When you run your own business, you have a whole lot to focus on. Most first-time business owners will spend most of their time focusing on product development and the early stages of marketing, such as market research, product manufacturing, product testing, creating a website, fostering a mailing list and so much more.
But this often means that really important elements of your business’ operations and practices become neglected. One area that people don’t often focus on is privacy. But privacy is absolutely essential for your business to look professional, feel trustworthy and to ensure that you can practice a good work-life balance. Here are some suggestions that will help you to achieve your goals while still generating sales and profits.
Get a Virtual Address
Most start ups will begin in your own home. This helps you to get up and running by significantly reducing business costs before you’re generating money. By operating at home, you can cut out the costs of commercial premises, commercial overheads like electric and water and the cost of security, staff to monitor the premises and assist people who turn up at it and so much more. But running your business from home can come with its own challenges too.
When you run your business from home, you will need to use your personal address when it comes to registering your business, which is publicly available information, meaning anyone who knows you can access your personal address with or without your permission. You will also need to accept returns on your products, so don’t want these getting sent to your personal address too. A good alternative is to use a virtual address, which means that you will have a separate address and can then divert mail from the address you give to customers directly to you.
Use a VPN
Another important way to protect your business is by using a VPN. Whether you’re handling sensitive information, managing accounts, or communicating with clients, using a VPN can help encrypt your internet connection and keep your business activities private and secure. For example, a free vpn software for windows can provide an easy way to protect sensitive data, especially when working remotely or accessing public Wi-Fi. By encrypting your connection, you can ensure your online presence remains safe, making a VPN an essential tool to safeguard your business from potential threats.
When you run your business from home, you will need to use your personal address when it comes to registering your business, which is publicly available information, meaning anyone who knows you can access your personal address with or without your permission. You will also need to accept returns on your products, so don’t want these getting sent to your personal address too. A good alternative is to use a virtual address, which means that you will have a separate address and can then divert mail from the address you give to customers directly to you.
Get a Business Number
You can experience similar privacy issues when it comes to your business number. Every business should maximise its points of contact with customers. Many like to call to discuss orders before making the purchase online. However, you don’t want these calls to come through to your personal phone at all hours of the day and night. Instead, get a virtual number for Whatsapp Business. This will give customers a separate number from your own to dial when they want to get in touch. It prevents people you don’t want getting access to getting your personal number too.
Get a Business Email
Staying in tune with the suggestions above, you may want to get a business email. This will prevent customers and others from contacting you on your personal email address. Not only does this maintain your privacy, but it will make you look a lot more professional and trustworthy too. The email will be something along the lines of name@yourbusinessname.com.
Hopefully, some of the suggestions above will really help you out when it comes to maintaining your privacy when you’re running a business. Each step will make all the difference, so try to implement all three!
