Insurance Insights
Small Business Big Impact: Small Business Marketing Infographic
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Small businesses are increasingly turning to social media to get their messages out, and while it’s not a magic bullet, it does enable nearly instant connections with clients, customers and potential employees. Learn the popular marketing methods that small businesses across America are using to market their own business and making their own big impact.
Business’ Big Balancing Act: Small Business Salary and Compensation Infographic
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5 Family Business Mistakes to Avoid
Forming a business with your family members can be a rewarding experience that is profitable for everyone involved, but many things should be considered. When getting into business with family, a variety of situations can cause the business to have financial difficulty, non-family employees to become resentful and disappointed, and a number of other things. Treat your family business as a business, regardless of how many relatives are working with you. The following is a list of the most common family business mistakes you should aim to avoid.
Watermark PDFs and Images for Branding and Copyright Protection
If you run a small business that relies on digital images, such as a photography or graphic design business, copyright protection is most likely a big concern. Nowadays, digital images are at a constant risk of being used without your permission by others for personal use and professional gain. Digital watermarking of images and PDFs offers a unique advantage as it not only reduces copyright infringement, but it also allows you to brand your images for increasing business potential. Watermarking of digital images and files is referred to as digital watermarking and is relatively easy to do.
What is Digital Watermarking?
Tips to Burglar Proof Your Business
Twenty six percent of all 2010 burglaries targeted non-residential dwellings, which amounts to nearly 500,000 incidences, according to the FBI. In light of these facts, business owners cannot afford to ignore small business burglary prevention tips.
To decrease your chance of being included in these burglary statistics, follow these seven tips to burglar proof your business.
1) Force burglars to be in the spotlight. Lighting has a way of discouraging burglars. Flood and motion detector lights strategically placed outside your business establishment and near every door and window will deter all but the most highly-determined burglar. But don’t forget about the inside. Place lighting inside so that a robber inside can easily be spotted from windows. Keep window displays from blocking the street view at night and when the building is vacant.
2) Install security alarms. Burglar alarms are the most obvious tip to burglar proof your business. A silent alarm that notifies law enforcement or a private security agent is a good way to catch a criminal who continues stealing unbeknownst that law enforcement is on its way. A building alarm is effective in that it can scare the burglar and notify nearby individuals. Let would-be burglars know that your establishment is protected by an alarm by placing stickers on windows and doors of your security alarm service.
3) Install sturdy locks. A lock that is particular troublesome to break will discourage a burglar who wants to get in and get out as quickly as possibly. Experts recommend a pin-cylinder lock, which are difficult to pick. A dead-bolt lock that requires a knob or key to set if a good option because typical burglar techniques to break into a lock won’t work with this type of lock. Hinges should be placed on the inside to prevent the pin from being removed. Make sure door frames cannot be jimmied.
4) Use burglar-proof glass. Burglar-resistant glass, such as those that sandwich plastic between glass deters access to both display cases and the building itself. While this type of glass can be broken, it requires noisy and continuous hammering to do so.
5) Be smart with safes. bolt safes to a wall and place them in full view where they will be visible from the street. Whenever possible, empty the safe at night. As an added precaution, add a silent alarm feature to valuable safes.
6) Monitor keys. Keep a close eye of key distributions. Require employees to turn in the keys when they leave, and have different master keys for inside and outside the business.
7) Removes bushes and bins. Thieves love to hide, and bushes and bins will do just fine. Removing as many of these as you can will cut down the opportunity to hide out waiting for the right time to strike.
While most every business owner takes some precaution to prevent burglaries, following as many tips to burglar proof your business will be the best protection to keep your merchandise, equipment, profits out of thieves’ hands.
Risk and Benefits of Using Video Interviews to Screen Job Candidates
Video interviewing is a fairly new concept being used by employers to recruit employees. Starting with high-tech companies, many different types of industries are relying on video in order to screen candidates for potential job opportunities. Employers will choose video interviewing in certain situations, such as for a candidate that is International, lives a substantial distance away from the corporate office, or as a pre-screening tool before choosing candidates for formal in-person interviews. Some video interviews are done live on Skype or other types of video technology services as a two-way interview, while others are pre-recorded responses by the job candidate.
Where Video Interviewing Being Used
6 Good Calculated Risks for Small Businesses
For many businesses, the risks associated with certain actions are avoided at all costs. While this may be true, some risks are worth taking because it could eventually lead to potential business growth as well as gaining a competitive edge. Some calculated risks, which are based on a balance between the probability of failure or success, can be considered to be good business decisions. The calculated risks you choose to take may be what improves your small business potential and puts you above your competitors. Here are what some experts believe to be six good calculated risks for small businesses.
Cyber Crisis Response Plan
Cyber crisis’s, such as from data breaches, hackers getting into your security system and stealing data, spyware that harms your computer and network, or cyber terrorism, all pose a big threat to small and large businesses. In fact, a study done by the Ponemon Institute in 2010, found that large companies with a breach had lost an average of $7.2 million as a result. This is due largely to the lack of crisis response plans and security measures implemented by the IT department of companies. The National Cyber Security Alliance found that small businesses rely on their computer systems to store confidential and private data, including 65% of customer data, 43% financial records, and 33% credit card information. This makes it vitally important to implement a response plan for data breaches or other types of cyber crisis.
Avoiding Wrongful Employee Termination
As an employer, it is your responsibility to be sure that your employees are behaving in a professional manner and completing their job tasks as assigned. On occasion, you may be faced with the decision to terminate an employee’s position at your company, but before you do so it is important to be familiar with the laws about when you can or cannot fire your employees. If you don’t handle the termination by following labor laws, you may find yourself in the middle of a wrongful termination lawsuit — which will not only cause financial burden on your company, but can also spoil your reputation as a business.
Making Safety a Part of Your Small Business Work Culture
Safety should be one of the most important considerations to any small business owner. If you haven’t committed time and energy into a detailed safety policy and education program at your company, now is the time to start. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), almost 3.1 million of the occupational injuries and illnesses that were not fatal were reported in private industry. No matter what type of business you run or industry youre involved in – your employees are at risk of injury. What’s worse, the Occupational and Safety Administration Arm of BLSreported that in 2010, 4,690 employees were killed on the job. Had these companies had a better training program in place and the employees educated enough to take better precautions, many of these injuries and deaths may have been prevented.
