Today’s episode is all about true crime. Tom and Vicki talk about the new Netflix docuseries "Crime Scene: the vanishing at Cecil Hotel. It's the 2013 story of Elisa Lam, a 21 year old college student from Canada who went missing while on a solo trip to LA. She was staying in the Cecil Hotel. Her body was found 2 weeks later in a water tank on top of the hotel. There was a lot of craziness that happened and an infamous video that was captured in the elevator.

Ok so what does this have to do with business security? Everything. Looking at this from a security perspective the hotel left everything up for grabs. From doors not being properly locked to guests having access to the roof. The Cecil is a perfect example of "everything is ok until it's not". Listen to this episode to find out more!

Tom and Vicki interview IT security expert Ben Schmerler, the Director of IT Operations at DP Solutions, an IT firm based out of Baltimore, MD.

Ben is able to give informative answers to the cyber questions that you NEED to know. What is phishing? How does it work? What types are there? What does this mean for you? How do you protect your business? What are signs?

Tune in now to listen!

Today's episode is a little different- We're just doing a recap to make sure everything all in once place! Here we go!

The bottom line is risk management. I know we keep bringing that up but it is really vital to you and how your business operates today. Especially in the state of the world today, Most risk is completely unpredictable and all we can do is prepare for what might happen .

In an earlier episode we were talking about how to transfer some of that risk. Take some of the risk and direct it to your customers. The potential of bad things that could happen allows you to charge premium pricing to your customers. Rolling in the cost to your current rate can help you offset some of your risk and create an internal insurance policy. Well what about the economy? We are giving you permission to go from defensive to offensive. It’s ok to increase your prices, it’s ok to push forward!

One of the other episodes we talked about how to transfer your risk using legal contracts. One of the biggest things we wanted to hit home is that your legal documents are a living breathing document and need to be adjusted as things change. If your service agreement is from 20 years ago when your doors opened it’s time to take another look. Leaving holes in your agreements with customers and vendors can hurt your business tremendously if something does happen.

We also touched  on lowering your  business risk with insurance. We even had a great interview for you all (just go back one episode) with Butch Kreiger from First national insurance. He was able to give us some great insight into the insurance world. Essentially what it boils down to when it comes to insurance is to make sure your assets are covered. Especially with this pandemic going on – make sure you do a double take and look at what your policy says and adjust where it’s needed. Tune in now to hear more about what you can do!

Today Vicki and Tom talk to Butch Kriger, he is a VP at First National Insurance and gives some more detailed information on how insurance helps your business. 

Insurance is a great way to manage your risks. Butch helps us understand by giving us insurance 101, and explaining what exactly it means for us and why businesses should have it and have the right insurance.

Making insurance part of your business plan is vital to ensure you are able to lower your business risk. Understanding your policy and choosing the right broker, someone you trust, will help you manage your risk. Tune in to learn more! 

Tom and Vicki are back after their break and are helping you manage your business security through legal risk management. 

Talking about contracts and keeping your legal ducks in a row is going to help your business tremendously. Making sure that your current contracts and statement of work for your clients are updated and include any current risks that COVID may bring. Many people think that their contracts were written once years and years ago when they started their business and they should be fine for the length of their business duration.

Not necessarily true. The outside world brings risks everyday and we as business owners and operators need to be versatile with their mindset and making sure their business is flexible to face the new issues that arise. 

Have you legally been stagnant? Have you had the same legal documents for years? Tune in now! 

Today is a special episode- you get Vicki solo talking about some of the things you can do to help build your business strategy in 2021.

The new year is just around the corner and  what have you done to plan for it? In theory, 2021 sounds great. But it’s going to be  just as much of a disaster if you don’t have a plan of action for your business. Here’s a couple things to think about to help build your business strategy for the new year:

1. Focus on what you can do. Focusing on what you can control is going to help you view the world a little differently. 
2. Be a valuable resource for your customers. Being a beacon of information is the best way to sell. 
3. Create a backup plan. What kind of scenarios might you run into? Creating a plan for these will mentally prepare you for multiple scenarios and help you be versatile when facing a problem.
4. Develop a people strategy. Your most important assets are your people. Make sure you plan for your people to be a priority. Maintaining a strong corporate culture is vital to the success of your people and ultimately your business.

Want to learn more? Click on the play button and have a listen! Also visit our website at www.defiantenterprises.com for more information!

Tom and Vicki are getting into the insurance portion of risk transfer. Last episode they talked about how to offset your risk to your clients and learning to get your business mindset from defensive to offensive. 

Risk is still a nasty four-letter word we are all learning to deal with- in a new way. What does that mean for you? What does insurance have to do with anything?

With insurance premiums rising and you not knowing how to cope, how can you work with your insurance companies to manage risk ?

Managing risk through insurance is making sure you understand what your policy currently is and what it should be. COVID has changed the world, which means it has also changed your policy. Have you talked to your insurance agent to make sure your current policy is still applicable?

Tune in to learn other ways that your insurance can help manage risk in your business. For more information visit www.defiantenterprises.com and make sure you subscribe!

Today Tom and Vicki are getting into risk transfer. With everything being uncertain, Business Security is switching things up a little and getting into something that is going on in today’s world. When COVID happened, not many people knew what it meant for them, their families and their businesses. So many lost jobs, companies went under and organizations had to run lean and almost everyone still employed had to learn how to work at home.

Risk is a nasty 4 letter word were all learning to deal with and what does it mean for you? That’s all we are worried about right? What does it mean for you and your business? How do we deal with risk transfer to better minimize our risk? What does all of this mean?

Hit play to find out! If you’re struggling with keeping your business afloat during the pandemic and have questions- we encourage you to reach out! Visit www.defiantenterprises.com and send us a message!

In this episode, Tom and Vicki are getting into risk management and the four main ways to manage it. Whether you're a single person running a one-person operation or you are the CEO of a large company, risk is a dirty 4 letter word that plays a large part of what you need to do day to day.

 What is risk management? In a very simplistic answer, risk management is a fancy term for just trying to find the likelihood that bad things could happen and finding strategies on how to manage those bad things.

How do we start to do that?

By answering these questions:

1. Why should we protect or mitigate risk against any assets to begin with?
2.  the how so after we've determine the Y and the what finally we need to find possible solutions to protect these assets and find that strategy that makes the most sense to us
3. really need to go through and ask is what assets are we going to protect 

After you answer those questions, there are 4 main ways to manage risk:

1. Accept: not trying to avoid or mitigate a risk but choose to deal with it
2. Avoid: risks that have a high probability of great impact sometimes should be avoided completely
3. Reduce: having a plan in place to reduce the effect of a specific risk
4. Transfer: Transferring the particular risk to another party

What does all of this boil down to? Have a plan for when bad sh*t happens.

To learn more about risk and how to manage it, tune into this episode! You can also find more by visiting our website www.defiantenterprises.com or sending us a note [email protected]!

In this episode Vicki goes solo! She gives you some tips and ways to lower your risk and exposure of COVID during the Thanksgiving holiday.

Here’s a couple low risk options to help keep you, your family and your co workers safe during turkey day:

• Hosting a virtual meal for extended family and friends.
• Preparing traditional dishes to deliver safely to family and neighbors.
• Shopping Black Friday sales online instead of at the mall.
• Catching football games and parades at home.

Having a mini- feast at your home? No Thanksgiving is complete without the food! 

Plan ahead! Go grocery shopping during off peak hours.-Maintain safe social distancing- remember that 6 feet is probably farther than you think. It’s about 2 shopping carts long.

Having family come to your home?

• Plan your feast in an outdoor setting
• Use Plastic dinnerware, paper Napkins and paper towels
• Keep Alcohol-based hand sanitizer around for easy use
• Disinfectant wipes readily available for clean up
• Separate coolers with ice to keep food and drinks cold
• Avoid sharing food- if you have multiple families ,each family household should bring its own food and drinks.

Another tip is -keep the gathering short! This year it’s recommended that we decrease the amount of time we spend together. Catching up, having a good time and enjoying each other is what this holiday is all about. But don’t be afraid to let your family know when it’s time to go.

The most important is to stay current on COVID symptoms! Make sure you know what they are and STAY HOME if you might be experiencing some. It could save a life. Tune in to learn more!

For more resources check out Defiant Enterprises' social media and website, www.defiantenterprises.com.