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When you’re starting out in business, you need to split your focus in a seemingly infinite number of directions at the same time. Not only do you need to guard against the competitors who are snapping at your heels, employees who may be flagging and lacking in motivation, and the never ending battle that is maintaining cash flow, you also need to guard against the well-meaning but potentially crippling mistakes that you may make yourself. Success in business requires you to fight many battles on many fronts. And guarding against a host of threats… some of which are obvious, some you may not even have considered.
In the current climate, businesses of all shapes and sizes are realizing what can happen when they are caught unawares. Indeed, your own business may have already had to make sweeping operational changes on the fly in order to keep their operation afloat during the pandemic. Nobody likes finding out how vulnerable they are the hard way. And the unfortunate truth is that when you go into business for yourself, you risk painting a target on your back for the less than scrupulous to exploit.
In this post, we’ll look at 4 potential business vulnerabilities that you may not have considered but can cause serious trouble for your business…
Defamation
Your business is only ever as strong or as weak as its reputation. And while disgruntled customers are a daily challenge, it’s one thing dealing with a negative review or unpleasant comments on social media. It’s another thing altogether dealing with defamation. If someone accuses you or a member of your team of wrongdoing it is a PR timebomb just waiting to go off. You need to take swift, decisive legal action and shut down any false claims made against you as soon as you possibly can. You can’t afford to bury your head in the sand. The longer you leave defamatory claims unattended, the more damage they can do.
Insurance fraud
If a member of your team injures themselves on the job, you have an obligation to do right by them. Assuming, of course, that they’ve exercised due diligence. However, in the pursuit of worker’s comp, some employees have been known to resort to less than scrupulous means to get a big payday.
If you suspect that an employee has submitted a claim for worker’s comp that is less than genuine, an Insurance Investigator can work with you and your insurance company to prevent damage to your cash flow and your reputation.
Cybersecurity
Many small businesses assume that they are small enough to fly under the radar of cyber criminals. But the truth is that criminals love small businesses for exactly this reason. They tend to under-invest in cyber security and training and as a result they can be very vulnerable to malware and phishing attacks. Make sure your digital infrastructure is protected!
A burned-out CEO
Finally, one of the biggest threats to your business is you burning yourself out. You can’t steer the ship in the right direction if you’re perpetually a nervous wreck. Which is why youn need to be able to delegate and take the time to look after yourself!
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