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Bookkeeper Girl is now hanging with the rich and famous – well at least she’s being quoted in their books.
Tory Johnson has become a local celebrity and an inspiration for women business owners across the country. Regularly featured on Good Morning America and Good Morning Texas, Tory is the founder and CEO of Women for Hire and Spark and Hustle. If you haven’t checked out her website, I encourage you to do it today. She offers great advice and tools you can use to grow your business.

Tory is also an accomplished author of books to help small business owners. Her new book, Spark & Hustle: Launch and Grow Your Small Business, is now available at Barnes & Noble, Amazon and other booksellers. The book provides lots of great business advice for people ready to start their own business—or grow their existing business into something bigger. Based on her phenomenally successful “Spark & Hustle” workshops, Tory breaks down the basics, and helps you create a plan for success. And making her editorial debut (drum roll please), Bookkeeper Girl is featured in the book, talking about keeping your information safe when working online. Woo hoo!!

On a serious note, security is increasingly important when doing business online. Doing business electronically has become a fact of life, and it’s the foundation of Bookkeeper Girl. But doing business online doesn’t have to be scary. You just have to be smart and take the appropriate cautions.

First and foremost have a password and NEVER, ever share it. Choose a password that contains both letters and numbers/characters, preferably one that references something significant only to you. For example, if the name of your beloved childhood goldfish was Sir Bubbles, swap out some of the letters for numbers and you can end up with a very nice password like s1rbubb735 that only you understand. And as BKG mentions in Tory’s book, having the same online password as your bookkeeper can be dangerous. Never share your personal login or security questions with anyone, and always have at least one password that nobody knows

1. Install and use a security program such as Webroot,, Norton 360, or Bitdefender. And keep the program updated. Your security must be current to be effective. Viruses, spyware and phishing cost US households $4.55 billion every year, according to statisticbrain.com. A good security program will provide free, regular updates to keep you protected from the latest activities of cyber criminals.

2. When signing up for / installing / agreeing to anything, read the fine print. If you do not want to receive junk mail or get put on a telemarketer list, look for a small box near the bottom of the page that asks if you want to receive information and offers from other companies. The best sites will have a statement listed that they will not sell your name to other companies (though they may still spam you themselves).

3. Always check for secure transaction info. The best companies will have many security devices in place. You may see a gold lock at the bottom of the page to indicate a secure site. When giving any bank details or other information, make sure the connection is secure (URLs like this begin with https:// instead of http://) and the site is trustworthy. (Not every site which runs HTTPS or accepts payments is trustworthy, even if the connection is.)

4. Only download files or software from sites that have been rated/verified by trusted sources. Choose downloading resources that are up-front about price and ratings and vet their downloads (ex. download.cnet.com). When in doubt, Google the name of the site or download along with the word “scam” to see if you get any hits.

These are just a few tips to keep you safe when doing business or – or just hanging out – online. You can have the best software protection available, but ultimately your security is up to you, so be smart and be safe.
Congrats again to Tory!! You’re a rock star.