A Designer's Perspective: Risk Management for Small Business Owners
hoto by Marvin Meyer on Unsplash
Today I went to a risk mitigation panel for small business owners. Here is what I learned:
As a small business owner, the risks which impact your company impacts your personal life and vice versa. Here are 3 considerations when deciding to quit your comfy cubicle corporate 9-5 job and venture out as an entrepreneur.
It's a lot harder for a small business owner to have an unproductive day than when you're working as part of a team. This is because your productivity has a direct correlation to your bottom line or your income. How do you protect your income?
Many businesses are 1 or 2 invoices away from running out of business. You'll need access to liquidity to continue your business during lean times. Do you have a way to access capital when you need it?
Phishing is the most common successful cybersecurity threat. This is when the 'bad guys' send an email that contains a hyperlink that, when clicked, makes you susceptible to a hack, a threat or access to you or your passwords. How are you protecting your data?
These 3 considerations represent risks you take on as a business owner; income, liquidity, and data protection. The presenting panel didn't share this information just scare us though - they offered some recommendations too. Here are my take-aways:
To protect income - create strategies and a process for your business cycle so if you need support on a project, your team can jump in where you left off.
Lean times can sneak up on you. Getting a credit line is much easier when you don't currently need it. Talk to your banker before you are in dire straits.
Data security is important to teach your team about. Something as simple as teaching your team what a phishing email looks like and how to avoid clicking them will reduce your risk of successful cyber attacks.
As a branding designer, my role is to make sure your marketing touchpoints such as content voice, logo, website, and print/digital materials connect you with your ideal clients to help you grow your business. In the process, depending on the project, I may have access to your domain accounts, hosting accounts, email accounts and more. How and when I'm connecting to these accounts are vital to safeguarding your information.
The smarter we can all be as small business owners with risk, the stronger our companies can grow!