The Use of a Personal Email for Business
When you're a small business owner, your first goal should be to make a good impression for your business. Why not start with your business email? People judge your business based on what they see or think they see. Their first impression of a business that uses a personal email forum, is that you are not serious about your business. Depending on the nature of your small business you should consider investing in your company and adding an email address. If you have a website, please consider getting a matching email. Here’s why: I've worked as a billing specialist for three different companies. We ran credit applications to open accounts for customers. I had a supervisor that would say "Ewe! If they can't afford $5 a month for a business email, then how can we be sure they'll pay us." Although we shouldn't prejudge people, the fact is, it happens. An article in Career Trend says, “Professional email makes your company look more professional.” An article on Barracula.com says, “It is risky using personal email forums to host your company email because you have to adhere to the policies and procedures of those providers. This could be a breach of your own company privacy and security policy. If you have to conduct internal investigations and/or seek injunctions to retrieve data, which is hard because of these Terms & Conditions. Such behavior can also create a corporate risk, especially if the employee separates from the company (these emails go with the employee).” As business owners, we work hard to start our businesses, often being the sole employee until we can get enough clientele to support the business; so why wouldn’t you want to make sure you retain central control over our company affairs and email communication? Lifewire further recommended that even if you use a company email, each employee should sign an acceptable use policy that outlines what the expectations are for the use of email.
Starting a business is not the cheapest thing to do but be aware of the risk and exposure that comes with it. Companies should avoid the use of personal email addresses for business because it is just an awful idea. If you don’t have the resources to protect your company from potential issue or breaches of privacy laws then as Sophia from The Color Purple said, “Don’t do it, Miss Celie. It ain’t worth it.” Here's my real-life story I volunteered with a company that used personal email accounts for her business, against my advice. The business owner, Helen*, set up every email account with contacts for each department. She did this, so each employee would be prepared for their roles with her company. The email addresses were like this: accounting.jacksonelectronics@______.com. The other thing she would do is change the names to reflect whoever was in that position, such as Amanda*, her administrative assistant. These ladies worked together for a while and had a great working relationship, until they didn’t. A disagreement between the two arose, behind wording on a contract. The disagreement led to Amanda, being dismissed. Amanda took it upon herself to go into the email and change the password, which locked Helen out of the email she created. Amanda then took the contacts and started soliciting Helen’s clients for a new business opportunity. Once Helen discovered this, she contacted the email provider and guess what? It wasn’t anything that could be done because there was no way to prove that Helen was the owner of the email account and Amanda was not, especially because she basically gave the rights to the email to Amanda when she put her name on it. As a company, you can’t always avoid mishaps. However, the dilemma could’ve been controlled by having Amanda locked out of the system instead of Helen, if a business email provider was used. In this day in age, Helen probably could have filed a suit again Amanda (who knows). I can say this I need to know everything going on in my company and anyone that posing a threat will be locked out immediately. Making daily decision for your business is difficult enough, so why add the extra hassle by not using a company email system? This way you are able to monitor what’s going on with your business. Based on my research and knowledge, the benefits of using a company email are: · Professional and Official Image · Avoid some measure of a security breach · Doesn't put your company at risk · Business owner has control over it or decide who should have control over it. As a small business owner, it's important to maintain a good reputation and control over your affairs as much as possible. Competition in the business world is fierce, without the hassle of shenanigans. One of my favorite scriptures in the bible is located at Proverbs 22:3, saying, “The shrewd on sees the danger and conceals himself, but the inexperience keeps right on going and suffer the consequences.” It’s nothing wrong with using a personal email forum for your business if you chose to, but I personally wouldn’t recommend it. If for no other reason than this: what is the professional image and message are you sending about your business? Do you want people to view your business as a hobby? For me, if I was selling dogs clothes or million-dollar financial portfolios I want my business to look professional at all times. I will buy 1 email address and add a million aliases. Again, it your choice, because it is your business. To do better, be better and why not start with a professional image and use business email for your business!!!!! *names have been changed to protect their identity References: https://careertrend.com/facts-5837962-difference-personal-email-business-email.html https://blog.barracuda.com/2015/02/17/the-business-risks-of-using-personal-email-accounts/ https://www.lifewire.com/should-you-mix-business-and-personal-email-2487410 ****************************************************** Please subscribe to our blog, click clicking the link below: Subscribe to the BLOG Visit us at Our Website: www.paragonparcel.com www.yougotserved.com www.notarizewithparagonparcel.com
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