August 2018 – McAdam Siemon

A wannabe entrepreneur’s guide to starting a business

Posted on August 28, 2018 by Carolina Jaramillo

Starting a business is part science, part art, and a large part hard work! It can get lost in all the excitement but you need to get the balance right.

Approximately 20 percent of all small businesses fail in their first year; and your chances of your business making it to five years are around 50/50.

One thing is for sure: leaving your success up to chance is not an option. Get clear on where you want to take your business and how you are going to get there.

Reasons small businesses fail include the following:

No market need for their products or services
Lack of cash flow
Not having the right team in place
The competition doing it better
Pricing and cost issues
Lack of a business model to follow
Poor sales and marketing ability

So what are the essentials needed for your business to thrive? How do you ensure your business doesn’t fall away due to one of the above — or any other reason?

By asking the right questions from the start. The following will get you thinking along the right lines from day one…

How passionate are you about this?

It sometimes gets lost in all the calculations but you should LOVE what you are about to start.

Is it something that you can see yourself doing in five or ten years? If not, maybe you need to look elsewhere.

Passion is what keeps you going through rough times. It sustains you and ensures the necessary energy goes into the venture. There will be difficulties in the years ahead but passion will see you though.

Do you really need to quit your ‘real’ job yet?

A healthy obsession with your business idea is fine. But it can blind you and cause you to make hasty and unnecessary decisions.

Some business owners give up their jobs before they start their businesses. They may be better advised to keep the job (and the steady salary) and start their business as a small side venture—often referred to these days as ‘a side hustle’—at first.

There are 168 hours in a week. If you’re passionate about your new venture, spending a few extra hours a week on it won’t seem like extra work!

Save the financial stresses caused by a business HAVING to support you from day one.

Who are you partnering with?

If you are partnering with someone in your business, make sure that it works for you both. If you complement each other and it makes the business stronger, great!

If not, then why are you going into business together?

A business is not the place for a ‘marriage of convenience’. If you take that path, it won’t be long before problems rear their head.

You can’t do everything — who is going to help?

How are you going to find the people that help you run your business?

Doing everything yourself might seem like a cost-saver at first but soon you’ll realise that it’s a false economy — and it will lead to burnout.

Hire professionals to ease the load: a business accountant (not only a tax accountant), a legal contact, a personal assistant, and a marketing assistant are some basic requirements. To avoid paying full-time salaries, outsource to the right professionals.

Do you understand your competitors and the market?

Passion alone won’t sustain your business. You need a clear understanding of the niche you are entering.

Who are your competitors? Is there room for another business like yours? If so, how will you stand out — Service? Price? Quality?

If you are breaking new ground, have you established that there is a genuine need for what you offer? Be sure that it’s not just you who thinks it’s a great idea?

Be clear on your target audience and who is going to buy from you.

How will you structure your business?

Establishing the right legal structure for your business is also a basic requirement.

Your options will vary depending on the type of your business and your family situation, but seek advice from a qualified accountant experienced in providing structuring advice to get the fundamentals in place.

The business structure you choose will affect taxes, administration, liability, and employee setup, amongst other aspects of your business, so it can be an expensive mistake to not get this right from the outset.

How will you fund your business?

Mapping out the capital available to you should be part of any business plan: the start-up money may come from savings, friends, family, business partners, investors, venture capitalists, or through bank loans.

Get clear on how you will raise enough to get your business going, what your weekly and monthly ‘cash burn’ will be until you reach cash flow break-even point (after which the business funds itself), and then, establish how you are going to manage your cash flow in the coming months and years.

How will you market and sell your products or services?

Sales and marketing are two areas that will help to define the success (or otherwise) of your business. Take advice on the best marketing channels — both online and offline.

Also, if your sales skills are poor, make sure you hire someone who can close the deals that will bring new customers into your business.

Many new business owners have already established some relationships to provide initial wins — but what do you do when these dry up? You need a healthy ongoing pipeline of leads and prospects.

Are you getting the right advice from the right accountant?

Business owners should be on top of their taxes, payments, and accounts; and keep a tight handle on outgoing expenditure.

A good accountant can advise you on this, as well as helping you identify opportunities to grow your business as you mature.

Make sure you have chosen an accountant you can work with and who has experience advising businesses like yours, as this will be a crucial relationship that shapes the future of your business.

Chances of success are actually relatively high if you ask the right questions before you start your new business venture. Many new business owners get caught out by the unexpected because they have not planned properly with cash, personnel, market research or other key factors.

Start by asking the above questions and go in with your eyes open!

Does your business have poor cyber security? Here are 11 ways password manager apps improve your security and save you time

Posted on August 16, 2018 by Carolina Jaramillo

Cloud computing and web-based apps have undoubtedly improved business efficiency. But once you and your team start using various online apps, one aspect quickly becomes inefficient (not to mention downright annoying): having to repeatedly enter usernames and passwords to log in.

It’s bad enough having to enter a multitude of login credentials when you first open the apps each morning. But many apps automatically log you out if you haven’t been using them for a few minutes. And while it’s a nice security feature, it means you have to repeat the entire process whenever you take a breather.

Wouldn’t it be great if a ‘master control’ app could automatically enter your username and password whenever an app asked for them? Of course, you’d have to log into the master control app first, and that login process would have to be very secure. But just imagine how much time and frustration it could save.

The good news is that, to quote an all-too-familiar phrase, “There’s an app for that”. In fact, there are quite a few password manager apps available.

And you really should be using one.

Why you shouldn’t enter your passwords any other way

“But I don’t need a password manager app,” you say. “I use the same username and password for all my logins, so it’s pretty easy to remember.”

Congratulations. You have become what’s known in the online world as “a hacker’s dream”.

Why? Because once a hacker figures out your username and password on one site, they can use the same username and password to access every other site you use. And before you assume they couldn’t possibly know the other online sites you use, they can run a program that tries your username and password on hundreds—if not thousands—of sites in a matter of minutes. It’s not a question of whether they’ll find those other sites. It’s only a question of when.

“But it’s more convenient doing it this way,” you might say.

Sure it is. For now. But you may think differently when every online system you use—online banking, email, social media, etc.—has been compromised.

Even if you discover the security breach straight away, it can still take months—if not years—to recover. You could lose your savings, your business, or even your identity.

But there’s no point creating different usernames and passwords for each site if you’re just going to put them on sticky notes. Whether it’s a physical one on your whiteboard or an electronic one in your computer, they’re still incredibly easy to find and use without your knowledge.

How about storing them in a note-taking app such as Evernote or OneNote? Without any form of encryption, these apps aren’t much better than the sticky note app on your computer.

And for goodness sake, don’t email them to yourself so you can use a keyword search to find them. Not only will they be stored without any encryption, your email can easily be intercepted and read.

So, unless you have a perfect memory and can type incredibly fast, the only real solution to having unique, secure passwords is to use a password manager app.

Here are six reasons you should use a password manager app.

1. You’ll no longer be “a hacker’s dream”. With password managers you only need to remember the username and password for the app. Then, whenever you access a secure website, it will look up the username and password you created for the site (which are securely stored online) and enter them automatically.

Because you don’t need to remember them all you can use a different username and password for each site, which is far more secure than using the same one for them all.

And if someone gets access to one of the sites you use, they still won’t be able to access any others.

2. You can use more secure passwords. The most secure passwords use a combination of upper- and lower-case letters, numbers and special characters. But when you have to remember them (and type them in over and over again), it’s tempting to use simple passwords that are less secure.With a password manager, you can make them as long and complex as you want because it’s the password manager app that remembers them all and types them in for you. It can even create new passwords automatically, such as “Sp?45AqG&&l6p#BzK”.

These random, nonsensical passwords are far more secure than the names of your pets, family members, favourite movie or other commonly used passwords. And the chances of hackers guessing your password, even with the software they use to generate them automatically, is extremely low.

All you need to do is choose a strong password for your password manager.

3. Your login details will be encrypted. If you’re worried whoever created the password manager will have access to all your usernames and passwords, relax. All of your information is encrypted (scrambled), and only the strong password you use to log in can decrypt (descramble) that information. It’s the same level of security used with Internet banking, and a lot more secure than sticky notes.

4. You can use two-factor authentication for even better security. Let’s say someone works out the username and password you use for a website. That means they can log onto the site, enter your details and they’re in, right?Not if you’ve set up two-factor authentication. Instead they’ll be asked to provide another piece of information only you can provide. It could be a random code to your mobile number via SMS, or one only your phone can generate. It may even ask for your fingerprint via your smartphone.

And without that other bit of information, they won’t get access.

Two-factor authentication can be used not only on websites, but also the password manager itself. And while some people find the extra step inconvenient, it’s an added layer of security that’s well worth considering.

5. You can share passwords more securely. Let’s say you need to give a staff member or contractor access to financial or other sensitive data (a common scenario when working with freelancers and remote workers). One option would be to give them a username and password, which they would enter to access the information. But what’s stopping them from writing them on a sticky note, or emailing the details to themselves (or worse, someone else)?

With a password manager you can set them up with a password that is never revealed to them. It will log them in, but they never see what it is, and therefore can’t share it or even write it down.

6. You can revoke a person’s passwords instantly. When people leave your organisation for whatever reason, you need to make sure they can no longer access your information. If they’ve written their passwords down somewhere you have no choice but to manually change or remove the password on every system they had access to.But with a password manager you can revoke all of their logins easily—and instantly.

Which password manager should you choose?

As mentioned earlier, there are quite a few password manager apps and services now available. And while their features, quality of security provided and ease of use may vary, they all offer similar benefits.

Some of the more popular password managers include:

The best choice for business use is a password manager such as LastPass Enterprise, which lets you set up users and teams based on your own organisation. You can then grant and revoke login access to those users and teams as necessary.

LastPass also has a Free plan (for use on one device) and a Premium plan that syncs your login details across all your devices.

And of course, you can use password managers for your own personal logins as well. You’ll get the same benefits as you do in your business, but at a fraction of the cost. (Most password manager services offer free ‘personal’ accounts.)

In either case, you’ll need to spend a bit of time setting everything up. But here are five ways a password manager will save you time in the long run.

1. You’ll save time logging in: Imagine logging into your computer first thing in the morning, grabbing a coffee, and coming back with all your web apps open and you logged into every one of them.That’s what a password manager can do for you. It can open each web app and log you in without you needing to enter a single password (or even remember one).

And once you experience it for yourself, you’ll wonder how you ever lived without it.

2. You’ll save time logging in after being inactive. As mentioned earlier, a lot of web apps log you out automatically when you haven’t used them for a while. It’s good for security, but not much fun when you have to keep logging in.But with a password manager, you can be logged in again with just a couple of clicks. No usernames or passwords to type in. You may not even need to click the Submit button. It can do it all for you.

3. You’ll save time providing usernames and passwords to new team members: Depending on your type of business, a new team member may need dozens of logins. Setting them all up is not only tedious, but also a waste of time.But with a password manager you can put logins to all the necessary sites in a folder and then give the team member access to every site in that folder in one step.

4. You’ll save time completing web forms: Completing a web form to attend an event, download an ebook or purchase a product can be time-consuming (not to mention tedious). Most password managers let you create form profiles so you enter your details (such as credit card information and postal addresses) in seconds rather than minutes.

5. You’ll be able to log in from other devices: Ever needed to log in to a web app at home or while travelling only to realise the passwords you need are stored on your computer at work?Most password managers let you sync your login details across multiple devices, and even access them online, which means as long as you have your smartphone or access to the Internet you’ll be able to log into those web apps.

How to get started with a password manager

If you love evaluating apps and technology, check out the apps mentioned earlier and see which one best fits your needs.

But if you want to start using a password manager straight away, choose LastPass. It lets you have a Free or Premium plan for your personal accounts and an Enterprise plan for your business. You can even link your personal and business LastPass accounts so all your logins are in the your own LastPass view. This saves you having to log in and out of separate LastPass accounts whenever you need to switch from a business-related web app to a personal one.

And don’t worry. Even when you link your personal and business LastPass accounts, team members using your LastPass Enterprise account still won’t be able to see or access your personal logins.

It really is the perfect combination.

Social media hype or substance? Are Twitter and Facebook relevant to business owners?

Posted on August 9, 2018 by Carolina Jaramillo

Isn’t Twitter a waste of time? Isn’t Facebook for the kids?

Not anymore.

It’s true that Twitter and Facebook started out with very ‘non-business’ objectives. The founder of Twitter actually did invent it so you could tell everyone you were going to the shop to get some milk; and anyone who has seen the movie The Social Network knows about the very lowbrow origins of Facebook.

Other social media platforms include LinkedIn, Google+, YouTube, Pinterest, Instagram, Snapchat, Foursquare, Quora, Tumblr, Vine, Flickr and MySpace, among others.

In recent years savvy marketers and business owners have worked out how to use social media VERY effectively for communicating with the market place, in a new way.

Traditional marketing, like advertising, is a monologue. A one-way conversation, coming from the advertiser. There’s no interaction in a TV or newspaper ad.

Modern marketing—including social media—is about engaging in a dialogue with people. It’s about creating two-way, value-adding conversations (albeit, online ones) with people who are interested in what you do: your ‘followers’, ‘friends’ and ‘connections’. It’s about helping them, listening to what they have to say, and letting them know about useful, relevant information.

This creates a sense of community and stronger relationships. Certainly stronger than any advertising can ever create. We have entered a whole new era, and social media is not just reshaping the marketing landscape, but it’s changing journalism and media, and is even acting as a catalyst for social change, allowing people to combine their collective voice. We’ve witnessed that in world affairs, for example in Egypt where Facebook was used to organise protests.

If you’re still not convinced that your business should actively get involved with Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Google+ or other social media platforms, consider the flipside.

Can you afford not to at least monitor Twitter, for example, to see what is being said about your industry, your business, you? Using social media management software like TweetDeck, HootSuite or SproutSocial you can efficiently monitor your various social media accounts using the one app to display your feeds from a number of different platforms, notifying you when people mention you, your brand, reply to you, ‘favourite’ or ‘like’ your updates and posts, and so on.

We think it makes sense for any business to monitor what’s being said about them—and about their competitors—in social media.

We also know of many success stories of small business owners who are using Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn as a very effective way to generate referrals and to drive traffic to their website.

Social media works if you learn how to work it.

Obviously the purpose of this article is not to teach you how to use these tools. That would take a book or complete course, not an article.

Its purpose is to open your mind to the possibilities—if it hasn’t been opened already—of how your business can learn to use and benefit from social media as part of your business’ marketing mix.

To start you along that learning curve, take a few minutes to watch this Socialnomics video. The statistics mentioned in it are phenomenal.

At the 1-minute mark you’ll see a quote by best selling author Erik Qualman, “We don’t have a choice on whether we DO social media, the question is how well we DO it.”

And at the 3:50 mark, “Social Media isn’t a fad, it’s a fundamental shift in the way we communicate.”

We are just starting on the path of learning how to best use social media, and by no means are we proclaiming any degree of expert competency. (Yet!)

The question, we believe however, is not whether your business should use social media, but how should your business best use social media.