Archive for category: Business

Most companies have experienced at least one instance of check theft, in which a bad actor washed a legitimate check and cashed it. Cases of check theft dipped in the early 2010s as companies and banks shored up their security. But according to the Association for Financial Professionals’ “Payments Fraud and Control Survey Report”, 82% of companies experienced fraud in 2018—the highest number in a ten-year period. The fraud was a blend of old-school check and new electronic payment security threats. This is because as companies adopt more processes for each payment type they utilize, another set of potential security threats also emerges.

Electronic payment fraud occurs most commonly when AP teams make changes to secure data—which, in this case, refers to data such as bank account information, remittance email addresses, and recipient names. Criminals hack into company emails and request to update legitimate vendor records with their own temporary bank account number.

Fraud is often under-discussed, but should be a top consideration as you think about integrating a payment solution. It’s essential to know how potential payment automation solution providers (henceforth referred to as “provider”) handle fraud cases, which can give you insight into how instances of fraud would be treated if your company became a victim.

Any company that you share sensitive data with should be protected by the highest industry security standard. The following list is a variety of compliance types and security procedures which potential providers may mention:

SSAE 16 replaced SAS 70 as the definitive security guide in 2010. SSAE 16 compliance includes SOC auditing, which publicly tracks company compliance statuses. Three types of SOC auditing exist:

• SOC 1: Heavily audits internal controls of a service organization. This report can be used by an entity to assess a service organization for relevant and effective controls. Typical entities include, but are not limited to, publicly traded companies subject to SOX reporting (see below).

• SOC 2: Heavily audits data relating to the Trust Services Principles (TSPs) in information security: Security, Availability, Processing Integrity, Confidentiality, and Privacy.

• SOC 3: Lightly audits IT controls relating to TSPs. This audit’s controls are more relaxed than SOC 1 and 2.

Also known as Sarbox compliance (in reference to the Sarbanes-Oxley Act created in the early 2000s), SOX compliance is a set of government-mandated regulations to which publicly traded companies must adhere. These regulations offer transparency into companies’ financial records, as well as their wholly-owned subsidiaries. It was enacted to protect shareholders from dishonest internal practices. If your provider is either a publicly traded company or the wholly-owned subsidiary of one, they are legally required to be SOX compliant.

 

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Just about everyone has a hobby or two. Whether you like to go hiking, play video games or simply hang out at home and watch Netflix, we all have our own ways to unwind over the weekend or at the end of a particularly long work day.

But for some, a hobby can be so much more than just a fun way to pass the time. If you approach it the right way, your hobby could blossom into a full-blown career—if you want it to. In fact, many entrepreneurs have already done just that.

Of course, not all hobbies have a full-time business potential, and making this kind of big shift isn’t for everyone. But with the right level of skill and a creative approach, you may be surprised at the profit potential your favorite activities have to offer. By taking a little time to evaluate your relationship with your hobby, you could find an exciting way out of the traditional 9-to-5 routine.

Here’s how you can tell when you’re ready to turn your hobby into a career.

A hobby may be fun when you’re doing it in your spare time, but turning it into a true business is an entirely different matter. It requires much more persistent effort and a daily commitment—often dealing with deadlines, completing tasks you won’t always enjoy and managing other stressful situations. For most people, it’ll take time before a hobby starts to turn a meaningful profit.

As I gleaned from a recent conversation with DJ Allie Teilz, persistence is key to transforming your hobby into a business. “I had to cut my teeth working in a record shop and booking my own shows when I was 15. I wasn’t doing parties for the Grammys and Golden Globes right off the bat. It took years of work and hustling to get to the point where I was running bigger productions and parties. But that’s how the industry works. You have to work your way up to earn your place.”

I’ve learned this lesson first-hand in my own career, too. Back in 2014 when I first embarked on a new hobby to learn how to start a blog, the goal of eventually turning my website into a business was always sitting at the back of my mind. It wasn’t until five years later that I’d finally start earning enough to consider it a real business.

Knowing that instant success is highly unlikely should serve as an important reality check. If you know you’re willing to stick with your hobby for the long haul, you’re far more likely to eventually make it big.

One key indicator that you can turn your hobby into an actual business, is that you know you can make money doing what you do. Maybe you enjoy taking photos of friends and family—and you’re so good that people want to hire you for professional photoshoots.

In an interview with Reader’s Digest, Ella Mills, founder of Deliciously Ella, shared how she used this principle to turn her blog into a full-scale brand with an app, books and even kitchen products. “Readers started asking for cooking classes, workshops, supper clubs and other events like yoga brunches, so I started putting them on.”

If enough people are expressing a willingness to pay for your work, it’s clear that there’s potential to expand beyond just a part-time hobby endeavor.

Turning your hobby into a career doesn’t mean you simply get to do your favorite activity all day every day. It means you’re now becoming a business and signing up for everything that entails. From marketing your products or services, to answering emails and phone calls, paying quarterly estimated taxes, there’s a lot of extra work that goes into taking a hobby full-time.

Understanding how to run a business is just as important as being skilled at your hobby. Research from Fractl cited unviable business models as the top reason for startup failure, accounting for for 26% of all failed startups in recent years. A great idea or useful talent won’t get you very far, if you don’t take the time to learn the basics of running your own scalable business.

In an ideal world, you’ll already have some knowledge of what it takes to run a business based on your work in previous jobs. However, regardless of your current level of experience, you’ll want to put in the extra time to better understand the principles of managing finances, employees and other important business resources.

Turning a hobby into a full-time career will often require some financial sacrifice, especially at the beginning. But it also signals a major lifestyle shift that could require some other unexpected changes. As with any side business, weighing whether or not potential sacrifices line up with your core values, is a must.

Consider this example from Natalia Autenrieth of TopResume. She explains, “James, a paintball aficionado in his spare time, considered getting a competitive sponsorship to focus on the sport completely. Upon further reflection, he realized that he would have a significant travel commitment for out-of-town games and championships, which would make him an absentee father to his 4-year-old twins—something he couldn’t live with.”

 

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Robot-powered Zume Pizza, which was recently said to be valued at close to $4 billion, is no more—at least not as a pizza-making operation.

The 5-year-old Mountain View, Calif.-based company this week said it will cut 172 jobs there, 80 jobs in San Francisco and 78 positions in Seattle, according to documents filed with state labor agencies.

In laying off 53% of its workforce, Zume is shutting down its pizza delivery business and is shifting its focus to food packaging, production and delivery systems. The focus shift will require the company to add 100 new jobs, which the laid-off employees could apply for, according to a Zume spokesperson.

The company was reportedly burning through $10 million a day last summer, with that figure rising significantly by the end of the year, according to Bloomberg news service.

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Three out of four U.S. small and midsized businesses are optimistic about their own performance for 2020, according to a survey released today by JPMorgan Chase. Further, the majority of company leaders – 70 percent of midsized companies and 62 percent of small ones – said they expected to grow sales this year. This confidence in their own companies, however, is coupled with concerns about the national and global economies.

Though 59 percent of midsized companies and 52 percent of small firms remain optimistic about the national economy, this marks a decline of 14 and 3 percentage points, respectively, from last year’s survey. Optimism about the global economy is also down from 39 percent to 24 percent for midsized companies (which are more likely to have exposure to international markets than small ones).

“Businesses are becoming used to a new normal as the pace of economic expansion naturally settles down,” Jim Glassman, senior economist at JPMorgan Chase, wrote in a summary of the survey. “But it’s important to note that slowing economic growth isn’t a sign of weakness, and many of the concerns business leaders have point toward an economy that’s running at its full potential.”

Most of the businesses surveyed are investing in technology to realize efficiencies, accelerate growth and prepare for disruptions. For midsized firms, cloud computing is expected to be the most widely deployed technology for 2020, with 73 percent planning to use it, followed by data-driven targeted marketing (50 percent) and application programming interfaces at 46 percent. And 89 percent of midsized companies and 61 percent of small ones reported taking actions including purchasing cyber insurance, creating contingency plans and designating individuals and teams to identify threats and opportunities.

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