounts on your
premises. Your physical server can be
compromised by damage or theft. Sure,
you may plan to back up online regular-
ly, but do you do it? After disasters –
such as hurricanes, fires, earthquakes –
one of the greatest problems facing
small businesses is they’re not able to
access their accounts. That makes both
getting back to work and receiving di-
saster recovery funds more difficult
than if you’ve got your data in the cloud.

MONEY USA TODAY z THURSDAY, OCTOBER 17, 2019 z 3B

Not long ago, I was researching a

business I might work with next year.

Diving into the morass that is social

media, I somehow ended up on the

personal Facebook page of the CEO.

And there it was.

A picture of him, smiling next to a

giant marlin he had just caught in

Florida and wearing a bright red cap

that said,

“Make America Great Again.”

Now, a lot can be said about that,

most of which I won’t say because

simply mentioning Trump’s name in

this column gets me in trouble with

some readers. But it does serve as an

important reminder that during this

era of sharply divided loyalties and

politics, you need to not only be ex-

tremely cautious when it comes to

mixing business and politics, but

also, you better double-check your

privacy settings.

More importantly, you need to be

very sure that it is good for you, your

business and your brand to wade into

the political and culture wars of our

day. Somehow, with impeachment

looming, the divide and the noise is

only going to get louder and more

pronounced (if that is even possible).

Now, if you are sane, you are likely

thinking that politics and small busi-

ness don’t mix, and obviously I agree.

People buy from you because they

like your products, or your prices, or

your brand, or whatever, but it’s very

likely that it is not because you have a

hot take on Nancy Pelosi and the

Democrats.

Sharing whatever it is you think –

no matter how smart or well-rea-

soned – has more potential to do

harm than good right now, you may

be thinking. And anyway, if you

haven’t noticed, reasoning is not held

in high regard today.

And yet, you and I may be wrong.

According to Forbes, a recent sur-

vey of U.S. consumers found that

z 66% wanted brands to “to en-

gage in social and political issues”

zFor those ages 18-34, a whopping

73% wanted brands to speak up

So, is that the answer? Of course

not. The other shoe must drop:

zWhile 52% said that they would

show more loyalty if they agreed with

a brand’s position, 53% said they

would show less if they disagreed

with the brand’s position.

So whether it’s vocal employees,

or passionate customers, or vocal

millennials, there is a lot of pressure

these days on businesses to take a

stand.

What to do? How can you take a

stand in an era of highly partisan pol-

itics? The smart money is on picking

the right battles.

Supporting impeachment, oppos-

ing impeachment, whatever, is sim-

ply too risky. The possibility of anger-

ing your customers is too high.

A better strategy, if you want to get

involved in the issues of the day, is to

choose to support a cause you believe

in which would also resonate with

your customers. Indeed, choosing an

issue that aligns with the values of

your business can help reinforce your

brand.

For example, boat charter busi-

nesses might want to champion en-

vironmental causes and ocean clean-

up.

Dick’s Sporting Goods recently

stopped selling assault-style rifles to

anyone under 21, and in fact, de-

stroyed $5 million worth of rifles be-

cause, according to CEO Ed Stack, “If

we really think these things should

be off the street, then we need to de-

stroy them.”

But what if you feel so passionate

about something controversial that

you simply have to speak up? In that

case, I suggest doing what a pal of

mine did. She created a new incogni-

to Twitter account and uses it to rail

against the other political team.

And no one knows that she owns

the cafe down the street.

Steve Strauss is an attorney, pop-

ular speaker and the bestselling au-

thor of 17 books, including “The Small

Business Bible.” You can learn more

about Steve at MrAllBiz.com, get

even more tips at his site

TheSelfEmployed, and Connect with

him on Twitter at @SteveStrauss and

on Facebook at TheSelfEmployed.

USA & MAIN

Small-business

politics in the

age of Trump

Use care voicing opinions and stick to

issues that reinforce your brand

Steve Strauss

Special to USA TODAY

A recent survey of

U.S. consumers said

66% wanted brands

to “to engage in

social and political

issues.”

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