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Businesses of all sizes can face threats from different angles every single day. Sometimes, these threats are obvious, such as theft from a store, while other times, they are less visible but can significantly impact what you do and how much profit you make, e.g., product damages.
While you might not always be able to identify and even protect against every threat, there are some things you can do to help you protect yourself and get the coverage you need.
Insurances
There is a vast array of insurance premiums that you can purchase to protect your business. While some may be legally required depending on your business (such as workers’ disability insurance, unemployment insurance, and workers’ compensation insurance), others, such as business income coverage, investing in adequate cargo insurance, and data breach protection, are optional coverage that can be extremely beneficial.
Trademark and Copyright
Protecting your intellectual property (IP), i.e., your logo or brand name, means that you can stop others from imitating you or stealing what you have created. It pays for all entrepreneurs to know the differences between terms such as patent, copyright, and trademarks as appropriate and use these to determine if an idea, name, design, etc. has been registered to avoid infringing someone else’s IP.
Get Legal Help
Talking to a business lawyer before or after you set up your company can alert you to any mistakes you may be unintentionally making, ensure you have the correct procedures and policies in place, and generally enlighten you as to your legal responsibilities as a business owner and/or employer. The more you know about what you need to be doing, the less likely you will be making mistakes or breaking the law.
Be Careful When Hiring
The last thing you want is for everything you’ve worked hard for to be put at risk because of poor hiring processes. Always ensure that you are doing your due diligence when hiring, know precisely who you are bringing on board, and are well-trained and equipped with everything they need to do the job you hire them for.
Monitor their progress and pay attention to how they work and what they do as employees. This will alert you to any mistakes. In addition, you can implement security protocols for employees and limit access to certain information, parts of the building, or equipment so the risk of anything untoward happening is reduced. Don’t just assume all employees are on your team; internal mistakes or malicious damage are possible.
Protect Data
In 2023, 41% of small businesses fell victim to a cyber attack at around $16,000 per ransom demand. Don’t fall into the trap of thinking this won’t happen to you. Every single person who uses the internet for any reason is at risk. And with statistics showing cyber crime against small businesses is on the rise, having effective cyber security measures will help to protect you. From using anti-virus software, firewalls, VPNs, outsourcing to cyber security experts, using strong passwords, etc., to training employees on best practices, you can ensure that you don’t put your business and any data you hold at risk and protect your company from cyber breaches.
There are multiple ways to protect your business, and these are some of the more common ways businesses put protection in place to cover a variety of threats.
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