Yep, I get it. You can’t live without your smartphone. I know. I’m in the same boat. If I forget my phone when I go out of the house (which I rarely do), I feel like I’ve left half my brain behind.

We are all so mobile these days. And its so cool that we can take our business with us in our back pocket. But there’s a problem with that too. It’s easy to forget how much sensitive data our phones have access to. Losing it could put your business at a huge risk.

In a news release from Deluxe Corporation, they said nearly 40 million Americans currently access bank accounts and financial records through mobile devices, such as smartphones and tablets, according to Consumer Reports. But, unlike most computers and laptops, mobile devices rarely feature security software. Recognizing this weakness, hackers are increasingly preying on small business owners, accessing mobile devices to steal sensitive data and commit acts of fraud.

So they called in identity theft expert John Sileo who conducted a webinar to teach small business owners to better control sensitive information in today’s increasingly mobile society. The webinar “Cyber Attack: Data Defense for Your Mobile Office” discussed how to:

• Protect smartphones and tablets from common attacks.
• Weigh the pros and cons of cloud computing (Gmail®, SalesForce®, online billing).
• Lock down Wi-Fi data leakage in the office and on the road.
• Protect their traveling office in hotel rooms, airports and beyond.

Sileo is not “just an expert.” He personally experienced a problem.

“My business identity was stolen and nearly a half-million dollars was embezzled from my clients,” Sileo said. “I lost my livelihood, reputation – and nearly my freedom. Had I understood the topics we’ll cover in the Cyber Attack webinar, I would have recognized the fraudulent activities and business threats that were right under my nose.”

While identity theft through mobile devices is becoming more common, these devices are equipped with security features to help users to protect themselves – but it’s up to the you to activate them. Here are a few things you can do to protect your business.

1.  Turn on password protection and auto-lock feature on all smart phone, tablet and laptop devices. If your phone is lost or stolen, this is an extra measure to protect your information. By password protecting your device and activating an auto-lock feature, users can control the number of password attempts before the device locks itself.
2.  Enable remote tracking and wiping capabilities. Remote tracking allows users to physically track the location of the phone, while remote wiping allows you to clear all data if your phone goes missing.
3. Expect the best, plan for the worst. While there are extra precautions that can reduce the likelihood that you or your business might become a victim of fraud, there is no failsafe. Dealing with the effects of fraud and identity theft can cause massive disruptions to your business. Put plans in place so that if you become a victim, you can resume business as quickly as possible.

Are you scared yet? You should be. Losing your phone could literally put you out of business. That’s another business disaster you have to worry about. And it might be a good idea to watch the entire webinar. You can access the recording here.

If you are stuggling with getting traffic to your website, try out these tried and true tips from my colleague Susanne Myers of Daily Affiliate Tasks

There are hundreds of different ways to drive traffic to your niche website. If you want you can get very complicated with this, but often it’s the simple strategies that work best. Today I want to share two of those with you. They are 1) leaving comments on other blogs and 2) participating in forums. Both require a minimum of time and effort. And if you do things right, they can generate quite a bit of targeted traffic to your site.

Step One – Finding Good Blogs and Forums

Start by making a list of blogs and forums. There are two things that you want to pay attention to. There needs to be a fair amount of activity going on and the topic needs to be closely related to your own niche. You can find blogs by browsing through blog directories like Technorati or doing a Google search (or you can check the Small Business Blog Directory). I also find it easiest to find popular forums by doing a search.

Take a look at each blog and make sure it is still updated regularly. If so, look for blogs that get at least 5 comments per blog post (on average). This will ensure that they have a decent readership. When you are looking at forums make sure there are several new posts and replies per day and that those posts are on topic (not some spammer posting ads).

Once you have a list of 5 to 10 blogs and at least 3 forums, it’s time to move on to step two.

Step Two – A Little Setup Work To Make Your Life Easier

For blog commenting, start by setting up a new Gmail account to be used when commenting. This makes it easy to have follow-up comments sent there and you can log in and check on those as time permits.

Register this new email address with Gravatar (gravatar.com) and upload your picture to your account. This will make your image appear next to your comments on many blogging platforms.

Next, set up the niche blogs you found in an RSS reader. I recently started using I-Google for this (igoogle.com). I added each blog as an RSS feed on my I-Google page. This gives me one place to look for new blog posts that I can comment on. Any good RSS reader should work for this.

On the forums, set up an account and profile for each. Again, take the time to upload your picture. This creates a lot of trust and will help people recognize you across multiple forums, blogs and social media accounts. Fill out your profile with some information about you and your blog. Don’t forget to include a link back to your niche website or blog. If allowed, set up a forum signature that links back to an interesting article on your site or one that invites readers to join your list.

Step Three – Set Some Goals

Now that you’re all set up, I recommend you stop and set some goals for yourself. How many blogs do you want to comment on per day? Three comments per day is a good start and will bring you some traffic back to your own site.

Set a goal for forum posts as well. One new post and two to three replies per forum would be a good starting point. Don’t set your goals too high … you want to make sure you have plenty of time to leave quality replies and posts.

Step Four – Get To Work

Once you have your goals set, it’s time to get to work and implement. Again, I can’t stress enough how important it is to focus on quality here. Share some good tips and information. This is not about advertising your site, it’s about writing good content and making a great first impression. This will get readers curious to learn more about you and click the link back to your own site.

Step Five – Measure Results And Reevaluate

Spend about a week or so posting and commenting according to the goals you’ve made. Then go back and measure your results. Make sure you have Google Analytics installed before you start so you can see if you’re getting more visitors to your site (and where they are coming from). If you are getting a lot of good results from a particular forum or blog, it may be worth posting there more frequently. If on the other hand, you are getting no benefits from one of the blogs or forums, stop posting and replace it with a different one. Continue to track the results you’re getting and adjust where you post and how often you post accordingly.

Step Six – The Force Multiplier

Last but not least, let’s talk about a “force multiplier.” Don’t post on these sites just for the sake of getting targeted traffic. Get more value out of each comment you leave and out of each forum post you reply to. Here are some ideas:

• Build a relationship with the blog owner by commenting regularly. Get in touch via email and see if you can guest blog post or work on other Join Venture opportunities and cross promotions.
• Use long blog comments you’ve written as a starting point for blog posts and articles.
• As you read forum posts, take note of common questions and concerns and use those to come up with blog post ideas, articles, email messages etc.
• Copy and paste your forum replies into a word document and turn them into articles and blog posts.

Ready for more tips on what works and what doesn’t? Join Daily Affiliate Tasks.com for $10 per month and work on things that actually work to bring you more traffic, more subscribers and make more affiliate commissions working as little as 30 minutes per day. Learn more and join today at www.DailyAffiliateTasks.com

Sometimes the biggest obstacle to our success is sitting right under our noses.

That would be us!

Have you thought about whether you are the barrier to success in your business?

According to Mark Goulston, there are eight behaviors we commonly use to sabatoge our efforts at success. He says,” Repetitive behaviors that block your efforts to accomplish your long-term objectives are self-defeating. And, while you’re losing your competitive edge by always meeting challenges in a self-defeating fashion, your competition confronts and masters stressful situations head-on.”

Here are the big eight.

1. Procrastinating
2. Not preparing well enough.
3. Not following through.
4. Not learning from your mistakes.
5. Being competent, but uncharming.
6. Saying yes when you want to say no.
7. Having unrealistic expectations.
8. Getting involved with the wrong people.

I know I’ve been guilty of #7. I have to make sure and check that all the time.

What about you? Are you creating these roadblocks in your business? Leave me a comment and tell me how you’re going to overcome them.