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Right before heading into Christmas and the New Year holidays, it’s a great time to look back at the record-breaking holiday shopping season that’s just coming to a close.

In this day of instant data, some early numbers show just how great the season has been so far and just how much it’s changing.

According to a Shopify report, its merchants raked in $870,000 per minute (you read that right, Per Minute!) from Black Friday through Cyber Monday 2018. That’s a dizzying rate.

Analysts and online merchants anxious wait to see how the rest of the season panned out for these and other small business owners, both online and offline.

This week, another report revealed the growing impact of online sales on the holiday shopping season.

Check out this data showing 56% of online fashion sales on Black Friday happened on mobile devices.

So good news abounds going into the holiday season. Retail in particular shows strong gains. Hopefully you and your business shared in the good fortunes.

Once the holidays officially arrive, take some time to unwind. This week, Larry Kim shared some great relaxation relaxation tips for entrepreneurs.

Before you go off relaxing, be sure to check out the rest of the headlines this week in small business in our news roundup below.

Employment

Upwork and Microsoft Partner on New Freelancer Toolkit

The partnership between Upwork and Microsoft is a clear indication freelancing has become part of the entire workforce. This means freelancers are being used by everyone from individual entrepreneurs to small businesses and all the way up to large enterprises. As part of this partnership, Microsoft has selected Upwork for its Microsoft 365 Freelance Toolkit.

Uber Drivers Earn Less Than $10 Per Hour with Expenses, Survey Says

How much do Uber drivers make? The answer to that question has become a mystery even the brains at MIT weren’t able to quite figure out.  But there seems to be a clear consensus it is less than what Uber claims its drivers make.

Finance

3,600 ATMs Close Every Year, Report Says, Are You Providing Digital Payment for Customers?

The first automated teller machine or ATM, as it is better known, started spitting out cash on June 27, 1967, at a branch of Barclays bank in north London. Some 51+ years later a new research by Expert Market has revealed not only ATMs but also bank branches are set to become extinct in less than 25 years.

Intuit Backing You Campaign Supports Small Businesses – and Stars Danny DeVito

Intuit QuickBooks has launched a new “Backing You” campaign starring none other than Danny DeVito to help small business owners save time and money. In choosing the comedic talents of Danny DeVito, Intuit said it wants to use humor to give its customers insight into the many different smart business tools available to them for running the day-to-day operations of their company.

15 Incredible Relaxation Tips for Entrepreneurs

Wondering how to de-stress at work? Stress from tight deadlines and high stakes can cause us to lose focus. If we let stress get the best of us, it can reduce our unicorn ideas to donkey fodder. But if we address it head on, we can stay productive and happy at work.

Marketing Tips

Weebly and Square Want to Fix Your Ugly Product Photos

According to Weebly, 75% of online shoppers say that product photography is very important when shopping online. For small or unknown businesses, professional looking product photos are even more important for establishing trust with potential buyers. But not all entrepreneurs have the skills and equipment to take quality photos.

Best 30 Examples of Holiday Greetings for Business Owners

Christmas is fast approaching, and it won’t be long before the turkey is roasting in the oven and presents are being opened on Christmas Day. Now’s the time to show your appreciation and gratitude to the most important people in your business – your clients, customers and employees.

Taxes

TurboTax Live Offers Small Business Owners Help from CPAs this Tax Season

As soon as the new year begins, businesses must already start thinking about the upcoming tax season. And although the US tax code is supposed to be less complicated now, the live help TurboTax is offering from its network of CPAs and Enrolled Agents (EAs) is one option to consider. According to the company, TurboTax Live is guaranteed to help you file your taxes with confidence.

Photo via Shutterstock

This article, “Shopify Merchants See Big Gains, Upwork and Microsoft Target Freelancers” was first published on Small Business Trends

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The first automated teller machine or ATM, as it is better known, started spitting out cash on June 27, 1967, at a branch of Barclays bank in north London. Some 51+ years later a new research by Expert Market has revealed not only ATMs but also bank branches are set to become extinct in less than 25 years.

A Trend of Shutting Down ATMs

According to the report, the number of ATMs started declining at a rate of 3,600 annually in 2017, which will make 2037 the year they will no longer be around in the UK. Bank branches will hang on for an additional four years, but Expert Market is predicting by 2041 you will not see them around either.

Although the study was done in the UK, a global trend is taking place in which cash is being used with less frequency by consumers. Retailers are also jumping on the bandwagon, as many local small businesses are opting to become plastic only or no-cash establishments.

In an emailed press release, Jared Keleher of Expert Market addressed the consumer side of the growing cashless trend taking place around the world.

Keleher said, “If the trend towards a cashless society continues at the expected pace, it’s more important than ever for people to adapt. With access to cash likely to be extremely limited and eventually non-existent, people should get to grips with online banking as soon as possible and businesses should ensure that card machines are available at every store.”

Since businesses rely on consumers, they have to adapt by providing more payment options for their customers. In addition to credit and debit cards, businesses need to deploy the full spectrum of digital payment solutions.

Key Takeaway

According to Expert Market, ATMs are said to disappear in 19 years with bank branches following suit four years later.

The report pointed out there were 14.3 billion card payments made in 2016 and this is expected to rise to 21.9 billion by 2026. In comparison, there will only be 8.7 billion cash payments expected in 2026, a decline of 43% from 2016.

The Expert Market research might not hold true globally for the exact end date of the ATM and bank branches, but for many developed countries, this is the eventual trajectory. In many metropolitan cities around the world, many residents don’t use cash for weeks or even months at a time.

Cash is Still King Globally

The saying “Cash is King” still holds true for 80% of the world. While countries like China have strongly been pushing digital payments and several Scandinavian countries look to be completely cashless, the US still relies heavily on cash.

In a report published by Pymnts.com titled, “Cash Holds Firm Against Rising Digital Dollar, March 2018” some of the key findings from its Global Cash Index: US Edition revealed cash is still the most-used payment method in the country.

As a matter of fact, the report says consumers in the US are choosing cash over debit or credit cards for day-to-day purchases.

So the demise of cash, ATMs, and bank branches will greatly depend on where you happen to live. But there is no doubt it will eventually happen, the question is when.

Photo via Shutterstock

This article, “3,600 ATMs Close Every Year, Report Says, Are You Providing Digital Payment for Customers?” was first published on Small Business Trends

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Anytime you want to get a point across to your clients, prospects or employees, it can help to create a presentation. Presentations often include slides and other visual content designed to complement a spoken message. You can use them to pitch a new product or service, show your team how to complete a specific task or introduce a new initiative across your organization.

Presentation Ideas

Regardless of your actual message, it’s essential that you find some compelling way to get your message across. Here are some creative presentation ideas that you can use to make your next client pitch or team meeting really stand out.

Storytelling Presentation

Instead of simply sharing a bunch of facts that your audience may have a hard time making sense of, create a story that demonstrates the impact of those facts. It could be a story from your actual life or business, or one you create to get your point across. Share a bit about the characters in your story so the people in your audience can relate to them.

For example, if you’re presenting to clients, don’t just tell them about the problems that your product or service solves — actually take them through the experience of a customer who experienced that issue. Tell them about the day-to-day of living with that problem and then detail exactly how your product or service changes the experience.

Musical Presentation

If you want your customers, employees or peers to really remember your presentation, try setting it to music. A catchy tune could really help your presentation stand out and help people remember the important parts. This may require some musical talent, but there are plenty of tools out there to help you compose a tune and record it so you can play it during your presentation. Or if you play any instruments, you could actually perform your presentation live.

Video Presentation

Instead of your basic slide presentation, you could share both visuals and audio content in the form of a video. You can have a video play in the background as you speak, or you could play it at the beginning of your presentations and then speak afterward.

Photo-Only Presentation

If you do prefer using slides, consider taking the text out entirely. This could be especially useful for those who are prone to reading slides word-for-word. Instead, keep your notes on small cards that you can refer to throughout the presentation and just share photos in your slides that refer to what you’re speaking about. This gives them some context without distracting them from what you’re saying.

Immersive Presentation

Your audience doesn’t have to just sit and watch your presentation — you can actually get them involved. This may work best with members of your team or smaller groups, but you could also choose to get a few members of a larger audience involved as well. Give each person a part to play and then set the scene for your presentation before guiding them through a situation relating to your product, service or new initiative for your business.

Question Presentation

Asking questions to your clients or prospects can help you really get to know them so you can better sell to them. So why not add that element to your presentations as well? You could create a presentation that is customizable based on their responses. Ask questions periodically throughout the experience so they stay involved, and then shift your content from that point on based on what they have to say.

Demonstrative Presentation

If you’re attempting to sell a product or show your team a new type of business tool, it could help to share an actual hands-on demonstration rather than just showing slides. For bigger groups, you may simply use the product or tool yourself and project your screen so everyone can see. Or for smaller groups, you could have everyone actually try using the product themselves so you can work with them individually and answer any questions they might have.

Humorous Presentation

Humor is a great way to relate to people and make them remember your presentation. You should carefully consider your brand before making this choice, since some clients may find this type of presentation a bit unprofessional. However, if you target a laid back crowd or are speaking directly to your team, it could be useful to share some jokes throughout the presentation or create a funny fake situation that still shows off your product in a fun and lighthearted way.

Animated Presentation

Instead of using a video that’s shot live, use an animation tool to show your product in use or demonstrate a new business practice for your team. This can be especially useful if you want to show people in situations that may be hard to film in real life, like a product life cycle that lasts for decades.

Prop Presentations

Or you could just ditch the slide or video equipment altogether and do something a bit more low tech. But it can still help to have some kind of visual aides. So you could instead invest in some basic props to use throughout the presentation to help get your point across.

Photo via Shutterstock

This article, “Wow Your Audience with These 10 Incredible Presentation Ideas” was first published on Small Business Trends

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The goal of Women in Cloud is to further the success of women entrepreneurs in tech by creating partnership opportunities and programs with innovative companies.

The Women In Cloud Summit 2019 will be held at Microsoft Building 33 in Redmond, WA from 9:00 am to 7:30 pm on Saturday, January 26, 2019 to do just that.

Why is it so important to introduce technology to women-owned businesses? Because 39% of small business are owned by women. This accounts for $1.7 trillion in revenue to the US economy and around 9 million jobs.

Using technology will translate into increased efficiency, productivity, revenue, growth, jobs and more.

The 2019 summit is the year to ACCELERATE women.

The summit will connect attendees with cloud industry leaders, women-led cloud companies and allies with acceleration programs to grow the careers and business of women.

Click the red button and attend the summit.

Register Now

Featured Events, Contests and Awards

Women In Cloud Annual Summit 2019
January 26, 2019, Redmond, Wash.

This Summit will connect you, cloud industry leaders, women-led cloud companies and allies of all types. The 2019 Summit will explore providing ways to leverage and adopt cloud technologies to innovate, giving women access to personal and cloud-related skills development, accelerating ideas and access to resources including strategic partnerships, and identifying new ways to acquire customers & drive customer obsession. Join us Sat, January 26, 2019, 9:00 AM – 7:30 PM PST. Register today!

Social Media Marketing World
March 20, 2019, San Dieg, Calif.

Discover the best social media marketing techniques from the world’s top experts. Experience three phenomenal days with the best social marketers, discover the latest tactics, and master social media in 2019. Join 7,000 fellow marketers and influencers at the mega-conference designed to empower you with business-building ideas — brought to you by Social Media Examiner.

Beachpreneurs Beach Camp 5
April 26, 2019, Daytona Beach, Fla.

For starters, we’re for Women Entrepreneurs only. During Beach Camp, you’ll have plenty of opportunity to learn, apply and mastermind with warm successful women. You’ll also have time to sleep in and you’ll get long breaks to relax and walk the beach or go for a swim. We didn’t create a conference at the beach just to lock you away in a conference room from dawn til dusk. Beach Camp is a lifestyle focused event so you’ll be spending as much time enjoying your life as you will be focusing on your business. Join us today!

More Events

• QuickBooks for Business – Live English Course
  January 09, 2019, Doral, Fla.
• Recruiting Trends and Talent Tech LIVE! 2019
  February 20, 2019, Las Vegas, Nev.
• LEAP Tech Talent
  March 12, 2019, San Francisco, Calif.
• Transformational CISO Assembly in Nashville – April 2019
  April 23, 2019, Nashville, Tenn
• World Blockchain Roadshow
  August 26, 2019, Multiple Cities

More Contests

This weekly listing of small business events, contests and awards is provided as a community service by Small Business Trends.

You can see a full list of events, contest and award listings or post your own events by visiting the Small Business Events Calendar.

Image: Shutterstock

This article, “January Women in Cloud Summit Happens at Microsoft Headquarters” was first published on Small Business Trends

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If you’re a longtime sports fan like me, you’ve probably heard of Grant Hill.  He was the guy who threw “the pass” to Christian Laettner that led to him hitting “the shot” that beat Kentucky in the Eastern Regional Final in 1992 that put Duke into the Final Four, which they eventually ended up winning.  From there, Hill went on to the NBA where he played for 19 years, and earlier this year he was voted in to the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame.

While many of you probably knew that, you might not have known that he went from playing on the court to being a co-owner of the Atlanta Hawks — also serving as Vice Chair of the organization. And last week I had the honor of hosting a conversation with Hill and Nzinga Shaw, the Hawks Chief Diversity and Inclusion Officer, during the Diversity in Tech Summit held in conjunction with Salesforce’s World Tour Stop in Atlanta.  The event was organized in partnership with The Atlanta Tribune: the Magazine.

Shaw, who is the first person to hold such a position in a professional team sport in the US, and Hill discussed a number of interesting issues around leadership, the benefits of inclusion and equality, and why diversity has to be part of the corporate culture in order for it work.  Below is an edited transcript of a portion of our conversation. To see the full conversation, watch the video below or click on the embedded SoundCloud player.

Small Business Trends: Okay, so, let me start with you Grant, because we just went through, I believe we went through about 27 years just encapsulated, but when you were at Duke with the high top fade getting ready to throw that pass, did you ever imagine or dream that you would actually be an owner in the NBA at that point?

Grant Hill: No. I think back then though, I mean, I had no idea. I wasn’t even sure that the NBA was a possibility and I was sort of in the moment, had a great time at Duke. It was a great experience playing for Coach K. and my teammates and going for, pursuing championships at that time, but it was a lot different back then than it is now.

The NBA wasn’t as accessible and it was just a different time. College basketball was really big and so being an NBA athlete wasn’t necessarily on my radar and definitely the idea or the concept of being an owner of an NBA franchise was not on my radar. Now, in saying that, my father directly, or indirectly, planted the seed. My dad played in the NFL, played back in the 70s and 80s, has worked in professional sports really since the early 80s with the Browns, Cleveland Browns, with the Baltimore Orioles, and for the last 20 plus years, with the Dallas Cowboys. And he tried unsuccessfully during the early nineties and even late eighties to try and put together a group and buy a sports franchise, tried looking to win the Patriots in the ’80s, the Bullets in basketball in the early ’90s and then the Cleveland Browns when they left and then the NFL awarded them a franchise.

So, I had that experience of sort of living through him having planted the seed of possibility at a very young age, but in ’92, with the high top fade and all, I was not thinking about … All I was thinking about completing the pass and making sure I stayed eligible for the next semester.

Small Business Trends: Nzinga we just talked about you taking this position, the first of its kind in professional sports [CDIO – Chief Diversity and Inclusion Officer]. When you were brought that opportunity, what were your first impressions, what did you want to do with it?

Nzinga Shaw: Well it was a very unique situation Brent, because at the time the Atlanta Hawks were facing a public facing racial crisis, and so I was a part of Edelman’s organization to spirit in diversity and inclusion there, and I got a phone call from Austin and Berg who happened to be one of Edelman’s largest clients at the time and they said “Do you have time to come to our office? We’d like you to meet with someone who we think is a potential crisis client for you. And so I ended up meeting with Steve Koonin who’s the CEO of the Hawks and Scott Wilkinson the general counsel.  I’d like to call this story turning a tragedy into a triumph, because at the time they were facing really the toughest thing that they’ve ever faced in franchise history.

They became aware that their controlling owner and their general manager had both been involved in trading emails regarding the African-American fan base, disparaging fans, et cetera, and It all culminated in a board call in which the general manager at the time had said some disparaging things about a potential recruit to the team who was of African descent, and so the question for me was, “Can you help us? We think this is going to become public, we have to restore our reputation in this city. We are in the city too busy to hate; this is the hope of Dr. King and just don’t know what to do.” And so I joined Steven and Scott in the executive committee as a crisis counselor to help them out this, awful travesty, and so while I was doing the work I began to realize and recognize that diversity and inclusion could really be leveraged as part of their business moving forward and really managed in a sustainable way, If executed properly, and so one of my suggestions to the CEO was that he implemented a CDIO goal. I was not thinking about myself at the time but I just recognized that this was low hanging fruit and there was really an opportunity to create something for the NBA.

The NBA had just been through this with Donald Sterling and the LA Clippers two months prior to the Hawks going through it so I wondered, “is this a trend in the NBA? What can we do to fix it?” And so when I made that recommendation they ended up coming back and said “We’re going to hire a CDIO” and then after some long prayer sessions, ans talking with some mentors and really thinking about what the opportunity was, I told Steve, “I’m gonna raise my hand and apply of for that job”, and he said, “Well why would you leave your stable position, you’re doing well, you helping us in the middle of a crisis, why would you do that?”, and I said, “Because there’s nothing but upside, we’re at the lowest point that we can possibly be, and everything from here will be a win, and I want to be a part of that winning team” So that was my reason for joining the team and starting, getting involved in this work at the NBA league level.

Small Business Trends: That’s great. The NBA is really interesting because, first of all, its numbers are going through the roof. But it’s also a league that has been, I think at the forefront of minority ownership. You had Bob Johnson, of course you had Michael Jordan, we have you, but they’ve also been at the forefront of having under representative minorities, blacks, go into coaching, head coaching positions, general manager positions. So it seems like the league is really good at leading social change. When it comes to diversity and inclusiveness what can other leagues, and maybe even outside of sports, other industries learn from what’s going on in the NBA?

Grant Hill: Well you know I do agree I think as a professional sports league, and I’m not, let me qualify this answer by saying I’m not a huge follower of other sports, I’m all in with the NBA, but at least from my vantage point we are very progressive and you know it starts with our leadership, starts with former commissioner David Stern, current commissioner Adam Silver, if you look in the league offices I think really reflects diversity, you know our deputy commissioner is a man of color, Kathleen Behrens is one of the top league executives there and has a tremendous role and responsibility. So I feel that it starts at the top and you know much like I feel our organization in Atlanta, we strive to reflect on what Atlanta as we know is very diverse and I think that the league does that as well, we have a very diverse customer base, diversity in term of players; we have 25 percent of players at opening night this year were born outside of the continental US.

?

So that speaks a little bit to the game becoming a global brand but you know I think the game of basketball in general, kind of speaks diversity to me. When I was younger you’d go to the park to play basketball and there might be two teams of five playing, and 20 people on the sidelines waiting to play, and as a captain, who might have the next game, to play the winner, you’re gonna pick the best four players to play with you, so you can win. The object is to win, the object is to be successful, and I don’t care if your black, white, brown, gay, straight, if they can help you win; I feel like that spirit sort of exists in our sport.

It’s one of the closest things to a meritocracy, in that you know, it’s about talent, and I really do believe that. I can’t speak to the past, I can only speak now to the present, but I do feel that our leadership gets that, and understands that, and that’s sorta of the idea of our sport, of winning, the competing, and being successful. So as a league, as a franchise, we want to be successful, we want to be the best Atlanta Hawks organization that we can be. It’s like saying okay with the Hawks we’re only going to hire people who live within 2 miles of the arena downtown. I mean that would be foolish, you want to hire the best, I don’t care where they’re from, and so I think that is our mindset. I’m proud, not that we don’t have room for improvement but I do feel like we with the leadership of Zing, and Tony Ressler, and Steve Koonin, and collectively, we’re leading the way, not just in the NBA but in professional sports and that’s something that I’m very, very, extremely, proud of, especially considering what had happened two years ago, prior to Nzinga’s arrival.

Nzinga Shaw: I also think that, we have pulled this function out of HR were diversity traditionally lies, and have done something very unique with is to make it report into the C suite, reporting directly to the CEO, and I think when business functions report into the CEO and have, the responsibility of interacting across the board in the organization, and really helping to drive revenue, and helping to drive marking decisions, and things beyond administrative tasks, that’s when the organization really takes the work seriously and that’s when people in the organization start to realize that, this is something that’s real this is something that’s championed from the very top as Grant just said, and then also I just remembered when Grant became part of the ownership team.

Grant Hill: And I would just add, piggybacking on that, I do think Adam Silver really wants former players involved, and obviously a majority of players in the NBA are of color, but just to have that perspective on the emotional level. There’s a certain perspective, whether it’s the rules committee, competition committee, all that sort of that role encompasses as an owner, to bring that perspective and understanding, he’s been really bullish on that, with the amount of money that a lot of these guys are currently making, and guys like Lebron James is talking about wanting to own a team at some point.

I think you’ll see more and more, people of color, in ownership positions whether as a majority partner or vice chairman or minority, whatever role that might be, and you don’t see that in other sports, you don’t see that in football, you know there’s very few, I don’t want to say there’s none. So I think that’s important, it’s got to start at the top of the league, it’s got to start at the top of an organization as you said, for it to be credible within, and you know Nzing is involved in all aspects of our business and every new part of it, and she holds us all, holds me, accountable.

Small Business Trends: That brings up the perfect question around impact. How does these initiatives, how does inclusiveness, how does equality, how does that impact the Hawks’ business.

Nzinga Shaw: You know I think it impacts our business in many ways, and I’ll just give you an example, I mean we think about inclusion from variety in perspectives. I think nine times out of ten, when we’re having a conversation about diversity and inclusion people think we’re talking about race, sometimes gender, and now starting to talk about sexual orientation, but we’re talking about a lot of different things. We’re talking about families that may have some sort of sensory need, like autism or PTSD, and figuring out ways to include them into our arena experience. We just opened up a re imagined arena, State Farm Arena, as you all know, the renovation was just finished, and so part of that is to include a sensory inclusion room, a room for families that have this need right? So that if your child happens to have autism and maybe your other children don’t, you can still come to the game and have a great experience and be in the building, and so when you think about how that impacts business, well that now opens up doors for people that have traditionally stayed away from sports.

We think about the LGBTQ community which is really low hanging fruit in the Atlanta community, we are now the third largest city for people that are openly out to reside here. We have the third largest Pride in the nation. We’re the only sports organization in Atlanta to march in Pride, and we’ve been doing it for four consecutive years and will continue and will build upon that because the LQBTQ community has said to us “We need to know that there’s a sports team that embraces us, and we will be loyal fans, and we will bring business, and we will engage in the ways that you want us to but we just need to know that there are allies out there.” and so I think really thinking outside of the box in terms of inclusion and how you curate experiences for new and emerging communities and how you make whatever happens in our building very real for these different types of communities that’s how long term business is created, we don’t do it for the business we really do it for the culture to make sure that the Atlanta Hawks brand is something that resonates whether we’re on the winning streak or the losing streak. It’s got to go beyond wins and losses on the court. It’s got to be a brand that resonates with people so that they decide to spend an evening with us, knowing that we may not be the victors that night.

Photo via Michael W. Thomas/MWT Photography

This article, “Grant Hill and Nzinga Shaw of the Atlanta Hawks: Inclusion and Diversity are Good for Business and Must Start at the Top of the Organization” was first published on Small Business Trends

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If you travel regularly for business and are among the 500 million customers potentially affected by the Marriott data breach, there are some actions you may want to take.

On November 30, 2018, Marriott announced the data of up to 500 million of its customers might’ve been compromised.

If you stayed at a Starwood-branded hotel from 2014 to September 10, 2018, and you are part of the almost half a billion people, this is what the Marriott data breach impacted.

A combination of name, mailing address, phone number, email address, passport number, Starwood Preferred Guest account information, date of birth, gender, arrival and departure information, reservation date, and communication preferences. This was the case for around 327 million guests.

There was another set of data limited to name and sometimes other data such as mailing address, email address, or other information (no specification as to what the other information is).

For some of the other guests, the above information along with payment card numbers and payment card expiration dates were also exposed. However, the company says this data was encrypted using Advanced Encryption Standard (AES-128).

But this point could be moot because the two components required for decrypting the payment card numbers could have been taken, this according to Marriott.

The Starwood Brand of Hotels

You might’ve stayed at one of the Starwood brands of hotels and not know it is part of the Marriott data breach.

Here are all of the brands:

• Westin
• Sheraton
• The Luxury Collection
• Four Points by Sheraton
• W Hotels
• St. Regis
• Le Méridien
• Aloft
• Element
• Tribute Portfolio
• Design Hotels

It also includes Starwood branded timeshare properties.

What Actions Should You Take?

According to Malwarebytes Labs:

1. Change your password for any compromised accounts (Starwood Preferred Guest Rewards Program) with multi-factor authentication. Even if cybercriminals steal your login credentials, multi-factor authentication requires them to have at least one other authentication mechanism such as your phone.
2. Look for any suspicious activity by monitoring your credit card and bank accounts. By law, you get a free credit report from each of the three major credit bureaus. You can go to annualcreditreport.com and get it.
3. Consider freezing your credit because it will make it that much harder to open up a line of credit under your name. You can stop the freeze at any time but you will have to contact each credit bureau individually.
4. Be very careful when you open your emails. Cybercriminals know Marriott is going to be contacting customers to address the issue, so this is a great time to send out phishing emails. The email will look like it is from Marriott, which will include a logo and similar looking email account.  If you are not sure where the email is coming from, do not open it. In addition to phishing attacks, you may also introduce malware into your system.

Company Action

Marriott has established a dedicated website (info.starwoodhotels.com) and a call center to answer questions for its customers. The call center is open 24/7 and it is available in multiple languages.

The company is also sending out emails to the affected customers along with a free year’s subscription to an identity-theft protection service.

The email will only come from this address: starwoodhotels@email-marriott.com.

The company said it will not request any personal information and the email will not contain any attachments.

As mention above this is a very important point to take note of because cybercriminals will use this time to launch phishing attacks with similar email addresses to request information.

Photo via Shutterstock

This article, “Apply These Tips to Protect Your Business Following the Marriott Data Breach” was first published on Small Business Trends

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The Q4 2018 Quarterly Index from the National Write Your Congressman (NWYC) organization reveals immigration ranked as a top small business concern in this quarter. According to NWYC, this is the first time the issue of immigration ranked in the top five.

NWYC Q4 2018 Small Business Sentiment Index

The top five issues small businesses were concerned with are hiring qualified workers at number one, followed by health insurance expenses at number two, and taxes rounding out the top three. Immigration came in fourth followed by paying down their debt at number five.

Small business owners don’t have the same concerns across the board, but there are some prevailing issues every business has to deal with in the United States. As the index points out, in the third quarter regulation was one of the top concerns and in this quarter, it is not even in the top five.

The NWYC index primary looks to find out how small business owners feel about Congress along with the issues they want them to address.

In Q4 2018 small business owners are more satisfied with Congress then they have been in some time. According to Randy Ford, President and COO of National Write Your Congressman, the passage of tax cuts and regulation rollbacks are greatly responsible for this.

In the press release, Ford said, “ Our business owner members have been extremely satisfied with Congressional action when it comes to regulation reductions and taxes to help their small business. Small business owners are looking for modifications to the current tax law and hoping the bills of Tax Reform 2.0 pass the Senate.”

The NWYC measures the sentiment of small business owners towards Congress using data collected online. For the fourth quarter of 2018, the survey was carried out between October 30 to November 2, 2018. A total of 913 participants from 46 states in the US took part in the survey.

The business owners in the survey ran companies with 1-99 employees. Fifty-seven percent had 1-9 employees, while 38% employed 10-99 workers. The businesses represented a range of industries including construction, services, health, legal, accounting, engineering, advertising, manufacturing, and more.

Survey Results

Compared to the Q4 2017, the numbers for Q4 2018 reveals small business satisfaction with congressional action has doubled from 15% in 2017 to 30% in 2018.

Small business owners feel their Congress knows their opinion with 59% stating this fact. It was at 55% in the third quarter of 2018. Another 45% said Congress acts on their behalf with 48% also indicating they trust in their own member of Congress.

When it comes to trusting the government, 79% of small businesses said they trust the president, which is much higher than the 51% who felt the same way about their local government.

State governments didn’t fare that well as only 38% said they trusted it. But the worst of the bunch is the level of trust small business owners have about national government agencies, which is only at 20%.

The president also does very well when it comes to the hope small businesses have as 87% stated they are hopeful about the Trump presidency.

In this category Congress was at 58%, followed by state and local government at 50 and 55 percent respectively with the judicial branch receiving an impressive 69%.

What is National Write Your Congressman?

Established 60 years ago, the NWYC provide small business owners a resource for connecting with members of Congress and a platform to deliver a collective message.

The NWYC is a nonpartisan membership organization which provides information on leading issues as well as pending legislation relevant to small business owners. According to the organization, it presents both sides of any issue so its members can make an informed decision/argument when they are ready to let their opinions be heard.

Photo via Shutterstock

This article, “Immigration Becomes Growing Concern for Small Business Owners, Index Says” was first published on Small Business Trends

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