How to Successfully Cope With Life’s Unexpected Agony

Death. Divorce. Moving. Illness. Losing a job.

You probably know the list of things you might need to survive, because life inevitably changes and deals you losses along with the wins. Agony often accompanies loss, because your sense of yourself is shattered. Agony rushes in when you lose your sense of safety, stability, hopefulness, peace-of-mind, and happiness.

Agony is like inflammation around a good-sized puncture wound.

It’s hard to even look at something that hurts so much. But you must. You must take care of yourself.

The same is true for all the large and small changes that happen to you in work and life. Take a good look and decide what’s probably going to heal by itself, and what needs your attention.

Being able to see the difference between major and minor factors is more than a GMAT problem. At work, the minor stuff might include your boss having a bad day, Twitter goes down, or nobody “likes” your post. These are minor problems and you know it. That’s if you’ve been pretty scrupulous about taking out the trash in your head on a regular basis.

If you have not grieved the bigger losses that have been piling up, you may not be fine when the smaller ones come along. A colleague’s negative comment may be the piece that undoes the entire Jenga tower of agony.

If you have experienced real loss, even if you call your current situation “the new normal,” you probably want to take the opportunity to grieve the old one. You probably want to sort through the small and large hurts you have endured, and reflect on how you’ve been changed by them.

The exercise alone will provide you with some healing, just from the respect you show yourself when you pay attention to your own life.

Your personal story matters at work because your mental health directly impacts your ability to succeed.

Mental health gives you the resilience to bounce back and persistence to keep going after your great idea is shot down, your computer vaporizes your best (unsaved) work, or your colleague turns rogue at a meeting.

Losses great and small are predictable events and yet often unexpected in the moments they occur. Be ready for the unexpected by taking care of yourself now.

Take a mental health day, even if it’s already a real day off. Write out what’s behind the frustration, sadness or weariness you feel. Think about what’s gone and what is left. Maybe have a ritual or rite for blessing the passing. If there are really big issues, work with a trained counselor. It’s worth it.

Feeling well is a metric that’s been underrated. Make sure you make your well-being a priority.

Sunset Photo via Shutterstock

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10 Challenges of Managing a Shipping Department

If your new business involves shipping and fulfillment, you could be in for some surprising challenges. Many people don’t consider factors like international orders â€" and sheer man hours needed for packaging and inventory â€" when starting out.

That’s why we asked 10 members of the Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC) the following question:

“I am launching a new startup and shipping to customers is a huge component. What are some important challenges to be aware of if I am only just learning how to manage a shipping department?”

Here’s what YEC community members had to say:

1. International Orders and Returns

“The two most overlooked items when it comes to shipping are international orders and returns. International orders require higher costs, customs processing and can require additional certifications. Also, returns are a big part of the fulfillment process. Take time in the beginning to build your RMA process for returns and replacements.” ~ Andrew Thomas, SkyBell Technologies, Inc.

2. Logistics

“We follow a golden rule at our company: The more times an employee touches a product in our warehouse, the more our cost of doing business increases. Logistics is the backbone of any successful company; don’t short it on the budget. Ask employees what they need to be more efficient. You would be surprised with some of their ideas â€" we sure were! ~ Will Land, Accessory Export, LLC

3. Tracking Orders

“There’s nothing worse for customers than not being able to know where their orders are. This creates a negative opinion of your company and more support issues for your reps. The best thing to do is provide a page on your site where customers can easily look up the status of their order by email address or order number. This puts them at ease and lowers the burden on your support department.” ~ Dave Nevogt, Hubstaff.com

4. Rate Shopping

“It is crucial to have an automated system set up that automatically rate shops among the major carriers before shipping. This is vital to get the best rates and keep shipping rates low.” ~ Josh Weiss, Bluegala

5. Gauging Customer Happiness

“We set up an autoresponder that goes out 15 days after an order, asking customers how they like their purchase. Not only do customers love this followup and usually respond with a positive message, but it has also allowed us to discover shipments that didn’t arrive or had defective items. Making sure the customer is happy is always an important challenge, and this email helps.” ~ Brett Farmiloe, Digital Marketing Company

6. Your Company’s DNA

“If it’s not in your DNA, outsource fulfillment. We’ve used a third-party fulfillment center for a while. The cost is competitive, and the service is fantastic. Although we considered managing in-house, we decided to allocate more resources to our core competency, design and development.” ~ Aman Advani, Ministry of Supply

7. Prices

“If shipping is going to be a huge part of your business, then you definitely want to know what its true costs will be, which are more than what UPS, FedEx or USPS charge. You need to factor in returns, the time spent dealing with claims and shipping supplies. Find a way to be efficient because these expenses eat right into your profit.” ~ Henry Glucroft, Henry’s / Airdrop

8. Scale and Volume

“It’s all about scale and volume when shipping in large numbers, so don’t turn a blind eye to the management, analysis and innovation when it comes to keeping your costs down. Get your hands dirty with it in the beginning, and keep checking on it regularly so you don’t get hammered to death by just a few pennies at a time.” ~ Seth Talbott, CEO and Startup Advisor

9. Comfortability

“There are many shipping companies that will allow you to outsource your shipping. In fact, you can probably outsource your manufacturing, too! But, let’s not digress. Logistics companies such as Agility offer warehousing, forwarding and transportation for almost any product. If you’re asking this question, you probably aren’t comfortable with managing shipping. Let someone else do it.” ~ Andy Karuza, Brandbuddee

10. Customer Experience

“The shipping experience is a huge opportunity to improve your customers’ experience. As you’re building your shipping department, consider things such as delivery promises, what the packaging looks like, how delightful the overall experience is and how easy it is to make returns. Only considering the cheapest way to ship an item is shortsighted and can diminish your customers’ satisfaction.” ~ Katrina Lake, Stitch Fix

Shipping Photo via Shutterstock



Got a Sony Laptop? See If Your Batteries Could Be a Hazard

vaio laptop battery

If you have a version of Sony’s VAIO Fit 11A/Flip PC, stop using it now.

That’s a warning from Sony, which says some of these units have a non-removable battery. That battery could overheat causing burns on the housing of the computer. The company says the batteries on the affected hybrid tablet/laptops were provided by a third-party.

Sony has identified the specific model of VAIO Fit 11A/Flip PC potentially affected: SVF11N13CXS.

To check if you have one of the affected hybrid laptops, Sony has provided step-by-step directions to identify the machines. You’ll actually be looking for the “Product name” on a tag that also includes its Serial number and Service code. To find the “Product name” code, follow these instructions:

  • Open the laptop
  • Switch the switch from “Lock” to “Release”
  • Flip the display
  • Look for the product name on a small affixed sticker

An announcement from Sony details what owners of these devices should do:

“If you have one or more of the VAIO Fit11A/Flip PC model listed below, please immediately discontinue use, shut down and unplug the PC. We are currently identifying affected PCs by serial numbers and developing a program to repair or replace the affected PCs at no charge, or to refund the purchase price for the affected PCs, in accordance with the program.”

Sony expects to release details of a refund or replacement program in two weeks, the statement adds.

The VAIO Fit 11A/Flip PC was released in February. The voluntary action requested by Sony comes after the company says it discovered some of the batteries were prone to overheat. Sony says that a total of 368 units are affected.

Sony is in the process of contacting more than 25,000 customers who bought the device, according to The Verge. The VAIO Fit 11A/Flip PC is known as the little brother of Sony’s larger VAIO Fit convertible laptop. The device included in this most recent warning from Sony was not selling well in its short time on the market.

It is partly due to sluggish sales of VAIO laptops - among other reasons - that Sony decided to sell off this brand to Japan Industrial Partners (JIP). The companies announced the proposed sale back in February, just as Sony was releasing new products on the market. That deal is expected to be finalized soon, The Verge also reports.

When the sale was first announced, Sony said it would handle after-care customer response on VAIO devices.

Overheating batteries on laptops continue to be a safety issue. Earlier this month, we reported on a recall issued by Lenovo on battery packs included with many models of ThinkPad laptops.

Image: Sony



Why Bitcoin Is Not For Small Businesses. 4 Ways To Know When To Use New Tech In Your Business

Bitcoin, virtual currency,  has awesome potential. It’s used by people to buy and sell all over the world and etc, etc. It’s great. However, it’s fraught with problems. One of the biggest Bitcoin exchanges Mt. Gox, shut down, US regulators are still figuring out how to deal with Bitcoin and I could go on.

My advice for we small business owners is to NOT jump on every wagon that comes by, filled with new technology that’s not matured and been proven by the market - especially if you have a lot to lose.

Brent Leary spoke about this on an episode of  The 3TechGuys Show

Some of you might want to test accepting Bitcoin - that’s fine - if you are testing it with a small amount of money that you can afford to lose.

We have seen and we will continue to see the coming and going of lots of new, upgraded and different technology - this is GOOD (thank you iPhone, Netflix, search engines and Shark Tank).

My caution to you is to not base your business on new technology and when things don’t work out - then you’re business is in jeopardy.

Always wait until the following conditions happen before deeply investing in any new technology - and even then - start small and test.

  1. If you hear lots of customers talking about using the technology - listen up
  2. Watch what your competitors are and are not doing
  3. See what the main stream media has to say - Small Business Trends, OPEN Forum, Big Ideas Blog, Inc.com, Entrepreneur.com, Wall Street Journal, NY Times, Atlanta Tribune and other publishers have to say.
  4. Test the new technology with friends and long time, loyal customers - let them know it’s a TEST

Focus on loving your customers, getting a great web site, investing in social media and building your business. Let other people test new technology - but keep your eyes open.



Three 5-Minute Traffic Strategies You Can Use Now

Building up a steady influx of Web traffic is rarely easy, but every once in a while we stumble across simple fixes that make a big difference. The 3 traffic strategies shared below should be doable in about 5 minutes each - and are more than worth the time investment.

Traffic Strategies

1. Social Media Embeds

Take a look at your Facebook feed. Browse through your Twitter updates. Pay attention. How many of those posts are blog posts? How many are bite-size pieces of visual content? And which ones are getting shared the most?  They aren’t blog posts, are they?

Don’t get me wrong. You need in-depth content if you want to retain an audience, get people coming back, and actually grow in the long term. But social media isn’t for article posts. It’s for bite-size content. Use your social media platforms for what they’re for. Don’t post website articles, post bite-size content and link it back to your website for attribution.

Unfortunately, with more competition now on social networks than ever before, it’s not easy to get those social posts in front of enough people to get the ball rolling. Average organic reach on Facebook is down to 6.15 percent. With numbers like that, it’s tough to get enough social sharing to happen in a way that actually sends meaningful traffic. Especially when pages with over 500,000 Likes are only reaching about 2.11% of their audience on average.

If only you had a platform that allowed you to reach a larger portion of your audience. Oh that’s right, you do. Open rates in email average about 20%, and then there are all those random visitors who come to your site from other sources.

So why not display your social media posts on your site, where people will actually see them?

Here’s how to do that on Facebook. Click on that arrow in the top right corner of your Facebook post:

traffic strategies

Click on “Embed Post:”

traffic strategies

Then just grab the embed code and paste it in the HTML on your blog:

traffic strategies

Try using these embeds in place of pull-quotes or subheadings. Now your visitors can share these bite-size takeaways from your website on Facebook - right from your website.

Here’s an example from Shopify:

traffic strategies

It’s bite-size posts like this that are keeping Shopify’s Facebook engagement rate around 5%, while average engagement rates for Facebook Pages of their size are just 0.16%. Sharing posts like those on your website can boost those rates even higher.

Shopify understands that while big guides are good for audience retention and growth, bite-size posts are what do well on social networks. When you link the two together with embeds on your website, and links back to your website, you create a more cohesive experience, all while using each platform for its appropriate purpose.

2. Put a Kindle eBook on Amazon

Wait, wasn’t this article supposed be about five-minute traffic strategies? Yep, and that’s about all it takes.

The Kindle marketplace is a great way to put yourself in touch with an audience that otherwise may never have found you. You can do that simply by transforming one of your most valuable articles into an eBook and publishing it through Amazon’s Kindle Direct Publishing. All you need is a Word document.

You’ll need to eliminate any bullet points, fancy fonts, or tables, and keep in mind that you should remove any images that won’t render well in black and white. To split it up into chapters, use hard page breaks. To give it some semblance of professional appearance, you’ll also want to pay somebody to produce your cover, but you don’t need to spend much. There are plenty of graphic designers who can throw together a decent book cover for virtually nothing over at Fiverr.

If you have qualms about asking people to spend money for an eBook that was originally a free article, you can actually put it up for free. You’ll need to use SmashWords to do it. Space Jock has a blog post explaining how to do this.

While editing your eBook in Word, you can add hyperlinks directly to your website. These links are clickable from within the eBook. Also make sure to get your branding all over the eBook so that people know where they can find more content.

According to Alexa, Amazon is the 12th most popular site on the Web. This can be a massive source of traffic if you use it properly. Granted, to get the most out of an eBook you will need to spend more than five minutes, but that’s all it takes for you to cross the threshold and show up in the Amazon marketplace.

3. Write a Descriptive, Intriguing Headline

We all know that headlines can make or break a successful article, but for some reason this seems to be where most bloggers and content marketers end up falling flat on their face. You can start by not getting too creative. As this study by Mailchimp demonstrates, the most successful email subject lines do a good job of telling users what they can expect to find when they open the email. The ones with the worst open rates, on the other hand, tend to try too hard and focus too much on selling.

According to a study published in the Guardian, these changes will also help your click through rates for headlines:

  • Use about 8 words in your headline.
  • Use a colon or a hyphen to indicate a subtitle.
  • We all know lists are good, but for some reason it turns out lists with odd numbers tend to perform better than lists with even numbers.
  • Ask a question (but only if it’s an intriguing one). Titles with question marks tend to do better than average.
  • If you’re going to use an exclamation point, use three of them. These headlines performed twice as well as headlines with any other punctuation mark. (You can obviously go overboard with this.)

According to Outbrain, if you use superlatives, you should use negative ones. Headlines that use the words “always” or “best” perform 29 percent worse than average. Headlines that use the words “never” or “worst” perform 30 percent better than average.

According to research by Dan Zarella, you should use more verbs and adverbs, and fewer nouns and adjectives. Put the focus on actions, and how those actions are performed - not on things. While this research was performed on Twitter, I believe it’s true in general.

And according to research by Startup Moon, these changes can help your headlines perform better:

  • Using violent words tends to boost click through rates. Words like “kill,” “fear,” “dark,” “bleeding,” and “war” grab attention. We’re not talking about actual violence here, either. We’re talking about headlines like “Google Kills Google Reader” as opposed to “Google Shuts Down Google Reader.”
  • In agreement with Outbrain, negative versions of words tend to do better. Words like “no,” “stop,” and “without” dramatically improve sharing. “5 Things You Should Stop Doing” works better than “5 Things You Should Start Doing,” for example.
  • Again, we all know numbers help headlines, but a few insights from the study included the fact that digits work better than number words, and bigger numbers tend to perform better. Using numbers as data works too, not just using numbers to label a list. Using time units helps as well, and starting the headline with the number is better than ending with it.
  • Guides that use words like “Introduction,” “The Beginners Guide,” and ahem, “In 5 Minutes” tend to perform better. Using “DIY” also helps.
  • Surprisingly, using “you” or “me” doesn’t seem to have any real impact. Likewise, “how to” doesn’t seem to help. These don’t really hurt either. It’s just that they are widely believed to help - when in fact they don’t seem to make a difference.

Get Started

I’m going to wrap this article up by saying that you should do at least one of these right now. No excuses. As a reminder, these were my suggestions:

  • Embed a social post in your next article.
  • Transform one of your best articles into a Kindle eBook.
  • Follow a few basic guidelines when you choose your next headline.

Let me know which one of these traffic strategies you’re going to use!

Social Media User Photo via Shutterstock



Getting to the heart of the problem

As the Heartbleed bug demonstrates, passwords - especially the way they are commonly used across sites - are inherently vulnerable suggests Chris Russell

As some of the most frequented sites on the web, we can trust Google, Facebook and Yahoo! to protect our data, right? Wrong.

Introducing the ‘Heartbleed Bug'. These sites, along with almost half a million others, use OpenSSL, an open source piece of software designed to encrypt data flowing in and out of a website. A few days ago, internet users received the heartbreaking news that a flaw in the software has enabled hackers to steal data from these ‘secure' sites. Worse, this bug may have been crawling through our web servers for up to two years giving hackers plenty of time to get their grubby mitts on our personal information!

But stay calm, we needn't worry...the lovely people at Google et al have patched the flaws, rendering any stolen data useless. Phew. But hang on a minute, what about the half a million other websites using OpenSSL? Since the news broke the web has been flooded with confusing advice; particularly on whether or not we need to change our passwords across all our web applications. Some say ‘change your password right away'. Others advocate waiting until all your sites have been patched ensuring you don't risk your shiny new password falling into villainous hands. Then there are the soothing words of Google, which claims there's no need to change it at all. Unless, it adds quietly, you have been foolish enough to reuse your ‘secure' Google password on other websites. If this is you, then sound the alarm! Well, phew. Thank heavens that never happens, huh?

Time for a reality check. It's common knowledge that due to the sheer volume of passwords the average web user is now required to use, reusing the same memorable phrase across some, if not all websites we use on a daily basis is inevitable. Research conducted by Swivel in 2013 revealed that almost a fifth of employees care so little about online security that they reuse the same username and password across every single online business and personal application.*

The posturing has to end. It's all well and good telling us to change our passwords across all our applications, but it's inevitable that most of us are going to push that flash of guilt to one side and reuse our new password across the board once again. Help is at hand however, with new ‘password manager' websites popping up all over the internet. These sites claim to store your details securely and help generate complex, highly secure passwords as a result. But wait, how do you get into these sites? It isn't... It couldn't possibly be with... It is. Another password.

My advice? Scrap passwords altogether. The inconvenient truth is that web users are neither capable nor are they willing to maintain the complex, rolling system of passwords that today's web environment demands. Passwords have proven over and over again that they are no longer fit to secure the increasing amount of personal data we now store online and in the cloud.

Contributed by Chris Russell, CTO, Swivel Secure, www.swivelsecure.com 



Repeat Customers Are Awesome. Paper Loyalty Cards Don’t Work. Huzzah Has A Solution

I have loyalty cards for Walgreens, CVS, Rockin’ Joe’s Cafe, Pathmark and a few other retailers.

I never carry the reward cards in my wallet so if I can input my telephone number, great, if I can’t then I don’t buy the item I wanted or more likely than not I just pay the additional money for what I want.

Huzzah has a neat loyalty reward system, which is only $1 a month to try out. It’s regularly $70 a month.

When you sign up for Huzzah they send you an iPad.

Your customers download the Huzzah app and when they visit your store they scan their loyalty card barcode or the barcode on their phone on your Huzzah supplied iPad. After they earn the required number of points they can redeem them for a variety of rewards from your business.

Do you like rewards? Do you like repeat business? Try out a digital rewards system.



Corel WordPerfect for iPad Launches…WordPerfect Still Going Strong

Like many older tech professionals (those of us about 30 years or older), you grew up on Corel’s Word Perfect. But over time Microsoft Word’s more feature rich and well marketed product, Microsoft Office took over market share.

I was pleasantly surprised to see that Corel Wordperfect for iPad launched - but more pleasantly surprised to see that Corel Wordperfect is around and I would suppose doing well.

It’s my understanding that Wordperfect has a loyal following in legal professions and in the government.

The new WordPerfect iPad app is the official WordPerfect Office companion. It lets users open files in Dropbox, make edits and create PDFs and documents in a familiar WordPerfect interface. Users can save their work in a cloud service and continue working from their desktop by accessing their files from Dropbox.

Recently Corel also released the latest version of WordPerfect X7 as well.



Nuns robbed by Zeus cyber criminals

An alleged cybercrime gang from Ukraine and Russia - two of whom were extradited from the UK - have been charged with using Zeus malware to steal millions of dollars from victims including the Franciscan Sisters of Chicago order of nuns.

The nine accused - whose online nicknames include ‘tank', 'thehead' and ‘lucky12345' - infected thousands of computers with the notorious Zeus banking Trojan in 2009-2010 and stole victims' passwords and other online bank account details, according to charges brought before the Nebraska federal court in the US last Friday.

Their named victims include the Franciscan Sisters of Chicago, a religious order based in the Our Lady of Victory Convent in Lemont, Illinois, 50 miles from Chicago. The nuns had over £77,000 stolen from their Bank of America account, the indictment says. Other victims included the Bullitt Country Fiscal Court which allegedly lost more than £247,000.

But only two of the accused were in court - thanks to British police. Ukrainian nationals Yevhen Kulibaba, 36, and Yuriy Konovalenko, 31, were recently extradited to the US from the UK, and the Met Police are credited with “providing significant assistance” to the FBI's Omaha Cyber Task Force, which led the investigation.

According to the US Justice Department indictment, the crime gang used Zeus or Zbot malware to capture passwords, account numbers, PIN numbers, RSA SecureID token codes and other credentials to take over the victims' online bank accounts. They then transferred millions of dollars into the accounts of US-based ‘money mules' who wired the proceeds overseas to the gang.

According to the charges, Kulibaba operated the conspirators' money-laundering network in the UK while Konovalenko provided money mules' and victims' banking credentials and helped collect the victims' data.

The others accused include four men who remain at large - Russian Alexey Tikonov, and Ukrainians Vyacheslav Igorevich Penchukov, 32, Ivan Viktorvich Klepikov, 30, and 26-year-old Alexey Dmitrievich Bron.

Penchukov allegedly co-ordinated the exchange of stolen banking credentials, Klepikov was the systems administrator, and Bron the alleged financial manager of the criminal operation. Tikonov allegedly developed new codes to compromise banking systems.

The remaining three accused are unidentified individuals from Russia and Ukraine, referred to as John Doe 1, John Doe 2 and John Doe 3.

Commenting on the case, cybercrime expert Jahmel Harris, a security consultant at MWR InfoSecurity, said the indictment shows how online crime is now being prioritised by law enforcement at an international level.

He told SCMagazineUK.com: “Malware attacks are being taken more seriously by governments and police services around the world, and the recent arrest has shown how effectively worldwide law enforcement need to work together to take down large groups of cyber criminals.

“Crimes are being committed by people separated by location, against people from all over the world. Worldwide law enforcement must work together to tackle the types of attacks we're now seeing on the internet.”

Harris added: “Unfortunately, this case has only dealt with the users of the Zeus malware kit and the mules hired by them. These can be large gangs spanning the globe, but as one is arrested, we'll see several more appear so computer users must be vigilant with their internet security and take steps to be safe online.”

Acting assistant attorney general David A O'Neil of the US Justice Department's Criminal Division said last week: “The Zeus malware is one of the most damaging pieces of financial malware that has ever been used. As the charges unsealed today demonstrate, we are committed to making the internet more secure. With the invaluable co-operation of our foreign law enforcement partners, we will continue to bring to justice cyber criminals who steal the money of US citizens.”

As well as Bank of America, the US institutions affected included First Federal Savings Bank, First National Bank Of Omaha, Salisbury Bank & Trust, Key Bank, First National Bank of Omaha, and Union Bank & Trust.

Along with the Met Police, the FBI were helped by the Ukraine Security Service and the Dutch Police's National High Tech Crime Unit.



3 Tips for Preparing Your Small Business for the Unexpected

Many small businesses operate in a reactive, rather than proactive, mode. Business owners spend so much time putting out fires that setting aside resources to prepare for future fires is usually not an option, but a necessity if you want to be able to refocus your business and achieve greater success. Here are three tips that will help prepare your small business for the unexpected.

I am blogging on behalf of Visa Business and received compensation for my time from Visa for sharing my views in this post, but the views expressed here are solely mine, not Visa’s. Visit http://facebook.com/visasmallbiz to take a look at the reinvented Facebook Page: Well Sourced by Visa Business. The Page serves as a space where small business owners can access educational resources, read success stories from other business owners, engage with peers, and find tips to help businesses run more efficiently. Every month, the Page will introduce a new theme that will focus on a topic important to a small business owner’s success. For additional tips and advice, and information about Visa’s small business solutions, follow@VisaSmallBiz and visit http://visa.com/business.

3 Tips for Preparing Your Small Business for the Unexpected

Unfortunately, when a business owner is always in “firefighter” mode, it’s impossible to work hard on winning new clients or tackling more lucrative projects. By working with your team to put an infrastructure in place to deal with future issues, you’ll have help in dealing with the issues that emerge each day. Once your team is able to respond to problems without escalating it to you, you’ll be able to gradually shift your focus to building your company. Here are three tips on how you can make that happen.

Document Processes

As your business’s owner, you likely have a great deal of knowledge that you haven’t shared with your team. They turn to you to resolve various issues, then resume their daily tasks while you work things out. Each new emergency needs immediate attention, so there’s no time to train someone else on how to handle it.

On a sheet of paper, scribble down the different fires you’re asked to put out during the day. As time frees up later, quickly document the process you underwent to resolve each of them. Once you have your documentation in place, meet with your team to assign different team members to handle various issues the next time they arise. Promise to be available if they need you, but step away and trust your team members to take care of things.

Choose an Apprentice

Another option for busy professionals is to choose a trusted team member to serve as an apprentice. Ask that team member to stay close by and note how you handle various issues throughout the day. Gradually you can turn tasks over to that apprentice. You may even designate different employees to learn different tasks and ask them to observe with the intention of eventually taking them over.

Delegate Selectively

Freeing up time for yourself doesn’t mean you have to delegate everything to team members. Choose those items you enjoy doing and delegate the rest. If an employee possesses talents you don’t, train that employee to take over something you feel he might do a better job at than you.

It’s also important to look around and make sure your lack of delegation isn’t an issue of being surrounded by inadequate team members. Poor hiring decisions can haunt a business owner for years, forcing him to continue to bear the brunt of the work while ill-fitting employees sit idly by, collecting a paycheck.

On a regular basis, evaluate your infrastructure and take a close look at the workload. If your team is already overloaded, consider outsourcing some of the more mundane tasks to free up in-house workers to deal with pressing issues on a daily basis. An employee who exists solely to do data entry could be moved into a more challenging position while data entry is outsourced. In-house employees can often be trusted to handle such sensitive issues as client relations and late payments.



U.S. Sen. Shaheen Wants More Loans for Veteran Entrepreneurs

U.S. Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) wants more loans for veteran entrepreneurs. Shaheen recently introduced the Veteran Entrepreneurship Act. The act aims to lower the cost of Small Business Administration loan programs for military veterans trying to start their own businesses. At the same time, Shaheen also introduced a Veterans Hiring Act, providing tax incentives for ...

The post U.S. Sen. Shaheen Wants More Loans for Veteran Entrepreneurs appeared first on Small Business Trends.



NSA denies exploiting Heartbleed bug for surveillance

The National Security Agency (NSA) has dismissed reports that it has been exploiting the Heartbleed vulnerability to carry out internet surveillance.

Citing “two people familiar with the matter”, Bloomberg reports that the US surveillance agency has been aware of the bug for two years, and has been exploiting the vulnerability ever since to gather ‘critical intelligence' from websites.

The report adds that the Heartbleed bug, which exploits a flaw in the Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) and Transport Layer Security protocol (TLS) designed to stop prying eyes viewing internet activity, has been used by NSA officers to obtain passwords and other basic data to act as the “building blocks of the sophisticated hacking operations at the core of its mission.” Bloomberg reporters said that this would leave ‘ordinary users' vulnerable to attack from other nations' intelligence arms and criminal hackers. 

The NSA was quick to respond to the allegations, issuing the following statements just two hours after the story broke. 

"Reports that NSA or any other part of the government were aware of the so-called Heartbleed vulnerability before 2014 are wrong," said White House National Security Council spokeswoman Caitlin Hayden in a statement. 

“This administration takes seriously its responsibility to help maintain an open, interoperable, secure and reliable Internet,” Hayden added. 

Sceptics, however, are unlikely to be moved by such a response, especially in light of the agency's recent activities. The Verge reports that the agency is spending just under £1 billion (US$ 1.6 billion) a year on data processing and exploitation, while The New York Times added over the weekend that President Barack Obama himself has decided that the agency should reveal Internet flaws to the general public, but only if it's “a clear national security or law enforcement need”. This would seem to chime with the Bloomberg source who said that NSA decided not to warn US citizens and companies that their data was at risk from the compromised Heartbleed websites. 

Nick Pickles, director of civil liberties group Big Brother Watch, told SCMagazineUK.com that - if the rumours are true - it goes against what is supposed to be the NSA's mission. 

“There is a fundamental contradiction in having the NSA be responsible to cyber security and exploiting vulnerabilities in software,” he said via email. 

“Whether or not the NSA knew about Heartbleed, the wider question about whether the NSA should have a duty to notify software producers of vulnerabilities in their products must be addressed. President Obama's NSA review made clear that cyber offense and cyber defence should be done by separate organisations but that question has been wholly ignored by the White House.” 

“Confidence in online security is the basis of the digital economy and much of the real world economy. If people think that Government agencies will allow security vulnerabilities to be stockpiled and traded between intelligence agencies, rather than being fixed as soon as possible, then people will rightly question whether their confidence is misplaced. This is such a critical question that it cannot be dealt with in vague assurances and Congress should put on a legal footing the Government's responsibilities to maintain the integrity of essential networks above potential intelligence benefits.” 

In an interview with SC, Dave Lacey, futorologist and IOActive, added that while consumers should 'not be surprised' if the NSA is exploiting the bug, it is the organised criminals that represent the greater risk.

"No security technology is 100 percent secure. There are always potential flaws in design, implementation, administration and use," he said via email.

"The problem with Heartbleed illustrates the danger of technology monoculture. When something goes wrong the impact is potentially huge. The average citizen or business should not be surprised or worried about NSA exploiting the bug. It's organised crime we have to worry about. Fortunately the exploitation looks relatively difficult."

The report could well see questions asked of the Obama government and specifically on its intention to reform NSA actions and practices, but this is on the basis that Bloomberg's story is correct - some in the industry have speculated on how true the story is, with infosec expert Ashkan Soltani tentatively suggesting that there may have simply be confusion between the reporter's initial question on Heartbleed and the source's more general comment on the NSA's ability to monitor or break SSL. 

Heartbleed was first brought to public attention on 7th April by researchers at Google and small Finnish security firmCodenomicon, who discovered that web servers and other kit running Open SSL encryption system versions 1.0.1 to 1.0.1f could potentially be used by hackers to steal data without being traced. 

The flaw - which is said to have affected two-thirds of websites that use OpenSSL as well as routers and networking gear from Cisco and Juniper Networks, introduced in early 2012 can be rectified as soon as web servers upgrade to a newer version of the open source software - such as 1.0.1g. Alternatively, should this not fix the problem, web developers are being urged to recompile applications to turn off the Heartbeat extension, while users of some web services have been recommended to change passwords.



Germany\'s Space Centre \'hacked by cyber spies\'

Reports that Germany's national space centre has been infiltrated by cyber spies have emerged just two weeks after the UK's GCHQ was accused of attacking a string of German satellite and aerospace companies.

The Cologne-based German Aerospace Centre (DLR) confirmed on Monday that it had suffered a cyber attack lasting for months by a foreign intelligence service which planted malware on computers used by its scientists and systems admins, said the Associated Press news agency. DLR has called in Germany's national cyber defence centre to investigate the breach.

German publication Der Spiegel, which broke the news on Sunday, said the investigators found clues that point to the attack coming from China, but added that those signs could also be “camouflage”.

The investigators found traces of malware designed to destroy itself if detected and other code that could be activated after lying dormant for months, Spiegel said, in what appears to be a classic ‘APT' attack.

DLR is a critical target which runs Germany's space programme and is the country's national centre for aerospace, energy and transportation research. It recently announced a partnership with US space agency NASA to test alternative fuels.

Commenting on the case, security expert Adrian Culley, a former cyber crime detective with the Met Police, said the fact that with evidence indicating that China or western governments might be responsible, shows that it will be difficult to trace the spies involved.

“This case highlights the difficulties of attribution in cyber investigations, and is also a great example of the need to presume you are under active attack and/or are post-compromise,” Culley told SCMagazineUK.com. “Seasoned investigators tread warily in such cases as it is not at all difficult to lay a trail of false evidence.”

Culley added: “There is little new in Governments seeking covert access to each other's space programmes.”

Graeme Batsman, security director at independent UK-based IT security EncSec, said the DLR reports confirm how easily organisations can be infiltrated by attacks likely started by spear phishing.

He told SCMagazineUK.com: “Conventional singular defences such as anti-virus, anti-spam, firewalls and IDP today are failing to identify even semi-advanced malware, let alone something targeted. What is needed is a multi-tiered defence with modules focusing on common loopholes such as links and files which users suspect less (PDF, Excel, Word etc).”

Batsman added: “A simple tactic to nearly bullet-proof your data is have two screens, two desktops and two servers. Each setup is isolated and the one for core data has no links to the outside world. Many western governments have a set policy and if the data classification is above ‘restricted' for instance, it has to be stored on a closed network. A well-known UK defence contractor uses such methods.”

The DLR case is the latest in a series of reported cyber attacks on German targets. Earlier this month, Spiegel published claims based on the Edward Snowden archive that GCHQ and the US's NSA had targeted German satellite and communications companies Stellar, Cetel and IABG to spy on internet traffic and carry out apparent industrial espionage.

IABG is a German aerospace firm whose customers include the German Defence Ministry and armed forces, and which was involved in projects like the Airbus A380 super jumbo jet and the Ariane European space rocket.

But the most high-profile attack on Germany was the allegation last October that the US had been bugging Angela Merkel's mobile for four years.

GCHQ issued its standard statement in response to the Spiegel claims earlier this month, saying it does not comment on intelligence-related issues but "all of its work is carried out in accordance with a strict legal and policy framework which ensures that our activities are authorised, necessary and proportionate".



Despite the Hype, Few Study Entrepreneurship

With all of the media discussion of business plan competitions, school rankings and foundation and government initiatives to promote teaching entrepreneurship, you might think that it’s a hot course of study on college campuses. But less than two percent of accredited business school faculty members teach entrepreneurship and small business, and less than one percent of college freshmen intend to major in it, data from two major surveys reveals.

While a higher fraction of college students is likely have some exposure to entrepreneurship classes, my best guess would be that even that share is in the single digits. But let me stick to the hard numbers.

According to the Higher Education Research Institute (HERI) at UCLA, which surveys incoming college freshmen annually, only 0.7 percent of the 193,000 students at 283 U.S. colleges and universities who responded to the 2012 survey, said that they intend to major in entrepreneurship. To give you a sense of how large this fraction is, consider these numbers: 2.3 percent of incoming college students plan to study accounting; 2.6 percent intend to major in elementary education; 6.9 percent aim to major in biology; 2.7 percent plan to study mechanical engineering; and 1.0 percent intend to major in economics.

Of course, the fraction of students planning to study entrepreneurship isn’t the same everywhere; the intended major is more common at some types of academic institutions than others. The major is most popular at historically Black colleges and universities, where 1.6 percent of incoming freshmen planned to major in it in 2012. In fact, at private Black colleges the fraction reached 2 percent of entering students, the HERI survey revealed.

The numbers were considerably lower at other types of academic institutions. The HERI survey revealed that 0.8 percent of freshmen at nonsectarian colleges, and 0.6 at Catholic institutions planned to major in the subject. But only 0.5 percent of students at non-Catholic religious institutions planned to study the topic.
At universities, the numbers were higher than at four-year colleges. The HERI survey shows that 1.2 percent of students at private universities, but only 0.7 percent of students at public universities, intended to major in the subject.

The vast majority of intended entrepreneurship majors are male. The HERI survey shows that 1.1 percent of male students plan to major in entrepreneurship versus only 0.3 percent of female ones.

At most colleges and universities, entrepreneurship classes and majors are taught by business school faculty, but only a minority of accredited business schools worldwide offer degrees in the subject. According to the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB) - the largest association of business faculty and administrators - 21 percent of AACSB-accredited institutions worldwide offer at least one undergraduate program in entrepreneurship or small business and 10 percent provide at least one program at the MBA level. Only 6 percent of schools offer a specialty master’s degree in the subject.

Only a tiny slice of full-time business school faculty members falls in the entrepreneurship discipline - 2 percent of the total full-time faculty pool at AACSB-accredited institutions. That number is growing slowly, with the AACSB reporting its accredited institutions planned to increase the number of “full-time doctoral positions” in the discipline by 4 percent in the most recent year its member institutions were surveyed.

For all the media attention entrepreneurship education on college campuses receives, it remains a niche course of study.



Despite the Hype, Few Study Entrepreneurship

With all of the media discussion of business plan competitions, school rankings and foundation and government initiatives to promote teaching entrepreneurship, you might think that it’s a hot course of study on college campuses. But less than two percent of accredited business school faculty members teach entrepreneurship and small business, and less than one percent of college freshmen intend to major in it, data from two major surveys reveals.

While a higher fraction of college students is likely have some exposure to entrepreneurship classes, my best guess would be that even that share is in the single digits. But let me stick to the hard numbers.

According to the Higher Education Research Institute (HERI) at UCLA, which surveys incoming college freshmen annually, only 0.7 percent of the 193,000 students at 283 U.S. colleges and universities who responded to the 2012 survey, said that they intend to major in entrepreneurship. To give you a sense of how large this fraction is, consider these numbers: 2.3 percent of incoming college students plan to study accounting; 2.6 percent intend to major in elementary education; 6.9 percent aim to major in biology; 2.7 percent plan to study mechanical engineering; and 1.0 percent intend to major in economics.

Of course, the fraction of students planning to study entrepreneurship isn’t the same everywhere; the intended major is more common at some types of academic institutions than others. The major is most popular at historically Black colleges and universities, where 1.6 percent of incoming freshmen planned to major in it in 2012. In fact, at private Black colleges the fraction reached 2 percent of entering students, the HERI survey revealed.

The numbers were considerably lower at other types of academic institutions. The HERI survey revealed that 0.8 percent of freshmen at nonsectarian colleges, and 0.6 at Catholic institutions planned to major in the subject. But only 0.5 percent of students at non-Catholic religious institutions planned to study the topic.
At universities, the numbers were higher than at four-year colleges. The HERI survey shows that 1.2 percent of students at private universities, but only 0.7 percent of students at public universities, intended to major in the subject.

The vast majority of intended entrepreneurship majors are male. The HERI survey shows that 1.1 percent of male students plan to major in entrepreneurship versus only 0.3 percent of female ones.

At most colleges and universities, entrepreneurship classes and majors are taught by business school faculty, but only a minority of accredited business schools worldwide offer degrees in the subject. According to the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB) - the largest association of business faculty and administrators - 21 percent of AACSB-accredited institutions worldwide offer at least one undergraduate program in entrepreneurship or small business and 10 percent provide at least one program at the MBA level. Only 6 percent of schools offer a specialty master’s degree in the subject.

Only a tiny slice of full-time business school faculty members falls in the entrepreneurship discipline - 2 percent of the total full-time faculty pool at AACSB-accredited institutions. That number is growing slowly, with the AACSB reporting its accredited institutions planned to increase the number of “full-time doctoral positions” in the discipline by 4 percent in the most recent year its member institutions were surveyed.

For all the media attention entrepreneurship education on college campuses receives, it remains a niche course of study.



Facebook Ads Are Getting Bigger…And Probably More Expensive

new facebook ads

Facebook is getting more determined to make sure that you see their ads, and they’re doing that by greatly increasing the size. In the coming months, new ads will start to appear in the site’s right hand column. Due to their size, they will be more prominent. But Facebook says that there will be fewer of them, too.

TechCrunch is speculating bigger ads that are fewer in number will probably also be more expensive. However, Facebook claims that the new ad format brings in three times more engagement than an ordinary ad. That seems natural if it is larger and more obvious on the page. So it may prove to be cost-effective for companies that are looking to aggressively market a product.

On its Facebook for Business blog, the company claims that the updated look will make right-hand column ads:

“. . .more visually consistent with the ads that appear in News Feed.”

The right-hand column ads will use the same proportions as desktop News Feed ads, making it easier for ad designers to come up with a one-size-fits-all ad design.

One slight hiccup though is that any right-hand column ads will not be seen in the mobile version of Facebook, since that column is not seen on mobile devices. This is slightly problematic since over half of Facebook’s revenue comes from mobile services.

The new design comes hot on the heels of Facebook’s decision to get a bit more aggressive with its attempt to get business users to buy advertising. Business pages are seeing the reach of their status messages decrease as Facebook seems to be putting more pressure on business users to pay for sponsored posts.

Now the ads are getting bigger, and it probably won’t be long before we have auto-playing video ads. The question remains whether businesses facing Facebook’s new pay-to-play strategy will remain with the site. Or will they leave in droves?

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Critical infrastructure put on \'Heartbleed Bug\' alert

Critical infrastructure operators are now being alerted to the far reaching impact of a critical OpenSSL flaw, dubbed the "Heartbleed Bug."

On Friday 11 April, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) warned of attackers potentially exploiting critical, unpatched systems impacted by the vulnerability.

Larry Zelvin, Director of DHS' National Cybersecurity and Communications Integration Center (NCCIC) announced the department's efforts to educate the public of related threats.

“When a cyber security industry report was published three days ago about a vulnerability known as “Heartbleed” - affecting websites, email, and instant messaging - that can potentially impact internet logins and personal information online by undermining the encryption process, the Department's U.S. Computer Emergency Readiness Team (US-CERT) immediately issued an alert to share actionable information with the public and suggested mitigation steps,” Zelvin wrote on a DHS blog.

“Subsequently, our Industrial Control System-Cyber Emergency Response Team (ICS-CERT) published information and reached out to vendors and asset owners to determine the potential vulnerabilities to computer systems that control essential systems - like critical infrastructure, user-facing, and financial systems,” he added.

In a Wednesday alert, ICS-CERT, in particular, advised that critical infrastructure organisations (like energy, utilities or financial services companies) should limit network exposure for all control system devices, and check that they are not accessible via the internet. In addition, users were told to isolate control system networks and devices behind firewalls from their business networks.

“Any system that may be affected by this vulnerability should regenerate any credential information (secret keys, passwords, etc.) with the assumption that an attacker has already used this vulnerability to obtain those items,” ICS-CERT said.

In a Friday interview with SCMagazine.com, Ernest Wohnig III, SVP of the critical infrastructure security division at Virginia-based consulting firm System 1, addressed the Heartbleed bug's expansive impact.

“The OpenSSL code is basically everywhere; it's ubiquitous across the net,” Wohnig said.  “We're not just talking about a few customer-facing servers, we are talking about code [impacting] PCs, firewalls and phones, and even some VPN [virtual private network] software. When you start talking about something of that level of exposure and magnitude, it's very concerning,” he said.

Wohnig later added that “your creative adversary could use this effectively, in concert with other techniques, to attack the true crown jewels of operational processes in critical infrastructure."

This article was first published on the US SC Magazine site.