If you’re an entrepreneur that manages the logistics of your business out of the home, sensitive information about your personal and business finances like expenses, revenue, credit card numbers and other data is often concentrated within a single room of the house: The home office. While having a centralized location makes things simpler for the solopreneur to manage, storing all that information in one location can make you more exposed in the event of a theft, natural disaster, or other unforeseen event.
If you find yourself storing paper invoices in a plastic filing cabinet (like I used to) or maintaining accounting information on your hard drive, this article is for you. While going through this process will require a few extra hours of effort to organize and protect your business, doing so will help ensure your wealth and hard work is protected from theft, fire, or other unexpected events.
What To Do About It
A lot of security experts in the field would suggest a home security system. There are tons of sites out there that offer protection for those worried about their home offices and you can click here or simply do a search. However, there are other ways to prevent the information in your home office from being compromised.
Leverage the Cloud: If you’re keeping all of your accounting files on your hard drive, you’re business is at risk. Not only could a hard drive crash wipe away years of documentation, but it could leave you in a world of hurt come tax time or if a client has questions about the amount they were billed. Fortunately, there are numerous services available that allow you to back-up your files on the cloud affordably.
One of the advantages of using a back-up service like the one’s mention in this article on LifeHacker.com is that you can schedule the tools to automatically back-up your files. That means you can literally set up the system and forget it. The back-up tools will do the rest of the heavy-lifting and in the unfortunate event of a hard-drive crash you’ll be prepared. These services are affordable too, most are $10 or less a month.
Rent a Safety Deposit Box: While data hosted on the cloud seems to be where most information is going to be held in the future there are still some important documents like marriage certificates and business licenses that you’ll still need to retain psychical copies of. For important documents like these renting out a safety deposit box from a nearby bank is strongly recommended.
A safety deposit boxes are available for rent at local banks and some post offices. These receptacles protect files from natural disasters like floods or fires, in addition to theft. Overall, it is a much safer place to store sensitive documents than the file cabinet in your home.
If you’re on the fence about this item, read the article titled “Do You Need a Safe Deposit Box?†by USNews.com to see if this protective measure is right for you.
Consider an In-Home Security System: We mentioned it earlier but it’s worth repeating. Investing in an in-home security system can help protect you against burglars that may be looking for credit card information, cash, or other valuables stored in your home. Not only will a security system help protect your residence in the event of a breach, but studies have shown that displaying signs to alert would-be intruders you have a security system installed on the premises will actually discourage a certain percentage of thieves.
Implementing the three simple steps listed above will go a long way to protecting the information stored in your office. What precautions have you undertaken to protect your home office? Please share them below.
