What small business owners don’t know about cybersecurity can set them up for sudden failure versus sustainable success. Let’s review five cyber security misconceptions that can harm your SMB and ways to get ahead of cyberthreats.

Myth #1: I don’t have the resources to build a cybersecurity program.

Limited resources, unlimited consequences
Many small businesses are challenged by not having the human or financial resources to build a cybersecurity program. Unfortunately, this excuse no longer works in today’s digital age as everyone, from large enterprises to federal agencies, has learned of the grave risks SMBs can introduce to the economy. Consider spending 7-20% toward a cyber security budget to reduce your cyber risk.

Myth #2: My Managed Service Provider(MSP) already makes sure I’m secure.

False sense of security from tech providers
As we hear from SMBs, another common misconception is “I already subscribe to a tech provider or MSP that manages my security”. There may be gaps in the security covered by the MSP. For example, just because an MSP ensures that you have anti-virus and up-to-date patches on your system, doesn’t mean that all of your security issues are taken care of. This false sense of security often leads to cracks attackers can exploit and can be the downfall of a company.

Myth #3: Attackers don’t care about my company, I don’t have anything they want.

SMBs are attractive low-hanging fruit
Attackers usually target companies or individuals in one of two ways. 1.) Cast a wide net on easy targets and see who falls 2.) Go after very big targets with elaborate strategies.

In either case, SMBs play a role in their success. In option one, the logic is that instead of spending the time trying to break into one large enterprise with security controls that may rival Fort Knox, they target 1,000 SMBs that have little to no security set up and see what sticks. It’s an economical business model. Let’s take ransomware for example. An attacker can target one large company and get a $1M payout (low chance of success, high reward) or target 1,000 SMBs and get several $100k payouts (higher chance of success, higher reward).

Myth #4: The chances I’ll be attacked are low, and I’m in survival mode. I can deal with cybersecurity later.

Outsized consequences with slim chances of survival
When large enterprises experience a breach, they take a brand reputation hit, incur fines and penalties, and sometimes pay millions of dollars in damages and repairs. While this is a lot of money, it’s usually just a small ding to the organization which will very likely bounce back. However, the same cannot be said for SMBs.

More than 60% of SMBs that are breached end up shutting down due to the cost to recover. SMBs are operating in the same arena as large businesses and facing the same threat actors. However, their punch is a debilitating knockout vs. a small blow large enterprises can take with ease.

Myth #5: I can rely on my technology vendors for compliance with regulations.

Regulators have little mercy on SMBs

When regulators pass requirements SMBs are included in the scope. Though regulators also have requirements for technology vendors, there are separate and sometimes unique requirements that apply to SMBs. We’ve seen many cases where it doesn’t matter if you are a one-person company or have 10,000 employees, you are held to the same standard. This puts SMBs in the tough spot of trying to comply with the same hefty regulations Fortune 500 companies face, without the same Fortune 500 cyber teams in-house or resources to ensure compliance.

How can you take Action?

• Cybersecurity doesn’t have to break the bank; there are many free and low-cost resources available. You may benefit from fractional cyber expertise.
• Implement security technologies like firewalls, antivirus software, and encryption to protect against cyber threats.
• Foster a culture of cybersecurity awareness. Train employees regularly to ensure everyone understands the importance of recognizing and reporting potential security risks.
• Adhere to relevant compliance standards such as GDPR, HIPAA, PCI DSS, or industry-specific regulations. Conduct regular audits and assessments to verify compliance.
• Combine cyber insurance with proactive security measures. This includes conducting regular risk assessments and staying informed about policy limitations. Continuously update your cybersecurity strategy. Be aware that cyber insurance is not a guarantee against all cyber threats, and relying solely on it can leave gaps in your overall cybersecurity strategy.

Remember, cybersecurity is a collective effort involving every member of your organization! If you are a qualifying JumpStart client you may be eligible for complimentary cybersecurity services with Cyber Pop-up. Visit to www.cyberpopup.com to learn more or schedule a free cyber expert consultation.

For more from Dr. Christine Izuakor, watch the recording of our insightful webinar below, exploring  the world of cybersecurity specifically tailored for small businesses.

The post Guard Your Small Business: Debunking five common myths about small business security and the actions you can take for protection today appeared first on JumpStart Inc..

So, how do you get presentable financial statements? It all starts with bookkeeping—the process of categorizing your business’ financial transactions into accounts like revenue, cost of goods sold, rent, advertising, payroll, etc. Over the years, I’ve had many entrepreneurs ask me the same questions about bookkeeping: which system should I use? How do I set up an account? Where do I go in this system to create an invoice or categorize my transactions? How should I categorize my transactions? What reports are important? How do I read my reports? What is a chart of accounts?

I created a series of YouTube videos to give entrepreneurs very specific answers to these questions. I hope they can help you understand and feel confident in using your accounting system yourself or directing someone else to do manage it for you. Dive into the playlist below and feel free to reach out to us for more assistance in all the other areas of growing your business.

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Digital marketing is an ongoing process that requires consistent effort and attention. By staying up to date with the latest trends and best practices, you can help ensure the success and longevity of your small business online.

Whether you’re looking to improve your online reputation, increase your reach and exposure or create more engaging content, these tactics can help take your current digital marketing efforts to the next level.

So why not spring into action and try out these digital marketing enhancements today?

Respond to Online Reviews

Responding to online reviews is an important part of managing your online reputation. When you respond to reviews, it shows that you care about your customers and value their feedback. This can help build trust and loyalty among potential customers and can also help you address any concerns or issues that may arise.

To respond to online reviews effectively, always start by thanking the customer for their feedback and acknowledging their experience. If it’s a negative review, try to address any concerns or issues they may have raised and offer a solution or apology if necessary. If it’s a positive review (woohoo!), thank the customer for their kind words and encourage them to share their experience with others.

Collaborate With Other Small Businesses

There are many ways to collaborate online with other small businesses, but one effective way is to create a joint marketing campaign. A joint marketing campaign involves partnering with another small business to create a promotional campaign that will benefit both of you.

For example, if you run a small boutique that sells handmade jewelry, you might collaborate with a clothing store that sells unique, high-quality garments. Together, you could create a joint marketing campaign that showcases your products in a cohesive, stylish way. This could involve creating a digital lookbook, hosting a joint photo shoot or even creating a limited-edition product line that combines elements from both businesses.

To promote your joint marketing campaign, share it on social media, create a landing page on your website(s) or even send out a joint email newsletter to your customers.

When collaborating with other businesses, it’s important to find partners that share your values and have a similar target audience. This can help ensure that your collaboration is both effective and mutually beneficial.

Create Some New Video Content

Video content is a highly engaging and shareable form of content that can help increase brand awareness and drive more traffic to your website. When creating video content, consider your target audience and what type of content would be most relevant and valuable to them. This could be anything from product demos and tutorials to customer testimonials and behind-the-scenes glimpses of your business.

To create professional-looking videos, consider using video creation tools like Lumen5, Canva or CapCut. These tools allow you to easily create and edit videos using templates, stock footage and other creative assets. Once you’ve created your video content, be sure to promote it on your website, social media platforms and other marketing channels to maximize its reach and impact.

By responding to online reviews, collaborating with other small businesses and regularly creating new video content, you can enhance your online presence and attract more customers to your business. As the flowers begin to bloom and the birds start to sing, let your online presence flourish as well.

I’ll leaf you with one last bit of advice… don’t be afraid to take a chance and branch out this spring – your digital marketing strategy might just blossom into something beautiful!

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Knock, Knock.
Who’s there?
Nobody… because your customers couldn’t easily find you online.

**Pause for uproarious laughter.**

As a small business owner, you hopefully already have a website and social media presence to promote your products or services online. However, these tools alone aren’t necessarily enough to attract new customers and increase your visibility in search results. An often overlooked but seriously effective digital marketing activity you should do right now is to claim and optimize your Google Business Profile.

What is a Google Business Profile?

Google Business Profile (formerly Google My Business) is a free tool that allows businesses to manage their online presence across Google, including Google Search and Google Maps. By claiming and optimizing your profile, you can increase your business’s visibility in local search results, regularly provide accurate and up-to-date information, and even engage with past, current and potential future customers.

Why is a Google Business Profile important for small business owners?

Your Google Business Profile can be a game-changer if you’re struggling to improve your online presence or simply trying to get more leads on the phone or locals through the door. With a complete and optimized profile, your business will benefit from:

Increased visibility in local search results

When potential customers search for products or services in their area, businesses with optimized Google Business Profiles are more likely to appear at the top of the search results. For example, if you own a bakery in Old Brooklyn and someone finishing up a trip to the zoo with their family searches “cupcakes near me” (guilty!) your business is likely to appear at or near the top of the search results.

Always accurate and up-to-date information

No offense to Bing, but there’s a reason “Google it” is synonymous with “online search.” You can use your Google Business Profile as a one-stop shop to ensure that your business name, address, phone number and hours of operation are all correct and up-to-date. You can also add photos, videos and other information that can help potential customers learn more about what you do. This information is especially important for customers who may be searching for businesses on their phone and need quick access to key information.

Invaluable customer engagement

In addition to boosting your presence, Google Business Profile allows you to respond to customer reviews and questions, which can help build trust and improve your online reputation. Engaging with customers and responding to their feedback shows that you care about your customers and are committed to providing a great customer experience. And since these are native Google reviews, guess what shows up first in Google search results?

Insight into how customers find your business

One of the most important features of a Google Business Profile is the ability to track and analyze customer interactions. With insights into how customers find your business, including what keywords people search to find you, you can better understand how your business connects with customers. You can also get a variety of metrics on calls, reviews, bookings and more to see how customers are interacting with your business and where you should spend your time and efforts to improve their experience.

How to claim and optimize your Google Business Profile

Other than the noticeable results, the best part about this marketing tactic is its simplicity. Your Google Business Profile can be up and running in four easy steps:

1. Claim your profile

The first step is just to claim your Google Business Profile if you haven’t already done so. Head over to google.com/business/ and follow the instructions to verify your business.

2. Supply your info

Make sure that your business name, address, phone number and hours of operation are all spelled correctly. Double-check and then check one more time. This would also be a great time to add a business description, photos and other interesting information that can help customers learn more.

3. Start interacting with customers

Monitor your profile regularly (weekly is fine) and respond to customer reviews and questions. You can also post occasional updates and promotions to keep your customers informed.

4. Track and analyze customer interactions

Use the insights provided by Google to better understand how customers find your business and the actions they take next. This can help you make data-driven decisions to improve your online presence and attract the interest of even more customers.

Claiming and optimizing your Google Business Profile is your must-do digital marketing task of the day. In just a few minutes, you can significantly boost your chances of getting found online and attracting more customers to your business.

So now that you’ve read to the bottom of this blog and helped to increase my search visibility… open a new tab and update your Google Business Profile now.

The post Don’t Wait, Update! Why Small Businesses Need to Optimize Their Google Business Profile Right Now appeared first on JumpStart Inc..

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1. Share Industry News

No matter what your business is, chances are there’s some exciting news related to your field. Sharing this news will likely be of interest to your customers and may help you get more organic shares from people who want to talk about it.

Keep an eye on industry news for your field, and if you see something exciting your customers might find interesting, share it! Your followers may not be aware of new changes to laws or promotions relevant to them. Sharing this news can help.

2. Offer quick tips and advice

Showing off your knowledge is another great example of how to increase engagement with your followers. When you teach your customers how to do something, you’re establishing yourself as a professional in the industry.

If your followers find your advice useful, they’ll be more likely to share the content to help out their friends. If they find the task too difficult to do themselves, they may decide to use your services because they feel you have a solid knowledge base.

3. Ask a question

Questions invite discussion. If you have a topic you know your followers would love to talk about, consider asking them a question about it. This will help increase engagement as your followers answer the question and discuss it with others.

Questions can also be easily adapted across a wide range of social media platforms, with a photo inspiring the question for Instagram, or a simple text for Twitter. Or why not consider doing a poll on LinkedIn, Facebook, YouTube Community, in Stories, or even on TikTok! Yes, most social media platforms have a poll feature to help you launch your questions in a fun and engaging way.

4. Create a series

If you have a series of blog posts you want to get out there, consider making it a series on social media too. Let people know there will be more to the topic later, so they can keep coming back to see what happens next.

Series don’t have to be related to a blog post. They can be anything from a series of Live Streams chatting about related topics to a series of Instagram posts talking about changes in the industry. Use your imagination to create your own unique series.

5. Spotlight customers

Customers love being in the spotlight, so why not showcase what they are doing? Ask your customers how they are using your product and highlight the best ones on your feed. Spotlights are very engaging. New customers can follow to get ideas for how they might use a product, while the customer who is spotlighted might share the post featuring them.

It’s always great if you can give back to the customers who support you, and spotlights are an awesome way to do that.

Keeping your social media updated with regular updates is important. These 5 ideas are all unique ways you can keep posting without repeating the same thing over and over again. Most of all, remember to have fun and infuse your personality throughout the posts! Now go create some buzz!

This guest blog was created by Simone Cameron of Annek Marketing Group, a social media and digital marketing agency. Over the past 10 years, Simone has grown Annek Marketing Group to a team of seven skilled and professional digital marketers who offer full-scale marketing services to business owners throughout Ohio and all over the country.

Visit Simone’s website at annekgroup.com.

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Congrats! It’s the birth of a new business idea.

Whatever the idea might be, the most important early insight you can have as a founder is to recognize that, no matter how revolutionary or necessary it may seem at first, you’re making A LOT of assumptions. Who your customer is, what problems they are actually experiencing, how big of a problem is this for them, what prevents them from changing to another solution… the list goes on. That’s why customer discovery, a form of market validation that involves gathering feedback from potential customers, is such an important step early in your entrepreneurial journey.

While it’s great to have that first grand vision in your back pocket, don’t get too attached! And don’t start pouring a lot of time, tremendous amounts of money and an intense level of emotional investment into building anything just yet. What you’ve imagined becomes much more actionable from a market validation perspective if you can distill it down to “My customer has THIS problem and would be very excited if they were able to accomplish THIS task differently”.

Market validation is ongoing, and it never really stops. So embrace the process! Even if you aren’t at the very beginning, the earlier you build up and then keep flexing those particular customer feedback muscles, the more you will ensure that your solution represents what your customers actually want and are willing to pay for. And hopefully, the validation process will help save you time, money, and energy in the long run.

That said, here are the top five tips for conducting your first round of customer discovery interviews:

DO NOT mention your idea/invention/solution

This seems counterintuitive at first, because how are you supposed to get feedback on your product or service if you don’t even tell people what it is? It’s surprisingly easy. Right now, your goal is to focus not on the proposed solution, but instead on the problem that your customer is experiencing and the current solutions they are using today. If it’s truly a “hair-on-fire” problem for your customers, and they are not able to sufficiently get around it, they will passionately share insights such as “It would be so much better if I didn’t have to worry about x”, or “If only I had a way to do this”. If you need some ideas on what to ask, check out our Sample Market Validation Questions.

Also, an added bonus: Every business founder thinks at some point “but what if someone steals my idea?”.You shouldn’t be overly concerned about this at any point, but there’s no need to worry about it at all if you’re not even mentioning your potential solution!

always Have a Hypothesis Going In

It’s impossible to test every assumption in one conversation. Before you speak with a specific individual, take stock of which assumptions you are testing in this particular case, as well as what you expect to hear. It’s much more actionable to evaluate what you’ve learned from a perspective of “What I thought I’d hear vs. What I actually heard” versus “Here’s what I’ve learned, now what am I going to do with this information?” The hope is that whatever they are telling you, is what your hypothesis initially stated – and if that happens, you’ve struck customer discovery gold! And if they get to that point without you leading them in any way, even better! But, it’s equally valuable if your potential customer tells you something completely unexpected.

Also, It’s not necessary to remember every word that was said. It’s far more important to be able to describe a few main takeaways. Three pages of notes are far too many – a three-bullet-point summary of what you learned will be much easier for you to compare with other responses over time. If you’re having trouble deciding which assumptions/hypotheses you should focus on testing first, check out our Building a Value Proposition Statement Guide.

Emphasize current and past behavior over future behavior

People are notoriously bad at predicting their future behavior. Not to mention, there’s usually a pretty large gap between what people say they will do vs. what people actually do. In general, no matter who you’re talking with, they’re likely much better at telling you about what they are currently doing or what they’ve already done or tried. So focus your questions around these topics. If you probe further, you can probably also learn what they like or what works with these solutions, as well as what they wish was different. Either way, stick to asking about current and past behaviors and your insights become immediately more valuable.

Show some weakness

A customer discovery conversation is many things, but a sales pitch is NOT one of them! You don’t need to appear as the utmost expert in whatever industry or space you are focusing on. In fact, showing that you don’t have all the knowledge you need just yet and that you really just want to learn, is a great way to get people to let their guard down about talking with you and sharing their thoughts. Flattery also helps!

To go more in-depth on the effectiveness of showing some weakness or vulnerability, the great two-hour read The Mom Test by Rob Fitzpatrick dives in on this and many other aspects of talking to your customers.

Embrace the “see what happens” mindset

If your mindset going into each interview is “let’s see what happens”, the moment you reach out to the person, you will always succeed in seeing what happens next! If that something happens to be that person turning you down, or simply ignoring your message, so be it! Onto the next.

Even at this early stage, customer discovery is a great stand-in for what it will be like to fill your sales funnel and eventually execute on your early go-to-market strategy.

Remember, the earlier you can start talking with potential customers, the better. Never stop flexing those customer discovery muscles. And happy validating!

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Once you have validated and sized the market for your idea, your next step will be to determine whether this will be a venture or lifestyle business. Financial models can quickly become very complicated, but all models rest on these four main pieces:

1. Customer Acquisition
2. Sales Mix
3. Revenue
4. Expenses

The following steps will show you how to create these four sections of your model. If I can advise one thing, it is to try not to second-guess yourself when drafting your initial financial model. It’s best to get your hypotheses down on virtual paper, even if you feel uncertain so that you can start testing them as soon as possible. Remember that it’s much better to fail quickly and adapt rather than fail slowly and miss an opportunity.

Draft a Sales Funnel

A Sales Funnel is a concept that mathematically connects your leads to your revenue by way of your marketing activities. For example, if you can reach 100 leads per month through cold calls, your sales funnel should be able to tell you how many of those leads convert to paying customers each month.

To start drafting your sales funnel, identify the sales process and engagement channels you want to use to reach your customers, and layout the steps that you can track that a customer takes between lead and customer. Once you have the sales funnel conceptually drafted, it’s time to turn it into number form. In the example sales funnel below, we’re using blog posts and cost-per-click advertising to get leads, which we can track as web visits on our different landing pages; some percentage of those leads are converting to trials, which is easy to track through our website; and some percentage of those trials are converting to paying customers in the month following their trial:

You can see that the blue cells with white numbers are input cells. The white cells with black numbers are calculating off the blue cells. A color-coded system like this can save you and others a lot of headaches.

In this example, my input for Content Marketing is four pieces per month, which I estimate will generate me 400 leads (or views) per piece. My input for Paid Online Advertising is my monthly ad budget, which I’ve decided to increase each month. Dividing the budget by an estimated cost per click gives us our estimated number of leads from that marketing activity. One I have my leads, I need to estimate how many of them from each channel will convert down to the next step in my sales funnel, the trial. Once we have an estimated number of trials, we multiply that by 33% and stagger it one month to incorporate the time it takes to complete a trial and convert to a paying customer.

If you’re still wondering which marketing activities you should be doing and what the steps in your sales funnel are, here’s a tool that can help: Identify & Build a Buying Process.

Draft a Sales Mix

Now that you have an estimated number of customers, we need to estimate what they will buy.

At the top of this table are the sales numbers from our marketing activities. Here, we are estimating that 65% of our customers are purchasing the Basic Subscription and 35% the Premium Subscription.

If you don’t have any sales data to help you with your mix percentages, don’t be afraid to take your best guess and revise it later.

Draft Your Revenue Builds

Now that we have our sales split by what the customers are estimated to buy, we can start figuring out how much revenue this means and when. For a revenue stream that involves one-time sales, this math is very simple – multiply sales by their different prices. However, in our example, we have a subscription-based business, which requires us to keep an ongoing count of our number of subscribers at their two different levels.

Subscription revenue builds start with how many subscribers you have at the beginning of the month. Then, we add how many new subscribers signed up. Next, to account for the fact that subscribers don’t stick around forever, we subtract how many subscribers churned, or canceled their subscriptions. In our example, this is ~10% of our beginning and new customers per month. Finally, we have our ending subscribers, which we can multiply by our subscription price to get that month’s revenue. Also, one month’s ending subscribers become next month’s beginning subscriber count.

Research Your Expenses & How They Behave

Brainstorm and research all your expected costs associated with building and maintaining your business and products. Expenses are usually divided like this:

• Direct Costs (aka Cost of Goods Sold)
  • For tech companies
    • Cloud & Hosting
    • Customer Success / Account Mgmt
    • DevOps (ongoing technical support of the platform once it’s live)
  • For non-tech companies
    • Direct Labor
    • Direct Materials

• Operating Expenses (for tech & non-tech)
  • Sales & Marketing
  • Development (to create the product before it’s live)
  • General & Administrative

Once you’ve identified your expenses, you’ll need to figure out how they will behave over time. Here are some common ways future expenses are estimated:

• As a percentage of revenue
• On a per-user basis
• As an average monthly expense
• By headcount (overall or in one or more departments)
• Annually, semiannually, quarterly, or bimonthly

Once you’ve finished estimating your expenses, you have the four basic parts of the model. Subtract expenses from revenue and there is your profit or loss for a certain time period.

Throughout this process, you may feel very uncertain, and that’s okay. Take a guess. Choose a number. Then go, get out there, and find out if it’s right or not. Don’t be afraid to succeed or fail fast so you can move on to a better idea.

Ready for more financial projections fun (or stress)? Check out  The Fine Art of Financial Forecasting. Looking for more financial projections tips just for your subscription-based business? Watch our video on Best Practices & Common Pitfalls.

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