business

By Brooke Chaplan

One of the hardest things to do in life is to get consumers to notice your small business. It’s incredibly easy to feel invisible, especially in the early days of your operations. Unfortunately, that feeling of invisibility can often make small business owners feel strangely invincible. They assume that since customers don’t notice them, neither will thieves. In reality, though, there’s no such thing as a business that is too small for good security. If you want to make sure your business is protected, you’ll have to make sure you start looking at security while your business is still small.

Easy Targets

Small businesses are incredible targets for criminals. Small usually means owners who don’t invest in security and, more importantly, people who have fewer resources to pursue real action. Criminals know that if they can successfully complete a robbery or commit fraud, there’s little chance that they will be pursued. Small businesses simply represent the targets that can’t put up enough of a fight to make a real difference in the lives of criminals.

Small businesses also have the misfortune of less foot traffic. It’s very hard to walk into a big box store and rob it blind. It’s much easier, though, to hold up a single clerk. Likewise, fraud is easier when there are fewer people around trained to detect it—a slip and fall might look like a liability to a small business owner when a major competitor would be able to fight its veracity in court.

Putting the Basics in Place

Even if your business isn’t targeted, security measures still play a valuable role. After all, the way your business looks at security now will inform the way it looks at security in the future. If you start out lax when it comes to safety, for example, it will be much more difficult to start implementing stringent measures when things get a little more dangerous. The same is true for security, as those who are used to ignoring security protocols will often find it difficult to start taking them seriously when they are put into place.

If you take security seriously from day one, you can make it a part of your company’s culture. Every person who works with you will become used to it and everyone who walks in your door will realize that you are serious. Once you’ve got the reputation for taking security seriously, fewer criminals will attempt to take advantage of you.

Finding Security at the Right Size

The solution for most small businesses is paying attention to relevant security measures. No, it’s probably not necessary for a small restaurant to have a massive safe or to employ round-the-clock security guards. What might be more useful, though, is to use monitored security cameras and a monitored alarm system. Picking the right security systems not only provides relevant protection, but it helps the owner to remember that security measures are actually worth the price paid.

Finding the right security measures will provide the proper protection for any business. It’s a matter of understanding the possible threats against your business and protecting against them logically. Security isn’t an all-or-nothing proposition, so there is certainly a security solution out there for businesses of any size.

Every business needs to invest in security solutions. It doesn’t matter if you have one single location or you are starting to franchise out across the country—a failure to take security seriously can cost you dearly. Don’t buy into the idea that being small makes you invisible. In many ways, being small makes you a bigger target. Don’t let the bad guys win—start looking into the security that’s right for a business like yours.

Brooke Chaplan is a freelance writer and blogger. She lives and works out of her home in Los Lunas, New Mexico. She loves the outdoors and spends most her time hiking, biking and gardening.