Protect Your Business Assets

In this episode of 'The Visibility Boost,' host Glenneth Reed highlights essential strategies for business owners to protect their digital and financial assets. Key focal points include securing admin access and implementing two-factor authentication for emails, banking information, websites (domain registrars, back-end, and hosting providers), Google business profiles, Google products (Analytics and Search Console), and social media accounts. The use of software as a service, setting up password managers, and ensuring strong, unique passwords also form integral parts of these protective measures.

Download the Protect Your Business Assets checklist here.

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Links:

Visit my website at:  www.thevisibilitymethod.com
Send me an email at:  hello@thevisibilitymethod.com
Follow me on Instagram at: @glennethdotcom

Transcript

0:32

Welcome to the visibility boost. My name is Glenn Smith and I'm going to be your host. And this episode, we're going to do something a little different. And I'm talking about protecting your assets specifically for business owners, website owners, nonprofit owners. I want to talk about all the assets that you have as a business owner that you need to be protecting for security issues, hacking issues, safety. All of that. So let's get started. The first one we're going to talk about is emails. Obviously you need to have admin access to the emails that your business runs on for you, yourself, whatever email you use daily, you need to have admin access and you most likely need to set up two factor authentication on it. Emails that control other things that are vital to your business. You need to make sure that you have access to those. Don't just create emails, give them to somebody and not know. Now the best way you can ensure that you will always have access to these emails or can get access to them. Is by setting up Google workspace. That way you would control anybody who has an email on your domain. So Gweneth at the visibility method and any other that I set up at the visibility method, I would actually have the ability to go in. Immediately changed the password. If something happened, if you had to let a contractor or employee go. You would be able to access, manage and secure things. So that's the first thing. The second thing is your banking info. Whether you have QuickBooks stem, Sato, HoneyBook, whatever. Make sure that you have admin access to that. The only other people I recommend you give access to are your accountant. Now, if you switch accountants, there may be a little bit of overlap, but then you need to remove the old accounting person. So honestly, you and your accountant should most likely be the only people who have access to this. Maybe if you have somebody doing invoicing, they have a different level of access. You also want to make sure that you are setting this up with two factor authentication. And sometimes it's even also through your bank. I know that QuickBooks, I have my banking in there. When I go to do my transactions, I have to get codes for things to make it sync. So make sure you've got all of that set up. The next thing is your website. And this is really in three different parts. Too, if you're not on WordPress, but if you're on WordPress three, You want to make sure you have access one to your domain registrar. That's who you bought your domain name through? These are places like GoDaddy Namecheap. Google used to sell them, whoever, whoever you bought your domain name through that you pay yearly your every couple of years. You want to make sure you have access and admin access to that account? Your back end of your website. So regardless of platform, you want to make sure that you have admin access. I cannot tell you how many business owners. I start talking to, and they don't actually know who has access to their website and they don't. You need admin access and you also need to review. Every now and then who has access to your website and do they still need it? And the best way to give them access? Is to create an account for them. Don't have them using your sign-in information, give them their own so that when they are done, you can just delete or remove that user. Now, if you are on WordPress, you're also going to have a hosting provider. That's where your website lives. You're going to want to make sure you have admin access to your hosting provider as well. So those are all the things you need to think about for your website, because think about it. That is that's your business. That is where people are coming from getting the information that's where clients go. It may be where they log in. May certainly be where they purchase things. You need to have access to it and not be wondering how to get access, if something should happen. The next thing is your Google business profile. So that is what appears on the right side of the search results screen. At various times when people are searching. You want to make sure that you are the primary owner of that? And you also want to make sure you're keeping the information up to date, but there are different levels of owners and you should have primary ownership of your businesses. Google business profile. The next thing is along with that, any of the Google products, Google analytics, Google search console, you want to make sure that you have access. That you have admin access and that every now and then you review. Who has access and delete anybody that no longer. Necessarily needs access to that account to your information, even though it may seem like it's not that important. There's just no need for them to have access. If they're not. Working for your business. The next thing, social media, just like your website, you own your social media accounts somewhat. And you want to make sure you have access. You have two factor authentication. Um, set up. And if you do have people who are going to be posting for you, commenting, et cetera, you can easily subscribe to something like buffer, loom Lilly. Um, flick all different kinds of softwares that allows them to set up posts. Even reply comment, engage, but they're not actually logging in as you. And that's 100% how I recommend you set this up. And then finally, any type of software as a service that you use to run your business, it could be a sauna. It could be canvas. It could be reporting tools. Every business is different. And I know we all have just dozens and dozens of different types of software. And log-ins, you want to make sure that you have admin access. To the software. Yes. Maybe your assistant has access. Maybe you have hired some contractors who also has have access. But you want to make sure you have admin, you know, the password, you know how to get in there. And you can remove anybody who doesn't need access to it. I also recommend setting up a password manager. That can be something like last pass, one password. There's a Norton one, there's different types of password managers, but I highly recommend using one of those and making sure that every password that I've mentioned and don't hate me for saying this. Is different. They should also most likely be 12 to 20 characters long include upper lower number symbol. Again, don't hate me. And last past has a password generator. That you can give it all the specs you need. It'll generate you something random. You want to make it as hard for people to hack any of your platforms as possible. I will put a link in the show notes of this episode to a checklist for you to have so that you can make sure you have access to everything that you need for your business.