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Keeping your business protected, from financial and digital to legal, is vital to ensure that it continues to grow and is successful. You have a lot to do as the company owner, including overseeing daily operations, so using trusted service providers and learning more about protection can help safeguard your organization. With that in mind, here are five tips for businesses in a range of sectors:
1. Separate Personal and Business Finances
While it may seem easier to keep them together, your business banking needs to be separate from your personal banking. That can protect your personal savings from liabilities relating to your company and make it easier, come tax time, to see profits and to keep track of expenses. Along with having separate bank accounts for ease of use, different credit cards can also be advantageous.
2. Use SPF for Email Security
Setting up an SPF (Sender Privacy Framework) record can protect many business domains from email spoofing and improve email reliability. Find out how SPF helps with email security to understand all the benefits and how it works, and how easy it is to set up, adjust, and manage the protocol with Sendmarc’s platform. Cybersecurity is not something to ignore, as that leaves your customers and brand vulnerable.
3. Have Business Insurance
While this one sounds obvious, it needs to be said. Neglecting to get insurance is unwise, given that every company has inherent risks. The right insurance protects your business from lawsuits, accidents, theft, extreme weather, worker claims, and other risks. Without insurance, any of these events could put your company in jeopardy, even potentially bankrupting it. There are many types of business insurance, depending on your sector and other factors, such as general liability, product liability, and commercial property insurance.
4. Use Contracts with Clear, Specific Wording
Vague contracts and legal agreements make your organization vulnerable to disputes and could lead to legal issues that require going to court to resolve. It could also damage your business reputation. Customizing each contract, whether with employees, service providers, clients, or anyone else, is a must. Also, include termination clauses, as well as details about refunds, to protect your organization. Get a legal professional to review each one before signing it to ensure it is solid.
5. Protect Your Intellectual Property
“Intellectual property” (IP) refers to your inventions, creative works, brand identity, and more. For example, it can include your brand logo, website, and products. To protect it is to keep someone else from stealing what makes your business unique and using it as their own. Failure to protect intellectual property could mean you no longer get to use your brand if another person registers it first. They could legally get away with using something you created. Protecting your IP can involve registering your copyright, business name, and logo. Moving forward, be sure to monitor for those trying to use your IP unlawfully and take action if needed. That could save your business.
Protecting Your Business
From finances to legal, cybersecurity, and reputation management, there is a lot to think about regarding business protection. Implementing SPF records, registering your company name and logo, and getting the right business insurance are all important. So is separating business finances from personal ones and using clearly-worded contracts. Now is the time to protect your business against potential losses.
