Insurance Insights
Pre-Employment Background Check Laws
When a small business employer is considering a candidate for an available job position, a variety of things are to be considered including the candidates work experience, skill set, educational background, and fit. After the initial interview, many recruiters and employers choose to run a background check on job candidates before offering employment, This pre-employment background check may include an examination of a candidate’s criminal history, driving record, professional licenses, references, credit history, education, and work history.
Successful Entrepreneurs Infographic
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Successful entrepreneurs may be a rarity, but most successful entrepreneurs do share a few common characteristics with each other. If you’re worried that you don’t have all of these on the list yourself, that’s OK, many, if not all can be learned as you grow as a business person.
How to Choose Your Business Structure
When starting a new business there are several things to consider in your business plan, many of which fall under the business structure. The business structure includes a number of decisions concerning legal organization, tax information, and liabilities. By deciding these aspects beforehand, you can get a better handle on the business you are starting in the early stages will have a more smooth transition into other aspects of the business.
Criteria in Choosing Your Business Structure
7 Tips to Use Facebook to Boost Your Small Business
As Facebook and similar social media sites become increasingly more popular, it is no surprise that many of your potential customers come from one of these sources. After all, Facebook boosts over 900 million monthly users as of March 31, 2012. With these stats, it is no surprise that Facebook has become a leading source for expanding your customer base and boosting your small business. Understanding how to use Facebook to your advantage is now becoming an important part of running a successful business.
Take note of these seven tips to use Facebook to boost your small business.
Protect Your Small Business From Employee Theft
Employee theft is a $40 billion dollar industry, according to authors Mark Lipman and W.R. McGraw. That figure was reported back in 1988, and with employee theft on the rise, it’s likely that number is significantly higher. Some estimates say that close to one-third of employees steal from their employees sometime during their career.
The Insecurity of USB Thumb Drives
USB thumb drives, also called flash drives, key drives, jump drives, or memory sticks, are small devices that hold a variety of data files which you can access from virtually any electronic device that has a USB slot in it, such as a computer. USB thumb drives provide a wealth of benefits, including being a convenient way to transfer data from one device to another, bring data with you in a small compact device, and hold significantly more data than many discs, and commonly holding between 8 megabytes and 256 megabytes of data. However while USB thumb drives are convenient due to their size, they also hold potential security risks due to how easy they can get lost, be stolen, and often don’t include security against data breaches.
7 Small Business Invoicing Tips
The financial end of running a business is never a business owner’s favorite task. However, it’s an essential part of running a successful business and includes invoicing clients. If it is your responsibility to send out invoices to clients, it’s vital to use a number of methods for creating clear, precise and well-organized information that provides the client with everything they need to successfully send payment.
How to Avoid Check Overpayment Scams
Check overpayment scams are an unfortunate part of needing to trust someone you don’t know well, usually through the Internet, with paying you for goods or services that later turns out to be fraud. This can cause a lot of frustration along with being the victim of fraudulent activity.
What are White Collar Crimes?
“Lying, cheating, and stealing”. That’s what the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) refers to as white collar crime.
Small Business Scams to Watch Out For
The BBB consistently hears from thousands of small business owners with complaints of being subjected to a scam. Maybe they were involved in an invoicing scam or were misled into forking out cash for a product or service they didn’t want. But not all con artists just want money from your business; some are fishing for customer data and will use high-tech methods to get it.
Protect your business by becoming familiar with these small business scams:
1) Fraudulent invoicing scams. Scammers know that small businesses are used to dealing with plenty of vendors and suppliers — and they know that invoices come along with that territory. So, they create out a seemingly legitimate invoice in hopes you’ll pay it. Common fake invoice scams include invoices for office supplies and online directory listings. To avoid paying a fake invoice, keep stupendous records of all your purchases, vendors, and subscriptions.
2) Overpayment scams. If a purchaser gives you a check larger than the amount due and asks for a refund for the overage, it’s time to raise the red flag. These impostors employ the same tactic on credit cards too. In these types of small business scams, the check will bounce or the credit card will be stolen. The Federal Trade Commission offers great advice for avoiding fall prey to overpayment scams, which includes verifying the buyers contact information and never accepting payment for more than the product or service sold.
3) Phishing emails. Phishing emails aren’t reserved just for individuals. Would-be crooks also target small businesses with this tactic. The topic of the email can be anything from taxes to complaints about your company. But regardless of the nature of the email, the deceivers are trying to find a way to access confidential business information to your detriment.
4) Domain name scams. A common small business scam is to lure small business owners into paying for a domain name they don’t want or need. Here’s how it works: You receive an email from a domain registration center, stating that another business applied for a domain name that could result in an infringement on your trademark. This is just an unsolicited ploy to get you to send money for that domain name. So that you know what to look out for, FireTrust houses a long example list of domain name scams.
5) Prepaid shipping scam. Usually conducted over the phone, these scams involve a customer ordering a large, heavy item. The caller uses a credit card to pay for the item, which is approved. But the caller then asks if you will pre-pay to ship the item to a distance location or even a P.O. box. The scammer purposely orders a heavy item to rack up the shipping charges. Of course, you find out later that the credit card is stolen.
Whether its prepaid shipping requests or fake invoices, it’s critical for small business owners to stay one step ahead of con artists. To do so, be extra vigilant and cautious when dealing with email, phone, or fax orders and communication. Most importantly, trust your instinct. If it smells like a fish, it probably is.
