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Top 3 Reasons Why A Hacker Would Target Your Business Website

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In his June 3, 2011, article, Private Business Owner writer Carl Doerksen made it clear that middle-market business owners are at risk of cyber attacks. I wanted to elaborate on this great post and focus specifically on business websites. Whether your business website is a simple online marketing brochure or a complex e-commerce site that processes credit cards and payments, all are being targeted by hackers.

Most business owners place considerable value in their website. A business owner’s website is likely the focal point of their brand online and, in many cases, will host online commerce and other profit center related activities. Still, most middle-market business owners never really consider that their website would be the target of hackers. After all, the national news really only reports on hacking incidents that result in name brands who have compromised credit card information for millions of their customers. This is misleading as hackers have very specific interests in your website. Here are the top three reasons why a hacker would target your website. [Read more…]

Give ’em A Challenge or Give ’em A Raise?

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It has been almost a decade since our economy was on fire. One of the effects it had on our businesses was that we couldn’t find employees. Once we did find the right employees, we had a hard time keeping them.

The phenomenon was seen across a variety of industries in the United States. Ski Resorts couldn’t fill open positions for jobs ranging from ski instructors to food services. Trucking companies were hampered by a shortage of diesel mechanics. High-tech companies lobbied the Federal Government for changes in our H1B visa polices in order to bring in more software developers and programmers.

Despite the heated economy, good employers chose not to play the pay game and opted to focus on other factors that were important to employees. During the past recession, since giving raises was nearly impossible in all industries, finding other job satisfaction-employee retention methods became even more important.

One of my favorite business books is a Beverly Kaye and Sharon Jordan-Evan’s book entitled Love ’em or Lose ’em. The book focuses on employee retention. As a part of their efforts, the authors keep a live, ongoing employee satisfaction survey on their website titled “What Keeps You?” [Read more…]

Generational Equity Reviews Three Common Myths of the Family Owned Business

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A family owned business “is a business in which one or more members of one or more families have a significant ownership interest and significant commitments toward the business’ overall well-being.”

In this post Generational Equity reviews, based on our experience, three common myths that we often see and hear discussed about family owned business. [Read more…]

5 Fundamental Tips for Preparing Your Exit Strategy

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You’ve heard it said: “The only sure things in life are death and taxes.”

A truthful addendum to this for the private business owner that is equally sure is that at some point you will be exiting your business.

No matter how much you love your business, there will come a time where the game will change.

Some will exit based on retirement or medical issues. Some will notice changes in the market or industry that will begin to take their toll.  Some will pass the business along to a family member or a loved one. No matter the specific circumstance that will motivate the exit, the business owner must be ready when the time comes.

In the same manner that you keep your receipts when preparing to file for taxes, you must also prepare in advance for exiting your business.

In order to help you prepare, we’ve listed five fundamental steps to preparing your exit strategy:

(1) Define Post-Business Objective

The first step of exit planning is a definition of your objective. What are your plans once your business has sold? This objective will drive the exit planning process.

The owner will need to decide how much profit he or she needs to make out of the sale of the business in order to achieve an ideal outcome.

(2) Financial Planning

Once you have determined your primary objective, you are ready to begin to plan the financials for the future sale.  During this portion, the owner and professional advisors will begin to look at the cash flow and profitability of the business.

The current value of the business will be assessed including all assets.  Once the financials of the business have been assessed, there will be a thorough review conducted of the business, and of its value drivers.  The question of what portion of the business “leverage value and reduce risk” are addressed.

As this is assessed you will be able to make a better effort to make the most of your time as you are preparing to meet your exit planning objectives.

(3) Management Transition

Whether or not you are planning to sell to a third party or to an insider will determine how you manage the transition in your exit planning process.

Is it transferred to a third party or to an insider?  This will determine how to plan for their exit. Often times if an owner is planning to sell to an insider who may not come to the sale with substantial personal capital, the owner will need to plan for this in order to still receive maximum value during the transition.

(4) Contingency Plan

With every good exit plan, there needs to be a well thought out contingency plan.  Risks must be assessed.  Some risks include: potential litigation, large portions of revenue in the hands of a few clients, liabilities, employee risks and others.

(5) Personal Estate Planning

The final stage of an exit planning process is your personal estate planning. This is certainly not the most exciting portion of the process, but critical to a successful plan is planning where your money and assets will go if something were to happen and you were to pass away earlier than expected. SmartMoney offers helpful solutions personal estate planning.

An exit plan is critical and hiring a professional as an advisor during the process will increase the accuracy of your plan.

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